The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

I like to cook. I like to eat out. I like to drink beer - especially the Belgian variety. I have the cutest pug you ever have seen. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to Email Me socialfollow.init("socialFollowImage");

[thelittleredkitchen]

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[thelittleredkitchen]

Tomato & Crab Soup - Celebrate Friendsgiving 2011

Last year my group of girlfriends started a new tradition.  

We were to celebrate Thanksgiving a week early and dub it Friendsgiving - an all out, gut busting, eating extravaganza to be shared with your closest friends on a holiday normally spent with your family.  

This year at Friendsgiving 2.0 our turkey chef decided a theme was needed instead of everything just bringing something.  We were to celebrate traditional, whether it be family or traditional Thanksgiving the decision was up to you.

As I thought about what I wanted to make, I decided to put together a family tradition and one that went with what the Pilgrims actually ate at their Thanksgiving.  I think at this point most of us know that the Pilgrims enjoyed seafood at their Thanksgiving not turkey, so for me I wanted to include some sort of shellfish into my dish.  Then it hit me, my family always started with a soup course and while not traditional in most homes it is in mine!

I highly recommend using San Marzano tomatoes in this recipe, while slightly more expensive than other canned tomatoes these taste like how tomatoes should taste.  They are sweet and bright and when they are the star of your meal you need the best. 

I ugh, also highly recommend using caution when squeezing these puppies, as they are extra juicy and this might happen to your stove (or glasses, shirt, chocolate cake that happens to be cooling next to the pot on the stove (that didn't happen...))

Recipe:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cups low-sodium chicken stock (homemade is best)

2 dry bay leaves

3 cans San Marzano Tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1lb pasteurized flake crabmeat

In a large dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter and add the olive oil, then add the diced onions.  Cook 7-8 minutes until translucent.  Add the garlic and let cook 30 seconds until fragrant.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the flour and let cook about a minute.  Then stir in the tomato paste and let cook about a minute or two more to fully cook out the raw flour taste. 

Whisk in the chicken stock and add the bay leaf and bring up to a boil.  

With clean hands crush the tomatoes into the pot with their juices from the can.  Add the red pepper flakes and season again with some salt and pepper. 

 Bring back up to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.  Simmer for 30 minutes. 

Remove the bay leaves.

Take the soup off the heat and with an immersion blender blend the soup until smooth.  If you like the soup a little chunky, blend until your desired consistency. 

If you do not have an immersion blender, let the soup cool for 30 minutes and transfer to a blender to puree.  You will need to do this multiple times.   Check again for seasoning and if needed add more salt and pepper. 

To serve, spoon into a bowl and top with a heaping portion of crabmeat.

Finally I leave you with our spread from Friendsgiving.  At the bottom we are pulling charms from a pull charm cake - which is actually a Victorian wedding tradition that we incorporated into ours.  You can read about it here.

[thelittleredkitchen]

Squash Biscuits

What does one do with leftover squash puree?  Two weekends ago, I had a friend over to cook from my CSA and enjoy my tasty farm fresh eggs, since her CSA sadly does not offer eggs.  We whipped up some souffle, figuring that was the best dish to utilize all the eggs I had been hoarding in my fridge for this dinner.  However, I didn't want to make just a plain cheese souffle, I wanted something that screamed fall and something that would let her taste other items from my CSA.  

So I roasted up the big mystery squash/pumpkin looking thing that had been sitting on my dining room table as a center piece for 3 weeks.  It was a project, it was huge, it took almost 2 hours to roast until it was soft enough to puree and then even then it took my food processor and immersion blender to make a velvety smooth puree.  

A big squash though, produces a lot of puree and souffle does not need a lot of puree, so what was I to do with the rest? I could freeze it, but I was running out of room in my freezer and I was likely to forget about it.  It need to be used now, then I thought.  Biscuits!  Why not, people make sweet potato biscuits, squash should work too. If they turned out well I could make them for Thanksgiving or even the morning after for breakfast.  

Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour (plus an additional 1/4 cup if the dough is sticky)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup squash puree

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon honey

plus extra flour for dusting

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  

In a medium bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Using a pastry cutter or my preferred method your fingers cut the butter into the flour until coarse crumbs are formed, working as quickly as possible.  Place the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes to let the butter cool down again. 

While the butter/flour mixture is cooling, in a small bowl mix the milk, squash puree and honey together. 

