Girl Meets Farm Season 15 Episode 03
It's Molly Yeh's turn to host her cookbook club, and this week's theme: Midwest church cookbooks. She puts her own twists on some classics to serve up a Ham and Bean Hotdish, Boozy Gelatin Salad, Midwest Green Salad, and Miso Millionaire Bars for dessert! Best club ever!
Year started: 2018
IMDB rating: 6.5
Categories: Food
Stars: Molly Yeh
It's Molly Yeh's turn to host her cookbook club, and this week's theme: Midwest church cookbooks. She puts her own twists on some classics to serve up a Ham and Bean Hotdish, Boozy Gelatin Salad, Midwest Green Salad, and Miso Millionaire Bars for dessert! Best club ever!
Year started: 2018
IMDB rating: 6.5
Categories: Food
Stars: Molly Yeh
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Cookbook Club is in session on the park.
00:02Y'all, we knocked it out of the park this time.
00:04Everyone's bringing their best church cookbook recipes,
00:07and I'm making a few of my own.
00:09Hearty and heartwarming ham and bean hot dish.
00:11Hot dish has never been better. I'm obsessed.
00:15Boozy gelatin salad to really get the conversation flowing.
00:19Yeah, baby. Isn't she a beaut?
00:22Three layers of dessert deliciousness in one bite.
00:25Buttery, caramel-filled, chocolate-covered miso millionaire bars.
00:29In the church of my belly, they occupy a great space.
00:34And for a special side, my Midwest-y green salad
00:37is loaded with nostalgia and carbs.
00:40If you know, you know.
00:42Let us eat.
00:49It's my turn to host Cookbook Club, and I can't wait.
00:52This month, we're all cooking interpretations
00:55of Midwest church cookbook recipes
00:57and sharing the stories behind them.
01:00For something sweet with an unexpectedly salty spin,
01:03I'm making an umami-amped-up version of a crowd-pleaser,
01:07my miso millionaire bars.
01:09They are a power trio of buttery, crumbly shortbread,
01:13chewy, salty caramel, and rich chocolate ganache all in one bite.
01:18They are dangerously good.
01:20I'll start with my shortbread layer,
01:22which all comes together in my food processor.
01:24One and a half cups of all-purpose flour.
01:28Half a cup of sugar.
01:29I appreciate that this shortbread isn't overly sweet
01:32because getting topped with caramel will bring in the sweetness.
01:35Half a teaspoon of kosher salt.
01:37I'll give the dry ingredients a little pulse.
01:39And then sprinkle on my butter.
01:42I've got three quarters of a cup of cold unsalted butter.
01:46Whenever you're making shortbread, you want the butter to be cold
01:49so it's extra crumbly.
01:51Millionaire shortbread originated in Scotland,
01:54and it's called Millionaire because it's so rich with the caramel on top
01:58and the chocolate.
01:59And I feel like it fits in seamlessly with this genre of desserts
02:04that we have in the Midwest called bars.
02:07Anything that is baked in a pan and cut into a square or a rectangle
02:11is called a bar.
02:12It's just lumped into that group.
02:14And so it could be a brownie or a blondie or a lemon square or shortbread.
02:18And I love them because cutting things into perfectly geometric shapes
02:22is so satisfying to me.
02:23So I'm so excited about these.
02:25And a teaspoon of vanilla.
02:27I'll pulse this a bunch of times until it forms a dough
02:30and it starts to clump together.
02:32So first it'll take on a sandy quality.
02:35And then as the butter continues to get incorporated,
02:38it'll start yielding these bigger clumps.
02:41And that's how I know it's ready.
02:44This is looking really good.
02:45Okay.
02:46Let me get my pan.
02:48I've got an eight-inch square metal pan here
02:50that I've lined on the sides and bottom with parchment.
02:53I've also greased it to glue down the parchment.
02:55And I'll just pile the dough right in.
02:57I love a simple shortbread where you can really taste the butter.
03:01I'll press it all the way to the sides and corners
03:03and then press it down firmly to compact it.
03:06A few months ago my friends and I started a cookbook club
03:09and every month a group of us get together
03:12and we each bring dishes, usually from the same cookbook.
