Skip to main content

Monatsarchive: October 2011

Party Food: Mini Galettes {Strawberry Brie & Bacon Goat Cheese}

The requirements for party food are pretty simple, but hard and fast.

  1. Yummy
  2. Must travel well
  3. Must have the ability to sit at room temperature for extended periods of time
  4. Bonus if it evokes this sentence from at least one other party goer: "Can I get that recipe from you?"
Mini galettes also have the added bonus of being adorable and fairly easy to make. If you want to make them with store bough crust, I may pound on you a little bit. The crust takes about 8 active minutes plus it’s really, really SO much better than store bought.
Feel free to make these your own and use what ever flavor combinations you love.
Miniature Galettes

CRUST

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1/3 cup ice cold water

FOR THE STRAWBERRY BRIE

4 oz brie, cut into slices

3/4 cups strawberries, chopped

1 tbs butter, melted

2 tbs sugar

FOR THE BACON GOAT CHEESE

6 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped

3 oz goat cheese, crummbled

1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped (don’t use frozen, too much water)

Makes 12 (6 of each)

In a food processor, combine 1 1/3 cup flour, salt, sugar and butter, process until well combined. Add the remaining flour and process again until combined. Transfer to a bowl and add the water with a wooden spoon (don’t add the water while the dough is in the food processor or your dough will be brittle and cracker-like). If the dough isn’t moist enough, you can add more water, a tsp at a time until the consistency is right. Form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. You can make this up to 5 days ahead of time, just place the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, in a large zip lock bag.

Place your chilled dough on a well floured surface. Top with more flour and roll until your dough is fairly thin and even. Cut out 12, 4 inch circles. I didn’t have a biscuit cutter that size so I used a margarita glass.

Place the dough circles on baking sheets that are either covered with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray.

Strawberry Brie:

A Trader Joe’s just opened on Friday down the street from my house. I am inappropriately excited about living within walking distance from such a fabulous food source. I bought these cute mini brie wheels. These are also fantastic to make mini baked brie out of, but that is for another post.

I cut each wheel into 3-4 slices. If you don’t live by a Trader Joe’s, you can also just use regular brie and cut it into slices small enough to fit inside the circle.

Place about 1 tbs of brie in the center of 6 of the circles. Top with about 2 tbs of strawberries.

Fold the edges up over the filling, leaving the center open. Pleat and press the edges when necessary.

Brush each of the 6 Mini Galettes with melted butter, sprinkle with about 1 tsp of sugar each.

Bacon Goat Cheese:

For the remaining 6 circles, add about 1-2 tbs of goat cheese to each circle. Top with 1-2 tbs of chopped spinach, sprinkle with bacon.

Fold the edges up over the filling, leaving the center open. Pleat and press the edges when necessary.

Brush the folded edge of each of the 6 Mini Galettes with melted butter.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the crust is a light golden brown.

Gingerbread Ale Beer Bread

Beer bread is simple. A few ingredients creates a soft, but dense bread. The basic principle is to use the beer as the yeast. Although beer is great in this capacity, adding a leavening agent like baking soda, or self rising flour, is important to help keep the bread from becoming too dense. The simple ingredients open the possibility to so many different types of flavorings. Beer bread can be sweet or savory.

I got my hands on a few bottles of the Gingerbread Ale from Bison Brewery for this batch of beer bread. The gingerbread flavors worked so well with the recipe, leaving a mild but distinct flavors of ginger and beer.

Gingerbread Beer Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 cup chopped pecans

12 oz Bison Gingerbread Ale

TOPPING:

2 tbs melted butter

2 tbs brown sugar

 

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a large loaf pan with butter flavored cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and pecans. Stir until well combined.  Add the beer all at once. It will foam up. Stir quickly to combine. Don’t worry about lumps, thats normal.

Add to your batter greased loaf pan. Pour the melted butter on top of your loaf and sprinkle with the brown sugar.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the butter has completely absorbed into your loaf and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of your loaf comes out clean.


