Pasta with Smoked Trout in Dill & Cream Sauce

I threw a few things together on Sunday night for dinner and Richard really rated it so I thought I might post it here. Basically, smoked trout (which I absolutely adore) was on special so I loaded up on it. I'd planned to use it on a salad but not everyone in the household was enamored of the idea so I ende up doing the following...

Ingredients:

2 fillets of smoked trout

handful flaked almonds

handful fresh dill

frozen peas (I would have used asparagus or french beans if I had any)

butter

olive oil

lemon juice

white wine

double cream

salt & pepper

farfalle (bow-tie) pasta

First off, toast the almond flakes. I spread a handful in a single layer on a nonstick pan and popped them in the oven. It was a cold (not pre-heated) oven at 180C for 10 minutes but YMMV. I cooked them for 5 minutes the checked to determine how much more they needed. Be careful here as it doesn't take much for almonds to burn.

I'm afraid there are no firm measurements here because I was cooking "off-piste" but basically while the pasta was cooking I melted equal parts butter with olive oil (I would say about 4-5 Tbsp each) then added lemon juice, salt & pepper. When sizzling lightly I added my frozen peas (or whatever green veggie you plan to use). I then added a few ounces of white wine and cokked down a bit. If using fresh veg I would still add them at this point point because, while not frozen they will probably be bigger/thicker so the timing will still be ok.

WHEN THE veg seem cooked, the sauce should have reduced a bit. Swirl through some double cream (single is more likely to split) and freshly chopped dill. Let bubble lightly and then add the smoked trout.

Drain pasta, and serve straight away with a generous helping of the trout & sauce. Sprinkle with toasted almonds.

Tomato Sauce

So, I figured to hell with it, I'd make it up as I went along. Check out what I did and see what you think, try your own vairents, etc.

Ingredients:
1. 3-4 pounds tomatoes. Tomatoes are in season right now, so they're cheap as hell, so I bought the ones still on the vine. They are usually much much mroe expensive but because it's the season, they were only 50 cents more per pound than the cheap shit, so I said fuck it- I'm willing to pay an extra 2 dollars for the vast increase in quality.
2. 1 large sweet texas onion (it's texan so you know it's huge)
3. 1 little bushell of curly parsely (that's the kind with tiny leaves)
4. 3 sweet red bell peppers
5. ~1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (first cold pressed, naturally)
6. 1 bay leaf
7. ~1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
8. juice of 1 lime
9. ~1 tbsp cocoa powder
10. ~3 tbsp brown sugar (dark brown, none of that light brown crap)
11. ~4-5 cups cold water
12. 5 cloves garlic.
13. ~2 tbsp sherry.
14. 2 pinches dried dill (fresh is better, but I dind't have any)


Chop up two of the tomatoes. I removed the skin from one but it was too much damn work. Don't worry about the skin, honestly. Chop the tomatoes into rough cubes. Put these into the pot and drissle some olive oil over them. Set the heat on high. Continue chopping the tomatoes and adding them to the pot, stirring them in and adding more olive oil as you go. The tomatoes will heat fraster than you can chop (and I was chopping pretty fast). This is goign to be boiling for ages, so don't worry about getting rid of the juice- you want all of it, all the flavor everything, so dump everything into that pot. Once you've done that, add in the red peppers. Chop in the garlic. I would have liked to have added more but I only had 5 cloves on hand. Chop up that huge white onion- it'll seem lik the pot is half onion. The whole thing will be really thick by now, so add the water. I did this all eyeballed, so you have to add what seems appropriate. Bring the heat down to medium and let it simmer for abotu a half hour. Chop up the parsely and add it. I added balsamic vinegar to give the flavor some body. I rolled and squeezed one lime to give the flavor some highlight and let it continue to simmer another 10 minutes. On tasting it was okay but the lime was a little strong. To cut the sour of the lime, I added a little cocoa powder and some brown sugar (I dind't measure the brown sugar at all- just broke off a couple of chunks into the pot). Stir and let simmer a while longer. Add bay leaf. Add dill. It should taste good. Very good. But you need to add that sherry because the sherry acts to bring all the flavors together, to help them to meld into something different. Taste it and it'll be good. Turn the heat to low, cover, and let it simmer for around an hour or so. Come back occasionally stirring and tasting. After an hour or so the liquid should be very red. To really get everything out, I like to take an old-fashioned potato masher, and mash within the pot to maximize the surface area. Let it simmer another half hour or so (if you do it longer, it doesn't do any harm.). Eventually you'll taste and judge it to be ready. At this point stick the whole thing into a blender and puree it in pulses until fiarly smooth. It'll be dark orange-red. It shoudl be tasty as hell too. You can freeze it for at least 6 months and it'll be garden fresh when you eat it. Probably longer. Oh, don't put it straight into the fridge/freezer, let it cool to room temp or a little warmer first.

