Posts filed under 'Holiday Ideas'
I bought a bag of Mayan spiced cocoa from Savory Spice Shop a while back. In the winter I enjoy it prepared as hot chocolate. The heat from the chilies makes it especially warming on a cold, blustery day. Its unique blend of chilies, hazelnut powder, vanilla and cinnamon inspired this chocolate sauce.
I served it on on homemade cinnamon ice cream with cinnamon sugar palmiers. The palmiers recipe is from Martha Holmberg’s gem of a book on recipes made with puff pastry entitled Puff. You could also use gingersnaps or cinnamon shortbread cookies.
Mexican Spiced Chocolate Rum Sauce
½ cup unsalted butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup Mayan cocoa
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Meyers rum (or any dark rum like Goslings. Captain Morgan’s would work too)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Heat the butter in a sauce pan; add sugar, cocoa cream and salt. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in rum and vanilla.
Serve warm. Refrigerate any leftovers.
June 1st, 2010
Once the pantry purge has been completed, I start to tackle the freezer knowing that berry season will be here soon enough and there must be space to freeze Maine’s summer berries.
Despite a few batches of blueberry jam over the winter, I still had a couple quarts of blueberries needing to be used up (Stay tuned for a superb blueberry cake with brown sugar glaze to be posted soon). Now onto this yummy pie.
This pie was made for my friend Kate who had been having a very tough month. I am a big believer in the power of pie and its ability to make things seems better, even if momentarily. She described it as "ooey, gooey, apple, blueberry yumminess." Needless to say, I will be making the pie again, maybe for Mother’s Day because I still have some blues to use up.
I would like to note that I made the pie crust with Earth Balance spread because Kate prefers to pass on dairy and I am happy to report that the crust acted just like a normal pie crust. It cooked up nice, golden and flaky. Flavorista Monica gave me the idea. Her son is allergic to all dairy products, so she is my go-to expert on the subject of dairy-free. Of course the flavor was different than an all-butter crust, but it still met with very good reviews.
For the crust, I followed Jess’ instructions for freezing the pie crust before baking. I am a convert to this method as it it has consistently delivered flaky, golden crusts since Thanksgiving 2008. I only use metal pie plates for this freezing method because I am too nervous about temperature differences and potential explosions (I am not willing to sacrifice my Pyrex and ceramic pie plates).
Apple Blueberry Pie adapted from from Emeril with Hogwash’s Pie Crust.
Two 9-inch prepared pie crust (recipe follows)
3 cups thinly sliced granny smith apples
1 cup blueberries, preferably wild Maine blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 Tbsp. butter cut into small pieces
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine the apples, blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt.
Pour the apple-blueberry mixture into the frozen pie crust. Dot the top with butter and cover with the other frozen pie crust, sealing edges.
Cut steam holes in top, place on cookie sheet pan lined with foil or parchment. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. Fruit juices should be bubbling though the vent holes. Stick the point of a knife through the hole and check to see if apples are tender.
Allow pie to cool for 4 hours before slicing.
Edible’s All-Butter Crust from Hogwash
From the Fall 2008 issue of Edible Seattle.
Yields: Two 9-inch pie crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1” dice, and chilled again
1/2 to 2/3 cup water, chilled in fridge
Blend flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Sprinkle chilled butter cubes into the flour and press into the dry ingredients with your fingertips, blending together until the mixture looks like fresh breadcrumbs or damp sand. Ideally, no lumps of butter any bigger than a pea will remain, nor will you have any dry flour lurking in the bottom of the bowl.
Add cold water one tablespoon at a time, blending gently with a large fork, until the dough forms into a ball. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a crust about 1/8” thick and gently pat down into a 9” or 10" pie pan. Trim the edge with a sharp knife or scissors so the dough hangs over the edge by 1/2”. Fold and crimp the dough’s edges. Cover the crust with plastic wrap and freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes, or overnight. For the top crust, roll it out flat. Line a 10-12" plate with plastic wrap and place the crust onto it. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes, or overnight.
Remove from freezer when your filling is ready and the oven is pre-heated—whatever sort of pie you’re baking, you want the crust fully frozen when it goes into the oven.
April 21st, 2010
Valentine’s Day fell on the Lunar New Year this year so our big neighborhood celebration is happening this weekend. I can’t wait!
