Summer Sweet Corn Salad – Dreaming of Summer

Posted on May 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

It’s been warm in central Ohio this weekend.  Warm might be understating it. In the sun, it’s been downright hot.  Here we are, two-thirds of the way through May. Things are in full bloom and pollen flies unabashedly  through the air.  The unofficial start of the summer season is next week, so I suppose the timing seems right, and in a week people all across the country will be dusting off their grills for several months of fire-cooked meat and cold beer.

All of this got me  thinking about eating summery food and looking forward to fresh produce fresh from the farm. I’ve signed on for a full CSA from Wayward Seed Farm this year, so in the next few weeks I’ll have organic produce coming out of my ears.  I’ll be sharing what I can’t use with friends, but I’m very excited about using all kinds of uncommon vegetables every week and getting a true understanding of what it means to eat in season.  The whole thing promises to be an educational adventure.  Until that happens, I’m craving a salad that says summer.  I saw sweet corn on sale at the market, but right now I’m willing to bet it won’t hold a candle to locally grown in-season ears, so I needed to come up with something using frozen vegetables as a base for a delicious corn salad that makes enough to eat on all week.  There’s no harm using frozen vegetables when it’s convenient after all. They’re picked in season and flash frozen so you get much better flavor than vegetables that have been trucked in from other continents.  It works here and the result is super tasty.

 Summer Sweet Corn Salad

2 lbs (32 ounces) frozen sweet corn, thawed

2 small or one medium zucchini, diced in 1/2″ pieces

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 4-ounce can mild green chilies, undrained

1 2-ounce jar  diced pimentos

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, finely minced

In a small bowl, mix olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic and whisk until it’s well emulsified.  In a large bowl add corn, zucchini, red onion, green chilies and pimentos.  Mix well.  Pour the vinaigrette  over the vegetable mixture and mix well.  Refrigerate overnight for flavors to marry. Serve at room temperature for the best flavor.

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Corn and Chicken Chowder

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 1 Comment

Chicken and Corn Chowder

It’s February and typically that means bone chilling cold here in Central Ohio.  This year notwithstanding, the tail end of winter is a great time for soup.  I’ve been on the soup train a lot lately, making vegetable and then vegetable with beef twice, but I thought I’d try something new.

I have a huge 10-pound bag of Russet potatoes in my kitchen right now and I’m trying to work through them before the eyes pop out and they get gross.  I don’t typically buy Russets in bulk but since I’ve happened upon this massive amount of tubers, I’ve been coming up with recipes to use them up.

Today’s creation is Chicken and Corn Chowder.  It’s super simple and even tastier.

With this soup, it’s important to check seasoning levels throughout the cooking process.  This calls for no-salt broth so it doesn’t have the same sodium kick in other broths and remember, potatoes pull salt out of the liquid they’re cooked in so make sure you check one final time before serving.

A note about heat:  I  like some kick in the background, so I’ve used Sriracha, or what some people call Cock Sauce (because of the big rooster on the bottle).  I’m kind of a late Sriracha convert, but now days, I use it in a lot of things.  Sriracha doesn’t have the same vinegar overtone of Tabasco and Tabasco-type sauces, just a warm heat.  We had some Sriracha flavored ice cream at Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood in Vegas a couple of years ago and we pegged it incorrectly as spicy paprika. So there you go, perhaps it’s more of a paprika flavor.  Still, I find it stays subtle in the background but gives me that back of the palate kind of heat without being overwhelming.  It’s super cheap, like $3.00 a bottle so if you don’t already have it, pick some up and add a little spice to your life!

 

Chicken and Corn Chowder

4 slices thick cut bacon (I use the Smokehouse Bacon from Giant Eagle) cut in 1/4 inch strips

Olive oil

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1-inch chunks patted dry with paper towels then seasoned well with Kosher salt and pepper (This equated to 1 whole or 2 half breasts)

1 medium yellow onion,  minced

1 4-ounce can green chilies

1 14.5 ounce can creamed corn

10 ounces frozen corn

10 ounces frozen white corn

Sriracha sauce, to taste (I used about 2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning, or to taste

3 cups no-salt chicken broth (homemade is better, but I wasn’t that resourceful)

3 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2″ chunks

3 cups milk (you can whole or save some fat and use 2%, but I wouldn’t recommend skim here)

Salt and Pepper

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional, for garnish)

Thinly sliced green onions (options, for garnish)

 

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add sliced bacon.  When the bacon begins to cook, turn the heat down to medium to keep it from burning and so you render out as much fat as possible before it crisps.

