Kitchen Adventures

mini blueberry pies

2009-08-09T17:44:19Z

OK, could anything be cuter than these?

,
Wait let me amend that, as I have the world's most beautiful baby staring me in the face as I type this. Could any food be cuter than these?

Last night we had the pleasure of meeting baby Eli, the 4 and-a-half month-old son of Jon's cousin Rachel, who is pretty darn cute himself. His grandparents invited us over for dinner & baby cuddling, and a meal at Alan and Idy's could only mean one thing: a metric ton of BBQ would be served. You may recall from a previous story that Alan is an expert meat-smoker and he did not disappoint. Despite the fact that there were only 6 adults in attendance, there were 15 pounds of chicken wings with 3 different kinds of barbecue sauce, and a whole mess of ribs (in 2 flavors) as well. Not to mention the baked beans (Archie's favorite!) and coleslaw and cucumber salad.

I knew I wanted to bring a dessert to complement this feast, and the blueberries are still going strong at our little neighborhood farmers' market so my thoughts of course went to pie. And then they went to the last time I tried to bring blueberry pie to a party, and I was running late so I didn't cook the filling long enough and it turned out all runny and made a terrific mess on the drive across town. Maybe individual-sized tart-like blueberry pies would be a little more transportable. (Plus, you know, a fully thickened filling might help.)

So I adapted my blueberry pie recipe - the main adaptations are to make twice as much dough and half as much blueberry filling as you would for a normal pie (although leftover filling makes a divine topping for vanilla ice cream), and bake the mini-pie crusts in a muffin tin. Oh, and start early enough that you have time to finish cooking and cooling everything before assembling the pies. Also, I have decided that while Rose Levy Berenbaum is a pastry goddess, my heart belongs to Russ Parsons and all-butter crusts when it comes to pie-making.

Mini Blueberry Pies
adapted from Amanda Hesser's "Cooking for Mr. Latte" and Russ Parsons "How to Read a French Fry."
Ingredients:
Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks butter, well chilled or frozen
4-6 Tablespoons ice water

For cream cheese filling
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For blueberry filling:
6 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
a pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons water
1 pint of fresh blueberries
1/2 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 Tablespoon butter

Instructions:
Prepare the pie crusts: Cut each stick of butter into 8 tablespoon-sized pieces.

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor and pulse 3 times to mix. Add the butter cubes and process, pulsing about 8 times at 1-second intervals until the pieces of flour and butter are no bigger than peanuts. Add 4 tablespoons of ice water and pulse until butter is the size of small peas.

You can do the next step in the food processor, but I prefer to switch to a large bowl and mix it the rest of the way by hand. If after a few minutes of stirring it still appears dry and crumbly, add up to 2 more tablespoons of water, a teaspoon at a time, and stir until the dough holds together easily.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Form each piece into a 6-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Roll out each piece of dough between 2 pieces of lightly floured parchment paper to form a circle about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 6" circlces and line the cups of a muffin tin with the pie dough. Fold under the overhang of each mini pie and crimp the edges. Prick the base of the dough with a fork. Line the pie dough with foil and pour in pie weights. (You can also use dried beans or loose change.) Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350F and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove the foil and pie weights and let cool completely before filling.

Prepare the cream cheese filling: With a hand mixer or whisk, blend the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream until light and smooth.

Prepare the blueberry filling: Put the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium pan. Add the water and 1 cup of the blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. This is the most exciting part of the recipe to watch. The liquid will turn lavender, then magenta, and then it will seize up and thicken, and after a minute or two, turn to a deep translucent blackish purple. Take it off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and butter. Pour in the remaining blueberries and stir until coated. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Assemble the pies: Drop 1 tablespoon of cream cheese filling into each pie shell and spread evenly over the bottom of the cooled pie dough. Dollop the blueberry mixture over the cream cheese in large spoonfuls, trying not to mush the cream cheese layer. There should be two distinct layers. Chill in the refrigerator for half an hour to set. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Makes 12 mini pies

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salted caramel ice cream

2009-05-08T11:39:45Z

salted caramel ice cream

Back when we lived on Grand Avenue my husband used to make frequent trips to Binny's Beverage Depot. Not only a great nearby spot for wine, beer, cigars, and estoteric liquor, they also have a nice little deli of gourmet cheeses and other nibbles. But their most delicious item can be found right by the cash register where it is impossible to resist. Caramels. Soft little cubes wrapped in wax paper. Whenever Jon and I went there I would always buy two - one to eat right then and there and one to savor on the walk home. They were perfection - sweet, toasty, creamy, chewy, and just a bit salty. Before long we had a standing unspoken agreement that if Jon went to Binny's for any reason he would come home with 2 caramels for me.

