Saturday, November 27, 2010

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Gluten Free Crustless Pumpkin Pie
adapted from the site userealbutter.com

This was like pumpkin flavored creme brûlée. So rich and yummy! Brad used our creme brûlée ramekins (about 3x5 inch ovals) for this recipe and they worked perfectly.

The Cinderella Pumpkin or ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ is a beautiful French heirloom pumpkin. It first became available in the U.S. in 1883. It is a dark orange pumpkin with pronounced ribs and is quite flat. Some have likened it to a wheel of cheese.

Halve (from top to bottom) the pumpkin. Scoop out seeds. Place cut sides down in a rimmed baking sheet with 1/2 in. water. Bake on 325 for about one hour until a knife slides into the pumpkin easily. Cool. Scoop pumpkin flesh into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Freeze whatever you don't use in a ziplock bag.

15 oz. PURE pumpkin (please don't use canned!)
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
1 T brandy
3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 t fresh ginger, grated
1 t freshly ground cinnamon
1/2 t table salt
1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 t freshly ground black pepper
pinch of freshly ground cloves

cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 T packed light brown sugar
1 t ground ginger (freshly grated is good)
1 t brandy

Heat oven to 325°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, egg yolk, cream, and brandy.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, slat, nutmeg, pepper, and cloves.

Whisk the sugar mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Divide the filling among 6 ramekins. Create a water bath by placing the ramekins in a baking sheet with sides. Place the baking sheet in the oven, fill the baking sheet with water, half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake until center is slightly jiggly and wet, 60-70 minutes. Let the ramekins cool completely on a wire rack and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Whipped Cream:

Whip the cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks (2 minutes).

Add the sugar, ginger, and brandy and continue to whip until medium-firm peaks, about 30 seconds more. Serve with pumpkin pie.

Makes 6 ramekins.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Julia's Decadent Rocky Road Ice Cream

My new favorite homemade ice cream!

I've been making ice cream for about a year now and always use recipes. Last night I tried something new and it was YUMMY. I've made goat milk ice cream (I can't eat cow dairy) and I've made coconut milk ice cream but never mixed them together until last night.

So here is the recipe for Julia's Decadent Rocky Road Ice Cream!

Ganache:
1/4 cup milk (soy, cow, goat--rice didn't work well)
2 T real maple syrup
3 oz Chocolove Milk Chocolate bar, broken Into pieces
1 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Bring milk to a gentle boil over medium heat. Take off heat and add maple syrup, chocolate bar, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder, whisk until smooth and let cool.

Ice cream:
14 oz can of whole coconut milk (don't refrigerate, it turns into a solid)
14 oz whole milk (I use raw goat milk)
1/2 cup agave
1 cup mini marshmallows, or if you're like me, a couple of handfuls, whatever looks about right

In a medium bowl whisk coconut milk, whole milk, agave. Pour into ice-cream maker, turn on and add chocolate ganache, then follow directions, mine takes 25 minutes until done. Half way through cycle pour in mini marshmallows.

Top with any or all: more mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, nuts, chocolate syrup, Brad likes raisins too. I've tried adding the nuts to the ice cream maker but after a few days in the freezer the nuts get kind of chewy. You could also make extra chocolate ganache and use it as a topping. Store that in the fridge, microwave some of it for a few seconds and pour it on. Decadent Rocky Road---mmm---happiness :-)

Stuffing

Stuffing
adapted from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef

2 loaves gluten-free bread, diced into one-inch cubes, toasted and cooled (I used Udi's)
5 large ribs celery, medium diced
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
2 T olive oil
2 T goat butter
2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
1 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped, or 1 t. dried
1 T fresh thyme, finely chopped, or 1 t. dried
1 T fresh sage, finely chopped, or 1 t. dried
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper


Sautee the onion and celery in olive oil and butter on medium heat until they are translucent.

Add the garlic, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Stir these in and cook until you can smell the herbs, about one to two minutes. Remove from heat.

Bring the chicken stock to boil on high heat. Place the egg yolk in a small bowl and carefully ladle two to three ounces of the chicken stock to the egg yolk, slowly, while whisking the mixture. Add the rest of the egg to the chicken stock at this. Ladling a small portion of the stock into the egg first, and blending it, will prevent you from having scrambled eggs.)

Add the celery, onion, and herbs mixture into the stock and egg mixture. Toss the bread cubes into this mixture and stir it all around with a spoon, to coat the bread. Add the salt and pepper and toss the bread again. Place all of this into an ungreased 9x13 dish (mine is a 10x14) and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake for twenty minutes at 425°, then remove the foil and bake for another ten minutes.

Serves 6-8

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 t. sugar
4 T goat butter plus 1 stick goat butter (leave out to soften while potatoes boil)
5 lbs Russet potatoes, cut in 1/2 in cubes rinsed well in water and drained
1 3/4 c cold whole goat milk
3/4 t salt
1/2 c to 1 c grated goat or sheep cheese. Goat gouda is really good.

Melt 4 T goat butter in dutch oven over medium heat. Add minced garlic and 1 t. sugar. Cook until straw colored and sticky 3-4 minutes.

Pour in 1 3/4 cups cold whole goat milk. Add 3/4 t. salt.

Pour potatoes in and toss. Turn heat up and watch for a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer potatoes for 25-30 minutes. Toss every few minutes to make sure potatoes cook evenly.

When potatoes are done, take off heat and add a stick of goat butter.
Add 1/2 c to 1 c of grated goat or sheep cheese if you'd like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Using a masher or a hand held mixer, mix until creamy. Add more goat milk if necessary.

Barded Turkey

Barded Turkey

In all the years of cooking turkeys, this is BY FAR the best we've ever eaten!  We saw this on the TV show Cook's Country.

When meat is wrapped in strips of fat while it cooks, the practice is called barding.
The result is a rich, flavorful cut of meat which is also moist and tender.

Ingredients:
•12-14 lb turkey
•1 lb salt pork (not bacon, unless you're looking for a smoked turkey flavor)
•9 foot square piece of cheese cloth (3ftx3ft), folded in half and then half again so it's about 18in x 18in
•V- rack
•Meat thermometer

Turn oven to 325 (any higher and the salt pork will smoke and give the turkey an off flavor)

If you don't have a wire holding legs together then tie with kitchen twine
Remove automatic turkey timer


Cut salt pork into 1/4 inch slabs
Poke all over turkey breast and legs with fork
Cover breast and legs with salt pork slabs
Wet cheese cloth in 1 quart of water
Lay cheese cloth over turkey/salt pork to hold it all in place
Fold cheese cloth back to expose cavity of turkey
Pour the rest of the quart of water all over cheese cloth
Cover the cheese cloth area with foil, tight to pan, leave cavity exposed

325 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until the turkey reaches 140 degrees in the breast meat
Take foil, cheese cloth, salt port and throw away
Back in the oven at 425 for 40-60 min until turkey is 165 in the breast meat and the skin is a beautiful crispy golden brown.

Rest for 20-30 minutes