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!

Crack pie

Photo by Benji Shirley

We had some friends over for a pre-thanksgiving dinner (we had to stretch our stomachs in preparation for the real day after all).  I was excited to bake the pie to complete the meal and had planned to make a salted chocolate ganache tart, the recipe for which I'd seen in Real Simple. 

I had gone so far as to buy all the ingredients for the tart and was literally about to begin to prepare it when I found myself skimming the archives of Bon Appetit Magazine online. I stopped skimming and started reading when I saw the words "Crack pie." This pie recipe was created by the pastry chef from Momofuku's Milk Bar in NYC.  The reviews were complete raves and let's just say that that apparently, this "Crack" pie was granted its name for a reason.  Anyways, long story short, I just couldn't resist trying out the recipe.

The filling for the pie is essentially a chess pie (which means that it contains every bad-for-you ingredient imaginable...heavy cream, egg yolks, butter, sugar...) And the crust--I love this--is made from crumbled oatmeal cookie that you pre-bake.

The pie was amazing and rich. It has that wonderful buttery sweet flavor of a sugar cookie, while maintaining a delicious soft, almost custard-like texture in the filling. The oatmeal crust has an almost nutty butter flavor and provides a nice textural contrast for the filling.

Overall the recipe was simple, although I had a little bit of trouble getting the crust to smush together into the pie dish. It worked out eventually, although as you can see from the picture it didn't necessarily fill my deep pie dish.

I'm definitely going to keep this recipe filed away although it is so decadent that I will reserve it for the most special of occasions.

Crack Pie
Recipe from Momofuku, published by Bon Appetit. This recipe can also be found here, at the LA Times, but it's important to note that the LA times recipe makes 2 pies. The recipe I've listed below is based on the one published by Bon Appetit and makes one 9 inch pie.


Ingredients:

For the oat cookie crust:
-9 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
-5 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
-1 large egg
-3/4 plus 2 tablespoons of old-fashioned oats
-1/2 cup all purpose flour
-1/8 teaspoon baking powder
-1/8 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon of salt

For the filling:
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
-6 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
-4 large egg yolks
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-Powdered sugar for dusting pie before serving (I skipped this because I forgot!)

Preparation:

First prepare the oat cookie crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper or a sil pad. If not using sil pad, then oil the baking pan.

Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.

Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy.

Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended.

Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan.

Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.

In a food processor, pulse to crumble the oat cookie; add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Pulse further until butter and sugar are well distributed.

The mixture should be moist enough to stick together.

Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet.

Now prepare the filling: 

Position the rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 F.

Whisk together both sugars, milk powder, and salt in medium bowl.

Add the melted butter and whisk until it is blended.

Add the cream, then egg yolks, and vanilla and whisk until well blended.

Pour filling into crust.

Bake pie 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 F. Continue to bake pie until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still moves a bit when the dish is shaken, about 20 minutes.

Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight.

Note: I made this a day in advance and it was nicely set and chilled. If you think of it, sprinkle powdered sugar on the pie before serving although its certainly not required!

Kale chips

I thought about titling this post "How to make your green vegetables taste like junk food" because really, that is what this is all about.

I must admit that until recently, the autumn kale and greens season was not very exciting to me vegetable-wise. In fact, it was a sad time because it represented the loss of tomatoes, summer squash, basil, and all of those other wondrous flavors of the summer.

But then along came this recipe which was, in and of itself, a game changer. This method of seasoning veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper and baking is just simply amazing. The veggies become crispy and crunchy--like potato chips! They're so tasty that you don't want to stop eating them, and you just might fight with your husband over who gets the last chip.

My only regret is not having learned about this idea earlier on in life. And I don't know--a nutritionist might tell me that this method of preparing greens actually extracts all of the vitamins that exist in the veggies before baking. But I'm quite content living in the bliss of my ignorance.

Kale* Chips, adapted from the Smitten Kitchen blog


Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale (I like dinosaur kale)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

To prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse the Kale, dry, and then chop coarsely & remove stems
3. Spread kale on a cookie sheet for baking (I put mine on a sil pad. If you don't have one of these you might want to use parchment paper, or to oil the pan before placing vegetables)

4. Sprinkle olive oil, salt, and pepper on the kale and mix until the seasonings are well distributed.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the kale looks crisp and delicious.

