Pies . . . Pies

I love to make pie. I don't like to eat pie (with the exception of strawberry pie, but that's another blog) but a couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to be "good" at making pie. And, without tooting my own horn too much, I think that I can make a pretty decent pie. I generally favor an all butter crust (but sometimes I do the butter & shortening thing) and I think that most people will tell you that my crust is usually flaky and tender. However, there is one huge exception to my pie-prowess: pecan pie. I cannot, for the life of me, make a decent pecan pie. You'd think that by now I'd run in the other direction but, no-no-no, I always think that, maybe this time it will be better. That maybe this time I'll hit the pecan pie jackpot and it will be exactly what I'm looking for. Last year the pecan pie was an experiment from the Texas Home Cooking cookbook with a combination of molasses, corn syrup, and a little bourbon for kicks. Sadly, it did not measure up with me or anyone else who tried it. This year I went with the recipe from the Commander's Palace Cookbook which is a very simple corn syrup recipe (side note: my brother worked in the kitchen at Commander's for a little bit and I have it on good authority from him that they use Steen's Cane Syrup in the pecan pie at the restaurant).

Pecan Pie filling:
(Commander's Palace Recipe)
3/4 cup of light corn syrup
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (my addition)
1 1/2 cups whole shelled pecans

I looked at a lot of pecan pie recipes and, so far as I can tell, the only difference in this one is the 6 (!!) eggs rather than 3 but it is a very rich filling. I used the all-butter pie crust that I love and the pie was pretty enough (but I've made pretty pies that tasted gross before) and it tasted ok but the crust was tough like leather. It was flaky but not at all tender. Boo!! Why does the pie crust up and go to H-E double hockey sticks with pecan pie? That's what I want to know. I suppose that the next time I decide to make a pecan pie I'm going to have to investigate the shortening or lard (the horror!) route. My dad tells me that I should use the recipe on the Karo bottle and I think that I will. At this point I can't stop, I have to beat the pecan pie.

On to a pie that worked well, the deep dish apple pie.

It's sort of a tradition in my family to have apple pie the day after Thanksgiving and for the past 3 years or so my brother and I have been in charge of the apple pie (a job we campaigned for). I have no idea what the recipe is because we just sort of make it up as we go along. I can tell you that we always use granny smith apples but sometimes use a combination of granny smith and a sweeter apple, such as fuji. We peel and slice the apples, add a little lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, and apple pie spice, and a couple of tablespoons of all purpose flour. Then I precook the apples, not all the way, but enough so that they release some of their juices and all of the spices, sugar, and flour combine. This is my favorite apple pie secret because it guarantees that you won't have a huge gap between your crust and your filling when the pie is completely cooked. As long as you use firm apples you won't end up with mush. Prepare your pie crusts, place the apple mixture in the bottom crust, add a couple of tablespoons of butter (cut up into smaller pieces , of course), add the top crust (make sure to add a vent or two) and brush with cream (or milk) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. This apple pie that has passed the test of every pie lover I know.

My Mom's Layered Pumpkin Pie

My mom doesn't really like dessert and when she does, she usually eats it for breakfast. This pumpkin pie falls under the rare category of "desserts my mom likes" and she makes it every year on Thanksgiving. And, sure enough, Friday morning, my mom & my sister both had a slice of pie for breakfast.

This pumpkin pie is not your traditional pumpkin pie by any stretch of the imagination. It has a gingersnap crust and the pumpkin layers are alternated with layers of spiced whipped cream. It's a very yummy pumpkin pie, albeit a little bit different than normal!

Layered Pumpkin Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups finely crushed gingersnap cookies
1/2 c melted butter
1/4 c sugar

Combine cookies, butter, and sugar and press into a 9" pie plate. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Pie Filling:
Pumpkin Layers:
1 envelope of powdered gelatin
1 ¼ cups pureed pumpkin
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
3 egg yolks
½ c evaporated milk or light cream
3 eggs whites
¼ c powdered sugar

Whipped Cream Layers:
1 c whipping cream
¾ c powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon

In a saucepan, combine sugar, gelatin, pumpkin, spices, egg yolks, and evaporated milk. Cook this mixture until thickened and let cool (nb: the thickening process can take a little while, my mom says it’s important to let it get “nice and thick”). Beat the egg whites and gradually add ¼ c powdered sugar, beat this mixture to stiff peaks. Fold the egg white mixture into the pumpkin custard.
Whip the cream with the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla to soft peaks. To ½ of the whipped cream mixture, stir in the cinnamon.
To assemble: fill the crust with ½ of the pumpkin mixture. Top this with the plain whipped cream in an even layer. Then add the remaining pumpkin mixture in another even layer. Finally, top with the cinnamon whipped cream layer and chill for 6 hours.

