Pumpkin Pancakes

It's a cold fall day today, perfect for some pumpkin pancakes before a long walk in the chilly fall air.  
These pumpkin pancakes are a breeze to make and taste great with a cup of coffee with a little eggnog in it to complete the fall touch!  

Lucky for me I had some pumpkin and sweet potato puree left from Thanksgiving which I used for these.  And bonus, there are extras for later in the week!  

You could make these with buttermilk, sourdough starter or plain milk and they would be great in any version!

Here's a couple recipe links for you:

King Arthur Flour Pumpkin Pancakes

New York Times Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes with Buttermilk

Epicurious Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes

Happy Cooking!  

Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce

So, here's what you do with one extra hour when Daylight Saving Time ends and you get to "fall back"...I finished the fermented hot pepper sauce this morning and it's devilishly good!  

I'm not giving up my secret recipe...mostly 'cause I did not write it down!  The peppers I received as a gift from a good friend (thanks Susan!) have been fermenting since October 1 and I blended them with some roasted tomatoes I received from a neighbor, along with some salt, secret seasoning, lime juice and rice wine vinegar.  The color and flavor are delicious, and the heat is, well, hot, but not ridiculous. 

More holiday gifts ready to be packaged nicely!

Green Tomato Salsa

Thanks to my neighbors with bountiful gardens, each year I receive a heap of end-of-season green tomatoes just before the first hard frost. I have made chutney and relish with them in the past, but this year I decided on something a little more zippy...green tomato salsa.  I found a recipe online to use as a basis for my adventure and yesterday chopped, cooked and processed a batch of gifts for the holidays.  And it tastes delicious too!

π  Day March 14th = Pie Day at work!

So, Beast and I set out to make a unique pie today for the feast tomorrow in celebration of π day!

We made a Sour Cream Rum Raisin Pie...a twist on the old Norwegian favorite I grew up with.

First I prepared the dough for the crust, made it into a disc and refrigerated it overnight.  I used my friend, Amy, the pie aficionado's recipe,with butter instead of shortening, and pastry flour instead of APF, and the dough rolled out like silk:

1.5 cups pastry flour

.5 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tsp kosher salt

and a few Tbsp ice cold water

I mix mine in the food processor, pulsing the flour and salt before adding the diced butter and pulsing again before adding the water.  How much water is a few Tbsp?  Well, that depends how humid the weather is.  This time I think it worked out to about 4 Tbsp, but I was eyeballing it, adding about a Tbsp at a time then pulsing the dough until it started to come together then I transferred it onto plastic wrap, shaped it into a disc and refrigerated it overnight. 

I think this recipe is enough for a two crust pie, but I only made one with it...rolled it out larger than my pie plate, then trimmed the edges to about 1.25" past the edge and crimped the edges.  I then took the remainder of the pie crust that had been cut off and basted it with heavy cream and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for pastry leftover treats.  I messed that up...I should have basted with melted butter, it would have been even more buttery!  

I poked holes in the dough and then baked the pie crust with beans on parchment in the crust to keep the crust from puffing up.  Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.  I know it's not the most gorgeous crust, but it's got a rustic feel to it...lesson learned, don't buy the pie plates with the handles...your pie crusts always turn out funky shapes!



Next I prepped the filling:

2 cups sour cream
1.5 cups sugar
3 egg yolks (from large eggs)
1.5 cups raisins soaked in rum (you should really soak them all day or overnight but I only soaked mine a couple hours before making the filling)
3 Tbsp pastry flour
Mixed all this together in a Wolf Gourmet sauce pan and heated over medium until it was heated through and a nice thick consistency.  This does not take very long, maybe 10 minutes with stirring occasionally once the ingredients are well mixed.
Then I turned it down to simmer while I made the meringue:
3 egg whites (from large eggs)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar - don't skip this part
3/4 cup sugar

I had reserved my egg whites from the filling and kept them in the fridge while I was doing everything up to this point, and I had pre-chilled my mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer so the tools would be nice and cold when I whisked the egg white mixture for the meringue.  I do this when making whipped cream as well- it works great!
Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until they form soft peaks (about 4 minutes) then turn up the speed to high and add the sugar about 1 tbsp at at time and whisk until stiff peaks form (about 3 more minutes).
Here's what the peaks look like when stiff, very stiff!