03:15Until now we've mostly done newer cookbooks,
03:17but we have always talked about pulling from these vintage Midwest church cookbooks
03:23that all of us have stashes of.
03:25There are a few different categories that I feel like we've got to hit
03:29when it comes to church cookbooks.
03:31There are the hot dishes, there are the gelatin molds,
03:33there are the salads that may or may not have vegetables,
03:37and you can't have a church cookbook gathering without bars.
03:41I doubt there has ever been a miso millionaire bar in a church cookbook,
03:47but in the church of my belly they occupy a great space.
03:51This is pressed out evenly.
03:53I'll bake this at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes
03:57until the edges are just lightly browned.
03:59I like to keep this shortbread on the pale side
04:01so that it cuts really nicely.
04:03While this bakes I'll get cracking on my caramel.
04:05Miso is what gives this caramel layer and the whole bar really
04:11this extra special touch.
04:13It's that flavor that lingers in the back of your mouth that says,
04:17take another bite, and another, and another, and just don't stop.
04:21Oh my gosh, get these away from me.
04:23I'm starting with one bag of store-bought caramels.
04:26I'm melting these in a double boiler
04:29along with a tablespoon of white miso.
04:31Miso is a paste made of fermented soybeans,
04:34and it is salty and it also has umami,
04:37so it has this incredible slightly funky depth.
04:41I'll stir this around and allow it to melt.
04:43A lot of times in Millionaire Shortbread,
04:46you see a recipe for homemade caramel,
04:48but I love this hack not just because it's easy
04:51and cuts down on the dishes,
04:52but also because store-bought caramels are so thick and chewy.
04:56It kind of goes along with the essence of a church cookbook recipe.
04:59A church cookbook recipe is a few ingredients.
05:02A lot of them are pre-prepared, store-bought,
05:05and then like two sentences of directions
05:07that are essentially along the lines of
05:09dump everything into a bowl and bake it until it's done.
05:11This is smooth now.
05:13I want it to get a little bit more melty so that it's nice and spreadable.
05:16While this finishes up melting, I'll get my shortbread.
05:19I'm smelling all that butter.
05:21That's what I'm talking about.
05:23This is exactly where I want it to be.
05:25The edges are only lightly round and the center is just set.
05:29All right, this is nice and smooth.
05:31It's classy. It's spreadable.
05:33I'll get this onto the shortbread.
05:35Oh, yeah.
05:40I'll spread this out evenly all the way to the edge.
05:43All right, I'll let this set while I make my third layer, the chocolate layer.
05:49I'll start with six ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate,
05:52which I'll melt with three tablespoons of heavy cream.
05:55The heavy cream prevents the chocolate from firming back up to be overly snappy.
06:00It keeps it soft.
06:02It's extra important to melt chocolate in a double boiler so that it doesn't get too hot.
06:08If chocolate gets too hot, it'll actually seize up.
06:11It's getting glassy. We're almost there.
06:14Once it's mostly melted, I'm actually going to remove it from the heat
06:17and allow the residual heat to finish up melting the chocolate.
06:21And then I'll spread this over the caramel.
06:25This part is so satisfying.
06:28And if you want to make these billionaire bars,
06:31you can do some swoopy designs with your spatula.
06:34Oh, yeah.
06:35Finish with some flaky salt for an added bit of crunch and saltiness on top.
06:40I'll let these set in the fridge for 30 minutes and then slice into bars.
06:44That first bite is calling my name.
06:58Cha-ching!
07:00Let me taste.
07:01Oh, look at all those layers.
07:05Dang!
07:08You can really taste the buttery flavor from the shortbread.
07:11And that chewiness of the caramel is the perfect texture.
07:15These bars are money!
07:17No Midwest Church Cookbook Club would be complete without a hot dish.
07:32And I'm here to deliver.
07:33I'm supplying my potluck with a slam dunk.
07:36My ham and bean hot dish is loaded with two kinds of creamy beans, salty meat, kale for health, and then it all gets covered with a spicy ranch white cheddar cracker topping.
07:49I build everything into my braiser.
07:51I'll start by cooking up an onion and crisping up some ham.
