Quick Pear Crumble

Last night I made dinner and had a few people over to help me pre-celebrate my birthday (actual day is Tuesday the 15th).  I was really excited to be serving up a new braised short ribs recipe I'd come up with, and some really tasty kalamata olive-sage polenta fries -- so excited, in fact, that I forgot that no birthday bash would be complete without some vehicle for some drippy wax b-day candles.

The mission: to come up with a dessert that is easy, made up of ingredients I mostly already have stocked, and that you can hold a candle to (literally) - or 26 candles, to be precise!

The result: Melt-in-your-mouth success!  Pear crumble to the rescue...


Easy Pear-Ginger Crumble (printable version)

(serves 8)

Filling:
3 lb. pears, ripe but firm, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 half lemon)
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Crumble:
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter
birthday candles (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly greasy a 9 by 13 in. baking dish (or some equivalent).  Combine the ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl, mix well, and pour into the baking dish.  Cover the surface with plastic wrap while you prepare the crumble so the pears don't turn brown.

In another bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender, or two knives (or just your hands).  Combine until the butter is mixed in and resembles little pebbles.

Uncover the filling and cover the top completely with the crumble.  Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until the topping is a golden brown and crunchy and the pears are soft and cooked through.  Serve warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.

New Website

Hey folks - Just a brief update: I've launched my business website, it's at www.rosestreetkitchen.com.  Go check it out and feel free to comment on it here or send me a note through the "Contact" form on the site.  I'd love to hear what you think!

And happy Sunday!

Love,

Eve

Chicken in a sausage suit

Today I did it: I deboned a whole chicken (well, two whole chickens, in fact) a la Jacques Pepin, as seen on TV here.  And then, I stuffed them!  One with a spinach-mushroom mixture, sauteed with shallots, sprinkled with nutmeg and black pepper, and finished with marsala wine.  The other, which came out on top as the reigning champion of deliciousness, was full of sweet Italian pork sausage cooked with garlic, sage, smoked paprika, and a dash of chili flakes for heat.  Take a gander at my precious poulet:

I won't explain how I butchered the chicken (the butcher can do it for you, so don't sweat it - I'm just crazy), but I will divulge what I stuffed it with, because it was really something.


Chicken Ballantine with Sausage
(serves 4)

Note: If you ask the butcher to debone the chicken for you, this dish is a breeze to make on the fly.  If you don't, you'll work up a sweat, but you'll have something to brag about to your totally impressed dinner guests!

- 1 whole oven roaster chicken, cleaned and deboned
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 sage leaves, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (pimenton de la vera)
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425.  Place the deboned chicken skin-side down on a large cutting board and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat and add the sausage.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage as it browns.  Once no longer pink, add the garlic and sage.  Turn heat down to medium and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in the spices and transfer to a dry bowl. Let cool.

Add breadcrumbs, pecorino, and egg, and mix well.  Spoon three-quarters of the filling onto the center of the chicken and spread evenly across.  Stuff the remaining filling into the leg and wing cavities.  Carefully fold the leg and wing flesh carefully in towards the center, so that the chicken takes on its former, pre-boned shape.  Cross the leg flesh and gently flip the whole bird over, seam side down.  Tie the ankles together with kitchen twine, leaving a long length attached, and tie the bird as you would a roast, making successive loops until you reach the neck opening and flip the bird over again to do the same down the back.  Cut the twine, tie it off.  (If you are unsure how to do this, watch the video that I link to above.)

Place the tied chicken breast side up in a medium roasting pan.  Sprinkle the entire exterior with salt and pepper, and rub with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Roast in the oven, rotating half way through, for 45 minutes or until the juices run clear when cut.  Remove to a carving platter and let rest at least 10 minutes.  Cut into thick slices and serve warm, with its pan juices.

A cow to remember

I'm not usually such a grateful, earth-mother type, but I need to take a moment to thank the cow whose rib meats we enjoyed last night.  You were delicious!  Moo-moo to you.

I didn't set out to be this ambitious, but as usual my stomach got a hold of my brain and the meal ended up being pretty epic:

Wonton Shrimp with Basil and Smoked Paprika

 (Thank goodness I had Lily there to help with the laborious deveining of the shrimpies)

 

Homemade Za'atar Flatbread 

 Braised Beef Short Ribs with Vanilla Glazed Carrots

 

The Lovely Looney Tunes, Lily & Lia

It really was a fabulous night.  Here's to great food and even better friends!

