Broccoli Cheesecake
I love my emails from La Cucina Italiana. In fact, they may be just about the only non-family-and-friends emails I do like.
I'm getting old and crotchety. Constant barrages of Buy Now! Save! Limited Time Offer! and Exclusive! Just For You! drive me up the friggin' wall. Contrary to the statement that the more I spend, the more I save, the less I spend, the more I save. I get enough alternative facts from The White House - I don't need them in my inbox.
As I hit delete without ever opening, I do stop and look at La Cucina. I may not make anything they're highlighting, but it gives me a few minutes to remember where I'd rather be - under an olive tree in Sicily...
Because the emails are all in Italian, I rely on my limited Italian, pictures, and Google Translate to get the gist of them. It can lead to some interesting reads and occasional confusion.
Today, there was a recipe for a cauliflower cheesecake. How could it possibly be bad? Only thing was - I didn't have any cauliflower. Or robiola cheese. I did, however, have broccoli. And Boursin. A plan was in the making.
Here's the recipe - translated by Google:
Cauliflower Cheesecake with Anchovy
- cauliflower florets 400 gr
- robiola 200 gr
- creamy white cheese 150 gr
- rusks 100 gr
- fresh cream 50 gr
- butter plus a little '40 gr
- nonfat yogurt 20 gr
- Flour 15 gr
- 2 eggs
- anchovy
- salt
- pepper
Set aside a few houseline cauliflower to complete, the rest do not boil it in salted boiling water for 6-8 '. Drain the florets and cut into slices. Crumble the toasted slices with butter and impastatele getting the bricioloni. Lined with parchment paper the bottom of a springform pan (ø 19 cm, h 8 cm) and buttered the edges.
Spread the butter mixture on the bottom and partly on the edge, pressing so that good compact. Mix the soft cheese with the cream cheese and flour; then add the yogurt, cream, eggs, salt and pepper: you will get a fairly liquid cream.
Spread a thin layer of cream in the mold then add the cauliflower slices, cover with the rest of the cream cheese and bake at 180 ° C for 35-40 '. Remove from the oven, let cool, misshapen, completed with raw florets kept aside and cut into slices with a few drops of anchovy. Then served sliced.
After you've done this for a while, it actually makes sense. Grams to ounces is extremely easy - we learned this conversion back in the '70s - and the rest of it is just using your basic cooking skills.
My version took on a bit of a twist... Broccoli and mushrooms in place of the Cauliflower, Boursin in place of robiola, breadcrumbs and panko mixed in place of the rusk, no yogurt, and no anchovy.
I used a 6" springform pan, baked at 350°F for 40 minutes, and probably could have let it go another 10 minutes. But the flavor was outstanding!
I also topped it with some of the leftover breadcrumbs from the base. Extra crunch is always good.
And then to compliment the cheesecake, I made an Italianesque Pot Roast. Red wine, tomatoes, basil, oregano, radicchio, onion, porcini mushrooms... the basic flavors...
I plated everything up and called Nonna in for dinner. I was a bit unsure of how she was going to react since she generally doesn't like new things, and her first reaction was what?!? cheesecake for dinner?!? when I told her it was a broccoli cheesecake. She didn't say anything, pushed it around her plate a bit - and then proceeded to all but lick her plate clean.
She liked it. A lot.
And it was good! Very simple to put together and really worth the time to make.
I can see this concept used for any number of vegetables - and since it's served room temperature or cold, summer's going to be fun!
Corn Cakes
Cooking Light arrived the other day with a recipe for Corn Cakes with Bacon and Turmeric Yogurt. It sounded like something I needed to try.
Naturally, I couldn't just follow the recipe as written - I wasn't up to cutting corn off the cob, for one, and didn't feel like dicing a yellow squash - but the bacon and green onion part sounded good. Especially good with Mexican Style Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese.
Yeah, I cheated big-time.
The end result was pretty good, though - and the future corn cake possibilities are pretty endless. I didn't go for the turmeric yogurt sauce, either. A dollop of sour cream worked just fine. The lazyman's guide to fine cooking...
Corn Cakes
- 3 strips bacon, chopped and fried
- 1 bag Mexican Style Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 3 eggs
- S&P
Cook bacon. Add corn to pan and heat until sauce is mixed in. Let cool.
Stir in cheese packet, green onions, and cornmeal. Add eggs and S&P to taste.
Drop by scoops into skillet and cook about 2 minutes per side.
