Thai Rice Pudding

This is a very loosely adapted (so loosely that I don't even need to reference it) recipe from an old cookbook of mine. It was one of those "bargain" cookbooks from the cheap section at Barnes and Noble, and I soon discovered why... major misprints and omissions. Such as omitting the temperature at which their version of coconut rice pudding should be cooked. But it got me thinking -- what about making it in the slow cooker? The original recipe was finicky in that you had to watch it bake in the oven for 3+ hrs, stirring every once in a while and making sure it wouldn't burn. The slow cooker method takes that out of the equation. I played with the ingredients and switched a bunch of things around, and this is what I got... it's a combination of three of my favorite things: rice, coconut, and lime; all wrapped up into one happy bowl of comfort food.

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio rice

2 cans coconut milk (not reduced fat)

2 cups milk*

1/2 cup brown sugar*

zest of 1/2 lime

1/4 tsp salt

toasted coconut

lime wedges (optional)

In a slow cooker, mix the following: rice, coconut milk, milk, brown sugar, and lime zest. Cook on medium for about 2 hrs, or until the rice has fully plumped up and the sauce has thickened considerably.

Serve warm with a generous heap of toasted coconut on top, and garnish with lime wedge if desired.

*for my vegan friends: substitute soy or almond milk for dairy, and you could use any vegan sweetener of your choice (turbinado sugar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, etc.).

Creme Brulee

A dessert usually seen on restaurant menus, and less often on the home cook's kitchen table... creme brulee is an unjustifiably feared dish to prepare. This recipe makes an intimidating dessert very easy. Not only that, but it is also one of the best version of creme brulee I've had. Often, creme brulee is too firm, eggy, sweet, and/or runny. This recipe makes a rich, velvety custard. The recipe I use is adapted from the one found in "Coffee: The Essential Guide to the Essential Bean". It can be found on Amazon at http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2319726022275432975&postID=3837846282989312386

Ingredients:

9 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 cup of half and half

3 cups of cream

sugar for caramelizing

Oven: 325 F

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks along with sugar, salt and vanilla until slightly lightened in color and sugar is well incorporated. At the same time: in a large saucepan, heat cream and half and half over medium heat until a skin forms on top. Remove from heat. Add about 1/3 of the hot cream to the egg yolk mixture, whisking continually. Once well incorporated, add yolk/cream mixture back into hot cream -- again, whisking the whole time. Once well blended, pour mixture through a wire mesh strainer back into the original bowl. Place 6 Pyrex custard cups in a 9x13 cake pan. Fill custard cups with the creme brulee mixture, nearly to the top but leave enough room to move the pan without spilling the custard. Place on oven rack of preheated oven. Pour hot or boiling water into the pan around the custard cups until it comes about 1/2 of the way up the sides of the cups. Cook for 40-60 minutes until edges look set but the center (size of a quarter to half dollar) is still wobbly. Remove from oven. Take custard cups out of water bath and place on a rack to cool to room temperature. Cover each cup with a square of plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

For serving: sprinkle a teaspoon or so of sugar on the top of each custard. Using either a dessert torch or small propane torch, gently melt the sugar on the tops of the custard until is is a deep brown and no sugar crystals remain. This part takes a bit of practice, but the mistakes are tasty. I use a standard handyman's propane torch... it cost me all of $12 at the hardware store. I find it works better than the small butane culinary torches and costs about 1/4 of the price. Not to mention the propane torch is useful for other things than just melting sugar. Let the desserts sit for about a minute to let the sugar harden, then serve immediately with a cup of freshly made strong coffee, or perhaps a dark porter or stout beer to cut the richness.

Curried Chickpeas

Indian (of the subcontinent, not Native American) food is probably our favorite cuisine to cook at home. Part of it is out of sheer necessity; neither St. Cloud nor our prior city of residence, La Crosse, has a single Indian restaurant. I've had to learn some basic techniques of Indian cooking. This has come from a few great cookbooks, and a heck of a lot of experimentation. There have been pots of curry gone wrong... very wrong. But overall, I think I've gotten pretty consistent with turning out decent, sometimes even excellent, Indian meals. This is an example of a dish that came out of simple trial and error.

