Toasted Pecan and Caramalized Apple Pie

Having never made a pecan pie before, I decided to add some apple to it as well because I figured it would make it more familiar. Who knew there was such a controversy over pecan pie! People are very particular about their pies and some were less than thrilled that I even attempted to mess with a classic, but of course I did anyway.

Basically find a good pecan pie recipe and follow the instructions. But also toast the pecans in a pan with brown sugar to candy.

Also chop up some apple, throw in a pan and do the same thing, but separately. Combine all and bake as normal.

Halfway through throw some uncooked apple and pecans onto the top.

Three Tomato and Roast Pepper Sauce

OMG - So so so good. I just pulled this together tonight from stuff from my fridge and leftover garden stuff. I had a variety of tomatoes, but not enough to make anything by using  one type or the other. So I used all of them :)

Olive oil - 3 tablespoons or so
2 tablespoons of butter
2 medium green tomatoes
a handful of cherry tomatoes
Salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 1/2 red and/or yellow roasted bell peppers - i just put mine under the broiler at 500 degrees for 8 minutes

Warm pan on medium heat, poor olive oil in pan let warm for a few minutes, then add butter and melt until bubbly, then add tomatoes. Keep covered throughout.
Heat cherry and green tomatoes in olive oil and butter until the green tomatoes begin to soften. Add salt and pepper, just a little for the moment, chopped garlic and onions as well. Reduce for about 5 minutes before you add the sun- dried tomatoes and chopped roast peppers.

From here you can just add a bit more salt and pepper to taste and pour over your favourite pasta, or add on a bit more.

I had some leftover chicken thighs and about 1/2 cup of broth. I threw that into the pan with the sauce  and let simmer until they were warm.

Overall it was easy, quick and really tasty for a nice winter meal.

Berry Tart

Simple, delicious.

This one went to a hungry crew this past summer. It did not survive intact, it was a bummer. But I heard they still enjoyed it.

1 tart crust - you can see my recipe from a few days before this one
Fresh berries
1 cup coarse chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1/8 cup heavy cream

Melt chocolate in sauce pan on medium-low heat. Add in the cream and mix completely until smooth. remove from heat and pour some into the baked, cooled pie crust and swirl a little coat the edges. Set aside to let firm up completely.

Custard - Vanilla Bean

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk or half and half
8 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 vanilla bean halved and cut lengthwise

Heat milk, cream, and vanilla bean in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling, you will see steam issuing from the milk when you stir. Stir often. 

While milk heats, whisk together yolks, sugar, and salt in a heatproof bowl until combine.Remove bean from milk once you can smell the vanilla and before you combine the eggs.

Add 1 cup hot milk to yolk mixture in a stream, whisking, then add remaining milk, whisking constantly. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 6 to 10 minutes (do not boil and do not over cook, the eggs will separate).Remove from heat and let cook to room temp, pour into pie crust and refirgerate for about 2 hourse before topping with berries.

Once cool, top with berries and drizzle with a little bit of chocolate. 

Serve chilled.

Roast Vegg, always a win

I eat a lot of veg. I often times just have roast vegg for dinner, with nothing else. Healthy? Perhaps not. Delicious....very :). So here is a quick way to make some really tasty veggies.



Roast Veggies

You can use this recipe with Brussels sprouts, asparagus, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli etc etc etc.

Preheat oven to broil/375 and place an oven rack on the top rest
Choose your veg or mix of veg properly cleaned, and if needed, cut in halves or quarters
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Lemon Juice
Melted butter

Toss your veg in a bowl to coat with some olive oil, cracked salt and pepper. Put on a backing dish in a single layer. Place in oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Some veg like asparagus will cook a lot quicker so watch them closely. Others will take longer, potatoes will take about 30 minutes or so depending upon the thickness.

Once the veg are done, toss back into the bowl with the olive oil and salt and pepper, squeeze a little lemon juice over and add the butter. The butter is not necessary, but is really tasty and why the heck not. Enjoy life and its butter :).

Pies and tarts: a note on dough

I make a lot of pies and tarts, a lot of people ask me about the crusts so here is my basic crust recipe.

This is a standard ratio 3 dry to 1 fat for a crust.