"Grandma's Cranberry Relish"

Now, let me start by saying that this isn't my grandma's cranberry relish; however, it's fabulous and because I love it so much, I thought that I would share it here! My mom makes this every year for Thanksgiving and it's a little different than the traditional cranberry sides because it's not cooked at all. In fact, I would probably describe it as more of a fruit salad than a relish but that's neither here nor there. The recipe comes from Stop and Smell the Rosemary by the Junior League of Houston. We usually have this and then some other variation of cranberry goodness but since it was just the five of us this year, this was it! I love almost all things cranberry and this is no exception. It's a nice blend of flavors and I will be enjoying it all weekend long!

(from Stop & Smell the Rosemary, pg 113)

1 pound fresh cranberries, rinsed
3 medium Winesap (or other firm, red apple) apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
3 medium oranges, peeled, seeded, and sliced
1 can (40 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of chopped pecans

Chop cranberries, apples, and oranges in a food processor, preserving the texture. Stir in pineapple, sugar, and pecans. Cover and chill overnight.

So, that's the recipe, verbatim. As you can see, it makes a HUGE amount so you can cut it in half or play with it at will (adding more or less of a certain fruit, etc). I usually dice my apples and oranges by hand and then pulse the cranberries but my mom always uses the food processor to good effect.

Proposal Madness

And no, not that kind of proposal either, for all of you getting your hopes up!

For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to get a masters degree in English Literature and, as this is my first semester, I'm taking a tour through the medieval & Renaissance periods. Now, this is really not my thing. The only way I can describe it is if you were starving and you hate sushi, but the only place to eat is a sushi restaurant, so you order the California roll and it's ok but you're really not satisfied.  Anyway, the above picture is my meltdown last night trying to pull together an argument for my paper on "Everyday Life in the Renaissance." Thankfully I've moved on and the paper proposals are in as good a place as I could hope right now.

So, no Thanksgiving Twofer Pie in the Singleton's Kitchen this week.  I really don't like pie.  I love strawberry pie, I'll grudgingly eat a slice of apple pie, and I'm ok with plain pecan pie but that, my friends, is it.  Now, I do love to make pie.  The problem is, there's no one around these parts to eat the pie that I make.  Add to that combination to very sticky paper proposals that I need to finish, oh, I don't know, 24 hours ago (not really, they're due tomorrow but I need to finish them NOW!) and there isn't going to be any pie making around here.  I'm leaving to go home to Houston on the 7:40 flight tonight and no one, but no one, messes with my mom's Thanksgiving kitchen so, once again, no Thanksgiving Twofer Pie.  

So, I'm back to my paper proposals.  Thankfully I've gotten past the complete pulling out of hair and gnashing of teeth phase.  With any luck, I'll have both of these babies turned in by 4 pm this afternoon.

Dinner Goes Retro

I made this dinner a few weeks ago and in my scattered, crazy brain I forgot to publish the blog. It's a little break from all of the Turkey Talk to come.  

Meat and potatoes style.  Well, meatloaf and corny cheese grits because I didn't have any potatoes.  Looking at this picture makes me remember how, apparently, if you want to add interest and dimension to your plate you should stack.  So, ideally, I would have layered grits, beans, and then meatloaf to make a more interesting dinner plate.  However, in the interest of hunger and keeping the different elements separate, it's not stacked.  Next time, Gadget.  

