Two Family Favorites

Here are two recipes that my family asks for time and time again. And they feature two ingredients that are plentiful this time of year- cider and sweet potatoes.

The first is a cider brined roasted chicken. We roast chicken often in my house, stuffing the cavity with various things like citrus fruits, onion, garlic, and herbs. Not only does it feed all of us, but it makes the whole house smell fantastic and we almost always make soup from the carcass afterward. You can't beat a meal that produces another meal for the next day and beyond! This particular roasted chicken is our very favorite, and we don't have it terribly often because it does take a little planning ahead as the chicken sits in the brine overnight. But wow, is it worth the extra planning and effort! The chicken itself is moist and delicious, glazed during the last ten minutes with a cider reduction, but making it even more special is the sauce that is made from the pan drippings and additional cider reduction. So good you can hear "humming" at the table when we're all eating it! The carcass and leftover chicken make a very uniquely flavored soup that we get several meals out of throughout the week.

The second recipe is a twice-baked sweet potato. This one was found in the Country Italian cookbook I referred to in one of my first posts. Remember the cod with beans and tomatoes? Same book. These potatoes are very rich and decadent tasting and again, take some patience, but are well worth it. These are baked, scooped out and then mixed with a butter, onion and fresh thyme mixture, fontina cheese, egg, and more butter! Of course sweet potatoes are extremely healthy, and that's how I always justify the indulgence. Interestingly though, I left the extra butter that was to be added softening in the microwave and the mixture went in without it. Quite honestly, no one knew the difference, and they were thoroughly enjoyed without the extra fat.

We had both of these together in the same meal tonight followed by a loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Yes, I am still baking and eating pumpkin and chocolate things. I am a bit obsessed with that flavor combination. That recipe can be found on wholegraingourmet.com.

Looking forward to some delicious soup tomorrow. Tim has it cooking on the stove as I type. Of course the meal will be followed by more pumpkin chocolate chip bread. If it lasts that long!

Cider-Roasted Chicken
(original recipe from Cooking Light Magazine)

3 qts water
1 qt apple cider
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 T black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 6-lb. roasting chicken
2 cups apple cider
1 large onion, peeled and halved
4 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat; cool completely. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Pour brine into a 2-gallon zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken, seal. Refridgerate 8 hours or overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Bring 2 cups cider to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until cider has thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup (about 15 minutes). Set aside.
4. Remove chicken from bag; discard brine. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Place the onion halves, parsley and garlic into the cavity. Lift wing tips up and over back, tuck under chicken. Tie legs. Place chicken on rack of a broiler pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until thermometer registers 175 degrees (we removed it at 165). Remove from oven. Carefully remove and discard skin. Baste chicken with half of reduced cider. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; baste with remaining cider reduction. (Today, instead of basting with remaining cider reduction, we added the reduction to the sauce we made from the drippings. It's good either way!)
The rest of the recipe is missing so we just make a sauce from the pan drippings and a little slurry of whole wheat flour and water. Serve sauce with chicken!

Baked Sweet Potatoes With Taleggio
(Patate dolci al forno)

2 sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 1/2 T unsalted butter, plus 3 T extra at room temperature
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs
1 large egg
1/4 cup taleggio or fontina cheese, chopped (we use shredded fontina, and use more on top)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes on a baking paper-lined baking sheet until tender, about 45-60 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
2. Melt 1 1/2 T butter in a small frying pan over moderate heat. Add onion and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add chopped thyme and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Spoon out the flesh, leaving a 3/4 inch shell of flesh and skin. Place the halves on a baking sheet. Combine the scooped out potato flesh with the remaining 3 T butter (this is the butter I left out tonight... still delicious!), the onion mixture, egg, and cheese in a bowl and mash until smooth. Season with salt (I added pepper too). Pile mixture back into the sweet potato shells, top with additional cheese (my variation)and a few springs of thyme. Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden.

It's Still Pumpkin Season!

Yes, it's still pumpkin season! And as it turns out, I did make the pumpkin clove pancakes for our annual Family Day. Every year, we choose one day for the five of us to spend together, with each of us coming up with something special to do. Before setting off for our day, we had breakfast together and the pumpkin clove pancakes were once again requested.

These are pretty special pancakes and what I really love is that we can all enjoy them, including the health fanatics of the family (Tim and I), the neutral ones (Gillian and Connor), and the one who is highly offended when you sneak whole grains into her food (Carly). In fact, Carly came over while I was just getting the ingredients out to make them and she stopped and said, "Wait- you're not going to make them with whole wheat, are you?" And I delighted in saying that as a matter of fact, they've always been made that way!