Remove the butter/flour mixture from the fridge and make a well in the middle, add the squash mixture and carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet.  Fold as best as you can in the bowl and add up to a 1/4 cup of flour if the dough is sticky.  

Scoop the dough out onto a floured surface and pat together.  To form flaky layers you want to fold the dough on top of itself.   Pat dough into a rectangle and fold in half, rotate and fold in half again.  Repeat two more times.  Adding more flour to the surface to keep from sticking.  Finally pat the dough out to about 3/4 inch thickness.  Using a biscuit cutter (or in my case the cookie cutter that I have at home, which is slightly smaller) cut out your biscuits and transfer to a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Reroll the scraps and cut the remaining dough. The biscuits edges should be touching each other. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes until nicely browned.  If you like you can add a little bit of melted butter on top 5 minutes before they are finished.  

Remove from the baking sheet while still hot and wrap in a tea towel to keep warm and enjoy. 

[thelittleredkitchen]

FoodBuzz Tastemakers: Sabra plus a Middle Eastern Feast

Welcome back to Foodbuzz Tastemakers with Girl In The Little Red Kitchen!

I love the opportunity that Foobuzz provides us featured publishers with the Tastemakers program because it gives us the opportunity to try products that perhaps we've never tried before or ones that we wouldn't normally buy for ourselves.  Well this time around, that is just not the case.  

Sabra Hummus is my go to hummus brand.  Unless I'm making it myself or at a Middle Eastern or Israeli restaurant this is what I'm eating.  It's because of my husband too, he's been eating the stuff since before I met him.  I can't blame him,  Sabra is all natural, healthy (it contains the good for you fat people), gluten free, and Kosher! Anyone can enjoy Sabra products! 

Although I confess, it took until a few years ago for to finally really appreciate hummus.  There are very few foods that I won't eat but beans/legumes (not peanuts obviously!) are one of them.  So I stayed away from chickpeas and hummus always reminded me of the same texture.  I don't know if it is a changing palate as I get older or I just got over the fact that hummus does not equal whole chickpeas but I started eating it.  

As delicious as hummus is, one tub does not make dinner.  So I took the opportunity to whip up a Middle Eastern feast to go along with the Roasted Pine Nut Hummus that I picked up.  

A few weeks ago, we were dining at a wonderful restaurant in our neighborhood and one of the dishes that we had was their version of Lamb Souvlaki.  It was flat bread, topped with tzatziki, lamb patties and grilled vegetables.  The dish was fantastic and I've been wanting to recreate a version of it myself.   Since we had so many other side dishes, I omitted the flat bread and tzatziki and turned the grilled vegetables into caramelized onions.  

With our feast, I also served a simple roasted baby beet salad with bulgarian feta, some pickles from a local pickle guy, and labne cheese.  If you aren't familiar with labne, it is a yogurt cheese, slightly tangy but incredibly creamy.  Turns out, it was an excellent replacement for the tzatziki and we dipped our lamb patties into the labne.  I also heated up some whole wheat pitas with a little olive oil and za'atar seasoning.  

Recipe:

1lb ground lamb

1 large egg

1/4 cup panko or plain breadcrumbs

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons za'atar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

zest from 1 lemon

juice from half a lemon

1 large onion, thickly sliced

parsley for garnish

In a heavy bottomed skillet on medium heat add some olive oil and the sliced onions.  Let sweat for a few minutes and season with a bit of salt.  Once softened add a teaspoon of white sugar to help the caramelization process and add sweetness to the onions.   Stir frequently and lower the heat if the onions start to brown too much.  Remove from the skillet and cover after 15-20 minutes when the onions are soft and caramelized but not too dark.  

Carefully wipe the skillet out with paper towels after the onions are removed. 

In a medium size bowl mix together the lamb, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, za'atar, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice.  Do not over mix the meat otherwise it will be tough.  

Wet your hands slightly and form the lamb mixture into 8 patties.  

Heat the cleaned out skillet on medium-high and add olive oil.  When the pan is hot add 4 of the patties and cook until brown on one side and flip, cook until browned on reverse side.  Remove and cover with foil.  Cook the remaining 4 patties.  

Serve on a platter with onions, and chopped parsley.  

[thelittleredkitchen]

Squash Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze

I have a confession to make - I actually made this recipe 3 weeks ago and I'm just getting to share it with you now. 