When the bacon is brown and crisp, remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and pour out all but 1 tablespoon of bacon fat.  Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to pan and heat until almost smoking.

Brown the chicken in two batches, putting the browned pieces on a plate covered loosely in aluminum foil to keep warm.

Once chicken is removed, pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into the pot.  Add onions and season with salt and pepper, cooking until translucent.  Add green chilies and creamed corn, mixing well. After chilies and creamed corn are well incorporated, add frozen corn and cook together until heated through, about 5 minutes.  Add Old Bay Seasoning and Sriracha sauce to taste. Continue to cook for about 5 more minutes.

Add chicken stock  and potatoes.  Adjust seasoning and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.

To thicken the soup without using flour or cornstarch,  put about 1/4 of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.  Alternatively,  you can use an immersion blender to puree about the same amount, which is what I did.

Return chicken to the pot and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes. Add the milk and bring to a simmer.  Adjust seasoning and serve garnished with cheese, green onions and reserved bacon.

Serve to your loved ones and be a hero!

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Vegetable Beef Soup

Posted on February 6, 2012 | 3 Comments

Lately, I’ve been doing a bit of soup making.  It started out as a way to clear some produce out of my refrigerator, and after throwing together what was the best vegetable soup I’ve ever eaten, I failed to photograph and document the recipe.  So,  I decided to make another today.   This time with beef.

I followed Christopher Kimball’s advice and bought a whole chuck roast, trimming and cutting it myself.  It was far more economical than getting mystery stew meat.  I got enough meat from an $11.00 roast for two batches of soup and was able to pre-cut and freeze batch number two for future soup-like endeavors.

Today’s soup was a beef vegetable, and I put it together without consulting recipes.  I think the big drawback of this soup was not investing in better beef stock.  I keep meaning to take the time to make a rich, homemade beef stock with roasted bones and hour upon hour of simmering, as Michael Ruhlman has so written about so romantically, but as of yet it hasn’t happened, so I’m relegated to store-bought stocks. After reading the sodium content on the labels today, I think that beef stock is going to happen sooner rather than later.

 

Vegetable Beef Soup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 medium onions, in 1/2″ dice

1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced

4 ribs celery, sliced

1 1/2 pounds beef chuck trimmed and cut in 1″ cubes

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled  cut into 3/4″ dice

1 cup sliced cabbage leaves (I had Savoy cabbage on hand)

1 1/2 quart low sodium beef stock

4 cups water

1 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

2 bay leaves

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 1/2 cup fresh green beans in 1 1/2″ pieces (optional)

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian Parsley

Kosher Salt and Pepper

 

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot and add onions, carrots and celery.  Salt and pepper to taste and cook over medium heat until translucent.  Remove vegetables and add about 2 tablespoons of oil until almost smoking.  Add beef pieces in two batches, browning well on all sides.  It’s important not to crowd the beef or it will steam rather than brown and you’ll lose a lot of valuable flavor in the finished soup.  When the second batch of meat is browned,  return the meat, cooked onions, carrots and celery to pot.  Deglaze pot with wine.  Add tomatoes and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often.    Add potatoes and cook for about 3 minutes.  Add thyme, marjoram, bay leaves,  broth and water. Add green beans if desired.  Adjust seasoning. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, skimming foam off the top of the soup.  (Removing this foam will ensure the broth is as clear as possible.)  When soup has reduced by about 1/4, about 45 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings.  Add peas and corn and heat through.  Remove bay leaves and add chopped parsley.

