Shutterbean: Maple Bourbon Pumpkin Butter

You thought I was done making jams and jellies?  Well, shows what you know.  And the fact that I made a crap ton of this before I realized you can't actually seal these in a boiling water bath shows what I know.  Something about being so thick you can't kill all the bacteria.  Darn non-industrial kitchen.  But as luck would have it, you can certainly throw these non-sealed jars in the freezer (assuming you actually have any room in said freezer).  Or just eat it really fast.  That works, too.

Maple Bourbon Pumpkin Butter

From Shutterbean blog

2 sugar pie pumpkins, cut in half & de-seeded
1¼ cups brown sugar
¾ cup maple syrup
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 ounces bourbon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place pumpkin cut side down on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until pumpkins are thoroughly cooked. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Scrape the cooked pumpkin from the skins and place in a blender. Process for about 2-3 minutes, until pumpkin in velvety smooth. Transfer puree to a large saucepan and add brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and finish with the juice of one lemon. Heat pumpkin mixture over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not let any burn at the bottom of the pan. Slowly add in the bourbon, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Add additional maple syrup or lemon juice to taste, if needed.

Let mixture cool and transfer to clean jars. Pumpkin butter will last up to one month in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer.

Makes 6 half-pint jars

Bon Appétit: Pumpkin Spice Icebox Cake

I absolutely got roped into making this cake after watching a Facebook video of it.  That's how Bon Appétit sucks you in.  They post this delicious looking recipe, and sure enough, you're pulling the ingredients out of your pantry before you even realize what you're doing.  And then you're eating this wonderfully sloppy mess that tastes like fall and looks like redneck cooking at its finest, and all is right with the world.

Pumpkin Spice Icebox Cake
From Bon Appétit magazine, November 2016

2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise, or 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
2 cups heavy cream
Kosher salt
1¼ cups pumpkin purée
½ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup mascarpone or sour cream, at room temperature
⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
12 (5x2-inch) graham crackers
2 ounces strong coffee or espresso, room temperature
Pecan brittle, pecan praline, or chocolate butter toffee bar, chopped (for topping)

Scrape seeds from vanilla beans into a large bowl; reserve pods for another use. Add cream and a pinch of salt to bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat until stiff peaks form.

Whisk pumpkin pureé, brown sugar, mascarpone, condensed milk, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fold 1½ cups whipped cream into pumpkin mixture until combined and no streaks of white remain.

Using a spatula or spoon, smear a thin layer of remaining whipped cream in the center of a large serving plate (make sure it’s big enough so 3 graham crackers can cover it). Place 3 graham crackers, side by side with the long sides touching, over cream. Lightly brush tops with coffee. Spread ¾ cup pumpkin mixture evenly over crackers. Top with ½ cup whipped cream and spread evenly to edges. Repeat with remaining layers, ending with whipped cream. Chill, uncovered, until crackers have softened, at least 3 hours and up to 6. Top with chopped brittle before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Shockingly Delicious: Spicy Fresh Garbanzos

So I was walking through the grocery store today when this bin of fresh garbanzo beans steps right out in front of me.  And I'm like, excuse me, I've never seen you here before.  And they're like, yeah, I know, but we're a delicious alternative to edamame.  And I'm like, seriously?  And they're like, seriously.  So I grabbed a bag full, and you know what?  They weren't lying.

Spicy Fresh Garbanzos

From Shockingly Delicious blog

2 teaspoons olive oil
6 ounces fresh garbanzo beans in the shell (about 2½ ounces shelled beans)

Sprinkle of chili powder
Sprinkle of ground cumin
Sprinkle of salt

Heat oil in a small frying pan. Add shelled beans and stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes, adding seasonings at the end of the time. Stir to mix everything well and coat the beans with the seasonings, and serve in a little bowl.

Makes 2 servings

Gourmet: Roast Squabs with Porcini and Country Bread Salad

Okay, before we go any further, I will confess to being incredibly pleased with myself for actually locating squabs (aka pigeons) and making something with them.  Based on the number of annoying pests infesting every train station in the city, I'm at a loss for why we aren't eating more of these tender little birds, but hey, I'm doing my part.  And anything including the words garlic confit immediately has my attention.  Not a lot of meat here, but hey, you have a whole one to yourself.  And that's what really matters.

Note:  I added some chicken stock to the "bread salad" to make it more "stuffing".  Because that's what it should really be.  Stuffing.

