See Jen Eat

I moved!

2011-05-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

You can now find See Jen Eat posts over at seejeneat.jenromo.com.

You know; as soon as I post another one.

Thai Mojito

2011-04-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

OMG, yes please.

Thai Spring Mojito
1 ounce of white rum (or vodka, if you prefer)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 pinch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 medium Thai basil leaves
3 mint leaves
juice of half a lime
club soda

In the bottom of a Collins or mixing glass, muddle the sugar, water, herbs and lime juice. Pour in rum and stir. Top with crushed ice and club soda. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Cocktail Cherries

2011-04-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm with the folks at The Spir.It - screw those maraschinos. I like the little boozy cherries in my drinks! Hello future Christmas gifts. . . .

The author notes that while she uses Wild Turkey American Honey liqueur (which I have never even heard of, let alone have stocked in my bar), the rest of us can use a mixture of 3 parts bourbon to 1 part honey. That, I can do.
She also offers up the option of using sour cherries for a more traditional cocktail cherry, even though she went the Bing route. Rainiers are up for grabs too, though I doubt they'll be as pretty.

Honey Bourbon Cocktail Cherries3/4 cup bourbon + 1/4 cup honey
1 pint Bing cherries, stemmed and pitted

Simmer liqueur in a small pan for five minutes, then add the cherries and reduce heat. Cook for an additional five minutes then remove from heat and let it cool. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for two days before use.

I'm going to try jarring these bad boys. I imagine they'll last quite well that way, what with the sealing of the jars AND the booze. I think I'll add the cherries and liqueur to the jars and then seal them straight away (versus cooking them on the stove top and letting them cool before jarring), otherwise I think they'll disintegrate.

Summer Salads

2011-04-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Kitchn knows just what I'm craving. Light and healthy, not just rabbit food salads for summer.
I cannot WAIT to try the lemony, goat cheese, asparagusy one!

Meyer Lemon Grain Salad with Asparagus, Almonds and Goat Cheese
serves 6
8 ounces uncooked spelt or farro
3 cups water
8 ounces uncooked pearl couscous, or Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend
1 3/4 cups water
1 pound asparagus
Olive oil
1 cup sliced toasted almonds
4 ounces soft goat cheese, chilled and crumbled
2 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon walnut oil
Salt and pepper
Cook the spelt or farro in a large saucepan or sauté pan over medium heat, adding one cup of water at a time and stirring until absorbed before adding more. Keep cooking and stirring until the grain is al dente and dry with no water remaining to be absorbed.
Meanwhile, simmer 1 3/4 cups water in a small saucepan. Add the Harvest Grains blend, stir, cover and turn to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove the lid and cook, stirring, until any remaining moistness evaporates. Mix the two cooked grains in a large bowl and set aside.
Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus and cut each spear into a 2-inch piece. Rinse out the large sauté pan and dry. Heat a little olive oil over medium heat, and cook the asparagus until just barely crisp-tender - about 1-2 minutes. Add to the grains and toss.
Also toss in the sliced toasted almonds, goat cheese and lemon zest.
Mix the Meyer lemon juice with the oils, taste, and adjust. Pour over grain salad and toss, along with salt and pepper to taste.
This salad lasts very well in the fridge; the herbal flavors of the Meyer lemons bloom nicely when it sits.

Ravioli

2011-03-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love this idea for serving ravioli. Why cut them up separate, when you can serve a nice little slab o'rav? They look like legos. :)

Photo from a Daily Candy email I got, but I cannot find a source for it. . . .

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta in a Lemon Cream Sauce

2011-03-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Chef Chris DiMinno at Clyde Common in Portland is my new hero. He made a dish of roasted cauliflower with a lemon cream pasta that blew my mind. Of course I had to try to make something similar, and this looked like just the recipe to start me off, even though the reviews are pretty hit or miss with some people loving it and others thinking it was too bland.
To start things off, I oven roasted my cauliflower with olive oil and garlic powder - 400 for about 30 minutes, with a quick stir in the middle until it's soft and a bit golden brown.
I put on some whole wheat rotelli pasta once the cauliflower was done and while that was cooking, I started on the sauce.
The juice of one lemon to start, with a packet of concentrated chicken stock from Trader Joe's (I love that stuff), then a little bit of pasta water once the pasta was done to make a sauce. I cooked the pasta til it was still a bit underdone so it could continue to cook with the sauce. I used some fat free half and half, and a scoop of fat free sour cream to thicken the sauce and make it creamy - though it really just went kind of gritty - I guess I DO need some fat in there somewhere. I seasoned it up with a bit more garlic powder and the juice of another lemon, some salt & a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
I had some (boiled - I know, shush) chicken that I used to give the dish a bit of protein power.
The texture was all wrong, but the taste was really good. I'll keep working on it.

The recipe I mentioned above seems like it might offer up better results - I should've taken my own advice.

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 lemon, quartered
2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (8 ounce) package rotelle pasta
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Squeeze lemon over both sides of the chicken breasts and season both sides using 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink inside.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into cooked pasta, along with the cream and lemon zest. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

Brussels Sprout Salad

2011-03-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Twice upon a time, I had the most delicious Brussels Sprout Salad ever at Pizza Antica in San Jose. I had no idea. I only pan or oven roast the little buggers with various delicious combinations of flavor. It had never occurred to me to slice them thin and make a warm slaw type salad out of them, but they are AMAZING this way. I'm so excited to have found this recipe - I cannot wait to make it!!! Is it way more steps than I thought possible? Yes. Will it be worth it? YES.
Thank you Chef Gordon Drysdale for sharing, and thank you Today Show for getting him to do so.

Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad
1/2 slab bacon (approximately 9 slices of pre-cut bacon)
2 Tbsp canola oil, plus 3 Tbsp for salad
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced
6 slices country-style bread, crusts removed and cut into 1/2" squares
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 large eggs
2-3 brussels sprouts (should have about 40 sprouts)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Vinaigrette
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 large shallot, minced
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

To make the vinaigrette, soak the garlic, shallots, and thyme in vinegar for roughly 45 minutes. After soaking, slowly whisk in the oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and reserve covered.
Cut bacon into 1/2" squares and cook over low heat until almost crisp; drain off the fat and set aside.
Heat 2 Tbsp canola oil until just smoking and cook sliced onions over medium-high heat until golden brown; drain and set aside.
Toss cubed bread with extra-virgin olive oil and toast in a 300-degree oven until golden brown and crispy (approximately 20-25 minutes); allow to cool to room temperature and set aside.
Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to scald, and let sit in scalding water for 8-9 minutes (be sure the yolk is firm); run cold water over eggs to stop cooking.
Peel eggs and cut into 1/8ths; when cut, reserve covered in the refrigerator.
Clean the sprouts by removing the first few dark leaves and discarding. Cut off the stem, and separate the leaves one by one. When you get to the light green center and can't pull off the leaves, either slice the heart very thin or reserve for other uses.
In a large sauté pan, heat remaining canola oil until almost smoking and add sprouts leaves; toss until wilted (about 3 minutes), season with salt and pepper.
Add reserved onions and bacon and warm until hot; when hot, add vinaigrette and toss to distribute.
Add croutons and chopped eggs, toss to incorporate, and serve!

Jalapeno Poppers

2011-03-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

I might get smacked for this, but I always feel like Jalapeno Poppers are a little too greasy, and. . . I don't know. Just somehow wrong. I've never been a huge fan.
But this last Super Bowl Sunday (no, we didn't watch any of the Super Bowl), seemed like a fantastic time to try this recipe out. I had seen it the weekend before and thought, "OMFGthoselookgood." And you know what? OMFGtheyAREgood.
I really like that Aarti writes her recipes with a similar voice to me - with lots of editorial. :)

1 8 oz container of lowfat/light cream cheese, at room temp
1 large Granny Smith apple, diced (cored too, duh)
3 green peppers, roots and tips sliced off and sliced thinly
salt
10 jalapenos
10 slices of bacon, sliced in half
20 toothpicks
** this makes 20 jalapenos with a little bit of the cream cheese mixture left over - oddly enough it is delicious on banana chips (I know, but my boyfriend used to be a stoner and he gets these weird ideas about things I'm cooking and other items in the kitchen for snacking and from time to time I humor him and he frequently finds some new delicious combination that makes me scrunch up my face and say no way), but I imagine on a bagel or toast or crackers or whatever, it's also delightful.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.

In a large bowl, stir the cream cheese until smooth. Add the apples and scallions, plus as much salt as you like.

Slice each jalapeno in half lengthwise, and then scoop out the membranes and seeds.

Using that same spoon, fill each jalapeno half with the cream cheese mixture; fill until just over the rim of the jalapeno. Wrap each pepper with a bacon half and secure with a toothpick.
Line then up on the baking sheet and pop into the oven until bacon has browned on the bottom, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes so you don't burn off the inside of your mouth. Trust me.

Mushroom smothered pork

2011-03-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

No photo because quite honestly, this meal is kind of ugly looking. It's DELICIOUS though, and pretty easy. I was inspired by this recipe over at All Recipes.
1/2 - 1 lb mushrooms - cleaned and sliced (I had one of those bags of ready to go sliced mushrooms, so however much that is)
1 can (or box) of condensed cream of mushroom soup
garlic - a couple of cloves, minced
1 small onion or a couple of shallots, minced
4 pork chops
salt & pepper
white wine

Season the chops with salt and pepper. Saute the onions and garlic in a pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and allow to get a little bit browned. Season with salt and pepper.
While the mushies are doing their thing, sear the chops over medium-high on both sides in a nice big skillet. Once they're browned, add the mushie mixture, the soup, and a glug or two of white wine to the skillet with them. Cover, and allow to cook away over lowish for about half an hour or so until the pork hits 160.
Serve with mashed spicy sweet potatoes and Aylene's green beans. I swear nearly everything we make is served with these two sides. It's warm, and comforting, and perfect for an early spring evening when you're ready for things to start heating up but the rain hasn't quite given up on you for the season yet.

** Updated to mention that it MUST be good if I'm posting it twice - with the same freaking sides. I am so predictable. **

Pasta with sausage and peas

2011-02-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

I know I've had delicious pastas before that featured crumbled sausage and peas. I had some chicken (uh, jalapeno chicken actually) sausages in the fridge, and my roommate had some cream and frozen peas that looked stealable. This could've gone horribly wrong, but actually turned into a pretty tasty Scavenged Dinner.
I sliced up the sausage (it had no casing, and is pre cooked or something so I couldn't crumble it) and set it aside.
I heated two minced garlic cloves in some olive oil til fragrant, then added the sausage. Once I felt like things were probably pretty close to heated through, I added the frozen peas, the last of my 1% milk, some cream, salt and pepper, and 1 tbsp or so of butter. I wanted to add lots of romano or parmesan, but only had like, 2 tbsp, boo. I let it thicken up and added a little bit of the pasta water to make it nice and saucy. :)
It actually turned out really well - the sauce was super flavorful and I will totally make it again.

Here is a really close recipe, though I did not use anywhere NEAR the amount of cream or butter it calls for!

Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Onions

2011-02-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

Pr0n tenderloin is more like it - this stuff is disgustingly delicious. Thanks Epicurious - for blowing my recent pork tenderloin with onion and apple relish right out of the water.

1 large pork tenderloin (about 14 ounces)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup dry white wine or apple cider

Preheat oven to 450°F. Season pork with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and sear until all sides are brown, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer pork to plate. Cool slightly. Spread mustard over top and sides of pork. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add onion slices and apples; sauté over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Spread evenly in skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pork atop apple-onion mixture.

Transfer skillet to oven and roast until apple-onion mixture is soft and brown and meat thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150°F, about 15 minutes. Transfer pork to platter and tent with foil. Let stand 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour apple cider over apple-onion mixture in skillet. Stir mixture over high heat until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Cut pork on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Spoon apple-onion mixture onto plates. Top with pork and serve.

Donuts!

2011-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Mini and regular sized baked donuts - oh boy!! The chocolate ones are regular sized, the pastels are mini. They turned out pretty freaking chewy (boo), but the taste was good. The ones with chocolate glaze were AH-MAZING. I can't wait to try other flavors and frostings and stuff. You can pick up the pans (below) online or even at Mollie Stones, which is where I found my mini pan and saved myself the shipping (and waiting, which I hate).

See the difference between the top of the donut (pale) and the bottom (super bronzed)? Also, you can see that the one mini guy over on the lower left looks a bit like a little bundt - that's him upside down, and that's his brother right side up, above him.

I followed the recipe that comes on the pan (though of course there are others, even by King Arthur!) - the one on the larger sized pan was perfect to make one batch of large (6) and two batches of tinys (24). They're a bit tricky though. The big ones looked great, but were BROWN on the bottom and white on top. If I wasn't frosting with chocolate that may have looked odd. And the little guys puff up like little round topped muffins with holes in the middle or get weird ridges around the side if you're not careful.
I used nonstick on one batch of my tiny guys, and I thought those ones actually turned out worse than when I didn't use the spray. On the non-sprayed pans, I just used a couple of toothpicks to pluck the donuts out of the pans while they were still warm - worked perfectly for me.

Donuts
2 cups of cake flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar, but don't know that the flavor really showed up in the finished product)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3/4 c buttermilk (I was out and had to do the milk + lemon juice trick)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter

Preaheat oven to 425. Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray (if you want).
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each large cup about 2/3 full. Fill the minis about half full.
Bake the bigguns for 7-9 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. Bake the littleuns for 4-6 minutes or til the same.
Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, or just go for it as I did. If your donuts are sticking, let them cool a bit.

You can sub out the nutmeg for some grated lemon zest, and I imagine about a jillion other options to flavor the donuts as you like. Once these were cooled, they did taste just like the good old cake donuts we know and love, if a bit chewy.

Variations and Frostings
Cinnamon Sugar:
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter
In a shallow bowl or plate, stir together cinnamon and sugar. Dip the donuts in the melted butter and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mix to coat.

Chocolate Glaze:
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp corn syrup (I only had honey and it worked a treat, though I'm guessing it didn't solidify quite as it would've had I used corn syrup)
1 tsp hot water
In a medium bowl, nuke the chips, butter & corn syrup on 50% power at 30 second increments, stirring in between until everything is completely melted. Stir in 1 tsp hot water til the glaze is thick and smooth - add another tsp if it's too thick. Use immediately.

Powdered Sugar:
Put 2/3 cup of powdered/confectioner's sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Add a donut to the bag and shake the heck out of it to coat. Don't breathe in or sneeze while eating.

Vanilla Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk (I needed to add more)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or whatever flavor you want - almond, rum, imitation banana. . . have at it)
In a small bowl, stir together sugar, milk & vanilla (or other flavor) until sugar is dissolved. Use immediately.

And as if that wasn't all bad enough, you can make your own custom colored sprinkles! I can see myself getting WAY too carried away with this. . . .

South Beach Hot Chocolate

2011-01-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Tired of buying the little packets of Swiss Miss Sugar Free hot chocolate, I figured it was high time I make my own. Aside from being simple, (I mean what - cocoa, Splenda, and nonfat milk powder right?), it has the added bonus of no weird ingredients I can't pronounce (for the most part). How hard can it be? I started here and was off and running.
Now, this is a giant batch because I have a big old container and really, what else am I going to do with powdered milk?
This can easily be made non South Beach by using regular sugar.

6 cups nonfat dry milk
1 3/4 c Splenda (go for the full 2 cups if you have a sweet tooth)
1 cup* of unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
1 (2.1 ounce - the big one) package of fat free/sugar free instant chocolate pudding mix

Combine all ingredients in a container and shake well until combined - it takes a while, keep shaking. It's better than stirring though, unless you wanted to breathe this stuff in.

Add 3 tablespoons to a mug and fill with hot water. Stir until combined.

Add a pinch of salt for salted chocolate; a pinch of cinnamon for Mexican hot chocolate; or a shot of Sugar Free Peppermint Syrup for a Snuggler without the buzzy feel good feelings. Top with Sugar Free Cool Whip (or marshmallows if you're not going South Beach and you used regular sugar instead of Splenda - lucky).

* I tasted it with 1 cup of cocoa powder and wanted more chocolate oomph. I added another 1/2-3/4 cup or so. I think it's great, but the boy roommates are politely letting me know without actually saying so, that it is very chocolatey. Maybe TOO chocolatey. Pshaw. As if.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2011-01-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

After seeing a recipe for Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies, and eyeballing the LOADS of peppermint bark in my kitchen leftover from Christmas indulgences, I knew what had to be done.
I'll keep some of these in the freezer to see how they bake after being frozen, and bake the rest today and deliver them to two darling families that I know will love them. Temptation gone, creative urges sated, and friends made happy. Win-win-win.

1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder\
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1+ cup of peppermint bark, broken into little chip size pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until well incorporated and light in color. Add the egg and the extracts until well incorporated, about a minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl halfway through.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture cup by cup at medium speed, stopping once all of it is incorporated (do not overmix). This batter is very dry - do not be alarmed. It'll form into balls nicely.
Fold in the peppermint bark chips.
Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies.

While these were okay, I think I'd prefer to find a better chocolate cookie recipe and alter that, or stick to my beloved peppermint brownies. I found these cookies to be a little greasy and not as chewy as I'd hoped.

