Recipes

Life, Pastry, Pistol Whipped Pastry, Recipes, Snacks

Oat Protein Balls

The kitchen right before the movers arrived and loaded it up with boxes.

I am working on a post about our new house, I promise. We are unfortunately still drowning in boxes. Some things are easier to unpack, while others it takes a little living in the house to find their spot. Also, have you ever tried to unpack boxes with a teething, crawling one-year old, who only wants mama to hold her? It should be an olympic sport.

Watching the storms roll in.

Today I am waiting around the house for an oven repair person that the superintendent of the job site supposedly called. I’m not holding my breathe after I texted him this morning to inquire what time frame they may show up in, and he told me to let him know if they don’t show up because they notoriously won’t show up for appointments. ::eye roll:: To say I’m annoyed would be an understatement. I’ve talked with a couple other neighbors, and apparently they have had the same problem, plus the superintendent himself told me they have been having this problem. A brand new house, and no oven for the first month of living in it. Absurd.

Yesterday was a blah day for us all around the house. I don’t know if it’s all the boxes or just the stormy day, but we didn’t want to do much. Usually I would bake, but oven woes prevented that, so I concocted instead.

I tried to create these protein balls last week, and they didn’t turn out the way I wanted. They were way too crumbly, need a little kick up to the sweetness…they just needed more. I went back to the drawing board. I’m happy to say the modifications I made yesterday were a winner, though I’m already planning another version in my head.

These are great for anyone trying to watch what they are eating and want a little sweet treat, but also they are fantastic for nursing mamas. I have tasted some of the lactation treats for nursing mamas…disgusting (for those not in the know, oats are great for helping you make milk, and yes we worry about these things, because we basically worry about everything now that we are moms).

Oat protein balls (a horrible name, I agree) are a perfect treat for anyone. Mr. PC took them with him to work this morning and now I have 1 left. Bummer. Time to make another version, and unpack some more boxes.

Print Recipe
 Oat Protein Balls
Perfect sweet treat, especially for breastfeeding mama's. Copyright Croissant In The City, 2017
Course Snack
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Course Snack
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 hours
Servings
pieces
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Grease a baking dish or pan.
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
  3. Mix to evenly distribute.
  4. Add wet ingredients and mix until combine.
  5. Scoop with ice cream scoop or TBSP to portion evenly, then roll with your hands. Place in the baking pan and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until firm.
  6. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let me know how long they last. In our house, they last about 24 hours.
Recipe Notes

Just a couple notes for you!

  • I used a dark roasted peanut butter and I love the depth of flavor it adds, but feel free to use what you have and/or what you like.
  • Guittard are my favorite chocolate chips, and you can now find them at Fry's and Sprouts.
  • Don't feel like you have to use the same add-in's that I used. I love hemp seeds because they are a great plant based protein. We use them daily in our smoothies. If you don't want to invest in a package of them for this recipe, sub in something else. Chopped or ground nuts perhaps or flaxseed meal.
  • If you are concerned about the digestibility of raw oats, you can always sub sprouted oats. I have also toasted the oats in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 325 (this doesn't really assist in digestibility, it's more to enhance flavor). For my purpose of this snack, to support lactation, raw oats seem to work better for me.
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Bits and Bobbles, Food Love, Life, Photography, Pistol Whipped Pastry, Recipes, Snacks, Wine

The Great Granola Bar Shipment

GranolaBars

 

It’s been a crazy week. We made, hand cut, wrapped, and labeled 6,300 granola bar samples. I am ever the optimist when putting together a project, but unfortunately, I grossly miscalculated how much time it would take to put this project together. Luckily, I have some amazing friends and a fantastic husband who all pitched in to help get the job done.

As we placed the last label and packed the last box, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. I reveled in crossing the finish line by our new fire pit with a glass of wine, caramelized onion chicken breast, sautéed kale, fingerling potatoes and Mr. PC, before allowing the flood of new tasks lining up for this current week to infiltrate my mind.

