Chicken pot, Chicken pot, Chicken pot pie!

Being that it's Wednesday already I should be blogging about the fab weekend I just had at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco but to be honest I'm still quite wiped out and adjusting to being back home and not ready to tackle the task of sorting all the photos I took. I missed Mr. S. while I was gone and since he's about to take off for a few days for a trip to Sin City, I wanted for us to share a meal together...and to be honest, after all the decadent food and booze at the festival, I was kind of craving some home cooking. Since the kidlets were eating with us, I opted to go with some no frills comfort food...individual chicken pot pies. I made some alterations to a delicious sounding Barefoot Contessa recipe- mixing in some wine and garlic with the broth, throwing in some creminis and going with a premade puff pastry crust---the end result was fantastic! Now I would have gone with a made from scratch crust but Call of Duty: MW3 had just came out that day and the boys were anxious to get to playing the video game STAT...and by "boys," I mean the kidlets and yes....Mr. S. too *rolling my eyes*. Anyhow, Kidlet #2 never even noticed all the onions I snuck in there (and he hates onions). I love it when I can get him to eat healthy veggies...with this dish he ate onions, mushrooms, peas and carrots all without a peep---woo-hoo! Plus, I served the pies up with some Asiago-Rosemary rolls from Trader Joe's and everyone was happy as a lark. Win-win! Of course, I couldn't resist doing my David Cross imitation during dinner.




Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 package puff pastry (2 sheets)

4 whole chicken breasts

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine

2 chicken bouillon cubes

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 cups medium-diced carrots

1 1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen small whole onions (optional)

5-6 cremini mushrooms, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

1 egg (optional)


Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and massage them with some olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes or until cooked through.

3. Remove from oven, set aside to cool. Cut the chicken into a large dice.

4. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and wine and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the mixture.

5. In a large pot, melt the butter and sauté the onions over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes more.

6. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring until thick.

7. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper and the heavy cream.

8. Add the cubed chicken, mushrooms, carrots, peas, pearl onions and minced parsley. Stir well. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.

9. Spoon into individual oven-safe baking vessels (ramekin, bowl, mug).

10. Place onto oven-safe tray. Slide tray into oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

11. Cut circular dough "lids" for your baking vessels that are about 1/4-inch larger than the top of the baking vessel. Add a few vent holes in the middle (or one giant one, if you're clumsy like me). Place on top, pressing gently along the edge to make it stick. Brush with egg wash, if you wish.

12. Pop that sucker back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

13. Rally the troops for chow time!

* TIP: If you have leftovers of the filling, put it over rice to get a second meal out of it. It's delicious and a great next-day lunch!

Cheese Buttons...Where Have You Been All My Life?

When one of your nicest friends asks if you want to come to her annual birthday dinner at her family's vineyard to suck back wine and make something called CHEESE BUTTONS, what do you do? You immediately pull on your pants with the stretchy waistband and pack enough Lactaid pills to outfit a world-class army and respond, "You betcha, what time?" Turns out my friend Cate's family has a tradition of making the Volga German delicacy of Kase Knoepfla (aka "cheese buttons") every year in celebration of her birthday. Everyone helps out with making the cheese buttons, even the tiny nieces.

(Miss Taylor, Neal, and Cate hard at work making cheese buttons)

When it was time to eat, Cate's mom served the big group of us up the cheese buttons (which look more like pillows or raviolis than buttons) in two manners- 1) boiled, topped with breadcrumbs and sour cream and 2) fried also served with breadcrumbs and sour cream. After all, can you ever go wrong with breadcrumbs and sour cream? If you don't have any dietary restrictions, go for the latter...trust me, the fried cheese buttons are so unbelievably amazing...hot and savory on the inside, the perfect crunchiness on the outside...you will won't be able to control the corners of your mouth from turning up in a huge smile. For our dinner, the cheese buttons were served up with delicious sausages and homemade beer mustard, perfectly cooked cabbage and a refreshing cucumber and dill salad...and lots and lots of wine!

(I apologize that my final photo came out a tad fuzzy due to the steam radiating off the dish, but had I waited for the dish to cool all of the cheese buttons would have been gone...and that of course would have been no bueno.)


