Fruit Challenge #6: Mangoes

We were reading the NYTimes recently and boy came across an article about all the different ways you can infuse vodka. Well, you don't have to tell me twice! What had we done before we had even finished reading the article? Had ourselves set up to have some fresh peach vodka by dinnertime. Duh.

That was then. This is now. We have graduated to more sophisticated combinations. Peaches and whiskey? Boy says it's delish. Mangoes and Cacique*? Delectably sweet. Mangoes and Rum? The foundation of a beautiful summer cocktail.

I am sure there will be many more entries about the wonky combinations we come up with down the line (Bacon Vodka martini anyone?), but these are some to whet your appetite and maybe get you infusing on your own.

The idea is very simple. Select your liquor. Add whatever your heart desires. Wait a couple days. Taste. Wait longer if necessary. If you try some crazy pairings and they work out - drop me a line! This has become a new favorite sport in our house. 

*Boy has done quite a bit of traveling to Costa Rica for work since college.  Cacique is a guaro liquor native to Costa Rica. Made from sugar cane it is wonderfully sweet - even on its own.

Veggie Challenge #7: Onions

This is certainly not because I had leftover onions from the apple onion soup that I needed to get rid of. Not at all. A friend brought this to a Sunday brunch a couple weeks back and I have been dreaming of it since.  Spice up your life, people. Onions are new again! How about a sweet onion jam? Yes, please!

Sweet Onion Jam
3-4 large sweet onions
3T. butter
1/3 - 1/2c. sugar
(Can be adopted for whatever amount of onions you have)



Chop onions and add to skillet (non-stick if you have it, or stick if you are lucky enough to have someone around to clean up after your kitchen experiments). Cook on low heat for a long time.  I didn't realize how ridiculous that would sound until I just typed it. Ha. I really didn't pay attention to how long it took, but they will start to turn slightly brown. (Now that I think about it - it took the length of the first half of last weeks Pats game. I guess that only felt like forever...) At that point, add the sugar and continue to cook, letting them fully caramelize.

There is no one way to eat this that is better than another. A couple that I have tried - with a spoon, on a crostini with goat cheese, or on a water cracker alone. I am thinking about baking it on a brie as well. Will report back if I follow through on that. In the meantime though, try this! You will not be disappointed.

Apple Week: Apple Onion Soup Gratin

I saw this recipe and was drawn to it. Like a moth to a flame drawn to it. Having the serious affinity for salt that I do, I love French Onion Soup. Salty broth, slimey, worm-like onions, crouton, slightly browned and bubbling cheese... how could you go wrong? You can't. How can you improve it? Add apples for an ever-so-sweet addition to a classic.

Apple Onion Soup Gratin

3T. butter (don't question the butter - trust me, just do it)

1 apple (Mac or Cortland)

2 sweet onions, chopped

2c. beef broth

1 1/2c. water

1/2c. dry sherry

1t. dried basil

French bread

Swiss cheese, shredded

[This recipe goes fast, so I recommend having everything prepped before you start.] Add onions and butter to soup pot or dutch oven and sauté until softened.  Add apple and sauté until soft, but still able to retain shape. At this point, preheat oven to a high broil. Add liquid and spices and simmer another 10-15 minutes. (I added an extra bullion cube to get a nice strong flavor and to feed my salt addiction.) Once soup is ready, ladle into oven-safe bowls. Cut French bread into a crouton that covers the top of the bowl. Top with shredded Swiss cheese. Put in the oven (on a tray to prevent melty cheese grossness!) until the cheese starts to brown and bubble. Keep a close eye on it as this happens fast! Enjoy!     

