Not-French Stuffed Mushrooms

Easy Stuffed Mushrooms

Take 15 largish mushrooms and pull out the stems. Plop a tablespoon or so of Rondele Spinach-Artichoke Cheese Blend (or whatever it's called) into the gap. Sprinkle with panko or bread crumbs. Bake in 350 F oven for 15 minutes, or until breadcrumbs have browned. Serve warm.

They are very tasty. Not core and probably not something to eat everyday.

Girl-Child saw them arranged on a plate on the table (sorry, I don't have a photo).
"Are these French?" she asked.
"No," we responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Because all French food looks disgusting. So I thought these were French."

Important Fruit Clarification and Dunnett Connection

The dried currants which we buy at the store (usually from Sun-Maid) are not the dried form of the fruit "currant" (which I always associate with Grandma B.) but rather a dried grape. The "Zante Currant" is actually the name of a grape. Wikipedia explains the confusion of names. The Currant Company rather vociferously huffs and puffs about the confusion of names.

The anti-oxidant benefits of currants apply to true currants (a Ribes) and not to zante currants (Vitis vinefera). So don't go pouring them in your batter thinking they'll make your cream scones healthy -- you'll have to get some true dried ribes for that. (And perhaps cut out the cream, the refined sugar and the white flour, too.)

The Dunnett connection is too totally obvious. Zante Currants are named for the island of Zakynthos, where of course our lovely Philippa discovers peachy sweet Kuzum. The naming confusion comes from the old French "raisins de Corauntz" -- which language, of course, our Philippa spoke (had she not been a fictional character).

(Photo not mine; from a website.)

Still Life with Reindeer

I made a "Black Cake" for the holidays this year. The recipe came from the Houston Chronicle, published in early July, 2008. I was in Houston to attend my aunt's funeral, and I liked the idea of making the cake as a sort of tribute to her, even though I don't know if she ever made fruit cake. The recipe starts by calling for macerating dried fruit for several months in Manischewitz wine, which I dutifully carried out.

Mom used to make a fabulous fruit cake, which her children loved (from what I've heard, the fruit-cake-gene did not make it to the next generation). Hers is a very dark, crumbly but moist mixture of dried fruits and just enough cake to barely hold it all together, with big chunks of candied cherry punctuating the "healthy" fruit. And then it is soaked in brandy for as many months as possible (I remember the Christmas when I realized the brandy was a good flavor, and I could stop pushing the outer crust of cake to the side of the plate.) Last time I asked, she didn't have a recipe, or didn't know where it was, or something. Anyway, I'm going to put pressure on her to find it, or to make one up for me to try.

This "Black Cake" is pretty good. It is certainly moist, and if there aren't enough cherries, that's my own fault for not adding enough. It is far too light in flavor, however. The recipe called for a frosting of fondant, which I tried out of curiosity. I didn't make the fondant, but bought it in a box from a specialty store as recommended by several cookbooks. I wouldn't recommend it to others, unless you have a need for a splendid look (because even with the rips, uneven "ribbon" and smeared icing dots that I amateurishly produced, it looks quite wonderful), but the flavor was merely acceptable. (I am not a big frosting fan, however.)

Holiday Recipe: Cranberry-Cherry-Walnut Chutney

This recipe came originally from Cooking Light Magazine. It's very easy to make, and is very tasty (I've seen people eat it with a spoon, like preserved fruit). I will add a photo next time I make it, but it just looks like a cranberry-colored jam.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup port or other sweet red wine
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1 (12-ounce) package fresh cranberries
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Orange rind strips (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cherries, and cook 1 minute. Stir in cranberries; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until cranberries pop. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts, grated rind, and extract. Garnish with orange rind strips, if desired. Cover and chill.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1/4 cup)

CALORIES 108(25% from fat); FAT 3g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.7g,poly 2g); PROTEIN 1.5g;
CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 11mg; SODIUM 2mg; FIBER 1.8g; IRON 0.3mg;
CARBOHYDRATE 19.7g
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2005

Posh Preserved Pears

After a false start, (I bought 10 Seckel pears and then put off doing anything with them for so long they were half-rotten so I had to throw them out and start again) I finally made a batch of preserved pears. I think I'm the only one in the household who likes canned pears, or fresh ones for that matter, so I expect to eat these myself.

