Pear clafoutis

I tweaked a recipe I found online, and the results were nice.  I thought I'd ordered 3 pears, when I must have ordered 3 pairs of pears, and I got a free gallon on almond milk (a Peapod giveaway), so I had a big surplus of pears and almond milk.  Here's what I did:

• Preheat oven to 350. Oil 4 ramekins and a larger baking dish with almond oil.
• Peel, core, and slice 4 bartlett pears in the FP.  As they go in the FP. squeeze in some lemon juice, maybe 2 t. total.  I grated the zest from the top of the lemon I was going to use and added it to the dry ingredients later.
• saute them in ~ 1/4 c  of almond oil.  The Bartletts gave off lots of liquid, so I collected about 1/2 c., and stirred in 1 t. cornstarch to the hot liquid, thinking it could become a thickener.  Apples brown nicely in the almond oil, so maybe bosc pears, or apples for that matter, would not require this step.  My pear slices didn't ever brown, even with ~ 15 min cooking on medium high.
• In a 2 c. measure, add 1 c. almond milk, 3/4 c eggbeaters, 1 t. vanilla, and 1 T Grand Marnier (don't forget to lick the spoon).  I forgot to add the 3/8 c honey called for, but this would have been the time to do so.  To compensate, I sprinkled on about 3/8 c. sugar after I remembered, when the dishes were in the oven, and that was a pain and made a mess.
• In the empty FP, place 3/4 c almonds.  Grind them very fine.  Larger chunks will sink to the bottom and overpopulate the last baking dish you fill up, so grind away.  The recipe called for almond flour.
• In to the FP then add the lemon zest, 3/8 c. flour and a pinch of salt.  It could use more salt. Then pour in the liquids and very briefly blend in.
• As an afterthought, I observed that the recipe had no leavening.  I must have been thinking it would be a cake and not an egg-risen pudding.  So I added 1 t. baking powder.  If you think baking powder is a good idea, add it to the ground almond mixture.
• Cover the bottoms of the dishes with the sliced, sauteed pears.  Pour the batter atop.  Put the dishes into the oven and check after 30 min.  Tops should be puffed up and toasty looking.

Andrew's recipe for swordfish

Braise 1 lb swordfish in

• 1-2 c wine (as needed to cover)
• 1/4 c white wine vinegar
• 2 T. oil
• juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 t. savory, or poultry seasoning 
• pepper

chicken, fennel, apple & rosemary dinner OR chicken, fennel, sweet potato & lemon vinaigrette

Your choice! I've only tried the second one; see comments.

2 1/2 - 3 lb chicken
2 t fennel seeds
3 T olive oil
1 med  onion, sliced thin
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin
1 tart apple, wedges
4 sprigs rosemary

425 degree oven. Toast fennel seeds in skillet over meium low heat, 2-3 min.  Pound into powder.  Large bowl:  toss together chicken with 1 T olive oil and fennel seeds, salt & pepper.

On cookie sheet, put onion, fennel and apple slices and toss w remaining oil.  Spread.  Add chicken on top of vegs and lay rosemary on top. Roast 25-30 min.  Turn oven to broil.  Remove rosemary sprigs, broil chicken 1 - 2 min until skin is crispy & golden.

OR

 2 1/2 - 3 lb chicken.  Toss in bowl in 2T oil.  PUt on cookie sheet and toss 1 bulb diced fennel and 2 diced sweet potatoes in 2 T oil in bowl, then spread on sheet.  Roast until deep brown, 35 - 40 min.  Add vinaigrette (1/4 c white wine vinegar, lemon zest + juice, 4 T oil, 1 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 T dijon, 1 garlic minced),.  Sprinkle with 1 c grated pecorino,  1/4 c. chopt parsley and 2 T. chopt. fennel fronds. 

I liked the way the sweet potatoes cooked.  The chicken, not so much.  The vinaigrette was good.  Here is a nice chart for you to look at.  I could not figure out how to delete it:

Lamb from new-fangled Joy recipe

I reworked my lamb recipe for Christmas Eve 2018 in the Madison kitchen.  I wanted to avoid the two-shift oven treatment.  This recipe is a blend of the "new" JOY (which has no coating, not even breadcrumbs) and my old one:

Mash 1 clove garlic with 1/2 tsp salt.  Mash in 1/2 t. dried thyme, then beat in 2 - 3 T. dijon mustard and 3-4 T. olive oil.  Whisk together.

Pre heat oven to 400 (same as for Yorkshire pudding, but Joy calls for 425). Have skillet on med hi with 3 T butter, hot. Brown on 3 sides, 2 min each. Coat top and sides with mustard mixture and put in oven, maybe 20 min. 15 min (rare) to 21 (med. well) minutes. Rare is 125 degrees.  Wait a few minutes, loosely covered with foil, before carving.