Roast Squabs with Porcini and Country Bread Salad
From Gourmet magazine, October 2001

12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 (10-inch) round or oval sourdough loaf (1½ pounds), crust discarded
9 fresh porcini mushrooms (cèpes; ¾ pound), trimmed
3 (1-pound) squabs
3 large sprigs fresh thyme
3 tablespoons Garlic Confit Purée
6 tablespoons strained duck fat (from Garlic Confit Purée)
⅓ cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Bring 2 cups water, garlic, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to a boil, then drain in a colander. Blanch garlic in same manner 2 more times.

Cut bread into ¼-inch-thick sticks and toast on a baking sheet in middle of oven until pale golden, about 6 minutes. Leave oven on.

Peel stems of porcini with a sharp small knife just until white flesh is exposed, then quarter mushrooms lengthwise.

Pat squabs dry and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Put a sprig of thyme in cavity of each squab and divide garlic confit among cavities. Tie legs of squabs together with kitchen string and fold wings back.

Heat 2 tablespoons duck fat in a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown squabs in 2 batches, turning, about 5 minutes, transferring to a plate and reserving skillet.

Add 1½ more tablespoons duck fat to skillet and sauté porcini in 2 batches over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes (add another 1½ tablespoons duck fat to skillet for second batch). Stir in blanched garlic, toasted bread, and salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

Put a 13- by 9-inch metal baking pan on bottom rack of oven (to catch drips) and arrange squabs, breast sides up, in a small circle (without touching) on middle rack of oven directly above baking pan. Roast squabs, carefully basting once with remaining tablespoon duck fat, 15 minutes. Replace baking pan with skillet of bread salad, positioning it directly under birds. Roast squabs and bread salad until an instant-read thermometer inserted in fleshy part of a thigh (avoid bone) registers 155°F for medium meat and mushrooms in bread salad are tender, about 5 minutes. (If mushrooms are not tender, roast bread salad 5 to 8 minutes more.) Transfer squabs to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes, then halve lengthwise with poultry shears or a sharp knife.

Toss bread salad with parsley and lemon juice and serve with squabs.

Makes 3 servings

Garlic Confit Purée
12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 cup rendered duck fat

Bring 2 cups water, garlic, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to a boil in a 1½-quart saucepan, then drain in a colander. Blanch garlic in same manner 2 more times. Dry pan well with paper towels, then add garlic and cover with duck fat. Simmer, uncovered, until garlic is very tender, about 5 minutes. Drain garlic in a sieve set over a bowl, reserving fat, and purée garlic in a food processor to make confit. Cool completely before putting in cavities of squabs.

Alton Brown: Glazed Baby Beets

Does anyone else remember eating those Harvard beets (thought detour: why are they called Harvard beets?) in a glass jar?  We had them every once in a while when I was a kid.  And while at the time I wasn't in love, I've come to appreciate them in a way a child cannot.  They're sweet and sour in a really nice way.  So I'm actually pretty excited that I have managed to find a recipe that turns out a pretty fantastic fresh version.  No, I'm not being sarcastic.  These are yummy.  Give 'em a try.

Glazed Baby Beets
From Alton Brown

20 baby beets, peeled
2 cups apricot juice or nectar
3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey

In a large saute pan, add the beets and the apricot juice. Cover and cook on medium high for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and honey and cook for another 10 minutes. Pull off of the heat and keep covered for an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

The Dallas Morning News: Awesome Baked Beans

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a flag football game to go to.  While I will not be playing thanks to my traitor of a bad back, I will certainly be cheering from the sidelines.  I will also be participating in the huge pot luck beforehand, where we stuff our faces in preparation for all the millions of calories we will expend during to the game.  And what better to accompany the brisket and sausage feast but baked beans.  Baked beans covered in bacon.  You heard me.  And stuffed with more beef.  Because I can't leave well enough alone.

Note: This lovely dish may also be assembled in a cooker of slow foods, where it should rest on low for approximately three hours, whereupon it should be sprinkled with cooked bacon batons.  Easy peasy.

Awesome Baked Beans
From The Dallas Morning News

1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
2 (16-ounce) cans regular or bacon-flavored baked beans
4 strips bacon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large skillet, melt the butter.  Brown the beef with the Worcestershire sauce.  When cooked through, remove from the skillet and drain the fat.  In a large bowl, combine the meat, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, soup mix, and beans and place in an 8x8-inch baking dish.  Top with bacon strips.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes.  If necessary, run the dish under the broiler to crisp the bacon before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Betty Crocker: Shrimp Creole

I was just thinking the other day about how my mom was actually pretty open in trying different recipes when we were kids (hello, eggplant parmesan).  I mean, within her ability to find ingredients at the grocery store, where even fresh asparagus was unusual.  We ate shrimp creole every once in a while, probably when shrimp was on sale.  And, as a kid, I never really thought further about it.  But now that I'm all grown up, I realize that this is a creole recipe from Louisiana, and it has a surprising amount of spice for the usual dinner.  So tonight I made my mom's recipe and tweaked it a little bit for authenticity, and it was just as delicious, and adventurous, as I remembered.

