apple pie in a tart pan
November 1, 2008
Beet Amuse Bushe with Tomatoes Provencal
So we've been getting weekly veggies from our local CSA and lately have been getting lots and lots of beets. Beets are one of those plants that are available year round here in Santa Cruz, so I'm afraid that we are going to be getting beets every week from now on...ugh! It's not that I don't like beets, they're just something that showed up on holidays at my grandparents house once or twice a year. We'd eat them, and like them, but not see them again until the year after. Now I've got beets coming out of my ears! Here's something we whipped together to use up our inventory.
Ingredients:
Butter
2 small mashing Potatoes
1 Tbs. blue cheese
1 Apple
Tomatoes
3/4 cup Bread Crumbs
3 cloves Garlic
3 Tbs. chopped Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
1 Beet
Salt and Pepper
Start in by preheating the oven to 400F. Then continue by peeling, coring, and slicing the apple. Peel and Cube the potatoes. Cook each in boiling water until tender.
Drain the apples and make applesauce (plain or sweetened, your choice). Of course, we just need a little bit of apple sauce for this recipe but if you have bucket loads of apples, make bucket loads of applesauce. If you're really intrepid you can then take some of this and cook it down over really really low heat for several hours (double boiler? Crock pot?), which will caramelize the sugars in the applesauce and leave you with apple butter...yum.
For this recipe heat 1 Tbs. butter in a frying pan, spoon in about 3 Tbs. of the applesauce and cook it all for about 30 seconds. This will approximate apple butter for us here real quick. No waiting.
Peel and slice the beet into rings. Beware of beet hands!! Not as bad or as bad looking as biscuit hands, but still. Boil the beet in water until tender.
Slice the tomatoes in half and gently scoop out the seeds and liquids. Set these in a largish baking dish.
Here Sarah has mixed together the garlic, basil, breadcrumbs, and a little bit of the tomato juice to hold it all together. She then added salt and pepper to taste. Having mixed all this together, she then spoons it into the tomatoes, heaping a bit.
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over all and shove the whole mess into the oven. Roast until the bread crumbs start to brown a little bit.
In the mean time I've drained the potatoes and have added some pepper, butter, and blue cheese before mashing it all with a stick blender (I've probably said it before, but this invention is amazing!).
Spoon the mashed potato onto a tin-foiled baking sheet. Smooth out the peaks so they don't burn in the oven.
After baking for about 15 minutes or so. I can't remember so you'll have to check on it every once in a while. Lay down a small bed of lettuce. Place a single boiled beet slice on afore said bed. Spoon up one of the potato pods and place this on top of the stack. Top it off with a small amount of apple butter. The bigger the plate, the more you could charge for it in a fancy restaurant.
We put the tomato on a bed of eggy rice and drizzled a little more olive oil over all. It was great.
Eggy Rice:
1 cup white rice
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
Steam the rice. When done stir in the beaten egg. The heat of the rice should cook the egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients:
Butter
2 small mashing Potatoes
1 Tbs. blue cheese
1 Apple
Tomatoes
3/4 cup Bread Crumbs
3 cloves Garlic
3 Tbs. chopped Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
1 Beet
Salt and Pepper
Start in by preheating the oven to 400F. Then continue by peeling, coring, and slicing the apple. Peel and Cube the potatoes. Cook each in boiling water until tender.
Drain the apples and make applesauce (plain or sweetened, your choice). Of course, we just need a little bit of apple sauce for this recipe but if you have bucket loads of apples, make bucket loads of applesauce. If you're really intrepid you can then take some of this and cook it down over really really low heat for several hours (double boiler? Crock pot?), which will caramelize the sugars in the applesauce and leave you with apple butter...yum.
For this recipe heat 1 Tbs. butter in a frying pan, spoon in about 3 Tbs. of the applesauce and cook it all for about 30 seconds. This will approximate apple butter for us here real quick. No waiting.
Peel and slice the beet into rings. Beware of beet hands!! Not as bad or as bad looking as biscuit hands, but still. Boil the beet in water until tender.
Slice the tomatoes in half and gently scoop out the seeds and liquids. Set these in a largish baking dish.
