Happy new year fruit salad

Every January 1 we eat a home-cooked brunch. This year we had lots of friends over and prepared all sorts of delights: pancakes, cheese grits, frittata, biscotti... It was fun and delicious-the perfect start to 2011. One of my personal favorite things that we made this year was a fruit salad that consisted of stewed dried fruits and pears. It was delicious-we ate it on top of our pancakes, but I imagine that it would be great on top of ice cream, alone with a bit of whipped cream, or even straight out of a jar.

This recipe is an adaptation/combination of the winter fruit salad on the smitten kitchen blog, a fruit compote that my mom makes, and poached pears. This time I used the spices that were suggested in the winter fruit salad recipe (star anise and vanilla bean) but I imagine that there are many others that would be delicious in addition to these or in combination with them (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg...)

Happy new year stewed fruit salad

Ingredients

8 cups of water
4 star anise
6-8 large pears, cut into quarters (I used a combination of Bartlett and Bosch)
1 vanilla bean, split down the center lengthwise
About 20 dried apricots, cut in half

About 10 figs cut in quarters
About 10 prunes cut in half
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups of granulated sugar


To make the salad

(best prepared the day or night before you intend to eat the salad so that the fruit have time to stew and then cool in the fridge)

1.) Combine the water, sugar, star anise, vanilla bean, and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove top, and allow all of the sugar to dissolve, stirring occasionally.

2.) Once the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat off and add the dried fruits and pears to the mixture and transfer to a slow cooker. Slow cook the fruits for 2-3 hours.

(If you don't have a slow cooker, you can simply slow cook the fruits/sugar water mixture at a very low temperature in a sauce pan on the stove top--put a lid on top of the pan).

3.) Once the pears are soft but not falling apart, transfer the mixture to a jar or bowl, and once cool enough, place in the refrigerator to cool. The next morning, enjoy your fruit salad on top of pancakes, ice cream, or on their own.

Note: The morning on which we ate our fruit salad we reduced some of the liquid from the fruit salad in a sauce pan on the stove top until it became a thick syrup. We used this as a delicious spicey syrup for our pancakes, in addition to the fruit. YUM!

Apples atop pancakes makes for a delicious Sunday brunch

And yes, we are still working through the bushels of apples that we acquired in Asheville. This Sunday, we made regular pancakes, with regular milk rather than buttermilk to make a lighter pancake.


Then we peeled and chopped a few apples, threw them in a buttered saucepan, which we placed on medium heat, sprinkled in a bit of cinnamon for spice effect, and PRESTO: delicious topping for delicious pancakes.

YUM!


PS: That's whipped cream on top of the pancakes in the first picture. Double YUM.

Melt-in-your-mouth cakes

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say. Whether or not this aphorism holds true in the kitchen is a matter that remains up for debate. Nonetheless we played by that rule when we planned and prepared our pancake brunch this past Sunday.

Earlier, I wrote about about our favorite buttermilk pancake recipe, from the Joy of Cooking. That recipe is so pancake-flippin' good (couldn't resist the pun, sorry) that it's hard to even consider deviating from the standard. But last Sunday morning, my eyes wandered to our Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook that has been gathering dust at the bottom of our shelf, and I thought I'd see what they had to offer in terms of pancake ideas.

Considering the 2 bushels worth of apples that we had (and still have) sitting on our kitchen floor, and then the nearly past due container of cottage cheese that was becoming dangerously close to growing a green mold on its surface, I thought that the cottage cheese apple pancake recipe seemed appropriate.

As it turns out, venturing into the great unknown of the pancake world was a really good thing. These pancakes were delicious. And perhaps I already ruined the punchline with my "melt in your mouth cakes" title, but really, these pancakes do melt in your mouth. I think that this has to do with the fact that there is very little flour in the recipe, and the batter consists mainly of egg and cottage cheese. At the same time, they're not very heavy because, again, they are made mainly of egg and cottage cheese.

Don't get me wrong. I'll definitely return to my buttermilk pancake recipe. But I will also try this one again too. Guess maybe there is something to the adage: variety can add some spice.

