I’m making three lasagnas this weekend. One will be for the Christmas Eve party and the other two are gifts, along with a loaf, for each, of a good, fresh crusty bread. I’m running around like crazy, but wanted to put up a quick recipe thread.
Crusty Slow-rise Bread recipe here
I’m also making Chicken Parmesan for an after Christmas dinner party – I’ll post that recipe another time, when I have photos and the steps worked out. I usually just do it from memory, without a recipe, so I’ll need to pay attention and write it down this time.
The good news is, for all this cooking, it’s just one batch of sauce. A big batch, but one batch all the same.
I’m also making Toffee again this year. Last year I watched a video and it looked so simple, considering how expensive the good stuff is when you buy it, and it was incredibly easy. And a big hit and everyone wants it again this year. So I’ve stocked up on butter every time it went on sale and the rest I always have on hand. Toffee video and recipe are here.
Speaking of never using a recipe, in the last recipe post narya was sharing some delicious dishes. I asked if she wanted to share the poached pear tart recipe in a recipe exchange post…and I was told there wasn’t really a recipe. This beautiful dish is just something she whipped up:
Here’s how she prepared it. You can quiz her on details if you want to try it yourself.
As some of you may remember, one of my desserts for the Thanksgiving Festival that A Good Woman hosted was a poached pear tart. (If I ever get access to my FYWP blog, I’ll give you the backstory of the tart there.) The original recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, but it’s pretty straightforward: a sablee crust, an almond frangipane filling, and poached pears nestled into the frangipane; that assemblage also gets baked til the frangipane is brown and a little puffy. I’ve substituted recipes from The Art of French Pastry for the crust and frangipane. (For those of you who want to up your baking game, I highly recommend that book; the author was one of my teachers in pastry school, and the recipes and instructions are really top-notch.)
I’ve also adjusted the poaching liquid for the pears: the original recipe calls for a whole bottle of white wine, but I’ve found that half wine and half water works just fine. The other ingredients for the poaching liquid are a cinnamon stick, vanilla (either extract or a bit of bean if I have some around), a sugar (I use honey), some cloves, lemon peel and lemon juice, and some fresh ginger. The original calls for peppercorns, which I omit, and I only use two or three cloves.
So, the basic recipe is the aforementioned crust, which is blind-baked for a half hour in an 11-inch tart pan; almond frangipane/almond cream, which is spread onto the cooled, par-baked crust; poached pears, which are blotted dry, sliced, and slid onto the frangipane, using an offset spatula; and, after the whole thing is baked and cooled, a little apple or currant jelly, heated enough to make it liquid, which is brushed onto everything to make it shiny and pretty.
A couple of notes on the recipe:
- It calls for four pears, but I usually get six or even eight; not all pears survive the poaching in good shape. Put a half a pear in the middle, then arrange the other seven halves around that half.
- Use a melon baller, if you have one, to get the seeds out of the pear; much easier than a spoon or knife.
- Make sure to dry the pears before putting them in the frangipane, or it will be way too wet and will bake unevenly.
- I’ve also made mini-tarts with small tart tins, with a half a pear per tart.
- You will probably need to put foil around the crust, especially the second bake, so it doesn’t burn.
As you can see, the tart is pretty, and it’s also quite tasty.
Well, but.
I still end up with a vat of poaching liquid, and I hate throwing things away. This time, I took some of the poaching liquid and added miso paste, soy, and garlic, and marinated some salmon, which I then sautéed in some toasted sesame oil: THAT was a good use of the poaching liquid. The other thing I’ll try next time is straining the liquid—possibly through a coffee filter—and then reducing it; I think the resulting syrup, mixed with club soda, could be a tasty drink; alternatively, I’d just use it as part of the mix when I make homemade ginger ale base. What’s that you say? Homemade ginger ale? Easy-peasy.
Grate a bunch of fresh ginger—I like to use my mini food processor, as that is WAY faster. Add a cinnamon stick, some honey, any citrus peel that’s laying around, all in the biggest bowl you have. Pour a bunch of boiling water over the whole thing and let it sit, preferably overnight; strain it through cheesecloth. (It will still collect sludge at the bottom of your jar; either shake it up or just avoid the sludge.) Mix with club soda for ginger ale, or hot water for ginger tea; add citrus juice(s) and/or honey to taste. It’s basically a simple syrup, so it’ll last awhile.