Here Sarah has mixed together the garlic, basil, breadcrumbs, and a little bit of the tomato juice to hold it all together. She then added salt and pepper to taste. Having mixed all this together, she then spoons it into the tomatoes, heaping a bit.
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over all and shove the whole mess into the oven. Roast until the bread crumbs start to brown a little bit.
In the mean time I've drained the potatoes and have added some pepper, butter, and blue cheese before mashing it all with a stick blender (I've probably said it before, but this invention is amazing!).
Spoon the mashed potato onto a tin-foiled baking sheet. Smooth out the peaks so they don't burn in the oven.
After baking for about 15 minutes or so. I can't remember so you'll have to check on it every once in a while. Lay down a small bed of lettuce. Place a single boiled beet slice on afore said bed. Spoon up one of the potato pods and place this on top of the stack. Top it off with a small amount of apple butter. The bigger the plate, the more you could charge for it in a fancy restaurant.
We put the tomato on a bed of eggy rice and drizzled a little more olive oil over all. It was great.
Eggy Rice:
1 cup white rice
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
Steam the rice. When done stir in the beaten egg. The heat of the rice should cook the egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.
October 29, 2008
Tomatillo Sauce...and other things
Sorry guys, no photos this time. I'm posting this recipe real quick for reference. We'll all probably have photos in a little bit.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh tomatillos
1/2 small red onion, very finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Serrano or other hot green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 to 2 Tbs. cilantro leaves, chopped
Sugar, if needed
Mild Vinegar to taste
Salt
Roast the tomatillos in a 400F oven until they start to crisp, about 30 minutes, maybe. Make sure to turn them over every 10 minutes or so. After they are done, drop them, the onion, garlic, chilies, cilantro, vinegar, and salt into a food processor. Food process the hell out of all of this until it is sauce-like (blender may work better). Give it a taste and if too sour, add some sugar.
The flavor can be deepened by sauteing the onions in butter before they go into the blend. This should cut the sharpness of the onion and thus the overall sauce.
And we're done.
But...some quick words on low fat enchiladas:
1. Substitute hummus (homemade) for the cheese.
Hummus:
1 can chickpeas
1 Tbs. tahini
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. lemon juice
salt
water
Work it all in a food processor until spreadable. Good with other things beside enchiladas of course.
2. Make your own low fat beans or chili.
Quick and easy Black Bean Chili:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 can black beans
1/2 small red onion
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. paprika
1 garlic clove, crushed
water
Saute the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes, add the spices and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the beans and water, bring to a boil then lower and let the water cook away. Should be left with a very viscous black bean chili in about 10-15 minutes.
I like to stack my enchiladas instead of roll them. Cover the bottom of your dish with some sauce and lay down some tortillas to cover. Spread on some hummus, then some chili. More tortillas, then sauce, then hummus and chili. Make sure to end with a layer of tortillas covered in sauce. Sarah and I are bad because we then spread mozzarella all over the top of it. We can't help ourselves. If you keep the cheese off this can actually be vegan...amazing.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh tomatillos
1/2 small red onion, very finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Serrano or other hot green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 to 2 Tbs. cilantro leaves, chopped
Sugar, if needed
Mild Vinegar to taste
Salt
Roast the tomatillos in a 400F oven until they start to crisp, about 30 minutes, maybe. Make sure to turn them over every 10 minutes or so. After they are done, drop them, the onion, garlic, chilies, cilantro, vinegar, and salt into a food processor. Food process the hell out of all of this until it is sauce-like (blender may work better). Give it a taste and if too sour, add some sugar.
The flavor can be deepened by sauteing the onions in butter before they go into the blend. This should cut the sharpness of the onion and thus the overall sauce.
And we're done.
But...some quick words on low fat enchiladas:
1. Substitute hummus (homemade) for the cheese.
Hummus:
1 can chickpeas
1 Tbs. tahini
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. lemon juice
salt
water
Work it all in a food processor until spreadable. Good with other things beside enchiladas of course.
2. Make your own low fat beans or chili.
Quick and easy Black Bean Chili:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 can black beans
1/2 small red onion
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. paprika
1 garlic clove, crushed
water
Saute the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes, add the spices and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the beans and water, bring to a boil then lower and let the water cook away. Should be left with a very viscous black bean chili in about 10-15 minutes.