It was a recipe in the paper, and the photo accompanying it was so attractive I had to make it. The results of my concoction are less pretty (I think I overcooked the pears, so they are a bit disintegrated, clouding the liquid in the bottles), but they are still pretty, and the flavor is quite tasty.



Pears Preserved in Madeira with Bay

8-10 Seckel or Forelle pears
1 Tbl lemon juice
750 ml bottle of Madeira
1 cup sugar
1-2 cups water
8-10 fresh bay leaves (dry is okay if fresh is unavailable)

Peel, halve and core pears, and let them sit in a bowl of water with the lemon juice added while you prepare the liquid.

Bring the Madeira, sugar and water to a boil in a large pan. Add pear halves (with slotted spoon) and bay leaves. Turn down heat, and let simmer for 30-40 minutes until pears are tender but not falling apart.

Meanwhile, fill canning jars with boiling (or very hot) water and let sit.

When pears are cooked, empty the jars and spoon in the pears (if you want them to look pretty, try to slide them into the jar pointed end up). Remove bay leaves from the liquid, and let it come to a boil again. Ladle liquid over pears (enough that the top of the jar is all liquid, no pears showing). Slide bay leaves into jar, one leaf per pear.

Close jar and process. (I boiled the filled jars for 10 minutes, which has always worked for jam.)

Note: You can make this with other pears (Bartletts are said to be the best flavor; Bosc hold their shape nicely and have a spicier flavor that would blend nicely). You will need only about half as many pears. Do not halve the liquid, however -- you'll still need as much.

Variant: Substitute Port for Madeira, and a Vanilla Bean (or two) for the Bay Leaves. I think this would make a very sweet concoction, good for serving over ice cream. (I haven't made that version.)

An Update on the Distilled Wines

We had a friend over to celebrate Girl-Child's birthday last night, and -- because he was asking, nay, pestering -- we brought out the Vin de Noix (the fortified red wine infused with walnuts) and the Nocino (simply vodka infused with walnuts). The vin de noix is about 5 weeks out of distilling, the nocino only about 3. The vin de noix is really quite tasty, definitely stepping into port territory (not even sure we can taste the walnuts actually).

The nocino needs more aging, to be generous. Strongly flavored, it is also strongly bitter. We realized it needs to be filtered at least on more time -- gazillions of tiny black spots float in the liquid, so many we expect we accidentally confused pitchers and poured together one filtered and one unfiltered batches. The floating walnut bits probably make it more bitter than otherwise. So more filtering to come, and then some more time.

We are glad we have so many bottles of the vin de noix, however. Enough to give a few away, yet still have plenty to savor ourselves.

Vivi's Thunder is Stolen by The Bride

I, too, decanted our Nocino this past week, but didn't get around to blogging about it. The drink is quite raw (nicely said, Bride) but I think we like it more than the vin de noix, at least for now. It's bitter, but rich, intriguing.

I have a photo, however. It is a little over-exposed, but it shows off well the greenness of the liqueur. (That's a Girl-Child pottery doodad obscured by light in front.)

The Bride decants Vin de Noix, Nocino

Today, I decanted the Vin de Noix and the Nocino that I made a couple of months ago. I don't have a picture yet, but I'll post one when I do. It all tastes a little rough and needs some time to sit and mature. But that could be said of any of us. At the rate we drink, I estimate that they will last 5 years.

Vivi starts early (or late?) for Christmas

I've started macerating dried fruit for Black Cake, for Christmas. This is a variant of fruit cake, which you frost with fondant (in the English way). I got the recipe from the Houston Chronicle when I was there for our aunt's funeral. That recipe is one adapted by Nigella Lawson from Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking. I'll bet The Bride makes a variant even closer to something cooked a hundred years ago.

(green walnuts stewing in spiced vodka for Nocino left,
and dried fruit in rum and Manischewitz right)

The black cake seems a lot like Mom's old fruit cake recipe, with the additional step of soaking the fruit in spirits before you bake the cake, then store it in liquor-soaked cheesecloth for months before eating.

I've never made it, so I won't post the recipe now. Once it's proved, maybe I will.

