Brussels Sprouts with Brandy Garlic Sauce

My number two son is as big of a foodie as I am, and loves to regale me with stories of various dinners out (good, bad, and often hysterical) while he’s on the road with his job. He recently had the opportunity to dine at a restaurant called The Pepper Sprout. He was describing a Brussels sprouts dish that sounded phenomenal. He located a copy of the menu online, and sent it to me. One of their small plates was Brussels sprouts; they were described like this: “Sautéed Brussels sprouts, red onions, cranberries, in a cast iron skillet with a brandy garlic sauce. Finished with toasted walnuts and blue cheese. ” Does that sound delicious, or what? They also offer a dip with spinach and “carnalized” onions. I’m not kidding. Somebody needs to proofread that menu. Or if not, I do not want to know what those onions are doing, but I digress. I decided to give recreating this dish a try (subbing on hand dried cherries for the cranberries), and was very pleased with the results. Having never tried the offering of this restaurant, I can’t tell you how authentic this is to theirs, but I can tell you that they are elegant, delicious, with a lovely presentation. 

Brussels Sprouts with Brandy Garlic Sauce

1 lb. fresh Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
1/3 c. chopped red onion
¼ c. Melissa’s dried tart cherries
2 T. butter, divided
1 t. chopped garlic
2 T. brandy
2 T. water
2 t. fresh lemon juice
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
½ t. beef soup base
½ c. heavy cream
2 T. chopped walnuts, toasted
1 T. Bleu cheese crumbles

Hydrate cherries in ½ cup warm water; set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch sauté pan over medium/high heat. Add Brussels sprouts and onion, and sauté until sprouts are cooked through and onion is transparent, 4-5 minutes. Drain cherries, and stir into mix. Cook for one additional minute. Pour into warm serving bowl. Return pan to heat and melt 2nd tablespoon of butter. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add brandy, and cook until nearly evaporated. Add water, lemon juice, Worcestershire, and soup base. Cook until slightly thickened. Add heavy cream, reduce heat to medium, and cook until heated through. Pour over Brussels sprout/onion mixture, top with walnuts and bleu cheese crumbles, and serve immediately.

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Macadamia Nut Bars

For the most part, I don’t consider myself a baker. I don’t particularly enjoy baking, and I tend not to do it all that often. One has to wonder, then, why I subscribe to Bake from Scratch magazine. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. It’s just one of life’s puzzles. But when a new issue arrives, I do page through and place markers in amongst the pages to remind me of the recipes that I would like to try.

Over the weekend I actually did try one of the recipes (that I honestly find quite cumbersomely written) for a delicious looking nut bar. This recipe employed the use of honey. If you like honey, then use it; don’t divide it up, as I did, by using honey, and both light and dark Karo syrups. I find honey to be cloying, and despite its use in most of the pecan pie bar cookie recipes that I’ve seen, it doesn’t belong there. You will never find honey in a pecan pie. It’s just wrong! So, what you will find below is my version of their recipe. Because I didn’t need a huge pan of these, or have the desire to take out a home loan in order to buy the macadamias, I cut their recipe in half and baked it in an 8” x 8” pan. These little rascals are addicting!

Macadamia Nut Bars
Adapted from Bake from Scratch

Crust:
½ c. +1 T. unsalted butter, softened
¼ c. + 1 T. firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ t. fine sea salt
1½ c. all-purpose flour

Topping:
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
½ c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/8 c. honey*
1/8 c. light Karo syrup*
1/8 c. dark Karo syrup*
1/8 c. granulated sugar
1/8 c. heavy whipping cream
½ t. fine sea salt
1½  c. macadamia nuts
1 c. pecan halves
½ t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray an 8” x 8” pan with PAM. Line pan with parchment paper leaving a 2-inch overhang on either end; set aside.

Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly add flour and beat until the dough comes together and forms large clumps. Press into the bottom of prepared pan (a tart tamper works well for this). Using a fork, prick the dough all over.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until edges are light brown. Let cool until it is warm to the touch.

