Archive for

Mar 28

Pappardelle Con Funghi With Truffles For Fiesta Friday #61

Pappardelle Con Funghi

I had a dinner party last weekend and a very good friend brought me some truffle oil, good finishing olive oil and 2 black truffles. Quite a gift right, I am very grateful it is quite extravagent and wonderful. There is an Italian restaurant near me that I frequent and my favorite dish on the their menu is Fettucine con funghi. It’s rich and delicious and a staple whenever I eat there. I thought I would try to recreate this dish at home with some homemade (not by me) pappardelle, some shitake mushrooms from my CSA and finish with a grating of black truffles.

Truffle

Since Fiesta Friday is in it’s new home, a site dedicated only to this party, and a fine home it is, I thought I would break out the truffles and celebrate. So for Fiesta Friday #61 I am bringing Pappardelle Con Funghi with black truffles. Angie@The Novice Gardener has been working hard getting our new place ready and thank goodness she has help this week from the wonderful co hosts Selma @Selma’s Table and Margy @La Petite Casserole

I will make a confession, this is not really a recipe, I didn’t measure anything. For that reason I will list the ingredients and the approximate amounts. I have been cooking long enough that I can guesstimate. Honestly though, you really don’t need a recipe just eye ball the ingredients it will work out.

Waiting for the pasta

Pappardelle Con Funghi

Serves 3 generously 4 more modestly

1 small onion peeled and diced

mushrooms ( I used shiitake) approximate 2 cups of cleaned and sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic thinly sliced

white wine (approximately 1/3 cup)

Stock – I used homemade mushroom stock you can use whatever you have- approximately 1/2 cup

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

heavy cream approx 1/4 cup

1 tbs butter

splash of olive oil for the pan

salt and pepper to taste

parmigiano

black truffle (optional)

parsley to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the butter and the diced onion, saute until soft and transluscent. Add the garlic and continue to saute until the garlic softens. Add your mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft and lightly browned. Now add the wine, cook down for approximately 3-4 minutes and then add the stock and the thyme. Cook until reduced by about half, now add the cream and continue to cook until the sauce thickens. Adjust seasoning and keep on low/simmer.

Bring large pot of generously salted water to a boil when the water comes to a rolling (vigorous)boil cook the pasta. Turn up the heat on the mushroom sauce and add the al dente pasta, cook for about 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl, garnish with parsley, sprinkle with cheese and serve.

YUM!

Mar 22

135 Comments

Orange Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream Frosting And Berries For Fiesta Friday #60

This is a very special Fiesta Friday, we have new digs, I mean this is exciting our own space for the party, check it out!! Angie@The Novice Gardener has surprised us all with this gorgeous new home for our party. Thanks so much Angie!!! This weeks co hosts are Tracy @Scratch It Cook and Nancy @Feasting With Friends.

For this special party in our new home I am bringing cake, a light as a feather angel food cake flavored with the zest of a mandarin orange, I frosted the cake with an orange scented whipped cream frosting and loaded the top of the cake with fresh berries sprinkled with some orange scented sugar. Can you tell I am a fan of orange.

Angel Food Cake

James McNair

2 cups egg whites at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar divided
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour
zest of 1 orange (I used a mandarin)

Pre heat oven to 325 degree’s. Place egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat the eggs until frothy and add the cream of tartar. Continue beating on medium high until egg whites are billowy, now add 3/4 cup sugar a tabelespoon at a time beating continuously. Beat the whites until they are somewhat stiff and hold shape when you lift the whisk, add the zest and vanilla and beat just until combined.

Place a sieve over a bowl and add the flour, sugar and salt and sieve twice. Sift over the beaten egg whites and gently fold in. Make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed into the whites. Place in your 10 inch tube pan with removable bottom. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean. Cool the cake upside down the angel food cake pan has feet that it rests on. Let cake cool completely. Run a small flexible offset spatula around the cake the outer edges and around the tube. Gently push the bottom up and then turn cake upside down and run the spatula or a knife around the edges of the bottom of the bottom to release the cake. Store in air tight container until ready to use.

