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Monthly Archives: December 2012

Apple, Pear and Cranberry Crumble Dessert Recipe

21 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Cooking, Dessert, Fruit, Holidays, Recipe

≈ 1 Comment

Good morning Snackers!  How I wish that today for breakfast I had a bowl of this Apple, Pear and Cranberry Crumble!  Perhaps with a dollop of Greek yogurt or a drizzle of half and half over the top. 

Alas, the crumble is long gone.  I baked it as a last-minute dessert for my brother Misha, to celebrate his birthday.  I think he liked it!

Are you ready to crumble? 🙂


Apple, Pear and Cranberry Crumble

Ingredients

4 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped into 1/2″

2 pears, cored and chopped into 1/2″

1/2 cup cranberries

2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup all purpose flour

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a 12-inch round pie pan.

2.  Combine apples, pears, cranberries and 2 tablespoons of the flour and spread evenly in the pie pan.

3. Combine remaining 3/4 cup flour, sugars, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, lemon zest, lemon juice and butter in a bowl and mix together well with your hands, breaking up the butter with your fingers. Make sure the butter doesn’t break down completely. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the fruit.

4.  Cover the pie pan with with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for additional 20 minutes more, or until golden on top and fruit is soft and bubbling.

Hungry for more crumble?  Check out Apple, Pear and Berry Crumble with Walnut, Oatmeal Coconut Topping and Peach and Apricot Crumble with Almonds and Crystallized Ginger

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Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Almonds, Ginger and Clementine ~ Recipe

14 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert, Holidays, Nuts, Recipe

≈ 1 Comment

The cookie swaps are happening across America!  They are in the neighbor’s home, at a friend’s apartment, and even at work!  Today at Allrecipes.com we held our own cookie swap and quite a few of us participated.  I loved sampling a selection of delectable, chewy, crisp, sweet, and irresistible cookies.

My contribution?  Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Almonds, Ginger and Clementine Zest

These cookies came to life based on a Chocolate Shortbread Cookies by Ghirardelli.  This basic, straight forward recipe got a makeover with the help of my friend Dana, a fellow graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.  Following a lovely dinner at home, I suggested Dana helps me bake the cookies, and she was more than eager to help.  Thank you!  We added freshly grated ginger and clementine zest to the dough and studded with toasted almonds.  Rather than baking these as separate cookies, we pressed the dough into a baking sheet, baked it whole and then cut it in shape.  Happy holidays!

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Almonds, Ginger and Clementine Zest

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
2 teaspoons clementine zest
1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup slivered or chopped almonds, toasted and cooled

Directions

1.  Cream together butter, sugar, ginger, zest and salt until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

2.  Sift together flour and cocoa.  This ensures the two are well incorporated and are lump-free.

3.  Combine butter mixture with flour and cocoa until no streaks of flour remain.

4.  Fold in almonds.

5.  Press the dough evenly into a parchment lined 9×13 baking dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  This allows the butter to set up so the cookies do not melt in the oven.

6.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

7.  Bake until the dough is almost set, about 20 minutes.  Cool slightly, transfer with parchment paper to a cutting board and cut to desired size and shape.

The cookies will keep in air-tight container.  You can dress these with confectioners’ sugar or unsweetened cocoa and serve with sliced clementines.


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You Buy, I Cook ~ Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

12 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Cheese, Vegetables, Vegetarian, You Buy I Cook

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One of my favorite “You Buy, I Cook” participants arrived Saturday night for dinner.  I told her that I was in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches and had a wide variety of cheese at home.  She provided the rest.  What followed was an incredible, decadent, delicious dinner! Thank you, Priya!


We began by sauteeing quartered chanterelle mushrooms in olive oil with garlic.  Once the mushroom turned golden and tender, we finished them with a pad of butter, salt and pepper.

For the grilled sandwiches, we cut thick slices of artisan bread and layered Mozzarella, Smoked Gouda and Parmesan cheese along with thinly sliced tomatoes.

First, we seared the sandwiches on one side in a cast iron skillet until the bread turned golden brown and toasty, about 3-5 minutes over medium high heat.  We then flipped the sandwiches and transferred the skillet to a 400 degree oven to melt the cheese and toast the other side.  This was quite easy and the sandwiches turned out perfect.


True to herself, Priya brought over a beautiful pomegrante and released the ruby-red gems into a bowl for us to snack as we were cooking.

Since the oven was already hot, we roasted asparagus spears, simple drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Dinner served!

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Traditional Potato Latkes for Chanukah ~ Quick and Easy Recipe

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Cooking, Holidays, Potatoes, Recipe, Sides, Vegetarian

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Chanukah came early this year and it was time for another family get together to light the candles and eat latkes.  We met on the second night of Chanukah to peel, shred the potatoes, fry the potato pancakes, and dollop sour cream and horseradish on top of them.  The latkes turned out crisp and delicious!  Grating potatoes by hand and squeezing out all of the extra moisture turned out to be key to success.

Happy holidays!

Channukah Potato Latkes

Ingredients

5 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1 medium onion, peeled and shredded
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
vegetable oil for frying
Directions

1.  Rinse potatoes in cold water and squeeze dry.
2.  Combine potatoes with onion, eggs, flour, salt and pepper.
3.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
4.  Place latkes in hot oil, lower heat to medium, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crisp on the outside and cooked through.  I passed the frying responsibility to my mom.  While she was frying the latkes I mixed my parents’ home marinated mushrooms with onion, garlic, pepper and sunflower oil.
5.  Cook latkes in batches, adding more oil, as needed, and transferring cooked latkes to the preheated oven to keep warm.
6.  Serve latkes hot with dollop of sour cream and horseradish cream.