I am so ashamed of myself, I am so behind on posting right now, I have two other recipes that I also cooked up a few weeks ago that still need to be posted too.  And it isn't like I'm not cooking things I don't want to share, because I am and the back log just keeps on going.  

But you see, like most food bloggers out there, I have a day job too, and I'm into my busy season, plus social commitments and keeping up my exercise routine -  I'm just tired at the end of the night! It's no excuse though! I hope to catch up in the next week or two, we've got the holidays coming up, and I have some exciting things planned.  

So let's get down to business - this recipe makes a lot, so for anyone not looking to stock their freezer full of muffins or bread I suggest halving it, even then my guess is you might end up with two loaves of bread.  Like all quick breads, it freezes well but make sure to leave the glaze off anything you do plan on freezing.  

If you aren't a big squash fan, don't worry, you won't taste much of it.  I used acorn squash puree in the batter and it is there more to add moisture than anything.  Think of this as a super pumped up healthy carrot cake.

Recipe: Adapted slightly from Everyday Food

For the bread:

2 cups acorn squash puree 

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1 cup brown sugar

4 large eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk (extra if needed)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the squash puree: Preheat your oven to 400 degree F.  Cut your acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Lay face down on a baking sheet and roast about 45 minutes until tender.  Spoon out the flesh and puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

For the bread:  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter two - three 9X5 loaf pans or I used two 9X5 plus 6 jumbo muffins cups.  

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside. 

Using your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the eggs one at a time until well combined and then the vanilla.  Beat in the squash puree.   Finally add the carrots. 

Carefully add the flour mixture in two parts with the mixer on low.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  The muffins took about 35 minutes while the bread takes about 40. 

Let cool in pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

For the glaze:  In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.  If it seems thick add a little more milk to thin out the glaze.

Once the bread is completely cool, spoon the glaze on top and spread evenly.  

The bread will keep in an airtight container for about 3-4 days.  It will keep froze for about 3 months.  

[thelittleredkitchen]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

If it wasn't for Snowtober, I wouldn't have these cookies for you.

You see, I had my plans all mapped out for Saturday.  Get up, go to Zumba. Go home, take a nap. Get ready, get the pug in costume and take him to our favorite bar for a Halloween doggy costume contest.  He was bound to win, he had the best costume yet for him.  Plus who doesn't love a pug in costume?

But no, it had to go and snow in October. OCTOBER!!!

So instead my plans were get up, go to Zumba, go home, bake these cookies, lounge around, drink beer, make oven fried chicken and biscuits and watch South Park.  Okay so not such a bad day after all.

We still put the pug in his costume though. Photos needed to be taken for next years homemade pug calendar (yes, I am that person).

I bring you The Notorious P.U.G.

The cookies are a slight path away from your typical peanut butter ones.  I thought the oats would be a nice flavor enhancer, but didn't add so much to take over.  One note, it is a crumbly dough, so I highly recommend using a cookie scoop if you have it.  If not a small ice cream scoop will work fine as well.  Also these do not spread, so if you are looking for a cookie that is pretty to present this is the one to do it.  Even after cooling they remained puffed up and chewy. 

Recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup old fashion oats (quick cooking are fine too)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (feel free to substitute chunky)

2 extra large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degree F.

In a small saucepan over medium heat melt your butter and let it melt until golden brown. Let cool.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Using your stand or hand mixer, mix together your sugars and butter until well combined.  Add the peanut butter and mix, then add the eggs one at a time until mixed well.  Finally add the vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, mixing after each addition.  Careful not to over beat as it will make the cookies tough.

Finally add the chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon if necessary.

Drop on a parchment or silicone line cookie sheet in rounded spoonfuls about 1inch in diameter.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Remove to a cooling rack.  Makes about 3 - 3 1/2 dozen.

[thelittleredkitchen]

Baconery - The first ever all bacon bakery

Almost 4 weeks ago the first ever all bacon bakery opened its doors (online only for now) to the public.  I sat down last week with Baconery's founder and owner Wesley Klein for a Q&A session about the history and concept behind the Baconery. 

It all began in the middle of June with an article in The Village Voice, the buzz started around the interwebs and Klein had his website, Twitter and Facebook pages live.  He was ready to make his dream a reality. 

