GREEN BEAN-MUSHROOM-BACON & CHEESE CASSEROLE

The traditional "green bean casserole" has always intrigued me. I see it mostly during the holidays and I want to enjoy it, although I'm not too fond of the mushroom soup sauce it usually has. This year, I set out to re-invent this holiday casserole and I absolutely love the final results.
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I used fresh green beans, sauteed sweet onions, portobello mushrooms, crisp bacon, a little cheddar cheese and my own white sauce. The resulting "green bean casserole" was delicious and we ate a ton of it. 1 pound of fresh green beans cut into 2" pieces
½ cup chopped sweet onion
½ pound of baby portobello mushrooms sliced
½ pound of bacon fried crisp (drained well & crumbled)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (loosely packed)
1 clove garlic minced finely
3 tablespoons white flour
1 teaspoon salt
scant ½ teaspoon black pepper
2½ cups milk
2 tablespoons butter

In a large frying pan, melt the butter and saute the chopped onions until they smell sweet; add the garlic and saute until it barely turns golden. Add the green beans and mushrooms (mixing well) and saute for a few minutes until they start to wilt just a little (don't cook them all the way through). Remove pan from heat and set aside.
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In a sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter. When butter is hot, add (all at once) the flour, salt & pepper, stirring quickly. Cook on medium for about a minute (to remove any flour taste). Next, you are going to add the milk, a little at a time, whisking like a mad woman while you add the milk (this will eliminate lumps in the sauce). Once the milk and butter-flour mixture are mixed well, cook on medium heat (stirring every once in a while) until it gets nice and thick.

Remove from heat and stir in the cheese & crisp bacon. Add this mixture to the vegetables and stir well (but gently). Place in an lightly greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until very hot.
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It was really tasty and the leftovers made a mouth watering lunch the next day.

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Around My French Table

Shocked, I am sure you are SHOCKED to find that one of my favorite books of 2010 is a French cookbook. Well, every year there has to be a new French cookbook.

This year it is by Dorie Greenspan. Greenspan is one of those "foodies" that everyone seems to love. Her books are always informative and this one is no different. There is a lot of explanation, but in a friendly, "You can do it" kind of way. There are tips and ideas and lovely photos, so what more could one ask for.

Well, most of these recipes are culled from actual encounters Greenspan has had with people who actually cook. Then she has taken a cookbook writes mind to the recipes and the reader gets an actual French recipe with none of the hassle.

Dorie in the kitchen. We love showing cooks in their kitchens!

Here is a recipe that you might not think about at first glance. We have all seen pumpkins used as soup terrines, but here is a way to really use a pumpkin. (Remember to get a cooking pumpkin and not a big old Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin.)

Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into ½-inch chunks
¼ pound cheese, such as Gruyère, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into ½-inch chunks
2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped
4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped
About ¼ cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
About 1/3 cup heavy cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that’s just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you’ll have to serve it from the pot — which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn’t so easy. However, since I love the way the unencumbered pumpkin looks in the center of the table, I’ve always taken my chances with the baked-on-a-sheet method, and so far, I’ve been lucky.

Using a very sturdy knife--and caution--cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween jack-o’-lantern). It’s easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot.

Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper--you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure--and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled--you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little--you don’t want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (But it’s hard to go wrong here.)

Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours--check after 90 minutes--or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.

When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully--it’s heavy, hot, and wobbly--bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you’ll bring to the table.

Our Best of 2010:

Around My French Table

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

from all the reicpes at

Cookbook Of The Day

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Another Best...

One of our favorites this year featured the area of the country we live in -- Appalachia. Joan Aller did a great service in writing, Cider Beans, Wild Greens and Dandelion Jelly.

Here is a recipe for the Mountain Molasses Stack Cake, pictured above. when times were tough, people would bring a single cake layer to a gathering and then they would be put together with an apple sauce filling into a multi-layered cake.

Mountain Molasses Stack Cake

Cake

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

2 cups finely chopped apples
1/2 cup water
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour the outside bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans.

To make the cake, cream together the brown sugar and butter in a large bowl until light. Slowly add the egg and molasses and blend well. Beat in the buttermilk, vanilla, and nutmeg.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Pour half of the batter into each prepared cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on their pans on a wire rack.

While the cakes are cooling, make the filling. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the apples and water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a boil and, stirring constantly, cook the mixture until a light syrup forms.