Cheese Buttons (aka Kase Knoepfla)  (recipe courtesy of Cate Schmiedt)
serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 cups warm water

1 tsp salt

3 eggs, separated

6-7 cups flour all purpose

3 cups Farmer’s cheese (very small curd dry cottage cheese)

Bunch green onion tops chopped into small pieces

Loaf of bread torn into small chunks

LOTS of butter

Sour cream


Instructions

1. In a bowl add the warm water and salt. Gradually whisk in the 3 egg whites.

2. Add flour a cup at a time until the dough is not sticky but still quite soft. Knead a little if the flour isn’t incorporating well. Make sure the dough is not too stiff and dry.

3. Put into lightly oiled bowl and let it rest for two hours.

4. While dough is resting mix together cheese, onion tops, egg yolks and salt and pepper to taste.


Assembling the Buttons

1. Before assembling, start a large pot of generously salted water to boil. 

2. Take a goodly handful of dough and roll on well floured surface. The dough should be springy and you want to roll it quite thin, but not too thin. A little more than 1/8 inch. The dough usually doesn’t want to roll out all that well, but it will! After it’s rolled, cut into pieces about 3x5 inches. (According to all the little old German ladies, this must not be pretty! Cheese buttons aren’t for looking, they’re for eating.) Just slice up the dough with reckless abandon.

3. Take a heaping spoonful of cheese mixture and place on one side of the dough and with your finger wet the edge of the dough to make a ‘glue’ and fold over sealing the edge. Be careful not to tear through the dough. Then crimp edges with a fork. Lower into boiling water...I let it set on the spoon for a few seconds to kind of cook the top a little and then flip it cooked side down, because otherwise if you just toss them in they WILL stick to the bottom of the pot and then tear and you’ll have all sorts of cheese floaties in your water and not in your buttons (where it belongs!).

4. Let cook for about 10 minutes. Sometimes they float to the top, sometimes they don’t.

5. Drain in colander and then place into oven safe baking dish and drizzle with melted butter so the next layer you add won't stick.

6. Keep warm in oven on low setting while you cook the other buttons. If you do get cheese in the water, you might have to replace it after a while (we usually have two pots going at a time)

7. While boiling the buttons melt butter in cast iron skillet and add torn up bread. Fry the bread up until it’s nice and toasty. Try to not eat all the bread while waiting for the buttons (it’s hard not too). After all your buttons are cooked you can either eat them boiled topped with breadcrumbs and sour cream OR fry them up in more butter and serve with bread and sour cream.



Top Chef : Don't Mess With Texas

I really dislike reality competition shows except for one...Top Chef. It's one of the few times you'll see me glued to the TV. However, I'm not a fan of it's craptastic spin-offs like Top Chef Masters and Just Desserts. I've tried getting into them but a couple of episodes in and inevitably I just lose interest. With Masters, it's just boring watching the pros puff out their chests and egos whilst waxing on about their laundry list of accomplishments. And Just Desserts...I tried to like it but Sweet Baby Jesus that show is a train wreck- even heartthrob Johnny Iuzzinni (who for some reason reminds me of Vicki the Robot from Small Wonder with his stilted speech at the judges' table) couldn't save that show for me. One episode in and I could give a rat's ass what's going with that bunch of pastry drama queens. But the original Top Chef with Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, and Gail Simmons captivates my attention each season. I've watched all the regular seasons including the All-Star and holiday seasons (it's a bit of an addiction, I know). This season takes place in the Lone Star state, Texas...and yes, I'm excited! I went into the season stoked that someone from my hometown of Sacramento was going to be on it, until I realized what a pompous DB the guy was. Geez, way to represent Mr. Stone. Confidence is one thing, douchebaggery is another. Glad they sent him packing in the first five minutes. Anyhow, looking forward to another season of slicing, dicing and competitive cooking---like they say in Texas: Go big or go home!

