Thyme Scented Shredded Beets on Endive

Endive topped with shredded beets with a hint of thyme.

Last weekend, I was asked to bring hors d’oeuvres to a dinner, I needed something that could be made the day before, and easy to assemble on site. This worked out fine. The beets are tasty without the endive and make a good side dish too.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound beets, boiled and peeled and drained
1 carrot, peeled
2 Tablespoon,Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon. Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
1 shallot minced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 heads of Belgian endive

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Shred beets and carrot in food processor. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, mustard and thyme shallot and blend well. Whisk in the olive oil until well emulsified and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Combine dressing with beets and let if possible, marinate overnight. Bring to room temperature before assembling.
3. Separating endive leaves, assemble on a platter, reserving the larger leaves for another use. Fill lower half of small leaves with 1 1/2 teaspoons of beet mixture. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Herbal Turkey Tetrazzini

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme add flavor to Turkey Tetrazzini.

I never really got the casserole thing.  The texture seemed too cheesy and mushy with too many (at the time) unknown foods. Growing up, one-dish meals never appeared on our dinner table since our family consumed meat and potatoes way too frequently.

So, just recently while my son was in his bedroom doing homework, and I was thinking about what to make for dinner, the contents of my fridge spoke to me.  I noticed two kind of mushrooms; plain white and a package of fancy mixed, along with the two leeks that kept staring at me all week every time the crisper drawer opened.  Then there was the  Simon & Garfunkel moment.  PSR&T.  I’m thinking Turkey Tetrazzini and making it with herbs so flavorful and light.  It was all starting to come together.

Save the making of your casserole for a time when there are other chores/tasks to do around the house, since it is time-consuming.   The process is multi-pot, meaning dishes in the sink.  Each individual process is easy.  Saute vegetables, boil noodles, make sauce and bake casserole.  There are rewards in the effort….dinner will be served in 10 minutes.  Making a casserole and storing in portion size servings, then freezing those individual packages are perfect for nights when dinner must be ready,  pronto!

At first this dish seem dated and could be bland.  but making it with skinless turkey breasts, leeks instead of onions and then adding a heavy hand of herbs and using whole wheat curly noodles, seemed to be a more modern answer.

INGREDIENTS
9 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless turkey breasts
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
2 leeks, finely sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped sage leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leave
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk, room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 ounces whole wheat curly egg noodles
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup panko

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
1.  Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a deep large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the turkey with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add the turkey to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the turkey to a plate to cool slightly. Coarsely shred the turkey into bite-size pieces and into a large bowl.
Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil to the same pan. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium-high heat until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms become pale golden, about 12 minutes. Add the leeks, garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and saute until the leeks are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the vinegar and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the bowl with the turkey.

2. Melt 3 more tablespoons butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Drain. Add the noodles, sauce, and to the noodle mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the noodles and the mixture is well blended.  Transfer the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Stir the cheese and panko in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the noodles. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.

4. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25-30 minutes depending on the oven.

Chocolate Chip Lemon Loaf (Tuesdays With Dorie)

Chocolate Chips stud this classic lemony pound cake.

For this household, an after-school snack begins with a tall glass of milk, crunchy granola bar, some sliced strawberries and a sprinkle of goldfish for good measure.  Today, joining the tall glass of milk were two slices of lemon loaf , just like the tempting ones sold at Starbucks and the famous lemon loaf from the eponymous Barefoot Contessa in East Hampton. However this one’s homemade, and that can’t be beat.
The loaves could be assembled by hand without a kitchen mixer. Or use the Cuisinart food processor (that’s sitting on the counter) and pulse a few times to get the right consistency.

With this recipe, I wanted to add some chocolate chips, and just a few were leftover in the bag from something else I recently made. The cake has a tight crumb and a lemony flavor…although it could be just a bit more puckery.  So go ahead, add two more tablespoons of lemon juice to the liquid part of the batter.  Once done, a lemon glaze would go nicely as well for an after school snack.

To start baking, check out our TWD hosts,  Truc of Treats  and  Michelle of The Beauty of Life for the recipe.

