Salmon Avocado Crackers
Easy-to-make hors d’oeuvres for warm weather entertaining.
ripe avocado
fresh-squeezed lemon juice
fresh cilantro leaves, a few minced, the rest coarsely chopped for garnish
salt
rice or almond crackers
smoked salmon
lemon zest
fresh ground pepper
Coarsely mash avocado together with lemon juice, a few minced cilantro leaves, and salt to taste. Spoon onto crackers. Top with salmon, cilantro leaves, lemon zest and fresh ground pepper. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Honey-Glazed Raisin Pecan Muffins
2 c. white rice flour (gluten-free)
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1 T. baking powder
2 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 c. Greek yogurt (full-fat)
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. honey, plus extra for glazing muffins
2 lg. eggs
1 c. mixed jumbo raisins
1 c. chopped pecans
muffin papers or foils
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with papers or foils.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter, 1/2 c. honey, and eggs. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and then stir with a mixing spoon until no dry spots appear. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
4. Divide batter between muffin cups, mounding batter up in the center of each muffin and rounding with the back of a spoon. (Batter will stand above the top of the muffin pan.)
5. Bake for 20 – 23 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove muffins from the oven and immediately glaze each with about 1/2 t. of honey, spreading honey with the back of a spoon. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Muffins are best served warm with a bit of butter or jam. Enjoy!
Have a lovely weekend!
If you are like me, you start planning your Thanksgiving menu a month in advance. Chanterelle Risotto with Truffle Butter is a dish that I like to prepare around the holidays, because it is deliciously rich and decadent. So I thought that I would post this recipe early to give you time to consider including it (or some variation) in your holiday planning. (In the U.S., Thanksgiving is one month from tomorrow – but no pressure!) Buon appetito! 
Chanterelle Risotto with Truffle Butter
makes 6 first course servings
1 oz. dried Chanterelle mushrooms
hot water
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 c. Arborio rice
2 oz. dry white wine or Scotch*
3 c. chicken or vegetable broth
crushed hot red pepper**
2 slices cooked duck bacon, chopped (omit for a vegetarian risotto)
1/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (loose, not packed down)
2 – 3 T. truffle butter
1. Wipe or rinse any grit off the Chanterelles. Place mushrooms in a small bowl, cover with hot water and soak for about 20 minutes. Reserving the liquid, strain the mushrooms. Strain the reserved liquid into the chicken or vegetable broth. Chop mushrooms. Set aside.
2. Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 T. of the olive oil, then swirl oil around pan. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently until tender and almost translucent. Remove onion from skillet. Add the remaining 1 T. olive oil and rice to skillet. Stirring frequently, cook until the rice is evenly coated with oil and starts to turn golden. Stir in the wine or Scotch. Allow the rice to cook until the liquid is almost entirely absorbed. Meanwhile, in a medium pan, heat broth until simmering. Cover and keep it at a simmer until you have finished cooking risotto.
3. Raise the temperature under the skillet to about medium-high. Add enough broth (about 1/2 c.) to cover bottom of skillet. The skillet should be hot enough to allow the broth to keep simmering. Stir occasionally. Continue the process of adding small amounts of broth and letting the rice absorb the broth. When rice is about half-cooked, stir in mushrooms and onions. Continue adding broth and cooking rice, until the rice is almost cooked and the broth is almost absorbed. (If you run out of broth, simmer a little water to finish recipe.)
4. Shortly before rice is done cooking, sprinkle lightly with hot pepper, then stir in duck bacon.*** Add a hunk of truffle butter to risotto. Stir vigorously to melt and to distribute evenly. Stir in freshly grated Parmesan cheese until melted. Taste. Adjust seasonings (salt, pepper, cheese) if necessary. Serve immediately.
Notes:
* Scotch is not traditionally used in making risottos, but the flavor blends well with the mushrooms and duck bacon and does not overwhelm the truffle butter. For a more traditional risotto, use white wine.
** How much pepper you should use depends on your pepper. I usually use crushed, dried Chenzo peppers from my garden, which are very hot, and I only use about 1/8 t. You want to use enough so that there is just a faint heat to the flavor of the dish. Err on the side of adding too little pepper. You can always add more when you adjust the seasonings.