Apple Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

2011-01-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.splenda.com/products/brown-sugar-blendThat name is too long. I think I'll call them OAR cookies (oatmeal-apple-raisin). I don't need the C - I mean cinnamon just comes with the territory, right?
My problem here is making them somewhat South Beachy. The last ones were okay taste wise, but a flop texture wise. I'm hoping the addition of sugar free applesauce and fresh apples will moisten them up a bit. Science I am fairly good at, but baking science is new. I'm not quite sure if my moisture to flour to rising agents is right. I looked at a couple of new recipes, plus the recipe from my last attempt, for guidance, but we won't know until we try, right?

The plan:
2 tbsp butter
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c Splenda
1/4 c Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1/2 c brown sugar if you must)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c AP flour (I may experiment here with leaving this out altogether and going with a full cup of whole wheat flour)
1 1/4 c of oats (quick cooking or old fashioned)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of grated nutmeg
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, peeled, cored & diced
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment or silpat.
Prep the apple, toss in the lemon juice and set aside.
Cream the sugar and butter together until creamy using a stand mixer. Add the egg, applesauce and vanilla and incorporate well.
Whisk the dry ingredients together, and slowly add to the wet, cup by cup until incorporated, at low speed.
Fold in the nuts and fruit.

Drop tablespoon fulls onto cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until desired doneness. Allow to cool a bit on sheets, then transfer to wire racks.

Goat Cheese

2011-01-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally done it. I made goat cheese. It's a ricotta really - same steps I used as when I made the cow's milk ricotta, but I added salt, garlic & herbs de provence to this batch once the whey had drained out.
It's the same grainy, loose sort of crumble, which is. . . . disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the cheese tastes nice, it's goaty and herby and light and very fresh tasting. It's just not And the Heavens Parted And The Light Shone Down And The Angels Sang kind of good. Which is what I'm going for.
Next step - chevre.
I mean, did I really think great cheese was as simple as adding lemon juice to heated milk?! Or that I'd magically knock it out of the park on my first go?
(And yes, I'm as guilty as the next guy for referring to chevre as goat cheese, as if that's the only kind. That's like saying cow cheese, I understand, and yes, I am ashamed).

Note: New England Cheesemaking Supply Company is a great resource. I just bought a starter kit and some chevre culture from them. I mean, they've been doing this almost as long as I've been alive - I figure they know what's up.

And to that end, I do believe this woman is my future, if that one post is anything to go on.

Patrick's Birthday

2011-01-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Patrick is already putting in requests for his birthday dinner and cake in April. Looks like I'm not the only one that plans things four months in advance. . . .
Of course neither is South Beach even a little bit, but it's okay to splurge once in a while, and splurge we will. I know that it will make me sick afterward, binging on non SB foods always do when I've been good for a long time, which will hopefully only encourage me to stay good.

First up - a bacon wrapped meatloaf he saw on the cover of a magazine called Fine Cooking, which I've never even heard of. I tweaked the recipe just a tiny little bit based on preference and user reviews.

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf
4 oz. cremini (baby bella) or white mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped (1-1/3 cups)
1/2 cup minced yellow onion
3 Tbs. dry sherry
1 Tbs. minced garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 oz. day-old rustic or dense white bread, torn into about 1/2-inch pieces (1-1/2 cups)
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. ground beef (85% lean)
1 lb. ground pork
2 Tbs. light or dark brown sugar
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
8 slices center-cut bacon

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, toss the mushrooms with the onion, sherry, garlic, 1-1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread, milk, and egg. Stir well, lightly mashing the bread until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the beef, veal, pork, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and the onion-mushroom mixture. Using a large, sturdy wooden spoon or your hands, gently mix just until all the ingredients are blended; you may need to push the meat against the side of the bowl to get the pieces to break up.

Put the meat mixture in a 9x13-inch metal baking pan. Shape the mixture into a rectangular loaf about 10x4 inches. Wrap the strips of bacon around the loaf crosswise, overlapping them slightly and tucking the ends securely under the loaf. Pat the loaf back into shape if necessary.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 160ºF, 60 to 70 minutes. Take the meatloaf out of the oven and position the oven rack about 6 inches from the broiling element. Heat the broiler to high. Broil the meatloaf until the bacon is brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Let the loaf rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.

Use two flat spatulas to transfer the meatloaf to a serving platter. Slice and serve with the mushroom gravy.
Just in case you were wondering: Calories (kcal): 340; Fat (g): 19; Fat Calories (kcal): 170; Saturated Fat (g): 6; Protein (g): 26; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 9; Carbohydrates (g): 15; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 1.5; Sodium (mg): 610; Cholesterol (mg): 105; Fiber (g): 1;

Sherry Mushroom Gravy
1 cup lower-salt beef or chicken broth; more as needed
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices center-cut bacon, minced
6 oz. cremini (baby bella) or white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced about 1/8 inch thick (2 packed cups)
1/2 cup minced yellow onion
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. dry sherry
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour

Combine the broth with 1 cup of hot water. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring to break apart the pieces, until just starting to crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, onion, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms have cooked through and start to brown the bottom of the pan, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the sherry and stir to release the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly until the mixture has browned and is slightly dry and crumbly, about 30 seconds.
Whisk in half of the broth mixture and continue whisking until the liquid is absorbed into the flour, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the remaining broth mixture and bring the gravy to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and thin with water or broth if necessary. Transfer to a small saucepan, cover, and keep warm. Reheat the gravy if necessary before serving.

************************************************************************
Served with butter laden mashed potatoes, this is certain to make us very happy to eat and then very ill for having eaten it. Then of course there will be the meatloaf sandwiches the next day. . . I can hardly wait. But there's more!!! Maybe laying in bed on the weekend watching Food Network until we're too starved to stay horizontal any more isn't a good thing. We saw Paula Deen try to awkwardly set up her son with a pretty blonde AND make an amazing looking meal. I'd like the whole thing actually, but the cake certainly caught Patrick's attention.

Double Decker Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Nonstick cooking spray

3 cups cake flour, plus more for pan
1 cup butter, softened, plus 1/2 cup, melted
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole buttermilk
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 (20-ounce) cans pineapple slices in juice, drained well (reserve 2 tablespoons juice for frosting)
1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained well
Pineapple Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows
Chopped pecans, for garnish, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and coat with flour.
In a large bowl, beat 1 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and set aside.
In a small bowl, add the 3 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Divide the brown sugar evenly into each pan. Pour the melted butter equally over the brown sugar. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries over the brown sugar. Reserve remaining pineapple slices and cherries for another use.
Pour equal amounts of batter over the fruit and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
To assemble the cake, carefully arrange 1 cake layer, pineapple side up, on a cake plate. Carefully stack the remaining cake layer, pineapple side up, over the first layer. Frost the sides of the cake with Pineapple Buttercream Frosting. Press chopped pecans into sides of cake, if desired.

Pineapple Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.

Yield: about 2 cups

Being the pickle lover I am. . . .

2011-01-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

And being on South Beach as I am. . . .

I decided to make pickled eggs. Yes, pickled eggs. They're like a joke. Like pickled pigs feet. Like, who eats those? And ew. And so on.

And you know what? They're not awful. They're even - strangely addictive. And the onions that you use to flavor the pickling liquid? They're good too! I have no idea "how" to eat them or what they should be eaten with; for now we're just grabbing them as snacks. And as a SB snack, they do a pretty good job - some nice filling protein from the egg (no, I still don't eat the yolk in these ones), the tangy pickle of the vinegar, and the sweet from the cloves and the little bit of Splenda you use to sweeten the brine; they're pretty well rounded and satisfy a few cravings all at once.
I used a couple of cups of every type of vinegar I had since I didn't have enough of any one. . . I believe it was 1/2 cup of distilled white, a cup of rice wine, and a 1/2 cup of apple cider. Add to that 1/2 cup of water, 2 tbsp of Splenda, 1 tbsp of pickling spices, one sliced onion, and maybe a couple of smashed garlic cloves? Something like that (maybe without the garlic). You put your dozen hardboiled and peeled eggs in a jar, pour the pickling liquid over top and leave in the fridge. We gave ours a good 24 hours before sampling. The pickling liquid firms the eggs up quite a bit, so texturewise, don't freak out when yours go rubbery.

Bottom line, if you like eggs, and you love a good pickle - fear not, the pickled egg. Give them a try. Lord knows Ontarians do if you believe the stories of Canadians who will let you know you're not alone in your pickled eggedness. I guess they're quite a pub treat for our Northern Neighbors. Can't wait til I can try them with beer and see how it goes.

I absolutely adore the idea of COLORED pickled eggs too (in also loving pickled beets this works doubly). Roll on Easter! The idea of that color combo gets me all worked up and wanting to put some in my ramen.
And again with the tiny. . . eeee! Even better!!

Texas Sheet Cake

2011-01-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Lest I forget to post this horrible "I can hardly read it" recipe before the next time my mom asks me if I have it (even though it is HER favorite), I'd better do it now. My Aunt Kathy & Uncle Skip's Texas Sheet Cake Recipe! Ta da!

Texas Sheet Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

2 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine these and set aside.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil:

1 cup butter

4 tbsp cocoa

1 cup water

Then add to the flour mixture.

Now also add:

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla

and mix well.

Spray jellyroll pan (see below) with Pam and bake 20-25 minutes at 350.

Frosting:

1/2 cup melted butter

3 tsp cocoa

4 tbsp buttermilk

1 box confectioner's sugar

Mix well and pour over cake while warm.

Allow to cool and slice into large squares to be individually tin foiled so they can then be gifted to your mother who can store them in the freezer and enter Nirvana any old time she pleases.

You'll need one of these if you don't already have one:

Meal and shopping planner

2011-01-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Best thing since sliced bread? Yes, probably.
Especially if you ever catch a glimpse of my "We Need to Shop for South Beach So We Have The Right Kinds of Food In The House So We Don't Fall Off the Wagon, But I Don't Know What We Need, So Let's Look Through the Recipe Books and Select Recipes For Each Day and Then Cram Ingredients Off On The Side and Try To Shop, Which We Both Know Means Crossing the Store 80 Times To Pick Up Some 'Forgotten In The Produce Section' Item."

In any case, enjoy.

I'd LOVE to laminate this bad boy and be able to reuse it.

Yet another steak & mushroom option

2011-01-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

I feel like steak and mushrooms are everywhere, especially in South Beach Diet meals. Last night after returning from a burger joint (where I only ate my patty, some salad, some sparkling water, and okay fine, five sweet potato fries), my darling co-South Beacher had not yet eaten.
I whipped him up a steak (seasoned with salt, pepper, Garlic seasoning and onion powder), perfectly medium rare (it was really a thing of beauty) and some sauteed mushies. I didn't just want to leave them MUSHROOM flavored, so I reduced down some beef broth with a dash of Dry Sack and some fresh cracked pepper, and finished it off with a tablespoon of butter.
I cooked the mushies in another tablespoon of butter and a little bit of olive oil and some garlic. I'm sure the Dry Sack was a bit of a no-no, but what can I say? My dad got me hooked on Dry Sack and mushrooms as a child and it's one of my favorite flavor combos to this day.
Nom.

Hash Brown Quiche

2011-01-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

Paula Deen had to take my hashbrown casserole and up the ante with a hash brown quiche. While I got four thumbs up from my brunch guests, Paula has nearly 300 for this recipe. What a show off.
This can also be scaled up into larger casserole dishes for larger groups, and the ingredients can be subbed out for just about any others you want to try. I agree with one reviewer though, in that I will cut WAY back on the butter - starting with maybe a quarter stick rather than a half.
This can easily be served for any meal, not just breakfast or brunch.

Hash Brown Quiche
3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup diced green onions
1 cup shredded Cheddar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.
Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.
Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.

French Dinner

2011-01-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

South Beach and the Food Network do not mix. Especially not YOU, Ina Garten. Your treat for Jeffrey - I want all of it and I can only eat one part of it. CURSE YOU. But, Phase 1 doesn't last forever. . . . until we meet again, French pastries.

Filet of Beef au Poivre
6 filet mignon, cut 1 1/4 inches thick
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped shallots (3 to 4 shallots)
1 cup canned beef broth
1/2 cup good Cognac or brandy

Place the filets on a board and pat them dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the filets with salt and then press the black pepper evenly on both sides. Allow to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until the butter almost smokes. Place the steaks in the pan and lower the heat to medium. Saute the steaks for 4 minutes on 1 side and then for 3 minutes on the other side, for medium rare. Remove the steaks to a serving platter and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Meanwhile, pour all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the saute pan. Add the shallots and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the beef broth and cook over high heat for 4 to 6 minutes, until reduced by half, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the Cognac and cook for 2 more minutes. Off the heat, swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Serve the steaks hot with the sauce poured on top.

Matchstick Potatoes - the crispiest fries are my favorite, so I am SUPER PUMPED to try these
peanut or canola oil

2 large oval Idaho potatoes, peeled

sea salt or Kosher salt

Minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour at least 1-inch of oil into a deep pot and heat it to 350 degrees F.
Slice the potatoes into thin matchsticks (1/8-inch thick) with a vegetable slicer or mandoline, dropping them into a bowl of cold water as you cut. Drain the potatoes and dry them thoroughly with paper towels. Drop the potatoes in batches into the hot oil and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the pot with a wire basket skimmer or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the potatoes.
Sprinkle the potatoes with parsley, if desired,(I do not desire - I'll be sprinkling with some kick ass French sea salt thanks) and serve hot.

p.s. - I really need to pick up one of these for frying stuff

Strawberry Tarts - I fell in love with fruit tarts when I lived in Australia, and they are a favorite to this day; I love the ones with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and kiwi
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons cold shortening (recommended: Crisco)
1/4 cup ice water
2 cups Pastry Cream, recipe follows
2 pints whole strawberries, hulled and halved
1/3 cup apricot jelly
3 tablespoons shelled pistachios, halved, optional

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Put the flour mixture in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and shortening and pulse about 10 times, or until the butter is in the size of peas. Add the ice water and process until the dough comes together. Dump on a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll out the dough and fit into 4 (4 1/2-inch) tart pans with removable sides. Don't stretch the dough when placing it in the pans or it will shrink during baking. Cut off the excess by rolling the pin across the top of each pan. Line the tart shells with a piece of buttered aluminum foil, butter side down, and fill them with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and foil, prick the bottom of the shells all over with a fork, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
Before serving, fill the tart shells with the pastry cream. Arrange the berries decoratively on top of the cream. Melt the apricot jelly with 1 teaspoon of water and brush the top of the tarts. Sprinkle with pistachios, if using, and serve.

Pastry Cream:
5 extra-large egg yolks, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups scalded milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Cognac
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon heavy cream

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-high speed for 4 minutes, or until very thick. Reduce to low speed, and add the cornstarch.
With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens, 5 to 7 minutes. Don't be alarmed when the custard comes to a boil and appears to curdle; switch to a whisk and beat vigorously. Cook, whisking constantly, for another 2 minutes; the custard will come together and become very thick, like pudding. Stir in the vanilla, Cognac, butter, and heavy cream. Pour the custard through a sieve into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.
Yield: 2 cups

I think I need these too. . .

Whiskey Sours - Sidecars would be great with this meal too, and are quite similar, just a bit less tangy - simple syrup can be used in those as well instead of Triple Sec
3/4 cup whiskey (recommended: Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4 limes)
2/3 cup sugar syrup (see note)
Ice cubes
Maraschino cherries

Combine the whiskey, lemon juice, lime juice, and syrup. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice and pour in the drink mix 2/3 full. Shake for 15 seconds and pour into glasses. Add a maraschino cherry and serve ice cold.

Note: To make the sugar syrup, bring 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil, and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Chill before using.

Turkey Meatloaf

2011-01-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Now that we're back on South Beach (curse you, phase 1!!), we planned out a menu and did a huge shopping trip to get ready for the week. Somewhere along the line, I thought turkey meatloaf sounded like a great option so we got the stuff. When I went to make it yesterday, it occurred to me that all of my SB meatloaf recipes are phase 2 or later - everyone wants us to use some sort of grain as a binder. I wanted to just go for it and not worry about a cup of bread crumbs or oatmeal in the grand scheme of things, but Patrick was adamant. No starch!!! Well crap, now what?
This is the recipe I have in my book, and here is one from Kalyn, but flax seed meal?! I don't exactly have that laying around. . . I had to improvise, and while not ideal (the way the fat came out of the meat was horrifying - I poured at least a cup of liquid off throughout cooking - ew), the loaf actually turned out quite well, and really delicious. Who knew?

1 package of Jennie-O ground turkey meat (I think they tend to be around 1 1/2 lbs)
1 can of Italian seasoned stewed tomatoes, well drained and smooshed with your hands (the better you drain these, the less liquid you have to worry about in your loaf later)
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1/2 tbsp of salt
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (I'd recommend more if you have it - I would've used more but we were out! Keep the calories in mind though and don't go nuts)
1 egg

Smoosh everything together - with your hands or a fork if you're squeamish. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, and fill with meatloaf. Sprinkle a little more parm on top if you'd like (I borrowed a few shavings from my roommate). Bake until 160 - it took us about 40 minutes. You might want to check it a few times and pour off any creepy oily water. Let it sit for a bit and serve with South Beach ketchup (and Sriracha if you're so inclined, and we usually are; Patrick went for it, I went without).
The Italian flavors were really delicious and I'd recommend the combo for any regular meatloaf as well.

