a hot dish

Baked Ziti

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 12:30:18 -0500

While I was on hiatus from posting, I did not stop my obsession with cookbooks. I don’t even want to tell you how many new cookbooks I purchased. We will stick with “several.” Yup, several.

I have a few cookbooks where I have never even tried a recipe. Other cookbooks I have worn out. When I first receive my cookbook in the mail, for now days I almost always buy them via Amazon, I have to set the mood. For you see, I have a ritual. I don’t even open the cookbook until I have time to make a cup of Irish breakfast tea and fresh currant scones. I gather a pad of post-its, my teacup and scone and if the weather is nice, I take the new cookbook out to the deck or on to the veranda. In inclement weather, I snuggle into the corner of the sofa and slowly turn the pages. I take my post-its and mark each page where there is a recipe I want to try.

Well, my newest cookbook is littered with yellow post-its. It is foolish really, because I should have labeled the few recipes that don’t appeal to me, it would have been much less work. The difficulty was in deciding which recipe I wanted to try first from this wonderful book:

This new cookbook may be my new favorite and that is saying something, kinda like picking your favorite child. (Kye) (No, Erik) (No, Britta) Or favorite novel (hint: To Kill a Mockingbird). I delightfully paged through this book and when I got to the baked ziti, it drew me in. I knew this was going to be my very first recipe from this collection of must make meals.

The Recipe:
Baked Ziti With Sausage adapted from “The New Comfort Food” by James Oseland

Serves 10

1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage removed from casings and broken into 1/2 chunks
1 medium carrot, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 rib celery, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1- 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained and pureed
3 tbsp. minced parsley
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 tbsp. butter
5 tbsp. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 lbs. ziti
2 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

To make the meat sauce: Heat the oil in a 6 qt pot over high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 8-10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside. Add the carrots, onions, celery and cook, stirring often, until soft and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute or 2. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until brown, 8-10 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until evaporated about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Add the tomato puree, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and the liquid has almost evaporated, about 1 hour.

Stir in the reserve sausage and any juices from the plate, add the parsley and season the sauce with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the béchamel sauce: Melt 4 tbsp. butter in a 4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until it begins to bubble about 2 minutes. While whisking, add the milk in a thin, steady stream. Bring the milk to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon, 10-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the nutmeg, season the béchamel sauce generously with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Heat the oven to 400F. Bring a 6-quart pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring, until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain the pasta, transfer to a bowl, stir in the reserve meat sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Grease a 4 quart oval baking dish with the remaining butter and add half the pasta mixture. Pour half the béchamel over the pasta, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula.

Top the béchamel with the remaining pasta and then with the remaining béchamel. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan over the béchamel. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let the baked ziti set for 10 minutes before serving.

Final Thoughts:
I will just come right out and say it. This is super delicious. It isn’t a difficult recipe, but, it is timely. Now I know that the food goddess’s will literally fry me for saying this (I can feel my feet burning as I type) but, I think you can buy your favorite brand of spaghetti sauce and use that instead. I know. I KNOW. I KNOW! Just call me Ms. Semi-Homemade. But, sheesh, for anyone without a lot of time, this recipe is going to be too long to even try. So just buy what you like and don’t tell a soul. Brown your meat and add it to your fav sauce and you are good to go.

Now there is one more tweak I would make. As you can see from the picture when you put your mozzarella on top, it forms a “cap.”

I didn’t like this so much, so next time I make this I am going to sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the first layer and then use the rest on top and mix it in just a little. I think I would appreciate pulling some nice long strands of mozzarella instead of trying to manage a thick layer of cheese. Once it cools a tad, it is almost unmanageable.

But, please do give it a try. It isn’t any more difficult than cooking pasta and browning some meat. The béchamel sauce is super easy and is something you should learn how to make. The béchamel sauce. I believe, takes this dish from average to superb. With the shortcut tomato sauce hint, this should be easy enough for a week night supper, but, certainly this is a great dish for guests, too.

I hope you enjoy this pasta dish as much as our family did.

Sausage and grapes

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:47:06 -0500

Sausage and grapes? Yuck. That is what I thought when I first saw m’lady, Ina, prepare this. Yuck yuck yuck. But, you know how I feel about Ina. I trust her. When she exclaimed that his was delicious, who am I to doubt her?