Figs In A Blanket

Only three ingredients. Perfect for a party, and I do believe that Halloween kicks off the party season. The fall is filled with holidays, parties, my birthday…OK, so maybe there is a chance you’re not thinking about that last one. The number one food related question people ask me is about recipes for easy, yummy party food. First, party food generally has to travel well. Second, it has to survive at room temp for extended periods of time. Third, it has to be a crowd pleaser. I do believe, Figs in a Blanket meet all of those requirements.

Figs in a Blanket

12 figs

12 slices of bacon

3 oz goat cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut the figs in half.

2. Scoop out a large portion of the insides with a melon baller (a small spoon should do fine as well).

4. Fill the hole with yummy goat cheese.

5. Re-assemble the fig and wrap it tightly with a strip of bacon. Secure with a toothpick.

6. Place figs on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8 minutes, turn over and bake until the bacon is cooked through, about 8 more minutes.

Pesto Breakfast Tart

I love breakfast. I eat it every day. Most days, it’s whole wheat toast with peanut butter when I’m running out the door. But on those lovely lazy days when I’m home with my amazing husband and adorable little lady, I make breakfast. This tart is a favorite. Easy to put together, but looks and tastes very impressive.

Pesto Breakfast Tart

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

3 strips of bacon

2 tbs butter

2 tsp pesto

1 roasted red pepper, chopped (jarred is fine)

3 asparagus spears

4 basil leaves, chopped

4  Safest Choice eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Place the puff pastry on a sheet of parchment paper and roll with a rolling pin in each direction a few times to make the pastry thinner, wider, and longer. Transfer the pastry, and the parchment paper to a baking sheet. poke several dozen holes in the puff pastry to avoid large air pockets from forming.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Allow to cool a bit.

While the pastry is baking, cook the bacon in a skillet until mostly cooked, but not crispy. Chop into pieces. (Don’t forget to save your bacon grease so you can make my Bacon Fat Tortillas)

In a microwave safe bowl, add the butter and pesto. Microwave for 20 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Brush all over the pastry with a pastry brush.

Top with chopped basil, chopped bacon and chopped red pepper.

Place the asparagus flat on a cutting board, hold the stem tight with one hand, and with the other, shave the asparagus with a vegetable peeler.

Crack 4 eggs directly onto the puff pastry, one in each corner, avoiding the edges. Leave at least a once inch gap on all sides.

I love a runny yolk. LOVE. It’s natures perfect sauce. And Safest Choice Eggs are pasteurized so I can serve them without fear of ruining my perfect breakfast memory with a nasty bout of Salmonella poisoning. It’s pretty genius.

Sprinkle with the shaved asparagus, then with the salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 for an additional 15 minutes, or until the whites of the eggs have set and turned white. Cut the tart into four squares.

How To: Make Bacon (or Vegan) Tortillas


Every time that Mr. Fits, Tater and I are all home, lucky enough to wake up with no place to go, I make breakfast. I love this ritual, and I hope that it continues well into my old, old age (I do plan on living past 100, cooking the entire way, aided by a Rascal Scooter if necessary). Most of these breakfast involve bacon. For the past few months I have been saving the rendered bacon fat by pouring it through a mesh strainer into a small container and storing it in the fridge, waiting for brilliance to strike. I found the homemade tortilla recipe of the fabulous Rick Bayless (who is on my "Culinary Crush" list) and the bacon finally had a grand purpose.  If you are kosher, vegetarian or watching your saturated fat intake, or just crazy enough not to like bacon, you can use vegetable shortening, Smart Balance Light (it’s actually vegan), butter or oil.  Although the flavor won’t be the same if you use another fat and you will have to watch the ratios since these fats all behave differently. But if you can, save bacon drippings and try the bacon flavored tortillas, so incredible.

Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas

(Adapted From Rick Bayless)

Makes 12 tortillas

INGREDIENTS

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling the tortillas

5 tablespoons of fat (bacon fat, vegetable shortening, etc)

3/4 teaspoon salt

about 3/4 cup very warm tap water

DIRECTIONS

As I mentioned previously, save your bacon grease by pouring it through a fine mesh strainer into a container with a tight lid (just pour the next round on the top of the previous) and keeping it in the fridge. This stuff is liquid gold, don’t pour it down the drain.