07:56If there is one way to make me crave beans, it's by infusing them with salty meat.
08:01So you don't need a ton of ham here.
08:03Although, I guess this is a nice pile of ham.
08:06I'll just cook this up until the ham gets browned and the onion is soft.
08:10So a hot dish is classic church potluck fare.
08:15It is a full meal in a casserole.
08:18So all hot dishes are casseroles, but not all casseroles are hot dishes.
08:22Because a hot dish has got to check a few boxes.
08:25It's got to have a protein.
08:26It's got to have a veggie.
08:27It's got to have something saucy to hold it all together.
08:30And then something carby and a really cool topping.
08:34All my friends who grew up around here get shocked when they hear that I didn't grow up with hot dish.
08:40They're like, what did you eat for dinner growing up?
08:43That's how common they are.
08:44But after moving here and I first had a hot dish, I fell in love immediately.
08:50I'm getting a ham facial right now.
08:53It smells good.
08:54I'll toss in some garlic and also some fresh thyme for some cozy, earthy notes.
09:00I'll strip the leaves right off of the stem and toss them right in.
09:04Next I'll pile in some cherry tomatoes, which will release their juices and add some sweetness as well as some necessary acidity.
09:12Typically when I have a hot dish, I'll add the acidity by way of a dollop of ketchup on my spoon as I'm eating.
09:20But I'm going a slightly classier route and adding tomatoes right to the mixture.
09:24A pinch of salt will help draw out that moisture.
09:27Oh, I'm getting hungry.
09:29I'll start to build the creamy, soupy base now, which will hold everything together.
09:34I'll sprinkle in three tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir it around and allow it to toast so that I can cook off that flour flavor.
09:42And then I'll gradually stir in three cups of low-sodium chicken stock.
09:46And this is my homemade substitute for what you would typically find in a church cookbook, which is opening up a can of cream of chicken soup.
09:54This is already starting to thicken.
09:56I can smell those tomatoes.
09:58What's great about our cookbook club is that we don't feel the need to get into the nitty-gritty about talking about the book.
10:05We just end up gossiping and telling ridiculous stories.
10:08Last time, Joy told a great story that I actually probably can't reveal.
10:13I'm going to ask for a follow-up tonight, though.
10:17Last bit of chicken stock going in.
10:20As this finishes thickening up, I'll grab my beans.
10:23I've got a can each of cannellini beans and chickpeas here.
10:27And these are such perfect canvases for flavor.
10:30I'll fold them right in.
10:32I'll pile in some kale.
10:34I love that this hot dish in particular has a great balance of comforting party foods, but also feel-good foods.
10:43I'll pile this in and allow it to wilt.
10:45And I like loads of black pepper.
10:47I'll let this simmer and allow the flavors to meld together while I make my topping.
10:54This is the most fun topping.
10:57It consists of white cheddar crackers, my fave.
11:00And I'll just crush them up and sprinkle in some Parmesan.
11:04And the Parmesan helps this almost make like a crust.
11:07And ranch seasoning.
11:09Ranch runs through our veins in the Midwest.
11:12And crushed red pep for a little kick.
11:14And then a drizzle of olive oil will help the topping brown in the oven.
11:18I don't think I've been this excited about a hot dish topping since Tots.
11:26I'll sprinkle this all over the top.
11:28I'm obsessed.
11:32Into the oven it goes.
11:33I'll bake at 400 degrees for just about 15 minutes until the top is golden.
11:38Hot diggity.
11:42That cracker topping is smelling so good.
11:45Let me get my hot dish.
11:47Oh, yeah.
11:49That's what I'm talking about.
11:51It looks so toasty and crunchy on top and soupy around the outsides.
11:56All right, I'll finish with a sprinkle of parsley to class things up.
12:00And this topping is just begging for me to dig into it.
12:03Oh, yeah.
12:04I'm seeing a big piece of ham right there.
12:06Mmm.
12:07Mm-hmm.
12:08Those creamy, salty beans with the crunchy, chuddery topping.
12:11Hot dish has never been better.
12:12Get it?
12:13Beans.
12:14Who says salads need to be filled with greens?