Whipped Cream Frosting

James McNair

generously frosts a 9 in cake

1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups Heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
orange liquor like Grand Marnier or orange extract to taste

Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature. Make sure it is completely cooled before adding to the heavy cream..Very Important!!!
In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape, it will still be rather loose. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.

Fruit:

Blackberries

Raspberries

Strawberries Blended into a coulis.

Orange sugar- orange zest and sugar to sprinkle on fruit

The strawberries were just not good enough to put on the cake so I made a coulis by blending the strawberries with a little orange sugar and 2 tbs mandarin orange juice.

Mar 18

79 Comments

Leftover Corned Beef- Make A Reuben Sandwich

Reuben

I am sure most of you know what a Reuben Sandwich is, corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, thousand island or Russian dressing on rye bread grilled. It’s a decadently delicious sandwich and a fabulous way to use up corned beef. I didn’t have rye bread but I did have a little less than half a loaf left of my sour dough bread, happened to have sauerkraut, made some thousand island dressing, I did run to the deli and get some swiss cheese. I hadn’t had one of these sandwiches in a very long time and it was a real treat. They are delicious. Here is a bit of Reuben trivia straight from wikipedia:

Reuben Kulakofsky: Omaha, Nebraska

One account holds that Reuben Kulakofsky (sometimes spelled Reubin, or the last name shortened to Kay), a Lithuanian-born grocer residing in Omaha, Nebraska, was the inventor perhaps as part of a group effort by members of Kulakofsky’s weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves “the committee”, included the hotel’s owner, Charles Schimmel. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone’s lunch menu, and its fame spread when a former employee of the hotel won a national contest with the recipe. In Omaha, March 14 was proclaimed as Reuben Sandwich Day.

Reuben’s Delicatessen: New York City

Another account holds that the Reuben’s creator was Arnold Reuben, the German owner of the famed yet defunct Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York City who according to an interview withCraig Claiborne invented the “Reuben special” around 1914. The earliest references in print to the sandwich are New York–based but that is not conclusive evidence, though the fact that the earliest, from a 1926 edition of Theatre Magazine, references a “Reuben special”, does seem to take its cue from Arnold Reuben’s menu.

A variation of the above account is related by Bernard Sobel in his book, Broadway Heartbeat: Memoirs of a Press Agent, which claims that the sandwich was an extemporaneous creation forMarjorie Rambeau inaugurated when the famed Broadway actress visited the Reuben’s Delicatessen one night when the cupboards were particularly bare.

Some sources name the actress in the above account as Annette Seelos, not Marjorie Rambeau, while noting that the original “Reuben special” sandwich did not contain corned beef or sauerkraut and was not grilled; still other versions give credit to Alfred Scheuing, Reuben’s chef, and say he created the sandwich for Reuben’s son, Arnold Jr., in the 1930s.

The fixings

The thousand island dressing was simple”

Mayonaise

ketchup

cornichon minced

2 mustards, dijon and deli (a little of each)

Here is how I make the sandwich. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Spread some thousand island dressing on each side, now you layer, first swiss cheese, then corned beef, then sauerkraut and then another slice of swiss. Grill one side, flip then grill the other side. I like to press it down a little to flatten kind of like a panini. Serve straight from the grill with some pickles.

Mar 17

81 Comments

Happy St. Patricks Day- Irish Soda Bread

Happy St Patricks Day

I want to wish everyone a Happy St. Patricks Day. To celebrate the day I made a loaf of Traditional Irish Soda Bread, the recipe comes from Jessica@What Jessica Baked Next, this recipe is great by the way, very moist and delicious and excactly how I imagine a loaf of soda bread to be..

I think Irish Soda bread is the perfect way to celebrate this day, a shout out to my Irish friends and all those that celeberate this day and the beloved St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland. I love Ireland, I want to go there it is #1 on my list of places I want to visit and I’m afraid that if I go I just might not come back. By all accounts it looks like heaven on earth, lush green land, friendly people, quaint and beautiful cottages, I could go on and on. So here is to Ireland and it’s wonderful people. A loaf of soda bread, served hot with some good butter, jam and a cup of strong tea.