GranolaBarsPacked

This is by far the largest order we have had, and yet when we are bogged down, we stray more to meals that are simple and fast. Usually a quick pop into a favorite restaurant or a jar of my family’s sauce that I’ve stocked up in the freezer tossed with some pasta and maybe a little protein and parm.

However, once we had finished, we turned our minds towards food. I wanted to sleep, and yet jump into my home kitchen and start making meals again. Meals I could linger over while sipping wine, nibbling on bits of veg while I chopped and tossed onto the pan for roasting.

PreppingAlmonds

In the interim, until I could get dinner on the table, we need something to snack on with our wine (for me) and bourbon – High West – with an ice sphere (for Mr. PC). Behold, a bulk bag of raw almonds and a garden lush with fresh rosemary. Massaged with a little olive oil, sprinkled with Maldon sea salt, and roasted till toasty. The perfect fireside snack, it is silly simple, but it was such a perfect nibble.

I love insanely thoughtful, simple, and delicious bar food, and these nuts are exactly what I want to graze on while have a leisurely drink by the fire with my hubs.

RosemaryRoastedAlmonds

Now, all I want to do is read the box of cookbooks that arrived on my doorstep in the middle of the great granola bar shipment, while eating roasted almonds.

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Salted Rosemary Roasted Almonds

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

1 1/2 # Almonds, Raw & Whole
2 TBSP. Olive Oil
3 Sprigs Rosemary, Fresh
Maldon Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place almonds on a parchment lined sheet pan. Massage olive oil and rosemary (remove the leaves from the stem by holding the top in one hand and sliding your hand down the stem with the other hand) into almonds, coating all throughly. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Roast for 10 minutes, pushing nuts around, and rotating pan. Then roast for another 5-10 minutes, until slightly darker and slightly golden inside.

Remove and cool. Pile into a bowl and serve warm with your cocktail or adult beverage of choice.

 

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Breakfast, Life, Recipes

Soaked Oats

SoakedOatsFinished

 

My husband, Mr. PC, came home from work and announced that he would be participating in a lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks competition at work. I’ll admit that my first thought was “ughhhhhhhh!” We do really need to up our fitness game (from non-existent to actually doing some sort of physical activity), but honestly, like most people, we often find it challenging to find the time with our busy schedules.

Plus, we love good food, cocktails and wine, and often treat meals like great events, eating to our hearts content. The eating out or quick meals during the fast pace of the week often catch up to us with a snugging of our pants.

I love trying out new (or new to me) ideas that I feel will make my life a little healthier and a little easier. Enter this concept of soaked oats. I’ve been reading a lot about sprouting and soaking grains to make them more digestible, which also allows for the nutrients to be better absorbed by the body. I’ve heard a lot about overnight soaking of oats (hello muesli) and have always wondered if soaked oats taste better than the regular cooked version. Answer: yes!

However, I am not into eating them cold. I just can’t get around the texture and temp combo. So, I do reheat my oats. I love that it makes a hearty, re-heatable breakfast that can be easily transported, and doesn’t have any preservatives. When I eat a breakfast like this, I don’t find myself snacking as much during the day.

I make a batch at the beginning of the week, stored in mason jars in the fridge, they are easy to pull for breakfast on the go (for me), or for Mr. PC to take to work.

I soak the oats overnight with water and organic (no-sugar added) apple juice. Reheated in the morning with a couple splashes of milk, then portioned out into jars, and stored in fridge. I reheat my oats each mornings with a bit more milk (use homemade almond milk, which is amazing), add in a touch of brown sugar or some homemade jam, nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, a bit of quinoa leftover from dinner, coconut milk…options are endless.

Perhaps this will help until I can get back on that running regime.

Oats after soaking for 6 hours.
Oats after soaking for 6 hours.
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Soaked Oats

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

2 cups Apple Juice, Organic & No-Sugar Added
2 cups Water, Filtered
2 cups Rolled Oats, Organic (and if needed Gluten Free)
A pinch of Salt
1/4 - 1/2 cup Whole Milk, Organic (or Homemade Almond Milk)

If desired, you can add a multitude of items, here are some that we often add-in.
3 TBSP Wheat Bran (omit if Gluten Free)
1 tsp. Cinnamon, Ground
Handful of Cashews or Walnuts, Chopped
Handful of Dried Cherries or Dried Cranberries
Nut Butters
Hemp Seeds
Homemade Jam
Honey
Brown Sugar
Leftover Quinoa (I know this sounds odd, but with some raisins and a splash of milk, it's delicious!)