 

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Southeastern Iowa Enchiladas

Posted on November 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ok, let me preface this by saying that what I’m about to present is full of processed ingredients.  If I was pursuing recipes online I might think it looks like a Sandra Lee semi-homemade kind of concoction, and I know my whole goal is to use whole, fresh ingredients, but just stick with me.

Growing up in West Central Illinois/South East Iowa, I loved enchiladas.  I will forever remember eating at El Zarapes in Ft. Madison with my grandparents and gazing at the extensive collection of many hundreds of beer cans that lined the walls.  Enchiladas were a mild, delicious treat full of cheese, potatoes, onions, peas and melted cheddar cheese.  Imagine my surprise when I ordered an enchilada once I’d moved to a bigger city and found out this was not , in fact, considered the authentic norm of Mexican food.  There was meat!  Corn tortillas!  Sacrilege!  Southeastern Iowa cheese enchiladas will forever be the “real” enchilada to me.

Back in the 1970s, my mom would spend hours assembling this meal from scratch.  She boiled potatoes, grated cheese, chopped onion, then meticulously dipped  flour tortillas into enchilada sauce and rolled each and every morsel.   At some point in the 1990s, someone told her about a way to adapt the recipe into a casserole that made assembly faster while maintaining the taste by using semi-prepared ingredients, it only involved chopping and onion, defrosting some frozen hash brown potatoes, opening a can of peas, pre-grated cheese and canned enchilada sauce.  Easy enough.  This simplified version has become the standard for my family for more than 20 years.  I made them tonight as whole enchiladas and they were full of just as much nostalgic yumminess as I remember.

Southeastern Iowa Cheese Enchiladas

1/2 package frozen home style hash browns (small chunks of potato)

3/4 cup finely chopped Spanish onion

1 can early peas

3 cups grated Colby cheese (You can use Cheddar, but I use Colby because it’s what Mom used.)

1 package flour tortillas

2 cans commercial enchilada sauce

 

1.  Open potatoes and spread on a lipped cookie sheet to defrost.  Meanwhile,  drain the can of peas and place in a small bowl.  Chop the onion into a fine dice and set aside  in a small bowl. Pour the cheese into a small bowl.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. .  Coat a 9X13 glass pan with cooking spray. Open tortillas and set 10 aside. Pour enchilada sauce into a pie plate.

 Assemble enchiladas:

4. Dip a tortilla in enchilada sauce on both sides, then place on a dinner plate.  Fill center with 1/3 cup defrosted potatoes, 1 tablespoon onion, 2 tablespoon peas and 1/4 cup cheese.  Gently roll enchilada and place in pan with the seam down.

5. Repeat with remaining 9 tortillas, then drizzle remaining sauce over enchiladas and spread remaining cheese over enchiladas.

6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-45 minutes.  Remove foil to allow cheese to brown 5 more minutes then remove.  Let enchiladas rest for 5 minutes then serve.

Serves 5-6

 Variation:

Enchilada Casserole Assembly

Dip the tortillas into the enchilada sauce and line the baking dish, covering the bottom and sides.  Spread potatoes in an even layer and top with onions, peas and 2 cups of cheese.

Dip more tortillas in the sauce and top the casserole.  Drizzle with sauce and top with final one cup of cheese.  Bake as usual.

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Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto and Sage

Posted on November 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

 

I think I am in love with Bon Appetit’s  Fast Easy Fresh cookbook. I’ve cooked from it and written about it before, but it bears repeating that if you’re looking for a comprehensive source that  will give you a myriad of ideas about weeknight cooking with fresh, whole ingredients, this is a good choice.

I avoided the kitchen all weekend, and returned from a Trick or Treat party with no food for us to eat the rest of the week.  This is important, since my work schedule prevents me from cooking on a daily basis.  A quick flip through the Fast Fresh Easy book and I had two simple recipes in mind that I was able to whip up in about a half hour.  Add that to the BBQ Beef that’s slow cooking away on the counter, we’re all set for protein for the rest of the week.  Add a quick cooked vegetable, or in my case some simply roasted Delicata squash and the week is done.