Place one of the cooled cake layers on a serving plate and spread half of the filling on top. Place the second layer on top, and spread the remaining filling over the top.

Get a copy of our favorite:

Cider Beans, Wild Greens and Dandelion Jelly

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The Geometry of Pasta

We have been saving some of our best for last.

So what happens when you combine a graphic novel, 2008's London restaurant of the year, and pasta sauce? You get The Geometry of Pasta. Unlike most cookbooks The Geometry of Pasta began as a visual idea. Noted graphic designer, Caz Hildebrand, is a Creative Partner at Here Design. He envisioned a cookbook that would focus on a common yet varied ingredient -- pasta. Once he conceived of the graphics, he needed an equally creative chef to develop sauces for each of the pastas. He really only had one choice.

Jacob Kenedy is the chef/proprietor of Bocca di Lupo. The often finicky Giles Coren wrote in the The London Times:

"Bocca di Lupo I went to only yesterday, and my tongue is still singing, my lip quivering, my brain dancing. Bocca di Lupo is just bloody marvellous."

I must say I have been quite spoiled with cookbooks featuring full color images, but this stripped down, graphic cookbook is a treasure. It features recipes for my favorite campanelle which means bell-flowers. It is getting harder to find and I am always upset when it is not on the shelf.

Here is the recipe for the famous puttanesca

Puttanesca
Whore’s sauce


200g spaghetti
50ml extra virgin olive oil
180g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
40g salted capers, soaked until tolerably salty and drained
120g black olives (Gaeta, if possible), pitted and roughly chopped
4 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
100ml light tomato sauce (page 15), or tomato passata
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

What more colourful name could there be than ‘whore’s pasta’? This Neapolitan recipe may have originally been cooked by the proprietor of a brothel for his customers, a quick and cheap substantial dish to give them energy, or been inspired by the lurid colours of the ladies’ biancheria (undergarments). In any case, it is delicious, widespread, and enjoyed by people at every grade of respectability.

A few minutes before the pasta is cooked, heat a wide frying pan until smoking hot. Add the oil, followed immediately by the tomatoes, chilli and garlic. Fry for a minute until the garlic is just starting to colour and the tomatoes soften. Add the capers, olives and anchovy, reduce the heat to medium and fry for a minute more before adding the tomato sauce.

Simmer for a minute or so until the pasta is cooked a touch more al dente than you want it on the plate; drain it and add to the sauce along with the herbs. Stir together for 30 seconds over the heat, adding plenty of black pepper but probably no extra salt. Serve straight away.

Oh my, how good is this book? A favorite of 2010...

The Geometry of Pasta

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Another Fave in 2010

We love getting our quarterly "cookbook" from the girls at Canal House Cooking. Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton do a bang up job. Every time I get a copy in the mail, I just want to drive to New Jersey and move in with them.

Canal House Cooking Volume 5 features a wonderful essay by Gabrielle Hamilton, the chef at Prune (and the sister of Melissa Hamilton). I have been waiting for Gabrielle Hamilton to publish a cookbook forever and FINALLY her book Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, is scheduled to come out in March. No doubt you will read about it here. Till then, read about another 2010 favorite...

Canal House Cooking

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OATMEAL CRANBERRY WALNUT COOKIES

If you are looking for one more easy cookie to round out your holiday baking, try these delicious cookies. They are light, crispy and buttery tasting (not the standard heavy oatmeal cookie).

1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups Craisens (sweetened dried cranberries)
1 cup chopped walnuts
Beat butter, sugars, eggs and extracts for FIVE MINUTES (important to the light crispy nature of this cookie).
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In another bowl, mix the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add this dry mixture to the butter mixture (1 cup at a time) beating well after each addition.
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Stir in the dried cranberries and walnuts. Let this finished cookie dough sit for about 5 minutes.
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Roll the dough into 1" balls (dough will be a little sticky). Place the dough balls on lightly greased cookie sheet, about 2" apart. Bake in 350 preheated oven for 12-14 minutes (my oven took 13 minutes).

NOTE: Before you put the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, look for the side that shows the most cranberries and put that side up (the prettiest side).

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NOTE: These freeze very well. I drizzled a vanilla glaze on my cookies (for the holidays) but that is not necessary. Makes about 4 dozen?

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Best Of 2010

Well, we haven't liked ANYONE's "Best Of..." lists so we are doing our own. Our first choice (in no particular order)

Baked Explorations

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More Lists

We are very happy with Eater National and their list of six books that are not Noma.

