A couple of years ago, my mom and I took a trip up north to Maine and discovered that we totally LOVE Maine. Now - if I thought that I could survive the winters in Maine, I would quite possibly quit my job and just move up there. Unfotrunately I am a bit of a winter wuss. So I just have to settle on visiting there during the summer.
In terms of momentos from my trips, what I've realized is that I really like getting local specialty food items. On this trip I bought 5 items specifically for myself, so I thought I would share them with you.
1) Maple Pepper Seasoning - My mom had gotten my sister a bottle of maple pepper on her trip last year, and during a few Sister Sunday Suppers we used it and it was unbelievable. So I made it my goal on this trip to find it. Well I did manage to find some, but not the same brand (my sister has the one made by Highland Foods where mine is by Maison Madelon (I got it on our little side jaunt to Montreal Canada). If I had to compare it toanything - I would say that it is similar to a steak seasoning, but sweeter since it contains crystalized bits of maple syrup. yum!
2) Also from Montreal - Maple Vinegar from Vinaigre PicBois (Another prodcut from Canada). Maple vinegar sweet and sour - like if someone mated a bottle of apple cider vinegar with a bottle of rice wine vinegar. I was surprised by how much I liked its flavor, and am bummed that I only bought a small bottle. The brand of vinegar I got is really only available in Canada, but I googled maple vinegar and apparently Dean & Delucca sell one online for $7.
3) Herbed Maine Sea Salt from Maine Sea Salt Co. I think one of the latest food trends I have noticed is the availability of buying sea salt from different geographical areas. At my local whole foods, they have 5 or 6 options that you can choose from and buy by mass at the cheese counter (the Hawaiin salt is pinky). Anyways this Maine sea salt is brown and is flavored with Thyme, Majoram, Sage, Fennel, & Lavendar. It leaves quite a kick. I think this will be a good salt to use on fall/winter foods.
4) & 5) Stonewall Kitchen Maine Blueberry Honey and Wild Maine Blueberry Syrup. I fell in love with blueberries after my last trip to Maine, so I thought these would be fun to have. I will confess that I haven't tried either one, but can't wait to make something that is worthy of opening them.
So last week I decided to celebrate my travel treasures by making something that would feature their flavors. I chose to make a wilted Spinach salad with bacon and mushrooms. To do this, I made a couple slices of bacon. Once done, I removed them and saved about 2 Tablespoons of the warm grease in a prep bowl so I could use it for a vineagrette. Then I drained the excess Greece so they pan only had a thin coat. Next I sauteed red onions and then sauteed mushrooms. At the end of their sautee, I seasoned them with the maple pepper and the Maine Sea Salt. While I had been doing that, I hard-boiled an egg so that I could peel it and slice it for my salad. Next I added poured the reserved bacon grease back into the pan along with 2 teaspoons of sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of the Maple Vinegar, and a sprinkling of the Maine Sea Salt, and Maple Pepper. Anyways, whisk this mixture in the pan so that you scrape up all the yummy bits on the bottom of the pan. After a minute or so, you can take it off the heat. Then in a bowl combine spinach, mushrooms, onions, crumbled pieces of bacon, egg slices, and the salad dressing. Toss and enjoy.
I am not exaggerating when I say that this could be the best spinach salad I have ever had and I think that is because of the Maple Vinegar. This meal just naturally went with these travel treats I bought.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Snapper to it
Ok, that has got to be one of the cheesiest blog entry titles I have ever used, but hey - this entry is about fish.
This weekend I had a "slumber party" with some friends (all of us left around 2 am so we could sleep in our own beds, hence the quotation marks). In addition to some junk food staples, I decided to bring along stuff to make virgin pina coladas. I haven't made pina coladas (with or without rum) in a long time so I had to spend some time debating in the latin food section of my store if I should get coconut milk or cream de coconut (Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolia's would be saying "The one is much thicker than the other.) So I checked to see if either one had a recipe on the can and sure enough the coconut cream had a recipe for pina colada smoothies (uses ice cream - yum!), but what really caught my eye was the recipe on the can for coconut milk. It was for red snapper in a coconut milk sauce (I've since learned it's a basic Puerto Rican recipe). So I grabbed a can of both and figured that I would use the cream first and the milk if necessary, but that if I still had the milk at the end of the night then I would make the snapper recipe for my Sunday Sister Supper (sans sister).
I will say that if I was actually having supper with my sister, this probably would not be a dish we would make together. My sister doesn't really enjoy Latin food as much as I do.
If you want the recipe you can go here, but here is the gist. You sautee onions, celery, and garlic together and then add the coconut milk, a bay leaf, tomato and tomato paste to create the sauce. As the sauce cooks down, you add the fish and you let it cook until the fish is done (flakes easily). Remove the fish and then you let the sauce cook down to your desired consistency. Then you serve over rice (I used brown rice this time).
While the recipe calls for red snapper, I ended up using mahi mahi because there wasn't any fresh snapper at my grocery store. If you look at the wikipedia links I've provided, you will see that they are two very different looking fish. I think snapper tends to be a kind of flaky white fish where mahi mahi has a meatier texture, similar to tuna (although it doesn't taste at all like tuna). However like tuna, mahi mahi may have a higher mercury target so you don't want to be eating mahi mahi all the time. But mahi mahi goes well in exotic-inspired like fish dishes (most often Asian inspired) because the fishy taste isn't overwhelming.
