Potato Hashbrown Soup ~

Oh boy, another hard to resist item for me -- potatoes.  This is another food item we just don't have in the house often...like bacon.  Oh look - they are both here in attendance.  :)  

~FLD's after school snack, very filling ~

I was talking about soups with FLD (Former Little Dude) last week when I made chicken soup.  I bought a bag of *REALLY* cheap potatoes in a moment of "These are cheap - we are poor" mode the same week.  Dysfunctional offerings to the public - genetically modified potatoes.  They will be the last in this home, I hope.  Back to my main thought...I mentioned potato soup to FLD because he loves potatoes.  He likes to try things, has an open mind when it comes to food...so I said I would make potato soup.  He was happy to hear that it also had bacon.  Insert male grunting happy for meat sounds here.  14 years old = often hungry.

Potato Soup ~

6 slices thick cut bacon, trimmed of excess fat, sliced in 3/4" pieces
1/2 white onion, diced
4-6 medium red russet potatoes, large cubes, cooked.  Leave on skins.  Drain and set aside
2 medium red russet potatoes, peeled, diced.
5 c. chicken stock.
3/4 c. half and half.
2 tsp. pureed chipotle in adobo sauce
1 T. freshly chopped Mexican oregano
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

• Note that this recipe has cooked potatoes.  If you have not done this, now is the time, use salted water.
• In a stock pot heated over medium, brown bacon until it is crisp and has released all it's fat.
• Remove bacon and all but 2 T. fat.  Reserve fat if you feel you might use a tad more in the recipe.
• Saute diced potatoes in the bacon fat over medium-low heat until half cooked, some browning is good.  Remember to salt and pepper the potatoes as you start.  Remove when half cooked and reserve.  These do not get added until after the other boiled cubed potatoes have been pureed.
• If you feel you need a tad more grease use either the reserved bacon fat or a touch of olive oil.  In this, saute the onions until brown.
• Add the cooked cubed potatoes, not the sauteed diced potatoes, 3 - 4 cups of the stock and the oregano to the onions.  Let warm through.
• Remove the potatoes and stock to puree in a blender, in batches.  Watch the overspill, leave the lid ajar with a towel covering or it will spray out.  Never blend hot liquids in a closed atmosphere.
• Add the puree back to the stock pot.  Add the remaining chicken stock, the half and half, the chipotle puree and the reserved sauteed diced potatoes.  Let come to a gentle simmer until the diced sauteed potatoes are cooked through, but still fairly firm to the bite.
• At this point, since salting the hashbrowns and the onions, there should not be too much need for more salt, only minor adjustments.  I tend to like a peppery potato soup, so I added more freshly ground pepper.  The chipotle puree ads depth to taste.  Add water if you want it thinner.

Happy Fall day!  Eskimo kisses ~ ~ ~

This is linked to the happy sharing day of Foodie Friday. 

Rhubarb, straight rhubarb

A tart made for Annabelle Elizabeth

No rhubarb-strawberry, no rhubarb-raspberry...rhubarb sans fruit.  Rhubarb as the sugared up vegetable that it is, this is my favorite way to have a rhubarb in tart or pie form.  My Annie loves this tart.  Though two years ago she would have passed it over completely.  I am thrilled her taste buds took a turn to a wider spectrum in all food areas...I have my own personal issues to climb over with having had to cook for people that sustain themselves on mostly protein, starch and sugar.  I am not far from a good or bad diet, but variety is what I like since I dislike so few foods in general.  Cooking and baking for someone with very limited tastes doesn't sit well with me.  I am fortunate to have veggie loving, ethnic food loving, whole grain eating children.  :)

This was the last of the Redmond rhubarb from a dear friend's plant....a simple joy to use something fresh from the garden of someone I love.  *ahhh*  Love truly feels good.

This is a smaller tart pan, adjust recipe as needed.  A pie pan will take double this amount.

Single crust recipe of your choice...you have a favorite, I'm sure.  :)

12 oz. rhubarb, cut into 1/2 slices
2/3 c. sugar plus 1 T.
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Freshly grated nutmeg, as much as you like, I used 1/2+ tsp. for this amount of rhubarb
The barest pinch of salt
2 tsp. tapioca flour

• Mix sugar, salt, spices, tapioca flour.
• Add in rhubarb, mix and let sit for 20 minutes.
• Roll out tart dough for pan, use as single tart or single with scraps rolled for lattice.
• Add rhubarb into tart, top with lattice, egg wash the top and sprinkle with sugar.