1.   Combine the flour and fat (I used 5 tbs bacon fat) in a large mixing bowl, working in the fat with your fingers, until completely incorporated.

2. Dissolve the salt in the water, pour about 2/3 cup of it over the dry ingredients and immediately work it in with a fork.

The dough will be in large clumps rather than a homogeneous mass.

If all the dry ingredients haven’t been dampened, add the rest of the liquid (plus a little more, if necessary).

3. Scoop the dough onto your floured work surface

and knead until smooth.

It should be medium-stiff consistency — definitely not firm, but not quite as soft as most bread dough either. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes to an hour.

4.   Rest the dough.  Divide the dough into 12 portions and roll each into a ball.  Set them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and let rest at least 30 minutes (to make the dough less springy, easier to roll).

5.  You can either press your tortillas using a tortilla press lined with parchment paper to prevent sticking, which I used

or you can roll them with a rolling pin using this method:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough into an even 7-inch circle:  Flatten a ball of dough, flour it, then roll forward and back across it; rotate a sixth of a turn and roll forward and back again; continue rotating and rolling until you reach a 7-inch circle, lightly flouring the tortilla and work surface from time to time.

Make sure the tortillas are very thin, almost thinner than you think they should be.

6. Heat an ungreased griddle or heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  

Lay the tortilla on the hot griddle (you should hear a faint sizzle and see an almost immediate bubbling across the surface).

After 30 to 45 seconds, when there are browned splotches underneath, flip it over. You will know it is time to flip when the edges look dry and lighter in color.  Bake 30 to 45 seconds more, until the other side is browned; don’t overbake the tortilla or it will become crisp.  Remove and wrap in a cloth napkin placed in a tortilla warmer.  Roll or press and then griddle-bake the remaining tortillas in the same manner and stacking them one on top of the other.

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

I’m beginning to wonder about people who HATE pumpkin. I can see hating a particular pumpkin dish, but ALL pumpkin? Maybe you just haven’t had enough different types of pumpkin. I love pumpkin, but probably because I love anything that can blur the lines of what we expect. Pumpkin can be sweet, salty, savory, pie, pasta, tart…It’s a vegetable that can masquerade as a dessert! That’s pretty fantastic.

Here is my recipe for pumpkin cookies, with the added tartness of cranberry.

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

 

Yield 24

 

1 1/2 cups of flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

 

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoon orange juice (no pulp)

(makes about 12 cookies)

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350.

 

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and cranberries, whisk until combined.

 

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and both types of sugar on high speed until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla and pumpkin puree, mix until well combined. Turn the mixer on low and add the flour until just incorporated.

 

  1. On a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, drop about 2 tablespoon of the batter at a time, evenly spaced.

 

  1. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown and the cookies are cooked through.

 

  1. Allow to cool.

 

  1. To make the glaze, add the powdered sugar and orange juice to a bowl and mix well with a fork until combined. Spoon onto the top of the cooled cookies.


Pumpkin Hummus

So, what do you do when you roast 4 pumpkins and  end up with several containers FULL of homemade pumpkin puree? AND you have a husband that "Isn’t really crazy about that whole pumpkin flavor"? Besides the Pumpkin Pie With Bourbon Whipped Cream I made, and the Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies, I made hummus. Hummus, cookies and pie that I had the sole responsibility of consuming, which also turned into a few extra, much needed, workouts and spin classes. Totally worth it.

This hummus also became the "dressing" on my salad for lunch, and the schemer for my ham sandwich at lunch the next day. So many yummy uses.

Pumpkin Hummus

1½ cup  Cooked Garbanzo Beans, drained and dry

1 cup  Pumpkin Puree (step by step for how to roast a pumpkin)

2 Tbsp Tahini (sesame paste)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

¼ cup Fresh Lemon Juice

½ tsp  Salt

½ tsp  Ground Cinnamon

½ tsp  Ground Nutmeg

2 cloves Garlic, minced

¼ tsp  Coriander

Put it all in a food processor and blend it until its nice and creamy. Serve with bread, pitas, crackers, or veggies.