Cookbook Of The Day has three from the list! Read our post on The Frankies Spuntino.

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A David Lebovitz List

Food blogger and chef, David Lebovitz has an interesting list of best of 2010 cookbooks. A few of them might just be 2009, but who is counting. It is also a nice, long list with some of our favorites, including his very own Ready for Dessert. (We totally approve of adding one's own cookbook it a "best of " list. I mean, if you don;t think it is WONDERFUL, why should we?)

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EASY FRUIT LADDER

I've made this fruit ladder a million times. It is super simple, fast, looks impressive on any dinner table and is delicious. The dough works beautifully, is very forgiving and never fails!! You can make this ladder with any pre-cooked fruit filling (home made or commercial).

I have had people tell me this looks hard to make, but trust me, it is not. There is just one little trick: roll the dough out into a rectangle and then move it to your baking sheet BEFORE you try to make the ladder. You can't move the ladder (and keep it's shape) after it is filled. This dough is the real secret to this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350°

1 cup butter softened
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour

Mix ingredients with an electric mixer (the dough will be a little sticky before it is chilled). Divide dough in half (this recipe makes TWO ladders). Put each ball of dough in some plastic wrap and rough it into a large disk shape…cover well and refrigerate 1 hour (extremely important).

After an hour, remove from fridge and flour your counter top and rolling pin. Roll one of the disks into a rectangle about 15” x 10”. Pick up the crust rectangle (it will not break) and lay it on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Now I could describe, at length how to do this next step, but a picture will describe it much quicker:

 

Find the center of your crust rectangle, and spread your fruit filling in a 3” wide strip, long-wise, right down the center of the rectangle (keep the fruit about an inch away from each end of the ladder). Each ladder will take ½ can of commercial fruit filling.

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Cut the dough, on both sides of the fruit, into equal strips, but be sure you stay about an inch away from the fruit filling. Pull the strips back over the fruit (one at a time) in a criss-cross fashion (the strips just lay on top of each other, don't crimp). The only part that is crimped is the very first strip (on each end of the ladder), it should be pinched together.

 

Bake the fruit ladder for 30-40 minutes (in a preheated 350 degree oven) or until lightly golden. Run a spatula under the ladder to make sure it is loose, and then slide it off onto a serving plate. Drizzle it with a simple powdered sugar glaze and decorate with nuts (I like candied nuts), sprinkles, or any decoration you like.

 

I have tried lots of different fruits, cherry, lemon, raspberry, blueberry, apple strawberry, blackberry, etc. Commercial pie filling works as well as home made.

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Esquire's List

Esquire's Food For Men blog is featuring a "Cookbook of the Day" from now till Christmas.

Their first pick is The New Brooklyn Cookbook. Check it out.

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EASY MICROWAVE CANDY

This is the easiest candy I have ever made and better yet, my picky Hubby gives it two thumbs up!! It is fast to make in the microwave and is pretty enough for Christmas gift giving.

NOTE: Don't be tempted to use all one kind of chocolate. For some (unknown to me) reason, the blend of white chocolate, semi-sweet and milk chocolate produces the BEST chocolate taste EVER!!

12 ounce bag of good quality white chocolate chips

12 ounce bag of good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

12 ounce bag of good quality milk chocolate chips

3 cups of your favorite whole nuts (see note)

 

Put the chocolate chips in a large, microwave safe glass bowl and microwave for two minutes at 60% power (imperative that you stir every 30 seconds). My microwave took about 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

 

Stir until all of the chocolate is smooth, then stir in 3 cups of your favorite whole nuts. I ended up adding five cups of whole mixed nuts and I'm fairly certain I could have added one more cup. This makes a LOT of candy!!

 

The recipe calls for spooning candies onto waxed paper, but I spooned mine into mini-cupcake size paper liners. Put them in the fridge to "set" for about 15 minutes and they are ready to serve.

 

NOTE: The candy will only be as good as the chocolate you use. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips. (Note: You do not taste the white chocolate when they are all melted together (I don't like white chocolate), but the blend of the 3 chocolates is delicious.

 

NOTE: I used a mixture of whole roasted nuts (cashews, almonds, peanuts, pecans, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts...delicious.

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The End of an Era...