Klein decided to create the Baconery because he loves breakfast and sweets and thought the two would be great together.  While not a professional baker himself, he loves food, baking and creating new recipes.  He took the time to develop and test recipes for four months before hiring his baker, Carisa Torres.  Some of his ideas failed and some were successful and are on the menu today.   Carisa and Wesley have had a great relationship since starting production, concepts are consistently thrown into the mix and Carisa takes those ideas and runs with them.

A few of those recipes that came to be are: chocolate peanut butter bacon cookies; chocolate bacon cookies; bacon banana bread; bacon brownies; pretzel rods dipped in chocolate rolled in bacon and for your pooches bacon dog biscuits!

For those who do not eat bacon, Wesley, Carisa & Co. plan on adding turkey bacon oatmeal cookies to the menu by November.

Having had a chance to sample some product myself at The Bacon Takedown, I can tell you they do a great job of balancing the sweet and saltiness of the baked goods.  You know the bacon is there but it isn't an overwhelming flavor. 

As I mentioned in the beginning The Baconery can only be found online right now and currently ships to 48 US States but will soon be adding Hawaii and Alaska.  The plan is to ship to Canada by year end to eventually add international shipping by 2012. 

If you are curious what the Baconery's plans are for after the holidays, well they will start to look for a storefront in 2012 and expand into high end supermarkets along with constantly testing new recipes for their menu.

The Baconery Team: Carissa Torres, Baker; Meg Ross, Baker; Wesley Klein, Owner; Anita Persaud, Operations; Cathy Lugo.

[thelittleredkitchen]

CSA Week 20

Well folks, this is the end 20 weeks have come and gone and if I do say so myself, it has gone rather quickly.  I feel as it was just yesterday we were starting our season. 

Although, I'm really just teasing you a bit, while for some our CSA season is over it isn't for me.  Myself and our share partners have chosen to do the 6 week fall/winter extension.  We are fortunate enough that our farmer still has enough harvest left to extend to us.  I'm am thrilled that we are able to do the extension again, as we did last year.  Especially because it brings farm fresh vegetables to Thanksgiving dinner and plenty of potatoes for latkes during Chanukah!

[thelittleredkitchen]

Foodbuzz Tastemakers: Tervis Tumbler

This time around for my Foodbuzz Tastemakers, I am not trying out a food product but instead drinkware. 

Foodbuzz and the Tervis Tumbler Company teamed up and sent some lucky featured publishers personalized Foodbuzz Tervis Tumblers. 

Our mission, create a beverage - hot, cold, adult or not - to show off our new tumbler.

After my tumbler arrived in the mail, I went on to Tervis' website to learn a little bit more about the company.  Tervis guarantees all of their drinkware for life, claiming it is unbreakable.  Says it won't leave a condensation ring on your table and will keep your hot beverages hot and your cold ones cold!

Well, I am quite clumsy and I can tell from what the tumbler is made of, this won't break.  I have other glasses made from similar material and I drop them all the time and they are still alive.  I haven't dropped my tumbler yet, but time will soon prove this claim. 

For my beverage, I chose my all time favorite cold weather (who am I kidding, it is just my all time favorite) hot drink - hot chocolate. 

I didn't want to make just any hot chocolate though, I felt the need to change things up a bit and added a little peanut butter to make it extra special. Also, this is more of a sipping chocolate than hot cocoa that you make from a package.  I use a mixture of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate and melt it with the milk until it is thick.  I also chose to use freshly ground peanut butter, but you can use whatever brand you prefer.

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Recipe:

2 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate

2 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate

3/4 cup 1% milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

pinch of salt

peanut butter

If using chocolate chips, measure out the chocolate chips, or finely chop chocolate from a bar and set aside.

Heat milk and cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Do not bring to a boil, heat until milk is just scalding and then add the chocolate and pinch of salt.  Whisk constantly until the chocolate is thoroughly melted.  Continue to whisk for an additional minute or two until thick.

In your tumbler or mug, place a dollop of peanut butter on the bottom and a little bit on the rim of the glass.  Pour in your hot chocolate and let sit for a minute. Then enjoy!

While this recipe made enough to fill the entire tumbler, I would recommend serving in in an espresso cup or a small mug, it is filling and rich!

