West Haven Days, June 24, 2011

Mark had to take care of a funeral for our Ward.  So, I asked Jesse to come with at the last minute.  And he was able to.  So glad to have been able to spend the day with him.  And we won 1st place!  That was pretty cool.

Mark took a picture of us before we left.  Got to love the shirts.  The best part about the shirts, they change color in the sun.  Jesse really liked that idea.  (He could hardly wait to wear the apron.  LOL)

We made Garlic Herb roll, Cheese stuffed pork loin, and Marble cheesecake.

I forgot to take a picture of the rolls before they got judged.  They turned out really good.  And the smell is just heavenly!  The recipe for these are already on this blog.

The Cheesecake looked so nice.  It was not cooled off as much as I would have liked.  Next time we need to use dry ice.  Recipe for this is already on the blog.

Here is the roast.  I think it looks amazing.  It tastes pretty good too!  The recipe for this is already on the blog also.  I know we need to come up with some new ones to try.  But, I wanted to get a 1st place before we started trying some new stuff.  We want to cook in the World Cook-off again next year.  That is so much fun!  Enjoyed cooking with Jesse.  Hopefully he will come and do that with me again sometime.

We packed up and headed for home.  Megan had a Gymnastic performance that afternoon.  We made it just in time for that.  She was very excited that we made it also.

It was had to get a good picture.  They are always moving...imagine that.

They did a great job.  Megan is on the bottom left.  That is a lot of girls to have on you.

Eagle Mountain Cook-off June 3, 2011

Another cook-off.  This was out to Eagle Mountain, Pony Express days.  The judging was a little weird I thought.  They judged you by the points, and then threw them out, and the judges just picked which ones they liked the best.  Weird judging.  We came in 2nd place.  But, I would have really liked to see the points for the judging. 
Anyway we fixed, Cheese stuffed pork Loin, Orange rolls, Chocolate swirl cheesecake.

Name of Recipe:  Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Category:  Main Dish

Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  15      Bottom:  12 - 15   

Number of Servings:  6 – 8 

2-4 pound Pork Tenderloin

Filling:

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

10 oz. fresh spinach

4 oz. sun-dried tomatoes

4 oz. Feta cheese

4 oz. Cream cheese

½ cup Sour cream

A couple dashes of Olive oil

Saute the garlic and spinach in the olive until the spinach is wilted.  The chop up the spinach so it is in smaller pieces. 

Mix together with the other filling ingredients.

Prepare the pork by making a cut lengthwise down the center of the meat and about 2/3 of the way through it.  Push meat flat and, starting from the deepest part of the center cut, make a 1 inch horizontal cut toward each side running the length of the meat.  Push meat flat again.  Cover with wax paper, and pound it flat a little bit (to make the thickness a little more even.)

Spread the stuffing on the meat, and roll it up.  Secure it with butchers string.  Make in the Dutch oven for about 1 hour, or until it reaches 160̊- 165̊.  Let rest for about 10 minutes before cutting.

I am preparing to make the Sweet rolls.

Name of Recipe:  Orange/Raspberry Blossoms

Category:  Breads

Dutch Oven Size:  14”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  17    Bottom:  12

Ingredients:

4 – 6 cups flour

4 ½ teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 yeast cakes

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup lukewarm water

3 eggs, whipped with a fork

Heat Milk until butter melts, cook milk to lukewarm.  Mix up dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients.  Mix well, add more flour while kneading the bread.  Knead for about 5 – 8 minutes.  Cover with plastic for about 30 minutes.  

Roll out on the floured surface to about ½ inch thick (to make a jelly roll). 

Orange mixture:

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ cup melted butter

3 tablespoons orange juice

Zest of 1 large orange

Your favorite Raspberry jam

Mix together, and spread on the rolled out dough, roll up into a jelly roll.  You can either cut it up into sections like you would for a cinnamon roll or put the roll into a round Dutch Oven and cut into the roll and twist the cut pieces to create a the ‘blossoms’.

Glaze:

1 cup powder sugar

¼ cup melted butter

2 tablespoons orange juice

Mix together well, put into a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze it onto the orange blossoms.  (Let the rolls cool before adding the glaze.)