12:15Definitely not Minnesotans.
12:16So to really get this potluck pumping, I'm making a boozy gelatin salad.
12:23It's two layers, kissing in one mold, a blood orange bourbon cocktail contrasted by a creamy
12:33amaretto layer.
12:34And it's dotted with sweet cherries.
12:35I'll start with my blood orange layer.
12:36I'll put half a cup of cold water into my bowl.
12:37And then I'll put it.
12:38I'll put it.
12:39Beans.
12:40I'll put it.
12:41Beans.
12:42Beans.
12:43Who says salads need to be filled with greens?
12:45Definitely not Minnesotans.
12:46So to really get this potluck pumping, I'm making a boozy gelatin salad.
12:49I'll start with my blood orange layer.
12:51I'll put half a cup of cold water into my bowl and sprinkle on four and a half teaspoons
12:56of plain gelatin, which is about the equivalent of two packets.
13:00You need kind of a lot of gelatin when you're dealing with a boozy gelatin mold because booze
13:05will actually prevent gelatin from really working to the best of its abilities.
13:10I'll just allow this to bloom and soften.
13:12In my saucepan here, I'll combine two cups of blood orange juice.
13:15It has such a pretty natural color.
13:18And half a cup of sugar.
13:20I like the balance of the sweetness with the sour orange.
13:23I'll give this a whisk to dissolve the sugar and just bring this to a boil.
13:27I really just want this hot to allow the gelatin to activate.
13:31A thing you must know is that salads do not require vegetables in the Midwest.
13:37They can have cookies, candy bars, whipped cream, but the best ones are all suspended
13:42in gelatin.
13:43You wouldn't believe some of the things that I've seen suspended in gelatin in a church
13:48book.
13:49From soda to peas and carrots to cinnamon hot candies, the possibilities are endless.
13:56All of my favorite ones have a little booze in them.
13:59So this one is modeled after one of my favorite cocktails, the Amaretto Sour.
14:03And I felt like Amaretto wasn't enough booze, so I'm also adding bourbon.
14:07All right, it's just come to a boil.
14:12I'll remove it from heat and pour it into the gelatin.
14:17And spike it with half a cup of bourbon.
14:19So I recently judged a local church choir's gelatin competition, and it was one of the
14:26top three best days of my life.
14:28It was awesome.
14:29All of the church members brought their different gelatin molds.
14:33There was a glow-in-the-dark gelatin mold.
14:36There were a couple of boozy ones.
14:38There was one that was set in an entire watermelon.
14:43I loved it.
14:44This is combined.
14:46Let me get my mold.
14:48You're not really a Midwestern kitchen if you don't have one of these lying around.
14:52But what's nice about gelatin is that it'll set up in anything.
14:56I could even just let it set in this bowl and it would work.
14:59This is a six-cup gelatin mold that's greased.
15:01I'll pour this right in.
15:03I'll set this in the fridge for about an hour until it's thickened but not fully set.
15:08And then I'll poke in the garnish for my cocktail.
15:11I can't wait.
15:15A few candied cherries.
15:17Blop, blop, blop.
15:18Last one for me to eat.
15:20And chill again.
15:24The first layer is totally set, and now it's time to pour over the second layer.
15:28It is a creamy, dreamy, nutty ode to the amaretto sours of my college days of yore.
15:35And you make it the same way as the bourbon layer, but with a double dose of dairy and amaretto.
15:40You just bloom gelatin and heavy cream.
15:42Simmer a combination of more heavy cream with whole milk, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds to make it fancy.
15:49Pour it over your gelatin with a big splash of amaretto.
15:53Whisk until smooth.
15:55And then chill.
15:57You want to make sure that it's cold when you're pouring it over the first layer, because you don't want to melt that second layer again.
16:03And when this sets up, it almost takes on a custardy quality.
16:06It's so good.
16:07And it's also really pretty.
16:09I love the color contrasts.
16:11My music theory teacher in college had this awesome gelatin impression, and it kind of went like this.
16:19I'll chill this in the fridge now until it's fully set.
16:22I'm wiggling with anticipation.
16:24The moment of truth.
