Carrot Souffle

It's badly kept secret that The Professor doesn't much care for things of a vegetable nature. Pretty much any plate of food I give him is met with a "You just had to put the vegetables in there, didn't you?".

One of the few exceptions to this - if it's even an exception - is sweet potato casserole. With a maximum of butter, brown sugar and cloves. Two of those three pretty much negate the benefits of giving him vegetables in the first place...but it's better than nothing. Right? RIGHT?!?

So when I fixed a carrot souffle for a small dinner party a few weeks ago, he immediately thought he was getting sweet potatoes. I didn't disillusion him until he'd taken a few bites, and then he had stopped listening. I *think* he heard the word "Carrots"...but sometimes it's hard to tell when he's paying attention.

The comments on Recipezaar - from whence this recipe comes - mentioned that even carrot-haters love this dish. Which means I'm going to have to make The Best Friend eat it at some point, just to see if it's true. Even if I have to trick her into trying it.




* 1 1/2 lbs carrots, sliced
* 1/2 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used Splenda)
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to taste - I definitely used more, but didn't measure)

• Add carrots to a saucepan; add water to cover; bring to a boil; cook 20-25 minutes or until tender; drain.
  
• Add carrots, butter, and the rest of the ingredients to a food processor.
• Process until mixture is smooth.
• Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart souffle dish.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until set.
  

Note: Remember how I didn't have a food processor? Well, that hole in my heart has been plugged. The Bestest Friend gave me one for Christmas! And this was the first thing I made with it.

Baked Perch...I swear!

Fish. I love it. I'm not that great at cooking it. Mostly because all I really know how to do is throw on some lemon pepper, pop it in the oven and call it a day. Ok, there was the dish I made in here. And then my Salmon Masterpiece. But salmon is really more like meat than fish. Is there anyway to really make salmon inedible? Cook it and it's yummy.

Perch, on the other hand...

I don't know what made me purchase the perch. (HA! That alliteration just made 1 semester of the English degree worth the pain). But it was there, and I thought: "I should eat more fish. Fish is healthy. I can cook that."

Then I got home and stared at it. For many minutes, before I realized that maybe? Fish shouldn't sit on the counter that long. So I put it in the fridge and did what I do best: I researched.

Somehow, this is what was created. I've given it the creative name of "Baked Perch topped with Sauteed Vegetables". Because I'm creative that way.

The picture looks like a vegetable stew over rice, with maybe a hint of cheese in there somewhere. But I swear there's fish under there. Somewhere. And who knew that cheese went with fish? Just typing that, I cringe. But the final dish was amazingly good.



Baked Perch topped with Sauteed Vegetables Ingredients

4	perch filets
2	cups fresh spinach, chopped
8	oz mushrooms, sliced
14	oz can diced tomatoes, Italian flavored, undrained
1	tbsp olive oil
1	garlic clove, minced
1	small yellow onion, thinly sliced
	rice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
   
   
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add onions and cook over medium heat until deeply carmelized.
   
   
3. Add mushrooms and garlic, and cook until they have released their water and it has evaporated.
   
4. Spray glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and lay Perch filets skin side down.
   
   
5. Add tomatoes to the onions & mushrooms and heat until boiling. Season with salt and pepper.
   
   
6. Stir in Spinach leaves and stir until they are mostly wilted.
   
   
7. Spoon vegetables over Perch and Bake for 10 minutes or until the fish is almost done
8. Top with 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese and pop under broiler for a minute.
   
   
9. Serve over rice.

Reliving Thanksgiving Dinner

I was lucky enough to cook a full Thanksgiving meal this year (which also means, unfortunately, that I didn't get to spend the day with siblings or parents or my sister's pumpkin cheesecake creation, but we're focusing on the positive here). All the usual suspects were on the table: turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, rolls, green beans, cranberry sauce (my first attempt!), apple pie... what am I forgetting?

Here's the scene in my kitchen, circa 2 PM Thanksgiving day:



Which somehow transformed into this, circa 4 PM:



The unusual plates are part of my Christmas present from The Professor; he's been going to a co-workers ceramics studio and making me dishes! There are more to come, but I couldn't resist using them for dinner. The Beloved Stepson was a little hesitant - I believe his exact quote was "Are you sure they're safe to eat off of?".

