Cherry Almond Crumble

What does one do when one has guests and they don't eat chocolate? Out goes most of my recipes and I find out what they do like, in tonights case Bill really likes fruit cobblers and crumbles so off to the test kitchen I went for this recipe.

ITs not a complete test as the topping is pretty generic and all I had to do was get some backs of fresh frozen fruit from the grocery. I knew going into this that cherry and almond play together really well so it wasn't a giant leap into the unknown with this one. Turned out quite tasty.

Cherry Almond Crumble

• 2 lbs frozen pitted dark cherries
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 T corn starch
• 1 t almond extract.
• Topping:
• 1 1/2 old fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 c slivered almonds
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c butter melted

Lightly spray 13X9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine cherries, sugar, corn starch and almond extract. Toss lightly until evenly coated. Pour into a single layer into the baking dish.

In stand mixer add oats, flour, brown sugar and almonds. Turn mixer onto low speed and slowly drizzle in the melted butter. Mix until butter is well distributed and the mix resembles coarse sand. Sprinkle topping mixture over the fruit.

Bake 350F for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Swampberry Pie - not as bad as you think

Blueberry's and cranberry's love the swamp, grow in swamps, hence the name swampberry pie.

In this lovely little pie I use frozen wild blueberries from Trader Joe's. Well worth the extra buck over the domestic kind. You get a much more intense blueberry flavor with none of that gritty seed action when you opt for the wild blueberry. Of course I got spoiled on the real wild blueberry as a kid traipsing about the swamps around Ely, MN picking them for pies, muffins and pancakes with my grandmother.

Unlike my grandmother, I don't have a decent pie hand. But I do quite well with building the guts of a pie. Marie Calender's pie shells are the best by far that I have seen, and guess what...no dough to have to get mad at and toss in the trash in a fit of anger when it starts shredding and falling apart. A total win for me. If you can make the pie dough from scratch and have it not fall apart when trying to get into the pie plate more power to you!

Swampberry Pie

• 1 deep dish pie shell
• 12 oz bag frozen wild blueberries
• 2/3 C dried sweetened cranberries (I use craisans brand)
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 1 T corn starch
• 1 C flour
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C butter - cubed
• 1/2 t cinnamon

In bowl gently toss blueberry, cranberry, lemon juice, lemon zest and corn starch until blended. Pour into the prepared pie shell.

Pour flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a blow and stir to blend up evenly. Add cubed butter and with a pastry cutter or stand mixer with a whisk attachment blend in the butter to the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Pour over fruit mixture in pie pan.

Bake 400F for 50-60 minutes until topping is golden brown.

Shell all nicely loaded waiting for topping

Asian Pepper Steak

Wow...sorry for the delay in posting here, but I've been so busy with life and other blogs that I haven't had much time to devote to this one. Bad me.

During this hiatus I didn't stop cooking nor did I stop eating and living in a healthy way hasn't stopped.

Last night I made a favorite of mine that hits all the right Asian style cooking notes to make it a hit with a few around here. I love Asian for a lot of reasons, mostly because of all the stir fried crispy-ish veggies that go into it. I've made variations of this one dish over the years. Satisfies the urge for Asian as well as being nutritious.

It is really important for the flavor that you include the sesame oil. It imparts a lot of flavor to your stir fry and is one of the usual secret ingredients that make Asian taste so good. Its worth the splurge.

Asian Pepper Steak

• 1 lb thin sliced sirloin or top round
• 1/4 c + 2T low sodium soy sauce
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 T minced fresh ginger
• 1 onion
• 2 T vegetable oil - divided
• 2 T sesame oil - divided
• 1 cup water
• 1 t better than beef bullion (or a cube if you can't find this stuff)
• 2 T corn starch.
• Crispy Chow Mein Noodles (optional)

A couple of hours prior to making cut your beef into bite sized pieces, add to bowl. Add in 2T soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Marinate in fridge at least 2 hours.

Coarse chop onion and peppers. In large skillet over medium high heat add 1T each of vegetable and sesame oil. Heat until shimmering, add veggies. Stir fry until tender crisp, 4-5 minutes. Remove veggies from pan and put aside.

Add 1T each of the vegetable oil and sesame oil. Heat until shimmering and add beef mixture. Stir fry 5-6 minutes until browned and done. Add 1/3 cup soy sauce and reduce heat to simmer. Dissolve bullion and corn starch in the water. Add vegies back into the pan with the meat. Add the corn starch mixture and bring to boil. When thickened and clear remove from heat. Serve over rice with crispy chow mein noodles as garnish.

Veggies getting stir fried all on the own...

Smashed outta the park...Spanish Rice and Noodles

Geez, if I knew it was going to be this good I'd have done it a while back. Seriously, rarely do you get a new recipe that everyone raves over on the first try. But this is one.

I used a spanish noodle called "fiedo" and it is similar to 1 inch long pieces of angel hair pasta. Stuff is good and I had bought it to make chicken noodle soup, but still have half a package left. What to do, what to do...experimenting came to mind. If you can't find fideo on your supermarket shelf you could just bust up some angel hair pasta into 1 inch long pieces and move forward with the recipe.