We served these with goat cheese stuffed Portobello mushrooms which I cooked alongside, based on another SB recipe that I also couldn't fully execute due to a lack of pasta sauce and basil (should've saved some of those stewed tomatoes I guess). I put some sliced roasted red peppers down in a baking dish, put some medium sized portobello mushrooms (not the huge ones you'd use instead of a burger, but not the baby creminis either) on top of that, and filled the mushies with a slice of goat cheese and a sprinkling of pine nuts and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. Yum. :)

Cornmeal Crusted Chicken Salad

2011-01-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

This looks like a great phase 3 South Beach recipe - just use whole wheat flour in place of AP. I'd actually really like to eat this right now. . . . thanks Self!

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar substitute
Vegetable oil cooking spray
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4 oz each), sliced lengthwise into 1 1/2-inch-wide strips
1 avocado
8 oz mixed greens
1 jar (7 oz) roasted red peppers, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons goat cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoons grapefruit juice

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoons honey

Heat oven to 425°. Set out 3 shallow bowls: Put 1/2 cup flour in the first, egg and egg white in the second and cornmeal and the remaining 1/4 cup flour in the third. Season flour and cornmeal bowls with 1 tsp each of cumin, salt and sugar substitute and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir each bowl to blend ingredients. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil; coat foil with cooking spray. Dust each chicken strip with flour mixture, then dip in egg, dredge in cornmeal mixture and place on sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes, turning once halfway through, until chicken is cooked and crust is golden brown. Cut avocado into thin wedges.

Whisk dressing ingredients in a bowl big enough to accommodate greens; toss greens in dressing and divide among 4 plates. Top greens with chicken, avocado, peppers and goat cheese.

467 calories per serving, 19 g fat (4.3 g saturated), 39 g carbs, 5.4 g fiber, 36 g protein

Arancello

2010-12-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

I am a limoncello fan for sure, in addition to being a fan of making my own booze, so when I saw someone sipping Arancello I knew I had to find out more.
Imagine my surprise when the recipes I found basically just tell me to substitute lemons for oranges. Duh.

Limoncello or Arancello
10 lemons or 10 oranges
1 750 bottle of vodka (or everclear if you can find it - purists swear it's the only way to go)
3 1/2 cups of water (some recipes only call for a little bit of water if you need it, but I prefer to make a syrup to start)
2 1/2 cups of sugar

Scrub your fruit with a vegetable brush and HOT water to get them super clean. You can let them sit in the super hot water until it cools enough for you to get your hands in there - I use gloves so the heat doesn't bother me.Use a vegetable peeler to peel the lemons, taking care to avoid as much of the pith as possible - the pith will make your limoncello (or arancello) bitter.
Combine the peels with the alcohol and allow to steep for about a week.
Strain the alcohol to remove the peels and any little bits.
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat - stirring frequently to create a simple syrup. Allow to cool and add to the alcohol. Bottle and keep in the freezer as a digestif after your next big bowl of pasta.

You can also use this as a cocktail base - just think how yummy this would be with some champagne! Maybe a little bit of chambord, or perhaps some orange juice. . . delish!

While hunting for limoncello recipes, I found this intriguing recipe for Liquore de Fragole which I'm sure I'll have to try this summer.

2 pints strawberries(washed, hulled & halved)
1 quart everclear
4 cups water
2 ½ cups sugar

Put the strawberries in a gallon glass jar. Pour in everclear and cover. Let sit for about 2 days in a dark cool place. Spin contents of the jar 4 or 5 times a day to mix. Strain and discard the strawberries. Combine sugar and water over medium flame, and heat until sugar becomes clear-do not boil. When syrup cools, add to the alcohol. Store several more days, then put in freezer.

Hash Brown Casserole

2010-12-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

It was at a diner in. . . .Florida maybe?, where I had a life altering breakfast. You know the type - you take a bite and think, "OMFG, why doesn't EVERYONE serve this EVERYWHERE?!" It was basically all my brekkie favorites - eggs, cheese, meat and hashbrowns - cooked into a casserole dish. Soft, ooey, gooey, flavorful HEAVEN.
I've only dreamed of it for oh, four years or so and have yet to try to make it on my own. Between Paula Deen (my arteries slammed shut just thinking of what her version would be like), Cooks.com, and everywhere else you can find a recipe, you're sure to find some variation (bacon! sausage! ham! potato chips?!) you'll be dying to try. I'm tempted to give it a whirl now because I just had my step grandmother's amazing scrambled egg Christmas morning casserole and thought I could try out the hashbrown version for a hungover January 1st.

Breakfast Casserole
3 cups of potatoes O'Brien, thawed (you can use the cubed type hash browns if you can't find O'Briens)
1/2 cup milk - I used heavy whipping cream because I had it and also because wow, but I wouldn't normally!
5 eggs
1/3 cup chopped onion (use 1/2 cup if you're not using O'Briens)
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (I have a swiss and Gruyere mixture ready to go, but use your fave)
sliced ham, cooked & crumbled bacon, or cooked & crumbled sausage
breadcrumbs
salt & pepper

Beat the eggs and milk and season with salt & pepper (feel free to try paprika, onion or garlic powder, or celery salt here as well). Stir in onions, 1 cup of cheese and the ham or sausage (the bacon I'd keep to crumble on top so it stays crispy, but you could stir it in if you'd prefer).
Put the hash browns into a baking or pie dish and pour the egg mixture over the top.
Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and put into oven. Turn heat on to 350 and allow to cook for 35 minutes or until set. About five minutes before it's done, add the bread crumbs and bacon to make a nice crispy crust.

Butter Tarts

2010-12-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Butter tarts?! Next I'll be making treacle tarts I'm sure. . . whether inspired by Alice in Wonderland, my Irish boyfriend, or The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network, who knows, but butter tarts sound like something I can totally cheat at (premade pie dough anyone?) and make delicious.
Between Beau MacMillan and epicurious, I'm ready to give them a whirl.

Butter Tarts
12 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
4 drops vanilla extract
9 ounces butter (!!!!!)
4 ounces eggs
4 teaspoons water

1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins
1 vanilla bean

Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest and vanilla. Cut in the butter and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Add the eggs and water and mix until combined. Divide the dough into 18 pieces and roll each into a circle. Press the dough into tart pans.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling:
Melt the butter, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan and stir until the sugar starts to dissolve.
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the egg and raisins.

Bake the tart crusts for 12 minutes. Divide the filling among the tarts and bake until bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Amish Friendship Bread

2010-12-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

A fantastic holiday treat and a fun way to share with like minded, baker type friends - Amish Friendship Bread is a time tested classic. The only problem? Waiting for someone to give you a starter!!! The last one I received must've been 6 or 7 years ago and that's just mean. My stepmom swears by a recipe that has pudding in it (?!), but the one version I made did not involve pudding. Here is a pudding inclusive recipe that also features some good Q&A about substitutions and such.
AllRecipes also features a recipe with tons of reader comments that may be helpful.
This starter will yield enough batter to make yourself a loaf and share with three of your friends. Be sure not to use metal bowls or mixing tools for this - plastic, glass and wood only! You can dress this bread up however you'd like. We've done apples and raisins, chocolate chips, and my stepmom even did banana.
Now I don't recall needing to refrigerate this bad boy - despite the milk. . .someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think refrigerating it makes the yeast lazy and slows down the fermentation magic. Put it in the fridge or freezer only if you're not baking your bread on day 10.

Super Secret Starter:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (warm means 110 degrees F when you're working with yeast if you didn't know - I sure didn't the first time I encountered this direction)
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup white sugar
1 cup of warm milk (110 degrees F again)

In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water for 10 minutes or so, stirring well.
In a medium-large bowl, combine the flour and sugar mixing together to prevent lumps.
Slowly stir in the warm milk and the yeast. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap - it will go all bubbly and exciting as the yeasties chomp on all that sugar. This is Day One of your bread.

Amish Friendship Bread (directions to include with the starter you share with your friends)
Note: The batter can be left in a bowl, covered, to do its thing. If you'd prefer to give these gifts in a Ziploc bag, that works too - in that case you can just "massage" the batter around in the bag. After day five you'll probably need to "burp" your bag so you don't come home to an exploded Amish mess.

Day One - the day you receive the starter (unless you're told otherwise by the giver!)

Day Two - stir the batter
Day Three - stir the batter
Day Four - stir the batter
Day Five - Add 1 cup each of sifted flour, sugar, and milk
Day Six - stir the batter
Day Seven - stir the batter
Day Eight - stir the batter
Day Nine - stir the batter
Day Ten - Add 1 cup each of sifted flour, sugar, and milk. Separate into four, 1 cup portions and give three to friends. With the fourth portion, do the following:
Add 2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Using a fork (yes it's okay to use metal now), or wooden spoon, beat by hand until well blended. Add any additional treats now (raisins, nuts, etc.).
Grease two loaf pans with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes to an hour until sides have pulled away and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool and remove from pans.

Deviled Eggs

2010-12-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not a huge fan of deviled eggs. I don't dig cooked yolks see.
This means I don't like my eggs over well.
I toss the little sulfuric sphere out of my hardboiled ovum.
I DETEST egg salad (cooked yolks AND mayo - man, how could you?).
My stepmother makes deviled eggs for most events because most people quite like the things. At some point during this last year (Easter I believe it was), she had the brilliant idea of adding pickled jalapenos. Now there's something I can get on board with. I branched out. I tried a deviled egg. And another. And maybe one more. Okay two. But that's really only two full eggs so it's not that bad.

This year for festivus, my darling friend Jennie wanted to use her grandmother's crystal egg plate, but she had no idea how to make deviled eggs. Enter me. A quick call to my stepmother, a walk through of a semblance of a recipe (she cooks like I do), and I was on my way. They weren't quite as good as hers, though nothing I make ever is, but they were a hit, and a decent first go if I do say so myself.

1 dozen eggs, hardboiled and cooled
(put the eggs into cold water and bring to a boil; boil for 17 minutes and immediately remove from water and immerse into an ice bath)
Peel the eggs, and cut in half. Place the whites on papertowels to absorb any extra moisture and mash the yolks into dust. A little more. A little more than that. There you go, that should be good.
Add to the yolks: 2 tsp of white vinegar (you may want to add more later, but start here), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, white pepper, 1 tbsp of mustard, and mayo to consistency. It's all about taste here - start small and add more until you get to a spot you (or your boyfriend and his brother) approve of. I think I might even like to add chopped up pickled jalapenos and sour relish sometime, but that's neither here nor there.
Put the yolk mixture into a plastic bag and cut off the tip (or a pastry bag with a star tip if you'd prefer) and pipe into the egg halves.
Garnish with whatever you like - paprika, pimentos, olives, sprigs of dill, crumbled bacon, and pickled jalapenos all seem like good options. Stroke of genius: deviled eggs with crispy bacon on top could equal a great egg dish for a brunch party. Yes.

Take photos before you bring them to the party or they'll all get eaten and you'll have to post with no photo, yet again.

Puffcakes

2010-12-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna have to go ahead and name these puffcakes. Although puffins is cute too.
Mini Maple Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon into muffin tins, either minis or regular - no need to spray them if they're nonstick. The butter in the batter will keep them stick free. We did spray ours and they ended up a little bit greasy.
Bake for 8-9 minutes for mini muffin pan, or 10-12 minutes for regular muffin pan.
Makes 24 minis or 9 regulars sized muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.
Serve immediately with more maple syrup for dunking.

Wild. Boar. Ragu. . . . Oink.

2010-12-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'm finally doing it y'all.
Wild Boar Ragu.

Patrick and I stopped in to Bud's Custom Meats in Penngrove and picked up a couple of hunks of wild swine (and Bloody Mary jerky, of course) and I set to work marinating for my ragu.
I found this recipe on Chow and proceeded to screw it up immediately by combining ALL ingredients into a bag and allowing them to marinate overnight. :/
Luckily I did not destroy it (wild piggies are spency) - in fact, it was amazing.

I also stopped into Whole Paycheck and picked up some gnocchi and a little hunk of Parmesan and I am ready to get pan searing and give those Myth gnocchi of my memories a run for their money.

2 pounds wild boar tenderloin, cut into large chunks
carrot, small dice (about 1/2 cup) - I used baby carrots since that's what I had, but you could use 1 large one
2 ribs celery, small dice (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium yellow onion, small dice
4 medium garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf

3 fresh thyme sprigs or 2-3 teaspoons dried
1 cup hearty Italian red wine, such as Sangiovese - I used a Pinot Meunier I got from my wine club that I wasn't wild about, but was good quality so I felt bad chucking it and kept it to cook with
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 -4 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups low-sodium beef broth (or brown veal stock if you'd prefer)
sliced mushrooms
Parmesan or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Combine boar with carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme,tomatoes, tomato paste, broth and red wine in a sealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 300°F and arrange the rack in the middle. Remove meat from the marinade and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Reserve marinade for later.

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add meat and sear until nicely browned, about 6 minutes per side. (You may have to do this in 2 batches.)

Add reserved marinade, and bring to a simmer.

Cover the pot and place in the oven until meat is fork tender, about 2 hours (but check it - ours was ready after an hour and a half).

I thought it wasn't quite rich enough at this point, so I added another tablespoon or two of tomato paste and stirred it through, and added some sliced brown mushrooms and put it back in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes.

When meat is tender, shred it with two forks and mix well. Keep ragu warm over low heat until ready to combine with pan seared gnocchi.

For those pan seared gnocchi? I just put a tablespoon of unsalted and a tablespoon of salted butter in my pan (because I had them, not because I think you have to - I think all of one or the other would be fine and if you use unsalted you can season to taste) and allowed it to melt.

I chucked in the gnocchi and tossed them about to brown on most sides and crisp up a little. A couple of scoops of the ragu and a hearty dusting of grate Parmesan and you're ready to swoon.

It would also be great over tagliatelle.

I don't know if there are many things better for a chilly December night.

Ultimate Rice Krispie Treats

2010-11-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen's Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats, I whipped up a batch of the classic snack last night. I cannot even tell you the last time I made Rice Krispie Treats, but it can't have been in the last five years. I think I imagine them as the too hard, sickly sweet gigantic hunk o'krispie that you get in coffee shops and bakeries and I cringe. Salted brown butter RKTs are a different animal entirely, but every bit as mind blowingly simple.

Why yes, I did open up the Ziploc bag to take this photo after I had packaged them up.

I used:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 stick salted butter
1 10 oz bag of jumbo marshmallows
6 cups of crispy rice cereal (I admit - I used store brand - sorry Kellogg's)
Butter flavored Pam
a large pan (baking, cake, Pyrex, heck a jellyroll pan will work, you'll just have thinner treats)

Melt the butter over medium heat and allow to brown slightly. In the meantime, spray your pan with Pam.
Turn off the heat and add in the marshmallows. Stir to combine as the marshmallows melt. If you need to turn the heat back on to low you can do so, but for heaven's sake, don't walk away!
Once the marshmallows are melted, dump in the cereal and stir to combine. Scrape into your Pammed pan and flatten out. I get my hand a little bit wet with water to prevent too much sticking and smoosh the top of my treats down flat. Now, I'll be honest, with this much butter, things are already less sticky and a hair more greasy than normal, but whatever.

I thought about topping my treats with a sprinkling of French sea salt (yeah, that's how I roll), but opted instead to leave one batch plain, and to top the other with butterscotch and chocolate chips. I thought kids might balk at the salt and these are for a children's hospital fundraiser and I thought there was a decent chance kids might be eating them.

Next time around since we weren't wild about the overly sweet butterscotch chips, we're thinking peanut butter and chocolate. Luckily, SK already thought of that as well. I think I'll stick to the RKT recipe and then add a thin layer of the peanut butter and chocolate toppings rather than much with all that corn syrup though.

Double Apple Cake with Brandy Brown Sugar Sauce

2010-11-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

I loves me some appley things. Cakes, breads, pies, etc. When I saw this recipe posted on the kitchn I nearly seized. Appley cake PLUS boozey, salty caramelly sauce? Sold.
Plus, you can make it gluten free? Shut! Up!!

Here, my slightly altered version that I'm sure was every bit as delectable as the original.

