Far Bretton

I admit. I love custard. In any form, with just about any mix-ins. Fruit, chocolate, spices, lavender... I have yet to be disapointed. When I saw this recipe, I had never heard of a Far before, although I am a fan of baked custards and claufoutis, so it seemed like a no-brainer to give this a try.

Far Bretton

inspired by epicurious.com

2 cups milk
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2-3/4 c frozen wild blueberries

2-3 Tbs cognac or brandy

powdered sugar

Combine milk, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in blender jar. Blend 1 minute. Add flour and pulse just until blended, scraping down sides of jar. Cover and chill in jar (ideally) at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

Place blueberries in cognac and let soak as long as your batter chills.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Butter 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Butter paper. Dust pan with flour, shaking out excess; place on baking sheet.
Reblend batter until smooth, about 5 seconds. Pour into prepared cake pan. Drop prunes and raisins into batter, distributing evenly. Bake cake on baking sheet until sides are puffed and brown and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool cake completely in pan on rack.

Place piece of parchment or waxed paper on flat plate. Sift powdered sugar onto paper. Run knife around cake in pan to loosen. Invert pan onto paper, releasing cake. Remove pan; peel off paper. Place serving plate over cake and invert. Dust top of cake with additional powdered sugar.

Pear Tart

The pears at the farmers market this morning just called out to me -I answered their summons and made this scrumptious tart:


Pear Tart
inspired by Julia Child's Mastering French Cooking

Pate Brisee crust, baked for about 15 minutes
4-6 bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 c sugar
2 tbs butter
handfull of fresh or frozen cranberries

Sprinkle 3 Tbs of the sugar on the crust. Arrange the pears in the crust as you like. Here, I kept them in the shape of the pear but sliced them. It's more traditional to slice them horizontally. You can also simply arrange the slices in concentric circles within the crust. Place cranberries in center and in spaces between pears. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top and dot with butter. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy!

Bean Loaf

Oh yes, the family classic is finally making an apperance on the blog! This recipie has been a staple for family gatherings for a good decade and a half - a product of my mother's work in sustainable agriculture. The concept came from a community food project in Minneapolis, MN - and was lovingly tweaked over the years by my mother - happy to have something to please two vegetarian daughters come Thanksgiving. You can also go hog wild on molds here too - mom has tried a number fun shapes and sizes over the years. It's hard to beat the basic loaf pan, but have fun with it.

A note on beans - though some have predicted that beans will be the food of 2009 - it's hard not to appreciate the humble bean's enduring value to human kind. As a former staunch ovo-lacto vegetarian I can tell you, beans are your friends! Yes, even if you need beano to safely consume them in mixed company. Rice + beans = a perfect nutritional protien, what omnivores get from animal protien, you can get from non-animal sources (and lower calories per serving to boot!). These days especially, it's easy to appreciate the bean's stellar nutritional value and earthly prices. They also have a much longer shelf-life.

Even though I now eat organic, sustainably raised foul, I will always have a very special place in my heart and gullet for the humble and delicious bean.

Bean Loaf

4 c bread crumbs (fresh bread pulsed in food processor or blender is ideal)
3 cans of beans rinsed and drained (kidney, black, pinto, navy, butter beans all acceptable)
2 c shredded chedder cheese
1/4 c non-hydrogenated shortening or butter
1/2 c onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 eggs

In food processor or blender, pulse beans until smooth. Empty into large mixing bowl. Add bread crumbs, cheese, onion, egg, salt and pepper to taste and stir till combined. Pat down into well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 375 F for about an hour - melt the 1/4c butter or shortening & baste the loaf halfway through baking. Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack, then turn over onto plate.

Enjoy!

Jambalayah and Bread Pudding

Publish Post

With temperatures the lowest they've been in a decade here, it seemed about time to warm things up in the kitchen. Why not with a flavorful taste from New Orleans? A great end to a day with a windchill close to zero!


Jambalaya
adapted from wholefoods.com recipe

2 tablespoons safflower oil, divided
2 (12-ounce) packages pre-cooked spicy Italian chicken sausage, sliced diagonally
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green, 1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/4 cups rice
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
3/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 (1-pound) bag frozen shrimp, thawed, tails removed
Hot sauce for serving

Method

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned. Remove from pot and set aside. Add remaining oil, celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook until softened. Stir in tomatoes, broth, water, rice, thyme, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 35 minutes, stirring now and then. Add frozen okra and reserved sausage. Cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until rice is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add frozen shrimp and continue cooking until heated through. Taste and season with more salt or cayenne if desired. Serve with hot sauce.