The kids like these with butter and pure maple syrup. Tim and I had them with Greek yogurt mixed with a little agave nectar and berries. Very special!

The next recipe is pumpkin cookies with dark chocolate chips. I made these today for Halloween, and again they pleased my non-healthy eater as well as Connor's friends before they went out trick-or-treating. I started out with a recipe I found on the Food Network website and made my usual adjustments. The longer you bake them, the crispier they are, although they are still going to be cake-like. Lots of flavor, and again, you're getting the whole grains (whole wheat pastry flour), vegetables (pumpkin) and antioxidants (dark chocolate).

Continue to enjoy pumpkin season! I know my family will, well through November.

Pumpkin Clove Pancakes
(original recipe from Epicurious.com, but this recipe is the one I make with some substitutions)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
6 tablespoons raw cane sugar or organic brown sugar (I've also used agave nectar instead, but needed to add a few more tablespoons of flour or the batter will be too runny)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 250°F. Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk buttermilk, pumpkin, eggs and melted butter in medium bowl until well blended. Add to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into skillet. Cook pancakes until bubbles form on top and bottoms are golden brown, about 2 1/2 minutes. Turn pancakes over. Cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet; place in oven to keep warm up to 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more butter to skillet as necessary for each batch.

Serve pancakes hot with your favorite toppings!

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 or 3/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup natural cane sugar or organic brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (12-ounce bag) 60% cacao chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli)
Nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper
Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the agave nectar and brown sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

It's Pumpkin Season!

Every October, my family waits in earnest for the first pumpkin pie of the season. I have become the pumpkin pie maker of the family, and that includes my extended family as well. Thanksgiving is at my parents' house every year and my contribution is always enough pumpkin pies to satisfy the 25 of us!

I think the biggest difference between my pumpkin pie and one made from the recipe on the Libby's can is the texture. Most pumpkin pies are thin with a highly concentrated pumpkin flavor. Mine is thicker, creamier, less pumpkin and more spice.

Now as pies go, pumpkin is one of the healthiest and lowest in calories. But you had to know that I would create an even healthier version, one with no processed sugar and a whole wheat crust. I made both versions recently when we had Tim's brother and his girlfriend over for dinner. The healthier pie was admittedly not as good as the original, but still very satisfying. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the healthy version is on the left. It comes out darker in color.

Pumpkin season doesn't have to begin and end with pies! Today, I made a batch of pumpkin muffins that started with a recipe I found online and with a few substitutions turned out to be both delicious and healthy. Try them- no one will ever know they aren't indulgent!

Enjoy pumpkin season! I know my family will. They are already asking for the pumpkin clove pancakes I make on Thanksgiving morning. If they weasel them out of me before then, I'll post that recipe too!

MARIA'S PUMPKIN PIE
1 lb. pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Pour into an unbaked pie shell. I use this one : http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Flaky-Food-Processor-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes (I use a pie shield to prevent the crust from over-browning) and then reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 30-40 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

THE HEALTHY VERSION: Omit both sugars. Substitute 3/4 cup agave nectar. Increase the spices as the agave may overpower flavors. Use this whole wheat crust: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/952. You will need to bake this pie slower on a lower temperature because agave nectar will chrystalize at high temperatures. Start it at 375, then turn down to 325 until done.

PUMPKIN PECAN MUFFINS
1/2 cup dried berries
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup raw brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg and 1/16 tsp. cloves)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup oil (grapeseed, almond, hazlenut, canola are good choices)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or other nuts)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners. Place the dried fruit in a cup, and add enough hot water to cover. Let stand for a few minutes to plump.
2.In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center, and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil and agave nectar. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Drain excess water from fruit, and stir in along with the nuts. Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full.
3.Bake for 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan before removing from cups.

Thai Pizza- Inspired by Rochester Public Market

I have a new obsession- Rochester Public Market. Winner of the 2010 America's Favorite Public Market title, this place is a foodie's heaven. I visited the market today for only the second time in the fourteen years that I have lived here. The produce is abundant and inexpensive, and both times I was happy to score a whole basket of Asian pears for $2.50 since they are $2.00 for only one at the grocery store!

Two of my sisters and I talked and laughed as we swam upstream like salmon through the crowds of people with strollers, rolling carts, and bags full of already purchased items. It is a great place to people watch, as well as look for interesting food finds. One woman smuggled her little dog in (there are no dogs allowed for obvious reasons) by wrapping him up in a blanket and pushing him in a stroller. Really? You can't leave your dog alone for an hour or two while you are at the market? My sister Jen bought some amazing maple cashew granola. She pretended to balk at the price while the granola man gave his sales pitch, but as granola is one of her very favorite things- she was easy. As we walked away I told him, "You had her at 'hello.'"

