Pear, roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

A few years ago I had a salad in some restaurant that I have long since forgotten.  I thought it was delicious and so I came home and created this recipe.  I made it tonight and enjoyed in once again.  It isn't the kind of salad that you would want for an entire dinner but it is really good as a first course or side salad.  The first few times I made it, I roasted the beets and made the honey mustard dressing from scratch, but since then I have discovered that Costco has roasted whole beets in a shrink-wrap container, that are as good as any you can roast yourself .  I also now use over the counter honey mustard dressing.  I like Cardini's.  If you don't have a Costco nearby, almost any cookbook will tell you how to roast beets.  It isn't hard to do, but getting the skin off is a little messy and I recommend wearing rubber gloves or you will have red stains all over your hands.  And If you decide to make your own honey mustard dressing, I like the recipe in the good old Betty Crocker cookbook.  Here is what the salad looks like: (click on the picture and you will get a larger version)

It is very simple to make, especially if you can find the pre-roasted beets.  Give it a try.

Ingredients for four:

2 cups Spring Greens
2-3 Whole roasted beets - rolled on paper towel to absorb liquid and diced into a 3/8" dice
2 Pears - peeled, quartered and cut into 3/8" dice
Small Piece Maytag or other similar Blue Cheese - cut into 1/2" dice
Candied Walnuts (available in most grocery stores)
Cardini's Honey Mustard Dressing

Preparation:

Distribute a thin layer of greens on each of four salad plates.  Starting on one side of the plate mound a few pieces of diced beet.  Next mound a few pieces of diced pear adjacent to the beets.  Now add a few cubes of the Blue Cheese.  Starting from the other side of the plate, mound another few pieces of beet and then pear, so that you meet at the blue cheese in the middle of the plate. Sprinkle with some of the candied walnuts.   Drizzle with the Honey Mustard dressing and you are done.  The result is unique, beautiful and tasty.  I had a glass of buttery chardonnay with the salad and it went together nicely.  Enjoy !!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Every couple of years I get really hungry for this great ravioli recipe so I devote a day to putting together a batch and freezing the raviolis.  We can then pull them out a few at a time, and enjoy the great flavor.  I like to use this ravioli as a first course in a larger meal, so about three or four raviolis makes a serving.  I ended up with 42 three inch raviolis.

About halfway through the process I remembered why I only do this every couple of years.  It is very labor intensive, and I don't even make the pasta sheets from scratch.  There is an Italian eatery and deli not far from us called Cupini's.  They have been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  I call them the day before I want to make the ravioli and order about two pounds of pasta sheets.  They  make them overnight and I pick them up the next day.  When we lived in South Carolina and there were no Italian Delis around, I made the raviolis once using wanton wrappers. The taste was great but the wantons are a little thin.   That makes stuffing and handling them a very delicate task.  The texture wasn't quite right for ravioli either.

While I was at Cupini's picking up the pasta sheets, I noticed that they had butternut squash ravioli in their freezer.  As I was drawing to a close with production of this latest batch, I was wondering just what their raviolis tasted like and thinking that before I make them again I should really give the Cupini's variety a try.  If they are good and I expect they are, I could use them and just do the sage brown butter sauce.  I am getting to the age where I love labor saving devices.

I got this recipe from the Food Network website about eight years ago.  It may still be on the website, but I am using the copy I printed out in 2008.  I have made several alterations to the recipe. They do not attribute the recipe to a specific chef, so I can't do that either.  The recipe says that the prep time is 40 min. with inactive prep time of 4 hr and 15 min.  I am not sure what inactive prep time is, but I am pretty sure I was active for the duration. Here is the recipe.  The taste is terrific.  If you have the stamina, give it a try.

Ingredients:

For ravioli:
1 small to medium butternut squash (I bought a 2 LB. box of cubed squash at Costco)
2 TBSP dark molasses
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 tsps balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 TBSP freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsps ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Lbs pasta sheets
flour - for dusting board

For Sage Brown Butter Sauce:
8 TBSP sweet butter
8 fresh sage leaves - chiffonaded
2 oz. parmesan for grating
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate for grating

