Caramelized Onion Flatbread

I hope everyone survived their Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. The extent of my shopping was going to the grocery store to buy everything I needed for a dinner party I hosted Saturday night and stock up on meat to smoke today for one last practice run. I wanted to squeeze in a post while my gingerbread is in the oven. This past week has been a blur and why I think I can do 10,000 at once is beyond me. Tuesday my gingerbread "dog" house is due so I hope on Wednesday to do a huge recap of that and all my Thanksgiving fixings. Then Friday we're off to Sealy for a BBQ contest. So my post will be light this next week.

I'm one of those people that have to have bread with every meal. Drives my hubby nuts but I take after my grandmother and breathe a big sigh when we're out of bread. Today's recipe is a wonderful change to the everyday slice of white bread with dinner. As I ate the bread with my meal my mind started to fill with inspiration for some other ideas of what to top bread with.

Caramelized Onion Flatbread

(Adapted from Southern Living October 2009 magazine)

1 large sweet onion, sliced

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound balery pizza dough

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon chopped rosemary

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Saute onion in 1 tablespoon hot oil over medium-high heat 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Press dough into a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan, pressing to about 1/4 inch thickeness. Press handle of a wooden spoon into dough to make indentations at 1 inch interval; drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and sprinkle with salt, rosemary, and caramelized onions.

Bake at 425 degrees F on lowest oven rack 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pumpkin Souffle with Cinnamon Anglaise

I wanted to try out a new dessert for Thanksgiving and at my husband's wise words I should probably try it out before hand in case it doesn't work out. Since it's been a long time since I've done a souffle I agreed it was a good idea. I think secretly he wanted to try it ahead of time, but I'll never know. Well, good news is it worked out the bad news is it's a lot of work. It can pretty much be done the day or two ahead of time, but I would rather just make a simple pumpkin pie. This tasted really good and we really loved the Cinnamon Anglaise, I'll be using that instead of whipped cream on my pies for sure. I do encourage you to try it if you're looking for a new type of dessert to share.

Pumpkin Souffle with Cinnamon Anglaise
(Adapted from Todd English's book "The Olives Dessert Table)

8 tablespoons (1 stick)unsalted butter, plus more for pan and souffle dishes
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for souffle dishes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
9 large eggs, separated
confectioners sugar for dusting

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a small baking sheet. Spread pumpkin puree evenly over prepared baking sheet.

Bake until puree loses most of its moisture, but is not quite dry and has not formed a crust, about 25 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking time. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Cool at room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to 3 days).

In a small saucepan, combine milk and fresh ginger. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let steep for at least 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve; discard solids.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter six 10-ounce souffle dishes. Dust with granulated sugar, tapping out excess.

Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt until smooth.

Gradually add in steeped milk, whisking constantly, and continue to cook until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the pumpkin mixture and the brown sugar to milk mixture; stir to combine.


Stir in egg yolks.



Transfer to a large bowl, and and place in ice-water bath to cool mixture completely.

Combine egg whites and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until stiff glossy peaks form.

Using a rubber spatula, fold egg whites into chilled pumpkin mixture in two stages.

Pour into prepared souffle dishes, mounding mixture slightly over the rim. Smooth surfaces of souffles with your fingertip.

Bake until tops are colored and dry to the touch, 20-25 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately with cinnamon anglaise.


Cinnamon Anglaise

1 1/3 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup milk
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
1/3 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks, room temperature
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine cream, milk and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let steep for 1 hour. Remove cinnamon sticks and discard. Add half of the sugar, and stir to combine.
Prepare an ice-water bath. In a large bowl, combine the remaining sugar, egg yolks and salt. Stir to combine.

Return cream to a boil and quickly, very quickly, pour it into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. (Yes I know I did this backwards.)

Set aside for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and strain through a fine sieve. Discard solids.