Renowned chef Johanne Kileen from Il Forno was Ina’s guest in the kitchen and she prepared this dish. Apparently, it has been on the menu for over 30 years. Now, in my mind, nothing would stay on the menu for that many years unless it was mighty tasty. Still, sausage and grapes? Cooked grapes? Does anyone else find that odd? And not just odd, but, really disgusting. I like sausage, but, they wouldn’t be my first choice for dinner. And pairing sausage with cooked grapes, that are super unappealing once prepared, just seemed like a waste of time.

I tape all of Ina’s current programs and usually once I watch them I hit delete. But, for some reason I kept this show. The other day as I was looking at my saved programs I ran across this episode. I couldn’t remember why I had saved it, so I fast forwarded and saw the sausage and grapes segment. Does it make sense that I was still intrigued but kinda grossed out at the same time? People, we’re talking grapes cooked with sausage.

The only thing to do was to prepare the recipe. I hate to spend money on food that I suspect will get thrown in the trash. But, sausage and grapes are not super spendy and I know that Paul will eat anything. The worst that could happen is I would hate it and Paul wouldn’t like the cooked grapes. I knew he would eat the sausage no matter what. Probably, wrapped inside a tortilla. Only the grapes would get tossed and I could put them in the compost.

Now Ina suggested that mashed potatoes would be the perfect side. Except, ahem, I have a wee bit of a problem with mashed taters. When my children were young, often I wouldn’t eat dinner, I would sit at the table with them, but, was too busy to actually eat. My meal would be eating all the leftovers on their plates. Erik had left a glass of milk and I drank it. Little did I know that he had spit his mashed potatoes into the glass and oh boy was that a surprise. It has scarred me for decades. I don’t think I need to explain more why I am not a fan of mashed potatoes. But, Kye LOVES mashed potatoes and I decided that is what I would make, because after all, they are super easy and I am the lazy cook.

The Recipe:

Roasted Sausage and Grapes adapted from Johanne Kileen via Ina Garten

1 1/2 pounds Italian hot sausage
1 1/2 pounds Italian sweet sausage
3 tablespoons butter
5 to 6 cups (2 pounds) red or green seedless grapes, stems removed
2 to 4 tablespoons dry red wine (Chianti works great)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Foccaccia or ciabatta bread, to serve

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Parboil the sausages in water to cover for 8 minutes to rid them of excess fat.

Melt the butter in a large heatproof roasting pan, (I used what I call my chicken fryer pan. It goes easily into that hot of an oven and saved in clean up. If you don’t own a roasting pan, use a 9x13 metal cake pan) add the grapes, and toss to coat. Over moderately high heat add the wine. Stir with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until the wine has reduced by half.

Using tongs, transfer the parboiled sausages to the roasting pan and push them down in the grapes so the sausages will not brown too quickly. Roast in the oven, turning the sausages once, until the grapes are soft and the sausages have browned, 20 to 25 minutes.

Place the roasting pan on top of the stove over a medium-high heat and add the balsamic vinegar. Scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the roasting pan, and allow the vinegar and juices to reduce until they are thick and syrupy. With a slotted spoon, transfer the sausages and grapes to a serving platter.

Pour the sauce over the sausages and grapes and serve immediately, accompanied with fresh bread.

Final Thoughts:
Geez, Miss Ina can you ever forgive me for doubting you? This is so good that Paul and I literally licked the plate. Who knew? When I removed the pan from the oven, the grapes were so unappealing that my first thought was to toss them in the compost bin.

I was so tentative when tasting this that I only had a bit of the sausage. Then I thought I was just being plain stupid and my next bite I took a slice of sausage and stabbed a dreadful looking grape. Taking a deep breath I put the entire fork in my mouth...

OH MY GODDESS.

What a super duper pleasant surprise. I couldn’t believe it. I quickly dug in again and it was better the next time because I wasn’t acting like an ass. I thought that this was so terrific and I had gone outside my comfort zone I decided “what the hell” and my next bite I scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes, stabbed some sausage and with my fingers topped it with a grape, swirled it into the sauce. HEAVEN, I was in HEAVEN.