We must have forgotten to get a picture of the Cheese cake.    We had lots of fun, seeing friends again.  And of course cooking together and spending time together.  That is the best part.

Dutch Oven World Cook-off, March 18, 2011

We made it to the World cook-off again this year.  We are just excited to be here.  It is just plain fun!!  We came on Thursday and walked around, visited with old friends, took a few pictures.  then we cooked on Friday. 
We cooked Beef Wellington, Lemon tart, Garlic Herb rolls.  We thought it was a good menu, and everything turned out good.  And the best part, is that we had fun doing it.

This was the Lemon Tart.  We have had lots of compliments on this tart.  We got a garnish book, so are garnish was pretty cool looking.  What fun we have experimenting with this stuff.

Name of Recipe:  Lemon Tart

Category:  Dessert

Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  12-14      Bottom: 8

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups flour                                         2/3 cup powered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt                                 1 cup cold unsalted butter

Lemon Filling:

10 ounces cream cheese, room temp.

1 cup sugar                                         1 cup fresh lemon juice

4 eggs                                                          2 Tablespoons grated lemon zest

Topping:

2 cups heavy whipping cream                4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

Crust:  Mix the flour, powered sugar, salt and cold butter until it starts to come together and form clumps.  Place in a deep 12” Dutch Oven lid, press the pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Pierce the bottom of the crust with the tines of a fork.  (This will prevent the pastry crust from puffing up while it bakes.  Cover and place in cooler for about 15 minutes.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until it starts to brown.

Filling:  Mix the cream cheese and sugar together, and mix well.  Add the eggs 1 at a time.  Add the lemon juice and mix well.  Pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake about 25-30 minutes or until done.  

Topping:  Whip the cream and powdered sugar until it forms peaks.  Put the whipped cream in a pastry bag and pipe the topping onto the tart. 

Garnish as desired.

These are the Garlic Herb rolls.  They don't look to exciting....but, they smell so good, and have a great flavor to them.  And they are real easy to make.

Name of Recipe:  Garlic-Herb Rolls

Category:  Breads

Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  12-14    Bottom:  8

Ingredients:

4 – 4 ½ cups flour                     ¾ teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons sugar                    ¾ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

2 tablespoons SAF yeast              ¾ cup milk

2 teaspoons dried basil               ½ cup water

1 ¾ teaspoons dill weed             ¼ cup butter, cubed

1 ½ teaspoons salt                     1 egg

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine 1 ½ cup flour, sugar, yeast and seasonings.  In a small Dutch oven, heat the milk, water and cubed butter until it is warm.  Add the dry ingredients; beat just until moistened.  Add egg; beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 – 6 minutes.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough up and form into rolls.  Put them into the prepared 12” Dutch Oven.  Cook for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Brush with butter, if desired after they are cooked. 

Garnish as desired.

This is the Beef Wellington.  It is amazing to the taste.  But really hard to make it brown on the outside, and not overcook the meat on the inside.  And one of the roses feel off when it was cooking...this might be easier to cook in the oven in the house.

Name of Recipe:  Beef Wellington

Category:  Main Dish

Dutch Oven Size:  Oblong  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  15      Bottom:  12 - 15   

Number of Servings:  6 – 8

Ingredients:

For the Duxelles:

3 pints (1 ½ pounds) white button mushrooms                   2 Tablespoons butter

2 shallots, peeled and chopped                       2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped       2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt & fresh ground pepper

For the beef:

2 - 3 pound beef, top Sirloin roast                  

1 pound puff pastry sheets

Extra virgin olive oil                                       2 large eggs, beaten

Sea salt & fresh ground pepper                       ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

12 thin slices prosciutto                                  Minced chives, for garnish

6 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only                 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Flour, for rolling out puff pastry

Directions:

To make the Duxelles:  Chop finely - mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme.  Add butter and olive oil to a large cast iron skillet and cook for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

To prepare the beef:  Tie the roast in 4 places so it holds the shape while cooking.  Drizzles with olive oil, then season with salt and paper and sear all over, including the ends, in a hot cast iron skillet coated with olive oil, about 2-3 minutes. 