I fried them in a goodly amount of oil, but probably could have done them in a non-stick skillet with just a hint of oil and gotten a better look. However, they really did come out good - and there's lots of possibilities with this - any diced veggies from the garden will work, for sure.
Have fun with it!
Oven Braised Artichokes
I saw artichokes at the store this morning. Purple, even... At 99¢ a piece, I had to get a couple.
When we were kids, artichokes were steamed and the leaves dipped in mayonnaise. That was the one and only way to eat an artichoke that I knew. They were grown just south of San Francisco in what is now Serramonte - they liked the combination of sun and fog down there. That was pre-freeway, pre-shopping center, and pretty much pre-history. There isn't 10 square feet of land left down there to grow anything.
Over the years I've learned to cook and eat them in any number of ways - Victor stuffs them or we steam them and have any number of fun dipping sauces, but this is the first time I oven-braised them. It shan't be the last!
I wanted to find something a little different - and I did! These are a take on a Martha Stewart recipe I found online.
Oven Braised Artichokes
adapted from Martha Stewart
- 1 lemon
- 6 artichokes
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp minced garlic (from about 5 cloves)
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a large bowl, juice lemon. Fill with water and add the lemon back in.
Trim tough outer leaves of artichoke and peel stem. Trim off top, slice in half, and remove the fuzzy choke.
Quickly place in lemon water.
Drain artichokes and place, cut side up, in a wide, shallow ovenproof pan. Pour wine, oil, and water over artichokes and sprinkle with garlic, herbs, red pepper flakes, and S&P. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in oven. Braise until artichokes are tender, about 45 minutes.
Drizzle with the pan juices, and enjoy!
They were pretty outstanding, if I do say so, m'self! Lots and lots of flavor, the heart and the stem were tender, and the leaves had a mildly-garlicky, herby slightly spicy hint to them. They really were good.
I used a Pinot Grigio - my white cooking wine of choice - and it imparted just the right flavor. Sicilian olive oil - of course - and the red pepper flakes came from peppers in our garden last summer. The amount of garlic may seem excessive, but it works - with no harsh garlic taste.
It doesn't get any better...
Well... actually, it does... Victor's birthday is Wednesday. I just made a Walnut Cream Cake that originated in a kitchenware/cafe named Bon Appetit in Philadelphia years - and years - ago.
Details at 11. Or Wednesday night...
Butternut Squash and Candied Bacon
Ya know what it's like when you've cooked the same things over-and-over-and-over?!? Of course, you do. We all do. It's the infamous dinnertime rut.
It's rather amazing that I am surrounded by food all day, have at least three cooking magazines delivered to my door every month, have a couple score of cook books, and an internet connection with access to several million - billion?!? - recipes - and the same things keep getting cooked.
The Dinnertime Rut.
I just broke it. Well... I put a snag in it, anyway...
I've been looking at the December/January issue of Fine Cooking magazine thinking there are easily a half a dozen recipes that could fill the rut holes - and that's not counting the Italian cookies!
The first one I decided to try tonight was Butternut Squash with Kale, Cranberries, Hazelnuts, and Candied Bacon. The title had me at candied bacon, but, naturally, I had to take their idea and rearrange things to fit our tastes.
First off, I think kale sucks. I'll eat it if I have to, but at best, I just tolerate it. And please don't bother sending me your favorite you won't believe it's kale recipes. I'm over it. And second, I pretty much never have hazelnuts in the cupboard, but I always have pistachios. They're pretty different, but I'm a rebel.
Substitute 1 = Spinach for kale
Substitute 2 = Pistachios for hazelnuts
Substitute 3 = Smoked Maple Syrup for brown sugar
Yeppers, boys and girls... In making the candied bacon, the recipe calls for brown sugar. I just happened to have a bit of Sugar Bob's Smoked Maple Syrup left, so I used it. It was ridiculously good.
Candied Bacon
- 12 oz thick-sliced bacon
- 6oz smoked maple syrup, regular maple syrup, or brown sugar
Preheat oven to 400. Line a sheet pan with foil and place a rack on the pan. Dip the bacon in the maple syrup and lay out on the rack. Bake about 6 to 8 minutes. Brush with more syrup and continue to bake until the bacon is brown and glazed - another 10 or so minutes.
Put the sheet pan under the broiler and broil the bacon until the sugars bubble and you start drooling looking at it - another couple of minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Candied Bacon. I've seen it but I've never made it, and now I'm wondering why it took me so long. I had twice as much as I needed for dinner tonight, so the rest has gone into the 'fridge. Victor will probably have it finished off before dinner tomorrow. It's crazy-good.