Maybe this wasn’t as good as I thought it was, because I had such low expectations. But, then Paul, who says everything is “good” actually used another adjective. “Great!” That was the last I heard from him because he was busy mopping up the sauce with his loaf of ciabatta.

One of the things that you have got to love about this most special of meals is how simply easy it is. I mean this meal is a win win. And folks, I know I say this a ton, but, this is good enough to serve to your finest of guests. There is absolutely no excuse for not preparing this. Enjoy this and I know you will!

Toffee Gooey Butter Cake

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:02:21 -0500

I have started this blog entry several times. Every time I read what I have written I hit the delete button. Blah. I hate when that happens. I am trying to justify my hypocrisy and it just isn’t happening. I have always felt a wee bit “superior” that I am NOT a semi home made cook. I prefer to make everything from scratch. I pride myself that I have never purchased hamburger helper. Angel food cake? Yup, I make it from my own recipe.

Granted, there are some things I purchase ready made. I buy biscotti, even though, I bake my own often. I buy mayonnaise and peanut butter, the natural kind, of course, and I have been known to use good quality barbecue sauce. But, I think you know what I mean when I say I try to cook from scratch. Come over and see my collection of cookbooks if you don’t believe me.

My days of snobbery have come to an end and humbleness must now be my friend. Geez. For I have succumbed to a lonely yellow cake mix. Yes, you heard me. How unusual is this? Well, when I make my cake pops, I make them using my OWN recipe. For you see, I am too good to use a boxed cake. Nothing can taste better than what I can make. Until now. Repeat: geez.

So what earth shattering event changed me? An episode of Paula Deen, the Queen of Butter. Once again while surfing I paused on the default channel. Lo and behold there was Paula melting butter. Surprise surprise. Since, I, too, am a fan of butter, I wanted to see where she going with it. And right into a cake mix it went. I almost turned the channel at this point, but, when I saw that cream cheese was involved, I had to watch, for you see, I am a huge cream cheese fan.

Well, as you can see I was hooked. Lots of butter and cream cheese. What could be wrong with that? As it turns out, nothing. At my next foray into the local market I headed straight to the boxed cake aisle and wow was I in for a surprise. Who knew? I had no idea there were so many cake mixes. My biggest difficulty was knowing which box to buy, so I chose a box that said this yellow cake was moist. Ugh. Don’t you just hate that word? Moist. Makes me shudder.

The Recipe:

Toffee Gooey Butter Cake adapted from Paula Deen

Cake:
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 (18.2- ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (1 pound) box confectioners' sugar (I used 2 cups, worked fine)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup toffee bits
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. I buttered the pan with the leftover butter attached to the butter wrappers.
In the bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well. Pat evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, eggs, vanilla extract, confectioners' sugar and butter. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Fold in the toffee bits with a spatula.

Pour the filling over the cake mixture and spread it evenly

Bake until the center is just a little bit gooey, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into pieces and serve.

Final Thoughts:
Okay, I apologize once again for being such a semi home made snob. This dessert was excellent. In fact, I made it twice, the second time I added some chocolate chips to the top and I think that was a mistake. It is better without and for me to say don’t add chocolate is saying something.

I read the many reviews of this cake on Food Network and most of them said the cake was overly sweet, so that is why I cut the powered sugar down to two cups in the cream cheese layer. It was still mighty sweet, so you need to serve rather small pieces. Paul said this is the kind of cake that goes well with a cup of coffee. I can’t drink coffee, but, I knew what he meant. The coffee definitely would have cut some of the sweetness.

Now just because I am saying it is sweet, don’t shy away from making this. It is quick and super easy and for busy bakers looking for something delicious this is it. I, also, discovered that cake mixes are not all that expensive so that is a positive. I, honestly, had no idea how much they cost. Is that weird? I don’t know. I just never buy them, but, obviously, that has all changed now. I would recommend this dessert to all. I hope you enjoy it.

Butter...

Cajun roasted chicken

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 06:46:20 -0500

During my “sabbatical” over the past months, I have continued my obsession with watching food programs and increasing my expanding collection of cookbooks. Because, seriously, one can never have enough cookbooks. I continue to watch the usual cast of characters, my beloved Ina, Julia of course, America’s Test Kitchen, reruns of Throwdown and a few assorted other programs. Recently, however on our local PBS channel I discovered a new, to me anyway, cooking program. Nick Stellino Cooking With Friends. Stellino is a very charming Italian who hosts other chefs, who I am assuming are his friends.

