Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon & Pistachios

This is for my friend, Julie, who was looking for something different to bring to the holiday table! I have adapted this recipe that I clipped from a Bon Appetit quite some time ago, but I have made it several times and love it! The recipe calls for you to separate every leaf off of every sprout, but if you do that, you will still be plucking while everyone else is eating dessert ;o) I find the food processor to be my friend in this recipe! Also, it may seem like there is a ton when you shred, but this does shrink, so for a crowd I might double the recipe and cook in 2 skillets.

3 Tbsp olive oil (recipe calls for grapeseed, if you have it)
1 Tbsp minced shallot
1-1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, washed and yucky parts trimmed, if any, and shredded with a medium blade of a food processor.
3/4 cup shelled unsalted natural pistachios (I have substituted sliced almonds and liked just as well)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (or more)

Heat oil in large nonstick skilled over medium-high heat and add nuts, stirring for 30 or 40 seconds. When nuts begin to sizzle in the oil, add the shallots and stir a minute. Add brussels sprouts and turn heat up a little, stirring to get nuts and shallots out of harms way on the bottom of the skillet. Cover to steam for a few minutes. I like to not stir too much so part of them are caramelizing on the bottom and part are still crisp-tender and bright green. Remove cover and stir in lemon juice. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. This is best prepared right before dinner is served. If everything is prepped, it can be ready in 5 minutes. I hope you like it!!!

2010 Baked Brie recipe

This is the dish that I take every year to a good friend's holiday party. It is different every year by a little, depending on what I have and what mood I am in. This year I made a balsamic onion jam to top the brie in the crust. This recipe requires buying and planning ahead. I like making the onion jam the day before. I also keep the brie in the deep freeze until time to assemble and bake so that it can bake long enough to brown the crust without totally melting and exploding the cheese. This recipe will make what you see here: 2 large wheels of brie. This fed quite a large crowd of 50+. Halve the recipe for a smaller party. If you do not have the time to peel the pearl onions, just use red onion sliced in rings or half rings. 1 medium onion should do it, but the pearl onions are prettier.

1/2 pound red pearl onions, skinned by blanching and peeling
3 T olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup orange marmalade
ground pepper and salt
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 T frozen OJ concentrate
2 6-inch rounds of good brie, frozen until ready to use.
2 Pillsbury All Ready pie crusts, room temperature (or homemade if you have time)
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Using a medium saucepan with a lid, saute onion in olive oil until very soft over low heat, about 30 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, marmalade, OJ concentrate, and garlic. Simmer for another 30 to 45 minutes until thick and reduced. Add salt & pepper to taste. Cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 425. Remove brie from freezer and unwrap. Unwrap one of the crusts and roll out a little with a rolling pin. Place 1/4 cup of sliced almonds in center of crust, about as big around as your brie and place the unwrapped brie on the top. Pile about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of onion jam on top of the brie and start bringing up the crust around, pleating and pinching as you go, sealing with a drop of water before you pinch. You should have an opening at the top about 1-1/2 inches in diameter or so. Drop in another T of jam if you have a lot, and sprinkle the top with 2 Tbsp toasted almonds. I like to cut natural parchment paper into a circle to fit in a pie plate with overlap (see picture) and usually give it a decorative edge. this will contain any oozing jam when it bakes. Set this aside and assemble the 2nd one in the same manner. You should use all almonds. Bake in the hot oven for about 20 minutes until nicely browned. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least half an hour and up to 1-1/2 hours before eating, as the brie can still be cold in the middle.

Variations I have made:
___ Add 1/2 teaspoon curry powder to jam
___ Use other nuts
___ Add cranberries to the jam

I hope you like this!

Potato Pizza

This is surprisingly good, but wouldn't make a dinner by itself like a good ol' delivery-type-pizza-with-2-pounds-of-cheese! I usually make this when I make a few kinds of "gourmet" pizzas and a salad. This one takes some planning ahead, so we can't put this in the "quick dinner in a pinch" category.

1. Make the pizza dough found here on my blog (a few months ago) the day before (same day works too, just don't refrigerate).
2. Make the melted onions well ahead, like at least an hour or 2.

Melted Onions (make ample and refrigerate the rest for other uses)

Thinly slice 2 or 3 large sweet onions. Use a heavy skillet with tight fitting lid if you have one, or a dutch oven, anything with a larger surface area and tight lid. Heat it over med/hi heat for a few minutes with about 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sprinkle the onions with a tablespoon of sugar and liberally apply fresh ground pepper and salt. Add onions to the oil in the pan and toss around until they are well coated with oil. Keep heat a little high for a few minutes, then turn down to way low and cover. Continue cooking on low and stirring occasionally for an hour or so or until the onion slices are indistinguishable and you have a brown paste-like product (that smells heavenly!) Allow to cool to room temp. Can be made well in advance.

Potato Pizza

Preheat oven to 425. Spread out pizza dough to very thin and prebake the crust for 8 minutes on a heavy pizza pan. Remove from oven (I place mine directly on my granite counter top to stop the cooking quickly) On the prebaked crust, spread a thinnish layer of the melted onions as you would tomato sauce. Cover with thin slices or shreds of Jarlsberg or other nutty Swiss cheese. Cover the cheese with very, very thin slices of Yukon Gold (new) potatoes. Brush the potatoes with a little extra olive oil (or olive oil spray/mist) and sprinkle liberally with fresh thyme, cover with kosher salt and pepper. I also like to sprinkle a little freshly grated Parmesan over the whole thing. Sprinkle flour on a pizza peel and pick up the pizza with it. Place directly on the oven rack set in the top of the oven. Bake about 15 minutes or so. Check every 5 minutes, as ovens can be very different. You want the potatoes to be done and slightly browning, and you want the crust crisp but not burnt on the bottom.

White Chili with Chicken

This recipe is adapted from one in the Jan/Feb issue of Cooks Illustrated. (I hear the 5th grade parents liked it at the parents' party!)



3 # bone-in chicken breasts
salt & pepper
1 T vegetable oil
3 medium jalapeno chiles
3 medium poblano chiles
3 medium Anaheim chiles
2 medium onions
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 - 4 oz cans diced green chiles
3 cans cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 green onions sliced thin (optional, for serving)


Preheat oven to 400. Stem, seed and core all peppers and cut into 3 or 4 pieces each (5 or 6 if very large). Cut onions into large chunks. Place half of the peppers, minced garlic and onions in a food processor and pulse to fairly fine bits, not pureeing, but no remaining large chunks. Remove to a large pot with the oil and begin sauteeing. Pulse the remaining peppers, onions and garlic. Place half of that batch into the pot and reserve the other half. Reserve the food processor bowl as is. Saute pepper mixture until quite soft. Remove from heat and set aside.


Bake chicken breasts on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to a temperature that you can comfortably handle. Shred meat and pour any juices from the pan into the pot.


Place 1 can of beans in the food processor bowl and add 2 cups of sauteed pepper mixture and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Puree until smooth. Pour into pot. Add remaining beans, chicken broth, cumin, coriander and canned green chiles. Stir all and simmer for about 45 minutes. Add chicken, remaining chopped fresh chile mixture and simmer another 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and chopped fresh cilantro. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Grammy's Pecan Puffs

A friend asked about an eggless sugar cookie and, though this is not a sugar cookie, it came to mind. The kids love these!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup ground pecans (not too fine)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour
powdered sugar for coating

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla. Add flour, then pecans. Chill dough at least an hour. Half an hour before baking, preheat oven to 300. Roll dough into 3/4" or 1" balls. Bake at 300 for 40 minutes. While hot from the oven, roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely, then roll in powdered sugar again. Store at room temp, but also freezes well. (1 recipe never makes enough, if you know what I mean... :o)

Smoked Trout Dip

I was going to a party. No time to run to the store. What do I have on hand? Hmmm. Let's try this:

1-4 oz can of smoked trout in olive oil, slightly drained
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp finely minced red onion
1 Tbsp finely minced chive
1/2 tsp yellow (not hot) curry powder
S & P to taste
1/3 cup light sour cream

Pulse trout, egg, onion and chive in food processor just a couple of times, to a consistency of coarse crumbles. Remove to a mixing bowl and stir in sour cream and curry powder. Add salt & pepper to taste. Garnish with a few long chive pieces and an extra sprinkle of curry powder on the top. Serve with something crunchy like pita chips or bagle chips. (I think this was a hit...!)

Pomodori al Forno (Tomatoes in the Oven)

This is one of the very best things I have EVER eaten. This is also the perfect way to preserve a taste of summer when you have more plum tomatoes than you know what to do with!!! It is best eaten on a lightly toasted slice of baguette with a little goat cheese crumble. The oil left behind is equally delicious to sop up with soft fresh bread. I also like it as a condiment on a sandwich (see recipe below for one idea). There is a lot of oil used for this dish, but I promise not one drop of it will go to waste. I will reuse the remaining oil from the last batch and add to it as needed for the next batch (kind of like "starter"), or I use it in salad dressings, marinades, anything that calls for olive oil. (Credit where credit is due...Bon Appetit, Sept 08.)

Preheat the oven to 250. Fill a glass baking dish with fresh plum tomato halves (cored, sliced lengthwise and seeded) just touching each other, cut sides up. Pour in enough olive oil to reach most the way up the sides of the tomatoes, but not covering the cut sides. This might be a cup or more. Sprinkle the cut sides with 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 Tbsp minced fresh oregano (1-1/2 tsp dried if you must). Using a spoon, ladle some of the oil over the tomatoes.

Bake the tomatoes for 1 hour. Remove from oven and flip each one over. Return to oven for another hour. They should be wrinkled and darker red. If some are still larger or retaining their shape, bake an additional 30 minutes. Otherwise, allow to cool in pan at room temperature. I sometimes slip the skins off before storing, but they are generally very tender and hold the tomato flesh together better. Gently place the tomatoes in a glass jar or covered dish when cool. Pour olive oil over to cover, reserving extra oil for next batch or for other uses (it is delicious as well!) Keep refrigerated, but allow ample time to bring to room temperature as oil will cloud and solidify when cold.

Whatever you do, do not let this sit out where it can be eaten as a snack! It is highly addictive and you'll start putting it on your cornflakes!!! (also, not a bad idea to use your scissors and cut these in half when serving as an appetizer...)

Asian Slaw

This is my old standby which I have tweaked and fussed over for a few years!

1 # bag of slaw mix or 1 # of shredded green cabbage
2 c shredded red cabbage
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 package ramen noodles, beef or oriental flavor, crunched and toasted until light brown
1/2 c toasted almonds, sliced or slivered

Dressing:
Seasoning packet
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 T sesame oil
1 T soy sauce or asian fish sauce
(Mix all well in jar and shake frequently until serving to dissolve sugar.)

Salad:
Mix cabbages and green onions anytime before serving and refrigerate. Just before serving toss in almonds and noodles. Pour in dressing and toss again.