Kitchen Notes-menue and chocolate cinnamon custard

Last night I had-

• Split Pea Soup with Ham Hock
• Savoy Cabbage and Carrot Slaw with Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
• Chocolate Cinnamon Custard

The custard was a recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook which I tweaked a bit. Here's what I did.

2 egg yolks

3 eggs

1/2 c. agava ( was sugar)

1/8 tsp. salt

3 c. scaled half and half (was milk)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (was nutmeg)

1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate melted in milk while it is being heated

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 8 custard cups in a large pan and fill pan with hot water up to 1". (recipe buttered cups, I didn't)

Beat yolks and eggs together just enough to blend. Stir in agava or sugar, cinnamon and salt and slowly add hot milk and melted chocolate. (the chocolate didn't all melt, so next time I need to either chop up the chocolate in smaller pieces or melt is separately. Also the cinnamon didn't blend in it separated, so need to solve that problem. In the original recipe she sprinkled nutmeg on top.)

Add vanilla. Strain into a large measuring cup or bowl with a spout so you can pour it into the cups without spilling. (Barefoot Contessa says you need to strain because you can get a skin on the milk.) Bake for 30 mins. (Take out when it is still jiggly or it will be over baked, it will thicken up a lot as it cools.) (Next time I'm going to try this with the milk as it seemed a little too dense, but it may be because I did over bake it.)

Greek Seasoning

Equal parts

lemon peel
garlic granules
oregano

Kitchen notes- appetisers Christmas

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve day and so on Christmas my 2 dd's and I sat around and nibbles on appetisers plus a salad and watched Jule and Julia. We had

2 frozen appetisers from Trader Joe's. One was flat bread with Ratatouille which we added Tapenade to. The other was puff pastry with a Feta/cream cheese topping and caramelized onions.

My dd made a grapefruit and avocado salad. I provided salami, crackers, goat cheese, figs, the tapenade, bread. My other dd brought cookies. We slit open the figs and put in the goat cheese and some toasted hazelnuts, delicious. Thanks to dd.

I want to start keeping track of our menus. I will keep them along with other things under kitchen notes.

Candy Cane Tea

I made this for my dd for Christmas

2 parts black tea, I used English Breakfast
1 part mint
1 part crushed candy canes

Split Pea Soup

I put together a couple of recipes and it turned out very tasty. Here's what I did-

1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tabs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. salt (see note on ham hock)
1 tsp. pepper
2-3 chopped carrots
2-3 chopped celery
1 lb. dried green split peas
8 c water
ham hock (I had two in a package so I put them both in, the large one had lots of meat the small one didn't have any, so 1 large ham hock with some meat would be good. The ham hock added a lot of salt to the soup so you might want to wait to salt at the end)

In a 4 qt. pot saute onions and garlic with olive oil til onions translucent. Add carrots, celery, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, split peas, ham hock and water. Simmer on a low heat covered til ham hock done. Then take out and ham hock to cook enough to handle. If soup is too thin reduce, then put in blender, in batched. When ham hock is cool pull off meat and shred, add to soup. Taste for seasoning. Also we are planning to add some chopped ham when we serve. We wanted lots of meat in it.

My part of Christmas dinner

My dd found this recipe for me on line for Orange Creme Brulee I tried making a trial recipe yesterday. Because I was switching out the sugar for agava. Here is what I did-

2 3/4 c. whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
9 egg yolks
1/2 agava syrup
2 tsp. orange zest
1/4 c. orange juice

Preheated oven to 325 degrees. Put 6 small custard cups in a roasting pan.

Place cream and vanilla in a saucepan over med. heat. Cook, stirring, for until it comes to a simmer. Strained through a strainer into a glass bowl or something with a spout. I used a large meaning cup.

Meanwhile, (actually I did this first), whisk together ( I used a small hand mixer) egg yolks, and agave (you can use sugar or honey, if you use sugar than don't reduce cream as I did, look at original recipe by clicking link) until combined.

Whisk hot cream mixture into egg-yolk mixture slowly. ( I started out with a drizzle). Stir in orange zest and juice.

Pour into custard cups. Than pour boiling water into pan until it comes up half way on your custard cups, be careful not to get water in your custard. Bake 30 mins. or til set. Mine took 45 mins. I haven't tried it yet so I don't know if this was too long or just right. They look good. I readjust this recipe if I find they were over baked.

Remove custard cups and let them cook for 2 hours and then chill in frig for at least 6 hours. I made mine ahead because I think they should be nice and chilled. I didn't do the sugar top because I am topping mine with raspberries. I have some in the freezer I'm just going to thraw and sweeten a little, not too much, with agava.

SALAD
So I'm also making a green salad with marinated shrimp on top. I will cook my shrimp and then marinate them in olive oil, lemon, mustard, capers, scallion, salt and pepper to taste. I will marinate them for a couple of days. The salad is mixed greens with lemon and olive oil dressing. I was thinking avocado would be good with this too.

Brown Bag Cookie Molds

I've had these molds for years and not done anything with them. We are decorating cookies and a gingerbread house tomorrow so I thought it would be fun to make these for the girls to decorate. My dd was here today and helped me figure out the unmolding process. I lost the directions and recipes long ago, so I looked them up on line at Brown Bag Cookie Molds Here is the recipe I used.

