A whoopie pie for every season. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
I’ve got one for fall: Whoopie Pumpkin Pies (click for the recipe), created by Pat and Gina Neely, hosts of the Food Network TV show Down Home with the Neelys.
Canned pure pumpkin lends the slight pumpkin flavor to the creamy middle, sandwiched on either side by a billowy chocolate cookie.
These cookies would be a fabulous treat for a Halloween party – both young and old will like them.
Comments on the Food Network website seem to point to an error about the amount of sugar needed in the cookies when the recipe was originally posted, but it has since been corrected. The recipe is exactly the same as the one I used from the October 2011 issue of Food Network magazine.
The whoopie pies are easy to make.
Butter, sugar, egg, buttermilk and vanilla are beaten together, then a mixture of dry ingredients is added. The dry ingredients are flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Everything is mixed until just combined (I used an electric hand mixer rather than a stand mixer.)
The dough is dropped by heaping tablespoons on parchment-lined baking sheets, and baked in the oven for eight minutes. The cookies are transferred to racks and left to cool completely.
The filling is made by beating together cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar), canned pure pumpkin (don’t use pumpkin pie filling), cinnamon and salt until smooth.
To assemble a pie, the filling is spread on the flat side of a cookie and sandwiched with another.
Showing posts with label Food Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Network. Show all posts
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Green olives and smoked mozzarella
add cleverness to gnocchi dish
A clever recipe, to me, is one that can be made quickly and easily but still has plenty of flavor thanks to some well-selected ingredients.
That’s why Gnocchi with Fresh Tomatoes, Green Olives and Smoked Mozzarella (click for the recipe on the Food Network website) qualifies as a clever recipe in my books. The recipe is from iconic chef Mario Batali.
The green olives add a welcome briny saltiness, while the smoked mozzarella actually does add a mild smoky taste.
Both flavors are absolutely perfect with the tomatoes and the sauce it creates. We were lucky enough to use fresh tomatoes from my mother’s garden in the dish.
I wasn’t able to find smoked mozzarella, but a worker at the local gourmet cheese store handed me a suggested substitution: Smoked caciocavallo, a type of stretched curd cheese. It worked very well.
I venture to guess that smoked gouda may also make a possible substitute, but don't hold me to that!
Instead of making homemade gnocchi, we used store-bought.
In the case of the green olives, we used jarred, sliced and pitted green olives.
We substituted fresh oregano for fresh marjoram, which is hard to find.
One pound of fresh tomatoes are chopped into ¼-inch cubes, with all juices being reserved.
In a sauté pan, the garlic and tomatoes and its juices are cooked. Off heat, the olives are added and stirred in.
The gnocchi is boiled, drained, and poured into the pan with the tomato mixture, which is returned to the heat and tossed gently until bubbling.
The marjoram (we used fresh oregano instead) and ¼ cup of cubed smoked mozzarella is stirred into the mixture until the cheese is melted.
The recipe says to pour the tomatoes and gnocchi into a heated serving dish, but we simply served it from the pan.
That’s why Gnocchi with Fresh Tomatoes, Green Olives and Smoked Mozzarella (click for the recipe on the Food Network website) qualifies as a clever recipe in my books. The recipe is from iconic chef Mario Batali.
The green olives add a welcome briny saltiness, while the smoked mozzarella actually does add a mild smoky taste.
Both flavors are absolutely perfect with the tomatoes and the sauce it creates. We were lucky enough to use fresh tomatoes from my mother’s garden in the dish.
I wasn’t able to find smoked mozzarella, but a worker at the local gourmet cheese store handed me a suggested substitution: Smoked caciocavallo, a type of stretched curd cheese. It worked very well.
I venture to guess that smoked gouda may also make a possible substitute, but don't hold me to that!
Instead of making homemade gnocchi, we used store-bought.
In the case of the green olives, we used jarred, sliced and pitted green olives.
We substituted fresh oregano for fresh marjoram, which is hard to find.
One pound of fresh tomatoes are chopped into ¼-inch cubes, with all juices being reserved.
In a sauté pan, the garlic and tomatoes and its juices are cooked. Off heat, the olives are added and stirred in.
The gnocchi is boiled, drained, and poured into the pan with the tomato mixture, which is returned to the heat and tossed gently until bubbling.
The marjoram (we used fresh oregano instead) and ¼ cup of cubed smoked mozzarella is stirred into the mixture until the cheese is melted.
The recipe says to pour the tomatoes and gnocchi into a heated serving dish, but we simply served it from the pan.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Pasta sauce gets pleasantly spicy
in Shrimp Fra Diavolo
When I saw the recipe’s name, Shrimp Fra Diavolo, I figured “Fra Diavolo” was referring to the sauce of the pasta dish.