 Bake at 375-400 degrees - your choice.  Bake for 35-50 minutes, depending on your oven temp and just how toasty brown you like it.  Not very accurate am I?  These things are subject to me ~ I'm a happily moody baker.

That's pretty toasty brown...right there up front...bubbly luscious ~ ~

Peach-nectarine-almond tart

I had the best nectarines and peaches this past summer that I've ever had in my life.  The flavor topped any organic I've had, and that says a lot considering the delicious quality stone fruit we get here in Oregon.  This past summer....as today marks fall equinox, a lovely and welcome transition.

A recipe for short crust, not quite a double amount - plus the best fruit you can find.  One cannot make up for so-so peaches with sugar.  I only had two good peaches on hand, not enough for a pie so I added nectarines. 

Peach-nectarine-almond tart

This makes a tart smaller than a pie, so if you adjust for a pie pan, you'll need more fruit.  I used an 8" tart pan with 2" sides. 

Peach-nectarine-almond tart ~

2 peaches, largish and peeled
3 medium nectarines, peel left on
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. brown sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
The barest pinch of salt
1 T. tapioca powder

Optional streusel, approx. 3 T.
Crushed sliced almonds, approx. 2 T.


Egg wash and extra sugar, coarse grain - optional


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• Mix the sugars, salt, nutmeg, tapioca flour.   
• Peel the peaches, slice into halves, then each half into four slices.  Slice nectarines in the same manner. 
• Mix dry ingredients with the sliced fruit.

• Roll out the crust, line the pan.  
• Sprinkle the streusel and almonds over the interior.
• Roll out the remaining dough and cut into 3/4" strips.  
• Add the fruit to the pan, top with lattice weaving.
• Press edges together and pinch off.
• Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce to 350 degree and bake approximately another 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden as you like it.

Happy Fall.    

Sundried tomato vinaigrette ~

I like our dressings to be on the tart side, with a hint of sweet...but always ending with the tart remaining on the tongue.  I also tend to use less olive oil in relation to vinegar.   I don't measure when I make dressing, but this time I did - so my children would have a reference of what we used on our salads.  :)  This was my lunch today....oh...light and subtle. 

Sundried tomato vinaigrette ~

6 sundried tomatoes (not from a jar)
1/4 c. spiced pear cider
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 T. blackberry honey
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 T. champagne vinegar
1/3 c. olive oil
3 T. water

• In a small saucepan, heat the cider and tomatoes together, bringing to a simmer.  Reduce to a very low simmer, simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add the cider and tomatoes to a small food processor.  Add the garlic, mustard, honey, salt, black pepper and vinegar.  Process this until smooth.
• Add the olive oil and the 3 T. water.  Process again until smooth
• Adjust any season of salt or sweet that you might like.

A little whole wheat sweet ~

For the four in the hood

I wanted something less sweet, a little less big, a little less fat, and completely whole wheat.  I wanted something this was not...boy how I do love that recipe, though.  *sugar love*   I also wanted to use the two leftover bananas I had sitting around, though I  prefer berries in my quickbreads.  Today I was merely practical, also working the whole grain momentum I have going and I had extra time to make the kidlets their after school snack.


The texture ~ this will be on the light spongy side as it's low in fat.  It has the hint of banana to it in taste and scent.  I truly like my baked goods less sweet and this first time experiment with ratios and ingredients hit the spot in satisfying that little sumthin'-sumthin'.   


Whole wheat banana cakelettes ~
(is that a word?)


1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated


4 T. butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
2 T. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. maple extract
2 overly ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c. buttermilk

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Line six 4" pans with parchment.
• Mix dry ingredients, set aside.
• Cream butter and sugars, add extract.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  This will be a loose egg/sugar mixture.
• Add the bananas at this point or wait to fold them in last.
• Add half the flour mixture, mix well.
• Add the buttermilk, mix well.
• Add the remaining flour.
• Fold in almonds.
• Divide the batter into the six pans, top with extra almonds.
• Bake for approximately 30 minutes...make sure they spring back to the touch.

Banana almond cakelette

Crumb peek

Friday lunch in the hood ~

Lunch for two

At 2:18p. I blurted out, "Oh my gawd!  I love myself!  If good cooking attracted men, I'd have a man harem."  :)  My son is used to talk such as this, he laughs with me.


