Thanksgiving Dessert: Quick & Easy Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

This is the time of year that I look forward to Pumpkin Pie; it's my favorite dish at Thanksgiving.  There's just something about Pumpkin and Cinnamon that excites my taste buds, but I'm not a big fan of the pie crust. So when I make pumpkin pie from scratch, I skip the traditional pie crust entirely and make a quick graham cracker with a twist crust.  This really simplifies making pie from scratch and you can easily impress your friends and family with a homemade pie.  Oh, and I love using my food processor for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker cookies - ground (preferable homemade)
1/2 - 3/4 cups of pecans - ground
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (if you want a sweeter crust)
about 1 stick of melted butter

Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
16 oz of pumpkin puree (preferably homemade)
3/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups half-and-half

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Combine all ingredients, expect butter in a food processer and process until ground crumbs.  See picture.
3.  Slowly add butter and mix by hand or in the food processor until crumbs start to combine.
4.  Grease pie dish and press crumbs into the bottom and sides of dish.  Bake for about 5-10 minutes in the oven.  Do not let the edges burn or become too dark.
5.  Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and mix.
6.  Pour into cooled pie crust.  Bake 15 minutes.
7.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for about 45 minutes or until the center is set and knife in the center comes out clean.
8.  Allow to cool and serve.  Can be made a day ahead

The edges turned out slightly 'burned'

Fried Fish Sandwich

Every once in a while I like to batter some cod and make one of two choices - fish tacos or fish & chips.  This time I created a little twist as I was inspired by an episode of Sandwich King on the Food Network.  Now I have three choices when I batter cod - tacos, fish & chips or sandwich.

Ingredients:

Sandwich & Fish Batter:
2 portions of cod (any size of your choice)
1 bottle of beer - preferable dark beer
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Spice mixture - Ancho-Chili powder, Chiptole Chili powder, Chili powder, Paprika, Cumin, and a pinch of Cayenne (all to taste or about 1 tsp each)
Salt & Pepper
Canola Oil
2-3 radishes - sliced thinly
Green leaf lettuce
Fresh baked bread, sliced - Pugliese or Sourdough works best

Tartar Sauce:
2-3 Dill pickles, chopped (you can substitute Bread & Butter or Sweet if you prefer)
1 teaspoon capers, chopped
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 tsp ground mustard powder
juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt & Pepper

Instructions:
1. Salt and Pepper your cod portions.  Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.
2.  Mix all dry ingredients for the batter, then add beer.  Whisk until blended and no lumps.
3.  Oil should be about 350 degrees.  Dip cod 1 portion at a time in the batter and carefully place in oil.  Fry, flipping once until golden brown.  If you use a dark beer the batter will be darker.
4.  Drain both fried pieces on a rack placed in a baking tray.  (see picture)
5.  Meanwhile mix all ingredients for Tartar sauce.  Allow to chill in the refrigerator.
6.  Slice bread and radishes.
7.  Assemble sandwich and enjoy!

A side of fries

Salt & Pepper your Cod portions

The Batter with spices

Homemade Tartar Sauce

Hot Oil! - Use Caution

Tray with rack to drain fried foods - Works great!

Sliced fresh bread

Assembling the Sandwich - radishes on the left, Tartar sauce on the right

Sandwich and fries - Dinner is served

Quick & Easy Chipotle Aioli

Ever wonder what made that sandwich/burger or dip so good?  Sometimes it's an easy answer - Aioli.  What does Aioli mean?  Simply put (straight from the Webster dictionary): a mayonnaise flavored with garlic and sometimes other ingredients.  Simple right?  Well it is simple, so simple you can quickly whip one up for your next meal.  


There are many variations and you can easily search for recipes to make these various aioli's.  My favorite at the moment, mainly because it's spicy is Chipotle Aioli.  Here's my recipe:


Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/2-1 tsp of apple cider vinegar (to taste)
1-2 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
abt. 1 tbsp chipotle spice OR use actual chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (to taste)
1-2 tsp granulated garlic or 1 freshly minced garlic clove
salt and pepper (to taste)


Mix all ingredients together with a spoon or whisk.  All spices are to taste, use more or less depending on how spicy you prefer. 