My highlight was when my sister Linda urged me into a little Italian cheese shop called Giordana Import, Inc. I've never seen so many varieties of cheese in my life- all Mediterranean and unique. In addition they have Italian meats, olives, oils, vinegars, and other Mediterranean foods. They do specialty sandwiches and gift baskets too. This was obviously a family owned place with a grandpa singing in Italian and a little girl helping behind the counter. Everyone was warm and friendly and entertaining as I held my number waiting to be called. When it was my turn, I ended up trying a Stilton with lemon that I was in love with!! I bought a nice big hunk without caring at all about the price.

But I haven't yet told you how this trip to the market inspired tonight's dinner. One of my purchases was at the homemade sausage case. During my first time at the market, my dad had bought me some Italian sausage with onions and peppers and I had used it in my sauce. Very delicious! So I decided to get some more sausage this time. The Thai chicken sausage caught my eye, and not knowing what I was going to do with it, I bought a pound. The girls and I started brainstorming and when I said, "What about a Thai pizza?" both sets of eyes went wide and I knew I came up with an interesting idea.

So after some searching for ideas online, I came up with a whole wheat Naan pizza with peanut sauce, peanuts, Thai chicken sausage, green onions and fresh mozzarella. The peanut sauce came from a Paula Dean recipe and it made so much, I now have leftovers to make chicken satay. Tim, Gillian, Connor, and I all loved this pizza and I will definitely make it again. Next time, I think I will drizzle a little of the straight Thai peanut sauce over the top of the cooked pizza for some extra color and zing. And if you can't find Thai chicken sausage, you can always substitute cooked chicken breast.

**One hint I have for making Naan pizzas-- If you bake them in the oven, as soon as the cheese melts, transfer it to a pan on the stove and the bottom will get nice and crispy! Or you can cook the whole thing in a pan or panini maker. Just be sure to only cover it partially- just to melt the cheese but not completely or the steam will make it soggy.


Naan Pizza with Thai Chicken Sausage

For sauce: Warm half a 11.5 oz. jar of Thai peanut sauce with a can of lite coconut milk. Mix 2 T cornstarch with 2 T water. Whisk that into the sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool.

Pour sauce on Naan, sprinkle with chopped unsalted peanuts, chopped grean onion, and cooked Thai chicken sausage. Top with shredded or sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake at 375 until cheese melts. Transfer to a pan to crisp bottom of crust. Drizzle with some of the leftover jarred Thai peanut sauce before serving.

Recipe Inspired

I am thrilled to share with you how a friend took one of my recipes from this blog and was inspired enough to create her own version. Michelle is the step-mom of a very special young lady whom I had the pleasure of having in my 6th grade class a few years ago.

The recipe I am referring to is the spaghetti squash casserole. Instead of mussels, she used boneless chicken breasts. First she sauteed them in olive oil, shallots, garlic, and white wine. Then she added the tomatoes and threw in pesto and spinach at the end. For the rest of the recipe, scroll down to the post entitled "These Days I'm Loving Leftovers."

Michelle reports that her family loved it! Clean plates, and full bellies all around! Thanks for sharing this, Michelle, and I definitely plan on trying your version. It looks delicious!

The Big Event

Well, it finally arrived. The big event, my sister's wedding. Those of you who know me well are aware of how long I have been planning, changing, planning again, stressing, and obsessing over this one. Everything went well and I was very happy with the result, but there were some last minute changes along the way.

I ended up making the tiramisu cake as planned, but instead of cutting the two layers, I made four separate layers to make it a larger cake. I decorated the outside of the frosted cake with the rolled wafer cookies and a ribbon around it, but the colors were so.... BROWN. So- I looked over at the sugared flowers that my daughter Carly did for me (she just started culinary classes so was excited to come and help with the baking!) and it occured to me to place them on the top of the cake. They were originally meant to garnish the limoncello cupcakes but as it turned out, they were a bit too big for the cupcakes so this was perfect. It's amazing how that little bit of color on top of the cake made it extra special.

The cupcakes recipes went through a sort of evolution through all of this. I knew I wanted an Italian theme to go with the tiramisu, so the first one I picked was a limoncello. There were several recipes to choose from, but in the end I decided to make the cupcakes from Jamie Oliver's website and the frosting and garnish from a website called "Tartlette." (I also borrowed the idea of using the nut cups from that site, instead of using cupcake liners. Second, I knew I wanted to do something with Nutella, so I found a recipe for a cupcake with one of those hazlenut truffles- Ferero Roche baking right into the cupcake. Then I decided to frost it with the Nutella buttercream frosting from easycakeideas.com. This is the site where I get most of my cake and frosting recipes. And last but not least, I wanted to make a Sicilian cassata cupcake and since it doesn't seem to exist, I had to invent it myself!

