No vampires here, no sir.

New Year's Eve: different verse, same as the first.

We spent NYE in much the same way as Christmas Day last week; cooking, eating, and watching football. And lo, it was good.

I realized about halfway through dinner prep that everything I was making featured garlic prominently. And that's the way I like it!

Enjoy.

Menu:
Hot Mulled Cider
King Crab Legs
Herbed Garlic-Cheddar Rolls
Root Vegetable Mash
Lamb Chops with Rosemary Pan Sauce
Garlicky Green Beans
Blueberry Shortcakes with Lemon Cream




Hot Mulled Cider

Props to Nate for coming up with this as a menu item. I always love anything that lets me use oranges, which are in abundance in our front yard right now.

64 oz apple cider
2 oranges, sliced and pits removed
1" piece of fresh ginger, sliced into thin coins
10 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1. Combine the cider, oranges, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon sticks in a stockpot and bring to a boil.
2. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the mixture. Drop the bean pod in, as well.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and pour through a strainer into mugs.


Herbed Garlic-Cheddar Rolls



The hit of the meal! We're suffering through a cold-snap here in Phoenix (OK, you can just can your laughter. It's COLD, alright?), and I had visions of warm, soft bread-dough rising in my oven and the resulting homey hominess that would ensue as it baked. I could almost hear Tiny Tim knocking on our door.

There is a restaurant in my hometown, Rochester, NY, called Mario's. It's Italian, surprisingly enough. It has been around forever, and we used to go there regularly when I was little. They had a salad bar with a big basket of fresh rolls that was replenished throughout the night. I could down probably 10 of those suckers in one sitting, I kid you not. They were yeasty, chewy, herby, French bread rolls that I have never seen anywhere else, UNTIL NOW. These are those rolls, recreated accidentally, in my own kitchen.

Also, if you are afraid of baking bread, don't be. It's not hard. Pioneer women did it for ages, and so can you.

makes 16 rolls

1 head garlic
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 packet active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
1 T sugar
4 c flour
2 T olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 T fresh rosemary, minced
1 T fresh oregano, minced
cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Peel any extra paper off the outside of the garlic head, keeping the head intact. Slice off the top of the head, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap the head in foil and bake for 1 hour. Set aside.
3. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the water to activate the yeast. It should lightly bubble/foam after about 5 minutes, signifying it is ready.
4. In a food processor with the dough blade, add the flour, salt, olive oil, roasted garlic, cheese, and herbs. Pulse a few times until combined.
5. With the processor running, add the yeast mixture to the flour and process until it comes together in a ball, about 1 minute.
6. With floured hands, remove the ball from the processor and knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Add more flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking to your hands.
7. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough ball in the bowl and roll to cover with spray. Cover the bowl with a dishtowel and set aside for 1 hour, until dough has doubled in size.
8. Heat the oven to 400F.
9. Punch down the dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll each piece into a rough ball.
10. Working in batches, bake the rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 16-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a rack.


Root Vegetable Mash



A vet school classmate of mine made this for a dinner gathering once; I have made it several times since. It's a nice, easy twist on mashed potatoes.

serves 2, generously

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 large sprig rosemary
1 cup low fat milk

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the potatoes, carrot, parsnip, and garlic. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft.
2. Meanwhile, heat the milk and rosemary in a small saucepan. Be careful not to scald; you are simply steeping the rosemary in the milk until ready to stir into the vegetables.
3. Drain the water and mash the vegetables coarsely with a fork.
4. Remove the rosemary from the milk. Stir in enough of the milk to the vegetable mash to bring it to the desired consistency.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Lamb Chops with Rosemary Pan Sauce



serves 2

1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic gloves, minced
1 T fresh rosemary, minced
4-6 small Australian lamb chops
salt and pepper
1/3 c dry white wine

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and saute for about 1 minute.
2. Set the lamb chops on the garlic/rosemary, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for 3-4 minutes, then turn to cook on the other side. Cook to the desired doneness, then remove to a plate and set aside.
3. Add the wine to the pan and deglaze, scraping up all the tasty browned bits. Boil the pan sauce for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Return the chops to the pan to coat with the sauce before serving.


