Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Walnut and Goat Cheese Souffles from The Joy of Cooking

These walnut and goat cheese soufflés are from pg 139 In the Joy of Cooking. We serve these with a lightly dressed green salad. We chose an orange balsamic dressing.

Yield: 8 servings (in ramekins)
Ingredients
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (almost to dust)
1/4 cup corn meal
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup milk
10 ounces fresh unripened goat cheese
4 large egg yolks
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
5 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Process
  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
  2.  Combine walnuts and cornmeal
  3.  Butter 8 six ounce ramekins and coat with the nut cornmeal mixture. If there is any left over nut mixture, scatter in the bottom of the ramekins.
  4.  Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. 
  5. In the sauce pan, whisk in the flour and cook stirring for one minute. 
  6. Add the milk and, stirring briskly, bring to a boil.  It will be very thick. 
  7. Scrape mixture out into a bowl and add the cheese. Mash it until it is melted. 
  8. Beat in egg yolks, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. 
  9. In another bowl, beat the egg whites and tartar until stiff but not dry. 
  10. Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it up. The fold the rest of the whites into the batter. 
  11. Pour mixture into the ramekins. Smooth the tops. 
  12. Place them in a water bath, 1/2 to 3/4 up sides of ramekins.
  13. Bake in oven until a skewer comes out clean (~30 minutes)
  14. Let stand for 15 minutes in water bath. 
  15. Invert and serve.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew from Food and Wine

This is a recipe for a tasty chickpea stew that was riffed off a Food and Wine recipe. I added a couple tablespoons tomato paste and a couple cups chicken stock. It was simmered uncovered for a while to let the flavors marry. We served it over rice cooked in chicken stock.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew from Food and Wine

 Ingredients
  • 1 cup water
  • 10 ounces leaf spinach 
  • 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • Kosher salt
  • Pinch of saffron threads
  • 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • Pinch of freshly ground pepper
  • Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas with their liquid
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large tomato—peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins 
  • 2-3 tbl spoons tomato paste
  • rice
  • 1 cup (+ whatever is needed for rice) chicken stock
Process
1. Prepare the rice and cook, according to instructions, in chicken stock in place of water.
2. Pour the water into a large deep skillet and bring to a boil. 
3. Add the spinach leaves and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until wilted. (~2 minutes)
4. Drain the spinach in a colander and press to extract the liquid. 
5. Coarsely chop the spinach. 
6. Take the mashed garlic and mix it with the salt and saffron. Mix into a paste.  
7. Transfer paste to a small bowl. Add the paprika, cumin, cloves and black pepper and mash together until thoroughly combined. Stir in 1/4 cup of the chickpea liquid. 
8. Wipe out the skillet. Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and heat until shimmering. 
9. Add the onion and tomato and cook over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until softened (~3 minutes). 
10. Add the garlic mash to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. 
11. Add the chickpeas to the skillet. 
12. Add the raisins and bring to a boil over medium high heat. 
13. Add 2-3 tomato paste to thicken.
14. Add the spinach and reduce heat to medium and SIMMER for 15 minutes. 
15. Add chicken stock to achieve desired saucy-ness.  
16. Lay out serving dishes and fill with the rice cooked in chicken stock. Add chickpea stew to bowls. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and serve.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Potato Puffs with leftover shredded chicken and gravy

The next time you have left overs from a roasted chicken (or turkey) and pan gravy, you need to make these melt in your mouth potato puffs!  With a recipe found on TheKitchn.com , SP transformed boring left overs into something amazing!

Ingredients
2 cups mashed potatoes
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup grated cheese such as Parmesan or Gruyere, divided
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup diced cooked bacon or ham, optional

shredded chicken or turkey left overs
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Left over gravy (heated before serving)

Process
 

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease the cups of a mini-muffin tin.
2. Whisk together the mashed potatoes, the eggs, 3/4 cup of cheese, the chives,  and meat.
3. Season as needed with salt and pepper. 
4. Mound a spoonful of the mixture in each muffin cup, creating a divot in the top as a reservoir for the gravy.
5. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheese.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the potato cups are set, browned on top, and hot through.
7. Let cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, then use a spoon or knife to gently release them from the pan.
8.  Reheat the gravy, ladle over the potato puff and serve.

Chunky Pasta Sauce







Making Grape Jelly








Baba's Baby Mug - a treasure from Marcia Sewall (the first?)


I have this wonderful mug that has been passed down to me. One memory I have of it was that HiHo used to keep it in the refrigerator with fresh bunches of mint from the garden. This silver mug, we believe given as a present when she was a baby has classic workmanship seldom seen to this day. I decided that I would take a picture of it and post it now, thought it will take me some time to get back to Baba's recipes!

















Acorn Bread

Finally, the final step(s) of a very long process. If you really want to know how I procured acorn flour, you need to go read my other blog! :)













Highland Ridge Preschool Apple Crisp

This recipe comes from Baby's preschool. It is uber yummy! it has become a daily book end - we have it for breakfast AND dessert!

Ingredients
4 (or more) peeled, cored and sliced apples
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (or more) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (or more) oats
1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup softened butter

Process
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Spread the apples in an un-greased 8 x 10 baking pan
  3. Mix remaining ingredients with a fork and spread over apples
  4. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the apples are tender.
  5. let cool for 5 minutes

Wedding Day Photos