Place bowl in the ice-water bath to cool mixture completely, stirring occasionally, 20-30 minutes. Will keep, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Pumpkin Lune with Butter and Sage

I love seasonal dishes. I got one to many small pumpkins that I thought I wanted to use as decor, but I hate to waste it so I decided to cook it. I've had this recipe from Martha Stewart's show back in 2007 that I printed and have yet to try so now is good as any. I used a basic pasta dough recipe which can be found anywhere online.

Overall we really liked this. It seems fancy like something you would only get in a restaurant. So if you're looking for something different to serve at your next dinner party give this a try. It's time consuming, but it can be made in advance. I just separated layers in a tupperware with cling wrap to keep the pasta from sticking together then just boil them when you're ready. I would love to try using squash and other vegetables in this as well one day.

We leave Colorado tomorrow and I'm sad that means it's back to housework and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I have a sweet treat ready for Monday's post keeping with the pumpkin theme then I'll be back in the saddle on Wednesday's post.

Pumpkin Lune with Butter and Sage

(Adapted from chef Mario Batali's cookbook The Babbo Cookbook)

1 small sugar pumpkin, or butternut or acorn squash (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 recipe Basic Pasta Dough
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 fresh sage leaves
1 large Amaretti Cookie (I left this out)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut pumpkin or squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds; place on a baking sheet cut side up and drizzle with olive oil. Transfer to oven and roast until very soft, 25 to 35 minutes. Let cool; scoop out flesh from skin.

In a large bowl, combine cooled squash, cheese, nutmeg, and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper; stir well to combine filling.

Set the rollers of a hand-cranked or electric pasta machine at their widest opening. Cut off a piece of dough about the size of a large egg, and flatten it with the palms of your hands. Keep the rest of the dough wrapped in plastic. Dust the small piece of dough lightly with flour, and run it once through the machine. Fold the dough in half, pressing it down with your fingertips, and run through the machine again. Repeat this step four or five times, dusting lightly with flour if needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Now change the rollers of the pasta machine to a decreasing setting, and roll out the dough once without folding. Keep rolling the sheet through the machine on decreasing settings until you have rolled it through the last (thinnest) setting. Using a 2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out circles of dough. Pipe or carefully spoon a rounded teaspoon filling into the center of half of the dough rounds.

Cover filling with remaining dough rounds and press edges firmly together to seal.

Bring 6 quarts water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter stops foaming, add 2 tablespoons pasta cooking water; whisk until emulsified.

Drain pasta and add to skillet. Add sage leaves and toss gently until pasta is coated with sauce, about 1 minute.

Divide pasta evenly between 4 plates. Serve immediately garnished with freshly grated cheese and amaretti.

Field Greens, Crumbled Blue Cheese and Spicy Pecans

We are enjoying our time so far in Colorado. We made it up here Saturday night after a 3 hour detour due to the snow storm moving in and the roads covered in ice and accidents, then we were snowed in on Sunday so I have some pictures at the end of my post from then. Monday the snow started to melt, but we took advantage of the snow by sledding down the driveway. I forgot what it's like to sit back and not do anything, but read a book and relax.

I like to encourage people who read my blog if there's something you would like to see or have a request of a recipe you would like me to try and review let me know I'm always up for trying new things as long as it's not too wild. So today's recipe goes out to a friend who asked me to post a good salad recipe. I got this from my cousin which I'm not sure where she got it from, but it's one of my families favorites. I plan on making it as part of my Thanksgiving meal this year instead of the usual bottled dressing line I put out. You'll notice I didn't use field greens in the pictures, I kept it simple and did a wedge of lettuce.

Field Greens, Crumbled Blue Cheese and Spicy Pecans

Vinaigrette

(makes 12 ounces)

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup distilled white vinegar

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 1/2 teaspoon onion juice

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup vegetable oil

Combine sugar, dry mustard, salt and vinegars. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Whisk in onion juice and Worcestershire.

Add oil slowly, whisky continuously until blended.

