Butter Pecan Tart

This tart is a real treat!  Brimming with pecans and raisins, all clinging together in a rich caramel sauce. One small slice will satisfy anyone's sweet tooth.

As Always,

ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS

Pastry:

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 1/2 Tbs. sugar

1/2 cup + 3 Tbs. butter chilled and diced

1 extra large egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbs. ice water

Filling:

1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 cup butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup golden syrup

5 extra large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup raisins

4 1/2 cups roughly chopped pecans

a 10 inch springform cake pan

   Sift flour, salt and sugar add diced butter and cut through until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the egg and water mixture, combining until a soft dough forms. 

    Wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll dough out to a 13 inch round. Line cake pan. Prick bottom of crust.  Chill for 10 min.  Bake the pastry shell with pie weights for 10 min. Let cool while making filling.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Put sugar, butter and both syrups in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 min. stirring constantly.  Let cool.

Put eggs in a large bowl and beat well.  Add vanilla.  Add raisins and pecans.  When blended, add the syrup mixture.  Mix well.

Pour mixture into pastry shell and bake for 1 hour.  Let cool before serving.

Recipe from Stephen Bull, Fulham Road Restaurant

Blueberry Crumb Cake

What a wonderful cake to serve to friends at a brunch or just with a cup of coffee.  Equally delicious with a spoon of whip cream for a dessert.

As Always,
ENJOY!

Ingredients

For the crumbs:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the cake:

• 1 pint (2 cups) fresh blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)
• 2 cups plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup sugar
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Method

• Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8x8-inch pan (Pyrex is great for this) and put it on a lined baking sheet.

• To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well, the crumb mix can be refrigerated for about 3 days.)
• To make the cake batter: Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 teaspoons of the flour together just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, the baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts, the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients). You will have a thick, creamy batter. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.
• Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the refrigerator and, working with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs and they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly.
• Slide the sheet into the oven and bake 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.
• Serving: Like all good coffee cakes, this needs nothing but coffee — or tea.
• Storing: Best served the day it is made, the cake can be wrapped well and kept overnight at room temperature.
• Recipe from Dorie Greenspan -Baking from my home to yours.

Stir-Fried Shrimp in an Aromatic Tomato Cream Sauce

This is one of my favorite quick Indian dishes.  So many wonderful flavors, a whole meal in itself!

As Always,

ENJOY!

• Sauce

• 1Tbs tomato paste
• 3⁄4teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4teaspoon sugar
• 1teaspoon garam masala
• 1⁄2teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄8-1⁄4teaspoon cayenne
• 3tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1fresh green chile, finely chopped
• 1tablespoon lemon juice
• 7ounces coconut milk, well stirred (or 7/8 cup cream)

• Shrimp Stir fry

• 3tablespoons oil
• 1teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 10 -15curry leaves (optional)
• 1 1⁄4lbs medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, washed and patted dry

• 1. DIRECTIONS

     1. Make the sauce:.
     2. Put the tomato paste in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar, garam masala, cumin, cayenne, cilantro, green chili, lemon juice, (if using dried curry leaves, add them at this point - fresh go in with the stir fry), and 1 T water.
     3. Mix well. Slowly add the coconut milk or cream, mixing as you go. Set aside.
     4. The sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for several hours.
     5. Stir-fry:.
     6. Put oil in wok or skillet and set over medium high heat. When oil is hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop - a few seconds - put in the garlic and fresh curry leaves, if using.
     7. Stir till garlic turns medium brown and put in the shrimp.
     8. stir till the shrimp turns opaque most of the way through.
     9. Add the sauce, turn the heat to medium and heat sauce through till it begins to simmer. The shrimp should be completely opaque and cooked through. Turn off heat.
     10. From Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking

Warm Chicken Salad

This salad is a great hearty salad.  The kind that can be a complete meal.  All the parts can be prepared a day ahead, and then assembled when ready to eat.

I doubled this recipe and put it on a large serving platter for a party.  Make sure to use a spoon to scoop your dressing from its jar. to get all the dressing ingredients that want to settle at the bottom.