I’m hoping narya will share more dishes for the recipe exchange. We’re working out the details, it’s mostly time constraints on my end.
Once you’ve picked your chin up off the floor at the skill and artistry of this poach pear tart, hit the comments and share your holiday recipes. Or share some of those things you cook without ever using a recipe, and let us all be in awe of your skills, too.
Saturday Afternoon Open Thread
WaterGirl
TaMara, I often cut salt in half in breads, etc. But I see that you increased the salt in Jeffreyw’s “perfect buns”. ( would have thought iIt’s a little early for BJ after dark, but whatever.)
In any case, I cut the salt in half when I made pizza dough earlier this week, figuring the cheese and the kalamata olives would bring plenty of salt.
But the pizza crust wasn’t as good as usual, so it left me wondering… does the salt in dough serve a purpose besides the flavor?
narya
@WaterGirl: Yes: salt inhibits yeast. Was the dough puffier than usual?
Glidwrith
@WaterGirl: I’ve read about making homemade stretchy noodles (from YouTuber Steve Pulls Noodles) and apparently the salt interacts with the gluten and allows it to stretch.
TaMara
@WaterGirl: I see you’ve gotten good answers. Also, I add more salt because I like breads on the salty side and almost always omit or cut down on any sugars.
Marie
HELLO
WaterGirl
@narya: This was a no yeast recipe. A really thin crust – just water and olive oil, and salt and flour.
WaterGirl
@Glidwrith: Oh!
Yes, I thought the dough felt different than usual, and I ended up adding a bit more flour. You really have to stretch the dough for a super thin crust.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Speaking of which, where is jeffreyw?
NotMax
Made a crab and asparagus lasagna (white sauce) only once for a dinner for 16 Huge hit. Feared people were going to start munching on the serving dish.
No idea where the recipe is buried amongst the files.
eclare
Wow, that tart is gorgeous. The only thing I bake without a recipe is cornbread, nowhere near as pretty. Now cooking, where you just add things to pots or dishes, I do lots without a recipe!
TaMara
@zhena gogolia: He’s always busy with food and pet posts over on my blog. Thank goodness, because otherwise it would get super dusty over there from my lack of writing anything lately. :-D
https://whats4dinnersolutions.com/2023/12/12/my-latke-fu-is-weak/
Barbara
Trying my hand at a pithivier this year: https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywoods-dauphinoise-potato-caramelised-onion-pithivier/
Except I cheat and use this: https://www.dufourpastrykitchens.com/products-section-of-this-website
They have a vegan version too, I just have to concoct a filling. Probably mushrooms and potatoes.
I also plan to make chocolate mint cookies and pfeffernusse.
I made an apple version of the pear tart, but I didn’t have frangipani, which probably elevates it considerably!
ETA: I took Mr. Levenson’s advice and am making my own demi glace today.
MomSense
Tomorrow I’ve got to make a big batch of orange coconut scones. I deliver them every year to friends and neighbors. I got the recipe 30 years ago from a pastry chef friend and they are amazing. The only problem is that I cannot make a triangle shaped scone to save my life. Instead I use a large biscuit cutter and end up with round scones.
TaMara
@Barbara: I can’t remember which chef said it, but purchased puff-pastry dough was their go-to. I don’t think I would be brave enough to try it on my own.
Princess
In addition to my usuals, this year I made Smitten Kitchen’s new Browb Butter Brown Sugar Shortbread and her Unfussy Rugelach — both are delicious and not too much work.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I actually wrote to Jeffreyw a few weeks ago because I miss his presence here.
He said he is happy on TaMara’s food blog, and on Mastadon and on Post.News. He said he reads some of the Balloon Juice posts, but usually a day later.
I really miss him, wished he would come back, but he seems pretty content with what he’s doing.
eclare
@Barbara:
I would def cheat on the puff pastry!
Somewhat related, I am just starting the HBO/Max/Whatever show Julia, about how Julia Child started her tv show. So far it’s really good, the acting is superb.
narya
@Barbara: two suggestions: use a very sharp knife when cutting the pastry, otherwise you’ll inadvertently seal the edges, and don’t egg wash the sides of the pastry (where the lamination is) or the same thing will happen.
NotMax
@Barbara
Did someone mention caramelized onions?
Secret Chocolate Cake
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup finely diced yellow onion
1 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk, soured with 1 tablespoon vinegar
.
