Categories
Breads Breakfast/Brunch Pumpkin Uncategorized

Spiced Pumpkin Drop Biscuits

Pumpkin Biscuits
Pumpkin Biscuits

It’s day 5 of 31 days of pumpkin, and I’m excited to share this recipe for pumpkin biscuits with you. I grew up on the Eastern Shore of MD where sweet potato biscuits were popular, so this seemed like a natural next step. I was tempted to let the pumpkin stand on its own in this recipe, but in the end, I couldn’t resist adding just a hint of the traditional spices we’ve all come to expect with pumpkin flavor. I showed restraint though in both quantity and array, so that there is just a hint of the pumpkin pie rather than the full effect.

In this version, I dropped the biscuits in spoonfuls onto a “greased” (nonstick cooking sprayed) sheet, rather than rolling out the dough and cutting the circles. I just don’t have the patience for such things, although I readily admit that rolled biscuits are much more beautiful. Maybe next time.

Drop biscuits
Drop biscuits

Spiced Pumpkin Drop Biscuits
Makes 12 large biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
pinch nutmeg
5 Tbsp cold butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 – 3/4 cup plain yogurt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450˚F. Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into tablespoon slices and then cut the butter into the flour mixture. Blend thoroughly.

2. With a spoon, stir the pumpkin purée into the dry ingredients. Add enough yogurt so that a ball of dough forms. Do so by adding a couple of tablespoons at a time. Knead the ball of dough 8-10 times until everything is thoroughly mixed together.

3. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet. There should be about a dozen spoonfuls altogether. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are just turning golden brown.

Pumpkin Biscuits
Pumpkin Biscuits
Categories
Breakfast/Brunch Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

Pumpkin-Apple Spiced Bundt Cake

Pumpkin Apple Spiced Bundt Cake
Pumpkin Apple Spiced Bundt Cake

Day 4 of 31 days of pumpkin and we arrive at a Bundt cake. I’m psyched because I actually bought this bundt cake pan today at Mollie Stones in Sausalito. It’s nonstick, so I really wasn’t worried when it came time to invert the cake onto a plate. And then I had so much fun sifting the powdered sugar on top. Can you tell I’ve been waiting a long time to make a Bundt cake?

Categories
Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

Pumpkin Cardamom Crackle Custard

Pumpkin Cardamom Custard Crackle
Pumpkin Cardamom Custard Crackle

Day 2 of 31 days of pumpkin and we come to a custardy pumpkin crème brulée with a hint of cardamom. I love making desserts that come in individual servings. Maybe that’s because I hate sharing. This way, everyone gets his own ramekin and no one has to fight over who gets the bigger piece.

Since starting this project, I’ve learned something about sugar: there’s more than one kind. Of course, I always knew there was brown sugar, and dark brown sugar, but I haven’t really gone beyond that sort of basic knowledge of sugar. This week, I discovered demerera sugar and I use it in this recipe.

Categories
Breads Breakfast/Brunch Uncategorized

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread

I’ve been making this Zucchini Bread recipe my whole life. Although, it has been awhile . Zucchini was on sale for $0.49/lb the other day, so I knew that I was going to revisit this old favorite. I’ll never forget making this recipe in France in 1987. I was a 16 year-old student staying with a French family for the summer and I was eager to share my American culinary culture with them. I made Maryland Fried Chicken one day and another day, I made this zucchini bread. Their impression of it? Trop sucré. (Too sweet). I was baffled at the time, but my adult taste agrees and I’ve cut 1/2 cup of sugar from the original recipe. My French hosts also couldn’t understand why I wanted to spend time cooking for them, when I had an opportunity to experience French gastronomy for six weeks. Well, then as now, I guess I just couldn’t help it.

My Childhood Recipe Notebook
My Childhood Recipe Notebook

Zucchini Bread
Makes 2 medium loaves

Ingredients

3 eggs
1.5 cups sugar (in 1987 it was 2 cups)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
dash of freshly ground nutmeg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar, zucchini, oil and vanilla. Mix lightly but well (with a spoon).

2. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients.

3. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture (in batches) until blended. Don’t over mix.