Finally, I want to add that the hot chocolate stayed hot the entire time.  My husband and I shared the drink and while it took us 30 minutes to drink it all, it was hot to the very end.  My only gripe is that I wish it came with a lid, that way you could take it on the go with you. 

[thelittleredkitchen]

CSA Week 19

Short and sweet tonight.  Nothing extremely special tonight, although I'm still trying to figure out what type of squash we got this week.  They said it's pumpkin and I realize that it is but I would like to know what kind. 

I think it might be jarrahdale but I'm not positive.  

[thelittleredkitchen]

The Second Annual Bacon Takedown

When you walk into an event and the first thing they do is hand you a bag of bacon swag and a strip of bacon you know it is going to be a good event. 

About a week and a half ago, I opened up my inbox to see an invite to attend The Bacon Takedown at The Bell House in Brooklyn.  I had heard about the event the year before and even considered entering but didn't feel like my idea was original enough for the competition (which by the way, what I wanted to do last year, was represented this year just slightly different, so I guess I could have entered...). So of course my first reaction was hell yes I'll go and then my second thought was, isn't it ironic that they've asked a nice Jewish girl from Long Island to go to the Bacon Takedown?

Let's get down to the basics first - the Bacon Takedown is an amateur cooking competition where up to 20 chefs, armed with 15 pounds of Hormel Bacon (Hormel a sponsor of the event) come with their best, most creative use of bacon. People come, eat, be merry, vote and a bacon champion is crowned.  

Matt Timms is the host and founder of the competition and it all began with his now famous Chili Takedowns.  It has since expanded all of the country, and besides bacon and chili there are taco, ice cream and cookie takedowns as well.  

Enough facts - let's get on to the bacon. 

As I mentioned in the beginning, we were first greeted with some strips of bacon when you first entered - I over heard some people joking it was a "palate cleanser".  Only at a bacon event folks! Also up front was the box to drop off your ballot for your favorite dish and the trophy for our first place winner. 

After that, to the right was a lovely set up by the all bacon bakery Baconery.  Some treats they provided for us were bacon brownies, chocolate peanut butter bacon cookies and marshmallow bacon bites.  I didn't want to fill up too much, so all I got to sample was the choco-pb bacon cookie but it was fantastic!  Such a great cookie, excellent flavor with just that hint of bacon.  Not over powering at all.  I kind of wish I got back later in the day to try the rest out. 

Since the Bell House is generally a performing arts venue, they set the contestants up as a half circle around the stage and had the crowd form two lines to grab their samples. 

I have to say, this was one of the most organized food events I've ever been too.  The line moved quickly and efficiently.  We took our sample, placed it on our plate and moved on to the next contestant.  After the first 9 was on our plate, we stepped aside to eat.  Then back on again for the second line.  Kudos to Matt and the rest of the organizers for setting it up this way.   So for this reason, I present to you the first half of the samples 1-9 (okay, you'll noticed there are only 8 on my plate, that's because one contestant wasn't set up yet, but I got it later on).

The contestants and dishes on this block are:

Kimberly & Andrew: Bacon Cornbread Muffin with Goat Cheese & Chives

Jon Simon - Bacon Wrapped S'mores

Elysia Smith - The Greedy Pig (bacon fudge with black truffle oil & sea salt)

Chris Crowley - Dikon Pineapple Coconut Cake

Liz Santonas - Drunken Devil Blondies

Katie Hipp - Nana's German Potato Sala

Becky Macgregor - Tiny Tower Breakfast

The Brooklnauts - Bacon Buns

The remaining contestants are:

Porky's Nuthouse - Bac'n Nutz

Julia Greene - Bacon on Bacon

Colonel Pork Rinds - Bacon Krispies

Adrian Ashby - Sloppy Elvis

Christine Huang - Red Eye Crack Lovechild

Jen Delavega - "Nacho Bacon": Curry Bacon Nachos

Jay & Ann Marie Gorman - Roasted Pork Belly with Pumpkin  Duck Fat Croutons

Sonja Samuel - Tipsy Rosy Popcorn

Tony Santoro & Ann Marie Anise - "The Lipitor Express": Bacon, Maple & Jack Daniels Ice Cream with Burnt Sugar Spiced Pecan Bacon Brittle

Everyone did a great job and it was a challenge to pick my favorite.   Luckily, there were plenty of awards and prizes to go around.  Not only did we have the overall winner/people's choice but we had a judge's choice and a special kudos too.