*** When the risotto is finished, the rice grains should be just somewhat tender but still distinct in shape and texture – and definitely not mushy. Recipes often call for risotto to be al dente, but I find that sometimes people undercook the rice in an effort not to overcook it. The rice should be creamy not crunchy. Keep in mind that for a short while, the rice will continue cooking from the heat of the risotto. Achieving the proper degree of doneness might take a little practice. A finished risotto should be a bit loose and jiggly in consistency, but not runny or liquidy.
This morning I noticed that my cilantro has been growing quite nicely with the relatively cool weather that we have been having, so I decided to pick a bunch to make Chimichurri Sauce. (Once it gets hot, cilantro goes to seed quickly.) Chimichurri Sauce is an Argentinian condiment that is traditionally served on grilled meats, especially grilled steak. It can also be used as a marinade, dipping sauce or salad dressing. Shown above, I have served it on a grilled portobello mushroom with salad greens and avocado. Yum! I hope that you enjoy the recipe!
Chimichurri Sauce
2 c. fresh cilantro, packed
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T. chopped yellow onion
1 fresh Fresno chili pepper, chopped
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. fresh lime juice, or to taste
1/4 – 1/2 t. sea salt, or to taste
1. Wash cilantro and remove any large stems. Blot leaves dry with a paper towel.
2. Place cilantro, garlic, onion, and Fresno pepper in a small food processor. Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped. Transfer ingredients to a medium size bowl.
3. Stir in olive oil, lime juice, and salt to taste. Refrigerate until serving.
Variations: Substitute flat leaf parsley or spicy oregano for part or all of the cilantro; substitute lemon juice or red wine vinegar for the lime juice; substitute red pepper flakes for the Fresno pepper; add cumin, thyme or paprika; add tomatoes or red bell peppers.
Part I.
As an innkeeper, I am aware of just how many people have food sensitivities or allergies and also of how difficult it can be for them to find foods that they can eat when they travel. This is especially the case when it comes to special events, such as wedding receptions, where the food choices are limited.
I am working on perfecting my gluten-free white butter cake recipe which could be used for wedding cakes or baby showers. My goal, of course, is for my gluten-free cakes to be 100% as delicious as my regular wheat flour cakes. I would say that I am about 90% there with this particular cake. The flavor and crumb (cake texture) are good, but it does not quite have that melt-in-your mouth quality of my other cakes. I think that I just need to increase the butter a little on my next attempt. The two key issues to solve with gluten-free baking are (1) using the right wheat flour substitute for your recipe and (2) figuring out the right flour-fat ratio. In many recipes such as cookie recipes, a one-to-one substitution of rice flour for all-purpose flour works fine. Substitutions for specialty flours, such as cake flour, are a different story.
Normally I use cake flour for baking white butter cakes. Cake flour has a low protein content – 7.5% as compared to 10% for all-purpose flour- and weighs 3.5 oz. per sifted cup. While rice flour has an even lower protein content – 5% – it is not milled nearly as finely as cake flour. To lighten the texture of cakes made with rice flour, the flour needs to be blended with starches which are very fine in consistency. These starches also act as thickeners helping to compensate for the reduced protein content. The gluten-free cake flour blend that I made for this recipe is significantly lower in protein than cake flour – 2.5%, and is heavier weighing 4.5 oz. per double-sifted cup; but it works pretty well.
Laurie’s Gluten-free Cake Flour Blend:
Whisk together, and then sift together twice, the following ingredients.
1 c. white rice flour
1/2 c. tapioca starch
1/2 c. potato starch
1 T. Cake Enhancer (from King Arthur flour)
I used 9 oz. (by weight) of gluten-free cake flour blend as a substitute for 7 oz. cake flour in my regular white butter cake recipe. As I mentioned above, the flavor and crumb were good, but the cake didn’t have the melt in your mouth quality that really makes for a wonderful butter cake. Next time, I think that I shall increase the butter slightly. The other option would be to decrease the flour, but since the dry-wet ratio of the batter seemed right, I am going to try the increased butter option first – my theory being that the recipe needs increased fat to compensate for the increased weight of the flour.
