How To Make Pulled Pork: Its SO EASY!

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User FotoCuisine

Pulled pork has to be one of my most favorite summer meals.  It’s the perfect choice for large parties because one pork roast provides about 20 servings, is very easy to prepare, inexpensive, and full of delicious fatty goodness. Although it needs about 24 hours prep time, only 30-45 mintues of this is active work.  Sounds good to me!  Plus who doesn’t like pulled pork.  Well, maybe vegetarians.  I bet if you could get them to try it though, this dish would be enough to send them over to the dark side!

Easy Pulled Pork
4-12 hours dry rub marinade, 6-7 hours roasting, 30-60 min. prep, Total: 10-20 hours total

1 large 6-8 lb pork shoulder or Boston Butt (which is a shoulder cut)

Dry Rub

• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) kosher or other coarse salt
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) Paprika
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) Black Pepper
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• 1 Tbs dry mustard

Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce

• 2 c. cider vinegar
• 1 c. ketchup
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. brown mustard
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 Tbs hot sauce
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire
• 2 Tbs Butter
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• horseraddish to taste

Prepare dry rub: 4-12 hours before roasting, marinate pork roast with dry rub.  The longer you can leave it the better.  I prefer to do it overnight.

Mix all dry rub ingredients in a bowl.  Rub over roast and into any folds and creases in meat to cover completely.

Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate for as long as you choose 4-12 hours or more.

Get Roast Pork In Oven: Preheat oven for 275 degrees.  Place pork roast in a roasting pan.  I’ve experimented before with placing the roast on a wire rack or just placing it on the bottom of the pan.  DO NOT use the wire wrack!  It keeps the fat from fully cooking and dissolving.  You want the fat to melt into the pot where it can then be reabsorbed by the meat, making for a much juicier roast!  Don’t worry about covering the meat for the majority of the cook time.  Just slap the meat in a roaster and put it into the oven!

You can see I’ve split up my roast into two sections.  I was experimenting with the rub.  On the darker one, I applied the rub before freezing months ago.  The other, I did according to these directions.  The freezing before hand worked, and helped cut out a bit of time, but not really worth doing as the meat flavor was a bit stronger.  It did work though.

Prepare BBQ Sauce: While your pork is roasting, make your BBQ sauce.  Mix all ingredients together.  Its just that easy.  Taste and tweak flavors according to desire.  Keep chilled until needed.

Roast Pork for 5-7 hours:  Check your roast at 5 hours.  Meat will be done with it reads about 170 degrees at its deepest part with a thermometer AND it will fall apart easily to the touch.  If the temp is good, but the meat still feels firm, leave it for another hour or so.  You’ll know your meat is done, when you can easily fork it apart.  If you check at 5 hours or so and the rub is starting to look blackish, like it might be burning, cover with tin foil and return to the oven.

You can see I used a wire wrack with this roast, but as I said before, I think it works better without it.  This roast was a bit drier then other roasts.  However, after pulling the meat apart, I poured the fat juices at the bottom of the pan over the roast and it made it much better.

Pull your Pork: When the pork is done, remove from oven and let sit for 15-20 minutes covered with tin foil.  If you have  pan full of melted pork fat, remove the pork from the pan and place in a bowl.  Using forks, pull the pork meat apart into strings.  Remove bone and excess fat.  You may want to pour a bit of extra juice from the roaster over the pork to keep it moist.  You can also pour some of your BBQ sauce on your pork now, or let people apply their own BBQ sauce depending on desire.

Serve your Pulled Pork: Set out with your BBQ sauce, buns and a delicious cole slaw for a topping.  Yum.  This really is so easy.  I’ve never had it go wrong.  I just don’t think you can screw this dish up!  Its a fail safe for anyone wanting to throw an awesome summer party!

Quickest, Easiest Christmas Candy: Choco-Butter Nut Clusters

This is one of my favorite holiday treats to make because it is FAST!  This is a no hassle candy which makes a great thrifty gift for co-workes, clients, teachers, bus drivers, mailman, or pretty much anyone.  With only three easy steps, this candy goes from cupboard to candy box!