Cherry Garcia

I should preface this slightly with a note about my ice cream maker. Mine is such that it is essentially a pre-frozen bowl which is used, rather than the ice and salt or anything subsequently stuck in the freezer. So my method may be a touch different from your own.

You will need:
1. ~1 cup bing cherries, halved and pitted.
2. 1/2 bar dark chocolate.
3. 1 cup milk
4. 2 cups heavy cream
5. 3/4 cup sugar
6. 2 large eggs.

First things first. Make sure all your dairy ingredients are chilled, as well as eggs and such. So, first step is to slice open the cherries and pitt them. Do you have a fancy cherry pitter? Good for you! I, alas, do not. I used a knife and just dug out the pits with my thumbnail. Bing cherries were on sale. It was $2 for a pound of them, so I bought a pound and decided to be picky and select my way through them, using only the choice and firm cherries for the ice cream. I got roughly a cup or so worth of halves.

Now, here is an alternative you may wish to consider. I did NOT use this alternative but I am mentioning it nonetheless. Halfing the cherries is nice for texture and flavor. However, there's not a whole lot of surface area exposed to the cream. You may want to slice them a little thinner. It might also be worthwhile to take a few extra cherries and simply crush them (or slice them thinly, then crush them) to collect the juice. The reason? The end result has a fairly delicate cherry flavor- but then, cherry garcia actually doesn't have a strong cherry flavor either. It's up to you. Try a batch, see if you like it, adjust accordingly.

Cover the cherries and stick them in the fridge.

I bought a bar of Hershey's All Natural Extra Dark, made from 60% cocoa. It costs about as much as a regular chocolate bar. You don't need to get anything too fancy, but you want some nice dark chocolate. Now this is important. High cocoa percentage means it will melt very readily, so hold the bar fairly lightly with the bar in the foil as much as possible. Make sure your kitchen isn't too warm. With a knife, shave off about half the bar. I alternated between scraping and shaving, getting nice little curls and the like. Don't hack off chunks but don't worry too much if it seems a little thick- it will be breaking up and such. As soon as you are done, cover the bowl and shove it into the fridge. If you were anything like me, now if the time to wash your hand off.


Do not bother to set up your stove top. Nothing is getting heated. Why not? Because that chocolate will simply melt into the milk and be done with. But the whole point is to have these little delicate flakes of chocolate. Does that mean that the ice cream will have raw eggs in it? Yes. Deal with it. So.

Crack open the two eggs, and whisk them until they become light and fluffy- 1-2 minutes. Then slowly add the sugar- I added it 1/4 cup at a time, whisked until dissolved, then added a bit more. You want to keep whisking until it gets fairly thick. Will all of the sugar dissolve? Likely not- but whisk it a couple of minutes anyway to dissolve as much as possible.


To this, add your cup of milk, whisk it, then your two cups of cream, and whisk again. If everything was properly cold, dump your cherries and chocolate in. Whisk the cherries and chocolate in with a few strokes- you don't want the cream mix warming too much and melting the chocolate, and you don't wan tot break up the chocolate if you can help it. Stick the mixture into the fridge for a good hour or two. From here, follow instructions accordingly for your ice cream maker. The shot below was taken VERY quickly as I was giving it a quick stir before I shoved the bowl, covered, back into the fridge.

Thoughts. You may be able to add the chocolate to the ice cream as it stirs and freezes. I didn't because I worry about it breaking up, and a little bit of the chocolate going into the cream might be nice. The couple of hours allows the cherries to flavor the cream a bit. however, if you tried the alternative above, then pour the cherry juice in with the cherries.

This is a delicious home-made version of cherry garcia- one of my absolute favorite ice creams. Let me know what you think. I'd also take some suggestions as to what to do with the greater portion of a pound of cherries.

