Natalie's Mushroom Tartlets

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I'm always looking for new recipes to add to the meal.  Recipes from family are even more special.  This one comes to me from my cousin, with a little spicy tweaking on my part. I think next year I will try making my own shells, but the pre-packaged ones are easy when you're cooking a full meal and working full time!  Play around a bit with the herbs until you find the perfect combination for you!

Ingredients

2 T butter

1/2 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1lb mixed mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t oregano

¼ c thyme, chopped

8 oz goat cheese

1/4 c olive oil

1/4 c parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/8 to 1/4 t cayenne, to taste

60 phyllo-pastry tartlet shells

Melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, stirring constantly until fragrant. Add the chopped mushrooms, nutmeg, oregano and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a food processor and add the goat cheese. Add the oil and parsley. Pulse until the mixture comes together. Season with salt and pepper and cayenne, pulse again.

Spoon mushroom filling into tartlet shells and place on a baking sheet (or freeze to bake later). Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Diablo Tequila

So, work's started up, which means less blogging for me!  On the other hand, The Husband will be deploying soon, which means more blogging, so it will average out, right?  We'll see!  In other news, my BlogMommy Stacey has resurrected her food blog and can now be found at Om-nom sauce!

Last weekend I was hanging out at our favorite restaurant, chatting with the bartender.  I was enjoying my favorite Diablo martini, and the conversation turned to the epic amount of cayennes I've been harvesting this summer (seriously, anyone want a foot or three of dried cayennes?).  He showed me the tequila he uses for the margarita, home-infused with a whole mess of spicy peppers and chilis, and I decided that I simply HAD to try this at home!

Two days ago I sliced about a dozen small cayennes and dumped them, seeds and all, into about 300ml of tequila.  Today the tequila already has a fine bite and I think that in a few days it will be ready for margarita time!

Frogmore Stew

Disclaimer: No frogs were harmed in the making of this stew.

As it happens, the "Frogmore" appellation is derived from a location rather than amphibians.  So you can relax.  Frogmore stew is a classic lowcountry dish.  We firmly believe in learning about and enjoying local foods, which is how we were introduced to the stew in the first place.  We'd seen it on menus all over, but first tried it at Low Country Bistro.  LCB is, by the way, one of the best restaurants in Charleston, in my humble opinion.  The best thing about them is that they provide fantastic food at a reasonable price.  So, if you ever find yourself in Charleston, hit up LCB!

Saturday is Farmer's Market day in the town I work at, and the market is good enough that we're willing to make the 40 minute drive a few Saturdays a month.  It's also puppy-friendly and Kodi has many admirers there.  We picked up the usual tomatoes, goat cheese and lamb stew meat, but were also lured in by the fresh shrimp.  I'm starting to come around on shrimp and The Husband was about drooling over these huge, juicy bugs, so we got a bunch.  I asked what he wanted me to make out of them, and we came up with Frogmore stew (though we did just steam a few as an appetizer.  Amazing!).

This dish is fairly simple to make.  I do strongly recommend making your own stock and crab boil spice though.  The stock really makes or breaks the dish and if you use a commercial spice mix you'll risk having an overly salty stew.  Seriously, it will take you just over an hour to make the stock and it's so worth it.  The boil spice is a matter of moments to mix up!

Ingredients

1 leek (white parts), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 T EVOO
1 large tomato, diced
1 ear of corn, kernels removed
5 small red potatoes, cubed
2 c shellfish stock (recipe follows)
1 T crab boil spice (go find your own, I'm not sold on my recipe yet)
1/2 T Old Bay
1 andouille sausage, sliced
1 lb fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
Water as needed

Sautee the leek, garlic and celery in the evoo for 1 minute.  Add tomato, corn, potatoes, stock and spices.  Simmer until potatoes are tender, 5-10 minutes.  Add water as needed, probably a cup or two.  Add the sausage and shrimp and continue simmering until shrimp are just cooked, 3-5 minutes.  Serve with crusty bread or biscuits.

Shellfish Stock

5 c shells (from shrimp, crabs, lobsters, etc)
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic
pepper
water

Combine all ingredients in a pot over medium heat, with enough water to cover everything.  Stir once.  Do not boil.  Keep just below a simmer, not stirring.  As foam forms at the top, skim it off and discard.  Cook like this approximately 1 hour or until color and flavor are both rich.  Strain out solids.

