Wicked Dessert But OH SO GOOD

For years I’ve relied on the packaged flan mixes. Making my own just seemed too complicated. Then, I found a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens that made all the difference. It was so easy and SO much better than a box mix. Of course, the difference between half and half and 2% milk may have something to do with it. Given the fat calories, this is a special occasion dish.

Vanilla Flan
3 cups half and half
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ c packed dark brown sugar
½ tsp salt
5 eggs
½ cup granulated sugar

In a medium saucepan, heat the half and half and vanilla over medium heat until steaming.  Remove from the heat and allow to steep for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. 

Combine brown sugar and 1/4 tsp of the salt.  Spoon the mixture into a 9" pie plate and pack it into a firm, even layer.

Reheat the half and half to steaming once it's done steeping.

Whisk the eggs, granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp salt.  Gradually whisk in the warm half and half until well combined.

Slowly pour the egg mixture over the brown sugar.  Some of the brown sugar will float to the top, but as the flan cooks, it will sink back to the bottom of the pan. 

Place the pie pan in a deep roasting pan.  Place the pan in the oven and pour boiling water to halfway up the sides of the pie pan.  Note:  I just baked mine without the folderal of the water bath and it was fine.

Bake 35-40 min until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 30 min then refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours prior to serving.  Note:  I served mine right away and it was still great but a bit runny. 

To serve, run a knife around the edges and invert onto a serving plate.

I Love Artichoke Hearts!

All of my life I've loved artichoke hearts.  Not too fond of messing with the whole artichokes, but love the hearts.  Thanks to the March 2010 issue of Southern Living, I've found an incredible way to create a lovely creamy sauce for pasta - with artichoke hearts.

Pasta with Artichoke Heart and Pecan Sauce
8 oz farfalle
2/3 c toasted pecans
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 t lemon zest (I accidentally left this out)
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 c finely grated romano cheeese
3 oz low fat cream cheese, softened
3 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely diced

Bring the pasta water to a rolling boil.  While it's coming to a boil, toast the pecans.  Put the artichoke hearts, romano cheese, cream cheese, olive oil and garlic in the bowl of a food processor.  Whirl them until the sauce is nice and creamy.  Drain the pasta and toss it with the artichoke heart sauce.  Top it with the toasted pecans, the parsley and lemon zest.  Serve with finely grated romano cheese. 

Ratatouille Inspired

We went to a lovely wine dinner at Binkley's.  Seven courses and seven wines.  Almost everything was magnificent.  I even got VERY brave and downed an oyster on the half shell.  It had blue cheese foam on top so there was extra incentive since blue cheese is one of my favorites.  There was one course that totally fell flat.  He made a deconstructed ratatouille.  It was about the worst stuff I've ever had.  An oily, pretty flavorless broth with a slice of chewy eggplant floating on top.  Yuck.  I went away hungry for the real thing.  The problem was I didn't have the time to make the real thing.  So, I made my own version:

Deconstructed Ratatouille
One large sweet onion, peeled and sliced into four rounds
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1/4 c sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil
4 oz goat cheese, preferably a roll, cut into four slices
1 eggplant, peeled, salted, drained and rinsed
2 eggs, beaten
1 c panko
vegetable or olive oil
1/2 c finely shredded romano cheese
1 jar Rao's eggplant marinara

Place the onion slices in a baking dish.  Drizzle them with the olive oil then sprinkle them with the Italian seasoning.  Top with the sundried tomatoes.  Bake for about 20 min at 350.  While the onions are baking, slice the eggplant in rounds about 1/2" thick.  Dip them in the beaten egg then the panko and brown them in the vegetable oil.  When they're nice and brown, remove them from the pan and drain them on paper towels.  Heat the marinara sauce either in the microwave or stovetop.  It should be nicely warm, not hot, hot, hot.  Top the onion slices with a slice of goat cheese and bake for about another 5 minutes. Then, you put it all together... Put a puddle of marinara sauce on each plate.  Put an onion round on the puddle, then top it with a slice of eggplant.  Voila, deconstructed ratatouille that's pretty darned good!