Reduce oven temperature to 325° F.

Topping: In a large saucepan bring butter, brown sugar, honey, both syrups, granulated sugar, cream, and salt to a boil over high heat stirring constantly. Cook until an instant read thermometer registers 243° F. Remove from heat and stir in macadamia nuts, pecans, and vanilla. Pour onto prepared crust.

Bake until topping is bubbly and nuts around edges are mahogany colored, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Remove from pan, cut into bars. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week.

 *Get yourself a set of these.

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Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake

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 I’m sure that I am not alone in occasionally having the experience that while I have a lot of food on hand, I don’t seem to be able to make anything with it. I decided to get serious about creating something, and came up with a real winner. I went a little crazy buying pasta (I bought 4 boxes of cellentani, and now it would appear I have a pasta collection), had half a can of French fried onions in the pantry, a crown of broccoli threatening to go bad in the fridge, and a chunk of Gouda that was beginning to show its age. Enter the Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake. It is a one-pot wonder with components that are dumped into a casserole dish and baked until the cheese melts. It makes a great main dish, or tasty side. Not all of my experiments work out as well as this one did. I hope you’ll give it a try.

Crunchy Gouda Broccoli Bake

1 head broccoli, broken into florets
2 c. cellentani pasta
4 T. butter
½ onion, diced
1 t. Melissa’s minced garlic
¼ c. flour
3 c. whole milk
1 c. shredded gouda, divided
¼ t. freshly grated nutmeg
¼ t. kosher salt, or to taste
Few gratings freshly ground black pepper
French fried onions

Spray a 1½-qt. casserole with PAM; set aside.

In a medium stockpot, cook pasta according to package directions. During the last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking, add broccoli. Drain and place into the casserole dish; set aside.

Return the stockpot to the burner and set it to medium/low heat. Melt butter. When butter has melted, stir in onion, and cook until translucent. While you are cooking the onion, preheat oven to 350° F. Stir in garlic, cook for one minute. Stir in flour, and stir constantly for one minute. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook until slightly thickened, about five minutes; remove from heat. Stir in ½ c. cheese until smooth. Stir in nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over broccoli and pasta, tossing to coat. Top with remaining ½ c. cheese and French fried onions. Bake until the cheese has melted and top is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Makes for ample main dish servings, or multiple side dishes.

Nailed It! A Review

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If you have ever dreamed of being a contestant on the Netflix baking show, Nailed It!, if you are interested in giving a daunting baking project that old college try or, if you don’t mind being somewhat amusing on Pinterest while learning some valuable skills, this book is for you.

Informative, enticing, while at the same time laugh out loud funny, this book takes you on the culinary journey of building a show stopping dessert. Some projects are more complex than others, but even the simpler creations still take a bit of skill, and most of all, ambition.

If you are up to the challenge, you are going to find this book an absolute delight. Take advantage of the quick tutorials on basic building such as how to shape rice cereal and work with fondant. These quicker, less involve recipes than some of the behemoths on the show, are doable, they just take a bit of time. If you’re feeling social, consider hosting a Nailed It! Party using the tips provided in this book.

It begins with wonderful advice for beginners from Jacques Torres, from reading the recipe first (something you should always do no matter what you’re making), all the way to his strong encouragement not to give up. Learn about modeling chocolate, royal icing, shaping crispy rice cereal, to how to make the best ever buttercream.

Once you learn some basic skills, the Chocolate Emoji Cake is quite doable. Work your way through the book as you master one skill after the other. Allow your feelings to be soothed by photos of some of the failures.

This book is loads of fun, and you will come away from it far more skilled than when you began. You can buy a copy for yourself or to give as a gift, here.

 

Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of this book from Abrams books as a member of their 20 21–22 Abrams dinner party.

