Winter weekends at the lake typically have us arriving back home after sunset. This dinner is fast with an easy clean up. Sunday scaries seem to be a little more comforting with a quick hearty one pot meal to curl up with and watch Audrey …
I recently read Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s book A Life in 12 Recipes. Fantastic! He makes a sauce from a quick water-based mushroom broth and then adds honey, vinegar, lemon juice and soy sauce to create this wonderfully light sweet-and sour delight. An interesting shift from heavier …
This is the finale – the last of the holiday box of Harry & David pears. Bosc or Anjou work nicely and keep their shape well. Its a make-ahead, super simple, show stopper. Perhaps you’ll make it for your cozy stay at home Valentine dinner?
In a sauce pan, over low heat, combine all ingredients, except pears.
Peel pears, pole to pole (to keep their shape), using a vegetable peeler. Cut the pears in half (leave the stem on) and use a melon baller or small spoon to remove the center in a neat circle.
Immediately add the pears to the simple syrup mixture and bring to a low boil. Cook, turning the pears several times, until the sugar has dissolved (about 20 minutes).
Cool and refrigerate in an air tight container.
In a small sauce pan combine water, cocoa, sugar and syrup, and bring to a low boil. Remove from heat and add bittersweet chocolate. Stir to melt. Cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, sugar and syrup in a sauce pan over low heat until sugar is dissolved (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes.
Sift in flour, mixing a little at at time. Add lemon juice. Mix.
Place teaspoon size drops of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle drops with coconut and bake 8 -10 minutes or until edges are golden.
Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. When the crisp are still warm they can be rolled or shaped if you like.
Pears, chocolate sauce and coconut crisp can all be made the day before serving. You will need to gently warm the chocolate sauce before serving. The pears and syrup can be served hot or cold. Any leftovers are delicious with pancakes. Use a clove to mimic the stem on pear halves without them. Serve with ice cream and a garnish of mint.
We are 3 weeks past the winter solstice. The skies are still a cold gray backdrop to the bare trees, but the days are subtly getting longer and the spring flowers are beginning to emerge from the protective blanket of crunchy damp leaves. Earlier this …
I first made a version of this cake for my book club, probably 10 years ago, after reading The Poisonwood Bible. I’ve modified it a bit since then and make it gluten free now. Many things I like about it: it’s not too sweet and …
Air travel in the 1970s was a far cry from what it is today. We dressed up for a flight, smoked cigarettes on the plane, drank cocktails, and a fancy chicken dinner was served! This beautiful crispy skin on the outside of a juicy boneless breast, with the first wing joint still attached ( so you could easily pick it up and enjoy it), was dubbed an airline breast, but the elegant cut is also know as a frenched breast. Sadly, it’s not a cut you’ll likely find at your local grocery store in the States, but trust me, it’s’ worth the effort to learn to fabricate them. You can butcher 2 whole chickens and have meat for 2 or 3 nights dinner that week and make a chicken stock to have readily on hand.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring chicken to room temperature. In a sauté pan, heat olive oil, sear chicken, skin side down, until golden. Turn and transfer to a baking dish and finish cooking (to 160 degrees) in the oven.
In the sauté pan, add sliced shallots and cook on medium until caramelized, then add prosciutto. Deglaze pan with white wine, reduce, add chicken stock, reduce, strain. Off the heat, whisk in butter.
Blanch, peel and slice tomatoes – set aside. Combine shallots, garlic and red wine vinegar. Whisk in olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon over tomatoes.
Served here with crowder peas and spinach salad. Rinse fresh spinach, remove the stems and toss leaves with a few tablespoons of the tomato vinaigrette.
My husband and his friend catch a crazy amount of Florida spiny lobster, free diving, every year during the mini season in Key Largo. We’re always exploring ways to prepare it to highlight its freshness. Steeping makes it easy to remove the shells, then butter-poaching, …
How many different versions of shrimp and grits have you had? Ingredients and shrimp varieties differ all throughout the South. The winning combination for me: fresh gulf shrimp, a few vegetables, cider vinegar and Alabama Conecuh sausage. The prep takes a little while, but it’s …
No doubt the star of this recipe is the crab, so keep it the highlight!
Orange Beach, known as the “Redneck Riviera”, sits on the Gulf of Mexico in L. A. (Lower Alabama) and boasts the most beautiful wide soft white fine sand beaches you’ll ever sink your feet into. As a child, it was our summer vacation destination, and we carried the tradition on with our children. We continue to make the drive down several times a year.
The sometimes long line trails out the doors of Joe Patti’s Seafood market in Pensacola. The smell of salt water wafts through the air as you navigate your way to the center. There, you’ll find the ticket lady, clad in red, perched up on a metal bar stool. The place is buzzing, it moves fast, and you better be ready when they call your number. Gulf of Mexico wild caught jumbo crabmeat (Junior Barbour Seafood) is a must. I use Udi’s gluten fee frozen french baguettes for the bread crumbs.
Thaw out one loaf of Udi’s French bread baguette to make fresh bread crumbs. Cut the crust off and process the rest in a food processor and season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Next, dice fine a slice each (1/4 of the pepper) of red bell pepper and yellow bell pepper and sauté in olive oil a few minutes until soft. Combine 1 pound crab meat, 1/2 the bread crumbs (reserving the other half to bread the crab cakes for frying), a tablespoon of lemon juice and a little zest, one egg beaten, 2 tbs chopped shallots, 2 tbs chopped scallions, the sautéd peppers, a pinch on nutmeg, a dash of hot sauce, salt and pepper. Lastly, divide into individual balls (I use an ice cream scoop).
Make an egg wash (one egg whisked with a tablespoon of water) and brush the tops of the crab cakes and gently coat with bread crumbs. Repeat on other side. Cook in clarified butter until golden on one side, then flip and brown the other side. Enjoy!
If you want to take these to the next level, make this sauce beurre blanc. In a sauce pan over medium heat add 3/4 cup chardonnay, 3 Tbs sherry vinegar, 3 Tbs white wine vinegar, one sliced shallot, a couple of thyme sprigs and reduce to a syrup. Over low heat add a 1 Tbs of heavy cream and whisk in a stick of cold butter (a tbs at a time) until incorporated. Strain. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
“Bruno” checking out what’s going on in the backyard. We have a lot of deer – I love watching and photographing them, but they absolutely devour my hosta, pansies and daylilies!
I think the trick to making a good meatball is the order of operations. Start by mixing the eggs and spices together and then slowly whisking in the grated fresh parmesan cheese (no clumps), followed by gently hand blending the meats into the liquid mixture …
