Cooking Again

Had the monthly meeting of the SSA here tonight. Refreshments, for the most part, were simple: veggie tray, fruit tray, triangles of Toblerone dark chocolate, white wine and soft drinks.

Those things were all nice and were appreciated (especially the Toblerone) but I also felt that something showing a little more effort was required, so I made bite size quiches. Those were gobbled up and the recipe was requested. I don't usually use formal recipes when I cook, so here's my best guess.

Smoked Salmon Mini Quiches

Dough for one pie crust - or if you want quick and easy, one Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.

1 small onion - diced

1 Tbs butter

Fresh ground pepper to taste

3 oz smoked salmon

3 oz shredded swiss cheese

2 extra large eggs

2/3 C milk

Preheat oven to 350°.

Roll the pie crust out about half as thick as normal. Using a donut cutter, without the hole cutting part in the middle, cut two dozen circles. Use two one-dozen cup mini muffin pans. If the pans are not nonstick, spray with Pam. Line the cups with the pie crust circles.

Saute the diced onion in the butter until just translucent. Grind pepper over the onions and mix.

Remove any skin or icky parts from salmon then break into small pieces and shreds.

Beat the eggs with milk in a small mixing bowl.

Divide the onion, salmon and cheese evenly among the 24 lined muffin cups. Using an eighth of a cup measuring cup, fill the muffin cups to almost full with the egg mixture.

Bake at 350° for about a half hour, until tops are puffed up and mottled with brown.

(No pictures of the mini quiches, they were devoured before I had a chance to snap.)

The Birthday Menu - With Recipes

Flowers, of course, are first, to set the mood. And a silly mushy card (or two or three.) Since the birthday was the Engineer's, the appetizer was roasted pistachios in the shell.

Menu:

• Halibut Florentine
• Roasted Root Vegetables
• Fresh Asparagus
• Bananas Foster flambéed with Wild Turkey (again, this was for the Engineer and Wild Turkey is his signature drink) over Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche ice cream
  

The order of preparation, so that everything gets done at the same time:
1. Prepare the Halibut Florentine and let it wait as you start the roasted root vegetables.
2. When veggies have been in 400 degree oven for about a half hour, slip the fish casserole in beside of the veggie pan. Let both cook for another half hour during which time, clean and prepare asparagus for steaming.
3. Put asparagus on just as halibut is coming out of the oven as the asparagus cooking time and casserole resting time are about the same.
4. Fix the Bananas Foster after dinner has been eaten - it only takes four or five minutes to fix (and you pay the big bucks for it in a fancy restaurant.)

Halibut Florentine
1 lb. skinless halibut
1 medium sweet onion - chopped
10 oz. fresh spinach
8 oz. Jarlsberg cheese - grated
butter
sour cream

Melt a lump of butter in a large saute pan then add onion. Saute until transparent.
Add spinach, in batches as it wilts if necessary, and stir with onions until all spinach is wilted. Let cool somewhat.
Slice halibut into approximately 1/3 of an inch thick slices.
Spray an 8"x8" baking pan thoroughly with cooking spray.
Spread half of the spinach and onions evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Distribute half of the halibut over the spinach.
Cover evenly with half the grated cheese.
Repeat the three layers, then dab teaspoonfuls of sour cream over top of last layer.
Bake in 400 degree for about a half hour, until top begins to brown. Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Roasted Root Vegetables
3 medium parsnips
3 large carrots
5 or 6 small red potatoes
1 large red onion
1 head of garlic
olive oil
fresh thyme
freshly grated pepper

Turn oven on to 400 degrees.
Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Place pan in the oven as it is heating.
Peel parsnips and cut into large jullian.
Put in baking dish and stir to coat with olive oil.
Then peal and cut carrots into large julienne and add to baking dish.
Stir.
Cut potatoes into bite size pieces, add to baking dish.
Add pepper and thyme to taste.
Stir to mix.
Peel onion and cut into quarters, then cut the quarters into halves. Add to pan and stir.
Peel garlic. Cut large cloves in half, add garlic to pan.
If needed, add more olive oil and mix thoroughly.
Mix about every 10 to 15 minutes throughout cooking.