Orange Flower Cookies

1/2 c softened butter

3/4 c. sugar

1 lg. egg

1 Tabs. Orange rind, grated fine (I left this out) and added a little water instead

1 Tabs. orange liqueur or juice (I also left this out)

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

grated nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar til light. Stir in egg, grated rind and orange liqueur in using or water.

Now mix the salt and nutmeg with flour and mix into butter mixture. Knead dough for a min. on an unfloured surface and chill for 20 mins. (I wrapped it in wax paper). Then follow directions for molding cookies and bake in a 350 degree oven until edges are a little brown, don't over cook them.

Directions for molding are on the website linked above. Basically you need to brush the molds with a tiny bit of oil and wipe off any excess then put lots of flour in them. Press dough into mold and unmold onto a cookie sheet. If it breaks or sticks start over with more flour. I found I got the knack of it quickly. The first one I had to do over. They really just fell our if there was enough flour.

Herb Tea Blend

I made an herb tea blend for my dd. She didn't like the ones with Chamomile in them and so I tried a multi blend from the tea garden book I have. It's equal parts of

• lemon balm


• rosemary


• mint


• lavender


• cloves

I added some dried rose for color and some star anise because she likes that anise taste. I crushed the spices. You can do it in a coffee or spice grinder or just put them in a plastic bag and take a hammer or meat pounder to it. You don't want them totally crushed to a powder, just crushed up a bit. The star anise seems harder and takes more grinding. I'm learning to play with these combos until I get a flavor I like. I like mint but some people don't. Too much lavender or rose can taste soapy. I'm surprised I like the taste of the cloves. I thought it would be too strong. I've given up on the Chai for now. I couldn't get it to taste the way I wanted.

Rosemary Maple Glazed Nuts

I found this recipe at Food in Jars and it's a good one. The only change I made was to substitute smoked chili powder for the cayenne at my dd's suggestions. It's spicy, but not too hot. I used peanuts and pecans, but any nut would be good. These are going to be a gift for my sil.

I cut the recipe in 1/2-

2 1/2 c. of raw nuts

2 tabs. butter

2 tabs. real maple syrup

1 tabs. crushed dried rosemary

1/2 tsp. smoked chili powder

1 tsp. crunchy salt

In a large skillet toast the nuts over med. heat, stirring frequently so they don't burn.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and maple syrup together. Once melted, add rosemary and chili powder.

When the nuts are toasted, pour butter mixture over the nuts and toss to coat.

Spread the glazed nuts out on a silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet and roast in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 mins.

When you take the nuts out of the oven, sprinkle the alt over them.

For original recipe see link at top.

Quiche in a Bag and Pumkin Custard

I baked off one of the quiche's I had frozen here. I was out of eggs and didn't want to go to the groc. store. The problem I have with quiche is that they can be watery, but it tasted great anyway. It was nice to be able to pop it in the oven. I took it out of the freezer the day before. My dd gave me the idea of freezing my pumpkin custard, she freezes her pumpkin pie filling and the pumpkin pudding custard is very similar to pie filling. So I'm going to take some of my frozen pumpkin defrost it and make up a big batch and freeze in batches enough for pie size and individual custard cup size. I also want to make more quiche in a bag for the freezer. I'm really trying not to spend money at the groc. store, knowing I will have to spend extra on special meals coming up this month. Hoping I can still stay within my food budget. The freezer is really helping me stay away from the groc. store.

Pumpkin Custard

2 cups pumpkin
liquid Stevia equivilent to 1/2 c. granulated Splenda ( I think you could just use sugar)
1 tabs. molasses
2 eggs
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ginger

Combine in a large bowl. Freeze in freezer bag. To use defrost and pour into large buttered pie pan. Bake 350, 45-55 mins. til knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

My dd and I worked on this recipe today. She suggested I leave out the water and try half the cream. I tried the recip with her suggestions and again with the full amount of cream and didn't see much difference. The one with less cream was a bit stronger in taste, in a good way. She also suggested I use a 300 oven and cook in a water bath. It may take longer to cook. I did 2-1 cup custard cups and it took 55 mins.

The orginal recipe comes from Linda's Low Carb
Linda

St. Nicholas Chicken Salad

I took a recipe from the old Victoria books and tweeked it for my dd's St. Nicholas tea.

1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. mayo
1 T dijon
3/4 tsp. curry powder
Salt to taste
1/4 c. finely diced apple
2 c. shredded cooked chicken
1/4 c. finely diced celery
2 T. minced scallion
1/4 c. toasted slived almonds
1 tsp. orange zest
2 T. orange juice

Mix first 4 ingredients for the dressing together. Then mix the rest of the ingredients and add the dressing.

Steven Smith Teas

I wanted to do put down my opinion of these teas as I taste them. I'm going to add to this post as I taste the different teas.

1. Brahmin's Choice-from label-A sophisticated blend of full bodied, rich and malty Indian Assam teas, paired with succulent Ceylong Dimbulla, intense and floral Ceylon Uva and a touch of smoky China Keemun from Anhui. A breakfast tea can be used with milk.

What I thought. Well my tea palate is not that good yet. I hope to educate it. First I made it too strong and it made me kind of sick. Then I made it weaker and I liked it, but it tasted a lot like Lipton to me. It must be the type of teas. I like my Irish Breakfast tea better for breakfast, so I wouldn't buy this.