I say cut it hot and slather it with butter

St. Patrick’s Day sneaked up on me this year — I didn’t even cook corned beef and cabbage, which I usually enjoy doing. I did make an Irish Soda Bread for the Husband to take to his office, where he had a big corned beef fest with office mates. I had mine at the local pub, washed down with plenty of Murphy’s Red Ale.

I’ve had this recipe so long — it’s still on the dot-matrix page I printed it on. So here is the quickest, easiest bread you can make, and by the time it’s March 17, 2012, you’ll be ready. Sláinte!

Irish Soda Bread | 1 loaf

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Combine the dry ingredients and sift them into a large bowl.

This is my sifter -- I've never gotten myself a proper one

Add the buttermilk, stirring to make a soft dough. Gather the dough together (your hands work best for this) and turn it out onto a floured board.

Stir as you go but not over-much

The dough will be somewhat loose and shaggy

Knead the dough just enough to get it slightly smooth and no longer sticky, about 2 or 3 minutes. Form a plump, round loaf about 6 inches in diameter.

Just enough kneading to make the dough a little smoother and not sticky -- too much will make a tough bread

Place the loaf on a floured baking sheet and make a deep 1/4-inch X all the way across the top of the loaf.

This X opens up as the bread cooks

Bake the loaf for 35 to 45 minutes, or until it is deeply browned and hollow-sounding when tapped.

When the bread is slightly cool, wrap it cloth to prevent the crust from becoming hard.

Or get out the butter and get after it.

The whole house smells good

Once again, sláinte!

Kelly McCune © 2011

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

It's breakfast and lunch -- just what you need on New Year's Day

This is one of those make-ahead casseroles, the ones you put together the day before you want to cook it. We made up this one on Christmas Eve this year, to meet a number of criteria. One, we didn’t want to wake up on Christmas day and cook. Also, we had some dietary restrictions including a gluten-free diet, so the usual egg casserole with bread was out. My niece suggested a cornbread-based egg casserole, and that’s what we riffed on. The result tastes a little like a tamale, the Christmas food we were most missing, so it filled that void, too.

Make this on New Year’s Eve — it’s easy to put together, and it goes into the fridge overnight to soak up all the egg and cream. On New Year’s Day you’re all set to have a piping hot blue plate special before the Rose Parade is over.

Egg Casserole with Cornbread and Green Chilies | 8 servings

Included here is a recipe for the cornbread, but cornbread stuffing will work as a substitute. This cornbread recipe, however, is gluten-free since it contains no flour.

For the cornbread:
1 3/4 cup cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red Mill Medium Grind and it makes a “toothy” cornbread)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted butter, plus butter for the baking pan
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

For the egg casserole:
Butter for the baking dish
1 pound pork sausage, casing removed (I used “hot” sausage)
8 eggs
1 cup heavy cream (1/2 pint)
2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 8 ounces
4 cups crumbled cornbread
7 ounce can green chilies, in strips

For the cornbread: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter a small baking dish, approximately 7- by 10-inch. Mix together the cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

This is a medium grind cornmeal, but regular will work well

In a measuring cup, melt the butter and whisk in the egg. Add the milk and beat. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Don't over mix -- stir just enough to moisten all the dry ingredients

Pour into the baking dish and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Try a little warm cornbread with butter and honey

Cool slightly, and crumble the cornbread into bite-sized pieces. Let dry out in a paper bag overnight, or in a 250°F oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Reserve 4 cups for the egg cassserole.

Spread cooked cornbread on a cookie sheet and dry out in the oven, tossing it occasionally as it dries

For the casserole: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Generously butter a large baking dish, approximately 9- by 14-inch.

Brown the sausage until deeply colored.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream, milk and salt until well-blended. Mix in half of the shredded cheese.

Layer the crumbled cornbread in the bottom of the butter dish. On top of that distribute the cooked sausage and the chiles.

I just tore the chiles into strips as I arranged them across the sausage

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the meat mixture.