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut squash in half and scrape out the seeds.  Using 1 TBSP molasses, rub the cut sides and cavity of the squash till coated.  If you buy the cubed squash, toss it in the molasses. Season with salt and pepper.  Place cut side down on a roasting pan and cook in the oven until very soft, about 1 hour.  Less if you use the cubed squash.  Let cool to room temperature and scoop out the flesh into the bowl of a food processor.  Puree squash until smooth, then spread on a baking sheet and return to the 375 degree oven to dry, about ten minutes.  The consistency will be like mashed potatoes.  Scrape into a large mixing bowl.  Heat the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it melts and just starts to brown.  Immediately remove from heat and add the remaining 1 TBSP of molasses and the balsamic vinegar.  Add to the squash in the mixing bowl along with the mascarpone, the grated parmesan, the cinnamon and the nutmeg.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to two days.  Here is the filling after sitting in the fridge overnight:

To fill raviolis, lay out a sheet of pasta on a lightly floured board.  Cut into circles with a 3" or 31/2" pastry cutter.  Put 1 TBSP of filling in the center of half of the rounds using either a pastry bag or a small spoon.  Leave about a half inch border all around the filling.

Moisten the border of a round with water.  I used a pastry brush for this.  Lay a second round on top and press down on the outside edges with your fingers.  I like to then go around the entire edge with a small fork and make sure the edges are really sealed.  This keeps the filling from oozing out when you boil the raviolis.  Repeat until you run out of pasta rounds or filling.

Lay filled raviolis out to dry on a lightly floured board or a baking sheet.  Lightly dust the tops with flour. To cook, boil in salted water until tender, about three to five minutes depending on the thickness of your pasta.  If you want to freeze the raviolis, line a container with waxed paper and put in a single layer of raviolis.  Cover with more wax paper and lay in another layer of raviolis.  Repeat process until all of the ravioli are in the container.  Cover with a tight sealing lid and freeze.

Make the sage brown butter sauce while you are cooking the raviolis.  Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium low heat.  Add the sage and cook until the butter foams and starts to brown.  Add a couple of teaspoons of water from the pasta pot to the butter sauce.  Remove from heat and add drained raviolis to the butter sauce and swirl to coat the pasta.  To serve put a portion of ravioli into a pasta dish and finish with a generous grating of parmesan cheese and bittersweet chocolate.  You will have a beautiful and savory dish, with great flavor.  Enjoy !!

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Warm Farro Salad (October 2016 Food and Wine Magazine)

Typically I Blog about recipes that I have had for years.  You know, the tried and true favorites.  But last night I took a couple of chicken leg and thigh quarters out of the freezer.  This morning I was thumbing through the October Food and Wine magazine and I ran across this recipe for pan-roasted chicken with warm farro salad.  I thought it sounded good and decided to try it tonight.  It called for a whole chicken but I knew we didn't need that for the two of us, so I just used the chicken we had and made everything else according to the recipe.  We have quite a bit of leftover farro salad, but believe me it will get used.  Jan and I both thought the entire recipe turned out to be really delicious.  The chicken was crispy on the outside and the meat was very moist.  The farro and vegetable salad was really tasty and I think quite healthy, as well as very visually attractive.  If I were going to make this recipe for four I would just do four of the leg and thigh quarters instead of the whole chicken. The leg and thigh quarters are much more likely to be moist and tender than the breast. 

I try not to get stale as a cook so this is an example of a brand new recipe that I tried and love.

Ingredients:

One 4 Lb. whole chicken, backbone removed and cut into two halves, or alternatively use four leg and thigh quarters, skin on.

5 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and pepper

2 TBSP unsalted butter

3 sage sprigs

1/2 Lb. small (not baby) carrots

1 Lb. mixed mushrooms, chopped 

11/2 cups farro

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice, plus wedges for serving

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Chopped parsley for garnish   

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Set racks in the middle and the lower third of the oven.  Rub the chicken with two TBSP of the olive oil and season with the salt and pepper.  In a large cast iron skillet, melt the butter.  Add the sage sprigs, then add the chicken, skin side down, and cook over moderately high heat until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and roast in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes, basting occasionally, until cooked through.  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for ten minutes.  Reserve the pan juices, but discard the sage.  

While the chicken is cooking, on a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots and the mushrooms with the remaining three TBSP of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Roast the vegetables on the lower rack of the oven until golden and tender, about twenty minutes.  Let cool slightly and then slice the carrots.  Transfer the carrots and mushrooms to a large bowl.  