I hated meatloaf growing up.  Even now, the thought of meatloaf in the bread pan with a nice glob of ketchup on top does not do it for me.  This recipe is for Alton Brown's meatloaf and I actually love it.  I don't know if it's the extra veggies & flavor or if it's because it's baked freeform but I do like it a lot.  It's, in my opinion, 100% better than your average meatloaf.  The cheese grits are your standard cheese grits but they're corny because I added corn for extra flavor, color, and texture.  (Hank, I know where you're going with that!)  The green & yellow beans were SO GOOD!!!!!  I got them at the market last weekend and they were tender and sweet and delicious!!  I just blanched them and served them plain because I was short on time and it ended up being a great decision.  They were perfect on their own.  

Boston Cream Pie

I recently spent the weekend in Boston with my parents.  I'd never been there before and I made a list of things that we needed to eat while we were there:  lobster, New England clam chowder, and, of course, Boston Cream Pie.  Now, I think I've only had Boston Cream Pie once or twice before and it's not something I crave or dream of but I think that when you're in Boston, you must have Boston Cream Pie!  Well, we ordered it and it was . . . ok.  Only ok, kind of dry, not exciting. So, I decided that I needed to make a Boston Cream Pie to settle once and for all where I stand on this dessert.  And, come on, it's cake, pastry cream, and chocolate, there's no reason for a so-so cream pie!   

Here I am about to dig into the "so-so" BCP:

I looked and looked but it was much harder than I thought it would be to find a recipe for BCP. Upon reflection, I think that this is probably because it's really just three very individual components:  yellow sponge cake, vanilla pastry cream (or pudding), and chocolate ganache.  I found a recipe in The Joy of Cooking that looked really great but in the end I went with Gale Gand's recipe because, in my opinion, she is awesome!  I have never made one of her recipes and had it "flop" on me.  The only change that I made to the recipe was to use one, 9" cake pan rather than a pie plate because, well, because I didn't like the idea of using a pie plate, so there. Boston Cream Cake.  Other than that, it was splendidly good.  Dudley gave it two very enthusiastic thumbs up and I liked it as well.  The chocolate ganache was very dark, I used 60% cacao chocolate and next time I might change that.  Beware:  this recipe uses many, many egg yolks so you'll have lots of whites left over.  

TWD: Arborio Rice Pudding

When I lived in Houston I was really, really lucky because I had two wonderful kitchens to cook in. My mom's kitchen is a dream -- tons of counter space, fabulous appliances, and pretty much every amenity that a cook would ever want. I cooked in that kitchen all of the time. And then, because I am so lucky (read: spoiled) my sister and I lived in an adorable little doll house with a completely updated kitchen to boot. I didn't cook as much there because I had 2 jobs and for part of the time I was in school so most meals were takeout. I did most of my cooking at my mom and dad's house on the weekends. However, I always had grand plans for cooking at our little doll house (and there were some pretty fantastic dinner parties there) and I amassed quite a collection of staples in my pantry. My sister is a super busy medical student and she eats most of her meals at school so I knew that all of my carefully selected pantry ingredients would languish on those shelves without me there. This is how I ended up with 3 large totebags full of random pantry items when I moved. Dudley was so confused by this:

(D): "Jessica, you know that you have three bags of food here. Do you want me to load these onto the truck?"
(J): "Yes, please."
(D): "You know that they have grocery stores in D.C., right?"

So, this is how I ended up with all of my wonderful arborio and carnaroli rice up here in D.C. with me. Not that I couldn't get it here, of course I could but it amuses me to think that I brought it from Houston (not to mention that I think I purchased it about 2 or 3 years ago! Not to worry, it's been sealed up tightly!) and now it's finally being used.

This week, TWD was Arborio Rice Pudding. I love risotto and I love rice pudding so I was pretty excited about this. An added bonus, rice pudding is not that labor-intensive so this was a nice change from rugelach and kugelhopf. I should say, I'm not a risotto expert, but in college I made risotto at least once a week without fail. I definitely reached the point where measuring was no longer necessary and the whole process was more about looks and feel during the cooking process. I loved risotto (and still do) because it's so versatile, it can be sweet or savory and you can add anything you want. My favorite experiment was a granny smith apple risotto with black pepper and parmesan cheese -- molto bene! All this to say, I looked at the recipe and thought "1/4 c of rice is NOTHING -- there is no way that is going to make enough rice pudding for this to be worth my while" (I wanted leftovers). So, I made my recipe with a cup of carnaroli rice and about 4 cups of milk (maybe a little more). I also increased the sugar and used vanilla bean that I steeped in the hot milk rather than extract because I think that the little flecks of vanilla bean are so pretty in the white rice.

