Quotation of the Day

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. ~Calvin Trillin

Turkey Pot Pie

There’s always leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, isn’t there?  I love turkey sandwiches with lettuce, mayonnaise and good bread, but maybe you’re in the mood for a turkey pot pie.  Here’s what I made for 4 servings.

Ingredients

3 T butter

1 1/2 oz. bacon, cut in a small dice

1 medium Idaho potato in a small dice

2 medium carrots in a small dice

2 stalks celery, small dice

1 small onion, small dice

3 cups diced cooked turkey

1/4 cup peas

1/2 t salt

1/4 t freshly ground pepper

1/4 t oregano

1/4 t tarragon

2 T finely minced parsley

2 T flour

3/4  cup turkey (or chicken) broth

1/2 cup half and half

dough for one standard  pie crust–use recipe for pumpkin pie crust (previous post)

Procedure

Heat butter in a skillet. Add bacon, potatoes, carrots, celery and onions. Stir fry until bacon is cooked but not crisp and onions are translucent. Add turkey, peas, spices and parsley and stir fry another minute.  Sprinkle on flour and stir fry 2 minutes.  Add turkey broth slowly while stirring.  As mixture begins to thicken, add half and half.  Consistency should be that of a thick cream.  Spoon into four 8-oz. crocks. Moisten top of crocks with water.  Roll out and cut 4 rounds of  crust to fit tops with a slight overlap.  Crimp edges to adhere to crocks.  Cut a couple of slashes for steam vents and brush tops with milk.  Place in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until crusts are browned and filling bubbles up.

Peerless Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving may be over this year, but the heady fragrances of the pies, turkey and sage dressing remain in one’s memory.  A day of hard core cooking and the baking of three pies are rewarded by the words, “This is the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted.”  I must have done something special.  For one thing I use cream (not ultrapasteurized) and add a few flourishes.  I don’t use dark brown  sugar as the rusultant pie looks darker than I want, but the addition of a tablespoon of molasses gives it the most appetizing hue. Also, a small amount of a delectable Italian flavoring, fiori di sicilia, adds a citrusy counterpoint.  If you have a convection oven, use it.  The finished pie should not have a crack in it.  And even though you might say, “Picky, picky, picky,” don’t poke a hole in it with a toothpick to test for doneness and you will have an unblemished  velvety finish.  The prebaked pie crust will prevent a soggy crust.

Pie crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 t salt

1 T sugar

8 T unsweetened butter cut into small cubes

3 T vegetable shortening

4 T ice water

Pulse flour, salt and sugar in food processor to mix.  Add butter and shortening.  Mix briefly.  You should still see small bits of butter in mixture. Sprinkle around metal disk 3 T of the water. Pulse briefly.  Check to see if mixture holds together between fingers.  Add a little more if needed.  Pulse but don’t let ball form.  Empty mixture on a sheet of plastic wrap.  Press out with heel of hand (frissage) and form into a flat disk.  wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour.  Roll out to a 1- inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie pan.  Crimp edges.  Place a buttered piece of aluminum foil in pan and weigh down with pie weights.  Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Take off foil and put back in oven for about 5 minutes until bottom of crust is dry but edges are not browned.  Cool.

Filling

¾ cup white granulated sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground ginger

¼ t freshly ground nutmeg

¼ t ground cloves

1/8 t ground mace

1/2 t salt

3 large eggs

15 oz. pureed pumpkin

1 T molasses

½ t vanilla

1/8  t fiori di sicilia*

8 oz heavy cream

Mix sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, mace and salt in a small bowl.  Beat eggs with a fork in another bowl.  Place pumpkin in the mixing bowl of stand mixer.  Add spice mixture. Mix briefly.  Add eggs,  pumpkin, molasses, vanilla and  fiori di sicilia. Mix on low speed and gradually add cream.

Pour into prebaked crust and bake in lower third of oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then at 350 for about 45 minutes or until center of pie just barely jiggles.  To prevent edge from becoming too dark, cover with a strip of aluminum foil or a silicone edge ring.  Cool on a rack.  Serve with a generous dollop of whipped cream and bask in the compliments you will get.