Melt chocolate in saucepan, stirring over low heat, or in microwave oven.
Caramelize onion by sautéing over medium low heat for 8-10 minutes in 2 tablespoons oil in skillet until soft.
In large bowl, beat remaining oil with sugar, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly mixed and fluffy, about 2 or 3 minutes.
Beat in warm melted chocolate and caramelized onions. Mix flour with baking soda and salt; stir into batter alternately with milk.
Divide batter evenly into 2 well-greased and floured 8-inch round layer cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until a pick inserted into center comes out dry.
Cool 15 minutes then invert onto wire racks to thoroughly cool. Finish with icing of your choice, if desired.
Have not made it but it sure sounds unique.
PBK
Well I am in synch with this post…just put a lasagna in the oven and am relaxing with a pear martini while I wait for it to bake.
eclare
@TaMara:
I know I’m not! Plus, I don’t have the counter space.
Larch
Recipe I made up out of my favorite things & for which I have no real recipe:
– Sliced/shredded/hash brown potatoes (I stared out slicing Yukon Golds super-thin & arranging them a la Potatoes Anna, but that was way too much work. Now I just use frozen hash browns.)
– Sliced sausage (I like to use a kielbasa, sliced very thinly – easiest to do when mostly frozen. Ground sausage doesn’t seem to have the same bite.)
– Sliced green olives (I try to get them without pimiento, but ymmv.)
– Chopped pecans
– Shredded cheese (I like to use Cotswold, but cheddar would be fine; could add some chives if you want to replicate the Cotswold.)
– Salt & pepper to taste
Lightly oil the bottom of a 13×9 pan. ( The sausage & olives will provide plenty of lubrication; you just need enough to keep the bottom layer of potatoes from sticking before then.) Spread a layer of potatoes, then sausage, then olives, pecans, & cheese. Spread each layer at least one more time, two if your pan is deep enough. Everything will cook down a lot! Cover with foil & bake in a medium oven until done – roughly an hour or so, but keep checking. You can take the foil off towards the end if you like.
This freezes quite well. Last time, I made 3 pans worth & after cooling a bit, I froze two portions per container. I’m down to the last container, so it’s about time for another production, but since my brother moved out I’ll probably only make one or two pans.
SpaceUnit
I lack the ambition and culinary skill to make lasagna and fancy pastries, but yesterday on a whim I threw a flank steak into the crock pot along with some salt and black pepper and about a cup and a half of salsa fresca. Four hours later I was enjoying the best tacos I’ve ever had. No recipe.
Easiest meal ever.
eclare
@Larch:
Sounds great! Except I would sub those little frozen onions for the olives.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara: Wow. I miss his posts here.
ETA: All your food looks incredible! Also narya’s tart!
Larch
@eclare: I avoid onions & like olives, but if your preference is the opposite, that’s great! It truly is an amalgamation of favorites, whatever those are for you.
Scout211
My specialty food for Christmas has always been homemade cinnamon rolls with caramel-pecan topping. The tradition started with my mom when we were kids and I continued it for my family. I miss those rolls now that we typically don’t have a houseful for Christmas any more. I probably could eat two pans of rolls myself but I really don’t think that’s a good idea. LOL.
Scout211
TaMara, your bread looks so good!
It took me too many years to finally purchase a French bread pan but I am so glad I finally did. They make such yummy, crusty bread.
Wapiti
@MomSense: I made scones this morning – my technique is to make a big ball of dough, then flatten that down into a circular disk, about 3/4″ thick. Cut it into 6 wedges. They come out sort of like equilateral triangles, if I squint a little. (I use 1 cup of flour in a Cook’s Illustrated cream scone recipe)
MagdaInBlack
@Scout211: Many years ago when I still baked, at Christmas I would make big pans off cinnamon sticky buns, probably similar to what you made. There were many jokes about sticky buns, of course.
And auto correct tried to make that sticky nuns….
Scout211
My middle daughter always called them “sticky buns” but no one else did. I think she started that in her mid-teens because she thought it was so funny. And she never stopped calling them sticky buns.
WaterGirl
@Wapiti: That’s how I do my scones, too! Start with a circle, 6 wedges, spread out into a bigger circle with spaces in between for baking! They are delightful!
WaterGirl
@Scout211: It’s just once or twice a year! Go for it. I bet if you pop some in the freezer right away, individually wrapped, they would freeze beautifully!