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

adapted from the Silver Palatte cookbook

1/2 loaf stale whole grain bagette
1 c heavy cream
1 c milk
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tbs vanilla

Slice or crumble bread in bite-sized pieces into large bowl. Soak bread in milk and cream for at least an hour. Combine sugar and eggs and vanilla in separate bowl. Once bread is soaked, pour egg mixture into bread and milk mixture, stir till combined. Pour into a well greased 8 x 8 baking pan and bake at 325 F for about an hour and 10 minutes or until browned and set.

Whiskey Sauce

1/2 c confectioners sugar
1 egg
4 Tbs butter
Whiskey to taste

Melt butter and sugar together in a double boiler over medium to medium-high heat. Once both are melted and very hot, remove from heat and add egg, stirring constantly. If the mixture gets lumpy, don't fret!* It's pretty forgiving. Add the whisky and stir till combined. Serve over warm bread pudding. Delicious!

Enjoy!


* A trick I learned from an early Moosewood cookbook saved my tukus in college the first time I ever attempted to make a custard sauce (when preparing it for over 40 people!). Use your handy-dandy food processor or immersion blender to smooth! It's that simple, and the texture comes out perfectly!

Millie's Cornbread

One of my mom's gradschool roommates has been a long-time friend of our family. She also happens to work in the world of sustainable food systems. This is one of her recipies that has become a family favorite. It is luscious, moist, with a golden gorgeous crumb, but a fraction of the fat and calories most traditional cornbreads have.

3/4 c cornmeal
1 c unbleached white flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
t tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 c sugar
2 Tbs unhydrogenated vegetable shortening or butter
1/2 c low fat sour cream or yogurt
1/4 c milk
1 egg, well beaten

Combine dry ingredients. Work shortening or butter in with a pastry cutter or your fingers till combined. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Gently mix wet ingredients into dry until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX or bread will be tough. Smooth into 8 x 8 pan and bake at 425 for 15 minutes or until golden brown and solid through.

Raspberry Scones

I've been having fun experimenting with flours recently. Having always enjoyed spelt bread, I thought it might be worth a try to try baking with it. This recipe comes from Erin McKenna of BabyCakes NYC featured in Food and Wine Magazine. It's nice also to move away from supremely refined sugars - after the overindulgences of the season. They are nutty, sweet but not-too-sweet, and a delicious paired with a homemade latte to start the day.


Raspberry Spelt Scones

1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup hot water
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 cups spelt flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk the spelt with the baking powder and salt. Stir in the oil, agave nectar and vanilla. Stir in the hot water, then the raspberries.
2. Scoop 12 mounds of batter 1/3 cup each onto the prepared baking sheet and lightly brush the tops with oil. Bake the scones for 20 minutes, or until golden. Let the baking sheet cool completely on top of a rack.

Buckwheat Banana Pankcakes

After those intensely sweet sugar cookies, I was more than happy to take the healthy quotient back up today. Another GOOP recipe, this one called out to me because buckwheat is one of my favorite grains. In kasha form, it's a fabulous nutty addition to stews, under curries, or meat or fish. You see this as the grain of choice in Russia as if not more often than rice. Although in Russia kasha can be translated as both grain and oatmeal - it all depends on the preparation. Yes, you can prepare a grain meal much like oatmeal of buckwheat (along with wheat, rice, corn, and just about any other grain you can think of) and Russian's often do. In this instance however, I'm just relying on the flour. It was deliciously nutty and satisfying, without the cloying sweetness your basic buttermilk pancake can give you with syrup. Don't get me wrong, I love a good buttermilk pancake, but it's nice to have something heartier sometimes. While this preparation was delicious, in the future, I'd probably mash the banana and fold it into the batter. The slices got a bit messy, although they did carmelize nicely. I used regular milk with delicious results - but as written, it is entirely vegan (and can also be gluten free).




SERVES: 3 or 4 (makes about a dozen pancakes) TIME: 15 minutes

1 1/4 cups soy or rice milk 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon maple syrup, plus more for serving 1/2 cup buckwheat flour 1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour or white spelt flour (substitute rice flour to make pancakes completely gluten-free) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 bananas, thinly sliced

Mix all the wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a slightly bigger bowl. Add the wet to the dry and stir just enough to combine – be careful not to over-mix (that’s how you get tough pancakes).

Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat (I love Jamie Oliver’s nonstick cookware – it’s so slippery that I don’t need to use any oil or butter). Ladle as many pancakes as possible onto your griddle. Place a few slices of banana on top of each pancake. Cook for about a minute and a half on the first side or until the surface is covered with small bubbles and the underside is nicely browned. Flip and cook for about a minute on the second side. Repeat the process until you run out of batter. Serve stacked high with plenty of maple syrup.