Directions:

In a large pot, bring water, apple juice and pinch of salt to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in oats. Cover and allow to sit overnight. (I don't refrigerate mine, but if it freaks you out to leave it at room temp, you can refrigerate.)

The next morning, heat up the oaks with 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk (or almond milk) (You can also, just portion into jars, and not reheat - this is how they are traditionally eaten, but I am not a fan of the texture/temp combination). Portion into containers (we use glass canning jars with the plastic BPA free lids) and stir in extras. Store in the fridge. Eat cold or reheat.

 

I store our oats in glass mason jars, ready to grab and go.
I store our oats in glass mason jars, ready to grab and go.

 

Rachel Ellrich Miller is a pastry chef and food writer in Phoenix, where she bakes, eats, hangs out with her amazing husband, Mr. PC, and drinks copious amounts of Arizona wine. You can get more information about her pastry at http://www.pistolwhippedpastry.com, or her Sugar Rush column on Phoenix New Times Chow Bella blog.

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Bacon, Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Food Love, Lunch, Pastry, Recipes, Wine

Caramelized Onions and Quiche

I went through a phase a few years ago where I was obsessed with caramelized onions. I made them everyday to eat on thick toasted slices of bread I was testing, tossed with pasta and goat cheese, or with my morning eggs. They were sweet, charred, and with a dash of salt, perfect on just about anything. Due to some comments from friends and my sister, I am pretty sure that my house, as well as my person, were pretty pungent, but I didn’t care. I love the smell. It was comforting to come home and have the scent of onion perfuming the air.

caramelizedonions
Finished, caramelized onions.

Working as a pastry chef can be challenging at times, to keep your creativity fresh. I read everything I can get my hands on, taste the work of other chefs, travel to new towns to see what is happening in their food scene, scour the internet for new techniques and back myself against a wall, to force myself to come up with new ideas and methods.

Some days, I go back to my favorites. Hunting for new scone flavor variations the other day, I wandered around the kitchen. I scoured the walk-in, the freezer, dry storage. That is when I saw the onions. As freshly baked bacon wafted through the air, I started to piece together a new scone flavor. It is simple, but caramelized onions, bacon and cheese scones are one of my biggest sellers, so apparently others feel the familiar tug of comforting flavors too.

choppingonions
Chopped onions.

I hadn’t made caramelized onions in a long time and once I started at work, I couldn’t seem to stop. Zipping to the market after work, I filled my basket with onions and headed home to continue my caramelized project.

Pale onions, on their way to being caramelized.
Pale onions, on their way to being caramelized.

One of my favorite ways to eat caramelized onions is in quiche. Silky custard of eggs and milk, flaky pie crust and all the little bits and pieces you have left over in the fridge, tossed into the mix. I keep a pie crust rolled out in a pie plate in the freezer at all times. It is my quickie dinner when I just don’t feel like assembling a full meal. I mix up the egg and milk (or cream if you are feeling dangerous), toss in the bits and bobbles I can find. Pop it in the oven for about 45 min-1 hour. While it bakes, I toss together a small salad, and pour glasses of wine. It’s simple, like the caramelized onions, but it’s comfortable.

finishedquiche

As Mr. Paul Child walked in the door, mid-caramelized onion sautéing on the stove, the first words out of his mouth were “Ohhhh! What smells so good in here?” I knew I was marrying the right man.

dinner

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Caramelized Onions and Quiche

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

For the Caramelized Onions:
2 large onions (any variety that you like)
A couple tbsp good olive oil
A pinch of salt

For the Quiche:
Pie crust in a 9.5" or 10" pie plate; chill very well (or keep in the freezer like I do)
7-8 eggs
1/2 cup milk (you can also use all cream or half milk, half cream)
Various odds and ends (I used zucchini, red pepper, teleme cheese, caramelized onions and bacon)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