The finished dish was spectacular. The flavors melded together perfectly, there was just enough crunch from the pistachios and sweetness from the cranberries and squash. And the smokey-chewy-sweet-bacon pieces sent it right into gastronomic heaven. It did take a little time but it was time well spent. The biggest surprise was that Nonna actually cleaned her plate. She's not an adventurous eater, by nature, but she all but licked her plate clean!
So the rut is getting slowly filled in. Let's see what tomorrow brings...
Oh... and I'm linking to the original recipe and not copying it, here...
Sautéed Shredded Cabbage and Squash
I married a man who doesn't like cabbage. I mean, Victor has a bazillion or two other redeeming qualities, but every now and again, I miss my cabbage.
He's tried... He's even made me one of the best stuffed cabbage dishes, ever - courtesy of Ina Garten. But truth be known, if he never saw it again, he really wouldn't be all that upset.
And then we planted cabbage in the garden. Just a couple of heads, but, there it is.
That's a bit of a game-changer! It's one thing to eschew something at the store. It's another thing entirely when it's growing in your backyard. I don't think either of us really thought we were going to get actual heads of cabbage. Imagine our surprise when we did!
Naturally, if it's in the garden we have to eat it, so I started looking for some recipes, today. I wanted something that would pretty much hide the cabbage intensity and quickly found a recipe from the New York Times.
It's a mixture of shredded cabbage and shredded winter squash - in my case, it was a delicata - along with rice, eggs, and cheese. How could it be bad?!?
Sautéed Shredded Cabbage and Squash
adapted from the New York Times
for the vegetables:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound winter squash, peeled and shredded
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ¾ pound green cabbage, shredded
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
for the gratin:
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup low-fat milk
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup rice or barley, cooked and cooled
- 2 ounces Gruyère, grated (1/2 cup)
- 1 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup)
put it together:
Start your rice.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet or a wok and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the shredded winter squash and the garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until not quite tender, about 10 minutes, and add the remaining oil, the cabbage, sage, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.
Continue to cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375º and butter a 2-quart baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir in the cooked grains and the cooked vegetables.
Add the cheeses and stir everything together, then scrape into the prepared baking dish.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the gratin is set. Allow to cool for 15 minutes or longer before serving. The gratin is good hot, warm or at room temperature.
I used dried sage and thyme - I always have dried herbs on hand - and cut the amount back to 1 teaspoon each.
The flavor was very much like that of a stuffing - and both Victor and Nonna loved it! Victor actually said I could cook it any time I wanted! That's a pretty big compliment from a non-cabbage-liker!
It really is full of Autumn flavors and I think it would be great for Thanksgiving!
Methinks we shall be making this, again!
Tomatoes
We have not had a bumper-crop of tomatoes, this year. I had visions of canning tomatoes, Victor making sauce with fresh tomatoes from the yard...
Ain't gonna happen.
I think part of the problem is the bed where we've been planting them. It's not getting the sun it used to... Too many big bushes and trees in the neighbor's yards are encroaching. One of those double-edged swords... They're perfect for privacy, but Mr Sunbeam is being blocked, as well. I've had to augment with store-bought heirlooms. At least they're local Pennsylvania, but it's just not the same.
Methinks that next year we'll be doing a raised bed in a different part of the yard and expanding the offerings...
In the meantime, we have had a few good peppers that I canned and set aside for possible Christmas offerings - if we don't eat them all, first...
We've had a few lush years and hope to see a few more while we're here.
Tonight I baked chicken breasts with cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs from the yard and did a tomato salad with the store-bought's. I mixed the tomatoes and juices from the chicken with some really big, fat pasta noodles, hit it all with some cheese, and called it dinner.
Not bad, at all...
Rice Cakes and Creamed Chicken
I was doing a bit of blog-maintenance, today, and came across a rice cake I made last year. It sounded good, so I decided to make them, again.
I need to check my back posts more often - there are a lot of fun things on this site. I guess I've been in a bit of a rut with the holidays and all... Plus the weather hasn't been cooperating... I'm in soup and stew mode but the weather isn't.
But January usually invigorates me. Not for the New Year Resolutions, because I don't make any. I've found the quickest route to failure is writing out resolutions. I just like the calm that comes after the holidays - and the weather is usually conducive to baking bread and settling down by the fire with a good book - or, my Kindle with a thousand or two books.