CURRIED CHICKPEAS

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

large onion, diced very small

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and shredded

2 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoon curry powder

zest of one lemon

2 cups chicken stock

2 cans chickpeas, drained

3/4 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt

palmful of cilantro, chopped

salt, if needed

In dutch oven or deep large saucepan over medium heat, brown onion in oil until golden brown. Add grated ginger and minced garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Add curry powder, honey, and lemon zest and stir for another 1 minute. Add chicken stock and chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for about 20 - 30 minutes until liquid has reduced to at least half the volume or less and starts to thicken a bit. Remove from heat. Add yogurt, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to try to avoid curdling. (if the yogurt curdles, the dish isn't ruined... it just won't look as pretty) Add chopped cilantro. Adjust seasoning by adding a little salt if needed. You can increase spiciness by adding cayenne pepper or using a spicy curry mix. Serve over basmati rice. Serves 4-5. It's easy to make this vegetarian by substituting water or vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Beer-Cheese Spread

BEER-CHEESE SPREAD

This dip is a quick, easy, and delicious party dish. You can literally whip it up in about 5 minutes. It is wonderful with crusty bread, pretzels, or crackers. My friend Jen also used it as a spread on grilled smoked turkey sandwiches, as well as tossed into some mashed potatoes and said it was "super yummy". If you don't like beer, I'd imagine that you could substitute 6 oz. of white wine in place of the beer. Then again, if you don't like beer, what on earth are you doing reading this blog??? :) The cheeses you use in this could be substituted with almost any variety; however, I've found that the sharper the better (although I'd stay away from using blue-veined cheeses, I suspect those would be TOO intense). The beer should actually be something light in color and flavor... a basic American pilsner *gasp* will do fine.

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1 stick of butter, room temp/softened
8 oz of extra sharp cheddar, room temperature
8 oz of Monterey Jack, room temperature

about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of beer
few pinches of salt, to taste (if needed)

In the bowl of a food processor, chop garlic clove until minced finely. Chop cheese into roughly 1" cubes and toss into food processor with butter and the 1/3 bottle of beer. Puree until everything comes together in a smooth paste; this may take a few minutes, as the cheese will have to incorporate fully into the mixture (this is why the cheese should be room temp). If the spread seems too thick, add a little more beer to get a nice rich but spreadable/dipable consistency. Keep in mind that the spread will firm up a bit in the fridge because of the cheese and butter. Add a pinch or two of salt if needed, blend (whether or not you'll need salt and how much depends on how salty your cheese is to start with). Transfer to a lidded bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hr. Will keep a few days in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

It is the end of autumn in Minnesota, which means... it's soup weather. There is nothing on a cold, blustery day to warm you from the inside out like a bowl of hot, homemade soup or stew. This soup is a grown-up version of tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's sweet and salty and the roastiness from the peppers makes it a lot more interesting than tomato soup from a can.

Soup Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

1 medium to large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small jars of roasted red peppers

2 15 oz cans of plain tomato sauce (I really like Hunts or Trader Joe's brand)

2 TBS sugar

several grinds of black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

"Crouton" Ingredients:

sliced white bread

butter

cheese of choice

grated or finely shredded parmesan cheese

In large pot, brown onions in the olive oil until they start to caramelize a little. Add garlic and stir just until the garlic begins to get a little toasty colored. Add tomato sauce and roasted red peppers (include the juice from the peppers; this adds flavor and also helps thin the soup out a bit). Stir well. Bring to simmer and let gently boil for about 5-10 minutes. Blend soup in blender or food processor (I use a stick/immersion blender... well worth the money) until pureed. Add sugar and black pepper to taste. Soup probably won't need extra salt unless your tomato sauce isn't very salty, but you may need to add a little depending on your ingredients. If desired, you can finish off the soup with 1/2 cup cream or half and half. It doesn't need it, but it does add a nice silky finish to the soup. I usually don't use it.