4. Bake for 1 hour.

Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Bread
Categories
Poultry Sauces Uncategorized

Chicken w/ Tarragon, Gruyère & Mushroom Cream Sauce

Chicken w/ Tarragon, Mushroom and Gruyère Cream Sauce
Chicken w/ Tarragon, Gruyère & Mushroom Cream Sauce

In the US, when you exit the highway for a rest and a bite to eat, you choose from among several fast food restaurants and maybe an Applebees. In France last month, when we exited the A10 to placate a crying toddler during a drive from Paris to the Loîre Valley, we rolled into a quiet, 12th century stone village named Rochefort-en-Yvelines. It was the kind of village that is shuttered and empty at noon on a Tuesday because everyone is home for lunch. But a brief walk up a cobblestone side street yielded a delightful scene. There, behind a courtyard wall were tables and tables of people enjoying lunch outside. We had stumbled upon the Brigandville Restaurant at the base of L’église Saint-Gilles-et-de-l’Assomption, a church built in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Lunch at the Brigandville - Rochefort-en-Yvelines
Lunch at the Brigandville
Chloe and Gerard
Rochefort-en-Yvelines

At this wonderful little spot (described so well in a blog post by Chocolat et Lavande here), my husband and I both ordered the Steak au Poivre, but it was the dish I ordered for my son that was truly memorable. It was chicken in a creamy tarragon, mushroom and Gruyére sauce served over wild rice pilaf. I’m pretty sure I ate more it than he did, the poor guy. Since returning home, I’ve wanted to recreate this amazing dish. It’s taken me awhile because I have trouble splurging on Gruyère cheese, which is $18/lb at our market, and I forget to buy fresh tarragon. But everything came together this weekend, so here it is.

I used a recipe that I found on the Food & Wine website as the basis for the sauce. Several differences evolved as I tweaked it. They use morels and cremini mushrooms, whereas, I just used regular white mushrooms. I used boneless, skinless thighs instead of chicken breasts. And, the Food & Wine recipe does not call for Gruyère, like mine does.

Ingredients

1 8 oz package of white mushrooms (I used pre-sliced)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
8-10 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese

Method

1. Heat a large, deep sautée pan over medium high heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and add them to the pan. They should sizzle right away. Use tongs to open up the thighs and flatten them out. Sautée for about 4 minutes each side. Remove them from pan to a plate.

2. Add butter and mushrooms to the pan and sautée mushrooms until they just start to release their liquid, about 4 minutes.

3. Add white wine and simmer until reduced to just a couple of tablespoons, about 3 minutes.

4. Add chicken stock and simmer until reduced by 2/3, about 6 minutes.

5. Add the heavy cream and the tarragon and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest and blend well. Add the grated Gruyère and stir constantly until melted and blended in. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Return chicken to the pan. (While the chicken was sitting, it sweat out a lot of juices. I did not add these back into the sauce because I felt I had gotten the balance of sauce flavors just right, but I imagine you could add that juice back in to good effect). Stir to coat chicken and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Serve immediately over rice or pasta.

Categories
Soups and Stews Uncategorized

Classic Beef Stew

Beef Stew
Beef Stew

I think of November as comfort food month, so I thought I’d kick things off by making some beef stew. It’s easy, healthy and relatively affordable. What more could you want?

Time-saving tips:
Buy beef cubes pre-cut
Buy baby carrots and throw them in whole
Buy little red potatoes and just slice them in half

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs Beef Chuck cut into 1 inch pieces (you can buy it that way at the store)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
1 Bay leaf
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can (14.5 oz) ready-cut diced tomatoes
3 cups baby red potatoes, cut in half
1 bag (16 oz) frozen peas, thawed

1. Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and sautée for 1 minute.

Categories
Basics Panini Pork Produce Sauces Uncategorized

Pork Chop with Marsala Sauce (Creamy Version)

Pork Marsala with Noodles
Pork Marsala with Noodles

I’m a huge fan of chicken Marsala and veal Marsala, but I’ve got a craving for a pork chop, so I figure “why not try pork Marsala?” At the store, a double thick pork chop catches my eye and once again I think, “Why not?” (read on to find out why not). I’ve never made Marsala sauce before, but I figure it’s a variation on the Fig Sauce I did in September, just with mushrooms and Marsala wine instead of figs and Balsamic vinegar. Let’s see how this one turns out. An ingredients list (of sorts) is at the end of this post.

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