The egg and milk soaks into the bread, making it tender and moist

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the casserole.

This makes a nice bubbly crust on top

Bake the casserole in the preheated 325°F oven for 45 minutes, or until puffy and brown on top.

The perfect holiday breakfast

Serve with sour cream and salsa, if you wish. And Happy New Year!

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Thin, crisp on the outside, sweet flavors on the inside

The Husband is Jewish, so through marriage I’ve been pulled into the mystique of the latke. It is truly an irresistible food — so easy, really, but I was always timid about making them. After all, shouldn’t there be a bubbe somewhere in my kitchen, teaching me the ins and outs? Do I have the exact right grater? Flour or matzoh meal? I mean seriously! But the Husband has no demands latke-wise, and my mother-in-law lost the knack years ago in the shuffle of living in places like Seoul, Amsterdam, Manila, and Dallas. I’m on my own here.

I have made latkes in the past, but with regular potatoes. I have failed, however, to absorb the technique, so every year is like a new start — how long do you drain the potatoes? Well, Daughter #2 has been coming home every year from her school’s “Yam Festival” raving about the sweet potato latkes, so I decided to give them a try. Less pressure since they are less traditional. She was right, they are delicious, especially with some homemade applesauce and sour cream. And these are made with a lot less oil (shhh, don’t tell the bubbe!). So Happy Hanukkah, or heck, just make ‘em for any day of the week.

Granny Smiths and a couple of Honeycrisps

Homemade Applesauce | 2 cups

You may be wondering why in the world you’d make applesauce from scratch. The answer is that it’s fast and it couldn’t be simpler. You can season it, sweeten it, cook it down, leave it chunky, add herbs, add wine — all in under a half hour. Here’s the short version of the recipe: Peel, core, chop 8 apples, throw in a pot with sugar and seasonings and small amount of water, cook gently 25 minutes. Done.

8 tart apples
2 heaping tablespoons sugar or to taste
Cinnamon stick
1-inch chunk of fresh ginger
Small pinch of thyme (optional)
1/4 cup water

Peel and core apples and cut into large chunks.

I use a paring knife but if you prefer a peeler that's fine -- whatever is fast

I just cut the apple around the core into 4 hunks (rather than search the drawer for my apple corer)

Apple chunks, cinnamon stick, and ginger chunk (leave some peel on it so you can identify and remove it at the end -- !)

Put the apple pieces, sugar, cinnamon stick, ginger, thyme and water in a pot. Cover and cook gently for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender and mostly falling apart. Let cool, remove the cinnamon stick and ginger, and serve.

This is cooked on the shorter side to make a chunkier applesauce

Sweet Potato and Leek Latkes | makes 24 to 28 latkes

Might as well invite people into the kitchen to eat these as you make them — it’s more convivial, and they are so good right out of the pan!

1 large leek
2 large sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons chopped chives (about 12 long chive stems)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup canola oil, more or less
Olive oil

Trim the root from the leek and cut off most of the green tops. Cut in half lengthwise and rinse between the layers. Drain well and pat dry. Cut the leek into a fine lengthwise julienne.

Grit tends to collect between the leek layers, especially toward the top end, so rinse well

Cut the leek first into julienne strips...

...and then chop it down a little further for a fine shred like this

Scrub the potatoes and pat dry. Halve and coarsely grate. Chop the chives.

I didn't bother to peel the potato -- the extra color and nutrients are nice!

Nice color and flavor in the latkes

Combine the shredded leeks, the grated sweet potatoes, and the chives in a large bowl. Add the salt a little at a time, mixing well as after each addition. Mix in the beaten egg. Sprinkle in the flour, tossing the mixture to coat evenly.

Sweet potatoes are "dry" enough that they don't require draining for latkes like regular potatoes

Make sure the egg and flour are evenly distributed throughout the potato mixture

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with a rectangle of a paper bag, inside facing up.