I’ve recently been craving prosciutto.  In the past I’ve been somewhat ambivalent about this cured, not smoked ham and the cost seems prohibitive for a flimsy plastic package of questionably fresh slices that I find in the local mega mart.  Enter Giant Eagle’s Market District in Upper Arlington, where they have an extensive selection of all sorts of charcuterie available and one can buy 2 to 3 slices of Prosciutto de Parma, or whatever amount is necessary for a given recipe.  The quality is so much better that what I’d experienced in pre-packaged stuff and it’s making me more eager to try recipes that list it as an ingredient.  Enter week-night meal number one.

Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto and Sage

Adapted from Bon Appetit’s Fast Easy Fresh

4 chicken breast halves with skin, on the bone

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup carrot, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cup dry white wine

3 ounces prosciutto, sliced into thin slivers

3 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped

Salt and Pepper chicken on both sides.  Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan until smoking and add the chicken, skin side down.  Brown on both sides, about 3-5 minutes per side, depending on the size of your breasts.  Transfer to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

 

Add the onion, celery and carrot to the pan and sauté until vegetables are soft and begin to brown.  Return chicken to the pan with any accumulated juices.  Add wine, prosciutto and sage.  Bring to boil.  Cover and reduce heat, simmering for about 10 minutes, until breasts are cooked through.

Remove chicken from pan again, and cover to keep warm.  Raise heat to medium high and reduce the sauce for about 5-10 minutes.  Serve sauce over chicken.

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Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Posted on November 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

I love sweet potatoes.  Growing up, I remember the holiday staple of canned yams preserved in heavy syrup.  They were baked with lots of butter and marshmallows and were more dessert than side dish.  At some point, either my mom or grandmother started using fresh sweet potatoes and the difference in taste and texture were incredible.  No more mushy baby food texture, these were firm chunks of autumn deliciousness.  I remember sweet potatoes being offered in steak houses in the early 2000′s smothered in butter and mounds of brown sugar, and while they were an alternative to a massive baked potato, they were also extraordinarily sweet.  Over the years, I’ve also been served many variations of the whipped sweet potato casserole, like the Boston Market Side-dish.  Still, nothing is better than a roasted sweet potato.  Baked with a simple glaze, there is a touch of sweetness without it overpowering the taste of the vegetable, so there is no need to cover things up with marshmallows.

I served these with a pan roasted chicken and some simple sauteed broccoli raab.

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Spread sweet potatoes in an even layer in a 9″ X 13″ glass baking dish.

Melt butter in a small bowl or heat-resistant glass measuring cup.  Add maple syrup and lemon juice, whisking until combined.  Pour glaze mixture over potatoes, tossing until coated.  Season with salt and pepper.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45-60 minutes until potatoes are tender and glaze has caramelized.  Gently stir potatoes to coat in glaze, and serve.

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Posted on October 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

More than a decade ago, while living in Greater Chicago, I had a friend who shared a recipe for a Carmel Apple Cheesecake.  It was lovely because it wasn’t too sweet and it was topped with cinnamon apples and caramel. It was the perfect treat on an autumn day when apples are at the height of ripeness.  I lost the recipe long ago, but while coming up with a birthday treat for someone at work, who requested that her celebration not include chocolate, I started thinking about the cake once again.  Without the recipe to follow, I set about making a basic cheesecake seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans and organic Granny Smith apples.  In the end it got a thumbs up, and I think it rivals the original recipe.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/4 cup graham crackers, crushed

1/8 cup granulated cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup pecan pieces

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated cane sugar

3 eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 medium Granny Smith Apples, peeled and chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2/3 cup granulated cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup pecan finely chopped pecans, toasted

Caramel Sauce:

1 cup granulated cane sugar

1/4 cup water

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into several pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whipping cream

 

To make the sauce, place sugar and water in a 3-quart saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until sugar melts, stirring constantly.  After sugar has dissolved, allow to cook without stirring until it turns a rich amber color.

Add the butter pieces and salt, stirring constantly until melted and well combined.  Remove from heat and add the whipping cream, stirring vigorously until incorporated.  Return to heat and allow to simmer until sauce is thick and smooth.  Watch carefully, as the consistency will change very rapidly.