The first episode I watched featured a chef I recognized from Top Chef Masters, Kent Rathbun. The actual name of the dish is: Cajun Roasted Chicken Breasts with ‘Shrimp Jambalaya Hash’. I loved the way the show was presented because the two chefs took you step by step with a great deal of helpful hints along the way. Their goal was to get you to replicate the dish as close as possible.

I must say that I am not a huge fan of chicken breasts unless you doctor them up mightily. They tend to be a bit flavorless and dry for my tastes. But, most of my family and friends prefer the white meat. Me? I am a fan of dark meat. So I am always looking for a new way to prepare chicken breasts. And folks, look out. This is definitely a new way. Plus, it has one of my other fav and under used ingredients, the sweet potato.

The dish was ready made for Paul who loves anything that resembles a stew. Mind you, this is not a stew, but, to Paul, the connoisseur that he is, anything with a bunch of different ingredients all mixed together is considered a stew.
Now before we move on, I have to say don’t be turned off by the amount of ingredients or the steps to this dish. You can do a lot of prep work ahead of time, even the day before. Also, this is a nifty dish for substitutions. Now, granted it won’t be the same dish, but, for those of you who can’t afford shrimp let’s say, leave it out. For those of you who can’t find andouille sausage at your local market, go ahead and substitute. I think, though, that all the components bring something to the table and are worth spending the money. But, hey, I remember the days when there wasn’t any money for extras, so don’t shy away from this recipe if you can’t afford all the ingredients. Do the best that you can with what you have. After all, isn’t that what cooking is all about?

The Recipe:

Cajun Roasted Chicken Breasts with ‘Shrimp Jambalaya Hash adapted from Kent Rathbun

For the Cajun roasted chicken breasts:

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 8 ounces each
¾ cup Olive Oil, divided
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 jalapeño peppers, stems and seeds removed, minced
¼ cup Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 lemons, juiced
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tablespoons butter

I removed a few ingredients from the original recipe because they weren’t used in the the television program. Now here is where you can substitute if you must. Creole seasoning can be expensive, so Google a recipe and make one on your own. If you don’t have jalapeno peppers, use any hot pepper you have. If you can’t get fresh rosemary, use dried.

For the shrimp jambalaya hash:

½ cup Olive Oil
16 shrimp (16/20 per pound), peeled and deveined, then chopped into ½-inch pieces
12 ounces Andouille sausage, cut into large dice
1 cup yellow onion, cut into large dice
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
16 large button mushrooms, quartered
½ cup red bell pepper, seeds removed, cut into large dice
½ cup yellow bell pepper, seeds removed, cut into large dice
1 cup red potatoes, cut into large dice and blanched
1 cup sweet potatoes, cut into large dice and blanched
16 spinach leaves, julienned
12 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

Once again, use what you have. I used only red peppers because I am not a fan of the yellow and they are pretty pricey. I used a smaller shrimp, because once again, shrimp is expensive. And because my shrimp was smaller, I didn’t chop them, I left them whole. I didn’t have spinach on hand, but, I have a ton of basil in the garden. I know they are not interchangeable but, I adore basil and that is what I used.

To prepare the Cajun roasted chicken breasts:

Marinate the chicken breasts in ¼ cup of olive oil and the garlic, jalapeño, Creole seasoning, cracked black pepper, kosher salt and lemon juice for at least 1 hour. I did this early in the day and the amount of lemon did not “cook” the chicken, so you are safe to do it much earlier if you wish.

In a large, hot, ovenproof sauté pan, add ½ cup of olive oil and sauté the chicken breasts until golden brown on one side. Turn the chicken breasts browned side up and add the wine. Reduce the wine until the liquid is almost evaporated.

Add the chicken broth and transfer to a 400-degree oven. Let the chicken breasts cook for about 8 minutes. I put my pan on the gas grill with the lid closed. Since we have a gas oven and it was a hot day, I didn’t want to heat the kitchen anymore than necessary.