Set out the prosciutto on a sheet of plastic wrap.  Layer the prosciutto so it forms a rectangle that is big enough to encompass the entire roast.  Then cover the prosciutto with a thin layer of duxelles.  Season the surface of the duxeles with salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves.  When the beef is seared, remove from heat, cut off twine and smear lightly all over with Dijon mustard.  Allow to cool slightly, then roll up in the duxelles covered prosciutto, tuck the plastic wrap around it completely.  Set in the cooler for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface to about 1/4 “ thick.  Set the beef I in the center and wrap it up, brushing with egg wash to seal.  Trim ends if necessary then brush with egg wash and seal up the ends.  Brush the top and sides with the egg wash, sprinkle the course salt on top.  Make a couple of slits on the top to create vents.  Bake for about 40 – 45 minutes or until desired temperature.

Garnish as desired.

We came in I think it was 7th place out of the 11 teams that day cooking.  You have to be in the 5 to advance onto the final day.  We went the next day to see the final day of cooking.  Our friends the Johnson's won!  They cooked some amazing dishes.

Yukon Rush Dutch Oven Cook-off, February 19, 2011

We decided to try something new this time.  To see if we could get out of the rut of losing.  Didn't work.  Out of 10 teams, we came in 8th.  Not good.  I thought our food looked really good, and tasted really good (to us).  Our Menu was:  Herb crusted Ham, Three Cheese Bread, Honey-Nut Cheesecake. 
I went shopping for all the food the day before, Mark was not feeling well on Friday.  Usually we go shopping together for the food. 
We packed up the truck after I got done with all the shopping and packed all the food in the coolers.  We needed to leave really early in the morning.  And who wanted to be up packing the truck at 5 am?  I felt bad for Mark not feeling to well.
Saturday morning we left the house at 6 am.  So, we could be one of the 1st ones there, to get a good cooking spot.  I was beginning to not feel so well that morning, starting to come down with the flue that Mark was getting over with.  (Wish he would not have shared that with me....LOL)
We got all set up, had our cooks meeting and started cooking at 8:30 am.  All our food is due at 1:30 pm.  This had to be our easiest menu ever...maybe why we didn't get higher up on the winners list....
These are pictures of what we cooked.

Herb crusted Ham

Here is the recipe for this:

Name of Recipe:  Spice-Rubbed Ham with Apple-Maple Sauce

Category:  Main Dish

Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  15      Bottom:  12 - 15   

Number of Servings:  10-15

Ham:

6 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 6-8 pound cooked ham (shank or butt portion)

½ cup Dijon mustard

¼ cup apple cider

¼ cup pure maple syrup

Salt

Black pepper

Combine brown sugar, garlic and cumin.  Score ham by making diagonal cuts in a diamond pattern.  Sprinkle ham evenly with sugar mixture, tub in with your fingers.  Place ham in the Dutch Oven.

Cook for about 1 ½ to 2 hours or until thermometer reaches 130̊ - 140̊ . 

Sauce:

Stir together mustard, apple cider and maple syrup.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Pass the sauce with ham. 

Garnish as desired.

 

Honey-Nut Cheesecake

Here is the recipe for this one.

Name of Recipe: Honey-Nut Cheesecake

Category:  Dessert

Dutch Oven Size:  10” pans  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  12-14      Bottom: 8

Ingredients:

¾ cup ground pecans                 1 8-oz. container mascarpone cheese, softened

3 Tablespoon sugar                    3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened

12 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

½ cup melted butter                   1 cup honey

3 Tablespoons flour                    ¼ cup milk

3 eggs                                                2 teaspoons lemon zest

Unfold the phyllo dough; remove 1 sheet at a time.  Brush the dough with the melted butter.  Place another sheet of phyllo on the first, rotating it slightly to stagger the corners.  Brush with more butter and repeat the process with the remaining phyllo sheets.

Ease the phyllo dough into a prepared 10” Dutch Oven.  Pleating as necessary.  Sprinkle nut mixture on phyllo in pan.

Filling:

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, honey, and flour.  Beat until smooth.  Beat in the milk, eggs and lemon peel.

Pour filling into crust.

Bake for about 50 – 60 minutes or until the center appears set when you gently shake it. 

Garnish as desired.

 

Three Cheese Bread

Here is the recipe for this one.