For a double pie crust:
3 cups flour
1 cup butter (chilled or frozen butter) cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp salt
If you want a savoury crust add 1 tablespoon sugar or less
If you want a sweet crust, add 1/4 cup of sugar
6-10 tablespoons of water

Combine flour, butter, sugar, salt well with a pastry blender seen here (http://www.pastrychef.com/PASTRY-BLENDER_p_1157.html). Some chunks of butter may remain, but thats fine, you want the mixture to be touched as little as possible and kept cold. Add a few tablespoons of water and cut it into the mixture with the pastry blender until it begins to pull together. Add a little more water and combine the rest with your hands until it forms a ball. So not over kneed or blend, and touch very little. break into two balls and wrap in plastic or cover bowl with towel.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes and then roll out.

If you want to make a pastry for a tart, the only difference will be the addition of one or two eggs depending on size and the ratio is 2 to 1 flour to fat

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup chilled butter
If you want a sweet crust, 1/4 cup sugar (I like brown for this).
If you want a savoury crust use 1/4 tsp salt plus below and only a dash of sugar.
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg , beaten

Much like the pie, but to bring everything together you use egg instead of water.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (for lack of a better name)

I kinda poached this recipe from a newspaper but changed it so much I am calling it my own. They are almost like eating a really moist scone. You can do a simple sugar glaze on them for some extra flare, but they are lovely without. You can used a cup canned pumpkin or roast your own. If you roast your own sugar bear pumpkin, you have more control over the flavour of the cookie.

1 cup self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup room temperature butter
1 1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1 cup  pureed pumpkin - bake a whole one with brown sugar and butter or use from can
3 large eggs at room temperature
l teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup miniature dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray with cooking spray. Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.

Cream the butter in a mixer then add and cream together butter and brown sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes, or until very light and smooth. Scraping sides frequently to ensure full combination.

Mix together on medium speed with the butter/sugar mix: pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract and blend until well-combined. Scrape sides frequently to ensure full combination.

On low speed, add the dry ingredients (a scoop or two at a time) until just blended, about 2 minutes. Hand mix in chocolate chips until combine. The mixture should be a biscuit like consistency, not too wet like cake batter, but not like a chocolate chip cookie dough either. Light and fluffy.
If its too wet, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time.

Use 2 serving spoons to drop batter into mounds (about 2 tablespoons each), 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Cookies will spread when they bake.



Bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 8 - 15 minutes (check after 8, 10 is usually the perfect amount of time, but some ovens cook faster or slower. Transfer to wire racks and let cookies cool completely. Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Makes 36 cookies.

Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Browned Butter and Sage Sauce

Don't know what inspired this one, but it turned out really well so here it is, my first post for the blog. Enjoy! You can make this with any winter squash on hand, no need to make a trip to the store, most things will be in a stocked pantry.


Ravioli

Make a basic pasta (4 eggs or so and about 300 grams of flour)
Add some fresh grated nutmeg (just a pinch) and a dash or cinnamon

Roll out to the 6th or seventh thickness - should be pretty thin, but thick enough to play around with a little bit without breaking. Lay out in sheets on cutting board.

Filling

A whole butternut squash (2 - 3 cups once it has been cleaned and cubed, or you can bake it whole)
1/4 cup brown sugar
dash salt
1/4 cup butter cut to small pieces
Ricotta Cheese (small container)
one egg scrambled with a little water.

You can either cut up the butternut entirely to begin with or cut it in half, fill it with the sugar, salt and butter and cook it that way. Either way bake in 375 degree oven until it is very soft. Remove from oven, cool slightly and put all squash and juices in bowl and mash thoroughly. Set aside to let cool a little more while you  get water boiling and chop garlic.

Spoon a small amount onto pasta sheet to make the size ravioli you desire. Top with  a small amount of ricotta cheese, brush around the edges of the pasta and close around the filling. Top with another sheet of pasta and press close. Cut pasta and then pinch each ravioli to make sure they are securely closed.

Sauce

Butter
Olive Oil
5-6 whole sage leaves
6 Cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mince garlic. Heat pan on  medium-high heat melt some butter and olive oil until bubbly and lightly coloured, reduce heat and remove pan for a moment until cooled slightly to temp. Place pan back on medium low heat, toss in garlic until you can smell the aroma. Throw in the sage leaves whole and toss in with the garlic and butter until you can just smell it as well. Add a dash of salt, a dash of pepper and set on very low heat while you cook the ravioli.

Add pasta to rolling boiled water in small batches. Will only take about 3 minutes per batch. When finished, toss in with butter and sage.

You can top with a little fresh Parmesan and basil is you like, salt and pepper additionally to taste.