Candied Pancetta-Peach Stacks

This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine (August 2017). Delicious combo of flavors, but it was hard to eat - everything slides apart. As pretty as it looks "stacked" I don't like to serve peole food that becomes a struggle. Maybe peach slices/rounds to keep it a composed serving, but the mozzarella and candied pancetta could be diced?

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp. light brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds

6 pancetta slices (about 3/4 oz each, 1/6 inch thick)

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. honey

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

3 medium peaches (about 1 lb. total)

fresh basil leaves for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.
2. Combine sugar and seeds in a bowl. Place pancetta in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet; rub sugar and spice mixture evenly on each side of each slice. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until crisp and caramelized. Let it cool slightly.
3. While the pancetta cooks, combine the vinegar, honey and juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high, stirring often, about 6 - 8 minutes until mixture thickens and reduces by half.
4. Cut each peach in half and discard the pits. Cut each half in half again, horizontally to create four round flat slices per peach (two per side).
5. Assemble: place a slice of peach on your plate. Layer with 1 mozzarella slice, then 1 additional peach slice, and top with 1 slice of pancetta. The repeat with remaining ingredients so you have six towers. Drizzle vinegar evenly over the stacks. Top with basil leaves and serve.

Apple Cider Cake

(photo coming soon!)

Ingredients

3 C flour

3 tsp cinnamon + ½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 C brown sugar

1 C sugar

1 C vegetable oil

½ C buttermilk

¼ C apple butter

2 tsp vanilla

1½ C apple juice/cider - boiled, reduced to ½ cup

1 Honeycrisp (or similar) apple, peeled & grated

¼ C butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt or fluted tube pan.

Whisk together dry (first 7) ingredients, including 3 tsp cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar, 2/3 C white sugar, oil, buttermilk, apple butter, vanilla, and reduced apple cider.

Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring to combine. Toss shredded apple with remaining dry ingredients, and add to batter. 

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan about 15 minutes, then invert pan onto wire rack; cool completely.

Combine remaning sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon in a small bowl.

Brush melted butter evenly over cake; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Delicious as is, or... with caramel drizzle or caramel whipped cream.

Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate)

Ingredients:
1 C butter

3 T cocoa powder

2 C flour

2 C sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ C buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour* a jelly roll pan (13x18" baking sheet with a 1" lip).

Melt butter in meadum saucepan; stir in 1 C water and cocoa powder, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, wisk together eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.

Stir melted butter mixture into dry ingredients; then stir in milk, egg and vanilla mixture.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

* I often use a mixture of flour and cocoa powder to prepare pans for chocolate cakes.

Frost as desired.

For an almost pourable chocolate glaze/frosting...

Ingredients

½ C butter

¼ C milk

3 T cocoa powder

2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

dash salt

Directions

Melt  butter over medium heat. Stir in milk and cocoa powder and bring just to a boil.

In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and salt; stir in melted chocolate mixture. Add vanilla stirring until smooth. Pour and spread over sheet cake.

White Hot Chocolate

Ingredients
2 C whole milk

1½ oz white chocolate

1½ tsp tahini

1½ tsp maple syrup

1 cinnamon stick

½ tsp vanilla paste (or extract)

½ C heavy whipping cream

   optional: extra whipped cream, ground cinnamon as garnish for serving

Directions

Stir together all ingredients except heavy whipping cream in a saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently until chocolate is melted. Continue to simmer to steep cinnamon flavor into milk...  To serve: remove cinnamon stick, whisk in heavy cream. If desired, top with fresh whipped cream and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Cranberry Sauce ('Glaze') for Pork Loin

 (pork loin or... use your imagination!)

Ingredients:

½ C canned cranberry sauce (whole berry)

½ C jelly – anything that would complement the cranberry

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tsp chicken bouillon (powder/granules or ‘Better than Bouillon’)

1½ tsp Dijon

1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic paste)

½ tsp horseradish

Directions:

Bring everything to a boil in a small saucepan; let rest so thyme can release flavor. Remove thyme shoots, leaving any leaves that fall off. Use sauce to baste a pork loin (or chicken, beef…) every 10 minutes during cooking; use remaining sauce to garnish for service.