For the caramelized onions:
Heat a sautee pan over medium heat. Pour in a couple tablespoons of good olive oil. You want to keep the onions from sticking to the pan, you do not want your onions drowning in oil. Toss in your onions. This process will take a bit, so be patient. Allow the onions to sweat, stir occasionally. The onions will start to color. When they do, try not to move them around too much. You do want to move the onions, to allow the color to cover all the onions, but you also want them to color, and moving them around a lot will not allow them to get nice and caramelized. If you like a paler caramelization, take them off at your preference.

Quiche:
Whisk egg and milk together. Toss all your odds and ends in the frozen pie crust. Pour your egg mixture over.Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for 45minutes to an hour. Basically, it should not be jiggly in the middle and golden brown on top. I always end up covering the top with aluminum foil near the end, to keep the top from over browning.

Serve with side salad and a glass of Arizona Sand Reckoner white for a perfect summer evening.

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Dinner, Farm Life, Recipes, Side Dish, Veggies

It’s a Farm Life For Me

Moving to a small town again, wasn’t exactly in my plans. I guess when I pictured life in a small town in my future, I assumed it would be Cornville, AZ or Jerome, AZ where I would be surrounded by amazing wine, and easily be able to get down to Phoenix to see my friends and family, for dinners and drinks in my favorite restaurants. Enter, love of my life, Mr. Paul Child, and off I go packing up my cookbooks and knives, into my FJ, and accept a job as an executive chef for a farm bakery in Yuma, AZ.

I grew up on 60 acres of land and went to college at a school that was built by farmers and known for a long time, for it’s agriculture. Apparently, living in a city has become ingrained in me, because the moment I see a combine driving down the road, on my commute to work, I started laughing. The third day it happened, I started to get pissed, trying to get around it. Now, it’s a common day annoyance.

This is a massive change in my life and exciting development in my career, all rolled into one. It thrills me that my job includes being able to order seeds for the fields and watch the guys lay the irrigation lines for the pumpkin patch (see photo above), knowing that soon I will pull them from the fields and turn them into delicious edibles. It’s a dream gig for a chef to have a field of produce at their fingertips, and now it has happened to me!

Mr. Paul Child no longer has to listen to me proclaim my love for chickens and how convenient it would be for me to be able to retrieve eggs for cooking from a coop, if I had one. The shabby chic coop will house 50 hens and is made from all up-cycled materials from the farm and the vintage shop. It’s going to have a chandelier and a guest book for kids to leave the chickens messages.

Part of what we are trying to do at the farm is to feed people good food. In a world where store bought bread doesn’t mold for a month or longer, we are going to be offering breads to our customers. I’m in love with breads, and the simplicity of the ingredients, that must be manipulated by a skilled hand, to create a rustic, beautiful product. This is how they made breads for centuries before we got the cockamamie idea to commercialize the process. Our breads will be made by hand, specifically, my hands.

I am missing Phoenix and all my friends and family there. I’ve been trying to create really healthy habits for myself and just be kind to myself. While I’m working every day getting everything in line for the opening of the farm bakery, a couple weekends ago, I zipped over to San Diego for the Color Me Rad, color run. If you haven’t done one of these 5K’s, it’s amazing. A sea of people in white arrive, a sea of people colored by pink, purple, blue, green, and yellow cornstarch leave. It’s renewed my desire to get my butt into shape so that I can run a half marathon at some point.

I made my first solo pot of my mom’s (passed down to her from my grandma) sauce. Waking up to the smell of onions and garlic being sautéed, is home for me. Letting the scent permeate the house, so that leaving and coming back, it smells like my parents house…happiness. I think I needed the reminder, since I’m missing my family.

And now, a new recipe for you. I’m sure I’ve seen a recipe like it somewhere before. Have you ever craved a recipe you’ve never had? That’s how this was for me. I was hungry for it, and I had to create the recipe from the taste I dreamed of in my head. I just knew I wanted veggies, herbs de provence and some crunch.