That's all it takes.  It can be stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator for a few days.  Spread on your sandwiches, burgers, or use as a dip.

When life gives you strawberries and lemons . . .

Make Strawberry-Lemonade!  Strawberry season is still in full swing, so I decided to use a batch of strawberries to make lemonade.  Most of the time the strawberry-lemonade I have been served is overly sweet and sugary.  I am not into overly sugary drinks and by making it myself I can control the ingredients.  You can use different sweeteners in lemonade, but I find that pure cane sugar and honey does not dissolve easily or well in lemonade.  Instead I prefer regular cane sugar or agave nectar.

Here's the recipe, it's not exact:

6-10 organic lemons (more if you end up with little lemon juice)
2-3 small green baskets of organic strawberries
Organic agave nectar
1 bottle of sparkling water (I prefer San Pellegrino)

2. Wash lemons and using the ball of your hand, roll lemons on counter or chopping block.  Slice lemons in half and juice.  Any method of juicing citrus will work well.  Remove any seeds from juice.

2.  Wash strawberries, slice large ones in half.  Place in blender and puree with some lemon juice.

3.  Transfer strawberry puree to a glass juice container.  At this point you can strain if you do not like pulp.

4.  Add more lemon juice, I used about 2 cups in total.  Stir, taste, and add agave nectar (or other sweetener) to taste.

5.  Add sparkling water and chill for a few hours.

6.  Before serving, stir to recombine and serve over ice.

The foam occurred when adding sparkling water

A hearty soup on a rainy day

It's finally raining here in Northern California; rain that is much needed.  And I find that a hearty soup or stew is the perfect thing to satisfy you while it's raining.  One of my favorites is barley soup and I had an amazing bowl on a misty day in Carmel at the Forge in the Forest.  So I decided to recreate it with ingredients I already had at home.

To recreate it at home I started from scratch, even making my own beef stock.

Here's what you need for the Stock:
Organic beef marrow or femur bones
Carrots
Celery
Onions
Garlic
Whole Peppercorns
Fresh thyme
Bay leaf

Note:  I blanched the bones starting in cold water and bringing to a boil, then boiling the bones for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from heat and run cold water over the bones until they have cooled.  Remove the bone marrow with a soup and set aside for your dogs.

For the soup:
Beef stock (that you just made)
3-4 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme or a few springs fresh thyme
1 cup barley (I cook mine in 2 cups boiling water at a simmer for about 10 minutes or until tender)
2 leeks (optional)
1 1/2 cup diced cremini mushrooms (optional)
4 tbsp tomato paste (optional), you can also add chopped tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Recipe:
1.  Add all the ingredients to a Crockpot (or cook in a pot on the stove) with enough water to cover, usually 8-11 cups.
2.  Let the ingredients cook, once boiling for a few hours.  Keep an eye on it so you don't over cook and end up with a lot of the fat in the stock.
3.  Remove all ingredients and leave the stock in the pot.  (I cut up the carrots for my dogs and took about 2 cups of the stock as well).  Note: Do NOT feed onions to your dog.
4.  Add onions, carrots and celery to a pan with a little olive oil and saute.  Then add the chopped garlic.
5.  Add to the stock.
6.  Add mushrooms, if using, to the pan with a little olive oil.  Saute to remove some of the moisture and crisp the mushrooms.
7.  Add to the stock.
8.  Add thyme, salt and pepper, and tomato paste.
9.  Let cook for a few hours, before adding cooked barley.

This can be easily modified to include other vegetables or shredded beef if you prefer.  I really find the homemade stock add more flavor than boxed or canned.  And it's really easy to make!


Saute onions, carrots, celery




Saute mushrooms




Everything in the pot



Let's make tomato bisque with green tomatoes

Last summer was cooler and I ended up with baskets of green tomatoes.  There was no way I could cook and eat that many fried green tomatoes.  So I went in search of recipes to use green tomatoes and I really did not find many.  There was one by Mario Bartali that made a pesto-sauce for spaghetti with green tomatoes and this was pretty good.  But I still am left with baskets of green tomatoes.