 

Next pour the custard mixture into the pie crust then top with the meringue and into the oven it goes at 350°F for 15 minutes

Let it rest on a rack for one hour, then refrigerate at least four hours before serving with some fresh coffee!  The rustic crust shape doesn't look so bad after all, does it?  Can't wait to see how it tastes!

Happy π  Day!

Fall is in the air, and it's time to fire up the Wolf ovens for some more bread baking!

It's hot today, but cooler fall air is coming, which means more comfortable temperatures for baking.  Beast has been lying around like he's about to die from heat exhaustion, but as soon as the nights get cooler, he bounds into the kitchen eager for the next baking adventure with me.

Recently we participated in the King Arthur Flour Bake Along and made Pane Bianco, which turned out great!  http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/08/08/pane-bianco-bakealong/

We also made these Lemon Raspberry Cupcake Beauties http://bakerbynature.com/lemon-cupcakes-with-raspberry-buttercream/

And then over Labor Day we made Cinna Buns from King Arthur's recipe, and used some sourdough starter in the mix: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cinna-buns-recipe 

More to come soon!  

Strawberry Season

It's Strawberry Season in Wisconsin!

Thankfully the weather is mild and the humidity low for this Independence Holiday weekend so yesterday Beast and I made some strawberry jam.  It's a love-hate relationship much like canning tomatoes in the heat of August.  I love the end result, but can live without the tedious process which keeps me indoors when I would rather be outside.

The berries are beautiful and sweet.  One of the best parts of processing day is coming up with adult beverages to enjoy during the processing adventure.  This time I made a Strawberry Mint Basil Cocktail with Vodka, Mint, Basil, SanPelligrino Limonata, and a little mint simple syrup.

Sometimes the jam turns out a bit runny but this year it is perfect.  It set well and has great flavor.  Step one of holiday gift canning complete!

Sourdough Starter

Beast and I have taken a break for a long time from blogging, but we have not stopped cooking and baking!  During the winter a customer of mine sent me some of her 8 year old sourdough starter and I have hosted a few Sourdough Bread Classes at work to share the starter with others and teach them how easy bread from scratch with starter can be.

There are so many things to do with sourdough starter and much of it is ridiculously easy.  Besides awesome bread we have been making the most delicious tortillas, biscuits and incredible pancakes.

Here's the recipe I have been using for the tortillas.
Flour Tortillas Recipe Link
You will not believe how velvety smooth they turn out, soft and melt in your mouth delicious!

The first time I made them I was not sure if they were supposed to rest at room temp or in the fridge.  I made them for Cinco de Mayo and mixed the dough the day before.  I left the dough in a plastic bag overnite then looked at it in the morning and thought I had ruined it because it was so moist.  I chucked the bag into the fridge for the day and took it back out after work and decided what the heck, I'll try anyway and see what they are like.  After preheating my cast iron pan I floured my hands and grabbed a gooey handful and mixed it with some more flour then rolled it out.  I knew as soon as I started rolling that I had something here.  The dough rolled so easily and was great to work with.  They turned out beautiful and you could taste the sourdough in every bite.  AWESOME!

I have struggled with flour tortillas for years because they always get too dry from the flour and cooking in the pan.  These were not dry at all.  New favorite recipe!

Savory Tomato and Herb Scones

Last weekend I made some fresh ricotta cheese, and this week I have a bunch of tomatoes.  Besides some great pasta and pizza ideas for these I thought it would be fun to make a savory Sunday breakfast scone.