Heat a thin layer of canola oil along with a few drops of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, form the latkes: on your hand, put a blob of potato mixture about the size of a golf ball. Flatten it against your fingers, and drop that right down onto the hot pan. Form another one and drop it in, repeating until you fill the pan. The latkes should sizzle but not smoke.

Cook the latkes on the first side until deeply browning and crisping, 2 to 3 minutes. The latkes cook fastest on the first side since there is more oil. Flip them carefully and cook on the second side until nicely browned, 4 to 5 more minutes.

They should hold together but be fairly thin

A nice, deep flavorful brown -- the sweet potato caramelizes beautifully

Place the cooked latkes on the paper bag-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.

The bag keeps the latke crisp, and still absorbs the excess oil

This is a great way to keep latkes warm — that is, if you have any that haven’t been snatched right off your spatula!

Happy Hanukkah.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

The salty roasted pumpkin seeds are a nice contrast to the pumpkin and chocolate

Mistakes were made. Yes, it’s true, I thought this would turn out one way, and (ahem) it turned out another. Better.

I made an Almondy Pumpkin Pie last year — marzipan on the bottom, almonds all over the top. Apparently I can’t take my pumpkin pie without something above and below. Pumpkin pie seems to need something extra, and this one has dark chocolate and a graham cracker crust and salty pumpkin seeds strewn about on top. This is the pumpkin (let’s call it a) tart for the non-traditionalist on Thanksgiving, but others will stream in for the chocolate.

I’m not cooking this year, since we’ll be traveling to family who like to celebrate Thanksgiving will full white-coated service. I’d like to jump up and run into the kitchen, but the kind folks at the R**z will not appreciate my sampling the gravy or jiggling the turkey leg. I guess I’ll have to lean back and finish that Sidecar.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Tart

This is quite rich, and doesn’t really need whipped cream. A small dab of vanilla ice cream might be nice, but not necessary. I got the fantastic cinnamon graham crackers from Trader Joe’s, so I didn’t need the extra cinnamon or sugar for the crust. And if you want to make your own crackers, Deb at Smitten Kitchen has a recipe that she’s adapted and perfected from Nancy Silverton’s La Brea Bakery Pastries cookbook.

For the crust:
1 3/4 cups finely ground graham crackers
5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar (if using plain graham crackers)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (if using plain graham crackers)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3.5 ounce bar of dark chocolate
For the filling:
3/4 cup puréed pumpkin
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
Olive oil
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grind the graham crackers until fine — a food processor works best for this. Gently melt the butter. Combine the graham crackers meal, butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl mix well with a fork. Press the graham cracker mixture into a 9 1/2-inch pie plate or quiche dish.

Mistake #1: I looked at my pans and went with the tart pan with the removeable bottom -- wrong! Might have been better off using the white quiche pan with straight sides

The sugary graham crackers from Trader Joe's -- if you use them don't add any extra sugar or cinnamon to the crust ingredients, just salt and butter

Keep pressing and molding the crust to the pan and up the sides, trying to make a substantial edge for the tart

Bake the crust in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and immediately arrange the chocolate pieces in the bottom.

The chocolate will begin to melt on the hot crust

When the chocolate is mostly melted, spread it out gently with a small spatula.

Use a gentle touch to keep from breaking the uncooked crust

Let the crust and chocolate cool. Reduce the oven to 325°F.

Meanwhile, whisk together the pumpkin, cream, egg, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and salt.

Mistake #2: I started out with way too much of this, thinking I'd have enough room in the pie pan for more pumpkin custard -- wrong again! The amounts called out above are more accurate

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the chocolate, taking care not to go up over the edge of the graham cracker crust. Bake in the 325°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the center is set.

While the tart is cooking, toast the pumpkin seeds. Toss the raw pumpkin seeds with a drop or two of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toast in a 400°F oven or a toaster oven until popping and browning, about 3 minutes (watch them carefully!). Scatter the toasted seeds over the pie and serve.

