Nibbles

Apple Dumplings

Nibbles

I’ve been thinking a lot about apples, lately, and with the weather cooling off, the cinnamon brooms showing up in the supermarkets and the idea that the holidays are right around the corner, I think of Mom making Apple Dumplings. This is her recipe, updated a little by me. They are especially good on cool Fall and Winter nights and actually travel fairly well for pot-lucks.

Apple Dumplings
serves 4*

1 sheet Puff Pastry Dough, thawed
4 medium apples, peeled and cored*
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
Dried fruit (raisins, cherries, cranberries or blueberries all would go well)
1 beaten egg
White sugar

Roll out the puff pastry dough just a little bit to curb some of it’s puff tendencies (we want the flaky flavor, not necessarily the poofiness) and cut into quarters. [* If you are using very small apples you can actually get 6 dumplings out of one sheet.] Place an apple in the center of each sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon. Spoon some of the brown sugar (how much you use it up to you) into the hollows of the apples, top with a piece of butter and then the dried fruit.

Bring the corners of the puff pastry square up and around the top of the apple, pinching the corners together. Don’t worry too much about sealing up all the edges, it’s actually quite pretty to leave the little openings that the folded sides create. Place in a buttered baking dish and brush with the beaten egg mixed with a little water. Sprinkle with the white sugar and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or until the apples are tender, covering with foil if the pastry begins to brown too fast.

Serve warm with ice cream, freshly whipped cream or just plain heavy cream drizzled over them.

Kitchen Tips

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Every now and then you find a good way to do things or luck upon a new trick in the kitchen. These aren’t exactly new to me, but they might be new to you.

  • Something too spicy or strong-flavored? Try adding some dairy to temper the over-bearing quality. Mayo is a good foil for a meatball or barbecue sandwich that comes on a bit too strong, cheese can temper a too-spicy soup and milk, cream or butter will dent some other harsh flavors you could encounter in a meal.
  • When you’ve salted all you’re willing to salt but the dish still needs a little something, try adding a splash of lemon or lime juice instead of salt or similar flavorings. The citric acid wakes up other flavors without added sodium.
  • If you have a recipe that calls for buttermilk and you’re fresh out, add up to a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of regular milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes for a quick substitution.
  • Another recipe swap: using applesauce in place of oil can make most quick-breads and cake mixes moister without sacrificing flavor–plus it cuts down the fat and those little snack-cup sizes are perfect for your average boxed mix.
  • To make cutting a bell pepper into even strips or julienne easier, lay the pepper on it’s side and cut around the top edge, going through the skin but not the middle. Twist off this top and most of the seeds come with it. Slice off the bottom end, turn the pepper upright (it should be like an open tube, now), cut through one side and open the pepper out flat. Use a paring knife to remove any extra ribs that may be attached and then slice the pepper into perfectly even strips perfect for salads or stir fries.
  • When your knife is dull and you can’t sharpen it right away, cutting through the flesh of a fruit or vegetable is easier than cutting through the skin–turn them “inside out” when possible and you’ll have an easier time of things until you can get to a whetstone or professional sharpener.
  • Wrapping baking potatoes in foil before their baked or even right after, especially if they are moist when wrapped, “steams” the potatoes and gives them an unappealing, waxy texture instead of the fluffy one you expect. It’s best to allow an hour for them to bake, au natural and not pierced, in the oven but if you are in a time-crunch, microwaving them inside an oven mitt (all natural fibers, please, and no metal!) will more closely approximate the longer baking.
  • Always make sure meat is perfectly dry before placing into a pan for browning. Moisture impedes caramelization and you won’t get the results you’re after.
  • Always add vanilla to your pancake batter–even if using a mix, a splash of vanilla will improve the overall flavor of the flapjacks.
  • When doubling a recipe, don’t automatically double the salt or other spices called for. Start with a single quantity and build up.
  • Ground white pepper is easier to digest than black thanks to the outer layer of the peppercorn having been removed. It’s also hotter–there’s no “chaff” to blunt the flavor so use less if you’re substituting!

And one from Todd: To make a quickie grilled cheese sandwich, place a slice of cheese between two loaves of bread and place in the toaster oven (or regular over). No oil or butter and no dirty pan to clean up.

Picking Pumpkins

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Tis the season, no? Pumpkin patches are springing up in grocery stores, church yards, street corners and even honest-to-goodness farms so that everyone can pick the number one pumpkin for carving. But what about pumpkins for cooking? Is it worth it to make your own versus using canned? Only you can decide that, but if you’re wanting to try making a pumpkin pie (or anything else) from the ground up, here’s some tips to get you through it.

When picking a pumpkin to carve, most people look for big ones with smooth skin (unless you’re going for a special jack-o-lantern effect), even shape and enough stem to make a good handle. But for baking, the stem is about the only thing in common–a generous stem prevents the pumpkin from spoiling. Overall, though, bigger isn’t often better, as the larger pumpkins tend to have less flavor and more water compared to the more compact pie pumpkins you’ll find in the produce section.

Treat a pumpkin like you would any whole squash. If it’s compact enough you can pierce it a few times and pop it in the microwave, whole, like you would an acorn squash. About 5 minutes on high should be enough for a the smaller pie pumpkins, going up from there. Or you can cut it into halves or quarters, scoop out the stringy bits and seeds and bake them, cut side down, for an hour at 350 F. You can also boil the pieces until tender.

Scoop the flesh away from the skin and then mash or puree it to break up any fibers and make it easier to blend into your recipe of choice. Most pumpkins will yield about a cup of flesh per pound of pre-cooked pumpkin.

Don’t toss those seeds! Clean them well and then roast them on an oiled cookie sheet at 325 F  for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. You can salt them, sugar them or toss them with a variety of herbs and spices for a healthy, crunchy treat.

Naan Pizza & Tomato-less Sauce

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naan_1It’s been 3 1/2 years since I’ve had any sort of tomato-based sauce*. Do you know how many foods contain tomato sauce, paste or both? It’s been a long 42 months.

The why of this has to do with an unfortunate hiccup in my health and there’s many other things I’ve had to eliminate (caffeine, for one) or cut way back on over the years but concentrated tomatoey goodness has been one of the things I’ve missed the most. Over time I’ve gotten to the point where I can tolerate a slice or two of fresh tomato on a salad or sandwich (once a week or so) without illness but it’s not the same.  I’ve wondered for a while if there was a way I could “fake” a red sauce for spaghetti, pizza, etc. but never tried it until a few weeks ago with a red bell pepper sauce that has improved my personal food landscape many times over.

Since that first foray over whole wheat spaghetti, we’ve used it on stuffed (green) bell peppers, a delicious lasagna and, now, pizza with wonderful results. It doesn’t taste exactly like tomato sauce, but with careful seasoning there’s usually only a taste or two per meal where the switch is readily apparent.

Red Pepper Sauce

5 red bell peppers, diced, or 2 jars roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves (or more) garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp paprika
1/2-3/4 c Chicken stock
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Saute the onions and garlic in oil until the whites of the onions are translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the peppers are tender: 20 minutes or more if using fresh peppers, 10 or so if using canned–gives it time to absorb the other flavors. Add salt and pepper to taste along with any other spices you want. Puree everything smooth (a stick blender makes this so much easier) and then re-season if necessary.

That’s the basic sauce recipe. The jarred peppers are a good substitute for when fresh are either unavailable or cost-prohibitive, plus they cut down your cooking time. What spices you add will depend on what you’re using the sauce on. For Italian, add the usual oregano, thyme, basil and whatever else you like.

You can stretch the sauce by using more stock–we like ours thick for most things, but if you like a thinner sauce  go up to a cup and a quarter of stock and this recipe will make about a quart of sauce (depends on how much water is in the peppers, too), thicker it might be closer to a pint. It freezes wonderfully, so you can definitely make up a big batch when peppers are plentiful (you can also use some yellows in there, too, it just makes the sauce a little more orange) and put it away for later.

We’d been planning to try it out as a pizza sauce but hadn’t gotten around to it when we had the following conversation, Thursday night:

Todd: I got some extra roasted red peppers if we wanted to make more of that sauce.

Jenn: Ooh, yeah, we haven’t tried it on pizza yet. Maybe we could do that this weekend?

Todd: (looking at his place which included grilled naan) I wonder if you could make naan-pizza.

Jenn: Why not? Mmm, Indian spices in the sauce–what toppings would we use?

Todd: Lamb?

So, Saturday we headed out for provisions: more naan, lamb, and some goat cheese. The end result was an amazing pizza that was way more filling that we thought it would be.

Naan Pizza
Serves 4

1 cup Red Pepper Sauce seasoned with cumin, coriander, garam masala, and a touch of mint and cinnamon
1 pkg Naan (2 pieces per package)
Olive oil
3/4 lb lamb, ground or cut into small chunks
Flour for dusting
1/2 lb sugar snap peas, chopped
1/2 c diced red onion
Minced garlic
Salt and pepper
4 oz cream cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 oz crumbed goat cheese

Preheat your over to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a backing sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Lay out the naan and drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt and some granulated garlic, if you like. Divide the Red Pepper Sauce evenly between the two naan and top with some more minced garlic.

Season the lamb with salt and pepper and, if using whole meat instead of ground, dredge it lightly in flour. I happened to have some Pani Puri (semolina flour) left over from an Andalusian feast I did a while back so I used that, but any flour should do. Saute in olive oil until browned, then add peas and onion and cook until the lamb is done. Divide this mixture between the two naan. Divide the two cheeses evenly among the pizzas.

Bake the pizzas about 15 minutes or until the cheese has started to melt and brown on the tips. Goat and cream cheeses don’t really melt the way mozzarella does, so you have to trust the browning rather than the smoothing out that you usually get on a pizza.

naan_2We served it with a bit of prepared Tabbouleh on some mixed lettuces. You can, of course, try other meats or just a combination of veggies on this and it would be equally good. I think that adding a bit of yogurt to the pepper sauce would make a wonderful curry sauce, too, with just a bit more seasoning.

*That is to say, without becoming ill–unfortunately I’ve been reminded the hard way of just how many things contain enough tomato paste or sauce to cause a reaction.

Blueberry Dumplings

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It’s (technically) Fall now, and that means various group pot-lucks or company get-togethers will be starting, soon. Maybe it’s school fundraisers or church socials, but at some point you’re going to be asked or expected to bring something yummy to share somewhere. Even if it’s not expected, this is a quickly put-together dish that will delight your office, your civic group or just your family one nip-in-the-air morning.

Blueberry Dumplings
serves 16 (or less–depends on how hungry they are!)

1 c boiling water
1 c brown sugar
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, divided
2 cans crescent roll dough (the uncut sheets)
1/2 c granulated sugar
nutmeg
1 can blueberry pie filling
1 pint fresh blueberries (or 1 pkg frozen if not in season)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt one of the sticks of butter and then combine it with the boiling water and brown sugar in the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Carefully spread out the crescent roll dough on a baking mat or lightly floured surface and sprinkle with the sugar and nutmeg. Spread half a can of pie filling and half the fresh or frozen blueberries onto each can of crescent dough, leaving about an inch clear on both of the long sides. Dot the top of the filling with bits of butter and then roll up the dough, jellyroll-style, sealing the roll with the inch of filling-free dough.

Slice the rolls into 1-inch sections and place each slice, cut side up, in the pan with the water-butter-sugar mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the tops of the dumplings are golden brown.

The sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan makes a delicious sauce for the rolled dumplings. While these are perfectly fine served at room temperature or even cold, they are best when piping hot, served with hot coffee or ice-cold milk.

I made these for a friend’s party, recently (it was a morning get-together) and they were a big hit with everyone who tried them.