Cottage cheese apple pancakes, adapted from Moosewood cooks at home

Note: This recipe only makes enough pancakes for 2 people. I might consider doubling this recipe next time around. I suggest you do the same if you're planning to feed 2 or more hungry people.

1-2 apples, grated
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
(Note: You could probably experiment with the spices in this recipe, ginger might be good)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon butter

Peel, core, and grate the apples into a mixing bowl. Mix in the cottage cheese, eggs, spices, maple syrup, and salt. Sprinkle in the flour and sifted baking powder and stir well.

Butter a heavy griddle or nonstick skillet and place on medium heat. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto hot skillet to make each pancake. When bubbles form on the tops and the bottoms are browned, flip pancakes over and brown them on other side.

Serve immediately topped with your favorite jam or syrup and enjoy the melt in your mouth not in your hand sensation.

Challah french toast

There's no better Sunday morning than one on which you sleep late, stumble out of bed, make yourself some good strong coffee, and then follow those first sips of coffee by cooking brunch in the kitchen. That's precisely what we did this morning, and it was fantastic.





One of our favorite things to make for brunch--now-- is french toast. I must say "now" because, growing up, I wasn't a french toast fan.


But I think that I know what the problem was: the bread. The trick to making really good french toast is to find yourself some really good, fresh bread.



We've experimented with many types: multi-grain, sourdough loaf, plain ol' white bread...and today we used a nice loaf of challah. I think that this was my favorite, or at least it makes it to the top of my list. It's not so much the flavor of the bread as it is the texture.


You see, many loaf breads are just too wimpy. You dip them in that nice eggy mixture and they just dissolve. Challah on the other hand, well, there's a bread that is up to the challenge.



For our recipe, we generally adapt the Joy of Cooking recipe for french toast:

Whisk together in a shallow bowl:
-2/3 cup milk or half and half (Note: I actually like to use butter milk)
-4 eggs
-2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup (go for the maple syrup if you can!)
-1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 tablespoon of rum
-1/4 teaspoon salt

One at a time, soak both sides in the egg mixture:

-8 slices white sandwich bread (um...try challah instead!)
-Butter as needed

Brown the bread on each side in a hot well buttered skillet. Serve hot sprinkled with confectioners sugar (or affectionately smothered in maple syrup and topped with a dollop og whipped cream)

Big Apple "Pancake" for brunch with the sisters

My sister who now lives in Asheville, NC was in town for a brief visit, but she had time for only one meal--brunch. She and my other sister contemplated eating out but I insisted that we stay in. This way, I could try out a new recipe on them!

I had recently been perusing old archived Gourmet Magazine recipes, as a tribute to the canceled magazine. One that immediately caught my eye was their Big Apple Pancake recipe, especially since apple season is now in full swing. It sounded (and looked) delicious and my sisters are generally exceedingly patient when it comes to my trying out new recipes on them.

Well this recipe did not disappoint. It was relatively simple to execute, tasty, and a little bit different from your standard brunch fare. The one comment that my sisters had was that the product does not really taste like a pancake; it's more of a cross between a sponge cake, frittata, french toast, and a pancake. Regardless, this apple whatever-you-call-it is worth making. I highly recommend it, and I'm definitely going to keep this recipe on file for future brunches.



Below is the recipe. I skimped on the butter a bit and used 2% instead of whole milk, and the pancake still turned out splendidly. I'd like to try using buttermilk instead of regular milk next time.

Big Apple Pancake, recipe from Gourmet Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 large sweet apple such as Gala or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-wide wedges
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Confectioners sugar for dusting

Special equipment:

• a well-seasoned 10- to 11-inch heavy cast-iron skillet or other ovenproof skillet

To prepare:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
• Melt butter in skillet over moderate heat, then transfer 2 tablespoons to a blender. Add apple wedges to skillet and cook, turning over once, until beginning to soften, 3 to 5 minutes.

• While apple is cooking, add milk, flour, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt to butter in blender and blend until smooth.
• Pour batter over apple and transfer skillet to oven.
  

• Bake until pancake is puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately.