Here is my post on my other blog including the recipe!

Empanadas de Betabel (Empanadas with Beets & Corn).

via Charleston Food Shots.

Reblogged from The Sassy Spoon: Fun Food!:

Bon Appetit hailed it as the Best New Restaurant in the US…. accolades have been streaming ever since. It is not all hype, the food is amazing, creative and interesting. Husk is the newest offering from James Beard Award-winning Chef Sean Brock of McCrady’s and the Neighborhood Dining Group. He transforms the essence of Southern food. Led by Brock and Chef de Cuisine Travis Grimes, a Lowcountry native, the kitchen reinterprets the bounty of the surrounding area, exploring an ingredient-driven cuisine …

Reblogged from The Sassy Spoon: Fun Food!:

I have some sweet memories rolling around my head right now. Last weekend I found myself in the midst of several hundred foodies and fourteen amazingly generous chefs. We were at Lowndes Grove Plantation along the slow and winding Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina. We were there for a barn raising, quite literally. Keegan Filion Farm owned by Annie and Marc Keegan supplies many of Charleston’s restaurants with free range poultry, eggs, grass fed beef and heritage Tamworth Hogs. On December 4th a …

A visit to Charleston, a great food city where there are Chefs who care.

* Ingredients *
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup warm water

* Directions *
Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F. Line  the mini muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and the water; beat until smooth and combined.

Spoon the batter into liners about two-thirds full. Bake approximately 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Transfer tins to wire racks and allow cooling for 10 minutes; turning cupcakes onto racks and letting cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room  temperature or frozen up to 1 month in air tight containers.

To finish, use a paring knife to cut a cone-shaped piece (about 1/2 inch deep) from the centre of each cupcake and throw away the pieces. Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm Salted Caramel Filling into each hollowed-out cupcake. You will notice the caramel will sink into the cupcake a little, just fill it up a bit more. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over filling.

Use a pastry bag with a medium open-star tip and pipe Dark Chocolate Frosting onto each cupcake, swirling tip and releasing as you pull up to form a peak. Garnish each cupcake with a pinch of salt. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are filled and frosted. Store at room temperature in airtight containers.

Salted Caramel Filling

* Ingredients *
2 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, preferably fleur de sel

* Directions *
Heat sugar with the water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan over high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan and stop stirring.

Cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 185C or 360F. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in salt.

Use immediately;  if caramel begins to harden reheat gently until pourable.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

* Ingredients *
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

* Directions *
Combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved.

With electric mixer on medium-high, beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture.

Frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month in an air tight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Add a sprinkling of flaked salt on top of each cupcake.

Crab Cakes with Mango Mustard on a bed of Arugula Salad

I have loved crab cakes ever since I lived in coastal Beaufort, South Carolina. There, I would put traps out off of my dock, baited with chicken necks and haul in a bushelful whenever I did so. Then I would boil the sweet blue crabs on my outdoor stove and toss them on a picnic table covered with newspaper to pick and clean them. Today I am at the mercy of the fishmonger or in a pinch I will buy a can of quality lump crab. I made these crab cakes for dinner, but since there were only two of us dining, I made the remaining mixture into appetizer sized cakes and froze them. When I am in need of a quick appetizer I can thaw and sauté them in short order. I served the crab cakes over an arugula salad and with a side of Mango Mustard that my friend Janet gave me a recipe for. I also keep a tub of chipotle mayo (just put 2-3 chipotles in adobo in a food processor with a cup of fresh home made mayo & process till the chiles are totally incorporated) in the refrigerator and often use it or wasabi mayo with crab cakes.

Here is the really simple recipe… go for it!

Ingredients:

1# of good quality lump crab meat, cleaned

Zest from a Meyer Lemon (or Eureka if you can’t find a Meyer)

1/8 cup of fresh lemon juice (Meyer is preferred)

2 plump shallots, minced finely

1/4 cup of fresh minced herbs, in this case I used garlic chives, chives, chervil & flat leaf parsley

2 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup Japanese Panko crumbs (I use the honey panko for this, but plain are fine too)

Lots of freshly grated black pepper and a pinch of salt

Method:

Stir all together and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

Form into cakes of any size.. for entree portions I make them about 3″ across, for appetizers about 1.5″ across. Place the cakes on waxed paper as you are forming them. They can be chilled in the refrigerator or frozen at this point, or cooked immediately.