Verdict: the first night I thought that it was just so-so. It was good but it was just missing something. The second night I reheated it (I like my rice pudding warm -- I'm not sure if this is a faux pas or not) and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on it and it was so much better. I didn't want chocolate rice pudding but I thought that a little chocolate mixed in was just right. I will say, Nigella Lawson has a recipe for a quick arborio rice pudding that you make just like you make risotto (except that you stir the rice with butter and sugar and add hot milk and cream rather than broth) that I LOVE and I think that I would use that again rather than this recipe. It's just so rich and delicious and the risotto retains more of it's characteristic bite that I like so much. In the end, I think that I (unconsciously) ended up combining the two recipes to end up with the result that I was going for. Oops! I'll be better next time, promise.

Owie!

I cut the bejeezers out of my finger Saturday night. Not a deep cut but I took a nice little hunk out of my middle finger on my left hand when my knife slipped. No big deal but I'm a major baby so things will be quiet around the Singleton's Kitchen for a little bit.

Pasta and Chicken with a Little Texas Heat

The other morning, I was talking to Suzy about her newfound love of jalapenos and this amazing mac and cheese with green chile sauce that she had in Jupiter, FL last week. I like jalapenos but I’m sort of a wuss when it comes to spice. Well, I suppose “wuss” is relative here: I can eat it and I love it but compared to people who can truly handle the Texas heat, I’m a wuss. Speaking of Texas heat, in Texas, jalapenos are ubiquitous – I can remember in elementary school, boys in my class would eat plain jalapenos and I was in shock and awe! My mom can handle heat that would make Scoville sweat and Dudley doesn’t eat anything without first dousing it in a combination of: black pepper, red pepper, Tabasco, Tony Chachere’s, or red pepper flakes – the more the better. Quite honestly, I don’t know how he tastes the food under all of that spice. After talking about jalapenos the other morning, I decided that I wanted to make my own spicy pasta with jalapenos and blackened chicken. Z Tejas makes “Chicken Diablo Pasta” that I absolutely love. Now, my dinner was in no way close to that but it sort of served as an inspiration. Incidentally, as further proof of the jalapeno obsession, they also make a jalapeno margarita that is oh so good!

When I was little we traveled to New Orleans quite a bit because that’s where my parents lived for awhile after they were married and my dad usually had conferences there about once a year. I was a little picky (didn’t like fish of any sort) and that makes eating in New Orleans a little difficult, at least at the restaurants my parents liked. So, while everyone else was eating turtle soup or gumbo, I usually ate a grilled cheese sandwich or blackened chicken. Thankfully, my palate has improved but I still like both grilled cheese and blackened chicken. Blackened is a Cajun preparation for chicken, or more commonly, fish (especially redfish) that involves a spicy rub and then sautéing in butter. I suppose it’s called blackened because the spices are dark, nearly black, when cooked. There are premade seasonings out there but I opted to make my own. By the way, it was super spicy so if you make it, you might want to cut down the cayenne.

• 1 heaping tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 heaping teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon leaf oregano

I pounded my chicken breasts out and then dredged them in the blackened seasoning. Heat a pan with a liberal amount of butter and cook the chicken until it is firm and the juices run clear.

For the pasta with jalapeno cheese sauce I made a cheese sauce and added jalapenos. I debated on whether or not to use pepper jack cheese but ultimately I decided to use a combination of cheddar cheese and a little bit of chevre and then add finely diced pickled jalapenos. I was really happy with the results. The pasta was spicy, creamy, and cheesy – altogether delish!

· 1 lb pasta

· 6 tablespoons of butter

· ½ c flour

· 1 quart of milk (or thereabouts)

· About 3-4 cups of grated cheese (more if you like)

· ½ c of finely diced pickled jalapenos

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain well. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the cheese and stir until it is combined with the sauce. Add the pickled jalapenos and the pasta and mix until the pasta is evenly coated. If you wanted, you could bake this like macaroni and cheese. I served mine right away because I was starving and it was delicious!

