Finally. The frost is on the pumpkin. We've had the longest, latest Indian summer I remember. And, now I'm finally ready for some fall foods. Like pie. That's the theme of our Blogger C.L.U.E. Society this month. And I got assigned one of my all time favorite blogs. By one of my favorite bloggers! Deb and I got to be friends almost as soon as I started blogging. She and her hubby are wonderfully adventurous eaters who love to travel and garden. Two of our favorite things. Her blog is named after her cat, Eliot. Isn't that a purrfect name for a kitty? For years I've poked around on her blog making yummy dishes. Too many to count. One of Deb's recipes that's on my list is her version of Bee's Knees. It's a cocktail typically made with honey and either gin or vodka. We've made some version eons ago and I can't remember which Connie used. But, her version has lavender in the honey simple syrup. I'm waiting for my lavender buds to dry a bit. Keep checking the things weekly and they're just not cooperating. Here's a link to the recipe in the event you've got lavender calling your name: Bee's Knees. I wish I'd listed recipes made by each blogger so I could give you a list of the recipes I've tried. But, alas, they're part of a huge pile of recipes that I've printed, made and put in a pile to organize... I've finally started a scanned file of recipes. But, they too need to be organized. The story of my life. Too much information needing too much organization!
Speaking of cooperation... Our local grocery just hasn't been cooperating. They've been eliminating items that we regularly buy - like frozen chopped broccoli for Chicken Elegante. And, it's been tougher to find things we don't buy regularly but we do on occasion. Like Cornish Game Hens. This time it's frozen sweet cherries. They've not had them. And, with our wacko crazy schedules heading out on a mission to find specialty items hasn't been possible. So, I've changed menus or substituted. This time, I had to totally change recipes. You see, I had my heart set on Vanilla Cherry Pie with Almond Crumb Topping. I know. Doesn't the name alone make your mouth water? Then, you read the recipe and swoon. I so want some of that pie. And, I've wanted it since the day I found out I was assigned Deb's blog and went pie hunting.
No cherries meant I was on to a different pie recipe. Connie was voting for the Frito Pies but I explained this was a pie for Thanksgiving dinner. Evidently, he loves Frito Pie so much that he'd eat it for Thanksgiving dinner. I really need to get those on the menu for some Sunday night football! Then, there's onion pie. Not quiche, Deb says, but true onion pie. It's a bit like the famous French onion tart, pissaladiere. There's one twist to it that I'm so going to try - mustard on the pie crust before you put the rest of the ingredients in. Doesn't that sound fabulous!
But, I digress, Thanksgiving pie is the subject here. There were several other choices: wine and raspberry cream, stone fruit, nutella, pears and apples, and five spice apple. Now, we've grown to love five spice powder. It used to be one of those specialty spices rarely used. Not these days. I use it in all kinds of recipes. So, I was intrigued. And, I was running out of time... Heading for a conference and my pie had to be made, photographed and blogged before I left town. We had no time to bake over the weekend. I thought I'd seen a box of pie crusts in the fridge. It was a cold, rainy night and traffic was horrid. So, I broke one of the cardinal rules of the Blogger C.L.U.E. Society. I changed the recipe. The box of pie crusts wasn't. I didn't have shortening. One of the things I used up before we moved and have never replaced. Hunting, hunting, hunting. Ahhh, graham crackers. Maybe stale, maybe not. But, something to make a pie crust out of. What about a topping??? I kept picturing that wonderful vanilla almond topping for the cherry pie. What if I made one of those and put some more five spice in??? Let me tell you... This was the BEST apple pie I've ever had.
Who would have ever thought that replacing cinnamon with five spice would make such a difference? But, that's the kind of cooking Deb does. Creative, inventive, fun. And, it tastes so darned good! Here's the link to her recipe and some more photos of mine... Five Spice Apple Pie. Please remember to head to the cherry pie recipe for the topping...
