Our Biannual Dinner with Linda and David

Twice a year we have dinner with our friends Linda and David.  July at their house to celebrate Linda's and my birthday, and the week between Christmas and New Year for our holiday festivities.  It's great.  They love food just as much as we do.  We all go over the top just a bit when figuring out what to cook - always something we wouldn't do unless they (or we) were coming to dinner.  It's a lot of fun.

This year, we decided to do a prime rib and individual Yorkshire puddings.  I was going to do Trevor's popovers, but changed my mind at the last minute.  Actually, I chickened out.  I hadn't made a popover or Yorkshire pudding in a bazillion years and didn't want to publicly screw them up.

We started with a 4-bone rib roast.

I don't remember the last time I did a prime rib other than at some hotel or another where I was working.  I actually may have never cooked one at home before.  And I did mention that there were only four of us, right?!?

The roast went into the oven and the hors d'oeuvres were started.

We started with a baked brie with roasted figs in a citrus glaze.  This was an impulse buy at Wegmans when we were shopping for dinner items.  Victor saw the figs and went wild.  We then picked up a wedge of brie and a star was born. It looked like cheesecake with topping before it went inti the oven.

It was ridiculously good.

And we had crab on cucumber slices.

These were really good, too.

Crab Salad on Cucumber Rounds

  • 8 ounces crabmeat
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 tbsp minced red onion
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme
  • 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cucumber, sliced

Mix first 5 ingredients together.  Add salt and pepper, if desired.

Place on cucumber slaices.  Top with paprika.

We also had a hot artichoke and spinach dip, but I missed getting a picture.

Artichoke and Spinach Dip

  • 1 cans  Artichoke Hearts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 box  frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1/2 cup  Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup  Mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients well and transfer to shallow baking dish.  Broil until bubbly and browned.

And Dauphine potatoes!

These are fun.  One of the hotels I worked in years ago served these all the time.  When I win the lottery I want a commercial kitchen in the house - with a real deep fat fryer!

This recipe comes from Gourmet Magazine.

Dauphine Potatoes

  • 1 1/2 pounds russet (baking) potatoes (about 3)
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • vegetable oil for deep-frying the potatoes
  • coarse salt for sprinkling the croquettes if desired

Bake the potatoes in a preheated 425°F. oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until they are soft, halve them lengthwise, and scoop the potato out of the shells with a spoon, reserving the shells for another use. Force the scooped-out potato through a ricer or a food mill fitted with the medium disk into a large bowl. (There should be about 2 cups riced potato.)

In a saucepan combine 1/2 cup water, the butter, the salt, and the nutmeg, bring the mixture to a boil, and stir in the flour all at once. Reduce the heat to moderate and beat the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes, or until the paste pulls away from the side of the pan and forms a ball. Remove the pan from the heat, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition, and beat the mixture until it is smooth and shiny.

Add the potatoes and beat the mixture until it is combined well. The potato mixture may be prepared up to this point 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. In a deep fryer or large kettle heat 2 inches of the oil until it registers 340°F. on a deep-fat thermometer. Transfer the potato mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip and pipe eight 2 1/2-inch lengths, cutting them with kitchen shears or a small knife, directly into the oil. Fry the croquettes, turning them with a slotted spoon, for 3 minutes, or until they are crisp, golden, and cooked through, transfer them as they are fried to paper towels to drain, and sprinkle them with the salt. Make more croquettes in batches with the remaining potato mixture and transfer the drained croquettes to a rack set in a jelly-roll pan (to prevent them from becoming soggy). The croquettes may be made 2 hours in advance, kept covered loosely with paper towels at room temperature, and reheated on the rack in a preheated 400°F. oven for 5 minutes, or until they are heated through and crisp. If not making the croquettes in advance, keep them warm in a preheated 300°F. oven.

The zucchini boats were just hollowed out zucchini with a carrot puree - cooked carrots, honey, dill, and S&P.  Baked at 350° for 20 minutes.

A simple salad...

And the Yorkshire Puddings...

These were a lot of fun - and gave me the confidence to make the popovers relatively soon.