I'm beginning to find that while I love my Kindle for reading, I merely like it for cook books. I like it in the kitchen with a recipe, but I like holding a cook book for gathering ideas. Then, again, I like being able to have a score of cook books in my hand at any given moment, but sitting on the couch surrounded by cook books is heaven - until I have to put them away. It's a conundrum, for sure...
Cook books are great for ideas - as are websites, blogs, newspapers, and magazines. I usually find it easiest to take an existing idea and play with it, rather than sitting down and starting from scratch. It's why I have a difficult time making the same thing twice the same way...
Tonight's rice cakes are a prime example... last time I made them I used a shredded cheese and sage. this time I used Boursin. They came out great!
Rice Cakes
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1/2 pkg Boursin cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 cup bread crumbs
Cook rice in 2 cups of lightly-salted water and a pat of butter for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Place rice in a bowl and mix in cheese and egg. Add salt & pepper, if desired.
With wet hands, form into patties and dredge in bread crumbs.
Fry in grapeseed or other neutral oil until crisp on one side, flip, and cook the other side.
Leftover rice works, also.
The chicken is the most basic of basic dishes. I cut up 2 chicken breast and cooked them in 2 cups of chicken broth. I added a cup of heavy cream, a cup of frozen fava beans, and a cup of frozen mixed vegetables. A pinch of salt and pepper, and a pinch of poultry seasoning were all it needed, herb-wise.
I thickened it a bit more with some cornstarch. Simplicity.
2015 is just a few days away and I foresee another year of totally joyous recipes to talk about and share...
I can't believe it will be ten years since I started this. It's been a lot of fun. I wish I had taken screenshots of all of the various looks this blog has had in 10 years. I think I may have to look for some pictures...
Labor Day Indoor Picnic
As a kid, Labor Day was my all-time-least-favorite holiday. It meant the following day was the first day of school.
I hated school. Really. I was not one of those kids who just couldn't wait to write my dissertation on "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." I was good at it. I got straight A's. I just didn't like it. I started looking for the holidays. First one was Admission Day - usually just a couple of days after school started. Then Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, and Glorious Christmas Vacation.
I lived for my holidays. Hated school.
Growing up, Labor Day was a pretty big deal. There was a huge parade down Market Street. Labor. The people who made things, built things. They were hardworking men and women - mostly men, though - who not only laid the tracks for the streetcars, but also made the rails. The guys who built the skyscrapers with steel made in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. The guys who collected our trash, sold us our groceries, waited on us in restaurants, and changed the linens in our hotels.
Labor was the EveryMan. My father was a union firefighter. I was in what was then Local 44 and Local 2 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers union. Big Brother was a Stationary Engineer and as Chief Engineer ran some of the largest and most high-profile buildings in San Francisco - and a member of Local 39.
During the ensuing years, I found myself on the management side of the table, but I never took for granted the people who were making it all happen. I fought for tools and supplies so people could actually do their jobs properly. It's amazing what results one can achieve by simply having the right equipment! And I fought layoffs and do more with less. It was inconceivable then, and it's inconceivable today to expect perfect results from two people doing the job of 8 or 10.
In my last job before moving east, I was having a bit of a discussion with my new boss about department needs, budgets, increasing staff - normal corporate BS from a for-profit hospital - and he asked me where my loyalties lay, with my staff or with the corporate office. I smiled and told him they laid with the patients. I got the budget I needed and a staff who routinely went above and beyond. I did end up firing the son of my shop steward, but that's another story for another day...
For the last 20 years or so - probably longer - there has been a real smear-campaign against organised labor. As minimum-wage non-union jobs with no benefits have become the norm and corporations continue to move operations - and headquarters - overseas to avoid paying decent wages and taxes, the worker has become the scapegoat. Instead of getting mad at the union worker for negotiating a better salary, perhaps more people should follow their lead.
And I really wasn't thinking a treatise on Labor, this evening. My mind really was on how much I hated school. Well... hating school and a great dinner. More of my mind was on the dinner...
I had picked up some porterhouse steaks and planned on making baked beans and potato salad to go along with them. Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted macaroni and cheese, as well. It's a holiday, right?!? Go for it!
We'll start with Mom's Potato Salad.
Mom's Potato Salad
- potatoes (russets, yukon gold, red bliss)
- pickles
- hard-cooked eggs
- celery
- shredded carrots
- mayonnaise
- catsup
- mustard
- garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
Mix and chill.
That is it. Perfect, every time.
Then there were Phoebe's Baked Beans
These are the only baked beans I ever make.
Phoebe's Baked Beans
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste – I never have puree in the house!)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
- 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans
Preheat oven to 300°.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.