Remove the pan from the oven (or grill) and return it to the stove top. Remove the chicken from the pan and continue cooking the sauce until it starts to thicken. Finish with the chopped rosemary and the butter, and set aside. Okay here is where a couple of great hints will help with the end results. Because you are reducing your sauce, make sure you use low or no sodium broth. It will get super salty otherwise. Don’t ask me how I know this. The second hint is when you add your butter to the sauce, make sure you stand over this and gently whisk the butter into the sauce. If you walk away and just let it melt, it will separate and you won’t get this lovely sauce.

To prepare the shrimp jambalaya hash:

In a large skillet, sauté the shrimp in ½ cup of olive oil until medium-rare, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the shrimp, and set aside. Add the Andouille sausage to the skillet and cook until the sausage starts to brown and release a little fat.

Add the onions and continue cooking until they start to brown. Then add the garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers and potatoes, and continue to cook for about 3 minutes.

As the vegetables start to brown, add the reserved shrimp and continue to sauté until the shrimp are done, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Add the spinach and scallions, kosher salt and pepper. As I said I used basil and I loved it.

To serve:

Place the roasted chicken breasts, whole or sliced, on top of the hash, and top with sauce. I added chopped chives at the end, because I just love me some chives and I have a butt load in the garden.

Final Thoughts:

Well, well, well. This dish is as good as you think it would be. If you are well organized and I have discussed this before, this really isn’t going to be a tough recipe. Granted it is long, but, read the recipe through many times. I am talking about five or six times here. I find that the more familiar I am with a recipe the easier it is to prepare. You could seriously do the hash part the day before, taking care not to overcook your shrimp. If you do the hash ahead, then I would just put the shrimp in with the hash while you are reheating it. Then just cook your chicken, plate, and you are good to go.

Britta’s comment was a valid one. She suggested that the onion be cut into larger pieces. I thought I made the onions the same size as the peppers, but, somehow they got lost in the shuffle. So I would take her advice and keep the onions in larger chunks. Also, you could sprinkle the hash with a bit more creole seasoning. In fact, I did just that.

Don’t be surprised if your guests or family think you are making a curry. It oddly smelled of that. Which is not a bad thing at all.

We all loved this dish and I can guarantee I will be making this again and again. I like that the chicken breast was not dry and I, also, love that you can scale this recipe back for a smaller family or make it larger for more guests. I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

Who knew?

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:37:21 -0500

Who knew is right?! As my very few readers will realize, I haven’t been blogging for quite awhile. Frankly, I didn’t think anyone would notice. I felt as if no one was really reading my site, so I thought I would retire it. But, who knew there were people who missed it? I had no idea.

Not so long ago my daughter asked me why I wasn’t blogging anymore. I told her I didn’t think anyone was reading what I wrote so what was the point? Let’s mention here, that I had stopped writing months before she mentioned it. So, OBVIOUSLY, she hadn’t been a frequent visitor. Then at our Night to Unite (formally National Night Out) two of my neighbors mentioned that I hadn’t written anything in ages. So you mean three people had noticed? Wow.

The other night at dinner, Britta said that her friends were missing new recipes, too. Who knew? I thought I had only a few faithful readers and those readers could certainly find better food blogs out there. But, apparently, I do have a handful of faithful followers. So for them, I shall carry on. I don’t want to disappoint my fan(s)!

I have been doing the usual amount of cooking and baking. I pulled a Sarah Lee, she’s the semi woman, right? I made a Paula Deen recipe using a yellow box cake. Yikes, the end is nigh! Sandwiches have been high on our list these past few months and I will share some of the more delicious ones in the upcoming weeks.

I may, I haven’t decided yet, enter my “buns” in the Minnesota State Fair. But, I don’t know if I can handle not getting a ribbon. Britta became the parent when she asked me: “What is the worst that can happen and can you handle it?” (This was my standard line to the children when they were afraid of something, it worked every time.) I told her the worst that could happen was that I didn’t get a ribbon, and NO, I couldn’t live with it. So I don’t know what I will do. If I enter and don’t win a ribbon, I will never mention it. But, if I enter and do win a ribbon, then of course, I will shout from the rooftops. Just sayin’.

So dear reader(s) stay tuned, I am back up and running again. And if you really wanted to be nice, you can always make a comment or two or three...

blondies and bunnies

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:25:04 -0500

Now it well known my hatred of the rabbit. Perhaps I need to qualify that. Can you hear me backtracking? Ask any gardener how they feel about rabbits in their garden, and I believe they will share my sentiments. Now, if I saw a rabbit in an empty field in the country, I may comment that it is a very cute, even attractive animal. I may. I, also, am quite fond of the stuffed kind. NO, not the kind you stuff and cook in an oven, (do you even stuff rabbits?) but, the lovely, soft, cuddly kind that reside in children’s bedrooms. Yes, I like them very much, indeed.

One of my favorite authors is Beatrix Potter and we all know about her rabbits. But, they reside in the pages of tiny, green books or in Mr. McGregor’s garden. And you know how HE felt about the rabbits, so I am not alone here. Aside from the stuffed animals and rabbits that reside in the wild, there is another rabbit I like and that is the Easter bunny. Love the Easter bunny. So it was with great pleasure that I made Easter bunny boxes to give to family and friends. Inside these boxes were the most wonderful of all blondies.

Of course I didn’t invent the bunny boxes, I saw them years ago on Martha Stewart. I made a few back then, but, decided to revive them this year with added embellishments. I think they are super and I hope that everyone enjoyed them.

As cute as the bunny boxes are, what is inside is the best part. These blondies are too die for. The key to these blondies is to undercook them. Take them out of the oven five minutes before you think you should. As they cool they firm up to the perfect texture.
These blondies use brown butter. I liken recipes using brown butter with using bacon. It makes everything taste better. Although, the original recipe doesn’t call for chocolate chips, this time around I sprinkled about 2 cups of chips over the top. I like the addition of chocolate, but, you may prefer the blondies without. You could put chips on one half of the batter and see which way you like them.

The Recipe:
Brown butter toffee blondies adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (about 4 ounces)
1 cup toffee bits
If you like you can add 2 cups of chocolate chips in batter or sprinkle them on top as I did.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment paper.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Peel off parchment paper; cut blondies into 3-inch squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Final Thoughts:

I don’t think you can go wrong with these. They are heavy and if you under bake them they stay firm but gooey. I like the addition of the chocolate chips. I don’t think that the addition of chocolate ever hurts anything. Even if you have your own favorite blondie recipe, give these brown butter delights a try.
I took four blondies and wrapped them in parchment and slid them into the bunny boxes. Everyone who received the boxes reported back that they loved the blondies.

My friend Julia

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:21:01 -0500

My friend Julia turned 4 years old this month. I think she is the most beautiful of all my friends. Certainly, she is by far the sweetest. What I love most about her is that she lets me hug her and kiss her constantly. And there is nothing better than getting some sugar and giving some sugar to this little girl.

Her grandmother is my oldest and dearest friend. We have been friends for close to 40 years. I remember the first time I met her son, he came knocking on my apartment door all by his lonesome. He was four at the time. Shortly, his mother came looking for him and that is how our special friendship started.

I was delighted to be able to host Julia’s birthday party. She is a fine guest of honor. She is sweet and precious and delightful, what more could you want? Because she is such an adorable child I wanted to do something special for her. For years now I have wanted to make raggedys. Now would be the perfect time. Of course, I always bite off more than I can chew and decided to not only make a Raggedy Ann, but, also, a Raggedy Andy. I didn’t want Ann to be lonely on the days Julia didn’t play with her. So that is why I made Ann a brother.

It was a fun project, I will admit and I am going to make more of them. But, I need a break, they are extremely time consuming and there are a ton of bits and bobs to making them. I could have cut down on many hours if I had painted their faces, but, I decided the look of embroidery would be much more to my liking. I am glad I took the extra time. By the time I got to Andy’s hair I was ready to pull out mine. I made Ann’s hair and it took me six hours to do it. Instead of following the instructions on the pattern, I found an alternate method on the internet. But, by the time I was finished, I couldn’t stomach another six hours of dealing with red yarn.

I turned to the original pattern and it was a disaster. An absolutely disaster. So what do you do when you hit a brick wall? You walk away. Yet, I couldn’t just leave it. I had a deadline so for one day I pondered on a quicker, easier and foolproof way of creating a head of yarn hair. Eureka! It was quicker, it only took me two and half hours, it was easier, but, I am not sure about foolproof. Still, I managed to give Andy hair that should not cause him too much embarrassment.