R.I.P. Elaine Kaufman

Elaine's is one of those places that lingers in the historical memory like The Stork Club or Studio 54. It is a place of fantasy and imagination for most of us, rather than an actual destination. Elaine's became synonymous with insider glamour in New York City. Elaine was never into the "Food Network" type of promotion claiming it was simply a way to sell pots. There was no "Elaine's Cookbook." In the end, the attraction at Elaine's was never really the food, but Elaine herself.


There are plenty of obituaries out there, but in keeping with Elaine's style, here is an interview she gave to Vanity Fair. A much more fitting way to remember her.

In lieu of a cookbook, the famed writer A. E. Hotchner wrote a book of fond remembrances entitled, Everyone Comes to Elaine's.

The good news is, God finally got a table.

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OLD FASHIONED APPLE CRISP

I've been tweaking this apple crisp recipe for most of my married life. I've tried a variety of spices, crusts, topping ingredients, apple types, nuts/no nuts, oats/no oats, baking times, etc. After many years of trial and error, we are happy with this final version. The apples are cut smaller than for a pie (see note) and the topping bakes into a sweet, crispy, nutty perfection.

I like to make this in a 2 piece 10" tart pan because it is very easy to serve and makes a pretty presentation, but any 9" or 10" pie plate would work well also.

(1) 9" or 10" single pie crust, placed into a tart pan (or pie plate) and chilled until the apples are ready.

6 Granny Smith apples (see note)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar packed
¼ cup all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

TOPPING
2/3 cup light brown sugar packed
2/3 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup chopped walnuts

Peel and core the apples and slice them very thinly. Blanche the apples in boiling water for one to two minutes (depending on how thin you cut them). Don't cook the apples all the way through, they should still be slightly crunchy.

Drain very well and add the sugars, flour and spices (stir to coat evenly).

Make the topping: mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and cut in the cold butter until it is crumbly, stir in nuts. Place apple mixture into chilled crust and spread with topping mixture.

Bake in preheated 375 oven for 40-45 minutes or until the filling looks bubbly. Cool before serving (see note).

NOTE: I like to serve this before it has completely cooled. When it has cooled down enough so that I can hold my hand (without burning it) on the bottom of the pie pan, it is time to eat it. I serve it with vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: I cut the peeled and cored apples into quarters and then cut the quarters in half before I start slicing them. This gives me smaller slices that work well with this crisp recipe.

NOTE: I encourage you to use freshly grated nutmeg if possible, it makes a WORLD of difference (so mellow compared to pre-ground nutmeg).

NOTE: Place your unbaked apple crisp on a cookie sheet before putting it into the oven. The heat from the cookie sheet will help brown the bottom of the pie crust. It will also help with any potential spill-overs.

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Top Ten Cookbooks

I am perhaps as big a cookbook fanatic as one can be. This year, I have been surprised at how many lists there out there that feature ten books -- and not a single book I care about. Perhaps I am getting old and out of touch? Well, I don't think so. We will be giving you a few of this years favorites over the next few weeks. In the meantime...

Noma seems to be on quite a few "BEST" lists out there. It is one of those books that I care nothing about. I do not equate big and expensive with great. But if any of my readers out there want to change my mind, go ahead, you write the review and we will post it.

Until someone steps up, here are some "Top Ten Lists" to peruse.


StarChefs.com gives Noma their top nod. My only pick on their list: Heston's Fantastical Feasts


The irascible or rascible or curmudgeonly or nasty or lovable (depending on your personality and perhaps his) Jeffery Steingarten has his list for Vogue. He too, gives highest honors to Noma. He give a place of honor to Jessica Harris's High on the Hog. I'm sure that this would be on my list, however it will not be published until 2011. So really it should be on next years list, Jeffery. He is also anticipating, as am I, Blood, Bones, and Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton. I have been looking forward to a book by Hamilton for years now, so lets get it published already. So it would seem, Jeffery and I already have a pretty good "Top Ten List" for 2011!!


Let us know what's on your list!

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Williams-Sonoma Salads

I am a big fan of Georgeanne Brennan. Williams-Sonoma Salads is another one of her delightful compilations.
After everyone has over indulged in Thanksgiving festivities, I though a nice light salad would be fun. Actually, this recipe has often found itself on many a Thanksgiving and Christmas table.

If you served it, try adding a bit of leftover turkey for an interesting alternative to a sandwich.

