Welsh Rarebit

No picture on this one because it is rather unattractive. I don't think there is anything you could do to this recipe to make it pretty. However, when I made it for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, everyone liked the taste. Once you get past the ugly nature and silly name, you have what Petras described as a fancy, open grilled cheese.

Welsh Rarebit

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp mustard powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
3/4 cup strong dark beer (I used Guinness.)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)
1 lb. Cheddar, Double Gloucester or other English cheese, grated (I used a mixture of aged white cheddar and Dubliner.)
4 to 8 pieces lightly toasted bread (I put thin slices of Italian bread in the broiler so I could toast lots at a time.)

1- Put butter in a saucepan over medium head and, as it melts, stir in flour. Continue to cok, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and very fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in mustard and cayenne, then whisk in beer and Worcestershire sauce.
2- When mixture is uniform, turn heat to low and stir in cheese, again stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and pour into a broad container to set (you can refrigerate for up to a day at this point).
3- Spread mixture thickly on toast and put under broiler until bubbly and edges of toast are crisp. Serve immediately.

Creole Bread Pudding With Irish Whiskey Sauce

I got this recipe from a magazine that Mr. Watkins showed me at work. He said I should give it a try someday since I'm such a baker. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me. So I made it for the First Annual Turducken Day Dinner. It is eggier than most bread puddings I've had, but I think that makes for a nice change. It's dense but good. I had some and just picked around the raisins. A good reason to use dark ones instead of golden ones. One of the group at dinner said it was almost like french toast in a dessert form. I would absolutely make this again.

Creole Bread Pudding with Irish Whiskey Sauce

For the bread pudding

3/4 lb. French bread in 1/2" slices (I used a long, thin Italian bread because I couldn't find French bread. I think it worked out just fine.)
1 cup dark raisins
18 large eggs (Yes, for serious.)
4 1/2 cups heavy cream (Yes, for serious.)
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup unsalted butter

1- Arrange the bread in overlapping rows in a 9x13 dish (the deeper the better). Sprinkle with raisins.
2- Beat eggs, cream, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
3- Pour half over the bread and press down. (I put a piece of foil down then put another 9x13 pan on top and weighed it down with heavy stuff.) Let it sit for 15 minutes.
4- Pour the remaining egg mixture on the bread. (The recipe calls for pressing it down again, but when I tried that it ended up spilling some of the egg mixture out so I skipped it. If you have a deep pan you may be okay.) Let it sit (pressed or no) for 15 minutes.
5- Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle over the bread. Dot with butter.
6- Bake at 250 for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until just set in the center. (I baked it until when I pushed down in the center no more egg mixture came to the top.)

For the sauce

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
7 large egg yolks
1/4 cup Irish whiskey (I used Jameson's.)

1- In a medium saucepan, bring cream and milk to a boil. While waiting for the mixture to boil, whisk together sugar and egg yolks together in a medium bowl.
2- Whisk in hot milk/cream mixture. (Be careful to temper the eggs a bit before just pouring in the hot milk or else you'll scramble the eggs instead of getting a sauce.)
3- In a double boiler, cook the milk/egg mixture over just simmering water stirring constantly until it thickens slightly, about 12 minutes or so. (It doesn't get ribbon thick. You'll notice the slight thickening by added resistance on the spoon while you stir.)
4- Pour through a fine sieve. (My mixture didn't have any lumps so I skipped this step... perhaps because I tempered the eggs.)
5- Stir in whiskey.

Serve the bread pudding at any temperature you like. I wouldn't go with seriously chilled. Room temperature worked for us. The whiskey sauce should be kept cold and served on the side.

Individual Teriyaki Meatloaves

There's no picture for this one as the meat I used was frozen and so didn't caramelize and look pretty enough for a photo. But it still tasted good so that's all that really matters, right? Anyway, this is a good make ahead complete dinner that can be frozen and kept for a later date, which means less grabbing of Fairmount Pizza on my way home. So that's a good thing as well.

Individual Teriyaki Meatloaves

1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs (the Italian seasoning ones would taste a bit strange with the teriyaki)
1/4 cup teriyaki glaze/marinade
1/4 tsp garlic-pepper blend
1 lb of ground beef (or beef/buffalo/turkey/other meat mix of your choice)
2 cups baby carrots
1 15oz can baby corn, drained
8 small red potatoes, quartered (These were not in the original recipe, but I like them added.)

Preheat oven to 400. Make four 18"x12" foil sheets and spray with Pam (or if you are using the Reynolds Release foil you can omit this step).

In a medium bowl, beat the egg until mixed. Add bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp teriyaki glaze and garlic-pepper blend. (I also added salt as I love it, and the teriyaki glaze I have isn't too salty.) Mix until well blended. Add the meat and mix well. Form the mixture into four individual loaves (about 4"x2" and about 1" thick).

Place 1/2 cup carrots, 1/4 cup baby corn, 2 red potatoes and one meatloaf onto a sheet of foil. Drizzle with additional 2 Tbsp of teriyaki glaze. Seal the edges by bringing the ends together and folding the seam over a few times making a rectangular packet. Repeat with other foil and loaves.

Bake for 25-35 minutes on a cookie sheet or pan. The recipe suggests turning the packet over halfway. I did this and it made a bit of a mess as some of the glaze comes out. When I tried it a second time, I did not flip it and it came out just fine.

Individual Creme Brulee

Recipe to be added later.