16:30Time to reveal the boozy gelatin mold.
16:33Okay, this is what you learn when you live around here.
16:36How to gracefully and cleanly remove the gelatin from the mold.
16:40It's so easy.
16:41Bowl of water.
16:42Boom.
16:43It's hot.
16:44Dip it in for a couple of seconds so it melts the outside ever so slightly.
16:49Invert.
16:58And pop.
17:00Did you see that?
17:06Yeah, baby.
17:08Isn't she a beaut?
17:10I love her so much.
17:11Look at those layers.
17:12Look at those cherries.
17:13Look at that shape.
17:14Look at this.
17:19This is really going to get the tea flowing tonight.
17:22I don't dare sneak a taste before the ladies get here.
17:30Oh my gosh.
17:31This all looks so good.
17:33I love a good potluck.
17:34Nobody puts broccoli in the corner.
17:37Cheers.
17:38Cheers.
17:39To the book club.
17:40My favorite time of the month.
17:41My friends are all arriving and setting up their dishes for cookbook club.
17:51And what kind of host would I be if I didn't have a second non-desserty salad?
17:55So, I am making a big old green Midwest-y salad inspired by the salad bars of my youth.
18:02It's a pile of refreshing iceberg, salty bacon, sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and rotini noodles scattered throughout.
18:10It all gets drenched in a balsamic vinaigrette.
18:12It is so basic and so good.
18:15I'm starting by crisping up my bacon.
18:17A little bit goes a long way here.
18:18I just have four slices.
18:20I'll transfer this to a wire rack to cool.
18:23I feel like any salad with a little bit of bacon becomes so craveable.
18:28While this cools, I'll go to this big bowl of iceberg lettuce and toss in some cheese cubes.
18:33This is mozzarella, so it's nice and mild.
18:36Growing up in the 90s, I remember just going to salad bars or family potlucks and seeing these big fluffy salads that were typically iceberg.
18:45And they often had sun-dried tomatoes because I feel like those were very trendy in the 90s.
18:51I really love them.
18:52They're sweet and chewy and so nostalgic.
18:56And then always at the salad bar, there were sunflower seeds.
18:59They have such a pleasant, salty, crunchy, nutty quality.
19:03And the quirkiest of the crouton substitutes.
19:06Just unflavored rotini noodles.
19:09So it's pasta in a salad, but it's not a full-on pasta salad.
19:13I'll chop up the bacon.
19:17You can also do cubed ham.
19:19That's Nick's favorite part of the salad bar.
19:21I'm dressing this with a basic balsamic vinaigrette.
19:24I'll start with a finely chopped shallot and splash in my balsamic.
19:29Whenever I'm starting with a raw onion or shallot like this, I like to allow it to sit in the vinegar for just a couple of minutes to mellow out.
19:38Salt and pepper.
19:41And then I'll drizzle in some olive oil as I whisk continuously so that this can come together smoothly and emulsify.
19:48You don't want to toss this too early and cause the greens to wilt, but I can hear them downstairs.
19:53It's almost time to eat.
19:56Got everything beautiful and glossy.
19:59This is so niche.
20:00If you know, you know.
20:03Am I right?
20:05Now that's my kind of salad.
20:08Let us eat.
20:09It was great.
20:10It was really, really good.
20:11It was so cooked for club.
20:13Yes, it was.
20:14Hello.
20:15How's it going?
20:16Hello.
20:17How's it going?
20:18Let's get this club started.
20:19You brought the greens.
20:20I brought the green salad to add to the other salad.
20:24Good.
20:25Beep beep.
20:26Oh.
20:27Oh.
20:28There you are.
20:29I was right down.
20:31Y'all, we knocked it out of the park this time.
20:33This all looks so good.
20:35It's so colorful too.
20:37The berry in there is, she's saturated.
20:42How's the mold?
20:43She's boozy.
20:47So good.
20:48What should we do next month?
20:50Pickleball.
20:51Pickleball.
20:52Is there a pickle cookbook?
20:54Oh, there must be.
20:55Yeah.
20:56Yeah.
20:57Is there a pickle cookbook for everything?
20:58We'll find one.
20:59Yeah.