Fluffy Pumpkin Buttermilk Waffles and Mini Donuts with Ginger & Pie Spice Butter & Maple Whiskey Glaze

I have been itching to get back to blogging ever since I returned from our honeymoon and perhaps that's why this post features the same batter not one but two ways, with a sweet, spicy, boozy glaze recipe that's simply magical. It all starts with fresh pumpkin puree and a special ginger and pumpkin pie spice butter that doesn't seem to photograph well, but nevertheless is absolutely divine! The butter is actually a wonderfully all purpose fall dessert addition--try it in your next apple or pear crumble or in your next apple or pecan pie.

Initially, I wanted to use the puree I got from roasting my own pumpkins for baked donuts in my new mini donut pan. But then my waffle maker arrived. The idea of pumpkin waffles just wouldn't quit haunting me, so I decided to try adding them to a buttermilk waffle batter, to make them extra fluffy. Then I thought "why cook up an alternate batter when the pumpkin buttermilk waffle batter will probably bake up fluffy and moist?" It was a good idea, so I went with it. I knew the short cooking time for waffles and mini baked donuts would hardly allow any spices added to the batter to toast properly and reach their fully toasted potential, so I decided instead to make a ginger and pumpkin pie spice butter to top the waffles. Alternatively you could toast the spices in the butter you're using for the batter before cooling it off and adding it in.

When I served the waffles I slathered on a generous amount of ginger spice butter and lots of real maple syrup. I served the Donuts glazed generously with the Maple Whiskey Glaze I made by using the maple syrup, some whiskey, some confectioners sugar and the ginger spice butter.

Pumpkin Buttermilk Waffles/Donuts and Ginger Spice Butter & Maple Whiskey Glaze

Pumpkin Buttermilk Waffle & Donut Batter

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup whole wheat flour sifted (or you can use all all purpose flour)
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 cup packed pumpkin puree
3/4 cup well shaken buttermilk
1 cup whole milk
4 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 extra large eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Sift all dry ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, buttermilk, vanilla and pumpkin.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir just enough to combine.
4. Add sugar, then butter and stir only enough to combine.
5. Bake in mini donut pan or use in waffle iron immediately.
6. If you're making waffles, spread with spice butter (see recipe below) and serve with warmed maple syrup. If you're making donuts drizzle with glaze (recipe also below).

Ginger & Pie Spice Butter

1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2" piece of ginger, peeled & grated
4 Tablespoons butter
6 spice cloves (round parts only), crushed
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon allspice

1. In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt butter
2. Add spices and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
3. When you can smell the spices in the kitchen they've been incorporated. Remove the butter from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Serve on your waffles and/or use part of it to make donut glaze.

Ginger Pie Spice Maple Whiskey Donut Glaze

1 Tablespoon ginger spice butter, melted but cooled
1 Tablespoon Confectioners' sugar
1 Tablespoon Grade B Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoons good whiskey

1. In a bowl combine whiskey, spice butter and syrup.
2. Whisk confectioners sugar in until the glaze is smooth.
3. Ladle generously over donuts.

I hope you enjoy this flavor of fall recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Pics of the waffles to follow, as soon as I take a satisfactory one.

Ginger Congee (Savory Rice Porridge) w/ Sliced Marinated Chicken

Rarely do I have all of the text pre-written for a blog post, but as it happens this post was inspired by a participatory event on (what else?) Google Plus. September was cook-a-book month and as I searched the internet and my memory for any references to food I could make some time to cook during this hectic part of my life. Then, as I was reading an installment of one of my favorite detective series, inspiration struck. A seemingly easy food; a comfort food; a breakfast, lunch and dinner food; it was cheap and nourishing, both a side and a main (depending on preparation) and for some evocative of childhood and days in bed, home sick. That's right: this dish is even considered by many to be medicinal. What is this miracle dish? Well, it is a savory rice porridge and a version of it is made in many Asian countries, but I am sharing with you one of the Chinese versions: Congee.

And it came from:

Ruddy Gore a Phryne Fisher mystery by Kerry Greenwood

The Honourable Phryne Fisher, with the help of her clever companion Dot, solves murders in 1920's Melbourne with unflappable panache. She drives a racing auto, flies planes and solves mysteries and through it all manages to keep her exquisite clothing intact. She also rather enjoys a good meal.

Ruddy Gore sees her solving the mysteries of the death of a leading man playing in the title Gilbert & Sullivan opera, a ghost in the theater and uniting a father and daughter previously unknown to one another.