Easy Nut Clusters
makes 2 to 3 dozen

12 oz. semi sweet Chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips
1 lb nuts
optional: 1/4 bar of gulf wax**

Gulf wax is a candy grade paraffin wax found in the baking isle near the gelatin and jam making supplies.  It helps the chocolate harden so it won’t melt when handled.  It also makes it easier to mix the chocolate with the nuts.  A box comes with 4 bars of wax.

Step One: Melt Chocolate and Butterscotch

Using a double boiler, melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together.  If you choose to use the Gulf wax, which I always do, you can add it in as well.  Cut the 1/4 bar of wax into as small of chunks as possible.  This helps it melt faster.  Stir occasionally to help the mixture melt faster.

Step Two: Mix the melted chocolate with the nuts

Place all your mixed nuts into a large bowl. You can use peanuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds or whatever nuts you want.  I usually just purchase a container or two of mixed nuts.  Pour melted chocolate over the nuts and stir until all the nuts are completely covered.

Step 3: Spoon out clusters.

Spoon clusters to your desired size onto baking sheets lined with wax paper.  I usually use a tablespoon or a large soup spoon to measure the size of my clusters.  Place baking sheets with clusters into refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill and harden.

As promised, that’s it and you’re done! Store clusters chilled in an airtight container for up to two to three weeks.  I usually double the batch to make a lot of these since they are so easy and quick to make.  The butterscotch chips help give extra flavor to the candy.  Considering the output, this choco-cluster gives you great bang for your time and buck!

How To Roast A Leg of Goat and Be Awesome!

Goat is a bit exotic. If you want to impress people. Exotic always works. So, roast a leg of goat and you’ll be awesome. Guaranteed. That’s a Forkable promise. You can also go off about how difficult it is to make goat and how its often tough, and then when people bite into the moist juicy meat this recipe will easily provide you, everyone’s brains will explode. Maybe that should be the title of this post: How To Make Everyone’s Brains Explode with Goat. Hmmm Anyway, onto the recipe.

If at any point during this recipe you ask Why? – here’s your answer.
_________________________________________________________

Roasted Leg of Goat

a 4-5 lb leg of goat, bone and all

seeds from a large mature papaya

1-2 Tbs kosher salt

2-3 large onions for roasting

-for the marinade-

20 limes, juiced

1 c. rum

1 c. white wine

2 c. olive oil

1/4 c. brown sugar

2-3 large beets

-for the dry rub

2 Tbs dry ginger

2 Tbs cumin

1 Tbs coriander

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. kosher salt

1 Tbs sumac

chopped fresh mint

head of garlic

fresh ginger knuckle- 2″ or so.

1) Go out and purchase a fresh leg of young goat from your butcher.

The night before you serve:

2) Trim the roast. The roast may be covered by a hard white surface tissue. If so, you’ll want to trim this off. I found this to be a bit difficult, but just do your best to remove as much as possible without hacking apart the roast. Put your fingers underneath the tissue and see if you can work it away from the flesh and cut it off that way. Trim off any extra fat deposits. Reserve for later.

3) Rub smashed seeds and salt on the leg to prepare it for the marinade. Take your papaya and cut in half. Take the seeds from half the fruit and using the flat end your knife, smash them until you can see the white insides. Mix with a few tablespoons of salt and rub over your meat. Chill while you make your marinade.

4) Assemble your marinade. Freshly squeeze your limes. Mix lime juice together with your rum, wine, olive oil and brown sugar. Place your leg roast in your roaster and pour the marinade over the leg. Wash and peel your beets, slice and place the slices in the marinade with a few slices on top of the roast.

5) Cover the roaster with cellophane and chill overnight. Check your roast every few hours to flip over. You don’t need to get out of bed in the middle of the night. Relax. It’ll be ok, just don’t forget to flip it at least once or twice. Now, go have a drink. You need it.

The Day You Serve:

6) Figure out what time dinner is and schedule cooktime. Once you have dinner time scheduled, figure out the timing of your meat. It will take about 3 hours with the dry rub, 20 min. or so on the bbq and ~90 minutes in the oven. It will be fine to sit for up to an hour after removing from the oven and still be warm. You’ll want to get the dry rub on your meal about 5-6 hours before dinner time.

7) Remove the leg from your marinade. Reserve about 4 c. of the marinade for later.

