January’s Missing Part of the Recipe

By Joan Airey

I have no idea how it happened but when I copied my article and pasted it part of the recipe didn’t appear. Thanks to my neighbour Jean who mentioned that some of the biscuit recipe was missing before I had seen the article in print.

Perfect Homemade Biscuits

3 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

¾ cup COLD butter

1 egg

1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 450F.

Combine the dry ingredients into a large bowl. The secret to excellent biscuits is very COLD BUTTER. Cut the butter into small pieces then incorporate into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. You want to see small peasized pieces of butter through the dough.

Add milk and egg and mix just until the ingredients are combined. The dough will be sticky but don’t keep working it. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on the top of dough so it won’t stick to your finger and knead ten times. If the dough is super sticky just sprinkle on more flour but don’t get carried away.

Pat the dough out to 3/4 to inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or glass.

You should have ten to twelve biscuits. Put the biscuits on a parchment paper lined tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

I had planned to make Clam Chowder this morning but found there was no canned clams in my pantry so Potato Bacon Chowder.

Potato Bacon Chowder

2 cups cubed peeled potatoes

1 cup water

8 bacon strips

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

1 ¾ cup milk

1 cup sour cream

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

½ teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley

In a large saucepan, cover and cook potatoes in 1 cup water until tender. Meanwhile cook bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.

In the same skillet, sauté onion and celery in drippings from bacon until tender; drain. Add to undrained potatoes. Stir in soup, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for ten minutes or until heated through. DO NOT BOIL.

Crumble bacon and set aside ¼ cup. Add remaining bacon to soup along with parsley. Sprinkle with reserved bacon on top of soup when placed in bowl. Yield 6 servings.