Celery Root Remoulade

1 large or 2 medium celery roots(celeriac), peeled and cut into rounds 1/4 thick

Salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup mayonnaise

2 to 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

In a saucepan, combine the celery root, 1 teaspoon of salt, lemon juice, and water to cover by about 2 inches.
bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 3-4 minutes. The celery root should be tender but not mushy. Drain well and, using a sharp knife, slice into thinner rounds, then cut into very thin strips. Alternatively, stack the slices and use a mandolin to shred the,. Place in a bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of the mustard. Taste the mixture. it should be well seasoned with the mustard but still taste of both ingredients.. Add mote mustard as desired. Pour the dressing over the celery root and mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours before serving.

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Happy Thankgiving

From our favorite Turkey and Pilgrim

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STURDY BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

Traditionally, butter cream frosting is made with butter, powdered sugar and flavorings, however, I find the recipes that use all butter, tend to be heavy tasting, hard to work with (it melts and sags too easy) and not the light fluffy frosting people expect.
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I've decorated cakes for years and I keep coming back to this easy, user friendly and fluffy frosting recipe, made with half butter and half white Crisco. Don't freak out about using Crisco in your frosting, you won't be able to tell it is there (100% shortening is what most commercial bakeries use to make that fluffy frosting we all love) and, as you can see, it pipes nicely.
.1 cup white Crisco shortening
1 cup butter (room temperature)
6 to 6½ cups of powdered sugar
½ cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (important)

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, whip the shortening and butter together for about 3 minutes on high. Add 6 cups of powdered sugar, the extracts and whipping cream to the butter mixture and whip ON HIGH for about 8 to 10 minutes.

After that amount of time, check the frosting for consistency. Usually, the frosting is perfect, but if your climate is different from my climate, you may want to add an additional ½ cup of powdered sugar.

Once you frost your cake, put it in the fridge to let everything "set". Remove your cake from the fridge about an hour before serving.

NOTE: This frosting works best in a stand mixer, although you can make it with a hand held mixer (it will just take a little extra time).

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Stuffings

Since we couldn't find a new Thanksgiving book, we thought we would give you a cookbook featuring a popular "Thanksgiving" item -- stuffing. I am a bit of a Thanksgiving purest. (I know what I said in the last post and I am willing to change, but no one has given me reason to change.) Thanksgiving at my house is static -- I cook the same thing, every year, year in, year out.

One of the things I always cook is my cornbread dressing. You see, Southerners are not big "stuffers" we are more the dressing type because our dressing is wonderful and we don't want it contaminated in some turkey cavity. Besides a turkey can hold about 1 1/2 cups of stuffing and we want much, more than that.

Carole Lalli was once editor-in-chief of Food & Wine. She wrote Stuffings which is a nice book that will give you all sorts of ideas and not just for turkey. As a child, we always had dressing with pork, and it was wonderful.


Her is Carole's cornbread stuffing. (It is not my mother's recipe, and Lalli is from Connecticut, but we are going to let that slide in the spirit of the holiday.)

Corn Bread Stuffing

2 pounds unseasoned bulk sausage meat
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 large shallot, minced
3 inner ribs of celery, leaves included, diced
kernels from 4 ears of corn
4 fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
12 or so broken-up pieces of day-old corn bread
1 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 cup or less chicken broth
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the sausage in a heavy skillet and cook over medium-high heat until it loses its pink color, about 5-7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, set aside on paper towels to drain.

Pour off the fat from the skillet, but do not clean the skillet. Return the skillet to the heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the butter to melt. Add the onion, shallot, and celery, and cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes, until they are soft but not brown; scrape up any of the sausage bits clinging to the skillet. Add the corn, sage, and thyme, and cook for 1 minute. Set aside the mixture to cook for about 10 minutes.

Place the bread in a large bowl. Add the ingredients from the skillet, along with the parsley. Combine the ingredients into a rough mixture (your hands are the best tools for this task). Do not over-combine or break up the bread more than is necessary. If the mixture seems very dry, add enough chicken stock to hold it together loosely. Season with pepper and, depending on the saltiness of the sausage, salt.

We don;t often have the chance to see into the kitchens of the authors we feature on Cookbook Of The Day, but
House Beautiful has a lovely slide show and interview with Carole Lalli. It is definitely a kitchen to die for!

