Tasty Hors D'Oeuvres with Ease?

Today in school, my group hosted our buffet, themed a "Wild Harvest," with "foraged berries, mushrooms, and greens, and some boar and venision we "hunted."

One of our tasks was to come up with two Hors d'Oeuvres for today's feast (in addition to the two from last week). After brainstorming multiple ideas, we came up with the following:

for last week's "practice" - bacon wrapped stiltion creme stuffed dates on cucumber rounds and tomato bruschetta on baguette rounds

for our "wild harvest," house smoked trout with a horseradish creme on pumpernickel and - my new versatile favorite - red onion thyme confit and pancetta on a polenta round.

These little sweet and tender, yet crispy and savory bites were relatively easy to make too! I already find myself dreaming up variations on a theme:

pear compote with a blue cheese crumble on a round
lamb ragu over rosemary polenta rounds
pesto and cherry tomatoes over mozzarella polenta
Roast beef and braised chard over crispy polenta
Apple compote over cinnamon polenta (maybe?)

Anything is possible - here is the basic recipe I followed:

My plain version of Ina's Rosemary Polenta:

1 stick butter

1/4 c olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic - about 3 cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 c chicken stock

2 c half and half

2 c milk (or 1 c heavy cream, 3 c milk)

2 c cornmeal (I like Gray's!)

1/2 c good grated parmesan

Flour, olive oil, and butter for frying

6 large red onions
Port
Butter
thyme
Crisp pancetta rounds

Polenta: Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and saute 1 min. Add stock, milk/cream, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and slowly sprinkle the cornmeal into the hot milk while stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes until thickened and bubbly. Off the heat, stir in the cheese. Pour into one/two sheet pans and spread to desired thickness (I like 1/4" or 3/8" or so). Refridgerate until cold.

Using a round or fluted (or whatever you wish!) cutter, cut out shapes from polenta. While butter and oil are heating in pan, gently dust shapes with flour. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, turning one time, until golden. Drain/let cool.

Topping: Slice onions and sweat them in butter in a pan, then add port to cover, along with the thyme, and reduce, slowly cooking under meltingly tender. While the compote cools, crisp the pancetta in the oven.

When all ingredients are ready, assemble them: round, compote, pancetta. Straightforward, flexible - and most important, tasty!

Enjoy!

Healthy Popovers?!

Popovers are a transformative food, I think. If you're having a bad day, a popover is a warm, eggy yet bread-y piece of goodness that comforts me. How can you not smile when you crack one open the golden crispy exterior to discover the buttery-yellow tender and warm inside?

I grew up eating popovers on special occasions - Christmas, maybe Easter or another family meal. We would make our own raspberry butter to go along with it. It was also a real fun and special back-to-school treat when my mom would take me and my sisters to The Zodiac at the Neiman Marcus shop at the Westchester Mall. With the complimentary chicken consomme to start the meal, the waiter would bring out the LARGEST perfect popovers with raspberry butter. I still aspire to re-create that puff!

Now, in my family, I've taken over the popover role. I seem to have pretty good luck with these tricky buggers! The trick I have found most helpful is to preheat the popover mold so it's hot when I put the batter in. Oh, and don't open the door. For that matter, don't jump, slam things, or hop. You can sneeze, though.

So popovers have a couple of basic ingredients - eggs, flour, salt, milk, butter. I use the traditional recipe from Joy of Cooking, but when my sister recently returned from Morocco, she wanted to try whole wheat popovers.

My reaction - wait, WHAT?! I worried that whole wheat flour would be too heavy to puff. So, I decided to play around and discovered a foolproof combination. Take whole wheat pastry flour (it's as light as whole wheat flour can get), throw in a teaspoon of salt and sift together. Then, in a bowl, beat four whole eggs (this is going to give the popovers their structure. I usually use less, and some butter for flavor and tenderness, when I use normal flour, but these guys will need a boost). Add a cup of milk (I used whole - I'm tempted to see what would happen if I added some cream to give it some tenderness). Mix, add the sifted flour, and stir with a whisk to combine. I ladled the batter into hot, pre-buttered (butter after the pan is hot or butter will burn!) tin and cook for about 20 minutes at 425 in an convection oven (I watched them rise and turn golden rather than look at the clock, so note).

