Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is really comforting in the fall. I suggest serving this with maple syrup sweetened whipped cream. This recipe is similar to the Libby's Pie recipe off of the can. The difference is I add vanilla, one extra egg, five spice powder and a little less salt. It is delicious.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
3 large eggs
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin
1 can of evaporated milk

1 unbaked 9 inch never fail dough pie shell

Mix all the filling ingredients in a food processor and pour into the pie shell. Bake for 55 minutes in the lower third of your oven.

Tegolino or Tuiles

With just a few ingredients you can make one of the tastiest cookies. They are a little temperamental. You must make sure the batter is the right consistency. If you like you can use a template to make them perfectly. I did not have a template and mine turned out just fine. You will need a silicone baking mat. Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.


3 ounces of all purpose flour
3 ounces of cake flour
6 ounces of powdered sugar
6 egg whites (3/4 of a cup)
4 ounces of melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Finely chopped almonds

In a food processor, place all the ingredients and pulse until well mixed. Pour half a tablespoon full of the batter on the Silpat and sprinkle lightly with the chopped almonds. It is very important that the dough should not be thicker then 1/16 of a inch. Bake until they are browned lightly. Remove the pan from the oven and place the cookies on a rolling pin to establish the tile shape. They will crisp up fairly quickly, so you must do this right away.

Now you can enjoy the cookies! There is a lot of variations to this cookie. So add grated orange zest to them which is quite nice. You can even make cocoa tulies by replacing 1 ounce of the cake flour with 1 ounce of cocoa powder.

 

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted garlic becomes a magical thing when roasted in the oven. Add it to mashed potatoes and well you just have to try it. Left over mashed potatoes are great for all kinds of uses. Or even just heated up in the microwave.

2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes
1 whole garlic bulb
salt to taste
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of half and half
freshly ground black pepper


Begin by heating your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the garlic bulb in half and place on a sheet of foil. Now drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven. This will take about thirty minutes to turn a lovely golden brown.

In a large pot for the potatoes, filled with cold water, add the potatoes quartered. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Now drain the potatoes and put them through a potato ricer. If you like chucks of garlic you can add them in as is or conversely you can put them through the ricer too. Now add the half and half, butter and salt & pepper. Top with fresh chives.

If you want you can skip the half & half and butter. For an alternative you can add extra vigin olive oil. This is equally as good.

German Apple Cake

Fall is in the air and the apples have come to market. There is nothing like warm apple cake with vanilla ice cream and carmel sauce. The cake is very simple to make. It stands on it's own with a hot cup of tea too! You must serve it warm, so if it cools, microwave it for a minute or two. Lovely fresh candied nuts would really throw this over the top!

 I added a new blog link from the UK.
Check out Dan Lepard's apple pastry recipes.

3/4 cup of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 large granny smith apples
2 eggs
grated zest from one lemon
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup dark muscovado sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter melted
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 tablespoons of dark Jamaican Rum

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 inch spring form pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Peel the apples and cut slice them on a french mandeline on the thicker side.
Pour the juice and lemon zest over the apples. Now set this aside. In a bowl beat the eggs with a whisk and add the sugars. Mix until well incorporated. In a seperate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir into the eggs; alternately the flour and butter mixture. Now add the vanilla, rum and apples. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes.



 

Chicken Ballottine

I love chicken and I am always looking for a new and exciting way to prepared it. I was watching Essential Pepin and watch him bone a chicken. It looked pretty easy, so I attempted it. It turned out really well. You can stuff the chicken with what you like. I made a spinach, sausage & dill stuffing. I would suggest serving this dish with yukon gold mashed potatoes. I copied Jacque's sauce recipe. However, I added grated garlic and dry Spanish Sherry to the mix.

Stuffing:

2 garlic cloves minced
1 small package of baby spinach
2 hot Italian sausages casings removed
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup of sour dough bread crumbs
4 cremini mushrooms diced
1 shallot diced
1 lemon zested
2 tablespoons of fresh minced dill weed
juice of one lemon
salt & pepper

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, shallots and sausage. Cook until the sausage is rendered and add the rest of the ingredients. Set aside to cool.

You will now need to bone out a whole chicken. There is many websites that show you how to do this. You can watch Jacque's show too or ask your butcher to do this.

Lay the chicken skin side down and lightly salt and pepper. Spread the cooled stuffing on top of the chicken and proceed to roll up and tie with kitcken twine. Lightly dust with herbes de Provence and salt, pepper. Place fresh bay leaves on top of the chicken secured underneath the twine.

I think it is very important to do this step, but you can skip it. However the skin will not be as crisp.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a roasting pan on your stove and add some olive oil. Brown the roast on all sides. Now place the roast into the oven and bake for 45 minutes.


Sauce:

1/2 cup of stock
1/2 cup of dry red wine
1 very small onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 celery stock diced
1 clove of garlic grated
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dry Spanish Sherry
1 tablespoon of Wondra Flour

Skim off and discard some of the fat from the pan drippings. Add the drippings to a frying pan and heat on medium high. Add the diced vegetables and saute until they are soft. Now add the stock, wine, soy, sherry and grated garlic to the pan. Cook out some of the wine for five minutes. Now add the wondra and you have a really tasty sauce to pass over the roast.