TWD: Kugelhopf

Kugelhopf . . . what a funny sounding name for such a DEE-licious treat!  This is the perfect recipe for me to make when I have a lot of reading to do (which is all of the time) because it involves multiple little  steps over a long period of time.  

I'd made brioche before so I felt like I wasn't going into this recipe completely blind because the dough-making process is very similar.  I made sure to take the butter out of the fridge yesterday morning so that it would be completely soft by the time that I got around to making the dough (yesterday evening at about 5 pm).  I took the finished product out of the oven this morning at 11 so, all in all, it took about 18 hours to make.  But, only about an hour or two were active time, the other time was all devoted to resting.  I ran out of milk so I ended up using about 1/3 milk and 1/3 c heavy cream instead.  Oops.  I figured that it couldn't be too rich.  I also used heaping tablespoons of sugar rather than leveling them out so I ended up with a sweeter dough.  I was just really worried about it being bland and not exciting.  The dough was sticky but it came together and, lordy, I was so happy to have my KitchenAid go to town on the dough.  I know that all of those French grandmothers in the Alsace use a wooden spoon, and more power to them, but that dough requires so much kneading and mixing that I can't imagine doing it by hand.  Actually, I can imaging doing it by hand -- it's not a good thought.

I didn't know what to do about the raisins.  I hate raisins.  I love craisins and dried cherries etc so they were a possibility but Dudley doesn't like fruit in his desserts.  Now, I think he would have eaten it anyway and he certainly would never have said anything about it but I am depending on him to eat most of this for me so I wanted to make him like it.  So, with much trepidation, I added white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips.  I thought that combination might be too much for the dough and immediately after I dumped it in, I regretted it.  However, I'm pleased to report that it was outstanding!  The white chocolate chips actually complement the buttery richness of the kugelhopf.  I think that white chocolate chip-cranberry would be even better.  

I accidentally used about 6 tablespoons of melted butter on the kugelhopf.  I would have used 8 but the butter exploded in the microwave as I was melting it and at least 2 tablespoons were lost.  I didn't pay attention to the directions and I just assumed that I was supposed to brush it with a stick of melted butter.  So, I brushed on the melted butter, sprinkled sugar, and then repeated.  

The verdict:  I thought it was delicious.  I don't know if it was the cream or the extra sugar but my kugelhopf was rich and delicate and the perfect combination of yeasty and sweet.  Dudley loved it and he ate 3 pieces right away.  It was so good warm but I'm interested to try a piece later when it's cooled and settled.  I am definitely making this again and I actually think that it'd be great on Christmas morning.  

It's the Great Pumpkin . . . Bread!

I love love pumpkin bread.  It's one of my favorite things about fall.  My mom makes the best pumpkin bread but up here I don't have her recipe.  I could ask her for it . . . but then she'd have to go through the black hole, I mean her recipe file, where you're never quite certain what's going to come out and what will remain hidden.  It's quite likely to find the recipe for pumpkin bread in July when you're desperately searching for the recipe for firecracker cake, which will remain hidden until December, when only 2 of the 6 recipes for Christmas cookies will ever be found.  Anyway, I know that her recipe calls for oil and other than that I think it must be similar to the recipe that I found in the Joy of Cooking that I've been using this fall.

When I was looking for a recipe, I knew that I wanted the bread to be moist and spicy and, most importantly, pumpkin-y!  I've had some failed results with quick breads that don't deliver on flavor and I really didn't want to waste my awesome pumpkin on so-so bread.  So, I settled on the Joy of Cooking version and I quite like it.  In keeping with the oil idea, I used shortening rather than butter (the recipe gives options for both).  The bread is moist and delicious, I love it!