Garlicky Green Beans



serves 2

1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp concentrated chicken stock, such as Better Than Bouillon
1/2 c dry white wine
2 generous handfuls fresh green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 2" pieces

1. Saute the garlic in the oil and butter for about 1 minute. Add the chicken stock concentrate and white wine and bring to a boil.
2. Add the green beans, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the liquid has reduced by half and the beans are bright green and crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.


Blueberry Shortcakes with Lemon Cream



I had intended to make these from scratch, but didn't realize until I had already whipped my entire carton of cream that most shortcake recipes call for cream or shortening or some other ingredient I didn't have. So I grabbed the trusty box of Bisquick from the shelf and made a mental note to flog myself later. Hey, Bisquick is good stuff and it made a respectable shortcake biscuit.

You might ask, "These look good, but are they still good for breakfast the next morning?"

Excellent question. Yes, yes they are. I'm always happy to do culinary research for you.

makes 3 biscuits

Lemon Cream
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 T powdered sugar
zest of 1/2 of a lemon

1. Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
2. Add the vanilla, sugar, and zest, and whip to combine.

Blueberry Sauce
1 T butter
1/4 c red currant jelly (any berry jelly would work here, or even a nice lemon marmalade)
6 oz fresh or frozen blueberries

1. In a small skillet, heat the butter and jelly until melted.
2. Add the blueberries and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes, mashing some of the berries with the back of a spoon.
3. Let cool slightly before serving. It will thicken a bit.

Shortcakes
1 heaping c Bisquick baking mix
juice and zest of 1/2 of a lemon
1 T sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 T butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl to make a soft dough.
3. Drop the dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to make 3 equal biscuits.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
5. Remove from oven, slice in half, and top with blueberries and cream.

Adventures in Spinach, Part 3; or, July 4th! In Miniature!

Today we honored America's birthday with the traditional fare of burgers and pie. But since it was just the two of us (much to Sparkle's dismay), we scaled things back and had tiny versions of the classics. Well, maybe not classics, but we got the gist of it.


Wrigley likes sliders. And Pie.

Menu:
Stuffed Lamb Sliders
Turkey Sliders
Lemon-Ginger Salmon Sliders
Parmesan Spinach Cakes
Grilled Corn
Grilled Broccolini
Peach Pie-lets with Brie
Lime Mousse Espresso Parfaits

Stuffed Lamb Sliders

Sliders are perfectly bite-sized burgers that allow for a lot of variety without having to eat your weight in meat. These sliders are stuffed with a cube of smoked cheese that melts inside while it grills, creating a delicious, gooey surprise bite. I used smoked Gouda, but any smoked cheese would work. I served these in a miniature whole wheat pita with sliced tomato and grilled onions.



makes 10 sliders

1 1/4 lb lamb leg, trimmed of fat and cut into chunks
1 T ground cumin
1 t garlic powder
1 t half-sharp paprika, or cayenne pepper to taste
3 oz smoked Gouda cheese, divided
10 miniature pitas or slider buns



1. Working in batches, pulse the lamb with the spices in a food processor until uniformly chopped.
2. Divide the meat into 10 portions. Place a piece of cheese in the center of each patty and wrap the meat around it.
3. Grill or pan-fry to desired degree of doneness. Serve while hot.


Turkey Sliders

An easy alternative to beef at a BBQ.



1 lb lean ground turkey
1 egg
1/4 c plain bread crumbs
1 T chili powder
2 t garlic powder
1 t smoked paprika
1 T Worcestershire sauce
10 slider buns

1. In a large bowl, combine turkey, egg, crumbs, spices, and Worcestershire sauce until just incorporated. Form into 2 oz patties.
2. Grill or pan fry until done. Serve immediately.