"Phryne accepted a delicate porcelain bowl of what looked very like library paste and took up her spoon.
'What is this?' she asked, sipping at a smooth, bland soup.
'Rice gruel--the French call it congee. It tastes better than porridge, I think.'"

Brown Rice and Ginger Congee with Chicken

Everyone around me seems to have the sniffles. It's understandable, as the weather gets colder. My first time trying congee I was told it was often given to someone to help recover from illness, so I thought it would be a perfect post to (hopefully) squeeze in to the cook a book event. I washed my rice five times, covering it in plenty of water each time, then using a whisk to agitate the water and rubbing the grains vigorously between my palms. After 5 such rinses the rice water was finally clear instead of cloudy and the rice clean enough to make congee with. I also used a couple of ice cubes of a zesty mushroom stock I made and froze awhile back to kick up the flavor a little.

Brown Rice Congee w/ Ginger and Sliced Chicken

approx 360 grams boneless, skinless chicken
1" ginger, peeled
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup short grain rice (I used brown)
8 cups water
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, or to taste
1/4 Teaspoon sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Wash the rice repeatedly using the method described above. When the water is clear even after whisking and rubbing the rice in it drain the rice and set aside.
2. pulse the onion, 1/2 the ginger, garlic and sesame oil in the blender with a very small drizzle of soy sauce.
3. In a large, heavy-bottomed stock or pasta pot, combine water, stock, soy sauce and onion/ginger/garlic paste.
4. Bring to a boil and add rice.
5. Turn down to a lazy boil and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 90 minutes. The grains should lose a lot of their shape and form a very thick broth by this point.
6. Trim the fat from your chicken and thinly slice it. Marinate it for 15 minutes in a drizzle of soy sauce, the remaining ginger (grated) and a crushed clove of garlic.
7. Add the chicken to the pot, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve hot and garnished with your favorite garnish (ours were garnished with green onions, sliced thai chili, rooster sauce and cilantro).

Spinach, Ricotta, Roasted Garlic Tortelloni

Ok, I will admit that making homemade stuffed pasta takes work. But the theme of September's blog posts seems to be commitment; once you unwrap and begin to roll out that fresh pasta dough, you are committed to making yourself some pasta. And pasta for those you love...if there are leftovers. ;) I promise you this filling is very worth all of the work. The flavor combination is inspired by a slice of pizza from a late night Brooklyn pizzeria I used to visit after a night dancing with friends. The place is so good the line is out the door, regardless of the hour; people will line up for this pizza at 2pm the same as at 2am. They would serve this popular slice which was covered in chopped spinach, dotted with whole cloves of roasted garlic and heavy with large, rich dollops of ricotta. The combination was amazing. I haven't had a slice in half a decade and I am still craving it as I write this post. What to do when I get out to Brooklyn about once every 2 years? Well, I can stuff some homemade pasta with the same ingredients and smother them in a homemade marinara sauce to bring some of the magic to my own kitchen.

I used Chef Chiarello's recipe for pappardelle pasta dough, found here, although I tweaked it by adding an extra 1/3 cup of each flour. The dough was wetter, but also more forgiving than other doughs I've tried. We decided to split the dough in half and use half of it to make capellini, which was lovely with a garlic, olive oil, italian sausage and broccolini sauce. The other half made nearly 3 dozen 3.5" tortellonis, so if you use the whole pasta dough for tortellonis it should yield almost 6 dozen. That is hours and hours of pasta shaping. As it was it took me 3 hours to make 35 tortelloni.

Homemade stuffed pasta is not incredibly difficult to make, so much as it is time consuming. One thing to keep in mind when making tortelloni: dust everything with ample flour; I set my finished ones on a wax paper lined sheet tray dusted with plenty of both ap flour and semolina flour. Also, if you'd like to make your own sauteed, chopped spinach, start with 8 ounces baby spinach and wilt in a pan with about 1 Tablespoon olive oil for about 8 minutes, then allow to cool before wrapping in cheese cloth and squeezing moisture out (as much as possible).

I served mine with a homemade marinara.