The kudos winners were each given a pig cutting board to continue their bacon cookery and they are:

The three judges who had the difficult job of narrowing down their top three choices were Alex Van Buren of CHOW; George Motz of Hamburger America; Rachel Wharton of Edible Manhattan and Brooklyn and last year's Bacon Takedown winner Jen Wanous.  Each winner of the judges choice won Anolon cookware, a Le Creuset griddle (jealous!) and a host of other cookware goodies. 

And finally we have the people's choice and overall winners of the Takedown.  I unfortunately had to miss this announcement, or perhaps not unfortunately because I was running out the door to meet the in-laws to go see Book of Mormon.  Thank goodness for the interwebs and some emails to get me the names of the winners.  They too took home some wonderful cookware and I think a years worth of bacon! 

Such a great event and I look forward to next year.  Perhaps I'll try my hand at competing. . . 

[thelittleredkitchen]

Bubby's Peanut Butter-Chocolate Pie

Just a warning - this post is going to be a little bit sappy. 

Sweetie, this one is for you.  Happy Anniversary.

Three years ago I got to marry my best friend and it was the best day ever (every bride says that right?) However, I mean it, seriously.  I mean, do you know any other couples that have given themselves a team name? I can tell him anything, the girly things too, although I know he doesn't always get it (or me!).  We have fun together, we laugh, we drink beer.  The beer - the beer is what brought us together (that's another story).  We had it at the place that represented us the best - Bubby's Pie Company. On the waterfront of a Brooklyn, over looking the skyline of Manhattan on a beautiful October day. There was craft beer, plates so full of food people took doggy bags home, pie and our wedding cake was ice cream. No, seriously it was. Look.

We are not cake people, I'm talking about bakery cake, you know yellow cake, fruit filling, generic frosting - gross. You should see my side of the family at affairs, we eat the cake and leave the filling and frosting on the plate.

I wanted ice cream cake so I went to this little French patisserie across the street from where we lived in Park Slope that made the best ice cream and asked her if she could make us two cakes. One vanilla, one chocolate both covered with chocolate ganache. The ganache was at least half an inch thick.  The cake cutter I borrowed from my mom barely cut through the cake. There wasn't one slice of cake left by the end of the night. We had no cake to freeze and eat a year later.  We went back to Bubby's instead and had some pie. Specifically chocolate peanut butter pie the other hit dessert of the night and that is what I'm making in honor of our three year anniversary. (If I could recreate our wedding cake, I would).

Recipe:

Adapted from "Bubby's Homemade Pies" by Ron Silver & Jen Bervin

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Teddy Grahams)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the pie:

Peanut Butter mousse:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Chocolate ganache:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate

3/4 cup heavy cream

chocolate to decorate the top

For the crust: preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter.   Stir until crumbly and pour into a 9 inch pie or tart pan.   Press the mixture firmly into the pan and up against the sides.  Bake for 10 minutes, but do not over-brown.  Remove from oven and cool.

For the ganache: melt the chocolate on top of a double boiler over low heat and stir until smooth.  Add the cream, stirring until completely combined.  Spread a thick layer of the ganache over the crust over the bottom and sides as evenly as possible.  Chill the ganache in the freezer until set.

For the mousse: using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer, beat together the sugar, peanut butter, cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy.   Set aside in another bowl.  Clean out your mixer bowl and add the heavy cream.  Using the whisk attachment beat until it holds good, stiff peaks.  

Place a few spoonfuls of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture and carefully mix together.  Then add 1/3 of the whip cream and fold in, rotating the bowl as you turn.  Add another 1/3 and fold.  Continue until all the whip cream has been folded into the mousse and it is light and fluffy with no chunks remaining.

Remove the crust from the freezer and set 1/2 of the mousse aside. Carefully pour the remaining mousse into the shell and spread evenly.  Use a pastry bag to pipe kisses around the pie for decoration.   Shave some of the reserved chocolate on top.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. 

[thelittleredkitchen]

CSA Week 18

One of the things I really appreciated last year with our CSA was the end of season survey they sent us.  We were able to let our farmer and core group members know what we liked and dis-liked about the CSA and they were then able to make changes to better operate the CSA.