Easy/No-bake Whipped Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients

½ C peanut butter

½ C cream cheese, softened/room temp

1 C powdered sugar

1 C heavy whipping cream*

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1 9-inch pie crust: graham cracker or chocolate cookie crust

Optional toppings (or mix-ins): Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, mini chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, chocolate fudge sauce...

* You can substitute 8 oz frozen whipped topping to save time (sacrificing real cream), but since it is presweetened, reduce the powdered sugar to ½ cup.

Directions

Combine peanut butter, cream cheese and ½ cup powdered sugar, mixing until very smooth.

In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to firm peaks with remaining powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Fold in peanut butter mixture.

If desired, spread some chopped Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (or other mix-ins) on the bottom of the crust or gently stir into peanut butter filling. Pour peanut butter filling into crust, spreading gently to an even thickness. If desired, sprinkle with extra toppings and/or drizzle with chocolate fudge sauce.

Keep refrigerated.

Vadouvan Chicken Salad (Sandwich)

Vadouvan is a French spice mix similar to curry. Vadouvan is a bit milder and since I'm a wimp when it comes to hot spice I tend to prefer vadouvan. You could substitute curry in this recipe and be just fine; either spice is not overpowering with everything else in the mix. I like this in a sandwich, but it'd be fine on a bed of greens as a salad on its own.

Ingredients

1½ lb chicken breast, cooked, diced

1 apple, peeled, cored, diced

3 green onions, chopped

½ C peanuts* chopped

½ C dried cranberries (or golden raisins)

2/3 C grapes (green or red), quartered

¾ C mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip, etc.)

1 tsp vadouvan

¾ tsp salt

* I use peanuts because I have a tree nut allergy. Cashews or pecans would be more common here.

Directions

Season teh chicken breast with salt & pepper, cook, cool and dice. While it's cooling, do all the other dicing, chopping and quartering. TIP: Next time I make mine, I'll dice things smaller; I imagined if would be nice to bite into good chunks, but they just kept falling out of my sandwich! 

In a medium bowl, tossed chicken, apple, onion, peanuts, cranberries and grapes. 

In a small bowl, stir vadouvan and salt into mayonnaise; then, fold into chicken mixture. Season with extra salt if needed.  ...or more vadouvan if the flavor is milder than you'd like.

P.S. This picture isn't an original of mine. I'll try to remember to TAKE one next time I mix up a batch of this!

Monte Cristo Crepes

This is more of a reminder than an actual recipe. The inspiration came from Food Network Magazine (October 2015...I was recylcing old magazines at school). You can find their recipe here. I just made crêpes from my go-to crêpe recipe, and layered and folded in ham, turkey and swiss cheese. Swiss is traditional, though the Food Network recipe calls for muenster, and any melt-y cheese could work. I covered them, so they wouldn't dry out, and popped them in the oven (350°) just long enough to melt the cheese. The dipping sauce is a mix of raspberry jam and dijon mustard. I dusted mine with powdered sugar which is often included with a Monte Cristo. Serving it with a green salad kept it from being too overly indulgent.

Ingredients

crêpes

thin sliced ham

thin sliced turkey

thin sliced swiss

seedless raspberry jam

dijon mustard

powdered sugar

Brown Sugar & Soy Drumsticks

It definitely wouldn't have to be drumsticks; in fact, it wouldn't even have to be chicken. This is a super simple basting glaze that is the closest I could remember to what I saw in a magazine (allrecipes? FoodNetwork? Delish? Cooking Light? BHG? -- I honestly can't remember, but those are ones I subscribe to). It was just a handful of ingredients...

