3.14 PI day...What kind of pie are you making?

Friday, March 14, 2015is 3.1415 and PI day or as the way I like t think of it -  PIE day. What kind of PIE are you making? Try one of mine, here are two of our favorites. Both of these pies are old, family recipes. What kind of pie do you like to make? My husbands' family loves desserts, and his dad refused to leave the table without one! Treat your family and try one of mine!

Chocolate Pecan Pie --rich, chocolaty and full of nuts, so good with vanilla ice cream! View the recipe here :

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Or try some lemon chess pie, another family favorite and a recipe that has been in our family for many, many years:

You can check out the recipe and the history HERE

Lemon Chess Pie

Not my greatest picture, the pie is actually dark golden brown on the top and rich yellow underneath. The thing that really matters is that it is absolutely delicious! Very lemony and tart, with just enough sweetness. A favorite family story is one time when my husbands' grandmother, who everyone called Maw, made a mistake and left out the sugar in the recipe. When the pie was served and everyone was choking down the first bite, Maw smiled and said, "I like it tart, don't you?"

Fearless, just like Julia Child! 

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

I've written about making a crock pot Latin-inspired recipe before (see the recipe here ) but that recipe included tomatillos. And, while I love tomatillos, I don't always have them on hand and sometimes they are not available locally. Or if they are, they cost an arm and a leg. Here's another recipe, a little different in flavor, but really good, nonetheless. I found this recipe on 12 Tomatoes, a recipe blog/website that I read quite often. You can read their version HERE  I did things a little differently, because I just do. It always caused me trouble in school, but it seems to work out in cooking. I only had one orange -- and it was HUGE-- so I used half -- and 2 limes, but I need one for the slaw, so that's what I used, and honestly, it seemed like plenty to me. I added a little more cumin to make up for it. My jalapeno was huge, so I used half and used the other half in the slaw I made to go on top. I've linked that recipe below.

We liked the Carnitas better the 2nd time we ate them and I actually followed the directions and crisped the pork up in a skillet. The first time I made it, I simply spread it on a cookie sheet and put it under the broiler. Didn't get nearly crispy, so go for the skillet option recommended. Sometimes it IS good to follow directions!

Get out your trusty slow cooker and throw everything in early in the day. Go to work, or head off for a busy day of errands, etc. and you'll come home to a heavenly smelling house!

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
Makes at least 8 Tacos

3 lbs. boneless pork roast, rinsed and patted dry
(I used a sirloin roast, not a tenderloin)
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 half of a large orange                                         3 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped     1 lime, cut in half
1 T. cumin
2 heaping tsp. dried oregano
1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and stems removed
1 T. olive oil
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and chopped (should be about 1 T. total)
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Corn or wheat tortillas, your choice, for serving
Limes to squeeze over
Jalapeno Slaw, optional
Hot Sauce (optional)

(Don't skip the step of drying the roast. It makes a difference, as the spices will adhere to it better.You can see mine draining on a paper plate lined with several paper towels.) 

Season the pork roast well with salt and pepper. Place it in the bottom of your slow cooker. Pour over the oil and turn it over to coat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, cumin. cilantro and oregano. Squeeze the orange half and the lime over the ingredients. Add the squeezed out fruit to the slow cooker. 

Cook on low heat for at least 6 hours. Remove the orange and lime and discard. Take your roast out and place it on a cookie sheet.

Using two forks, and perhaps occasionally a knife, shred the pork, onions and chili into a big ol' mixture of goodness, like this:

As I said above, I tried crisping the meat up under the boiler, but it didn't get nearly crispy enough. The second time was the charm, when I used a hot non-stick skillet, added a little vegetable oil and carefully laid 2 heaping spoonfuls of the pork mixture and pressed it down into the oil and let it sizzle away into awesome crispiness....Like this:

We enjoyed them topped with a little jalapeno slaw (recipe here, along with Fish Tacos)  and a few drops of hot sauce! 

They were YUMMY! 

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

This is a dinner I made by raiding the pantry and the refrigerator. It was totally unplanned. All I knew early in the day was that dinner would contain shrimp and pasta. The rest of it came together as the meal progressed. I buy big bags of frozen raw shrimp when they are on sale. It's great to have them in the freezer anytime we feel like seafood for dinner. Other things I keep in the pantry, like pesto sauce and evaporated canned milk. In the summer, I can step outside my kitchen door and pick basil if I want pesto. I freeze a good amount of it but  usually run out around January. SO, a jar or 2 of pesto sauce in the pantry is the way to go. Evaporated canned milk is a great shelf stable sub for cream, and it's lower in fat as well. Cherry tomatoes and fresh garlic are always on our weekly shopping list, so we've always got them on hand.

This entire dinner came together in about 30 minutes. The pasta and shrimp both cook up quickly and the sauce goes together in a flash. I've given measurements for 2 hearty portions, but it can easily be doubled. This amount made a plate full for each of us plus a small bowl for lunch then next day. AND my husband said, "Don't scrimp on the shrimp!"