You can also identify The Professor's plate by the spreading of cranberry sauce - it's his favorite dish, and he started serving before everything was ready. :)

Dinner was a smashing success, and I think I have finally conquered my fear of homemade gravy. It seems that butter really DOES cure all ills, because that's how I've started the last few attempts and they've all gone well. This time, I kept it pretty simple:

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a large skillet.
Add 1/2 cup flour and whisk to form a roux.
Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until it turns a medium brown.
Add your pan drippings, or as much stock as you like - this time, there was about 1 1/2 cups drippings from the turkey - and whisk constantly until it's simmering.
Add 1/2-3/4 cup skim milk and whisk until it's a uniform color and simmering merrily (but not boiling).
Voila! Gravy - after much whisking - is born!

Dutch Apple Pie

My grandmother set a pretty high bar for apple pies in our family. And I can hear you out there thinking "so did my mother" or "so did my aunt's godmother's second cousin", and I know that you think you have experienced the best apple pie ever. But luckily for you, I've had my grandmother's apple pie, which gives me the credentials to tell you that ... well, you're wrong.

She tried to teach me how to make her crust a couple of times...but I was around 16 years old and was probably wasting time dreaming of my new boyfriend instead of soaking up her buttery wisdom. And really, with fruit pies...the crust is 99% of the battle.

One thing I'm sure of? She didn't ever use vodka in her pie crusts.

Six months or so ago, my mom sent me an article from her local paper talking about why you should make your pie crust with vodka. (Apparently, it is not-so-secret family secret that I look for reasons to pull out alcohol?). Last week, The Beloved StepSon asked for apple pie for Thanksgiving...and I just couldn't pass up the chance.

I did my best to follow the recipe - cutting it in half, since I only needed one crust - but she lost me at "place flour in food processor", since I don't own one. Have you noticed that all pie crust recipes tell you to use that magical machine? I was excited when Deb mentioned that she prefers to make hers by hand, because...that's pretty much my only option. Does anyone else have a pastry cutter?

Where was I? Vodka. Right.

Well, we haven't actually eaten the pie yet, but I made the leftover crust pieces into little cinnamon sugar treats (another lesson from my Grandma). And they puffed up when I baked them. I'd like to say they were yummy - but The Professor found them while they were cooling. And the rest is history.

As for making a good apple pie - I seem to remember reading once somewhere that you need 2 kinds of apples - one that will fall apart and hold together the other kind, which will be more firm. Since I had 3 Gala apples and 6 Granny Smiths in my fridge, I decided that I liked the way that person thinks.

But really - the key is butter, sugar and cinnamon. The crust is half butter (I used butter in place of the shortening in the pie crust recipe), with a little cinnamon. The filling is half sugar with some cinnamon, with eight cups of apple slices thrown in to give you a reason to eat all the butter and sugar. The topping? Half cup of butter, half cup of brown sugar, 2 Tbsp cinnamon.

The result?

That Cookbook Thing II

So here I am. Where have I been? Not in the kitchen enough, obviously – or at least, not enough with my camera. But I’m back – over a week late – for the next round of That Cookbook Thing II, where we present you with: Tournedos Sautés Chasseur, or – when spoken without a French accent - Filet Steaks with Mushroom and Madeira Sauce.

This recipe rocked pretty hard for The Professor (although I’m going to have to work hard to find anything else in the book as scrumptious as that chicken dish we did last time). All in all, it’s a good thing that we can’t afford to eat like this every day, for two reasons:

1) I can’t afford that much filet (or tournedos, or whatever similar cut I can find), and
2) Julia = copious amounts of butter.

How in the world have the French avoided massive rates of heart disease? Oh…I bet Julia didn’t spend every waking minute in front of a laptop.

This was startlingly easy – I guess after roasting and setting a chicken on fire, I was expecting something that would require me to be in the kitchen for hours. But this was more than manageable on even a week night.

I’m not going to go into the entire process – Mike’s done a great job of that. And my fellow bloggers have made some great suggestions that I was able to take shameless advantage of:

• Mike and Shaun both commented that the sauce was too tomato-y, so I cut it in half.
• Ruth – I noticed after the fact – made the most perfect looking little potatoes to go with it.
  
• Like Sara, I used sherry instead of Madeira because that’s what I had on hand.
• I haven't done an analysis, but I know that at least one other blogger used filet instead of tournedos - that being what I could find. I asked the butcher at Publix if they made bacon wrapped filets and he promptly did, which kept me from buying a pound of bacon and then "making" myself eat the rest so it wouldn't go bad. God, I love bacon.
  

I also had a lonely red bell pepper that needed something done with it before it committed suicide, so I roasted it in the oven while I cooked and then sliced it up and served it over the top. I don’t care if this makes every French person in the world scream in agony – I love roasted red peppers, and I’ll put them on just about anything.