In a large frying pan, gently melt 2/3 stick of butter. When the butter has melted, add the crab cakes, being careful not to crowd them. Let the cakes sauté  until you see a rim of golden crust forming at the bottom of the cakes. Do not try and turn them until they have formed this crust or they will stick to the bottom and fall apart.

Mango Mustard

Turn the cakes and allow them to brown on the other side. Remove to a rack to rest for a minute and then serve.

Involtini di Melanzane con Salsiccia e Mozzarella

Involtini di Melanzane con Salsiccia e Mozzarella to be exact! I had two big eggplants, some spicy homemade Italian sausages and lots of great herbs and tomatoes. I sent a note to my friend and fellow blogger Peter Francis Battaglia (whom I also call Saint Peter sometimes) asking him if he had a good rollatini recipe that did not require ricotta. He sent me one via messages on Facebook and I made it last night. I even had some for breakfast. I served it on spaghetti that was simply tossed with butter, EVOO and some garlic. Here is the recipe pretty much as he sent it to me. I added just a couple of things in the mix.  This is a recipe that can be made *creatively* and you can easily increase the amounts if you want to. I had a little extra filling left, so I just stuffed it in around the rollatini before baking. FYI: I used 1 # of spicy sausage, removed from casings, 2 large eggplants and about 4-5 fresh ripe tomatoes. This takes a couple of hours to make, but it is not difficult and it is delicious, even better the next day and the day after! Well worth the time!

Saint Peter’s Eggplant and Italian Sausage

Rotalini Involtini di Melanzane con Salsiccia e Mozzarella

Slice the eggplants longwise, and thin..make a francaise batter (2 eggs, 1/8 cup grated romano, fresh chopped parsley, fresh ground pepper), dredge the cutlets in seasoned flour, then the egg, then into 1/2 ” of medium hot olive oil, about 3 minutes per side..drain on paper towels or rack.

Breading and Egg/cheese Wash

Cutlets Frying in Olive Oil

Cutlets Ready to be Rolled

Saute the sausage in some olive oil, when almost done, add 1 onion finely chopped, a minute later, add 1 minced clove of garlic, cook for a bit, then add 2 tbs. of wine, let this cook for 3 minutes..let it cool..add 1/2 cup small diced mozzarella, some chopped basil and parsley, 1/2 tsp. capers, 1 tbs. breadcrumbs, and 3 tbs. romano cheese, mix well.

Sausage Cooling

Tomate

Sauce

Ready to Roll

Hold the cutlet in your hand and add a nice scoop to each of the cutlets. roll the cutlet around them and secure with toothpicks. Make a sauce with chopped tomato, olive oil, diced onion, fresh parsley, some fennel seeds, salt, pepper…When it has cooked for 20 minutes…check for seasoning…Add a few basil leaves…in a pan, add some oil and sauce to the bottom, arrange the rolletini, pour the remaining sauce over, and cover with foil, bake in 350 for 25 minutes, uncover, add some chopped mozzarella and grated cheese, bake another 8 minutes uncovered till cheese is bubbly…

Before the Sauce

Baked and Cooling

Dig In!

Bagels.... hot from the oven

I love bagels. My favorite bagels come from Montreal, not New York. I have actually found that in the last 10 years or so most NY Bagels have taken on the “Supersize me” that has prevailed across America. They are much larger and puffier than they used to be and I believe that they have less texture and crumb In Montreal the bagels are still baked in the simple old fashioned way that they were made in Poland. The secret of course is simplicity. They are baked in a wood burning oven there, but this can be replicated somewhat using a baking stone or hearth insert like I use. The recipe is below for you to use as you wish.

I think you will enjoy this video about my favorite bagel bakery in Montreal.

Montreal bagels, however, are a different breed, chewy and tinged with a tantalizing sweetness. The real thing is still baked in wood ovens, which give the bagels an irregularly charred outer surface. These bagels shine, too, with a gloss that only a short swim in a bath of honey- or malt-sweetened water can impart. With no chemical additives or dough conditioners, these bagels stand out in taste and looks.