When we moved up here to North Center, we found a new wonderful liquor store, Armanetti's. Armanetti's puts Binny's to shame in the esoteric liquor department, and they have a mind-boggling selection of gourmet beers and wines. However, they do not even begin to touch Binny's delicicous caramels.

This week when I finally broke out the ice cream maker I got 2 Christmases ago from Jon, I guess it was somewhat predictable that I would turn to my old standby Amanda Hesser for a recipe. And I probably I have raved about the old Binny's caramels quite a bit. Still, I never guessed that when updated my facebook status to "Robin is breakin out the ice cream machine" the first comment would be "Caramel ice cream from Mr. Latte? I suggest a bit less sugar and more salt." That Jorie really has my number. Since she knows me so well I guessed she would know just how I wanted it to taste, so I followed her adaptations and the result was sheer perfection. As Amanda says, "...this one is exceptional. It's a touch salty, which makes it addictive, and not a bit flabby, thanks to the sternness of toasted sugar."

Salted Caramel Ice Cream
adapted from Amanda Hesser's recipe in Cooking for Mr. Latte
Ingredients
5 egg yolks, room temperature
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
4 cups half and half, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/8 cup sugar, corn syrup and salt, until pale and fluffy. Set aside.

Pour the remaining 1 cup of sugar into a deep, heavy 3-5 quart saucepan. Place over medium heat until the sugar melts, the turns a caramel brown and all of the sugar granules have dissolved. As soon as the sugar is a uniform color, pour in the half-and-half in a swift fluid motion. It will spit and spatter; be careful. [There's a chance the caramel will harden into candy when you do this - don't worry, just turn off the heat for a bit and keep stirring, it will eventually dissolve.]

Using a wooden spoon, stir the caramel mixture until all of the now lumpy caramel has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Whisk about 1/2 cup of the caramel mixture into the eggs, then gradually whisk the egg mixture back into the caramel. Place over medium heat, whisking or stirring constantly to keep the base of the pan clean, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not let it boil, or you will have scrambled eggs. Then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Let cool, then chill overnight in the refrigerator.

Then next day, pour the ice cream into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions.

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meyer lemon cupcakes

2009-04-19T21:23:14Z

meyer lemon cupcakes

Despite the impression you may get from reading this blog, I actually don't have that much of a sweet tooth. A few squares of dark chocolate after dinner or the occasional scoop of Chunky Monkey and I'm good. Even when I was pregnant, I didn't go too overboard with sweets. People asked me all the time if I was having any cravings (OK they asked me that pretty often - but not as often as the big 3 questions: 1. When are you due? 2. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? 3. Do you have a name picked out? I got asked these questions so much, from everyone from my boss to the checkers at Jewel, that I thought about having a t-shirt printed with "August 9. Boy. Yes but we're not telling.") Anyway, back to the cravings - I had a hard time noticing if I had any pregnancy cravings because I am such a weird eater to begin with. A secret penchant for pickled herring and drooling over the idea of kimchee and cream cheese on a Wasa cracker is part of my normal, non-gestational life, so any cravings I had would have had to be pretty out there to attribute it to the pregnancy. However, a Dinkel's cake with fresh strawberry filling whipped cream frosting served at a co-worker's birthday party in my 2nd trimester haunted my dreams for weeks.

And then there was the lemon cake. The meyerless lemon cake I wrote about on this very blog almost 2 and half years ago. The tart, fragrant, lemon cake that I started longing for when we were in the midst of packing to move in mid-February. Not a great time for extensive kitchen usage. By April we were settled in enough in our new digs that I was able to bake a cake. But now that cake, with it's tangy, sweet glaze and candied lemon slices seemed practically austere in comparison to the fluffy white Dinkel's cake. So I decided to whip up some creamy frosting and convert the recipe to cupcakes (easier for transporting to Deerfield where we shared them over dinner with my college roommate Heidi, who was also expecting, and her family).