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan of salted boiling water, cook the farro until al dente, 15 - 20 minutes.  Drain well.  Add the farro to the vegetables along with the lemon juice, half of the hazelnuts and half a cup of the reserved chicken pan juices; mix well. Transfer to plates.  Top with the remaining hazelnuts.  Place a portion of the chicken on top of the farro salad and garnish the dish with the chopped parsley.  Serve with Chateauneuf-Du-Pape.   Alternatively a cheaper wine choice could be Oregon Pinot Noir. I think you will find this to be a great one dish meal.   

Spaghetti with Asparagus, Prosciutto, Smoked Mozzarella and Basil

I have had this recipe for a number of years and it remains as one of my favorite pasta dishes.  I think I originally saw Giada DeLaurentiis make it on Television.  My recipe is on two yellow steno sheets written in pencil.  It must have been what I had close at hand at the time I saw the show.  At any rate, I probably made the recipe for the first time 15 years ago and have used it over and  over.  Give it a try.  I think you will find the salty flavor of the prosciutto and the smoky mozzarella blend nicely with the fresh basil and the pasta.  It really is a one dish meal in that it contains protein, vegetable, and starch.

Ingredients:

1 Lb. Fresh Asparagus - cut into 1" pieces on the diagonal
1 Lb. Thick Spaghetti
4 Cloves Garlic - minced
Extra Virgin Olive oil
6 Oz. Prosciutto di Parma - cut into thin ribbons
6 Oz. Smoked Mozzarella - cut into 3/8" cubes
1 Bunch Fresh Basil - Chiffonade into ribbons
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Fill a medium mixing bowl with water and ice.  Set aside.  In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring to a boil enough water to parboil the asparagus. Add asparagus to the boiling water and cook for about a minute and a half.  Do not overcook.  Remove asparagus from the boiling water and plunge into the ice bath.  This will stop the asparagus from cooking further and set the beautiful green color.  Drain asparagus and dry on paper towels.  Cook pasta per package directions.  While pasta is cooking, heat about three tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet.  Saute the garlic in the oil until translucent and tender.  Add the parboiled asparagus to the skillet and season with salt and pepper.  Drain cooked pasta, reserving a couple tablespoons of the pasta water.  Add cooked pasta and the reserved pasta water to the skillet.  Turn heat to low. Toss pasta and asparagus to mix thoroughly.  Add Prosciutto, Smoked Mozzarella and Basil to the skillet and toss thoroughly again.  Leave on heat just until the cheese starts to melt.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.   I like to turn the whole skillet onto a large platter to pass and serve but feel free to put into individual pasta dishes if that is your preference.  I like to serve with ciabatta bread and a good Italian red wine.

Fall is the time for home-made soups

Now that we know our family and friends in South Carolina are safe, I can turn back to doing a little more blogging.  Some of them had minor damage to homes, but everybody is healthy and back home. That was the important part.  They were all out of their homes for 5-6 days and some returned home to no electricity.  I think by last night that was remedied, and now they can set out to the difficult task of clean-up.

Today was the first day that has really felt like fall in Kansas City.  The high temp was fifty-nine degrees and tomorrow morning it is supposed to be thirty-nine.  The trees are just starting to turn and it is time for some home-made soup.  Last night I had a meeting at 5:30 PM that went until about 7:30.  I got home to find that Jan had made a big pot of Cabbage soup.  I know that cabbage is not a favorite of some, but don't knock it till you have tried this delightful soup.  Jan found the recipe in Taste of Home.  It came from a woman named Nancy Stevens in Morrison, Illinois. It is really simple to make and at 80 calories per serving is a dieter's delight.  Serve with some crusty bread and a glass of creamy chardonnay and I know you will love it. ( You saved all those calories with the soup so the wine and bread are OK.)

Another of my favorite fall recipes is Parmesan Broth with Swiss Chard and White Beans. This is a deeply satisfying soup that can compete with chicken noodle as a fall/winter cure-all. This recipe comes from Sara Jenkins of Porsena and Porchetta restaurant in New York.  I got it out of a newspaper a number of years ago and have made it often, both as a first course for a formal dinner or as a main course for a simple soup supper.