Woke up, it was a pancake morning...

Sunday morning is a time for sleeping in, staying in the PJ's, drinking too much coffee, and making delicious-beyond-belief-blow-your-mind breakfast!!!

Needless to say, this Sunday was delicious.  The menu: fluffier than air pancakes with maple-cinnamon yogurt topping (thanks go to Lily for this Swedish adaptation of the normal maple syrup topping) and oodles of medium roast Peruvian french press coffee.  The shameless eaters: myself, Dan, and Lily. (Side-note: LILY IS BACK AND WE ARE ALL VERY EXCITED, WOO!)

Behold:

Now make them:

Light and Fluffy Pancakes ( from Mark Bittman's recipe)

(makes 4 servings)

1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs, separated

1 cup all-purpose flour

Dash salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Butter as needed

Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium low heat and start the batter: beat together the milk and egg yolks.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer (used my KitchenAid; thank you again, Nanc!!) until stiff but not dry.

Combine the dry ingredients and the buttermilk-yolk mixture, stirring to blend.  Gently fold in the beaten egg whites, only a little, so that they remain distinct within the batter.

Melt a pad of butter in the griddle or skillet and add the batter by the heaping spoonful (I used a small ladle), making sure to include some of the egg white in each spoonful.  Cook until lightly browned on the bottom, then turn and cook until the other side is brown.  Serve or hold in a 200 degree oven for up to 15 minutes.

Maple-Cinnamon Yogurt

(makes about 2 cups, enough for 4 servings of pancakes)

2 cups plain yogurt 

1/4 cup maple syrup, or to taste

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

pinch salt

Mix ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk until uniform.  Taste and adjust maple and cinnamon to your liking.  Generously spoon over hot pancakes.

Easy as Applesauce

For those of you who live  in the New York metropolitan area, or who frequent the farmer's market wherever you may dwell, perhaps you can sympathize with the flustered feeling I get when I'm wandering through the apple bins at the Union Square greenmarket and realizing I want to buy them all!  Each different apple variety I find, from the deep purple Winesap to the friendly green Mutzu, promises to pack the sweetest, juiciest, crispest punch.  What is an apple-obsessed girl to do?

Well, make applesauce, of course!  The best applesauce is, obviously, homemade, and is made from a variety of different apples of the sweetest variety (tart just doesn't work here, so steer clear of the Granny Smiths).  Using one kind of apple to make homemade applesauce results in a rather dull condiment, like a song comprised of a single note.  What we're looking for is more of a symphony of varying notes and tones.

So, next time you're faced with a moment of apple indecision, just grab one of each and head to the kitchen!

Simplest Applesauce
(printable recipe)

makes about one quart

Note: If you intend to make your applesauce with a potato masher, you'll need to first peel the apples before cooking them.

8 sweet apples, each a different variety

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup water

To begin, cut each apple into four, through the core, and use a small paring knife to cut out the sliver of core from each slice.  Then cut each apple quarter in half, leaving you with eight pieces per apple.

Put the apple pieces into a large, thick-bottomed saucepan, add the cinnamon and water, and cook on medium-high heat, covered, until it comes to a boil.  Turn the heat down to low, remove the cover, and cook for another 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until a chunky sauce already begins to form.  Turn off the flame and proceed with one of the following three steps:

1) In small batches, transfer the apples carefully to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, and process for a few seconds until completely smooth.

2) In small batches, run the apples through a hand-crank food mill into a large bowl underneath.  Discard the strained-out solids as you go.

3) Using a hand blender, blend the apples in the same pot until the sauce is completely smooth.

Enjoy immediately, as a snack, dessert, or alongside a meat entree such as pork chops.  Or, once cooled, store in airtight plastic containers, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in indefinitely in the freezer.

Out with the old...

...and in with the new!  Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday week with family and friends.  I'm already thinking ahead to the New Year, and looking back on 2010 fondly.  I just wanted to share with you a new tradition (hello, oxymoron) in our home: Christmas shakshuka!  After I made a batch of mint pesto yesterday, and discovered I had a nearly full box of tomatoes in my fridge, I realized I had the makings of a very hearty, festive dish.  Enjoy and happy merry everything!

Christmas Shakshuka
(printable recipe)

(serves 2-3)
 

For the pesto:

2 cups fresh mint leaves

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup toasted pistachios

1/4 cup olive oil (plus more as needed)

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix well, scraping down the sides as needed.  If the pesto seems too thick, drizzle in more olive oil with the motor running.  Remove to a bowl and salt to taste.