When I spotted a cute little bag of meyer lemons in the Jewel last week - and let me just digress for a second to say, how weird is it that they have something as esoteric as meyer lemons yet they don't have any cupcake liners except for ones with Disney princesses on them?? Oh Jewel, you fickle bitch. Anyhow, when I saw the lemons I decided to ressurect the cupcake recipe for my weekend's social activities - a meet up with some other Chicago area moms & babies, and brunch at my friend Juliet's with her family. I'm happy to say that not only do pregnant ladies love these cupcakes, they are also popular with mothers, fathers, and most children.

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Domino and Bon Apetit
Ingredients:
14 Tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large eggs, separated
1¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
6 meyer lemons
2 cups cake flour or all purpose flour
1¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
Set out 6 Tablespoons of butter and the package of cream cheese to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 325° F.

Melt the remaining 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) of butter in saucepan. Set aside and let cool.

Using a microplane zester, zest 5 of the lemons. Set aside 1 teaspoon of zest for the frosting. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons to yield about 1/2 cup of juice. Set aside.

Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. (Or if you only have 1 pan, you can just bake them in 2 batches, just make sure to let the pan cool to room temperature before pouring in the 2nd batch of batter.)

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar until thick and light in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Then add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Fold half the flour mixture into egg-yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture—so you don't deflate the batter. Repeat with remaining flour and egg white mixtures.

Take about 1 cup of the batter and stir it into melted butter. Gently fold butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter.

Spoon batter into cupcake liners in pan, up to about 1/2 an inch from the top. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until toothpick stuck in center comes out dry. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting and garnishes. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in reserved 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and vanilla.

Use a canelle to carve long strips around the remaining lemon and then use your fingers to twist the strips into tight coils. Set aside curls.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon and fold it into the frosting, then cover and refrigerate until firm enough to spread, at least 30 minutes.

When the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a cake decorating tip spiral peaks of frosting onto cupcakes, or simply spread frosting on with a knife. Garnish with lemon peel curls.

makes about 20 cupcakes

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guest blog: the great fried egg sandwich

2009-03-19T16:37:54Z

This was posted by Shawnee Barton, an artist who keeps a blog on other people’s blogs. If you have a little nook of cyberspace and are open to welcoming a guest poster, please email her at shawneebarton@gmail.com. She will be grateful. To see where she is headed next, check out shawneebarton.com

fried egg sandwich

The Great Fried Egg Sandwich

A lot of people find moments of clarity while watching sunsets or taking a long bath. Those things do it for me sometimes too, but there is one thing that always makes everything feel right in my world. It’s watching the yolk from a fried egg sandwich fill my plate on a lazy Sunday morning. Ask any fifth grader and they’ll tell you that a sandwich cut in half just has more love in it than one that isn’t, and the confidence that comes from perfectly cooking an egg is enough to ready you for the week ahead.

Timing is everything when you make a fried egg sandwich. You want all the pieces to be hot and toasty when you put it together. It’s a juggling act that takes some practice.

First, you want to fry your bacon (two or three pieces for each person) in a large skillet over medium heat. It’s imperative that you use good bacon—thick hormone-free slices that don’t smell of fake maple flavoring. I like Trader Joe’s uncured apple smoked bacon.

While the bacon is going, you want to slice up your accoutrements. I personally like tomato, fresh spinach or a romain, and sometimes a little red onion. You want to pull the mayo jar out of the fridge, so that it’s ready to go, place a couple of paper towels on a plate for the bacon, and put your bread in the toaster, but don’t start it just yet.

I like a wheat bread, but one that isn’t to loaded with whole grains. That kind is too dense, but a slice of white bread just doesn’t lay the kind of foundation we’re looking for, so you want something in between. If you hate wheat, I’d try a sourdough or Texas toast maybe.

When the bacon looks about two-thirds done, you want to lower the heat a bit, flip the bacon and push it over to one side of the skillet. Then, you crack two extra-large free-range eggs in the part of the pan with the most bacon grease.

I start my toast now, but you’ll need to tweak the timing of toasting based on your toaster’s personality. This is important, because no one likes cold toast.

Then, sprinkle the eggs with pepper and try to flick some bacon grease over the yolk. This will give the yolk a protective covering and make it more likely that you’ll be in control of when it breaks. There are few things worse than a prematurely broken yolk.

One of those things is an over-cooked yolk. The way I make sure I don’t over cook mine is to pull it out of the pan just as the white is opaque. If your yolk breaks or if it’s hard, rather than runny, you have to start another egg. Broken or hard yolks just won’t do for fried egg sandwiches.