I made a cassata for my dad's 70th birthday party and it got rave reviews, so naturally I thought all I needed to do was to make the cake and pour it into cupcake liners, fill it with the ricotta filling, frost it with chocolate and garnish it with candied citrus and pistachios. Wrong. The cake recipe (originally Emeril's...) does not lend itself to cupcakes AT ALL, so I had to start all over. So I went to my tried and true easycakeideas.com and made their wonderful yellow cake as a base. I fully intended to fill it with ricotta but then I realized that I had a whole bunch of mascarpone filling leftover from the tiramisu cake so I decided to use that instead. I didn't like the looks of the candied citrus peels at the store, so Carly and I made them ourselves. That was a lot of fun! And when it is done, you're left with a citrus simple syrup. So I cut out the center of the vanilla cupcake, drizzled the hole with the syrup, filled with the mascarpone filling, replaced the top, covered it with the "glazy" chocolate from the original cassata recipe and topped it with the candied citrus and a few pistachios. I invented a cupcake!

Perhaps the biggest surprise in all of this is that I made the cupcake display from stuff I found at JoAnn Fabrics. Now, other than knitting, I am NOT a crafty person, and I had no idea what I was doing. But sometimes I just jump right in even when I have absolutely no experience or knowledge. Thankfully it turned out well (this time anyway....).

I will say what I said after I made the baby bump cake for my niece Jamie's baby shower. SO MUCH WORK BUT SOOOOOO WORTH IT! I don't think I could ever do this for a living like my talented friend Jill, but to cook, and bake and create for the special people in my life I truly care about-- it's a labor of love.

These Days I'm Loving Leftovers!

These days I'm loving leftovers. That's when I've been venturing out of my recipe comfort zone and becoming more inventive.

Over the weekend, we had a family cookout and I had asked Tim to make his famous, mouth-watering mussels. Well come to find out, only a few people in my family care for mussels. So although the mussels were thoroughly enjoyed by my mom, my sister Jen, her husband Dave, Carly, Tim, and me, I don't think anyone else even tried them. And so we were left with lots of mussels and the delicious sauce he makes them with.

Before I continue with my post about leftovers, I need to take a little jaunt to describe how these mussels are made. Several of my friends have asked for the recipe, but Tim rarely uses a recipe and the mussels are no exception. So I've pinned him down to explain the process. First, he sautes garlic and shallots in oil and butter (more butter than oil). Then he throws in the mussels and about a cup to a cup and a half of dry white wine, and steams them until they open. He finishes it off with his homemade pesto (I'll have to share that another time, but let me say it is so good he should bottle the stuff!!) and some grape tomatoes. He gives it a stir, allowing the tomatoes to heat. That's it! We usually dunk a hearty whole grain bread in the sauce which makes it even more enjoyable!

So as I was explaining, we had mussels and sauce leftover. Typically, I would just make whole grain pasta the next day and pour the mussels and sauce over it- and that is really delicious, but Tim and I wanted to avoid the heavy pasta the day after the big cookout, so my wheels started spinning.

This is what I came up with: I started with spaghetti squash, which we have substituted for pasta before. If you've never done this, you really should try it! You feel like you are eating pasta but instead you are getting a nutritious vegetable! I roasted the spaghetti squash in the oven on 375 for 40 minutes. You'll need to cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the pulp and seeds like a pumpkin and put the two halves cut side down on a baking sheet. After the squash was roasted and somewhat cooled, I stripped it into long strands with a fork and transfered it into a glass baking dish. Next, I dumped all of the mussels (we'd removed them from the shells the night before) and sauce (with the grape tomatoes)into the dish. I mixed in some thawed spinach which I had LEFTOVER from a turkey recipe a few nights before and some dallops of ricotta cheese. I sprinkled some grated pecorino over the top and baked it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before it was ready I topped it with a few fresh mozzarella slices.

What do you know? I invented a recipe! And it was delicious. AND I used food that may have remained unused and eventually thrown out.

But that's not the end of the leftover story. We also had a huge gallon-sized bag of grilled chipotle lime chicken leftover after the same cookout. (There is always too much food at our get-togethers!) So I cut some of it up to equal two cups, exactly what I need for my chicken enchilada recipe. I labeled that and put it in the freezer since we've had the enchiladas recently. It will be ready for next time! And now we still have plenty of chicken to use for sandwiches during the week.

So as you see- I'm the leftover queen lately!