SALTY CARAMEL APPLE PIE

Adapted from the Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Delicious rustic pie!


An amazing apple pie I made tonight.  Nice mix of sweet, salty and appley!  http://smittenkitchen.com/  To quote from Deb Perelman, "Help, I picked twenty lb of apples and I don't know what to do with them!"   First, make Doris' amazing never fail pie crust:

2 cups flour
1 cup shortning
1 tsp salt

Mix together until the size of small pebbles

Add 1/2 cup water and mix until blended.  Don't overwork.  Roll out 2/3 of the dough and press into a pie pan.  Roll out and reserve the last third for the top crust,  Chill.

Peel and core 7 apples.  Slice thinly.  Mix with, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp cardamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon.

Make salty caramel by heating 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in heavy duty saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, constantly stirring.  Add 11/2 tsp salt. Cook for 20 minutes overmedium low heat until dark amber colored.  Remove from heat and add 12 TBL butter and 2 TBL cream.  Mix until blended.

Pre-heat oven to 400.

Remove pie crust from reefer and add apple mixture.  Top with 1/2 of the caramel mixture.  Top with top crust.  Bake for 20 minutes at 400.  Reduce heat to 375 and bake for an additional hour. 

Cool and top with the additional caramel topping.

Really good pie, not too sweet and it will make you happy Good for eating while watching the debate or (hopefully) the Cardinals victory!  Still root for Detroit in the World Series on Wednesday.  I need to cook a bunch of recipes this week since I am planning on going to Nanty Glo, PA this weekend.  Keep thinking your best thought for my Joshua on Friday as he takes his driver's test!

   Lovely pie!

PAGE 94 ROCK SHRIMP WITH SPICY CHERRY TOMATO MARMALADE

Hard day, my motor transport chief retired.  As good as it is to see the ceremony and old friends, it is a reminder that things will never be the way they are again.  He's a great Marine who has devoted 28 years to serving his country.  I hope he finds employment.  It is a tough economy to be looking for a job.  The ceremony was nice, speeches good, and he felt our love.
Transitioning on, shout out to the Detroit Tigers!  I've been a fan since 1968 and would love to see a repeat of the Tigers and the Cardinals in the World Series.
Made the rock shrimp with spicy cherry tomato marmalade.  Not sure if the goodness was due to frying fresh shrimp, or the delicious batter, but they totally rocked!
I peeled and deveined the shrimp.  Not unpleasant.  Maybe not funs, but not unpleasant.  I used the basic frying batter from page 78, equal parts flour, cornstarch and water, with a little salt and vodka thrown in.  I might have thrown in a little extra vodka.  I crumbled up and tossed in a sheet of nori, which I had picked up on my last trip to....GrandMart!!
Made the spicy cherry marmalade while the fryer was heating.  It was simple, just heating halved cherry tomatos, sugar, lemon juice and a diced pickled cherry pepper until it thickens.
Dredged the shrimp and fried them.  The batter was nice, it got browned and crispy without being heavy.  The marmalade was a good dipping sauce, kind of sweet and sour.  The kids thought it should be a little spicier.I wouuld definitely make this again and would recommens the batter for anything you deep fry.  (Well, I guess I don't know, I've never had a deep fried twinkie or snickers bar.)  Tomorrow I'm going to the Chowhound recommended Italian Store to try to pick up ingredients!  Wish me luck, lots of cooking to do!

  Finished product, you can see the nori!

Same shot from another angle!

Page 248 PORK BELLY WITH WHITE BEANS AND COUNTRY HAN

Beans cooking in lard (I know, lard!)

Woah, an outstandind dish!  Maybe my favorite in cooking Mike Isabella's cookbook so far!  Good day at Chez Anderson.  Only bad thing at work was that my ordnance officer was at Camp LeJeune (I refuse to pronounce it Le-Jerne!)  Did some math homework with my college sophomore son.  I got some nice pork belly at GrandMart, shoutout to their amazing selection.  Seared it to crisp it.  Added onions, celery, carrots and garlic to sweat.  After addind chicken broth, I tossed it in the oven for two hours.  Meanwhile, I had picked up laard (?, who knew? and country ham? again, who knew? at Giant) and cooked 'til crispy.  I added one can of cannellini beans (added up with two cans of beans, one wasn't nearly enough.)  Removed the pork belly and again crisped it in lard and served it over the beans.  Truly amazing, tasted like the best version of pork and beans you've ever eaten.  Kind of like you would imagine pork and beans would be.  Full confession, we had this dish at Graffiato.  It translated as well at home as it did at Mike's restaurant.  Truly, go ahead and make it, it will make your day!

Pork belly crisping!

Can't get enough pork belly!

Page 296 Nutella Cookie Sandwiches

Adapted from Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian

Posted by Doris!

Eating a rich chocolate cookie is about the best thing ever!!  These cookies are right up with the best, I think.

