Frank Hofer's Blog

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For Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Blood-Soup-Caldarium-ebook/dp/B00AGOISEU

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Blood-Soup-Book-Caldarium/dp/1490377018/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Prepare pastry cream (below) the day before and refrigerate over night.

Praline

1 cup toasted almonds

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine almonds and powdered sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar melts and caramelizes. Quickly pour in to buttered pan and allow to cool. Break in to pieces and chop in food processor.

Pastry Cups

2 – 3 sheets phyllo dough

Butter

Preheat oven to 400.

Butter and layer phyllo dough. Press over the backside of muffin tins. Repeat, staggering points to form 8 petals. Gently press a second muffin tin over pastry. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.

Remove pastry from pans, return to oven to completely brown – 1 to 2 minutes. Cool.

Pastry Cream

2 cups milk

6 egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup flour

Bring milk to boil in a large pan. Set aside.

Whip egg yolks, sugar, vanilla together until light. Mix in flour. Whip it good.

Slowly beat in half of the hot milk. Pour mixture in to remaining hot milk in pan, mixing as you go.

Bring to boil over medium heat – stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Do not over cook.

Pour in to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Pastry Cream (part 2)

1/2 pint heavy cream, whipped stiff

Praline from above

Add praline. Fold in whipped cream.

Fill in to pastry cups from above.

Garnish with grated chocolate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 large stems of fresh basil

1 sprig of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 pounds very ripe tomatoes, quartered

pinch of sugar

1 cup chicken stock

1/3 cup whipping cream

fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips, to garnish

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion for 3 minutes, or until it is soft and translucent.

Add the garlic, basil stems, thyme, bay leaf, tomato paste, and the fresh tomatoes.  Season with the sugar, salt and black pepper.  Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Discard the bay leaf.

Puree in a blender or food processor and strain through a fine strainer.  Return to the saucepan, stir in the cream and reheat gently without boiling.  Check the seasoning.

Serve the soup in bowls or one large soup dish, garnishing the top with strips of basil.(If tomatoes are out of season and lack flavor, two 16-oz cans of tomatoes can be used and will also give excellent results.)

1 cup uncooked white rice (I use jasmine rice)

1 clove garlic, mashed

1/4 cup corn kernels

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small carrot cup into 1/4 inch cubes

1 medium ripe tomato, coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet until hot. Add uncooked rice to skillet. Fry rice until toasted, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Add chicken broth, garlic, tomato, and carrots. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Variation I’m working on but haven’t tried yet –

Add one small potato cut into 1/2 inch cubes. I need to figure out if I need to pre-cook the potatoes at this step, or if adding them with the carrots is OK.

3 tablespoons butter

1 pound, 9 ounces ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

3 3/4 cups hot vegetable stock

1/2 cup ground almonds

2/3 cup milk or light cream

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons shredded basil leaves

salt

pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes until the skins start to wrinkle.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the stock to the pan, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, under a preheated broiler, lightly toast the ground almonds until they are golden brown.  This will only take about 1 or 2 minutes, so watch them closely.

Remove the soup from the heat, place in a food processor, and blend the mixture to form a smooth consistency.

Pass the soup through a strainer to remove any tomato skin or pips.

Place the soup in the pan and return to the heat. Stir in the cream, toasted ground almonds, and sugar.  Warm the soup through and add the shredded basil leaves just before serving.

Transfer the creamy tomato soup to warm soup bowls and serve hot.

2 cups Bisquick

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup milk

2 eggs

7 Tablespoons yellow cornmeal

1/2 pound butter, softened

honey

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix the above ingredients, except the honey, and beat for 3 minutes. Pour into a 9×12 pan. Drizzle in the honey (to taste).

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

4 medium Spanish onions, sliced thin

4 Tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic mashed with 1 tsp salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

6 cups beef stock

1/2 cup dry red wine

3 Tablespoons brandy

6 slices toasted french bread

Swiss or gruyere cheese.

Cook onions slowly in butter until yellow (about 10 minutes). Stir in the seasonings and continue cooking until onions are golden brown (20 to 30 minutes).

Add broth and wine. Simmer covered for 30 minutes more.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir in brandy and pour soup into oven-proof bowls.

Butter plain toasted French bread and cover each with a slice of Swiss or gruyere cheese. Add the prepared bread to the oven-proof bowls. Place in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Package Fresh or Frozen Beef or Sausage filled Ravioli

1 egg

Milk

Italian Bread Crumbs

Oil for Deep Frying

Red Pasta Sauce

Some recipes call for frozen ravioli, but I seem to get better results if they’re thawed.

Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees.

Create an egg wash with the egg and milk

Dip ravioli in the egg wash.

Coat ravioli with Italian bread crumbs.

Deep fry ravioli several at a time until golden, about 5 minutes.

Serve with spaghetti sauce.

Preheat your oven to 425 to 450.

Beer Flavored Crust

Take your favorite crust mix such as “Pizza Quick” crust. However, substitute flat beer in place of the water. It’s best if you can have the open beer sit in the refrigerator overnight. The beer should be a good import or micro-brew that has a nice strong flavor. Don’t use something like Bud or Coors because you might as well just use water. Heat the beer in the microwave until it is very warm (not boiling — you don’t want to kill the yeast) and add to the pizza crust mix. Kneed the dough according to package directions.

Alternate crust: For a St. Louis-style crust, get the beer really hot to kill the yeast. St. Louis-style crust is traditionally yeast-less and will give you a thinner, crisper crust.

Coat the dough ball with olive oil and and set aside in a warm place. Let stand according to package directions.

Spread the dough on a pizza stone or pizza pan. If your results in the past have been a doughy crust, pre-bake the dough only (no toppings yet) for several minutes — maybe 5. You don’t want the dough browned, but just starting to cook.

If you’re feeling brave, you can flip the dough on the pan.

Top the dough with your favorite sauce.

Toppings (Meat)

Take the peperoni, sausage, or whatever and put them on a stack of several paper towels, and cook them in the microwave for a minute or two. The purpose of this step is to get the excess fat out of the peperoni. The end result is that the final pizza will have crisp peperoni and sausage and you won’t have grease all over.

You can add other meat toppings such as browned hamburger, cooked bacon, or whatever you have handy.

Toppings (Cheese)

Provel would be ideal, but it’s difficult to get it outside of Missouri. Mozzarella, fresh Parmesan and/or Romano work fine.

Add fresh herbs, green onions, or whatever else you like.

Cook the pizza according to the package directions, taking care not to go too long if you did a pre-cook of the dough.

3 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and halved

Mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

Cider vinegar

Horseradish

Salt

Pepper

Mash and mix egg yolks with next 6 ingredients to moisten. Fill egg whites with mixture.

3 ripe avocados, peeled, halved, cut lengthwise

6 thick tomato slices

6 thin red onion slices

Lettuce leaves

Place each filled egg half into avocado half. On each serving plate layer lettuce leaves, tomato slice, red onion slice, and inverted, filled half avocado. Top with Russian dressing (below).

Russian dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 TBL catsup

2 tsp cider vinegar

1 TBL mustard

1/2 tsp sweet relish

2 TBL black caviar – use the cheap stuff and don’t forget to rinse it or your dressing will turn brown.

Blend the dressing ingredients together