And Macaroni and Cheese...
I just made a really small batch - enough for 12, probably - but small compared to what i usually make.
Make a basic white sauce – on the medium/thin side. Add a shot or two of worcestershire sauce and a shot of tabasco. A bit of garlic powder and salt and pepper. Stir in whatever cheeses you have. Tonight I used cheddar and monterey jack. Mix in your cooked elbow macaroni. Put into a buttered casserole, top with buttered bread crumbs, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and the crumbs have browned nicely.
Then, of course, the steaks.
I did a store-bought coffee rub. It was good.
Three of us did not finish those off. We have leftovers. We have leftovers of everything, in fact. Lunches and side dishes are ready for the week.
Labor-saving.
Pork Tenderloin and Fava Beans
Frozen fava beans. Who woulda thunk?!?
I really like fava beans but they're not easy to come by out here in the sterile Philadelphia suburbs. Frozen Dried favas are really only good for mashing or for soup - they're just too mushy - but the frozen seemed to be pretty good.
Favas hail from the Mediterranean, so I thought I'd give them a Mediterranean twist - Pancetta, Marsala, and Parmesan.
I simply fried up the pancetta, added a splash of Marsala, a nice pinch of marjoram, and then the beans. I covered the pot and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. When they were cooked through, I stirred in about an ounce of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.
They went onto he plate and were topped with slices of grilled pork tenderloin that had been marinated in Marsala, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and marjoram.
I've always liked Marsala - Veal Marsala was my birthday dish when I was a kid - and I can't wait to get to Sicily and actually be where it originated. I have a feeling I shall be bringing several bottles back with me! I want to see the Ambra, the Oro, and the Rubino - I want to check out a Marsala Stravecchio – a wine aged a minimum of 10 years in oak. I think I could have a lot of fun with a bottle of that.
We brought back champagne and cognac from Paris, and apertivos, digestivos and liqueurs from Italy. I think this trip will be a variety of Marsalas and other local wines. Even though I don't really drink, I can appreciate a good beverage and can't wait to get into our kitchen and peruse the organic garden that will be at our disposal. Who knows... maybe there will be fresh fava beans!
65 days until we take off!
Potato Puffs from Down Under
I need to make time to update this thing a bit more often! We're cooking and baking like there's no tomorrow - and nothing is getting posted!
Shame on me.
I guess the main reason is we're cooking and baking like there's no tomorrow. It takes time to sit down and write about food - and baking cookies is so much more fun - especially when one is a lousy typist.
Later today I think I'll do a cookie column and highlight some of the fun thins we've done. And we have ham from our friend Mike in South Carolina that is hitting the dinner table, tonight.
In the meantime... Victor was in the kitchen last night and what a treat it was! He got a recipe from his friend Roy in Australia for a potato dish baked in muffin tins and it seemed like a natural to go with some Dover sole...
We don't eat a lot of fish in our house. We both love it but I just never ate a lot of it growing up. My mother wasn't a fan other than fried shrimp or petrale sole in a restaurant once in a while so it never became a childhood taste memory. Our Catholic non-meat Friday meals were tuna or mac and cheese - homemade - not from a box. I never had a fish stick - still can't eat them. Fish is always something I have to actually think about buying - and we all know how well I think.
So with some Dover sole thawing and me working a bit late, Victor took over in the kitchen.
The extremely thin pieces of fish went under the broiler with butter and lemon zest for maybe three minutes. It's a flash-cook, done when the rest of the meal is already plated. But the start of the plate was the potato puff.
They're like a potato souffle only a lot easier to make.
Potato Puffs
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 heaping cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 tbsp grated parmesan
- 2 tbsp chopped chives or parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly butter 8-9 wells of a muffin tin. Whisk the eggs with the sour cream. Stir in cheeses and chives/parsley. Add the potatoes and mix well. Spoon them into the cups filling them to slightly below the top. Bake for 25-35 minutes until they pull away from the sides of the cup and are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cook 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve with additional sour cream, if desire.
The potatoes came out great. Victor made them in a larger muffin tin and switched out the cheese to an Italian 4-cheese blend. They baked just under 45 minutes. Most excellent.
We shall be doing these, again...
A simple, rockin' dinner.
Bacon Jam
Okay. Stop what you're doing right now and make this. Really. And make at least a double batch. Really.
I have just found my new favorite food. Really.
My friend Katja mentioned this on Facebook the other day and had the recipe in her notes. I read it and knew I had to make it immediately. It's funny, because while I like bacon, I tend to like it as bacon - with eggs at breakfast, on a burger or BLT - and leave the chocolate-dipping and crushed over cupcakes to someone else.