Now, here are links to the rest of my friends:
Last week was a zoo. Total, complete and entire. I was so ready for Saturday so I could head to the office and have no phones ringing and where the email deluge would slow down. I got up early and headed to the living room and sat down at the computer and started to work on the week's menu and grocery list. Plus the obligatory check of the weather and Facebook. I'd planned to start this post... But, at 8:12 we got a call from the idiots at the Fraternal Order of Police. I hung up on them. Grrrrr. Connie woke up and started puttering around. I'd had all of about half an hour of quiet time.
While Connie went to the farmers market and grocery and TJ's, I headed to the office to start in on the mountain on my desk. The bad news is I'll be there all day Sunday too. So much for brunch at Chef Josephs!
The fruits and vegetables are wonderful this time of year. So, I've got corn on the cob, watermelon, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers on the list. A couple of weeks ago we scored a box of fresh cherries. They were amazing. My kitchen was covered with cherry juice by the time I got done pitting them. About half went to a boozy cherry dish from a friend's blog. The other half went to the amazing cherry clafouti from A Kitchen in France. That's this Sunday's recipe from Weekend in a French Kitchen. I've made clafoutis before and we've thoroughly enjoyed them. This one was a bit lighter and more flavorful than it's predecessors. I made half a recipe since we're not into sweets too much. In fact, despite the fact that this was really wonderful, about a third of it went into the trash. Sweets just don't get eaten around here... Here's what it looked like:
Clafoutis are pretty darned easy to make. First you put the fruit in a buttered baking dish. Then, you top it with a custard of flour, sugar, vanilla, milk and eggs. Pop that in the oven and bake it for about 45 minutes total. Cool it (if you can wait) then dust it with confectioners sugar to serve. I confess that we didn't wait. It just smelled too good!
Let's see, in addition to the clafouti we 've had the most amazing cocktail: Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas. An absolute five in my book. I got the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. One of the magazines I quit taking eons ago but that is now on nextissue.com so I skim it... I think next time we'll make our own margarita mix and avoid all of the chemicals and preservatives that come with the prepackaged stuff.
Here's what the recipe was:
Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita
10 servings (needless to say, we cut the recipe to two servings!)
Ingredients:
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and sliced
3 c margarita mix
1 1/2 c gold Tequila
3/4 c orange liqueur
Directions:
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the jalapeno and cucumber with 1/2 t kosher salt. Add the margarita mix, Tequila and orange liqueur along with several ice cubes. Shake well. Strain and serve over ice.
We also had a lamb pasta sauce that was incredible. It was supposed to be lamb meatballs in spicy sauce. My ground lamb was frozen. Pasta sauce was the best alternative. I doubled up on the spices (not the herbs, just the spices) in the sauce since the ground lamb wasn't seasoned as the meatballs would have been. The only change we'd have made is adding more cheese. It's a recipe I got from the New York Times. The original measurements are given below.
Lamb in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 small sprig rosemary
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 t fresh thyme leaves
1/2 t ground cumin
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 t sugar
1/4 c orange juice (I used 1/4 c of frozen concentrate)
crumbled feta cheese
farfalle
Directions:
Brown and drain the lamb and onion. Crush the tomatoes. Add them along with the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about half an hour to reduce the liquid. Serve over cooked farfalle. Top with crumbled feta cheese.
Mid week our friend Diane stopped by to pick up the bike her boyfriend, Craig, had bought from Connie. We made antipasto salads. Well, kind of. Let's see, no provolone and the truffle cheese (which was provolone based) had mold on it, so I used cheddar. No chickpeas so I used black beans. No salami so I fried some bacon. LOL. Talk about substituting! Diane is the ultimate baker so I was a bit hesitant to make a pie. But, since we had help to eat this one I pounced on the opportunity. Peach sour cream pie. It looks like it came from All Recipes. It tasted as wonderful as it looked. And, made a mighty fine breakfast too!