If you have been experimenting with your own gluten-free cake recipes, I’d love to hear from you!
Part II.
Proper preparation makes removing any cake from the pan easier.
(1) Place your baking pans on parchment paper and trace the outside with a pencil. Cutting just inside the pencil lines, cut paper to fit inside pans.
(2) Cut strips of parchment paper long enough to wrap around the sides of your pans, making the strips just taller than your cake pans.
(3) Butter the inside of the cake pans and one side of each of the pieces of parchment paper. Place paper, buttered side up/out in pans.
(4) Sprinkle with sifted flour or gluten-free flour. Tap pans to distribute the flour. Shake out any extra flour. (If you prefer to use baking spray, skip buttering the paper. But don’t use baking spray for gluten-free baking.) Fill with batter and bake.
(5) After baking, allow cakes to cool then remove parchment paper from sides of pans, invert cakes, remove paper from bottoms of cakes, then re-invert.
Your cakes should turn out the pans perfectly each time.
When you are running low on ideas for what to get someone for a present, it can be nice to prepare a special meal for that person. For an early Christmas present, I decided to cook Roasted Pheasants as a lunch for my husband and my mother. This was the first time that I had ever cooked game birds and so I am not going to pretend to be an expert on their preparation. I had to do a little searching for information on temperature and times. I mostly followed the recipe from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.*
I started out with wild Scottish pheasants and brushed them with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and fresh-ground black, green, and pink peppercorns. I then added slices of lemons and leeks to the pan, drizzled them lightly with olive oil and topped the pheasants with a bit of fresh rosemary from my snow-covered garden.
While the birds were roasting, I prepared a leek and broccolini risotto. The flavors of lemon, leek and rosemary blended quite well with that of the wild pheasants. After lunch, Bill and Mom were too full for dessert, but we sat around anyway and had an interesting conversation.
Sharing good food is a great way to bring people together, particularly when one puts the thought and effort into making a special meal.
Happy Holidays!
I’ll just say this up front – some of you are going to think that this is a strange dish. It’s either like the pasta version of rice pudding or the dessert version of macaroni and cheese. The only category that it squarely fits into is that of comfort food.
I came across the original recipe many years ago in an old edition of Better Homes & Gardens Italian Cook Book. According to the book, Sweet Shepherd’s Noodles is a dish from “a mountainous sheep-grazing region in southern Italy.” Since the sweet creamy flavor reminded me of a rice pudding, I added dried fruits, walnuts and nutmeg to the original recipe and doubled the amount of cinnamon in it. I love this embellished version of the dish for lunch on a grey winter’s day. A hot main dish and dessert all in one! Do you make anything similar?
Sweet Shepherd’s Noodles
(serves 2)
4 oz. pasta (any shape, gluten-free ok)
1/2 c. ricotta cheese
1/3 c. milk
2 T. granulated white sugar
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 T. dried cherries
1 1/2 T. yellow raisins
1 1/2 T. finely chopped walnuts
fresh nutmeg, optional
(1) Place pasta in a pot of boiling water to cook.
(2) When the pasta is almost done cooking, place ricotta cheese, milk, sugar and cinnamon in a medium-size pot. Cook over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes, stirring until there are no large lumps in the mixture.
(3) When pasta is cooked to desired tenderness, drain thoroughly and then stir into cheese mixture. Stir in walnuts and fruits. Serve immediately. If desired, grate a little fresh nutmeg over pasta. Enjoy!
Indian Pudding is a traditional New England dessert which can be traced back to the 18th century. I developed a fondness for it when I lived in the Boston area. For some reason, though, it is relatively unknown outside of New England.
Here is a brief history of the dish …
When British settlers moved to this country they brought their Hasty Pudding recipes with them. I’ve never had Hasty Pudding, but apparently it is a dish made from wheat cooked in water or milk until it develops the consistency of a porridge. Wheat was in short supply in New England, so the settlers adapted to the new world by substituting corn meal – which they called Indian flour. Being along a trade route with plentiful molasses and spices, they embellished the dish with these flavorful additions as well as with dried fruits and sometimes nuts … and thankfully, the new dessert, Indian Pudding, caught on.
