Dukkah Spiced Sweet Potaoes

Sadly, I haven't posted a recipe in years! But I've a recipe notebook that is full and now in retirement, so before I lose it and all of my notes from last year, I'm going to get busy.  Please forgive the lack of photos. I'll include some if they are meaningful and handy- but I think I'd better just get some of these yummy things posted.  Hope you enjoy.

Dukkah Spice:

This can be made with lots of different nuts- with fresh roasted spices- and can be used on many dishes.  I’ve added it to roasted sweet potatoes, squash or as a coating with yogurt on fish or chicken fillets.

Combine in a food processor and grind just until crumbly- not to a paste.

1 cup toasted pecans

½ cup black sesame seeds

6-8 peppercorns

2-3 tBL coriander powder

1-2 tsp ground cinnamon

1-2 TBL cumin seed powder

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

Roast 4-5 cut up sweet potatoes or yams- tossed in 2-3 tbls of butter or margarine and juice of 1 lemon. Stir often. When browned and soft sprinkle with dukkah to lightly coat pieces and soak up melted butter.

Serve with orange Tandoori chicken.  (Recipe to follow)

Root Beer Pulled Pork

I didn't make this for the 4th of July, or for Bastille Day (neighboring holiday with the same celebratory colors). But this is definitely a recipe to be eaten outdoors with Bruce Springsteen and fireworks in the background. (America!)
This is a Crockpot 365 recipe, adapted for greater spiciness. I'm really getting to like using the Crockpot for summer cooking, since it means I don't need to overwhelm the kitchen with oven or stovetop heat. 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast (butt)
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings  
• 2 or three cloves of garlic, diced. 
• 1-2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (start with 1, then season to taste after cooking and tasting) 
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.  
• 1 cup chili sauce (I didn't have this, so I substituted two heaping tablespoons of Sambal Oelek chili paste).
• 2 cups root beer (Any old type will work, but I was lucky enough to have a bottle of this magical micro-brewed business, which will seriously change your life)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup (tomato paste or diced tomatoes would probably be tastier, but it's HOT and I'm lazy).
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Like most Crockpot recipes, this is a snap. Throw everything in the pot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for 5 to 6. It's done when the pork shreds easily with a fork. Eat on toasted rolls, rice or whatever starch you prefer.

Chickpea Pesto Salad

It is so, so, very hot in Illinois - 95 degrees but feels like 118. Walking to work had me feeling both melty and on the verge of angry hysteria. (I'm from New England, and I'm meant to survive in the bitter cold with a root cellar full of turnips. Not to walk around under a stupid, giant Midwestern summer sky! STOP. BEING. HOT. AT. ME!!!)

But a redeeming feature of the day was that I'd brought some delicious cold chickpea salad for lunch. That, plus the fact that I work in an extremely well air-conditioned basement, cheered me tremendously, so I can highly recommend this salad for unendurable hot times.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas (You can save a good bit of time by using 2 cans instead, but I'm making an effort to get through the many little jars of dried beans that live in my pantry. Next on the list - about 2 cups of darling little adzuki beans!)
• 1/3 cup diced sweet onion
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper
• 1 cup diced tomatoes, or 1 can diced
• 1/2 cup snow pea pods - roughly chopped
• (Any other veggies you'd like to add)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup pesto, to taste (pesto recipe: blend three cups basil, 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup parmesan,1/2 cup toasted nuts (pine/almond/walnut), salt and pepper to taste.)
• 1 tsp honey
• salt and pepper to taste

 Directions

• If using dried beans, soak for 5 to 6 hours, and then boil until tender.
• Combine beans, veggies and pesto in a bowl.
• Stir in honey, salt and pepper. 
• Chill for an hour or two.
• Brisk and delicious!

P.S. - You know what else would be good in this? Bacon or pancetta,  fried very crisp and crumbled.

Crunchy Cinnamon Scones

I got such a good picture of these that I simply had to write about them!

Scones are perhaps my favorite thing to bake for house guests, because they're super easy and look fancy. These are a Pioneer Woman recipe, and I made them for the Bianconi clan while visiting a few weeks ago. I can also say for sure that they're parrot-approved - Yocasta's bird Maya likes to sit at the breakfast table with us, and she kept trying to sneak up on my plate!

Ingredients

Dough:
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1/3 cup Sugar
5 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 sticks (1 Cup) Unsalted Butter (cold)
3/4 cups Heavy Cream (I used 2% milk, which was still delicious, though not quite as rich/awesome)
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Cinnamon Chips (I didn't have these, but they sound interesting. Apparently they can be found in the baking aisle with chocolate chips.)

Topping:
1/2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoon Heavy Cream
 
Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 
• Cut the butter into small pieces and cut them into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, or fork and knife, until it resembles coarse crumbs. (You can also run it through the food processor, taking care not to over-mix.)
• Add the cinnamon chips.
• Whisk the egg, vanilla and cream together in a small bowl, and stir into the flour mixture until just blended. The dough should be sticky but able-to-handle. If it's too sticky, add more flour.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and shape into a large rectangle.
• For the topping, mix the sugar, cinnamon and cream together, and press evenly into the dough.
• Cut the dough into equal squares, then cut the squares into triangle (pictured here). For larger scones, first shape the dough into a circle, and cut into triangles like a pizza.
• Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, then enjoy!