Happy St Patricks Day

Ireland

Mar 13

121 Comments

Leek, Asparagus,Chanterelle And Gruyere Mini Quiche For Fiesta Friday #59

Mini quiche

I am not re-inventing the wheel here, quiche in all it’s forms with varied and myriad ingredients has been made over and over but no matter how many times you see, eat or make it’s always delicious. I decided to make individual quiche, no cutting just grab and go.

I like to blind bake my crust so it doesn’t get soggy, use half and half in the custard, I’m generous with the cheese and vegetables making this a substantial and satisfying meal. I used fresh asparagus, chanterelle mushrooms, a young leek, and some lovely gruyere. One of my favorite meals is a fresh salad with quiche and look at this salad that Margi@La petite casserole made.

Angie@The Novice Gardener and her cohosts this week Jhuls@The Not So Creative Cook and for the first time Mila@Milk And A Bun are ensuring that a good time is had by all, the drinks are flowing and the food is plentiful. Thank you all!!

Quiche With leek, asparagus, chanterelle, gruyere

Makes approximately 8 mini tarts(4 inch)

Recipe for double crust flaky pastry I used my go to Julia Child recipe

Approximately 1/2 lb gruyere grated

4 large or extra large eggs

1 1/2 cup half and half

asparagus (enough for 3 stalks on each quiche)

mushrooms (I used chanterelle) about 1 cup chopped

1 spring or young leek cut into rounds and cleaned thoroughly

pinch nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Blind baking your pie crust:

1. Press your pie dough into tart pans and refrigerate (I like to make the night before and refrigerate covered overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degree’s

2. Place parchment in each tart pan and add beans or pie weights

3. Bake for 15 minutes, remove parchment and pie weights and bake for another 15 minutes or until just lightly browned.

Making the quiche:

Place mushrooms and asparagus on baking sheet lined with parchment, brush with olive oil and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven to cool and keep the oven temp at 375 degrees.

Heat a tbs of butter in saute pan and saute the leeks after they have been cleaned and dried.

Grate the cheese and set aside.

Beat the eggs and half and half, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Assembling:

Place some cheese at the bottom of each tart pan, add leek and mushroom filling to the top of each pan, pour enough egg custard to fill each, lay the asparagus on top and add a little more of the grated cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the egg is set.

Enjoy with a fresh salad.

Mar 12

68 Comments

Pureed Vegetable Soup-Spring Cleaning My Refrigerator And Cupcakes

Vegetable soup

This is an incredibly delicious soup, I’m not reinventing the wheel here but this particular combination is wonderful and I wanted to share, I was spring cleaning my refrigerator and found some vegetables I needed to use and thats how this soup was born. The combination is wonderful, honestly, I didn’t know how it would come out, I just started adding things. After boiling the vegetables and pureeing and seasoning with salt and pepper it tasted a bit blah, not very exciting, it’s amazing really what a touch of this and that can do to the flavor of a dish, first I added the pinch of nutmeg, that was good, then added the butter and some cream, ok even better then a teaspoon of honey. It was the perfect combination to bring that soup from blah to wow. The soup looks dark and brooding but it couldn’t be further from how it tastes. It’s fresh and slightly complex and undeniably vegetable. Here we go:

Soup

Broccoli tough part of the stem removed and cut into pieces

Green Curly Kale – 1 head tough stems removed

1 potato peeled and cut into quarters

carrots peeled and cut into chunks

onion peeled and cut into quarters

1 clove garlic – smashed

1 stalk celery- cut into chunks

broth (chicken, vegetable or just use water) 6 cups approximately I used chicken

pinch of nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbs butter

2-3 tbs heavy cream (you can also use cashew cream, soy or almond milk or do without)

1 tsp honey (yes honey)

Add a little olive oil to your soup pot, sauté the onion until soft, now add the garlic and don’t let it brown just soften it a little. Add the vegetables and give them a good stir. Pour in the broth or water just enough to cover the vegetables. Cover the pot and boil until everything is tender.

