A Thanksgiving special for all of you who are scrambling to make something for those Thanksgiving potlucks--this Coconut Almond Tart is a delicious solution to your problems!



More at 食べ物 eXploZion!

Sunday Breakfast: Broiled Rib Eye Steak with A1 Sauce and Sauteed Mushrooms, Pinto Beans and Over Easy Fried Eggs (3).

I think I was craving protein.

Kunefe is a very fine vermicelli-like pastry used to make sweet pastries and desserts

Last night, inspired by this blog post, I decided to try my hand at cup pies and use up some of apples that have been sitting on the counter. I've made pie once a week for the last year or so, but this was my first attempt at miniaturizing it to bake in a regular muffin tin. I used my usual pastry recipe, guesstimated on the filling, and followed the aforementioned blog's guidelines on baking temperatures and times.

The result? Success! I think they turned out really well; not quite as aesthetically pleasing as I'd hoped, but still extremely delicious. Mmmmm. Tiny pies.

i love cheese. and brie has to be one of my favourites. it instantly transforms any dish, be it a sandwich or stuffed chicken breast, into a gooey creamy palate of delight.

as we woke up quite late this morning, i delved into my fridge for the makings of a yummy brunch item.

i came out with prosciutto and brie on toast popped into the toaster oven to get the cheese good and gooey, topped with a lightly poached egg and some shredded cheddar. back into the toaster oven to get the cheddar melted, then finished with a dollop of dijon mustard for some zip. (hubby isn't overly fond of hollandaise sauce so kept that out.)




x-posted

A little Japanese technique mixed with Floridian cuisine. For more pics and technique visit FotoCuisine.com

(cross-posted to my journal)

So, we've been keeping bread dough perpetually in the refrigerator for the past six weeks or so, using the master recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day (available with lots of variations at Mother Earth News). I've tried lots of variants on the original recipe: all bread flour instead of AP flour, half AP and half bread flour, 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3s bread flour, etc. (For the record, my favorite is half-and-half. The texture is exactly what I like, chewy and not too dense.)

We have company this weekend, and last night I was craving cinnamon rolls. I remembered that the recipes on MEN included a variation for using the dough to make sweet rolls. Specifically, Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns. Well, some of us don't like pecans (heathens), so I decided to leave them out. Also, I absolutely adore cream cheese icing on cinnamon rolls, so I mixed some of it up as well (4oz. softened cream cheese, 2 or so cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and milk enough for the right consistency).

Really, it couldn't have been simpler. I mixed up the butter and brown sugar and spread it on the bottom of my round cake pan. Then I rolled out the dough, which was conveniently ready and waiting for me in the fridge, into a rectangle and spread it with the cinnamon/sugar/butter/etc. mixture. This was actually the trickiest part, as the softened butter kept pulling at and further squishing the dough. I'm wondering if melted butter (which I've seen in other cinnamon roll recipes) might be easier, then sprinkled with the dry stuff.

Rolled it all up, sliced it, and put it in the pan where it rested and rose for an hour. Baked in a 350° oven for 40 minutes, then took lots of pictures.

SO VERY GOOD. The brown sugar and butter made a chewy, sticky caramel that coated the outside of the rolls, while the cream cheese icing added an extra tang that went wonderfully with the sourdough-ish bread dough. One of my fellow breakfasters commented that commercial cinnamon roll makers would put out a hit on me if they ever found out about my cinnamon rolls. :)

( Here lies the real food porn. )
For the record--I've used this same dough to make bread, pizza crust, and now cinnamon rolls--all with astounding success. It is truly a miraculous substance. :)

This year's round of turkey geeking uncovered several online suggestions of stuffing under the skin, in addtion to the cavities. I don't know if this is a new technique, but I've never heard of it. It is said to keep the bird very moist, and provides more "in-bird" stuffing, which my guests definitely prefer to the "virgin" stuffing that was never in the bird. I know it will alter the appearance of the finished turkey. Still, I'm tempted.

Has anyone done this? How did it come out? I promise lots of XXX porn from the big day.

No pictures because my camera drains batteries more than a Hummer drains gas. Anyway, while it was good eats, it didn't exactly look like it.

I used Martha Stewart's recipe found here. I made some changes to the recipe: I added hot Italian sausage, omitted the vinegar and replaced it with about a 1/4 c. vermouth (which I allowed to cook off so there wasn't an overpowering taste), used fusilli instead of penne, used heavy cream instead of half-and-half, and a dash of pumpkin pie spice at the end to bring out the pumpkin flavor a little more.

Instead of dumping all the ingredients in at once as directed, after frying and removing the rosemary, I cooked the garlic and red pepper flakes until fragrant (Cook's Illustrated put me in that habit), added the sausage (and a little bit of the pasta water to prevent sticking), removed the sausage once cooked, added the vermouth and let that cook off a bit, splatted in the pumpkin, poured in some cream and put back the sausage, thinned it with some pasta water, grated the cheese into the sauce, added the cooked pasta and thinned it to the desired consistency with the pasta water. I forgot to add some salt to flavor, so it's probably a good thing I was only cooking for myself and my mother.

Either way, it was insanely easy and quick to make and easily adjustable to personal tastes and cooking habits.

I've been sick lately, and had to cancel a Thanksgiving potluck tonight to stay home sniffling. I'm not that disappointed, though, because I stumbled upon a Mexican FEAST of comfort food: Creamy Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas with Mexican Sausage Rice.

The rice was pretty good, but the enchiladas were AMAZING -- and so easy, since they can be made with a store-bought rotisserie chicken. They were creamy, tangy, saucy, and warm. You must try them! Of course my boyfriend and I ate as daintily as the pictured plate suggests (or else we scarfed down four enchiladas each as quickly as possible while watching Star Trek: DS9).



( recipe and more photos! )


To read more about these two dishes, enjoy some more whining about my illness, or just to experience the joy of link-clicking, please head over to my baking blog, Willow Bird Baking!

x posted to cooking, food_porn, and bakebakebake

Being an ex-pat in the UK, I find that hosting Thanksgiving across the pond has its advantages. The shopping hassle is much less this time of year, and I get to cook yummy "American" food (well, you know...) for a bunch of excited British friends who tend to be much more thankful to celebrate it than many Americans I know (they love the idea of a non-denominational holiday which is simply about giving thanks - but yeah, we talk about giving the natives syphilis, etc., too). And no family bickering! Well, we faked some, just to make it authentic.

I had a houseful this year, so I made TWO birds. Have to ensure leftovers, after all!



I'm sure everyone has amazing recipes, but since I've had my Turkey day early - amazingly, we don't have Thursday off here in the UK ;-) - I thought I'd post these pics as inspiration. Before/after and recipes (plus sides porn) under the cut.

The Cheesus Burger from The Grilled Cheese Grill here in PDX

Description from the menu:

"The Soon-to-be-Famous Burger Behemoth. We’ve done away with the bun and replaced it with two grilled cheese sandwiches.That’s right, two of them. One on top, one on the bottom. Pickles and American cheese inside one, Grilled Onion and Colby Jack in the other. Lettuce, Tomato, Ketchup, Mustard, and 1/3lb Burger in between.You won’t need to eat again for 2 days. Comes with a bag of chips and a case of napkins. $8.00"


Freaking awesome. Seriously. It was surprisingly similar in taste to a Dick's Deluxe for all of you from Seattle.