Vivi Decants Vin de Noix

A few days ago we decanted the first batch of the vin de noix -- the San Francisco Chronicle version of the recipe. (Read about the infusion step here.) It took about 20 coffee filters, in five cycles of straining -- after starting with cheesecloth over a fine metal sieve -- to clear out the sediment. The half batch I made provided us with five half-liter bottles to give away, and one to keep for ourselves. (Bottles from Costco World Market.)


We aren't sure we like the flavor. It is definitely nutty, and a little sweet, and it lasts in your throat for a long, long time after swallowing. But it is rather bitter, too, and one dimensional. I though the flavor was all on the back of the tongue; HomoDomi all on the front -- either way, it was simple, changing over time, but always in linear fashion. (I am not a foodie, I don't taste "hints of blackberry and compost" in an expensive wine (see below), but this is the only way to describe the liqueur's flavor). We added one tablespoon of maple syrup to the batch, instead of more sugar, and that helped, a little.

I am told by The Bride that the liqueurs can and will change and deepen in flavor over time, so we'll give this a while. This recipe is interesting because you steep the walnuts in wine, and only add vodka and sugar when you decant it. In comparison, the Nocino (and the other vin de noix recipe that The Bride is making) steep the walnuts in the vodka and sugar directly. So I imagine the liqueur will have ample opportunity to flower in flavor as it ages.

About that "blackberry and compost" -- this is from Posh Nosh, a wonderful filler show (e.g., 10 minutes long, filling space between irregular length shows) on BBC a few years ago:

The Bride Makes Vegetarian Curry: 3 Masala Beans

Here is another nice vegetarian curry. I'm giving the recipe as it appears in The Best-Ever Curry Cookbook, but I actually have never used the fenugreek in it. Someday I'll acquire some from Penzey's, but until then, it's good without. Two Weight Watcher points again and it's Core.

Masala Beans with Fenugreek

Serves 4

1 onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp chili powder
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tomato cut in chunks, or use canned diced tomato
2 or 3 cups green beans, blanched
1 bunch fresh fenugreek leaves, stems discarded, or 1 TBSP dried fenugreek, also known as kasuri methi
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp lemon juice

1) Roughly chop the onion. Mix together the cumin, coriander, sesame seeds, chili powder, garlic, turmeric, salt.
2) Put the chopped onion and spice mixture into a food processor or blender, and process for 30 to 45 seconds until you have a rough paste.
3) In a wok or large pan, heat the oil over medium heat and fry the spice paste for about 5 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn.
4) Add the tomato chunks, the blanched green beans, fenugreek and chopped cilantro.
5) Stir Fry the contents of the pan for 5 to 10 minutes until the green beans are the way you like them - a little crispy, but not too. Then, sprinkle in the lemon juice and serve.

The Bride Makes Cherry Wine, Step two

The Cherry Wine I made last month is ready for step 2, so I strained and bottled it. Then, in a bit of a Martha moment, I made labels for it. It's a beautiful color and tastes lovely, although it's supposed to sit for a while yet before drinking. I saved the cherries and I'm going to macerate them for a while in a little kirsch and simple syrup, then make ice cream with them. I'm thinking the wine will make a nice Sangria.

The Bride Makes A Vegetarian Curry: Spinach and Potato Curry

Here is another favorite vegetarian curry. You can use frozen spinach or a package of baby spinach to save time. This one has 2 Weight Watcher points, and is Core. And, best of all, it can be made with ingredients you have on had - if you keep spinach in your freezer.

Spinach With Golden Potatoes

1 lb spinach, or any other greens, chard, tatsoi, kale, whatever
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped - optional
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne, optional
1/2 cup water

1) Clean and blanch the spinach in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, then drain in a strainer and leave to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze out any remaining liquid. If using baby spinach or frozen spinach this step can be omitted.

2) Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry the mustard seeds until they begin to splutter.

3) Add the sliced onion, crushed garlic, and chopped ginger and the red pepper, if you are using it. Fry for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally.

4) Stir in the potatoes, chilli powder, salt and water and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the water cooks down. You should have just a little bit on the bottom of the pan creating steam, but not drenching the potatoes.

5) Add the spinach to the pan. If you omitted step 1, the volume of the spinach may overflow the pan. Let it cook down for a minute or two and add the rest. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add more water if necessary.

6) Serve with rice and plain yogurt.