Spicy Pecans
(Yields 4 1/2 cups)

2 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups pecan halves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat eff whites with salt until foamy.

Add sugar, Worcestershire, paprika and cayenne.

Fold in pecans and melted butter.

Spread pecans evenly on a baking sheet. Bake 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool. Store pecans in an airtight container.


Salad

4 cups mixed field greens
2 green onions, chopped
4 ounces (1 cup) blue cheese, crumbled
1 Granny Smith apple, cored, seeded and chopped
spicy pecans

Here's what it looked like from the back porch as the snow was coming down all day Sunday.

Here's my baby playing in the snow:

Here I am trying to build a snowman:

Here's the finished snowman, Mocha wasn't too sure what it was, but realized he wasn't a threat.

Back to sunny skies on Monday:

Creamy Parmesan Pasta Sauce with Tortelloni

Do you miss me yet? I thought so, that's why I decided to do a comfort food to get your week started. Don't worry I saved some fancy food for you this week while I'm away! I'll even try to put together an extra post with shots of what we're up to.

I liked this recipe because of how creamy it was, but I wasn't over the moon about it. It lacked a lot of flavor so next time I'll be tossing in some herbs and seasoning. Otherwise it was a really nice thick sauce that's super filling.

Creamy Parmesan Pasta Sauce with Tortelloni

(Adapted from local HEB ad)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

2 cups half and half

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used regular)

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 box (14 oz) tortelloni

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and stir in flour to paste.

Gradually add half and half stirring constantly until sauce starts to thicken.

Add seasonings and cheese. Reduce heat to low and simmer.

Cook tortelloni according to package instructions. Drain and toss with sauce.

Almond Joy Martini

Happy Friday the 13th! I hope nothing spooky happens today, we'll be on the road traveling so I'll have my eyes wide open the whole day. The cold fronts aren't staying around here long so we're heading to Colorado where there's cooler weather.

Thinking of spooky Halloween and Friday the 13th, I'm sure you're still eating all the leftover Halloween candy, but in case you don't have any left or you would rather drink it then I have the thing for you! I could drink these all night they taste just like the Almond Joy bars, but they'll knock your socks off. After searching the internet for recipes that use chocolate vodka since I had it leftover from my Halloween shots I came across this recipe from Fine Living Channel. I hope you give it a try it's really tasty!

Almond Joy Martini

(Adapted from Fine Living Channel)

1 ounce chocolate vodka

1 ounce hazelnut liquor

1 ounce coconut rum

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until well blended, then strain into a chilled martini glass.

Jalapeno Cilantro Dipping Sauce

Calamari is one of our favorite appetizers to get when we go out to dinner. I also like making them at home for half the cost! I wanted to try something a little different with fresher ingredients instead of the usual maranara sauce. The thing I liked about this sauce is that you could use it for other things. I would like to try it on fish, fried shrimp or chicken fingers, it really did inspire me to find other uses for it.

Jalapeno Cilantro Sauce

(Adapted from Tampa Maid's Breded Calamari Rings box)

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup tomato puree

1 garlic clove, minced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Mix thoroughly, chill and serve.

Crab Stuffed Shrimp and Peppers

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Not much on our agenda, hubby went 4 wheeling with some friends while I shopped on Saturday then Sunday we smoked some meat all day. We're getting ready for a BBQ cook off coming up in a couple of weeks so practice makes perfect. Smoking meat isn't the most glamorous job, but the wait all day is worth it in the end. To tie us over I made some crab stuffed shrimp and instead of the usual cream cheese peppers I put some stuffing in them as well. I was inspired by a couple different recipes I've done in the past and come up with my own. While I admit I usually like anything on the BBQ pit, I think the crab stuffing flavor is better when it's done in the oven because the smoke flavor over took the crab flavor. Adjust the seasoning in the mixture to your taste and feel free to use the stuffing as you wish it's really good just as it is too since there's no egg.