Yorkshire Puddings

  • 4 large, fresh eggs, measured in a jug
  • Equal quantity of milk to eggs
  • Equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to eggs
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp beef drippings
  1. Heat oven to 450°.
  2. Pour the eggs and milk into a large mixing bowl and add the pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly with an electric hand beater or hand whisk. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Gradually sieve the same volume of flour (as the eggs) into the milk and egg mixture, again using an electric hand beater or hand-whisk to create a lump free batter resembling thick cream, if there are any lumps pass the batter through a fine sieve.
  4. Leave the batter to rest in the kitchen for a minimum of 30 minutes, longer if possible - up to several hours.
  5. Place 1 tsp drippings in a Yorkshire pudding tin or muffin tin and heat in the oven until the fat is smoking. Give the batter another good whisk adding 2 tbsps of cold water and fill a third of each section of the tin with batter and return quickly to the oven.
  6. Leave to cook until golden brown approx 20 minutes.

And then we had dessert.

Okay.  I freely admit that I must have been on drugs when I made these.  My thought process was to make 4 individual Baked Alaskas.  Another thing I haven't made in 30 or so years.  The key word to note here is individual.  Right.

Chocolate Cake

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup grapeseed (or other neutral) oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line sheetpan with parchment paper.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

I started off with what looked like a small cake round.

And then it just went out of control.

I drizzled Blood Orange Syrup on the cake because I needed an excuse to open the syrup we bought down in DC at Cowgirl Creamery.

That "small cake round" was really pretty big.  It took a lot of ice cream to properly cover it.

And then the meringue.

Meringue

  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Whip egg whites until foamy. Add vanilla and cream of tartar.

Slowly add sugar and whip until still and glossy - about 5 minutes.

The final step is to brown the meringue in a hot oven.  One could use a blow torch, but I don't have one.

We split two of them between four of us - and even that was too much!  (Okay - I could have eaten a whole one myself, but I'm a dessert/ice cream pig. And another great thing is we now have more desserts just for us!)

I actually did learn a few lessons with this meal - especially the all-important portioning.  I really did forget just how big those desserts would grow.  I could have made them on cupcake bottoms and they probably would have been just right.

But we had a wonderful time - and that's the most important thing.

And now we get to think about what to get Linda for her birthday...  July is not that far away!


Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Gravy

It's definitely been a while since I whipped up a meatloaf.

No particular reason other than I've just been making other things, but tonight meatloaf called my name.

I make a pretty basic meatloaf.  Nothing fancy.  Which reminds me of when I opened the Westin SFO  many moons ago.  The main hotel restaurant was The Bayshore Diner (where those oval plates came from).  It was an '80s version of a '50s diner and had meatloaf on the menu.  The chef just couldn't make an American meatloaf - they always looked like a perfect pate.  So much for classical training, eh?!?

But I digress...

Ground beef, bread crumbs (from my homemade bread the other day!), chopped onion, garlic, a splash of ketchup, squirt of mustard, splash of worcestershire sauce, an egg, salt, and pepper.  I was in a hurry so 400° for about 40 minutes.

I usually pack it all into a plastic-lined loaf pan and then put it onto a sheet pan to bake.

Mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, frozen spinach.

Tomorrow is Prime Rib and Baked Alaska!

Life is good.


Lentil Soup and Fresh-Baked Bread

It's raining outside.  It started raining yesterday on our way home from North Jersey.  It's been raining ever since.  It's melted all of the snow.  All of it.

But melted snow or not, it's still cold outside.  Damp and cold.  Perfect soup weather.  And fresh-baked bread weather.

We had the perfect ham bone that just screamed for a pot of water and a couple of bay leaves.  It's amazing how so little can give so much.  Victor made the soup.  I made the bread.

Quantities are mere estimates.  Add more or less of something.  It's soup.  It's flexible.

Victor's Lentil Soup

Large Ham bone – most of the meat cut of and coarsely diced

Large pot of water

  • 3 cups Lentils
  • 4 stalks Celery, diced
  • 4 Carrots, diced
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, nimced
  • 3-4 Bay Leaves
  • S&P
  • Tabasco – to taste

Boil the ham bone with the bay leaves a couple of hours.

Add remaining ingredients (except the saved coarsely diced ham).

Simmer, uncovered, until lentils are cooked through.

Add S&P and a generous few splashes of Tabasco.

Remove bone and bay leaves.

Puree about a third of the soup and return to the pot.

Add the reserved ham and heat through.