Shrimp Creole
Adapted from Betty Crocker’s New Good and Easy Cookbook

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ large onion, minced
2 ribs celery, diced
½ green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme

¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon sea salt
1 (14½-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups shrimp stock or water
2 cups frozen cooked salad shrimp

¼ cup parsley, minced

4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)

Melt butter over low heat. Add onion, celery, green pepper, jalapeno, and garlic, and cook until onion is translucent. Blend in remaining ingredients except shrimp, parsley, and green onions. Cook slowly, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Stir in shrimp, parsley, and green onions. If desired, make a slurry with the cornstarch and liquid from the pan, and then mix into the shrimp creole.  Allow to cook for several more minutes until thickened.  Serve on hot cooked rice.

Makes 6 servings

Smitten Kitchen: Vanilla Bean Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

At a lunch last week at Nick & Sam's Grill, the table was given a specialty dessert that included blueberry ice cream, cotton candy, and browned butter Rice Krispie treats.  I know, sounds crazy, and it was...crazy good.  But I kept thinking about those Rice Krispie treats.  I had never really eaten many as a child, so I don't have any sort of attachment.  But an adult version?  With browned butter?  And maybe some vanilla bean?  That definitely happened today.  Guess who's now a fan?

Vanilla Bean Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen blog

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1 (10-ounce) bag mini marshmallows
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
¼ teaspoon sea salt
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Butter a 9x13-inch cake pan.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as, while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, stir in the marshmallows. Melt and cook, stirring often, until mixture turns pale brown, then stir constantly until lightly browned but not dark, 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla bean paste.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan using a silicon spatula or buttered hands.  Let cool and cut into bars.

Makes 16 to 20 servings

D'Artagnan: Venison au Poivre

They started carrying venison medallions at my local grocery, and I've spent most of the time since I first spotted them trying to figure out what I would do with these expensive beauties if I bought them.  I finally took a closer look at the package, and my dilemma was solved.  A delicious recipe right on the back!  Perfection!  And everybody loves a delicious peppered steak, right?  These definitely lived up to expectations, and the venison wasn't even gamey.  It was just perfectly fantastic.

Venison au Poivre
Adapted from D'Artagnan Foods

1 (14-ounce) package venison medallions (4 medallions total)
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon duck fat or vegetable oil
3 ounces Armagnac or brandy
1 (7-ounce) container duck and veal demi-glace
4 ounces heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Season venison medallions on both sides with salt and cracked black peppercorns.  Heat duck fat in an oven-proof skillet over high heat.  Sear medallions until brown and crusted on both sides.  Put skillet into oven, cook for 2 minutes until medium rare.  Remove medallions from skillet and reserve.

Over medium heat, add Armagnac or brandy (watch for flames), add demi-glace and reduce by half.  Add peppercorns, heavy cream, and cook until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Season to taste with salt.  Remove skillet from heat, add steaks and any drippings.

Makes 4 servings

Porcini Rice Pilaf

I love getting to the grocery store first thing in the morning.  When you're the first person strolling through the produce aisle, you're almost guaranteed to find something rare and delicious.  At least at my local store.  The last time I went, I ended up with a small bag of fresh porcini mushrooms.  Amazing score.  But then I had to stew over what I was going to make with my treasure, so they had to sit tight in the fridge.  Until now.  I've always love rice pilaf, so that's what I kept coming back to in my perusal of recipes.  Mushrooms, toasted orzo, tender rice...a fabulous side dish.

Porcini Rice Pilaf

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 shallots, minced
1 ounce porcini mushrooms
¼ cup orzo
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon truffle oil (optional)

In a medium pan over medium-high heat, melt butter.  Add shallots and mushrooms and cook until the shallots are translucent and the mushrooms have released their liquid.  Add the orzo and cook until lightly browned.  Add the remaining ingredients, lower heat to low, and cover.  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all liquid has been absorbed.  Fluff with a fork and toss in the truffle oil, if using.

Makes 6 servings