A Quick and Easy Brunch ~

I made a great little brunch for a close friend and boy was it easy and delicious.  It gave us plenty of time to sit and chat, which is what we both wanted to do.  So I did this easy and quick menu.

Fresh Strawberry and Kiwi Salad

dressing:
1 small shallot, minced
1 teaspoon of honey
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Whisk vinegar, honey and olive oil.  Add shallot and whisk again.  Add salt and pepper, set aside.

salad:
1 qt. fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 kiwi fruit, washed and sliced

Put strawberries and kiwi in a low sided bowl.  Right before serving, add dressing.  This presentation is beautiful and the salad itself is delicious.

 

 

 

I decided to make a frittata with ingredients I had in the house.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

6 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1 roma tomato, seeded, diced and patted dry

4 green onions, white and light green parts, sliced

8 oz. of cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

 

Whisk eggs, cream, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

 

 

In a 9 to 10 inch non-stick skillet, heat oil and then butter, on

medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add green onion, stir and cook for 2 minutes longer.

 

Turn on broiler.

 

 

Turn heat to medium low and add eggs.  Gently stir eggs around a bit, just for a minute.  Add diced tomatoes and sprinkle cheese.  Turn burner off and place skillet under the broiler.  Watch carefully until top of frittata is turning light golden brown, about 2 minutes.

 

Remove frittata from oven.  Let sit for another two minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use a spatula to loosen sides and slide frittata to plate.  Garnish with sliced green scallion.  Cut into wedges to serve.

 

 

 

Serve with bagels, coffee and champagne.

 

Delicious and easy, what a nice combination ~

 

 

 

 

 

Filipino Chicken Curry ~

 I wanted to try something different with chicken thighs this week.  So I searched my recipes and found this one tucked away, on my "to make" list.  It comes from someone who posted this a few years ago on PW's site, moonglow.  I love curry and coconut milk together.  And a splash of the fish sauce at the end, helps gives it a salty, sweet, tangy flavor.  I served it over basmati rice.  It was yummy.  And easy, which is such a plus on a busy week night.

Oh, aren't my place mat and napkins just darling?  They are a gift from a dear friend down South.  Thank you C.
 
Filipino Chicken Curry

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1inch cubes (I didn't add)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts halves, cut into cubes (I used bone in, skin on chicken thighs)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons curry powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can coconut milk
1 cup peas (frozen are fine)
1 roasted red pepper, sliced thinly (I didn't add)
1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce

Directions
1.In a skillet with olive oil, brown potatoes and set aside.
2.Season chicken with fish sauce, and brown in the same skillet. Set aside.
3.Saute garlic until fragrant, followed by onions, curry powder and brown sugar.
4.Return chicken and potatoes to the skillet, add coconut milk, roasted pepper slices, peas, and chili sauce (you may omit or add more for heat).
5.Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is tender.
6.Serve with steamed rice

I'm joining Michael at Foodie Friday's Blog this week at Designs By Gollum.

<a href="http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm210/DesignsByGollum/pickoftheweek.jpg"  /></a>

Lidia's Torti di Ricotta ~



I watched Lidia make this on her show Lidia's Italy,  recently and was suprised at how easy it is to make. I decided that I would add it to my family's Easter desserts.  And I am so happy I did.  It's a delicious cheesecake and everyone loved it. 

It tastes much lighter than the New York style cheesecakes that I have made in the past.  I made a strawberry reduction sauce to serve on the side. 

This cake is made with both ricotta and mascarpone cheese which makes it so creamy.

The most work one has to do when making this dessert is to drain the ricotta cheese in a sieve or a cheesecloth for a few hours before making it.  Other than that, it's a breeze to make.  And it takes literally minutes to put together and put in the oven.  I can't recommend this cheesecake enough and I'll make it from now on when I want to make an impressive dessert.

I omitted the raisins and pine nuts, but it was still fabulous.  I also didn't feel like I needed to go buy amaretti cookies, just to use 4 or 5 of them.  So, I crumbled digestive biscuits instead.  You can use any vanilla based cookie and it will be fine.

Lidia Bastianich's Torti di Ricotta ~

2 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup amaretto crumbs from about 4 or 5 amaretti
1/2 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons dark rum
5 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups drained fresh ricotta, at room temperature
1 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush an 8-inch spring form pan with butter on the bottom and sides. Coat bottom and sides with amaretto crumbs, tapping out excess. Put raisins in a small bowl and pour rum over, let soak while you make the filling.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat eggs, sugar and salt at high speed until foamy and the sugar has dissolved and no longer feels grainy, about 2 minutes. Add ricotta, mascarpone and zests. Drain raisins, set aside and add leftover rum to the mixer, mix on medium until smooth and fluffy, about another 2 minutes. Fold in raisins and pine nuts by hand.

Put spring form pan on a baking sheet and pour batter into pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake until edges are set and light golden but the center is still a bit jiggly, about 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack completely before cutting and serving.

Strawberry sauce:

1 lb. bag of frozen whole strawberries
1 cup of sugar
1 orange zest and juice (zest first and squeeze second)
1 Tbsp. orange liquor

In a medium saucepan on the stove, bring all of the ingredients to a boil.  Turn it down to a simmer and let it reduce and thicken.  Add 1 tablespoon of orange liquor and turn off stove.  Let sauce cool down to serve on the side.

Enjoy ~
 

Pink Lemonade Cake ~

Last Spring, my Better Homes & Garden magazine featured a pink lemonade cake on it's cover and it called my name for Easter.  So, I tucked it away and put it on my list for this year's celebration.

The cake had four layers and was quite impressive looking. 