  

Slow Cooker Refried Beans

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I love refried beans, and make sure to order them every time I go to an authentic Mexican restaurant. Truth be told, I also order them when I go to an unauthentic Mexican restaurants, I’m not picky. I love their spicy deliciousness and versatility. I have been known to have a side of refried beans with a western omelet. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, it is very good; add a scoop of arroz and you have a fabulous brunch. What I don’t like about refried beans is all of the fat that gives them their good taste. After what seemed like an exhaustive search, I found a very good recipe that gets its flavor from stock rather than, let’s be honest, lard, which is what they use. It’s also conveniently a slow cooker recipe, and there is nothing to it. I like to serve mine topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes. You can also use chopped cilantro. Yes, I know that’s a piece of parsley in the picture, my forgotten cilantro turned into black slime in the fridge. What can you do?

Slow Cooker Refried Beans

 1 large yellow onion, diced

3 c. dry pinto beans, rinsed and picked through*

1 Melissa’s pickled jalapeno pepper, chopped

2 T. Melissa’s minced garlic

3 t. Kosher salt, or to taste

1 t. freshly ground black pepper, or to taste 

½ t. ground cumin

Pinch (1/8 t.) Mexican oregano

9 cups chicken, ham, or vegetable stock**

Place all ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours. When the beans have finished cooking, strain liquid and reserve. Mash beans with a food processor, potato masher, or immersion blender, slowly adding the reserved water to attain desired consistency.

 *It’s not necessary, but I soaked mine overnight.

 *I use Better Than Bouillon

Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook, Reviewed

If you are looking for a way to delight of that special trick-or -treater in your life this Halloween, but don’t want to do so with candy, have I got an idea for you! The newly released Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook is an absolute spooky delight! Containing “Bewitchingly Delicious Recipes for Fans of the Halloween Classic,” this book is an absolute delight!

It is divided into sections, each with a charming, movie-related name, such as: Life Giving Fall Favorites, Recipes for Salem Townsfolk, From the Witches’ Spellbook, Bewitching Brews and Beverages, and more.

There are many things to love about this book whether you’re a fan of the film or not. First of all, it is loaded with mouthwatering color photos. Second, all of the recipes are concisely written, require no hard-to-find ingredients, and are doable for cooks of all skill levels and ages. Third, each recipe begins with an informative paragraph that ties in to the movie in one way or other.

There are a wide variety of recipes contained in the book, many of which are attractively plated, giving you clever serving ideas. If you are a cookie lover like I am, you will not find this book lacking. From The Brown Butter Book Blondies to Gingerdead (sic) Men, to the Gingerbread Witches Cabin House, there are lots of wonderful ideas. 

For main dishes, I enjoyed the Mischief Night Pasta as well as the cottage pie takeoff, Baked Witch Casserole. Kids will enjoy Mac ‘n’ Cheese, and the author’s take on Chicken Pot Pie.

Fun!

 Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of this book from Ulysses Press in exchange for an honest review..

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Josephinas

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If you are unfamiliar with Josephinas (also known as Howell’s Bread), you are missing out. These slices of French bread topped with a mixture of softened butter, freshly shredded Monterey Jack, mayonnaise, garlic, and canned green chilies, broiled until the bread is crisp and the cheese is melted are both delicious and versatile. They are also very easy to make, with the added bonus that the cheese mixture needs to be made ahead.

Josephinas

Slightly adapted from thekitchn.com

 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 t. Melissa’s minced garlic

¼ c. Duke’s mayonnaise

1 4-oz. can diced mild green chilies, undrained

½ t. kosher salt

1 small French baguette

 In a medium bowl, beat together the first five ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

 Arrange a rack 3 to 4 inches from the preheated broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Cut baguette crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Arrange the slices on the baking sheets, spacing them at least 1/2-inch apart. Let the butter mixture sit at room temperature for a few minutes, then divide the mixture onto the bread slices (about a heaping tablespoon on each) and spread to the edges.

 Broil until the tops are browned in spots and the edges of the bread are crispy, 4 to 10 minutes.