Nutella Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup of light brown sugar, packed.
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup Nutella (you'll need another cup for the filling) DELICIOUS!!
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
2  1/2  cups of all-purpose flour (you'll need a little more for rolling the cookies)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4  cup of raw sugar

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees, and line two baking sheets with parchmnt or waxed paper.

In a mixer bowl, mix the brown sugar,white sugar, and Nutella on the second-lowest speed for 1 minute or until they are fully mixed.   Add the butter and mix on lowest speed for 2 minutes or until the dough is whipped and light in color.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.   Slowly add the flour mixture to the Nutella mixture in the mixer bowl and beat on low for 2 minutes.  Stop and scrape the sides of the mixer bowl after 1 minute.  If the dough is crumbly add about a tablespoon of cold water mix a little more!

Dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour (to prevent sticking)  Scooop out about 1/3 of the dough  and cover it with wax paper. 
Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick sheet.

Use a 2 inch circular cookie cutter and punch out the cookies.  Gently lift them onto the waxed paper or parchment lined baking sheets.  Continue rolling and cutting cookies until you have used all the dough.

Place the baking sheets on the middle  and bottom racks of the pre-heated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove the sheets to the kitchn counter and sprinkle each cookie with a bit of raw sugar.  Put the cookies back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Take the cookies from the oven and let them rest for a minute or two then put them on a cooling rack.
When they are cool, spread 1/2 the cookies with about 1  1/2  teaspoons of Nutella  and top with another cookie.  These are delicious chocolate sandwich  cookies!!!!

PAGE 34 ROASTED CAULIFLOWER PECORINO AND MINT

The ingredients!

Busy day, another trip to GrandMart for cuttlefish and rock shrimp.  (I don't think I've ever used the word "cuttlefish" in a sentence before.)  The kids worked and we are all excited about the Tiger's game tonight.  I was secretly glad the Cardinals beat the Nats yesterday because my dad was a huge Cardinals fan, from the Stan Musial era on.  (Funny story about visiting Stan Musial's restaurant, we had a loong wait before eating and my dad and I drank waay too much wine, it wasn't pretty, but it was fun!)  Made the roasted cauliflower and it rocked!  First you browned the butter, which kind of made it a win from the get go.  I love browned butter on anything.  Tossed the cauliflower in the browned butter and roasted it in the oven, after seperating it into florettes, of course.  Grated the pecorino, slivered the red onion and chiffonaded the mint.  Tossed it all together with a squirt of lemon juice.  Probably the best cauliflower I've ever had!  The only awkwardness was reheating the leftovers since the red onion and mint tasted a little weird hot.  I would definitely recommend  this dish.

Another picture of the ingredients!

The final product!

SLIVOVITZ...FUN RECIPE TO GET READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Adapted from a recipe in the Wasington Post


Need to drink?  Lots of fall plums around (especially Italian plums)?  Make some slivovitz for the holidays!  Slivovitz is a plum flavored vodka, that ages the plums in vodka, sugar, lemon peel and cinnamon sticks for two months.  Great holiday treat for your boring party.

Get a half gallon container with a wide lid (I bought a lovely dog food treat container).
Fill with enough plums (with two vertical slits per plum to let the juice out)
Add two cups of sugar
Add four cups of vodka (or enough to cover the plums)
Add a couple of cinnamon sticks and a little lemon peel
Stir daily to ensure sugar gets dissolved in the mixture
Set aside for two months
Strain out liquid and put in freezer.  Serve frozen in small glasses (It is vodka, after all!)

Note the lovely slitted plums and the pawprints on the dog treat vessel.  All dogs are doing well her, luxoriating in their  post Saint Francis Day blessing!

PAGE 175 STROZZAPRETI WITH MUSHROOMS AND SMOKED MOZZARELLA

Hi!

I (Doris) decided to try my first recipe in Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian and it is delicious!!
I had it for Sunday night supper and my tummy was delighted. He called it
Strozzapreti with Mushrooms and Smoked Mozzarella.  The Strozzapreti is a pasta like penne pasta.  Since I could not find it in the store I just used penne and it tasted great!

I started with the mushrooms since they need the longest cooking time.  You'll need 3/4 pound of a mixed mushroom blend.  I used shitake, oyster, and plain white mushroom with the stems removed.Cook these in 2 tablespoons of canola oil and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a no-stick skillet for 15-20 minutes. Stir every few minutes until tender.

Second cooking was the pasta. Boil water in a large pot.  Add a teaspoon of salt to the water and then add the pasta.  cook for about 10 minutes until it is al dente.  Save 1/2 cup of the cooking  water and drain the pasta.

Toss  the pasta over the mushrooms in the skillet and all the 1/2 cup of cooking water and 2 tablespoons of butter.  When the butter is melted add the cheese.  I used 1 cup of diced smoked mozzarella and 1 cup of shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano and 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.  Toss for a minute or two until the cheese is melted.

Serve the delicious pasta in a family-size bowl and everyone can help themselves and enjoy!!