Once the toast is ready, add the egg, mayo, and bacon crisped to your liking, and top with lettuce and tomato. When all is right, pour a glass of cold orange juice, take a deep breath, and slice into that bad boy.

Other variations:

If you’d like a Southwestern style sandwich, add fresh salsa (to use something like pace would be a crime), avocado, and sour cream instead of mayo.

If you've got a few summertime minutes to spare, try a fried green tomato version. Before I start the regular routine above, I make enough of a half cornmeal and half wheat flour mixture to coat the tomato slices I’m frying. Then I add garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, and a little bit of sugar to the cormeal/flour mixture to taste. I dredge the tomatoes in an egg and milk bath and coat with flour mixture before setting it aside.

Everything else is pretty much the same, except I pan fry the tomatoes in the bacon grease along with the eggs. If you have a really big skillet, you can put the tomatoes in a couple minutes before the eggs and cook all three together. If not, remove the bacon when it’s crisp and keep it in a warm in the oven until sandwich building time. Then you can cook the tomatoes and add the eggs just before it’s time to turn the tomatoes over. This version's also great with avocado, and be sure to stack the egg on top of the fried green tomato if you want the pleasure of breaking the yolk yourself.

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potato latkes

2008-12-15T16:41:49Z

potato latkes

I have some sad news. This will be the first year since its inception in 2001 that I will not be hosting our annual Christmukkah party, renowned for the extremely boozelicious egg nog and the scrumptious potato latkes. That baby I alluded to in my last post (4 1/2 months ago!) has arrived and is keeping me too busy to make 100 latkes and several gallons of egg nog, much less post regularly on this blog. It's all I can do to keep up with posting photos on our baby blog, and I regularly get crabby emails from my mother-in-law that I have been slacking in that department as well!

So my holiday gift to you this year is, instead of a party I am passing on my well-honed recipe for the famous latkes. They weren't always this good mind you. I have made many a latke that was burned on the edges, soggy, or fell apart the instant you tried to pick it up. But after literally years of trial and error, last year I found the holy grail. The recipe for latkes that are flavorful, pretty, crispy on the outside, steamy and soft on the inside, hold together well in the pan and can be frozen and reheated and not fall apart and still STAY CRISPY!!

The freezing and reheating part is essential for me. The first year I made latkes for our party, I just mixed up all the batter ahead of time and thought I would just fry them up as the party began. Well, that was completely unrealistic. It takes a surprisingly long time to brown a latke properly, and even with all 4 burners going on the stove, I could only cook about 12-14 latkes at a time. I spent almost the whole party in the kitchen, distractedly mumbling conversation with the guests who meandered in and out trying gamely to help. The next year, the mother of one of my piano students told me she always made hers ahead of time for her Hanukkah party, placing the fried latkes on a baking sheet on the porch to freeze and then tossing them into ziplocs in the freezer until party day. GENIUS! But it still took me a while to refine the recipe until I was perfectly happy with it. And here, I now bestow on you, the final version, a miracle of potatoes and oil:

Robin's Perfect Potato Latkes
Ingredients:
2 lbs russet potatoes - this is the starchiest variety of potato.
1/2 cup grated onion
4 scallions, finely chopped
2 large eggs,
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup flour
plenty of pure olive oil (not extra virgin) or peanut oil (I like to do half and half)

Instructions:
Grate potatoes by hand, (do not use cuisinart, the shreds will be too big and will take forever to cook through). As you go, empty gratings into a large bowl of cold water. This keeps the potato shreds from discoloring.

Drain potato gratings, reserving white sludgey stuff that remains in the bottom of the bowl (important trick). This is potato starch and it will help your latkes hold together.

Spin the gratings in a salad spinner until most of the excess liquid is removed. Mix with the grated onion and wrap a the mixture in an absorbent dish towel about a cup at a time and squeeze to remove any more excess moisture.

Combine the eggs, scallions and salt in a bowl. Beat lightly, then pour mixture into the reserved potato starch and stir until blended. Add to potato-onion-scallion mixture and mix well, sprinkling in the 1/4 cup flour a bit at a time.

Put a large, heavy bottomed non-stick or cast iron skillet over high heat. Add oil until it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. When the oil seems hot, test by dropping a smidgen of latke mixture into the pan and see if it sizzles.