Kelly
One of Mom’s standard feed a multitude dishes is an enchilada casserole we always called Mexican Lasagna. Corn tortillas separating layers of your favorite enchilada fillings. Hard to give a recipe as she rarely fixed it the same way twice. Depended on what was on hand.
narya
@Kelly: At my house, I refer to this as the USU* method.
*Use Shit Up
OzarkHillbilly
Holy fuck, Narya, I don’t have time just now but I want details, copious details.
Betty Cracker
Everything looks delicious, and the pear tart is amaze-balls!
@NotMax: That sounds intriguing! 🦀
Citizen Alan
I made Keto Marzipan last week. I’d never had it before, but a friend talked about how much he loved it, so I brought a plate of marzipan cookies to our D&D night. It was a bit rich for me, but everyone loved it.
Narya
@OzarkHillbilly: happy to oblige! What kind of details? The actual formulas I used?
Scamp Dog
I have a batch of cinnamon rolls doing the second rise in the oven (no heat, just the oven light). I’ve been on a quest to re-create my grandmother’s cinnamon roll recipe, and I think I’ve found the final secret: using shortening in the dough. My brother is here and he’ll let me know how close I’m getting. The other big secret was to use brown sugar for the filling, white granulated doesn’t do the trick.
Glidwrith
@MomSense: Try shaping the dough into a ball, then flatten into a thick disk. Cut into eighths and you’ll get something resembling a triangle.
And Wapiti beat me to it
Scout211
I use shortening in the dough for my cinnamon rolls.
Betty Cracker
Here’s our broken cookie plate. Nothing wrong with that coconut macaroon! They’re Bill’s favorite, so I put out a sample for QC.![]()
Betty Cracker
Well pffft! That didn’t work.
Scout211
I do use granulated sugar and cinnamon. My secret is to make sure the rolled out dough is spread with a generous layer of butter before sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar.
You’ll have to check back here to let us know if the results are yummy and taste like your grandmother’s.
There go two miscreants
@Scout211: ”Sticky buns” was what we called them growing up too (1950s – 60s)! I think we got that from my mother.
Rachel Bakes
Cinnamon rolls are the start of my baking too: made 3 different recipes so far this year, as gifts for school team and family. So far: potato dough, oatmeal dough, and King Arthur’s Gingerbread cinnamon rolls. The last was interesting but there’s no risk of it replacing one of the others.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Repeated from sometime in the past. Best cookie cutter ever?
;)
@There go two miscreants
Yup. Didn’t hear them called anything other than sticky buns. Different kind of product than are dry cinnamon buns.
randy khan
Officially this is a Christmas recipe, originally from Martha Stewart Living, but we like them so much I have been known to make them in much warmer seasons. The cookies are pretty good without the glaze, but you really want to do the glaze, and it doesn’t take long at all. (If you’ve never made a glaze with confectioner’s sugar before, it will seem like there is nowhere near enough liquid, but really there is.)
Citrus “Ornament” Cookies
Ingredients:
Cookies
3-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons citrus zest (I usually use an orange, a lime, and a lemon and get enough zest for the cookies and the glaze. You can use any combination or just one kind of fruit.)
4 teaspoons fresh citrus juice (I usually just juice the orange, lime, and lemon for this and the glaze; you’ll end up with some left over.)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Yellow or orange food coloring (optional – I generally don’t use it)
Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted (You really do need to sift it.)
3 tablespoons to ¼ cup citrus juice (I use ¼ cup.)
1 tablespoon citrus zest
To make the cookies:
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Beat the butter with the sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add the citrus zest; beat to combine. Add the eggs and the citrus juice; beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture, beating until just combined.
Transfer dough to a work surface and shape into three disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to two days (or you can freeze them for a month).
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to ¼” thick. (Err on the thicker side, rather than thinner.) Use a round cookie cutter or an ornament cutter (round with a tab at the top) to cut shapes; transfer to parchment-lined or Silpat-covered baking sheets. (Of course, you can use other shapes if you like.) Reroll and cut the remaining dough. Freeze for 15 minutes (or refrigerate for somewhat longer).
Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes (but it may be less). Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.
To make the glaze:
Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and the citrus juice until smooth. This will take very little time. Whisk in the zest. You can store the glaze at room temperature for up to 3 days so long as you cover it with plastic wrap pressed tight against the surface and whisk the glaze again before you use it. I usually make the glaze while the dough is chilling.