The dish was DELISH! It definitely reminds me of something I would order at a seafood restuarant like Bonefish Grill, but really super easy to make. On the side I had a few slices of avacado in lime juice(which I wanted to eat before it went bad), but the dish is really super filling so you don't really need a side dish. The recipe is good for 4-6 servings, but since its just me I halved it and got 3 medium size mahi mahi fillets. I did not freeze my leftovers because I don't think this is a dish that will freeze well, which means that I will have to finish my leftovers this week. This won't really be a problem because it was super yum. I could definitely see myself serving this at a dinner party (given the guests liked fish) because it is so tasty and looks really nice. So definitely try it out.
This weekend I had a "slumber party" with some friends (all of us left around 2 am so we could sleep in our own beds, hence the quotation marks). In addition to some junk food staples, I decided to bring along stuff to make virgin pina coladas. I haven't made pina coladas (with or without rum) in a long time so I had to spend some time debating in the latin food section of my store if I should get coconut milk or cream de coconut (Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolia's would be saying "The one is much thicker than the other.) So I checked to see if either one had a recipe on the can and sure enough the coconut cream had a recipe for pina colada smoothies (uses ice cream - yum!), but what really caught my eye was the recipe on the can for coconut milk. It was for red snapper in a coconut milk sauce (I've since learned it's a basic Puerto Rican recipe). So I grabbed a can of both and figured that I would use the cream first and the milk if necessary, but that if I still had the milk at the end of the night then I would make the snapper recipe for my Sunday Sister Supper (sans sister).
I will say that if I was actually having supper with my sister, this probably would not be a dish we would make together. My sister doesn't really enjoy Latin food as much as I do.
If you want the recipe you can go here, but here is the gist. You sautee onions, celery, and garlic together and then add the coconut milk, a bay leaf, tomato and tomato paste to create the sauce. As the sauce cooks down, you add the fish and you let it cook until the fish is done (flakes easily). Remove the fish and then you let the sauce cook down to your desired consistency. Then you serve over rice (I used brown rice this time).
While the recipe calls for red snapper, I ended up using mahi mahi because there wasn't any fresh snapper at my grocery store. If you look at the wikipedia links I've provided, you will see that they are two very different looking fish. I think snapper tends to be a kind of flaky white fish where mahi mahi has a meatier texture, similar to tuna (although it doesn't taste at all like tuna). However like tuna, mahi mahi may have a higher mercury target so you don't want to be eating mahi mahi all the time. But mahi mahi goes well in exotic-inspired like fish dishes (most often Asian inspired) because the fishy taste isn't overwhelming.
The dish was DELISH! It definitely reminds me of something I would order at a seafood restuarant like Bonefish Grill, but really super easy to make. On the side I had a few slices of avacado in lime juice(which I wanted to eat before it went bad), but the dish is really super filling so you don't really need a side dish. The recipe is good for 4-6 servings, but since its just me I halved it and got 3 medium size mahi mahi fillets. I did not freeze my leftovers because I don't think this is a dish that will freeze well, which means that I will have to finish my leftovers this week. This won't really be a problem because it was super yum. I could definitely see myself serving this at a dinner party (given the guests liked fish) because it is so tasty and looks really nice. So definitely try it out.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Changes
There is one thing I can say about this blog. It is constantly evolving.
A lot of things that have happened since the holidays last year. The biggest change has been that my dear sweet sister Molly has moved back to NC. She got an awesome job opportunity there and would have been insane not to take it. So now instead of cooking with me (Emily) she gets to cook with Mom. She has a new CSA, which is structured a little different than the one she had here, but she is still cooking. I don't know if she will continue to post stuff. I hope she does because she was making some crazy good things, and I know I will definitely miss her cooking.
Anyways- I've been finding myself cooking less and less. I had lost my sense of taste and when I did cook, things just weren't coming out how I wanted too. This was not a good thing. But after a while even take out tastes bad. Sometime definitely needs to change.
So recently I decided that I need get myself slowly back into the cooking cycle. So in that effort I have decided that on Sundays I will cook or bake at least 1 thing that I will eat on that day. I know that doesn't sound like much - but its a start. While technically I am not cooking with my sister, I feel like I am doing this in the spirit of her - so I'm going to continue calling it Sister Sunday Supper. And these things may not necessarily even be for Supper.
Since I started this, there have been two Sundays.
On Sunday 1 - I had gone to this farm stand with my mom on our way back from vacation and I had gotten a bunch of beaches and blueberries. My intention was to make a peach gelato with a blueberry swirl. Of course once I read my gelato recipe I realized that I didn't have enough peaches. So the fruit hung out in the fridge for a week. Knowing that it would go bad, I decided instead that I would make a peach pie and blueberry gelato instead. Two very simple things. Yes, gelato is really easy to make if you have a ice cream mixer attachment for your Kitchen Aide stand mixer. In fact, I've found that I've been mostly making gelato on the mixer lately. Anyways - the gelato actually had to be made over two days (gelato batter must chill in the fridge before you mix it - and the longer you chill it the better it is). But the pie was delicious. It was nice having such a simple dessert throughout the week.
On Sunday 2 - At the same farmstand where I got the peaches and blueberries I also got a zuchinni and tomato. Remarkably even two weeks later they hadn't gone bad - but I didn't want to push it. So I used the zuchinni, tomato, an onion, and some chopped rotisserie chicken to make a fritata. I had a bunch of egg whites leftover from when I made the gelato batter so I just used those and a few more eggs and some half and half for the egg base. To add a little flavor, I picked some basil and parsley from my herb garden. BTW, my herb garden has gone insane with cilantro this year thanks to the relatively mild weather we have had this summer.
