Author Archives: RedPenRecipes

I'm an editor who loves to bake and cook. I try recipes and edit them according to my liking and make lots of notes in my cookbooks. I update this blog every Sunday morning.

A pecan dessert at its finest

18 November 2012

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Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Are you ready? Pumpkin pie is a staple for my family, but for those of you who don’t like pumpkin pie or may be looking for something new for dessert, try Curtis Stone’s Pecan Tart.

I have never been a fan of pecan pie, but I’ve liked every recipe from Curtis Stone that I’ve tried. When I saw this pecan tart on his website a couple years ago, I decided to give it a chance. From the smell of toasted pecans while it was baking to the last bite, I enjoyed it.

The recipe says to bake it in a pie dish and, even if you have a tart pan, go with the pie dish. The last time I made it, I made the mistake of putting it in a tart pan and, after the filling puffed up, the mixture made a solid barrier just above the crust. I had to cut it out of the pan and it fell apart around the edges. As pretty as the edges could be, it’s not worth the hassle. Use the pie dish and keep it simple.

Whatever is on your table for Thanksgiving, I hope you have a happy holiday.

Flaky Dough Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Combine flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter. Using your hands, combine the ingredients until they resemble pea-size crumbs.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Mix in just until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if mixture is dry.

Gather dough into ball. Flatten into disk. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes. (Can be prepared a day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out dough on a floured surface to a 10-inch round disk. Transfer to 8-inch diameter glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 3/4 inch; fold under and crimp decoratively. Set aside.

Filling
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup golden syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups pecan pieces
Whipped cream

Melt the butter in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk until the butter is golden brown, about 2 minutes.

Pour the butter into a large bowl and cool to room temperature.

Whisk the golden syrup, sugar, and salt into the cooled brown butter to blend. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the pecans. Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Bake the pie for 10 minutes.

Decrease the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking the pie until the edges puff and the center is just set, about 45 minutes longer.

Cool the pie on a cooling rack for at least an hour.

Serve the pie warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.

Taking a tomato tart up a notch

11 November 2012

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I’ve been working a lot lately, which means I’ve been eating a lot of pasta and quick meals. After a few days of reaching for whatever was in the fridge, I was craving something healthy, something homemade, something that would leave leftovers.

After a long day at work on Wednesday, I turned on the Food Network and saw the Barefoot Contessa was making a tomato and goat cheese tart, but hers used puff pastry and I was too tired to go to the store. So I Googled it to see what other recipes were out there. That’s how I found this recipe on The New York Times.

Compared to the tomato and goat cheese tarts I’ve made before, all of which were either unremarkable or overwhelmed by goat cheese, this one made an impression. I loved the crust for it — it’s somewhere in between bread and a pie crust; crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Next time, I might even bake herbs into it. The dijon mustard spread on the crust added an unexpected level of flavor. If you don’t like dijon mustard, try substituting regular mustard, some kind of salad dressing or just eliminating it. Or, if you only want a bit of the flavor, use half the amount called for by the recipe. This version of a tomato and goat cheese tart is more tomato than goat cheese, and I prefer it that way, Choose ripe heirloom tomatoes for really fresh flavor. They make it beautiful, too.

Crust
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature, beaten
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast in the water, add the sugar, and allow to sit until the mixture is creamy, about five minutes. Beat in the egg and the olive oil. Combine the flours and salt, and stir into the yeast mixture. You can use a bowl and wooden spoon for this, or a mixer — combine the ingredients using the paddle. Work the dough until it comes together in a coherent mass, adding flour as necessary. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently for a few minutes, adding flour as necessary, just until the dough is smooth — do not overwork it. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a draft-free spot until doubled in size, about one hour. If it’s too cold to rise, put the oven on warm until it heats up, then turn it off and put the dough inside. It’s a gem of a trick one of my former coworkers taught me. It has saved many a bread dough from being thrown out due to frustration.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gently knead a couple of times, and cut into two equal pieces (or as directed in each of this week’s recipes). Shape each piece into a ball without kneading it. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap, and let rest for five minutes. Then roll out into thin rounds, as directed in each recipe, and line pans. If not using right away, freeze the dough to prevent it from rising and becoming too fluffy. The dough can be transferred directly from the freezer to the oven.