Sticky Spiked Double-Apple Cake with a Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce
Serves 10 to 12
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup brandy
1 cup unsulphured dried apple slices (cut rings in half)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1-1/2 cups tightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans - I used the lightly salted and sweetened ones from Trader Joe's and chopped them
2 medium sized tart cooking apples, one peeled, one unpeeled, both cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Additional unsalted butter, at room temperature, for greasing the pan

In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the brandy for 45 minutes. Add the dried apple slices and macerate for a further 15 minutes. Do not drain!
While the dried fruit is macerating, start your prep:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Butter a 9 x 13 inch pan and line the bottom and up the two long sides with a sheet of parchment paper, letting the paper hang over the edges by an inch or so. Lightly butter the paper.
In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices and set aside.
In a large bowl with a hand held electric mixer or whisk, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend both sugars. Add the eggs and beat on medium speed until thickened and pale, about 2 minutes with a machine, 4 to 5 minutes by hand. Add the cooled melted butter and mix to blend. Fold in the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just enough to moisten most but not all of the flour. Add the dried fruit and brandy mixture, chopped pecans, and diced fresh apple, then fold them into the batter with long, deep strokes.
Note: this is a very fruit heavy batter, but don't worry. It bakes out just lovely.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and set in the center of the oven.
Bake for some amount of time from 40 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes, depending on your oven. I set my timer for one hour, but it was done much earlier than that. It is done when the center springs back when lightly touched, a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer to a wire rack and cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a healthy pour of the warm Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce.

Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce
Makes about 2-1/4 cups, aka, way more than you need - but you'll love it on ice cream and fruit - apples and bananas especially - too!
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream (36%)
2-1/2 tablespoons brandy
Combine the butter, sugars and cream in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir this mixture over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat to medium and bring the sauce to a very gentle boil, stirring all the while.
Cook 5 more minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the brandy.
Serve immediately, or cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.
To rewarm, either microwave the uncovered sauce on low power or transfer the cold caramel to a saucepan and stir over low heat until warm.

Wrap the cake and store it at room temperature - I baked mine on Wednesday night to be ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and I still enjoyed the last piece on Monday, so this bad boy can stick around for a while. Well, depending on your level of self restraint. . .

"Best" recipes

2010-11-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

I frequently head over to Allrecipes.com when I'm looking for a recipe for something. There are typically eleventy billion versions, so I can pick and pull the parts that I like and tweak with my own ideas and come up with some semblance of a recipe, which I like.
Imagine my delight to find all of their BEST recipes in one place for me to try as I please! Based on user ratings, these are the creme de la creme of allrecipes, and I can't wait to try them out. Except for you pot roast. You'll have to wait. Um, and you grilled salmon, because ew.

Banana Crumb Muffins

World's Best Lasagna (which I've already written about wanting to try)

Delicious Ham and Potato Soup

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Clone of a Cinnabon

Chicken Pot Pie IX

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople

Mom's Zucchini Bread

Annie's Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon Chips (which makes me think of the guacamole in this post)

Chicken Cordon Bleu II

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Banana Sour Cream Bread

Guacamole

Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

BBQ Pork for Sandwiches

Amish White Bread

Taco Seasoning I

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili

Grilled Salmon I

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

2010-11-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

I did something wrong here. 5,105 people have given this recipe an average rating of 4.5 stars. They rave about it! It's moist, it's delicious, it's AMAZING!!!!

My meat was tough and the gravy thin and flat. Where did I go wrong?! I only tweaked the recipe a tiny bit, and in ways the 5,105 reviewers had suggested! I'm going to have to try this again. It certainly wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't awesome.

2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used the low fat ones)
1 package of beefy onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups of water
5 1/2 pound pot roast
baby carrots
pearl onions
baby potatoes (reds, yellows, fingerlings, anything small and waxy so you don't have to worry about peeling)
button mushrooms
flour
salt
pepper
seasoning salt or garli garni
optional: Marsala

Season your flour with salt, pepper and seasoning. Dredge the roast in the flour to get all sides coated. Sear in a pan over high heat.
In the meantime, mix the mushroom soup, dry soup mix and water in your crockpot.
Once the meat is seared on all sides, put it in the pot.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
One hour before it's done, add your veggies and allow them to cook along with the meat.

This is where I'll try things differently - I cooked my roast for 5 hours on high; next time I'm going to try the 8 hours on low.
My gravy was a bit thin, so I ladled some out into a pan to thicken up. I added a little bit of a slurry of flour and Marsala to flavor it up a bit as well since it tasted a bit flat to me.

Overall it was good, but not nearly as richly flavored as I had imagined. What a let down.

Stuffing

2010-11-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

At that same Thanksgiving prequel, my darling friend made a fantastic stuffing. It was the best (non Stove Top) stuffing I've ever had. It's her boyfriend's mom's recipe, and now here it is for you. Yum!

1 yellow onion

2 apples (Golden Delicious are good)

½ cup dried cranberries

1/2 of a bunch of celery

Chicken broth

1 sourdough baguette

1 French baguette

1 ciabatta

1 LB mild Italian sausage, casings removed

Butter

Cube bread the night before and leave out, or if you're doing this the day of you can put it in the oven for 10 minutes to make the bread crunchy.

Saute the chopped onions, celery, and apples in butter for about 10 minutes over med heat and set aside.

In same pan cook sausage and when done combine with onions, celery, and apples.

Combine bread, sausage, apples, celery, and dried cranberries in a baking dish. Pour about a cup to a cup and a half of chicken broth over the mixture (this may vary I think I used a bit too much, but you can eyeball) and bake 25-30 minutes at 350!

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

2010-11-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

While I already have my own pumpkin spice cake recipe, I was at a Warm Up to Thanksgiving dinner last night (wherein we begin stretching out our bellies in preparation for the real deal on Thursday) and there was a very tasty pumpkin spice cake that one girl made from a recipe she found on Epicurious. Her frosting hadn't worked out, but the cake was divine on its own, and well, with a little dollop of vanilla whipped cream that was probably made to go with the chocolate bundt cake, but that's neither here nor there. Epicurious has plenty of yummy looking pumpkin spice cakes btw.

For cake

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)

3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs
For icing

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons well-shaken buttermilk

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Special equipment: a 10-inch nonstick bundt pan (3 quart)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter bundt pan generously, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour (2 1/4 cups), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla in another bowl.

Beat butter (1 1/2 sticks) and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and reinvert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.

While cake is cooling, whisk together buttermilk and confectioners sugar until smooth. Drizzle icing over warm cake, then cool cake completely. Icing will harden slightly.

Of course, my new focus now is a gorgeous bundt cake - I have always lusted over those fancy ones, and seeing this gorgeous cake only reinforced my desire.
You can find some good ones at Amazon.com.

Money Saving Thanksgiving - oh the SHAME

2010-11-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

As horrifying as this is, Sandra Lee made a simple, affordable Thanksgiving dinner that actually looked quite yummy. Trust me, I can hardly even choke out the words. And yet, I'm still going to post here because hey - foods is foods and these recipes look easy.
I admit; this is the recipe that won me over - cream cheese? IN the mashed potatoes?! Madness.

Baked Mashed Potatoes
You basically just make your standard mashers (with salt, butter, milk, salt and pepper; whatever you use) and then add the fun. Throw in a hefty handful of shredded cheddar cheese, a half a block of cream cheese and smoosh it in to incorporate.
Scrape it into a baking dish coated in nonstick cooking spray, then cover in crumbled cooked bacon and breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes or so at 350. You can serve with chives or green onions. Nom!

Cider gravy sounds pretty tasty too. Again, get ready to make your standard gravy, but combine 1 cup of cider with 1 cup of chicken broth and slowly mix that into a roux (butter & flour; 3 tbsp of each). You can add pan drippings if you want, or skip them. Her recipe calls for 1 tbsp of brown mustard, but ew and I'm thinking honey mustard might be great. A teaspoon of fresh thyme to finish, and ta da!

For her Roasted Turkey Breast with Spicy Herb Oil, she did a yummy spice rub. I typically jam a bunch of pats of butter, cloves of garlic and sprigs of rosemary under my turkey skin, but her version sounds good too. She just takes canola oil with chopped rosemary, chopped sage, chopped thyme, garlic powder, chile powder, crushed red pepper flakes and salt and pepper and rubs the mixture under the skin and on top before baking.

The final recipe that caught my eye was one of her round two recipes for Fried Potato Cakes. My Irish boyfriend loves him some potato cakes, and since these ones have bacon, cheese, and green onions if you're using the leftovers from the above recipe, they sound divine! You just take some of your leftover mashers, stir in some more cheese, and dredge in bread crumbs seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne and fry til the outside is crispy. Easy peasy. Drain them on paper towels to get rid of some of the excess oil.

And it just wouldn't be a Sandra Lee recipe post without cocktail time. . . how about Pumpkin Pie Martinis and Holiday Party Punch?
The martini is a bit labor intensive, requiring you to make a pumpkin pie spice simple syrup with brown sugar; 1/2 cup of each with 1 tsp of spice (hmmm, how else can I use that I wonder?), and then one of those awful sugar rims using regular sugar and more pumpkin pie spice - which I'll skip thanks. They always either slide down the glass making it all sticky, or they dry onto the edge of the glass requiring you to nibble it off.
Then you whisk together 2 cups of half and half (Trader Joe's fat free!), 2 tbsp pumpkin puree, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and half of the simple syrup. Combine with 4 ounces of vanilla vodka and shake or stir well with ice. Pour into glasses and top with a little bit of sparkling water if desired.

The punch is a bottle of cranberry juice, a bottle of sparkling cider, half of a 2 liter bottle of gingerale, the juice of 2 lemons, and 12 ounces of vodka mixed together in a punch bowl. Garnish with a sliced orange and frozen cranberries to act as ice for, oh, 2 minutes or so. In fact, I'd probably freeze a bit of extra juice to use as the ice cubes to keep things cool.

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

2010-11-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, in one of our Iron Chef battles, the ingredient du jour was Pillsbury Crescent Dough. Seriously. I made a dessert - an apple turnover thing I think, and a savory - samosas. They were yummy - not win worthy it seems, but yummy. I got the idea from a snack I used to make for the boys I babysat in highschool. If their mom had leftover mashed potatoes, one of their favorite snacks was a dollop of potato wrapped up in the middle, baked, and then served with ketchup. Simple, boring, but comforting. This led me to big plans for Thanksgiving leftovers - can you imagine little pockets of leftover deliciousness? Stuffing, potatoes, turkey, gravy, maybe some cranberry sauce? Hot pockets!!!

Also, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I am totally going to make these. But just because I'm a "foodie" doesn't mean I can only like fancy, expensive or difficult to make dishes - right?

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

2 tablespoons ranch dressing

1/4 cup cooked real bacon pieces or 4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

1/2 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)

1/4 cup chopped green onions (4 medium)

Heat oven to 350°F.

If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate into 2 long rectangles. Press each into 12x4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut lengthwise into 2 long rectangles. Press each into 12x4-inch rectangle.

Spread dressing over each rectangle to edges. Sprinkle each with bacon, Cheddar cheese and onions.

Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices; place cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

More Bourbon Caramel

2010-11-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

I know I've posted about this before, but I just love bourbon and caramel. What can I say?

Butter Bourbon Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a large, heavy skillet, heat the sugar over medium heat, stirring with a fork until it begins to melt. Once it is melting, stop stirring and cook, swirling the skillet occasionally so the sugar melts evenly. Cook until it is dark amber in color, and then remove from the heat. Put an oven mitt on the hand you will be using to stir in the ingredients and stand back to avoid splattering. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the butter, water, bourbon, vinegar, and salt and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel has dissolved. Add the cream and bring to a boil and allow to cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, and then remove from heat. Allow to cool down.

Butterbeer

2010-11-21T12:14:00.000-08:00

We're going to see the latest Harry Potter movie today (only two more to go! Wah!), after weeks of rewatching the old ones - man those kids were so tiny the first time around. I think it goes without saying that we are fully immersed. What better way to celebrate than with a nice warm cup of butterbeer? I can't think of one.
There are only a gajillion variations floating around tha interwebs and they all sound intense. Intensely rich, intensely sweet, intensely caloric . . . I think I might have to tweak it a bit to get it drinkable for more than 1/4 cup, but we'll see.

Start to finish: 1 hour (10 minutes active)

Servings: 4

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

6 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

3/4 cup heavy cream, divided

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.

Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

I poached an egg!!!

2010-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, I have never poached an egg. I know, right? Well, today I did it.
I had dinner with a friend at Marlowe the other night and had this amazing, decadent, rich like woah polenta dish. It was intense - I could only eat half. So today I figured I'd poach a couple of eggs, dump them on top and eat it like my name is Michael Dickerson. It was perfection. Rich like woah, decadent perfection. But I just LOVE the combination of egg, truffle oil, parmesan and earthy something - either mushrooms or asparagus. It is the best, and perfect for an ucky, rainy fall morning.
I can't take full credit, since you know, I only poached the eggs, but I bet I can make something similar. I don't really like polenta though, so go figure.

For my eggs, I filled a small saucepan maybe 2/3 full of water, added 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp of white vinegar and maybe a teaspoon of salt and brought the water to a boil. I cracked my eggs in a small bowl and gently eased them into the water. I let them boil for a few minutes - 2? 3? til they looked set. Voila! Perfection.

You can go ahead and nestle your eggs into a bowl of soft polenta, just make a little nest for it in the middle. The yolk all mixed into the polenta is divine. Sautee up some wild mushrooms, Place them all around the outside, and sprinkle with arugula and some shaved Parmesan, then drizzle truffle oil all over. Or maybe mix it into the polenta? Eat a small portion, seriously.

Selfy Snacks

2010-11-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

The holiday pot luck/entertaining season is upon us, and our waistlines. You can't control what everyone else brings (looking at you, hot spinach artichoke dip made with cheese and mayo and a million other calorie laden delicious things), but you can certainly bring something you know you can eat without consuming enough calories to sustain a village for a month. Self sent out an email to their subscribers featuring plenty of holiday tipples and treats that will probably wow your friends and family, while still allowing you to button your pants.
Thank God leggings and big oversized tunics are in this season.

Because I know avocados are ac/dcs of the fruit and vegetable world (going well both sweet and savory; I actually made an avocado pie for my first Iron Chef battle - and WON), I am totally into the idea of incorporating fruit into my guac. The mangoes and pomegranate seeds make it both gorgeous, and even more Mexican than it was before (imho).
113 calories per serving (with 10 chips), 6.9 g fat (1 g saturated), 3.9 g fiber, 14 g carbs, 1.7 g protein - not counting the millions of calories in chips, of course; try it on fish tacos or with baked flour tortilla chips instead; maybe even with a little sprinkling of cinnamon sugar!

Having made some variation on prosciutto wrapped dates or figs for ages, I was happy to see them considered "healthy" AND to see them combined with my greatest love - goat cheese - even if I know that having 10 of them sort of negates that.
187 calories per 2 dates, 3 g fat (1.9 g saturated), 36 g carbs, 3.3 g fiber, 6 g protein

I actually want this shrimp dish for dinner; I love the sour/sweet tang of Tamarind and I think with some steamed or stir fried veggies and brown rice? Nom. As an app at a party, it doesn't get much easier - salt and pepper on the shrimp, grill them on both sides for a couple of minutes and serve with a dipping sauce? Easy peasy tamarind squeezy. For the sauce:
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup tamarind paste (found in Asian markets)
1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sugar
156 calories per serving, 3.8 g fat (0.6 g saturated), 5.9 g carbs, 0.2 g fiber, 23.5 g protein

These are just gorgeous. And adorable. And I'm already planning a Dr. Seuss themed party where my eggs are green with basil or pesto perhaps, and I think you know where I'm going. Vegetable oil cooking spray
4 slices prosciutto, fat trimmed, halved
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
3 tablespoons nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped black olives
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
27 calories per serving, 1.1 g fat (0.3 g saturated), 0.4 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 3.6 g protein

Heat oven to 400°. Coat a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Press 1 piece prosciutto into each of 8 cups. Whisk egg whites and whole egg until smooth. Whisk in yogurt, olives, rosemary, salt and pepper. Divide mixture among cups. Bake, uncovered, until quiches are cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Garnish with rosemary.

27 calories per serving, 1.1 g fat (0.3 g saturated), 0.4 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 3.6 g protein

I love crispy potatoes, and I love sweet potatoes, so hooray!
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled
2 1/2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1 cup)
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Parchment paper

Heat oven to 425˚. Finely grate sweet potatoes into a bowl. Squeeze grated sweet potatoes in batches to release as much moisture as possible and place in another bowl; fluff with a fork. Stir in cheese, egg whites, rosemary and pepper. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spoon 1 rounded tbsp batter onto cookie sheet and flatten into a thin, 2- to 2 1/2-inch round. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving 1 inch between rounds. Bake until edges and underside are crisp and browned, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly and remove from parchment. Serve warm with Rosemary-Balsamic Cream.

144 calories per 3 crisps with cream, 5.2 g fat (3.2 g saturated), 17 g carbs, 1.8 g fiber, 6 g protein

Rosemary Balsamic Cream
1 teaspoon canola oil
4 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallots until translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a high simmer. Cook until 2/3 of liquid has evaporated and shallots are very dark, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Combine sour cream, rosemary and 2 tsp water in a bowl. Spoon balsamic-shallot sauce into center of sour cream and swirl with a toothpick. Serve with crisps.

It's not all food my friends - no no, it's also drinks! And this one sounds delightful, while being equally at home in the winter, or in warmer weather. I think I might simplify it a bit though (do I really want five spice powder on the rim of my glass?).
Make a ginger simple syrup with equal parts of sugar and water, plus 1/2 cup of chopped fresh ginger.
Then, easy enough - one star anise, a piece of candied ginger, and a tablespoon or so of syrup, all topped with your favorite sparkler. Gorgeous, gingery, fizzy and sweet. Perfect for your next celebratory sushi dinner.
150 calories per cocktail, 0 g fat, 23 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein

Surely you knew I wouldn't ignore their stab at summertime sangria, which uses white wine, pulpless oj, triple sec, apricot brandy, sprite, apples and grapes (and CUCUMBER?! erm. . .)