To glaze the cookies:
Brush tops of cookies with glaze, making sure you go all the way to the edges, then place them on racks set over rimmed baking sheets to catch any drips (there may not be much dripping). Let them set for an hour before serving or packing into containers. You also can, if you so desire, make and add candied citrus zest to the cookies; if you do that, let the cookies set for five minutes, then press the zest into the glaze. I don’t do this because the glaze already has bits of zest in it.
Don’t throw out the leftover glaze if you have any. It’s very tasty.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies if you use 3” cookie cutters; more if you use smaller ones.
StringOnAStick
This time of year reminds me why the cow dairy allergy that I was identified as having developed last summer really, really sucks. Cream? Never. Milk as a major ingredient? Big nope. I was getting away with some butter in dishes but that’s over too now. I am thankful for goat cheese, and there’s goat mozzarella and cheddar now, so that’s something but any cookie or candy with a goodly amount of butter is on the forever NO list. I’ll be over here grumbling.
sab
@randy khan: Those sound delicious. Thank you.
sab
My grandmother had a sticky bun recipe that my whole family loved, and somehow we lost. My uncle died wanting sticky buns, but I had lost the recipe.
No cinnamon. Lots of yeast.
Grandma was politically a horrible person and also a subpar cook. But that bun recipe was one of her few home runs.
sab
@randy khan: That looks difficult but delicious. Another scary experimental recipe.
I have four standard recipes I have helped make since I was a toddler 50 years ago.
Meanwhile there are other recipes. I love to cook
BruceJ
What a coincidence! I am making my world famous (not really, but we like it a lot :-) Eggplant parmlasagna. (this is one of my stream-of-consciousness recipes; I’ve never written it down as a recipe with ingredient measures, etc., just tinkered with it until I’ve come up with the following.
You’ll need 2-3 medium to large eggplants, a box of lasagna noodles, mozzerella, parmesan, and a 16 oz container ricotta cheese (feel free to substitute cottage cheese zizzed up in a food processor to ricotta conisistency) and a batch or jar of your favorite marinara (I use an old FoodTV recipe from Mario Batali) or similar tomato sauce.
peel then slice the eggplants into ½” rounds, then dip in an egg wash, then a mixture of breadcrumbs (made from a stale italian loaf or use packaged panko, never that horrible ‘italian’ crop from the grocery store) and parm (boxed Kraft is actually better for this than ‘real’) in about a 4:1 ratio.
Fry the rounds in a pan with some olive oil and a little butter.
put some sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish large enough to hold all the rounds in a slightly overlapping fashion. if you want a classic lasagna presenttion lay down a layer of noodles (I never boil mine first or buy those ‘precooked’ things, just lay in the noodles dry; they get well hydrated to al’ dente state during the baking process.)
My wife doesn’t like this layer because “it’s too much noodles” so we leave it out. YMMV. But don’t forget the sauce!
Layer the fried eggplants evenly.
Top with grated parm (real this time!) and grated mozzerella, (and some shredded provolone if you are so inclined) then ladle over some more sauce (not too much, you want the cheese and eggplant to retain some structure , not dossolve into a sea of sauce), then another layer of noodles and some sauce.
The next layer is a mixture of the ricotta/cottage cheese, a bunch of garlic run through a garlic press (as much as you like and then some more since the cheese really tempers the garlic), ground pepper, a handful of chopped fresh parsley, and a bunch of fresh spinach leaves (I cheat and get the bagged or boxed baby spinach from the store) also roughly chopped, a good cup or more of grated mozzerella. and an egg or two to bind it up.
Spread that over the second layer of noodles, top with the last ;ayer of noodles, sauce, and more grated mozzerella/parm/provolone.
Top the casserole with tented aluminum foil, bake at 325-50 for 40 minutes or so, then remove the foil and give it another 10 minutes to get the chees bubbly and slightly browned.
we serve a 3″ by 3″ square as a serving.
It also freezes reasonably well if you let it cool, line a disposable aluminum loaf pan with plastic wrap, put a loaf-pan sized piece inside and seal it tightly. Take it our of the loaf pan when it’s frozen, peel off the plastic wrap, put the frozen block back in the loaf pan and reheat at 325 until hot and bubbly again.