While the soup was simmering, I made a loaf of bread.  I used the same recipe as a few days ago.  I formed it into a loaf and after brushing with the egg white and water, I generously sprinkled on sesame seeds.  This is a half-batch which makes one loaf:

French-Style Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (l00° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose or hard-wheat flour
  • yellow cornmeal
  • 1 egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into a long, French bread-style loaf. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the top of the loaf diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the top is rapped.

This really is one of the easiest breads in the world to make.  It's quick, easy, and foolproof.

So... Tomorrow we are actually going shopping together.  Victor hasn't been up to the new Wegmans, yet.  This could be dangerous.

We're specifically shopping for Tuesday dinner with Linda and David.  Prime Rib au jus, Yorkshire Pudding (instead of the popovers!), Dauphine Potatoes, Stuffed Zucchini, and Baked Alaska for dessert.  It's going to be fun, because I haven't made any of these things in quite a while.

The danger is the two of us in a grocery store together.  We've been known to spend the GNP of a few small emerging countries when shopping together, which is why I usually shop alone. (Not that I don't keep the economy afloat by myself...)  And we even have a gift card.

It's gonna be fun!


The Feast of the Seven Fishes

It's festa dei sette pesci - Feast of the Seven Fishes. It's an Italian-American (and more Southern Italian and Sicilian than northern) tradition where the family serves seven different seafood dishes on Christmas Eve.

There's a lot of speculation as to where the feast originated, but it's definitely more America-Italian that Italy-Italian where the feast is not something celebrated natioanlly.

Once upon a time, Christmas Eve was a meatless day, so, in true Italian fashion, it became a meatless day with style! But regardless of origin, it's a great tradition and one that I really enjoy. And our Seven Fish were right up there!

It started with Shrimp with both spicy and mild cocktail sauces and a Crab and Whitefish dip...

and went to Linguini with Clams...

to Fried Tilapia...

Baked Cod with Almonds, and...

Mussels with Marinara.

All of this was prepared by my brother-in-law, Tom, who really wasn't feeling all that great. He did better on half-power than most of the planet could do at 110%.

We ate well. Very well.


Playing Catsup. er... Catch-up...

We've been playing with cookies so much, I haven't made time to talk about all the fun things we've been eating besides cookies-cakes-and-candies.  And there's been plenty.  So much, in fact, that I've gained back five pounds.  Victor, on the other hand, has actually managed to drop a couple more. (Note to self:  Stop eating at work!)

I'm not going to worry about it or go crazy.  It's Christmas.  I'll be back on track after the first.  In the meantime, I shall enjoy life!

As we were getting ready to deliver cookies yesterday, our neighbor up the street rang the bell.  She asked if we wanted some lemons.  Her niece sends them up from her Florida garden and they just can't use them fast enough.  Fresh-picked lemons?!?  You bet!  They're beauties!  I have to think of something fun with them tomorrow...

Victor's workload slows this time of year while mine goes crazy - so he's cooked dinner the past couple of nights.

Last night was a chicken picatta with baked mashed potatoes with cheese and fried shallots.  Heavenly!

Very simple.  He cooked and mashed the potatoes, mixed in a bit of parmesan cheese and topped it with the fried shallots.  Into the oven for about 15 minutes.

The chicken was equally easy.  Egg-dipped and then floured chicken breast, fried in a  bit of olive oil.  When it was browned, he added white wine, lemon juice, and capers.  Delish!

Tonight, he made pizza!

This was a fun one because after he made the dough and it was rising, we lost our electricity!  Huge snowstorms, windstorms, monsoon rains... nothing.  Lights stay blazing.  Not a blip.  Perfectly clear day?!?  Electricity goes out.  Figures.

Fortunately, it was only out for about 90 minutes.  Dinner was saved!

The dough is from Lidia's Italian American Kitchen.

L’Impasto per la Pizza

All sorts of people put all sorts of things into pizza dough. I want to give the recipe to you straight, as I had it in Naples--water, flour, yeast, and salt. This makes a soft but elastic dough that is easy to work with. Don' be afraid to stretch the dough when you're shaping it into pizza crusts: for something that feels so soft, it really is quite tough.

Yield: Makes enough dough for four 12-inch Margherita pizzas, two 8-inch square Sicilian pizzas, or fifteen 4-inch calzones

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, and more as needed
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • Olive oil

Directions

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a medium bowl and let stand until dissolved.