285 calories per serving, 0.2 g fat (0.1 g saturated), 35 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 1 g protein

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

2010-11-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, a guy I was seeing and I went down to Bittersweet Cafe on Fillmore and it was love at first sight. The moment he saw "peanut butter hot chocolate" on the menu he knew he had to have it. Of course, it took much longer before he professed his love to me, but in all fairness I'm not the delightfully sweet and salty combo of chocolate and peanut butter. Well, I might be sweet sometimes, and salty at others, but, oh you get it. I'll stop.
But now, tragedy of tragedies - Bittersweet has CLOSED and we are left peanut butter hot chocolateless.
Well this simply won't do. Where will my darling get his annual dose of 80,000 calories in 8 ounces of thick, salty-sweet liquid bliss? I'm tempted to rewrite that given how awful it sounds, but it's true, and funny in that sexual innuendo way that I enjoy so much, so it gets to stay.
A quick tour of the interwebs brings up plenty of "well, duh" type recipes for just such a concoction, so never fear. We are saved!!!!
We are also saved from my wondering if I were to combine some milk with some peanut butter cups and stick it to my immersion blender, whether or not it would work.

Wasabimon features her own (gluten free!) labor of love here.
This shandy cat snagged a recipe from a cookbook and posted it for the world to see (much to the dismay of the cookbook author one would imagine) for a frozen version.
And the good folks over at food.com were kind enough to publish EXACTLY what I would've tried, without requiring the trial and error process of not enough/too much/just right amounts of peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
1 or 2 packets of your favorite hot chocolate mix (back when I was a lifeguard a coworker taught me to use twice the powder with the same amount of liquid and I have never looked back)
some nice hot milk - you pick the fat level - me, I'm going low in order to make up for all those other calories
1 tbsp of creamy peanut butter

Empty the packets into a mug, pour in milk and stir well. Add peanut butter and stir some more until the peanut butter is melted.
Top with whipped cream and maybe even little pb cup crumbles if you're feeling skinny.

It's Snuggler Season!!!

2010-11-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

So what if The Spir.It calls it a Peppermint Kiss. I'll forgive them - I mean, tis the season afterall. Some festive Peppermint Schnapps cocktails for your tree trimming festivities. The Peppermint Stick looks awfully close to the drink I made for my birthday one year, dubbed the Candy Cane.
Maybe I will make that batch of homemade Peppermint Schnapps after all, and not just stick to Kahlua.

Peppermint Twist
1 oz Peppermint schnapps
1 oz Coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
1/2 oz Dark creme de cacao

Combine in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Peppermint Stick
1 oz peppermint schnapps
1 1/2 oz white creme de cacao
1 oz light cream

In a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice, combine and shake the schnapps, creme de cacao, and cream. Strain into a champagne flute, garnish with a candy cane.

Peppermint Kiss
3/4 oz Peppermint schnapps
5 oz Hot cocoa
whipped cream

Combine cocoa and schnapps in an irish coffee cup or mug, garnish with whipped cream.

DIY Peppermint Schnapps
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups water
2 1/12 cups brandy
3 drops peppermint oil

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the peppermint oil. Cool until luke warm, stir in brandy. Seal in a bottle or airtight container.

Pumpkin Parmesan Popovers

2010-11-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

I had some leftover canned pumpkin the other day (after making my pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting) and I didn't want to waste it. I somehow knew that I must be able to make a popover or something with the pumpkin - even though I have never made a popover in my life, and may have only ever eaten one. I checked out a few different recipes, and eventually came up with one that I thought might work. For a dinner party. Yes - I am one of those people who makes things they have never made before for guests and prays that they turn out. Yes - I am a mediocre baker who probably shouldn't risk baked goods given the number of flops I have brought to family dinners. None of these facts are enough to deter me, so off I went, and you know what? Even though I forgot about them for a minute and let them get just a * little * bit too brown, they were damn near perfect - just a bit crisp and browned on the outside, but soft and a bit wet in the middle. They were delicious and four of us polished off 12 of them. Win!

Pumpkin Parmesan Popovers
4 eggs
1 c milk (I used fat free)
1/2 c pumpkin (canned is fine)
3 tbsp butter - melted
1 c flour
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp chili powder or cayenne pepper
Parmesan cheese (oh go on - you know how much you like; just keep in mind that the Parm keeps the popovers from, well, popping over, so you might want to go easy on it. I probably used a pinch per popover.)

Preheat your oven to 375 and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray (I used butter flavored). Whisk together the wets: eggs, milk, butter and pumpkin. Combine the drys (flour, salt, chili powder) and whisk those into the wets.
Pour into the muffin tin; filling each no more than 2/3 full - this was just enough batter for 12 popovers for me.
Sprinkle a pinch of Parmesan on top of each.
Bake for 30 minutes or so; slit tops to allow steam to escape and bake 10 minutes more.

And yes, you can do these in advance and reheat them - I'd say a 300 degree oven for 10 minutes or so should do it!

Poached Pears

2010-11-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I poached pears. Thanks to Chow for helping me to come up with a recipe using stuff I had on hand.

2 cups of port wine and 2 of cab
1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 stick cinnamon
1 tbsp or so of whole cloves
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
4 firm Bosc or Anjou pears (about 1 pound)

Combine all ingredients except pears in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Meanwhile, peel pears, leaving the stems intact. Slice off the bottom 1/8 inch of each pear to create a flat, stable base.

Reduce heat to keep poaching liquid at a bare simmer and add pears, laying them on their sides so that they are almost completely submerged. Cook, turning pears occasionally so that they become saturated on all sides, until they are just tender when pierced with a fork, about 7 minutes. Be careful when turning - if the pears are ripe, or once they start to cook they get very delicate and you can end up gouging them with your spoon as you try to turn them.

Allow pears to cool completely in the poaching liquid. Serve or transfer pears and liquid to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

To serve, I broke up half of a bar of dark chocolate into a small bowl, added 1/4 cup of milk and nuked for a minute. I stirred, added more milk (another tbsp or two) until I had the consistency I wanted, then spooned the chocolate onto the plate and spread it around a bit, and nestled the pears on top.

Cult Classics via Poor Taste

2010-11-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

With all the travel I do for work, I should be able to work my way through this list from Poor Taste Magazine . . . plenty are even in my own back yard (some I've even been to!), and others I keep meaning to go to but never quite make it (I'm looking at you Hot Doug's. . . ). I have a new goal, and goals are good.
* thanks to the folks at Poor Taste for not forming a pitchforked mob for my shoddy cut and paste without proper copyrighting job *
100. Chino Bandido (Phoenix, AZ)
99. Soowon Galbi Korean BBQ (Los Angeles, CA)
98. Congee Village (New York, NY)
97. S’Mac (New York, NY)

96. Georgetown Cupcake (Washington, D.C.)
95. El Pinto (Albuquerque, NM)
94. Tango Sur (Chicago, IL)
93. Slows Bar-B-Q (Detroit, MI)
92. Fat Matt’s Rib Shack (Atlanta, GA)
91. Bunk Sandwiches (Portland, OR)
90. Mi Nidito (Tucson, AZ)
89. Hillbilly Hot Dogs (LeSage, WV)
88. Jestine’s Kitchen (Charleston, SC)
87. The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen (San Francisco, CA)

86. Loveless Cafe (Nashville, TN)
85. Boss Oyster (Apalachicola, FL)
84. Busboys & Poets (Washington, D.C.)
83. A Salt & Battery (New York, NY)
82. Ann’s Snack Bar (Atlanta, GA)
81. Matt’s Bar (Minneapolis, MN)
80. Salt Lick Bar-B-Que (Driftwood, TX)
79. El Rey Taqueria (Houston, TX)
78. Solly’s Grille (Milwaukee, WI)
77. Redbones Barbecue (Somerville, MA)
76. Taco Matamores (Brooklyn, NY)
75. Melt Bar & Grilled (Cleveland, OH)
74. Jacques-Imo’s Café (New Orleans, LA)

73. Pappy’s Smokehouse (St. Louis, MO)
72. Crif Dogs (New York, NY)
71. Back A Yard Caribbean American Grill (Menlo Park, CA)
70. Dinosaur BBQ (Syracuse, NY)
69. Anchor Bar (Buffalo, NY)
68. Pike Place Chowder (Seattle, WA)
67. The Oinkster (Eagle Rock, CA)
~~66. Zeitgeist (San Francisco, CA)~~
I go for the vibe more than I go for the food, but the food certainly doesn't hurt.
65. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (New Haven, CT)
64. Dottie’s True Blue Cafe (San Francisco, CA)

63. Red’s Eats (Wicasset, ME)
62. White House Sub Shop (Atlantic City, NJ)
~~61. Café Du Monde (New Orleans)~~
On one of my earliest "grown up" type - Yes, Let's Travel Across the Country Like Adults Even Though We Are Still Quite Young and Have the Hangovers To Prove It (I was 23; it was a couple of months after 9-11) vacations was to New Orleans and we practically bee lined for this place. We KNEW we had to have their beignets and chicory coffee. The coffee didn't blow me away but I wasn't much of a coffee drinker at the time, and it didn't stop me from bringing a tin home for my parents (and requesting another be brought back for me last year - I have yet to touch it btw). The beignets were everything everyone had said they'd be - light, fluffy, sweet, fried perfection. I must admit though - I really like the addition of a nice dark chocolate dipping sauce as I had with my first ever beignet dessert at the restaurant where I worked. Yum.
60. Pine State Biscuits (Portland, OR)
59. Piroshky Piroshky Bakery (Seattle, WA)
58. Primanti Bros. (Pittsburgh, PA)
57. Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue (Kansas City, KS)
56. Rainbow Drive-In (Honolulu, HI)

55. Crisp (Chicago, IL)
54. Voodoo Doughnut (Portland, OR)
53. Domilise Sandwich Shop & Bar (New Orleans, LA)
52. Frank’s Diner (Kenosha, WI)
51. Momofuku Noodle Bar (New York, NY)
50. Billy Goat Tavern (Chicago, IL)
49. Yuca’s (Los Angeles, CA)
48. Café Habana (New York, NY)
47. Triple XXX Family Restaurant (West Lafayette, IN)
~~46. Memphis Minnie’s (San Francisco, CA)~~
http://www.yelp.com/biz/memphis-minnies-san-francisco#hrid:_7ZwVLQlovxbedw98zbKIA/src:self

45. Joe’s Shanghai (Flushing, NY)
44. Hodad’s Burgers (Ocean Beach, CA)
43. Central Grocery Co. (New Orleans, LA)
42. Taqueria Cancun (San Francisco, CA)
41. Scoops (Los Angeles, CA)
40. Katz’s Delicatessen (New York, NY)
39. Daikokuya (Los Angeles, CA)
38. Saigon Sandwich (San Francisco, CA)
37. Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken (Memphis, TN)

36. Pat’s King of Steaks (Philadelphia, PA)
35. Porto’s Bakery & Cafe (Glendale, CA)
34. Bi-Rite Creamery (San Francisco, CA)
33. Ramen House Ryowa (Mountain View, CA)
32. Papalote Mexican Grill (San Francisco, CA)
31. Hash House A Go Go (Las Vegas, NV)
30. Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs (Denver, CO)
29. Rosamunde Sausage Grill (San Francisco, CA)
28. Phil’s BBQ Restaurant (San Diego, CA)
27. Cafe Iberico (Chicago, IL)
26. Smitty’s Market (Lockhart, TX)

25. Falafel’s Drive In (San Jose, CA)
24. Dan’s Super Subs (Woodland Hills, CA)
23. Sultan’s Market (Chicago, IL)
22. Pho Xe Tang Tank Noodle (Chicago, IL)
21. Pommes Frites (New York, NY)
20. Umami Burger (Los Angeles, CA)

19. The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective (Berkeley, CA)
18. Ray’s Hell Burgers (Arlington, VA)
17. Wurstküche (Los Angeles, CA)
16. Pizzeria Bianco (Phoenix, AZ)
15. Grimaldi’s Pizzeria (Brooklyn, NY)
14. Father’s Office (Santa Monica, CA)
13. ~~El Farolito Taqueria (San Francisco, CA)~~
My dad has been taking me here since I was a kid - I'm guessing this is where my idea of Mexican food was born (hence why I don't think Southern California or Texas can hold a candle to SF).
12. Mamoun’s Falafel (New York, NY)
11. Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles (Los Angeles, CA)
10. Din Tai Fung Dumpling House (Arcadia, CA)

9. Ben’s Chili Bowl (Washington, D.C.)
8. Shake Shack (New York, NY)
7. Philippe The Original (Los Angeles, CA)
6. Burma Superstar (San Francisco, CA)
5. Kuma’s Corner (Chicago, IL)
4. Ippudo NY (New York, NY
3. Pink’s Hot Dogs (Los Angeles, CA)
2. Tartine Bakery & Cafe (San Francisco, CA)

1. Hot Doug’s (Chicago, IL)

Apple Cider

2010-11-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

I knew I wouldn't have to stay relegated to buying it by the jug forever. . .
And while I doubt that anything will come anywhere CLOSE to the most amazing cider I have ever had in my entire life (I seriously dream about this stuff), it's worth a shot, yes?

Goodfellow’s Apple Cider

1 jug freshly pressed apple juice
2 sticks cinnamon
10 whole cloves
5 pods star anise
Juice of one orange
Combine in a pot and place on the burner. Allow to come to a slight simmer — but do not boil.

Pizza - Self Style

2010-11-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I feel about polenta crust. I'm not a huge polenta fan, and I just don't get how it can be crispy, but I guess I'd be willing to try it out some time, you know, just in case it's awesome.

Pepperoni Polenta Pizza

Serves 6

1/2 cup instant plain polenta

1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup thinly sliced onion1/4 cup diced red and/or green bell pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup prepared marinara sauce
10 slices reduced-fat pepperoni
1/3 cup seeded and diced tomato
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat (part skim) mozzarella

Preheat oven to 450°F. For crust, bring 2 1/4 cups water to a boil. Whisk in polenta and salt. Reduce heat and whisk 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Pour into a 9" pie plate or cake tin, cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge to chill to room temperature. Meanwhile, sauté onion and pepper with oil in a nonstick skillet until onion is soft, about 2 minutes. Pour marinara sauce over crust. Add onion, pepper, pepperoni, tomato, and oregano; salt and pepper to taste. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and cook 2 more minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 6 slices; serve immediately.

the skinny

97 calories per serving, 3 g fat (1 g saturated), 13 g carbs, 5 g protein

And since I'm always searching for healthy crust options (I'm sorry, I know pizza isn't healthy, but I just can't give it up), maybe I'll give their dough recipe a whirl as well.

Makes 8 individual crusts

1 tablespoon molasses

1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Vegetable-oil cooking spray

In a large bowl, combine molasses and yeast with 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water. Stir. Set aside until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add salt and oil and stir. In a separate bowl, mix flours together. Add yeast mixture to flours and stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms. Divide dough into 8 portions. (Freeze any unused dough.) Using hands, roll dough into balls, coat fully with cooking spray and set aside.
Prepare a charcoal, gas or stovetop grill. Grill should be very hot. Position grilling rack 3 or 4 inches from heat source. Flour a baking sheet. With hands, flatten a ball of dough into an 8-inch circle on baking sheet. Using fingertips, gently lift dough, and set it on the grill. When dough puffs and underside stiffens (about 1 minute for gas or charcoal, several minutes for stovetop grill), flip crust with a spatula; move to the coolest part of the grill. Top according to the recipes above.

The skinny

252 calories per crust, 5 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 45 g carbs, 3.5 g fiber, 6 g protein

Harley Farms and the art of making goat cheese

2010-11-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have a little secret to tell you. It involves me, and goats, and making cheese, and the future. Well, that's all I'm going to tell you actually since I don't want anyone stealing my brilliant idea. But just know, that my future holds goats and cheese making. I hope.
In that vein, I dragged my poor, darling boyfriend out to a local goat farm on a miserable, rainy day to go on a mucky, smelly tour with pushy goats and delicious cheese.
Harley Farms is the only working dairy left in San Mateo County, and it's run by an Englishwoman named Dee and her lovely staff. This woman and her husband purchased the farm way back when (some 20 years ago I believe?) and through various turns of fate, she wound up learning from scratch, how to care for goats, and make delicious treats from their milk. She's got a decent little organization going these days and sells to several local markets, online, in her farm shop, and hosts (almost always immediately sold out) farm dinners.
At some point, I shall have to attempt to corner Dee and learn the ways. I'm sure she's not busy or anything, and would LOVE to share all of her trade secrets with a future possible competitor - right?
Now that I'm a pro (HA) at cheesemaking, I'm eager to get my hooks into making goat cheese, since that is where my passion clearly lies.
Now I just have to figure out what to do, as the options are a bit overwhelming.