For croutons, basically assemble one to two grilled cheese sandwiches (one sandwich will make croutons for two people). Butter the outsides liberally. Dip sandwiches in grated parmesan, and grill over medium heat in a frying pan as you would any grilled cheese. When done, cut into cubes with a knife and sprinkle over the top of the soup.

Brown Butter Quinoa With Pine Nuts

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is an amazing grain that is versatile, delicious, and really healthful. It is very high in protein (for a grain, anyway), and is therefore the perfect addition to the vegetarian diet.


An important thing to note about quinoa: it needs to be rinsed extremely well under running water before cooking it. The grain is covered in a soapy/bitter-tasting substance called a "saponin". It tastes HORRIBLE. I once forgot the rinsing step and the quinoa was inedible. I just rinse mine in a fine-meshed colander under a steady spray of water for about a minute, and that does the trick.


Quinoa is very flexible; one of my favorite ways to eat it is just with a little butter and parmesan, with fried egg on top. You can also eat it sweet, almost like oatmeal, with a little brown sugar and milk. You can substitute cooked quinoa for cous cous for a punch of nutrition and flavor.


I normally use this flavor combo for pasta, and it is amazing. I wanted, however, to make the dish a little more nutritious so I decided to substitute cooked quinoa for the cooked pasta... and was thrilled with the results. This could suffice as a main dish for a veg-head (especially if you tossed in some steamed or roasted vegetables), but would be equally at home alongside a roasted chicken or piece of fish.


*ingredient note: please use real parmesan. A block of imported parmesano reggiano is best (should have "parmesano reggiano" printed in dots on the rind), but you can use the american "parmesan" as long as it's not the sawdust-in-a-green can stuff. Asiago also is a good stand-in cheese.


Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa (dry), rinsed and cooked according to package directions (2 parts water to 1 part quinoa, usually)


• 2 TBS butter


• 1/4 cup pine nuts


• pinch of salt


• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese*, plus a little extra for garnish
  

Cook quinoa. I actually do this in a steamer, but on the stovetop is fine. Just read the package. It should take about half an hour. You can do that step way ahead if you need/want to. In a saucepan, heat butter and pine nuts over medium heat until the butter starts to foam and brown a little. You need to stir/toss the nuts often so they don't burn on one side. As the butter browns, the pine nuts will toast nicely in the sauce. Be really careful not to let the butter burn, or it will ruin the entire dish. Just past the foamy stage is about right -- you will notice a toffee/nutty scent to the butter as it starts to turn a golden brown color. Remove from heat. Toss in the cooked quinoa, a pinch of salt, and the grated parmesan. Stir to mix. Season with more salt if needed. Sprinkle a little extra grated parmesan on top.

This will make 2 main dish servings or 4 side dish servings. Can easily be doubled.

Coffee Pecan Shortbreads

This is a recipe that I adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com for brown sugar shortbread. I've taken enough liberties that I don't feel bad about posting my version here. The original is simply butter, brown sugar, and flour. You can find it at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Shortbread/Detail.aspx

I'm not sure where the idea to add ground coffee and pecans to the dough came from , but it really raises this to another level. The pecans add texture more than anything, and lend richness to the final cookie. The coffee is subtle but definitely recognizeable; the aroma when these cook is amazing. They smell of baking butter cookies and brewing coffee.

This is a fairly heavy, dense cookie. Would be great served with a steaming cup of strong coffee, or a dish of simple vanilla or coffee ice cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup pecans, ground very finely

1 Tablespoon ground high quality coffee (ground into a powder in coffee grinder if possible)

2 1/4 cup flour

With mixer, blend butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in salt, pecans, and coffee. Stir in flour. Turn out onto counter and knead gently until dough comes together and is smooth. Roll into rectangle that is about 1/4" thick or so. Can go thinner if you like, just watch your cooking time. Cut into 2x3" rectangles. Prick each with a fork. Bake at 300 for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Lemon Roasted Baby Reds

Potatoes that is.