Bananas Foster
2 small bananas
butter
brown sugar
Wild Turkey or other liquor

Melt a lump of butter in a saute pan that is NOT nonstick, just a plain old metal pan.
Add a teaspoon or so of brown sugar.
Peel the bananas and cut in half lengthwise, then cut in half crosswise. Add to pan and cook gently until banana starts to turn translucent.
Turn bananas over and cook until wholly translucent.
Meanwhile, put a scoop of ice cream into two dishes.
Pour about a half a jigger of liquor over bananas and light. Watch the pretty blue flames.
When flames go out, put bananas and pan liquid over ice cream.
Eat immediately.

It's Snowing Again

I think it's serious about it. Sachi went out to see if there was any activity at the bird feeder. She's a brave and sturdy kitty. Here's what I think is necessary on a day like today. This ain't no sissy hot cocoa, it's

Wake you up,
Heat you through,
Grow hair on your chest,
Hot Mocha.

1 cup of left over coffee
A dash of salt
1 spoonfull of instant expresso
1.5 spoonsfull of sugar
0.5 spoonfull of cocoa powder
canned milk

Pour the coffee into a small saucepan on high heat, lightly salt it (really), add the instant expresso powder. When it starts to boil, sprinkle in the sugar, then add the cocoa powder. Keep stirring until it works itself into a roiling boil and almost froths over, then pour in canned milk until it's as light as you like. Cool enough to not burn your tongue and enjoy (once you get over the jolt.)

Mmmm...Bruschetta!

Sometimes when I walk through the deli section of the grocery store, the roasted tomatoes in olive oil and spices call to me too loudly to ignore. Those little buggers are expensive, but, oh, they're tasty.

From there it's a short stroll to the bakery department and the LeBrea bread.

Easy Bruschetta Recipe

Cut thick slices from a fresh Le Brea whole grain loaf.
Toast in oven set to broil until it's as toasty as you like it.
Flip and toast the other side.
Arrange roasted tomatoes on top of toast then pour over some of the oil and spices they were packed in.
Sprinkle generously with freshly grated parmigiana or romano cheese.
Put back under broiler until cheese shreds start popping.
Eat and Enjoy.
In the summer I like to mix the roasted tomatoes about half and half with fresh from the garden tomatoes, makes it even better.

The Proper Usage of Pumpkins

First you catch and kill a pumpkin.

Not just any pumpkin will do, it has to be an eating pumpkin, not a jack-o-lantern pumpkin. Small Sugar, Triple Treat or Winter Luxury (if you can find them) are good bets. If you want to be a cheap and sleazy cheat, you can use squash instead, just make sure it has nice orange flesh.

To cook a small pumpkin, I get out my BIG knife and whack that puppy in half. Scoop out all the seeds and stringy stuff. (If you got a Triple Treat, save the seeds, they don't have shells, so they're great to toast and eat.) Give a jellyroll pan, or a cookie sheet with deep sides, a good spraying with Pam, then put the pumpkin, cut side down, on it. Bake it in the oven just like a potato, 400 degrees for about an hour. It's done when a paring knife slides in easily.

Some pumpkins put out a lot of juice when they cook, some almost none. Don't worry about it, it doesn't make a bit of difference, though if there's lots of juice be careful to not spill it when taking it out of the oven. It's sticky. I learned that little tidbit from personal experience.

Pour any liquid down the drain, then go to work on the pumpkin. Usually, the outer skin will peal off easily. Toss the skin and remove any stringy stuff that may have been missed in the initial cleaning. Cut the meat into chunks and puree it in batches in a food processor.

Now it's ready for whatever use you want to put it to: pie, bread, cookies, cheesecake, bisque. It is also easy to freeze in zipper top plastic bags and will keep for a good long time.

Here's a quick and easy pumpkin bread recipe. You can use one large can of pumpkin if you want, but it just ain't the same.