Let cool and puree either with your blender or immersion blender If using an immersion blender take out some of the broth, you can always add it back to thin. you take a chance on your soup being too thin if you blend with all the liquid in the pot. I found that I had about 2 cups of broth left which I froze to use later. Season with salt and pepper, add the nutmeg (very important), the butter, cream and honey and heat through. Is even better the next day.

monster and dirt cupcakes

Sweet Maia celebrates her 10th birthday today and she asked me to make cupcakes for her class at school, I think it’s great that they celebrate the kids birthdays with a party. She saw these cupcakes on Pinterest and this is what she wanted to take to class. The monster cupcakes are chocolate cake with a cream cheese buttercream piped on with Ateco tip #133, I wish I had #234 the holes are a little larger. It was hard piping that buttercream, the frosting was thick and it took every ounce of strength to get that on the cupcakes which is why they look somewhat different, but variety is the spice of life and no two monsters are alike, made pink, blue and green. The finishing touch are googely eyes. Gotta love that. The last 4 cupcakes were not piped as you can see, I couldn’t press on that bag one more time so just spiked the frosting and added multiple googely eyes.

The second cupcake is a dirt cupcake. sounds appetizing right? Again used the chocolate cake, I used the recipe for Hershey’s Perfectly “chocolate” chocolate frosting, it’s quick and easy and very smooth. Thought that would make a good base wherewith to hold the dirt. The dirt is chocolate Teddy Grahams whizzed in the processor. The cupcakes are filled with chocolate pudding. The piece du resistance is the gummy worm sticking out of the icing. They are fun and really delicious and the Birthday Girl and her class loved them. What fun it was to make them!!

monster cupcakes

Mar 8

95 Comments

Spring Forward, A Fresh Salad With Creamy Meyer Lemon Dressing And Some Shopping

Spring salad

Although it won’t officially be spring until Friday, March 20th at 6:46 PM, we have taken one giant leap by changing the clocks, moving them forward one hour which gives us an extra hour of daylight, in my opinion having to wake up an hour earlier is cruel and unecessary, leave the clocks be please (editorial opinions are strictly my own). I have proclaimed that it is Spring in my house today by opening some of my windows to let in some fresh (cold) air and although there is still snow piled up outside, I made a fresh salad in honor of Spring, This salad was born out of necessity, I needed to use watermelon radish, frisee, beets, spring onion and blood orange before they went bad, threw some garbanzo beans in and had a small wedge of 2 day old sourdough bread that I cut into cubes and made some pan fried croutons. The dressing is simple, meyer lemon juice, mayonaise, olive oil, mint and basil (both dried), the flavor is creamy and bright and it went so nicely on the salad, you don’t have to use mayonnaise you can use yogurt for a lighter dressing or simply lemon, oil and herbs for an even lighter one. I hope you all enjoy your extra hour of daylight and we will all soon be enjoying lovely Spring weather and beautiful produce.

Vegetables

Salad for one:

handful of frisee

beet cut into bite size pieces

scallions or spring onion

watermelon radish cut into strips

1 blood orange, or orange supremed used half the orange in the salad and squeezed the juice of the other half on top of the salad

garbanzo beans about 1/4 cup

croutons

Toasted nuts would also be a great option in this salad

Instead of croutons you could add a whole grain like farro, freekeh, barley or whatever you like.

Toss it all in a bowl (pretty easy right)

Meyer lemon dressing

2 tbs mayonaise

juice of a meyer lemon a (you determine how thick or thin you like your dressing)

drizzle of olive oil

dried mint and basil or whatever herbs you want to use, fresh is best but dried will do nicely.

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk everything together, add the lemon juice little by little until you reach the desiered consistency.

One of my favorite things to do is go to the local Marshall’s houseware department. They have great stuff for the kitchen an home. I could literally spend hours there and never leave empty handed. Today I got some assorted bowls, a great ceramic pitcher and found this pug mug that I couldn’t resist, I needed a new spoon cradle and I fell in love with a vibrant ceramic eggplant spoon cradle. Last month I decided to re furnish, my guest room, I bought new furniture and rugs, today I found some cool accessories, throw pillows, and some really nice baskets, it’s so much fun to shop.