If it does, spoon 2 tablespoons-worth of latke mixture into the skillet. Flatten with a fork until the latke is about 3 inches across. Repeat until there are 4 latkes in the pan. Do not be tempted to put too many latkes in the pan or they will reduce the temperature of the oil and take forever to cook. (Alternately, you can do one tablespoon's worth per latke if you want little cocktail party-sized latkes - these will be about 2 inches in diameter when flattened and you can cook 5 in a large frying pan.) Reduce heat to medium high and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

If you are making them to serve immediately, keep the baking sheet in a warm oven so the latkes stay hot. If you are making them for later, put the baking sheet in the freezer (or outside if it's cold enough and you're not worried about animals stealing your latkes!) and when all the latkes are frozen, transfer them to a ziploc and keep in the freezer until ready to serve. Reheat in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes or until sizzling.

Makes about 25 latkes, or 40 cocktail-sized latkes. Serve warm, with applesauce or sour cream. (I like to top mine with sour cream and caviar!)

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blueberry pie

2008-07-07T02:56:08Z

Blueberrypie

Hi, remember me? I used to write a blog about recipes and torturing my husband, back in aught-seven? Well this year has been a tiring year, with working late, gestating a baby (due in a few weeks!) and many many meals prepared by Jon and not as many by me. On the upside, Jon has perfected his pasta with Italian sausage, olives, and tomato sauce, and we have discovered our new true love convenience food, Palak Paneer and Punjab Eggplant from Trader Joe's. Recipe is easy - cut open foil packet, sqeeze into bowl, microwave for 3 minutes. Voila.

But every once in a while I get a bee in my bonnet to make some real food from scratch. I discovered a great blueberry pie recipe last summer that I promised I would blog about, and I have been dying to make now that it's blueberry season again. My mom coming to visit us for the 4th of July was the perfect excuse. Normally I would mean that in the sense of, a perfect excuse to bake something special for a guest visiting, or to top off a holiday menu. In this case, however, I mean that it was a perfect excuse for me to sit in the kitchen with my extremely swollen feet up on a chair, reading the recipe out loud while my mom followed instructions and basically baked the pie by herself. I actually think it tastes even better this way, so if there is a good baker who loves you, try sitting with your feet up and having them prepare it for you. If you're not that lucky, then just know that those you serve it to will be having a heavenly experience. And it doesn't taste too bad to the pastry chef either!

There are many reasons why this pie is the greatest blueberry pie you will ever taste. First of all, there is excellent pie crust a la Rose Levy Berenbaum, which is savory, flaky and perfectly rich. Then, there is the layer of cream cheese filling under the fruit - it's like a smidge of cheesecake tucked in your blueberry pie. This genius idea comes from Helen Getz, the grandmother of my favorite prissy food writer, Amanda Hesser. And most of all, there is Helen's fantastic half-cooked filling, which mixes a deeply sweet and juicy syrup of cooked blueberries with a pint of fresh, uncooked blueberries to create an intensely blueberry flavored jelly topping packed with plump berries that burst between your teeth.

A word to the wise - you may think of this pie as a nice thing to serve for dessert. Which it is. But I can attest that it also makes a great breakfast. And dinner. Oh, and lunch too...

Greatest Blueberry Pie You Will Ever Taste
Adapted from Rose Levy Berenbaum and Amanda Hesser's grandma, Helen Getz
Ingredients:
For the crust
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3 oz chilled cream cheese, cut into quarters
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) frozen, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For cream cheese filling
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For blueberry filling:
3/4 cup sugar,
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/4 c water
4 cups (2 pints) fresh blueberries
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Tablespoon butter

Instructions:
In a food processor, combine flour, sea salt and baking powder. Process to combine. Add the 3 ounces of cream cheese, cut into quarters and process until coarse. Add the frozen butter cubes and process until butter is peanut size. Add the cream and vinegar and pulse until butter is the size of small peas.

Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix swiftly with a fork until dough holds together, about 5 minutes. Roll into a ball and press the ball into a smooth, flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of lightly floured parchment paper to a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the dough. Trim the edges, leaving about 1/2-inch overhang. Fold under this overhang and crimp the edges. Prick the base of the dough with a fork. Line the pie dough with foil and pour in pie weights. (You can also use dried beans or loose change.) Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350F and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove the foil and pie weights and bake another 5 minutes to dry the surface. Let cool completely before filling.

