Tis' the Season!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to my faithful reader! This would be my Aunt Krista for anyone reading that might be confused -- but you are included in the glad tidings for the holidays as well.
Between moving-- again & the glorious Thanksgiving holiday I've been busy. Also I figured out I can blog from my fancy new phone!!! So no more excuses right?
I have big plans for baking in the next week but to get you caught up here's a photo montage...Bon appetit!

A Tart is a tart is a tart... with peaches in this case.

Fastly approaching is my favorite time of year, Fall! Which also means one of my favorite fruits of all time is in season now.

Peaches!

I remember how sad I would be that peaches never made it to October back in the midwest so I could have my favorite pie on my birthday. I remember for my 24th birthday I got a coveted peach pie at the envy of all my cousins because that meant there wouldn't be any at thanksgiving. It was delicious as all of my grandma's pies are.
However living in Oregon has literally spoiled me in all kinds of ways when it comes to fresh fruit and produce. Peaches? all the way at the end of September?? What kind of beautiful altered dimensional plane have I landed in? THE best kind.

It was in this spirit with a little inspiration from my recent pancake recipe success that I did some experimenting with buckwheat flour. The nutty flavor combined with almond flour makes for really great texture and yes, it's gluten free.



These peaches of multiple varieties were so delicious they only got a tablespoon of brown sugar, 1tsp of vanilla, vietnamese cinnamon & nutmeg...oh and a splash of riesling!

The "fantastic" crust as my roommate put it is the recipe below:

1 cups brown rice flour, plus extra for rolling.

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar

6 to 8 Tbsp ice water, very cold

Put flour, brown sugar, salt  into cuisinart, pulse and slowly add butter. Then add water one tbs at a time until dough just comes together. Divide & chill. Roll out as needed. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until crust begins to brown lightly.

I'm really looking forward to trying this as a pie or maybe a fig tart next time. The great thing about this recipe is it's egg free! While it contains butter, it could easily be made with butter flavored vegetable shortening, though I would recommend cutting the shortening in by hand versus using the cuisinart.

Enjoy with a little vanilla ice cream :)

Happy Baking & of course, Happy Eating!

Hello August! but wait...you're almost gone too!?

I have had a rather bumpy year that has attributed to the ENORMOUS hiccup in my blog writing-- I however am restructuring and also will be moving for the second time this year in the next few months. 

But I have a new work schedule now, and have been regularly having nerd-out style pastry chats with a dear co-worker & our chatting has me inspired.  So rather than promise my very select audience that I'm going to diligently write every week I'm simply going to request they check back weekly beginning September 1st of 2012... I hope you won't be disappointed.

Happy Eating!

C

Sunday's at the White House.....

No I don't live in Washington and security isn't nearly as tight but, we are the only white house in what I believe to be an 8 block radius-ish...hence the kitchy title. This is where I spend my sundays in my kitchen. Most Sunday's lately I strive to cook a really great meal for myself as it's one of the 2 days a week that I get off and I feel I actually have the time to do it justice.

So today as I watched the snow fall sparsely from the sky, warm spicy thoughts filled the back of my brain and $4.06 for the pork shoulder I saw at the market sealed the deal. I decided to do a little braising in my slow cooker & bake a really great GF dessert.

It's a wonder I never tire of baking, but even on the bad days cooking and baking seem to be the only thing that truly soothes when hugs aren't to be had. Even as I stare at the aftermath of all this cooking my eyes gravitate to the dark chocolate & peanut butter chips that are screaming to be made into fudge...tomorrow perhaps.

... Until then here are the Recipes:

* Red Wine Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions *

Serves 2 (Light eaters, 1 really hungry person)

1 medium Red Onion (Julienned)

1 Large 1/4

thick Slice Pork Shoulder

4 c. Red Wine ( If you wouldn't drink it, don't use it. I used a Cabernet Syrah blend that I love.)

1/4 c. Red Wine... see above notation...