Toss the flour and salt together and stir into the dissolved yeast, using a wooden spoon or your fingers, until you have a stiff dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn the dough to coat all sides with oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in volume, about 1½ hours.

Punch down the dough and, if necessary, divide into the number of portions called for in the recipe. Place the dough balls on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly against the dough. Refrigerate until the dough is roughly doubled in bulk. This can take from 12 to 24 hours. Punch down the dough and continue with the recipe.

I made hand-spun pizza for years and this is as close to the dough we used to make at Pirro's that I've ever seen.  Flour water salt yeast oil.  It's perfect.  And it really is tough in that you can really spin it!

Victor opted for the square pizza tonight.  He made the sauce with tomato sauce, tomato paste, a splash of red wine, garlic, and Italian herbs.  He topped it with slices of prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella and salami.  We had a couple of Cento Hot Pepper Shooters on the side.

Delish, again!

One more meal tomorrow and then we head north for Christmas.  Christmas Eve is the Seven Fish.

I'm psyched.


Cookie Trays

The weather is cold but gorgeous out.  It's time to start delivering cookies!  I hate to admit it, but I have consumed waaaay too many cookies again this year.  In fact, I'm afraid to get on the scale - I've been really bad.

Even though we cut way back this year, we still have a lot.  I'm traying them up as fast as I can and we're delivering them all today.

Handmade food and sharing.  And that extra few minutes with the neighbors.  This really is one of the most fun traditions we have ever come up with.

So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!


Beard on Bread, Tim on Chili

 

By far, one of the best bread-baking books out there is Beard on Bread.

The beauty of anything written by James Beard is that he writes in a straight-forward way, gives common-sense instructions, and gives a list of variations.  His basic premise is "you can't screw it up."  I've been following that advice for years.

So after making a big pot of chili today, I thought making some bread bowls would be a fun way to serve them.  It's cold outside.  I can pretty much justify the calories.  Besides, fresh bread is one of life's great pleasures.

My 'go-to' recipe for a quick and easy bread is Beard's French-style (also called Cuban) Bread.  It's a one-rise and into a cold oven bread that has a great crust.  I thought it would be perfect for bread bowls.  They almost were.

I followed the directions and formed into balls instead of loaves and into the oven they went.  They actually rose up more than they rose out, so, while they could have worked, I decided to put the chili in bowls and serve the bread on the side.  It worked.

Here's the complete 2-page recipe and schpiel from his 1973 cook book.

French-Style Bread

French bread, as we all know, has been praised and prized above all other breads in the world for its distinctive crumb, crisp crust, and superb flavor. However, the carefully controlled preparation of it in commercial bakeries is difficult to duplicate in one’s own kitchen. If you are ready for the challenge, you should search out a recipe that is as complete as the one developed by Julia Child and Simone Beck for Volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Their method seems tremendously complex but it is great fun to follow through to the final goal (and once mastered, not difficult to do again); the loaves are startlingly good and genuinely French.

The bread I am giving here is not truly French, and for that reason it is called “French-style.” Actually it could be called “Continental,” because it is very much like the bread one finds in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It has also been known for many years as "Cuban Bread." It is a casual, easy-to-make bread that can be played with in several ways. If made according to the basic recipe below it produces a good loaf ready for eating almost the minute it comes from the oven. It will not hold for more than half a day but, of course, can be frozen.

Yield: 2 long loaves

Ingredients

  • 1½ packages active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 cups warm water (l00° to 115°, approximately)
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 5 to 6 cups all-purpose or hard-wheat flour
  • 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal but not buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places, and brush with the egg wash. Place in a cold oven, set the temperature at 400°, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the tops are rapped.

VARIATIONS

For a wheaten loaf, use half white flour and half whole-wheat flour.

Substitute equal parts of whole-wheat flour and cracked wheat for half of the white flour.

For a more involved, more tightly textured loaf: Use either the original recipe or the whole-wheat variation. After the first rising, remove from the bowl, punch down, and knead again for 5 to 10 minutes. Return to the buttered bowl for a second rising. When it has doubled in bulk, form into two loaves and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Slash with a sharp razor or knife, brush with slightly beaten egg white or water, and place in a cold oven set for 375° or 400°. Bake until nicely browned and hollow sounding when tapped with the knuckles.