Insert your lardoons. Wait, what are lardoons? Well, I can see you didn’t read my previous goat article. That’s okay. I forgive you. Lardoons are just a fancy way of referring to the fat we trimmed off earlier. Take your roast, and make a few deep incisions into the meat- an inch or so. Stuff these incisions with any trimmed fat as well as a garlic clove and a thin slice of fresh ginger each.

9) Get your dry rub on. Mix your ingredients for the dry rub. Feel free to edit or substitute any of the seasonings on my dry rub. Its not that important, just the salt, sugar and some spice. Take the seeds from the second half of the papaya and smash them the same way you did above. Mix the seeds in with the dry ingredients. They will bind the spices together into a paste. Smear that stuff all over the meat. This is always my favorite part!! Wrap it up in cellophone and chill in the fridge.

10) Heat up the grill. 30-45 minutes before you’re ready to start this roast off, get your grill fired up. Figure out your timing based on your grill. We have a very small smokey joe which takes forever! But you may have a fancy stainless BBQ with burners, sinks and an attached swiveling lazy boy. If so, recline back and press the fire button on your remote control.

11) Preheat Oven. While you’re messing with the grill, have the ol’ ball and chain preheat the oven to 325. If you don’t have an ol’ ball and chain, do it yourself, dummy!

12) Grill it! Once that fire is HOT: get that roast on there, face down first. We’re grilling it first to sear it, so only give each side about 10 minutes, more or less until the surface is blackened.

13) Roast it! Have the roaster ready to go at the side of the grill. Fill the roaster with 2-3 large onions quartered to rest the roast on so the meat doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan while its in the oven. Once the meat is done on the BBQ, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat and get that pup into the oven. Keep an eye on the thermometer. Once it gets to 130 degrees, probably after 90 minutes or so, remove from the oven.

14) Let it rest! After it comes out of the oven, tent it by taking a sheet of aluminum foil and loosely folding it over the top of the leg roast. Let it sit for about 20 minutes. While it sits, you’ll notice it will go up to about 140 degrees, which is EXACTLY what we want. Nice- medium rare!

15) Carve it. I wish I could give you better instructions on how to carve, but I can’t. I suck at this! I’m told the only way to learn is to practice, so I’ll just have to keep at it. Its sort of depressing to make such a beautiful food item and then hack it apart, but oh well. Here’s a guide to carving a leg of lamb which may help you. I wish you luck.

Eat it sucka! This of course is always the easiest part. Hopefully you have some people to eat it with. Make sure you tell them how long and hard you worked on this thing. Well, I hope it wasn’t actually hard, but make them think it was. Its great when people drool all over you with compliments. Suck it up. You’ve earned it. You just made a goat! Ha!

-PS- Don’t you dare throw that bone away! Stick it in your freezer to save for stock. There’s another long hard winter in front of you and you’ll need some broth. I guarantee it.

How I Figured Out How To Roast A Leg of Goat

The first time I tried to cook with goat, it was HORRIBLE!!! I’d never prepared goat until a few weeks ago when I fearlessly listed it as the entree for our Polynesian meal. As our entree, I not only had to figure out how to make it, I had to make it awesome.

My second attempt at making goat, a leg roast is coated with papaya seeds to tenderize the meat.

When my first attempt (braised goat in coconut and rum) came out of the oven, I was staring at lumps of grey meat bathed in a curdled gray sauce. This was definitely NOT awesome! Tasting it only made it worse. I hate throwing food away, but that was the only place fit for this dish! I didn’t take a picture because I was too stressed out and embarrassed, but I wish I would have because it was DISGUSTING!

I knew goat was a lean meat which could be tough, so it would be best to slow cook it with a liquid to help it keep moist, which was the impetus of my first attempt. For an island effect, I chose rum and coconut milk. Well, I’m still not sure what part of the body those cuts came from, but they were tough grisly and grotesque. The rum was not acidic enough to help tenderize the meat and coconut milk, upon continuous cooking, apparently curdles. I guess goat has a tendency of turning gray when cooked and the white cooking sauce, surely didn’t help its color. It looked horrible and tasted disgusting. This recipe SUCKED! I was a bit stressed out.