The end result is something not unlike that boxed rice-a-roni (contrary to the ad jingle you can't get it in San Francisco) Spanish Rice. Only better, much moister and tastier.

Finally to make it even easier I used a microwave oven to cook the stuff.

Spanish Rice and Noodles

• 3/4 c rice
• 1/4 cup fideo noodles
• 1/4 c diced onion
• 1 14 oz can chicken broth
• 1/2 c salsa (I used pace picante)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T butter

In a saute pan heat olive oil and butter over medium high heat. Add rice, fideo and onion. Cook until the fideo is deep golden brown and onion is translucent. Stir often so you don't burn the fideo and onion. Add to microwave safe baking dish, stir in salsa. Cover with a microwave safe lid or plastic wrap. Microwave 5 minutes on high, reduce power to 50% and cook 15 minutes longer.

Best Brownie I ever ate...

I can't take credit for this recipe at all, but will gladly share it. It showed up in this months Bon Appetite magazine in an article all about cocoa and cocoa recipes. This brownie is unusual in that it uses cocoa powder and browned butter. A little bit of work extra in making, but well worth the effort. Link HERE.

My only caution is to make sure you use a good heavy pan to brown the butter as too thin a pan you run the risk of scorching the butter before it is beautifully browned.

The recipe calls for a "natural unsweetened cocoa" but doesn't make a specific brand request. I used a dark chocolate cocoa from Surfas' Culinary District weg site. The brand I used is their "Black Onyx" cocoa which is an extra rich cocoa which I use in all recipes calling for "cocoa powder". The link to buy it yourself is HERE.

Thai Noodles and Chicken

So my friend Janie sent me this recipe that looked good but would have served an army, calling for nearly double the ingredients this cut down version made. Even this version will serve a small platoon, and man is it good. Hat tip to Janie for the start of a wonderful recipe.

I will warn you in advance that the prep work is a bit tedious but well worth the results. Best to get it all prepped mis en place style as it stir fries up very quickly. If you try to just dice or julienne as you go you will wind up with something over cooked instead of tender crisp. Take the time to prep and have it ready to go all at once will make your life a lot stressful.

Thai Noodles and Chicken

• 10 oz rice noodle cooked according to package directions.
• 1 T light cooking oil
• 2 T sesame oil
• 1 cloves fresh garlic minced
• 1 red chili pepper minced & seeded
• 1 carrot - julienned
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• zucchini julienned
• 1 bunches scallions - sliced on the diagonal into 1/2" pieces, green tops reserved
• 1 small red onion diced
• 1 lb cooked chicken breast diced

Spices

• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t. yellow curry powder
• 1 T lemon pepper
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 t lemon zest

Dressing

• 3/4 c chunky or creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 c low sodium soy sauce
• 1 c hot water
• 1/8 cup seasoned rice vinegar

Garnish

• 1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1/2 c chopped cilantro
• reserved sliced green onion tops

Cook rice noodles and drain. Add oils to a 3 qt sauce pan and heat over medium high heat add vegetables, chicken and spices to hot oil and stir fry 3-4 minutes. Mix peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot water, add to vegetable mixture. Add noodles, bring bring to a simmer. Add more water if it gets thick (I had to add about 1/4 c). Remove from heat and add garnish. Serve in bowls with crunchy chow mien noodles sprinkled on top for a little extra crunch.

Drunken Pulled Pork...the Crock Pot edition

My kids love pulled pork sammies, my wife will eat it without the bun...a carb counter amongst us. Regardless its stupid easy to do as all it needs is a long braise. Its a hit any day of the week, but on Sundays when its my day for basketball tournaments I need to rely on the Crock Pot to get Sunday dinner on the table.

This version isn't all that different from the oven braised version I blogged a while back. It simply takes the pork butt roast from being cut to fit into a braising pan to being whole to slow cook all day in a crock pot. Mine is older than I care to admit but still is a very handy tool to have in the kitchen for those busy days you either don't have the time to cook dinner or you don't want to heat up the entire house with an oven. Either way its a long slow braise and the results are fork tender ready to pull apart pork roast.

One thing I've discovered is that it is true that cooking bone in yields more flavor. When cooked until fork tender there is no butchering required to get around the bone...it simply pulls right out and you can go about using a pair of forks to pull your pork.

Even though I am using a bottled BBQ sauce for the sandwiches, I still pull a lot of spices into the mix to pick up the same flavor profile basted deep into the pork. Its just a more flavorful end result. Prolly why its a hit with the fam.

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

• 7 lb bone in pork roast
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 t Steak seasoning (I use Lawry's brand Montreal Seasoning Salt)
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T Liquid Smoke
• 1 Bottle beer (I use a light amber wheat beer)
• 1 15oz can tomato sauce

Add ingredients in order listed to crock pot. Set on low and cook 8 hours. Remove pork roast from the braising liquid. Using a fork peal off pieces of meat. Using two forks, one to hold down the meat and another to shred pull your pork into bite sized shards. Add your favorite BBQ sauce to the shredded meat, heat and serve on hamburger buns.