Line the oven rack with tiles (see page 12), preheat the oven to 400°, and slide your bread loaves from the baking sheet directly onto the tiles, which have been sprinkled with cornmeal.

Add to the liquid in the first step 4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil and then proceed with either the original recipe or the whole-wheat variation. You may need to use a small additional amount of flour.

Use 1/3 white flour, 1/3 whole-wheat, and 1/3 cracked-wheat. This will give a very nice coarse, nutlike texture to the bread. With this mixture I would advise adding olive oil in the beginning to give tenderness.

© 1973 James A. Beard

Chili is one of those things I just kinda make.  I don't really have a favorite recipe and I more or less make it differently every time I do make it.  I make it with ground beef, cubed beef, stew beef, fresh beans, canned beans, dried beans, whole tomatoes, canned tomatoes, fresh chilis or dried or ground.

It's chili.  Ya can't really screw it up.

This chili was pretty much a canned affair.  Beans and tomatoes were canned and the beef broth came out of a carton.  The beef was real.

Canned beans are a great convenience and I always pick up a can or three when when they're on sale.   While I was actually planning to use dried beans, Victor gently reminded me last night that we had probably a dozen cans of various beans on the shelf taking up more room than a single bag of beans.  I just love a logical man!  Canned beans, it was!  I used Roman beans, cannellini, pintos, pink beans, and red beans.

5-Bean Chipotle Chili

  • 2 pounds beef, cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
  • 2 8oz cans tomato sauce
  • 1 qt beef broth
  • 6 cans assorted beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • salt and pepper
  • cheese and sour cream for toppings

Brown beef (I browned it in bacon grease because I had some from breakfast).  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is wilted.

Add spices and cook to rid them of their 'raw' taste.

Add tomatoes and then broth.  Bring to a boil and then simmer about an hour.

Add beans and simmer another hour or so.

Check for seasoning and serve with cheese and sour cream.

Bread was served on the side.  It was crusty, crunchy, and perfect for dipping and sopping.

And there are leftovers.

Yum.


Re-Purposed Pot Pie

12-19-pot-pie

When I made the crust for the Mincemeat pie the other day, I had a good-sized disk of dough left over.  Into the 'fridge it went.

And a few days ago I made beef soup.  It had rice and beans and other good, thickening things in it.  Had some of that left over, also.

Two left-overs equals one dinner!

This really was a no-brainer.   The soup was just a bit too thin for pot pie filling, so I added some potatoes and then thickened it with a beurre manié - equal parts of softened butter and flour.

I didn't feel like rolling two crusts - a top and a bottom - so I rolled one big one and made it rustic.

Filled it, folded it over, and into the oven at 425° for 30 minutes.

Since it is still snowing outside, it was the perfect winter dinner.  And there are leftovers of the leftovers.  Lunch tomorrow!


Mincemeat Pie

We were talking last night and Victor said he had never had a Mincemeat Pie.  I was surprised.  We've made mincemeat cookies in the past, but, looking back, I couldn't really recall making a pie.

I decided I had to rectify the situation today!

I had most of the ingredients, I just needed a couple of apples and the suet.  Try finding suet out here in "afraid of fat" land.  It's difficult enough trying to find lard!   I wasn't about to drive all over hell and creation for 2 ounces of suet, so I substituted butter.  Close enough.

I also went looking for a recipe and couldn't find one I liked, so I took the best of several and made one up.

And since we still had some lard in the 'fridge, I made a real pie crust - 1 part butter to to parts lard.

12-14-pie-1

Perfect Flaky Pie Crust

  • 15oz flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6oz lard
  • 3oz butter
  • 1/4 cup ice water

Place flour and salt in food processor.  Add lard and butter in small pieces.  Pulse a few times until crumbly.  Add ice water a bit at a time until it forms a ball.

Divide into two disks, one larger than the other, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour.

Mincemeat Filling

  • 2 apples, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup golden raisins
  • 1 cup dark raisins
  • 1 cup dried currants
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 oz shredded beef suet (1/2 cup) (or 4 oz butter)
  • 1/2 cup brandy
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp minced lemon zest
  • 2 tsp minced orange zest
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ginger

Blend together all mincemeat ingredients in large pan.  Cook on low heat until thick.  Cool, then refrigerate.

12-14-pie-2

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 400°F.Place sheetpan in oven on middle rack.

Roll out dough  on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch round and fit into a 10-inch glass pie plate. Spoon mincemeat into shell.

