eat make read

It’s no secret that I love mexican food, so when my friend Jillian sent me this recipe a while ago I kept it bookmarked for the perfect occasion. She visited me this weekend and I thought there’d be no better time to try it out.

I collected all my ingredients over the weekend, modifying the recipe slighty by getting smaller tomatoes and fewer peppers, then stuck them all in the fridge until Sunday morning. After a nice leisurely start to the day, I started prepping to make the salsa. I soon realized that this wasn’t going to be a quick and easy brunch. After chopping up the tomatoes, peppers and onions, then adding a few spices, I popped the whole thing in the oven for 40 minutes. Once my timer went off, I took my salsa out and let it cool, then I prepared some tortillas to go in the oven to get a quick crispiness. After the salsa cooled a little bit, I tossed it in the food processor.

Then things got a little tricky. The recipe says to make wells in the salsa and then crack the eggs into the them. I don’t think I used enough tomatoes to produce the proper amount of salsa, because my wells were quite shallow. When I cracked my eggs into them, they kind of ran over the all the salsa. I just went with it and let the eggs cook until the whites looked opaque. I then split the mixture into 3 parts and topped each tortilla with an egg surrounded by salsa.

I was a little nervous that this wasn’t going to turn out. It had taken a long time to make and the eggs gave me problems, but when I took the first bite I was super relieved. It was fantastic. I think it was the first egg dish I’ve made that tasted restaurant quality. The salsa was very well rounded and complemented the eggs perfectly. I also loved placing it on top of a crispy tortilla because it not only gave the dish a little crunch, but made it a little more finger friendly. The downside of this recipe is that it takes about an hour or so to make and dirties a lot of dishes. That being said, I’d definitely make this dish again, but I think next time I’ll make more salsa so I can save some for the next time. Delicious!

huevos rancheros
based on this recipe, originally from America’s Test Kitchen

Salsa
2 cups cherry tomatoes,  cored and halved
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and halved
1/2 onion, peeled and cut into wedges
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt and pepper

tortillas
4 flour tortillas
olive oil
salt

4 eggs

1
For the Salsa: Toss the first 8 ingredients together in mixing bowl, then spread out onto a baking pan and roast in preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.
2
Take out the roasting vegetables for the salsa and let cool for 10 minutes.
3
Raise temperature in oven to 450 degrees.
4
For the Tortillas: brush both sides of the tortillas with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on baking pan and cook in oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Flip over and cook 2-3 minutes more.
5
Continue the salsa: 1st pulse onions and peppers in food processor for 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes and pulse an additional 10 seconds. Add cilantro and lime juice.
6
For the eggs: Heat salsa in frying pan to simmer then turn off heat. Make 4 wells in the salsa crack the eggs into them (or first crack each egg into a bowl to be sure not to get any shells into the salsa). Season each egg with salt and pepper and heat on medium low 3-4 minutes for runny eggs or 5-7 minutes for well done eggs.
7
Place tortilla on plate, top with egg and salsa. Eat up!

My lovely husband has been hard at work designing a new typeface and I kind of fell in love with it. Lucky for me, he designed the letters for my masthead before any others… woohoo! I thought while I was at it I’d jazz up the colors a bit for a more wintry feel.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Thanks Aaron!

One of the great things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers. The only thing is, I don’t necessarily want turkey and mashed potatoes over and over again. So I set out to create a super delicious meal that takes care of most of the leftovers in one shot and is something totally different. That’s how I created leftover pie, my own little take on shepherd’s pie.

It’s super delicious and only requires a few new ingredients. It’s basically a mash up of turkey, stuffing, a veggie (I used edamame), and an onion all topped off with leftover mashed potatoes. Give it some time in the oven and you’ve got yourself a simple and tasty meal that everyone will love.

leftover pie

1 onion, chopped
2 cups leftover turkey
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup turkey or chicken stock
1 cup leftover stuffing
1/2 cup peas or edamame
2 cups mashed potatoes

How I love you! I saw this recipe for garnet yams with blis maple syrup and maple sugar struesel in bon appetit and I immediately bookmarked it. oh my goodness.. sweet potatoes, maple syrup, struesel, it’s like a match made in heaven.

But then I got nervous. What if I screwed it up and then we’d be without sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving? I didn’t have the specific syrup or maple sugar that the recipe called for… such a dilemma! But you know what, I sucked it up and started slicing. I carefully lined a baking pan with four layers of sweet potatoes and started preparing a maple syrup mixture to pour over top. Once I’d prepared that I made the struesel. Even though I didn’t have the maple sugar, I improvised and mixed a little raw sugar with some maple syrup. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Chaos kind of erupted during the making of Thanksgiving dinner and I ended up using the broiler to bake the sweet potatoes. Once I’d removed the turkey from my pint-sized oven, I added the streusel topping to the sweet potatoes and popped the whole thing in the oven. Once I had everything on the table and Aaron had prepared a plate for me, one of the first things I tried was the sweet potatoes. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

If you couldn’t tell, these potatoes rocked my world. They were perfectly tender and fill of flavor, but not toothache sweet. Oh and the streusel, sweet, sweet struesel. It added the perfect crunchy contrast to the soft sweet potatoes.