Spinach, Ricotta and Roasted Garlic Stuffed Tortelloni

12 ounces pasta dough, rolled down to the 3 thickness setting on a pasta roller and cut into 3.5" circles, using a pint glass or other wide-mouth glass
8 ounces chopped baby spinach
5 ounces dry ricotta (try to get the kind with less whey)
Paste of 1 small head of roasted garlic
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

1. Mix together ricotta, spinach, roasted garlic paste, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.
2. Form tortelloni: set 1/2 Teaspoon ricotta mixture in center of 3.5" circle. Then wipe the edges with water, to help them stick. Bring top and bottom of circle up together and join. Press the edges around the filling, so that the filling forms a bump in an otherwise half moon shape. Set the half moon on the table so the rounded edge is facing toward the top of your pastry board. Gently tug on the corners of each edge to stretch them out a little. Brush water on the inside of one corner and the outside of the other and join over the lump made by the filling. Press together well, then roll the extra edge of pasta down over the back of the lump (this might be clearer in the picture). Once all tortellonis are formed bring a pot of water to boil and salt it well. Cook the tortelloni to desired doneness. I cooked mine for about 7 or 8 minutes and they were just slightly al dente.
3. Serve in broth or topped with your favorite sauce.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Banana Bread Pudding with Caramel Bourbon Sauce

I've been away from my blog for too long. I've really missed sharing recipes with all of you, but I do have a good excuse: I've been planning a wedding. My wedding. A happy occasion and life-changing event. The big event is sort of the subject of today's post: love and commitment. For many of you, food equals love. I'll bet you guys have some great memories of meals cooked at home by a parent or spouse, served with a smile and very clearly prepared out of love. This stunning dessert requires several elements to come together to really make it shine. As the saying goes, the sum is greater than its parts. It takes work and the harmonious blending of ingredients and effort. Hmm...this is starting to sound familiar. ;)

The dense and moist consistency of banana bread, even stale banana bread softens the puddings and makes them more custard-y, as well as adding a depth of flavor from the cinnamon baked right in. Fabulously sweet and starchy bananas are a great compliment to the buttery caramel sauce. A slightly sweeter whisky, bourbon just completes the flavor profile and makes the pudding reminiscent of Southern bread puddings, which have a wonderful, whiskey-heavy sauce.

I made my own banana bread a couple of days before making my bread pudding, but you can absolutely use store bought.* Actually, I should say puddings, as I used a set of silicone baking cups to make individual versions. If you'd rather make one big version just use a 9 x 13" pan and lay the banana bread cubes in a single layer, the banana slices over top in a single layer, then another layer of cubes and just spread the egg mixture as evenly as possible over everything. An optional topping,  no matter how you bake it, is toasted walnuts. 

Banana Bread Pudding

1 loaf banana bread (from a standard 5 x 9" loaf pan), sliced 1" thick
2 large bananas, sliced thinly
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup half n half
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and toast sliced banana bread in the oven for about 25 minutes to make it stale. Cut the toast into cubes.
2. Turn the oven up to 350. Mix all ingredients except for the bananas and banana bread in a medium bowl. Assemble puddings: in each greased baking cup place a layer of bread cubes, packed as tightly as possible. Top with a layer of banana slices and then another layer of tightly packed banana bread cubes. Pour egg mixture over the top layer of bread and fill the cup up with the egg mixture up to about 1/4" below the top.

3. Bake assembled puddings until set, approximately 20 - 25 minutes. Pop out of baking cups and serve, drizzled with caramel.

Caramel Bourbon Sauce

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup half n half

4 Tablespoons salted butter

1 Tablespoon honey Bourbon

2 Tablespoons Bourbon

1. In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, melt butter. 

2. Whisk in half n half and sugar and cook for about 7 minutes, whisking gently the entire time.

3. Whisk in alcohol and cook while whisking another 3 minutes. Allow to cool somewhat before drizzling over puddings. The sauce is also great over ice cream. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and I welcome your feedback!

*I used Joy the Baker's recipe for Brown Butter Banana Bread, slightly tweaked (less sugar, and since I didn't have molasses, but I did have brown sugar, I added some of that in the molasses' stead) to account for the sugar in the custard: http://joythebaker.com/2014/03/brown-butter-banana-bread/

Creamy Artichoke and Spinach Dip with Roasted Garlic and Asiago Cheese

Labor day is almost upon us! That American 3 day weekend that sort of symbolizes Summer's last hurrah. There are lots of Sunday and Monday barbecues this coming weekend, which inspired me to post a dip recipe I've had on the back burner (so to speak) for a while now. This is my version of a classic: spinach, artichoke, cheese and garlic dip. Of course classics are classic for a reason.