Pumpkin Bread

(2 Loaves)

4 Eggs

1 cup Oil

2 cups Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

3½ cups Pumpkin

4 cups Flour

2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Soda

4 tsp (altogether - in whatever proportions you like) Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg & Cloves

5 oz Cinnamon Chips

Beat first four ingredient together until light & fluffy. Stir in pumpkin. Sift together dry ingredients and add to batter. Mix until all dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chips. Divide batter into two greased and floured bread pans. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

My personal favorite is pumpkin bisque. If properly bribed, I may be enticed to share it...

The Big Dinner Party + Recipe

Had ten for dinner last night. Geeze o' pete, serving that many people is a lot of work.

Last time we'd had some of them for dinner, I'd cooked a rib roast, so I couldn't do that again. It's too hot in August to make lasagne even if that does serve a lot of people. Ooh, I had a brilliant idea, shrimp creole! There's one in the group who is a picky eater, though, so I figured I'd better run it by her first.

Dang! She shot it down.

I finally decided on Halibut Florentine.

Of course the grocery store was fresh out of halibut.

The final menu:

Antipasto (Smith's Food has an excellent antipasto bar)
Shrimp and cocktail sauce

Green salad (provided by the picky eater)
Tilapia Florentine (about 1/3 the price of halibut)
Vidalia onion casserole
Corn, black bean and tomato salad
Le Brea rolls in assorted types

Chocolate cheesecake (one of my specialties)

Dinner was a huge success, not a morsel of tilapia was left, the onion casserole got raves and the cheesecake was devoured.

I do like to feed people.

And here is the promised recipe:

Vidalia Onion Casserole

5 large onions

1/2 stick margarine

3 tablespoons water

Parmesan cheese

Crispy buttery crackers (Ritz)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Peel and slice onions into rings. Saute in margarine and water until opaque. Pour half of onions into a 9" x 13" casserole dish; sprinkle half of almonds over onions; cover with Parmesan cheese and sprinkle with crushed crackers. Repeat in layers. Bake uncovered in a 325-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

A Great St. Paddy's Day Recipe

Irish Oat Bread

2 ½ C Oatmeal
2 C Buttermilk or sour milk
3 C Flour
1 Tbs Brown sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking soda

Soak oatmeal overnight (or a minimum of 3 hours) in milk.

Sift together other ingredients and combine with oats. It will look too dry, but don't worry. Knead for a few minutes until a smooth dough forms.

Press dough into 1½ inch thick circle.

Cut deep cross in top for heat penetration.

Place in greased pie pan.

Bake 34 to 40 minutes at 450.

Serve warm.

This Recipe's a Keeper

The local small chain grocery store is having a killer sale this week. The best loss leader IMHO is the 24 ounce package of chicken legs or thighs, 11 for $10, or 91¢ per package. Wow! I'm stocking my freezer with chicken this week.

I looked in the pantry to see what I might have to go along and found some red lentils. Hmmm...

Went to Epicurious.com, typed in red lentil, and found a recipe for Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew With Garbanzo Beans. The name's almost as long as the whole recipe.

Unless I'm baking something new, I use the formal recipe as a guideline and wing it, so here's how I made a great winter evening dinner:

Wash and trim chicken thighs. Pour a little olive oil into a big skillet and saute the chicken on both sides until browned.

While chicken is browning, chop a couple of ribs of celery and some carrots, put in pan with chicken. Chop a jumbo onion and dump it in too, then mince some garlic and add it to the pan. Add a couple teaspoons (just guessing here) of sweet curry powder (from Penzey's) and stir well.

Transfer the chicken to a baking pan with rack and place in a 375° oven. Raise the temperature to around 400° for the last five minutes or so, this will produce nicely crisp skin.

(Using what I had on hand...) Zap a bag of frozen spinach in the microwave until melted. Add to pan along with one bag of fresh spinach and two cans of chicken broth.

When it comes to a boil, add a can of garbanzos and a generous two cups of red lentils. (It's gotta be red lentils, ordinary brown or green lentils don't taste the same, and take more liquid and time to cook.) Cook about 12 minutes.

Using two cans of broth instead of the three in the original recipe produced a less soupy dish than the Epicurious picture, which was good because the Engineer doesn't like "au jus."

Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt along with the chicken thighs, crusty whole grain bread and a green salad.