Mr. Paul Child likes veggies, but doesn’t love them like I do. I could eat roasted veg for dinner every night, but I’m pretty sure he would view that as torture. I have to come up with different ways to get him to eat veg, hence this recipe. Yeah, there’s some parm and breadcrumbs (panko) on there, but it’s a light sprinkle, and in the end, he’s eating veggies.

The farm I work at has a U-Pick, and I can’t wait till we get the delicious fall veg coming off the fields that I can use with this recipe.

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Roasted Veggies with Panko

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

2 small zucchini
1 small-medium eggplant
3-4 small potatoes, purple or red
olive oil
1/2 cup panko (can be found in the asian section of most grocery stores)
1/4 cup fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. herbs de provence (I use about 1 1/2 tsp. but herbs de provence is not for everyone, so start will a little less if you have never tasted it.)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub a baking dish with olive oil. I use a Le Creuset baking dish that's 10" X 6 3/4" x 1 1/2", and it works perfectly.

Mix together panko, parm, herbs de provence, salt and pepper. If you want more cheese, add more cheese. I usually do this by eye.

Thinly slice the veggies, making each slice close to the same thickness. I cut the eggplant in half length-wise and then slice them from each half.

Toss the veggies with olive oil. Start with one veggie type and line them standing up down the shorter side of the pan. Sprinkle with panko mixture. Line with the second veggie type. Sprinkle with panko mixture. I think you get the point. Once layered, I sprinkle any remaining panko mixture on the top and drizzle the little drizzle of olive oil that's left in the veggie bowls, over the top. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes to bake. After 30 minutes, my oven doesn't get it nice and browned, so I turn on the broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the cheese and panko topping.

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Recipes

Bean & Bacon Soup with Rosemary-Gruyère Crostini

What kind of soup did you eat as a kid? I can remember the red and white Campbell’s Soup cans of tomato, chicken noodle and bean & bacon. My brother and I would roll in from some hard playtime in a foot of freshly fallen snow, and a good amount of icicle eating, to hot bowls of soup and Saltine crackers.

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I gave up icicle eating long ago (eww, rain gutter water!), plus there’s no snow here in Arizona, but when I do come in from a cold, strenuous hike, I need some soup to sooth my achy muscles.

(more…)

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Desserts, Food Love, Recipes

Christmas Cookie Exchange

I feel like Christmas cookies fall into the category of spaghetti sauce or stuffing at Thanksgiving…your mom (or grandma) makes the best, no contest. We all grew up eating specific cookies, that if they weren’t there, it just wouldn’t be Christmas. I love those cookies and the stories that go with them. One of the best Christmas presents I ever received were a batch of cookies and the recipe from my friend Jenn. When I saw the Great Food Blogger Cookie Exchange, I knew I wanted to be apart of the cookie love, share some recipes and stories.

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The last couple years, my mom and I have been tweaking old recipes (my one grandma only ever used Crisco in cookies…YUCK!) and adding some new favorites to our cookie plate. My latest addition are these cookies, that I’ve been thinking about for a while now. A combination of two of my favorite flavors, pistachio and marmalade. The cookie is a buttery shortbread-esque cookie, cut like a linzer cookie and filled with a sweet, yet slightly bitter, clementine marmalade.

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Pistachio Shortbread with Clementine Marmalade

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

    Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

1 # Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
1 1/4 cups Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp. Almond Extract
2 each Eggs
3 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Pistachios, Ground
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Fine Sea Salt

    Clementine Marmalade

20 each Clementines
1 each Lemon
6 cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water

Directions:

    Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

With a food processor, pulse pistachios until they are finely ground, but still have some small chunks. Add them to a bowl with flour, baking powder and sea salt. Whisk all the dry together, so that they are combined.

In your mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Slightly beat the two eggs and add the almond extract to them. Add them to your butter and sugar mixture, till fully combined.

On a low speed, add flour mixture slowly until fully combined. Place in 4 small plastic ziplock bags and place in the fridge overnight or for at least 6 hours.

