Strawberry Tartlets

Yesterday was, of course, Valentine's Day.  It was also the Husband's birthday, so I went all-out cooking.  Last fall, Husband had requested that I learn how to make pie crusts.  With that request in mind, I decided that these strawberry tartlets (based off of this recipe at Epicurious) would be the perfect dessert.

This was my first venture into crust-making, and it was a good thing I started the crusts a day early because my first attempt was a complete and utter failure!  I made some adjustments, and the second time worked like a charm.

We paired the tart with a vintage character port - fantabulous!

Recipe makes four tartlets or one full-size tart.

Ingredients

4 mini tart pans or one large tart pan with removeable bottom

Crust

1 1/4 c flour
3 T sugar
1/4 t salt
7 T butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon juice
3 T ice-cold water

Slice the butter into small pieces.  Put flour, sugar, salt and butter into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until well blended, with butter being no larger than pea sized.  Mix together the yolk, vanilla, lemon and water, then slowly add to the flour mixture, processing just enough to form a dough.

Gently knead for a minute or two.  Press to fill greased tart pans, then place in the freezer for an hour or until completely frozen.

Preheat to 375.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Add greased pie weights and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned.  Cool for at least 20 minutes.


Filling

8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/4 c powdered sugar (or a little less)
1 t vanilla
3 T ruby port
1 T milk (or more)

Using a hand-held mixer, whip the first three ingredients until smooth.  Add the port until a light purple color is achieved.  Add milk as needed to smooth and thin out the filling.


Strawberries and glaze

1 pint strawberries
2 T sugar
3/4 c ruby port

Thinly slice the strawberries and toss with the sugar.  Let sit for 30 minutes.  Drain, reserving the liquid.  Mix the strawberry juice with the port in a small saucepan and simmer until reduced by half.'

Spread the mascarpone filling in the tart shells.  Layer the sliced strawberries on top, pressing gently.  Spoon glaze over top and refrigerate 20 minutes before serving.

Pizza Roulade and ABTs

It's not the Superbowl without Manfood - meat, cheese, and smoke!

ABTs

Ingredients

Jalapenos
Cream cheese
Lil' smokies
bacon
seasonings of your choice

Slice jalapenos in half lengthwise.  Remove seeds.  Season the cream cheese and spread it in each half of jalapeno.  Lay a lil' smoky on top, then wrap the whole thing in bacon.  Smoke at 250 until the pepper is soft and the bacon crispy.

Pizza Roulade

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2 tube of ground sausage
1/2 bag pepperoni
1/2 bag shredded mozzarella
1 roma tomato, diced
1 egg white
garlic
oregano
crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese

Brown the sausage with garlic and oregano.  Drain and place in a bowl to cool.  Meanwhile, roll out the puff pastry until it has doubled in size.  Into the ground sausage, stir pepperoni, tomato and mozzarella with additional oregano and garlic.  Place this mixture on the bottom third of the puff pastry and carefully roll it up, sealing the edges.  Lay seam down on pan.

Mix the egg white with some garlic, oregano, and crushed red pepper.  Brush over the roulade.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Smoke at 250 until browned and crispy.

Alternate Roulade: "Women Food"

Instead of the meat and mozzarella stuffing, try this for your next luncheon!  Puree 1/2 bag of baby spinach with a bit of oil, pepper, oregano and garlic.  Stir in some crumbled feta and shredded chicken.  Mix in one egg to bind, and continue with the roulade.  It's a guaranteed hit at your next luncheon!

Apple-Peach Cream Cheese Bites

This is one of the gems in the Double Musky cookbook.  Prefacing the recipe, they mention that few guests at the Double Musky have actually tasted this - whenever they make it, the staff eats it before it can be served!  I can certainly see why!  This is, without a doubt, the most delicious AND the easiest cheesecake I have ever made.  It takes all the best parts of a fruit pie and a cheesecake, melding them into one sinfully delicious bite.

The mini-cheesecake is an optional format.  This works equally well in a traditional springform or a pie tin.

Ingredients

Crust

1 package grahm crackers
1/2 c sugar
3 T butter, room temperature

Fruit layer

3 c fruit of your choice, diced and sliced
1/2 c sugar
2 T flour
cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste

Cream Cheese layer

1 8oz tub of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c cream
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 400.

Crush the grahm crackers with your hand, then place in food processor with the sugar and butter.  Process until completely blended.  Press into pan.  If using a pie tin, do not extend the crust all the way out.  If using springform, make sure to press the crust up the side of the pan.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour and spices.  Gently stir in the fruit until well coated.  Spread evenly in the pan.

Bake the fruit and crust for 10-15 minutes.  Reduce oven to 350.

Meanwhile, blend the sugar and cream cheese well.  Beat in the eggs, then add the cream and vanilla, just until completely mixed.  Pour on top of fruit and bake 20-40 minutes, or until center is firm and the outsides are just starting to brown.  Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Seafood Pasta

We spent this past weekend skiing at Alyeska.  Since we were already in Girdwood, we had to go to the Double Musky for dinner.  Once there, we spent a while debating over what to order.  I finally ordered the garlic seafood pasta.

Immediately, I knew I had made a mistake.  I wanted to call the waitress back, but it was too late.

Now, I hadn't made a mistake because the Double Musky's seafood pasta was bad, you see.  I had made a mistake because MY seafood pasta is better!

