Southern New Year's

Since my husband and I spent New Year's with his mother and step-dad in northern Alabama, we were treated to an authentic Southern New Year's dinner!  I was thrilled!
My mother-in-law prepared us a delicious meal in her lovely home - and it was so good, I think I'm going to make this a Northern tradition too.
We had the black eyed peas, turnip greens, and ham, sweet potatoes, green onions, rice, and cornbread.  I didn't know where to start - the ham was beckoning - there's a reason they say bacon is boss! 
We ate the green onions as you would a carrot stick - I had never done that before, but I sure enjoyed it! 
I read later on that the peas are supposed to signify coins, and the greens - either the turnip greens or the green onions, signify green paper money.  I like the symbolism and the hope and good wishes it bestows on a new year.

Cinnamon Roll Redux; Startin' the New Year Out Right!

So I took it upon myself to make the cinnamon rolls again, from the recipe in last year's "Taste of the South" (note: they do have another receipe in this year's iron skillet issue for orange cinnamon rolls, but I wanted to stick to these).  Also, I had to address the taunts, snide remarks, sarcasm, etc. about how poorly those last rolls turned out.
I made these mostly according to the recipe; 4 cups of flour, 1 packet of yeast, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 egg, canola oil, salt and vanilla extract, all mixed together in my trusty mixer, "Ice"(thank you again Aunt Marge!).  The dough endures three risings; after being mixed, it rises in a buttered bowl for an hour; it gets punched down, then rises for another 15 minutes; then rolled out and buttered and sugared and sliced up and then it lays in the pan for another hour before being placed in the oven.
Tonight though, the last rising turned out to be about 3 hours, because I had to step out, and I figured, it should be ok to let them rise a bit more.

 

Well, when I got  home, I scurried to the kitchen to check on them - they had risen a bit more than expected, but it wasn't like they had strong-armed their way out of the pan! 
So I popped them into the oven at 350 degrees, and 25 minutes later, they were browned and ready!
I had the glaze ready; the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of whipping cream, 2 cups of confectioners sugar, and 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup; my version was 1/2 cup of half and half (because it has 1 gram less of fat per serving), and the 2 cups of confectioners sugar, and then 2 tablespoons of agave syrup.  I think it tastes great - and my husband agrees!  It smelled like Cinnabon in here while they were baking, and he was dancing around as I pulled them out of the oven and lifted them from the pan. 



May I just back up a moment here - I just want to point out something that I skimmed over - right before the last rising of the dough, when I said I had "rolled out and buttered and sugared and sliced  up...", the buttered in this case is a brown butter that the recipe recommends - it is simply melting the butter until way past simply melting it - it is letting the butter burn, so that it is a nice caramel color and scent.  I think that really adds to the caramelly sweetness of the whole cinnamon roll endeavor!

Apple pies and hurricane Sandy

I haven't posted in a while, there's been a lot going on around here weatherwise - Hurricane Sandy hit a few weeks ago, and then we had a little snowstorm.  There was some electricity out in our neighborhood and we just stayed holed in for a few days.  We had some felled trees and had to be careful about power lines, but that was the extent of it in our little neighborhood.
As we were cocooned in the apartment, I was texting with my Mom, and we both had the ingredients and working stoves to make apple pies - so we did!  And I always think of apple pie as a go-to, cozy dessert - I think a lot of people do. 
I had a 1/2 peck of apples I got before Sandy, as a stock fruit to have that didn't need refrigeration.  I had a recipe for a whole wheat crust using canola oil as the fat, so it was a little more heart-healthy than the store bought crusts I usually use (have to give a shout-out to Pillsbury, that doughboy is still my main man!).
This crust, while easy to make, is extremely crumbly and you have to handle it gingerly - I had a time of it flipping it onto the pan and repairing all the breaks, but it is moldable.  I used apple pie spice and on the advice of my sister, sprinkled agave nectar on it instead of sugar; it worked out nicely - didn't alter the taste from my usual apple pie with sugar and cinnamon.

Just wanted to put in a photo from our neighborhood - my husband and I took walks on the nights after the storm - we came across this and several others.