*Note: I tried using swiss chard once and this did not turn out well. The swiss chard did not become crispy and crunchy. Rather it remained a soggy limp mess. It was a huge disappointment. Perhaps spinach would work... I can't say for sure. I'd be interested to try. I'm also interested to try this recipe using other vegetables, such as carrots. I'm interested to hear about other people's experiences using this idea but with different veggies.

Plum & pear pie without a soggy bottom

This was another winner and believe me the photo does not do the pie justice in terms of its deliciousness. Plus it doesn't reveal the relative simplicity of this pie recipe--but that's where I come in. The recipe for the crust (which goes only on top of the fruit-this is a bottomless pie!) calls for an egg, room temperature butter, and a great deal more sugar than that which you would typically use. As a result it doesn't boast the flakey texture of most pie crusts, but I really didn't miss it. I don't think anyone who tried this pie did either because it disappeared quickly! AND, the fact that I didn't have to worry about keeping the butter cold made it a dream to whip together (this one really is 'easy as pie' to make). My only regret was not having had ice or whipped cream to go along with the pie, but hey there's always next time.

I found this recipe on the smitten kitchen blog but the recipe was originally written by Nigel Slater. He explains that his idea for this pie was born out of the perpetual problem of juicy fruit in pies creating a soggy bottom. Here, the recipe avoids soggy bottoms by  eliminating the base pastry completely. He compensates for the lack of pastry down below by creating an extra thick pastry on top.

One final note: I substituted pears for apples in my pie. My sister in law suggested this, having tried the recipe herself and I have to say that I loved the texture of the pears along side the plums. Plus, I'm a total sucker for pears in pies in general. Having said that I do imagine that apples would taste really good in here too.

Plum and pear pie without a soggy bottom
Adapted from recipe by Nigel Slater

For the top of the pie (the crust):


100 g of butter
100 g of sugar
one egg 
175 g of  flour (I used pastry flour), 
1/2 tsp of baking powder
a pinch of salt for flavor
milk for brushing the crust before baking


For the filling:
about 8-10 plums 
2 pears (or apples)
2-3 tbsp  of sugar
ground cinnamon,

Use a standing mixer to combine the butter and sugar until they become creamy in texture.

Beat the egg then mix in with butter and sugar. Now add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Roll dough into a ball and then place on a floured work surface. Knead for a minute or two until smooth and soft. Wrap in plastic wrap or stick in an air-tight container and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Set the oven at 180C. Cut the plums in half and remove pits.

Cut the fruit into large pieces, toss with the sugar and cinnamon and put into a lightly buttered 9 inch pie dish.

Roll out the pastry on a floured board, not paying too much attention to the shape, and then place on top of the fruit filling. It doesn't matter if the crust breaks as you place it on top of the fruit. Also you may want to cut a slit into the pastry to allow release of air during baking. Also, there will likely be an eruption of the juices onto the pastry which is a good thing, not a bad, and just contributes to the overall deliciousness.

Brush the pastry lightly with milk and bake for 40 minutes Dust with  sugar and serve warm with ice or whipped cream and don't count of leftovers.

Food in Jars

I'm very excited about my newest food blog discovery: Food in Jars. Check the site out. Most of her recipes involve canning in one way or another. They are all quite creative and offer great inspiration. This is an especially timely discovery, since we have just started to discuss and plan the crafty holiday gifts that we will prepare this year. If you're a loved one and reading this, I just might have given you a hint regarding what you can expect to receive in December. Just maybe. But you'll have to wait and see to be sure.

Mushroom ragu and a new cookbook!

Wow- I discovered an amazing new series of cookbooks, Canal House Cooking. You can purchase these seasonal publications individually or subscribe to and receive each volume when it comes out. Volume 5 was just released but I bought volume 2--for now (volume 1 is already out of print. Used copies can be bought on amazon-but for a pretty penny. Whereas the books go for 20$ new, these out of print copies are selling for over 100$ !)

But I can understand why people are willing to pay so much to own a complete series, because the cookbooks are just lovely. The photography is amazing, the colors of the books are gorgeous and the publications have a homemade and scrap-booky feel that is just so comforting in our otherwise clean, glossy, and technological world. I find myself wanting to curl up with this cookbook and just flip through the pages, savoring the images and the colors.