I hope Julia loves her raggedys as much as I loved mine. I can still remember the thrill the first time I removed Ann’s clothes and discovered the “I Love You” heart. I hope that Julia will experience that same thrill.

chocolate pudding

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:11:12 -0500

I have to admit that I am not a huge pudding fan. I mean, I’ll eat it, but, it never is my first, or for that matter my second or third choice for dessert. But, I saw this recipe on Martha and it looked so good that I had to try it. I often wonder what I would be making or baking if there were no cooking shows on TV. Most likely I would be perusing my cookbooks a lot more. Instead, what happens is I see a chef on TV, love the one recipe from the program and buy their cookbook. When the cookbook first arrives I read it cover to cover, taking post-its and bookmarking recipe after recipe. And then I put the book back on the shelf and leave it there for at least a year. By that time I am I open the cookbook once again I am so over what I wanted to try that I have to start the entire process all over again.

But, when “Sarahbeth’s Bakery: From my Hands to Yours” arrived, I decided to make this immediately. I skipped over a myriad of wonderful recipes and I am glad I did, for this is the absolute best chocolate pudding I have ever tasted. And to think that making pudding is so super easy, I don’t know why in the world anyone would make a pudding from a box. People, stop being so lazy. And because I am an admitted chocoholic, this really ticks all the boxes.

Triple-Chocolate Chocolate Pudding adapted from Sarahbeth’s Bakery: From my Hands to Yours

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 1/2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (no more than 62 percent cacao), finely chopped
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
3 cups whole milk
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings, for garnish

Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat. Place butter in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water and melt butter. Add semisweet and unsweetened chocolates and let stand, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside. (Here I used my microwave once again. I really works great for melting chocolate.

Heat milk and 1/3 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat until it begins to steam. Meanwhile, whisk remaining 2/3 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl. Add eggs, yolk, and cream; whisk until well combined. Gradually whisk in half of the hot milk mixture. Add cocoa mixture to saucepan with remaining milk mixture and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking often, making sure to whisk into the corners of the pan. Reduce heat to low and let boil for 30 seconds.
Remove from heat. Add melted chocolate mixture, rum, and vanilla; whisk until combined. Pour into six 6-ounce glass jars or individual bowls. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Pierce the plastic with the tip of a knife a few times and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Transfer puddings to a refrigerator; refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Serve topped with whipped cream and garnished with chocolate shavings.

cheesy hash browns

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 18:41:18 -0500

I am not so sure how I feel about Bobby Flay. For those of you who do not know who he is, he is a celebrity chef on the Food Network. I do believe he is a great chef, I am just not so sure how I feel about him as a person. But, since I am never going to meet him or share a beer with him, it really doesn’t matter what I think of him, does it?

What matters is whether I like his recipes. And often I do. He has a fairly new program about brunches and there are some mighty fine dishes on this show. I am going to admit that I am not a fan of hash browns. I don’t know why, but, they just seem bland to me. Perhaps it is because I have never had really good hash browns. Mostly they come from the freezer section and aren’t cooked properly.

Well, Bobby, I think I can call him Bobby, made these hash browns that looked fantastic. And they must have looked delicious or I wouldn’t have bothered to make them. Although, in fairness, I do make things for Paul that I don’t care for and in case any one had any doubts Paul LOVES hash browns. Because, what doesn’t Paul love? In almost 38 years of marriage, there is only one thing I have found he doesn’t like and that is liver. He doesn’t care for the texture. But, if it had a different texture, he would probably love it. He would eat anything. He could rival Anthony Bourdain. I don’t know how a man can eat 5000 calories right before he goes to bed and stay thin. Life is not fair.

Okay, back to the hash browns. These were doctored up quite a bit and obviously that added to the flavor. Plus, I “jazzed” up the cheese on top. And by “jazzing” up I added a bunch of mozzarella on top of the other cheese. I am just so adventurous.

The Recipe:

Cheesy hash browns adapted from Brunch at Bobby’s

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium Spanish onion, diced
1 1/2 pound small Yukon gold potatoes
2 teaspoons paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups grated aged white Irish Cheddar cheese
Chopped fresh chives

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat the butter and canola oil in a cast iron pan over high heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Add the onion and cook until soft and slightly caramelized.