Here's what I came up with, using what I had around:

Shrimp Pesto Pasta
Wish I'd had a fresh basil leaf for garnish!!

Shrimp Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic
2 servings

16 LARGE shrimp peeled and deveined, tails off

Pesto Sauce and Evaporated Milk
Pantry Staples

4 cloves of garlic peeled and halved
8 cherry tomatoes 
2 T. Classico Pesto Sauce                                                          
3 T. evaporated skim milk (from a can) or equal amount cream
2 T. dry white wine
6 - 8 oz. vermicelli
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Toss the tomatoes and garlic in a little olive oil and put them into a small baking dish. I like to use stoneware for this.

Cherry tomtaoes and garlic for roasting

While the veggies are roasting, place the shrimp in a single layer on a layer or two of paper towels to dry them in preparation for searing. They need to be fairly dry. 

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil for the pasta.

While the water is heating, preheat a non-stick skillet until it is hot. Add a few drops of olive oil and sear the shrimp off a few at a time, making sure not to crowd them or over cook them. Sprinkle them lightly with kosher salt while they are searing. Cook them 2 - 3 minutes on each side. Remove them to a bowl to add back into the sauce later.

They should be just pink and slightly crispy on the edges as shown above.

In the same pan, add the pesto sauce, the evaporated milk and the white wine. Stir over low heat to combine. Don't let the sauce boil, just simmer gently until warmed through.

Cover it and keep warm until the pasta is cooked to al dente'.   Drain the pasta well, and add it back into the hot pot you cooked it in. Add the tomatoes and garlic and the sauce you made. Toss to combine. Add the shrimp and cover the mixture. Heat on low a few minutes and serve with grated Parmesan.

Enjoy! 

Keep Christmas For the 12 Days

I love Christmas as I've mentioned before in this blog (see here ) and I like to keep all the traditions alive! Here's a letter to the editor I wrote last year about my feelings, and they were kind enough to name me correspondent of the day.

http://www.richmond.com/opinion/correspondent-of-the-day-for-jan/article_9e50def6-fa99-5a41-8769-bcafb9cad288.html

Check it out and let me know how you celebrate! In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our beautiful tree in the living room. I've got 2 full sized ones and a couple of smaller ones that I decorate! 

Our dog checking out her gifts under the 3 themed trees in the family room. They all have blown glass ornaments on them. 

Classic Quiche Lorraine

There is nothing quite like a  Quiche Lorraine for brunch. Absolutely nothing. Remember the scene in Alfred Hitchcock's classic film, "To Catch a Thief" starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly? When they are eating on the balcony? That's Quiche Lorraine that Cary Grant is eating. If you've never seen that movie, check it out. It's great and the clothes are to die for! I love a good Hitchcock mystery. See if you can figure it out before the end. It's not easy but the answer is there if you look carefully!

In addition to it's cult movie status, my mother absolutely LOVED Quiche Lorraine. When she made it for us in the 70's we thought it was the height of European sophistication. Then, inexplicably, quiche went out of style. People started saying things like, "real men don't eat quiche" and other absurd quotes that simply validated the "ugly American" cliche'. I've got lots of real men around and guess what? They eat quiche. One of them even asks for it on occasion. AND if you've got one of those men who think they don't like it, just call it bacon and egg pie, because that's all it really is.

All that useless stuff being said, here's what we're having on Christmas morning. step by step. It's easy to make and delicious to eat! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!


Quiche Lorraine
Serves 6 - 8

1 unbaked pie crust
1 lb. Swiss cheese, grated
5 slices (or rashers) crisply cooked bacon
1/4 c. minced yellow onion
2/3 c. light cream
5 eggs
nutmeg


First, prepare your pie crust. For me that means open the package and unroll it, dust with flour and put it into my pretty pie dish. You can do whatever labor intensive thing you like. Or not. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Next cook some bacon, nice and crispy:

While the bacon is cooking grate the Swiss cheese. I like to use my ancient Mouli Grater but again, if you like to be labor intensive, go with that.

Crumble up the bacon and mince the onion. Sprinkle them evenly over the prepared pie crust in the pan, like this:

I mean, how bad could anything be that starts with pastry, bacon and onion? Now, get going on the custard. Measure 2/3 c. light cream (or milk which works just fine) into a large measuring cup. Add the 5 eggs and whisk to combine. Sprinkle about 1/4 tsp. of fresh grated nutmeg into your custard.

Don't omit the nutmeg, it gives it a little something-something! 

Place the grated cheese into the pie dish, mounding it up slightly in the center. It will look like too much cheese, but it's not. Then, very carefully and gently, pour the custard over the cheese evenly. 

Here it is, ready for the oven. You can't tell, but he cheese is in a kind of a hill in the center. Put the quiche into your preheated oven, and set the timer for 12 minutes. At the end of 12 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 degrees (don't open the door!) and cook for another 30 minutes until the quiche is set in the middle and the crust is lightly browned. I like to garnish it with a piece of bacon so folks know what to expect when they eat it  -- but that's just me. Maybe your guests like surprises! 