The Bride Makes Vegetarian Curry: 1 Aubergine Curry

I've been cooking vegetarian curries frequently this summer. They are low in calories and high in wonderfulness. I'm posting my two favorite recipes. No pictures, unfortunately. One serving is 2 WW points with or without mushroooms and without peas. Add the peas and it's 4 WW points. Any which way, it's Core. And it's really really really good whichever way you do it.

Roasted Aubergine Curry

4 servings.

2 large aubergine (eggplants)
2 TBSP oil (more or less)
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 fresh red chili, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, or 2 cups fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup frozen peas, optional
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms, quartered, optional

1) Apply about 1 TBSP of oil to the skins of the whole eggplants by rubbing it in with your hands. Prick the sides with a fork. Place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. When the aubergine is soft, it's done. Take it out and let it cool somewhat.

2) While the aubergine is cooling, heat the remaining TBSP of oil and add the black mustard seeds. Leave them for a minute or two until they start to sputter. Then add the chopped onion, garlic and chili pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft. Add the ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne and salt and stir through, allowing it to cook with the onions for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

3) While the tomatoes are simmering, return to the eggplant which is now cooled enough that you can handle it. Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Discard the skin (and therefore 1 TBSP of the oil. Neat, eh?). Mash the flesh as best you can.

4) When the tomatoes have simmered for a while, add the aubergine mash and, if you are using the mushrooms and/or peas, add them now, too. Mix well. Reduce heat and cook for about 20 mnutes. Then add most of the coriander and stir through. At this point you can leave it to simmer at a very low temp until you are ready to eat it.

5) Serve garnished with the rest of the coriander and rice.

The Bride makes Walnut and Cherry Liqueurs

The Bride, following in Vivi's footsteps, has made two kinds of walnut liqueur. (Thanks for sending me the walnuts, Vivi and Girl child). The middle jar and the righthand jar are Vin de Noix and Nocino, respectively. I actually used the other recipe for the Vin de Noix, the one Vivi didn't use. It calls for 'bitter orange peel'. I'm working on getting it, but I just went ahead and made it without. And the Nocino on the far right - look how dark it has gotten. It started out clear with lovely green walnut quarters floating in it. I only made 1/2 recipe of each, because that's how many walnuts I had. If it's good, I'll have to get Vivi to send me more next summer.

The 2 gallon jar on the far left is Vin de Cerise, made from a recipe in the same French cookbook as the Vin de Noix recipe I used. This one we've made before and I love it. I highly recommend trying this while the cherries are available. I made the full 3 liters, but you could make less.

Vin de Cerise
3 liters of red or rose wine
1 kilo of black cherries
1/2 litre of vodka or eau de vie
500 grams of sugar

Crush the cherries (I put them in a strong plastic zip lock bag and smashed them with a flat meat tenderizer.) Leave the pits in place - much of the flavor comes from the pits. Put everything in a large jar. Mine is 2 gallons. Swirl the contents around every day for 15 days of maceration. After that, filter and put in bottles and let sit a little longer. The cherries that you filter out are really good with ice cream, once you pick the pits out.

Raspberry Cranachan (for Vivi from The Bride)

Raspberry Cranachan

This recipe is easy to make and full of flavor. You can use any soft fruit you happen to have. You can also adapt it as a breakfast dish, leaving out the whisky and substituting yogurt for part of the cream

3/4 cup oatmeal (not instant oatmeal)
1 pint raspberries
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
4 TBSP runny honey (a few seconds in the microwave will make it runny enough)
4 TBSP malt whiskey

Scatter the oatmeal on a baking tray and toast in a low oven or under a medium grill until golden. Watch it closely or it may burn.

Blend 50 grams of the raspberries in a blender until smooth. Whip the cream until stiff, then stir in the honey and whiskey and mix well but do not over-whip. Mix in 50 g of the oatmeal, then carefully fold in the raspberry purée to form a rippled effect.
Spoon the mixture into individual glasses or a serving dish, then scatter the rest of the berries and the remaining oatmeal on top.

Walnut Liqueurs

The Bride posted on her own blog, last fall, three recipes for walnut liqueur. It just so happens, we have friends with a huge walnut tree shading the back yard, and they offered us a step-ladder and welcome to as many walnuts as I could carry away (and come back and get more! Please! They drop from the tree, staining laundry on the line below it, attracting squirrels, and destroying tender plants. Not to mention, the dropping walnuts make a picnic in the backyard a chicken-little experience).