So those are my first two entries for my sisterless Sister Sunday Supper.
A lot of things that have happened since the holidays last year. The biggest change has been that my dear sweet sister Molly has moved back to NC. She got an awesome job opportunity there and would have been insane not to take it. So now instead of cooking with me (Emily) she gets to cook with Mom. She has a new CSA, which is structured a little different than the one she had here, but she is still cooking. I don't know if she will continue to post stuff. I hope she does because she was making some crazy good things, and I know I will definitely miss her cooking.
Anyways- I've been finding myself cooking less and less. I had lost my sense of taste and when I did cook, things just weren't coming out how I wanted too. This was not a good thing. But after a while even take out tastes bad. Sometime definitely needs to change.
So recently I decided that I need get myself slowly back into the cooking cycle. So in that effort I have decided that on Sundays I will cook or bake at least 1 thing that I will eat on that day. I know that doesn't sound like much - but its a start. While technically I am not cooking with my sister, I feel like I am doing this in the spirit of her - so I'm going to continue calling it Sister Sunday Supper. And these things may not necessarily even be for Supper.
Since I started this, there have been two Sundays.
On Sunday 1 - I had gone to this farm stand with my mom on our way back from vacation and I had gotten a bunch of beaches and blueberries. My intention was to make a peach gelato with a blueberry swirl. Of course once I read my gelato recipe I realized that I didn't have enough peaches. So the fruit hung out in the fridge for a week. Knowing that it would go bad, I decided instead that I would make a peach pie and blueberry gelato instead. Two very simple things. Yes, gelato is really easy to make if you have a ice cream mixer attachment for your Kitchen Aide stand mixer. In fact, I've found that I've been mostly making gelato on the mixer lately. Anyways - the gelato actually had to be made over two days (gelato batter must chill in the fridge before you mix it - and the longer you chill it the better it is). But the pie was delicious. It was nice having such a simple dessert throughout the week.
On Sunday 2 - At the same farmstand where I got the peaches and blueberries I also got a zuchinni and tomato. Remarkably even two weeks later they hadn't gone bad - but I didn't want to push it. So I used the zuchinni, tomato, an onion, and some chopped rotisserie chicken to make a fritata. I had a bunch of egg whites leftover from when I made the gelato batter so I just used those and a few more eggs and some half and half for the egg base. To add a little flavor, I picked some basil and parsley from my herb garden. BTW, my herb garden has gone insane with cilantro this year thanks to the relatively mild weather we have had this summer.
So those are my first two entries for my sisterless Sister Sunday Supper.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Turkey Problem Solving
Well, one of the major holidays has come and gone since my last posting, but two more are on their way. I meant to blog all about our Thanksgiving, but a few things got in the way 1) My computer broke down and so downloading of photos 2) I got sick around that time and all I really wanted to do was sleep 3) Mo and I haven't really seen each other due to holiday events, parties, etc. (in general there is a lot going on) so there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on and no Sister Sunday Suppers. We did do Sister Sunday brunch this weekend, but we went to Noodles and Co. (although we did bake Gingersnaps - Joy of Cooking recipe - after)
I wanted to share a story about our Thanksgiving turkey. For her birthday, my sister and I got our mom a subscription to Cooking Light. We found that she often got the magazine around the holidays and she likes busting out her annual Cooking Light cookbooks - so it was a natural fit. She's been putting the subscription to good use. For Thanksgiving she decided that we would make their Apple-Poblano Whole Roast Turkey. From it's title alone - you know that it has 1) apples 2) turkey and 3) Poblano Chiles. Yes, I said Poblano Chiles. The recipe also called for apple cider, a jalapeno chili, and cilantro.
You start this recipe by brining the turkey for about 8 hours in a mixture of apple cider, brown sugar, kosher salt, pepper, and the jalapeno. In order to brine (soak the turkey in a heavily salted liquid), you need a brining bag. Most of the time you can buy brining bags at your grocery store in the storage bag area. These bags are really good because you can brine your turkey and then it can go straight into the oven (if that is what the recipe calls for). That's right - these are plastic bags that can go to the oven. Our problem was we forgot to pick it up at the traditional grocery store. Instead, we made a list of all the things that we forgot and went to Target (which no has grocery stores).
Well, we walked around Target for about 20 minutes trying to find the bags, but couldn't find one. We asked the man at the meat counter if he knew where they were kept and he pointed us to the storage bag aisle (as we originally looked). We still couldn't find it, but what we did find a XXL3 storage bags from ziploc. These are meant to store sleeping bags, toys, sweaters you don't want to wear but don't want to give to goodwill. They are also big enough to fit 12 pound turkeys. Seeing that this recipe did not call for the turkey to go into the oven while inside the bag, we figured that it was ok to use for brining. So we threw it in our cart and headed back to produce because we had forgot something.
Well, the meat guy saw us and then spotted our giant ziploc bags, and a look of panic invaded his face. He immediately came over and started explaining the difference between brining bags and storage bags. We let him go for a couple of minutes before my mom interrupted and assured him that we were only using the bag for soaking the turkey, and that the turkey would be removed and the bag thrown away before the turkey went in the oven. We all laughed over the misunderstanding - although I could totally understand his panic. No one wants to be responsible (even indirectly) of a house fire caused by two amature turkey cookers who put a ziploc bag in an oven. Thankfully we are not amatures.