• (optional) Fiori di sicilia is an Italian flavoring that adds a lovely citrusy taste and aroma.  It can be obtained from King Arthur Flour and other cake specialty shops.

Quotation of the Day

Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he’s buying. Fran Lebowitz

Apple Flower

Pastry dough

1 ½ cups flour

1/2 t salt

2 T  sugar

6 T unsalted butter cut into ½-inch dice

2 T Crisco

3 – 4 T ice water

Make pastry dough. Place flour, salt and sugar in food processor bowl.  Pulse to mix.  Place butter and Crisco around bowl and pulse until mixture resembles coarse corn meal.  Sprinkle 3 T ice water around bowl.  Pulse briefly.  If mixture has not begun to come together add 1 more T ice water. Mix again until dough will stick together.  Stop processor. Take out mixture and pat into a round disk on top of a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap around disk and refrigerate for at least ½ hour.

Roll out to a 12-inch round.  Place in a 9-inch pie tin.  Crimp edge.  Place aluminum foil and pie weights in shell and prebake 12 minutes at 400 degrees.    Take shell out of oven and remove pie weights and aluminum foil.  Prick shell with a fork to prevent the bottom from rising and return to oven.  Bake until dry, about 5 minutes.  Cool.

Apple filling

5 large yellow delicious apples

juice of ½ lemon, divided

1 cup sugar, divided

4 T apricot preserves

2 T butter cut into ½-inch cubes

Peel and core apples with a round corer.  Slice apples in half vertically. Slice apple halves thinly into half moon shapes.  Sprinkle apples with lemon juice and sugar as you work.  Chop end pieces and one whole apple into a dice.  Mix dice with 1 t lemon juice, 1 T sugar and 4 T apricot preserves.  Spread this mixture in bottom of pie shell, but leave excess juice behind.

Arrange apple slices on top of mixture starting at the outside edge, overlapping them.  For the center, peel and roll up a 10-inch long and 1 1/2 –inch wide strip of apple cut from around the circumference of an apple.  Dot top with butter and sprinkle with 1 T sugar.

Bake in the center of oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then lower heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes or until edges of apples are browned and juices are bubbling up.

Quotation of the Day

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.  Unless there are three other people.

Orson Welles

Arctic Char: Luscious Weeknight Supper

Arctic Char, Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli

Tonight’s dinner was just so satisfying, delicious and prepared in such a flash that I had to put it up on my blog.  Arctic char fillets have become one of my favorite fish entrees.  They are mild, flaky, brown nicely and don’t fall apart when you flip them over. Since I was short on time,  I made them the simplest way possible browning them on both sides in a little olive oil in a non-stick skillet.  I first pulled out the pin bones with my trusty needle nose pliers and salted and peppered them.  I figure roughly 6 ounces per person.  My husband made some tartar sauce (mayonnaise, chopped pickle and chopped shallot) while I cooked, but just lemon wedges would suffice.  I served oven roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed broccoli alongside.

My method of roasting the potatoes is to cut them into wedges unpeeled and toss them with enough olive oil  to coat them evenly in a large glass measuring bowl.  Add salt and pepper  (and rosemary, if you like) and toss them more.  Then just spill them out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Quotation of the Day

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be engaged in lightly.  M.F.K. Fisher

Macaroni and Cheese revisited

Macaroni and cheese you say?  How tres ordinaire.  But there is a crisp chill in the air and I don’t know about you, but I say comfort food is my plat du jour.  Yes, I know that you can no doubt find a recipe for macaroni and cheese on the back of a pasta box, but as with all food favorites, there is a palatable version and there is an ethereal version.  The best macaroni and cheese I have tasted is the Croton-on-Hudson, NY  Umami  Cafe’s award-winning white truffle oil laced dish and, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,  the restaurant Zee’s creamy version.

I have put together the best features of both and added, what I think is the crowning feature, an abundant crusty topping of buttery fresh breadcrumbs.

Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups coarse crumbs from good quality bread, crusts removed

5 T butter (divided)

2 medium shallots, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely minced

3 T all-purpose flour

1/8 t smoked sweet paprika

2 t Dijon mustard

1 quart whole milk

½ t freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. elbow macaroni or corkscrew pasta

4 cups cheese, grated   (combination of sharp cheddar, gruyere and colby)

½ cup finely grated Parmegiano reggiano

(white truffle oil optional)

Lightly sauté the breadcrumbs in 2 T butter and set aside.  Sauté shallots and garlic in 3 T butter in a 4-quart saucepan just until translucent.  Add flour and stir over medium heat for two minutes.  Add smoked sweet paprika and mustard.  Slowly add and stir in milk. Add pepper. Grate cheese on grating disk of food processor or large holes of box grater.

Cook macaroni 2 minutes less than package directions instruct.  Set aside ½ cup of cheese mixture for topping. While macaroni is cooking, add remainder of cheese to milk mixture a little at a time, stirring constantly.  Taste for salt.  You may not need any as the cheese is salty. Stir well-drained macaroni into cheese mixture and pour into an oven-proof casserole dish.  Sprinkle reserved cheese over macaroni and then the breadcrumbs.  Bake covered in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for another 10 minutes until there is a light crust on top. Guests can sprinkle a few drops of white truffle oil on top if they like.

Hampton Holiday

Corey Creek Winery

Halloween is here

Finally returning to my blog after a lovely trip to the Hamptons, Long Island, NY where my son Chris’ girlfriend Diana invited my daughter Patricia and her boyfriend Walker and my husband Michael and me to her Easthampton home. The weather was beautiful, raining only one day and Sunday, October 4 was so warm, bright and sunny that a number of swimmers enjoyed the ocean waters.  Let me share some of the photos I took and  a few of the terrific dishes Chris and Diana made for us.

Beer Batter Bread

Beer batter bread slices

3 cups bread flour

1 t baking soda

3 T dried rosemary, crumbled

3 T dark brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1 bottle room temperature beer

½ cup melted butter

Mix dry ingredients.  Add beer all at once.  Mix.  Batter will be lumpy.  Put half of butter in a 9-inch cake pan with 2 inch sides.  Add batter.  Put the balance of the butter on top of mixture.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. (For a crunchy top, sprinkle on one T raw sugar before baking.)

Diana's beer batter bread

Braised Short Ribs

4 lbs. meaty short ribs

2 T olive oil

flour as needed

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 scant t thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups dry red wine

4 cups beef stock

Beurre marnier made with 3 T butter and 3 T flour

½ cup dry sherry

Brown short ribs on all sides in olive oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven.  Remove ribs.  In the same Dutch oven, make a dark roux by adding the same amount of flour as you have fat in the pot.  Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour in wine and beef stock.  Bring to a summer and return ribs to pot.  Simmer for 2 hours or longer.  Thicken sauce as desired with beurre marnier.  Add sherry and simmer for one minute longer.  Serve sauce over ribs.

Beet and Goat Cheese Napoleon

8 medium size beets

1 small bunch basil

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 T white wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic

1 t salt

¼ t freshly ground pepper

8 oz. goat cheese

Heavy cream as needed

Roast 8 medium size beets in a 350 degree oven until they can be easily pierced with a fork (about 45 minutes).  Rub off the skins with your fingers and cut them into ¼ inch slices.  In a blender combine basil, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.  Set aside.  Mix goat cheese with heavy cream until spreadable. Spread goat cheese between three slices of beets and top with one tablespoon basil oil.  Serve as an appetizer.

Chris' braised short ribs

Chris' beet, goat cheese and basil Napoleons

Chris' pumpkin in the light

Chris' pumpkin in the dark

Indian corn

'Lunch' lobster roll restaurant

Pumpkins at farmers market

House resident Pete the praying mantis

This is a quiz. Guess what's pictured here. A few photos above provide a clue.