Apple Week: Apple Sauce

***A correction I must address before we go any further.  My dearest mother, the walking dictionary and grammar crusader that she is, was so kind as to point out my typo in the first line of Thursday's post. "I thought you would want to know". No, Mom, I would have rather not known about that one - especially before I had even finished my morning coffee. Personally, "its" versus "it's" is a mistake that makes my skin crawl when I see it. (As do "alot" of other grammatical mistakes.) I know it was wrong and I am mortified. So, let's drop it. Thanks. ***

I go through phases with apple sauce. Much like yogurt, it is a texture thing. I only made my own from scratch for the first time last fall and, after realizing how easy it is, vowed to never buy it in a store again. [Seeing as I don't eat the stuff very often, I have been able to stick to that 100%. Yay me!] Only after tasting apple sauce that you have made from scratch will you understand just how processed the apple sauce is that you buy in the store. In my recipe, I cut way back on sugar so as to keep that tart "this-was-actually-made-from-apples" flavor.  Otherwise, it just tastes like sugary, apple-flavored sauce. Almost candy-like, but I guess that is alright if you are into that sort of thing.

Chunky Apple Sauce
8-10 apples (I prefer Macs or Cortlands)
1-2c. cider (to be honest, I eyeballed it, so I really have no idea)
2t. cinnamon
vanilla (eyeballed, but maybe 3/4t.?)
sugar to taste (I ended up using about 1 cup)

In case you can't tell, I don't often use measuring cups or timers - cooking is an art, not a science! Wash, core, and quarter the apples.  [You can peel them if you'd like, but I prefer to leave the skins on for flavor and then remove them when I mash.] Place in a large pan and add cider.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until apples are soft enough to mash.  [I don't cook for very long as I prefer chunky sauce.] For smoother sauce, cook longer and apples will break down further. Remove skins and mash with a potato masher.  Add cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Taste and tweak until it's delicious!

Apple Week: Apple Butter

Contrary to what it's name implies, there is no butter involved, although that could be worlds-colliding delicious now that I think about it. (Another post, perhaps?) The word 'butter' in the name refers to the buttery texture of the finished product.  It certainly is a labor of love to make, but very worth it in the end.

Apple Butter
4-5 lbs. apples (about 15 medium apples)
4c. apple cider
2t. cinnamon
3/4t.  allspice
1/4t. ground cloves
2c. sugar

Wash, core, and quarter the apples.  (Do not peel apples as the peels provide great flavor and have magic skills to thicken up the butter.) Place them in a large pan (like my beautiful soup pot) with cider. Bring to a boil and then cover, turn down the heat, and simmer for another 30 minutes or until apples have broken down. Press apples through a sieve or a food mill.  Return 10 cups of apple to the pan.  Mix in sugar and spices. (I only used 1 cup of sugar to avoid butter being too artificial flavored.) Bring to a boil again and then simmer, uncovered, for an additional 2 - 2.5 hours or until deliciously thick. Be sure to stir every 15-20 minutes (this is where that whole 'labor of love' things comes back to bite you) to prevent burning.

If you are canning, be sure to have sterilized jars ready to receive hot apple butter.
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Breakfast is really tough for boy now.  He sits for at least sixty seconds some mornings trying to decide what his toast is going to wear that day - my homemade raspberry jam or apple butter?  Life can be so difficult some days. 

Oh, how ironic!  Check out that apple pie and crisp in the background!

Apple Week: Apple Pie and Apple Crisp

I started off with a couple classics.  Now, I am generally an apple pie kind of gal, but I decided I had to mix it up since I had such a ridiculous amount of apples to use.

Apple Crisp
The crisp recipe I have has been passed down from somewhere in my family from many generations ago I am sure.  The reason I know this? The amount of butter that went into the crumble would be considered illegal by most modern-day standards.  Yumm.

6-8 medium sized apples (I use Cortlands or Macs)
1c. sugar
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. cinnamon
3/4c. flour
1/8 t. salt
6T butter
1/4c. chopped nuts
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Peel, core, and slice apples.  Add 1/2c. of sugar and spices to apples.  Mix lightly and pour into 9x13" casserole that has been greased. Mix remaining sugar, flour, and salt.  Cut the butter into this mixture until it is a crumble consistency. Add the nuts and sprinkle over apples.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until apples are tender and crumble is browned.

Apple Pie
I am not one to toot my own horn (honestly!) when it comes to cooking because I realize I have so much left to learn, but I will say that if there is anything I have mastered, it is the apple pie. I make the prettiest and most amazing apple pie ever. I know people that invite me to functions just so they can have the pie. Hey, if it keeps my social calendar full, how can I complain?

