Mini Pecan Tassies

 

My brothers and I have always been competitive. In fact I can recall  my brother Darien racing me around the block until he finally won because I was so exhausted! Now that we're older, it's much more fun to compete - especially when it comes to cooking. Most holidays we find ourselves having dessert competitions. This Thanksgiving Darien's wife was the champion, blowing everyone out of the water with her red velvet cupcakes (photo below). My little tassies didn't have a chance! But they did get some love, along with Darien's amazing shortbread. I hope they send me the recipes so I can share. For now, I can only share what I know. This recipe is a combination of a couple things: the idea and the filling is inspired by Chef Chuck's Mini Pecan Pies but I changed it slightly.

Mini Pecan Tassies

Ingredients:

For the crust

1.5 c flour

1/2 c butter

1 tsp sugar

pinch of salt

a few 1/4 c water

For the filling

1 c Creme Caramel Pecans (Squirrel Brand because they're not too sweet) - chopped

1/4 c butter, melted

2 tbls pure maple syrup

2 tbls brown sugar

1/2 beaten egg

For the topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream

a little sugar, depending on how the amount of sweetness you prefer

Preparation:

Sift flour into mixing bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Blend together.

Cut in butter with two knives until it looks like little pea-sized clumps.

With tips of fingers blend with a light rubbing motion until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Dribble water throughout until the dough is moist and sticking together. Add just enough water for this, not too much.

Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

While the dough is in the fridge, make the filling:

Add the sugar and butter, then stir together.

Now add the rest of the mixture, except the egg.

Stir together and then add the egg.

Dough:

Turn the dough out on to a flat clean and lightly floured surface.

Knead a couple times and then roll out with a rolling pin (make sure the pin has flour on it to avoid sticking).

When the dough in even and thin (about 1/4 inch), you're ready to cut the mini shells.

I use a small glass, but if you've got all the tools, use a round cookie cutter to make a shape that will fit the size of the mini muffin tins.

I end up having to roll out the individual shapes because they are usually too small and thick. It's kind of fun and only takes a second or two.

Take the mini pies shells and put them into the muffin pan. With a fork, make sure to put holes at the bottom of each.

I like to push the sides down and pinch a bit to mimic the look of a regular sized pie.

Now spoon the mixture into the shell (about halfway to the top of each shell). The mixture does rise a bit when cooking, and then when it cools it sinks back down a bit.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, and until the crust is a little golden.

Topping

With an electric mixer, whip the cream and the sugar until thick and the consistency you like.

Now it's time to enjoy! Make some awesome coffee, dollop some whipped cream on the top, and EAT!

Enjoy!

Asunta's Luscious Red Velvet Cupcakes (I'll get the recipe soon!)

Nina's Meatballs

Yesterday I had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner here with some family and friends. My friends smoked and grilled the turkey and others brought some dishes including scalloped potatoes, spiced up yams, and lots of desserts. I made stuffing (I'll share that one another time) and pasta with meatballs. Not so much a Thanksgiving tradition, but I was in the mood to make it - and eat it! These meatballs are sort of the traditional way we make them in our family and of course it all started with my mom whose family is from Palermo, but to be honest I have no idea if this style of making meatballs is close to how they're made there. In any case, this is the way I prepared them yesterday. Even my my mom liked them!

3/4 1b each of ground beef and pork
about 1 c bread crumbs
1/2 onion, minced
2 tbls smashed and minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp rosemary
1 tbls or more fresh parsley finely chopped
a few fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tbls dried basil (I still like to use dried along with fresh)
a couple splashes olive oil
1 egg, beaten
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to tasted

Preparation:
In mixing bowl add onions, garlic and the bread crumbs and just mix everything together with your hands. I like to do it this way to sort of press the flavors into the bread crumbs. note: my mom and brothers soak the bread crumbs in milk, but I like meatballs on the chewy side, and skip this step.

Do the same with the remaining ingredients with the exception of the egg and the ground meat.

Now you can add the meat and again using your hands to mix everything together.

Add the egg into the mixture in the same way - it's ok to get messy!

Start to heat a large, heavy-bottomed pan to medium heat and add some olive oil so that the bottom is nicely coated. You just want this to be nice a ready when your meatballs are formed. Don't let it get too hot.

To form the meatballs, grab a handful of the meat and just toss it around loosely to form a sort of ball. It doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to rolled tightly.

Add the meatballs to the pan - don't crowd too much. The surface will start to brown quickly so this part is a little tricky. I just use my hands to turn them frequently so that they brown evenly all around. You really can't walk away or you'll inevitably wind up some areas that are too done.