My suspicions were correct. A check of Wikipedia yielded the information that the Italian phrase refers to a spicy sauce for pasta or seafood. Often, the sauce is tomato-based and uses chili peppers for spice. According to chef Mario Batali, the spicy sauce is an Italian-American creation and is rarely served in Italy.
In Shrimp Fra Diavolo (click for the recipe), a delicious recipe from Food Network Magazine, red pepper flakes provide the spice in the sauce.
I halved the amount of red pepper flakes called for in the recipe, knowing that I my husband and I can’t hack overly spicy food. Let me tell you, the resulting pasta was just spicy enough. Any more and it would have crossed our heat-tolerance threshold.
I can’t believe the recipe says to sprinkle more red pepper flakes on top of the finished pasta if desired! This action is only for the hard-core spice junkies among us.
The heat that was present wasn’t unwelcome, though. The dish is terrific, a perfect blend of shrimp, tomatoes and pasta.
It whips up quickly on a weeknight but would even work for a casual dinner party. Leftovers warm up beautifully in the microwave.
The recipe calls for a can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand. I bought another brand of canned whole plum tomatoes in juice, and crushed them by squeezing the tomatoes in my hands. The tomatoes and the juice already present in the can are both used in the pasta.
The first step of making the dish is cooking the shrimp in a skillet, then removing the shrimp and setting it aside.
Thinly-sliced garlic, chopped anchovy fillets, and red pepper flakes (I used half a teaspoon instead of a full teaspoon as the recipe indicates) are put in the skillet, along with the tomatoes, white wine, fresh oregano and salt. The sauce is brought to a simmer and cooked, stirring occasionally, until thickened (we used slightly greater than medium heat.)
While the sauce is cooking, linguine or bucatini (I used Catelli Smart linguine) is boiled and drained.
Fresh parsley, the pasta, and the shrimp are put back in the sauce and stirred.
The pasta is served. We didn’t bother drizzling the servings with olive oil, and we certainly didn’t top them with more red pepper flakes.
My suspicions were correct. A check of Wikipedia yielded the information that the Italian phrase refers to a spicy sauce for pasta or seafood. Often, the sauce is tomato-based and uses chili peppers for spice. According to chef Mario Batali, the spicy sauce is an Italian-American creation and is rarely served in Italy.
In Shrimp Fra Diavolo (click for the recipe), a delicious recipe from Food Network Magazine, red pepper flakes provide the spice in the sauce.
I halved the amount of red pepper flakes called for in the recipe, knowing that I my husband and I can’t hack overly spicy food. Let me tell you, the resulting pasta was just spicy enough. Any more and it would have crossed our heat-tolerance threshold.
I can’t believe the recipe says to sprinkle more red pepper flakes on top of the finished pasta if desired! This action is only for the hard-core spice junkies among us.
The heat that was present wasn’t unwelcome, though. The dish is terrific, a perfect blend of shrimp, tomatoes and pasta.
It whips up quickly on a weeknight but would even work for a casual dinner party. Leftovers warm up beautifully in the microwave.
The recipe calls for a can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand. I bought another brand of canned whole plum tomatoes in juice, and crushed them by squeezing the tomatoes in my hands. The tomatoes and the juice already present in the can are both used in the pasta.
The first step of making the dish is cooking the shrimp in a skillet, then removing the shrimp and setting it aside.
Thinly-sliced garlic, chopped anchovy fillets, and red pepper flakes (I used half a teaspoon instead of a full teaspoon as the recipe indicates) are put in the skillet, along with the tomatoes, white wine, fresh oregano and salt. The sauce is brought to a simmer and cooked, stirring occasionally, until thickened (we used slightly greater than medium heat.)
While the sauce is cooking, linguine or bucatini (I used Catelli Smart linguine) is boiled and drained.
Fresh parsley, the pasta, and the shrimp are put back in the sauce and stirred.
The pasta is served. We didn’t bother drizzling the servings with olive oil, and we certainly didn’t top them with more red pepper flakes.
Monday, August 22, 2011
A Giada sorbet again --
this time it's Pomegranate and Mint
In less than two weeks, I’m writing about another recipe from Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis.
Posting two entries about recipes by the same chef, magazine or cookbook in such a short time frame wouldn’t normally be unusual for me, but this time it is because it’s the second time I’m writing about one of her sorbets.
Tropical Watermelon Sorbet is what I wrote about on Aug. 12, and now it’s Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet (click for the recipe).
Giada really knows her sorbets – both of these are very delicious.
With Tropical Watermelon Sorbet, the lovely taste of watermelon was amplified by dark rum and pineapple juice.
In Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet, a mint syrup and orange juice are combined with pomegranate juice to produce an elegant, dinner-party worthy dessert that’s truly refreshing and delicious. (It's also the type of sorbet you pull out of the freezer and eat out of the container for a few precious minutes -- I did that a couple of times.)