Passover Coconut Macaroon Domes

Flavorful and easy coconut macaroons for the holiday.
 I ‘m getting dessert ready with one of my flavorful and easy favorites for Passover.  It’s one of Dorie Greenspan’s recipes.  Just four ingredients and you have it…. coconut macaroons, perfect for Passover.  I’ve added a drizzle of  melted chocolate chips in a pastry bag.  Chocolate makes me happy.
 So the macaroons keep the round dome shape, I would say placing the scooped out dough on a sheet pan and popping in the freezer until they firm-up is a step towards success.

Coconut Macaroon Domes
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 room temperature eggs, slightly beaten
INSTRUCTIONS
The day/night before
Warm the milk in a microwave oven or over direct heat until it is 85 degrees F as measured on an instant-read thermometer.
Toss the coconut and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Stir in the warm milk and then the lightly beaten room-temperature eggs; continue to stir until all the ingredients are blended. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the dough to seal it airtight, and refrigerate overnight.
To bake
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Using a level tablespoon of dough for each cookie, shape the dough into balls between your palms, and place the cookies, 1 inch apart, on the lined sheet. When all the dough is shaped, place the baking sheet in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The cookies can be made ahead to this point; when they are frozen, remove them from the sheet and pack airtight for long-term storage. Properly packed, the cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months; they should not be defrosted before baking.)
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
Remove the baking sheet from the freezer, slide another baking sheet under it (or transfer the cookies and parchment to an insulated baking sheet), and bake the cookies for 7 to 11 minutes. The outside of the cookies should be just set and the tops should take on some color. The centers of the domes should remain soft, moist and chewy. Transfer the cookies to a rack and let them cool before serving.
Depending on the absorbency of your coconut, you may find that during baking the domes seep a little liquid. Once the cookies have cooled, you can cut this extra little skirt of dough away with a pair of scissors. However, if you always buy the same coconut and always have the same problem, use a little less milk in the dough.

Pizza Rustica (Tuesdays With Dorie)

A pie wedge that’s sweet and savory, cheesy and salty.

Pizza Rustica is not exactly pizza as in the slice and soda kind, but more of a sweet pie wedge flavorfully filled with a savory eggy-calzone filling.

It’s easier to prepare this dish as a two part process. First the Pasta Frolla crust. It’s fairly straight forward and does not have to be soooo precise.  The dough was made two days ago and chilled in the fridge. This morning the crust was filled with the cheeses and prosciutto mixture.   I’m serving the Pizza Rustica for a working lunch along with a spinach and red lentil soup.  Dessert is a scoop of strawberry sorbet and a cookie.

Pasta Frolla is easy to make and easy to roll out.  No rolling pin required.

I use my food processor to combine the ingredients. dry and then add the cold butter, then the slightly beaten eggs.  Form the dough into a ball and flatten out into a disk.  Chill for at least 1 hour before the dough is divided.  One quarter of the dough for the lattice top.

I opted for using my hands to press the dough into the buttered glass pie dish and the top dough was pressed to a roughly 9″ square. Doesn’t have to be precise.  The dish has the name rustica in it.

What made this dish even more special, was meeting up with Nick Malgieri who owns the recipe.  See the post before this one.

To start baking, check out our TWD hosts,  Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelynn of  The Place They Call Home for the recipe.

IACP Culinary Expo Book & Blog Event

Meeting Nick Malgieri at IACPNYC

Having all your favorite cookbooks come to life with the authors standing right there was so much fun at Sunday’s International Association of  Culinary Professionals Expo Book & Blog event. Nick Malgieri, the former Executive Pastry Chef at Windows on the World and seminal cookbook writer was eager to advise what to serve with Pizza Rustica,  an Easter dish that can easily accompany a light vegetable soup and dessert of sorbet with cookies.  I mentioned to him that the recipe is the selection for tomorrow ‘s Tuesdays With Dorie  and was reasurred that it is important to cool the Pizza Rustica completely before serving.  Otherwise, the risk is the filling may not have time to set up properly.  Can’t wait.

Also chatted with Alice Medrich whose New Classic Coconut Macaroons are sure to be a favorite.  Check out the photo and recipe on Food 52‘s site.

And the always gracious and bubbly NY Times writer, Melissa Clark shared insights to calzone making.  This feature will run in a few weeks and I’m ready for the challenge.

Time to make my Pasta Frolla, the sweet dough for tomorrow’s Pizza Rustica…please visit again to see how it turns out.