Once they have a nice carmelized surface that is as even as possible, I like to add a little water to the pan and then cover to make sure that the meatballs are cooked all the way through. Sometimes I even splash in a little wine. After about 15 mintues they should be done.

You can add your meatballs to your spaghetti sauce, or you can leave them as is. I like to decorate a large, family style pasta dish by putting the meatballs all around the edges of the bowl.

Serving suggestion: Of course meatballs are great with pasta tossed with a good red sauce. My favorite is a fresh marinara - here's my recipe if you want to try it. It is so simple! A simple salad with vinegar and olive oil, some good whole grain bread swiped in olive oil, and a glass of wine will do the trick. These babies are also great in a sandwich.

Enjoy!

Simple Banana Bread

Why is it that the simplest things sometimes get forgotten? I used to make Banana Bread a lot once I figured out how easy and delicious it is. But last night was the first time I've made it in years and I just had to wonder why. Maybe it's because I've been using up our ripe bananas on freezing them for smoothies. Or maybe I just do lazier things with my free time.Think about all the special and/or important things you can do in less than a half hour (that you don't do very often)! Can you think of a few? Take a bubble bath, write to a friend, organize a closet - maybe not as fun, but just might have the same feel-good effects as other activities. I guess the point is, when you have a few minutes on your hands, think about something special like Banana Bread instead of a TV show. Here's a simple, quick and delicious recipe:

Ingredients
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
tiny pinch of salt
5 large, very ripe bananas - smashed
2 eggs
1/2 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
tsp milk

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350
In large mixing bowl beat with electric mixer the oil and sugar.
Add the bananas and the vanilla and beat some more.
Now add the eggs and beat for another minute or so.
In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
Now add to the banana/wet mixture and stir until everything is blended well together.
Then stir in the milk.
With a paper towel, grease a loaf pan (I prefer to use a pan with baby loaves, like in the photo) with a little oil and butter and then bounce flour around in the pan so that there's a nice coat.
Bake for about 50 minutes. Test with a toothpick by sticking one in the top of the bread and making sure that it comes out dry.

Serving suggestion: share with someone you love with a great cup of coffee. Kids love it with milk! It's also delicious with butter (like below), but it certainly doesn't need it. It's rich and moist enough!

Pan-seared New York Steak

Growing up I think we sat down to have dinner with some kind of red meat/meat at least 5 times a week. Yep, it was steak, salad, baked potatoes; or meatballs, pasta, salad; or pork roast with boiled potatoes, etc. And when I say "sat down" we really did - pretty much seven days a week. My three brothers and I would sit down with our parents all at the same time, have dinner, talk to each other (and yell at eachother - remember the Sicilian and Jewish thing), and then ask to be excused before we could leave the table. As much as I didn't think anything of it at the time, I now realize it was one of the things that helped me feel that there was something I belonged to. And although my family was faaaaaaaaaar from perfect, I think this was a healthy and important tradition that has been lost in society. Oh, did I mention that part of that old school tradition was that I - being the only girl - was the only one who had to do the dishes. That's right, all the males got to just leave the table. That wasn't one of the positive aspects of this tradition I'm speaking of.

 Back to fact that we ate a lot of red meat: I rarely eat red meat these days, but I do have to say sometimes there's nothing like a good, juicy steak.

I don't own a barbecue right now since we live a pretty urban life in a 8th floor apartment with no deck. I'd prefer to grill a steak over flames, but I think you can pan sear a steak to sort of mimic that barbecued feel. So that's what I did here.

Ingredients:
2 pieces of steak - your favorite cut. (I like New York or Rib Eye)
a couple splashes of olive oil
a few splashes of red wine (or more)
about 1/4 c water
freshly crushed garlic - a couple tbls
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Put enough olive oil to cover a generous portion of a heavy frying pan.
• Heat the pan to very hot, but don't let the oil smoke.
• Rub salt on both sides of the steak and then add to the pan. You should hear a nice sizzling sound.
• You don't want to burn the surface, you just want to make sure this first side gets nice and brown (carmelized) on the entire surface. If it's too hot, turn it down a bit.
• Now flip over to the other side and on the browned side, rub the garlic on the top with the flat side of a fork. Add as much pepper as you like.
• Once you've acheived the same color on the other side, it's time to add the wine.
• Add the wine - it will sizzle! You can flip the steak(s) over and add some more garlic to the other side if you like.
• You can also just add a little water if the wine starts to reduce too much.
• Now cover and make sure that for the next several minutes, until you get it to the doneness that you prefer, that there's always liquid at the bottom.
• When the steak is done, remove from the pan.
• If you prefer additional "sauce" you can add more wine to the bottom and scrape all the drippings. You can also thicken with a little flour if you like.