Anyways - the ziploc bag worked great. They do have a very plastic smell when you first open the bag, so we followed the meat guys advice and we washed the inside out with a little warm water and dish soap. And I dare to say that the ziploc bag did have a few advantages over traditional brining bags. The first being that they stand up on their own and the second is that they firmly seal and easily reopen.
In the end, our turkey ended up awesome. My mom even said that it was the juiciest she had ever had. The taste of the chiles soaked into the meat but was thoroughly mellowed out by the apples.
I wanted to share a story about our Thanksgiving turkey. For her birthday, my sister and I got our mom a subscription to Cooking Light. We found that she often got the magazine around the holidays and she likes busting out her annual Cooking Light cookbooks - so it was a natural fit. She's been putting the subscription to good use. For Thanksgiving she decided that we would make their Apple-Poblano Whole Roast Turkey. From it's title alone - you know that it has 1) apples 2) turkey and 3) Poblano Chiles. Yes, I said Poblano Chiles. The recipe also called for apple cider, a jalapeno chili, and cilantro.
You start this recipe by brining the turkey for about 8 hours in a mixture of apple cider, brown sugar, kosher salt, pepper, and the jalapeno. In order to brine (soak the turkey in a heavily salted liquid), you need a brining bag. Most of the time you can buy brining bags at your grocery store in the storage bag area. These bags are really good because you can brine your turkey and then it can go straight into the oven (if that is what the recipe calls for). That's right - these are plastic bags that can go to the oven. Our problem was we forgot to pick it up at the traditional grocery store. Instead, we made a list of all the things that we forgot and went to Target (which no has grocery stores).
Well, we walked around Target for about 20 minutes trying to find the bags, but couldn't find one. We asked the man at the meat counter if he knew where they were kept and he pointed us to the storage bag aisle (as we originally looked). We still couldn't find it, but what we did find a XXL3 storage bags from ziploc. These are meant to store sleeping bags, toys, sweaters you don't want to wear but don't want to give to goodwill. They are also big enough to fit 12 pound turkeys. Seeing that this recipe did not call for the turkey to go into the oven while inside the bag, we figured that it was ok to use for brining. So we threw it in our cart and headed back to produce because we had forgot something.
Well, the meat guy saw us and then spotted our giant ziploc bags, and a look of panic invaded his face. He immediately came over and started explaining the difference between brining bags and storage bags. We let him go for a couple of minutes before my mom interrupted and assured him that we were only using the bag for soaking the turkey, and that the turkey would be removed and the bag thrown away before the turkey went in the oven. We all laughed over the misunderstanding - although I could totally understand his panic. No one wants to be responsible (even indirectly) of a house fire caused by two amature turkey cookers who put a ziploc bag in an oven. Thankfully we are not amatures.
Anyways - the ziploc bag worked great. They do have a very plastic smell when you first open the bag, so we followed the meat guys advice and we washed the inside out with a little warm water and dish soap. And I dare to say that the ziploc bag did have a few advantages over traditional brining bags. The first being that they stand up on their own and the second is that they firmly seal and easily reopen.
In the end, our turkey ended up awesome. My mom even said that it was the juiciest she had ever had. The taste of the chiles soaked into the meat but was thoroughly mellowed out by the apples.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Pioneer Squash
If you hadn't noticed from my postings - I have a slight fascination with the Pioneer Woman. I discovered her blog a couple years ago and my life hasn't been the same sense. Reading her blog convinces me that I too want to marry a cattle rancher - that is until I talk to my mom and she points out that 1) I'm allergic to most animals with fur - including cows and horses 2) I don't do well with intense smells - like manure and 3) it's a lot of work and a lot of laundry. I usually sigh an "Oh, that's right" and I go on with my day.
Anyways - right now Pioneer Woman is entering a really wonderful time of the year. She's posting recipes good for the holidays. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach when reading during this time - and it's hard to not go out and buy every ingredient for every recipe she posts right away. Thankfully, Molly called and told me that spaghetti squash leftover from her CSA, which was the star ingredient in PW's Spaghetti Squash with Maple Syrup and Shallots.
This dish was wicked easy to make. I don't think that I have worked with spaghetti squash before, but I have to say that it was a lot of fun scraping the insides so that they turned into "spaghetti". This ends up being a sweet but savory side dish, but honestly I could eat it for breakfast on its own. It was perfect compliment to a rotisserie chicken and steamed broccoli (which we seasoned lightly with some butter and Maple Pepper*).
As we were finishing our preparations of the dish, I looked at my sister and said, "I betcha that this would be awesome with bacon bits in it". Her response, "I was thinking the same thing". So below I have the directions to make the recipe + Bacon. I still encourage you to to the Pioneer Woman's website and check out the original recipe though.
PW's Spaghetti Squash with Maple Syrup and Shallots + Bacon
Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
3-4 pieces of bacon
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Shallots - minced
1/4 cup REAL maple syrup
dash table salt
dash of nutmeg
Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stab the spaghetti squash with a fork a few times, place it on a cookie sheet, and then put that in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour. While baking the squash, mince the shallots. Once shallots are mixed, take out a frying pan and fry up the bacon on the stove. When bacon is cooked and to your favorite level of crispiness (some people like bacon crispier than other people), turn off the heat under the pan with the bacon. Remove bacon from pan and then cut it up into bacon bits. Put bacon bits to the side. Keep the bacon grease in the pan for the moment.
After the squash has been baking for an hour, check to see if it is soft by squeezing it (you should be using an oven mitt when doing this). If the squash gives into to your gentle squeezes, it's ready. Pull the squash out of the oven. Cut it in half and then pull out center part with the seeds (like a pumpkin). Once all seeds are removed, take a fork and scrape it across the insides. The squash will come away in strings like spaghetti (hence the name, go to Pioneer Woman's website to see great pictures of this process). Scrape all the squash insides into a medium size bowl.
