Tag Archives: recipes

Homemade Popovers… that worked!

21 Jun

 

 

Every once in a while I get a craving for pop overs.  My obsession started at BLT Steak, and I have since tried to make them myself, and found a restaurant in NYC that is dedicated to this fluffy baked good.

What makes popovers so wonderful?  They are crispy (and cheesy at BLT) on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside.  The first time I made them, they didn’t pop quite well enough and they were also a bit too eggy inside.  So this time, I decided to try a new recipe.

I read about a million recipes and reviews of those recipes and decided to try a classic one.  The tips said that it was best to put the popover tin in the oven while it heated (something about the popovers releasing steam when the room temp batter meets the hot cups, creating extra pop… but this was wildly contested and refuted).  Then before you pour in the batter, you pam and flour the cups (so they fully release and have room to pop).  So that’s what I did…

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Then I mixed up the batter (careful not to overmix)

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Then I poured in the batter and put it in the oven, turned down the temp when I was told to, and DIDN’T peak.  While it may be a wive’s tale, the #1 tip I always hear about popovers is that they can deflate simply by opening the oven door while they cooked.

But these just looked perfect.

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Total crispy poppage.

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And they slid right out of the cups and didn’t deflate! (SCORE!)

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They were so beautiful that I just kept taking photos.

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And the inside?  Perfect!  Mostly hollow with fluffy deliciousness.  A touch of butter and I just wanted to go and shout from my rooftop “I made popovers! And they WORKED!”

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RECIPE
_______________

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pam
  • Butter

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Butter popover pan and put it into the oven while it’s preheating.
  2. In a medium bowl beat eggs slightly, Beat in flour, milk and salt until just smooth; being careful not to overbeat.
  3. Spray the cups with pam and flour them
  4. Fill popover cups 1/2 full.
  5. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for 20 minutes more. Immediately remove from cups and serve piping hot. DO NOT OPEN OVEN during cooking.

 

 

 

 

 

“Make Ahead Mamas” Moroccan Stew

18 May

When I left the AllRecipes.com event, I left with a bag of cut veggies, some stock, spices, and all the other ingredients I needed to make a stew.  It was so lovely to throw it all into a slow cooker and 6 hours later, I had a perfect stew with amazing flavor.  DSCF4387

Snip Snap.

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Made the “Make Ahead Mamas” concept come to life and was sooooooo good.

The recipe is very flexible, and you can add or subtract ingredients.  It couldn’t be easier.

You can find the recipe here.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

13 May

I have a folio filled with recipes from my Grandmother.  I also have my own folder of recipes from over the years.  When I don’t have a recipe on hand, however, my first stop is always AllRecipes.com.  I started using the site years and years ago, before user reviews were the “it” thing, and especially liked the feedback that was left from other bakers/cooks.  A recipe can be great, but sometimes it’s nice to know if it sometimes fails, or if there is too much nutmeg for people’s tastes, or if the cooking time was too much and should be checked on often.  I’ve always thought cooking and baking is better when it’s collaborative.  (I was recently invited to an AllRecipes.com PR event where they showed us some new tools, but more on that at another time.)

When my coworker asked for White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, I definitely for a moment thought about opening up a package of my favorite Pepperidge Farm Tahoe cookies for fear that I would never be able to bake something that could taste as good as those.  But I like a challenge. I sorted through a number of recipes and decided on the one that had both white and brown sugar.  I also thought about what I liked most about the Pepperidge Farm cookies and, immediately, salt came to mind.  Macadamia nuts almost always come salty, so I had to think about whether I should add more salt or hope that the salt on the nuts was enough.  AllRecipes to the rescue! I read a few reviews that mentioned that it was too salty, so I decided adding more would NOT be a good idea.

But what is a good idea? How about taking pictures while trying to pour flour.  What you can see in this next shot is the camera being totally poofed with flour.  Oh well!

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I chopped up some delicious macadamia nuts while sampling some… for quality control purposes only, of course. (PS- Why are macadamia nuts SO DAMN GOOD?)

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Then the nuts and white chocolate went into the batter.  Quality control came out again, and turns out this batter with the nuts and white chocolate chips was just about perfection.

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Spooned onto the trusty Silpat. (If you do not have a Silpat, you are missing out. I use it for everything from cookies to roasting vegetables to toasting bread)

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Then onto the trusty 3-tier cookie rack they went.  They looked a bit under-baked (recipe said golden brown), but I had already left them in the oven for 5 minutes longer than the time, so I took them out and tried one.  Quality Control says “A+!”