Once the dough is chilled, roll out on a lightly floured surface, to a little under 1/4" thick. Using your cutters, cut tops and bottoms, and if you want to do the linzer look, cut a smaller window in one of the halves of the cookies. I roll the dough one time, straight from the fridge, and then collect the scraps, chill them and then re-roll them once more. Anything after that can either be baked and eaten as scraps or thrown out. Re-rolling dough multiple times builds the gluten and make your cookies tough, so try to only do it once and then enjoy some delicious cookie scraps.

Chill each tray of cut cookies in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and then bake for 4 more minutes (Please, keep an eye on the first pan that you bake. Every oven is very different and baking times will vary. You want to bake till they are just getting a little brown on the bottom.)

Cool your cookies on racks. Assemble with clementine (or any marmalade of your choice). I use 2 teaspoons of marmalade to fill each cookie. Store in an airtight container for up to a week (mine don't last very long, so I honestly don't know if they will last longer than a week ;o) ).

    Clementine Marmalade

Halve and then thinly slice clementines and lemon. Place in a large pot with sugar and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring and allow sugar to fully dissolve. Remove from heat and cool. Place in a covered container and leave at room temperature for 8 hours (or over night).

The next day, place the mixture in a large pot and bring back up to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about an hour, stirring constantly. Most jam or marmalade recipes call for you to bring it to 220 degrees. You can most definitely use this method, but I use a different test to know if my jam/marmalade is done. Place a couple plates in the freezer at the beginning of the process. When the marmalade has thickened, the fruit has turned translucent, and you feel it is done, take a spoonful and place it on the plate in the freezer. Leave it in the freezer for 1 minute. Take the plate out and look at the marmalade. It should not run down the plate if you tilt it. You should be able to run your finger through it and have it stay (similar to a la nappe when making creme anglaise). Typically it will also form a little skin on top and wrinkle when you run your finger through it. This is when it is done.

Allow the marmalade to cool slightly and then in batches, pulse it in your food processor. I do this, so that when biting into the cookie, you get a little bit of the gooey marmalade and a little bit of the peel. I hate to bite into the cookie and have a huge strand of peel slop out.

At this point, you are able to can the marmalade (please follow canning procedures of boiling the sealed jars - if you need more information on this, please let me know) or if you are using it all for cookies, place the marmalade in a coverable container and allow to cool. Store in the fridge once it has cooled. (I also like to place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the top to prevent a skin from forming on the top, before I put the container lid on.) When you are ready to fill your cookies, take marmalade out about 20 minutes before to take the chill off and make it easier to spread.

 

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Through this process, I’ve had three boxes of delicious cookies and some amazing notes reach my doorstep or inbox. Kristina from Atlanta, GA, sent soft cake-like sour cream cookies. Missy from Portland, OR, sent me some Oregon Hazelnut Thumbprints filled with Raspberry Jam. Kate from Menifee, CA, sent sugar cookies in memory of her mother and their first Christmas without her.

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Enjoy these cookies, and please have a safe holiday!

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Recipes

Cinnamon Bourbon Pecans

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Sweater weather is here. Even in Arizona, we get enough of a chill to break out sweaters and scarves, clutch hot coffee closely and snuggle deeper into our beds. I love this time of year and all the tasty goodies it brings with it.

After spending Thanksgiving stuffing myself with food, wine and pastries galore, I need something sweet to accompany my morning coffee that won’t slather more holiday pounds onto my lovely hips. Enter cinnamon pecans.

Commonly seen in little paper cones that you eat at the hockey games. The warmth and sweetness from the cinnamon and a little nip of bourbon are the perfect compliment to a cup of coffee, or a Guinness, if you are in a cold arena. These are great to bag-up and give to loved ones for the holidays or as a host/hostess gift. If you have a fireplace, please enjoy these in front of a crackling fire for me.