Homemade S'mores

If you weren't aware (as I wasn't until about noon today), it is National S'mores Day!  I've been thinking about making my own graham crackers and marshmallows for about nine months now, so this was just the impetus I needed to get off my butt and go do it.  Of course, it helped that it's the very last day of summer vacation.  I'm a little stressed about starting the new job on Monday, and my usual reaction to stress is to cook!

I thought this was going to be horribly difficult but... no.  Really.  It took less than 45 minutes to finish the cracker dough and the marshmallows.  Of course, then you have to wait for the dough to chill before rolling out and backing the crackers, but it wasn't hard at all!

I used Smitten Kitchen for both recipes:  Marshmallows and Graham Crackers.  I did do a variation on the marshmallows - instead of vanilla, I used pecan liquor.  We just got this stuff down at Firefly distillery and I've been putting it into just about anything these days.  Pecan whipped cream?  Heck yeah!

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure I did the graham crackers right.  My dough was very soft and wet and difficult to handle, even with plenty of flour.  I made the small 2x2 squares because after  looking at it I figured there was no way I would be able to transfer larger pieces to the baking sheet!  In retrospect, my dough definitely did not look quite right - probably should have added more flour.  Next time!  The flavor is still fantastic, and so much better than what you buy in the store.

You know, I bet this is my problem: for all the "cracker" part of the name "graham cracker," they're really more like cookies, aren't they?  And cookies and I just don't get along.

Graham Crackers

Ingredients

3/5 T butter
1 c all purpose flour
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 pinch salt
1/6 c honey
2/5 T milk
1 T vanilla
cinnamon sugar to dust

Chop the butter into 12 or so pieces and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt in your food processor.  Add the chilled butter and process until crumbly.  Add the liquids and process just until the dough comes together.  Turn out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, pat down, wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a pizza cutter, slice your desired shapes: normal graham crackers are 4x4.5 inches.  I made 2x2 cute ones.  Use cookie cutters.  Whatever floats your boat!  Carefully transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and chill again for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Poke pretty holes in your crackers using the end of a wooden skewer.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for about 20 minutes or until browned and slightly firm.

Pecan Marshmallows

Ingredients

Powdered sugar for dusting
1 3/4 packets gelatin
1/4 c cold water
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 & 1 T cold water
Pinch salt
1 egg white
2 t pecan liquor or other flavoring

Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.  Dust with powdered sugar.

In your mixer bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/4 c water.

On the stove, heat water and sugar and salt together, stirring until dissolved.  Boil without stirring until you hit about 240 degrees.  Pour this mixture over the gelatin and turn on the mixer.  Mix on high for about six or so minutes, until fluffy and white.

Meanwhile, use a handheld mixer to beat the egg white to soft peaks.  Add to gelatin, along with the liquor, and mix just long enough to combine.  Pour into baking pan and dust with more powdered sugar.  Chill at least three hours.

Once firm and chilled, use a knife to carefully remove the whole thing from the pan.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the marshmallows to the desired size.

Oven Roasted Pork Chop with Fruit Salsa over Mango-Eggplant Risotto

So really, I have been cooking.  I've just been incredibly slow on the blogging front.  And I started having trouble with some of my photos, which just won't do.  And yadda yadda yadda.  Enough on the excuses.

This recipe I made for me, not for The Husband.  Sometimes he's very adventurous - I was so proud the other day in Charleston when he ate and enjoyed a pesto-based pizza!  But other times, not so much.  Pork chops are one of his boring things.  He thinks they should be grilled with bbq sauce.  Period.  End of story.

Well that just wasn't going to cut it for me.  I had a mango that needed to be used.  I had an eggplant that needed to be used (by the way, expect a lot of eggplant recipes, I'm swimming in them!).  I was going to use them!  And boy am I glad I did!  The meal even got a tolerable "I guess it's okay but BBQ sauce is better" from The Husband as he cleaned his plate.

The mango really added an interesting flavor to the risotto.  The sweetness was subtle, but the way the mango interacted with the chicken stock and the eggplant was - to my mind - quite fantastic.

