Shortbread Cookies

Posted on August 23, 2011 by okieranchwife

I have been fortunate enough to visit Scotland several times. I even served as my husband’s almost native guide there on our honeymoon.  One of the many things I look forward to is the shortbread. It’s a good thing I don’t make these often because I’d be as big as a house. Oh my goodness, I’m feeling some baking coming on!

  • 1 pound Sweet Butter
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 3 cups shifted All Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup White Rice Flour

Cream butter and suagr together. Gradually add flour and mix in a stand mixer.  Roll out on a floured surface to 3/4 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or a small juice glass, cut out circles.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and chill inthe fridge for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Place cookie sheet in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 300 F and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven, until teh cookies are golden.  Serve with tea, coffee, table cream or clotted cream.

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Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Posted on August 23, 2011 by okieranchwife

Another favorite veggie is the sweet potato. I serve these with Thanksgiving dinner and anytime I serve pork chops.

  • 2 large (1 1/2 pounds) Sweet Potatoes, peeled nad large diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
  •  3 tablespoons unsalted Butter
  • 2 tablespoons Milk or Half & Half
  • 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried Sage leaves

Bring water to a boil in a medium soup pot. Add sweet potatoes and salt. Cook until tender about 15 minutes. Drain sweet potatoes and place in mixing bowl of a stand mixer or use a hand mixer. Add butter and milk then mix until mashed and creamy. Add brown sugar and sage. Add Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

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Potato Salad

Posted on August 23, 2011 by okieranchwife

If I were a food ingredient, I would be a potato. The lowly spud has fed generations of people all over the world but you can tart it up and make it something special. This potato salad should be invited to all picnics and family reunions!

  • 1 cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
  • 5 to 6 medium size Potatoes, peeled, cubed and cooked
  • 1 cup Celery, trimmed and chopped
  • 1/2 cup Onion, chopped
  • 2 hard boiled Eggs, chopped

Combine all ingredients and chill in the fridge at least 2 hours before serving.

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Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on August 22, 2011 by okieranchwife

Almost every pub in Ireland has a version of this pie. It is truly “pub grub” and can be made with beef or lamb. I even make it with bison.

  • 2 cups Potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup Parsnips, peeled and sliced
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted Butter
  • 2 tablespoons fresh Parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Half & Half
  • 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
  • 1 cup Onion, minced
  • 2 pounds ground Beef, Bison or Lamb (your choice)
  • 3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour or Wondra
  • 1 teaspoon dried Thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried Sage
  • 3/4 to 1 cup Beef Stock

Bring the water to a boil and add potatoes and parsnips. Reduce heat and cook until potatoes and parsnips are fork tender about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Mash potatoes and parsnips in a stand blender or process through a ricer or food mill. Add salt and pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of parsley and the Half & Half. Mix together with a spoon and set aside.

Heat the EVOO in saute pan over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until tender but not browned about 4 minutes. Add meat and cook. Stir occasionally and be certain to break up large lumps of meat. Cook until all meat is browned. Drain off any fat. Return meat mixture to skillet

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir flour into the meat and cook until flour is golden brown about 2 minutes. Stir in thyme, sage, salt and pepper to taste, rest of parsley. Cook about 3 minutes, then stir in broth. Stir and cook until the meat mixture has thicken like a gravy about 4 minutes. Pour the meat mixture into a 9″ deep dish pie pan. Melt the remaining butter. Spread the mash mixture over the meat mixture. If you have one you can use a pastry piping bag to pipe the mash mixture. I just use a silicone spatula. Drizzle the melted butter over top of the mash.

Bake until the mash is golden brown about 35 minutes.

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Potato Cheese Soup

Posted on August 22, 2011 by okieranchwife

This soup is one of my very first recipes I collected in the early 1980’s. I started using Neufchatel Cheese instead of regular cream cheese that was used, but it’s still great comfort food.

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted Butter
  • 1 large clove Garlic, peeled and pressed
  • 1 large Onion, coarse chopped
  • 2 cups Potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large Carrot, peeled and shredded
  • 2 cups low sodium Chicken Broth or Home made
  • 1 cup Skim Milk (or regular if desired)
  • 4 ozs Neufchatel Cheese
  • 1 teaspoon dried Dill Weed
  • 1/4 teaspoon Red Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups grated yellow Smoked Cheddar
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Fresh Parsley or Chives to garnish

Over medium heat, melt butter and saute garlic and onion until lightly browned in a medium size soup pot about 5 to 7 minutes.  Add potatoes, carrots and chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in milk and spices. Simmer for 5 minutes.  Pour in a blender or food processor and puree.  Return to soup to pot and add cheese. Allow cheese to melt and serve. Garnish with parsley or chives.