For the shakshuka:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 Spanish onion, sliced thinly

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups chopped tomatoes (I like the Italian brand Pomi)

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 eggs

crumbled feta (optional)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and paprika and stir to coat well with the oil.  Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, until the onions are lightly caramelized.  Turn heat to medium-high and add the white wine, scraping the browned onion up from the pan and stirring until almost completely evaporated.  Add the tomatoes and red pepper flakes, stir to combine, turn heat the medium-low, and cook covered for 15 minutes to allow the tomatoes to break down into a sauce.  Uncover and carefully crack each egg into a different spot on top of the tomato sauce.  Cover again and cook until the whites are completely set and the yolks are cooked to your liking (I like my yolks pretty set, so I let them go about 8 minutes).  Serve the eggs together with the thickened tomato sauce underneath, drizzled with the mint pesto and topped with feta, if using.  Eat with a thick slice of toast to soak up all the juices.

Christmas is a cookie

I'm not a huge cookie person, nor am I much of a holiday enthusiast, but these soft and chewy molasses cookies, reminiscent of gingerbread house disasters of yore, really hit the spot!  I used a modified version of a recipe found in the recent NY Times holiday cookie feature, substituting butter for the called-for shortening, because I'm that kinda girl.  These are especially delicious warm out of the oven, with a glass of cold milk, and some requisite Christmas Sinatra crooning in the background.

Holiday Molasses Crinkles (printable recipe)

(makes about 30 cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg
1/2 cup molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat, if you have one.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Next mix in the egg and molasses.   In a separate bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients and blend well.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the molasses-butter mixture, mixing with a spatula until entirely uniform.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon measure, lay out small balls of cookie dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.  Dip the scoop or spoon into hot water in between scoops to make it easier.  You should be able to fit about a dozen cookies on the sheet at a time, meaning you'll do 3 batches (or use 3 separate baking sheets).

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and allow to settle on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Enjoy immediately, or store in an airtight container for later enjoyment!

Homemade nooks & crannies!

Last night I got antsy, couldn't sit still, couldn't just enjoy the night off and curl up on the sofa with a good book, so what did I do?  Well, what I always do: I made some food!  The ants-in-the-pants cure ended up being whole wheat bread dough, which this morning became beautifully light and fluffy English muffins!

If you have a food processor, making bread dough is a simple and magical undertaking.  If not, it's no big deal, it will just require some patience as you knead the ingredients together by hand.  I like Mark Bittman's recipe for Sandwich Bread, from his classic tome, How to Cook Everything.  

Whole Wheat English Muffins (printable recipe)

yield: 12 muffins

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the bowl

1 and 1/2 cups cool milk

Place the flour in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the steel blade.  Add salt and yeast and process for a few seconds.  While machine is running, add the honey, butter, and most of the milk through the feed tube.  Process about 30 seconds, then remove cover to see if the dough is a well-defined, barely sticky, and easy-to-handle ball.  If it's too dry, add milk a tablespoon at a time and process for another 5 to 10 seconds.  Remove dough from the food processor bowl and knead by hand for a minute or so on a well-floured surface. (I do my kneading on a baking sheet so as to minimize the mess!)

Grease a large bowl and shape the dough into a rough ball.  Place in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let rise for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, until it's almost doubled in size.  Deflate the ball and shape it again into a nice round.  Let it rest on a lightly floured surface (baking sheet) for about 15 minutes, covered.

Next, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces with a bench scraper or a knife.  Dust your hands with flour and shape each piece of dough into a 3- to 4-inch disk.  Dust with flour and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes, until puffed up.

Preheat a griddle or large skillet over low heat for 10 minutes; do not oil it.  Sprinkle it with cornmeal and "bake" the muffins, a few at a time, on both sides, turning occasionally, until lightly browned, for a total of 15 minutes.  Cool on a rack and split with a fork before toasting.  Serve with a liberal smear of butter and perhaps a scant dusting of sea salt.

I'm (almost) famous

And now for a quick commercial break: follow this link to check out a CBS piece about Astor Bake Shop, where I'm the part-time cook.  Look closely and you'll see yours truly (just my hands, mostly), and all the yummy food I made for Chef George McKirdy's interview.  The desserts displayed were not my creations, but they are also delicious and well worth a trip out to Astor Bake Shop, if you're ever in my lovely neighborhood of Astoria!