No more mistakes here...

Now how did that joke go?

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Mood lighting and a selection of small houses set amidst a snow drift -- Dad's specialty

I might have called this “Christmas Pwnd (daugher #2 correction, pronounced ‘pohnd’)” if I had the guts, but I don’t. Okay, some of you know what “pwnd” means, but I quite possibly do not. Any online definitions just use other words I don’t fully understand, like “schooled” or “punk’d,” which in a strange way gives me the nervous giggles. But I feel this (white!) Christmas was “pwnd” because everything we made was successful — we owned Christmas dinner. We didn’t overcook the roast, made perfect Yorkshire pudding, concocted some amazing Brussels sprouts that were eaten by haters of same, and pulled a dessert out of the hat due to a freak snowstorm.

I say “we” because the two daughters really jumped in this year, as well as nieces and a sister-in-law. Daughter #2 took all the pictures with her point-and-shoot. I didn’t haul my bigger camera to Oklahoma (where we spent the holidays) so she stepped up. Daughter #1 made the delicious and appetizing appetizer, a Thomas Keller/Ratatouille (the rat)-inspired construction, and the dessert, an adaptation of an adaptation of an adaptation.

This is so easy and I dare you to stop eating it when it's warm

The snow started midday on Christmas Eve, after first rain then sleet. That’s never a good mix and sure enough, family members trying to get to Tulsa that day were stuck in Norman, Oklahoma at a Motel 6 under a foot of snow. Those same relatives were bringing dessert, so we knew we had to pull something together and we wouldn’t be able to get to the store. A little internet action produced the recipe, and improvisation on the fruit produced a lovely combination.

So here’s the whole menu for the evening of December 24:

White Bean Purée, Roasted Squash & Tomatoes with Chive Oil and Crostini
Prime Rib Roast with Rosemary Port Wine Sauce & Horseradish Cream
Caramelized Cipollini
Yorkshire Pudding
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Maple
Blueberry, Raspberry & Cranberry Cobbler

A Few Words About Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, Port Wine Sauce & Horseradish Cream

We were expecting 13 people, so I started with a 4-rib, 10 pound beef roast, which I got at Whole Foods. The beef came from Idaho — strange, since Oklahoma has some wonderful beef, but it’s amazingly hard to find locally sourced beef in Tulsa. For lots of leftovers, get a 5-rib roast, but this one served us all with some left. The roast was already tied. Bring the roast to room temperature before cooking, which means out of the fridge for a couple of hours, covered lightly.

Have on hand a very good quality meat thermometer. We had the old plug-and-leave-in type, which will not do. My mother also had an unreliable analog quick-reading thermometer, and with $100 worth of meat to roast, we decided to get a new digital thermometer. My brother was sent on this errand, and he brought home the thermometer of the gods: an instant read, plug-and-leave-in digital one that sits outside the oven. Well worth the $20 for future meat cooking.

Preheat the oven to 450°F to sear the roast. Put several rosemary sprigs in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the roast in the pan, ribs down. Pat dry with paper towels and rub several tablespoons of softened butter on the exposed ends of the roast. Sprinkle with pepper but not salt. Leave uncovered.

Cook the roast for 15 minutes at 450°F, reduce the heat to 325°F and continue cooking until the meat thermometer registers 120°F for rare. Baste the roast a couple of times while it cooks. Our roast took about 2 hours to reach this temperature. Remove from the oven and cover with a loose foil tent and “rest” the meat for 15 to 20 minutes. This allows the juices to retreat back to the center of the meat, leaving it juicy instead of dry. The roast will continue to cook while it rests, so it’s important not to go much past 120°F when you take it out of the oven if you want rare meat. Keep in mind that the roast will cook an additional 5 to 7 degrees when you decide which zone to aim for on this chart:

120°F to 125°F: Rare
130°F to 135°F: Medium-rare
140°F to 145°F: Medium
150°F: Much above this and a rib roast may not be your best option!