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 c shortening or butter

1 c white sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

2 eggs 

1 c pumpkin puree

1/3 c milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan (the recipe makes one loaf or 4 mini loaves).
2. Stir together your dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Cream together shortening (or butter) and sugars until fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by pumpkin puree & vanilla.
5. Add your dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk.
6. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about an hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

Autumn Days and Markets

It's a perfect fall day in D.C. today.  It's sunny and crisp and the Farmer's market was buzzing this morning.  Last week I was saying how green everything was but this week it's red & brown.  I think that's because I still have greens from last week to eat so I didn't get any today.  The red apples are mountaineer apples and I love them -- they're crisp and sweet and tart.  The yellow apples are Candy Crisp apples and they're very sweet and crisp.  I also got some asian pears -- I don't really love pears but these are also very crisp and sweet and I am excited to eat them.  I found little red peppers today:  I love red peppers and I use them a lot so as long as I can find them at the market, I will buy them.  Do you notice those beautiful, and adorable, cherry tomatoes in the center?  Those were quite a find.  There were only 4 boxes left at this one stand and they were tucked away on the side.  I noticed them while I was standing in line.  There were hothouse tomatoes at the market but they were really of the hard, pink persuasion and I am not a fan of that variety.

We had a little bit of what I think is called Indian Summer in these parts last week.  Well, it actually rained most of the week but Friday it was sunny & warm so we went to Great Falls to celebrate Dudley passing the bar and me finishing all of my papers (until the big guys at the end of the semester).  This is the first year that I've been able to see the leaves change color -- they're so pretty!

Lucy had a fantastic time! 

Chicken Cacciatore

When I was little, my dad bought Marcella Hazan's cookbooks, The Classic Italian Cookbook:  The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating and More Classic Italian Cooking; you can bet that when he decided to cook Italian food that it was going to be a recipe out of one of those books.  That's how chicken cacciatore came to be a wintertime staple of my childhood. My mom did most of the cooking but my dad likes to "warm a pot" (his expression) and when he does, this is a go-to recipe.  I think that by now he probably doesn't look at the recipe that much. Well, if you know him, you know that he doesn't look at the recipe that often anyway!  

Hank has been extolling the virtues of buying whole chickens rather than the boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I usually go for so I finally gave in a bought a couple.  It was cold here, and I thought that chicken cacciatore would be a great, warm dinner.  I don't have Marcella's cookbooks (when I lived in Houston I could just borrow them) but I do have The Silver Spoon, which is, I think, similar to The Joy of Cooking for Italians and Italian cooking.  I also have a wonderful cookbook, Staff Meals at Chanterelle, and my chicken cacciatore recipe is adapted from these two cookbooks.

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or just chicken pieces. I was a picky eater (I still prefer white meat, and my dad would often make it with just breasts.  It's important to keep the bones and skin for flavor and moisture though.
3 tbsp olive oil
flour seasoned with salt and pepper (for dredging chicken)
1 onion, sliced
1 red bellpepper, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes (I like the "fire roasted" tomatoes)
3/4 c red wine 
3/4 c chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp fresh, chopped oregano (or ~1 1/2 dried)

1. If you have a whole chicken, you need to wash it and cut it into 8 pieces.  I'd be lying if I said that I did a good job . . . let's just say that my future is not in butchering meat.  I've heard that it gets easier.  The good news is that even though I did a horrible job, it still tasted great!
2. Dredge your chicken pieces in seasoned flour.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
4. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven.  Lightly saute all of your chicken pieces until just brown, in batches of 4. 
5. Set the chicken aside.  Add onions, garlic, carrot, and bellpepper to the same pan and saute until the onion is tender, 5-8 minutes depending on the heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the red wine and simmer until reduced by half.  Then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, oregano, and bay leaves. 
6. Return the chicken pieces to the pot, making sure to cover them in as much liquid as possible (I think of it as "tucking them in").
7. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Roast the chicken until the juices run clear, about 25-30 minutes. 

When my dad makes this, we always have mashed potatoes with chicken cacciatore.  I didn't have any potatoes so I served it with orzo and I thought it was a very nice combination.  You can make it with mushrooms but my dad assures me that this is called chicken forestiere.  

Leftover Frittata

I hate leftovers.  My mom can tell you that nothing makes me grumble more than next-day, reheated food.  Dudley, on the other hand, LOVES leftovers, as does Hank.  To them, it's double your pleasure, double your fun.  It's extra innings baseball.  It's wonderful.  Here's the catch, I don't mind leftovers if they're reconstructed in a different form.  In fact, I'm always amazed at things like bread pudding, soups, and casseroles that manage to make last night's meat and vegetables a new and delicious dinner.  That's how we arrived at the frittata for dinner the other night.  I get home from class sort of late sometimes and there definitely isn't time to go all out for dinner.  The night before I'd made pork tenderloin with leeks and roasted potatoes for dinner.  There were eggs in the fridge.  There you have it -- a frittata for dinner. 