Peach Sour Cream Pie
Ingredients:
pie crust
4 fresh peaches sliced 1/4" thick (you can substitute a 16 oz bag of frozen peaches, thawed, drained and patted dry)
1 T lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1 c sugar
1/3 c sour cream
1/4 c flour
Directions:
Prebake the crust in a 425F oven that's been preheated. It'll take about 15 minutes for it to get golden brown. Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temp to 350F. Toss the peach slices and the lemon juice. Lay the peach slices in the pie crust. Mix the other ingredients and spoon the custard over the peaches. Bake for 50 minutes. The original recipe called for tenting foil over the pie for that 50 minutes then removing the foil and baking it for an additional 30 minutes. I didn't use the foil and skipped the last 30 minutes because the filling set up enough for my taste.
adapted from All Recipes
Last, but not least, watermelon wedges. With all kinds of wonderful things sprinkled on them! Now, this is one that I saved in nextissue.com also. BUT, it doesn't reference the magazine. My guess is Cooking Light. I put the spice mixture together for this and cut a couple of wedges. The cilantro was chopped and ready to go but I totally forgot that and the olive oil the first round. So, I made another wedge. Connie liked it better with the cilantro and olive oil. I preferred just the spice mixture.
Chile Lime Watermelon Wedges
Ingredients:
grated rind from one lime
1 t ancho chile powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
8 - 8oz wedges seedless watermelon
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Put the lime rind in a cake pan or on a half sheet and bake it at 200F for 10 minutes. You want it to be slightly dry but not dry enough to lose it's flavor. Mix it with the chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Lay the watermelon wedges on the dish you'll use to serve them. Sprinkle them with the lime mixture. Then, drizzle them with the evoo. Finally, top them with a sprinkle of cilantro
I think this is adapted from Cooking Light. I got it from a magazine on nextissue.com - one that doesn't show attribution...
Fire Drill! That's how I've been describing the last week. My email has built up to horrid levels. I've got mountains of files on my desk. My sleep is punctuated by dreams of paperwork. It's tax season. It's like this every year and every year I forget how tough it is. Friday I had a massage. Got back to the office about 5:15 and worked til a bit after 6:00 then came home and cooked. It was time for a complicated meal that took 100% of my attention and didn't allow me to think about the office. This meal succeeded. It prettty much kicked my butt. Exactly what I was trying for. And, best of all, we rated two dishes a five and one a four - on a scale of one to five. Well, actually, as I type this the fourth dish is cooling it's heels on the bar. That would be the cheddar pear pie. You see, Connie loves pears. And I saw a bag of pears at Costco last weekend. They finally hit perfection so we've been eating pears in salads. It was finally time for my sister-in-law Linda's famous cheddar pear pie. Probably our favorite pie ever.
Jessica's Biscuit had a $5 sale. That's $5 per cookbook for a list about a mile long. I ordered a few. We won't talk about how many, ok? Let's just say I"m having fun with new cookbooks. Oh, and remember that I hit the bargain bin at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and got three cookbooks. Hmmm, my bedtime reading will be cookbooks for a time. Home Food is the cookbook I'm currently cooking my way through. It's a cookbook of what 44 "great American chefs" cook on their day off. It was published a LONG time ago so I'm finding some of the photos humorous. Rick Bayless looks VERY young. So do a lot of the other chefs. Then, there are a bunch I've never heard of. I need to sit down with Google or Wikipedia and find out what's happened with these folks.
Well, the first recipe that caught my eye was Beggars Purses of Basil Crepes with Garden Greens and Warm Lemon Sauce. I'd seen the Hoosier Lamb Chops in Fix It and Enjoy It from the grocery bargain bin. The makings of a great dinner. Turns out we had a bag of kale from last weekend's shopping expedition. A jam-packed vinaigrette with a grilled pear half and some feta cheese would go well with that. And the salad would go well with the Beggar's Purses and the Hoosier Lamb Chops. Yup, that's the way it worked. The salads and Beggar's Purses were fives. The lamb chops were close but had to fall back to a four. Now, a word of warning. I didn't follow the directions totally. Shocking, I know. But I was out of space and burners... So, I'm going to give you directions the way I made the dishes with notes on how I differed from the recipes.