It seemed the obstacles I needed to work around for this recipe was:

• keeping the meat tender and avoiding tough chewy meat
• avoiding the gray color which is unappetizing!

To tackle the main problem of tough meat, I decided I needed was a good cut from a real butcher. Although I’d never done one before, not even with lamb, a leg roast would probably be the best way to go. I found a great spot in the warehousing district and picked up a fresh leg of young goat which would be more tender with a milder taste then an older goat. An average leg roast from a young goat (leg in) weighs about 4-5 lbs.

After my last fiasco, I wasn’t taking any chances with texture problems, so I decided to marinate it overnight AND apply a dry rub for a couple of hours before cooking to ensure a moist tender roast. I had previously marinated my first attempt in rum only, which I figured wouldn’t be enough. I decided to add fresh lime juice which would pump up the acidity, and I added olive oil, to help infuse some fat into the lean goat meat.

But now color. Gray meat just looks gross. If I was doing a red wine marinade that would give it color, but I wanted to stick with tropical flavors (rum, lime etc). I started thinking of other things I could use for color, and I finally thought of one of nature’s most powerful natural dyes: beets! Although not authentic to Polynesia, I added beets to the marinade to give this meat some color.

Leg roast for the event on the grill. You can see the ginger, garlic and lardoons sticking out in areas around the roast.

It worked. The morning after its marination, I found what looked like a tandoori leg of goat! Even more so, it was purple! Well, I thought the meat would definitely not be gray. Ha!

I had also been instructed by my Aunt to cut away the thick white fat around the edges of the leg and reserve them. I now pulled them out of the fridge. With my paring knife, I cut slits an inch or so into the flesh of the roast and inserted the fatty deposits, which we can be all fancy and refer to as “lardoons”. I also stuffed some garlic cloves and ginger into the pockets with the lardoons to infuse a bit of awesome. I finished by applying my dry rub, which used papaya seeds as a binder. I wrapped the pup up and put in the fridge, to chill for 3 hours or so.

To trap all the juices which I had been obsessing about infusing into the meat, I decided to sere the roast first. You can start the roast in the oven at a really high heat like 450 and turn down to 300. But I wasn’t sure that was enough. I wanted to make sure this meat SEARED.

SO Ira and I set up our small BBQ with a huge pile of coals red HOT! By starting the roast off on the BBQ, not only were we able to sear it, but also infuse a bit of smokey flavor and give the surface of the roast a nice blackened look. I gave each side 5-10 minutes on the grill (15-20 min. total).

After the grill, I inserted the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. Putting my blackened purple leg roast back into a roaster pan over some chopped onions to keep it from burning to the bottom, I quickly got it into the oven at about 325 to finish cooking. I spooned some of the marinade over the top for good measure. At this point, I just waited with fingers tightly crossed until the thermometer registered 130.

Roasts will continue to cook after its taken out of the oven, so by removing it at 130, I could ensure to end up at my preferred temp of a medium rare 140 degrees. I thought the roast would take a few hours as did the recipes I had read online, so I was a bit surprised when I hit 130 after only 90 minutes. I guess the BBQ really put a jump start on the cooking. I took the roast out of the oven, and “tented” it by loosely covering it up with aluminum foil to rest, about 10-20 minutes.

When I finally carved into the roast, I was jumping for joy. It was the most moist, delicious meat I had ever seen and tasted. The beautiful mild flavor was not overpowered by the marinade. Although purple on the outside, the meat had a delicate pinkish color which only added to its appeal. Thank you beets! A sigh of relief, I had my entree recipe figured out.

It was a close gross call, but the dish we ended up with was filled with absolute goaty awesomeness!

Here’s the recipe.

Reuben Loaf

The Reuben has to be one of the most popular sandwiches of all time. I love it too. But, I hate the way it has so many layers, always falling apart. I want my sandwiches to be like an awesome jumpsuit, an all in one kind of deal. That’s why I love the Reuben loaf. Its all enclosed in a loaf of bread. One stop eating is the way of the future!