Prepare the cream cheese filling: With a hand mixer or whisk, blend the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream until light and smooth.

Prepare the blueberry filling: Put the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium pan. Add the water and 2 cups (1 pint) of the blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. This is the most exciting part of the recipe to watch. The liquid will turn lavender, then magenta, and then it will seize up and thicken, and after a minute or two, turn to a deep translucent blackish purple. Take it off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and butter. Pour in the remaining blueberries and stir until coated.

Assemble the pie: Spread the cream cheese mixture over the bottom of the cooled pie dough. Drop the blueberry mixture over the cream cheese in large spoonfuls, then gently spread them around, trying not to mush the cream cheese layer. There should be two distinct layers. Chill in the refrigerator for half an hour to set. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Serves 8

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butternut mac and cheese revisited

2008-01-22T19:13:27Z

a closer look

One of the most popular dishes on this blog has been the butternut mac and cheese. It's certainly one of the most popular at my house. This dish has served us well at several Wednesday night Lost and/or Project Runway watching parties, and countless other random nights when I had a multitude of squash to use up from our farm share. I first posted about it last January and a year later people are still trying it (despite the fact that this blog has been all but left for dead since Thanksgiving. Umm.... sorry, guys.) In fact my friend Dave emailed me today with his tales of success, mess, and modifications to the recipe.

He's not the only one who's been making some changes. I have been tinkering over the past year with the recipe and I think I have finally found the perfect version. The first modification I made was keeping some of the squash in chunks instead of pureeing it all in with the cheese sauce. I liked the orangeness and richness that the pureed squash lent to the cheese sauce, but I missed the contrast of sweet and salty that you get from carmelized chunks of squash, which was lost in the blended texture. So I settled on a version with half the squash pureed and half roasted in chunks.

Also I experimented with reducing the amount of butter and in the end, I chopped off an entire tablespoon. (OK not that impressive, but considering the original recipe I adapted it from had an entire stick of butter, I think getting it down to half that is pretty good.) Since I reduced the butter, I also had to adjust the amount of flour, milk, and broth in the sauce. But I chose not to reduce the cheese amount at all, because, cmon it's mac and CHEESE.

Over time I decided I liked a little more kick in the sauce so I increased the amount of cayenne by a 1/4 teaspoon.

The final change I made was to bake the casserole in the oven rather than crisping the top under the broiler. I kept on getting little burnt fringes when I did the broiler, and I find that the oven browning is more reliable plus it gives the noodles time to absorb more of the cheesy flavor. It takes a little longer but it's worth it in my opinion. If you roast the squash the day before it's still a pretty quick dish to make.

Dave alerted me to a caveat with the breadcrumb topping - prepared breadcrumbs do not mix well with the melted butter - it creates a pasty texture that is difficult to sprinkle over the casserole. So stick to homemade or panko breadcrumbs.

And now, without further ado, I present you with the final recipe:

Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 pound elbow macaroni
4 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg plus more for sprinkling
heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 slice of bread - OR - 1 cup panko crumbs

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice squash in half and discard seeds . Peel one of the squash halves and cut into 1-inch cubes. Spray the half and the chunks with cooking oil and sprinkle with a little nutmeg. Place the squash half, cut side down, on a baking sheet and scatter the squash chunks next to it in a single layer. Roast for 45 minutes until very tender.

While squash is cooking, make breadcrumbs by putting 1 slice of bread in the food processor and pulsing until it creates fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.

After removing squash from the oven, reduce the heat to 350.

When squash has cooled, set aside the chunks of squash. Peel skin off the squash half and discard. Puree squash half in food processor until it has a smooth consistency. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt generously. Boil pasta to al dente - about 6 minutes. Drain pasta and set aside.

Melt 3 Tablespoons butter (set aside 1 Tablespoon) and slowly stir in the 1/3 cup of flour to form a paste.

Off heat, SLOWLY whisk in 1 1/2 cups of milk. Return to medium low heat until sauce fully blends and thickens.

Add pureed squash to the thickened sauce.

Add mustard, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of cheese (set aside 1/2 cup for the topping) and 1 cup of stock, alternating cheese and stock by cupfuls. Taste sauce, adjust seasonings if needed.

Combine pasta, squash chunks, and cheese sauce in a large casserole dish, toss to coat evenly.

Melt the remaining Tablespoon of butter and blend with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and the breadcrumbs to form topping. Sprinkle mixture over the macaroni.