Strawberry Quinoa Salad

I’ve been eating a lot of quinoa salads ever since I did a guest post for Eating Rules. The post was about the amazingness of quinoa and how to make it the right way, as in not mushy. Andrew, of Eating Rules, posed a challenge to the world at large to give up processed food for one month, and somewhere around 3,000 people have accepted. Could you do it? Could you give up all processed foods for an entire month? You can start small, maybe one week, or maybe one meal per week for a month. How about "Unprocessed Wednesday Night Dinners" for the rest of the year. What is unprocessed? That been quite the discussion, for more information read this. But the short answer is, don’t eat food that has ingredients you don’t (or couldn’t) have in your kitchen. Skip the boxed, frozen, prepackaged, canned and chemical laden foods. Keep the journey from the farm to your table as short as possible. Cook with real, whole vegetables, fresh meats, grains that aren’t labeled "Instant" or "Success" or "Minute" but just: rice or quinoa. Make biscuits from scratch, roast a whole chicken, steam some vegetables, or grill some meat. You can do it. And the less processed foods your family eats, the healthier you’ll all be. For some inspiration to ditch the 37 ingredient bags of food, check out this family who did it and chronicled the highs and the lows.

Strawberry, Goat Cheese and Quinoa Salad

1 cup of quinoa, cooked

1 cup Strawberries, hulled and chopped

3 oz goat cheese, crumbled

½ cup chopped arugula

1 tbs basil, chopped

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbs red onions, minced

2 tbs honey

In a bowl add the quinoa, strawberries, goat cheese, basil, arugula and toss combine.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, salt, onions and honey. Drizzle the balsamic mixture over the quinoa/strawberry mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

(Makes 2 large salads, or 4 small side dish salads.)

Inside Out Caramel Apples

There has always been a problem with caramel apples. The ratio is off, backwards even. There just isn’t enough caramel and you’re left with, well, a half eaten apple on a stick.

read more

Beer Cheese Chicken Pot Pie

This is the ultimate comfort food, combining three great comfort food players: Beer, Cheese, Warm Soup. Add to that a flaky pastry crust and you pretty much have pot pie perfection. I use Mission Street Blonde Ale for this, from the Mission Brewery out of San Diego.

A really beautiful blend with the mild cheddar I used. It cooks really well, leaving a mild lemony flavor with traces of wheat. The hops are subtle and blend well with the rest of the recipe.

Beer cheese has started to climb out of frat boy myths into actual culinary acceptance of the past decade. This recipe isn’t a traditional Beer Cheese recipe, but the idea is captured and transformed into a hearty soup and a filling entrée. A great recipe to have in your beer cooking arsenal.

Beer Cheese Chicken Pot Pie 

For the Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 5 tbs butter cold, cut into cubes
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 2 tbs vodka
  • 2 tbs cold water

For the Filling:

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • ½ cup sliced leeks (white and very light green portion only)
  • 3 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 strips of bacon, chopped
  • 3 cups mushrooms, chopped
  • 3 cups raw chicken, cut into cubes
  • 2/3 cup chicken broth
  •  1 1/3 cup Mission Street Blonde Ale
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ½ cup corn kernels
  • ½ cup peas
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ¼ cup melted butter

1. Combine 1 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute.

3. Move to a bowl and add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.

4. Form the dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours.

5.  Preheat oven to 400.

6. In a pan over medium, high heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the leeks and the garlic, sauté until leeks are soft.

7. Add the bacon and cook for 2 minutes.

8. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft and darkened.

9. Add the chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

10. In a separate bowl, add 2/3 cup of broth and the flour, stir until combined. Pour mixture into the pan through a small mesh strainer to remove any lumps.

11. Add the beer to the pan and stir to combine. Add the peas, corn, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted and is well combined with the broth.

12. Pour into small, portion sized, oven safe ceramic dishes. Makes about 4.

 

Join me: FacebookTwitter 

13. Once the dough has chilled, place disk on a very well floured surface, add flour to the top of the disk as well. Roll out into an even thickness.