This is perfect to bring to a party, or to serve at your own! It's rich but not too decadent and best of all it is vegetarian! It's fairly easy to prepare, which is an additional bonus! The only potentially difficult thing is to roast your own garlic, but it's something I highly recommend, as it will really kick up the flavor of the dip! To roast the garlic preheat the oven to 400 and coat the inside of one muffin mold in a tin. Chop the tips off the head of garlic just enough that all of the clove tops are exposed, then brush the tops with olive oil. Put the garlic in the greased muffin mold, cover with tin foil and roast for 35 - 45 minutes, or until the garlic is squishy when prodded.

The pictures in the post are of the vessel it was cooked and served in: my Aunt Stacy's fabulous wedding gift, a hand thrown and glazed clay casserole dish! I thought it too lovely not to share. :)

Creamy Artichoke and Spinach Dip

Makes about 1 lb of dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cloves roasted or 3 cloves raw garlic
8 ounces chopped steamed spinach, excess water squeezed out
8 ounces preserved artichoke hearts, drained
4 ounces finely grated asiago cheese
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Separate the artichoke hearts' leaves from the hearts and set the hearts aside.
3. Toss the artichoke leaves into a blender or food processor with the softened cream cheese, spinach and garlic. Pulse in 3 second intervals until the mixture is smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice to get it to blend smoothly.
4. Transfer to your baking dish and fold in 3/4 of the grated asiago.
5. Mince the artichoke hearts and sprinkle over top. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 10-20 minutes, checking every 10 minutes, until the cheese starts to turn golden.
Serve alongside chip or cracker of choice.

I hope enjoyed you this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Miso Brown Butter Cod en Papillote with Citrus and Haricot Verts

The inspiration for this dish came from a misunderstanding. Some time ago I attended a going away dinner at a Japanese Barbecue (yakiniku) restaurant. I had never tried yakiniku, although I've had the very similar Korean Barbecue many times. Late into the dinner came a number of foil wrapped packets. After cooking them over the coals for a few minutes, the packets were torn open to reveal flaky white-fleshed fish in a heavenly smelling burgandy colored sauce. The sauce was slightly sweet, sharply salty; it was wonderfully umami. I had to know what it was. Miso butter fish, was the reply I thought I heard in the crowded, popular restaurant and it set me to dreaming about mixing brown butter and miso to create my own version. As it turned out I misheard the name of the dish: it was actually miso and butterfish, a type of fish I'd never heard of.

Still, the combination got my creative juices flowing, and I decided to try the combination as part of a sauce for an en papillote (in a parchment envelope) preparation. Typically en papillote includes a vibrant green vegetable, and haricot verts immediately sprung to mind, as did grapefruit to complete the flavor profile. I added some mirin caramelized shallots and black pepper and I had a really delicious sauce. I served this with some miso mashed potatoes and it was delicious. And it was pretty easy to prepare. The filets are pictured with several slices of grapefruit, however to get the best flavor I recommend one.

Miso Brown Butter Cod en Papillote with Red Grapefruit and Haricot Verts

Serves 2

1 shallot, diced
2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons mirin (rice wine)
1/4 Teaspoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoons red or yellow miso
Juice of 1/2 red grapefruit
2 large slices red grapefruit
3 ounces haricot vert, cleaned and trimmed
2 filet of cod, each weighing about 5 - 6 ounces
Black Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375, then make the sauce: melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Allow to darken slightly, then add shallots and sesame oil. Sautee over medium heat until shallots are caramelized. Add mirin to pan to deglaze and add pepper. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes more, then remove pan from heat. Add grapefruit juice, miso, 1/4 cup water and stir to dissolve miso. Set sauce aside.

2. Cut a large piece of parchment and lay cod in the center ladle sauce over fish to cover. Top fish with a single layer of green beans, then ladle a little more sauce over. Top with 1 slice ruby grapefruit.

3. Fold into an envelope: Hold the parchment on either side of the filet (it should lay in the center of the square of parchment) and join them together over top of the filet. Fold edges down toward fish approximately 1/2" and repeat 3 or so times to seal top of packet. Next, fold over the corners above the filet on either side to seal above the filet of fish and do the same to the corners below. As this is a difficult process to describe, I recommend looking up how to fold en papillote on youtube and looking at my photo for reference.