Here's what we made:
Beggars Purses of Basil Crepes with Garden Greens and Warm Lemon Sauce
Ingredients:
for the filling:
2 T olive oil
2 c red onions, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c diced cremini mushrooms
1 lb fresh spinach
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 c fresh basil, minced or 2 T dried
2/3 c grated Gruyere cheese
whole chives or thin strips of leeks for tying purses
for the crepes:
1 c water
1 c milk
1 1/2 c flour
4 large eggs
3 T olive oil
3/4 t salt
5 T minced fresh basil
for the lemon sauce:
1 1/2 c vegetable stock or chicken stock
1/2 c dry white wine
3 large egg yolks
5 T fresh lemon juice
2 T minced chives (I was out of energy and forgot these...)
Directions:
for the filling:
Saute the onions in the olive oil until they've just softened.
Add the mushrooms and basil and cook until the liquid is gone.
Add the spinach and cook again until the liquid is gone.
That will take 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese.
for the crepes:
In the bowl of a food processor, mix all the ingredients.
Puree until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for an hour. Lightly oil a crepe pan or nonstick 10" pan. Heat it until the oil shimmers. Pour in 1/4 c batter and swirl until it covers the bottom of the pan. Cook for about a minute.
The bottom will be lightly browned. Flip and cook for another 30-60 seconds until the other side is browned. Remove to a cooling rack.
Repeat until the batter is gone.
for the sauce:
Whisk the eggs and lemon in a small bowl. Pour the stock and wine into a small saucepan. Cook vigorously until reduced by half. That will take 8-10 minutes. Slowly, whisk the stock/wine reduction into the egg/lemon mixture. Once it's combined, pour it all into the saucepan and simmer until it's thickened a bit.
To assemble...
Now here's where what I did REALLY differed. The recipe calls for tying the purses up with strings of chives or leeks. Instead, I made little folded purses and drizzled the sauce over. MUCH easier and tastes just the same, don't you know. My directions: Lay a crepe out on a plate. Put a generous 2T of filling on the crepe. Fold up the bottom, in the sides, down the top and roll it over. Drizzle it with sauce and serve. YUM!
Adapted from Home Food
Our next dish was pear salads. First, I made a vinaigrette with black currant-raspberry jam, dijon mustard, pear vinegar, tarragon, sugar and extra virgin olive oil. Then, I tossed baby kale in the dijon vinaigrette and left it on the counter for an hour. That softened it and took the bitterness out. Right before serving the salads I halved and cored a pear and had Connie add it to the party on the grill. When it came off, I plated it with the kale, then the pear, then the rest of the dressing, then a bit of crumbled feta cheese.
Last, but not least, the Hoosier Lamb Chops. We buy fabulous lamb from a local guy by the name of Terry Knudsen. I've always loved lamb. Terry's is the best I've ever had. It was the Hoosier Lamb Chops that got me to buy the Fix It and Enjoy It cookbook. Instead of making it as the recipe directed, I made a marinade then grilled the lamb chops and drizzled them with the sauce.
Hoosier Lamb Chops
Ingredients:
four large or eight small lamb chops
for the marinade:
1/4 c black currant jam
2 t dijon mustard
1 T olive oil
for the sauce:
1 T olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c black currant or black raspberry jam
1/4 c Pinot Noir
1 T fresh mint, chopped
Directions:
Mix the marinade ingredients and slather it on the lamb chops.
Heat your grill.
In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion until softened. Add the other ingredients and simmer while the lamb chops are grilling. Serve the lamb chops drizzled with the sauce.
Last but not least, Connie's favorite:
Cheddar Pear Pie
Ingredients:
4 large pears, thinly sliced
1/3 c sugar
1 T cornstarch
1/8 t salt
1 unbaked 9" pie shell
for the topping:
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c flour
1/4 c butter
1/4 c sugar
1/4 t salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425. Toss the pears with the other ingredients. Pour the pears into the pie shell.
In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients. You want the mixture to be crumbly.
Crumble the topping over the pears.
Bake at 425 until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before serving.