Every so often I have moments when I fall in love with myself.  This happens when I cook or bake something that I am very happy with.  Today that was at 2:18p.  A late lunch, but what a great lunch today.  I had company.  Former Little Dude has been home ill, so I had a little extra motivation to take extra time to make something special for lunch this Friday.  This was it.  And it will be repeated for dinner many times over in our future family lifetime.  Never mind that he only ate half the pepper itself, I loved a cutting of the pepper with each bite of the filling.  


I found this recipe earlier in the week, it was such an appealing picture to me.  Especially appealing because I had two poblanos on the counter.  Two, not four.  This meant this wasn't going to be a dinner without a store run - no, thank you.   FLD becomes ill, but no loss of appetite...suitable lunch for two.  


I strayed quite a bit from the recipe.  First off, 1/2 an onion?   I won't cut an onion unless I use the entire thing.  This is one reason I love shallots - they are the perfect size for the flavor without waste.  I was out of cumin seeds to grind. I'm not sure what is up with that, that's almost unacceptable.  No cinnamon, and I forgot the lime entirely.  I didn't roast the poblanos, but charred them over the gas burner flame, leaving the skins intact.

2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 T. olive oil
2 poblanos
1/4 c. thinly sliced shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 c. diced tomatoes, fresh or canned 
1 c. cooked brown rice (I used jasmine)
3 oz. cheese, shredded (I used half jack, half sharp cheddar)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro

• Char the poblano peppers over gas or roast in the oven.  Put them in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap to steam them a little - or to peel the screen.  I did gas, kept the skin.  This doesn't make them as soft as roasting, but gives a nice bite when eating.  Slit open, clean out all the seeds.

• Heat a small saute pan over medium.  Add olive oil when hot, add chicken that has been salt and peppered on both sides.
• Saute 5-7 minutes on one side, turn and cover until just cooked through.
• Remove from heat to cool enough to handle.
• Save the juices in the pan.  Shred the chicken.

• Heat a 12 inch saute pan over medium heat, add olive oil when hot, and onions.  Saute to some color.  Add garlic and oregano, stir.
• Add the tomatoes, cooked rice, shredded chicken and cilantro, and the reserved chicken pan juices.  Heat through.
• Add the cheese, mix well.  Divide and stuff into the peppers.  Use a pick to hold the pepper together if you have lost a stem. Top with a bit more cheese.
• Heat in a 450 degree oven as desired, or simply broil to melt the cheese.

Warm wishes

 

Friday lunch in the hood ~

Lunch on a Friday

Now what to do with that little bottle of toasted sesame oil?  It doesn't keep long in the fridge, I use only a few drops when I open a new bottle.  Oh, but what a luscious, earthy, smokey scent.  It's lovely.  It's worth the price if only used once and tossed.  I'll try not to toss it.  I might impose a Toasted Sesame Oil Tuesday on myself to use it.

This was easy-peasy, using leftovers from the night before.  If I want to make fried rice, I plan it a day ahead.  I heard long ago that to make good fluffy fried rice, the cooked rice needs to dry out a little.  Making it fresh and using it right away will usually result in a sticky fried rice.  Not that sticky rice isn't good.  :)   This was just a quickie put together dinner - I prefer scallions, though didn't have any that day.  I would have liked peanuts, though I didn't have any.  I usually add egg, but (shock and horrors!) I didn't have one spare egg.   A pattern.  I was happy with what I had.  :)   I learned that I prefer my fried rice sans egg.


5 c. cooked rice
3 - 5 T. neutral oil
2 T. peeled, minced ginger
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 - 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 - 1 1/2 c. cooked diced chicken 
Leftover broccoli, diced
A few dashes coconut aminos (or tamari sauce)
Cilantro, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

• Heat a large saute pan or wok on medium.  Add oil when hot.  
• Add onions, some kosher salt and saute to some color.
• Add minced ginger, saute a minute with the rice.
• Add a few dashes of the coconut aminos, and the diced chicken.  Warm through.
• Add a few dashes of the toasted sesame oil, mix, then add the rice and broccoli.  Warm through.
• Add the cilantro, more toasted sesame oil, (but only a dash or two at a time, it goes a long way in seasoning), more coconut aminos if desired, salt and pepper if needed.

Oh boy, oh boy!!