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NO YEAST CINNAMON ROLLS

These cinnamon buns have NO yeast in them, but they sure taste like they do. I have to admit that when I first saw this was a baking powder dough, my first thought was, "uh oh, a heavy biscuit texture", but I was wrong; these are FAR from the standard biscuit taste. The dough has cottage cheese and buttermilk in it and it is super flaky, light, sweet and tender. I have tried a lot of cinnamon roll recipes over the years and I can honestly tell you that this recipe was a total surprise. It is SO tasty, SO easy and SO fast.

Don't freak out about the cottage cheese in the batter. You won't taste it, but it is totally essential do NOT leave it out. If you don't want to SEE the cottage cheese, pulse it in the blender a time or two.

MAKE THE FILLING FIRST1½ tablespoons melted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice (I left out)
¼ teaspoon ground cloves (I left out)
1 cup chopped pecans
Mix well and set asideDOUGH¾ cup cottage cheese(4% milk fat)do not leave out1/3 cup buttermilk (do not leave out)
¼ cup white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 TABLESPOON baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Preheat the oven to 400 and grease the sides and bottom of a 9" or 10" spring form pan with cooking spray. In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter and vanilla; process until smooth (10 seconds). Add the flour, baking powder & baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together in a ball (don't over-process). The dough will be soft and moist. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it four or five times with floured hands (this is a beautiful dough, very easy to work with). Roll dough out to a 12" x 15" rectangle.

Brush the rectangle with a very light coating of melted butter (be skimpy & leave a half inch border unbuttered around the edges. Sprinkle the filling over the buttered area and pat lightly.

Starting with the long side, roll up the dough into a jelly roll shape and pinch the long seam to seal (leave the ends open). Cut into twelve equal pieces with a sharp knife (a sharp serrated knife works well). Set the rolls in the prepared pan, cut side up. The rolls should touch slightly, but its OK if there are small gaps. Bake at 400 for 20 to 28 minutes (mine took the full 28 minutes) or until golden brown. Set the pan on a cooling rack for five minutes. Remove the spring form ring and drizzle the glaze over the rolls. Yum!!!

GLAZE2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons of cold milk (I used whipping cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of maple extract (not necessary but YUMMY)
Whisk all ingredients together. If it seems too thick to pour, add a little bit more milk (or cream).

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Thanksgiving Question???

Bear with me here...

One of my favorite movies is About A Boy based on the Nick Hornsby novel. It is quite literally about a boy and a young man that befriends him. That man, Will Freeman has never worked a day, yet he lives comfortably, in fact, better than comfortably. Why? Because his father wrote a Christmas song and every Christmas it gets played over and over and Will is set for the year.

This is probably why every Christmas anyone who can carry a tune does a Christmas album.

We started writing this blog several Thanksgivings ago. In that time, we have noticed a trend in holiday cookbooks much like albums. Every "celebrity" chef with at least two books eventually writes a CHRISTMAS cookbook. Yet, if you read about food, you will know that Thanksgiving is the holiday that everyone gathers together and cooks. So my question is...Why aren't there more Thanksgiving cookbooks. Last year we resorted to re-posting our faves and frankly, I would hate to do that again, but what am I to do?

Any ideas from my readers out there?

Interestingly, chef Marc Forgione won the title of The Next Iron Chef this week by preparing an "Ultimate Thanksgiving Feast." Forgione made five course and not a one of them was turkey.

Creative Thanksgiving are out there people, so some write me a cookbook!

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FUDGE FILLED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This impressive (but very simple) cookie will be great for the holidays. It consists of a sweet peanut butter cookie shell, filled with a rich fudge filling. When you first make the cookies, the filling is soft enough to pipe (or you can spoon it into the shell). However, after it completely cools, the filling is the consistency of a soft fudge. They are delicious, and look so pretty!!!

 

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
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Cream the above ingredients together until smooth, then add:
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1  1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
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Beat everything until very smooth. Shape dough into 1" balls (makes about 4 dozen) and place each ball into the bottom of a mini muffin tin (ungreased) like this:

Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 10-11 minutes or until they look like this:

After they are baked, find something in your kitchen that has a round end that you can use to press down on the center of these HOT cookies (to make the shell shape). I used the large rounded end of my mortar and pestle, but anything will work. Just be careful not to press so hard that you break through to the bottom. They should look like this:

Let these cookies cool (in the pan) for 10 minutes, then use a thin (but pointed) paring knife to assist you in lifting the cookie shells out of the pan (they come out pretty easy). Cool shells on a baking rack.

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FILLING
 

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 

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Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water (I just used the microwave). With an electric mixer, beat in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until smooth. Fill the cookies.