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Cinnamon Bourbon Pecans

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

3 ea. Egg Whites
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 tsp. Bourbon or Whiskey
1 tsp. Water
1 # Pecan Halves, Raw
1 cup Granulated Sugar
4 tsp. Cinnamon, Ground
1 tsp. Fine Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. In one bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, cinnamon and fine sea salt. In another bowl, with another whisk, whisk egg whites, vanilla extract, water, and bourbon or whiskey until frothy. Add the 1 # of pecan halves to the egg white mixture, and coat all the pecans throughly. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the coated pecan halves, tapping out excess liquid, and adding them a spoonful at a time to the sugar mixture. You can coat all the pecans at one time, but to keep excess liquid out of the sugar mixture, scooping with a slotted spoon works best. Once they have been added to the sugar mixture, stir and coat them all.

Place the coated pecans onto a greased sheet pan. Bake the pecans for about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Stir the pecans every 10-15 minutes (about 4-5 times during the baking). Once your pecans are done baking, allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a clean, cool sheet pan to continue cooling throughly. Wash your sheet pan immediately, as it will be coated with baked sugar, so best to clean while still warm. Store in a sealed container.

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Recipes

Slather Me In Pesto

It’s painful and uncomfortable when friends are cheap. Usually those people will end up on my dodge list. If you’re my friend, I not only want to share my good times, but my homemade cheese, the best croissants, and a perfect bottle of wine I’ve had stashed away. What is the beauty of a moment if you can’t share it with your friends?

I feel the same way about the food I’ve put out in every restaurant I’ve worked in. We don’t skimp on ingredients or cut corners, putting the best we can on the plate in front of you.

At my last job, an Italian restaurant, I ate fresh pesto slathered on a piece of bread, hot from the oven, every morning. A heavenly morning experience, and one I crave often. I went to the grocery store in search of some pesto and the packaged basil pesto that I picked up was chockablock full of low-quality, cheap ingredients and preservatives. Walnuts instead of pine nuts. Canola oil instead of olive oil. A whey protein in the place of parm cheese. Preservative names I can’t pronounce. Yum!

Fresh pesto is so vibrant in flavor and simple to make. Once you learn and taste the difference, you will hopefully never feel the need to go back to the store bought preservative-laden junk.

By the way, I’ve been thinking about starting a new pesto wrestling league, way better for your skin than jello wrestling. Let me know if you have any cheap-ass friends whose face you’d like to smash in some fresh pesto. Freshly baked bread not included.

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Slather Me in Basil Pesto

Rachel Ellrich Miller

Ingredients:

2.25 ounces Basil Leaves
3-4 cloves each Garlic, Cloves (or if you are more adventurous, 6-7 each - don't plan on kissing anyone if you go the adventurous route ;o) )
2.25 ounces Pine Nuts
1 ounce Parmigiano Reggiano (though in my house, extra pinches are sometimes added)
1/2 cup EV Olive oil, good quality
1/2 each Lemon, Juiced
To taste Salt, Kosher
To taste Pepper, Freshly ground

Directions:

Turn oven to 350 degrees. Place raw pine nuts on a sheet pan and toast. Note: Watch closely when you are toasting nuts. Some ovens are hotter than others and will toast your nuts more quickly. (That's what she said ;o)) Shake the pan once or twice to ensure nuts are toasted on all sides and do not burn. Allow the nuts to cool completely.

In your robo coup or food processor, place the basil, garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Begin to puree. Stop robo coup and scrape down the sides. Begin to puree again, and add the remaining olive oil through the top of the machine. Stop the robo coup, scrape down the sides. Add the parm cheese, and pulse to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper and pulse once more to incorporate.

Keep pesto refrigerated when not devouring. If you have any leftover, it should keep for a few days in the refrigerator, or a month in the freezer.

One more note: I love this extra virgin olive oil from California Olive Ranch. It sells at Henry’s Markets in California and Whole Foods Market in Arizona. Reasonably priced, I believe under $15, and delicious.

 

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Desserts, Recipes

Another Delicious Testing Post

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Title of Sample Recipe Here

Makes 14 servings. Recipe adapted from This Book.

Ingredients:

1 onion
1 egg
4 tablespoons hot sauce
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 lb chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a really big bowl.

Bake at 375 degrees for exactly 43 minutes.

Repeat.

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