Filling
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 ripe heirloom tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped rosemary or dried herbs
2 eggs
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 10-inch tart pan and line it with the pastry. Keep in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Brush the mustard over the bottom of the dough. Slice the tomatoes and arrange over the mustard in concentric circles, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and the herbs.

Beat together the eggs and goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the tomatoes. Drizzle on the olive oil. Place in the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Transforming leftovers into comfort food

4 November 2012

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potpie1

Early last week I roasted a large portion of turkey I purchased from Costco. After eating some every day, I was left with one small portion. But I didn’t just want to reheat it. I needed to do something with it.

The first thing that usually comes to mind for me when I have leftover chicken or turkey is a pot pie. Pot pies are pretty simple, as long as you have a few vegetables and basic ingredients on hand. I’ve made pot pies before, but have never found a good recipe for the sauce. Most sauces are made of mostly flour and either water, broth or milk — some of which turn out thinner than I prefer, while others are too thick. This time, I consulted my Cook’s Illustrated cookbook, and it called for a combination of the three. While I didn’t follow the recipe to a T, I did use it as a guideline and it produced the best pot pie sauce I’ve made to date.

Traditional pot pies use carrots, celery and onion, but I all I had in the fridge were onions, bell peppers and broccolini. Together, the three worked well. That’s the great thing about pot pies — you can use just about anything you like to fill them. This makes one large pot pie, suitable for one hungry person.

Crust
8 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon water

Filling
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 small bell pepper, chopped
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
6 stalks broccolini, save florets, either chop or discard stalks
1/2 cup chopped turkey or chicken
1/2 bullion cube
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon goat cheese
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk
1 tablespoon water (if needed)
Dash of dried chives, basil or other herbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Grated Parmesan

Combine butter, flour and salt in a small bowl. Using your hands, mix the ingredients until the dough forms into pea-size pieces. Add water and mix in. Take three-fourths of the dough and pat into a 6-inch round oven-safe glass dish. Flatten remaining one-fourth of the dough into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and put into freezer alongside dish with crust.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped bell pepper, onion and broccolini florets. Sautee until onion is translucent. Add turkey, flour, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 bullion cube. Bring to a simmer. Once bullion cube has dissolved, add goat cheese and heavy whipping cream stir until combined. If sauce seems too thick, add one tablespoon water. Turn off heat to burner. Add basil, chives and salt.

Take prepared pan and dough out of freezer. Pour filling into pan. Shape remaining dough into crust and place over filling. Pinch edges to seal crust. Using a fork, prick holes in top of crust. If desired, grate Parmesan over crust.

Put pot pie on a cookie sheet in oven for 25 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before digging in.

Sweet treats brought on by winter weather

28 October 2012

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Marshmallows1

Tahoe got its first snow of the season on Monday, the day I returned from my week off. I spent my vacation in rainy Portland, on the foggy Central Coast of California and finished it in warm Paso Robles. Coming back to snow was not something I was looking forward to.

The weather is out of my power, so I turned on my heater for the first time since April and made myself a cup of tea. But I get tired of tea. When winter rolls around, I like a good cup of cocoa. What goes hand in hand with cocoa? Marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows, to be exact.

I first tried making marshmallows last year. I’d never had anything but the store-bought Jet-Puffed marshmallows, so I wasn’t sure whether making them from scratch would be better. But they were, and it was easier than I expected. The only trick is that you need a stand mixer to make them.

I used to be against stand mixers until a few years ago, when my friend’s grandmother gave me hers. For months, the mixer stayed in the cupboard, unused. I felt like using it would somehow be a form of cheating.

Around Christmastime, when I was in full holiday baking mode, I remembered I had it and pulled it out to mix some dough while I was working on something else. I haven’t looked back since. While I still hand-mix certain things, having the mixer has been incredibly useful when it comes to bread doughs and other doughs that can be tough to mix well by hand, and it’s nice to have for recipes that require it.