 

The fudge dries to the touch

after it is completely cooled.

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She Came In Throught The Kitchen Window

In honor of iTunes and the Fab Four reaching a tuneful agreement (and frankly moving into the 21st century after fighting like schoolboys over a stupid thing like the name "Apple", gee I'm surprised they haven't sued Gwyneth Paltrow for naming her kid "Apple" but then who names their kid "Apple" though Truman Capote named a character "Apple" which is probably where Gwyneth got the idea... but I digress).

Yes, Virginia, there is a Beatles cookbook, though I am here to say the Beatles had little to do with it, but given today's news, we just couldn't resist. She Came In Through The Kitchen Window by Stephen Spignesi features dishes that were "inspired" by Beatles songs. OK, it is not for everyone, but if you have a cookbook bent... here is...

Biscuits to Ride

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (or more) black pepper
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/8 cup water

Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl until consistency is thick. Roll out the dough in long strips and cut into bite-sized (or larger) pieces. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 25 to 30 minutes.

Yes, Biscuits to Ride, and yes all the recipes are like that. But here's a bonus -- something you probably never thought you might see:

Yoko in the Kitchen.

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HEINZ CHILI SAUCE CLONE

This is a clone recipe for Heinz chili sauce. It is so easy...takes every day ingredients and is even tastier than the original!! Chili sauce was never a pantry staple for me; I always found it on my shopping list for holiday and special occasion recipes, like this shrimp cocktail (which calls for Heinz chili sauce). I will never buy commercial chili sauce again because this is so much better (and cheaper)!!!

1 cup of tomato sauce

1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoons dry onion flakes
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Whisk everything together and bring to a boil in a small saucepan with a heavy bottom. Turn heat down to a low simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes, depending on how fast you are simmering it (mine was done in 25 minutes). Watch it towards the end so it doesn't scorch.

Cool to room temperature, then cover and chill.

It will get nice and thick like this.

NOTE: I made this recipe, exactly as it is stated above, I don't know how it would effect the final results if you use fresh onions.

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PEANUT BUTTER BON BON's

Today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary, where have all the years gone? We are celebrating quietly at home, with shrimp cocktail, filet mignon, cherry pie and these little peanut butter beauties!!

They are very easy to make and totally addicting. The filling was adapted from a recipe called Buckeye's, but I changed it a little bit...made them much smaller and completely covered them with chocolate, then decorated with a little white drizzle. These will be wonderful for any holiday gathering.
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1½ cups creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar (sifted into a cup)
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening
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Mix the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar with a stand mixer (or your hands) until you get a smooth dough (to measure sugar, sift it into a measuring cup and level it off with a straight edge).
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Shape the dough into 1" balls and set them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for about an hour.
.In a double boiler, melt shortening and chocolate together over barely simmering heat. Remove balls from freezer (just about a dozen at a time) & poke a tooth pick into the top of a chilled dough ball (to use as a handle) and dip into chocolate, then sit on a wax paper lined tray & put in fridge (leave the toothpick in the candy until it's chilled again, it is easier to remove that way). Continue until all of the candies are coated (makes about 50 depending on how large you make them.

The chocolate will set (be dry to the touch) after about 10 minutes in the fridge. Remove from fridge, take out the toothpick and cover up the little toothpick hole with more chocolate. You can cover the little hole with chocolate or white chocolate.

These need to be kept in the fridge until you are ready to serve them. I dare you to eat just one!!

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Marilyn's Stuffing

While we strive to make Famous Food Friday to be a revelation to our readers, we felt the recent news of Marilyn Monroe cooking stuffing to be simply too good not to highlight.

Marilyn’s Stuffing

Time: 2 hours

No garlic

A 10-ounce loaf sourdough bread
1/2 pound chicken or turkey livers or hearts
1/2 pound ground round or other beef
1 tablespoon cooking oil
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped curly parsley
2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts, pine nuts or roasted chestnuts, or a combination
2 teaspoons dried crushed rosemary
2 teaspoons dried crushed oregano
2 teaspoons dried crushed thyme
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt-free, garlic-free poultry seasoning (or 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon pepper.


1. Split the bread loaf in half and soak it in a large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes. Wring out excess water over a colander and shred into pieces.

2. Boil the livers or hearts for 8 minutes in salted water, then chop until no piece is larger than a coffee bean.

3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef in the oil, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat, so no piece is larger than a pistachio.