So now it must be time for pictures. Well, I don’t have any of the finished product – my batteries were all dead and I was too hungry to wait. I got a couple of action shots, though:

The bread, soaking up butter:



The mushrooms, having already soaked up more butter:



The filets - rocking away in yet more butter:


We had nice mixed baby greens salad to go along with it.
And now, if you will excuse me, I have to go run 102094 miles to burn off all that butter.

Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

I love using those canned cream soups in cooking. A pot roast cooked in a crockpot with cream of mushroom soup makes some of the best gravy ever. Add a can of cream of chicken soup to some cooked noodles and steamed vegetables, and you really don't need much besides a few dashes of pepper. But I've always studiously avoided the ingredients lists on those cans. Why? A few examples:

monosodium glutamate
disodium phosphate
"spice" (and that would be???)
maltodextrin
modified corn starch

But it always seemed like something to live with. I have to pay taxes. I have to spoil my cats. And I don't have a substitute for canned, condensed soups.

But do you know how easy it was to discover I was wrong on that last one? As long as it took to type "homemade condensed cream of chicken soup" in Google and hit send. And look-y what the Very First Result is:
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_cream_chicken_soup

And do you know how incredibly simple this was to make? Of course you don't, because you weren't here when I made it. Here, I'll show you:

Step 1: Mix some stock, milk and seasonings in a pot and boil:



Step 2: whisk together some milk and flour:



Step 3: Combine the two, whisk, boil.



Done! And it took me about 10 minutes from start to finish - and I bet about 1 minute of that was because I took 7 pictures. It might not be quite as fast as getting a can out of the pantry and opening it. But it's darn close.

Cheesecake Tarts

Is there any food more wonderful in this world than a good cheesecake? Maybe a perfectly cooked steak (that's medium rare, by the way). Or perhaps a fresh croissant, purchased fresh from a Parisian boulangerie. Even better, my mother's fried pork chops with homemade macaroni and cheese.

But none of those are things I've cooked recently, and since I have cooked some cheesecakes, we're gonna go with that. Okay?

Last week, we had a little shin-dig at work for a lady who's moving away. We all brought multiple dishes - and we had enough leftovers for two more days! - and one of mine were cheesecake tarts. (Tarts being a little more finger-food friendly than an entire cheesecake).

Like so many of my attempts lately, these need a little tweeking. They were a little too tangy, and not quite enough cheesy - but they disappeared, and that's all my soul needs to feel redeemed.



Graham Cracker Crusts:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used honey grahams this time, but either will work)
• 1 Tbsp Splenda (or sugar)
• 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

Cheesecake filling:

• 2 8-oz blocks of cream cheese, softened (I used fat free)
• 1/4 cup Splenda (or sugar)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (ditto on the fat free)
• 1/3 cup plain yogur (ditto on the fat free)
• 1 envelope gelatin
• 1 cup boiling water
  

The crusts:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Line 18 cupcake tins with papers.

Mix together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir in melted butter, and mix until it's completely incorporated.

Evenly measure the graham cracker mixture into each cupcake tin. I did about 1 Tbsp-ish, then went back and filled in what was left. Pack firmly down into the bottom of the tin.

Bake for 8 minutes and cool completely.

The filling:
Pour boiling water over gelatin.

In a mixer, blend together cream cheese and Splenda until fluffy. Add the sour cream and yogurt.

Add the gelatin, and mix just until thoroughly...mixed.

Divide evenly among the 18 cups.
Refrigerate overnight.

Kitchen Cuttings

I have saved a whole bunch of recipes this week. Too many for me to ever cook. But so goes the internet. I have got to find a better way to organize all the recipes that I come across. I have folders and sub-folders, and some recipes go in more than one place...but that's my own little addiction.

Mrs Micah's Greek Chicken with Indian Rice - two recipes for the price of one, both of which I know The Professor will love. I may have to move this to the top of my rotation soon, since chicken's on sale this week.

The Leftover Queen's Mozzarella Stuffed Portabellas and Tomatoes au Gratin will be on the list for The Bestest Friend. Putting the word "stuffed" into the title of the dish makes her immediately begin salivating. One of the many reasons I love her.

This isn't a recipe, but for the wine snobs out there: First you had to deal with screw top wine bottles. Now it's boxed wine that might actually beat the quality of the old cork-topped standbys. Breathe deeply before following that link.

Remember the French Silk Pie I posted earlier this week? This recipe for Chocolate Custards was the runner-up in the menu decisions. Warning: Nicole's pictures can cause weight gain in and of themselves.

