Another Cooking Day

I’m not going to mention the S word in this post. Let’s just say I am surrounded by incredible amounts of cold and white, as far as the eye can see. Seems like every few days more comes. And today it came with wind, white wind.

It’s way too cold to go out into it so I find myself standing in the kitchen again, creating  delicious smells to waft through the house. It’s only 2 o’clock and already I’ve made braised lamb shanks, beef vegetable soup, salmon quiche and these Cheddar Parmesan Crackers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now this isn’t going to be one nights dinner, though I don’t doubt Kevin could eat it. He’s pretty much outside all day and needs nourishment every half hour! Especially with all that white stuff that gets in the way of everything.

I really like making crackers, you basically just put the ingredients into a food processor and blitz everything together. With these, I baked half the recipe and put the other half into the freezer. Then I can can just take them out on a moment’s notice. You really don’t need cheese with these, they’re quite rich, though they would be good with a slice of apple or even chutney. And perfect with a glass of white wine, like Riesling.

 

Cheddar Parmesan Crackers

4 oz grated cheddar cheese

2 oz grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp good salt

good pinch cayenne

4 TBL unsalted butter, softened and cut into smaller pieces

2 TBL water

 

Place all ingredients except butter and water into food processor and pulse 5 times.

Add the butter, pulse again until butter pieces are very small.

Add the water, 1 TBL at a time until dough holds together. If it’s still crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tsp at a time.

After taking the dough out of food processor, roll it into a log about 9″ long and square the ends. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Then preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the log into slices about 1/4″ thick.

Place on baking sheet an inch apart and bake 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Turn crackers and bake another 4 or 5 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

You can freeze this as well, and I recommend cutting it into smaller sections in case you’re only going to use some of it.

 

Makes about 3 dozen crackers.

 

 

 

 

Recipe from The All American Cheese and Wine Book.