Recipe:
2 cups all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (I quarter each Tablespoon)
1 large clove garlic minced
2 Tbsp fresh chopped herbs (I used basil and parsley)
1 plum tomato, seeded and diced
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup ricotta cheese (you could substitute sour cream, Greek yogurt or cream cheese)
1 egg plus one yolk (reserve extra white for brushing on top)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add butter and mix until butter is pea sized or a bit larger.
stir in ricotta, tomato, garlic and herbs.  Beat buttermilk into eggs and add to mixture, mixing gently just until incorporated.  Place dough onto a generously floured surface and knead or fold 4-6 times until the mixture is smooth, but don't work it too long or the scones will be tough.  Form into a circle.  I like my scones puffy, so I only made my circle about 6-7 inches in diameter, then cut into 8 scones, place on a parchment lined pan and brush with beaten egg white, then top with parmesan cheese.  Bake 20-25 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Cranberry Chutney

Just in time for Thanksgiving...as we're finishing the initial stages of the kitchen remodel and awaiting installation of the oven and cooktop, I'm busy thinking about what I'll cook this weekend!
My cranberry chutney is a family favorite at the holidays, so I'll likely whip up a batch of that.

I thought I would share the recipe in case anyone else would like to try it instead of or in addition to canned cranberry sauce...hmmm...I seem to have momentarily lost my recipe...

Well, try some of these links:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Cranberry-and-Dried-Fruit-Chutney-231304
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cooking-live/cranberry-chutney-recipe/index.html#!
http://southernfood.about.com/od/cranberryrelishrecipes/r/bl51104a.htm
http://www.oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Sauces,-Sides---Salads/Cranberry-Chutney-(1).aspx
http://www.marthastewart.com/313155/cranberry-chutney

Don't know what to do with chutney?  It's great served on the side with meats, or on sandwiches, or in salad dressings...whatever you can think of, it's great!

Enjoy and Happy Holiday Cooking!

Beast's Kitchen Remodel Progress Update

The framework for the tower is complete and the counter is close and will be done by Monday.  The electrician comes on Wednesday to run the wiring, and then we're just waiting for the face trim before the oven and cooktop can be installed.

We found a countertop today, FINALLY, at Menards...a birch butcherblock...Birch likes that idea.
The cats are freaked out the range, cabinets and counter went away and now there's a new Cat Climing Structure.  Wait till they find out it's not for the cats!
They keep walking into the room, climbing in the tower and crying WHAAAAAT HAVE YOU DONE!

The counter is longer than we need so we'll have an extra piece for my dough counter when the time comes for that sometime in the spring.

Here are some pics of the progress. - Thanks Tim!

Tower Skeleton

Beast in the tower

What, Mama?  I'm not doin' nothin'

Framing the counter

Counter Frame

Beast's Kitchen Remodeling

There isn't much cooking going on this weekend in Beast's Kitchen.  And Beast is not happy about that!  He's very concerned his stove is gone and his favorite perch on top of the cabinets is gone too.

Wait until he finds out they aren't coming back!

Tim is busy building new framework for the tower for the new ovens and the counter for the new cooktops.  We have the counter on order and as soon as it is installed in about 2 weeks we'll get the appliances installed too.  Bonus for the kitties the new oven vents down toward the floor, so there will be a nice new warm spot on the kitchen floor for the kitties to snuggle up in.

The last thing cooked in the oven was pizza, so I think the first thing in the new oven should be pizza too!
And then I'll be able to bake pies for Thanksgiving to bring to Minnesota.  One gluten free for my sissy, and at least one more for the traditionalists.

Once the work is all done on this part we can start working on the other side of the room.  By the end of 2014 hopefully the entire kitchen will be remodeled with all new appliances.

In the meanwhile, we'll post pics occasionally on the progress.  And someone already took the range off the curb today!
I did make granola bars in the microwave today...I'll let you know how they turned out.  Only had to bake 5 minutes :)

Before Remodel

Empty and ready for demo

Range gone

Range and Backsplash Gone

Counter Gone

All Gone!