Día de los Muertos: Mini Spiced-Corn Empanadas

This weekend Mr. S. and I attended a friend's birthday party that had an interesting theme- Día de los Muertos. I made several standard appetizers but wanted to make at least one appetizer that went along with the theme of the party so I decided to try my hand at some mini spiced corn empanadas from my  "In The Small Kitchen" cookbook (by Cara Eisenpress & Phoebe Lapine). They turned out to be pretty easy to make although my pastry crimping skills left a bit to be desired (next time I just might use a gyoza press so it looks a bit more polished). Anyhow, the empanadas turned out tasty and we had a fab time at the party. The guests' costumes were fantastic and the hostesses did a great job decorating the house with colorful flores de papel, altars for the deceased, sugar skulls and miniature skeletons. What a night!

Spiced Corn Filling

Ingredients

2 T unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

One 15-ounce can corn kernels, rinsed & drained

1 t ground cumin

1 t salt

dash cayenne pepper


Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan or skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and the shallot and cook until fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic. 1 to 2 minutes.

2. Add the corn, cumin, salt and cayenne. Sauté gently until the corn is hot and the flavors are melded. 3 to 5 minutes.


Empanada Dough

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 t salt

8 T ( 1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 egg

1/3 cup very cold water

1 T white wine vinegar

1 egg, beaten


Instructions

1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together with a fork. Add the butter cubes, and with your fingers, rub the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture will start to look like crumbs. (Try to touch the dough as little as possible.)

2. In a small bowl, beat together the egg, cold water, and vinegar with a fork. Add this to the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated.

3. Lightly flour your cutting board or countertop, and transfer the dough to the work surface. Knead the dough with heel of your hand until it comes together. Form it into a flat disk and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.

4. When you are ready to use the dough, roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 1/2 inch thick, and cut it into 6 sections. Roll each section until it is very thin (about 1/8-inch thick) and using a 3-inch round cutter, cut the dough into rounds.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

6. Place a little less than 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of each pastry round and fold in half. Seal with a fork, then crimp the edges with your fingers. Arrange the empanadas on a cookie sheet. Combine the egg and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl, and brush the empanadas with this egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until browned on top.

Happy Halloween! : Zombie Cupcakes

It's that time of the year again, when little ghosts, goblins and ghouls go gallivanting throughout the neighborhood begging for treats and adult creatures of the night head for parties to imbibe in some witches' brew and to down a few tasty eats. If you're looking for something to bring, try this Devil's Food Cupcake recipe by Martha Stewart. I made a batch this afternoon and topped it with some orange cream cheese frosting and some zombie limbs and mini-bone sprinkles (leftover from last year's cake decorating kit). Voilà! A perfect Halloween snack for both kidlets and adults. Unfortunately, our resident "Batdog" can't have any...no chocolate for doggies, no matter how cute they are.

Martha Stewart's Devil's Food Cupcakes - makes 32

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3/4 cup hot water

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

yellow & red food coloring


Instructions

1. Using an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

2. Add food coloring to frosting until desired color shade is achieved.

3. Spread or pipe icing onto cupcake. Decorate.

Waitin' For The Great Pumpkin... : Tasty Pumpkin Seeds

Wow, readers I hope you were out this weekend enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather and all the wonderful activities Sacramento had to offer! Saturday, Mr. S. and I braved the crowds and cruised up to Camino to Apple Hill to enjoy some delicious apple cider donuts and pick up some treats but on Sunday we had the kidlets (who are at that age where they're "too cool for Apple Hill") so we planned some other fun family activities. We spent the afternoon learning about falcons and snakes at the Naturefest being held at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. While we were there, we even met a "wild turkey" and got to make an abalone necklace to take home.

Afterwards, we came home and carved some pumpkins. They came out pretty cool, no?

Now don't go throwing away those pumpkin seeds when you're done carving, that's the best part of the pumpkin. Rinse them off thoroughly, pat them dry and set them aside---roasted pumpkin seeds are easy to make, delicious and quite nutritious!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

3 cups pumpkin seeds, washed & patted dry

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 Tablespoon olive oil

5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic (you can use fresh or dehydrated, I had a little of each on hand so I used both)

1 teaspoon salt (1.5 teaspoons if you like it a little extra salty, like I do)

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

* optional : a sprinkle or two of Morton Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend for a little extra kick.


Instructions

- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

- Combine all ingredients with seeds in large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly then spread evenly on a baking sheet.

- Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Childhood Memories

This reminds me of my Aunt Eleanor so much!