Bagel Toss!!!!

How bagels came to be this way in Montreal is difficult to determine. The recipe was no doubt modeled after the those brought by immigrant families, many of whom opened bagel stores that still exist in the old ethnic neighborhoods. Over time, Montrealers came to enjoy – and expect -bagels in this style, so the tradition continued.

Some people have another explanation. They point out that other cities prohibit wood-burning commercial ovens, because of the fire hazard. Such ovens burn continuously with an unregulated open flame -you can’t turn them off, and you can’t turn them down. So Montreal has the dubious distinction of having notable bagels and a less-than-stringent fire code.

Bagels are one of those foods that have a certain mystique about them. Because they are readily available in most every city now, people just buy them and never think about making them. However, if you have had TRULY amazing bagels like these before, baked in this style, you will find it nearly impossible to find them anywhere other than Montreal and hence you must make them at home or increase your frequent flyer miles many times over. I have to say that before I started making them myself, every trip to Montreal included a suitcase for the bagels I would run out to St. Viateur Bakery and buy fresh from  the morning of our departure. If you live on the mainland, you can order them online from St. Viateur. Technology is amazing, really. But if you live in Hawaii like me, you are going to have to learn to make them, do without or drop by on baking day.

One note about sweeteners: Professional bakers once relied on honey, since it carries its own characteristic bouquet. Over the years, the price of honey has increased, so now many bakeries use light or dark malt syrup (available in some health-food stores and in those that stock beer-making supplies). Still, you should use honey in the formula and then add the malt syrup to the water.

MONTREAL STYLE BAGELS

Preparation time: 45 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes but I find the flavor is better if you retard the fermenting process by refrigerating the dough. If you want to take this extra step, make  the dough at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours before you plan on baking them.

Baking on the stone

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water, room temperature

2 packages dry quick-rising yeast (or 1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup honey

5 cups or more flour (preferably bread flour)

3 quarts water for boiling

1/3 cup honey or malt syrup

Sesame or poppy seeds for sprinkling on top. These are the only toppings seen in Montreal, but of course if you like onions or garlic or anything else, they can be added instead of the seeds or in combination with them.

Method:

1.In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer that has a dough hook, blend together the water, yeast, sugar and salt. Stir in the whole egg, the yolk, oil and 1/2 cup honey, and mix well.

2.Add the 5 cups flour, and mix until the dough is too stiff to mix by hand. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface (if using electric mixer, attach dough hook), and knead to form a soft, supple dough. Add a bit more flour as needed to prevent dough from getting too sticky. It should be tacky, but not sticky.

3.When the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap or with a plastic bag.

4.Let the dough rest about 20 minutes. Punch it down, and divide into 18 equal portions. Pour the water into a large pot, along with the remaining 1/3 cup honey or malt syrup, and heat to boiling. Cover, reduce the heat, and allow to simmer while preparing the bagels.

5.Shape the dough portions into bagels or doughnutlike rings by elongating each portion into an 8- to 10-inch coil that is 3/4 inch thick. Fold the ends over each other, pressing with the palm of one hand and rolling back and forth gently to seal. This locks the ends together and must be done properly or the bagels will open while being boiled. Let the bagels rest 15 minutes on a baking sheet with parchment or silpat.

6.Preheat oven to 550 degrees. If you have a pizza stone pre-heat it in the oven.  Bring the water back to a boil and remove the lid. Have bowls of poppy seeds and sesame seeds nearby.

7.When the water is boiling, use a slotted spoon, and add three bagels to the water. As they rise to the surface, turn them over, and let them boil an additional minute before removing them and quickly apply the seeds or other toppings. Continue boiling the bagels in batches of three until all have been boiled and seeded.

8.Just before baking, turn the temperature down to 450 degrees. Arrange the boiled bagels on a baking sheet, and bake on the lowest rack of oven until they are medium brown, approximately 25 minutes. Or using a peel covered with semolina, place the bagels directly onto a pre-heated pizza stone and bake in batches. Allow the oven to regain some of the temperature lost before adding the 2nd batch. Remove from the oven. Once cooled, the bagels can be placed in a plastic bag, sealed and frozen.