 ~

Clam chowder, honey!!!  *sighing* with recent memories of warm, light, creamy spoonfuls of a delicious nature.  (I'll never be a writer.)

Former Little Dude, now a teenager, said that my chowder is lighter, taste more like clams, less creamy than Mo's.   I sure do like that he talks about these things that he notices.  He likes both, but prefers a lighter version.  So do I.  I like brothy.  Maybe this is clam soup.

Pretty rounds

Clam soup ~

5-6 slices of thinly sliced proscuitto
1-2 T. olive oil
One large-ish yellow onion, diced
5-8 yukon gold potatoes, washed, skin left on, chopped into 1 1/2" chunks
Two pints clam juice
1 lb. frozen baby clams in juice, or clams of choice.  Reserve the juice if thawed.
4 T. cornstarch
1/2 - 3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
Salt and pepper

• Heat a stockpot to medium heat, add olive oil and proscuitto.  Cook to not quite crisp.
• Add onions, toss of kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, saute to soft.
• Add the two pints clam juice, heat to simmer.  Add potatoes.
• When potatoes are shy of being done, place a cup of the clam juice (from the frozen clams) into a bowl with the cornstarch.  Whisk thoroughly and pour into the stockpot, cook for five minutes.
• Add the clams, cream and heat through.  
• Taste for seasoning.  

With rosemary-walnut bread

Christmas cookie season ~

Love dangling

More to do

Well worth the price ~ a lovely baking book.  It's not my recipe, I don't feel right posting from a book source.  If anyone loves Scandinavian baking, this book is so nice to have in one's collection.

Humma-humma ~ Hummus

 

 

 

Hummus.   Hummus for Annie.

 

With slight adjustments, this is my favorite hummus recipe.  The original recipe is from Epicurious

 

Start with the lesser amounts listed on ingredients with a range.  Adjust to taste.

 

 

29 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
1/3 - 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup organic toasted tahini paste

1-2 T. lemon or lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil 

1-2 teaspoons chipotles in adobo, either the sauce or a small part of the pepper itself 

2-3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/3-1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Salt to taste 

 

Gotta love a food processor.  Remember when it was such a luxury or indulgence, that first one?   Maybe that was just me. 

 

Making this today yielded me one of those, "I feel special and loved by my mother." smiles from Annabelle.  She is the hummus lover in the family.  I happen to really like that idea, given she is only 11.  Making food as a form of giving love lately.  This felt good.  It's the little things that add up.

 

 

 

Sour cherry scones ~ pretty in pink

Clapping my hands like a little kid!!  I love myself!  Sour cherry scones.  The only way I would be happier is if someone made them for me, still using this recipe.  No.  No, no, no, no.   I want to make them.  That makes me happiest.  Yep, yep, yep.  I wanna bake for the world, feed my spirit.

This is one of those things that ups my challenge of resisting more than one...I like eating these quite a bit.  


Sour cherry scones ~

2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 T. butter, diced
2/3 c. heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 c. whole frozen sour cherries, not thawed.  After measuring, slice them.  

• In a separate small bowl, beat egg until nicely loose, add vanilla, add cream.  Set aside.
• Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt in a mixing bowl.
• Cut in butter.  Either by hand or mixer with a paddle attachment.
• Add wet ingredients, mix until almost combined.
• Add the frozen cherries, mix just until incorporated.
• Remove to a floured surface.  Pat to a height of an inch or more.  Cut in six wedges.
• Brush tops with cream, sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 18-25 minutes, depending on the cold status of the frozen berries, how dark you like your scones.  Touch them in the middle, they will spring back when done.

Toodles ~
xoxo

Lamb ~ salty & sweet ~

There is something sexy about the sound of the sizzling when meat hits a pan hot with olive oil.  The marinade still clinging to the raw flesh will bounce off the oil,  jumping up to inflict hot beads of momentary pain.  I know, I know....maybe I didn't blot enough?  :)

One reason I cook lamb a day ahead...it not only tastes better the second day, I can never plan how my day will go when something needs several hours to cook before a dinner time that is fairly regular every night.

Lamb over two days. 
(Because the kids already ate dinner before the lamb was done.)

1/2 c. red wine
1/4 c. olive oil
3 small garlic cloves, smooshed, flattened with one fell swoop by the side of a knife
4 allspice berries, cracked
Sprinkle kosher salt
Pepper
oregano - a tablespoon, packed
Rosemary - a few bruised, leaves only
A curious toss of a few golden raisins
1 1/2 lbs. lamb, shoulder roast - either tied whole or in parts.  I do parts.

