http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/JALW7FoK45E/coming-soon-duck-shrimp-and-sausage.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/8vId0d_HhhE/spatchcock-chicken-tease.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/uejogF2Jp3Y/gumbo-go-go-duck-andouille-sausage.html

It's not easy to pry gumbo-making secrets from a cook in New Orleans, but you should have better luck if you slip them some truth serum, in the form of several well-made sazeracs. 

This particular gumbo, featuring duck, andouille sausage, smoked pork hock, gulf shrimp, and langoustine, was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans, where I sampled a half-dozen varieties.

One rye whiskey-induced tip was to cook the famous Cajun roux in some duck fat instead of the more common and mundane vegetable oil. The roux is the soul of the gumbo and one of the challenges of this recipe is giving the fat and flour enough time to turn into that deep brick red-brown color.

My little trick here is to add a couple extra spoons of flour after the roux is browned. The dark roux gives the gumbo its signature flavor, but it doesn't have much thickening power. I just cooked it a couple minutes, and then stirred in the stock.

Another tweak is using pickled okra instead of fresh or frozen. This particular perversion was born out of necessity rather than some brilliant thought on my part. Of course, if this technique catches on, that story will change. The pickled okra gave the gumbo a great flavor and added a little bit of acidity, which is always welcome in something this substantial.

This can be made with hundreds of different combinations of smoked meats, game, poultry, and seafood; and in my opinion, the more the merrier. As usual, I'd love to hear about any variations you may come up with. As you'll see, the procedure is pretty straightforward, although you're talking about a full day's project. This is a dish that takes time, but I still hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

2 duck legs

1 tbsp vegetable oil, more as needed

1 cup flour, plus 2 tbsp for second addition
6 cups chicken broth

1 pound andouille sausage

1 large onion, chopped

4 green onions chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup diced peppers (any combination of sweet and hot)

1 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 smoked pork hock
2 cups water, or as needed
1 cup sliced okra, fresh, frozen or pickled
1 pound gulf shrimp
1 pound crawfish tail meat or langoustine
rice to garnish

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/qGCW48UBJo0/perfect-time-for-pumpkin-pancakes.html

A friend sent me a nice note recently that his wife had made these pumpkin pancakes for dinner, and that they were thoroughly enjoyed by all. I always appreciate those kinds of messages, especially since they often serve as a reminder for doing seasonally appropriate recipe re-posts.

This was the week pumpkin made its yearly appearance into my life. On restaurant menus, on television, in store windows, on neighbors' steps, and all over our living room…and dining room…and kitchen…and, well, you get the idea. So, to celebrate the beloved American gourd, I decided to rerun this tasty winter treat. Enjoy!

Click here to read the original post, and to get the ingredient amounts.

I Love Thai Cooking

Sometimes the recipes I try from food blogs work, other times they don't. On rare occasions they are so good they become 'keepers' that I know I will cook again and again. The other night I made the Stir Fried Shanghai Noodles with Beef recipe from I Love Thai Cooking/Pranee's Thai Kitchen. It was very quick, easy and inexpensive to make and absolutely delicious! If you are looking for the way to make one steak serve two people, this is it.

The recipe uses some staple ingredients you probably already have on hand like soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil. I found fresh Shanghai noodles in a two pound bag at a local Asian grocery store. I used a flat iron steak instead of flank steak and Mirin in place of the rice wine or sake so I didn't add the sugar. I also added one slivered green onion at the end of cooking. I followed the instructions pretty closely so I am not going to reprint the recipe but suggest you head to Pranee's blog to find it.

Pranee's blog has mostly Thai recipes, ingredient guides and travel posts. Learn about exotic fruit like durian and vegetables like bitter melon, find recipes for unusual dishes such as Sunflower Sprout Salad with Chili-Lime Vinaigrette. It's definitely worthy of a bookmark.

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Cranberry Pear Tart or Gratin

So, it's the day after Thanksgiving, and I had posted this recipe beforehand, showing the gratin but not the tart, which I planned on making for Thanksgiving.  I did go ahead and make this as a tart, which you can see came out beautiful!  And so tasty - everyone loved it.  As per my original assessment, I did add a little thickener so it would work better in the tart, but I also found that I didn't use all of the streusel, so I've adjusted the amounts below, and I didn't use all of the filling.  I'm not changing the filling, though, because you need that amount of liquid  to cook all of the pears.  Just save the extra as cranberrysauce, and that will be delicious, too.

Whether you make it as a tart or a gratin, the flavor is intense, but not as bitter as many cranberry desserts.  It seems to be adored by both those who love cranberries and those who usually don't like them, so give it a try!