My recent trip to Shanghai and David Chang’s Momofuku inspired the menu for our Chinese New Year’s celebration. I was born in the year of the Tiger and am taking this party seriously! I will post the recipes over the next few days.
Planned Menu
Shrimp Toasts
Scallion Bread
Assorted Dim Sum
Curried Green Apples
From Momofuku: Quick Salt Pickles, Pickled Asian Pears and Kimichi
Long Noodles with Peanut sauce
Sesame Green Beans
Vegetarian Dumplings
Mango Pudding
Coconut New Year’s Cake
February 16th, 2010
Two things that I was especially pleased with from this year’s feast were my Brussel Sprouts Almondine and the stuffing I adapted from Mrs. Wheelbarrow over at Food52. Using Challah bread made for a very light and airy consistency. I don’t think I can go back to using cornbread or any other bread for that matter. I now have a new go to stuffing, well technically a dressing as it is baked in its own dish.
With such an abundance of food, a lighter stuffing is really nice. I think this would also make a nice nice meal on its own with salad. Since I was celebrating the holiday with vegetarians, I used vegetable stock but in the future I will use chicken or turkey stock. Large chunks or prosciutto would also be welcome!
Challah, Mushroom and Celery Dressing
This serves 12 easily but 6 if you were having it for dinner with a salad.
1 large loaf of Challah bread
2 cups celery, diced
2 cups onion, diced
2 cups Turmpet mushroom (Criminis work well as do Shitakes) diced
8-10 sprigs thyme, chopped
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
3 cups chicken or turkey stock, preferably homemade
3 ounces butter
4 ounces melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 cup currants
Cut the challah into 1" cubes. Leave the cubes out on a parchment lined sheet pan on the counter to get stale, at least overnight, and preferably 2 days.
Melt 3 oz. of butter in a large heavy saute pan. Saute the onions until wilted, add the herbs, celery and mushrooms and cook until just slightly cooked through. In a large bowl, combine bread cubes, vegetables, melted butter, stock, salt, pepper and currants. Test for seasoning and adjust.
Press stuffing into a large buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered parchment, and then foil. At this point, the stuffing can be held for several hours, but should be at room temperature before baking. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes, the last 10-15 minutes without the foil and parchment, to crisp the surface.
January 15th, 2010
Barr and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May joy abound in your homes and may your tables be full of yummy treats.
Each year, we plan the Christmas brunch menu as a family. Everyone selects one food or dish that he or she would enjoy Christmas day. I supplement the menu as I see fit but generally we come up with a pretty tasty affair
The Christmas Menu at Casa Mayone for 2009:
Vincenzo - Pumpkin Seeds and Cinnamon Rolls and Soda in a Bottle
Maverick - Raspberries and Classic Mashed Potatoes (eaten separately of course)
Lollie - Shrimp Cocktail and Good Bread (biscuits or focaccia)
Kimberly - Old School Relish Tray (above) and French Onion Soup
Marco - Ham and Champagne
This is what happens when you let a 4 year-old plan menus…
One very sleepy, very happy daddy - xmas 2008.
December 25th, 2009
Many, many moons ago, my Aunt Nancy gave Marco and me some homemade Irish cream for Christmas morning coffee. For a few years, I duplicated the Irish cream handing it out to friends, family and colleagues. It was always well received.
This Irish cream is ideally suited for coffee drinks and milkshakes. It has a stronger whiskey flavor than Bailey’s but its texture is quite similar. The raw eggs might be a concern for some. Unless you have health reasons to stay away from raw eggs, I would say just buy some local (ideally organic) eggs and go with it.
Flavorista Julie recently requested the recipe thinking Irish cream might be a fun holiday gift. Here is the recipe!
Aunt Nancy’s Irish Cream
Yield = 64-oz. or 8 cups
1 Tbsp. instant coffee
1 (16-oz.) carton whipping cream
3 Tbsp. chocolate syrup (Hershey’s in the can)
4 eggs, beaten
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
1 (750-ML) bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey (Flavorista Nancy says do not substitute here)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the instant coffee into the whipping cream until dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer the cream to small bottles or mason jars and refrigerate for three days before serving.
Add to Christmas morning coffee and it will make all of the 6AM "SANTA CAME!" screams a little less jarring. It is also quite yummy served over ice cream.
Keep Irish cream refrigerated and use up remaining cream within 2 weeks.
December 18th, 2009
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