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Country Sourdough Bread

Posted on August 22, 2011 by okieranchwife

This sourdough loaf goes with any of the soup or stew recipes here on Red Dirt Cooking. I think you’ll like how easy and good this is. The commercial yeast is included in this recipe to speed up the rising process.

  • 1 teaspoon Yeast
  • 1 tablespoon Honey
  • 1 1/2 cups warm Water
  • 1 teaspoon Sea Salt or Kosher
  • 1 cup Sourdough Starter (see recipe listed under the bread category)
  • 3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • About 3 cups Bread Flour

Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water for 10 minutes. Stir in salt, starter, whole wheat flour and 1 cup bread flour.  Then add enough bread flour to make a stiff dough. Turn dough out on a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and satiny.

Oil a large plastic or cermanic bowl and place dough in. Turn dough to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot. Let dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.  Punch down the dough. Let it rise for 1 hour and punch down.

Divide dough in half and shape into 2 loaves. Place on a greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Take off the plastic and bake loaves for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

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Wild Rice and Vegetable Soup

Posted on August 21, 2011 by okieranchwife

What’s better than a one pot meal? Not much in my opinion. Pair with bread. Yummy!

  • 4 quarts Vegetable Stock, store bought or home made
  • 3 large cloves Garlic, peeled and pressed
  • 1/4 cup sun dried Tomatoes, snipped into small pieces. Don’t use the kind packed in oil
  • 2 large Carrots, peeled and grated
  • 1 medium Parsnip, peeled and diced
  • 1 cup Celery, thin sliced
  • 1 cup fresh Green Beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 2 Leeks, white parts only, washed throughly and thin sliced
  • 2 cups Green Cabbage, shredded
  • 1 cup Wild Rice
  • 1 cup Lentils, rinsed and picked over
  • 4 new Red Potatoes, quartered
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 cup frozen Green Peas
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese for garnish

In a large soup pot, bring the stock to boil. Then reduce heat to simmer. Add garlic and tomatoes. Bring soup up to a steady high simmer.  Add ingredients in this order: carrots, parsnip, celery, green beans, leeks, and cabbage. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Add rice, lentils and potatoes and simmer for 35 minutes.  Don’t let the soup get too thick. If it does keep it covered. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add green peas. Cook only til soup comes back to a simmer. Serve with cheese on the side as garnish.

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Basil Pesto

Posted on August 21, 2011 by okieranchwife

Basil is one of my favorite herbs. It needs almost no attention. To keep new leaves sprouting be certain to snip off the seed heads that form. Otherwise the energy of the plant will go to make seeds rather than pushing new leaves.

This pesto is excellent on crusty Italian Bread, tossed with pasta or as a garnish on vegetable soups. If you plan to freeze it though, leave out the cheese and add in when you thaw it.

  • 1 cup fresh Basil leaves, firmly packed
  • 1/2 cup fresh Parsley, destemmed
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese 
  • 1/4 cup Pine Nuts
  • 1 large clove Garlic, peeled and pressed
  • 1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
  • 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

In a blender or food processor with a blade, combine basil, parsley,cheese, nuts, garlic and salt. Blitz until a paste forms. Scrap the sides of the bowl or blender with mix again. Add EVOO gradually to the consistency of creamy butter.

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Chili Crusted Tip Roast

Posted on August 21, 2011 by okieranchwife

This dry rub roast recipe is from Terry Stuart Forst. She is the President of the Oklahoma Cattleman’s Association and it has been handed down in her family. This is done with a beef tri-tip roast but should work equally well with bison.  This dish along with loaded mash potatoes was today’s Sunday lunch.

  • 1 Beef, tri-tip Roast, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Dry Rub:

  • 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Combined dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Coat all surfaces of the roast. Place a roasting rack in a roasting pan.  Don’t add water or cover. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes for medium raw; 40 to 45 minutes for medium.

Remove roast from the oven when a meat thermometer reads 135 F for medium rare and 150 F for medium.  Place roast on a carving board and tent aluminium foil over it. Let stand for 15 minutes to rest. Carve across the grain in thin slices.

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Black Bean and Corn Dip

Posted on August 21, 2011 by okieranchwife

This is another easy snack for hungry sports fans.  For a special treat, serve with warmed thin style tortilla chips or even flatbread.

  • 1 can (15 ozs) Black Beans, rinsed
  • 1 can (15 oz) White Corn, drained
  • 3 medium Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Sweet Green Pepper, seeded and chopped (for a little heat use Pablano Peppers)
  • 1/3 cup Cilantro, destemmed and chopped
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped
  • 1 packet Zesty Italian, Good Seasons dry mix
  • 1 tablespoon Water
  • 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
  • 1/4 cup White Vinegar

Mix all ingredients together. Let chill in fridge overnight to marry all of the flavors. Serve with chips.

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