Pecan Bars

This is a ridiculously delicious caramel-pecan bar from Once Upon a Chef
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust: 

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup Confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

Filling:

• 12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Generous pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 3 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

For the Crust

Cover a 9-inch square baking pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. Push foil neatly into corners and up sides of the pan, using two pieces if necessary to ensure it overlaps all edges (the overhang will help removal from pan). Spray foiled pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix  flour, corn starch, confectioners sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add the butter and work in quickly with a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-size clumps of butter within. Dump mixture into prepared pan and press firmly with your fingers into an even layer over the bottom. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. While the crust is in the refrigerator, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust until crust is set but not browned, about 17 minutes. Set on rack to cool. Leave oven on.

For the Filling

In a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine butter, brown sugar, honey, vanilla and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and boil gently for 3 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and chopped pecans.

To Assemble and Bake

Pour pecan mixture over crust (its fine if crust is still warm). Bake until filling is bubbling and caramel in color, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on rack. To cut, use the foil overhang to lift baked square out of pan and onto cutting board. Loosen the foil from the edges, then cut with a sharp knife into 1 1/2-inch squares. Store finished pecan squares in air-tight container and serve at room temperature.

Reduced-sugar Apple Butter

I just bought a bag of 'drops' -- apples gathered from under the trees in the fall.  They're perfectly good, but because they have a bruise on one side they need to be used right away.  This is a recipe for making a LOT of apple butter, if you are so lucky as to have a lot of apples.  This recipe uses about half of what other recipes call for, but honestly it's PLENTY sweet. 

Update, 2017:  Since publishing this, I've made apple butter without ANY ingredients other than applesauce, and honestly I think that's my favorite.  Just apples.  It does help to brighten up the flavor with a little lemon juice or cider vinegar, and if you really like the spices, by all means go ahead.  But honestly, just cooking down apples makes a delicious butter.

Ingredients:

Apples
Brown sugar and/or white sugar
Cider vinegar
Ground cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves
Slat


1. Make applesauce:  Wash and quarter the apples and put them in a large pot on low heat, cover.  No need to peel or seed them. Stir occasionally until they are quite soft.  Push through your favorite sieve.  My 1/2 bushel of apples yielded about 6 lbs of applesauce, or about 3 quarts. 

2.  Mix in other ingredients:  So here's the basic proportions I used:
6 lb applesauce (12 cup)
1 lb white sugar (2 cup)
0.5 lb brown sugar (little less than 1 cup)
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together and put in a large pan so that there's a lot of surface area for the sauce, e.g. a couple of inches deep.  I use a big lasagna pan or a dutch oven.  Make sure there's plenty of pan sides above the sauce because it will blorp a little while it's cooking down. 

3. Set your oven on 325 and put the pan in carefully, uncovered.  Cook it down until it's fairly dense and stays on the spoon, stirring occasionally.  How longs this takes depends on how wet your apples were and how much surface area for evaporation there is.  Could be anywhere from 3 to 6 hours.  Many people use a slow cooker on "low" instead of the oven.  In my case, I got about 10 cups of apple butter from my half bushel of apples.  And the house still smells great! 

Goat Bolognese

Ground goat meat is delicious -- younger goat is milder and leaner than commercial lamb meat.  I have not tried this recipe with ground lamb.

2 Tblsp. olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 carrot, minced
1 rib celery, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 lb. ground goat
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tblsp. red wine vinegar
3 or 4 nice ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped coarsely
1 Tblsp butter
Grated parmesan, salt and pepper to taste

In a nice heavy large skillet (I use a cast iron), saute the onion in the olive until transparent, then add the celery and carrot and garlic and saute gently another 5 minutes.  Remove to a bowl and add the goat meat (and red pepper, if using) to the pan and brown.  Note:  if your goat meat is very lean, you may want to add a little butter or olive oil.  Add the vegetable mixture back in and mix.  Add the nutmeg and vinegar and tomatoes and saute gently until the tomatoes soften to your liking -- about 5 minutes should do it.  You can add a little stock or milk if you like a wetter sauce.  Add the butter and mix it into the sauce and serve over your favorite pasta.   Serves 4.

Mango salsa

Good with grilled salmon or fish tacos.  Makes enough for a dollop for 4-6 people.


Combine in a bowl:


1 ripe mango, 1/4 inch dice
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 diced fresh jalapeno
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime


Even better if you make it a day ahead and refrigerate until needed.

Southern-style skillet cornbread with fresh corn puree

I prefer the all-cornmeal-no-sugar style of southern cornbread to the cake-like style favored by the Yankees up here.  The fresh sweet corn puree in this recipe does three things -- it boosts the corn flavor, adds a little sweetness, and it adds moistness which is often missing from traditional southern cornbread.  This is a great use for leftover corn on the cob, and yes you can use frozen corn, just make sure you thaw it before you try to puree it. 

Ingredients:

2 c. cornmeal - I prefer a coarse grind, like the wonderful freshly-ground cornmeal from my neighbors the L'Etoiles at Four Star Farms
1 c. plain Greek yogurt

1 c. whole milk

(You can substitute cultured buttermilk for the milk and yogurt if you have it on hand)

3-4 ears of sweet corn, kernels cut from cobs (about 2 cups)

1/4 c. vegetable oil

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a rack in middle position. Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or 9- by 9-inch baking dish in the oven to preheat for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, milk, and yogurt and set aside.

Puree the fresh corn in a blender until very smooth. Transfer it to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add the oil to the hot skillet and continue to bake until oil is just smoking, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, carefully swirling the pan until the butter is melted. Pour all but 1 tablespoon of the oil mixture into the cornmeal, leaving remaining oil mixture in pan. Whisk corn purée, beaten eggs, baking powder, baking soda and salt into cornmeal mixture until well-combined.