Ingredients
6 chicken legs
1/3 C brown sugar
2 t ketchup
1 T soy sauce (or tamari, or amino acids...)
½ t garlic powder
     I'd actually prefer fresh garlic, mashed into a paste, but the original recipe was intended to be super "quick & easy" and used powder
1-2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 t toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°. Combine brown sugar, ketchup, soy and garlic powder in a small bowl. Place chicken pieces in a shallow baking dish and smear with brown sugar paste. Bake 20-30 minutes until interior of chicken legs (or thighs, breasts...) reaches 165°, basting with brown sugar drippings at least a couple times as it cooks. Top with sliced scallions and sesame seeds to serve.

Sweet Chili Sauce

I bought a Thai chili pepper plant at the Farmer's Market recently. No chilis are ready yet (but they're there!), but it's made me crave sweet chili sauce while I'm waiting for them to mature... There are lots of recipes for sweet chili sauce with similar but slightly varied ingredients, but here's a good basic recipe to use as a spring board for personalizing the flavor. Great as a dipping or finishing sauce for lots of Southeast Asian dishes.

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

½ C sugar (I like using brown sugar, but white is more traditional)

1/3 C vinegar -- distilled white or apple cider

2 t sriracha or sambal oelek (use more if you like more spice!)

½ t salt

1 t fish sauce or oyster sauce

Directions

Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper; coarsely chop. Pulse pepper and garlic in food processor or blender until finely chopped.

In small saucepan, combine pepper & garlic with ½ C water, sugar, vinegar, sriracha/sambal oelek, and salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking about 10 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.

In small bowl, create a slurry with cornstarch and fish or oyster sauce.  Add to mixture in saucepan, stirring constantly for about a minute until sauce thickens.

Cauliflower 'Tots'

1  medium head cauliflower

2  eggs

1 C shredded cheddar

1 C shredded parmesan

2 T fresh chopped herbs*

2/3 C panko breadcrumbs

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

* To try out the recipe, I just used a pre-blended Italian herb mix (2 tsp, dried), but you could play around with any flavor combination here!

Core cauliflower and chop into 1 - 1½ " inch floret pieces. Steam until tender. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl. Mash cauliflower using a pastry blender or potato masher (or, use a food processor...) in to very fine pieces.

Add eggs, cheeses, panko, herbs, and salt & pepper (more or less to taste). Mix until well combined.

Shape 1-2 tablespoons of cauliflower mixture into balls or 'tot-like' shapes with your hands. Arrange tots in a single laer on a parchment lined baking sheet, or in the basket of an air fryer. Cook at 375° until golden -- for 10-12 minutes in an air fryer, or approximately 20-25 minutes in conventional oven,

Serve with your choice of dipping sauce(s).

Namasu - Pickled Carrot & Daikon Salad

Asian flavors (and pickles) are both foods I like. If you don't, this probably isn't for you. A little serving of this on the side of any Asian dish adds a bright, zingy bite to the meal.

Ingredients

1 lg daikon, julienned (1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches)*

     -- about 3½ cups

1 lg (3 medium) carrots, julienned*

2 tsp kosher salt

3 T rice vinegar

1 T sugar

1 T lime juice

1-2 T orange juice

Optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds

* I bought carrots that were pre-cut, and used a mandolin to prep the daikon. If you don't have a mandolin or a food processor to slice the veggies, you could shred them on the largest section of a hand-held grater. The texture isn't going to be quite the same, but it could save you a LOT of prep time! (and knife work, if you're not that efficient with practice)

Directions

Toss together the daikon and carrots; sprinkle with salt and gently toss again. Let sit (room temp) about 20 minutes. Veggies will soften a bit and release some water.

While veggies are resting, whisk together vinegar, sugar, lime and orange juices* until sugar is dissolved. (Ideally the lime and orange juices should be replaced with yuzu juice; it's not that hard to find but I rarely have it on hand and I usually have lime and orange which are a pretty good substitution.)

Drain liquid from carrot & daikon mixture.  Drizzle vinegar dressing over vegetables and toss to coat; let stand at least 15 minutes.

Serve at room temp or chilled, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.