Poppy Seed!

Yield: 18 bagels. NOTE: If not using the dough immediately, refrigerate it after it has been kneaded. Bagel making can be resumed up to a day later. Allow the dough to return to room temperature, and continue with step 4.

Onion!

Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza

Of course pizza is everywhere in New York… well all over America really, but there is lots of really great pizza in New York. None better than the kind you can make at home if you have the right tools and make the dough properly.  Tools: You need a pizza stone, a peel and a very wide spatula. You also need an oven that heats up to at least 500 degrees, 550 is even better. Sorry efficiency people, you must have a real oven, not a toaster oven.  I like to make smallish pizzas, about 10″ across. They are perfect for parties because you can have a multitude of toppings and experiment a bit. They are also just the right size for one or two people with a salad.

Margarita pizza with home made fresh mozzarella

I make the dough over night and then freeze the extra dough (this formula makes a large batch of dough) for later use. Next time you think you might want pizza, take the dough out and defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Here is the formula for the dough:

Overnight Pizza Dough

The dough gets its slightly tangy flavor from a “sponge” (a mixture of warm water, yeast, and flour that’s allowed to ferment). Timing note: The sponge needs to rest overnight; the dough needs to rest for about eight hours. If you freeze excess dough, allow to thaw slowly over night, then remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before using.  Allow the dough to rise another time before using.

makes eight 9-inch pizzas

Ingredients

sponge

• 1 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast, divided
• 1 cup all purpose flour, divided

dough

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 6 cups (or more) bread flour
• Olive oil
• Semolina or cornmeal
• Sauces and toppings

special equipment

• Pizza stone, wooden peel or rimless cooking sheet.

Preparation

sponge

• Place 1 cup lukewarm water in large bowl of heavy-duty mixer (or you can do this by hand if you are feeling strong.) Sprinkle 1 teaspoon yeast (reserve remaining yeast for dough) and 1/4 teaspoon flour over water. Let stand until yeast dissolves and mixture looks spongy, about 4 minutes. Add remaining flour and whisk until smooth; scrape down sides of bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sponge rest at room temperature in draft-free area overnight (about 12 hours; sponge will look bubbly).

dough

• Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 envelope yeast, and remaining yeast to sponge, then add 6 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating with dough hook to blend after each addition. Continue to beat until dough is smooth, comes cleanly away from sides of bowl, and is only slightly sticky to touch, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, beat in more flour, 1/4 cupful at a time. Scrape dough onto floured surface; knead into smooth ball.
• Brush inside of large bowl with oil. Add dough; turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill 6 hours, kneading dough down when doubled (after 2 hours).
• About 1 1/2 hours before baking, dust 2 baking sheets with flour. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead gently; shape into 16-inch log. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Knead each piece into smooth ball. Arrange 4 balls of dough on each sheet. Cover loosely with kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
• If using pizza stone, place in oven and pre-heat.
• Preheat oven to 500°F for 40 minutes to an hour, the longer the better. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough with flour. Press into 5-inch round, then gently stretch and roll out to 9- 10 inch round.

• 

  Dough on the peel ready to be topped

• Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet with semolina or cornmeal . Place the pizza dough on the semolina.  Top as desired, it is much better to use a light hand with toppings, especially if you want your crust crispy. Slide pizza onto  the pre-heated stone. Be careful when putting your pizza in and removing it, making sure to hold the peel as level as possible to prevent sliding of ingredients in the oven, or you may find yourself with “a fine mess”.

• 

  Sauced

• Bake pizza until sauce is bubbling and crust is crisp and brown, lifting edge of pizza to check underside, about 10-12  minutes. Try to resist opening the oven too frequently, you want it inferno hot! When the pizza is done, take a large spatula or a metal peel and remove it quickly to a cutting board. Allow the pizza to rest a few minute before slicing. Wait at least 10 minutes for the oven to regain the temperature and then put the next pizza in.

Fried capers add a nice crunch and some salty flavor.

Tomatoes and Sauce