4. Bake for about 12 minutes, then plate up, crack open and enjoy. Serve with rice or starch of choice.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Cabernet Beef Stroganoff

Summer is upon us, and with the heat comes a hankering for lighter dishes. And yet this blog post is anything but; traditionally stewed beef smothered in a rich sauce made with tangy sour cream and meaty mushrooms, Beef Stroganoff is much more cold weather comfort than light summer fare. Where then, did the inspiration for this dish come from? Well, I wanted to contribute something of my culture on the blog, finally, and since my family on one side hails from Russia and Eastern Europe. I knew I had a few options. Borscht might have been the more summery choice, but I knew I could truly contribute something delicious with this boozy modern version of Beef Stroganoff. My version of this recipe includes a mushroom stock and red wine, as well as roasted mushrooms. My main beef with most mushroom dishes is that they just don't taste enough of mushroom; I wanted to make my Stroganoff as mushroomy as possible. Because the mushroom stock took hours I would suggest making the mushroom stock a weekend or perhaps a make ahead project, as my recipe made several times what I needed for the Stroganoff and it freezes very well in my ice cube trays, ready for my next mushroom recipe to give it a little boost. The mushroom stock is optional and can be replaced ounce for ounce by low sodium beef stock. The mushrooms can be roasted in advance, up to a day ahead. My suggestion is to not skip roasting the mushrooms, as this really gave the sauce and mushrooms a fabulous depth of flavor.

We enjoyed our Stroganoff over Pappardelle Noodles, but it would be equally delicious over gnocchi, mashed potatoes, or any other starch.

Cabernet Beef Stroganoff

Serves about 6

For the Mushroom Stock:

10 ounces mushrooms
3 stalks celery
1 small yellow onion
2 large carrots
1 shallot
2 - 3 outer leek leaves (I pulled these from my freezer bag filling up with veggie trimmings for vegetable stock)
1/2 dried chili pepper, seeds removed and ribs scraped out
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil

1. Roughly chop all ingredients, then sautee them in olive oil over a medium flame until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add 12 cups of water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to allow stock to simmer for 2 - 3 hours, or until liquid have been reduced by about half.

For the Beef Stroganoff:

1 1/2 lb. round or top roast, cut into 1" x 1 1/2" strips
1 cup to 1 1/4 cup mushroom stock or beef stock
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 shallot, diced
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 cup cabernet
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves
16 ounces mushroom caps, roasted, then quartered*
4 Tblsp butter
2 1/2 Tblsp + 1/2 Teasp Olive Oil
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

This will make enough to cover about 1 lb of pasta noodles. I recommend a wide or chunky noodle.

1. If you are not starting out with pre-roasted mushrooms, get them into a preheated oven. Otherwise start with the next step.

2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt one Tblsp butter and add 1/2 Teasp olive oil. Stir in shallots, turn the heat up to medium and allow to caramelize for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in sherry to deglaze and get all those fabulous sugars up. Stir/scrape, then remove shallots from pan and set aside.

3. Turn the heat back down to low and form a roux: melt the remaining butter, then whisk in flour. Cook 2-5 minutes, until flour becomes a little bit darker.

4. Using the whisk to incorporate, add in 1/4 cup wine, thyme the stock and the tomato paste. Time to season! Add in salt and pepper to taste.
When the mixture forms a smooth gravy, remove pan from heat and set aside.

5. Put your pasta water up to boil and in a separate pan sear off the steak strips: bring the pan up to medium high heat and add the olive oil; when the olive oil is hot, add the steak pieces in a single layer. You will probably have to make two batches. No matter; line your cookie sheet with foil and allow the first batch to rest while you're making the second. To get rare steak sear the outsides on all sides for 1-2 minutes, or until browned. 3 minutes per side will produce something more like a medium steak.

6. Remember to add the pasta to the boiling water (and also stir occasionally) in the midst of all this searing! You may also have to drain it before you're done searing the steak if it finishes cooking before that time.

7. As your last batch of steak finishes searing, turn the heat on under your roux mixture. Re-introduce shallots and add in mushrooms.
Put the last of the steak aside to rest. Pour the excess oil from the steak pan. Deglaze with the remaining 1/4 cup of red wine and whisk red wine into sauce. Add sour cream to sauce and when it is just warmed through, remove from heat.
You are now ready to serve! Heap steak over your favorite starch and then sauce and enjoy!

*To roast mushrooms, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and lay in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet; roast at 425 for about 30 minutes