Oh yeah, and on top of all that gushing, the recipes are simple and relatively practical, seasonal, and as I found out tonight, they turn out quite delicious.



I cooked up their recipe for Mushroom ragu on polenta. Here is what they say about this dish:

"We love all sorts of mushroom varieties and this stew lends itself to using a mixture of different shapes, textures, and flavors. If you don't have time to make polenta, serve the ragu over thick slices of crusty toast that have been lightly rubbed with a peeled clove of garlic. Set a poached egg on top of each and grate some parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino over the eggs"


Well it was the middle of the week and I didn't have time to make the polenta and so I went the toasted bread route. I hope to try the polenta version soon, but for now, the toasty-bread/eggy/ragu combo was delicious.

Here's the recipe (with a few adaptations):

For the polenta:
1 cup polenta
Salt
2 tablespoons butter

For the Ragu:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 coarsely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 pounds shitake (or other) mushrooms)
Thyme
2 tablespoons sherry (I used wine and it was fine)
4 whole peeled plum tomatoes from a can
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 bunch parsley leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper

For the polenta, put 5 cups of cold water into a dutch oven. Stir in the polenta and salt to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook the polenta. Stir occassionally until it's tender (probably will be 45-60 minutes). Stir in more water as needed if it gets too thick before it's finished cooking. Stir in the butter and season with salt. The polenta can sit like this while you make the ragu.

For the ragu, heat the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter together in a large skillet over medium heat until the butter foams. Add the onions and garlic and cook these until they become soft and translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occassionally, until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the thyme and sherry. Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand as you drop them into the mushrooms. Then add in the stock, the parsley, and the other 2 tablespoons of butter. Simmer the ragu over medium-low heat until becomes stewy and thick, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Spoon the mushroom ragu over the warm polenta, or the bread if you are using that. 

Raw pizza

You might be saying to yourself, "raw pizza..gross," as images of soggy dough covered by cold sauce and topped with shredded uncooked mozarrella cheese float through your head. But no, this recipe wasn't invented to perpetuate the chipmunk-inspired "raw food" fad. Ovens and elevated cooking temperatures are actually required. In fact, I am calling this a "raw" pizza only because the recipe doesn't ask you to bake the pizza with the various toppings and cheese on top. Instead, you bake your crust, load it up with soft cheese(s), veggies, and herbs and wha-la! You eat it as is. No further baking required. I am a fan of this idea because of the resultant food textures. You have (in theory, at least) a crisp dough and crust, topped with a subtle and soft cheese, and then with herbs and flavorful and crunchy greens and veggies. Yum.

It is perhaps unfortunate that today I had one of those strange moments of ill-conceived inspiration during which I said to myself something along the lines of the following: "Hmm I have a great idea. How about I substitute a different ingredient for everything that is actually listed in the original recipe and hope for the best?" Well I wouldn't exactly call my product the best, but it was good and more than anything else I'd say that my raw pizza pointed to the potential awesomeness that might result if one actually, say, followed the instructions that the recipe provides.

By this point I know that you are gripping your seat and wondering what on earth i did to change around this recipe. Well, please, allow me tell you. Firstly, I changed the flour. The recipe calls for 1.5 cups of all purpose flour. Instead, I mixed together 0.5 cup buckwheat flour, 0.5 cup pastry flour, and 0.5 cup whole wheat flour. Secondly, the recipe calls for 0.25 cup butter. In my attempts to cook a bit more on the healthy side (and despite my proclaimed love for butter that we discussed previously) I substituted 1/4 cup of olive oil for the butter. Third, the recipe calls for rolling sesame seeds into the dough before it is baked. I simply skipped this step completely. Finally, I completely changed the vegetable topping, sauteing spinach and onion with olive oil and lemon juice and spreading on top of ricotta and goat cheeses instead of layering thin slices of zucchini.

I do think that this recipe has a lot of flexibility to adjust, alter and substitute. While I was happy with the flavor of the dough I was disappointed that it was not more crisp. Perhaps next time I will have to return to my use of butter. All in all though I was pleased with this recipe and I definitely plan to revisit it in the future.

In any case the original can be found here, on the Chocolate and Zucchini site.