Name of Recipe: 3 Cheese Bread

Category:  Bread

Dutch Oven Size:  12”  Cooking Temp:  350 ̊

Number of Charcoal:  Top:  15-18      Bottom:  8

Starter:

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons yeast

1 cup flour

To create the starter, combine the water and yeast in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir to dissolve the yeast fully.  Add the flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated.  Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and ferment the starter at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Dough:

¾ cup warm water                               4 ¾ cups flour

3 Tablespoons honey                           ½ cup ½ inch cubes Romano cheese

4 teaspoons yeast                                ½ cup ½ inch cubes Parmesan cheese

¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

1 Tablespoon salt                                 ½ cup ½ inch cubes Asiago cheese

For the Dough, combine the water, honey and yeast in bowl.  Stir to dissolve the yeast fully.  Add the shortening, flour, salt, cheeses and fermented starter.  Mix until the dough is fully developed.  Cover and let raise for 30 minutes.

Form the dough into 2 loaves, (put one in the frig for cooking later or you can freeze it also.) cover and let it set for 30 minutes. 

Score the loaf with a sharp knife, spray with water and bake for about 30 – 40 minutes.  Or until the middle of the loaf reaches 190̊ - 200̊. 

Garlic butter:

1 cup soft butter                                  ¼ teaspoon oregano

1 Tablespoon minced garlic                   ¼ teaspoon basil

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese             Dash of pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)       Dash of Salt

¼ teaspoon thyme                               ¼ teaspoon paprika

Mix together and chill.  Serve with bread.  Garnish as desired.

Me in our booth.

It was so cold that day, it rained most of the morning, then it started to snow.  And not feeling very good, it just felt like we where chilled to the bone.  

Our food looks really good, and we liked it.  Just need to try some other recipes, to find out what the judges like.  There was a lot of pork, cooked.  Mark is not a fan of pork, we have been trying to stay away from it...but, we might have to give it a try. 

These are the winners, they cooked right next to us. 

Bill & Tori Thayn, won 1st place.  They cooked, Pepperoni Pizza Bread with 2 dipping sauces, Chili-rubbed Pork with Cherry Glaze and Almond Couscous, Banana Cream Cheesecake.

Another fun day spent with the love of my life!  Good memories...

How we got started in the Dutch Oven cook-offs

We decided thatt we needed to do something, maybe by keeping track of what we cooked at each contest, and what went good or bad with the food we made...we might start winning again.
Let me go back a couple of years and tell how we got started in this.  We had a ward dinner, that was Dutch Oven.  They needed more Dutch Ovens to cook in, we all brought over our Dutch Ovens and they wouldn't even use our ovens, they were dirty and stinky.  So, I spent the day cleaning our ovens enough that they would use them.  Then I went home and recleaned our ovens, so they shined.  Now whenever we go anywhere with our ovens, they are the best looking ovens around.  We have pride in our ovens now. 

Pictures taken from Mesquite Cook-off















I decided that we needed to get involved in Dutch Oven cooking so could do things together.  With church callings and work, seems like we never had any time to do things together.  I signed us up to be helpers at the Dutch Oven World Cook-offs in 2009.  It was a blast!  And we thought it looked like so much fun, we wanted to cook in it the next year, in 2010.  So in 2009 I entered us in every cook-off around, and we won just about every cook-off we entered.  We had qualified our selfs to cooking in the Dutch Oven World Cook-offs for 2010.  We didn't expect to win anything, we were just thrilled to be there.  It was a very fun experience. 
Then in 2010, our luck for winning was going downhill fast.  We really had a hard time qualifing to cooking in the World Cook-off's.  Seems like we were always in the top 3, just could not make the 1st place.  We finally made 1st place at the Utah County Cook-off.  So we are cooking in the World's again this year.  Only by the skin of our teeth.
We have so much fun cooking together in these cook-off's.  We have made new friends and enjoy renewing friendships at each cook-off or DOG (Dutch Oven Gathering). 
The packing up of the truck and unpacking and packing it back up after the cook-off and then unpacking it when we get home...that part is not the funnest.  We are thinking about getting a trailer to pack up and leave everything in.  That would be nice, but we need to save up some money to do that.  Maybe some day...
The best part is just spending time with Mark, cooking and spending time together.