 

Coquito Recipe from Inaru Rustaurant in San Juan Puerto Rico

While on Cayamo music cruise in January one of our ports was San Juan Puerto Rico.  We spent the day wandering the streets of Old San Juan, where Tim got a haircut from a barber.  Before heading back to the ship we stopped in at Inaru Restaurant for a cocktail.  I  had a mojito, of course!  As we arrived the staff was removing the Christmas tree from the restaurant in preparation for San Sebastian Festival coming up just after our visit.  The staff was very friendly and before we left they gave us a sample of their version of "eggnog", Coquito, which is a punch served during the holiday season.  The bartender was kind enough to share his recipe with me.  It's dangerously good, and dairy free!

Coquito:
3 cans cream of coconut
1 can coconut  milk
2-3 spoonfuls of condensed milk
1/2 bottle light rum
2-3 shots gold rum
2-3 shots Frangelico
grated nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick per bottle

Keeps refrigerated for up to 2 months

Homemade Sriracha

It's hot pepper time!  While I was at the Dane County Farmer's Market today on a rare Wednesday off work I saw a bucket of hot red chilis and decided to make some homemade Sriracha, which we love at our house!


I have a new computer and still can't find all my files so I went searching for a recipe on the Internet.  I'm using this one, which I like because it has an option for a fermented version.
http://leitesculinaria.com/67202/recipes-homemade-sriracha-sauce.html

While this isn't real labor intensive, it is time consuming to snip all the ends off the stems and chop the chilis before pureeing in the food processor, and watch out when you lift the lid off the processor...WHOOOEEE!  That's some serious hot pepper aroma!

Now the peppers are fermenting and in a week I'll finish the process by cooking them in the vinegar and then we can try it out!

Beast's Kitchen: Carrot Green Chimichurri

Beast's Kitchen: Carrot Green Chimichurri

Carrot Green Chimichurri

Carrot Tops and Radish Greens

Today at the Dane County Farmer's Market while picking out my CSA veggies from JenEhr Farm, I selected some beautiful radishes and crazy twisted carrots.  Both came with beautiful greens that begged to be made into something.  Radish greens--easy add to salads.  Carrot tops not as easy.  I have to get creative with them because I don't care for the taste of them raw so I don't normally add them to salads.  They make great broth but it's way too hot for broth today.  I'm thinking pesto could be good, but don't know what I might use pesto on in the next couple days so I decide to go with Chimichurri.  I also made some carrot top tea by steeping some of the greens in hot water and then I put the tea in the fridge for some healthy iced tea later.  I did add some citron green tea from Rishi Tea to perk up the flavor a bit.  Here's the recipe for the Chimichurri:

Carrot Green Chimichurri

½ cup firmly packed carrot greens, trimmed of thick stems (reserve stems for use in broth)

½ cup firmly packed flat leaf parsley, trimmed of thick stems (reserve stems for use in broth)

4 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried oregano)

½ cup olive oil

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (can substitute red)

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Finely chop garlic by hand or in a food processor.  Add greens and oregano and chop finely in processor, or chop finely by hand and add to garlic in a bowl.

Stir in remaining ingredients adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve immediately as a sauce with grilled meats or veggies or with bread.  Can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.  If chilled, bring to room temperature before serving. 

Sassy Cow Dinner at Nau-Ti-Gal

The Sassy Cow dinner at Nau-Ti-Gal last night was, well, delicious!  Chef Kris prepared a delightful combination of courses using ingredients from Sassy Cow Creamery.  The farmers were there to talk about the farm and the food as well. 

The first course was deep fried Sassy Cow cheese curds with two sauces and greens with a vinaigrette.

The second course was a tomato bisque with Sassy Cow heavy cream.  It was so delicious I forgot to take a photo of that course!

The third course was Shrimp and Cheddar Cheese Grits-delish!