Nutella Banana Chocolate Seduction Tart ~ The Ultimate Dessert

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Bananas, Chocolate, Cooking, Dessert, Nuts, Recipe

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Have you ever been seduced by a piece of dessert?  I’m sure the answer is “yes” for many of us.  In case you are one of the unfortunate people who have not experience this seduction – here is your chance!  This Nutella Banana Chocolate Seduction Tart has a little bit of everything – chocolate, cookie crust, fruit, and nuts!  And lots of butter and sugar.  Be still, my heart.

The beginning: making the chocolate shortbread tart crust:

Be sure your butter is super cold!
The crust goes in!  Poke the bottom of the crust with a fork so it stays nice and flat when baked.
Spread chocolate hazelnut over the cooled crust.
Banana time! I used a banana slicer, but you can slice bananas with a knife as well.

Arrange bananas in a layer over the chocolate hazelnut spread.  I took the time to arranged banana slices in a decorative way, but at the end they are covered with a layer of ganache, so you can’t see them anyway.  You choose how you would like to arrange them.
Once arranged, brush bananas with warmed apricot jam – extra flavor!

Making ganache – cream, butter, chocolate!
And butter!
Chocolate goodness!  Pour ganache over the tart, eliminate the bubbles and chill the tart.  It’s also ridiculously delicious as a frozen dessert!

Garnish with toasted hazelnuts and banana chips.

Eat now!

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Salmon Eggs Benedict at Lynn’s Bistro ~ Where to Brunch in Kirkland, WA

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Brunch, Restaurant Review

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How would you like to start your morning off with a complimentary basket of fresh French pastries?  Perhaps a mini croissant, pane e cioccolata, and a savory scone (French?) with a ramekin filled with apricot jam?  This was exactly how the Artist and I started our Sunday morning brunch at Lynn’s Bistro in Kirkland, Washington.  Ok, truthfully, the morning started with a cup of coffee at home, followed by an oil change, but the other way sounds so much more romantic, doesn’t it?
  
The bistro was empty when we came in, so the service was fast if somewhat absent-minded.  We were never offered beverages, but were promptly informed of daily specials and then left alone to decide.  That’s when the basket of pastries arrived and kept our hunger at bay.

I chose a Smoked Salmon Benedict served on an English muffin with lobster sauce and a side of roasted potatoes.  I snapped a photo of the plate, gave half of it to the Artist and slowly cut the poached egg in half.  The yolk was perfectly golden and liquid.  As it ran out of the white, it soaked into the English muffin and begged to be eaten.  I obliged.  This was the perfect bite.  I could have done without the potatoes, which were unfortunately al dente.  As much as you want your pasta to be al dente (to the tooth), the roasted potatoes should be perfectly tender inside and crisp on the outside.
The Artist ordered a Wild Mushroom Omelet with Gruyere cheese, onion and cream.  The mushroom resembled duxelles and were heavily seasoned with herbs.  The eggs were perfect – light, rich, creamy from both the cheese and the cream – the ultimate!  Sadly, the Artist’s potatoes must have come from the same batch as mine.  
Regardless, our plates were wiped cleaned, the bread basket was picked empty, and we finished brunch with complimentary plates of fresh fruit.
I look forward to coming back to try Lynn’s infamous crab cakes.
Happy day!
214 Central Way  Kirkland, WA 98033

(425) 889-2808


Roasted Brussels Sprouts: Two Easy Recipes for Success

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Cooking, Holidays, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Sides, Thanksgiving, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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Brussels sprouts!  I am in love with these mini-cabbage full of vitamins and nutrients.  They have been making an appearance on my Thanksgiving table for quite a few years.  This year, rather than coming in a mesh bag, cut up from their stalk, the brussels sprouts arrived from the store attached to their stalks, looking regal and proud.

When it came to Thanksgiving, I chose to deal with each of the stalks separately – roasting the brussels sprouts from one of them as I have in the past – cutting them off, halving, and drizzling with oil.  The other stalk was an experiment – my first time roasting the brussels sprouts whole, attached to the stalk.  Both ways were delicious in their own ways.  Try each one and let me know your favorite.










Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic, Lemon and Parsley

Ingredients


1 stalk of brussels sprouts, cut off and halved

2-4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 garlic cloves, grated

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

















Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Drizzle brussels sprouts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Spread in one layer on a cookie sheet.

3.  Roast brussels sprouts in the oven for 30-40 minutes turning halfway through.

4.  Toss roasted brussels sprouts with parsley, garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Season with additional olive oil, salt and pepper, if desired.

Ready for another recipe? Try Whole Roasted Brussels Sprouts!

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How to Roast Brussels Sprouts on the Stalk – Vegetarian Side Recipe

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Cooking, Holidays, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Sides, Thanksgiving, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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Have you ever tried roasting brussels sprouts directly on the stalk?  It’s easier than you might think and looks very impressive on the table.  In fact, it might be the perfect conversation starter.  Give it a try!



Whole Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

1 stalk of brussels sprouts

2-4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste
















Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Wrap the brussels sprouts stalk in plastic wrap and microwave for 4-5 minutes.

3.  Brush the brussels sprouts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Roast in the oven for 45-60 minutes, turning halfway through, until the brussels sprouts are tender.

5.  Cut off the brussels sprouts off the stalk and serve.

Want to try a different recipe for brussels sprouts?  How about Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic, Lemon and Parsley?

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