Sherry – Page 50 – Rosemary and the Goat

Cranberry Avocado Salsa

Beautiful for the holidays.

Santa may want this under the tree instead of a plate of cookies.

You aren’t a Texan if you don’t like avocados. That’s an observation I made along time ago after moving here; with Mexican restaurants on just about every corner, guacamole is everywhere and there are good recipes and not so good recipes. You can’t go wrong with avocado, lots of cilantro, garlic, lime juice, jalapeño and a little salt and pepper. Sometimes I even throw in some chopped up tomato. Serve with a big bowl of warmed chips and I could make a meal on it.

I have made avocado finger sandwiches before (delicious), I love fried avocado and have even prepared it with an egg in the center, avocado egg rolls are delicious from The Cheesecake Factory. I have a recipe for deviled eggs (and who doesn’t like deviled eggs) that has guacamole mixed in with the mashed egg mixture and then a tad of salsa to garnish the top of the stuffed egg. (totally off topic)–Over Thanksgiving my daughter-in-law and I were talking about deviled eggs and how people shouldn’t mess with a traditional deviled egg. One of her friends and husband was over for Thanksgiving dinner and she brought deviled eggs. Delicious, (she messed with the traditional recipe) and she added minced jalapeño and cumin. They were so good. So I am taking back “messing” with the standard deviled egg. I will be adding cumin and jalapeño next week when I make some. But you can mess with salsa in so many ways.

Back to the avocado and cranberry salsa. My daughter made this one year for Christmas and the bowl was devoured in no time. I always love my daughter’s recipes, they definitely tend to be healthier than some of mine. This just happens to be one of Martha Stewart’s recipes. My dad was a big Martha Stewart fan and defended her even after she went away for awhile and when she returned, he was back to watching her cook.

So with holidays fast approaching this is a recipe that would be quick and beautiful to boot to take to a party or even to serve on Christmas Eve with some red and green tortilla chips. I think it would be delicious served next to a grilled pork loin, chop or tenderloin.

December 8, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp/ Sauces

The Best Egg Rolls

Great beginnings — Our Egg Rolls.

Crisp and delicious.

I’m sorry if I always think (I don’t actually say it) my recipes are the best. That isn’t always true, BUT (my husband says I say BUT way too much) this recipe is better than any (of course) that you would buy frozen and better than any I have ever had in a Chinese restaurant.

My sister started making these years ago and of course shared the recipe with me. She and a friend once made 1000 of these for an Arts & Craft event. My kids actually use to help me make them and we would do a double batch, some small ones in won ton wrappers and mostly the larger ones in egg roll or spring roll wrappers. A quick fry, drain, cool and then to the freezer (after sampling quite a few) so they can be enjoyed at anytime you have an egg roll craving.

I use to cook Asian food quite often; and I don’t know why I quit but I use to love doing moo gai pan, sukiyaki, fried rice, and egg foo yung and of course these egg rolls. Maybe the reason is because we can find Thai, Chinese and just about any other kind of Asian food restaurant in our area. This winter, I’m committing to doing more of those quick stir fry dishes that makes getting dinner on the table faster and I just love being able to do everything in one pan.

December 4, 2012 By Sherry

Dessert/ Pies/Tarts

French Apple Tart

Délicieuse tarte aux pommes!

My tart and other pictures below from French class mingled with my experience of making it.

Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas will soon be here. Aren’t we all always looking for quick but beautiful desserts to make for the holidays?

What a delicious apple tart this is and one we learned to make in our cooking class in Arles, France last March. This is the perfect time of the year to be making anything with apples because they are the best of the year and the price is right.

What an experience making this apple tart for the first time (in France) was and one we will never forget. I absolutely love taking cooking classes. You would think at my age that I would know how to cook enough to get by but that’s not enough for me; I want the experience of going different places and cooking the local foods and it’s even more fun when doing it with husband, friends, or anyone who is going to enjoy it as much as I know I am.