Using two techniques I let my tomatoes ripen naturally.  One technique was putting tomatoes in a paper bag to speed up ripening, which does work.  The second technique was using a produce box (any size) and layering the tomatoes in a single layer.  Again this ripened the tomatoes a little slower than with the paper bag, but ripening them none the less.

Once the majority of my tomatoes ripened I decide it was time to cook them.  And since it is winter and cold, a nice tomato bisque would be perfect.  I did not find any true "tomato bisque" soup recipes so I adapted a basic tomato-basil soup. 

Here goes:

2-3 pounds ripened tomatoes (cleaned)
Spices (any mix, to taste): chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil, paprika
Pinch of red pepper flake
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp tomato paste (more if it needs more tomato flavor)
Water (stock, broth or beer) to cover tomatoes
about 1/2 cup cream (or half-and-half)

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and place several tomatoes in the water.  Cook about 2 minutes.  Place immediately in ice water.  When cool enough to handle peel skins off (you can use the skins in other dishes or let your dog eat them).  Repeat until all tomatoes are cooked and peeled.
2.  Place tomatoes in a pot (or Crockpot) and mash by hand to avoid a mess.  (you can use a food processor or blender instead).  Add some water to cover tomatoes.  Bring to a simmer.
3.  Add spices, salt, pepper, red pepper flake and tomato paste.  Stir and let cook.
4.  Once it has cooked and you like the taste, puree with an immersion blender (or place in a blender).  Add cream if using and puree until just mixed.  Serve warm.

This is a very adaptable recipe and I let the soup cook in the Crockpot so I did not have to worry about watching it over a stove.  You can serve with toast, salad, grilled cheese, quesadilla or any other side dish.  The spices add a little heat which works to warm you on a cold night, but it really is to your taste.

Just a little taste of Italy

Much of my baking time in January I spent making and using Panettone.  Basically everything was made from scratch, including the candied citrus.



Citrus peel drying

My lemon tree is a bright burst of yellow this winter so I decided to use some of the lemon peels to make candied citrus peel.  The process is a bit time consuming, but so worth it in the end.  I followed the recipe in The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book cookbook (click here).

Citrus peel rolled in sugar

Once I finished the candied peel I could start making Panettone from scratch.  I decided I didn't want to buy the imported Panettone for a couple of reasons, one being that some brands have added chemicals/additives that I did not want.   If you find a good Panettone or a fresh baked one at a local bakery then don't feel guilty buying it.  Be warned that if you want to make it yourself you should have a day to do it as it is a timely process.  Again I followed the recipe in the same baking book and here's my final result . . .



And it was delicious!  Well worth my time and kind of fun to make.  I ended up with two loaves so I decided to use the second loaf to make a bread pudding using Giada's recipe (you could use Ina's but she calls for more eggs).  Either use the recipe with Amaretto sauce (click here) or with Cinnamon sauce (click here).  I decided to try the Cinnamon sauce.

Here's the process in pictures if you follow her recipe:

cubes of Panettone

Whisking the custard sauce

Soaking the cubes in the sauce

Fresh our of the oven

Reducing the sauce

Completed sauce ready for serving

Time to serve and Enjoy!  I would definitely make Panettone again.

Is it really easy to poach an egg?

Well, is it really easy to poach an egg?  For me I find hard-boiling is easier, but then this was my first attempt at actually poaching an egg.

I have only had eggs Benedict a handful of times either at my Aunt's or out at a restaurant.  It's just something I don't normally cook or eat.  But I have a bounty of Meyer lemons from my tree and a recipe for Meyer Lemon Hollandaise sauce.   Finally this year I decided to give it a try.  The recipe was from William-Sonoma's  Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch. (and I really do love this cookbook).

I followed the recipe and I was not happy with the technique used to make the hollandaise or poaching the eggs.  I've seen different techniques used on the Food Network and there has to be an easier way then this recipe.  I did love the taste and flavor of the Meyer lemon hollandaise, I would follow the list of ingredients again.  What I didn't like was that if you stop whisking for a second you will have a lumpy, separated hollandaise sauce.  Which is not what I want.

The double-boiler method for making the hollandaise was not easy and required too much hand whisking for me.

