NORTH FORK LONG ISLAND

This past weekend, my husband and I headed north to Long Island wine country for a short weekend getaway. We intended to visit a couple of wineries, but since this was our first time traveling through the North Fork region, we rented a few bikes and went sight-seeing along the main road.

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BUTTERNUT SQUASH OVEN FRIES

Autumn is upon us and judging from the massive volume of squash that has come to market, it has been a good harvest for our much beloved butternut squash. I'm sure soups come to mind whenever you think of butternut squash, it seems to be everyone's favorite way to treat this squash. But in my avid pursuit to find a different and potentially more exciting recipe, I've retreated to a much more retro approach.  

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Nature's Pride

I'm back with another Tastemaker opportunity from Foodbuzz! This time I received two loaves of Nature's Pride bread, Whole Wheat and 12 Grain. These were choc-full of goodness (5g protein and 3-4g fiber per slice) and devoid of artificial ingredients and high fructose corn syrup. While I liked both loaves (usually toasty), I think my preference was the Whole Wheat!



I also received an email tonight regarding Nature's Pride sponsorship of the upcoming 1st Annual Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco. In exchange for a winning recipe, Nature's Pride will sponsor six foodies as "Bread Ambassadors"!!!! So here's my recipe... i'm hoping it will be my golden ticket ;)

Savory Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Savory Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Recipe by Shannon
Serves 2



This recipe can easily be scaled up or baked in different sized dishes, just be sure to adjust the cooking time! If your bread is fresh, dry it out in the oven before proceeding. I used a fresh chorizo chicken sausage with chiptoles from a local meet shop, but I've also tried it with a mild sausage and a chipotle and adobo thrown in. Pre-cooked sausage (like trader joe's spicy jalapeno chicken sausage) can also be used, just dice and you can save yourself a step!

2 1/2c stale bread, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/2c pumpkin
1/2c sour cream (I used lite)
1/4c + 2T milk (I used Smart Balance Lactose Free Fat-Free)
1 egg
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4c fresh grated cave-aged gruyere
1/4-1/3lb chipotle chicken sausage
1T chopped fresh sage
a few (5-6) whole sage leaves, for garnish, if desired
butter or oil for frying sage leaves

Preheat oven to 350deg. Whisk together pumpkin, sour cream, milk and egg. Stir in bread, salt and pepper. Let sit while browning the sausage. The pumpkin-bread mixture can be prepared ahead of time and kept in the fridge until you're ready to bake the bread pudding.

Heat skillet to med, then add sausage and break up as you're browning the meat. During the last minute of cooking, add sage and stir. Drain cooked sausage on paper towel. Add sausage, chopped sage and gruyere to bread and pumpkin mixture. Pour into a 4"sq baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 25min.

While the bread pudding is baking, prepare the crispy sage leaves. Melt butter (or oil) in a small skillet. When melted and bubbly, add sage leaves and cook a few minutes or so on each side, until crispy. Remove leaves and drain on a paper towel until plating.

After 25min in the oven, turn on your broiler and crisp up the top of the bread pudding (~5min or so). Let sit for a few minutes so you don't burn your mouth, then serve with crsipy sage leaves!


As there is some cheese in here (although gruyere instead of cheddar), I should submit this for the Cabot Giveaway over at Biggest Diabetic Loser! Mmm, cheese :)

POMEGRANATE

This rustic fruit is a sweet reminder of my childhood, when my mom would break the leathery skin open and amaze my siblings and me with the ruby gems tucked inside.  She would patiently and gently peel the seeds away as each one of us waited for our share. We would then crush the seeds between our teeth, and squeal with glee as we felt a sweet and juicy burst in our mouth.

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Whipped Creams, Ganache, And Fruit

The dessert fillings for my vols-au-vent were just heavenly. Even if you're not planning to make the vols-au-vent or don't even want to do anything with puff pastry, you could still incorporate these fillings and toppings into other desserts, so check them out!


Homemade Whipped Cream

The whipped cream that I use as my go-to whipped cream is actually called chantilly cream. I never measure out my ingredients when I make it. I just pour some heavy whipping cream in my KitchenAid, whip it up a little, add a few spoonfuls of confectioner's sugar and a teaspoon or so of vanilla, and then continue whipping until it's the right consistency for dolloping on a plate or on top of some fruit (between medium and stiff peaks). And of course I taste as I go to see if it's sweet enough.


