Alpha’s Egg Salad

Most egg salad recipes call for raw onion.

I hate raw onion.

So this is my recipe, to my tastes. Celery to provide a little crunch, dill pickles for flavor. Garlic dill pickles are especially nice.

6 hard boiled eggs, large
1 large stalk celery
1-2 dill pickles (or 4-6 slices of the ‘stacker’ sandwich dill pickles)
Mayo to taste (start with a heaping spoonful)

Chop your eggs, yolk and all, and finely dice the celery and pickles. You may use relish instead of pickles if you wish. Put everything together and stir until the yolks blend into the mayo and it’s well mixed. Chill until serving.

This salad is very good on crackers. A little bland, but you can always add additional seasoning if you want.

Sourdough Meat-and-Potato Rolls

One of my friends online once said I could make anything into either bread or soup and asked if I’d ever make venison bread.

The idea stuck with me, hence this recipe. I adapted it from a sourdough potato roll recipe and used some stock I’d made myself that’s pretty strong- I cooked the venison for three days in a slow cooker before straining. If you try this yourself, you might not get the sheer meatiness I did unless you either make your own stock or concentrate some down. If you do boil down some store-bought stock, watch the salt! Cut the salt in the recipe by half or you might really overdo it.

100 g (1/2 cup) fed sourdough starter, 100 percent hydration.

1 cup strong stock, divided

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup instant potato flakes

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (adjust to suit the saltiness of the stock you’re using)

450-500 g (about 3 1/2-4 cups) all-purpose flour

1 tsp crushed dried rosemary

1 1/2 tsp melted butter

Heat up 1/2 cup of the stock and mix the potato flakes into it. Let stand a few minutes to let it hydrate.

Mix the potatoes, the starter, the remaining stock (lukewarm or slightly warm), the softened butter, the sugar, the egg, and the salt with the flour in a bowl. Once it comes together, knead either with a dough hook or by hand until it’s soft and springy and just slightly sticky but cleans the side of the bowl if using the hook. If the dough is too wet, add flour a spoonful at a time. If it’s crumbly, add a little more warm stock or water.

Form into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let rise 4 hours.

If you plan to bake them the same day, let it rise 4 more hours. If not, place in the fridge to hold for up to 3 days. When you take it out, let it come to room temperature and then rise another hour or two after that, until it’s puffy.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board. Gently deflate and fold into thirds (like a letter) twice, first one way and then turn sideways to do it again. Divide into sixteen roughly equal pieces and roll into balls to make buns. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let rise two more hours until they are once again soft and puffy. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Let cool a few minutes on the sheet, then remove to a rack.

Brush the tops with melted butter while they’re still warm. Eat warm or wrap in plastic to keep for later. May be frozen if you’re not going to finish them off in two or three days.

Sourdough Milk Bread (Tangzhong)

So, this is not the easiest bread, but the results were amazing- sweet, soft, toasts like a dream, with only the faintest sourdough aftertaste. Worth the work.

This is adapted from the Japanese milk bread recipe on the King Arthur flour website: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-recipe A tangzhong is a pre-cooked mix of liquid and flour that gelatinizes the starch to make the bread softer.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong
3 Tbs water
3 Tbs milk, whole preferred
2 Tbs bread flour

Dough
Tangzhong
100 g sourdough starter, 100 percent hydration (equal flour and water in starter)
350-400 g bread flour (about 3 cups- start with 350 g and add a little at a time when kneading)
2 Tbs nonfat dry milk
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 c milk, whole preferred
1 large egg
4 Tbs butter, melted

To make the tangzhong, combine the ingredients in a small, heavy-bottomed pan over low heat. Whisk to break up the lumps and make it smooth, then continue whisking while it cooks until the mixture thickens and the whisk leaves lines across the bottom of the pan as you stir. Remove from pan to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

Once the tangzhong is cool, combine it with all the other ingredients and mix. I recommend a stand mixer with a dough hook, as kneading this bread by hand would take a long time. Watch the dough- it should still be slightly tacky but easily come off hands or the sides of your bowl when it’s come together. If it’s wetter than that, add a little flour a spoonful at a time. Knead it until it’s smooth and stretchy, about 15 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and then place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and leave to rise until soft and puffy, about 4-6 hours. It may not necessarily double.