One of the questions on our survey was what vegetables would you like to see our farmer, Jorge grow.  The two most popular that I remember were carrots and brussel sprouts.  Well, Jorge listened and this week we finally got both!

I am very excited, I've waited all season hoping we might get them.  It took until just two years ago for me to really start liking brussel sprouts, but now that I do, I eat them as much as I can while they are in season. 

Also can you believe the size of this carrot?  I've included an extra photo comparing it to the baby carrots we give the pug for his afternoon treat.  You should have seen his tail wagging when I showed him the giant carrot. I think he thought it was for him!

[thelittleredkitchen]

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

If you recall, way back in the beginning of August, I wrote how I was one of the lucky 50 to be chosen as a cupcake explorer for the Cupcake Project's quest to find the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe.

While it seemed like a long time, it actually only took 3 rounds of recipe testing for a  winner to be chosen!

I came in on the second round of recipe tasting, but actually got to try out 3 separate vanilla cupcake recipes myself. 

It was a wonderful experience, and I was able to get to know Stef via email because of it.  We corresponded back and forth a few times with my thoughts on how to impart more vanilla into the cupcake.  I suggested that perhaps steeping the beans in some cream first might help, since I always do that when I make vanilla ice cream and my ice cream has a very strong vanilla flavor.  Well, the thought was nice but the end result was not! Something wasn't working right, either the humidity in the air or putting cream in the cupcakes because they were so dense and dry! Plus it added no extra vanilla flavor. 

Finally, a few weeks after our mini-testing the round three cupcake recipe appeared.  It was similar to the others, except this time we were going to make vanilla sugar.  I had high hopes and started making my cupcakes.  The texture was perfect, light and fluffy.  So light that you could have a second and not feel full (I'm not going to say guilty, that decision is up to you!) But to me, I still didn't get the strong vanilla taste, perhaps my standards are just too high (and if my husband is reading this right now, he is looking at the screen and nodding his head yes they are), because 66% of the testers came back with an absolute yes! This is the ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe.

Even my own testers agreed it was a great vanilla cupcake.

I decided to bake these one more time before posting the recipe.  I thought my vanilla beans were old, and I wanted to use a better brand of vanilla.  My opinion - still an amazingly good cupcake, and when paired with the vanilla bean buttercream frosting all you smell is vanilla and all you taste too.  I just don't taste an abundance of vanilla in the cupcake alone.  It doesn't mean I won't make it again, because I will.  Trust me, this is a crowd pleaser.

Plus I know my taste testers, aka my co-workers are going to be very sad now that this project is over. 

Recipe:

You can find Stef's full post here

Yield: 16 cupcakes

1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs, room temperature 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml) 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)

In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.)

Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.

Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.)

Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.

Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.

When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.

You can find the recipe for vanilla bean buttercream here.

[thelittleredkitchen]

CSA Week 17

We are back this week and I've snapped another photo of the full share again.  

While last week was apparently full of winter squash, we only ended up with one this week.  I handed it off to our share partner, because I still had an acorn and a butternut squash in my fridge to tackle. 

Our farmer has also given us a type of radish that I'm unfamiliar with.  One of the volunteers said it has a more peppery taste to it.  I've never been much of a radish fan, so will need to do some research on recipes.  I suppose I could always just have a radish, butter and salt sandwich. 

[thelittleredkitchen]

Foodbuzz Tastemakers: Bauducco Panettone

When someone sends you a box of panettone you make french toast. 

When someone sends you two boxes of panettone you make french toast and bread pudding. 

Foodbuzz teamed up with Bauducco Panettone to send out samples of two types of their Panettone to the Tastmakers team.

Panettone is a traditional holiday bread, you are likely to see it in the supermarkets starting around Thanksgiving through the New Year.  

This was my first time trying panettone, I had seen it many times in the grocery store, on TV and in food magazines, but never really purchased it.  To describe the taste, I would say think of a very sweet, citrusy, extremely moist challah bread, studded with raisins and candied fruit.  For a packaged bread, it was very good and fresh and a brand that I would highly recommend.  

Of course as I mentioned above, we were sent two samples of the panettone.  A box of the raisin and candied fruit and a box of the Hershey's chocolate chips.  For a household of two, that's a lot of bread, so I made french toast using the raisin panettone and bread pudding using the chocolate chip.  Both came out very well, but as I learned with the first piece of bread that I dipped in my french toast custard, leave it in for only a few seconds otherwise it will fall apart right away!