This is a side dish that is surprisingly easy, but takes a little planning because it takes an hour to cook. Prep time is literally about 5 minutes, though, so give these a try.

Ingredients:

2 lbs baby red potatoes (the smaller the better, about the same size)

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

Seasonings of choice (garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, etc...)

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Take the potatoes, and in each cut several narrow slices about halfway to 2/3 of the way down into the potato without going all the way through. Toss the potatoes in a large bowl with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle very liberally with salt, pepper, and your seasonings of choice (honestly, anything goes here... any combo of garlic and onion powders along with various herbs such as dried rosemary, oregano, thyme, etc. will work). You will need to use more seasoning than seems reasonable, because a lot will fall off the potatoes when they cook. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet, and put into a preheated oven at 400 F for about one hour. Yes, this seems like a long time. No, they won't burn. The onion/garlic powder will blacken, but believe it or not they won't be bitter. Take out of the oven, and squeeze about 1/4 to 1/2 of the lemon wedges over the cut tops of the potatoes. Serve along with a roast chicken or any other main dish. The outside of the potatoes gets crispy, while the insides stay nice and creamy. The lemon adds a little punch at the end.

Grownup Oatmeal Cream Pies

Ok, since the word "baking" is in the title of my blog, I figured it was high time I actually included a baking recipe here. I made this recipe up today as a welcome home for hubby, who's been out of town for four days. These should remind you of the old lunchbox favorites, but with a little bit more sophistication from the dried fruit. Nuts would also go great in these.

Ingredients:

Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1.5 cups brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 c flour

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup dried cherries, 1/2 cup dried blueberries

Filling
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow fluff

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

For filling, blend together all three ingredients with a hand mixer and mix until well blended and light and fluffy. Set aside.

For cookie batter, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, blend. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Add to wet ingredients, blend. Stir in oats and fruit.

Drop dough onto cookie sheet in about 1/2 TBS portions. I used a very small cookie scoop which made cookies the perfect size. You really don't want these too large, or else your finished sandwich cookies will be way too big. Bake at 375 for about 8 min or until brown and done. Cool on a rack until completely cool.

Use a piping bag, ziplock bag (with corner cut off), or simply a knife to place a little filling on the underside of one cookie, and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.

Eat.

I'm thinking a strong cup of coffee would go wonderfully with these, becawsue they are very very sweet. Not that I'm complaining.

You could play with the add-ins on this one very easily. I think dried apricot and walnut would be lovely. Or perhaps orange zest, pecans, and cardamom in the cookie dough? The possibilities are endless.

MySpace Archives #2: Green Chile Fritatta

Ok, folks... here's another recipe from my old MySpace blog. I figure it's timely in times of growing grocery bills. You can throw this together for literally a couple of dollars. It's very easy to play with the ingredients in this, too. You can leave out the chiles if you don't like them and substitute any sauteed veggies (beware of raw vegetables -- they will give off water when they cook and wreck the fritatta), and use any cheese you like. You could also add meat if you are so inclined -- I bet an italian sausage and sharp cheddar fritatta would be pretty darned awesome on a Sunday brunch lineup.



GREEN CHILE FRITTATA
Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 can fire roasted green chiles
1/4 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper
4 oz. monterey jack cheese, shredded and split into two portions

In large bowl, beat eggs and milk. Stir in rest of ingredients, but reserve 2 oz. of the cheese for the top of the frittata (later in recipe).

Over medium heat, take an OVEN PROOF skillet and heat 2 TBS of olive oil until hot. Add egg mixture. Stir slowly occasionally to break up the part of the egg that's starting to cook, until you have a mass of what look like undercooked scrambled eggs. The top at this point should still look moist, but you don't want big pools of undercooked egg. Distribute into one even layer, add reserved cheese, and put into the oven on the middle rack. Broil for a few minutes until cheese melts and the top of the frittata starts to brown. The frittata may puff up (even getting one or more very large air bubbles) during cooking, but it will settle substantially after if comes out of the oven.