 

Revisions

Last week was a week of revisions to old favorites...  After our Sam's club run, we had plenty of goodies in the refrigerator.  I got home Friday evening and was surprised to see Connie's car in the garage.  Usually he's at a bridge lesson about that time.  So, we had a chance for a quick dinner before his bridge game. 

Burgers.  About as quick as it gets.  I took a handful of very lean ground beef and threw it in a bowl with a handful of crumbled blue cheese.  Poured a couple of tablespoons of Andria's Steak Sauce over it and mixed it.  I'd decided to get some onions sauteed for a couple of other dishes, so a big skillet-full of onions was melting away - and smelling awesome.  There was some thick-cut bacon to be used up so I had another skillet of that going.  Hmm, good burger toppings.  Once the burgers were done, I topped them with some sauteed onions, a couple of slices of bacon and drizzled them with barbecue sauce.

Chicken Elegante Sandwiches.  Chicken elegante is normally served over rice.  But, I was in the office and didn't have a way to cook rice.  Had the leftover chicken from Thursday.  So, I took a box of frozen, chopped broccoli and thawed it.  Mixed it with half a can of lowfat cream of chicken soup, an equal amount of lowfat sour cream, some ground pepper and a bit of garlic and a sprinkle of dried minced onion (normally the seasoning is thyme but we didnt' have any in the office.  Then, I tossed in a handful of crumbled blue cheese.  Toasted some bread, schmeared it with a bit of Durkees, put slices of chicken on top of that then topped the chicken with some of the broccoli mixture and some shredded romano cheese and broiled the whole shebang.  Turned out we liked the revision as well as the original!

Crab Sandwiches.  Our buddies Nancy and Jeff couldn't go out Saturday when Jeff had to work late at the last minute.  So, I wanted an ultra quick dinner.  Crabmeat salad sandwiches.  Just mixed celery, diced waterchestnuts and some lowfat may with crabmeat and served them on toasted bread with a couple of slices of cooked bacon and some melted truffle cheese.

Crabmeat Omelets.  For Sunday brunch, I took the leftover crab salad and used it in omelets.  Whipped eggs with lowfat sour cream, some tarragon and some shredded mozzarella.  Made omelets then topped them with crab salad and some steamed asparagus.

Blue Cheese and BBQ Sauce

Tonight was a trip to Sam's to get the ingredients for George's cat food.  I knew we'd get home too late to do too much, so bought a rotisserie chicken while we were there.  Gave Connie three choices - with the 2nd merely being a riff on the first.  One was sliced chicken, roasted fingerling potatoes and asparagus with parmesan, pimento and bread crumbs.  Two was the first with a bbq sauce on the chicken.  Three was a warm roasted potato, chicken, asparagus and blue cheese salad.  He went for option two.  I roasted the fingerling potatoes with a good handful of garlic cloves (thank you Sam's for selling them pre-peeled!)  Did our normal with the asparagus.  But, I must mention - we are SO spoiled with the wonderful veggies we get from our yard and the CSA that asparagus shipped in from halfway around the world just doesn't have the same flavor!  Then, the five.  I took about 1/2 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and crumbled in about 1/4 cup of blue cheese.  Put it in a small saucepan and heated it over medium heat until the blue cheese had melted into it.  Now, I am the sauce person.  Is there extra gravy?  I'm there!  Extra sauce?  I'm there!  Extra dressing?  I'm there.  They're my downfall.  A vast majority of the extra calories I consume are in sauces, dressings and gravy.  Connie on the other hand could care less about the same.  Tonight was different.  I ladled a bit of the blue cheese bbq sauce over his chicken.  He took a bite and got a funny look on his face.  Pretty soon he was dipping his finger in and licking  the sauce off.  He couldnt' figure out what in the world it was but he liked it.  I finally broke down and told him.  YUM was his response.  Then, he did the unheard of - got up and got the saucepan and put MORE on his chicken.  First time in 5 1/2 years I've seen him get more sauce.  So, we have a new five here :-)

Holiday Party

Every January we have a holiday party.  Started out using a caterer for part of the fare but he failed miserably a couple of times.  Delivered a practically raw turkey breast, late, etc.  Now, I do all the cooking.  The recipes will follow over time.  For now, though, here's the bill of fare.