Next, turn on med high the burner under the pan with the bacon grease. Add in a Tbsp of butter. Once butter melts, add in shallots. Cook while stirring until shallots are soft. Reduce the heat. Add in maple syrup and the bacon bits. Once they are mixed well, throw in the pinch of salt and the pinch of nutmeg (it's ok if you think John Legend and the Stephen Colbert Christmas special when you do this). Mix well. Turn off heat and then pour the contents of the pan over the spaghetti squash in the bowl. Mix until maple sauce has fully combined with the squash. Serve.
I have a feeling that this recipe will become a winter favorite of mine. It has potential to become a total comfort food dish.
* Maple Pepper is something my mom bought for my sister up in Maine this summer. It's basically ground pepper combined with crystalized maple sugar and it is GOOD STUFF. My sister puts it on almost everything. The link above will take you directly to its distributors website where you can buy it. I will probably buy some for myself.
Anyways - right now Pioneer Woman is entering a really wonderful time of the year. She's posting recipes good for the holidays. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach when reading during this time - and it's hard to not go out and buy every ingredient for every recipe she posts right away. Thankfully, Molly called and told me that spaghetti squash leftover from her CSA, which was the star ingredient in PW's Spaghetti Squash with Maple Syrup and Shallots.
This dish was wicked easy to make. I don't think that I have worked with spaghetti squash before, but I have to say that it was a lot of fun scraping the insides so that they turned into "spaghetti". This ends up being a sweet but savory side dish, but honestly I could eat it for breakfast on its own. It was perfect compliment to a rotisserie chicken and steamed broccoli (which we seasoned lightly with some butter and Maple Pepper*).
As we were finishing our preparations of the dish, I looked at my sister and said, "I betcha that this would be awesome with bacon bits in it". Her response, "I was thinking the same thing". So below I have the directions to make the recipe + Bacon. I still encourage you to to the Pioneer Woman's website and check out the original recipe though.
PW's Spaghetti Squash with Maple Syrup and Shallots + Bacon
Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
3-4 pieces of bacon
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Shallots - minced
1/4 cup REAL maple syrup
dash table salt
dash of nutmeg
Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stab the spaghetti squash with a fork a few times, place it on a cookie sheet, and then put that in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour. While baking the squash, mince the shallots. Once shallots are mixed, take out a frying pan and fry up the bacon on the stove. When bacon is cooked and to your favorite level of crispiness (some people like bacon crispier than other people), turn off the heat under the pan with the bacon. Remove bacon from pan and then cut it up into bacon bits. Put bacon bits to the side. Keep the bacon grease in the pan for the moment.
After the squash has been baking for an hour, check to see if it is soft by squeezing it (you should be using an oven mitt when doing this). If the squash gives into to your gentle squeezes, it's ready. Pull the squash out of the oven. Cut it in half and then pull out center part with the seeds (like a pumpkin). Once all seeds are removed, take a fork and scrape it across the insides. The squash will come away in strings like spaghetti (hence the name, go to Pioneer Woman's website to see great pictures of this process). Scrape all the squash insides into a medium size bowl.
Next, turn on med high the burner under the pan with the bacon grease. Add in a Tbsp of butter. Once butter melts, add in shallots. Cook while stirring until shallots are soft. Reduce the heat. Add in maple syrup and the bacon bits. Once they are mixed well, throw in the pinch of salt and the pinch of nutmeg (it's ok if you think John Legend and the Stephen Colbert Christmas special when you do this). Mix well. Turn off heat and then pour the contents of the pan over the spaghetti squash in the bowl. Mix until maple sauce has fully combined with the squash. Serve.
I have a feeling that this recipe will become a winter favorite of mine. It has potential to become a total comfort food dish.
* Maple Pepper is something my mom bought for my sister up in Maine this summer. It's basically ground pepper combined with crystalized maple sugar and it is GOOD STUFF. My sister puts it on almost everything. The link above will take you directly to its distributors website where you can buy it. I will probably buy some for myself.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Dessert First!
Tonight's Sister Sunday Supper featured both a fabulous spaghetti squash side dish and an Apple Tarte Tatin. I'm guessing I'm going to post my picture before my sister posts her squash recipe, so lucky for you, we're getting dessert first!
I still have about a dozen apples from my last few CSA pickups, so I decided that we should use some up by trying a recipe from the CSA weekly newsletter. Most of thier newsletter recipes are also on the Norman's Farm Market website, but this recipe they got from Famous French Desserts. I'm paraphrasing the recipe here, based on what my sister and I really did, but if you want, you can follow the link above to the original recipe.
Apple Tarte Tatin
Ingredients:
~ 3 apples, peeled and sliced into 6ths
dash of lemon juice
2/3 c. granulated sugar
3 tbsp. water
3 oz. butter (~6 tbsp) + ~1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
pre-made pie crust, stored in the refrigerator
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Add lemon juice to apples to keep from browning.
- Put sugar and water in a small saucepan to carmelize. How to carmelize: melt sugar into water at a very low heat. Tilt and swirl the saucepan to gently mix the dissolving sugar. Once the syrup has turned a light honey color, it's carmelized.
- Add the 3 oz. of butter to the syrup and melt. Use the remaining tbsp of butter to coat the baking dish (a round cake pan or pie dish works well).
- Pour the syrup into the buttered pie dish.