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These were perfectly fluffy with a slight crisp on the outside, and the saltiness of the nuts was great in collaboration with the white chocolate chips.

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I <3 you AllRecipes.com.

________________________
RECIPE BOX
________________________

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies III
(thank you AllRecipes.com) 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Zucchini Parm Tacos

25 Apr

The Number One question our friends and family ask Mike and I is “So does Sara do all the cooking?”  I guess since I write about it, the assumption is that Mike doesn’t participate.  What you fail to see is the side-by-side in our kitchen where he chops, sautees, preps, and melts… and then hand models, spreads sauce, and moves things around to aid the picture-taking process.  Frankly, I couldn’t do half the things I do without Mike’s help.  Then there are the days where he is off from work and he decides to get creative.  He likes to take the time he has to prepare a great meal for the two of us.

One day, we had leftover eggplant, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and tomatoes.  I came home from work to find that Mike had created “Eggplant Parm Tacos.”  He lightly breaded and fried the eggplant, then folded them up like tacos and stuffed them with the other items.  (I never would have thought of this!) 

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It was a great take on his last creation, the zucchini and eggplant parm stack.

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They tasted excellent and were a fun way to eat something you could never typically pick up. 

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Though they were so overloaded (in a very good way) that it was mostly a knife and fork meal. (He also made a few flat versions with some dill havarti cheese. YUM!)

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The great thing about anything “parm” is that it is SO easy to make.  It is actually the first thing I learned how to cook, all on my own, without a recipe.  You can basically take a few different items (chicken, veal, pork, eggplant, zucchini…) and dip it into egg and then into breadcrumbs (sometimes I flour it first… depends on my mood and if the breadcrumbs are sticking without it).  Then you pan sear it until it’s mostly cooked through.  Then you can basically throw it into a casserole pan, layer on the cheese and sauce, and stick it in the oven until it’s melty and warmed through.  Easy peasy!

Then you bring in Mike who gets all gourmet on it.  I love it.

Grape and Basil Crumble

30 Mar

I have yet to master shopping for fresh produce in NYC.  With only 2 of us and a NYC apartment, I try to shop in small batches to make sure things don’t go bad.  However, as many a day does not play out the way we expect, and we wind up eating out a LOT more than we should, I have the inevitable problem of having to throw too much food away. It makes me want to cry… wasting all that food.

So when I had a whole bushel of grapes that were a few days from being too soft, I had to ask myself “How do I use up a lot of grapes before they go bad?”  This is when I got creative…

First, there was mixing grapes with brown sugar.

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Then it was “what can I do that will make this unique?” and the spice cabinet was opened and basil was sprinkled and with a moment of both bravery and hope, I threw it all together.

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Then topped it with the leftover crumble I had from the Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie.

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And I popped it into the over and prayed.  I removed it when it was bubbling and starting to brown.

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And it was good.  BOY it was good. I actually wished I had added MORE basil.  The flavors were incredibly complimentary.

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So today’s lesson in baking: Don’t be afraid to mix in spices that wouldn’t ordinary be thought of as baking supplies.  Enjoy the creative spoils.

 

Fudged Fudge

23 Mar

I have heard horror stories about fudge.  And I have also heard that you can make it in the microwave and no one will notice.  When looking for recipes one day, I decided to try the latter one and see how it turned out. 

I only had deep pans, and I was concerned about getting the fudge out.  So I greased up the sides and put parchment paper on the bottom (cut to size).  Turned out perfectly and came right out.

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And it was easy to make multiple varieties just by mixing it right in the pans (that I made small to have a few flavors).  This one had white chocolate chips in it.

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I then just used a simple bench scraper to cut into squares.

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And we had perfect little servings of fudge.

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 I still had some leftover sweet glazed pecans from the cheesecake, so I added them to one batch. (This wound up being my favorite)

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It was remarkably simple, tasty, and the texture was actually BETTER than many homemade fudges I have tasted.  Next time you need to make an impressive dessert with about 10 minutes of hands on time, look no farther than microwaved fudge. (Let the fact it was so damn easy stay our little secret)

__________________________
RECIPE
__________________________

Microwaved Fudge
(borrowed from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces semisweet chocolate
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional.  I tried white chocolate chips and pecans.  I think it would be amazing with pretzel pieces, fruit, or peanut butter)
  • I also added a bit of salt after melting until the chocolate was to my liking

Directions

  1. Line an 8×8 inch square dish with aluminum foil.  (if you want to make multiple flavors, use a smaller pan.  And when I tried to use aluminum foil, it wouldn’t get flat and I didn’t want wrinkled in my fudge, so I just buttered the containers and put parchment paper on the bottom)

    2. 