For this apple tart, we shopped at the local market, (see pictures below) for the apples and all the other foods we were preparing for our fantastic meal. This is about the easiest tart you will ever make and I think after trying it a few times I will be able to make it as good as our teacher’s tart. One thing is his puffed pastry came in a considerably larger sheet than what we get from Pepperidge Farm frozen pastry. The next time, I’m putting two sheets together and roll them together giving more layers of the delicate pastry. Secondly, I will use a different apple, maybe a Braeburn instead of a Jazz, for more tartness.

I did add the cinnamon which Erick (our teacher) did not. To me, apples and cinnamon go together. I may try adding some golden raisins also the next time because I just happen to have some in my pantry.

November 30, 2012 By Sherry

Soup

Potato, Carrot and Parsnip Soup

Beautiful fall colored soup!

I confess! I’m a pilferer of recipes (sometimes). Today, I thought about making some good old potato soup but then why should I stop with potatoes; so as usual, I look through my refrigerator to see what is hiding away just days from going moldy on me.

Today I was in luck because I found some baby carrots; so after a little web searching I found a recipe for a potato and carrot soup. I came across a good one at Food Network then continued looking and pilfering ingredients as I went along.

The one ingredient that I added that I did not see in other recipes was the one parsnip just waiting to be used before he headed to the trash. I remembered the sweetness the parsnip added to my Winter White Vegetable Soup and also to my Cauliflower Mash with Kale and thought it would be great included in this recipe.

With cool days starting to set in and some of you may be having COLD days (I’m jealous), this soup will hit the spot on a cold (cool) fall/winter night. And, maybe, just maybe you still have some vegetables laying around since Thanksgiving that need to be put to use.

November 26, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Poultry

King Ranch Pasta

Who doesn’t like the flavors of King Ranch!

I’ve always thought I made absolutely the best King Ranch casserole out there.

When we first moved to Texas and I started catering for some of the local companies and I had request for King Ranch casserole. I’d never heard of King Ranch casserole and didn’t realize that it was named after one of the largest ranches in the world and it’s here in Texas.

So, I set about trying to find what I thought would be the perfect recipe. I never found just one and ended up merging several recipes together to come up with what I thought was the perfect sauce. The addition of spices and spinach to the sauce makes this a favorite with King Ranch lovers.

My family never liked casseroles and I cannot believe that in 20 years of catering, I never made the casserole for my family.

I’ve decided to turn my casserole into King Ranch Pasta. NOT a casserole but a creamy mixture of chicken, spices and sauce mixed with pasta and baked in an oven for 30 minutes. If you want to make the casserole with tortilla, see below for those instructions.

Since Thanksgiving is fast approaching, think of this recipe when you have a lot of left over turkey staring back at you from the refrigerator.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Souffled French Onion Soup — If you love French Onion Soup you will love this one topped with a cheese soufflé. Believe it or not, the soufflé does not fall while you are eating the soup.

November 22, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Game/ Pork

A Very Good Cassoulet

This was fantastic and so good on a cold winter night.

I was hoping to try this in France last Spring but there were so many other things to try and I had already made this a couple of times so it didn’t bother me that it wasn’t on my list of “tried things” while there.

Did you grow up (or still do) eating white beans in a bowl with a big chunk of corn bread on the side (please don’t say sweet cornbread) with maybe some chow chow to add to your beans. We did and they were the best beans you could possibly hope for at the time. A few years ago, my dad showed my husband how he had started making beans. He would soak the beans over night and then he would put the beans in a pot (he used a pressure cooker) with a couple of country style ribs (or backbone depending on where you live) and a ham hock.

Then along came Cassoulet (new to me). A word I had heard but never paid much attention to. I had never had the dish before our French Country Feast a few years ago. It was fantastic. A cassoulet is a stew made with white beans, sausage, duck confit, sometimes lamb, ham hocks and ham bone. Now, how could that not be an out of this world dish.

This recipe may take hours in the making but it will well be worth it in the end. I would either serve my mother’s cornbread recipe or a crusty French bread with this. There are so many recipes on the Internet for cassoulet and methods of making it. I would suggest reading a few before trying this recipe. In the end though, how can you mess up beans and a bunch of different kinds of meat. The end results will be great, no matter what you put in it.