One commenter on this recipe on the Food Network website complained that the mint flavor is too overwhelming.
This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both my husband and I agreed the mint flavor was absolutely perfect.
The mint flavor comes from a mint simple syrup, made by boiling and simmering sugar (I used Splenda), fresh mint leaves and water, then letting the mixture cool. It can be refrigerated before using, though it will come out of the fridge much thicker than when it was put in. Stirring it up will get it back to full thick-liquid form again.
The syrup is then mixed with pomegranate juice (often found in the produce section of the supermarket) and orange juice. Make sure the pomegranate and orange juices are chilled before mixing – it will make the next step, processing it in the ice cream maker, work better.
I processed the mixture in my ice cream maker for 20 minutes, adding mini semisweet chocolate chips during the last 10 minutes as directed in the recipe.
After 20 minutes, the mixture was just slush, not a sorbet, but I knew all it needed was to be put in the freezer to become a sorbet. I poured the icy liquid into an airtight container, then put the mixture in the freezer to harden completely, which takes about eight hours.
A lot of the chocolate chips landed up at the bottom of the ice cream maker in a clump, so I simply scooped them out and stirred them into the mixture in the freezer. However, most of the chocolate chips ended up on the bottom of the container anyway. My advice: Dig deep when serving this sorbet!
Posting two entries about recipes by the same chef, magazine or cookbook in such a short time frame wouldn’t normally be unusual for me, but this time it is because it’s the second time I’m writing about one of her sorbets.
Tropical Watermelon Sorbet is what I wrote about on Aug. 12, and now it’s Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet (click for the recipe).
Giada really knows her sorbets – both of these are very delicious.
With Tropical Watermelon Sorbet, the lovely taste of watermelon was amplified by dark rum and pineapple juice.
In Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet, a mint syrup and orange juice are combined with pomegranate juice to produce an elegant, dinner-party worthy dessert that’s truly refreshing and delicious. (It's also the type of sorbet you pull out of the freezer and eat out of the container for a few precious minutes -- I did that a couple of times.)
One commenter on this recipe on the Food Network website complained that the mint flavor is too overwhelming.
This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both my husband and I agreed the mint flavor was absolutely perfect.
The mint flavor comes from a mint simple syrup, made by boiling and simmering sugar (I used Splenda), fresh mint leaves and water, then letting the mixture cool. It can be refrigerated before using, though it will come out of the fridge much thicker than when it was put in. Stirring it up will get it back to full thick-liquid form again.
The syrup is then mixed with pomegranate juice (often found in the produce section of the supermarket) and orange juice. Make sure the pomegranate and orange juices are chilled before mixing – it will make the next step, processing it in the ice cream maker, work better.
I processed the mixture in my ice cream maker for 20 minutes, adding mini semisweet chocolate chips during the last 10 minutes as directed in the recipe.
After 20 minutes, the mixture was just slush, not a sorbet, but I knew all it needed was to be put in the freezer to become a sorbet. I poured the icy liquid into an airtight container, then put the mixture in the freezer to harden completely, which takes about eight hours.
A lot of the chocolate chips landed up at the bottom of the ice cream maker in a clump, so I simply scooped them out and stirred them into the mixture in the freezer. However, most of the chocolate chips ended up on the bottom of the container anyway. My advice: Dig deep when serving this sorbet!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Tropical Watermelon Sorbet is latest
in a string of delish celeb recipes
This week on Recipes That Worked, it seems I’m a bit celebrity-crazy.
Monday’s post was about Gwyneth Paltrow's Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce, Wednesday was Bobby Flay's Grilled Corn with Garlic Butter, Fresh Lime and Queso Fresco, and today’s post is Tropical Watermelon Sorbet (click for the recipe) from Giada De Laurentiis.
I’m not sure why these celebrity recipes have suddenly clumped up like this. But I do know the results of all these famous people recipes are delicious.
De Laurentiis, a Food Network host, celebrity chef and cookbook author, has created a refreshing, perfectly-sweetened dessert with Tropical Watermelon Sorbet.
The recipe offers the option of using ginger ale or dark rum. I used dark rum, and I think that was a good choice – it amplified and complimented the fresh watermelon taste.
Pineapple juice, lime juice and ginger ale round out the sorbet’s complimentary ingredients.
The recipe says after the sorbet’s ingredients are combined, they are put in an ice cream maker and processed, according to manufacturer’s instructions, for about 35 minutes. It then says the “sorbet” can be served.
I found 35 minutes only produced watermelon slush, not sorbet. Even at 45 minutes of processing in the ice cream maker, it was still just icy slush.