Divide the risen dough into four roughly equal pieces. Stretch each piece into a 5″ x 8″ rectangle, then fold the short ends in towards the middle in thirds, like folding a letter. Flatten the resulting piece again into a 3″ x 9″ rectangle, then roll up from one of the short ends. Place the rolled dough seam-side down in a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan that’s been lightly oiled. Do this to all four pieces, making a loaf with four bumps across the top. Cover and let rise until the dough starts to peek above the top of the loaf pan, another 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush top of dough with milk for a golden crust. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer in the center of the loaf reads 190 degrees F.

Place on rack in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to rack to finish cooling completely.

Magic Cookie Bars

This recipe was pulled from watching B. Dylan Hollis’s TikTok full of recipes. I am going off of a combination of what he said and my own experience.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, salted (I chose salted because there’s no other salt in this recipe)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about one sleeve of crackers- 9 sheets, crushed)
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup coconut flake (recommend unsweetened unless you really like sugar)
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans shown)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if using a glass pan like shown). Place butter in pan and place in oven just until the butter melts. Remove from oven.

Into the hot pan w/ melted butter, spread each of the remaining ingredients in as even layers as you can. First the graham cracker crumbs, then the milk, the chocolate, the coconut, and finally the nuts.

Return the pan to the oven and bake for 27-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool completely in pan. Cut with a sharp knife into bars.

The bars are sweet and slightly chewy. I didn’t taste the salt from the butter- if sodium is a concern, you could probably use unsalted.

Rat Bait

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup creamy peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined well. Cover bowl and chill 1 hour in fridge. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Scoop out tablespoon sized portions and form into balls, place on lined baking sheet. Chill in fridge or freezer until set hard. Transfer to an airtight container to store in fridge or freezer.

A delicious and fairly simple snack. It does not roll into balls- you have to compress it together like packing sand. Once set up, however, it is nice and firm, like a little granola ball.

Anglo-Saxon Oatcakes

Anglo-Saxon Oatcakes

I shamelessly stole this recipe from Max Miller’s Tasting History on YouTube, though with some adjustments to get more of the good toasty oat flavor without risking scorching them in a hot pan.

You’ll need a scale to weigh ingredients to follow this recipe. My trusty spring scale was more than good enough, and they’re cheap and easy to find among other kitchen implements.

250 grams oats (old-fashioned oats pictured)

1/2 cup oat or wheat flour (I couldn’t find oat flour. If you have a really good food processor, you can grind up oats in it to make oat flour, but you can skip all that and just use wheat flour.)

1 1/2 sticks (6 oz) of butter, melted

50 grams dried fruit, chopped (apples, apricots, cherries, etc) (Cherries pictured- weigh first, then chop.)

6 tablespoons (3 oz or 126 grams) honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 180 degrees C).

Measure out your oats and pour them into a shallow pan. Gently cook over medium heat on the stovetop, stirring from time to time to keep them from burning. You want the oats to look lightly golden in color and smell oaty and slightly nutty.

Take the toasted oats and mix with the dried fruit, the salt, and the cinnamon. Pour in the honey and the butter and mix some more, then finally add the flour and mix just enough to incorporate.

With your hands, shape flat patties about 3 inches across and place on a lined baking sheet. This is a very sticky, messy task, especially tricky with warm oats as the butter and honey will be all runny from the warmth. Just get them in the right shape on your pan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until they are brown at the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

The finished oatcakes are delicious, just a little sweet from the honey and dried fruit, like the world’s best homemade granola bars. I would take these camping. I would eat them for breakfast any day. I shall probably eat them for breakfast tomorrow.