BLAST FROM THE PAST — Fried Eggplant Chips with Honey Drizzle was an appetizer we had in Seville, Spain. Very delicious. I was excited to see that 2,600 people have looked at this recipe. Back in March I had 1,600 views — WOW. I really get excited when I think how many people just happen to find a recipe of mine through a google search.

November 13, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Potato and Poblano Gratin

Scalloped Potatoes with a kick.

I love watching cooking shows; I have said that many times, and sometimes I actually try a recipe as it is written.

In this case, as I watched Marcela Valladolid from Mexican Made Easy, on the Food Network, make her potato dish, I was thinking about how could I change the recipe. This was a pre-Thanksgiving show I guess from last year. By the time she had the cheese on top and the cream poured all over the dish, I was thinking to myself, why mess with something that already sounds delicious. I may tweak it later but for now, the recipe is as she wrote it.

Instead of doing mine in one big casserole I made two; one for tonight and one to go in the freezer to eat after I have knee surgery again. (Already used it and it was as good as the first time around.) Today I bought the cutest little scalloped baker from Sur la Table and also a little bronze rack it sets in. It’s just big enough for a casserole dish for 6 people or even a double/triple recipe of some type of hot appetizer.

One would think that after 20 years of catering and buying cute little dishes that I would have enough to last me a life time. I couldn’t resist this one though, and it comes in the gold, red, green and white.

So, I’m not messing with this recipe. You can change it however you want, but to me it was delicious as is.

Tip for corn: I saw this in Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook. Ya know how those corn silks that are left in with the cut corn bother you. Well, TK suggest having a bowl of water and then you take your hand and stir through the corn. The silks will stick to your hand and then you dip your hand in the bowl of water and they wash away; then keep doing that until all the silks are removed. I can’t wait to try this method of eliminating those pesty stringy things from the corn.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Parmesan Shrimp Toast — One of my favorite catered items and just in time for your fall /holiday parties.

November 9, 2012 By Sherry

Cake/ Dessert

Cafe Beaujolais Marble Cake — It’s a keeper!

Cat eye, steely, keepers, shooters?

I have to admit I was not born with a whisk in my hand nor did I teeth on a wooden spoon and I certainly did not carry a bento lunchbox packed full of gourmet treats to school.

I was one of those little kids down in the dirt after a circle was drawn, marbles thrown in, and my favorite beautiful swirled marble in hand ready to take all the other kid’s marbles. I really don’t remember if we player keepies or keepers but I’m sure I was upset if I lost any of my prized marbles that I kept in a little drawstring bag.

Anytime I see anything swirled whether it is a sauce on a dessert plate, a piece of fabric or even a swirled cloud in the sky it brings back thoughts of marble playing days, my favorite swirled marbles, and dirty hands and knees. What happened to all those games like marbles and jacks that got the kids outside and dirty.

This marble cake recipe is definite a keeper recipe and you don’t have to get too dirty making it. Thanks to Margaret Fox’s recipe from Cafe Beaujolais. I’m not keeping this to myself but sharing it with you so you can give it a try. I would call this more of a coffee cake (even though she doesn’t) than a dessert type cake. Very good with a cup of tea for brunch or anytime of the day.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Coconut Oatmeal Pie — One of my favorite fall type pies. I’m making this for a bake sale this month. Hope they like it.

November 5, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Pasta with Purple Cauliflower and Walnut Cream Sauce

What a beautiful dish and my favorite color — purple.

Purple is absolutely my favorite color; throw in some lime green and you have the colors of our wedding 43 years ago and I still love those colors. Throw in a little pink and a whole lot of black and that’s the color of my closet. Hey, and it looks like purple is suppose to be a HOT color for fall. At least, my color is in style even though my clothes are not.