Obviously, the slush needed to be frozen to become a sorbet. In fact, all sorbet recipes I’ve ever seen until this one call for freezing a mixture for at least two hours after being processed in an ice cream maker.
I poured the slushy mixture from the ice cream maker into an airtight plastic container and put it in the freezer. It seemed that at least 10 hours of freezing time was required for this sorbet to reach its perfect icy-yet-creamy stage.
To make the sorbet, cubes of seedless watermelon with the rind removed are blended with chilled pineapple juice, chilled ginger ale or dark rum, fresh lime juice and grenadine in a blender (I needed to do this in two batches.)
The mixture is processed in an ice cream maker, frozen, then spooned into bowls and served.
Monday’s post was about Gwyneth Paltrow's Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce, Wednesday was Bobby Flay's Grilled Corn with Garlic Butter, Fresh Lime and Queso Fresco, and today’s post is Tropical Watermelon Sorbet (click for the recipe) from Giada De Laurentiis.
I’m not sure why these celebrity recipes have suddenly clumped up like this. But I do know the results of all these famous people recipes are delicious.
De Laurentiis, a Food Network host, celebrity chef and cookbook author, has created a refreshing, perfectly-sweetened dessert with Tropical Watermelon Sorbet.
The recipe offers the option of using ginger ale or dark rum. I used dark rum, and I think that was a good choice – it amplified and complimented the fresh watermelon taste.
Pineapple juice, lime juice and ginger ale round out the sorbet’s complimentary ingredients.
The recipe says after the sorbet’s ingredients are combined, they are put in an ice cream maker and processed, according to manufacturer’s instructions, for about 35 minutes. It then says the “sorbet” can be served.
I found 35 minutes only produced watermelon slush, not sorbet. Even at 45 minutes of processing in the ice cream maker, it was still just icy slush.
Obviously, the slush needed to be frozen to become a sorbet. In fact, all sorbet recipes I’ve ever seen until this one call for freezing a mixture for at least two hours after being processed in an ice cream maker.
I poured the slushy mixture from the ice cream maker into an airtight plastic container and put it in the freezer. It seemed that at least 10 hours of freezing time was required for this sorbet to reach its perfect icy-yet-creamy stage.
To make the sorbet, cubes of seedless watermelon with the rind removed are blended with chilled pineapple juice, chilled ginger ale or dark rum, fresh lime juice and grenadine in a blender (I needed to do this in two batches.)
The mixture is processed in an ice cream maker, frozen, then spooned into bowls and served.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Perogies and kielbasa take a
delicious turn on the barbecue
I’m nuts about perogies (pierogies).
I grew up eating these yummy dumplings that are most commonly filled with potatoes or cheese.
To this day, one of my most favorite dishes is a plate of my grandmother’s boiled perogies, slathered in butter or fried onions, or her fried perogies with a pile of sour cream on the side.
I also like a good feed of kielbasa now and then.
When I saw a recipe that put perogies and together and had them cooked on a barbecue, I knew I had to try it.
That’s right, grilling perogies.
And you know what? It worked like a charm.
Grilled Pierogies and Kielbasa (click for the recipe) from Food Network Magazine was an absolutely delicious dish.
The grilled kielbasa and perogies were terrific in their own right, but the tossing of those two in a dressing of grilled onions, whole-grain mustard, apple-cider vinegar and fresh parsley is a stroke of absolute genius.
Leftovers warmed up beautifully in the microwave.
The kielbasa is cut into four pieces, grilled, then transferred to a baking sheet or platter.
One large white onion, cut into six wedges, and a pound of frozen potato-and-cheddar perogies are tossed with olive oil. The onions and potatoes are grilled and transferred to the baking sheet or platter.
The kielbasa is cut into pieces, and put into a large bowl with a dressing of whole-grain mustard, apple-cider vinegar (sometimes labeled cider vinegar) and olive oil.
The onion is chopped, and added to the bowl along with the perogies and chopped fresh parsley.
The dish is served. (I put a little bit of sour cream on the side so I could dip the perogies in it.)
I grew up eating these yummy dumplings that are most commonly filled with potatoes or cheese.
To this day, one of my most favorite dishes is a plate of my grandmother’s boiled perogies, slathered in butter or fried onions, or her fried perogies with a pile of sour cream on the side.
I also like a good feed of kielbasa now and then.
When I saw a recipe that put perogies and together and had them cooked on a barbecue, I knew I had to try it.
That’s right, grilling perogies.
And you know what? It worked like a charm.
Grilled Pierogies and Kielbasa (click for the recipe) from Food Network Magazine was an absolutely delicious dish.
The grilled kielbasa and perogies were terrific in their own right, but the tossing of those two in a dressing of grilled onions, whole-grain mustard, apple-cider vinegar and fresh parsley is a stroke of absolute genius.