Caramel Whipped Cream

Around this time last year, I made a birthday cake for my boyfriend with caramel whipped cream. I looked up that cake recipe in The Modern Baker, so I could make another attempt at the caramel whipped cream, which didn't taste too "caramelly" the first time I made it. I thought it would be delicious on top of the vols-au-vent with caramelized apples or warm bananas, as long as I had better luck with the caramelizing this time around.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of water in a heavy saucepan and stir well to mix. Using medium heat, cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize -- you'll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly.

Meanwhile pour 1/4 cup of heavy cream in a second small saucepan and heat gently.

Remove the caramel from the heat when it is still very pale (the sugar will continue to darken off the heat).

As soon as the cream has some bubbles around the edge, add it to the caramel at arm's length, averting your face -- the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan.

Pour the diluted caramel into a medium bowl and cool it to room temperature.

Whip 1 1/4 cups heavy cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla in electric mixer. Add the cooled caramel and continue whipping until medium peaks form. Chill until ready to use.

Verdict: Still a little weak on the caramel taste. I might double the amount of caramel next time.


Caramelized Apples

For these I just peeled and chopped up some apples, threw them in a pan with some butter and cinnamon, and sauteed them until they were soft. They're best served warm.


Warm Bananas

A while ago I mentioned that I love Francois Payard's chocolate granola recipe from Chocolate Epiphany. Technically, the granola is supposed to be served over these warm bananas topped with yogurt. I don't have that much time in the morning, so I usually just toss the granola in some yogurt. But I had a thought that the bananas might be a perfect addition to the vols-au-vent.

Saute 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of butter. Add 2 peeled and sliced bananas and cook just until bananas are warm. I think these bananas over Nutella-filled vols-au-vent were everyone's favorite.


Chocolate Ganache

Ganache is one of the easiest things to make. I made this the night of the party and left it out on the counter so it would thicken a little but not too much. It's basically a mixture of heavy cream and chocolate, and you can dress it up a bit with different flavorings. I just used vanilla extract.

Bring 3/4 cup heavy cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add 8 ounces of chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet), and 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.

Use right after it cools slightly if you want it pourable. Leave on counter to thicken more for other uses -- frosting, filling, etc.

To go with everything above, I also served raspberries, chopped strawberries, kiwi, and mangoes. And I set out a shaker of basil sugar -- simply divine with the strawberries and whipped cream.

Sometimes the simplest things can be combined to make the most spectacular dishes. What sounds like the best filling or combinations of fillings to you?

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes - Bakespace Challenge

There's been a lot going on in Bakespace Land and it's been nothing but fun. I wish I had more time though, because I missed out on one of the challenges but I'll get to it eventually. For this challenge we were each assigned a bakespace member (who is also participating in the challenge) and we had to cook from their bakespace kitchen. If you're not a bakespace member yet (get over there and sign up!), the kitchen is our online recipe box that is filled with recipes that we have upload to the website. I got to cook out of Moni's kitchen. You can check out her kitchen here and check out her blog here. Moni (Monica) is a fabulous baker and is very much into Halloween treats. I was certainly nervous about this challenge and doubted myself the whole time (for no reason!). To help alleviate the stress a bit I decided not to bake and to make one of her savory recipes. The recipe that appealed to me most was her Rice Stuffed Artichokes. I love artichokes and stuffed artichokes often frequent my dinner table but the combination of ingredients in this dish were slightly new to me. I never had ricotta and artichokes together before and I have never stuffed artichokes with rice. It really does look delicious though! I realized that full size artichokes aren't in season right now but I was determinted to make this recipe work for me. So instead I bought the little baby artichokes. The little guys aren't really good for stuffing but I looked at her ingredients and thought that I could make a fabulous pasta dish with them. I feel bad about having to change the recipe so much but we were told we could make the dish our own and I didn't have much choice. I'm really happy with the result and I hope you try this one! My suggestion this time is to use the fresh artichokes. The frozen or canned artichoke hearts will not be able to stand the cooking time necessary for them to actually penetrate the sauce. This sauce has a delicious flavor. You can taste the artichokes even if you don't bite into one.