- Quickly arrange the apples on top of the syrup, and then put dish in the oven for 40-45 minutes.
- Take dish out of the oven and cool for a few minutes. Once cooled, place the pie-crust on top, tucking the edges into the dish. Put back in the oven for ~30 minutes.
- When crust is brown, remove from the oven, and let cool a few minutes. Place a serving dish on top and carefully flip so that the apples are facing up.
- Serve warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, etc.
Friday, November 12, 2010
A Fast Trip to the Greek Isles
A couple of weeks ago, Molly P. (or Mo as I call her) had us make a Greek Tomato, Spinach, Shirmp dish that you serve on top of rice. It was insanely delicious. We also made Bakerella's Easy Apple Cake because Mo had a plethora of apples. We ate really well that night.
I really couldn't get enough of the Greek dish, so naturally the next day I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make it. Of course, that week ended up so busy I didn't get to making it until this week.
When we made it at Mo's - we had a cookbook in front of us. I didn't have that when I made up my dish this week, and I couldn't call Mo because she was at orchestra. But I remembered the basic ingredients - Spinach, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Olive Oil, Shrimp, Lemon Juice, Oregano, Salt and Pepper, and Feta Cheese. You also had to make the rice separately which you then plated and then scooped the Greek dish over. When we made it at Mo's - there ended up being a lot of moisture in the dish due to all the fresh vegetables. Not that having a little soup at the bottom of the dish is a bad thing - if you have a fresh loaf of French bread with which to sop it up it's all good. But I have no french bread in my house right now, so I decided that instead of making this dish so you can dish it up ontop of some kind of grain - I would combine it with said grain. Taa daa - Casserole. While I originally envisioned using penne pasta, I didn't have penne pasta when I decided to make it. But I did have orzo. Orzo works great because 1) it is traditionally thought of as being a greek pasta 2) It kinda looks like rice but is loads easier to make.
Needless to say - the dish ended up fantastic. So without further ado:
Emily's Greek Inspired Casserole
Ingredients (I have a tendency to cook by feeling so measurements are approximates):
1 small red onion, minced
~2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 or 3 medium tomatos (any type of tomato will do), chopped
~1 bag spinach
1 lb. shrimp
~1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
~1-2 Tbsp Oregano
Dash Salt and Pepper
~2 cup uncooked Orzo
Directions:
Thaw Shrimp. If using Frozen shrimp - rinse shrimp under cold water for about 5 minutes. Remove shells if necessary, then chop each shrimp in half. Put aside.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a big pot of water on top of stove so it boils. While waiting for boil, cut up your onion and tomato. If you are using farmstand spinach - take off the stems (because they are generally big and fiberous) and rinse leaves. If you are using bag spinach from the grocery store, just rinse off the spinach (the stems are very tiny and soft).
Heat up olive oil in a large skillet. When the water is boiling, pour in orzo and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Be sure to set a time because you want to just begin the orzo cooking, but not finish it. Meanwhile add onions to pan with oil. Cook for 2 minutes, until onions begin to soften. Then add tomatoes. Cook for another minute. Mixture will get kind of soupy. Then add Spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Finally, add in lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix thouroughly.
As soon as the timer for the orzo goes off, remove orzo from heat and rinse. Transfer orzo to a large casserole dish. If you need to - finish cooking the spinach, tomato, onion mixture. It'll be really soupy, but that is ok. Pour all the mixture in with the orzo. Mix well. Then add in shrimp and mix well again. Add in half (~8 oz.) of the feta cheese and mix.
Top dish with remaining feta cheese. Place dish in oven and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Then serve.
I really couldn't get enough of the Greek dish, so naturally the next day I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make it. Of course, that week ended up so busy I didn't get to making it until this week.
When we made it at Mo's - we had a cookbook in front of us. I didn't have that when I made up my dish this week, and I couldn't call Mo because she was at orchestra. But I remembered the basic ingredients - Spinach, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Olive Oil, Shrimp, Lemon Juice, Oregano, Salt and Pepper, and Feta Cheese. You also had to make the rice separately which you then plated and then scooped the Greek dish over. When we made it at Mo's - there ended up being a lot of moisture in the dish due to all the fresh vegetables. Not that having a little soup at the bottom of the dish is a bad thing - if you have a fresh loaf of French bread with which to sop it up it's all good. But I have no french bread in my house right now, so I decided that instead of making this dish so you can dish it up ontop of some kind of grain - I would combine it with said grain. Taa daa - Casserole. While I originally envisioned using penne pasta, I didn't have penne pasta when I decided to make it. But I did have orzo. Orzo works great because 1) it is traditionally thought of as being a greek pasta 2) It kinda looks like rice but is loads easier to make.
Needless to say - the dish ended up fantastic. So without further ado:
Emily's Greek Inspired Casserole
Ingredients (I have a tendency to cook by feeling so measurements are approximates):
1 small red onion, minced
~2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 or 3 medium tomatos (any type of tomato will do), chopped
~1 bag spinach
1 lb. shrimp
~1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
~1-2 Tbsp Oregano
Dash Salt and Pepper
~2 cup uncooked Orzo
Directions:
Thaw Shrimp. If using Frozen shrimp - rinse shrimp under cold water for about 5 minutes. Remove shells if necessary, then chop each shrimp in half. Put aside.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a big pot of water on top of stove so it boils. While waiting for boil, cut up your onion and tomato. If you are using farmstand spinach - take off the stems (because they are generally big and fiberous) and rinse leaves. If you are using bag spinach from the grocery store, just rinse off the spinach (the stems are very tiny and soft).