  2. Chop chocolate and place in a large, microwave safe bowl with condensed milk. Microwave on high, stirring once or twice until chocolate is soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and walnuts. Spread in prepared pan.
  3. Refrigerate 2 hours, until firm. Cut into squares.

Water Bathing the Pumpkin Cheesecake

16 Mar

 The last time I made the pumpkin cheesecake, I made the ultimate cheesecake faux pas. It cracked. Badly…

So how do you prevent a cheesecake from cracking?  It’s so simple.  Waterbath!

First, you just put some aluminum foil around the base of your springform before pouring in your cheesecake.  I usually use 2 layers.  The goal of this is to prevent any water from leaking IN.

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This is the perfect time to do some doublechecking that you have a pan to set your springform in (it’s a lot harder to figure this out once its filled).  I usually use my roasting pan.

Then you pour in your cheesecake filling and set the springform in the bigger pan.  Next, you put about 2 inches of water into the bottom pan.  My understanding is that the water keeps the cheesecake from getting hot too quickly and then from getting cold too quickly. 

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Once you bake it according to the recipe, rather than taking it out of the oven immediately, turn the oven off and crack the door.  Let that cool for about 30 minutes to an hour (or until you can remove it with your hands).  Then put it on the counter to cool for about an hour.  THEN put it in the fridge.  Yes… it’s a process,  but this version looks so much better:

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And what’s that on top you may ask? Oh just some sweet glazed pecans.  They are easy to make and fantastic as just a snack or as a topping for many things (especially pumpkin cheesecake).  All you do is heat 1 Tablespoon each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar with 1/2 cup brown sugar until it bubbles.

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Then toss the pecans into the mixture and toast it for about 6 minutes, stirring constantly, until the pecans are toasted and most of the liquid is absorbed.

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Then you can turn them out onto a Silpath (or parchment paper/foil/etc) and separate them with a fork.  Cool to room temp (in the fridge to speed it up) and enjoy. 

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Chestnut Cookies

7 Feb

As much as I love chestnuts, I don’t have a lot of recipes that contain them.  So when I found myself just snacking on a jar of them, I decided I’d research some cookies and found a recipe by Smitten Kitchen.  As it turns out, she adapted the recipe originally from Epicurious who posted the basis for them as “Mexican Wedding Cakes”.  This actually very much resembled these vanilla kipferl cookies that my great-grandmother used to make, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I also was a bit ahead since I had chestnuts already in a jar. 

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 I never have luck roasting chestnuts… the ones that aren’t rotten are usually impossible to get out of the shell.   Much easier to buy them already done (even if they are crazy expensive).

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This recipe, luckily, is made for those maddening pieces of chestnuts because the first thing you do is chop them up…

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Then stick them in a food processor to pulverize them. (You can also do this by hand and then mix everything with a hand or stand mixer)

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Into a fine nutty crumb.

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To which you then add soften butter until you have a whipped delicious mound of buttery chestnut paste in your food processor.

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Then you add some freshly grated nutmeg (or the powdered if you don’t have a fresh nut on hand)

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And some powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt, and flour.

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Which forms a lovely dough.

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That you then separate in half and wrap in plastic.  You can then put it into the fridge for at least an hour (mine wound up staying there for about half a day).  Why do you have to chill them?  Because otherwise you have a melty buttery mess on your hands… literally.

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Once the dough is chilled, you can remove one  ball of dough at a time and start rolling 2 teaspoon sized balls.

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Then you pop them in the oven for 14-17 minutes.  SmittenKitchen noted that they over-bake easily, so when after the 20 minute mark mine still hadn’t even started to brown… I got nervous.  I left them in for about another 3 minutes before calling it.  I rolled them over to see that they had just barely begun to brown on the bottom.  (And they weren’t too dry, but I could see how they could get there quickly… and my oven seems to always take just a little longer than recipes call for anyway).