Reuben Loaf
makes two loaves

• 3 1/4 c flour
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 c. luke warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast or 1 package
• 1 Tbs butter
• 2-3 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 c. thousand island dressing or mayo, ketchup and chopped pickles
• 1/2 – 1 lb corned beef
• 1/2 – 1 lb Swiss cheese sliced
• 1 pint jar saur kraut
• 1 egg
• spices for topping

Make your bread dough: Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in center. Pour water into the well and add yeast and olive oil. The luke warm water will help the yeast to react faster. Allow the yeast to sit in the water for 15 minutes until dissolved and puffy. Add butter and mix ingredients together using the dough hook on a stand mixer or just using a wooden spoon.

Knead bread dough: Kneed on a floured surface until well mixed and the dough feels smooth and soft (not chunky). Every time I make dough, it comes out a little differently. Sometimes it feels light and fluffy, in which case, I can move on to making the loaves. Sometimes it feels hard and very solid feeling, in which case, I’ll allow the dough to rise a bit before I roll the loaves out. You want the dough to be very pliable. If the dough can’t easily be stretched multiple inches without breaking, you should allow the dough to sit for a while in a warm area to rise before rolling out.

Assemble your loaves: Cut the dough ball in half. Roll out each dough ball into a rectangle ~9″ x 14″ to fit the base of a large baking sheet. Pour 1/4 c. of thousand island dressing down center of dough rectangle. Split your amount of saur kraut, Swiss cheese slices and corned beef slices into two sections for each loaf. Layer the saur kraut over the dressing along the center followed by the corned beef and topped with the slices of cheese.

Do you like my fancy “kitchen sheers” also known as plain scissors? Used only for food of course.

Weave the loaves: Using a knife or kitchen sheers, cut slits along the long edge of the dough approx. 1″ apart up to the base of the stacked filling. Starting at one end, fold the cut edges over on top of the filling alternating each side, to create a woven top.

Allow loaves to rise: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. When each loaf is assembled and woven, cover with a towel. Turn oven off, and place trays covered with a towel in warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes. By placing in a preheated oven, this will speed up the rising of the dough. When dough has risen, remove loaves from the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

This loave was sprinkled with black carraway.

Bake loaves: Before putting in the oven, brush each loave with egg and drizzle top with your choice of seeds. Carraway, dill, cumin seed, or whatever you prefer. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown.

This loaf was sprinkled with cumin seed.

Slice and Serve. Eat ‘em up.

I often make a double batch and then freeze two of the loaves for a quick night dinner.

When freezing, I only bake the loaves for about 10-15 minutes and then finish baking when I reheat them. Label the loaves so you know when the went in the freezer.

Fancy and Fried: Deep Fried Oreos

I wanted to avoid the typical ideas for an Obama inspired Dessert. When a friend suggested Deep Fried Oreos, I was intrigued. I’d never heard of this before but I soon found out its a dish commonly served between the elephant ears and the tilt-0-whirl. Chocolate and cream with a good dose of all American down home values. I just needed to reinterpret the idea to be fancy and posh enough to take over the White House. This is what we came up with:

Obama’s Deep Fried Oreos:
Makes about 3 dozen

Double Chocolate Cookie Crips:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1/4 pound (4 oz) milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Cookie Filling:

• 1 8 oz. container of whipped cream cheese

Batter:

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbs baking powder
• 2 eggs beaten
• 3 Tbs melted butter
• 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 c. milk

Oil to deep fry in, about 1 quart

To start we need to make our cookies: Double Chocolate crisps, based on this Martha Stewart recipe, with a few minor changes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Melt 1/2 your chocolate chips (2 oz) ounces of chocolate with the butter in a double boiler (a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water); let cool slightly. While chocolate is cooling, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Put chocolate mixture, sugar, egg, thyme and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.

On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, scoop 1/2 tsp dollops onto tray about 2″ apart. Bake at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. Watch the cookies and when cracks develop in the surface, they should be done. Let cool on a wire rack. The original recipe says the cookies should be soft, but for our needs, feel free to let them sit out a little longer when cooling before putting in an air tight container because we want them to be crispy! Because they don’t need to be moist you can make your cookies up to a week ahead. I did!

Take two cookies of approx matching shape and size and spread filling of whipped cream cheese in the middle and sandwich together. Chill.