For the crust   you can use either the Press-In Sablé Crust, weighted and partially baked, or you can use Sweet Pastry Crust, which is a more traditional tart crust recipe.  For this crust, roll the dough into a 13-inch round, about 1/16-inch thick. Transfer the dough to the tart pan, pressing it snugly into the bottom of the pan where it meets the edges and into the flutes of the tart pan. Roll a rolling pin over the top of the pan to cut off the excess dough. Press up on the edges to thin them out and to raise the edges about 1/16-inch (for a photo description, see Pies and Tarts Part 3. ) Refrigerate or freeze the crust for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 weeks (for long storage, place the tart in a jumbo zip-top bag).  For either crust, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Press a piece of greased aluminum foil snugly on top of the dough. Fill the foil with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and beans and bake 5 minutes more, just  until the bottom crust is cooked but not brown. Set aside to cool completely.

Cranberry Pear Filling
3 cups fresh cranberries ( about 1 package)

3/4 cup sugar

2 McIntosh apples, peeled,halved and cored

3-4 firm pears, peeled and cored, cut into 1/2-inch dice and tossed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice (using 4 pears will give a little more 'tooth' to the filing)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Water, as needed

1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water

Streusel (Crumbs)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and levelled into measuring cups
1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Wash the cranberries and remove any soft or rotten berries. Measure out 3 cups and place in a saucepan with the sugar. Place the apples in a food processor and process as finely as possible. Add to the pot. Cook over medium-low heat until the berries release their juices, about 8 minutes. Add the pears, brown sugar, orange juice, raisins and cinnamon to the pot. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens and the pears are cooked, through but still firm, about 10-20 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. If the mixture does not seem to be saucy enough, add water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the mixture seems thin enough for the pears to cook and for the mixture not to scorch. ( If your pears were very hard to begin with, they will take the longer amount of time to cook). During the last minute of cooking, place the starch in a small bowl and gradually add the 2 teaspoons of water to the starch. Stir this into the cranberry mixture and boil for about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool, and then refrigerate until ready to use (can be made ahead).

For the Tart:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  For the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the butter and mix with your fingers to distribute the fat. Squeeze the mixture into crumbs.  Fill the tart with the cranberry filling.

Top with the streusel, and bake at 375 degrees F. until the crumbs are browned, about 15-25 minutes. Let the tart cool at least 30 minutes before serving. The tart can be made 8 hours ahead and stored, uncovered, or loosely covered, at room temperature.

VARIATION - Cranberry Pear Gratins

For 8 gratins, you probably need half of the filling and a full recipe of the Streusel.
To make gratins, leave the thickener (tapioca or cornstarch) out of the filling.  Place about 1/2 cup filling in each of 8 mini-gratin molds (you can also use ramekins, but you get more topping with the gratin molds which are shallow and long).  Sprinkle the crumbs over the gratins and set in the oven for 15-25 minutes, just until the crumbs are nicely browned.  Let the crisps cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.  

Pecan Pie Bars

I like pecan bars that are gooey and caramelly, just like my pecan pie, so after much experimenting, I've decided just to go ahead and use my pecan pie recipe!!  It's simple as can be - the most important thing is to line the pan with foil, or you'll never get them out of the pan.  I also think it's important to use a shortbread base that doesn't have brown sugar in it because if you don't have some contrast between the filling and the crust, the bars taste too sweet and a bit boring.  

Shortbread Crust

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling
¾ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1' thick


Filling

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., with rack in the middle of the oven. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan completely with a double-layer of aluminum foil. Leave a good amount of overhang, so you'll be able to remove the whole thing after the bars are baked.

For the crust: Place the flour, sugar and salt into a processor and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse-process to coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the crumbs into the lined pan, and then press them down to cover the whole bottom of the pan.  ( I use my flat fingers to press everything down.  Your fingers will also let you know if any part is thicker than another).  It may seem that you have too much crust, but it won't be that thick once you get it tamped down really well, and you need a fairly thick otherwise the gooeyness will seep through.

Bake the dough until just starting to brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the sugar. Stir in the corn syrup, vanilla and nuts. Pour the filling over the hot, baked crust.

Bake for 5 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.  Bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is just barely set (doesn't shake).  Cover the pan with foil after 20 minutes if the nuts are getting too brown.  

 

Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely. Refrigerate the bars for at least an hour, or longer.  Cold bars will be much easier to cut.   Lift the foil up to remove the dessert from the pan. You'll be able to remove the foil completely, as the dessert will be quite stiff.

Set on a cutting board.  Cut off 1/4-inch  from the edges all around, and then cut the dessert into bars the size of your choosing.  They are very rich, so keep that in mind when cutting them.

You can serve the bars cold, or at room temperature.  Cold they are on the chewy side, and warmer they are more oozy.