Bill of Fare




Meats, Fish and Seafood


Turkey breast with Grand Marnier Cranberry Compote


Pork Tenderloins with Scallion Mustard Mayonnaise


Beef Tenderloins with Horseradish Sauce


Honey Glazed Ham with Apricot Mustard Sauce


Gingery Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce


Teriyaki Flank Steak Skewers


Sassy Shrimp


Smoked Salmon with Whipped Cream Cheese, Red Onions and Capers






Crudite


Fresh Herb and Caper Tapenade


Blue Cheese Dip


Roasted Pistachio Dip






Crackers


Brie with Cranberry Chutney


Buffalo Chicken Dip


Caramelized Onion Dip


Clam Dip


Crab Rangoon Dip


Ham and Cheese Ball


Dilled Brie and Smoked Salmon


Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Spread


Peppadew Spread


Rustic Chicken Liver Mousse


Shrimp Butter










Hot Bites


Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts in Chili Sauce


BBQ Potstickers


Corn Wontons


Harry Carey’s Crab Cakes


Curried Cheese and Ripe Olives on English Muffins


Meatballs in Barbecue Sauce


Mushroom and Goat Cheese Puffs


Rumaki






Chips


Rum Soaked Black Bean Salsa


Mexicali Salsa


Smoked Salmon Tartare






Antipasto and Cold Bites


Antipasto Platter


Caesar Deviled Eggs


Chorizo and Fontina Stuffed Dates


Citrus Marinated Olives


Cream cheese and Amaretto Apricots


Crispy Salami Rolls


Cream Cheese Olive Pecan Bites


Eggs with Crispy Anchovy Crumbs


Italian Marinated Vegetables


Meatballs in Barbecue Sauce


Mushroom and Goat Cheese Puffs


Rumaki


Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Deviled Eggs


Smoked Trout and Alouette on Crackers


Desserts


Apricot Pate du Fruit


Brownies


Butterscotch Brownies


Eggnog Cake


Pirouettes with Cheesecake Sauce


S’mores on a stick

Maple Syrup and More

While we were on Cape Cod, I bought a new cookbook called Cranberry Cooking for All Seasons.  Not only do we love cranberries, but the intro is a wonderful history of the cranberry in New England.  I had a bag of cranberries to use up.  Ditto several butternut squash and some chicken breasts.  I found a recipe for stuffed acorn squash and thought it'd be good done with a baby butternut.  It was.  We gave it a five.  I hunted thru the chicken recipes I've clipped and found one that went perfectly - chicken breasts glazed with a mix of fresh ginger, soy sauce and maple syrup.  Last, but not least, I just bought the new Ina Garten cookbook.  It's called Back to Basics and has her typical scrumptious fare plus gorgeous photos.  I thought I'd seen a salad I liked when I read the cookbook.  Right.  Not only was it there, it also has maple syrup in the dressing.  Perfect.

Glazed Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c maple syrup (shagbark hickory would work as well)
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger
sprinkle of cayenne

I used the skillet in which I'd browned the bacon for the salad.  The fond undoubtedly added to the depth of flavor in the glaze.  Brown the breasts on both sides.  When they're within about 10 min of being done, pour the glaze over them.  Baste them with the glaze every minute or so. 

Butternut Squash stuffed with Cranberries

1 very small butternut squash
1/3 c chopped pecans
1/2 c chopped fresh cranberries
2 tbs brown sugar
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c orange marmalade
sprinkle of cinnamon.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise.  Remove the seeds.  Bake cut side down for 15 min at 350.  Turn the squash over and stuff them with the filling.  Bake for another 15 min.