Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts have never been my favorite...I think it had something to do with them always being served boiled and smothered in butter, which wouldn't be a problem, except that they look like little cabbages. Not happening.

As I grew up and admitted that my taste buds could maybe change, I did discover that there are a few other options for cooking such unfortunate veggies. One being roasting, but I'll get into that at a later point, but this weekend I found a short little blurb of a recipe in a magazine that just about blew my mind. 

So, you'll just need:

Pancetta, or bacon.
Shallots, or onion.
Thyme
Lemon juice
Brussels Sprouts

Trim the sprouts and cut in half. Boil the sprouts until only just tender. 

Chop the pancetta and fry until just cooked. Add the shallots and continue frying until the shallots are soft. Add the sprouts and fry it all together. Add a bit of thyme and a squeeze of lemon juice, toss, and fry until the sprouts are nice and tender and have a little bit of brown on the edges.

Throw the lot into a bowl, sprinkle on some kosher salt, and you're set! Or, put it in ramekins for individual servings.

Crystalized Mint Leaves

As a nice little garnish for your sorbet, these mint leaves are easy-peasy and taste to boot.

All you need is:

Mint leaves
Egg white
Granulated sugar
Mint extract

Dip your fingers in the egg white and rub it on the mint leaves so they have a thin coating all over. Lay out the eggy leaves on a dry, flat surface. I find a sheet of parchment works best, especially if you lay them on a cooling rack.

Mix a couple of drops of the mint extract with a couple of tablespoons of sugar. Dust/sprinkle the sugar over the still wet mint leaves.

Move the rack over something hot and dry. Couple of options are to turn your oven on and put the leaves, on the rack, above the oven or, like I did, lay the rack on top of the the fireplace. But, either way, if you leave them over night, they should be dry.

Be careful handling them when they're dry as the leaves are quite brittle.

Raspberry Sorbet

Fresh raspberry sorbet is always delicious...even better if it's made with equally fresh berries. Unfortunately, in the middle of February, fresh raspberries are pretty thin on the ground, and pricey in store. So, for this recipe from The Food Network, I used frozen raspberries from our own garden, added some crystallized mint leaves, and sat back and waited for a hot summer day. 

This recipe says it makes 4-6 servings, or 2 quarts. And, because I used frozen berries, my measurements were a bit off. By my calculations I used one and a half freezer bags which, in normal speak, is about 4 to 5 cups. Also, I don't keep a lot of limes running around so I used lemon juice instead.

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 quarts raspberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup white corn syrup

Directions
Boil the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for a few minutes, at least 3. Set it aside to cool completely....and make sure it's all the way cold, I put the pan in a bowl of ice if I don't have a lot of time to wait around...or the ice cream maker won't freeze everything properly. 

Puree the raspberries and lime (or lemon) juice in a food processor (or blender). If you like your raspberry flavor nice and strong then this is the process to stick to. BUT if you prefer it a little less tart, you can always go through the work of straining the berries first, to get rid of the seeds before pureeing. Which ever way you prefer, when everything is smooth, press the puree through the a strainer to remove any seeds or blemishes or rock or dirt....or whatever ends up in your raspberries. Whenever your syrup (the sugar water mixture) is nice and cool, add it to the berries. Finally, add the corn syrup and stir it all together.  

Pour the lot into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. It'll seem quite soft even when it should be finished, more so than actual ice cream. But no worries! It'll firm up when it freezes. 

This is a spectacularly delicious dessert for any dinner, but especially following a large meal as it's nice and light, and looks nice with some mint and maybe a fresh berry or two.

Kale Mushroom Soup

My first real food blog post! Now...where to start...

Ah...

Well, today I made, for the very first time, a soup not based on my mom's tried and true recipes and neither from the FineCooking recipe maker, which I have lately been addicted to. Nope. Today I finally managed to make my own soup from scratch...ish. I took what I learned from the various soups I have made and applied it...way to be a good student, right? Sure. I should have learned first about not using too much home-grown garlic...now there's a mistakes that's hard to come back from.

Anyways, here goes!

P.S. I won't be very awesome at giving exact measurements and such unless I'm dictated straight from a real deal recipe so bear with me, please!

Kale-Mushroom Soup:

Ingredients:

Leek
Garlic
Kosher Salt
Kale (just the leafy bits)
Mushrooms (I used your plain jane white mushrooms but I'm sure this could be pretty awesome with some nice shiitake or portobellos)
Apple Cider (Not the hard stuff, take it easy now...)
Broth (5 cups for what I have in mind, and I like it salty so I use the knorr directions about water to stock but you could do 2 1/2 cups with stock and 2 1/2 just water if your less addicted to sodium...)
Cumin
Heavy Cream or Buttermilk
Salt
Pepper
Cider Vinegar

To serve about 8 people as an appetizer-type soup...

Throw some butter in a decent sized soup pan (maybe the size of an average dutch oven?), melt it up. Toss in 2 chopped stalks of leek and 2 cloves of chopped garlic (I use home grown garlic which is VERY potent and also huge...so use your own risk) and stir. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, for a bit until soft, throwing in about a Tsp of kosher salt before they're finished.

Add your 5 cups of liquid with several leaves of fresh kale (chopped with the tough stemmy parts removed) and a large handful (prechopped) mushrooms, all chopped into roughly the same sized pieces, to the aromatics (the leek and the garlic). Throw in about 1/3 to 1/2 Cup of apple cider along with a pinch of cumin (again, it's up to you. I usually give a couple of shakes but try to avoid making soup that tastes like spiced gouda...).

Let this all cook, stirring once in awhile, on med-low for about 15-20 minutes, or at least until all the veg is soft and nice and delicious smelling.

Take the pan off the heat. Be sure to turn your burner off...don't want any accidents, now. Move the pan to your chosen blending location and be sure to set the pan right next to the blender for minimum spillage. Scoop the soup into the blender, not filling it more than 1/3 full. Put the lid on and cover with a dish towel. Run on high (start low to avoid explosions and turn up) for about...30 secs to a minute, until it all looks nice and smooth and chunk-less. Transfer this to a clean bowl. Repeat with the rest of the soup until it's all been blended. Wash out your pan and blend the whole thing all over again, this time pouring it all back into the soup pan. 
You CAN use an emulsifier for this (a hand blender-y thing) but I find it doesn't get rid of the chunks quite as well.

Put the soup back on the stove and turn your burner on low. Add about 1/2 cup of heavy cream or buttermilk, a tsp of cider vinegar (NOT TOO MUCH or the cream will curdle) and a touch of salt and pepper. At this point it's all about taste. Add more cream if you think the soup needs to be a bit thinner or if you want it creamier. You can also add plain yogurt. Add salt and pepper as needed until everything is just so!

Garnish with a drizzle of cream and some nice crispy bacon.

A Tentative Foodie...

“If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world.”  - J.R.R. Tolkien

Food and cheer. In my family they usually go hand in hand. Company means food and food means company. Being one of eight children means there is no want for company and each meal involves old favourites and the occasional new fangled idea. 

I never thought of loving food in particular...mostly I just enjoy making people happy and comfortable and, in my house, more often than not that means making good food. So, with this blog, I'll do my best to share some oldies but goodies, as well as whatever new recipe I might be failing at.

I hope the mess in my kitchen doesn't stop me from keeping this updated...and feel free to add your input, I need all the help I can get!

Becks