Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan

This month I am participating in a virtual cookbook book club called Cook the Books.   The ladies at Grow and Resist and Oh, Briggsy are hosting a year long cookbook challenge.  So each month they picked a different book and a bunch of people will cook things and post blogs about them as well as reviews of the books.

January's book is Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  I am usually hesitant to look at french cook books because there are always hard to find ingredients and the techniques take to long for me right now.  This book is wonderful.  Ms. Greenspan includes recipes and stories that are simple, tasty and quick.  I made a pumpkin flan, and plan to make pissaladiere (onion anchovy pizza), salmon rillettes, tuna confit with black olive tapenade, and possible a fresh orange pork loin.  Stay tuned.....

I started with a Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan (pg 146):

The recipe is simple: mix some eggs, cream and pumpkin together.  Season and top with Gorgonzola Cheese and bake in a water bath.  I didn't have a can of pumpkin and was not going back to the store.  But I just happen to have a butternut squash in the basement from the garden this year.  So I roasted and pureed it first.  I think this would only take about 8 minutes to make if you used canned pumpkin, but the butternut was also super yummy.

Pissaladiere

This month I am participating in a virtual cookbook book club called Cook the Books.   The ladies at Grow and Resist and Oh, Briggsy are hosting a year long cookbook challenge.  So each month they picked a different book and a bunch of people will cook things and post blogs about them as well as reviews of the books.

January's book is Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  I am usually hesitant to look at french cook books because there are always hard to find ingredients and the techniques take to long for me right now.  This book is wonderful.  Ms. Greenspan includes recipes and stories that are simple, tasty and quick.  I made a pumpkin flan, and plan to make pissaladiere (onion anchovy pizza), salmon rillettes, tuna confit with black olive tapenade, and possible a fresh orange pork loin.  Stay tuned.....

Next up was the Pissaladiere (pg45):

This is basically a caramelized onion pizza with anchovies.  The dough is a basic pizza dough and is very good and fairly quick from start to finish, about an hour.  I would definitely use this crust again.  So to make the pizza you caramelize onions with some thyme and bay leaves and then stir in some chopped anchovies and bake.  The recipe calls for anchovies on top too but I learned through making this that I don't particularly like anchovies like I thought I would.

After I made this and didn't like the anchovy flavor I picked them all off.  Then I made a reduced balsamic vinegar glaze to drizzle on the pizza.  This wasn't a favorite in my house but to those who love anchovies it is a wonderful recipe.





Stay tuned for more from Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table.

I wish you enough!

Cook the Books: Around My French Table

This month I am participating in a virtual cookbook book club called Cook the Books.   The ladies at Grow and Resist and Oh, Briggsy are hosting a year long cookbook challenge.  So each month they picked a different book and a bunch of people will cook things and post blogs about them as well as reviews of the books.

January's book is Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  I am usually hesitant to look at french cook books because there are always hard to find ingredients and the techniques take to long for me right now.  This book is wonderful.  Ms. Greenspan includes recipes and stories that are simple, tasty and quick.  I made a pumpkin flan, and plan to make pissaladiere (onion anchovy pizza), salmon rillettes, tuna confit with black olive tapenade, and possible a fresh orange pork loin.  Stay tuned..... I won't post these recipes to honor copyrights but if you're interested you should totally check the book out at your local library.

Here is the rundown of what I actually accomplished.  But I think I'll keep this book around for a bit to try some more.

I started with a Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flan (pg 146):

The recipe is simple: mix some eggs, cream and pumpkin together.  Season and top with Gorgonzola Cheese and bake in a water bath.  I didn't have a can of pumpkin and was not going back to the store.  But I just happen to have a butternut squash in the basement from the garden this year.  So I roasted and pureed it first.  I think this would only take about 8 minutes to make if you used canned pumpkin, but the butternut was also super yummy.

Next up was the Pissaladiere (pg45):

This is basically a caramelized onion pizza with anchovies.  The dough is a basic pizza dough and is very good and fairly quick from start to finish, about an hour.  I would definitely use this crust again.  So to make the pizza you caramelize onions with some thyme and bay leaves and then stir in some chopped anchovies and bake.  The recipe calls for anchovies on top too but I learned through making this that I don't particularly like anchovies like I thought I would.

After I made this and didn't like the anchovy flavor I picked them all off.  Then I made a reduced balsamic vinegar glaze to drizzle on the pizza.  This wasn't a favorite in my house but to those who love anchovies it is a wonderful recipe.

This morning for a brunch I made Salmon Rillettes (p. 26):

What can I say besides super delicious!?! This spread made with wine poached salmon, smoked salmon, butter, lemon and spices was a total hit and will definitely be made again.  It literally took me 10 minutes to make.  I substituted the red chile pepper with a dash of cayenne in the poaching liquid and a diced red bell pepper in the spread.

At the brunch we feasted on this salmon dish on top of toasted english muffins.  Muy bueno!


Stay tuned for more from Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table.

I wish you enough!

Cinnamon Sesame Granola

I love love love granola and lately those bags of granola with dark chocolate bits have been jumping off the shelf and into my cart at the market.  Between that and reading Food in Jars I was inspired to make my own granola and I just wonder.....