Transfer to a glass container and allow to cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

 To make the crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to a food processor and pulse until the crumbs and pecans are the same consistency.  Transfer to a medium-sized bowl  and add melted butter.  Mix until moistened, then press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.  Bake for  12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Filling:

Combine apples with lemon juice to prevent browning, then add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.

Place cream cheese in a mixer bowl and beat until smooth.  Add sugar and mix until incorporated.  Add the eggs in three batches, mixing between each addition until just combined.

Pour mixture into cooled crust, spreading until smooth, then add the apple mixture, avoiding any accumulated lemon juice that has gathered while making the filling.

Bake for one hour at 350° F.  After removing from oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan so the cake will not crack as it cools and contracts. Refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight.

When cake is cooled, remove ring from springform pan.  Toast pecan pieces by placing in a small skillet over medium heat.  Heat slowly, stirring frequently until you start to smell the roasted nuts.  This will allow the oils to release and make the pecans much more flavorful.

Drizzle the cake with caramel sauce, then top with roasted nuts.

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Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

Posted on October 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

This recipe doesn’t have a lot of green.  It also comes from Julia Child, so I’m not sure I’m at liberty to criticize.

Like countless other people, my formative years in cooking are peppered with memories of watching and listening to Julia Child’s sing-song voice directing me through the construction of dish after dish.  The 1980′s in rural West-Central Illinois was a time before satellite and cable, and even when cable came to “town”, we were too far out-of-town to subscribe.  This was of no consequence to my father, who felt Public Television was the only television I needed.  I was raised watching Zoom, Masterpiece Theatre, and yes, Julia Child.

Despite these early influences, when I started collecting cookbooks in the mid- 1990′s, it never really occurred to me to purchase a Child-penned cookbook.  Mastering the Art of French Cooking was completely off my radar, and I suspect it had disappeared from store shelves entirely until the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie Julie and Julia brought it back to the forefront.

For me,  my awareness of this definitive tome of early 60′s French home cooking came upon reading Child’s memoir My Life in France, which I purchased on my Nook while relaxing in a vacation hotel room.  The movie had come and gone from theatres without a bit of notice from me, but this book had me mesmerized.  I felt consumed by the process of creating the Mastering cookbook and the recounting of Child’s life in France, including the her struggle to complete a culinary education, and suddenly I needed these two volumes. Interestingly, I saw Julie and Julia sometime later and was underwhelmed, since it focused so superficially on the events I found so intoxicating in the text.  The movie is rarely better than the book.

Last Christmas, my husband gifted me an anniversary set of volumes one and two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and they’ve sat at eye level on the library shelves for nearly a year without use.  Over the weekend, I needed to make something for sunday dinner and I finally picked up Volume One, turning to the index for Chicken.

Poulet en Cocotte is a recipe I learned from America’s Test Kitchen and make often.  It’s likely my favorite way to roast a bird.   With that experience in mind, this recipe stood out to me and I had to try it.

As I said before, there isn’t a lot of green in it.  Even the herbs in the recipe are confined to a bouquet garni bag, and only the flavors saw the light of day.  Like any self-respecting 1960′s-era Julia Child recipe, it’s also fat heavy, and I’ll likely cut the amount of bacon in at least half next time I make it.  A salad or green vegetable is a must with this heavy dish, but in a relatively small quantity. The finished product was delicious and came together easily.

 Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

(Casserole-roasted Chicken with Bacon, Onions and Potatoes)

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1/2-inch lardons

3 tablespoons butter, divided

3 pound chicken, trussed

20-25 white pearl onions

1-1/2 half fingerling or new potatoes

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 sprigs parsley

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 fresh bay leaf

Place herbs in a small bouquet garni bag or cheesecloth tied with twine.  Set aside.

Fill a two-quart saucepan with water and bacon lardons and bring to boil for 10 minutes.  Drain and allow bacon to dry.

While the bacon is cooling, cut a small X into the bottom of each pearl onion, then bring a pot of water to boil. Add the onions and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain and shock with cold water. When cool enough to handle, remove the skins and cut off the root.  Set aside.