Ingredients

1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c seminola flour
1 egg
1 T oil
water

1/2 fillet of fish (halibut or salmon, but anything can work!), cut into chunks
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced

Combine flours, egg, oil, and just enough water to allow the dough to reach the correct consistency.  Knead for 3-5 minutes, cover with plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.

Following the directions on your pasta roller, roll out the dough and cut into fettuccine noodles.  Cook noodles for 3-4 minutes in salted water.

Sautee the fish and garlic slices in the olive oil.  For a variation, blacken the fish with your preferred rub first.  Pour fish and garlic oil over the pasta.

Chicken Etouffe and Mulled Cider

Merry Christmas!  This was our Christmas Eve dinner, thanks to The Husband for finding the cookbook.  Usually you expect Shrimp Etouffe, but I am not a shrimp fan, so chicken it is.

Ingredients

Brown Sauce

2 c beef stock
Burgundy wine to taste
Beef base
brown roux (flour, butter/margarine blend)

Combine first three ingredients in a medium pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 30-60 minutes.  While this is simmering, make the roux by melting 1 c of the butter blend and adding 1 c of flour to the melted butter.  Whisk constantly to ensure that the roux doesn't burn.  If the roux burns, throw it out and start over.  Continue whisking and cooking the butter and flour (adding more flour as needed) until the roux darkens to a reddish milk-chocolate color.  At this point, remove roux from heat and continue to stir.  Add a little bit of stock to the roux to help cool it down (be careful!).  Remove stock from burner and begin whisking in the roux until the sauce thickens, a little at a time.  Adjust consistency with more roux or more wine.  Simmer for another hour to blend flavors.


Etouffe

1/4 c butter
1 T garlic
1/2 T parsley
1 c diced celery
1 c green onions
1 c chicken stock
1 c diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 t hot pepper sauce
2 t thyme
2 T garlic
black pepper
1 c brown sauce
1 chicken breast, cut into slices

Melt butter with garlic and parsley.  Add in celery and onions and simmer until celery is half cooked.  Add stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, hot pepper sauce, thyme, garlic, and pepper and reduce heat to simmer until sauce thickens.  Remove bay leaves and add brown sauce.

Meanwhile, brown the chicken in a skillet with salt and pepper.  Add to the sauce and cook until chicken is done.

Serve over rice.

Mulled Cider

In a crockpot, combine cider with 2 sticks cinnamon, 1/4 c cranberries, 1 orange (sliced and studded with cloves), and a dash of ginger and cayenne.  Cook on low for several hours.

Cuban Pork

Every year our school hosts a "Multicultural Day."  This is basically an excuse for the kids to wear something other than their uniforms and for lots of food to be eaten.  Each classroom holds their own luncheon, with food brought in by students.  Since I am not a classroom teacher, I get to wander around and sample all the food.  This year, the best dish by far was the Cuban pork.  I had to try my hand at it!  This takes a few days, but the active prep is very short.  I got the basic recipe from Foodie with Family.  I'm not sold on the sauce, but it's a good start!

Ingredients

1 pork butt 
olive oil 
1 T black pepper
1 T cumin
1 T oregano
2 t salt
1 t crushed red pepper
8 garlic cloves
1/3 c lime juice
1/2 c orange juice

Drizzle the pork with the oil.  Place in crockpot, fat side up.  Toss everything else in, put the lid on, and cook on high for an hour.  Reduce heat to low and cook for 12-14 hours (this is great to do overnight).  Once it is done cooking, remove the crockpot insert and refrigerate for several hours - DON'T SKIP THIS STEP.

After 6-8 hours in the fridge, pull out the crockpot.  The fat should have congealed, remove as much of this as you can and discard.  Place the pork on a cutting board (careful, it's ready to fall apart!) and strain the juices into a sauce pan.

Add to the juices a little lime juice (2 T), a dash of garlic, mustard powder, and crushed red peppers.  Simmer until it has reduced by half to 2/3s.

While the sauce is reducing, shred the pork using your fingers or two forks.  You will find a lot more fat - discard as much of this as you can without wasting meat.  Seriously, I had almost two cups of the stuff!

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spread the shredded pork in an oven-safe container.  Pour the reduced sauce over and cover with a lid or tinfoil.  Heat for 30-40 minutes.

The Cat appreciates the pork!

Beer Batter Bonanza

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  Ours was tons of fun.  I didn't do anything this year that I haven't already posted, so you'll have to forgive me for forgetting to take pictures.  Instead, I have other delicious things for you.

I was having sort of a bad day the other day, so I decided to fry some food.  I used this beer batter for halibut, jalapeno peppers, and french fries.  It's absolutely fantastic!  Make sure your oil is at the right temperature, though, and don't overload your pot, no matter how tempting it is!  Also, if your husband decides that it would be a good idea to cool down the hot oil by throwing ice cubes in it, DO NOT LET HIM.  Trust me.

Ingredients

1/4 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 egg
1/2 bottle beer (drink the other half!)
seasoned flour (salt and pepper, plus any other herbs you'd like.  Oregano is good, as is cayenne.)

Mix all but the seasoned flour together.  The batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream - use the beer to adjust the consistency.

For french fries, after cutting the potato, store them in water to keep them from discoloring.  Halibut is great in bite sized chunks or longer strips.  Jalapenos should be sliced into coins.

Heat oil to 350.  Dip halibut and jalapenos into flour, then coat with batter and carefully place in the oil.  French fries can just be dipped right into the batter.  Cook approximately 2 minutes on a side.