WHY haven't I done this before today!!!!!

It is delicious, easy and I can add WHATEVER I want, including little, um big bits of dark chocolate.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup raw sesame seeds
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp liquid coconut oil (or other neutral oil like grape seed)
3 Tbsp real maple syrup (if you don't have this, use more honey instead of fake syrup)
1/2 -1 cup dark chocolate (I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips)


Heat oven to 250 degrees.  Mix all ingredients EXCEPT chocolate in a large bowl.

Spread out on one or two cookie sheets and place in bottom half of oven.  Stir your granola every 15 minutes until it is completely dry and golden.   Let your granola cool down completely before storing.

This should last a week or two on the counter or in the fridge...

 
BUT it probably won't last that long at my house, mmmmmmm!


I wish you enough granola!

Strawberry Balsamic Sauce with Vanilla Ice Cream

When two of the best flavors on the planet come together it's hard not to like them on just about ANYTHING.

My introduction to the strawberry-balsamic duo was not long after returning from Italy where I fell in love with Panna Cotta.  Upon returning I found a wonderful panna cotta recipe that had a strawberry balsamic and black pepper sauce....ahhhhh pure heaven.  Which reminds me, I should make that soon.

I was going through the freezer the other day and found more strawberries from the farm that I had packed in a sugar mix.  And I just happen to have vanilla ice cream very close to them.  A-ha!!!!!

So I picked out some strawberries and blended them with about 1 tsp of balsamic and enjoyed it a lot over the ice cream.

If you don't do anything else this week you should try this, seriously.  And if you want to try it I would be glad to share panna cotta with you.

I wish you enough fresh veggies!

Pepper Jellies and more

What a wonderful day!  Got to hang out with my favorite little peep at the playground this morning and now I am being creative in the kitchen.

We are loaded with peppers right now so I looked up some recipes to make some pepper jellies and hot pepper relish and am tackling that today.

I used pepper jelly for the first time during a cooking class called meet the masters and have been hooked ever since.  In the class we made a very tiny sandwich called an amuse buche with the jelly and if I could I would eat that tiny sandwich every day.

I used recipes for the jellies from this book:

Green pepper jelly, pg 125:

I pureed the peppers and strained the juice

added all the other ingredients and boiled it

then canned it.

The second one I made was a balsamic red pepper jelly, pg 126, and I think I have a new love!
The steps to make it are pretty much the same except the ingredients are a bit different.  It's gorgeous and tasty; it starts out mellow and grows with tangy-ness ending with a sweet tone that will make you smile.

I finished the day off with a few bottles of hot pepper relish, yum!

This was a quick trial of the jellies with a sharp cheddar cheese, but I am imagining smoked salmon on a thin cracker with this jelly, a little cream cheese and black sesame seeds.....  I might just put this jelly on everything!

As always be careful when canning and follow a recipe from a trusted source without changes unless they note that you can make substitutions.  Canning is a wonderful way to keep food for a long time but it has to be done right.  Here is a good site to get you started.

I wish you enough jelly and spice!

Bread and Butter Pickles

A couple years ago we made 85 jars of pickles that were half dill and half bread and butter.  We enjoyed them every week and gave plenty away.  Our favorite was the bread and butter so this year we were at it again.  Although we cut down on quantity and only made 39 jars.

I always use the National Center for Home Food Preservation when I am looking for canning recipes. Literally everything I've made from the site has been good.  Check it out.

This is their recipe with a few pics from our kitchen to show you the process.

Bread-and-Butter Pickles

• 6 lbs of 4- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
• 8 cups thinly sliced onions (about 3 pounds)
• 1/2 cup canning or pickling salt
• 4 cups vinegar (5 percent)
• 4-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp mustard seed
• 1-1/2 tbsp celery seed
• 1 tbsp ground turmeric
• 1 cup pickling lime (optional- for use in variation below for making firmer pickles)

Yield: About 8 pints

Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard. Cut into 3/16-inch slices. Combine cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. Add salt. Cover with 2 inches crushed or cubed ice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours, adding more ice as needed.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot. Boil 10 minutes. Drain and add cucumbers and onions and slowly reheat to boiling.

Fill jars with slices and cooking syrup, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1.

Variation for firmer pickles: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard. Cut into 3/16-inch slices. Mix 1 cup pickling lime and 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water in a 2- to 3-gallon crock or enamelware container. Avoid inhaling lime dust while mixing the lime-water solution. Soak cucumber slices in lime water for 12 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from lime solution, rinse, and resoak 1 hour in fresh cold water. Repeat the rinsing and soaking steps two more times. Handle carefully, as slices will be brittle. Drain well.

Storage: After processing and cooling, jars should be stored 4 to 5 weeks to develop ideal flavor.

Variation: Squash bread-and-butter pickles. Substitute slender (1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter) zucchini or yellow summer squash for cucumbers.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Bread-and-Butter Pickles in a boiling-water canner.
		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints or Quarts	10 min	15	20

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This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 2009.