Yet, when I read the recipe I knew I had to make it right away. It hit all of the right buttons. Part of it was definitely the ingredients - this is food-science at its finest. Frying, caramelizing, smoke, sweet, acid, spice - and the brilliance of coffee, one of my most favorite ingredients in soups and stews. Another part was imagining all I could do with it. My mind goes into serious overload, sometimes, when I start thinking about what I can do with something. It's why I pretty much never make the same thing twice the same way. There's just too many things to eat to keep making the same things the same way all the time...
But I digress...
I decided to start off with a double-batch - I had that much confidence that it would be fabulous. And I was right - it is fabulous!
I started it at 3pm and planned on putting some on top of the pork chops we were having for dinner. Dinner is at 5 o'clock sharp, because Nonna needs her routine, so instead of pureeing it boiling hot, I just spooned some onto the chops.
O.M.G.
It was thick, gooey, sweet, smoky, just a tad spicy and rich beyond belief. A little of this will go a long way. Victor took a bite and immediately thought of adding it to baked beans. I went with a cheeseburger. But a couple slices of bread and some lettuce and tomato would work, too.
I'm wishing I had a pressure-canner because I'd love to make a lot and give it out as gifts - water bath would not work with this. Maybe I'll have to speak with Santa.
In the meantime, grab the ingredients and make it. Tonight.
Here's Katja's recipe. I used regular Tabasco and added some smoked paprika.
Bacon "Jam"
- 1 lb. smoked bacon (or use regular bacon and add liquid smoke) **
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 3 T(ablespoons) brown sugar
- Tabasco sauce to taste **
- 1 c coffee
- 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 maple syrup (BUY THE GOOD STUFF)
- black pepper to taste
- extra water
In a non-stick pan, fry bacon in batches until beginning to brown and get crispy. Once cool, cut into 1" or so pieces and set aside. In SOME of the rendered bacon fat, sautee onions and garlic until translucent. Transfer all of the onions and bacon to a heavy based pot or cast iron pot and all the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine; simmer over med-low heat for 2 hours. Every 25-30 mins, stir pot and add water (as needed). "Jam" should be thick and void of liquid when finished. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Using a food processor, pulse to desired texture. Serve almost any way you can think with bacon: on a burger or chicken burger, on a BLT, on any sandwich, really, etc.
** I used TJ's bacon ends and pieces and chipotle Tabasco to add the smokiness
I really do see this as being a regular item in the 'fridge.
Alsatian Potato Pie
I was perusing a Huffington Post food slideshow the other day. You know how they are - 101 ways to cook [fill in the ingredient] or 9000 ways to bake a chocolate cake. Some of them are good, others?!? I don't think so.
The fun thing about them, though, is they can send me off into the Neverland of recipe. One click leads to another leads to another... Somewhere or somehow, I ended up on Martha Stewart's site with an Alsatian Potato Pie staring at me. It sounded so ridiculously good that I had to try it.
I'm really glad I did - it's ridiculously good!
The concept is thick-sliced potatoes, cooked until barely tender, and then layered in puff pastry with leeks and cheese. Later, after it has baked and is almost done, a heavy cream reduction is poured in.
My kind of recipe!
I have to admit I could have sat down and eaten the entire thing, myself. It was ridiculously good.
This is loosely adapted from Martha...
Alsatian Potato Pie
- 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- Black pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 medium leek, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
- 1 (14 ounces) frozen puff pastry, (such as Dufour), thawed
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used a block of pepper jack)
Cover potatoes with water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add a pinch of salt; cook until just tender, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain. Let cool.
Bring 1 cup cream, the garlic, and nutmeg to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook mixture until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.
Cook leek in butter until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400°degrees. Set 1 sheet puff pastry on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Add the potatoes, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around and overlapping potatoes slightly. Top with the leek mixture and cheese; season with salt and pepper. Cover with remaining dough and gently press edges with a fork to seal. Cut 2-inch slits lengthwise in center of crust, 2 inches apart.
Bake pie until golden brown and puffy, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Pour cream mixture into pie vents with a funnel. Bake 10 minutes more. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
Did I mention it was ridiculously good?!?
Everything about it was just slightly over-the-top. This may become a cold winter night staple.
It was ridiculously good.
Sharing the plate was a thin-sliced chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto. I quickly sauteed it in a drizzle of olive oil and then set the pan under the broiler.
Ridiculously good.