Place macaroni uncovered in a 350 degree oven until cheese sauce is bubbling and breadcrumb topping is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Serves 8, leftovers freeze well if you're so inclined. Reheat frozen portions in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes or just nuke it.

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chipotle pumpkin pie

2007-11-17T05:37:49Z

pumpkin pie

Probably the top hit recipe of my Thanksgiving tryouts has been the pumpkin pie from the November issue of Martha Stewart's Living. I've always viewed pumpkin pie as a vehicle for whipped cream (or in some cases, cool whip, depending on whose house you're at). Martha knows this too, so she snuck a little bourbon into the accompanying whipped cream for extra flair. But the pie itself is delicious too. Mixed in with the traditional pumpkin pie spices (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg) is a little kick of chipotle pepper! It gives the pie a nice little heat and zing without overpowering the pumpkin flavor. I substituted my own crust recipe (read - Russ Parson's pate brisee crust that I have been devoted to since my first pie effort) but I took up a suggestion from Martha's pecan pie recipe: substitute some of the flour in the crust with ground pecans. A terrific nutty crust, and the presentation of this pie, with a vertical free form crust made in a cheesecake pan, is outstanding. Worthy of the Thanksgiving table, or as in my case, just a random Tuesday when your friend Brendan the electrician comes over for a light fixture consultation and quick lunch.

Chipotle Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust and Bourbon Whipped Cream
Adapted from Martha Stewart and Russ Parsons
Pecan Pie Crust
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole pecans
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter, well chilled
2-3 Tablespoons ice water

Instructions:
Pulse the pecans in the food processor until they are ground to a fine powder. Measure out 1/4 cup of the ground nuts, set it aside, and reserve the rest for another use.

Cut the butter into 1/4" cubes. Place the cubes on a plate in the freezer for a few minutes while you measure and blend the dry ingredients.

Combine the flour, 1/2 cup ground pecans, salt and baking powder in a food processor and pulse 3 times to mix. Add the butter cubes and process, pulsing about 8 times at 1-second intervals until the pieces of flour and butter are
no bigger than peas.

Scatter 2 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture and pulse a few times. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir with a fork until the dough holds together easily. Form into a 6-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. (You can make the crust a few days ahead and keep it in the fridge, or even freeze it, where it will keep for a couple months. Thaw in fridge before rolling out.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into a 12-inch round. Fit dough into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Tear away any dough that hangs over to creat a jagged edge near rim. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425. Prick bottom of crust all over with a fork. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Line with buttered parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges begin to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Remove weights and parchment. Return to oven and bake until center is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

While that's cooling make the filling:

Chipotle Pumpkin Pie Filling
Ingredients:
flour for dusting
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon chipotle-chile powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Instructions:
Whisk together granulated and brown sugars, spices, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin, followed by the evaporated milk. Pour filling into pie crust and smooth top.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. (Pie can be covered loosely with parchment and then foil, and refrigerated for up to 3 days.) Unmold pie. Serve with bourbon cream:

Bourbon Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions:
Whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add bourbon and sugar and whisk gently to incorporate. Serve immediately.

Serves up to 12.

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stuffing for two

2007-11-16T21:08:14Z

bacon sage apple stuffing

I've been test driving some Thanksgiving recipes lately. Most of them are for dining with a big group, as that's how most of us spend the holiday. In fact, it's how I myself will be spending the holiday, in New York with all my in-laws and my mom. But for the test drives it was just me and Jon eating, so I wanted to make a small enough amount that we wouldn't be eating leftovers until actual Thanksgiving.

One dish I wanted to try out was the Bacon-Sage-Caramelized Onion-Apple Stuffing from The New Best Recipe. But we're going to be cooking the turkey unstuffed this year, so I needed to practice the outside the bird version of stuffing, which when you think about it shouldn't really even be called stuffing, since it's not stuffing anything. My dad's family calls it "dressing." In fact almost everything except the turkey and mashed potatoes was called "dressing" at my grandparents' house. Cranberry dressing (that cranberry jelly that retains the shape of the can). Oyster dressing (non-stuffed stuffing, with oysters in it). Regular dressing (without oysters). The only thing that "dressing" did not refer to was salad dressing, because they didn't serve salad on Thanksgiving.. But there were things that were called salad, even though they were not. Like jello molds made of lime jello, pineapples and cottage cheese.