Leftovers warmed up beautifully in the microwave.
The kielbasa is cut into four pieces, grilled, then transferred to a baking sheet or platter.
One large white onion, cut into six wedges, and a pound of frozen potato-and-cheddar perogies are tossed with olive oil. The onions and potatoes are grilled and transferred to the baking sheet or platter.
The kielbasa is cut into pieces, and put into a large bowl with a dressing of whole-grain mustard, apple-cider vinegar (sometimes labeled cider vinegar) and olive oil.
The onion is chopped, and added to the bowl along with the perogies and chopped fresh parsley.
The dish is served. (I put a little bit of sour cream on the side so I could dip the perogies in it.)
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Make me! Penne with
Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sauce
As I was flipping through one of my new cookbooks, The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today's Kitchen by Chef Michael Smith, the recipe jumped off the page and said: Make me, immediately!
It was Penne with Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sauce (click for the recipe).
What prompted me most to make it was Smith’s introduction to the recipe, in which he said his friends request this dish all the time.
This intrigued me – what recipe could be so good that you’d ask a world-renown chef like Smith to make it for you as opposed to letting him surprise you with his latest magical dish?
The second reason I was prompted to make it was how easy it looked to make.
I was right about that. I made the dish on my own and it took about 25 minutes without rushing.
The ingredients were also a draw: Cream cheese, fresh dill and smoked salmon. It sounded as if the dish would be like a yummy bagel in pasta form.
I’m glad I listened to that “make me” recipe voice, because this was indeed a lovely dish.
It would work well at a dinner party, which is what Smith suggests in his intro, but it is easy enough to make on a work night.
We found smoked salmon in the seafood section of a local supermarket. Both fresh and frozen was available; we used fresh.
Penne pasta (I like Catelli Smart) is boiled until al dente.
After the pasta is drained, it’s put back in the pot. While the pasta is still steaming hot, softened cream cheese, fresh dill, green onions (scallions), the juice and zest (finely-grated peel) of one lemon, Dijon mustard and capers are stirred in until the cheese melts and forms a creamy sauce.
After the sauce forms, the smoked salmon, which has been cut into ribbons, is stirred in.
Serve immediately
Tweet
It was Penne with Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sauce (click for the recipe).
What prompted me most to make it was Smith’s introduction to the recipe, in which he said his friends request this dish all the time.
This intrigued me – what recipe could be so good that you’d ask a world-renown chef like Smith to make it for you as opposed to letting him surprise you with his latest magical dish?
The second reason I was prompted to make it was how easy it looked to make.
I was right about that. I made the dish on my own and it took about 25 minutes without rushing.
The ingredients were also a draw: Cream cheese, fresh dill and smoked salmon. It sounded as if the dish would be like a yummy bagel in pasta form.
I’m glad I listened to that “make me” recipe voice, because this was indeed a lovely dish.
It would work well at a dinner party, which is what Smith suggests in his intro, but it is easy enough to make on a work night.
We found smoked salmon in the seafood section of a local supermarket. Both fresh and frozen was available; we used fresh.
Penne pasta (I like Catelli Smart) is boiled until al dente.
After the pasta is drained, it’s put back in the pot. While the pasta is still steaming hot, softened cream cheese, fresh dill, green onions (scallions), the juice and zest (finely-grated peel) of one lemon, Dijon mustard and capers are stirred in until the cheese melts and forms a creamy sauce.
After the sauce forms, the smoked salmon, which has been cut into ribbons, is stirred in.
Serve immediately
Tweet
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Potatoes Anna puts the taste of
spuds in a starring role
I love it when I the first recipe I try out from a new cookbook works like a charm.
It makes me happy I invested the money in the book, and revs me up to try more recipes from it.
I recently bought Laura Calder’s French Taste: Elegant Everyday Eating
.
I settled on Potatoes Anna (click for the recipe) as the first to try, and my husband and I made it together. (It is called Pommes Anna in the book.)
It was amazingly good.
I’ve never had a potato dish before in which the star was the taste of the potato itself, rather than flourishes such as cheese or cream.
The earthiness of the potatoes shone through brilliantly and made me appreciate the existence of spuds even more.
Thanks to the thin slicing of the potatoes, the dish bakes to a lovely tenderness that doesn’t slide apart when you cut it while eating. In fact, Potatoes Anna can be sliced into neat squares when serving.
The recipe I’ve linked to above on the Food Network Canada website says to use Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, but the cookbook only said Yukon Gold, so that is what we used.
My husband used a V-slicer to thinly slice the potatoes. A mandoline would also work well.
Potatoes Anna was very easy to make.
An eight-inch square baking pan is lined with parchment paper, and the bottom and sides are brushed with butter.