Note: Persephone Magazine had an excellent round-up of scone recipes. The cheese version sounds divine! 

Green Tomato Pie

I cleaned out the greenhouse the other day, and although it really was a pretty good tomato season for our cold area, I was left with lots of little green tomatoes. (Isn't that a great basket my sister gave me? It's made of recycled chopsticks!) So I combined a recipe that I found on line for green tomato mincemeat with one for green tomato pie and it was very well received at Gramma Loie's bridge night. Enjoy- winter's on it's way.




Green Tomato Pie

Prepare your favorite pie crust for a deep dish pie (top and bottom)   

~ Thickly slice or cut into small wedges and place in a medium sized bowl:
3 cups green tomatoes,
    1 ½ cups peeled apples
~Add ½ cup golden raisins
~Stir together and then add to fruit:
    2 tsp ground cinnamon
     a pinch cardamon (1/4 -1/2 tsp to taste)
     a pinch salt
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    ½ cup white sugar
    1 -2 tbls flour
~Stir together and then add to fruit and sugars: (you should have about ½ cup)
    juice from ½ lemon
    juice from ½ of a  small orange
    2 heaping tbls of orange marmalade



Put the fruit into your prepared pie crust- cover with your top crust- cut steam vents, and bake until lightly browned and a bit bubbly- about 45  minutes at 350 degrees.

Tastes like citrus-y mincemeat apple pie.

   

More Soup

I've never  succeeded at making a creamy soup before. Sometimes I can get away with using soy cream cheese to replicate some of the cream taste, but it's never quite right. but this 'creamy' chicken soup turned out very very tasty! I adapted one of the recipes from the Julia Child cookbook where she uses pureed cooked rice to thicken the soup base. I precooked the carrots in the microwave, which prevented them from turning mushy and shortened the overall soup cooking time. I had frozen puff pastry sheets so I just covered an oven proof dish filled with soup with the pastry and it was great. I liked the crisp on the outside but a little popover type doughiness (should be a word, anyway) of the finished crust.

Creamy Chicken Soup (milk free) for Chicken Pot Pie

Dice, and sauté in 2-3 tbl butter or margarine until limp: ( I put it all in my largest sauce pan.)
    1/2 sweet onion, (about 2 cups diced) 2-3  ribs of celery, (about 1 ½ cups)
Meanwhile, cook 1 ½ cups diced or bite size julienne sliced carrots in 2 cups chicken broth in the microwave on high for about 5 minutes or until just starting to soften. Reserve the carrots.
Combine in the large saucepan with the onion mixture~
    ½ cup raw white rice, the chicken broth without the carrots, plus 4-5 cups
    additional liquid- more broth (vegetable, chicken) or water
    ½ cup dry white wine
    1 tsp dried thyme, 2 chicken bouillon cubes, 1 lg bay leaf
Cook until the rice is very tender about 30 minutes.  Add 2tbls soy (or real) cream cheese. Puree the mixture until smooth and creamy. (I put it in the food processor- remove the bay leaf)
Return to the saucepan, over med low heat and add:
2 boned and skinned chicken breast halves cut into 4 pieces
The reserved carrots
 Simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken can be shredded. Shred the chicken into bite size, but hearty chunks. Return to pot and add:
    Salt and pepper to taste
    1 cup sliced or diced raw mushrooms
    3 green onions diced
    1 cup frozen peas
    fresh or dried parsley to taste
Simmer for another 5-15 minutes or until mushrooms soften.
Serve as  a yummy soup OR ladle into an oven proof high sided soufflé dish or other casserole type bowl. Lay one thawed square of Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Dough sheets (available in the freezer section of most big box grocery stores) over the top of the dish and arrange and crimp the dough to form a generous pleated if need be ‘lid’ to the pie. Brush with one beaten egg wash. Cook until puffed and browned in a 425 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Jane and Julia and Potato Leek Soup

I've been reading Jane's copy of The Way to Cook by Julia Child. She didn't make notes in it as she did with some of the recipe books that she gave to me as gifts, but I know how much she admired Julia Child and enjoyed her joy of life. Some of the pages are soiled with the fruits of her labors and there are clippings stuck in here and there of fancy french newspaper recipes like "Daube d'agneau aux artichauts" So, I'm enjoying the spirit of the book on many levels. I'm also learning quite a bit.
Did you know that if you dry off chicken fillets before you try to saute them, they will brown more evenly? Or that a tiny bit of soy sauce, ketchup, or mushrooms added to many dishes can intensify the flavor without lending their own particular tastes to it?  The first section is on soups, and as it happens, I've been playing around with some soup recipes lately.  so here's an easy one- adapted from the internet and my friend Ani's advice.

Potato Leek Soup

Easy and really good.

Dice, and sauté until limp in 2-3 tbls of butter or margarine in a lg sauce pan:
    1 /2 sweet onion, 3 ribs of celery, 3 leeks, 2 cloves garlic
Combine with~
6 -8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, washed, cut into uniform size pieces
5 cups chicken broth
    ½ to 1 cup dry white wine
    1-3 bay leaves, salt, pepper, 1 tsp thyme leaves

 Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are very soft. Remove bay leaves.
Puree mixture until smooth and creamy. Add ¼ cup fresh parsley (optional)

Serve warm or serve chilled and call it Vichyssoise.