But, I wanted to make it easier, so I embellished a white boxed cake mix.  Talk about having your cake and eat it too!

I just followed the directions on the back of my box, and where it said the amount of water, I added 1/4 cup of pink lemonade and enough milk to substitute.

I kept the frosting almost the same as directed, but I eliminated the vanilla.

The picture on the magazine cover had thinly sliced lemons on top, but I wanted mine to be decorated more.  So, I put 2 drops of green food coloring in a plastic baggie and put in 1/2 cup shredded coconut.  I bought a small bag of jelly beans to decorate the cake as well.

It was a big hit, not only did it look pretty, it tasted wonderful.

Oh, and it was easy, another bonus.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter ~

A Pot of Gold ~

Also known as Make Ahead Gravy. 

If you are anything like me, come the holiday, any holiday, I want to cook for my family.   And I love to find a few dishes that I can make ahead of time and freeze.  Gravy is one of those dishes that I like to get made beforehand.   When I was a young cook, learning to make a good gravy seemed overwhelming to me.  All the hustle and bustle of making it the very last minute and getting everything on the table seemed pretty nightmarish.  So I am here to give you directions on how to make this easy and delicious gravy, ahead of your dinner guests arrving.  And to me, it's like having a "pot of gold".  Well, almost....

It's adapted from Ina Garten, and it's so easy and delicious.  It also can be made ahead and kept in your fridge a few days.  Which means no stressing out over a holiday meal, held up while the cook is preparing the gravy to be served with dinner.  Just heat it up slowly in a heavy pan while your meat is resting and voila. 

Oh and if you want it to go along with beef, just change your stock to beef stock.  Trust me, it is very adaptable.

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced thinly
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup floour
1 Tablespoon of Brandy
2 cups of chicken stock (yes, boxed is fine)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch Oven, melt butter over medium low heat.  Add your chopped onion and stir well.  Place burner on low and stir.  Now, here is the only tricky part and it's not really tricky.   You want to carmelize your onions, which can take up to 45 minutes.  So, keep your burner on low and every few minutes come stir them. And don't try to rush this part, it makes all the difference in the world.  Trust me and you'll have a wonderful gravy to serve at any meal.  Here are a few pictures.  And you want them to be carmelized, not just browned.

After 15 minutes, just starting to brown.

After 30 minutes, getting nice and brown.

 

After 45 minutes, now add the flour and stir.  See, aren't they gorgeous?

 



Cook the  caramalized onion/flour mixture on low for 5 minutes, randomly stirring.  Add your chicken stock slowly and turn up heat to a near boil, stirring continuously.  After it comes up to the boil, turn it down to a simmer and let cook for about 5 more minutes until thickened and golden brown.  Stir in the brandy, then taste and add salt and pepper if you need it.

Let the gravy cool down and use an immersion blender to smooth out any onion pieces.  Either place in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in a freezer container for up to a month.

Having the gravy done ahead of time, is definetly a good thing.

Boozy, New Orleans Bread Pudding ~

 

Being from Boston, I have never made Bread Pudding before.  It's a Southern thing I think.   But a friend had asked me to make it for her when she was coming to dinner, so of course I said yes.  I did some research and found this easy and delicious recipe from another friend.

The reason I chose this particular bread pudding was because of how easy it is to make and how delicious it sounded.  Oh, and that it has the raisins soaking overnight in Bourbon, with extra Bourbon in the sauce.  How bad can that be?  Right, it can't....  By the way, it's a fabulous dessert.  And easy, did I say that already?  Yes, very easy to make.

You can find the recipe is on my friend Carolyn's blog "A Southerner's Notebook", here.

http://southerncook-asouthernersnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-orleans-bread-pudding.html

The only change I made to the original recipe, is that I used Challah Bread and cut the sugar by a quarter of a cup.

Here's a picture of it going into the oven.

And here it is all puffy and golden coming out of the oven.  I baked it about 15 minutes than it called for.  I just checked it every 5 minutes after the initial 40 minutes that the recipes states.

Make sure you let it cool a bit before serving.

Enjoy ~

 

Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake ~

I don't usually make cakes from cake mixes.  Although I don't have a problem with a cake mix in of itself, I just never seem to buy them.  I think it's because I have all of the ingredients to make desserts in my pantry and fridge, so no need really.  However, I do have good friends who rave about this cake and one even serves it at Holiday gatherings.  So, when a friend asked me to make a rum cake for her Birthday, I chose this one.  And I wasn't disappointed at all.  As a matter of fact, I was delighted and so was my friend.

Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake
1 box (about 18 oz.) Yellow Cake Mix

1 package (3.5 oz.) instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cups Rum (dark or light)

1 cup chopped pecans

Brown sugar (optional)


Glaze1 1/2 sticks butter

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Rum

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. If desired, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar over the nuts.

Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter into pan over nuts. Smooth the batter out until the top is even. Bake for 1 hour, or a little less if the pan is black. Do not over bake!

Glaze:
While cake has ten minutes left to bake, begin preparing the glaze.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the flame and pour in the rum. Stir to combine and reheat for 30 seconds.

Remove the cake from the oven. Immediately drizzle 1/3 of the glaze on the bottom (top) of the cake. Allow to sit for five minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving plate. Prick surface a hundred times with a fork very gently. Slowly drizzle the remaining rum glaze all over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Cool to room temperature before serving to ensure glaze has soaked in.

My Notes: I combined a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar with the chopped pecans and then spread them into the bottom of my bundt pan.  And I saved about 1/4 of the glaze to serve with the cake for drizzling.

My cake was done in 55 minutes.

Here is a slice served with a little whipped cream.