Mix your batter: Mix together the dry ingredients. Mix together the wet ingredients. Mix the wet and the dry. Whisk all the lumps out. I’ve used a general pancake batter recipe, but you want the batter to be a little more liquid to coat the cookie but not be overly thick, so add more milk if you need it.

Heat up your oil on a burner over medium heat. I like to use a wok because I have more control. Its not as deep but I have a wider surface to dip the cookies in. I usually keep the burner around “4″ on my dial which is just a little below medium. The oil usually takes about 5-10 minutes to get up to heat. Test the oil with a drop of batter. A small piece should not brown right away but take a minute or so, but not too long.

When your oil is ready, dip your cookies in the batter and drop them in the oil. BE CAREFUL of hot oil! Be gentle when you drop the cookies in. The cookies seem to float, so you need to flip them in the oil so each side gets cooked.

I allow them to cook until they are just golden but not longer. When done, take out and sit in a bowl lined with paper towel to absorb excess grease.

To finish this dish in a accordance with my undertones of middle eastern flavor, I served the cookies with vanilla ice cream drizzled with a pomegranate syrup (just a simple syrup see recipe below) and garnished with fresh pomegranates and thyme.

Upon frying, the cookie and filling switches roles; the cookie melts and the filling cooks. When biting into this decadent but deliciously down home food, I felt immediately warmed, by all the new insulation the fat deposits from this dessert where providing my stomach and thighs.

Easy Posh: Shrimp Bisque

I’ve had a few requests from friends for the recipe for the Shrimp Bisque I made for my family’s Christmas Eve dinner. Delicious and decadent, this soup can be made for not too much money or skill.

A great soup for a dinner party, you can impress your guests with little to no fuss. This website is all about trying to help our readers appear more fancy then they can afford so this one is for you. Just mention the “Champagne Reduction” you made for the soup base, and all your guests will think you’re the shit, ahem, I mean, a true epicurean.

Shrimp Bisque
serves 8 as a starter, 4 as a main dish
Continue reading…

Cutest Christmas Candy: Kissable Mice!

These little cuties are really simple to make. Holding on to the stem, maraschino cherries are dipped into melted chocolate and pressed while wet against a Hershey’s kiss with almond slices placed for the ears. I used red cooking jell for the eyes. I love how the stem becomes a cute little curly tail!

These guys love climbing around their ginger snap hills.

This is one of the few times where the more mice you have in the kitchen, the better.

Raspberry Jam Kolaches

Jam Kolaches have to be one of my all time favorite Christmas cookies. Biting through the delicate savory cream cheese pastry helps set off the sweetness of the jam interior which almost pops in your mouth as you enjoy this rich little treat. I have to admit, because each cookie has to be filled with jam and folded over individually, its a little high on the putzy meter, which is why this is always one of the first batches I make (before I am too sick of baking to be bothered). Its worth the time though. I make them every year with NO REGRETS!

Jam Kolaches

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• 1 1/4 c. flour
• Jam of your taste. I always use raspberry, because, come on, raspberry is the best.
• approx. 1/4 c. milk
• approx. 1/4 c. sifted confectioners sugar.

Using a mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Add flour slowly and mix until a dough forms. Chill in fridge for 15-20 minutes (you can skip this if you are in a hurry).

Roll dough out on a floured surface to approx 1/4″ thickness. Using a 2″ round cookie cutter cut out as many circles as you can. If you don’t have a round cookie cutter (I don’t) you can use a drinking glass or a tin can.

Just dip glass or tin can in flour to coat edges before cutting.

Place dough circles on a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon lining. You can also just grease it if you don’t use those things, but I suggest parchment at least (helps to keep your dough from burning).

Brush one side of dough circle with milk. Spoon 1/4 tsp jam on each cookie. Fold opposite sides together, slightly overlapping edges and gently pinch closed to form little half circle pockets around jam.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove to cool and sift confectioners sugar over cookies.

So delicate. So delicious.
These cookies are truly precious.
Eat the whole batch in one sitting
and you’ll find your pants not fitting.

Scallop Pot PIe

The scallop pot pies we made for my Mom’s Birthday Dinner turned out absolutely delicious and the only richness required was in the flavor not the pocket book. The use of the acorn squash as bowls is so Autumnal and really made this dish perfect for a cozy fall candle lit dinner.