Also, I am a huge advocate of sharing recipes and will happily hand over anything I have - with the exception of this recipe.  Sorry, folks.  I can count on my two thumbs the number of people that I know have this recipe and I plan to keep it that way. More than happy to make you one! Or, I will give you my mom's personal email and you can try to get it out of her.

"It's like shark week, but for apples!"

I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to all things apple. I have another secret, too. I found an amazing orchard just two miles from my office. Result? I am in trouble.

Boy left me alone again and I accidentally bought 15 pounds of apples and a gallon of cider after work on Friday. I decided that I was going to have an applegeddon.  And boy did I ever.  

Posts this week are going to surround my weekend of making everything I could think of that involved apples.  So check back to see!

A before picture:

Enjoy!

Fruit Challenge #4 and #5: Plums and Pluots

I cheated and combined on this one guys.  Sorry!

If you don't know this already about me, I have very random food aversions. There are things that freak me out for no real reason aside from my own neuroses. (To my credit - often rooted in texture.)  Rhubarb? Check. Yogurt? Check on most days. Pineapple? Used to, but I have recently become obsessed. Jägermeister? Check, but we won't get into that. Chicken? Sometimes check. Cooked peppers? Sometimes check. Plums? Check. Some of the time I have never even tasted the item in question which I know is poor form. I am really trying to get over that. In my book, if you are going to claim to not like something you have to at least have tried it.  I have recently adopted that and in practicing it, I have found I actually really like just about all of the things I previously couldn't get down the hatch. Enter: plums. 

Boy was leaving for the weekend (sad, I know) and asked me if there was anything I wanted from the store since he was there getting odds and ends.  "Sure," I said, "could you grab me whatever fruit looks good?" I would have thought that by now he would have known that meant grapes or pineapple or melon or cherries or apples or peaches or bananas or any other fruit that I liked and not plums and pluots. But, when life (boy) gives you lemons (plums and pluots) you make lemonade (a Plum and Pluot Galette), right?  You betcha. 

'Galette' is a term I hear thrown around on Chopped all the time so I decided to look it up.  Turns out it is basically just a fancy pie/tart/crisp kind of thing.  An "open-face pie" if you will.  Again - another fancy shmancy name for a very easy-to-make-and-wow-your-friends recipe.

Roll out pastry (or store-bought pie crust because pastry is not worth making from scratch) to a 12-14" round.  Coat the bottom with a flour sugar mixture leaving a one-inch border. (Yes, that is a Bombay Sapph bottle full of olive oil. What about it?)

Arrange sliced plums and pluots in the prettiest way you can and then fold the edges up around them pleating as you need to. 

 

As you can see, in this particular recipe I loosely followed, the top gets sprinkled with a little more magic because obviously sometimes fruit just isn't sweet and decadent enough on its own.  


Now, the recipe I used also called for an Armagnac crème fraîche accompaniment, but for my waist's sake I decided to skip it.  

All in all I give this one a 10.  A nice twist on a traditional pie and goes well with vanilla ice cream.  Need I say more?

Does not contain fruit OR veggies: Lobster Mac!

Ok people - I am not going to apologize for the sparse postings recently. The truth is, I have been living it up and squeezing the most possible out of the end of this summer. I am, however, going to apologize for how jealous this post is going to make you.  Sorry.


I was lucky enough to recently celebrate my birthday with some of my favorite family and friends that flew in from great distances for the occasion. I think my promises to cook the freshest and best seafood worked because not only did it get them here, but they egged me on to cook amazing things all weekend. It was awesome.

Let me paint a picture for you... It was the last night everyone was in town and we decided we hadn't had enough seafood despite the ridiculous dinners we had already had (big eye tuna, salmon, fresh local clams and oysters that we caught ourselves, shrimp, lobster, and scallops) so we decided to try and outdo ourselves. With lobster mac and cheese. I leave you to watch this photo montage with these five words... 


Lobster. 


Gruyere. 


Fresh buttered croutons.

I have no words.  Well, aside from these... Ina, I love you. You are my idol. The wind beneath my wings. I want to be you. This recipe changes lives.