share some recipes

Back in the 1990’s I discovered Caprial Pence. She has had her own PBS series and has also hosted Caprial and John’s kitchen with her husband. She has authored several cookbooks including American Bistro Fare.

One of my favourite American Bistro Fare recipes, and one that I have made several times (so much so that I no longer need the recipe) is Pumpkin Bread Pudding. It’s a great twist on the classic Pumpkin Pie and sure to become a favourite everywhere.

1 baguette, diced (I have found that a variety of day old white bread works well too)
1 cup toasted pecans (a few times toasted chopped filberts have gone over really well)
2 1/2 cups half and half
3/4 cup Pumpkin Puree (the Libby’s in the can works great)
3/4 cup sugar (white sugar is fine, but everything tastes better with Turbinado sugar)
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablesppon crystallized ginger (rough chopped ginger, so that the pieces about the size of M&M’s seems to be what produces the best results)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (grate your own – the flavour will be amazing!)
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

The original recipe calls for a 10-inch springform pan, but I have found that well greased 8 or 9 inch square baking pans work well too. Place the diced bread in the pan, sprinkle the toasted pecans over the bread as evenly as possible.

In a medium bowl mix half and half, pumpkin, and 3/4 cup sugar. Then add brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, ground and crystallized ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

Pour this mixture over the bread and mix well. Let stand about 20 minutes so the bread can absorb the pumpkin mixture. Give it a quick mix again just before placing it in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Without hesitation, I highly reccomend jumping over to Amazon.com and checking out American Bistro Fare as well as Caprial’s other books.

The recipe comes courtesy of Mama Kaye, the godmother of both Obama daughters. Orange and lemon zest gives the squares plenty of citrus zing.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Amaretto (almond liqueur)
1 teaspoon each orange and lemon zest
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg white
Chopped nuts or dried fruit (optional)

Method:
Heat oven to 325°.
Line a 17×12 x 1-inch baking pan with nonstick foil. In large bowl, cream together butter and 11/2 cups of the sugar.
Slowly add egg yolks, and beat well until smooth. Beat in Amaretto and zest.
Stir in flour and salt until combined.
Spread dough evenly into prepared pan, flattening as smoothly as possible.
Brush top of dough with egg white; sprinkle with nuts or fruit (if using) and with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until brown, turn off oven and allow cookies to sit in oven (with door ajar) for 15 minutes. Cut while slightly warm.

Yields: 6 dozen 2” x 3” cookies

Ginger Tea : Makes 6 Servings

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh ginger

6 cups water

2 tablesppons honey or brown sugar

lemon wedges for garnish if desired

In a saucepan, simmer ginger and water 20 minutes, or longer for stronger tea.

Add honey or sugar and strain tea through a sieve set over a teapot. Serve tea garnish with lemon wedges.

2 cups lemon juice, about 12 to 15 lemons
2 cups Basil Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 cups cold or sparkling water
Ice
Lemon twists, for garnish

Mix lemon juice, Basil Simple Syrup, and water together in a pitcher. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Pour over ice filled glasses and garnish with a lemon twist.

Basil Simple Syrup:
1 bunch fresh basil, washed and stemmed
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
In a saucepan combine basil, sugar, and water and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, 5 minutes. Cool, strain the simple syrup, and store in the refrigerator.

While I tend to be a snob with regard to hot tea (I NEVER EVER use any of the commercial tea in the supermarket) iced tea is a whole different ballgame. Better Commercial Teas (P&G Tips, Tetley British Blend, Trader Joes Irish Breakfast) seem to be the best for making traditional iced tea. After asking several restaurants whose tea I fancied, I found this to be the best method.

Place 6 commercial tea bags in a 2 gallon pitcher. Add just enough hot water to allow the bags to ‘swim’ freely. Water that is just under the boil works best. All the tea to brew a maximum of 8 minutes. Remove tea bags, fill pitcher with the coldest water available to stop the brewing process. Refrigerate.

With this tea I have been able to convert dozens of people who used either instant iced tea or bottled tea. Note there is no sugar, you can add simple syrup or lemon upon serving, but here too I have converted many people to using no sugar. By stopping the brewing process early the tea is not bitter.

For variation, replace one of the black tea bags with mint (Tazo “refresh” which is a blend of Peppermint and Spearmint is great), I have also used Ginger Tea Bags and a wide variety of Herbal Teas as the additional tea bag.

Once you try it, play with the recipe to suit your tastes. Some people like a stronger tea, others more subtle flavour. Brewing longer will result in a more bitter tea, the best way to adjust the flavour is to increase or reduce the number of tea bags.

At this time in my life I make Jambalaya without a recipe and adjust accordingly based on what’s available. Trying to translate a recipe like that into something anyone can follow is like reading Faust, in German, with a Tyrolian accent, backwards!

After hunting through some books and such for a recipe that is close to the one I started with I found it. It was the first one that came up on a google search – d’oh!