I was thumbing through some of my old food magazines the other day and saw a recipe for cauliflower and carrot pickles. Now, I can’t say that made me want to jump up and go buy some purple cauliflower to pickle but I did want to try to come up with a dish using this beautiful purple vegetable. I almost made this purple cauliflower and carrot dish but decided it was too boring because all I was going to do was steam the vegetables, mix them together and throw in some toasted sunflower seeds. Then I decided that a pasta dish would be perfect for fall and a walnut cream sauce with Rosemary, sage, and thyme just the thing to hold it together.

So when I saw this purple cauliflower at the market the other day I had to buy it. This purple wasn’t going to hang in my closet, it was going to be eaten. I have always thought of cauliflower as a boring vegetable; but since making my Cauliflower Mash with Kale and this recipe, I have changed my views on this beautiful versatile vegetable which can be steamed, mashed, roasted with some olive oil, fried and served raw in a salad. What more could you ask for in a vegetable.

October 31, 2012 By Sherry

Dessert/ Desserts

Almond Cherry Clafoutis

What’s a clafoutis anyway?

Do you love cherries as much as I do? If so, you will love this clafoutis.

So today when I did a routine clean-out of my refrigerator, and there is nothing routine about cleaning my refrigerator, I happened to notice two partial bags of cherries so I was motivated to find something to do with them. We can get fresh cherries year round here in Texas, just not at the summer prices.

Pronounced, kla-foo-TEE, a Cherry Clafoutis or Clafouti is a rustic French dessert made with cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a flan-like batter then baked and dusted with powdered sugar and served warm. We had many rustic French desserts and pastries while in France this year but I never saw this one on a menu.

I’m serving my clafoutis with whipped cream flavored with almond extract. Some recipes call for not taking out the pits because they are suppose to release a wonderful almond flavor when the dessert is baked. The other member of my household does not like anything with a pit, so unless I want to sit and use a cherry pitter (I love my pitter) and pit him a bowlful, I’m the only one eating those cherries. After what he has done for me during both knee recoveries, I should be cutting his meat and spoon feeding him.

There are so many versions of this online, some are almost bread pudding like and some flan like. I think this is somewhere in between.

October 27, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Red Chard and Pine-nuts

Red and green delicious.

Hobbling around the farmer’s market one weekend a few months ago I came upon this table piled full of beautiful kale, chard, and mustard greens. My first thought was of the Swiss Chard I had seen in France back in the Spring and how after returning home I prepared it for the first time and loved it. I think every time I eat chard I will think of the markets of France and how we could just go steps out our apartment and buy anything we wanted for the evening meal.

I was really hoping to find some rainbow chard but this was going to have to do and it turned out great.

Why have I never tried cooking or even eating chard or for that matter, turnip greens, kale or any of those other unusual (to me) large leafy green vegetables. It wasn’t because I didn’t grow up with seeing my mother and grandmother do them all. I guess back then I turned my nose up at a lot of things that I now enjoy.

Next time you are in the market and pushing that basket around trying to come up with something new to prepare for dinner remember this CHARD and give it a try.

October 23, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp/ Sandwiches

Hawaiian Pork Sliders

Let these little gems slide off your plate and into your mouth.

I have never seen the beautiful waters of Hawaii or taken a bike ride down the side of a volcano, or seen the pineapple fields or been there to bring back cans of macadamia nuts to friends or even sat on the beach enjoying the hula dancers as we chowed down on an elaborate luau.

It’s been a year since my daughter and her husband got married (how time flies). They had such a beautiful wedding and then honeymooned in Hawaii so I thought I would make these little Hawaiian Pork Sliders on their anniversary.

These little sliders are great for any kind of party whether it’s at home, a tail gating party or even your bunco group which is where I’m taking mine. You can serve these open face or closed on the toasted Hawaiian roll.

I don’t normally use Hawaiian rolls because they are sweet, but I think for this little slider with grilled pork, a crunchy slaw with a little pineapple and a kick of Texas heat they make the perfect bun. If you don’t want to serve this on the buns, just do the pork tenderloin with the sauce and serve with whatever sides you want. I think lining a dish with the slaw and putting the pork tenderloin in the middle and a then drizzle with a little of the sauce would be a beautiful presentation.

October 19, 2012 By Sherry

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