Crab Stuffed Shrimp

2 sticks butter

1 sweet onion, chopped

1/4 pound celery (I left this out this time)

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 cup bread crumbs

8 ounces crab meat

In a saucepan over medium heat, place butter in and allow to melt. Add next 9 ingredients and cook 6-8 minutes.

Place mixture into a blender and blend. Be careful as mixture is hot. Transfer to a mixing bowl adding bread crumbs and drained crab meat. Stir until combined.

There's a couple of different ways you can stuff and serve the shrimp. You could coat them with flour and deep fry them at 350 degrees F for 1-2 minutes then place a tablespoon of stuffing onto each shrimp.

You can stuff the raw shrimp with a tablespoon of stuffing, then wrap with bacon and bake them in a 350 degree oven. Or you can grill them which is how we did ours today.

For the peppers I just hollowed them out and filled them with stuffing then grilled till the pepper was soft.

Old-Fashioned Lemon Pudding

I love reading other bloggers recipes as I hope many of you enjoy some of the things I have to share. I don't know how she does it, but Mary makes the most wonderful things and she post all the time. One of her recipes caught my eye that sounds so refreshing I knew I had to try it. I didn't take pictures of the process, but it's really easy. Check out her blog to see how beautiful the pudding looks, since I couldn't get a really good shot of how wonderful it looks. This makes the perfect amount and my hubby has already requested I make it again!

Old Fashioned Lemon Pudding
(Adapted from Mary at One Perfect Bite)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2-1/2 cups milk
3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions:
1) Place sugar and cornstarch in a 2-quart saucepan. Whisk to combine. Gradually add milk, whisking until smooth. Add egg yolks, lemon zest and salt. Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until sauce thickens and coats a spoon.

2) Remove pan from heat. Stir in lemon juice and butter. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl or individual serving dishes. Let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap. Transfer to refrigerator for 2 hours, or until set. Serve chilled. Yield: 4 -6 servings.

Crawfish Fettuccine

Today's recipe is an oldie, it comes from a grandmother of a high school friend I had. I haven't had it for 10 years now and forgot that I had the recipe until I was flipping through and came across it. It also didn't dawn on me this recipe makes a BUNCH of food so hubby will be eating it for the rest of the week for lunch and probably next week. I suggest you cut it in half unless you are feeding a crowd in which case make the full batch. It's a great make ahead dish just make it till the baking part, cover and refrigerate then bake it when you're ready to eat. It may seem watery when you put it in the baking dish, but don't worry it'll soak up when you bake it. The only thing I changed is adding more spice as usually. I added Old Bay, red pepper flakes and cayenne right before you add the noodles in. You can also use egg noodles if you want to skip using a knife at dinner. Overall this is a hardy recipe that you can easily swap the crawfish for shrimp, chicken or whatever you like.

Crawfish Fettuccine

3 onions, chopped

3 bell peppers, chopped

3 celery sticks, chopped

2 sticks margarine or butter

1 pound noodles

3 pounds crawfish

4 pods garlic, minced

4 tablespoons parsley

1 (26 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

1 pint half and half

1 pound Velveeta cheese

jalapeno peppers (optional)

Saute onions, bell peppers, celery in butter. (I cheated to cut down on time and used pre-chopped bell pepper and celery.)

Boil noodles, drain and set aside. Add to onion mixture.

Cook crawfish, garlic, parsley and soup for 15 minutes.

Add half & half and Velveeta cheese. (Add jalapeno as well if desired.) Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Add noodles and pour in casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Hope you aren't having an upset tummy from all the candy over the weekend! We had a great time seeing all the kids dressed up.

As Fall creeps in and we had two nice cold fronts last week, I wanted to make one last sweet summer treat to use up some strawberries left over from my Tiramisu dip. These where very tasty right out of the oven and later in the day, but after that they're not so great. I see now why they recipe says their only good for one day.

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl.

Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart.

Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.