And if you've ever gone to PF Chang's, had their lettuce wraps and wondered how hard it is to come up with something: Wonder no more. It's astoundingly easy.

Frittata, or: How To Empty Out Your Fridge

My parents came over for breakfast last Sunday morning. That's a rare treat - they live a few states away, and I don't get to cook breakfast nearly enough (hint to friends and family: I love cooking breakfast. And Pies. Maybe even Pies for Breakfast?).

Where was I?

So, my parents were coming over. I had some some red bell pepper strips, some yellow bell pepper strips, a half a yellow onion, a half dozen eggs, a pound of sausage. A cabinet full of herbs.

I debated between making this and Baked French Toast. But I would have had to thaw the French bread for the French toast.

So that's how I made my decision.

The Frittata was awesome. I'm totally going to brag on myself here. It was awesome. Served with a salad, it was the perfect brunch. Well, I didn't serve Mimosas, so maybe it wasn't the perfect brunch. But that's ok with me - it gives me something to strive for.

This isn't really a recipe - it's more like mixing odds and ends with some beaten eggs and cooking it. But here's my basic process. I use one skillet - my iron skillet - for everything.



Cook up about 1/2 pound of whatever meat you have - diced ham, sausage, bacon, etc ( I had sausage). Drain sausage in a colander, bacon on paper towels. Do NOT, please for the love of holy grease, do NOT wipe out the skillet. While the meat's draining:

Saute about 1-2 cups of vegetables in the iron skillet. I used about a cup of mixed red and yellow bell peppers and a half cup of onion. While that's cooking:

Whisk six eggs in a medium bowl with a little milk. Add in some dried basil (or dill, if you're a dill fan). I don't measure here, so just flow with me. Then I grabbed some garlic powder, a few twists of fresh ground black pepper, and a pinch of salt. Whisk it all in. Then dump in about a half cup of shredded cheese - I used Colby Jack.

Put the sausage back in the skillet with the peppers and stir around. Pour the egg/cheese mixture over the top and stir around to make sure egg is surrounding everything. Now, put your spoon aside and let it cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes - you want the eggs to be done on the bottom. In the meantime, heat your broiler.

When you're ready, put the entire skillet under the broiler until the eggs are done all the way through (About 4 or 5 minutes). Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese over the top and pop back under the broiler for about a minute.

Cut into wedges and serve.

French Silk Pie

My first experience with a French Silk Pie was a Shoney's special as a kid. The chocolate curls on top were always my favorite part, with the whipped cream underneath of them being a close second. The chocolate pie part was ok, too - But I was really in love with the chocolate and whipped cream. And now that I've made the real thing, I know why: the pie was little more than a heavy pudding with whipped cream on top. Good, but totally missing the point.

After trying out Nicole's recipe for French Silk Pie, I've decided that whipped cream and chocolate curls are optional. This filling is what French Silk Pie is supposed to be - light, silky, chocolately.

I've made two of these so far - the first one didn't have as much height as I liked, so the second time I added a couple of whipped egg whites to make it even fluffier. I also used a graham cracker crust - there's just something about graham crackers and chocolate. I wish someone would write a diet book that had nothing but chocolate and graham crackers. And Diet Mt Dew.

I used a combination of milk chocolate and 80% cacao chocolate because that's what I had in the house. I have enough chocolate for one more pie. I think I should make one soon so I don't get out of practice, don't you?

The leftover piece of the first attempt:



French Silk Pie

9" graham cracker crust
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 oz milk chocolate
3/4 oz 80% cacao chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature (that's very important!)
2 large egg whites, room temp (ditto!)

Make your pie crust: There's a good basic one here. Make sure it is completely cool before pouring the filling in later.

Melt your chocolate: I did this in a glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water. Set aside and let cool.

Cream butter and sugar until light yellow and fluffy. Keeping the beaters...beating...drizzle in the chocolate and vanilla, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add one egg and beat for a couple of minutes before adding the second and beating for another 2-3 minutes.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold gently into the chocolate mixture.

Pour filling into pie shell. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto surface. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Immediately before serving, spread whipped cream on top, along with chocolate curls if you have 'em.

Notes: This does have raw eggs, which doesn't bother me in the least. I made the first one with pasteurized eggs, and the second with regular ones. The first pie wasn't as fluffy - but it didn't have the egg white either. And I haven't died yet from raw eggs. Yay me!

I was blown away by how simple this recipe was - the hardest thing was melting the chocolate. If you buy a pre-made crust, the filling can easily be done in under 30 minutes.