Pour the mixture into the hot skillet and bake until top begins to crack and edges are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Variations: Stir in 1/4 cup finely chopped onions or jalapeños, 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, or 3 to 4 slices cooked and crumbled bacon just before baking.  Traditionally the fat in this recipe would have been bacon fat, which I find overwhelms the flavor of the bread a bit, so shoot me, you southern purists!  But I admit I have also made this with schmaltz instead of butter when there were no vegetarians expected, because I love schmaltz! Try sprinkling the gribenes over the top just before baking (if you haven't eaten them all yet).

Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew)

Moqueca is an interesting technique -- basically a ceviche cooked in a coconut soup.  Very simple, quick, and fresh-tasting, and good made with a lot of different seafoods.  It's important to use good shrimp with a lot of flavor.  

Serves 4

1 lb shrimp, shelled (save the shells)

1/2 lb firm white fish like cod, cut into 2 inch pieces

8 cloves of garlic

juice of 2 limes, about 1/4 cup

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons cooking oil, e.g. canola

1 onion, minced

1/2 bell pepper, minced

1 or 2 hot fresh peppers, e.g. serrano or cayenne, minced -- depending on how hot you want it

2 large roma tomatoes, diced

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup shrimp stock (see recipe below)

2 cups cooked rice

1 large bunch minced fresh cilantro

Peel the shrimp and put the shells in a suacepan with enough water to cover, simmer while you're cooking everything else.  In a small bowl combine the shrimp, fish, half of the garlic, lime juice, and salt.  In a large saute pan heat the oil and add the onion, peppers, and the rest of the garlic, and saute until soft and translucent.  Add the tomatoes and saute until soft.  Add the coconut milk and 1 cup of the shrimp stock and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Drain the fish and add to the coconut-vegetable mixture and simmer until the fish is done, about 5-10 minutes.  Taste and correct salt. Serve in bowls over rice.  Garnish with cilantro.  

Almond Macaroons for Passover

1 1/2 cups blanched almonds or ground almonds
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 300 and line a baking sheet with parchment.

If you are using whole almonds, grind them to a fine flour in the food processor or blender. Add the sugar and extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until it forms stiff peaks. Add almond mixture and mix until combined. Note: you want this to be pretty stiff, because it will spread out in the oven. Add a little more almond flour if your egg whites are very wet.

Spoon or pipe onto parchment and bake for 15-20 minutes until just beginning to brown.

I made Menudo! It was offal! *huck huck*

Ok all of you who make gagging noises whenever you see tripe on the menu, just leave the room right now.  Thanks. 
For those of us who like offal, tripe soup with lots of nice tendony bits in it is heaven.  Menudo is one of my favorite tripe soups (along with pho and flaczky), but it is very hard to find in Western Massachusetts, which is not exactly a center of Latino culture.  So I finally tried to make my own. 
The downside:  You really do have to cook it and cook it and cook it for a REALLY LONG TIME.  Don't believe those "quick menudo" recipes.  No such thing.
The upside:  It's delicious!  And it freezes really well, so you can just make one big pot and freeze it in bowl-sized portions. 
I'm still tweaking it, but here's where I am right now:


For the soup:
2 1/2 quarts of water
1 cow's foot (usually sold chopped up into pieces -- if it isn't ask them to at the store) -- you can also add marrow bones or veal knuckle or pig's foot -- whatever you've got.
6 garlic cloves, whole
1 large onion sliced
2 tsp salt
3 lbs of clean tripe cut into 1 inch or smaller pieces (Insider tip:  this is much easier if the tripe is partially frozen)
2 tsp oregano


For the sauce:
6 guajillo peppers seeded, open flat, toasted  (you can play with the chilis -- one time I was out of guajillo and tried using a combination of New Mexico and Ancho and that was very good too)
11/2 tsp ground cumin
3 garlic cloves


Garnishes: (whichever you like)
chopped white onion
minced cilantro
lime wedges
diced radish
diced jalapeno
warm tortillas


Simmer the cow foot in the water with the garlic onion and salt for about 30-60 minutes, skimming off any foam.  Add the tripe and oregano and cook until the trip is tender but not falling apart and the tendon in the cow's foot is chewy but not tough -- this is going to be at least 2 hours, probably closer to 4. (You can also do this in a crock pot or a pressure cooker).  Remove the cow's foot and chop up the meaty and tendon parts and return them to the pot.  Discard the bones.


While the tripe is cooking, you can prepare the sauce:  toast the peppers on an unoiled griddle until they become fragrant -- don't burn them.  soak them in a bowl of water for about 20-30 minutes. drain them and put them in the blender with the garlic, 1/2 c of the soaking water, and cumin. Blend until smooth.  Strain into the soup pot once the soup is done and simmer for another 30 minutes, adjusting salt to taste. 


Serve hot with warm tortillas and whatever garnishes you like.  If freezing, freeze in serving-size portions. 

Marcus Samuelsson's Black-eyed peas with Coconut Milk and Ethiopian Spices

Our friend Gaynelle made this recipe for New Year's this year, and it was INHALED by everyone at the party.  By the incomparable Marcus Samuelsson. 

2 cups dried black-eyed peas (12 ounces)

Kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large red onion, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 habanero chili, seeded and minced

2 teaspoons berbere seasoning

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1.      In a large saucepan, cover the peas with water and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat until tender, about 40 minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and let stand for 5 minutes, then drain well.

2.      Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the berbere and turmeric and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and stock and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes. 

3.      Add the peas to the sauce and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the peas are lightly coated, about 10 minutes. Fold in the cilantro and scallions and serve.