Spaghetti with Ricotta and Baby Artichokes

Inspired by Monica

Ingredients:

12 baby artichokes, cleaned and trimmed of outer leaves, quartered
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
prepared pasta sauce (I had this leftover)
About 1 cup part skim ricotta
kalamata olives, halved (I had about 1/4 cup but you know how I love them so I would use more)
Approx 2 cups chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, saute artichokes in oil with onions olives and crushed red pepper. Lightly season with salt and black pepper.

2. Once onions are cooked add chicken broth to just barely cover the artichokes and let cook. Add more broth as it reduced and cover. Cook until artichokes are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Add sauce and some more chicken broth to thin out the sauce. Stir to combine. Cover and let artichokes cook in the sauce for another 20-30 minutes.

4. Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente. While pasta is cooking turn off heat from the sauce and add ricotta until it's a creamy consistency. When pasta is cooked toss with sauce.

Caramelized Onions And Roasted Veggies

As promised, here's a little more detail about some of the fillings I made for the vols-au-vent. My favorites of the savory ingredients were the caramelized onions and roasted veggies. I made these the night before, stored them in the fridge, and then set them out on a platter the night of the party so they could come to room temperature. There was no need to reheat them since we were putting the fillings inside the vols-au-vent and then baking them.


To make the onions, I roughly followed a recipe from Panini Express: 70 Delicious Recipes Hot Off the Press, a beautiful cookbook published by The Taunton Press. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. I love the layout, font choices, pictures, and, of course, the recipes.

Caramelized Onions (adapted from Panini Express)


Thinly slice two large onions.


Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, 1 garlic clove (minced), and 4 teaspoons brown sugar.


Mix together and saute, stirring occasionally until golden brown. The original recipe says this takes about 40 minutes, but my onions took an hour.



You can let them cool and then store them in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. Use them for your own vols-au-vent or on sandwiches or pizza!

While the onions were cooking, I roasted some other veggies in the oven. I used another recipe from Panini Express for the roasted tomatoes and just threw together the rest of the roasted veggies. The roasted tomato recipe called for the oven to be at 200 degrees and for the tomatoes to be roasted for 4 to 5 hours. I was running short on time after about 3 hours, so I upped the oven to 350 for about half an hour to finish everything off. You can adapt the recipe to your timing needs.

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes And Other Veggies (inspired by Panini Express)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Set oven racks so there's equal space between them. Line 3 sheet pans with foil, and set a cooling rack inside one of them.

Thinly slice summer squash and zucchini (1 or 2 of each). I used the slicing blade in my food processor to get super-thin slices. Place these on one of the foil-lined sheets, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.


Peel and dice a small eggplant. Trim ends off a handful or so of green beans. Cut a broccoli crown into small florets. Place all of these on foil-lined baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.


Take 6 plum tomatoes and cut them in half lenthwise. Line them on cooling rack set in baking sheet, cut side up. Sprinkle them with a little salt.


Place all three trays in the oven. Check veggies every half hour. Mix around all but the tomatoes if and when they seem to be browning unevenly.

When the veggies are roasted to your liking, remove them from the oven. Use right away or let them cool, and store them in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

The squash and the zucchini were done first for me because they were so thin. Next I removed the tray with the eggplant, green beans, and broccoli. As I explained above, I eventually turned up the heat a bit because the tomatoes were taking forever (the other veggies were still in the oven when I did this, and this sped them along too). I took the tomatoes out after about 3 and a half hours, but they probably could have roasted even a little longer. Once your tomatoes are done, drizzle them with a bit of olive oil too.

Everyone loved all of these veggies in the vols-au-vent. I even sent my friends home with the leftovers because they liked them so much and I had more veggies than I knew what to do with. One of my friends made a roasted veggie quesadilla with her leftovers. I mixed mine up with some leftover ravioli. I think a roasted veggie pizza with goat cheese would have been delicious as well!


It's nice to be able to make these and have them on hand for a few days to toss into whatever dishes you might want. There are tons of possibilities. What would you do with a whole bunch of roasted veggies?

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Interesting coincidence: I just learned from Kim at The Ungourmet that today is World Vegetarian Day. I guess this post was well timed. Check out her veggie post too!