Peeled and sliced potatoes are tossed in a large bowl with heavy cream (I used whipping cream), and are left to soak (linked-to recipe doesn’t suggest a time, but the cookbook said 10 minutes.)
The potatoes are overlapped and layered in the pan, with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme and rosemary scattered in between each layer.
Another sheet of buttered parchment paper is placed butter side down on the potatoes, and a heavy dish is put on top to weigh it down.
The potatoes are baked until tender, about 1 to 1 ½ hours (we cooked it for an hour and 15 minutes.)
The potatoes can be scooped out of the pan to serve immediately after it is taken out of the oven, or cooled for about five minutes to cut into squares.
The recipe I linked to above says to turn the potatoes out, but my husband cut them in the pan and it worked fine.
Now I’ll go back to French Taste to try more winning recipes.
French Taste: Elegant Everyday Eating at amazon.ca
More great side dishes
Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook
It makes me happy I invested the money in the book, and revs me up to try more recipes from it.
I recently bought Laura Calder’s French Taste: Elegant Everyday Eating
.I settled on Potatoes Anna (click for the recipe) as the first to try, and my husband and I made it together. (It is called Pommes Anna in the book.)
It was amazingly good.
I’ve never had a potato dish before in which the star was the taste of the potato itself, rather than flourishes such as cheese or cream.
The earthiness of the potatoes shone through brilliantly and made me appreciate the existence of spuds even more.
Thanks to the thin slicing of the potatoes, the dish bakes to a lovely tenderness that doesn’t slide apart when you cut it while eating. In fact, Potatoes Anna can be sliced into neat squares when serving.
The recipe I’ve linked to above on the Food Network Canada website says to use Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, but the cookbook only said Yukon Gold, so that is what we used.
My husband used a V-slicer to thinly slice the potatoes. A mandoline would also work well.
Potatoes Anna was very easy to make.
An eight-inch square baking pan is lined with parchment paper, and the bottom and sides are brushed with butter.
Peeled and sliced potatoes are tossed in a large bowl with heavy cream (I used whipping cream), and are left to soak (linked-to recipe doesn’t suggest a time, but the cookbook said 10 minutes.)
The potatoes are overlapped and layered in the pan, with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme and rosemary scattered in between each layer.
Another sheet of buttered parchment paper is placed butter side down on the potatoes, and a heavy dish is put on top to weigh it down.
The potatoes are baked until tender, about 1 to 1 ½ hours (we cooked it for an hour and 15 minutes.)
The potatoes can be scooped out of the pan to serve immediately after it is taken out of the oven, or cooled for about five minutes to cut into squares.
The recipe I linked to above says to turn the potatoes out, but my husband cut them in the pan and it worked fine.
Now I’ll go back to French Taste to try more winning recipes.
French Taste: Elegant Everyday Eating at amazon.ca
More great side dishes
Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook
Friday, January 28, 2011
TV watching inspires Ginger Rum Shandy-making
As my husband and I watched Chuck’s Day Off on Food Network Canada last Saturday morning, the host of the show made a cocktail I knew I had to try that night.
Montreal chef Chuck Hughes made a Ginger Rum Shandy (click for the recipe). It looked so bronzy and lovely and sounded so tasty that I printed off the recipe for it right then and there.
It was well-rewarded random inspiration: The shandies were go-od.
There was a very slight vanilla taste, nothing disagreeable, that was lent to the drink by Sailor Jerry, a type of spiced rum.
The rest of the ingredients seemed as if they were always meant to be together. The ginger syrup, apple juice, lime juice and beer were a winning combination.
Serve these babies as a pre-dinner cocktail with appetizers, and they will score a big hit.
The recipe called for Hoegaarden beer, but other brands of beer will work fine as a substitute.
The shandies were easy to make.
Slices of peeled ginger are combined with sugar and water and simmered over medium heat until the liquid becomes syrupy, about 15 minutes. The syrup is strained and left to cool.
This is a great step to do ahead, as I did. I made the syrup in the afternoon and put it in the fridge until we were ready to make the drinks at night.
To make one drink, ice, rum, ginger syrup, lime juice and apple juice are put together in a cocktail shaker. The mixture is shaken well, and is poured over ice in a glass. The cocktail is topped with beer. (We skipped the apple and ginger garnishes.)
Tweet
Pin It
Montreal chef Chuck Hughes made a Ginger Rum Shandy (click for the recipe). It looked so bronzy and lovely and sounded so tasty that I printed off the recipe for it right then and there.
It was well-rewarded random inspiration: The shandies were go-od.
There was a very slight vanilla taste, nothing disagreeable, that was lent to the drink by Sailor Jerry, a type of spiced rum.
The rest of the ingredients seemed as if they were always meant to be together. The ginger syrup, apple juice, lime juice and beer were a winning combination.