I like to stack my enchiladas instead of roll them. Cover the bottom of your dish with some sauce and lay down some tortillas to cover. Spread on some hummus, then some chili. More tortillas, then sauce, then hummus and chili. Make sure to end with a layer of tortillas covered in sauce. Sarah and I are bad because we then spread mozzarella all over the top of it. We can't help ourselves. If you keep the cheese off this can actually be vegan...amazing.
October 26, 2008
Red Devil (Beet) Cake
So I had some friends over a while back who are big chocolate fans (choc cake, choc brownies, choc choc...everything) and wanted to put together a dessert. I'm usually a pie or cobbler person myself but was in the mood to branch out. I also had some red beets left over from the previous week's veggie delivery from our local CSA (Two Small Farms). So I've got beets, and I've got chocolate cake desire...and I guess red beets would go well with chocolate.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups beet puree
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
After having cooked and blended the beets to a bloody pulp (don't get this bloody pulp anywhere outside of the pot...beet stains suck) heat the oven to 350F. In a new bowl beat the eggs very well, until they reach a lemony yellow color (they should also gain some volume). Beat in the oil, vanilla, sugar and salt until all well combined (i.e.: no residual grittiness from the sugar). Work in the beet puree. Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Work this into the beet-egg mix in three stages until all is nice and moist.
Yeah...it's purple.
Pour this into one 9" round cake pan that has had a round of parchment paper placed in its bottom. Parchment paper is not absolutely necessary but makes getting the cake out...cake. If no parchment paper: grease the bottom of the pan and dust with flour, this should help the cake slide out when finished.
Bake at 350F for about 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before trying to get it out of the pan, it's an ass to work with when warm. Top with cream cheese frosting (or whatever your little heart desires) and stuff your face.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups beet puree
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
After having cooked and blended the beets to a bloody pulp (don't get this bloody pulp anywhere outside of the pot...beet stains suck) heat the oven to 350F. In a new bowl beat the eggs very well, until they reach a lemony yellow color (they should also gain some volume). Beat in the oil, vanilla, sugar and salt until all well combined (i.e.: no residual grittiness from the sugar). Work in the beet puree. Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Work this into the beet-egg mix in three stages until all is nice and moist.
Yeah...it's purple.
Pour this into one 9" round cake pan that has had a round of parchment paper placed in its bottom. Parchment paper is not absolutely necessary but makes getting the cake out...cake. If no parchment paper: grease the bottom of the pan and dust with flour, this should help the cake slide out when finished.
Bake at 350F for about 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before trying to get it out of the pan, it's an ass to work with when warm. Top with cream cheese frosting (or whatever your little heart desires) and stuff your face.
October 24, 2008
Orange and Thyme Turkey Tenderloins wth Sweet Potatoes!!
This is a pretty simple Fall recipe. You can always substitute yams for sweet potatoes, but I like sweet potatoes better because they are tastier and more nutritious! I made this dish (with help) for 6 people, so I doubled the recipe, although I will post the normal amounts here.
The final step is to remove the turkey tenderloins and cut them into slices and serve alongside of the sweet potatoes. When it came time to eat this, I had no complaints.
Ingredients:
2 turkey tenderloins (hardly any fat)
2 lbs. of sweet potatoes
1 medium onion
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tbs. thyme (fresh is better!)
3 tsp. honey
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
First, peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into 1-inch cubes. Then, chop the onion into 1/2 inch, smallish pieces.
Next step is to combine the orange juice, chicken broth, Dijon mustard, honey and thyme in a medium sized bowl and wisk together until all ingredients are mixed. Make sure the honey is room temperature, or else it will be hard to wisk. If you are using fresh thyme (I hope you are) be sure to take all the tiny leaves off the stems. Set aside for later.
Then, get a largish pot, put it on med-high heat and brown both sides of the turkey tenderloins.
When the turkey tenderloins are nice and browned, add the sweet potatoes and onions, making sure to move the turkey tenderloins to the top of the pot. Then pour the orange juice mixture on top.
Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are done, stirring occasionally. It should look like this when its done. Yum!
The final step is to remove the turkey tenderloins and cut them into slices and serve alongside of the sweet potatoes. When it came time to eat this, I had no complaints.
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