14. Cut out circles that will cover the dishes with at least a one inch overhang on each side.

15. To prevent sticking, spray the rim of the baking dish with cooking spray.

16. Top each dish with the dough circle, cutting a slit to vent at the top. Then brush the dough with melted butter.

17. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool a bit before serving.



Halloween Recipe: Avocado Witches Fingers

Spooky Halloween treat. Looks like slimy, severed fingers, makes you hungry, right? That’s the best part about Halloween, you get to make crazy, gross, appetizers that are inspired by dismembered body parts and people love it.

Spooky Avocado Witches Fingers

4 Avocados
peeled, pitted and halved
1 tbs lemon or lime juice
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 ounce prosciutto slices

Cut each avocado half into 4-6 slices. Place in medium bowl and gently toss in lemon juice.

 Fill the center of each avocado slice with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon goat cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder.

Wrap each avocado “finger” with 1/3 slice of prosciutto until the goat cheese is secured to the avocado. Make sure to leave the tip of the avocado exposed, to resemble a finger nail. Arrange the avocados in the shape of a hand on the plate to add extra spookiness. Serve and Enjoy!

Check out my other Halloween Posts:

DIY Glow In the Dark Chosts. Take 5 minutes!

Inside Out Caramel Apples


Pomegranate Streusel Muffins

POM Wonderful really is wonderful. I remember the days before POM, when I was a kid, and I had to get on my "dirty clothes"  and sit in the bathtub just to eat a pomegranate. Seriously, actual fact. Now, you can buy all these great pomegranate related products, all the antioxidant and yumminess without the blood-like stains. Win, win.

I made these during Rosh Hashanah. I’m not Jewish, but I have recently had the honor of learning about all the beautiful food traditions the Jewish religion has. I had lunch with my friend Tori, of The Shiksa In The Kitchen, the other day and she told me all about eating pomegranets during the Jewish New Year to "to remind ourselves that our good deeds in the coming year should be plentiful." Now, who can’t get behind that? Wouldn’t the world just be a better place if we all took a second to remind ourselves to do more good deeds in the coming year?

Besides the beautiful symbolism of eating pomegranates during the High Holiday, these muffins were awesome. I was so happy with how they turned out.

Pomegranate Streusel Muffins

2/3 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup almonds, chopped (BTW: POM Wonderful ALSO has almonds! And, they’re great)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 sticks butter, cold, cut into cubes

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice

1/2 cup POM Wonderful Pomegranate seeds

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl add the white sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, almonds, cinnamon, pecans, oats and salt. Stir to combine. Add the butter cubes and using either your hands or a pastry cutter, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it is well combined and resembles crumbs. Measure three cups of the crumb mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Put the rest of the crumbs into the refrigerator to chill.

Add the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and pomegranate juice to the mixer. Mix on medium/low speed until just combined. Don’t over mix. Add the pomegranate seeds and stir to combine.

Spray the wells of a muffin tin with butter flavored cooking spray. Add the batter to the wells until about 1/2 way full. Top with the chilled crumbs until the wells are filled to just below the top, about 1 or 2 tbs of crumbs.

Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving.

Makes 20 muffins

Mushroom Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie

I just realized the perfection of Chicken Pot Pie. Like a creamy soup, with any veggies you want and a beautiful homemade crust on top. I can tell you for sure: This will not be my last pot pie post of the fall.

I used another Kerrygold cheese. There are at least two reasons that I love Kerrygold. First, I will always have a place in my heat for Ireland, and Irish people. The first real trip I ever took was to Ireland. I was just out of college and had spend the past 6 months working two jobs, and finishing up my classes, just to buy a plane ticket to Europe and enough money to see me though a few weeks. I landed in Ireland on a drizzely morning, jet lagged and confused. I had no idea where to go, or how to get there. Before I really knew what was happening, I was being dragged though the streets of Dublin by a charming Irishman who was taking me to a youth hostel at the foot of the Guinness brewery.  With a smile and a cheerful welcome, he was on his way, leaving me to realized that this kind stranger had walked at least a mile in the wrong direction just to make sure I found a bed for the evening.