Pug mug

spoon cradle

Mar 6

73 Comments

Bread, Butter, Radishes For Fiesta Friday #58

bread, butter and radishes

This is so simple, no recipe required all you need is good bread, butter, radishes, sea salt and honey. I wanted to bring something to the party that just screamed Spring, I am still digging out from yesterdays snow storm and am a bit tired of the heavy food that is prevalent in winter. I got some beautiful watermelon radishes from Farmigo, the CSA I use, I also have some of their hand churned butter and a loaf of my homemade sour dough bread. This is so simple it’s almost stupid but take a slice of bread, slather with a lot of butter, add some sliced radishes, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle some honey on it, Enjoy!!!

I want to thank Angie@The Novice Gardener for hosting all these fabulous get togethers, they are the best and the highlight of my week. The co hosts this week are , Caroline @Caroline’s Cooking and Elaine @foodbod. Elaine is no stranger to Fiesta Friday and it’s always fun when she is hosting, this is Caroline’s first so a big welcome and thank you to Caroline and Elaine.

Slice some bread

Sourdough loaf

A watermelon radish, it’s really big and so pretty!!

watermelon radish

Some good butter:

Farm fresh butter

Peel and slice the radish, place on top of your bread and butter, sprinkle with some sea salt and drizzle with some honey.

A taste of Spring

Mar 5

76 Comments

Whats Up This Week, More Snow, A Loaf And A New Toy For My iPhone Camera

intrepid Brooklynite Biking in the snow

Well the week is almost over, I have to say I am so sick of this snow and cold it makes my head hurt to think about another snow storm but here we are, yet another one with plunging bitter cold temperatures. I am not a hot weather sort of gal, I hate heat and humidity and look forward to cooler temps after oppressingly hot summers. That said this winter is trying, it is compounded by the difficulty I have getting my elderly, frail little dog out to do his business. Luckily I have a covered outdoor patio area that I can use when I cannot get down the stairs of my front stoop with him.

My back yard

This week has been really busy with work, I haven’t really had a lot of time in the kitchen, I did however make a few things. Maybe you remember my post on sour dough bread and the starter, I am happy and thrilled to report that the starter is still alive and doing very well. I keep it covered in the back of my refrigerator and when I want to make a loaf of bread I feed it and leave it in the oven with the light on for 12+ hours to do it’s thing. This starter is the best and consistently produces lovely and delicious loaves of bread. As a matter of fact this is my 6th loaf using the same starter/Levain.

Sourdough loaf

With two slices of this delicous loaf of bread I made this fantastic BLT using Nitrate free bacon (just got from CSA, tomatoes, frisee and homemade mayonnaise. I have to say a BLT is and always will be one of my all time favorite sandwiches.

Mayonnaise

BLT,homemade sourdough loaf, mayo, frisee and tomato

I have mentioned before that I use my iphone for my photo’s, because it’s easy, I’m not a great photographer and I live in a historic townhouse that is light challenged. I saw on the apple site some incredible photo’s taken using iphone 6 and they mentioned the app’s used as well as peripheral apparatus. One thing that peaked my interest was the “Olloclip” its a clip on multi lens device, it has wide angle, macro 10x and macro 15x. I just got it yesterday so still have to learn exactly how to use it as it pertains to my food photo’s but I am excited to give it a try.

olloclip

This super cold, icy and snowy winter has been rough on Nando. He is 14 years old, has diabetes and is blind. He also has neuropathy which is very hard on him. I have to keep him very warm, here are some of the items I have had to purchase for him to help ward off the cold. He has terrible circulation in his feet/legs and numbness associated with the neuropathy. I found these socks that have rubber bottoms so he has traction on slippery floors, protection from ice and salt and they keep his little feet warm. He has a wardrobe of sweaters and jackets but this year I had to call in the big guns and I got him a warm jacket from Canada Pooch, it looks a little too Santa Clauseish for my taste but keeps him warm. He doesn’t like wearing it at all, hates clothes but it’s necessary when I take him outside.

Nando’s cold weather gear

He sleeps in socks and his hoodie.

Nando

We are expected to get about 8 inches of snow today, it’s coming down fast and furious. I will leave you with a couple of snow shots, 2 hours later, can you believe more people are riding their bikes today? Amazing.