Whoot!

Two ladies came by this morning and

planted this in my garden!

Plus I got a $15 gift certificate from Lowe's.

Now, I need to go work my ass off 

to clean up the garden and manicure the beds.

Rosie Makes Sticky Buns.

I love a good sticky bun for breakfast

and I have the perfect recipe for a cinnamon breakfast bun.
Nothing better than a sticky bun and a good cup of coffee
for a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast.

Rosie's Sticky Buns

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 pkg. yeast

2 eggs, room temperature

4 cups flour

1 tsp Kosher salt

Filling

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar 

1 TB cinnamon

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup dates

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Topping

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup honey

Pour melted butter into mixer bowl and stir in sugar,
then milk and cream.
Sprinkle yeast over top and beat 3 minutes.
Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Gradually beat in flour and salt,
scraping down bowl as necessary.
Knead dough by machine
or by hand on a lightly floured surface
until smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes.
Place in a buttered bowl, cover,
and set in a warm place until dough has doubled.



When dough has doubled,
turn onto lightly floured surface and
roll into a 9 x 18 inch rectangle.
Spread dough evenly with softened stick of butter,
sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon,
then add the raisins, dates, and chopped pecans.
Roll dough into an 18-inch long roll.
Cut into 18 slices.

 Butter a 10 1/2 x 15 1/2 inch baking dish
and pour the mixed topping ingredients evenly
over bottom of dish.

Place slices in rows of 3 across over the topping mixture.

Cover and set dough in warm place until doubled.

Heat oven to 350°.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until buns are golden brown.
Immediately invert onto baking sheet,
leaving the pan in place for 15 minutes
so the syrup can drain onto buns.

Dough ingredients:

Butter, sugar, yeast, cream and skim milk,

 eggs, flour, and sugar.

Knead until you have a nice, soft, pliable dough.

Let it rise.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Gather into a ball.

Roll into 9 x 18 inch rectangle.

Spread a stick of unsalted butter over the dough.

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Top with chopped pecans, raisins, and dates.

And roll it up.

While the oven was heating up,

I let the 1/2 stick of butter for the topping melt in the pan.

Brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, and honey.

Mix all together.

Place slices in pan and ...

...  and let rise.

Bake about 25 minutes, until lightly browned.

Cover, invert, and flip.

Heavenly.

Ahhh... Love Is In The Air.

And now you know.

The Hawthornes Make Pastrami.

Mr. Hawthorne got a hankerin' for pastrami -

not the color-/chemical-infused store-bought stuff -

but a homemade brined, rubbed, and smoked pastrami.

I started out with my pickling mix.

Pickling Spice Mix

2 TB mixed whole peppercorns
2 TB mustard seeds

2 TB coriander seeds

2 TB hot red pepper flakes

4 dried bay leaves

1 TB ground mace

1 TB ground ginger

3 small cinnamon sticks

1 TB whole cloves

2 TB allspice berries

Combine peppercorns, coriander seeds, and allspice berries

in dry pan over medium heat, swirling until fragrant,

being careful not to burn.

Crack all peppers, seeds, and berries

in mortar and pestle.

Add in other ingredients.

Mix well and store in refrigerator.

Let's get ready for the BRINE.

3/4 cups Kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp pink salt

(I used Murray River Salt Flakes,

a product of Australia

which my AussieFriendKerry sent me.)

5 cloves garlic
2 TB pickling spice mix, ground

In a pot big enough to hold a 5-pound beef brisket,

combine 1 gallon water with Kosher salt,

 sugar, pink salt, garlic, and 2 TB pickling spice.

Bring to a simmer, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved.

Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature,

then refrigerate until chilled.

Place brisket in brine and keep submerged.

Cover and refrigerate for 3 days.

Stop and take pictures of a cute puppy dog.

After the third day,

remove the brisket from brine and rinse thoroughly.

Refrigerate, uncovered, for another day.

Prepare the rub:

1 TB peppercorns, toasted and ground

1 TB coriander seed, toasted and ground

Coat the brisket with the rub and smoke it.

Mr. Hawthorne used hickory chips in his stove-top smoker

and smoked the brisket about 4 hours, or until tender.

Here's our home-cured pastrami.

And no red dye!

I toasted some of my homemade bread.

Gave it a smear of Dijon mustard.

Added pastrami slices and sliced onion.

Topped it with Swiss cheese

and then gave it a trip under the broiler.

Give it some tomato, pickle, and basil love.

And serve with one of Mr. Hawthornes deviled eggs

which has both dill pickles and sweet pickles.

Rosie Makes Thai Seafood Soup.

 Way back in October,

I found this recipe in Food and Wine magazine,

bookmarked it, and finally I'm just getting around to making it.

What took me so long?

 

 Thai Coconut Seafood Soup

1 14-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk

1 8-oz. bottle clam juice

1 jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced

1 TB Asian fish sauce

1 TB green Thai curry paste

 pinch of sugar

3/4 lb. shrimp, shelled and de-tracted

(I don't call it de-veining.

It's not a vein.  It's the digestive tract.)

1/2 lb. sea scallops

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup each chopped mint, basil, and cilantro

lime wedges 

Jasmine rice

Combine coconut milk with the clam juice,

 sliced jalapeño, fish sauce, curry paste, sugar,

and 1/4 cup water.

Bring to a boil. 

Simmer for 2 minutes.

Add shrimp, scallops, and scallions

and cook until shrimp and scallops are just opaque,

about 2 minutes.

Stir mint, basil, and cilantro into the soup

and serve with lime wedges and rice.

 This soup can be whipped up in no time

and makes for a delicious, complexly-flavored meal.

And yes,

I keep fish sauce, coconut milk, and Thai green curry in my pantry.

And yes.

I have scallions, basil, mint, and cilantro growing year round.

 

 Several months ago, we bought these beautiful scallops

from a commercial fisherman who lives a few canals over.

These are from his personal catch.

 I quartered the scallops since they were so big.

 

 Lots of flavors going on in here,

but they're subtle and delicate.

 This one is definitely a keeper.