Now for poaching the eggs, I have seen chefs crack the eggs directly into the water, but this recipe was different here as well.  First crack the eggs into a separate container then place slightly into the water, finally slid gently into the water.  Cook.  I ended up finding that the egg whites separated farther from the egg yolk that they should of.  I will have to try some other techniques and see what works for me.  This is the biggest part of cooking (besides reading a recipe and measuring).  I experiment with techniques and find what works best for me and there really isn't one technique most of the time.

Finally after cooking I was ready to assemble and eat.  I already baked the bacon in the oven and toasted the English muffins.  I highly recommend homemade or fresh from a local bakery.  The English muffins I splurged on were from a bakery in Napa and they were the best ever.  I can never eat store packaged, processed English muffins again. (and why would I anyways).

Here's the final result before the hollandaise.  These were delicious!  Next time I will try actual Canadian bacon.

The best Green-Bean Casserole

I don't know about you but I am not a fan of the "traditional" green bean casserole.  If you asked me what I don't like about the recipe, I could not tell you one (or two) things, it's the whole recipe.  As a result, I was not a big eater of green beans.  A bad recipe can quickly make a kid dislike a vegetable.  Plus I don't want to use all these processed and canned ingredients.



Mushrooms browning



Luckily, Guy Fieri had a new recipe for the green bean casserole on his show.  After watching, I knew I had to give this a try and maybe I could be a convert to a new green bean casserole.  And sure enough, it was a hit!  I love it.  I even splurged on gourmet mushrooms for the recipe and some were ones that were not called for in the recipe.  This would be where you can make it your own.  Mix it up!

Here's the recipe



The end result with fried shallots



What's for Breakfast? A Frittata

Do you love eggs for breakfast?  I know I do, but I find that trying to make an omelet takes too much time.  My simple solution is the Italian classic, the frittata.  You can add all kinds of vegetables, cheese and meats to your frittata.  Any basic frittata recipe works and you can experiment with different ingredients depending on what you have in your refrigerate.  Here's one recipe I like (click here).  You can use a frittata pan, or what I find the easiest is a pan that can be used on the stove and in the oven.

Some of my favorites include asparagus and goat cheese, mushroom and fontina cheese, tomato, basil and Parmesan, bell pepper and herb, and spinach and white cheddar.  Today was a mushroom and cheese frittata morning, mostly because I had some mushrooms leftover that needed to be used.

Mushroom and cheese

Asparagus and goat cheese

My next frittata is going to be a winter squash and sage.  See what's in season and use what is fresh.  Be sure you are buying local or USA produce, preferably organic for your frittata.  And most important, have fun!

West's Baked Ziti

What do you fix on a rainy, misty fall evening?  Not stew or soup, but a baked pasta dish.  I was inspired by Foodnetwork's Neely's Baked Ziti and created my own West's Baked Ziti

Here it is:

Ingredients
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 pound ziti (or penne)
1 pound chicken sausage (any of your choice), sliced OR turkey sausage, casing removed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large or 4 small yellow bell peppers, chopped
8-12 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
3 cloved of garlic, chopped
1 25.5 oz jar of pasta sauce (I suggest Muir Glen's Organic Fire Roasted or Roasted Garlic) or Homemade
6 ounces Arugula-Basil pesto (make your own here)
1 9 oz bag of washed spinach
2+ cups shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan or Pecorino-Romano

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (or boil water in electric kettle and then add to pot) over high heat.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain.

In a large skillet over medium heat add olive oil, saute mushrooms.  Add onion, garlic and bell peppers.  Saute until the onions are translucent.  Add pasta sauce, red pepper flakes and salt to taste.  Let cook for a few minutes, then add pesto.  Add spinach.  Let simmer about 10 minutes.  Optional you can add some wine if desired.

Make sure you have sprayed or buttered baking dish.  Add pasta and sauce to baking dish.  Then saute sliced chicken sausage in pan, until slightly brown and cooked through.  If using turkey sausage saute until cooked through.  Add to pasta mixture.

Stir in cheese mixture and make sure all ingredients are mixed well.  Top with some of the cheese mixture.

Bake until completely heated through and golden on top or about 20 minutes.

Note: You can add ricotta cheese if you more cheese.  OR you can reduce the amounts of cheese (which I did in the picture).

Time to start cooking!  This dish will fill your stomach and warm your soul.