The Yorkshire pudding went into the 400 degree oven before I browned the lamb and did ok at that temp for the 30 min that the lamb needed.  Before I started any of that, I'd slow-cooked sweet onions, first on hi, then low, and added brussel sprouts. 

Favorite muffins

these are my FAVORITE muffins of all time. They are prettt healthy- so, if you favor a sugary,cakey muffin, these probably aren’t for you. I like that they are nice and filling, so they make a nice breakfast or snack. The recipe is adapted from the Hodgson Mill Flax seed box. I prefer blueberry muffins, but the recipe works nicely with apples or other fruit.

Preheat oven to 400
Whisk together:
 1 egg
2/3 cup milk
3T walnut oil (or vegetable oil)
1.5 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milledor ground flax seed
2.5t baking powder
Pinch of salt
A few sprinkles cinnamon

Stir the dry ingredients together well (stay near the surface so that you’re mostly working in the dry ingredients), then stir into the wet ingredients. Alternatively, you can mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then combine, but I prefer to dirty just one bowl.

Gently stir in about 1/2 cup slivered almonds and 1 cup fresh blueberries.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!

BISCOTTI!
I needed to memorialize the biscotti recipe that I thought I knew by heart.  It's amazing how many ingredients and steps fall by the wayside with recipies that you "thought you knew by heart."  So I went back to Julia Child's The Way to Cook, p. 493, which I've inscribed as given to me by Janet for Christmas, 2000.  Here's enough text to put it back in my memory:
In a 2 c. measure, mix 3/4 c white and 3/4 c brown sugar (too much for me, and even for Reeves), 1 t. vanilla, 2 eggs, 1/3 c almond oil, and 2 T. water (or coffee, or grand marnier).
In a big bowl, mix 2 1/2 c flour (or use 1/2 c flax and 2 c. flour), 1 t. salt, 1 t cardamom, 2 t. cinnamon, 2 t. baking powder, and 2 c. toasted almonds.
Add liquid to dry.  Add more water if necessary.  Don't  beat any more than you have to.
Spread mixture on parchment-covered cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 for 20 minutes.  Cut, then bake again at 300 convection.

2 simple fish recipes

I've become a big fan of Costco frozen fish: reasonably priced, and delicious - none of that fishy taste that you get with lower quality frozen fish. These two recipes are for sauce/dressings for mahi mahi. Both were inspired by my CSA. Rhubarb is plentiful in the upper midwest in the spring, and after getting it two weeks in a row from my farm box and some from a friend at work, I realized I needed to branch out from pie. Mom kindly posted a halibut-fennel recipe at my request, and after glancing at it I realized I needed to figure out how to work the same flavors with much less effort.... so, I figured out the below preparation instead. It's different from mom's version - hers is more of a sauce, mine is more of a solid dressing, but I liked it just as much. The caramelizing softens the anise/licorice flavor of the fennel quite a bit - for me this is a plus, but if you love anise/licorice, perhaps it wouldn't be.

The first important step is thawing the fish:

• Place a filet per person in a large bowl of cool water (leave it in the wrapper for  now). Leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes.

I emphasize this because I find that fish thawed in this way tastes much fresher than fish left at room temperature or in the fridge for a longer period of time.

To cook the fish:

• Heat heavy bottomed pan (we have a le cruiset skillet) over medium-high heat.
• Put 1-2T of vegetable oil in the bottom
• Rinse and pat dry your fillets
• Pat with EVOO or vegetable oil and season with black pepper, light salt
• Cook fish for 4" on each side

Grilling also works nicely.

CARAMELIZED FENNEL DRESSING - serves 2- 3:

• Heat 1-2T of EVOO in a saute pan on medium heat.
• Thinly slice one fennel bulb and place in pan
• Lightly salt
• Once fennel has warmed up (you can hear the gentle sizzle sound again), turn down the temperature to medium-low
• Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30", or until the fennel is caramelized (soft and brown at parts)
• If the fennel sticks to the bottom, or all the liquid dries up, deglaze the pan (add a splash of white wine) - I have to do this 1-2 times while cooking
• Top your fish with the fennel and serve

Probably not quite as amazing as mom's recipe, but a little simpler

RHUBARB SAUCE (adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7846-sauteed-red-snapper-with-rhubarb-sauce):

• wash and trim 1 lb of rhubarb. Cut into ~1" pieces.
• Place rhubarb,  1/3 c sugar, a pinch of saffron, and a little water into a small sauce pan
• Simmer for about 30", stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb partially melts into a sauce
• Taste and add more sugar if needed
• Serve over your fish and brown rice

Also works well over chicken.