Great as the base for Potatoes Au Gratin, or for Chicken pot pie
LEMON SAFFRON CREAM
1/2 tsp. minced shallots
1 tbsp. butter
1 c. heavy cream
Pinch of saffron
Lemon segments with peel
Salt & white pepper to taste
Splash white wine or sherry.
Use with your AuGratin recipe and kick it up by using sweet potatoes, turnips and Yukon Gold potatoes.
In preheated saute pan, heat butter and saute shallots until clear. Add saffron. Splash pan with wine or sherry and reduce liquid by half. Add cream, salt and pepper. Let all reduce. Add lemon segments. This sauce works perfectly with scallops, shrimp or, even crabmeat. Serve over pasta, rice or just as a sauce garnish.
I have heard many descriptions for this dish, from pancake to pudding. My goodness, just say crepe! That is the taste and texture. It is a crepe dish. Instead of making a bunch of crepes, you make a crepe casserole. And thinking of this makes me also realize it would be great with a mushroom cheese filling served along a nice salad. I guess any filling for a crepe could be used. How exciting! A savory clafoutis. I have to put that on my to do list!
For things like clafouti you can’t go wrong with Julia Child’s recipe. While this serves 6-8 people for dessert, it also makes a wickedly indulgent breakfast for 4!
Cherry Clafoutis
Julia Child’s Clafoutis (kla-foo-TEE)
serves 6-8
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar
powdered sugar
In a bowl mix the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour with your stick blender. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm.
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch baking dish, 1 1/4 inches deep. Coat with granulated sugar; tap out excess. Whisk eggs, yolk, and flour in a medium bowl; whisk in creme fraiche, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Arrange cherries in prepared dish. Strain batter over cherries. Bake until browned around edges and set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve warm with creme fraiche.
Clafouti is best warm, so bake it just before you serve dinner. Scoop it into bowls, with a spoonful of creme fraiche or bake it up and have it for breakfast in the morning! Â
Clementines, Blackberries, Raspberries, Cherries all are great in this crepe like dish with fruit!
A salsa this simple lives or dies by the quality of the ingredients—ripe avocado, luscious tomato, and a sweet, crunchy ear of corn. Most of my corn salsa recipes call for grilled corn. This one features the succulent crunch of raw corn to reinforce the sweetness of the fresh avocado.Â
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 ripe red tomato, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 ear sweet corn, shucked
1 scallion, both white and green parts, trimmed and finely chopped, or 3 tablespoons diced sweet onion
1 to 2 jalapeño peppers or serrano peppers, seeded and minced (for a hotter salsa, leave the seeds in)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
1. Place the avocado in the bottom of a nonreactive mixing bowl and gently toss it with 2 tablespoons of the lime juice. Spoon the tomato on top of the avocado.
2. Cut the kernels off the corn. The easiest way to do this is to lay the cob flat on a cutting board and remove the kernels using lengthwise strokes of a chef’s knife. Add the corn kernels to the mixing bowl. The salsa can be prepared to this stage up to 2 hours ahead. Refrigerate it, covered.
3. Just before serving, add the jalapeño(s) and cilantro to the mixing bowl and gently toss to mix. Taste for seasoning, adding more lime juice as necessary and season with salt and pepper to taste; the salsa should be highly seasoned.
Halve lemons crosswise and remove seeds. Tie seeds in a cheesecloth bag. Quarter each lemon half and thinly slice. Combine with bag of seeds and water in a 5-quart nonreactive heavy pot and let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature 24 hours.
Bring lemon mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 4 cups, about 45 minutes. Stir in sugar and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam, until a teaspoon of mixture dropped on a cold plate gels, about 15 minutes.
Ladle hot marmalade into jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of top. Wipe rims with dampened cloth and seal jars with lids.
Put jars in a water-bath canner or on a rack set in a deep pot. Add enough hot water to cover jars by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Boil jars, covered, 5 minutes and transfer with tongs to a rack. Cool jars completely.
Cooks’ note: • Marmalade keeps, stored in a cool, dark place, up to 1 year.
½ cup Hodgson Mill Steel Cut Oats
2 ½ cups Hodgson Mill Naturally White Flour
1 cup water
1 ½ cups raisins
¾ cup butter
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¾ cup chopped nuts
Preparation
In a small saucepan, bring oats and water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and stir for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and fold in raisins. Allow mixture to cool. Preheat oven to 375 ° F. Lightly grease two baking sheets. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla beating until smooth. In a separate bowl, blend dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients mixing well. Fold in softened oats, raisins and nuts. Using a large spoon, drop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet evenly spacing to allow for spreading. Bake in a 375 ° F oven for 10-12 min. or until golden brown. Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.