I don't think I'll be adopting that particular Morgan family tradition, but I will go ahead and use the d-word for my downsized bread casserole. This recipe turned out absolutely delicious. As they say on Iron Chef, anything with bacon is pretty much guaranteed to be good. And caramelized onions are one of my other go-to flourishes that I try to sneak into every recipe, so it was bound to be good. A new Thanksgiving favorite. Now I only hope my in-laws will like it as much as Jon and I did!

Bacon-Sage-Caramelized Onion-Apple Dressing
Adapted from The New Best Recipe
Ingredients:
4 slices hearty white bread, left out overnight to stale (or toasted for 25 minutes in a 300 degree oven) and diced into 1/2 inch cubes.
3 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
2 medium onions, sliced thin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
pinch of ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped fine
1 Tablespoon fresh sage leaves, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing pan.

Instructions:
Cook the bacon in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp and browned, about 12 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the rendered fat.

Increase the heat to medium-high and add the onions and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook the onions unil golden in color, making sure to stir occasionally and scrape the sides and bottom of the pan, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring more often to prevent burning, until the oinions are deep golden brown, another 5 minutes. Add the apples and cook 5 minutes. Transfer the contents to a bowl.

Add the pepper, parsley, and sage to the bowl and mix to combine. Add the bread cubes.

Whisk the egg together with the broth in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the bread cubes. Gently toss to distribute the ingredients evenly.

Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered small casserole or baking pan. Dot with pats of butter. Cover with a piece of foil that has been smeared with butter. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes, remove the foil, and
continue to bake until a golden brown crust forms, about 15 minutes longer.

Serves 2

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a fall soup duo

2007-10-11T21:12:10Z

cauliflower leek soup and truffled winter squash soup

Finally, after weeks of inexplicably sweltering October nights, there's a chill in the air and the nights are drawing in. Perfect weather for soup. Soups are such a great fall and winter dish because they're hearty and bellywarming yet most are fairly healthy, plus they don't take much effort. Add some bread and cheese and a nice salad and you've got dinner.

Soups are also a fun food to make because they are easy to experiment with and fairly easy to correct if by any chance your experiment doesn't turn out perfectly on the first try. My personal soup formula is sauteed aromatics+featured vegetable+enough chicken broth or water to cover. Simmer for 30 minutes, add seasonings, and puree. Add extra water if needed, taste, and correct seasonings. Serve with a sprinkling of minced fresh herbs or a drizzle of olive oil or if you have it, white truffle oil. And there you have it. Here are two of my recent masterpieces following this formula. The cauliflower soup is similar to the classic French soup, Potage Parmentier, except with cauliflower substituted for the potatoes. It's just as satisfying as the original, in my opinion though. The slow cooked cauliflower has a unique, earthy flavor that pairs perfectly with the fresh flavor of the leeks. The squash soup is just absolutely heavenly The rich taste of roasted squash, combined with the caramelized onions is delicious, and the touch of earthy white truffle aroma is what takes this soup from yummy to divine.

Cauliflower Leek Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
2 leeks, thoroughly washed and rinsed to remove grit, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices.
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
3 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon minced chives or parsley
1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions:
Melt butter over medium heat until foaming has subsided. Add leeks and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add cauliflower and chicken broth, plus up to 4 cups more of water to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, simmering for about 30 minutes. Puree, either using an immersion stick blender or in batches in a conventional blender, until very smooth. If needed, add more water until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top each with a sprinkling of minced chives and/or parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serves 6

Truffled Winter Squash Soup
Ingredients:
1 large winter squash - butternut, kambocha, pumpkin,or kuri squash.
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing squash
1 onion, diced
8 sage leaves, finely chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoons lemon zest (1 lemon's worth)
1 teaspoon white truffle oil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Brush squash halves with olive oil and place, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Place baking sheet in oven. Roast for about 50 minutes or until very tender. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool. Peel skin from the cooked squash and discard.

Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large stock pot and add diced onions. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until very tender and starting to caramelize.

Add the sage leaves and cooked squash to the onions.

Add 4 cups chicken broth and stir to blend. Add 2 cups of water. Turn heat to high to bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to simmering. Cook for 20 minutes, then add lemon zest.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup or else blend in a stand blender in batches, then return to pot.

If needed, add more water until soup is the consistency you prefer, and heat until simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls and drizzle with white truffle oil.

Serves 6

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