You will need:

8 large eggs

1/4 c milk

olive oil or butter

~ 1/2 lb of meat (or extra veggies)

~ 1 onion, diced 

~ 1 red pepper, diced

extra veggies

 cheese

salt & pepper

• Saute your onions and pepper with salt and pepper until translucent.  Remove from the pan and cool.  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Vigorously whisk together eggs, add milk and combine.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, heat a large, ovenproof skillet (I prefer nonstick but my dad uses a cast iron skillet to great effect) over medium heat with olive oil or butter (enough to make sure that the eggs don't stick).
• Add the egg mixture to the pan, top with meat of your choice.  I added diced, roasted potatoes at this point because I had them.  The point is that you can put almost anything in the fritatta and it will be delicious.
• Cook the eggs on the stovetop until the bottom is set.  Add cheese (as much as you like, I used cheddar but goat cheese would be oh-so-good!). OK, at this point, a lot of people prefer to use the broiler to finish off the frittata.  My oven here is pretty old and it's nearly impossible to tell what temperature the oven is at.  Basically, I was afraid to ruin my dinner by using the broiler and burning my eggs.  I cooked it for about another 10 minutes at 375 degrees until the cheese was melted and the top was set and it was just fine.  If you want to go the broiler route, preheat the broiler and blast it for about 2-4 minutes until the top is set.  I didn't notice that my eggs were rubbery or suffered from having cooked longer though.

  

I also love an asparagus frittata with a little bit of ham and cheese -- it's so delicious with a glass of wine and a nice loaf of bread.  But, because this is basically a beefed up omelette, you can put anything that you can think of in it.  Just be sure that if it's a watery vegetable (such as zucchini or onion, tomato etc) that you cook it first so that your eggs aren't a watery mess!

TWD: Rugelach!

OK, so this is my first Tuesdays With Dorie and I'm excited about it! I was so hesitant to start blogging and the Tuesdays with Dorie blogs were probably one of my biggest motivations to start Singleton in the Kitchen.  So, sorry it's late on Tuesday but I had a huge paper snafu and my schedule got all sorts of messed up . . . and I'm still posting on Tuesday, so yay!

Umm, my memories of rugelach are sort of dry cookies that never seemed to have enough chocolate or sugar for my taste so I wasn't too excited about the recipe. But that all changed once I started putting it all together.  I don't have a food processor and while I do own a pastry cutter, I wasn't particularly excited about making a cream cheese pie dough by hand.  Luckily, my mom got me this amazing immersion blender that has a food processor attachment. It's small . . . but the dough just barely fit inside. The dough came together nicely and I promptly wrapped it up, stuck it in the fridge, and forgot about it.  

I knew that I wanted to change the fillings to suit a) what I had on hand and b) what I like.  I used apricot jam, which I've used before but oddly enough I'd never tasted it.  Well, I tried it tonight and it's great!  I highly recommend it for projects like this -- it's tart and sweet but not overpowering.  I omitted the dried fruit . . . I hate raisins and I didn't have any Craisins or dried cherries around.  I decided that for the first batch, I'd make Dorie's recipe as is, using almonds for the nuts and without the currants.  I did use more sugar and cinnamon than she called for because the dough doesn't have any sugar and I like things on the sweet side.  For the second batch I used shredded coconut and white chocolate chips with apricot jam and the cinnamon sugar.  

Verdict:  the only issue I had was the spillage of the jam (and I don't think I used that much jam). I used a silpat so clean up wasn't an issue but the rugelach stick to each other and everything else.  I'm hoping that this will get better as they cool more.  Also, I made the mistake of letting the first batch cool before taking them off of the sheet and then I ended up having a hardened pool of jam around each rugelach.  Other than that, they're much better than the rugelach that I remember.  I like the white chocolate-coconut ones the best but they're both good.  

Cheers to my first TWD.  I would never have made rugelach otherwise and I'm so glad that I did!

Sunday Funday

Farmer's Market Day.

