As a food blogger our mission is to support the local as much as possible. Buy local, dine local. But what about local writers? Few weeks ago I received an email from Karen Peek, the author of Be your own Chef cookbook asking me if I'd be interested in reviewing her book. After she told me more about the book I agreed to review it and received a copy.
I did some reading and learned quite a lot from it. Every recipe comes with tips and substitution idea like
- Rub fingers on stainless steel underneath water to remove garlic smell from hands
- To maintain freshness, wash herbs immediately when you bring them home from the store. Dry off and store wrapped up in paper towels in a ziploc bag in refrigerator
- Store leftover pesto in refrigerator for a few days in sealed airtight container. Top off with a thin layer of olive oil or plastic wrap directly on top. For long term storage, place in the freezer.
- Do not salt mushrooms until after browning them. Salt draws out the moisture from the mushrooms and slows down the cooking process.
- Prevent brown sugar from hardening by storing it with a terracotta disc that has been soaked in water for 15 minutes and dried off. If hardened, place a damp paper towel or apple slice in airtight container for several hours to make soft again.
- Avocados ripen faster when stored with bananas and/or apples
The cook is divided in 11 chapters :
- Spicing it up
- Tongue pleasers
- Breakfast and breads
- More than salads
- Go-withs
- All in one pot
- All in the middle
- Something smells fishy
- All about the meat
- Beyond the border
- Something sweet
Read about Karen on her website Inspired art of cooking and order your own copy. You'll love it too.
Order Be your own Chef
Now, in the theme of the book I picked one recipe and adapted to my own taste.
I have to say this is the first time I made dropped biscuits. I changed here and there the original recipe and here's what I come up with
Dropped biscuits *I appologize for the lack of step by step photos
Ingredients:
2 cups self raising flour4 tbsp shortening 1 cup shredded cheese - I used a blend of sharp Cheddar, Parmesan and Gruyere 1/4 cup light sour cream2 egg whites3 small green onions finely sliced1/2 cup fat free milk
Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a cast iron skillet. (a 8-9 inch skillet is possible) Place everything in a bowl and mix until everything is combined. With a 1/4 measuring cup drop dough balls into the skillet.
Just before baking I sprinkled some grated Parmesan on top. Bake the biscuits for about 25 minutes. Leave them to cool a little bit and enjoy!