Edit: I made this again this weekend and I used even more cherries, this time taking out a number and squishing them by hand and pouring the juice and the flesh into the ice cream. The result was a nice purple ice cream with a much more pronounced cherry flavor. I also, for the fuck of it, added about a teaspoon of almond extract. Its the kind of thing that gives a nice background flavor that the other flavors springboard off of. You may not notice the taste, but you notice its disappearance.

Comfort Food - Rice Krispies Treats

Sometimes you just need the soothing comfort of a childhood favorite -this is so quick and easy to make. Gotta love it.

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
OR -
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray or buttered lightly. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Store no more than two days at room temperature in airtight container. To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Ultimate Brownie

The Ultimate Brownie is absolutely the best brownie recipe I've ever found. It is tall like a cakey-brownie, but is dense like a fudgy-brownie. I just made a batch tonight and the house is full of a gentle chocolate scent - irresistible! It's easy to make and pretty forgiving if you tend to toss in a bit more this and less that like I do.

• 8 ounces unsweetened chocolate or fine quality 70% dark chocolate
  
• 1 cup unsalted butter
  
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (I cheat and only use 1/2)
  
• 2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F/190 C/ 170 Fan.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan. You can also bake this in 2 round cake pans, etc.

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside.

2.In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. (If you use a Kitchenaid type mixer, 5 minutes may be enough.)

3. Blend in alternately chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts.

4. Pour into prepared pan/s.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don't overbake.) If you are using 2 round pans, 30 minutes may be enough. Just check to prevent burning. Brownies will start to shrink away from sides of pan as it nears doneness.

6. Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.

These brownies are dead gorgeous. Believe me, I know. You can wrap half of them in a freezer proof bag and save for later. Or you can take any extras to work and win the abject gratitude of the entire staff.

Banana Nut Muffins

These are super easy to make - only needs a bowl and a spoon to mix up. Make sure the bananas are very ripe for best flavor.

Ingredients - basic recipe with notes on how I actually make it

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
(note - depends on size, I used 5 of the dinky ones we get in the UK)
1/3 cup melted butter - unsalted
3/4 cup sugar
(note - I used 1/2 cup - depends on how ripe bananas are)
1 egg, beaten
(note - I used 2 eggs - why? Because I'm the Mommy)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (toasted or raw)
dashes of spices of your choice - I use cinnamon, nutmeg

Method

No need for a mixer with this recipe. Get out a comfy mixing bowl and big spoon

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared (this means well buttered) muffin tin.

6 Bake for 25-30 minutes. (My crazy UK fan oven did them in 23 - so check after 20 min to see how done they are)
Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Cheesey Chedder Biscuits

It's been a while since I've posted so I figured I would put up somethign quick and easy (even though I have photoes and such of other recipes, I haven't bothered writing them up yet so yea).

So, the ingrediants:

1. 2.5 cups Bisquick baking mix
2. 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated.
3. 3/4 cup whole milk
4. 2 tablespoons butter melted
5. 1/2 stick melted butter (keep seperate from the 2 tablespoons)
6. 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
7. 1/2 teaspoon onion powder (keep seperate)
8. 1 teaspoon dried thyme.

Note: The origional recipe calls for garlic powder rather than onion,m and parsely flakes rather than thyme. I can't speak for that as I haven't tried it. I'd love ot hear from someone who tries both. I just don't have either garlic powder or parsely leaves here (or, more properly, I didn't see either and I'm not prepared to empty out the cabinet to find out)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine (by hand, it's quite fast) the bisquick, milk, 2 tbsp butter, cheese, 1/4 tsp onion powder.
3.Put dough onto baking sheet in ~1/4 cup sizes (roughly 1.5-2inch diameter) Should make about 12.
4. Combine melted butter, thyme, rest of onion powder.
5. Search for brush. Fail to find one. Grab small spatula and try your best to "brush" the butter mixture onto the tops of the biscuits as a wash.
6. Stick in oven for 15 minutes.
7. Eat.

Possibilities for alterations:
1. Add 1 tsp old bay seasoning to the dough and/or a tsp paprika.
2. Try different cheddars. I used Cracker Barrel Extra-sharp white. You may like something more mellow, or use an aged cheddar for a richer flavor.