Serving suggestion: A simple salad or side veggie (like brussel sprouts) and your favorite warmed bread is all you need.
Enjoy!

Healthy Breakfast Parfait

I like to work out in the morning and one of my favorite things to eat after I stretch is some kind of mixture of fruit and yogurt. My favorite combination is simple: strawberries, yogurt and granola. You might ask what's so special about that...but really, it can be a special treat if you use good ingredients (like with anything, I guess). So what I like to do is use really good granola - I like to use my recipe for granola, Fage Greek Yogurt and California strawberries (they're nice and sweet and available throughout the year). For example, it's November and I bought a couple baskets this morning and you can see how nice and red they are! Anyway, I think this parfait is the perfect balance of sweetness, crunchiness and creaminess. I think it makes a good dessert too!

Ingredients:

1 c Fage Greek Yogurt (I also stir in a little pure maple syrup since it's natural and unsweetened).

1/2 c rinsed, strawberries - cut in small pieces

Nina's Nutty Granola (or your favorite homemade granoloa, or store-bought granola)

Instructions:

• In your favorite glass, spoon some yogurt at the bottom.
• Now add some strawberries.
• Then a layer of yogurt
• Again add some granola and just layer the way you like
• I like to top with a dollop of yogurt with some granola sprinkles

This can be make with your favorite berries and fruit. You can also add dried fruit and extra nuts. This is your creation, so be creative and enjoy!

Nina's Nutty Granola

Crunchy, healthy, nutty and just plain yummy - that's what this granola is. I love granola, but it's just hard to find healthy granola that's not packed with sugar that also has only the things in it that you like. That's the beauty of making your own homemade creations: you just do it your way! This jar that you're seeing is what I made for my brother's birthday gift last night. If he doesn't pick it up soon, it's going to disappear fast! Oh, did I mention how easy this is to make?

Ingredients:

3 c rolled oats
1/2 c each of the following:

slivered almonds, cashew pieces, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut

1/4 whole flax seeds

1/2 c Grade B pure maple syrup

1/2 c Canola Oil

3/4 c raisins

1/4 c water

*optional ( a few drops of vanilla)

Directions:

• Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (with the exception of the raisins)
• In a small bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and whisk to blend
• Now sprinkly the liquid on top of the dry ingredients and stir until the mixture is dampened.
• Important - feel free to mix and match dry ingredients to your tastes. For example, you may like less nuts and more raisins, or you may want to add dried apricots, etc.
• Now spread the mixture our evenly on a rectangular baking pan. I prefer a large stoneware pan because of the way it evenly distributes the heat.
• Bake at 275 for 45 minutes. Then turn the mixture for a few minutes so that it can cook evenly.
• Bake for another 20 minutes or so.
• It's done when it's lightly golden.
• Let cool completely and then add the raisins.
• Can be stored for (well, I think at least a couple weeks) in an airtight container.

Serving suggestion: I love this just as a snack on it's own. But it's also delicious in a yogurt parfait with fruit (especially California strawberries), or as cereal.

Enjoy!

Mom's Faux Charlotte Russe

I overheard my brother Darien and my mom talking about some dessert my mom used to make when we were kids, and I didn't really pay attention until I heard one of them say Charlotte Russe. I don't know, who says Charlotte Russe in an every day discussion? And then it REALLY caught my attention when my mom said Faux Charlotte Russe. So then I started to inquire...what recipe was this??...I don't remember that!...You never made that...etc. But since my mom is right 99.9 percent of the time, I believed that she did indeed make this for us when we were kids. So I forced myself to ask my mom to tell me how she used to make it. Well, it turns out that I do vaguely remember it, and just like most things about my mom, it's very creative and unique. PLEASE, don't tell her I said that - she'd probably tell me she was right about that! Anyway, I made this the other night, and it's good - not my favorite - but it's good, creative and easy. Oh, by the way - I have no idea why she called it Charlotte Russe, since it doesn't seem to have anything to do with "real" Charlotte Russe like Paula Deen's recipe. But this is fun, so here are Ronnie's instructions:

Ingredients:
3-4 apples, peeled and cut up
2 pears, peeled and cut up
1 loaf of spongy, white bread (like Wonder Bread) - you may never hear me say Wonder Bread again in this blog.
1-2 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries
about a stick (or more) butter
about a cup (or more) sugar
Vanilla Icecream to top the warm dessert