Top with second crust and crimp edges.  Cut steam holes in crust.

Bake until pastry is golden brown, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

12-14-pie-4

The crust was melt-in-your-mouth-flaky.  The filling was just tart enough and not too sweet.  A hint of the brandy and a hint of the spices, but nothing overpowered anything else.

And the best thing about all of this is we haven't gained any weight.  The weight loss has stopped, but we haven't gained anything.

If we can keep this up until January 1st.....


Stollen

Oma's Christmas Stollen

OMG!  You should smell this house right now!  I have died and gone to Culinary Heaven!

I've said over and over that our baking has been the best, ever.  And I'm here to say it, again.  It's the best, ever!

I got the recipe from a friend several years ago and finally decided to make it last year.

The first stollen I made was horrible.  I totally and completely screwed it up.  Don't ask me how - I just did.   I actually threw it all away and re-did it.  It was really good the second time, but this year?!?  Perfection!  Absolute perfection.  Oma guided my hand.

12-14-stollen-1

It started with the dough.  It felt right from the beginning.  Even though I'm a baker, there are a lot of things I've just never baked before, and Stollen was one of those things.

When you bake a lot, you learn how to touch and feel dough.  It speaks to you - you just need to learn how to listen with your hands.  Today it spoke and I listened.  It said "be patient".

It takes a lot longer to rise than the breads I'm used to making.  It also takes longer to knead.  Of course, the breads I'm used to making don't have a pound and a half of butter in them!  Patience.

12-14-stollen-3

I cut the recipe in half because 4 loaves is more than I really need to have in the house.

Oma's Christmas Stollen

This recipe is huge and makes 8 loaves (it freezes well – in Germany, it’s traditional to consume the last Christmas stollen on Easter) so feel free to cut it in half. It isn’t overly sweet and heavy and nasty like traditional fruitcakes – it’s more like a sweet bread, and the butter in the recipe makes it very flaky.

  • 6 pounds flour
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 7 oz fresh yeast (about 80 gr dry)
  • 1 lb golden raisins
  • 1 t almond extract
  • 3 t salt
  • 3 lb butter
  • 1 quart whole milk
  • 1 lb dark raisins
  • 1 lb blanched almonds, ground finely (but not overly fine – you get it)
  • 1/2 lb citron, chopped finely (as above) and floured

In a saucepan, heat the milk. Remove from heat and add butter, sugar and salt. When just warm, add yeast. Put into large mixing bowl and begin to add flour, about five pounds, mixing well after each addition. Stir in raisins, citron and almonds. Add almond extract. Mix well and knead on floured board (dough will be a little sticky – you’ll use probably half a pound of flour doing this, which accounts for the six pound total) until it’s very smooth and elastic (about 20 minutes). Put into a covered bowl and let it rise until doubled. Divide dough into 8 parts and flatten each piece into a circle and fold over *almost* in half – the bottom diameter will be larger than the top. Let rise again until doubled and bake at 350° for 35 minutes. When cool, dust heavily with powdered sugar.

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The house really isn't all that warm this time of year, either.  I let them rise for several hours, formed the loaves, and let them rise, again, for several hours.

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They look beautiful, they smell beautiful, and I know they're going to taste beautiful.

This is our year.  No question about it.

And I think I finally figured out why...  It's because we decided we weren't going to go crazy and bake a bazillion cookies like we do every year.

Just by cutting back and coming up with fewer batches of everything, the stress went away.  Once we decided it just didn't matter, it all fell into place.

There's a few things still planned for the next few days and the weekend.  And when we get to them, we get to them.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

And we are.


Not Cookies For Dinner

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Okay.  I've OD'd on cookies and candy - already!

Well... not really.  I do have a great capacity for homemade sweets.  But I did have to seriously slow down on my tasting.  There really is something about the cookies and candy this year - everything tastes extra-special good.  But man does not live by cookies and candy alone.  Real food has to enter into the equation now and again.

Dinner.

I wanted something quick and easy.  Time to clean out the refrigerator.

Chicken thighs, green mole sauce, canned beans, fondue, sour cream, and a really thick corn tortilla that I picked up at Assi. (They also have a bit of a Mexican section.)

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It was one of those combinations that just worked.  And it wasn't sugar.


'Tis The Season

It just doesn't get any better.