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium head cabbage - chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
8 cups water
1 tsps beef bouillon granules
1 TBSP salt
2 tsps black pepper
11/2 Lbs. ground beef - browned and drained
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup

Preparation:

In a stockpot, cook the cabbage, celery and onion in the water until tender.  Add bouillon, salt, pepper, browned ground beef and tomato sauce.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and ketchup;  simmer another 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Parmesan Broth with Swiss Chard and White Beans

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken stock
8 Oz.  parmesan rinds
1 clove garlic - smashed
2 TBSP olive oil
1 dried red chili - crushed
4 cups loosely packed Swiss chard - stems removed and leaves cut into thin ribbons
2 cups canned cannellini beans
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsps lemon zest
Baguette- sliced and drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven

Preparation:

Over low heat steep the chicken stock with the parmesan rinds for about 45 minutes, until the rinds are very soft.  Strain the liquid and reserve.  Throw away what remains of the rinds.  In a heavy bottomed soup-pot, saute' the garlic in the olive oil until the garlic just starts to turn golden.  Add the crushed red chili.  Add the Swiss chard ribbons and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Add the reserved strained chicken stock and the cannellini beans and bring to a simmer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the lemon zest.  To serve, ladle soup over a slice of toasted baguette and drizzle with olive oil.  The lemon zest in the soup really makes the soup pair nicely with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  The citrus flavor of the wine and the very subtle citrus in the soup are a great match.

Hint:  To clean the Swiss chard wash each leaf thoroughly under running water and lay out to dry on paper towels.  Lay one stalk at a time on a cutting board and run a sharp knife along each side of the center rib.  Throw away the ribs and you will have two leave halves remaining.  After all of the ribs have been removed lay 5-6 leave halves on top of one another and roll up tightly on the long axis, so that the roll resembles a short cigar.  Using your sharp knife, cut across the rolled up leaves.  This technique is called chiffonade.  Chiffonade is the french word meaning ribbons.  I like to make my cuts somewhere around 1/4" .  You will end up with a pile of very thin long ribbons of chard.  I generally cut the ribbons up a little so that they are not so long they are difficult to eat when put into the soup.

Low Country Dining

We got back from South Carolina on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday morning I left for a quick two day golf trip with my buddies.  Got home from that trip late this afternoon and maybe now I can get a chance to catch up and talk a little about the seafood we had while in the beautiful low country.

As a quick aside, the day after we got home, the South Carolina governor ordered an evacuation of the entire SC coastal region.  Our son and his wife and our grandson left Thursday and our good friends at Callawassie Island all appear to be safe now too.  We are very happy they are all out of harm's way, but now we are hoping and praying that they won't have major property damage.

While in SC we ate almost all of our meals out and we went on a seafood binge.  The shrimp, flounder, and oysters were all fresh, although the oysters won't be local for a month or two.  On Saturday I had a Shrimp Po Boy for lunch and a seafood platter for dinner.  The seafood platter was all local and had shrimp, whiting and fish cakes, and some hush puppies of course.  All the fish was local and delicious.  The shrimp in the lunch Po Boy were cooked perfectly.  Not overcooking is always the key with shrimp and they should pop when you bite into them.

Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch at our kids house and then for Sunday evening we went to the Callawassie Island club, where I had fish and chips.  Monday we spent most of the day on Hilton Head and had lunch at the Boat House, a delightful seaside restaurant that has been there for years.  I started lunch with a really nice seafood chowder, that had clams, shrimp and fish in a thick cream base. 

The chowder was followed by a flounder almondine.  It was a local flounder fillet that was dipped in an egg batter and sauteed.  It was topped with a brown butter sauce and toasted almonds.  I wasn't crazy about the egg batter.  I thought it overpowered the fish and made it taste a little like french toast, but I certainly didn't send it back. 

Jan had a fried oyster Po Boy, that she loved.  Hard to see the oysters in the picture but they had a very light breading and were fried to perfection. The sandwich was accompanied by really good waffle cut sweet potato fries.  

Monday evening we went to the May River Grill in Bluffton with some good friends. Jan and I both had crispy scored flounder.  This is a low country specialty.  The flounder is cross hatched with scoring down to the bones.  It is then flash fried in a big skillet, just enough to make the skin crisp. Typically it is then topped with a sauce of some sort and finished off in the oven.  In this case the sauce was a Thai red chili sauce.  A more common example is finished with an apricot sauce.  No matter the sauce, the result is always delicious.  Each little piece, defined by the scoring, lifts off of the bones easily and makes a tasty bite with a crisp outer layer over the top of the moist and tender flesh of the flounder.  It doesn't get much better than that.  If you are ever in the low country be sure to try the crisp scored flounder.  I think the best I have ever had was at the Old Pink House in Savannah.  

We get good seafood in Kansas City.  It is flown in daily, but it just isn't quite the same as when you can sit in a restaurant and see the shrimp boats offshore and know that in a few hours their catch will be on a local plate.