Instructions:

• In medium pan saute apples in butter and some sugar until tender and slightly browned (think the consistency of apples inside apple pie).
• Do the same with the pears.
• Set the raspberries aside in a bowl with some added sugar to them.
• Butter a rectangular casserole dish
• Put a stack of bread slices together and cut the crusts off so that you have evenly sized squares. Do this for the entire loaf.
• About 30 minutes before you want to eat the dessert, butter one side of each piece of bread.
• To the bottom of the rectangular pan, place squares together to line the bottom (like a puzzle) so there are no spaces. Don't forget to put the butter sides up.
• Now add the apples as the first layer.
• The second "layer" is the pears.
• And the third layer - the raspberries.
• The top layer is the buttered bread - all lined up together with no spaces.
• Bake for about 20 minutes (uncovered) at 300.
• Cut in squares and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean icecream.

Have fun with it!

Nina's Pasta Jambalaya Fusion

It was my birthday yesterday and I decided that all I wanted to do was stay home from work and cook. So I took a vacation day to do just that. My kids treated me over the weekend since they're the best kids in the world, so I didn't mind cooking for them on my birthday. So...about this dish. My son Jaye mentioned that he had Pasta Jambalaya at a restaurant recently and that he really liked it. I immediately shifted into competitive mode, because I don't like when my kids like other people's food better than mine. I know, I know...I have issues. So the truth is, I've never made this before, but I started to conjure up ideas about how I wanted to make it. I purposely didn't go find a recipe because I wanted to make my own creation. Well, it was definitely a hit - so I want to share this with you. If you're having some people come to your house and you want to give them the gift of serving up some steamy, spicy, ethnic comfort food - this fits the bill!

Ingredients:
1 1lb of raw shrimp
6 hot links (or Andouille sausage, but I actually like hot links)
2 chicken breasts
1 1b pasta - my favorite for this dish is called radiatori al bronzo, brand Maestri Pastai (it makes a huge difference to use this pasta because it absorbs the fused flavors really nicely)

2 large cans of chopped tomatos

1 large white onion, chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
2-3 tbls minced garlic

4-5 tbls Tony Chacheres Creole Seasoning
1 c red wine
1 c chicken broth
1/4 c olive oil

1/4 - 1/2 c freshly shredded Pecorino Romano cheese

freshly ground black pepper for taste

Instructions:

• In large heavy pot stir fry shrimp for a couple minutes and then remove the shrimp.



• To that same pot, do the same with the chicken, but make sure to generously sprinkle Tony Chacheres spice on the chicken while tossing. Remember that you're just cooking on the outside, but not cooking all the way through.



• Remove the chicken and set aside.



• Add a little more olive oil to that same pan and then add the onions and the green pepper - and more of the Cajun spice.



• Saute until tender and then add the oregano and the chopped basil.



• Now add the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the hot links.



• Cook and stir for about four minutes until the links look like smaller and little browned.



• the chopped tomatoes a little at a time. I like to add a little at a time, giving the flavors a chance to all start dancing with eachother.



• Before adding the second can of tomatoes, add the wine and let that simmer a few minutes.



• Now add the other can of tomatoes and let simmer for another few minutes, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan and loosen up all those great flavors from the layers of cooking.



• Taste! It's very important to taste to see if you like the flavor. Is it salty, spicy enough? Continue to taste and adjust - this is YOUR dish.



• Let simmer for about 20 minutes or so.



• While the sauce is simmering, it's time to cook the pasta according to package directions. Make sure to reserve about a cup of the water in case you need it for moisture to the sauce.



• In a large casserole pan, coat the bottom with the sauce. Just a few tablespoons will do.
  


• Add half of the pasta and ladle the sauce over the pasta.



• Sprinkle shredded romano cheese over the sauce.



• The next "layer" is a mixture of the shrimp and chicken. Ladle sauce on the top.



• Next layer is the rest of the pasta with the chicken and shrimp nestled all in between the pasta.



• Now ladle the sauce generously over the top.



• I know this will sound a little weird, but now pour the chicken broth across the top. This adds flavor, moisture and just helps the dish nicely steam when baking in the oven.



• For the last layer, sprinkle the cheese as the finishing layer with a little chopped parsley (fresh or dried).



• Cover the pan and cook for about 45 minutes at 400. (I like hot ovens).
  

Serving suggestion: Serve piping hot with warm garlic bread. Some Wine and salad and you have one awesome meal!

Enjoy!