Overnight Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

This is a recipe that my mom has made good use of over the years, and so now I’m making it. It’s a good way to have a fancy breakfast waiting for the morning- the overnight rise in the fridge guarantees you’ll have delicious food just by putting something in the oven. You will need TWO 13×9 pans for this recipe, as it makes 24 rolls.

The apples were an experiment- they worked, but the extra juice thinned out the caramel a little bit. People enjoyed the rolls, but I think I liked the pecans better.

Dough:

2 packages (4 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 tsp baking powder

1 egg

5-6 cups all purpose flour

Filling:

4 Tbsp butter, softened or melted

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp ground cinnamon

Glaze:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 Tbs light corn syrup

1/2 cup pecan halves (or about 1 apple, thinly sliced, or similar topping)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg, and 2-3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in the remaining flour to make a shaggy dough.

Turn the dough out on a well-floured board, knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn greased side up. Cover, let rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours.

Heat butter and brown sugar for the glaze together until melted. Remove from heat- stir in corn syrup. Divide mixture between two greased pans and spread across bottom. Add pecans or other toppings.

Punch down the risen dough. Divide in half.

Roll first half into a large rectangle. Brush with half the filling butter; sprinkle with half the sugar and cinnamon mix. Roll into a cylinder. Cut into twelfths. Place each section in the pan on top of the caramel glaze.

Repeat with other half of the dough, placing in the second pan.

Cover both pans with foil. Let rise overnight in the fridge.

To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove foil from pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. When tops are golden brown, remove and turn pan over onto a foil covered serving tray.

Lift pan off your glorious, caramel covered rolls. Best served warm.

Honey Spice Cookies

I developed this recipe at a time when my mom was avoiding refined sugars but still eating carbs. So, it’s all honey and whole wheat and nuts and spices. These cookies are best eaten the day after they’re baked- the spices need time to really perfume the whole cookie. Fresh from the oven, they’re kind of disappointing. Your patience will be rewarded, though!

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 sticks of butter (1 cup), softened
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 cups nuts (chopped walnuts or pecans, or slivered almonds- shown with almonds)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Beat the butter and honey together until fully combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the vanilla and beat in.

Combine all the dry ingredients. Add to the batter a third at a time. When fully mixed, add and fold in the nuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the edges are golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a closed container.

Goes very well with tea, coffee, and vanilla bean ice cream.

Art’s Tomato Soup

This recipe was developed by my dad originally, and he usually prepares it in BULK for dinners and such. As such, I had to figure out how to scale this back down for my family of four.

The key to this soup is to double the usual amount of carrot in the mirepoix mix, which moderates the acidic bite of the tomatoes. You get a tomato soup that even people who don’t much care for tomatoes (like myself, sadly) can enjoy.

Grilled cheese sandwiches optional.

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion

1 stalk celery

2 medium-large carrots

2 Tbs butter or oil

pinch of salt

4 14.5 oz cans of tomatoes, or 2 28 oz cans. Whole, diced, or crushed, but not sauce or paste

1 Tbs dried basil

Chop the vegetables. Saute veggies in the bottom of a pot with the fat and salt over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add all the tomatoes and basil. Bring up just to a boil, then turn down the heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Blend with a blender. Soup may be kept at a simmer until time to serve.

Sweet and Sauerkraut

This is quite sweet and should be paired with a meat and/or earthy grains to balance it. It’s quite good and doesn’t have the harsh zing of sauerkraut straight from a jar.

1/2 an onion, diced

5 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces

14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)

14.5 oz can of sauerkraut, or 1 2/3 cup of sauerkraut from a jar or bag (with juices)

3/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the onion and bacon over medium high heat until the bacon renders out (but does not need to be crisp). Drain the fat.

Combine the bacon and onion with the remaining ingredients in a 13×9 dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, until the juices are cooked off and the top begins to caramelize.

Serve warm.