Heat up olive oil in a large skillet. When the water is boiling, pour in orzo and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Be sure to set a time because you want to just begin the orzo cooking, but not finish it. Meanwhile add onions to pan with oil. Cook for 2 minutes, until onions begin to soften. Then add tomatoes. Cook for another minute. Mixture will get kind of soupy. Then add Spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Finally, add in lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix thouroughly.
As soon as the timer for the orzo goes off, remove orzo from heat and rinse. Transfer orzo to a large casserole dish. If you need to - finish cooking the spinach, tomato, onion mixture. It'll be really soupy, but that is ok. Pour all the mixture in with the orzo. Mix well. Then add in shrimp and mix well again. Add in half (~8 oz.) of the feta cheese and mix.
Top dish with remaining feta cheese. Place dish in oven and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Then serve.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
An Introduction to Molly P.
Emtifah here. In case y'all didn't notice at the bottom of the last post, the writer was Molly P. "Who is Molly P.?" you ask. Well, Molly P. is my brillant sister.
When Molly moved up to my area a couple years ago, she signed on for a crop share from a local farm. Since then, she's been experimenting with all kinds of new fruits and vegetables. She has really taken to the kitchen and it's been really fun to watch.
So remember to check the bottom of the post to see who is writing what.
Who knows, maybe we'll try get our mom involved.
When Molly moved up to my area a couple years ago, she signed on for a crop share from a local farm. Since then, she's been experimenting with all kinds of new fruits and vegetables. She has really taken to the kitchen and it's been really fun to watch.
So remember to check the bottom of the post to see who is writing what.
Who knows, maybe we'll try get our mom involved.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Hello and Goodbye!
Sadly, my first post on Vixens in the Kitchen is to announce the end of my CSA's 2010 season. Goodbye my fresh veggies, alas! It's been an interesting season and surprisingly the picks this year have been considerably different than the picks last year at this time. I didn't see any heirloom cauliflowers this year, but there were more types of squash and the tubers and apples certainly didn't disappoint (note to self: it's time to use the carnival squash!)
The happy news is that my last pick-up tonight included a veggie that I've been waiting all season for- the stalk o' Brussels sprouts! While traditionally the sprouts have a dubious reputation, I think when you get them still on the stalks they look like jingle bells, and who can really hate green jingle bells?
Therefore, for this week's Sister Sunday Supper, I think there needs to be an "Iron Chef: Brassica oleraceae" theme. We need to do something with half a head of cauliflower, a head of broccolli, and / or a stalk of sprouts. :) Any recommendations? (Bonus points if you can work a Daikon radish in there too!)
Oh, and just in case you're wondering what I did with the other half a head of cauliflower, here's a recipe I made up, that made a good dinner and follow-up left over lunch for 1 person:
Fall Sausage and Veggies:
2 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into ~ 1 inch cubes
Florettes from 1/2 a head of cauliflower
2 tbsp vegetable oil
~1 tsp Maple pepper (a spice mix my mom picked up in Maine this summer, it includes black pepper, sea salt, and maple syrup sugar crystals)
1 package of apple chicken sausage
Set the oven to 350 F. Mix the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, oil, and spices in a bowl. Once you have the vegetables coated, spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake the veggies for about 12 minutes.
At the 12 minute mark, turn the veggies, then put them back in the oven. At this point, start browning the sausage in a frying pan on the stovetop (a low setting is best so that you don't burn the sausage). When the sausages look done (i.e. the skins are about to split), take them out and cut them into bite size chunks (depending on your sausage type, either quarters or thirds work). Check the veggies- the sweet potatoes should be soft enough that you can poke them easily with a fork. When the veggies are done, mix them with the sausage and serve.
The happy news is that my last pick-up tonight included a veggie that I've been waiting all season for- the stalk o' Brussels sprouts! While traditionally the sprouts have a dubious reputation, I think when you get them still on the stalks they look like jingle bells, and who can really hate green jingle bells?
Therefore, for this week's Sister Sunday Supper, I think there needs to be an "Iron Chef: Brassica oleraceae" theme. We need to do something with half a head of cauliflower, a head of broccolli, and / or a stalk of sprouts. :) Any recommendations? (Bonus points if you can work a Daikon radish in there too!)
Oh, and just in case you're wondering what I did with the other half a head of cauliflower, here's a recipe I made up, that made a good dinner and follow-up left over lunch for 1 person:
Fall Sausage and Veggies:
2 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into ~ 1 inch cubes
Florettes from 1/2 a head of cauliflower
2 tbsp vegetable oil
~1 tsp Maple pepper (a spice mix my mom picked up in Maine this summer, it includes black pepper, sea salt, and maple syrup sugar crystals)
1 package of apple chicken sausage
Set the oven to 350 F. Mix the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, oil, and spices in a bowl. Once you have the vegetables coated, spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake the veggies for about 12 minutes.
At the 12 minute mark, turn the veggies, then put them back in the oven. At this point, start browning the sausage in a frying pan on the stovetop (a low setting is best so that you don't burn the sausage). When the sausages look done (i.e. the skins are about to split), take them out and cut them into bite size chunks (depending on your sausage type, either quarters or thirds work). Check the veggies- the sweet potatoes should be soft enough that you can poke them easily with a fork. When the veggies are done, mix them with the sausage and serve.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sister Sunday Supper - Halloween 2010
Sister Sunday Supper landed on Halloween this week. We didn't want to switch to Saturday (because I was going to the Rally to Restore Sanity) - so I skipped Halloween festivities and just went to my sisters.
