TEA, SCONES, and SHERLOCK HOLMES

We were on our way home from a two-week vacation in Italy.  Our plane was late leaving Malpensa Airport in Milan, so we had little time once we got to London Heathrow to make our connection into New York.  We were dragging heavy suitcases, loaded with goodies (Venice has the most AMAZING paper stores...but I digress), breathing heavily, worried that we wouldn't make our gate on time.  We zoomed past younger passengers with skilled ease.  We ignored our parched throats every time we passed a beverage stand or café, knowing our gate was our only mission.  And then I saw it.  The most wonderful little Sherlock Holmes teapot in the front of a shop of British goods that I knew belonged in my collection.  I had nothing like and I knew that I must, MUST!! I say, add it to my collection.  Without breaking stride I veered to the right.  I shifted my purse and two cases into my left hand, pulled my credit card from my pocket and secured it between my teeth.  With my free arm I scooped up the boxed teapot and in the blink of an eye slipped into the checkout, leaving heads of tourists behind me in a spin.  My lips parted and my credit card dropped onto the counter.  I nodded at the checker who knew what to do.  Swipe!  And the deed was done.  I signed, thanked him, and pressed on.  I made it!  And so did this little gem from England.  I smile every time I see it remembering that moment as though frozen in time.  Ahhh, the beauty of it all!

The cinnamon scones are delicious and the recipe is a breeze.  You can find it here.

Nothing beats clotted cream with any type of scone, but when it's not readily available you can make a reasonable (though not authentic) Devonshire Cream at home.
DEVONSHIRE CREAM
1 cup whipping cream

½ tsp. cream of tartar

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat all together until stiff. Refrigerate. Serve with scones and jam.

This post is linked to: 
 Sunday Favorites
My Favorite Things
Tea Time Tuesday
Tea Time Tuesday
Martha's Favorites
Tea for Two
Teapots and Tea Things
Tabletop Tuesday
Tablescape Thursday
Good Life Wednesdays

MEATLOAF from Soulard's Restaurant

As you can well imagine, anyone who lists cheeseburgers among her favorite foods would also like meatloaf. It's true, I do, as much for the comfort factor as for the nostalgia. The first wafts of the marriage of baking beef and bacon and I'm back in my mother's kitchen, a bottle of French's yellow mustard in hand, waiting for it to come out of the oven.

This recipe is yet another winner from the St Louis Post-Dispatch cookbook, Special Requests, that I am slowly cooking my way through. It's easy, tasty, and one I'm sure you'll enjoy.

MEATLOAF from Soulard's Restaurant

2 pounds ground chuck
1/2 pound pork sausage

2 eggs

2/3 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon steak sauce

2 teaspoons ground green peppercorns

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup ketchup, divided

6 to 8 slices bacon

Brown gravy, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, sausage, eggs, oats, steak sauce, green peppercorns, onion powder, parsley, seasoned salt, pepper and 1/2 cup ketchup. Mix gently but well  shape mixture into a loaf about 4-1/2 inches wide, 2-1/2 onches thick and 11 inches long.  Put in a shallow baking dish; top loaf with remaining ketchup  Arrange bacon slices on top. Bake 35 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with brown gravy.

Served with a mound of mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, no meal has a greater comfort factor than this one.

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CHOCOLATE TOFFEE SQUARES

If you've read this blog with any regularity then you are well aware that my favorite dessert is cookies.  Yes, the simplicity, the variety, and portable deliciousness won me over years ago.  That's not to say that I don't like other desserts, because I do, but when push comes to shove, I'll pretty much take a cookie over anything else.  This cookie is one of my favorites and goes back to my college days when my best friend, Angela, and I would make a batch almost ever other weekend and devour the entire contents of the pan.  Our active youth prevented us from ever gaining a pound -- boy do I miss those days! -- and we learned a bit about baking along the way.  When we made them they were called "Patchwork Cookies."  The top would be scored into squares with each section decorated differently (like a patchwork quilt): colored sugars, colored sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, chopped nuts, dragees, coconut, and toffee bits.  We decided that we liked the toffee bits the best, so this recipe is the happy result of our college days experimentation.

Chocolate Toffee Squares

For the crust:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature 

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 

1 egg yolk 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/8 teaspoon salt 

1 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping:

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips 

1/2 cup chopped almonds 

1/2 cup milk chocolate toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9"x9" square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom and up the sides with a piece of parchment paper, allowing the parchment to overhang slightly on both ends. If you don't have parchment you can use foil, if you don't have foil you can skip this step, just be sure your pan is thoroughly covered with the nonstick spray.  The parchment (or foil) aids in facilitating the easy removal of the bars from the pan. Spray parchment with nonstick cooking spray. 

Spread the chopped almonds onto a baking sheet and toast in your preheated oven for about 5-7 minutes or until fragrant. Remove nuts from oven; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla, and salt. Turn the mixer to low speed, and gradually beat in the flour.  Do not overmix. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom of the baking pan. Bake in the center of the oven until golden, 18-20 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate pieces evenly over the crust. Return the pan to the oven for 1 minute. Remove the pan again and, using an offset spatula (if you don't have an offset spatula, buy one, but in the meantime you can use a knife), spread the chocolate evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the top with the almonds and toffee bits, covering entire surface. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Remove bars from pan using parchment handles and transfer to cutting board. Cut into bars.

This post is linked to Sweets for a Saturday.