As Always,

ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS

For the Chicken:
One 3-to-4-pound chicken

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Dressing:

½ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon warm water

½ tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ tablespoon whole-grain mustard

½ teaspoon minced thyme

1 shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, grated

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Salad:
12 ounces baby new potatoes

6 ounces haricots verts, trimmed and halved

2 endives, sliced into 1-inch pieces

1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves roughly torn

1 head frisée, stem removed and leaves roughly torn

6 radishes, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the chicken: Preheat the oven to 400°. Tie the legs of the chicken together at the ankles with butcher's twine. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and rub with the olive oil, ground fennel and herbes de Provence. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown and an internal temperature of 165° is reached, 55 to 60 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. Roughly chop the breast, thigh and leg meat, keeping the skin on, and transfer to a bowl. Discard the carcass and pour the pan drippings over the chicken.

2. Meanwhile, make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the salt and pepper until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside.

3. Prepare the salad: In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the potatoes until tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes and transfer to a bowl, slicing in half lengthwise once cool enough to handle. To the pot of boiling water, add the green beans and cook until tender, 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath to transfer the green beans to after they are cooked. Once cool, drain the green beans and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, toss the endive, Bibb lettuce, frisée and radishes with ¼ cup of the dressing. Lay out on a platter; toss the potatoes and green beans with another ¼ cup of the dressing and scatter on top of the lettuce. Top the salad with chopped chicken and serve.

Blood Oranges

My parents have a Valencia orange tree in their backyard.  When I was a child, those were the oranges we ate for lunch at school and squeezed for juice on the weekends. 

Occasionally we had the treat of navel oranges, which are much easier to peel and make lovely segments for eating.

Not until I lived in Italy had I ever seen, or even heard of a blood orange!

The first time I cut one open, I was so shocked, I thought it was a rotten orange.  My Italian friends were surprised I was shocked, and that I had never seen one before.  These oranges are found everywhere in Italy.

To me the acidity of blood oranges is less than a navel or valencia.  It almost tastes like a combination of fruits at times: like orange and strawberry or orange and pomegranate.

When all of our wonderful citrus is in season, try something new.  You would be surprised at the variety you will find at the farmer's market.  Everything from Blood oranges, to Cara Cara oranges(which are pink inside) to lovely little kumquats, and any variety of tangerines.  

Maybe even surprise yourself and select a pomelo, yuzu or citron.

As Always,

ENJOY! 

Graham Cracker Toffee 4

One more level of sweet goodness.......adding chocolate!

I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with this recipe for Graham Cracker Toffee.  Either changing the ratio or type of sugar. 

These delicious treats are Graham Cracker Toffee 3, posted on Feb. 5, 2016.  After the graham cracker with sugar topping came out of the oven, I topped it with a few handfuls of chocolate chips.  Give it a minute or so to soften against the hot treats, and then use a small off-set spatulas to spread it evenly.  Sprinkle with some slivered almonds.  Wait for the chocolate to harden and break into pieces.

As Always,

ENJOY!

Kumquat Sauce

chopped kumquats and fresh squeezed tangerine juice

thickening the sauce

This time of the year, there is such a great variety of citrus available.  It is fun to buy some of those unique dainties like kumquats.  They are wonderful to eat fresh by themselves or slivered and tossed in a salad.

But they are just as wonderful, made into a sauce.  This sauce is wonderful over duck, chicken, Asian ribs, or even try it over coconut crusted fish!

Tangy and sweet at the same time, it will add a wonderfully surprising element to your entrees.

As Always,

ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS

10-12 kumquats, seeds removed, roughly chopped

6-8 tangerines squeezed, juice and pulp approx. 3/4-1 cup

1/4 cup finely diced shallots

1 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 Tbs. sherry vinegar

salt to taste

olive oil or pan drippings

      Cut kumquats in half, remove seeds.  Roughly chop and add to small pot.  Squeeze tangerines, adding all juice and pulp to pot with kumquats.  Heat over medium.  Bring to low boil.

While fruit and juice is heating.  Add  olive oil to skillet ( if making this sauce to go with duck or chicken, you can saute the shallots in the pan drippings), add shallots, heat over medium high.  When shallots become translucent, add sugar, stirring until dissolved, add red pepper flakes, salt and sherry vinegar.  Add warmed fruit and juice.  Cook until reduced by half.  Serve warm over entree, or reserve in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.