Butterscotch Cake

2010-11-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

This cake just SCREAMS church bake sale somewhere in middle America, but when it's this easy, why not give it a whirl, right?

1 package of yellow cake mix
1 c sour cream
1 small instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 package of butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine first 5 ingredients and mix well, for about 4 minutes.
Gently stir in butterscotch chips and pour into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan.
Bake for approximately one hour (check on it for doneness after 40-45 minutes or so).

Potato, Rosemary & Truffle Flatbread

2010-11-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have this obsession with Pizza Antica's flatbread with potatoes and truffle oil. I was going to make a version this weekend, but didn't get around to it, which is a total bummer because I had Chef G's amazing pizza dough and I'm sure it would've been fab.
I will still do this at some point, even though Patrick dislikes truffle oil (fool!). Maybe for that Stella & Dot party I'm hosting. . . .

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 ounces unpeeled small Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into very thin rounds; use a mandolin if you have one!

1 blob of pizza dough (homemade, from Trader Joe's or your local pizzeria, wherever)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

A drizzle of truffle oil - white or black, your choice; I might experiment since I have both

corn meal

Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat with garlic to flavor the oil. Remove garlic cloves once they start to brown. Add potato slices in single layer. sauté until just tender, about 5 minutes. Cool briefly.

Roll out dough to desired thinness and put on corn meal dusted pizza stone. Scatter potato slices over dough, leaving 3/4-inch plain border. Sprinkle with rosemary, Parmesan and crushed red pepper.

Bake pizza until crust is crisp, about 20 minutes. Using a spatula if necessary, loosen crust from stone. Slide out onto platter or board and drizzle with truffle oil. Slice and serve.

I die.

2010-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Small things are cute.
Animals are cute.
Small animals are super cute.
Cake is good.
Small animal cakes make my head esplode.

I am SO making the bunnies, but probably with my fave bunny face (though please disregard how much this looks like a French bulldog; I'll do French bulldogs next):

My friend Noelle made the chicks last Easter, and while they were too sweet for eating in my opinion (7 year old me would kick me in the shins for even suggesting such an abomination), they were so insanely cute that they simply must exist.
Now, do I do white cake and white frosting to stick with the white? Probably. I'll come up with some species to create for my birthday so I can do yellow cake with chocolate frosting, omg yum. Boston terriers? Nah, I'll probably just make cute little faces on them.

Garlic and Lemon Chicken with Broccolini

2010-10-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'll have it for breakfast (I'm no Cameron Diaz or Michael Dickerson), but it sounds like a yummy healthy dinner with leftovers for lunch!
This only serves 2 though, so if you want those leftovers and you're cooking for more than just your self, double up!

vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup Broccolini, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 whole egg plus 1 egg white, scrambled
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over high heat. Add oil. Sprinkle chicken and Broccolini with salt, garlic powder and pepper; add to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add flour and cook, stirring continuously, 1 minute more. Add rice, garlic and lemon zest; cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add eggs, stirring vigorously until egg is cooked and chicken is no longer pink in the center, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add juice, broth and parsley.

317 calories per serving, 9 g fat (2 g saturated), 31 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 23 g protein

Quick Pickled Beets

2010-10-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Quinn over at Nermo makes some pretty mean pickled beets. I mean, they are seriously yummy (especially in a butter leaf lettuce salad with blue cheese and vinaigrette and maybe some toasted hazelnuts - * drool *).
However, videos are always helpful, even though Quinn's recipe is way easier, plus, I am fascinated by the addition of Atomic Fireballs in this recipe. And again, because I coddle you (and want this to be quicker for me when I look it up later. . . ), I've typed up the ingredients and instructions.

Beets - 10 or so
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp black peppercorns
4 allspice berries
2 cups white wine vinegar
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs of thyme
3 cloves of garlic
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp Aleppo chile
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp turbinado sugar
2-3 Atomic fireballs
Cipollini onions

Roast them beets, then top and tail them (cut off root end and stem end), skin 'em and cut into equal sizes (wear gloves unless you want pink fingers for days).
Toast the spices (fennel, mustard, pepper, allspice) in a pan over medium heat to bring out their flavors. Pour into pot.
Add water and vinegar to spices. Add remaining ingredients to liquid. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add a sliced cipollini to the brine.

In a jar with a sealable lid, add a few onions, load in some beets, and then pour the pickling liquid over the top.
Allow to cool to room temp, close and put in fridge. Tomorrow you'll have yummy pickled beets.

Mmmm, WHITE chili!

2010-10-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

I managed a pretty tasty pantry chili the other day, but I'm also a fairly big fan of white chili. Mild and creamy and not so heavy. . . yum. I am totally drooling.

I wish I could embed the video for you, but I can't. But I did type up the ingredients and directions - thank me later.

White Chicken Chili
4 bone in, skin on chicken breasts - 3 lbs
1 tbsp oil
salt & pepper
3 jalapenos, minced (keep one minced jalapeno set aside)
3 poblano chiles
3 anaheim chiles
2 onions
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
more salt (a tbsp or so, but start with a little and taste as you go if you're not a big salt fan)
1 can white cannelini beans
3 cups of chicken broth
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 raw jalapeno
1/4 c cilantro minced
4 chopped scallions

Heat oil over medium high til it just starts to shimmer and smoke. Season chicken with s&p while you wait for oil to heat. Sear chicken a few minutes on each side.
Remove stems, seeds and ribs from chiles. Don't rub your eyes for the next several hours. Seriously.
In a food processor, puree the onions, poblano and anaheim chiles til semi-smooth (you may need to do this in a couple of batches).
Take chicken out of pot and set aside.
Add the onion/chile blend to the pot with 2 minced jalapenos, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt. Stir and put lid on top to allow veggies to sweat for 10 minutes or so.
Remove chicken skin and snack or throw away or give to starving dog at your feet.
Take one cup of the chile mixture, 1 cup of beans and 1 cup of chicken broth and puree in food processor til smooth to help thicken the chili. Add back into pot.
Add 2 additional cups of chicken broth into the pot, and then nestle chicken in. Turn up heat to high and let it come to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cover for 15-20 minutes until chicken reaches 160 degrees.
Remove chicken and set aside to cool and shred.
Add the beans to the pot and allow to cook for 10 more minutes.
Shred the chicken while you wait (use two forks if it's too hot) and add back into the pot.
Then add the lime juice, the third jalapeno, cilantro and scallions.
Serve with sour cream and more cilantro and scallions if desired.

Pilgrim Punch

2010-10-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

As all drinkers who are serious about imbibing have, I have some favorite bartenders here in SF (just LOOK at that cute photo - they're so Boardwalk Empire I can hardly stand it, and they're nice to boot. I think I proposed to Scott once after tasting one of his concoctions.). This recipe is theirs, so off course it's a bit labor intensive (I have to brew TEA?!), but it's bound to be amazing and cocktaily instead of sickly sweet.

Pilgrim Punch
Makes one punch bowl
Ingredients
750 ml Plymouth Gin
1½ c. white port
1½ c. chamomile tea
1½ c. white cranberry juice
1½ c. fresh lemon juice
1 ½ c. rich simple syrup*
1½ oz. whiskey barrel-aged bitters
Frozen cranberries
1. Make an ice block by freezing a plastic container full of water.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl. Add the block of ice so that the punch dilutes slowly and evenly.
3. Float handfuls of frozen cranberries in the punch (as pictured).
*To make a rich simple syrup, combine 4 cups of organic cane sugar and 2 cups of water. Stir until the sugar evaporates over low heat, and then bring to a boil for a few minutes. Let cool and thicken.

Speaking of Halloween and pudding. . . .

2010-10-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

How cute are THESE?! Eee!

1 package gelatin
2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks (reserve 2 whites for topping)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree

2 large egg whites
1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pinch fine salt
Small candy, for eyes

PUDDING:
Put 1 tablespoon of cold water in a large bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the surface, do not stir, and set aside until gelatin softens and bloom.
Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a stand mixer's bowl above the water. Whisk milk, sugar, yolks, cinnamon and salt in a heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl above the boiling water and cook, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula, until mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon and almost boils, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and pour over the gelatin, whisking constantly until gelatin is completely dissolved and evenly distributed. Whisk in pumpkin until combined and completely smooth.
Evenly divide mixture into 12 small 3-ounce cups (paper works fine) and refrigerate until set, about 4 to 8 hours.
TOPPING:

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a stand mixer's bowl above the water. Whisk the 2 egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer and beat with the whisk attachment at medium-high speed until eggs hold a stiff peak, about 5 minutes.
Spoon topping onto puddings in the shape of a ghost. Decorate with candy eyes and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Graveyard Cakes

2010-10-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

I know I want to make something sweet for this year's Halloween party. Of course, I would LOVE to make my sugar cookies in adorable Halloween shapes, but to use up a bit of the masses and masses of cake mix and frosting I have in the pantry, I think Graveyard Cakes are where it's at. Plus; way easier.
I thought about doing one cake, and decorating it with crushed Oreo "earth" and some mini tombstones, but then found some ADORABLE little cupcake kits and decided cupcakes are easier to deal with in a group setting anyway.
I thought it would be extra fun to do a childhood throwback - remember those old Jell-O pudding filled cupcakes we had as kids? And goo seems graveyardy. . .score.
Alas, recipes for those are difficult to come by and they don't make the kits any more. But why not just inject the darn things? If Sandra Lee can do it, so can I.
So - a box of chocolate cake mix, a can of chocolate frosting, and a package of chocolate instant pudding (or vanilla and dye it orange maybe? Or disgusting brownish green goo colored?), and some crushed chocolate cookies.
Bake the cupcakes and make the pudding.
Once the cupcakes are cool, inject the pudding into the cakes.
Frost with frosting and dust generously with chocolate cookie crumbs.
Decorate as desired (you can always do the gummy worm thing if you want, but I always pull those out and end up eating them separately or not at all; candy corn and candy pumpkins would be good too).
Eat your heart out Sandra.

Butternut Squash Soup

2010-10-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

When I lived in Australia, I was introduced to eating pumpkin - and not just in pie form. The standard "meat and three veg" dinner seemed to involve lamb, cauliflower (with or without amazing, gooey, calorie laden white cream/cheese sauce), roast pumpkin and something else.
But then. I had dinner at a friend's house and his mum made pumpkin soup. Sweet Great Pumpkin that stuff was good. I have spent the rest of my autumns trying to recreate a version that can hold a candle to hers. It is a constant struggle.
I have since branched out to butternut squash soup as well, and have amassed quite the collection - most with notes scribbled all over them as I try to tweak and change and manipulate and get the perfect balance of fall spice flavors and savory - I hate when they're too sweet. Food Network offers up several options to choose from, and tweak to our hearts content. I like the curry versions, I love the idea of crispy fried shallots too, but oof with the sweet (cinnamon whipped cream?! Is it pie or soup?)
This recipe is INTENSE and features way more steps than I've ever tried, and I already know that I'll be cutting back on some of the sweet ingredients, and subbing in fat free half and half and stuff to healthify it. . . but then adding crispy shallots and crusty bread with butter instead of marscapone and pumpkin seeds to undo my good work.

For the soup:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diced onion
1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced celery
1/4 cup (1/4-inch) diced carrot
1 cinnamon stick
Sea salt, preferably gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper
About 4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground toasted coriander, optional
1 1/2 cups Roasted Winter Squash recipe
1/2 cup half-and-half, optional

To serve:

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, optional
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and cinnamon stick and saute until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the chicken stock and the coriander, if using, and bring to a boil. Simmer for several minutes. Stir in the squash until smooth, then simmer gently to let the flavors meld, about 10 minutes. Discard the cinnamon stick.
Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. (The soup can be made ahead to this point, cooled, covered, and refrigerated for several days or frozen for about 1 month. It will thicken as it cools and may need thinning with stock or water when reheating.)
Return the soup to the pan and reheat gently. Add the half-and-half, if using. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep warm until service.

To serve:

Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Garnish evenly, with the cheese and pumpkin seeds, if desired.

Roasted Winter Squash:

About 3 pounds butternut squash (preferably 1 large squash)
Gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup dark unsulfured molasses
2 teaspoons Toasted Spice Rub, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. Halve lengthwise, discard the seeds, then cut into 1-inch dice. Place in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Heat the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter ceases to foam and has turned a light brown, pull the pan off the heat and immediately add the sage, sugar, vinegar (stand back so as not to get splattered), molasses and toasted spice rub. Mix well and let simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes to meld the flavors.
Pour the vinegar mixture over the squash and toss well, then transfer to a heavy rimmed baking sheet or baking dish large enough to hold the squash in a single layer. Place in the oven and roast, tossing at least once, until very tender and caramelized, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Set aside until cool enough to handle but still warm, so the liquids are runny.
Working in batches, if necessary, transfer the warm squash and all the cooking liquids to a food processor and process until smooth. Use immediately, refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Serving suggestions: Serve the puree on its own as a side dish for roast chicken, turkey, or pork; stir into polenta just before the end of cooking; use as a stuffing for ravioli; make into a soup; or use to flavor pastina. Or omit the sage, season with ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to taste, and use as a substitute for canned pumpkin in your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.
Variation for Smoky Butternut Squash: Cook the prepared squash on a baking sheet in a covered grill with soaked chips to give a slightly smoky taste. Substitute in any of the recipes that call for roasted squash. If cooking kabocha, acorn, or other difficult-to-peel squash, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and rub the insides and cut edges with the vinegar/molasses mixture. Place on a baking sheet, cut sides up, and roast at 400 degrees F until tender. Scoop out and puree.
Yield: about 2 cups puree

Toasted Spice Rub:

1/4 cup fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/4 cup (1-ounce) pure California chili powder
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a small, heavy pan over medium heat. When the fennel turns light brown, work quickly. Turn on the exhaust fan, add the red pepper flakes, and toss, toss, toss, always under the fan. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to cool.
Put mixture into a blender with the chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until the spices are evenly ground. If you have a small spice mill or a coffee grinder dedicated to grinding spices, grind only the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour into a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Keep the spice mix in a glass jar in a cool, dry place, or freeze.
Chef's notes: Toasting freshens spices, releases their oils, and makes them more fragrant, as well as adding a new dimension of flavor.
Taste your chili powder before adding and, if spicy and hot, cut back the amount. California chilies are almost sweet, not hot.
Yield: about 1 cup

This one looks easier and references the magic word: bourbon.
Butternut Squash and Bourbon Bisque
1 to 2 butternut squash (about 4 pounds total)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced leeks
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
5 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup evaporated skim milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
With a sharp knife, prick the squash in several places to allow steam to escape while it cooks
(otherwise it could burst). Place the squash in a baking dish lined with foil and roast for about 90 minutes, until the squash is soft when you push on it. Let cool for 30 minutes, so it=s easier to handle, then peel, seed, and remove strings. Cut the roasted squash into 1/2-inch pieces, or scoop meat out with a spoon.
In a heavy soup kettle, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Cook until light golden brown and add the leeks and cumin. Cook for 2 minutes and add the garlic and ginger. When the garlic is fragrant, add the maple syrup, soy sauce, bourbon, sherry and nutmeg. Add the squash and stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook gently for 15 minutes.
Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender), puree the soup until very smooth. Add the evaporated milk, salt, and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes; do not bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve in soup plates.
If you like, garnish this soup with garlic and Parmesan cheese croutons and a dollop of non fat sour cream.

I recommend cheese crisps versus croutons.

Spicy Banana Fritters

2010-10-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

I love banana desserts, and if this one can win someone such great praise on Top Chef, they're surely good enough for me (or any dinner guests).

Spicy Banana Fritters
Batter:
2 cup flour
2 tbs black and white sesame seeds
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tbs sugar
salt to taste
1 tbs honey
2 large eggs
2 cups of hoppy pale ale

Mix above ingredients until thoroughly incorporated.

Bananas:
Large bananas cut into 1-inch medallions
Sambal Oelek or similar chili paste
wooden skewers for serving
2 tbs cinnamon mixed with 4 tbs granulated sugar
2 cups of vegetable oil heated to 350 degrees

Brush banana medallions with a little bit of sambal chili paste; then spear medallions on skewers and dip in batter to coat. Dunk the coated medallions in the hot oil and fry for about 1 minute, or until the fritters become puffy and golden brown. Transfer fritters to a paper-towel-lined tray and sprinkle them while hot with cinnamon and sugar mixture. To finish, put a dollop of chili paste on a plate and place fritters on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Falafel

2010-10-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

I used to live right next door to a great falafel place (don't understand those mediocre reviews - I think their falafel wrap in lavash is AMAZING.
I have wanted to make my own falafel for ages, but haven't gotten around to it. The food network chefs were kind enough to post a couple of recipes; but it was watching Guy Fieri make them that sparked my interest. If that guy can do it, I can TOTALLY do it.