OK, so that really has nothing to do with the cheese, but I was able to meet quite a few Irish people and fall in love with them. And Kerrygold is more of a co-op than a corporation and relies on independent Irish dairy farms to source their produces. Second (third?) if you look at the ingredients they are beautifully simple. Milk, cream, salt, all things that I know and can pronounce.

I used Red Leicester, which is a beautiful mild cheddar. Reminds me of the people I met in Ireland, beautiful, honest, full of flavor.


Mushroom Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie

For the Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 5 tbs butter cold, cut into cubes
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 2 tbs vodka
  • 2 tbs cold water

For the Filling:

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • ½ cup sliced leeks (white and very light green portion only)
  • 3 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups mushrooms, chopped
  • 3 cups raw chicken, cut into small cubes
  • 2/3 cup broth, plus additional 1 1/3 cup, divided
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ½ cup corn kernels
  • ½ cup peas
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ¼ cup melted butter

1. Combine 1 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute.

3. Move to a bowl and add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.

4. Form the dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours.

5.  Preheat oven to 400.

6. In a pan over medium, high heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the leeks and the garlic, sauté until leeks are soft.

7. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft and darkened.

8. Add the chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

9. In a separate bowl, add 2/3 cup of broth and the flour, stir until combined. Pour mixture into the pan through a small mesh strainer to remove any lumps.

10. Add the remaining broth to the pan and stir to combine. Add the peas, corn, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted and is well combined with the broth.

12. Pour into small, portion sized, oven safe ceramic dishes. Makes about 4.

13. Once the dough has chilled, place disk on a very well floured surface, add flour to the top of the disk as well. Roll out into an even thickness.

14. Cut out circles that will cover the dishes with at least a one inch overhang on each side.

15. To prevent sticking, spray the rim of the baking dish with cooking spray.

16. Top each dish with the dough circle, cutting a slit to vent at the top. Then brush the dough with melted butter.

17. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool a bit before serving.



How To: Make Vanilla Pastry Cream, and What To Do With It

I’m going to push you one step further with your cake baking. You know that yummy cream that is inside doughnuts, the center of cream puffs and even the filling for that fantastic bakery fresh cakes? That’s pastry cream. And it’s easy to make. Even if you aren’t quite ready to give up the box cake mix, take the leap in dressing it up, super fancy, to make all those cake calories totally worth it. Pastry cream brings your cake way past the next level on to the "Did you really make this? Really? It’s amazing" level that you may have doubted you would ever reach. But you will. I believe in you.

Stop filling your cakes with frosting. Frosting is for the outside of the cake. Pastry cream is delicious and you should put this on your cake bakin' TO DO list. It’s easy, you’ll thank me with a big slice of yummy cake.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, plus one extra yolk

2 tbs flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

Step One:

In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring the cream to a slight simmer, removing from heat when bubbles start to form around the edges. You don’t want to boil you cream, just heat it.

Step Two:

In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and yolk, and flour until well combined and slightly frothy.

 

Step Three:

While continuing to whisk the egg mixture, add the cream about 1 tbs at a time. This is called tempering and basically, it’s a way to avoid turning your pastry cream into scrambled eggs. Once your have added about half the cream a tbs at a time, pour the rest in slowly and whisk until well combined.

Step Four:

Return the pastry cream to the stove and stir over medium heat until it comes to a low simmer. Continue to whisk until thickened, between 5 and 10 minutes. The cream should leave a track when you drag the whisk through it.

Step Five:

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. This needs to cool before putting into a piping bag, a cake or your mouth. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it to the surface of the cream. This will avoid that gross skin that used to grow on top of the homemade pudding your grandma used to make when it sat in the fridge too long.

For the raspberries, I put the pastry cream into a piping bag and piped them into the middle of raspberries. As if I needed another reason to eat raspberries. Or pastry cream.

This makes 2 cups, enough to fill between two layers. The cake I made last week was three layers of white cake so I doubled the recipe.