Raisin Panettone with Caramelized Pear Compote

Recipe: 

(French toast recipe adapted & doubled from Cook's Illustrated)

1 loaf raisin panettone

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for frying

1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

2/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

For the Pear Compote:

2 firm, but ripe anjou pears

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 vanilla bean, split

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

To make the compote: Peel and core the pears, and thinly slice lengthwise.  

In a non-stick skillet on medium heat melt the butter.  Add the pears and cook until soft about 10-12 minutes.  

Split the vanilla bean and using the edge of your pairing knife remove the seeds.  Add the seeds and the bean to the pan.  Mix together evenly and then add the brown sugar.  The sugar will cook down and caramelize quickly, about 30 seconds.  Stir until a nice sauce forms, turn off the heat and remove the vanilla bean. 

For the french toast:  Mix all the ingredients for the custard in a shallow pan or pie plate. Slice the panettone into 1 inch thick rounds.  Heat a cast iron skillet on medium/medium-high heat and add a pat of unsalted butter.  Soak the panettone about 5 seconds and flip.  Add the bread to the skillet and cook until brown and flip.  Repeat with additional slices.  

Top with pear compote and syrup from the sauce. 

Chocolate Panettone Bread Pudding

1 loaf chocolate chip panettone

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

4 large eggs

3 cups half and half

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Melt 4 tablespoons of the unsalted butter and set aside.  Slice the panettone into 1/2 inch pieces and place on a sheet pan. Drizzle the butter over the panettone and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. 

While the panettone is toasting, mix together the eggs, half and half, vanilla, sugars and salt in a large bowl. 

After the panettone is toasted, remove from the sheet pan to a butter 13X9 inch dish.  

Pour the custard over the panettone and press down with a spatula to make sure everything is well covered.  Let soak for at least 30 minutes.

Once the panettone is well soaked, top with the remaining tablespoon of butter - cut up into small pieces and scatter the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set and brown on top. 

Serve with whip cream. 

[thelittleredkitchen]

Steak Fajitas

If you asked me what my favorite cheap cut of steak was, my immediate answer would be skirt steak.  It is quick and easy to cook and plenty flavorful.  You can have it grilled plain, seasoned with just a bit of salt and pepper or marinated with any combination you can think of and the flavors come through beautifully. 

Marinated skirt steak was one of the first meals I made for my husband, way back in the day,  and I always like to think that's what made him stick around!

Lately, my favorite preparation has been in the form of fajitas, with some extra veggies thrown in my from CSA.  The combination of steak, zucchini, peppers and onions really go well together wrapped up in a tortilla.  

Ideally, marinate the steak over night, but if you don't have the time, letting the steak sit for the 45 minutes it takes to prep and cook and the vegetables is enough to impart more than enough taste.  If you choose, I made a little extra marinade for the zucchini and let it sit before cooking, but that is completely optional. 

Recipe:

For the marinade:

3 tablespoons low sodium (regular is fine too) soy sauce

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon cumin

For the Fajitas:

1lb skirt steak ( I think my package was slightly over)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 bell pepper, any type, thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, halved and cut into 1/2" pieces

Flour tortillas

In a ziploc bag, mix the marinade and place the skirt steak in, seal and put in the fridge to marinate.  If you choose, in a smaller ziploc bag, do the same with the sliced zucchini, set aside.  

In a non-stick skillet, on medium-low heat, drizzle some olive oil and saute the sliced onions.  Cook for about 5 minutes until translucent, add the peppers and cook until both are soft and the onions are caramelized about 20-25 minutes. 

Using a grill pan, heat on medium-high and with a paper towel dipped in some olive oil carefully season the pan (I recommend using tongs to hold the paper towel).  

Grill the zucchini until cooked, about 6-8 minutes and flip.  Cook an additional 6-8 minutes set aside. 

Remove the steak from the fridge.  Discard the marinade.  Skirt steak is usually in one long piece, depending on the size of your grill pan, you made need to cut the steak to fit.  Grill the steak about 2-3 minutes per side for medium-rare.  Since the steak is so thin, it will cook very quickly.  Let sit on a cutting board for 5 minutes, tented with foil and then slice in 1" pieces against the grain.  

To heat the tortillas, either carefully heat them directly over your gas burner, or on a dry skillet.