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

It's not that I don't like making lunch, it's just that, for the most part, I don't particularly like lunch food.  Yes, I love a good bowl of soup with a hunk of warm, crusty bread on the side, but there are a lot of days in the week where this is just not an option due to time constraints, inflexible schedules, not to mention low energy, or just plain disinterest.  On these days the sandwich looms ahead.  The sandwich.  My husband probably makes the best sandwich in the world.  He takes great pains to assemble ingredients, knows just which condiment will complement the ingredients the best, and how much of said condiment to use to make it absolutely delicious.  I, on the other hand, am not a great sandwich maker.  I do, however, make an excellent sloppy joe.

This recipe was born out of a longing for a good, hot sandwich that had all of the deliciousness of, dare I say it, my favorite food: the cheeseburger, while at the same time having the smokey zing of barbecue. It is hearty and satisfying, kids and men particularly love it, and it freezes beautifully, so can be made ahead for such food-gobbling events like the Super Bowl.

Sumptuous Sloppy Joes

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, diced fine

1 pound ground chuck

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup beef gravy*

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

4 slices Velveeta cheese

4 hamburger buns, toasted

In a large skillet, melt the butter until the foam subsides.  Add the onion, and cook until transparent.  Stir in garlic, and cook until fragrant.  Add green pepper, cook for two minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

Crumble beef into another large skillet and season with pepper.  Cook over medium high heat until meat is browned and fat is rendered.  Turn out onto paper towel-lined plate and drain throughly.  Add drained beef to vegetable mixture, stir until combined, and return to heat.  Stir in gravy, ketchup, and barbecue sauce, and simmer until liquid is reduced and meat mixture is saucy, but not runny (or to your own taste).

Place scoops of mixture onto the bottom halves of your toasted hamburger buns, dividing evenly.  Top with a slice of cheese and place under the broiler until cheese is melted and gooey.

*If I don't happen to have any leftover gravy from the recent cooking of a roast, I make gravy following the directions on the jar of L.B. Jamison's Beef Soup Base.  For this reason, I do not include salt as one of the ingredients in this recipe.  Reducing the mixture should make it salty enough, but do taste before serving and add additional, if needed.

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TABLESCAPE THURSDAY - Dinner with Friends

Sometimes having dinner with friends means something other than a festive gathering of people of various ages and backgrounds around a busy table with a lot of good food, conviviality, and conversation.  Sometimes it means having a peaceful  meal at a quiet table surrounded by things that have become friends due to the love and companionship acquired over the course of years.  In this case, the "friends" that surround this evening's table are my books, as I chose to set the table in the library for dinner.  It seemed appropriate then, to have a few books on the table as a part of the centerpiece.  A miniature Toby Jug of Sherlock Holmes surveys the scene.

I absolutely adore this set of dishes that I've been slowly acquiring on eBay.  How perfect are they for a literary setting like the library?

I love these scenes of Victorian London.

The literary design on the cup in the background is the perfect complement for the books.

Sources:

Table Runners: Pottery Barn

Brass Candlesticks: Virginia Metalcrafters

Candles: Bayberry tapers by Colonial Candle

Sherlock Toby Jug: Royal Doulton

Dishes: The Old Curiosity Shop by Royal (eBay)

Flatware: Fiestaware

Glasses: A wedding gift

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Applesauce Spice Muffins

One nice thing about being stuck inside during snowy weather is that I have time to make muffins for breakfast in the morning.  These are particular favorites because they can be mixed by hand, so no dragging out the mixer, and the recipe only makes six, so I'm not overwhelmed with more muffins than we can possibly eat, and end up having to freeze the majority of them.  The fragrance that comes out of the kitchen when they are baking will make you weak at the knees.  This combination of spices scents the house so beautifully that you'll wish in came in candle form.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

5-1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Topping:

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan.  In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together egg and brown sugar until thoroughly combined, then slowly add butter, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in applesauce, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Stir in nuts.  Using an ice cream scoop, fill the six cavities in your jumbo muffin pan equally with the mixture.  Stir together topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing muffins from pan, and then cool thoroughly on a wire rack.

This is linked to Real Food Wednesdays.

French Cut Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter

Finding a sumptuous side dish is not always easy.  Finding one that is quick, easy, delicious, and can be made ahead nearly impossible.  This recipe is the exception.  Every time I prepare these I get compliments, often from people who don't care for hazelnuts.  Toasting them and chopping them as finely as possible imparts a nutty flavor without an overpowering hazelnut taste, and adds a little extra crunch to the beans.

These can be made with green beans that have not been French cut (you'll need to cook them longer in this case -- 6 to 8 minutes), but I strongly suggest you give this little French cutting tool a try.  I found mine at the Viking store, but it is available from Amazon as well (click on image directly below to go to the page).  Never, I beg you, used canned or (horrors!) frozen green beans.  This is so quick and easy, not to mention actually fun to do.

Norpro French Bean Slicer

Snip the tip off of the fresh green bean using the cutting blade at the end.

Pull the green bean through the cutting blades to French cut.

It took me less than five minutes to French cut this entire pile of green beans.

Slice beans in half, or they'll be too unwieldy on the plate.

Combine first six ingredients in a small bowl.

Finely chop toasted hazelnuts, add to bowl, and stir together to make hazelnut butter.

Top cooked green beans with butter and allow it to melt into them.

French Cut Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter


2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 to 3/4 lb green beans, trimmed

Stir together butter, shallot, zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl until combined. Add hazelnuts and stir until combined well.  Set aside.

Wash fresh greens beans, pat dry with a paper towel, snip off ends, and run through the green bean Frenching tool.  Cut French-cut beans in half.  Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil and drop in green beans.  When water has returned to boiling, cook for 3-5 minutes until beans are tender.

Drain beans in a colander, then return hot beans to pot and toss with hazelnut butter.

This recipe can be made ahead.  You can blanch the green beans and refrigerate for up to two days.  The hazelnut butter can be made ahead as well and kept similarly for two days.

Makes 2 ample portions


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