So, a couple of days ago, Girl-child and I picked 110 green (unripe) walnuts, more or less (she still occasionally leaves out 14 and 28, and sometimes gets confused at the transition from one decade to the next). We mailed about 30 to the Bride, and pulled out about 40 for me, and the rest will be used by our brother to make walnut oil for use in making his own paints.

Tonight, the children and I pulverized 18 walnuts for Vin de Noix, the recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle by Georgeanne Brennan (see The Bride's blog for details). The recipe calls for 35 green walnuts and 7 bottles of red wine! We don't need that much, so I halved the amounts. I had intended to use entirely local ingredients, to keep the terroire, but accidentally bought a California plonk, ur, I mean, wine, for the vin rouge. I don't think it will destroy the flavors. The photo shows the wine, some of the unpulverized walnuts and the pulverized walnuts soaking in the wine (for 40 days in a cool, dark place). On the first day of the children's school, I will strain and fortify it with sweetened vodka, and then bottle it and set it aside until we're ready to drink it.

Another 25 walnuts were more neatly cut into quarters, and then mixed with sugar, vodka, lemon zest, cloves and a cinnamon stick. It's so pretty! This is for an Italian version of the same liqueur, Nocino. No wine here, just the hard stuff (made in Oregon, too!). This bottle is supposed to sit in the sun, not in a cool, dark chat-bouton, for 60 days, at which point I will strain and decant it. This should be ready at the autumn equinox.


I'm eager to taste both of these. The walnuts have an unusual tart scent; the cutting board is stained yellow-green, but my fingers, from handling the pieces, are stained a beautiful dark brown, getting darker over the last hour. I would never have guessed that walnut stain comes from the green walnuts, not the ripe ones.

What The Bride is doing with the home made ricotta

With the home made ricotta I made this afternoon, I am making the following pasta. I'm going to use a whole wheat pasta for health, but since I used whole milk and cream for the ricotta it's probably futile. I'm serving it with a sliced tomato salad with a garlicky dressing, and green beans from Appleton Farm.

Lemony Ricotta Pasta with Basil
from Apartment Therapy, the Kitchen blog

Serves 6

1 lb good quality pasta in a short twisted shape such as gemelli or penne
2 cups of home made ricotta (or a 15 ounce package of good store bought ricotta)
1 cup freshly grated good quality Parmesan
2 TBSP olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil, sliced thing as in a chiffonade.

Set a pot of water to boil. When it boils add a few teaspoons of salt and the pasta.

Stack the basil leaves and Roll them into a tube, then cut very thinly into strips. Put aside until the end.

In a metal bowl wide enough to fit over the top of the pasta pot, mix together the remaining ingredients. excluding the basil.

When about 2 minutes remain in the pasta cooking time, put the bowl over the pot and slowly stir the ricotta and other ingredients. You will see it loosening as you stir. When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add the basil to the bowl of sauce and toss with the pasta.

Because this recipe is so simple, everything depends on using the best quality, fresh ingredients.

Yum.

Home Made Ricotta from The Bride

Also not a Cordon Bleu recipe, but good, while we are trying to figure out what to do with this blog.

Home Made Ricotta

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 TBSP fresh lemon juice

Bring the milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over. When it is boiling, add the fresh lemon juice and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until it curdles - 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Pour into fine cheesecloth or a linen dish towel draped over a colander or sieve. Leave for 1 hour, until the liquid has drained out. Longer if you want it firmer. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Makes about 1 quart of cheese, depending on how long you actually leave it to drain.

Marlene's Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

5 cups cut-up rhubarb
4 cups sugar

Stir. Let sit over night. Bring to boil, add 1 small package of strawberry jello and grated rind of one orange.

This is good, really really good.

(from Mom, Marlene's sister-in-law)

This is not in any way a Cordon Bleu recipe, as it involves only one pan and one bowl, does not go into great detail (or, to be specific, any detail) about what to do with the jam (i.e., processing it). Also, I doubt Cordon Bleu depends on jello or artificial flavoring.

However, it is really, really, good. And very easy to make.