This meat has been well-rested

To carve the meat, turn it on its side on a cutting board that will collect the juices. Cutting close along the rib bones, sever the meat from the ribs. They can be set aside and used later. Turn the meat back upright and slice across the grain. Use a newly sharpened knife for this.

The Yorkshire pudding cooks while the meat is resting, but make the batter early in the day and leave it in the refrigerator. It also benefits from resting, as do we all. Yorkshire pudding can be made in the roasting pan, but I find it awkward to remove the roast, pour off some of the fat, and start the pudding. I use a large Pyrex baking dish, and you can also use popover pans for individual servings.

3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/3 cup roasting pan drippings

Whisk the eggs with the salt, beat in the milk and then the flour. Set the batter aside in the refrigerator until needed. After the roast comes out of the oven, raise the temperature to 450°F. Using a baster, pull about 1/3 cup of drippings from the roasting pan and pour into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Heat the dish in the oven for 5 minutes, remove, and pour in the batter. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the pudding is very puffy and golden. Serve immediately.

There's never enough -- consider making two

For the Port Wine Sauce, start early in the day as well. Sauté one large shallot with a tablespoon or so of butter in a heavy saucepan until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of good-quality port and the chopped leaves of a sprig of fresh rosemary. Burble over medium-low heat until reduced somewhat, about 30 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken stock and burble another 30 or 45 minutes. Mix 2 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 tablespoons flour on a plate. Drop in pinches of the butter/flour paste, whisking after each addition until the sauce is very slightly thickened — you may not need all of the paste. Season with pepper and serve.

Adds to the amazing aromas in the kitchen

Finally, to make a simple Horseradish Cream, add 2 tablespoons of cream-style horseradish or more, to taste, to 1 1/2 cups of sour cream. Mix in a pinch of sugar, thin slightly with half & half and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed. Chives make a nice addition to this, too.

By seven o'clock it was looking like this outside, right out the front door

A Few More Words About Cipollini, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts

Cipollini show up sometime in the fall, and they are my favorite onion. They require some prep, but the flavor is worth it. Drop whole cipollini in boiling water and blanch for a minute or so. Remove and cool slightly. Leaving the root and stem-end intact, pull off the top papery layer. In a heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and cook them gently, turning every so often, until deeply coloring, about an hour. Season with pepper and parsley and serve.

So sublime

Sprinkle with a little parsley and serve alongside the beef

That something so simple as mashed potatoes can be so controversial — what potato to use, how to mash it, how to make it garlicky. Here’s what I have concluded: use a plain old russet potato. They break down enough to mash up beautifully. Boil them halved in salted water. Simmer whole cloves of garlic in butter until tender, about 20 minutes, mash with a fork, add half and half, heat to bubbling, and use this to mash into the potatoes. When the potatoes are done, drain off the water, put the pot back on the heat, and toss the potatoes to cook off the excess water. Keep on low while you’re mashing them. Use an old-fashioned potato masher, and a lot of elbow grease. Whipping them makes them gummy, and a ricer is too much work. Add more half and half, if needed, or butter, if wanted, or chicken stock (thank you sister-in-law!) and mash and beat like heck until they are really silky (again, thank you sis-in-law). Season liberally with salt and pepper along the way. If you are holding them over very low heat or reheating them in the oven, they can be a bit “wetter” to start.

Not photogenic but a classic with the beef

Trim and cook the Brussels sprouts until just tender when pierced with a skewer. Cool and halve. Chop a couple of strips of good-quality bacon and cook in a large skillet until brown but not crisp. Add the Brussels sprouts, herbs de Provence, salt and pepper and sauté until browning. Add a teaspoon or so of maple syrup and toss another minute.

I have to thank my Brussels sprouts *doubting* niece for making these

So after the wine and coffee and a game of Balderdash, we were off to be snug in our beds. While we slept, it snowed even more. And only a few times in my life has Christmas Day looked like this:

I was dreaming of it...

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.