Falafel with Yogurt Sauce
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for frying
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (14-ounce) cans chick peas, drained
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons flour
2 cups freshly chopped parsley leaves
3/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
Pitas, for sandwich
Toppings: shredded lettuce and chopped tomato, sliced cucumbers
Yogurt Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

In medium skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons oil and sweat onion and peppers 2 to 3 minutes then garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
In a food processor, pulse together chick peas, red chili flakes, ground cumin, the egg, salt and black pepper to form a coarse consistency. Then add flour, parsley, and cilantro. Pulse until mixture starts pulling from the sides of the food processor.
Remove mixture to a large bowl and mix in the onion mixture. Chill falafel until ready to cook.
Roll falafel dough into 1-inch rounds. Then form rounds into an oblong quenelle shape, like a football. Guy doesn't mention it, but I'm pretty sure you're going to want to roll your quenelles (or balls if your prefer) in flour to help hold them together before you fry them.
In a thick-bottomed skillet heat 1/2 inch of canola oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Cook falafel balls a few at a time, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Be sure to turn them so they do not burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt while still hot.
Open the pita bread to make pockets. Place 3 to 4 falafels inside. Stuff with lettuce tomato and cucumbers and drizzle sauce generously on the inside. Serve immediately.

Yogurt Dipping Sauce (mine, not Guy's)
1 cup non or low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
salt to taste
1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
chopped cucumber (I like adding my cucumber to the sauce instead of into the falafel, but you could do it either way)

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl and chill until ready to use.
Yield: 1 cup

He also made a yummy looking side salad/pasta dish that reminds me of this delicious orzo pasta salad they have at Safeway combined with a pasta salad I make using the yummy artichoke juice as part of my dressing.

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2- inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
8 ounces orzo
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup diced red onion
4 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped into small 1/4-inch pieces
1 medium size cucumber, peeled and seeded, diced
3 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes (1/4-inch pieces)
16 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts (1/2-inch pieces)
2 tablespoons liquid from marinated artichoke hearts
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons minced fresh mint
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 to 5 Romaine lettuce leaves

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small bowl, toss cubed eggplant with the garlic and oil. Spread on sheet pan and place in preheated oven. Cook until golden brown, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally for even browning. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions and drain. Remove eggplant to a large nonmetallic bowl. Add pasta and stir in 1/2 cup of feta while pasta and eggplant are still warm. Set aside to cool while preparing other ingredients.
Add in the rest of the ingredients except the romaine and gently stir to combine, adding remaining feta cheese last. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill for 1 hour and serve on a bed of romaine on a large platter.

Spicy Peanuts

2010-10-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Peanuts are EVERYWHERE in bars in San Miguel. Some are coated in a yummy crunchy, slightly sweet substance, some are roasted with a little bit of salt, some have chili and lime, and some are spicy and amazing. I had some that featured little fried garlic chips and dried red peppers and they were awesome. I know I mentioned wanting to make them for Halloween this year, and then I came across this recipe, which looks like a fantastic jumping off point.

1 egg white
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder

2 cups high quality dry roasted unsalted peanuts
5 dried chiles, optional garnish

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Whisk egg white until foamy in a medium bowl. Whisk in sugar, water, salt, cumin, cayenne, garlic and ancho powders. Toss nuts in mixture until well coated.

Spray a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment. Spread nuts out on the prepared pan in a single layer. Cook for 45 minutes until slightly golden, turning nuts with a spatula every 15 minutes so they toast evenly and don't stick.

Set the nuts aside, stirring periodically as they cool. When completely cool, transfer to serving bowl and garnish with dried red chiles if desired.

In my Halloween post, I also mention this simpler recipe here.

2 cups shelled but unsalted blanched peanuts
Freshly ground red chili powder to taste (about 2 full tablespoons) the amount you use will depend on the heat of the chili – and your personal desire for piquancy. This should be a taste as you go kind of recipe.
A Tablespoon of vegetable oil for frying
Salt to taste
tips:
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet set over medium. When the oil is hot, add in the peanuts and stir constantly until well roasted and browned. Turn off the heat a bit before the peanuts are done, as the residual heat from the peanuts and pan will continue to cook the nuts for a while. Don't add the chili powder to the peanuts until after you have turned the heat off – as the chili powder can burn.
Once the nuts have brown-roasted, add in the chili powder to taste, and a good couple of pinches of salt. Stir to mix completely.

Provencal Soup with Pistou

2010-10-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Fall and soup just go together, so when I saw Ina making this one for her French friends, I knew I had to give it a whirl. So healthy and yummy looking! And if you make it with veggie stock, it's totally vegan as well.

2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
3 cups 1/2-inch-diced unpeeled boiling potatoes (1 pound)
3 cups 1/2-inch-diced carrots (1 pound)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 quarts homemade chicken stock or canned broth
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 pound haricots verts, ends removed and cut in 1/2
4 ounces spaghetti, broken in pieces
1 cup Pistou, recipe follows
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot, add the onions, and saute over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the leeks, potatoes, carrots, salt, and pepper and saute over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and saffron, bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Add the haricots verts and spaghetti, bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 more minutes.

To serve, whisk 1/4 cup of the pistou into the hot soup, then season to taste. Depending on the saltiness of your chicken stock, you may need to add up to another tablespoon of salt. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and more pistou.

Pistou
4 large garlic cloves
1/4 cup tomato paste
24 large basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup good olive oil

Place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor and puree. With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil down the feed tube to make a paste. Pack into a container, pour a film of olive oil on top, and close the lid.

Rosti

2010-10-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

A coworker is in Switzerland right now, which made me think of one of my favorite Swiss treats - no, not fondue, that's the other one. No, not chocolate either. Rosti!!
Mmmm, starchy potatoey carbs.
Traditionally, rosti is just potato, salt, pepper, and butter or oil. You can do that too, but the rosti I had in Lauterbrunnen had onion and ham, and how can you NOT add cheese when given the opportunity?!

Ham & Cheese Rosti
6 large potatoes (if you're feeling like Sandra Lee you can use the pre-grated hashbrown type potatoes)
1 shallot or 1 small onion, minced
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried)
2-4 tablespoons butter
8 ounces Swiss cheese (I'd suggest Jarlsberg, Gruyere or Emmentaler), grated
1 cup diced ham
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons hot water
optional: 1 large egg (to make it a bit "breakfastier" and to help the potatoes stick together, you can coat the potatoes in a beaten egg before adding to the skillet; just beat the egg, and add stir it into the potato mixture)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, and put in the fridge to cool. Once cool, peel and grate potatoes.
Mix potatoes in a large bowl with the onion, rosemary, salt and pepper, ham, and cheese - you can reserve 1/4 cup of the cheese to sprinkle on top if you'd like.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in large nonstick skillet, add the potato mixture.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons hot water over the top layer, cover and saute at low to medium heat until bottom layer browns. Turn with spatula, add remaining tablespoon of butter, and brown again. (you may have to flip the rosti onto a plate, and then back into the pan)
This will probably take about 7 minutes per side.
Drain on paper towels before serving.

South Beached Rosti
1 pound sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
6 ounces crumbled goat cheese
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Peel and grate the sweet potatoes; place in a clean cloth and squeeze out the excess liquid; transfer to a large bowl.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook the onion and garlic in the hot oil until soft; transfer to the bowl with the drained sweet potato; add about 2/3 of the goat cheese and the beaten eggs; mix well. Divide the mixture into 4 even portions and shape into balls with your hands and then flatten them to about 1/2 inch thickness. Arrange the patties onto a baking sheet.
Roast in the preheated oven until golden brown; about 25 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining goat cheese over the patties and return to oven to melt the cheese, about 5 minutes more.

Or you can try a "fancy" rosti with brie and apples.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Whipped Cream

2010-10-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Some people like cheesecake. Sometimes I think it's pretty good, but I'm never like, "OOOOOOOHHHHH - CHEESECAKE."
I did have a pumpkin cheesecake once that was to die for, which then led my wonderful mother to believe that I would like ALL pumpkin cheesecake and that's what she got for my birthday, only for us to realize that what I really want on my birthday is yellow cake with chocolate frosting, made with a boxed mix and using a can of frosting. Seriously.
However, pumpkin cheesecake is a delight, and these little bites look just fab. This is my first ever Seejeneat Special Request Recipe - so Quinn, when they're done I will certainly be delivering.
And can we giggle for a second that in the address it says "whop cream?" Okay, thanks.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Yields 12 2×3 mini cheesecakes

Crust
1-1/4 cups ginger snaps
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
Cheesecake
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of candied ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut up,
1 tablespoons butter
Bourbon Whip Cream
3/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoon of bourbon

1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease pan. Combine In a, combine ginger snap crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. Stir in the 1/3 cup melted butter. Press mixture evenly into bottom of the prepared baking pan; set aside.

Add cream cheese and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, candied ginger, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and beat until combined. Remove 1 cup of the mixture.

In a heat proof bowl combine the 6 ounces chocolate and the 1 tablespoons butter and place in an inch of simmering water. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Whisk chocolate mixture into the 1 cup pumpkin mixture. Pour over crust, spreading evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Gently pour remaining pumpkin mixture over baked chocolate layer, spreading evenly. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes more or until filling is puffed. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before releasing.

Whip cream until medium peaks form. Fold in bourbon and finish by drizzling caramel sauce on top and sprinkle with nutmeg seasoning.

A few notes:

If you decide not to make mini cheesecakes, use an 8inch springform pan and increase the bake time by 15-20 minutes. Start checking for doneness at 12-15 minutes. The cheesecake is done when the center of the cake gives a slight jiggle when the pan is tapped.
You can skip the chocolate layer if you wish.
This pumpkin cheesecake can be made three days in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

2010-10-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

I saw this today in this month's issue of Cooking Light while I was at the grocery store and drooled a little. Once I'm off of my "near starvation diet" I can't wait to give this a whirl!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)

4 (6-ounce) red potatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup prechopped onion
1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 bacon slices, halved
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 teaspoons thinly sliced green onions

Pierce potatoes with a fork. Microwave on HIGH 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half; cool slightly.

While potatoes cook, heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth. Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk; add to pan with 1 1/2 cups milk. Bring to a boil; stir often. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, salt, and pepper.

Arrange bacon on a paper towel on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with a paper towel; microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Crumble bacon.

Discard potato skins. Coarsely mash potatoes into soup. Top with cheese, green onions, and bacon.

Calories: 325
Fat: 11.1g (sat 5.2g,mono 4.5g,poly 0.8g)
Protein: 13.2g
Carbohydrate: 43.8g
Fiber: 3g
Cholesterol: 27mg
Iron: 1.3mg
Sodium: 670mg
Calcium: 261mg

Tapas

2010-10-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Now, believe it or not, but my recent stint in Mexico led me to the discovery of a FANTASTIC little tapas restaurant (run by yanks, in Mexico - go figure). At least both cultures speak Spanish, even if their cuisine is wildly different. There were a couple of dishes I tried at this restaurant that really stood out as being amazing, and a recent recipe sent to me by the fitness fanatics over at Self reminded me of one of them. I tweaked it a little (how can you not have paprika in this dish?!), and you might want to as well by scaling back on that garlic a little - yowza!

Chile Garlic Shrimp (or gambas al ajillo if you prefer)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Spanish)
10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 lbs large shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 dried red chiles (plus more for garnish, if desired)
1 tsp paprika
2 teaspoons brandy
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 chunk of yummy bread to sop up all the sauce

Heat oil in a medium sauté pan over high heat. Sauté garlic until browned, about 2 minutes. Add shrimp and chiles; sauté until shrimp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add brandy and paprika and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Transfer to a platter or divide equally among 8 small plates. Sprinkle with parsley, add salt to taste and serve.

Another big hit, with everyone I made try them (and it was just about everyone I dined with - definitely everyone that came down to visit) - piquillo pimientos or pasilla peppers (or hell, even red bell peppers) with goat cheese. Seriously, I think they roast the peppers to give them a nice smoky flavor and soften them up, peel the skins off, stuff them with goat cheese, heat them up, and drizzle with olive oil and sea salt to serve. Simple; but they are the most amazingly bright and fresh appetizers. And please, don't do as my dad did - red jalapenos are NOT the same thing.
Fine fine, if you need a recipe; what do you know - Self has one of those too! Those smarties.

Served with some grilled asparagus finished with olive oil, lemon & sea salt; a nice glass of Spanish wine; and a dessert of port and delicious cheese with honey and marcona almonds and you may as well be in Spain.

Pantry Chili & Edgar's story

2010-10-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my chili post, and my Edgar purchase (more on that in a sec), and the dreary weather; I was craving chili yesterday. However, since I'm me and I didn't plan this craving ahead of time, it was up to me and the pantry to make magic happen. Luckily - it totally did.
Edgar was a lovely creature from Stemple Creek Ranch that gave up his life so that 11 of my friends and I might eat some amazingly delicious free range, healthy and sustainable red meat.
Now, thanks to things like The Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Inc., I know that I want happy, healthy, walking around animals on my dinner table. Well; I want to know that they were happy, healthy, and walking around BEFORE they end up on my dinner table anyway. Thanks to a local group I belong to (shout out to Bay Area Food Bloggers!), I knew about Stemple Creek and off I went with some half baked idea about buying a quarter of a cow. But how on Earth was I going to store 110 pounds of delicious, healthy cow meat in my San Francisco freezer? Well I wasn't, plain and simple. Lucky for me, I have loads of like minded foodie friends that were game to share the beast. We all ended up with a healthy portion of various cuts of meat (some more than others, depending on how many people each "quarter of the quarter" was split with). This was way back in August when I was in Mexico. I just ate my first bit of Edgar YESTERDAY. I'll have to call Loren (owner of Stemple Creek Ranch) and let him know, since he actually called to check in and see how everything was, how everyone liked the meat, and what they could do to make the ordering process easier. Now THAT is customer service.

In any case - a hankering for chili I had, and hardly any canned tomatoes in the pantry. What's a girl to do? Well, lucky for me I am a bit of a hoarder, so I had some things floating around - tons of spices, some cannelini beans, some black beans and Pace picante sauce. So I did a spin on that recipe I posted recently from Gourmet, via Smitten Kitchen.

2 large onions, chopped (about 3 cups)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 pounds of ground Edgar (or equally delicious grass fed beef)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon crumbled dry oregano
to make up for my lack of paprika or green peppers:
1 tablespoon of "Mexican Seasoning"
1 tablespoon of "All Purpose Seasoning " (this one or something similar)
1/2 tablespoon of celery salt
Kosher salt to taste
1 16 oz jar of Medium Pace Picante Sauce
1 1/4 cups beef broth
1/2 bottle of lager (I used Black Star - yum)
1 can of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

In a large pot (I used my Dutch Oven), heat the oil over moderately low heat and cook the onions in it for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more. Raise the heat to medium and add the beef, stirring and breaking up any lumps until it is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the spices and cook for another minute. Add the Pace, broth and beer and simmer the chili, covered, for 35 to 40 minutes. Add the beans, salt and pepper to taste and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

You have GOT to be kidding me

2010-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

A 12 course Christmas dinner, as prepared in 1896.
On a wood stove.
With 1896 ingredients and techniques.

INSANITY.

http://www.fannieslastsupper.com/

Chili!

2010-09-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Me, I love a quick can of Stagg's.
Patrick however, made me chili and cornbread as one of those "win the girl over" dinners when we were first dating.
It seems only fair that I should learn to return the favor (unless it ends up stepping on his "my turn in the kitchen" toes if I also learn to make kick ass chili - we'll see).

Beef Chili with Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits
Seen on SmittenKitchen; Adapted from Gourmet
A couple notes: First, if you like a saucier chili, you might reduce the beef by one pound, though this might reduce your serving size. Second, I didn’t get the rise out of these biscuits that I’d expected to. Since they were delicious and other commenters have raved about them, I assumed it was me and didn’t bother tinkering with them. Finally, the original recipe says that it serves six but I think it stretches further, especially if you’re doing this shortcake-style, with just a ladleful on top. I’d suggest scaling the biscuit portion to the number of guests you’re having. If you make more than you need, I recommend freezing the extras unbaked until you’re ready to serve the chili again — you can bake them directly from the freezer, and they’ll always be fresh and crisp.
Serves 6
2 large onions, chopped (about 3 cups)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 carrots, sliced thin (suggested by Gourmet) or in a small dice, as I’d chop them next time
3 pounds boneless beef chuck, ground coarse or 3 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon crumbled dry oregano
Dried red pepper flakes, to taste (Gourmet suggests 1 tablespoon; I used 1 teaspoon knowing that my flakes are very hot)
2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce or 2 cups fresh tomato sauce or tomato puree
1 1/4 cups beef broth
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups or 1 19-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 green bell peppers, chopped
Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits, below
Sour cream and pickled jalapeños (optional, to finish)
In a large pot (I used a 5-quart, and just fit it all), heat the oil over moderately low heat and cook the onions in it for 5 to 10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for one minute more. Raise the heat to medium and add the beef, stirring and breaking up any lumps until it is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Add the tomato sauce, broth and vinegar and simmer the chili, covered, for 35 to 40 minutes (if you used ground beef) or 50 to 60 minutes (if you used coarse chuck). Add the kidney beans, bell peppers, salt (I used 2 teaspoons to get the seasoning right for my tastes) and pepper to taste and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, until the bell peppers are tender.
Serve ladled over a split Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuit, below, with additional sour cream and pickled jalapenos, if desired.
Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits
Adapted from Gourmet
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/4 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
Drained and chopped pickled jalapeños, to taste (I used about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Either cut the butter pieces into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or rub them in with your fingertips until well-combined. Stir in the cheddar, jalapeños and sour cream until the mixture forms a sticky dough. Pat it out to a 1/2-inch thickness on a very well-floured counter and use a 3 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut six rounds. Bake on an ungreased (or parchment-lined, if your baking sheets are as “weathered” as mine are) for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden on top.
Do ahead: If you’d like to serve them over a couple days, I recommend freezing already formed but unbaked biscuits until you are ready to bake them — you can bake them directly from the freezer, adding just a minute or two to the baking time.