4. In your largest mixing bowl, combine the sourdough, livers, ground beef, celery, onion, parsley, eggs, raisins, Parmesan and nuts, tossing gently with your hands to combine. Whisk the rosemary, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper together in a bowl, scatter over the stuffing and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust for salt. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use as a stuffing or to bake separately as dressing.

Yield: 20 cups, enough for one large turkey, 2 to 3 geese or 8 chickens.

Read our favorites, Matt and Ted Lee in their New York Times article about cooking Marilyn's stuffing.

Over at Lucindaville, we posted a bonus with some of our favorite photos of Marilyn Monroe reading.

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KID FRIENDLY JELLO FROSTING!!

UPDATE: New sugar free option at the end of this post.

UPDATE: Since posting this on Pinterest, a few people have commented that  this frosting deflated on them after a day at room temperature. I've never had this problem, because I live in a DRY climate, but those of you living in HUMID climates are having this problem. So... if you live in a humid climate, you'll need to store the frosted cake in the fridge.

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This frosting recipe has a lot of things going for it. It is fast, super light, smooth and creamy on the tongue (very similar to a 7 minute frosting, but so much easier). Neatest of all, is that it is flavored with jello, so you can make it in ANY Jello flavor you like...watermelon? blueberry? pina colada? Kids will LOVE this frosting.

3 ounce pkg. of Jello (favorite flavor)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup BOILING water

Place the Jello powder, granulated sugar, egg white and vanilla in a GLASS OR METAL mixing bowl of a stand mixer. DO NOT USE PLASTIC and make sure your glass or metal bowl is clean of any grease or oil.

Turn the mixer on HIGH and immediately add the half cup of BOILING water. Whip on high for five minutes and you will get this:

 NOTE: This recipe only seems to work if you use a  stand mixer, with whisk attachment. Also, make sure you use a glass or metal mixing bowl, do not try this with a plastic bowl.

NOTE: Some people have commented that they don't think raw egg whites are safe for children to eat. The egg whites in this recipe are no longer raw after you add the BOILING WATER.

NOTE: This recipe makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes, or a 9 x 13 cake. If you are going to do any piping or edges, you might have to double the recipe.

NOTE: This frosting pipes beautifully and holds its shape well. Like any 7 minute type frosting, it does get a little sticky/tacky the second day, so its best if you make it the day you want to serve it. If you have to make it the night before, just store it in an airtight container that doesn't touch the frosting.


NOTE: This frosting has so many fun possibilities for birthday cakes/cupcakes. It would also make a wonderful filling.

SUGAR FREE FROSTING OPTION

Since putting this recipe on Pinterest, I have heard from several people who are wondering about the possibility of sugar free jello and Splenda...well, I had to try it.

First of all, we didn't like it as much as the original recipe (with regular jello and granulated sugar). The taste was good, but the texture of the sugar free version + Splenda was just a little too foamy for us (that didn't stop us from eating it though...lol)

I followed the original recipe, substituting exact amounts with the sugar free products

I used 2/3 cup of granulated Splenda, 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon vanilla and a small (4 serving) size box of sugar free jello.  I mixed those items together in my stand mixer and added 1/2 cup of BOILING (not just hot) water while the mixer was running on HIGH. Let the boiling water run down the inside of the mixing bowl, so it cools off a couple degree's before hitting the egg white.

Mix on HIGH setting for at least 5 minutes (will take longer if you are in a humid climate). After 5 minutes, my frosting looked like this:

It was very foamy, and almost tasted like a sweet fruity meringue.  It still pipes nicely, here's an example:

I'm  not sure whats up with the sparkle; the final frosting DID have a "fairy tale shine" to it, and I thought perhaps it might have a granular taste, but it didn't; it was very smooth.

I  let this frosting sample set out at room temperature for several hours to see if it would deflate (it didn't), but it did form a VERY THIN crispy crust (keep in mind I'm in a dry climate). I also put a similar frosting sample (uncovered) in the fridge and after a few hours, there was NO appreciable difference between it and the sample I kept at room temperature.

It's hard to explain the mouth feel of this sugar free frosting, maybe a photo will help:

I cut the frosting sample in half... it tasted sort of like a cross between a sweet meringue and a wet marshmallow whip... does that make sense?

My conclusion: We liked the original recipe better, however, if your dietary concerns require a sugar free frosting, this is worth a try!!



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