Indian Pudding Ingredients
Butter or vegetable shortening to grease the cooking dish
4 c. milk (soy or almond milk can be substituted for vegan)
1 c. coarse cornmeal or polenta
4 T. melted butter (coconut oil can be substituted for vegan)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. unsulfured molasses
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
2/3 c. dried fruits (such as raisins, yellow raisins, cranberries, cherries)
3 large eggs (3/4 c. packed pumpkin can be substituted for vegan)
Cooking Methods
(1) Prepare cook surface Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a 2-quart baking dish; or grease and then preheat a crockpot on low or high heat. (A crockpot works well for holiday cooking when oven space is at a premium.)
(2) Cook the cornmeal Bring the milk (or substitute) to a low boil then whisk in cornmeal. Reduce heat to low, and continue to cook, whisking frequently until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is softened (about 15 to 20 minutes).
(3) Add remaining ingredients Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Once the cornmeal mixture has thickened and the cornmeal has softened, set it aside to cool slightly and then whisk in the mixture of remaining ingredients. If you are not using eggs, then you can skip the brief cooling period.
(4) Finish cooking Pour the pudding mixture into greased baking dish or crockpot. Bake in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes; or cook in the crockpot for 2 hours on high heat or 4 to 5 on low heat . The finished “pudding” will be quite thick.
(5) Serve Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream and serve leftovers cold with ice cream, whipped cream or just milk.
Caramelized Grapefruit
An elegant yet easy to make fruit dish for holiday brunches …
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
2 lg. red grapefruit
4 large grapes or maraschino cherries
Preheat oven broiler. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Cut grapefruits in half crosswise. Use a grapefruit knife to section the grapefruits and to remove centers. Sprinkle brown sugar onto each grapefruit half. Place grapefruits 6 inches under broiler and cook for about 5 minutes or until brown sugar is melted. (Watch grapefruit carefully during this time.) Remove from broiler. Place in dessert bowls or on dessert plates. Put a grape or cherry in the center of each grapefruit half. Serve immediately.
Note: If you do not have a broiler, you can use a chef’s torch to melt sugar. If you do not have a chef’s torch, let the sugar soak into the grapefruit for about 10 minutes before serving. The sugar will not caramelize, but the flavor will still be pleasing.
After a short hiatus, Two Little Chefettes have returned with their monthly cooking challenge. The ingredient for November is mushrooms. Thank you Ridha and Bebe!
I tend to have rather strong opinions about mushrooms. I think that most people cook them on too low a heat, for too long a time, with too much fat and without enough seasoning – the result being a rubbery, unappealing ingredient. I always cook mushrooms on a high heat, with just a little fat, with plenty of salt and pepper, and almost always with some sherry. That is how the Portobellos are prepared for this recipe. They are then stirred into the soup at the last minute. The result is a silky soup with slightly caramelized mushrooms.
Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup
4 T. unsalted butter, divided
2 T. potato starch
2 c. flavorful vegetable broth (mine is a golden-orange because it has lots of carrots and some tomatoes)
2 c. whole milk*
1/2 c. chopped yellow onion
4 c. very thinly sliced fresh Portobello mushrooms
splash of dry pale sherry
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4 t. ground paprika
1. Melt 2 T. of the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk in the potato starch. Once the mixture is completely smooth, slowly whisk in the vegetable stock. Continue cooking, whisking occasionally, until perfectly smooth and slightly thickened. Whisk in the milk; and again, continue cooking, whisking occasionally, until perfectly smooth and slightly thickened.
2. Using about 1/2 T. of the remaining butter, saute onions in another pan until starting to turn translucent and lightly golden, but still slightly crisp. Stir into the soup base. The soup base will continue to thicken and will need to be whisked every few minutes.
3. Melt the remaining butter in the pan from the onions, stir in the mushrooms, and saute until almost cooked. Add the sherry and then salt and pepper the mushrooms. The sherry should be absorbed fairly quickly at which time the mushrooms should be done cooking. Stir mushrooms into soup base.
4. Stir in paprika and then adjust seasonings. Serve right away. Enjoy!
* Once time when I made this soup, I substituted soy milk. I thought that the soup turned out too sweet. So I would recommend sticking to regular milk.
A Taste of Morning 