Once you recover from Thanksgiving, run out and buy yourself some sweet potatoes and maple syrup and make this recipe!

garnet yams with blis maple syrup and maple sugar struesel

Yams:
3 1/2 pounds slender garnet yams or other yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes; about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)
1/4 cup Blis maple syrup or other pure maple syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Streusel:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup maple sugar ( I used 1/2 cup raw sugar + 1 teaspoon maple syrup)
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For yams:
Butter 13×9x2-inch glass baking dish. Peel yams; cut 1 inch off ends. Coarsely grate enough of yam ends to measure 1/2 cup; set aside for streusel. Discard remaining ends. Cut remaining whole yams into 1/3-inch-thick rounds. Arrange yam rounds in 4 overlapping lengthwise rows in prepared baking dish.

Bring 1/2 cup water, maple syrup, butter, and cider vinegar to boil in small saucepan. Stir in 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Pour maple syrup mixture over yams. Cover baking dish tightly with foil.

For streusel:
Mix first 4 ingredients in small bowl. Add melted butter and rub in with fingertips until moist clumps form. Mix in reserved 1/2 cup grated yams. DO AHEAD: Yams and streusel can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate. Let yams stand at room temperature 1 hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake yams covered until almost tender, about 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400°F. Sprinkle streusel over and bake uncovered until yams are very tender and streusel is golden and slightly crisp, about 35 minutes longer. Serve warm.

Cranberry sauce has never been my thing. I thought perhaps this recipe for cranberry, pomegranate & meyer lemon relish could change my view on traditional cranberry sauce. It was so alluring with the fancy ingredients like pomegranate juice and meyer lemons, but I have to admit, even after making this, cranberries just still aren’t my thing.

That’s not to say this isn’t a good recipe. I think it’s a pretty tasty recipe actually. I’m just not a fan of cranberries. They’re just a little tart for my taste. But I do think this recipe jazzes them up nicely with just a touch of lemony goodness and a nice soaking in pomegranate juice. It might just float your boat.

cranberry, pomegranate & meyer lemon relish

Woohoo! Today is my birthday and I thought I’d share some of my favorite ways to celebrate.

margaritas are a must

cheese makes everything better

cupcakes never hurt

cheers!

If you ask me, Thanksgiving just isn’t right without a good basket of biscuits. These biscuits made me salivate the second I read about them in November’s issue of Bon Appetit and they sounded like the perfect accompaniment to my Thanksgiving spread.

This weekend I decided to test them out by making half a batch. I know I say this a lot, but these were really simple to make, especially if you use my tried and true “roll and slice” method of making biscuits. Instead of rolling out the dough and using a biscuit cutter, simply roll the dough into a log and cut 1/2 inch slices from it and you’ve got yourself the easiest dang biscuits and no wasted dough.

Once they’d baked for the specified time, I broke one if half and took a bite. It’s hard not to like a biscuit and these were certainly delicious. The green onion really gave them a ton of flavor and the salt kind of danced on your tongue. Next time I make them I’ll add a little more pepper because I think it got a little lost among the onions. Easy and delicious, the perfect combo for Thanksgiving.

buttermilk biscuits with green onions, black pepper & sea salt
from bon appetit

3/4 cup chilled buttermilk
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper plus additional for sprinkling
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 1 tablespoon melted butter
Coarse sea salt

1

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F.
2
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
3
Combine buttermilk and green onions in medium bowl.
4
Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper in large bowl to blend.
5
Add 1/2 cup chilled butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk mixture and stir until moist clumps form.
6
Gather dough together. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead gently just to combine, about 3 to 4 turns.
7
Roll into a 2-3 inch wide log and slice into 1/2 inch slices.
8
Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter. Sprinkle each lightly with coarse sea salt and ground black pepper.
9
Bake biscuits until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

When I saw these cookies on smitten kitchen last week I just had to make them. I have a major soft spot for anything toffee, then add a little sea salt and I’m sold. This weekend I finally got the time to try them out and oh boy, they did not disappoint!

I have to say, these puppies are not for the diet conscious! With five toffee bars and a whole lot of chocolate, even I was thinking twice about making them. But I persevered and started the process of making them. Once I’d melted the chocolate, chopped the toffee and prepared the dough, I put it in the refrigerator to chill for a while. After about an hour in the fridge, the dough was still softer than I thought it should be. This is when I started to get a little worried. I popped it in the freezer for about 20 minutes thinking it might speed things up, but still even after that the dough was pretty soft. I was short on time, so I decided to just go for it and scooped the dough onto two baking sheets.

I put the cookies in the oven, totally expecting them to become runny disasters by the time I pulled them out. When I opened the oven door half way through, the cookies looked beautiful. I couldn’t believe it! I sprinkled a little sea salt over top and let them bake for a few more minutes. When I pulled them out they were rich with scents of chocolate and toffee and beautifully crackled on top. Once I let them cool and took a bite it was pure delight! The cookies had a lovely crisp outer edge and were softer in the middle. Pair that with bits of toffee interspersed in each bite and it’s a little piece of heaven.

Try them! You won’t be disappointed!

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Friday came around quicker than ever this week! I think I’ve finally chosen all my recipes, which means my shopping list has been written. I think it’s going to be a long walk home carrying all those groceries.. yikes! I didn’t prepare a happy hour, but I have been thinking about it.

I always like to make mulled cider when it get so cold out. I usually have a little rum on hand to make it extra warm, but a friend recently mentioned St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram and I immediately thought of cider. Mmmm, I can almost taste it now! If I had been even more prepared I could have made my own… maybe next time.

Have a great weekend! If you’re going out shopping, remember to take deep breaths and enjoy it! Cheers!

images from bon appetit

I haven’t totally set my Thanksgiving Day menu, but after flipping through this month’s Bon Appetit these are high on my list.

buttermilk buscuits with green onions, black pepper & sea salt

garnet yams with blis maple syrup and maple-sugar streusel

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?