4 Cloves Garlic (Diced)

4 T EVOO

*Sauteed Spinach*

2 T Butter

1 Clove Garlic (Diced)

3 oz. Baby Spinach

Pork Preparation:

Salt & Pepper both sides, the courser the salt the better. Apply a Spice rub of your choosing, keeping in mind you're adding red wine to it. The one I like has Ancho chile powder, Tellicherry black pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, paprika, sage, crushed red pepper and basil. Put aside.

In a cold saute pan, warm the evoo over medium heat add julienned onion and coat them with the warm evoo. Saute 5-7 minutes & add 4 cloves garlic. Saute 2-3 more minutes & then add 1/4c Red wine slowly to the pan. (This will loosen up anything that has caramelized to the pan=more yummy flavor) Pour all of this into the slow cooker.

In the same pan, on high heat, sear both sides of the Pork Shoulder for 2-3 minutes each side. Place in slow cooker and top with 4 c. of Red Wine. Cook on High for 30-45 minutes and reduce to low for 2 hours, or until desired tenderness is reached.

Spinach:

Melt 2T butter in Sautee pan.

Add Spinach and Salt & Pepper.

Sautee until almost wilted & add garlic, Finish wilting spinach so it gets a nice dark green. Approximately 3-5 minutes.

Dessert Anyone?

*Boozy Apple Crisp ( GF style)*

Grease the bottom of the 9x13 pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350

4 Large Fuji apples; peeled, cored & sliced.

2 T Arrowroot sta

rch

1 T Vanilla

1.5 c. Dark Brown Sugar

1 t. salt

2 t. vietnamese cinnamon

1 t. ground ginger

1 t. nutmeg

2 eggs

1/4 c. bourbon whiskey

Whisk the eggs & toss all the ingredients together. Place in the bottom of the greased 9x13 pan.

Topping:

2c. GF Oats

2c. Almond Flour

1/2 c. grapeseed oil

1/2 c. Agave syrup

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 T. Vanilla

Combine oats, almond flour, cinnamon & salt in a small bowl.

In a measuring cup combine grapeseed oil, agave, vanilla & egg until emulsified (really well mixed and nothing is separated.)

Add wet to dry and spread over the apples.

Bake covered with tinfoil 45 minutes, remove foil & bake 5-10 more or until golden brown.

I like this version but I'm going to work on a version with butter. Wouldn't Paula Deen be proud? However this version would be better for a diabetic... but not by much.

Next weekend I believe a cheesecake of sorts is in order... with a nice beef stew...

Happy Eating!

Courtney

2012!

Blog writing seems to be one of those things that has completely stepped outside my mind this past year. While in the past I have promised to be better for my one and most avid reader my Auntie Krista.... I've come to new conclusions about just what this blog should be and this year I've decided that I'm going to post all the food pictures of dishes I cook and write about the articles I read in the hopes to not only let people know what I'm up to, but inspire them to eat more healthily, shop a little smarter and maybe even get a chuckle from my strange and spirited sense of humor.

With that said, I am currently sifting through one of my many magazines and in it there is an article about Cheaper cuts of meat. Some of the meats to make the cut were chicken legs (which make delicious stock), turkey thighs, pork ribs, lamb shanks, beef brisket & oxtail of all things. Some of my favorites that are equally delicious are skirt & ranch steak highly undervalued and make amazing taco's.

The fact that oxtail was on the list of cheaper cuts shocked me quite a bit as I recall my birthday dinner at Veritable Quandary where I had a very pricey and breathtaking Oso Bucco....but I digress. I now have a crock pot in which I have only made soup so far, but this article has me itching for a new challenge. What can I do with Oxtail? Lamb Shank? Beef Brisket??? The options seem endless between herbs and seasonings and brining liquids that my goal is to come up with a recipe for each of these meats over the course of the next 8 weeks or so before I'll become completely engrossed in packing up my apartment and moving again...unless I hit the lottery then I'll probably just buy a house. Ha.

Yours in Eating,

Courtney