Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Chutney Goat Cheese Puffs

chutneycheesepuff I'm a cheater, in the kitchen anyway. While I may not be a fan of mac and cheese from a box, I positively love using gourmet specialty products. What kinds of products? Jams, mustards, chutney, tapenade, Chinese sauces, so many things! Two of my favorite secret weapons are in the freezer--phyllo dough and puff pastry.

You could easily write a book on all the things you can make out of phyllo dough and puff pastry. I suggest the title "How to Succeed in Baking Without Really Trying". Once you learn how to handle them, the possibilities are endless. They even turn something mundane into something special.

For example you could make a stew into an elegant pot pie. You could turn a fruit compote into pastries. You could make fancy little appetizers to serve hot from the oven. How fancy? I suggest little napoleons or tartlets. It's really easy.

Caramel-Challah Bread Pudding

caramel bpudding This dish is so good that I had to hold my self back from eating the entire dish. A new Sunday morning favorite has just arrived. I inevitably always have left over Challah.

We start our weekend, each Friday night by celebrating Shabbat dinner. Inevitably, we always have left over challah. Eli usually gets egg in the hole on Saturday mornings, Isaac and Levi like it toasted with a little cinnamon butter smeared on top and sometimes I make croutons or bread crumbs with the left overs.

Last night, I was watching an episode of Nigella Lawson. She was making a caramel croissant bread pudding. Bingo. I was inspired to use up our challah and make something similar for breakfast. I changed it a bit yet I am sure the results are just as good as the original!

Tostones Con Mojo

You know what I realized I don’t eat enough of? Plantains. These banana relatives must be cooked before eaten, and their starchy potato-goodness is usually featured in African and Caribbean cooking. And while plantains can be used in stews or baked and served alongside fish and meat, my favorite way of eating them involves double frying them into tostones and dipping them into mojo, a garlic and olive oil condiment. It’s a perfect snack or a great way to start a meal. You could even use the tostones to dip into a giant pile of guacamole.

Tostones Con Mojo adapted from Saveur

For the Tostones:
3 large green plantains
canola or vegetable oil for frying
sea salt

For the Mojo:
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
sea salt

Put crushed garlic and a pinch of salt into a mortar and crush into a paste. Add the chopped cilantro and crush a little bit more. Add the oil to the garlic, salt and cilantro and continue to mix to incorporate. Once mixed, put into a bowl and set aside.

Remove the skin from the plantain. It can be tough to remove, try slicing both ends off and making a slit with the knife the length of the plantain. With your thumb, wedge it between the flesh and peel and remove the skin. Once the skin is removed cut the plantains into 1-inch thick rounds.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet to no more than 350 degrees. Fry the plantains until lightly golden and then transfer to a paper towel to drain, about 3 minutes. With the bottom of a small pan or glass bowl, press the cooked tostones to flatten them to half their original thickness.

Return the flattened tostones to the hot oil and fry again until crisp around the edges and deeply golden. Once cooked transfer to paper towels to drain and then season with salt. Serve the tostones hot with the Mojo.

Cracked Pepper and Chives Bread Two Ways

cracked-bread-029b-1024x682 There is nothing quite as satisfying as eating a thick slice of warm homemade bread slathered with creamy butter. For me, the process of making and kneading bread dough, normally a cool-weather activity in my kitchen, brings peace to my mind, reduces stress and releases me from all the small stuff I’m sweating about.

Cracked Pepper and Chives Bread began with a bread machine recipe I found in an old cookbook I bought at an antique shop a couple of years ago. I added fresh chives to the original recipe, a little honey and olive oil as the fat. I do have a bread machine that I dug out and made the first batch as the original recipe directed. The bread turned out just fine.

There’s just something about the shape of loaves turned out of my machine that just doesn’t seem right. Especially when I know how rustic and earthy bread can look when it is formed into rounds and baked on a pizza stone in the oven.

Lean Pork, Glazed and Amazing: A Recipe from Steve's Meat Market

steves-meat-market-outside-682x1024 Every time I step into a meat market, I think of my mom. I can’t count the times I impatiently waited as she stood in front of the clear glass that separated her from rows of raw meat. As the butcher stood on the other side of the meat case waiting for her order, she examined the ground beef and the red, marbled roasts.

She carefully inspected the pork chops and the loins. The beef she would eventually purchase must have just the right amount of marbling running through. The pork must have enough fat to give it flavor and keep it moist as it cooked.

Somehow, my antsy behavior in all of those meat markets I frequented with my mother has made a complete turn-around over the years. I’ve become my mother. Meat markets and chocolate shops (she couldn’t pass up a Fanny Farmer store) are high on my list of places I love to visit.

Last week I had the opportunity to stop into Steve’s Meat Market in Ellendale, Minn. Owner, Donnavon Eaker, was busy helping a customer as I stepped into the smokehouse-scented store.

“Having steaks on the grill tonight?” the petite Eaker asked her customer as she added up the cost of the meat purchase. The happy customer shared her plans for that day’s meat purchase and walked out with a hefty bag of meat.

Comfort Foods and Indulgences