When they came out of the oven, they shrank so darn fast! I punctured them to let steam release, but I'm thinking next time I wonder if they won't collapse as fast if I don't and just let the shell cool. Alas, this is the one downside to these popovers, as I tasted one with some homemade jam right after I popped them out and they are definitely tasty, with a slight nuttiness to the tender insides.

Healthy popovers? I'm still not quite sure if popovers count as a "healthy" food, but these get awfully close!

Enjoy!

A Cake Occasion

Tomorrow, I'm helping four other ladies host a baby shower for a dear friend of mine. We are each contributing a part of the decor and a dish - or two - for the meal.

The luncheon itself will be straightforward - salads and tea sandwiches, cider, Shirley Temples, and sparkling aperitifs. For dessert - my contribution - a yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting. Just like a store-bought cupcake, and that addictive Duncan Hines frosting, but oh so much better.

This cake - Rose Levy Beranbaum's All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake - is OUT of this world. It is the cake that I compare everything to! Vanilla scented, with a fine moist crumb, it's a breeze to make and bake. I wanted a simple chocolate fudgy frosting. I usually make one from The NYT Cookbook, but didn't want to got through with all those steps. After some research, and a friend's recommendation, I decided to try the Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting from Martha Stewart (okay, I doubled it). Very good results! What do you think?

All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake - makes 2 9" rounds

6 large egg yolks - room temp
1 c milk
2 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 c sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, combine yolks, 1/4 c milk, and vanilla. In large mixing bowl, combine the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Mix on low til combined (30 sec). Then add softened butter and remaining 3/4 c milk. Mix on low to moisten, then on med-high for 1.5 minutes to develop the structure of the cake. Scrape down sides, and add egg mixture in 3 batches, mixing well (20 sec) after each addition. Pour into buttered, parchment lined, buttered again and floured 9" cake pans. Bake until tester clean, about 25-30 min. Let cool, remove from pan and remove parchment and cool completely.

Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting - make 6 c (I made two batches and combined them)

24 oz semisweet chocolate morsels (I use 1/2 Ghiradelli semisweet, 1/2 bittersweet)
4 c heavy cream
1tsp light corn syrup

Melt chocolate and cream together in saucepan. Cook over med-low, stirring constantly, until thick, about 25-30 min. Remove from heat and stir in syrup. Cool completely, stirring every 15 min, or about 2 hrs (I chilled mine in fridge overnight and let it come to temp before using).

Special Announcement, Revealed!

I never win anything. It's crazy I even try anymore! But, one of my favorite blogs, Cooking School Confidential, recently posted a little contest, asking people to post their favorite kitchen tips.

Having spent about 3000 hours in the kitchen (between the hours of 9 and 3 alone - not counting nights and weekends...) since September 1st, I've acquired some pretty useful tips, which I shared in another post. So, I chose to enter the contest simply to share my kitchen tips with others (if it avoids cuts or burns, hey I've done some good!).

I was delighted to learn early last week that I was a winner! @CookingStudent emailed me with the good news. And what did I win you may ask?

Let me quickly interject here with one of the most recent additions to my "kitchen wish list," which already included a 8" poele, wooden fork for omelettes, and an immersion blender. Having spent lots of time chopping bones and vegetables, I'm in need of a special super sharp vegetable-only knife (ooh, a Shun?!) and a wetstone. And, for the tiramisu I want to make for a New Year's Shin-Dig? A moka pot, like those I used every morning in Italy. I DO have a nice espresso machine, but moka pots are so much easier when you need a cup or two of espresso and don't want to have to keep re-filling the portafilter and pulling shots.

Well, the stars aligned in my favor BIG time: I won an Alessi stovetop espresso maker. It's one-cup design is perfect for iced lattes, or to make my New Year's Tiramisu! I can not wait to receive it and give it a whirl.

Photo from Alessi

What favorite recipes do you have that call for espresso? Send me your ideas and I'll share it on the blog!

Thank you again to Cooking School Confidential for the fun contest. Check out the site if you haven't already!

T-3 Days Left Until Thanksgiving!

Do YOU have your menu planned yet?

I don't - that's because I will be sadly travelling away from the continental U.S. for Thanksgiving. Yes, I will be travelling somewhere warm and sunny, but strangely, I'm struggling with not having Thanksgiving with my family in Rhode Island.