All people taste is the final product, and I haven’t found anyone who really cares whether I took the time to mix something by hand or not. No more guilt.

Once again, this recipe comes from Joy. Most of the work is done by the stand mixer. I’ve found I can kill two birds with one stone by heating the gelatin over the boiling sugar mixture instead of over a pot of water. Make sure to watch the sugar mixture when it’s close to 244 degrees because it heats up fast, and you don’t want your marshmallows to be too dense. I’ve made that mistake before, but they still melt well in cocoa. Also be careful not to overmix. If mixed too much, a lot of marshmallow will get stuck in the whisk and it will be too thick to pour into the pan to cool. Let them cool completely and use scissors to cut them — don’t use a knife, it fails every time.

This time around, I gave mine an orange tint. Why? Because it’s Orange October. Because Halloween is around the corner. Because the San Francisco Giants are in the World Series and need to win today’s game to clinch the title.

Ingredients
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup water
4 envelopes (3 tablespoons) unflavored gelatin
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla
cornstarch

Mix cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar and dust a lightly oiled 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan with some of the mixture.

Pour 1/2 cup water into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water for two to three minutes, or until the gelatin dissolves. Set aside on the stand mixer.

Bring sugar, light corn syrup, water and salt to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring with a long-handled wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved, if necessary. Place a candy thermometer in the pan and raise the heat to medium-high and cook, without stirring, to 244 to 246 degrees, the firm-ball stage. Remove from heat.

With the whisk attachment on the mixer and the bowl of liquid gelatin secured, turn the mixer to medium speed and slowly pour the sugar mixture in a thin, steady stream. Be careful to avoid the whisk, because the sugar mixture will stick to it and harden quickly. Beat for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and fluffy, but still warm and thin enough to pour. Add vanilla.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Cool completely, then cover very loosely with aluminum foil and let dry for four to six hours, or until firm enough to cut. Remove the marshmallows from the pan and, using scissors dusted with cornstarch, cut into 1-inch squares. Put the rest of the cornstarch/confectioner’s sugar mixture into a large Ziploc bag and add half of the marshmallows. Shake, then take out the marshmallows and repeat with the remaining marshmallows.

Store between layers of wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature.

A fall twist on French toast

21 October 2012

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pft

Pinterest is exploding with recipes for fall. Most of them involve pumpkin or apples or are for pie crust or soup. About a month ago, I pinned a recipe for Single-serving Pumpkin Pie French Toast, but I didn’t want to open a whole can of pumpkin for a couple tablespoons. Weeks later, I had leftover pumpkin that needed to be used, but I didn’t have enough to make another loaf of pumpkin bread. That’s when I remembered this recipe.

I’ve never made anything but traditional French toast, and this seemed simple enough. I used slices of challah, which wasn’t the best choice — it was too dry for this recipe. Choose a softer bread to absorb as much liquid as possible. The original recipe didn’t call for salt, but after digging in, I realized I should have added some. It needed it. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can add a dash each of allspice, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it makes a single serving. There are no leftovers to contend with, and it’s easy to make if you still have more of the ingredients on hand. If you want to make enough for more than one person, do the math.

Ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 tablespoons canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 slices bread
A dash of salt
Butter
Syrup

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together egg, milk, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin, brown sugar and salt until well mixed. Mixture will be thick.

Carefully dip bread, one slice at a time, into the mixture, turning to coat. Let each slice soak for 1-2 minutes. Be careful turning the bread, as it absorbs the liquid it will start to fall apart if handled roughly.

Heat a medium-size pan over medium-low heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan. Place bread in pan. Any leftover mixture can be poured over the bread.

Cook over medium-low heat until bottom side is a dark, golden brown. If cooked on high heat, it will cook improperly — the outside will burn and the inside will be squishy. Using a spatula, carefully flip bread over. Continue cooking until both sides are dark, golden brown and outside of toast is a bit crisp.

Serve hot with butter and syrup.