• Let marinade at room temperature for three to four hours. 
• Heat olive oil in a saute pan, medium to medium high. 
• Remove the lamb from the marinade to toweling and pat.  Salt and pepper.  
• Sear all sides very well.  
• Remove and set aside on a plate.

The rest ~

1/4 c. red wine

1/3-1/2 c. sliced shallots

Four garlic cloves, sliced or minced

Fire roasted tomatoes, 14.5 oz. can - these make a difference worth the purchase.

Oregano, fresh - a packed tablespoon

Rosemary, fresh, leaves only

Salt and freshly ground pepper

A curious toss of golden raisins, 1/4 c. 

One comice pear, fairly firm

• In the hot pan from searing the meat, add the shallots. Salt.  Saute until there is some color.   
• Add garlic, saute for a moment.  Do not brown garlic.
• Add the wine to deglaze. Reduce until thick.
• Add the fire roasted tomatoes and herbs.  Simmer for a few minutes.
• Salt to taste - isn't it yummy?  Remove from heat.
• Add those golden raisins to the sauce.

 What's next?

• Put a few spoonfuls of sauce in a slow cooker or lidded pan.  
• Put in the meat, top with the remaining sauce.
• Slow cook 6-8 hours or braise in the oven at 350 for longer than you do a pot roast.  Check at four hours if in the oven...it could take as long as 6 hours or so.  
• Now the pears...a few minutes before turning off the heat to the lamb...peel one, cube.  Add half the cubes to the finished sauce.  They will break down.  Stir into sauce, it will be thick.
• Remove the lamb to a serving plate.
• Add 1/2-3/4 c. water to the sauce in the pan, stir to loosen
• Gently fold the other half of the pear cubes into the sauce.
• Spoon sauce over the lamb.

Oh boy, oh boy ~ yum!




Toodles!
xoxo

Coming next week ....

This was our dessert that night we had lamb.


Apple tart with walnut streusel.

Brown Sugar Pudding ~

Brown Sugar Pudding ~

Foodie Friday! My first. What a wonderful way to motivate myself to slow down and find one small thing in the kitchen that is unusual and different for us to eat. I can appreciate the work and love of baking and cooking, participating in Foodie Friday makes me appreciate it a little more fully than being on automatic.

I have pudding on my brain. It’s been lingering and for me that means “go with that”. I haven’t made pudding in years. I remember it as a child, but only from a box…which I find a bit puzzling as my mother was a wonderful scratch baker. Ack! Memories of boxed cake mixes in the cupboard are surfacing as I type. Okay. I can re-write my past. Ohhmmmm(insert meditation sound of choice.)

This is from my very old, falling apart, torn, ripped up binding 1953 printing of the original 1931 version (I think) of “The Joy of Cooking”. I lifted it from home when I ran off into the world on my own in 1983. It wasn’t in grand condition then either.

I like the way the recipes are worded through out this book. It’s written of “a quick fire” instead of high heat on a burner. It writes of yeast in a way that is not available readily today. If I need to know how to skin a rabbit or squirrel with recipes to follow, I’m good to go with this version.

The original is listed under “Caramel cornstarch pudding”. I’d not seen a recipe with both cornstarch and eggs. I have a preference to stay away from cornstarch as a thickener, eggs being my choice in regards to pudding. I switched out the sugars, added a touch more butter, changed the name here because I didn’t caramelize white sugar.

Brown sugar pudding ~
(a rather soft pudding)

1 ¾ c. milk
1 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

¼ c. milk
2 T. cornstarch

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1/8 tsp. salt
2 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

• Mix the cornstarch and ¼ milk, set aside.
• Whip the yolks slightly in a bowl.
• Put the milk in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the chill is off, add the brown sugar, whisk to dissolve. Add the salt.
• Stir in the cornstarch mixture, whisk for about 4-5 minutes over med-high flame.
• Ladle out a bit of the sugar-milk mixture into the eggs to temper. Return egg mixture to pan.
• Bring just to a boil - look for thickening and big fat busted bubbles, stirring constantly. (It will be quite foamy, but that settles after removed from the heat.)
• Turn off the heat, whisk in the butter. Add vanilla.
• Ladle into cups ~ or whatever your whim speaks to you.
  

Toodles!
xoxo