Penne pasta with red peppers and capers

This is one of me and my sister's favorite dishes, which also happens to be vegetarian and I think would qualify as vegan as well.  But, anyway, we first saw this recipe on tv on the Bravo channel, as part of the "Aria and Pasta" series; and this episode featured our favorite countertenor of all time, Derek Lee Ragin.  Derek made this dish along with the show's host, Beverley Bergen.  Might I add that my sister and I have met Derek twice in person; what a lovely man; we are hoping he will have more engagements in the NY area soon.
After seeing this episode, my sister and I would get together and cook up this dish; it usually happened over two days, as one of us would usually bake the peppers a day before to begin the process of removing the skins.
But the recipe is fairly straightforward:
Ingredients:
5 large red peppers
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons capers (preferably those preserved in salt & washed well)
500 grams (about 1 pound) penne pasta
Chopped parsley
Take 5 red peppers and remove the skins; you can do this by baking them for about an hour on a pan in the oven, letting them cool a bit, then removing the skins - you can of course leave the skins on if you wish.  Then you chop the peppers into strips.  Place 4 tablespoons of olive oil into a heavy saute pan , heat it up a bit, and then add 2 cloves of garlic.  Cook gently, but do not let the garlic take on too much color. (I am copying directly from the recipe from here on). Add the pepppers and cook, stirring until they soften and taken on a very glossy color.  Let this simmer gently until the peppers are very soft and lightly brown at the edges.  Add the capers and when you are ready to serve, add chopped parsley.
Cook the pasta in boiling water until "al dente". Drain and serve with the pepper sauce over the pasta.  Accompany with parmesan cheese (or romano, which we prefer!).

I made this a couple of nights ago and I have a new fan; my adventurous husband!  He turned down a nice meal in a restaurant to stay home and try this dish, I had raved about it so; and he was not disappointed.

Tomato and asparagus carbonara

This recipe comes to you from "Cooking Light" magazine; it is called carbonara, but there is no bacon or ham products in it - it is indeed a vegetarian dish.  I just made this tonight - sautee up some olive oil and asparagus, then add the garlic; then add in halved grape tomatoes.  Meanwhile, boil a pot of water, and when it comes to the boil, add macaroni (the recipe called for penne, I put in whole wheat shells).
Turn off the tomatoes and asparagus; let the macaroni cook, and in a separate bowl, beat 1 egg, 1/2 cup grated cheese and salt and pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon each).  Once the macaroni is cooked to your liking, drain it, and working quickly, return it to the pot and add the egg mixture and mix it around thoroughly. The heat from the pasta will cook that egg.
Add in the tomato and asparagus mixture, and voila!  Your carbonara is ready!!

Easiest - and healthiest carbonara I ever made!

A couple of luscious dishes from eating out

Okay, admittedly, none of these foodstuffs did I make; but I sure did admire them and enjoy consuming them!

This is the strata cake I had in the Olive Garden in Jackson Mississippi a few weeks ago.  My family cheered me on as I attacked it (alas I could not finish it all in one sitting).

This is a duck pancake - simply scrumptious - juicy, sweet and filling all at once.  At "The Grand" in Flushing, Queens, New York.

A cornucopia of dishes ordered at the 50% lunch special at Balucchi's on Queens Blvd, with my Mom in May.  I see kashmiri pulao, palak paneer and raita; I think there was also boatman's shrimp curry and vegetable handy.  How I love Indian food!

Another shot of that torte. 

My open faced egg and mushroom sandwiches

I got this "recipe" - I hesitate to say "recipe", because an egg sandwich seems like it would be an almost intuitive, commonplace thing for anyone who likes to eat to make, but I have to admit I like reading variations on it, of which this is one; this came from the magazine "Cooking Light" - it involved white wine, fried shallots, beefsteak tomatoes and baby portabella mushrooms.  The two round patties at 12 o'clock are vegetarian sausage patties - but oh my do they taste like meat; my husband raves about them.  That's his plate - a satisifying, meat-like breakfast.

Another view of the sandwich - I used organic Omega 3 eggs; just trying to keep the health-ball rolling.