Serve these babies as a pre-dinner cocktail with appetizers, and they will score a big hit.
The recipe called for Hoegaarden beer, but other brands of beer will work fine as a substitute.
The shandies were easy to make.
Slices of peeled ginger are combined with sugar and water and simmered over medium heat until the liquid becomes syrupy, about 15 minutes. The syrup is strained and left to cool.
This is a great step to do ahead, as I did. I made the syrup in the afternoon and put it in the fridge until we were ready to make the drinks at night.
To make one drink, ice, rum, ginger syrup, lime juice and apple juice are put together in a cocktail shaker. The mixture is shaken well, and is poured over ice in a glass. The cocktail is topped with beer. (We skipped the apple and ginger garnishes.)
Tweet
Pin It
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Review: Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes
Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes
is a cookbook that comes from behind the scenes.
It’s a compilation of best recipes chosen by the people that work in the TV network’s test kitchens: Chefs, testers, food stylists, bakers and recipe developers.
The cooking professionals in the kitchens have tested recipes for thousands of episodes of Food Network shows.
I trust that they know what they’re talking about when they say these are the best recipes that have passed through the kitchens.
Actually, I know for sure myself the recipes are the best because I’ve tried a few of them and they have been absolutely terrific (and easy).
Nothing in the book looks too crazy to make. There are many recipes for relatively common dishes such as gazpacho, crab cakes, pork satay, bruschetta, lobster rolls and quesadillas.
One of the recipes my husband and I absolutely love is Miso Soup. It’s killer delicious, amazingly simple to make, and better than any miso soup I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
Other favorites of ours from this cookbook are Thai Shrimp & Rice Soup, Thai Rice Noodles, Little Tomato Salad with Fresh Herbs and Heirloom Tomato & Mint Salad.
Recipes I’ve got my eye on to try are Blue Cheese Steak Sandwiches; Grilled Halloumi, Scallion & Mint Flatbread; Celery & Soppressata Salad with Lemon; Blueberry Buttermilk Bundt Cake; Little Cheesecakes with Strawberry Sauce, and Tiramisu Rapido.
Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes at amazon.ca
Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook
is a cookbook that comes from behind the scenes.It’s a compilation of best recipes chosen by the people that work in the TV network’s test kitchens: Chefs, testers, food stylists, bakers and recipe developers.
The cooking professionals in the kitchens have tested recipes for thousands of episodes of Food Network shows.
I trust that they know what they’re talking about when they say these are the best recipes that have passed through the kitchens.
Actually, I know for sure myself the recipes are the best because I’ve tried a few of them and they have been absolutely terrific (and easy).
Nothing in the book looks too crazy to make. There are many recipes for relatively common dishes such as gazpacho, crab cakes, pork satay, bruschetta, lobster rolls and quesadillas.
One of the recipes my husband and I absolutely love is Miso Soup. It’s killer delicious, amazingly simple to make, and better than any miso soup I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
Other favorites of ours from this cookbook are Thai Shrimp & Rice Soup, Thai Rice Noodles, Little Tomato Salad with Fresh Herbs and Heirloom Tomato & Mint Salad.
Recipes I’ve got my eye on to try are Blue Cheese Steak Sandwiches; Grilled Halloumi, Scallion & Mint Flatbread; Celery & Soppressata Salad with Lemon; Blueberry Buttermilk Bundt Cake; Little Cheesecakes with Strawberry Sauce, and Tiramisu Rapido.
Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes at amazon.ca
Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Two sensational summer salads
I tried a couple of salad recipes recently that immediately became staples of my summer cooking arsenal.
The first is Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad from a recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
Although I couldn’t find the exactly the same recipe online, I found a slightly different version of it on a website, mealsmatter.org. (Click here for the recipe.) If you tweak a few things, and I’ll tell you how, you’ll have exactly the same recipe I made.
I was first attracted to this recipe because it called for extensively draining the liquid from the cucumbers before the salad is made. My husband hates cucumber salads that are swimming in excess water.
The technique used, putting a zipper-lock bag full of water on top of the cucumbers and an onion to push out the liquid, works like a charm.
The resulting salad was not watery – it was just delicious, family-friendly and a perfect side for burgers, hot dogs or steaks.
The cider vinegar called for in the recipe, by the way, may also be labelled apple cider vinegar at the supermarket.
Here’s how to tweak the recipe on mealsmatter.org so it will be exactly like the one I made:
The mealsmatter.org recipe calls for ½ of a medium red onion.
The recipe I made called for ½ of a medium onion – I used a yellow onion.
The mealsmatter.org recipe does not explicitly have directions to toss and drain the onion with the cucumber.
The recipe I made says to toss the cucumbers, onion and salt together in a strainer or colander.