What do you think of my goodies this week?  I was in Boston last weekend so I missed the market, time to restock!  I find that usually one week I'll get quite a bit and then the next week I don't need as much.  Today Dudley came with me which was super fun in and of itself . . . but also great because he carried my bags back for me!  

So, here's a rundown of my haul:  apples (0f course), small cabbage, broccoli, onions, yellow and green beans (they're very tender and should be fantastic!), one red pepper (and I had to look very, very hard to find it), some green zebra tomatoes, a leek, romanesque cauliflower (darned if the market isn't making me a cauliflower eater), and a loaf of sesame wheat bread.

Yes, I got broccoli; and, yes, I still think that it tastes like astroturf.  I'm thinking about making broccoli slaw though and I do like that.  I also like broccoli cheese soup.  I got lots of lettuce because I ran out of it and I've been craving a delicious salad.  (I caught you a delicious bass . . .)

The farmers market is getting greener and greener and I'm not talking eco-friendly here.  I can tell that winter is around the corner.  Tomatoes are officially gone, I got the green zebras from a stand with the remains of the heirloom tomatoes (that I might add were waaaaay past their prime.  The green zebras are ok though).  I had to look so hard for a red pepper, they're mostly all green (blech!).  There are lots of nuts:  American chestnuts, English walnuts, and pecans. There is a plethora of green:  cabbage, peppers, lettuce, broccoli, leeks, greens of all sorts.  

Happy Sunday!

Of Pumpkins . . . and Pumpkin Cheesecake

When my mom & dad came to visit me and escape the unending power outage of Ike we went to pick apples and we also stopped by a pumpkin patch.  We picked out little pumpkins to decorate with and a medium pumpkin to carve for Halloween but perhaps the most interesting pumpkin that we picked was a Cinderella pumpkin.  The lady who was running the pumpkin patch that day extolled the greatness of this Cinderella pumpkin and its myriad uses:  I could roast it and make soup, pie, or bread.  I like pumpkin soup, I'm ok with pumpkin pie, but I love pumpkin bread!  Once she said that, I was sold!  So, my dad & I picked out the best Cinderella pumpkin we could find (and one that wasn't too big, it is for a singleton, after all!) and brought it home along with the apples and the other pumpkins.  I roasted the pumpkin and I ended up with about 12-14 cups of pureed pumpkin, not bad!

• The inside of the pumpkin:  it wasn't nearly as bad to clean it out as I thought it would be.  I hate cleaning out jack-o-lantern pumpkins because they're so stringy, stubborn, and slimy but this was much easier.  The seeds scrape out easily with a spoon. 

• I roasted the pumpkin at 325 degrees for about 2 hours.  There was a ton of water in it that I dumped out when I was done roasting it!  Then I scooped the flesh out of the shell (super easy) and I had to drain the water out again.  I don't have a food processor but I do have an immersion blender.  I just stuck that baby in the big bowl of pumpkin and it worked like a charm!  

What to do with this abundance of pureed pumpkin in my freezer?  Well, I've made quite a bit of pumpkin bread and hopefully I'll make some more and remember to take a picture of it for a future blog and I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I *blech* didn't like (too, too cakey!).  I really want to make pumpkin ravioli but I need to wait until I have a leeetle more time to do that.  I also need to fetch my pasta maker from the Heights at some point.  I think that pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage sounds fantastic!  I digress . . .

The November issue of Bon Appetit had a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping and Gingersnap Crust and as soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to make it.  I like pumpkin, I love gingersnaps, I like sour cream, and I love marshmallow.  There was only one problem:  I don't like cheesecake.  Thanksgiving at my house is a sacred holiday and it's generally accepted that we do not mess with the desserts (no matter how often I plead the case for Thanksgiving cake) so I knew I wouldn't be making the pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving.  So, I waited for Dudley to arrive and then I made it for him!  

The verdict:  c'est bon!  I had a bite of it and while I still don't like cheesecake, I thought it was pretty good.  The crust is great, the filling is creamy, fluffy, pumpkin-y, spicy goodness, and the marshmallow sour cream topping is fantastic (and it's also essential because mine had unsightly cracks in the top).  I think that it would be a great substitute for pumpkin pie . . . it's super rich though so I guess it depends on whether or not you have a propensity to overindulge during Thanksgiving dinner . . . guilty as charged here.