Jambalaya
1 lb. boneless chicken, cubed; AND/OR
1 lb. shrimp, boiled in Zatarain’s and peeled; OR
1 lb. leftover holiday turkey, cubed; OR
1 lb. of any kind of poultry or fish, cubed; OR
Any combination of the above_
1 lb. (hot) smoked sausage, andouille or chaurice, sliced on the bias; OR
1 lb. diced smoked ham
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 – 6 cloves garlic, minced (amount to taste; I like lots, remember garlic gets sweeter as it cooks)
4 ribs celery, chopped
3 small cans tomato paste
4 large Creole tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced; OR
1 28-oz. can tomatoes
8 cups good dark homemade chicken stock
Creole seasoning blend to taste (or 2 – 3 tablespoons); OR
2 teaspoons cayenne, 2 teaspoons black pepper, 1 teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teapsoon thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
4 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked

In a sauté or frying pan, brown the chicken, sprinkling with Tony Chachere’s seasoning if you’ve got it; a bit of salt, black pepper and red pepper otherwise. Don’t brown if using leftover cooked bird, but you still might want to season the meat. Tear or cut the meat into bite-size pieces.

Brown the sliced smoked sausage or andouille and pour off fat. In the pot, sauté the onions, garlic, peppers and celery in oil until onions begin to turn transparent.

In the same pot, while you’re sautéing the “trinity”, add the tomato paste and let it pincé, meaning to let it brown a little. What we’re going for here is an additional depth of flavor by browning the tomato paste a little; the sugar in the tomato paste begins to caramelize, deepening the flavor and color. Keep it moving so that it browns but doesn’t burn.

Once the vegetables are translucent and the tomato paste achives sort of a red mahogany color, deglaze the pan with the about 2 cups of the stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to mix up any browned bits, and stir until smooth, making sure the sautéed vegetables, paste and stock are combined thoroughly. It should be fairly thick.

Add the Creole seasoning, tomatoes and salt to taste. Cook over low-medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the meat and/or seafood and cook another 10 minutes; if you’re using seafood, be careful not to overcook it.

Add the rest of the stock, check seasonings, and stir in the rice, combining thoroughly. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is cooked through. If you haven’t checked your seasonings before adding the rice, it’s too late! It’s much better for the rice to absorb the seasonings while it’s cooking. Check seasoning anyway, then turn the heat down to low-medium and let the sauce thicken up a bit, with the pot uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. Stir thoroughly to combine all ingredients. When the jambalaya has thickened up a bit and has reached the “right” consistency (you’ll know), it’s done.

Serve with salad and French bread.

Here’s where I start changing things:

Since Andouille Sausage isn’t always available, I have had a great deal of luck using some of the “tube sausage” like the Jimmy Dean Breakfast kind, some ground beef and some cubed chicken. I really think having some recognizable meats (cubed chicken, even some small shrimp) is visually important to making this dish.

If using fresh chicken (not leftover), I used some of the cajun seasoning on the chicken since, aside from rice, it is the mildest flavor in the dish. Of course I then adjust the amount of cajun seasoning I use later. I have found that cooking the chicken in the same pan as the sausage (without draining the fat released from the sausage) kicks the flavour up just a notch.

Since canned tomatoes contain salt, and canned broth/stock has salt, I avoid using salt until the very end. Oftentimes the spiciness of a dish like this masks the saltiness. Salt isn’t very heart friendly so I prefer to err on the side of intense flavours instead of salt.

First time out, I used white rice, but I have since used combos of white and brown rice and even a little wild rice for interest.

The “trinity” in creole cooking is onions, celery, and bell peppers I usually use a disproportinate amount of the trinity since the flavors work well together.

For creole seasoning, I found an organic blend that was just spices – I saw some other less expensive cajun seasoning blends that were mainly salt with some added spices. (If I used the less costly version, this dish would have been very salty)

There is a lot of room to play with Jambalaya – its a great way to handle leftovers in an interesting way, or pick and choose the things your family and friends really like.

Bon Apetit !

Just reading the NYTimes and discovered that Corned Beef and Cabbage, the traditional St Patricks Day dish is not Irish at all – it’s all American.

Apparently the traditional dish in Ireland is boiled bacon. New York’s Immigrant population, being the innovators that ALL American immigrants are, found bacon too costly and used beef as a substitute for this dish.

And “corned” has nothing to do with maize, its the term used to describe the salting / brining process used in the preparation for the dish.

I wonder if American styled corned beef has crossed back over to Ireland?

I need to figure out how to make Jambalaya … seriously … Jambalaya is one of those things that isn’t really made with a recipe. Jambalaya is one of those great southern dishes that came from the African American experience. Basically whatever was left over was combined with some ‘new’ stuff and cooked with rice. Rice is really the only constant.

I do plan on making some in the next day or so and will write down what I use and measure along the way.

WHEW ! At least you didn’t ask me for my recipe for Mock Christmas Fruit Cake!