For me, one of the most important "traditions" (I put this in quotes since this is a relatively new tradition - four years old?) is our family Thanksgiving there. Some years, it has just been my immediate family. Other years, friends/godparents have joined us. Whomever our company is, the dining room is always full of laughter, high spirits, and tons of smiles.

Cooking at home in Rhode Island is also a sheer pleasure, as there is an abundance of locally grown meat and produce that makes up our feast: turkeys, oysters, bacon, brussels sprouts, green beans, greens, cranberries, onions, pumpkins, apples, cheeses, and more. I enjoy knowing where my food comes, as it takes the sensory pleasure of eating food to another level. Plus, utilizing locally sourced foods gives me even more reason to be thankful at Thanksgiving.

Lastly, I love late autumn in Rhode Island. The air is crisp in the mornings, and the fields of grass are distinctly brown, with the gray-brown of the leaf-less trees and the deep blue water of the ponds complimenting, yet also contrasting with, a cloud-streaked sky. In the early afternoon, the light begins to turn gold, setting the golden grasses afire with beautiful light. Though it is often 40 degrees outside, the light brings a golden warmth to the landscape.

Though I will miss my "traditional" Thanksgiving, I am looking forward to spending my day this year with all my cousins, aunts, and uncles on my father's side of the family. I am also doing some pre-Thanksgiving celebrating of my own.

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

This past Wednesday, Mark Bittman wrote about 101 Things to Prepare Before The Turkey Goes in The Oven in his The Minimalist column. I'm already a fan of these seasonal 101 articles, but I think that this article is one of the better (best?) ones! I'm all ready to try #42 - Brussels Sprouts Sliders. #s 50 and 54 both sound utterly delicious - Spinach, Raisins and Pinenuts or Curried Cauliflower and Raisins - which to make? Both? And #73, a Roasted Beet Salad, too! I've already tried - and devoured - a batch of #84, the Sage Crackers. Most of his desserts pique my interest, but I'm going to stick with my dad's pumpkin pie...

So, for all of you who have not yet finished your menu, I suggest you check this article out. And, for the rest of you who have finished your menu, will you share with us what you are making?

Send me your tips, your recipes, and your feedback!

We've got an email (finally)!

I'd love to hear your feedback, suggestions, comments, recipes, tips and more! Email me at earthlyepicurean@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter: @earthlyepicure

Thank you for reading!

Favorite Kitchen Tips

Here are my favorite kitchen tips!

1. Sharp knives! Sharp knifes cut food with little added pressure. That means less pressure on the hand, and  a lesser liklihood of slipping and cutting your finger. And, if you do cut your finger, the cut is super-clean and heals faster (take my word for it. I don't recommend cutting your finger, but after I cut myself pretty badly with super sharp knife, the deep wound healed in a couple of days without any, um, surgical intervention).

2. Always have a dry side towel, and don't pick up hot pans with wet towels. In our professional kitchen, we use side towels instead of oven mitts, and often these side towels are wet, from mopping up water holding peeled potatoes or drying damp hands. Sometimes, in a rush, I will grab a damp side towel to pull a dish out of the oven, and OUCH! Steam burn! The heat of the pan rushes through the damp towel and gives you a really nasty burn (almost as bad as no towel). Keep your dry towels dry and wet towels damp, and away from your pots. Which brings me to my next tip...

3. Have bleach on hand. In the event you DO burn your hand (or whatever), immediately pour undiluted bleach on that burn. It may hurt or look a little gray later, but I promise you this will help reduce the severity of the burn and help healing. You have to do it right after you burn yourself, not an hour or two later. After burning the back of my hand on an oven rack, this trick eliminated blistering and helped heal my burn.

4. While stocking your pantry, also make sure you have white vinegar on hand. When used with a wet rag to clean stovetops, any cooked on grime comes immediately off. Plus, it's relatively safe to use (no chemicals) and does leave a clean smell behind (compared to bleach!).

5. Place a damp towel under your cutting board -- so it won't slip when you're cutting that squash open.

Now that I'm in the tip-sharing mood, I'm going to put together some cooking tips. Please email your favorite cooking tips to earthlyepicurean@gmail.com