Allrecipes has a winner too it seems (thanks mightypurdue22), that is insanely labor intensive, but another thing I could chuck into a crock pot. Awesome. Easily tweaked (and healthified I'm sure, which I will). I think I shall call it "Everything But the Kitchen Sink Chili."

2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.

Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.

To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

Pie Crust - Pate Brisee

2010-09-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have to admit something to you. I have only ever made one pie crust. True story. I don't make a lot of pies, but tarts however - tarts I would like to make. But man, when you can just grab a tube of that Pillsbury or whatever and dress it up with your yummy ingredients, can homemade really be worth the effort? People say yes. Maybe some rainy day I'll sit inside and actually give it a whirl and surprise my roommates with a tasty treat. It's definitely something I should learn. The only problem - whose recipe to believe?!
This is the one that got me started thinking that I should really learn this skill. Now you might be thinking - YumSugar? Really? What is that even? Well, the recipe is Martha's so I trust it, so just back off. Plus, the author (Partysugar, is it?) took delightful photos every step of the way which is lovely for us visual learners.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)
With machine running, add ice water through feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened discs. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9-inch pies.

But then, how do you not trust Julia? - I mean it's JULIA. Here is her recipe for pate brisee sucre (the sweet stuff) - if you're going savory just leave the sugar out.

For an 8- to 9-inch shell:
1 cup flour, scooped and leveled
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar (this is the step to leave out if you're making a savory tart)
1/8 teaspoon plus a pinch salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter
2 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening
4 to 4 1/2 tablespoons cold water
Directions for making short paste by hand: Place the flour in the bowl and mix in the sugar and salt. Add the butter and shortening and, with the tips of your fingers, rapidly rub them together with the dry ingredients until the fat is broken into bits the size of small oatmeal flakes. Do not overdo this step as the fat will be blended more thoroughly later.
Add the water and blend quickly with one hand, fingers held together and slightly cupped, as you rapidly gather the dough into a mass. Sprinkle up to 1 tablespoon more water by droplets over any unmassed remains and add them to the main body of the dough. Then press the dough firmly into a roughly shaped ball. It should just hold together and be pliable but not sticky.
Directions for making short paste in the food processor: Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl (equipped with the steel blade). Quarter the chilled butter lengthwise and cut crosswise into 3/8-inch pieces; add to the flour along with the chilled shortening. Flick the machine on and off 4 or 5 times. Turn the machine on and pour in the water. Immediately flick the machine on and off several times, and the dough should begin to mass on the blade. If not, dribble in a little more water and repeat, repeating again if necessary. Dough is done when it has begun to mass; do not overmix it. Scrape the dough out onto your work surface and proceed to the fraisage.
The fraisage — or final blending — for handmade and machine dough: Place the dough on a lightly floured pastry board. With the heel of one hand, not the palm which is too warm, rapidly press the pastry by two-spoonful bits down on the board and away from you in a firm, quick smear of about 6 inches.
With a scraper or spatula, gather the dough again into a mass; knead it briefly into a fairly smooth round ball. Sprinkle it lightly with flour and wrap it in waxed paper. Either place the dough in the freezing compartment of the refrigerator for about 1 hour until it is firm but not congealed, or refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. (Uncooked pastry dough will keep for 2 to 3 days under refrigeration, or may be frozen for several weeks. Always wrap it airtight in waxed paper and a plastic bag.)
Rolling out the dough: Because of its high butter content, roll out the dough as quickly as possible, so that it will not soften and become difficult to handle. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or marble. If the dough is hard, beat it with the rolling pin to soften it. Then knead it briefly into a fairly flat circle. It should be just malleable enough to roll out without cracking.
Lightly flour the top of the dough. Place rolling pin across center and roll the pin back and forth with firm but gentle pressure to start the dough moving. Then, with a firm, even stroke, and always rolling away from you, start just below the center of the dough and roll to within an inch of the far edge.
Lift dough and turn it at a slight angle.
Give it another roll. Continue lifting, turning and rolling and, as necessary, sprinkle the board and top of dough lightly with flour to prevent sticking. Roll it into a circle 1/8-inch thick and about 2 inches larger all around than your pie pan or flan ring. If your circle is uneven, cut off a too-large portion, moisten the edge of the too-small portion with water, press the 2 pieces of pastry together and smooth them with your rolling pin.
The dough should be used as soon as it has been rolled out, so that it will not soften.
Making a pastry shell: Mold your pastry in a false-bottomed, straight-sided cake pan 1- to 1 1/2- inches deep and refrigerate.
(A French tart is straight sided and open-faced and stands supported only by its pastry shell.) When the shell is ready for unmolding, the pan is set over a jar and the false bottom frees the shell from the sides of the pan. It is then, with the aid of a long-bladed spatula, slid off its false bottom and onto a rack or the serving dish.
Prebaking the pastry shell: Partial baking sets the dough and is a safeguard against soggy bottom crusts. Line the pastry with buttered lightweight foil or buttered brown paper, press it will against the sides of the pastry and fill it with dried beans. The weight of the beans will hold the pastry against the mold during the baking. Bake at the middle of a preheated 400-degree oven for 8 to 9 minutes until pastry is set. Remove mold or foil and beans. Prick bottom of pastry with a fork to keep it from rising. Return to oven for 2 to 3 minutes more. When the shell is starting to color and just beginning to shrink from sides of mold, remove it from the oven.

Ooh la la

2010-09-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

As I sit here selecting options for a holiday dinner at a French restaurant, I can't help but drool a little. And so, in honor of that - two scrumdiddlyumptious looking French recipes that I happened to stumble across at the very time that I'm craving French food. Kismet.
And by the way - if you like bread pudding, please let me know. Seems most of the folks I love are not into soggy bread and lord knows I don't need 4-6 servings of anything butter and cream laden sitting around waiting for me to eat it.

Steak Frites (recipe taken from Gourmet)
Serves 4
28 to 30 ounces frozen french fries
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 (1 1/2-to 2-pounds) tri-tip beef roast (also called triangular roast; about 2 inches thick), cut into 4 steaks
2 teaspoons cracked black peppercorns
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
3 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon (optional)

Preheat oven to 475°F with racks in upper and lower thirds, with a 4-sided sheet pan in lower third.
Toss fries with 2 tablespoons oil in hot sheet pan, then bake according to package instructions until golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, pat steaks dry, then rub with peppercorns and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Heat remaining tablespoon oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Sear steaks on all sides, about 3 minutes total. Transfer skillet to upper third of oven and roast 9 to 10 minutes for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to a plate and let rest 5 minutes.
Add wine to skillet and boil, scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add water and meat juices from plate and boil briskly until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk in butter until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle fries with tarragon. Serve steaks with sauce and fries.

Tartine's Savory Bread Pudding
Serves four to six
Note: You can assemble the dish a day ahead and store it in the refrigerator, letting it come to room temperature before baking. Bake the pudding an hour before you want to serve it.
For the filling
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
½ c. dry white wine
Olive oil
2 lbs. assorted mushrooms (like chanterelles and porcini), stems trimmed and caps halved
1 head Treviso or other radicchio, leaves separated

For the custard
5 large eggs
½ tsp. salt
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
2/3 c. grated Gruyere or cheddar cheese
3 oz. smoked ham, chopped
2 slices day-old Basic Country Bread (recipe in book), torn into large chunks
½ c. grated Gruyere or cheddar cheese

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute until soft, 6-8 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the wine evaporates, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is smoking, arrange the mushrooms cut-side down in the pan and cook without stirring until seared and caramelized, about 1 minute more. Stir the mushrooms, add the radicchio, and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Season to taste. Remove from heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 375º.
4. To make the custard, in a bowl, whisk the eggs and salt until well blended. Add the cream, milk, pepper, nutmeg, thyme, cheese, and ham, and whisk to combine.
5. Place the bread chunks in an 8-inch souffle dish and add the leeks, mushrooms, and radicchio. Pour in the custard so that it comes all the way to the rim. Sprinkle evenly with the grated cheese. Let stand 8-10 minutes until the custard saturates the bread.
6. Bake until the custard is no longer runny in the center, about 50 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

NINJABREAD MEN?!

2010-09-29T09:52:00.001-07:00

Hell yes.

Where the Wild Things Are - Halloween 2010

2010-09-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

My favorite time of year is upon us and I'm already plotting my ghoulish plan. . .
I'll be turning my home into a haunted forest with lots of spooky trees and Spanish moss, plenty of old leaves, and creepy little forest critters. It'll be the perfect setting for me, since I'm going as an owl this year.
I really want to make my sugar cookies, but I have to be reasonable about what I can accomplish.
I'll be serving several types of snack mix because that's super easy and yummy (I have such an obsession with Cheezit Party Mix it's not even funny), and I'll probably do a spicy nut mix as well. I had one in Mexico that had whole chiles and fried garlic that was super good and kind of creepy looking (let's just say we'll call those garlics "fingernails" or something equally gross). Here is a decent starting point.

We're also going to do some super easy salsas and guacs as I did last year, but add a Crock Pot full of cheesy bean dip that I don't really have to worry about. When I was in high school taking Home Ec, our teacher taught us some delicious recipe that featured canned refried beans, Velveeta, salsa, green chiles, garlic powder and green onions. . . I'm trying desperately to remember it and will probably just tweak it as I go until it's yummy. This one looks pretty good as well.
I'm also going to get some pizza dough or flatbread and just do little flatbread slices - caramelized onions, goat cheese, maybe blue cheese, figs, prosciutto, etc., but those are the pricier fixins, so we'll see. I'll bake the breads ahead of time, then top them, and heat them up for a few just before I serve.
Perhaps a white bean and sage dip with veggies and pita chips.
Basically stuff that I don't have to fuss with. And to drink, I think I'm going for shandy this year instead of my typical sangria:

Apple Cider Shandy
48 ounces of lager (4 x 12 oz bottles)
1 bottle of sparkling cider

Combine and serve immediately.

I mean, it doesn't get much easier than that, right?

Unfried Chicken

2010-09-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for ways to make classics healthier, and Self sent me what looks like it could be a great recipe for a nice crispy, breaded chicken.

Unfried Chicken With Cabbage and Apple Slaw

Serves 4

Olive oil cooking spray

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup light buttermilk

2 whole bone-in, skinless chicken breasts (about 12 oz each), halved

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 Red Delicious or Gala apples, cored and thinly sliced crosswise

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

6 cups shredded napa cabbage

1 celery stalk, chopped

Heat oven to 400°. Place a roasting rack on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Combine breadcrumbs, Dijon mustard, parsley, sage, thyme, Old Bay, salt, pepper and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Pour buttermilk into another shallow bowl. Dip chicken in buttermilk, turning to coat. Drain excess and dredge chicken in breadcrumb mixture, pressing gently to help coating adhere. Transfer chicken to rack. Coat chicken with cooking spray and bake until crispy, 30 to 35 minutes. Dressing: Whisk honey with whole-grain mustard, oil and vinegars in a bowl. Toss apples with lemon juice in another bowl; add cabbage, celery and dressing; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Chill slaw 20 minutes before serving with chicken.

306 calories per serving, 9.7 g fat (1.6 g saturated), 23.1 g carbs, 3.7 g fiber, 31 g protein

Short Ribs

2010-09-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of my many mailing lists (snooth.com) got me all worked up for some yummy ribs. Especially after I watched Giada make some the other day. Here are both recipes for two very different takes on short ribs. There has got to be a way to do Giada's in the slow cooker, so I'll have to work on that.

Zinfandel Short Ribs
2 cups good-quality Sonoma Zinfandel
3 tablespoons butter
1 small red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
4 pounds cross-cut beef short ribs, 1/2 inch thick
Steak seasoning salt, as needed

To make the sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the Zinfandel. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, until reduced by half. Remove from the heat and set aside. In another medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring often until the onion is tender. Add the flour and mix well until blended. Add the beef broth and the reduced Zinfandel and mix well. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, until thickened.

Prepare the grill for cooking over direct medium heat. Season the ribs on both sides with the steak seasoning salt. Place the ribs directly on the cooking grate. Cook for 5 minutes. Flip and brush with the sauce. Cook for another 5 minutes and repeat. Continue flipping and brushing for about 40 minutes, until the ribs are browned and tender. Discard any remaining sauce. Remove to a platter to serve.

Penne with Braised Short Ribs

4 pounds beef short ribs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

5 Roma tomatoes, cut into eighths

1 cup red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 cups low-sodium beef broth

1 pound penne pasta

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Place an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Season the ribs with salt and pepper. In a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or ovenproof stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In batches, add the ribs and brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine and mustard. Bring the mixture to a boil and scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the ribs to the pan. Add the beef broth, cover the pan and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours until the meat is fork-tender and falls easily from the bone.

Remove the ribs from the cooking liquid. Using a large spoon, remove any excess fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Using a ladle, transfer the cooking liquid in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Remove the meat from the bones. Discard the bones. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into small pieces. Stir the shredded meat into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the sauce and add to the pasta. Pour 1 cup of the sauce over the pasta. Toss well and thin out the pasta with more sauce, if needed. Sprinkle the pasta with Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley before serving.

** Reader reviews add a bunch of great ideas:
- add tomato paste toward the end to thicken the sauce and add a little depth of flavor
- serve with apple and acorn squash puree versus pasta
- use pork or a traditional roast instead of short ribs
- serve the ribs whole rather than shredding them

Curried Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

2010-09-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

I almost always crave apples and sweet potatoes in the fall. Okay, always. And I love curry, and I love using my mandoline, so I can't wait to try this one out!

Curried Sweet Potato-Apple Soup
3 medium sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for garnish
1 1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/4 cups chunky applesauce
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel and dice 2 1/2 sweet potatoes. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, nutmeg, 1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until toasted, 1 more minute.

Add the diced sweet potatoes, chicken broth and 2 cups water to the pot, cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the applesauce. Simmer, covered, until the sweet potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Puree the soup with a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper; keep warm.

Meanwhile, peel and thinly slice the remaining 1/2 sweet potato and toss with the olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, 7 to 10 minutes.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon curry powder and cook, stirring, until browned; remove from the heat and add the vinegar. Top with the curry butter, cilantro and sweet-potato chips.

World's Best Lasagna?

2010-09-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

With reviews and ratings like this, how could it not be? I can't wait to try it out! I'm kind of secretly hoping it blows Joe's pasta right out of the water. . . . .I will probably make some tweaks as I go (as everyone does), but this looks like a solid recipe. I'm thinking I'll pop the sauce into the slow cooker and let it simmer all day while I'm at work. It can only get better, right? Then I can assemble the lasagna and bake it when I get home.

World's Best Lasagna
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Fall Picnic Fare

2010-09-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

You'll never believe it. Rachel Ray made something today that I hadn't thought of and am actually going to try. I have a family picnic coming up and this looks just perfect for me to bring. I'll be making a few tweaks of course (my anticipated alterations are below), but I think she may have a winner on her hands.

Tangy Goat Cheese and Dill Potato Salad
2 1/2 pounds diced Yukon gold potatoes
Salt
1/4 cup white wine or 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles
4-6 slices cooked bacon, chopped
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic, finely grated or minced
4 scallions, finely chopped, whites and greens
Freshly ground black pepper
I haven't decided on these additions yet, but. . .
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
2 dill pickles, chopped

Cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Salt the water and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
When the potatoes are cooked, return them to the hot pot and douse with a splash of wine or a couple tablespoons of white wine vinegar.
In a bowl, whisk together the goat cheese, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. Toss the potatoes, dill(?), and scallions in the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Garnish the salad with chopped pickles(?) and bacon pieces and serve.

Seasoned Buttermilk Chicken Tenders
They may not be on par with Thomas Keller's, but who cares? Maybe I can do some sort of combo treatment. . .
2 tablespoons smoked sweet paprika
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon granulated onion
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
2 pounds chicken tenders
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds, if desired
1 quart safflower, canola or sunflower oil for frying
1 lemon

Combine the smoked paprika, granulated garlic and onion, and poultry seasoning in a small bowl. Season the tenders with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 the spices to the buttermilk in a shallow dish. Combine the remaining spices with the flour and poppy seeds, in a second dish.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium to medium-high heat, about 350 degrees F.

Using tongs dip chicken in the buttermilk, then the flour and repeat. Add the breaded tenders to the hot oil; do not crowd the pan. Cook the fingers in batches to a deep golden color, about 8 minutes per batch. Drain on a wire rack over paper towels. Serve warm or at room temperature with wedges of lemon to squeeze on top.

I think I'll serve with ranch dressing and some sort of honey bbq sauce. Nom.