Ingredients

Fruit Salsa

3 small heirloom tomatoes, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 peach, diced
1/2 mango, diced
1 cayenne, minced
handful of fresh cilantro
juice from 1/2 lime

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Let sit for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Pork

Pork chops
juice from 1/2 lime
splash of white wine

Loosely wrap chops in tinfoil with the lime juice and the wine.  Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Risotto

2 T evoo
1/2 c rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 eggplant, diced
1 quart chicken stock
1 cayenne, minced
1/2 mango, diced
1/2 c white wine

Heat the oil in a saute pan.  Heat the chicken stock to a simmer in a separate pan.

Add the rice and garlic to the saute pan.  Stir until the rice becomes transparent.  Add the eggplant and cook for another minute or two.  Add a ladle of hot chicken stock to the pan, stirring constantly.  When the stock is nearly evaporated, add another.  Continue in this manner, always stirring constantly until the rice becomes tender and creamy.  At this point, add the cayenne and mango, and then the wine.  Stir and cook a minute or two more, then serve hot.

Bacon Popcorn

The other night, The Husband and I headed out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in this town; Hamptons.  Hamptons is a fantastic restaurant, and not just because the crappiness of this town makes it look good.  It would be a very, very good restaurant anywhere!  The Husband likes to go so that he can pretend that he's in a nicer place than this town, he says.

The menu at Hamptons changes constantly.  Sometimes this leads to some pretty difficult choices.  This time we ended up with the duck entree, over a sweet corn polenta with dates and bacon popcorn.

Yes, bacon popcorn.  On our duck.  Don't knock it till you've tried it.

Needless to say, like everything we eat at Hamptons, it was fantastic.  After dinner we were talking with our usual server, who makes great recommendations and he explained the recipe for the popcorn so that we could have it at home.  So tonight I whipped up a bowl and it is every bit as good as it was at the restaurant. I'm in love!

This recipe makes the amount of popcorn The Husband and I usually split.  We don't like to eat a ton at once so if you prefer bigger servings, adjust accordingly.

Ingredients

3 strips bacon
1 T bacon fat
1/4 c popcorn kernels
dash dried rosemary
dash sea salt

Cook the bacon, reserving 1 T of the bacon fat.  Set the bacon aside to cool.  Put the bacon fat and the popcorn into your whirley pop (or your usual pot) and heat over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the kernels start popping.  Then stir constantly until the popping slows and remove from heat.  Pour into bowl.  Then crush the bacon and sprinkle the bacon bits, rosemary and sea salt over the popcorn.  Toss gently and serve!

Chicken and Basil Ravioli with Veggies in a Garlic Sauce

The other day I was able to harvest the first veggies from my garden!  It was a very exciting day!  I got a zuchinni, a handful of green beans, and a handful of basil.  I looked at them, debating what to use them for, and this dish sprang into my head.  I had leftover shredded chicken in the fridge, so all I had to do was make the raviolis - and that really doesn't take long, though I am out of practice and did not get the dough as thin as I would have liked.  I also spazzed out and forgot how to use my ravioli maker, but I muddled through and it turned out delicious in the end!  As a side note, I tried out a new pasta dough recipe and did not like it so in the future it will be back to the old standby.

Ingredients

Pasta dough, rolled out thinly
1/4 - 1/2 c cooked and shredded chicken
4 large basil leaves, sliced
2 T olive oil
handful diced onion
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 zuchinni, sliced
handful green beans, chopped
2 T olive oil
3 basil leaves, sliced
1/2 tomato, diced

Mix together the chicken and the sliced basil, let sit while you roll out the pasta dough.  Stuff the raviolis with the chicken and basil mix and seal firmly.  Cover and set aside.  Start a pot of water heating for the pasta.  Heat the first 2 T olive oil in a skillet and sautee the onions and garlic until fragrant.  Add the zuchinni and green beans.  When the zuchinni begins to soften, add the remaining 2 T olive oil and the remaining basil.  Cook until the beans are soft, adding more oil as needed.  Add the tomato in the last minute or two.  Meanwhile, once the water for pasta is at a boil, add the raviolis.  Cook for three to four minutes, then drain.  Top raviolis with the veggie and garlic oil mix.  Enjoy!