My sister has been getting tons of apples in her crop share (it is apple season), so we've been doing a lot of baking with apples. Before I headed out to her place - she called and asked if I could bring my rolling pin. When I asked why - she told me that we were making apple cobbler with buttermilk biscuits and we needed the roller to roll out the biscuits.
My sister got the recipe for the cobbler from Fresh Everyday: More Recipes From Foster's Market by Sara Foster. Foster's Market is this great little Southern gourmet market/cafe that is a staple in Durham, NC. Sara Foster has two cookbooks based off of recipes of Foster's Market and both my mom and sister have them. We have not found a bad recipe yet - and on top of that - most of the recipes have been super simple.
Anyways - so we both started out working on the cobbler. I peeled the apples (a task I didn't want to do at first - but got into once I started challenging myself to try to peel them in one strip) while she chopped. After that - you melt half a stick of butter in a pan and melt it. When its melted (but not browned), you add in apples, lemon zest, lemon juice, apple cider (my sister actually used pear cider because it's what she has - she buys it from her crop share people and its super delicious and refreshing), sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Once everything is mixed and apples are tender - you mix up the biscuit dough.
I must not have been feeling well - because I just skimmed the biscuit recipe and didn't really pay attention to the note that said it called for 1 cup of self-rising flour OR 1 cup regular flour plus 1 TBsp of baking powder. I just read it as flour. It wasn't until the timer went off and we checked the cobbler's status in the oven that my sister realized that the biscuits were very flat and not normal. My sister and I joked that my flat biscuits showed that I went to college up north because any true Southerner (she counts herself as one) would know how to make a biscuit right. Dispite it's flatness, the biscuit tasted pretty good - or as I said, "This tastes like apple upside down pie".
For the actual main meal - we decided to take the easy way out and made hamburger casserole. Hamburger casserole is a staple of the Midwest table. My sister told me a story that last year she brought hamburger casserole to a party and all the people from Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, etc. commented that it tasted like home - whereas the people from the West Coast and the South kept wondering how my sister thought of this deconstructed lasagna and where do she find the recipe.
Here is how you make hamburger casserole - cook up a big pot of pasta (penne, bowties, shells, macaroni shapped), brown about pound of hamburger, after meat is brown - you can add some onions and/or mushrooms to brown. When they are ready, drain pasta and pour into casserole dish. Pour meat mixture on top of that. Pour over that 1 jar of ready made spaghetti sauce and 2 cups cheese. Mix it all together. Then sprinkle another 2 cups of cheese. Pop in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then serve. Totally easy peasy.
We added a green salad to the casserole and that was dinner. Thinking back, it's actually something that my mom would have made on Halloween night when we were young so that we could eat quick and then go trick or treating.
My sister has been getting tons of apples in her crop share (it is apple season), so we've been doing a lot of baking with apples. Before I headed out to her place - she called and asked if I could bring my rolling pin. When I asked why - she told me that we were making apple cobbler with buttermilk biscuits and we needed the roller to roll out the biscuits.
My sister got the recipe for the cobbler from Fresh Everyday: More Recipes From Foster's Market by Sara Foster. Foster's Market is this great little Southern gourmet market/cafe that is a staple in Durham, NC. Sara Foster has two cookbooks based off of recipes of Foster's Market and both my mom and sister have them. We have not found a bad recipe yet - and on top of that - most of the recipes have been super simple.
Anyways - so we both started out working on the cobbler. I peeled the apples (a task I didn't want to do at first - but got into once I started challenging myself to try to peel them in one strip) while she chopped. After that - you melt half a stick of butter in a pan and melt it. When its melted (but not browned), you add in apples, lemon zest, lemon juice, apple cider (my sister actually used pear cider because it's what she has - she buys it from her crop share people and its super delicious and refreshing), sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Once everything is mixed and apples are tender - you mix up the biscuit dough.
I must not have been feeling well - because I just skimmed the biscuit recipe and didn't really pay attention to the note that said it called for 1 cup of self-rising flour OR 1 cup regular flour plus 1 TBsp of baking powder. I just read it as flour. It wasn't until the timer went off and we checked the cobbler's status in the oven that my sister realized that the biscuits were very flat and not normal. My sister and I joked that my flat biscuits showed that I went to college up north because any true Southerner (she counts herself as one) would know how to make a biscuit right. Dispite it's flatness, the biscuit tasted pretty good - or as I said, "This tastes like apple upside down pie".
For the actual main meal - we decided to take the easy way out and made hamburger casserole. Hamburger casserole is a staple of the Midwest table. My sister told me a story that last year she brought hamburger casserole to a party and all the people from Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, etc. commented that it tasted like home - whereas the people from the West Coast and the South kept wondering how my sister thought of this deconstructed lasagna and where do she find the recipe.
Here is how you make hamburger casserole - cook up a big pot of pasta (penne, bowties, shells, macaroni shapped), brown about pound of hamburger, after meat is brown - you can add some onions and/or mushrooms to brown. When they are ready, drain pasta and pour into casserole dish. Pour meat mixture on top of that. Pour over that 1 jar of ready made spaghetti sauce and 2 cups cheese. Mix it all together. Then sprinkle another 2 cups of cheese. Pop in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then serve. Totally easy peasy.
We added a green salad to the casserole and that was dinner. Thinking back, it's actually something that my mom would have made on Halloween night when we were young so that we could eat quick and then go trick or treating.
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