The mealsmatter.org recipe calls for one tablespoon of salt to be tossed with the cucumbers and onion.
The recipe I made calls for 1 ½ tsps. of salt to be tossed with the cucumbers and onion.
The second recipe, Heirloom Tomato and Mint Salad, is a fantastic way to showcase fresh tomatoes.
I couldn’t find the recipe, or a comparable one, on the Internet.
The only place I know for sure you’ll find it in all of its delicious glory is in the cookbook Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes.
This is a book that gets used a lot around our place, as it has some terrific recipes for miso soup and noodle dishes.
This recipe calls for cutting up heirloom tomatoes (I use regular tomatoes if I can’t find heirloom), arranging the pieces on a platter and then scattering sliced shallot, sea salt and pepper on the pieces.
After being left for about five minutes, the tomatoes are sprinkled with fresh mint and then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and champagne or white wine vinegar.
The first is Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad from a recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
Although I couldn’t find the exactly the same recipe online, I found a slightly different version of it on a website, mealsmatter.org. (Click here for the recipe.) If you tweak a few things, and I’ll tell you how, you’ll have exactly the same recipe I made.
I was first attracted to this recipe because it called for extensively draining the liquid from the cucumbers before the salad is made. My husband hates cucumber salads that are swimming in excess water.
The technique used, putting a zipper-lock bag full of water on top of the cucumbers and an onion to push out the liquid, works like a charm.
The resulting salad was not watery – it was just delicious, family-friendly and a perfect side for burgers, hot dogs or steaks.
The cider vinegar called for in the recipe, by the way, may also be labelled apple cider vinegar at the supermarket.
Here’s how to tweak the recipe on mealsmatter.org so it will be exactly like the one I made:
The mealsmatter.org recipe calls for ½ of a medium red onion.
The recipe I made called for ½ of a medium onion – I used a yellow onion.
The mealsmatter.org recipe does not explicitly have directions to toss and drain the onion with the cucumber.
The recipe I made says to toss the cucumbers, onion and salt together in a strainer or colander.
The mealsmatter.org recipe calls for one tablespoon of salt to be tossed with the cucumbers and onion.
The recipe I made calls for 1 ½ tsps. of salt to be tossed with the cucumbers and onion.
The second recipe, Heirloom Tomato and Mint Salad, is a fantastic way to showcase fresh tomatoes.
I couldn’t find the recipe, or a comparable one, on the Internet.
The only place I know for sure you’ll find it in all of its delicious glory is in the cookbook Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes.
This is a book that gets used a lot around our place, as it has some terrific recipes for miso soup and noodle dishes.
This recipe calls for cutting up heirloom tomatoes (I use regular tomatoes if I can’t find heirloom), arranging the pieces on a platter and then scattering sliced shallot, sea salt and pepper on the pieces.
After being left for about five minutes, the tomatoes are sprinkled with fresh mint and then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and champagne or white wine vinegar.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Peach Schnapps - in dessert?
On Tuesday, May 25, after a phone call from my husband from work that he needed a cheesecake for a fundraiser barbecue the next day, I went looking for a simple substitute and found one at foodnetwork.ca: Peach Schnapps Squares (click here to see the recipe at the Food Network website) from Anna Olson's TV show, Sugar.
I picked it because it would have the look and feel of cheesecake, as it had a crust and cream cheese topping, but wouldn't require too much work or overwhelming techniques.
The result was a delicious square that would be a wonderful afternoon snack with a cup of tea, or this time of year, a cool drink. Later this summer, when peaches are in season, I'm going to make the warm peaches option of this recipe, where sliced peaches are warmed with butter and sugar and served over pieces of the squares.
The crust was made by blending flour, light brown sugar, salt and unsalted butter in a food processor until crumbly, then pressing the dough into a 9 x 13 inch pan and baking it.
Over the still-hot crust, peach jam combined with Peach Schnapps is spread.
Over this is poured a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, Peach Schapps, and eggs.
This is baked, then cooled completely before slicing.
I picked it because it would have the look and feel of cheesecake, as it had a crust and cream cheese topping, but wouldn't require too much work or overwhelming techniques.
The result was a delicious square that would be a wonderful afternoon snack with a cup of tea, or this time of year, a cool drink. Later this summer, when peaches are in season, I'm going to make the warm peaches option of this recipe, where sliced peaches are warmed with butter and sugar and served over pieces of the squares.
The crust was made by blending flour, light brown sugar, salt and unsalted butter in a food processor until crumbly, then pressing the dough into a 9 x 13 inch pan and baking it.
Over the still-hot crust, peach jam combined with Peach Schnapps is spread.
Over this is poured a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, Peach Schapps, and eggs.
This is baked, then cooled completely before slicing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)