While the onions are caramelizing, put the potatoes in a large pot of cold, salted water, bring to a boil and cook until nearly tender, but a knife inserted into the centers still meets a little resistance, 10 to 12 minutes, or cooked through. Drain well and smash with the back of a wooden spoon. I didn’t do this, once the potatoes were cool enough to handle I cut the potatoes into a fairly small dice.

Add the potatoes to the onions packing it evenly with the back of a metal spatula to form a cake.

Season with salt and pepper and cook until the underside is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Invert a plate or baking sheet without sides over the pan and carefully invert the potato cake onto it. I followed what Bobby did on the show, he used a spatula and turned over the potato mixture, it worked just fine and prevented a kitchen disaster. I just know if I tried to flip that heavy cast iron pan, there would have been a kitchen catastrophe. Don’t ask me how I know this. Carefully slide the potato cake back into the skillet and cook until the bottom is just set and pale golden brown, about 4 minutes. Spread the cheese on top, and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is nicely melted. Transfer the potato cake to a cutting board cheese-side up and cut into wedges. Garnish with chopped fresh chives.

Final Thoughts:

Okay this was superb! I know that I will make this over and over again. One thing I liked about this recipe is that it lent itself to doctoring. I think adding roasted red bell pepper would be terrific or the addition of garlic, or a jalapeno, just use your imagination. The next time I make this I am going to cook a sunny side up egg and plop on top of each portion. Now how good would that be???

Avocado and grapefruit salad

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 16:29:58 -0500

I always buy avocados at Costco. And I must admit that often a few go to waste. I hate when that happens. I hate when I have to throw out food. The waste is incredibly depressing. With the price of food and the never ending reminder from childhood that there are children dying in China from starvation, it really is a sin to let food spoil or not use it in a timely fashion.

When I pick up a bag of avocados at Costco I always, and I mean always, have good intentions. Of course there is guacamole, which is a crowd pleaser in all its various forms. Then there is cutting it up and putting it into a green salad. Yum. One can always just eat it plain. I love it that way. But, still, I needed to find more simple, easy, quick, inexpensive and tasty ways to use my impending overripe fruit.

Now I love me some grapefruit. And, obviously, I love me some avocado and I love me some Ina. So I felt I hit the trifecta when I came across an avocado and grapefruit salad from Ina.
At first I was hesitant, because I wasn’t sure just how the flavors would work together. I knew that a twist of lemon and especially a sprinkling of lime juice enhanced that flavor of an avocado. So why wouldn’t another citrus fruit? It was Ina after all and I knew she wouldn’t steer me in the wrong direction. The only way to know if this would work was to try it. Nothing ventured...

The Recipe:

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad adapted from Ina Garten

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice or lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
4 ripe Hass avocados
2 large red grapefruits

Place the mustard, lemon or lime juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified.

Before serving, cut the avocados in 1/2, remove the seeds, and carefully peel off the skin. Cut each half into 4 thick slices. Toss the avocado slices in the vinaigrette to prevent them from turning brown. Use a large, sharp knife to slice the peel off the grapefruits, then cut between the membranes to release the grapefruit segments.

Arrange the avocado slices around the edge of a large platter. Arrange the grapefruit segments in the center. Spoon the vinaigrette on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve. Or you can do it my way and just toss everything together and eat plain or spoon on top of greens.

Final Thoughts:

We have had this several times now. The first time with red grapefruit and the second time with a white grapefruit. Because of the sweetness of the red grapefruit I didn’t feel it necessary to add sugar. But, with the white grapefruit, it had too much pucker power. I added several teaspoons of honey to the vinaigrette and that did the trick.

Paul and I both thought this was wonderful. It was luscious with the avocado and refreshing with the grapefruit. The first time I served it as is, the second time I spooned it over salad greens. I am eager to try this with just plain arugula, which is my go to green of late. I think the bitterness of the arugula would add a new dimension to the sweet/tart thing of the grapefruit.

The third time I made this I added pistachio nuts for a bit of crunch and I think toasted walnuts would be brilliant. As with most salads you can pretty much do what you want. So I would experiment with different combos. Who knows you may just settle for a simple recipe and that is great, too.