Allow frittata to cool for a minute or so, then cut into wedges and serve. I served mine with a green salad and corn muffins.

Sweet Garlic Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those foods that I've always been a little "meh" about. It just never did much for me. It was heavy and full of meat and I dunno... kind of dull. A few months back Nathan asked me to make lasagna. I'd made it once before, but it was never on my dinner roation for the aforementioned reasons. So I figured I'd make MY kind of lasagna. Something lighter, brighter, fresher, and sans meat. Hubby was skeptical. I'd go so far as to say nervous. "What, no meat? No sausage? Not even a little hamburger?" Nope. No meat. Suck it up and eat it. And guess what? He did! And not only did he eat three large helpings, he took LEFTOVERS. *faint* And he proceeded to actually buy all of the ingredients (ok, most of the ingredients... he is a man, remember) a couple of weeks later so I'd make it again. This dish is now a monthly routine for us; Nathan makes a Trader Joe's stop on his way home from Naval Reserve drill, and I lovingly craft the lasagna on the following Tuesday (my weekday off). It's inadvertently become a little family tradition.

Ingredients:

2-3 TBS olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 large can of tomato sauce (16 oz.)
1 TBS sugar
1/2 (or so) box of no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese- sliced into thin rounds/slices (a piece of string works best for slicing)
1 12 oz. carton of cottage cheese
1 egg


For sauce, lightly brown garlic in hot olive oil. Add tomato sauce and sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes, set aside.

Blend cottage cheese and egg together in blender or food processor, set aside

In a 8x8 inch pan, start your layers. They should go like this (after an initial layer of sauce on the bottom) -- pasta, sauce, mozzarella, THIN layer of cottage cheese mixture. Repeat. Build lasagna until it's about 1/2" from the top, and finish with a layer of sauce and mozzarella. I always use up all of the sauce and all of the mozzarella but have about half of the noodles and half of the cottage cheese stuff leftover.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, uncovered until bubbly and browned on top. Take out and let sit for 10-15 min before slicing.

This is great in the summertime with fresh basil leaves placed every other layer, too. Try to avoid the temptation to spice up the tomato sauce with a bunch of dried herbs; I really think the beauty of this dish is the brightness of the simple sweet tomato sauce. Serve with a crisp green salad and bottle of wine, and you're on for a li'l Italia in the midwest. :)

Garlic Lemon Hummus

This is my go-to "recipe" for busy worknights. It's fast, easy, healthy, and I have 90% of the ingredients on hand at any given time. I put recipe in quotations because to be honest, I make this (like many of my recipes) more by taste than by measure. You may want to play with the amounts listed here to suit your own tastes.

A few notes: you really need to use FRESH lemon juice and good olive oil. **Now for my olive oil soapbox lecture** Many olive oils that you find in the typical grocery section are not of quality. They will have a bitter, almost rancid flavor. If you've never tasted truly excellent olive oil, you may not realize how great the "good" stuff is. In town here I've found that Byerly's has some excellent varieties for about $12/bottle. Also check out the local CoOp. Olive oil in hummus shouldn't be merely an ingredient, but should actually be a flavoring agent -- so for this recipe, spend a little extra. I promise it's worth it.

Garlic Lemon Hummus

• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 heaping tablespoon of tahini (can substitute peanut butter in a pinch)
• about 1/2 teaspoon of salt (may need to be adjusted to taste)
• juice from one lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil

In a food processor, chop garlic clove. Add chickpeas, tahini, some of the salt (reserve some just in case it's too much... you can always add more later), and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Drizzle in olive oil and process again. Add more salt and/or lemon juice to taste. Garnish with more olive oil and fresh chopped parsley or cilantro, if desired. Serve with crusty bread, veggies, olives, etc. Also thickens up in the fridge and makes a great sandwich or wrap spread.

Possible additions/substitutions: green chiles and a pinch of cayenne for a southwest twist, add some fried onions and curry for Indian-inspired hummus, or try a different citrus than lemon (lime and cilantro go great together).