Last month I posted about a Cranberry Custard Pie using my favorite dough recipe. I typically use a deep dish pie plate, but for that recipe I used a shallower one. So I had a lot of leftover dough to make something else with. I grabbed some apples that were on their way to getting old, and made a galette.
An apple galette in and of itself is not that exciting, but this caramel sauce – with bourbon and fleur de sel – so luscious. It really takes a basic tart over the top. (more…)
If you are starting to panic because Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) is closing in and you don’t have a dinner plan yet, fear not – I have you covered! I have a round-up of all of my holiday recipes, from protein to sides to dessert, and even breakfast! So please enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Perfect Roasted Turkey, Apple Sausage Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Cider Gravy
Dr Pepper Glazed Ham with Prunes
Garlic and Herb Crusted Rib Roast with Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus (more…)
Who says cranberries are just for Thanksgiving? With this combination of bright and tangy cranberry orange compote over sweet and creamy vanilla custard, you will want to eat them all Winter long. The acidity from the compote is balanced out by the custard – perfect. The gorgeous bright red color makes it great for the holidays, as well.
You can make the two components of this pie separately, chill them, and assemble when ready to serve. That makes traveling to a holiday potluck much easier. For the compote – combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice and zest in a pot and simmer until the cranberries start to burst. Transfer to a container and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
For the pie – prebake a pie crust, then fill with a custard made from flour, sugar, milk, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla. Bake until set, cool completely, then chill for at least a few hours and up to 2 days. Spread the cranberry mixture over the custard pie just before serving. (more…)
When I first bought my bundt cake pan from Williams Sonoma, I kept the recipe from the back of the box – a big square of cardboard hanging around in my cabinets for years. I was rearranging my bakeware the other day and decided it was finally time to try the recipe, if only so that I could get rid of that piece of cardboard.
But holy moly, you guys, this thing was awesome! It is crazy rich and moist and dense and intensely chocolaty – even my cake obsessed husband could only eat a little slice at a time. This is definitely a cake for sharing with friends, trust me, you cannot handle this cake alone.
Part of what makes this cake so awesome is that it has multiple kinds of chocolate in it, the first being bars of semi-sweet baking chocolate. I choose Ghirardelli because it seemed fancy to me and I was feeling fancy. You will combine the baking chocolate with cocoa powder for double the chocolaty awesomeness and melt with hot water. (more…)
Through a combination of being really lazy and really busy, I haven’t been cooking that much at home lately. Or at least anything new or interesting (I mean, how many vegetable pastas do you want to see, right?). So I haven’t been posting very frequently, either. Thank goodness for my lunches with Melissa, from Smells Like Brownies, or I wouldn’t be posting at all! We made this savory tomato cobbler on a rainy day with terrible lighting, and it was just the right kind of comfort food.
Caramelized onions and cherry tomatoes get bound together with the help of a little flour, and flavored with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. I love using multi-colored cherry tomatoes, so pretty!
Then the mixture goes into a baking dish and into the oven. We used the same cast iron skillet that we caramelized the onions in.
While the tomato mixture cooks, roll out and cut out some biscuits. The dough, made savory with the help of sharp white cheddar and black pepper, will have been resting in the fridge while the filling was put together. You want that butter cold in order to achieve maximum flakiness. We used whey in place of buttermilk, because we will never run out of whey (so much whey). (more…)
As promised – what to do with leftover quiche base, if you have any. Make mini quiches! So easy and totally portable – once these are cool, you can just pick one up and eat it on the go.
All you do is thaw some frozen spinach, squeeze the liquid out of it, and split it between mini tart pans or ramekins. Then sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese, pour the quiche base over it, and bake until set. Voila! A healthy little snack or breakfast and no wasted custard.
Mini Spinach Crustless Quiches
a Well Dined original
makes 4 mini quiches
1 cup leftover quiche base (from this recipe, for example), or 1 egg mixed with 3/4 cup cream and seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg
10oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
Divide the spinach between four mini tart pans or ramekins. Sprinkle with the cheese, then pour the custard over the top. Bake at 375 deg F until set, about 15 minutes.
One Year Ago – Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Ravioli
Two Years Ago – Strawberry Balsamic Sorbet and Jam
Three Years Ago – CSA Week 6
Ah, summer – a time for all the fresh produce you can get your hands on. I particularly like the combination of tomatoes and corn, which you can see here, here, and here. Add in some herbs from the garden, eggs from the farmer’s market, and a flaky pie crust for an awesome summer quiche.
Quiche is best served right around room temperature, so it would be pretty easy to bring this to a potluck or dinner party, as long as it doesn’t sit out for too long (2 hours max) and isn’t out in the heat. (more…)
I know it’s way too hot out to be making this sort of thing, but I don’t care. It is sooooooo good. This is a French onion soup inspired macaroni and cheese with caramelized onions, boatloads of cheese, and a buttery breadcrumb topping with thyme. Yum, yum, yum. Oh yeah, and a little bit of white wine (shoutout to Broken Dreams – my fave white of the moment). I made this with Melissa of Smells Like Brownies and it was one of those magical recipes that is so much fun to make and doesn’t stress you out during the process (though that may have been the wine taking effect…).
Step one is to get the onions going, of course. Can’t have French onion soup without onions! Pop those bad boys into a heavy bottomed pan with olive oil, butter, and thyme. Is there any better flavor combo than onions and thyme? I like to start them at medium high heat, then reduce heat to medium low once they are translucent.
After 15 minutes, they should look kind of like this. Add a splash of white wine and a sprinkle of salt and keep cooking for another 15-20 minutes. Remember to take out the thyme stems when they are done.
This month for Food ‘n Flix our movie is Bridesmaids, hosted by Cheap Ethnic Eatz. This movie is hysterical, with a lot of heart. I’ve seen it multiple times and I still lose it during the scene where the main character drives back and forth in her car doing various illegal things to get her cop friend’s attention.
Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose bakery fails because of the economy crash. There is a very memorable scene of her making a gorgeous single cupcake and then chowing down on it. So I knew that I definitely wanted to do a cupcake for this post. There is also a lot of drinking in the movie, so I thought – what about a boozy cupcake? Perfect.
I ended up making Moscato Cupcakes with sweet wine in both the cake and the frosting – so good. Though I made a lot of changes to my inspiration recipe – subbing half melted butter and half coconut oil for vegetable oil, subbing vanilla sugar for regular sugar, and subbing whey (from all that cheesemaking) for buttermilk. I also made a simple syrup from equal parts moscato and vanilla sugar to brush over the warm cakes to boost the flavor. And I used half cream cheese and half butter in the frosting (I’m not a big fan of too sweet frosting). (more…)
As promised in my last post, today we are talking about Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie. Oh yeah, baby. I have a bonafide obsession with fruit and sour cream pies. That tang to balance out sweetness, and the creaminess – yum.
Just a few ingredients are all that is required – flour, sugar, sour cream, and an egg for the custard; and chopped rhubarb.
We already talked about crust this week, so you know that is going to be good. I like the idea of a crumble topping with this, especially to add sweetness since rhubarb is so tart. (more…)