Yields: 48 cookies.
Recipe Nutrient Analysis: 1/48 of recipe
100 calories; .77g dietary fiber; 16 g carbohydrates; 2g protein; 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat); 10mg cholesterol; 96mg sodium.
Salmon:
1 1/2 lbs fresh salmon
3/4 stick butter
3-4 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
lemon slices for garnish
2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
Dry white wine (to taste)(optional)
Asparagus:
2 1/2 lbs asparagus about 1/2 in. thick
2 1/2 tblsp. unsalted butter
2 1/2 tblsp balsalmic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Heat grill on high.
In a suacepan, place butter, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and wine over low heat, and simer until the tastes meld (approximately 10 min.) Place the salmon on a platter, skin side down and brush the lemmon/butter sauce liberally on each piece. Let stand for 20-30 minutes. Place salmon on hot grill and grill on each side about no longer than 5 minutes. Serve with lemon slices and the remaining butter sauce.
Asparagus:
Bring salted water to a boil in skillet large enough to hold asparagus lying down. When boiling, add asparagus; cook uncovered, until tender. Timing will depend on thickness of asparagus, 5-8 minutes Drain asparagus. Spread on cloth towel; scatter ice cubes over asparagus. Can be cooked several hours ahead of time kept at room temperature.
To serve, heat butter in same pan over medium high heat. When hot, stir in vinegar. Add asparagus and cook until hot, about 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, shake gently until mixed. Serve hot.
Have ready a bowl of ice water. In a small saucepan of boiling water blanch cilantro and parsley 10 seconds and drain in a sieve. Refresh herbs in ice water and drain in sieve. Chop shallots and garlic.
Abby would make this for the kids for breakfast and they would go crazy for it. It is still a favorite. I tried to make it on the stovetop like she did, but invariably I burn it. Nothing smells as bad a milk and rice. Yuk. I stick to the oven method. The classic recipe is with raisins, but they make it too sweet for me, so I omit them.
4 to 6 servings
Milk — 4 cups
Short-grain rice –1/2 cup
Cinnamon stick — 2 broken into pieces
Salt — pinch
Raisins — 1/4 cup (Optional, I like mine without raisins)
Sugar — 1/2 cup
Butter — 2 tablespoons
Vanilla — 1 teaspoon
Zest of one orange
freshly ground nutmeg (garnish)
Method
Place the milk, rice, cinnamon stick, orange zest, salt and sugar  in a medium oven proof bowl and set into oven at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Stir every 20 minutes.Â
Add the raisins if you are using them, vanilla and nutmeg and bake for another 20 minutes. Stir often to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Adjust sugar to taste and serve hot or cold, with some ground cinnamon or nutmeg and orange zest to top as garnish.
Variations
Arroz con Dulce (Puerto Rico), or Arroz-Doce (Brazil): use coconut milk in place of regular milk.
Short-grain rice, like arborio or Valencia rice, is best for rice pudding as it gives the dessert a creamier texture, but regular long-grain rice can be used to good result too. A little more rice can be added if you want a firmer pudding. If the pudding gets too thick, just add a little more milk.
Sometimes water, cream, sweetened and condensed milk or evaporated milk is substituted for part of the regular milk. Just make sure the total amount of liquid adds up to 4 cups. And adjust the amount of sugar as needed.
Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of brandy or rum when you stir in the butter and vanilla if you like.
Some recipes call for stirring in 2 beaten egg yolks at the end before adding the butter and vanilla. The heat of the pudding will cook the yolks, make it creamier and give it a pale golden color. (I like mine eggless.)
This is a delicious rice dish to serve with pork or beef, and it’s a great way to use green tomatoes.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
4 slices bacon, diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced, with most of green (6 to 8)
4 medium green tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup long-grain rice
dash dried leaf thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
dash Tabasco sauce, optional
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Preparation
In a medium saucepan, saute the bacon over medium heat until crisp; remove to paper towels to drain. In 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings, saute green onions for 1 minute. Add green tomatoes and saute for 1 minute longer. Add garlic and jalapeno pepper; saute for another 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth, rice, thyme, pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Bring to a boil. Stir, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in Parmesan cheese just before serving, if desired. Sprinkle with the cooked bacon.