Scallop Pot Pie
serves six

• 1 lb small scallops
• 1 1/2 c. – 2 c. white wine
• 1 1/2 c. half and half or 3/4 c. heavy cream and 3/4 c. milk
• 1 large onion diced or two medium onions diced
• 1 large carrot diced or two medium carrots diced
• 1-1 1/2 cups diced fennel bulb
• 1/2 c. frozen peas
• 1/4 c. frozen corn
• 1-2 Tbs chopped dill
• 1 stick of butter + 4 Tbs
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1-2 tsp garlic salt, onion salt or shallot salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 0ptional 1/2 lb raw shrimp chopped
• 3 small acorn squash
• biscuit dough for topping, recipe follows.

Being by preparing your acorn squash to use for your bowls. Cut the squash in half and scoop out all the seeds and stringy stuff. Cut a small disk off the outter ends of each squash bowl so they will sit flat and not roll. Using a paring knife or sharp spoon, cut out as much of the squash meat from the sides as possible.

The squash at the top has been fully scooped, and the one the bottom shows the disk shape at the bottom cut for the pot pie to keep it from rolling over.

I found a spiky ended grapefruit spoon worked really great for this. Be careful not to puncture through the sides of the squash skin. You can scoop some of the squash out of the bottom if the squash is really thick, but you want to leave some in place so the pot pie doesn’t leak out the bottom. We planned on using the squash filling to make soup, but ran out of time. My recipe for roasted butternut squash soup would work well for this. Set squash bowls aside.

Prepare biscuit dough for topping and chill while preparing filling. Recipe follows.

To prepare the filling:
I like to poach the seafood first, as sometimes it takes me a while to get my sauce just right and I don’t want it to be overcooked. Over medium-low heat, saute 1/4 of diced onions and fennel in 2 Tbs of butter until clear. Add 1 1/2 cups of white wine and scallops (add optional shrimp as well). Allow to come to a boil. Once the wine is boiling remove pan from the burner and drain scallops reserving the white wine. We want to under cook the scallops here, because they will finish cooking when we complete the sauce. This step is to infuse the wine with the scallop juice so it will cook into the sauce.

Now we want to prepare a roux to help the sauce thicken. An easy roux can be made by mixing an equal part butter to flour. Using a fork, mix together your stick of butter and 1/2 c. flour. Keep mixing until you have a thick paste.

Thickening your sauce, adding roux and boiling.

Place the saute pan back on burner over medium to low heat. Melt 2 Tbs butter and suate remaining onions and fennel until clear. Add carrots and saute for a couple minutes. Don’t overcook the carrots, our goal is to retain a bit of crispness to them. Add the reserved wine you drained from your scallops and your half and half. Allow to bring to a boil and add 1/2 the roux and allow to boil. As it boils it will thicken. Keep adding roux a tsp at a time until your sauce is at your disired thickness.

Filling with all ingredients added.

Add peas, corn, dill, and onion salt and allow to cook for a minute or two. Add your scallops. Taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. I find a generous dose of pepper (1/4- 1/2 tsp) works well, but season to your taste.

Fill acorn squash with filling. Roll out prepared biscuit dough in a rectangle on a floured surface and cut into six equal sections large enough to fit your squash.

Brush dough with raw egg. Place dough, egg side down onto squash and trim excess dough. Pinch dough around rounded edges of squash and brush top of dough with egg yolk. Spinkle with paprika. Place squash on a baking tray.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375. After 15 minutes check your dough. If it looks like it is getting too dark, cover with aluminum foil until cooking is done.

Serve and eat up. OK, I know all these directions sound complicated, but this dish is not super hard. Try it and see.

Swiss Cheese Biscuit Dough

• 1 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 4-6 Tbs chilled butter
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. shredded Swiss cheese

This recipe is based on the Joy of Cooking biscuit recipe, which I use so much I keep one of my red ribbons to keep this page permanently marked.

Mix the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or large fork, fork butter into the flour mixture until chunky. Add milk and mix with fork until dough is pretty well mixed. Empty onto a floured surface and gently kneed to form a dough until you have a desired thickness. I try not to handle the dough too much, biscuit dough is best if its not overworked. This will help it be nice and flaky. Chill dough until your ready to use it.