AND VOILA! A quiche fit for a king, or Cary Grant.

Spicy Chicken Ziti

Spicy Chicken with Ziti

I keep seeing cooks on the Food Network make Chicken Riggies or Chicken with Rigatoni. Now I am up for almost ANY kind of pasta dish, and hey, chicken, it's a no brainer. So, I went to my local (smaller size) market and believe it or not, they did NOT have any rigatoni! What? I could hardly believe it, but I can roll with it, so I substituted ziti. Not that there is THAT much difference between ziti and rigatoni, but there is a little bit.

This came together pretty quickly once I had chopped everything up. It was rich, spicy, creamy and very satisfying, all at the same time. Makes the cut for a pretty easy weeknight dinner!

I made what I thought would be about right for 2 people, but it actually made 4 servings. Go figure, I've never been very good at "portioning" things out. I am always the one who makes way too much, or tries to transfer leftovers into a container that's either way too small for that amount or overly gigantic for the little bit I've got to store. I can't explain it, but that's just me. I feel like this is pretty family friendly, but to get my "kids" to eat it, I'd have to leave out the mushrooms! Maybe sub some roasted red peppers? That would probably work. Start out with 1/2 tsp. of the red pepper flakes if you are not sure how much spice you want. I used 1 tsp. in ours. Don't omit the thyme, it pairs so very well with the chicken and mushrooms, and adds a nice earthy taste. The  thyme in my garden is extremely hardy so I have it available all year round. Even if I've got to brush some snow of it, I can find some green underneath! If you don't grow thyme, give it a try, it's super easy -- at least it is here in Central VA! It also smells really good when you are working in your garden, an added bonus.

Here's what I came up with:

Spicy Chicken with Ziti

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
1 T. olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/3 c. diced yellow onion
4 oz. crimini mushrooms, halved (baby portobello)
1/4 c. Madeira wine or Dry Sherry
2 heaping T. tomato paste
1 tsp. fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 - 1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (or more if you really  like spicy)
1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. light cream
1 tsp. kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

8 oz. ziti cooked al dente
Grated Parmesan cheese for topping

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and add chicken thighs. Sear them on all sides until lightly browned. Remove to a bowl. In the same pan, add onion and cook for  few minutes until they begin to soften. Add garlic and mushrooms to the pan, and continue to cook about 5 more minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine or sherry, then add the chicken broth and thyme. Stir in the tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Bring this to a boil, and put the chicken back into the pan. Add the salt and a little pepper, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add the cooked ziti and the cream and toss the whole dish together. Cover and let it sit 5 minutes. Serve in a shallow bowl sprinkled with Parmesan. Serves 4.

A Delicious Holiday Treat: Spiced Nuts

Let me start out by saying that I take absolutely NO credit for this recipe. It comes from one of my favorite authors, Deborah Harkness. Deborah is not only a great author, but a kind and generous person who interacts with her readers and shares her many inspirations, like music and food and art and so much more. Check her out HERE . She's also a woman after my own heart as she loves to cook and is a wine blogger! If you haven't read her All Souls Trilogy you are missing a real treat -- it's like Harry Potter for grown ups with a scholarly dose of history thrown into the mix.

So, here's what I've been making -- Spiced Nuts or "Em's Vampire Nuts" as they are referenced in the books. This is the 3rd year I've made them, and they are delicious. They make a great gift, aren't too labor intensive and have the distinction of having several good ways to serve them. You can, of course, eat them on their own as a snack, but I LOVE them on top of a salad. Get a fancy blend of lettuce that includes arugula (or rocket as they call it across the pond). Top it with some goat cheese, and either pomegranate seeds or craisins, drizzle with a balsamic vinaigrette and place a few of these nuts, pride of place, right on top. I bet they'd be great on top of a shortbread cookie as well, like pecan sandies for grownups.  Heaven! Fancy without being fussy, special without being pretentious! Give this a try, you'll thank me (and Deborah Harkness)!

Spiced Nuts

1 lb halved nuts ( I like walnuts or pecans or a mixture of the two, You can also use almonds but don't use cashews -- they burn too quickly.)
2 1/2 vegetable or canola oil (don't use olive oil)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cardamon
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, boil 3 inches of water and add the nuts. Blanch them for 1 minute and drain well. When they are drained, put them while still hot into a bowl with the vanilla and oil. Sprinkle with the sugar. Stir well to coat the nuts and then let them sit for 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees while you are waiting. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a large baking sheet with a rim. Bake the nuts for about 30 minutes, stirring and turning them every 7 - 10 minutes. Watch them carefully -- they can go from brown to burned quickly! In between stirring, mix the salt, cardamon, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a cup. When the nuts  are finished baking, put them into a big bowl and sprinkle with the spices. Stir, stir and stir them until all the spices are evenly distributed. Cool them in a single layer on some parchment or waxed paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in a cool dry place (not the refrigerator). Enjoy!