Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Guinness Cake


Here is a recipe to start off our St. Patrick's Day preparations:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs - beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
1 pinch salt
2/3 cup raisins - soaked in Guinness
1 1/3 cup golden raisins - soaked in Guinness
1/4 cup dried cherries - soaked in Guinness
8+ fluid ounces of Guinness - you need a little more to soak the dried fruit.

- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a deep 8 inch cake pan
- Cream the butter and the sugar until the sugar dissolves; beat in the eggs.
- Mix in the flour, salt, apple pie spice and the soaked dried fruit.Stir in the Guinness.
- Pour batter into the pan and bake for approximately 2 hours until firm in the center.

Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie

- From Cook's Illustrated Nov & Dec 2008 issue -

Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
5 large eggs (3 entire eggs plus 2 yolks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup drained candied yams from 15-ounce can
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon table salt

- Whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks, and vanilla together in medium bowl.

- Combine pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, 5 to 7 minutes. Continue to simmer pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly and mashing yams against sides of pot, until thick and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes.

- Remove pan from heat and whisk in cream mixture. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, using back of ladle or spoon to press solids through strainer (This is a very important step -- do not skip it. It does take time).

- Rewhisk mixture and transfer to warm prebaked pie shell. Return pie plate with baking sheet to oven (400 degrees) and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking until edges of pie are set, 20 to 30 minutes longer (instant thermometer inserted in center registers 175 degrees). Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature, 2 to 3 hours.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Barack Rolled

So this isn't really a recipe, but edible Obama deserves a link. Stay patriotic, y'all!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

And right back at ya!

I saw one of those photos today on this site

Funny how quickly people come to recognize my love of delicious things wrapped in other delicious things . . . 


This one's for Tiernan and Chris

So I saw this link and was kinda shocked. Guess I shouldn't be. People are always trying to extend metaphor past its logical extremes. Anyway...

http://nycfoodguy.com/2008/11/27/nyc-food-guy-says-happy-thanksgiving-eat-turbaconducken/

Friday, January 30, 2009

Two Trail Mixes/One Tea Recipe in support of energy and vitality for all ages

1 Cup dried unsweetened cherries (like the ones from our tree)
1 Cup almonds soaked and salted (I believe that is soaked in water with 1/4 TBS salt for approx. 7 hours, then cookie sheet
them and put in oven at 150*/170* for 12 to 24 hours)
1 Cup Brazil nuts cut in half
1 Cup 70+ percent dark chocolate chips
1/2 Cup Goji Berries
1 Cup dried pears cut small
1/2 Cup golden raisins

or,


1 1/2 Cups raw cashews lightly roasted
1 Cup raw or crispy macadamian nuts (they can be made crispy by treating as almonds above)
1/2 Cup dried papaya cut small
1 Cup dried mango cut small
1 Cup dried pineapple cubed
1 Cup dried coconut flakes


Soothing Sensations Tea

2 Tablespoons dried orange peel
2 Tablespoons rosehips
1 Cup dried lemon balm (also known as Melissa)
Honey to sweeten

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil. Place herbs in the bottom of a glass quart jar and pour the boiling water over them. Let sit 1 -2 hours. Strain. May be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat or serve at room temperature, add sweetener if you like.

Mead

(Always dedicate the first libation to the goddess, Bridgit, and then leave out a small quantity for the house spirits)

1/2 gallon water
1 1/2 cups honey
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 package brewer's yeast

Heat water, honey, lemon juice, nutmeg and allspice together in a large stock pot. Blend well and remove from the heat. Stir in the brewer's yeast and pour the mead into a wooden cask. Allow to ferment for 6 months. During this time, the cask should be aired daily to allow gasses to escape. At least once a month it should be poured into a fresh cask.

Older cookbooks recommend a variety of herbs that can be added to flavor the mead. Lemon balm, sweet marjoram, rosemary, burnet, cloves, ginger, mint, elderflowers, cloves, angelica, borage, or bugloss are some of the herbs mentioned that can be brewed in the mead.

Baked Trout

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup butter
4 trout, cleaned
salt and pepper to tast
1/2 bottle dry white wine
juice of 1 lemon

Mix the chopped parsley in the butter and divide into five parts. Rub salt and pepper into each trout and place them in a baking dish. Put one pat of butter on each fish and set aside remaining butter. Pour in the wine, cover and cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Add the juice of one lemon and the rest of the butter cut into small pieces. Cover and cook again for another 10 minutes.

Recipes for Candlemas

Brigid's Magical Bread

1 package of active dry yeast
1 1/4 Cup plus two tablespoons water
1/3 cup honey
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup chopped red rose petals
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/3 cup oil for moister bread (optional)

Preheat oven to 375*. Blend the yeast, water, and honey. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes, until foaming. Mix in the flour, rose petals, poppy seeds, and oil or other additional ingredients (1 tsp. vanilla; 1/4 cup finely ground walnuts; 1/4 cup finely ground almonds; or you can add 1 tsp lemon extract, or even whatever tiny little amount of that something extra you fancy) and knead. Add additional flour if the dough ssticks to the side of the bowl.
Mold the dough into a ball. Cover with a cloth for 1 hour. Punch down the dough in the center and knead for approximately 5 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased loaf pan for about 1 hour, until doubled. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Recipes for Candlemas

Monday, January 5, 2009

The Chef's Lesson from Zeb's book CREATING CHEFS (by request) STRAWBERRY TOFU ICE CREAM

Ice Cream Ingredients

1 16 oz. package soft tofu
1 Cup vanilla flavored rice milk
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup sugar or sweetener substitute to taste
1 16 oz. package frozen strawberries

Ice/Saltwater Bath Ingredients

1 quart cold water
1 Cup rock salt
1 Cup ice cubes

Procedure

Put all the ice cream ingredients into a large bowl. Stir well.

Place approximately 2 cups of the mixture in the blender. Blend until it has a smooth consistency. Due to the rice milk in the recipe, be sure to pulse the blender initially to ensure that the mixture does not force off the lid. Once the ingredients have begun to incorporate, you can leave the blender on without further pulsing.

Repeat with the rest of the mixture until all ingredients are blended smoothly.

Put the ice cream mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions for freezing.

If you do not have an ice cream maker, it is possible to freeze this in your freezer, althoough it will have a noticeably different texture. Pour the mixture into a freezer-safe container with relatively high edges, then place the container into a pan of the same height but with ample room on the sides. Carefully pour a mixture of the water, rock salt, and ice cubes into the bottom container. Add as much of the salt water as you can and place in the freezer. Stir the ice cream frequently and carefully througout the freezing process to reduce the amount of crystallization. Freeze overnight.

Approximately 10-15 minutes before serving, place the ice cream in the refrigerator to soften slightly.