Lemon-Ginger Salmon Sliders

A repeat of a recipe I made last week (found here). This time I used canned salmon and decreased the egg whites to make a drier mix. These were rather delicate and needed some gentle handling on the grill. I used a grill pan; I think would have lost them through the grates otherwise. Served in mini pitas with lettuce and tomato.



Parmesan Spinach Cakes
from EatingWell.com

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!!! This was Part 3 of Adventures in Spinach, and Nate approved mightily. I halved the recipe to make 4 cakes, and he ate THREE!!! Success, victory, excitement!

These were very easy to make and looked pretty, too. They were a little fragile coming out of the muffin pan, but a little finessing with a butter knife did the trick. I've posted the recipe as written, which makes 8 cakes.



12 oz fresh spinach
1/2 c part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper



1. Place spinach in a food processor and pulse until it is roughly chopped.
2. Combine spinach in a large bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Spray 8 cups of a muffin pan with cooking spray.
4. Preheat oven to 400.
5. Divide the mixture among the 8 muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until set.
6. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove by running a knife around the edge of each muffin and lifting gently.


Peach Pie-lets with Brie

Who wants a whole pie sitting around the kitchen after a party, taunting you with its buttery, fruity, sinful dance moves? Well, OK, I know, secretly we ALL want to munch on that pie for days. But in the interest of continuing to have pants that fit, we must find ways to have our pie and NOT eat it, too (or at least, not eat it and eat it and eat it...).

Enter the pie-let.



I found this recipe on the Cupcake Project blog a few days ago and have not been able to stop thinking about it since. Peach pie? Yes! Brie? HECK YES!

Having just licked the crumbs from my plate mere moments ago, I am indeed thankful that there are only a few pie-lets in my house right now and not a whole pie, as I'm not sure I could stop myself.




I halved the recipe, but followed it as written otherwise. I'm going to repost it exactly as Stef wrote it on her blog. The filling made way too much, and now I have to think of a way to use up those lovely peaches coated in cinnamony-sugary-goodness. Maybe a crisp later in the week?



The pie crust was super-easy.



Don't be afraid of pie crust, you can do it.



And you don't even need a rolling pin (as I discovered when it came time to roll...I could have sworn I had one, but the heel of my hand worked just fine). Just remember to keep it all well-chilled and it will treat you right.



Pei-let. Brie. I'm already dreaming about my second helping.

Crust
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 c (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
4 egg yolks
grated rind of one lemon

1. Clean your counter well and pour flour onto the counter.
2. Make the letter O with the flour and put all of the other ingredients in the middle of the O .
3. Using your hands, work the center ingredients into a paste and then knead in the flour. If necessary, dip your fingers in water while you are working to help the dough stick together better.
4. Roll the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.

Filling
5 c sliced peaches (about 8 peaches)
2 T lemon juice
1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt

1. Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix gently.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour over the peaches and mix gently.

Put it together:





Unbaked pie dough (see above)
Prepared peach filling (see above)
4 oz Brie cheese

1. Remove half of the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
2. Use a 3 1/2 inch diameter circle cookie cutter to cut the dough into circles. If you don't have a cookie cutter that width, see if you have a glass you can use or experiment with different widths.
3. Put cupcake liners into cupcake tins. (I did not do this and it worked fine)
4. Press the center of your circle into the bottom of a cupcake liner and work the rest up the sides. It should come about 3/4 of the way up the side.
5. Fill the pie crusts with slices of the prepared peach filling.
6. Dot the top of the peach filling with small pieces of Brie
7. Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes.




Lime Mousse Espresso Parfaits

When I asked Nate what kind of pie he wanted for the 4th of July, he said Key Lime. Then he told me about a fond memory he has of eating key lime pie and drinking an espresso, and how the flavor combination was really great. So I got to thinking, what if I made a key lime espresso concoction and avoid the trouble of lugging out the espresso machine? I thought the flavor combination sounded weird, but that's what he asked for.