The main course was Mushroom Duxelles stuffed Tenderloin of Beef with whiskey peppercorn sauce

And the dessert course was also so delicious I didn't get a chance to take a picture!  Chocolate Ganache Torte with Sassy Cow's Salted Caramel Ice Cream. 

Everyone received a parting gift from Sassy cow which included chocolate milk and string cheese!

Kudos to Chef Kris and the Nau-Ti-Gal staff for a delicious meal, and many thanks to Sassy Cow Creamery for bringing these delicious products to our market!



Beast's Kitchen: Chicken Feet

Beast's Kitchen: Chicken Feet

Chicken Feet

Chicken Feet...not something you see every day in the grocery, at least here in the Midwest...I recently purchsed some from Farmer Paul at JenEhr's stand at the Dane County Farmer's Market.  Tim had said he would be interested in trying them.  I took one look at the creepy things and thought YIKES!  He's really going to eat that!  OK, now how to prepare them?  So I went to the trusty Internet and started searching for recipes.  Tim thought just deep fried would be good, but I wanted to see how they are traditionally prepared before making that decision.  The recipes I was finding were mostly with long slow cooking methods so I thought perhaps deep frying them would make them dry.  So I tried a traditional recipe I found at this site: http://www.myseveralworlds.com/2007/01/24/dim-sum-style-chicken-feet/ 

The process involves deep frying, simmering, marinating and then steaming the feet, and is a 2-day process.  The end result is somthing that smells quite delicious and looks, well, disgusting.  Tim was a trooper though and ate the ET like feet and even said he'd eat them again, but did admit he'd rather have them deep fried after all.  For me it was an interesting cooking challenge, and I have absolutely no desire to eat them!

Curried Goat Stew

Yesterday at the Dane County Farmer's Market one of the vendors was selling goat steaks and stew meat, so I decided to try the stew meat.  I have a bunch of veggies on hand and some homemade broth and it sounded like it would make a nice curry.  It's in the slow cooker now getting ready for tonight.

The winter market seems to make its living off the popular market breakfasts once the market moves to the Madison Senior Center, but I go for the shopping.  Right about this time every winter I crave fresh local veggies and they can be found at the market.  Yesterday I picked up some Empire apples and shallots from Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard, some fresh spring greens from Don's Produce, spinach from Snug Haven, shiitake mushrooms from a farmer I'm not familiar with, aged white cheddar from Hook's, chicken feet and veggies from  JenEhr and the goat meat.  Tim likes to eat wierd things...he recently tried a dish with duck tongue at an asian restaurant-YUK!  I had mentioned to him that JenEhr had chicken feet and he said he'd like that, so I got some to deep fry for him.  He rarely gets deep fried anything so I thought that would be a fun treat for him.  Since I don't really eat meat I'll try a bite or two of the goat and then pick around it for the veggies in the stew.  The goat meat seems very lean, and similar to lamb at first glance...we'll see how the curry turns out later today.  I like my curry thick and spicy so I'll puree some of the vegetables later to give it the texture and taste it for more spices before seasoning-YUM!

Door County Cherry Granola Bars

Happy New Year!  Welcome 2012...the year the world is supposed to end, or some such nonsense!

Beast and I have not stopped cooking and baking-we've just been so busy we haven't had time to write in the blog.  I'm working full-time now at Sub-Zero and Wolf and it has been an adjustment for us in time management. 

One day at work I came across a recipe in Fitness Magazine for some granola bars that sounded really good.  I hate the store-bought processed ones with all the preservatives and stabilizers so I'm always looking for a recipe for granola bars that will stave off my mid-day hunger and will hold together while eating...challenging. 

Yesterday I made these with a slight modification to the recipe and they are a great consistency and quite tasty.  I can't wait to try them with peanut butter instead of fruit and nuts. 

I used dried Door County cherries and pecans and adjusted the amounts to about 6 oz cherries and 1/2 cup pecans and increased the chocolate chips to about 1/2 cup. 

They make a great healthy snack or breakfast!