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You then let them cool for about 5 minutes, and then toss them in a mixture of cinnamon and powdered sugar to coat them all the way around.

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Then they cool completely on a rack (okay… and you eat a few while they are warm).

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I actually kept hoping that they would get a little better as they cooled.  They were good, but not chestnutty enough for my taste (the sugar seemed to overpower the chestnut flavor) and actually wound up reminding me of Dunkin Donuts powdered sugar munchkins (not in a good way).  I think next time I will up the chestnut ratio and lower the flour ratio.  I also may try to coat them in a mixture of powdered & white sugar with the cinnamon. 

You can check out the original recipe here.

And for anyone keeping track… yes… I am addicted to chestnuts.  I think I shall call this the Winter of Obsessive Chestnut Nomming.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops (The Day the Pie Was Born)

3 Feb

As mentioned in my previous post about Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie, that recipe was born from an experiment with pork chops.

I basically made this up as I went along.  I put wine in the slow cooker, diced up 2 apples, a half jar of chestnuts, about 1/4 cup brown sugar and some honey and let it cook. The topping was DE.LI.CIOUS.

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And was a nice meal with some frozen veggies.

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It’s amazing what happens when you throw things in a crock pot and take a gamble!

Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie

2 Feb

Sometimes, inspiration comes from strange places.  After making a pork chop recipe in the slow cooker with wine, apples, and chestnuts, Mike and I realized that the toppings were SENSATIONAL and would probably make for a lovely pie.  How could you go wrong with slow cooked apples and chestnuts in wine?  And so… Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie was dreamed up.  (Name is still in the works… feel free to comment with suggestions).

First up… peeling the apples.  I just got this handy dandy new contraption (which obviously doubles as a torture device) from The Pampered Chef that peels, cores, and slices apples!  I would say it works as intended about 50% of the time…

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Delivering a perfect core.

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A (mostly) peeled and perfectly sliced apple rings.

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Which can then be cut in half to make perfectly sliced pie filling.

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Uniform thin size! How novel!

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The other 50% of the time… rough.  So I wound up slicing it (and leaving SOME peel on).

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Then the apples get thrown into the slow cooker with the wine and chestnuts.  For the pie, I added cranberries, brown and white sugars, and cinnamon.

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Put it on low for about 4 hours and v’oila! Slow cooked apples, cranberries, and chestnuts in wine.

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During the last 30 minutes of slow cooking time, I started on the crust.  First you take softened butter and cut it up into the bottom of a pie plate.  Then you pile flour, sugar, red wine vinegar, and milk on top.

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Try to combine it with a knife… give up and use your hands.

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Then push it into the bottom of the plate so it’s nice and even on the bottom and sides.  Poke it with a fork to prevent catastrophe.

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And then put them in the oven to cook until they are just barely brown and hardened.

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If you don’t have a Pie Shield, I highly recommend them.  Sure you can use tinfoil to make sure the edges of the pie don’t get too brown, but why burn yourself construction a crazy tinfoil sculture when you can lay this cheap puppy on top and keep it all evenly cooked?

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I even made some mini versions to see how individualized portions would turn out.  (You know I love my silicone cupcake cups!)

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While the pie is baking up, you can make the crumble top.  I put a bit extra lemon in mine to counteract the sweetness of the crust.

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Once all the pieces are ready, you scoop out the delicious slow cooked chunks and put them into the pie. (HINT:  Save the wine left over and it is DELICIOUS as hot mulled wine)

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Pack the filling up to the brim.

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Take a moment to revel in how delicious it looks.

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Try not to shove your face into the whole plate and eat it up.

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Ok… maybe you can steal one chestnut from the top of the mini pie.  I won’t tell.
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Then start the crumbling.

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Until only a little bit of fruity goodness is peaking through.

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Sometimes I add even less… as I can now see through my alternate pie compared to the one above.

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And don’t forget about the minis.

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Sometimes you can even cover the entire thing in crumbs.  No judgments here!  But you will have to bake it until the crumbs start to turn golden on top.

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And then slice it up and try not to eat the whole thing while your guests look on in jealousy.

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Okay fine… eat the whole mini pie.

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It’s just so damn cute and delicious afterall!

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This was a HUGE crowd pleaser.  Really unique flavors and the sweet, buttery crust combined so well with the tart wine and cranberries and the slight sour in the crumble.  I think I will make this again and again and again and again and again…

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