It took me about 0.2 seconds to find this beautiful blog, which had the perfect recipe for espresso (insert fruit here) cake. I can't even pretend that I made something as eye-catching as the mango mousse cakes in the photos, but I can vouch for the tastiness of the end result. I used Stephanie's recipe for the cake layer, the syrup, and the gelatin layer exactly as written, and I subbed a delectable lime mousse for her mango cream. I bet it would also be killer with mango, or --ooh!-- raspberry! Ooohhh. The possibilities are endless.



This was an all-day affair due to the many different parts that make it up. I was also delayed at one point because the Kahlua bottle I bought the other day still had the absolutely-impossible-for-a-mere-human-to-remove security cap on it (so THAT'S why the alarm went off when I walked out of the store...), necessitating an emergency trip to the store so Nate could convince one of the stand-up teenage cashiers to let him into the goods.




The cake layer was very light and delicate, almost spongy, which soaked up the syrup nicely. The mousse was out of this world, and I could not stop sneaking tastes of it all day. The gelatin layer on top set up really quickly and gave the dessert the intense coffee flavor it wanted.



I could not find espresso powder anywhere. I used instant coffee granules, and that seemed to work fine.

For the lime mousse filling, I used Julee Russo and Sheila Lukins' recipe from their book, The Silver Palate. I cut the recipe in half, and cut the butter in half again. Otherwise, I followed the recipe.

Oh, and I couldn't find Key Limes ANYWHERE. I honestly don't know that there is a significant taste difference between regular (Persian) limes and Key limes. I used regular limes, and it was still great.

Cake:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
2 t instant espresso powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (100 grams)
3/4 cup sifted cake flour (75g)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9 baking pan with parchment paper and then grease and flour the paper. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine chocolate and boiling water. Stirring constantly, cook for five minutes until chocolate thickens into a pudding-like consistency.
3. In a mixer bowl using the whisk beater, whisk together the eggs and sugar on high for five minutes until triple in volume.
4. Fold in the flour to the egg mixture in two parts. Then, fold in the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the batter immediately into the prepared pan.
6. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
7. Line six 3" cake molds with parchment paper or plastic. Cut out six 3" rounds of chocolate cake and place at the bottom of each mold. (I used 3" ramekins and cut the cake with them)

Syrup:
1 oz. sugar
2 oz. water
1 oz. Kahlua or Godiva liquor
1 t instant espresso powder

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, cover tightly and let cool completely.
2. Once cooled, stir in the liquor and espresso powder.
3. Brush the syrup liberally onto cake rounds.


Lime mousse:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs plus 1 egg white
1/2 c sugar
7 T fresh lime juice
grated zest from 3 limes
1 c heavy cream, chilled

1. Melt the butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl until light and foamy. Add the mixture to the melted butter. Cook gently, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes a custard, about 8 minutes. Do not overcook or the eggs will scramble.

3. Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the lime juice and grated zest. Cool to room temperature.

4.Using an electric mixer, whip the chilled cream until very stiff, almost, but not quite, to the point where it would become butter.

5. Stir the lime custard into the whipped cream until just incorporated. Chill for at least 4 hours.

6. Divide the mousse among the ramekins and smooth over the cake layer.

Espresso jelly:
2 t gelatin powder
2 T water
1 cup whole milk
2 t instant espresso powder
3 T sugar (45 grams)

1. Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, espresso powder, and sugar just until the sugar dissolves. Do not boil.
3. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the milk mixture from heat and stir in the gelatin until it completely dissolves. Let cool at room temperature.
4. Once the combination has cooled, pour a small layer into each cake mold or ramekin, on top of the lime mousse. Refrigerate until set, about an hour or two.



"Fireworks: I do not like them!"