Cut the fingerling potatoes into 1 1/2 to 2-inch chunks and place in 2 quart saucepan.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Drain and shock with cold water.  Set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter to a heavy Dutch oven, then add bacon and sauté until lightly brown.  Remove bacon, leaving  the fat in the pot.

Heat oven to 325°.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then salt and pepper. Add the chicken, breast side down in the pot and brown well, 5 to 6 minutes.  After the breast side has browned, turn the chicken over using tongs and brown the bottom for 5 to 6 more minutes.  Remove bird to a small sheet pan.

Drain the fat from the pot.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter, stirring until the foam has subsided.  Add the potatoes and stir them to coat in butter for 2 minutes.  Push potatoes to the sides to the pot and add chicken, breast-side up.  Sprinkle bacon and onions over the potatoes and tuck the bouquet garni bag between the vegetables.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil then the Dutch oven lid.

Heat covered oven on the stove top until all ingredients are sizzling, then place on the middle rack of the oven and roast for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until done.

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Turtle Cupcakes

Posted on October 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

I don’t make a habit of taking baked goods to work, but I agreed to prepare some treats to celebrate  some recent birthdays.  The initial plan was to make two different cheesecakes, but after I realized it would involve purchasing an additional springform pan, the Turtle cheesecake transformed magically into Turtle cupcakes.

They came together easily, using the Chocolate Cake recipe, posted here with some homemade caramel frosting, toasted pecans and chocolate sauce.

The frosting takes a bit of time, mostly unattended, but it results in a rich and delicious product that would be great for all kinds of applications, including cakes and coffee cakes.

To assemble, I piped using the largest star tip I could find.  Then, I  drizzled the frosted cakes with Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup and a few chopped, toasted pecans.  Voila!  Turtle Cupcakes.

Luckily, an opportunity for Turtle Cheesecake is just around the corner as October Birthday-plaooza marches on.

 

Rich Caramel Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup milk

6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

 1. Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan.  Stir in the brown sugar and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and add milk, stirring until well combined.

2. Return frosting to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Stir in confectioners’ sugar, a bit at a time, then beat until fluffy.  You may need a bit more or less until you have the desired consistency.

3. Fill a piping bag with frosting.  Generously frosts 24 cupcakes.

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Butternut Squash and Fennel Baked Risotto

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 2 Comments

Some years ago, I watched the first couple of seasons of Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen and immediately became terrified of risotto. People were always burning it or not stirring it or neglecting it in a myriad of other ways that launched a personal tirade of insults and over the top drama.  Eventually I associated the attempt at risotto with being called an idiot and donkey who doesn’t care and I put the idea of tackling it out of my mind.

With most risotto, you have to prepare a simmering pan of broth and then slowly add to the liquid to the rice as it cooks.  Eventually you end up with creamy, flavorful rice that just isn’t achievable with other kinds of applications.  The original recipe called for baking this almost entirely in the oven.  I found while the oven gave it a good start, but it wasn’t enough to soften the rice.  I needed to revert to the warm liquid stirring method of the classical risotto.  The result is delicious, creamy and smooth . The dish is extremely easy and made 12 individual serving packages for lunches/dinners when I don’t have time to cook.

When I make again, I’ll sauté the fennel until soft to even out the textures a bit.  Other than that,  it’s perfect.

The recipe is adapted from taste.com.au

Butternut Squash and Fennel Baked Risotto

2 1/2 cups butter nut squash, peeled, cored and cut into 3/4″ chunks

2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut in thin slices

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, pressed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 cups vegetable stock

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

kosher salt and black pepper

additional stock or water

chopped parlsey for garnish

shaved Parmesan for garnish

1. Combine squash, fennel, rice, garlic, wine, stock and garlic into a large dutch oven. Cover tightly and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

2. Remove from oven and cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly until remaining water is absorbed into rice.  If rice is not creamy and does not have a smooth texture, additional simmering water 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until absorbed.  Taste. Repeat as necessary.  When  desired consistency is reached, season well with kosher salt and pepper and add Parmesan cheese.

To serve, sprinkle top with a small amount of grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.

 

 

 

 

 

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