Turmeric Roasted Vegetables

I could easily go Vegan. I love vegetables and this was so easy and so tasty!

Turmeric Roasted Vegetables

1 medium to large head of cauliflower, outer leaves removed and cut into florets
6 medium size shallots, peeled and left whole
1 container cherry tomatoes, washed and cut into halves
1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon nigella seeds ( you can substitute pumpkin seeds)
1/2 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped finely

1. Preheat over to 330 degrees. F. In a large mixing bowl place all the vegetables and bay leaves.

2. Mix the water, oil, lemon juice, turmeric, seeds, sweet paprika, cumin, salt and pepper together and pour over the vegetables.  Mix to combine ensuring they are evenly coated in the liquid.

3.  Place in oven and roast for at least one hour or until cauliflower florets are golden.  If you like your veggies really moist remove after this time, if you want the flavors more developed and a more caramelised dish then roast around one and a quarter hours.

4. Scatter chopped parsley and serve.

Pan Seared Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Tomatoes

I forgot to post these from last weekend.  Really simple and healthy chicken dish.  Not to mention absolutely delicious.

Pan Seared Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Tomatoes

2 teaspoons canola oil
8 ( 4 ounce) bone in chicken thighs, skinned
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup sliced pimiento - stuffed olives
1 (14.5 - ounce) can organic fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon thinly sliced
Oregano leaves ( optional)

1. Heat canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle chicken with pepper.  Add chicken to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.

2. Add olives, tomatoes, and garlic to pan, spooning mixture over and around chicken.  Place lemon slices on chicken. Reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and cook 4 minutes or until chicken is done. Garnish with oregano, if desired.

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

We had our best friends and neighbors, Mel and Marni, over for dinner Saturday night.  It had to have been the most discombobulated meal. I don't know what was wrong with Tim and me?  It was like the Keystone Cops - we are usually so in sync when we have dinner parties and I don't know what happened but what a mess.  Potatoes not done, spilling braised carrots on the floor, a mess.   The only perfect aspect was these amazing Lemon Curd cupcakes.  They were so delicious and beautiful to look at - really good!

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

3 1/2 cups all -purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice ( from 1 to 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioner's sugar for dusting
Lemon curd ( see below)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium -high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.  Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Beat in lemon juice and vanilla.  Add flour mixture in three batches, 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 28 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.  Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioner's sugar.  Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd.  Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, the lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top.  Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour ( or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.

Lemon Curd
2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice ( about 6 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature.

Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat.  Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition.  Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate until chilled and firm , at least 2 hours ( or up to 2 days).

Braised Cabbage

Perfect side dish with the Beef and Red Wine Pot Pie!

Braised Cabbage
3 T olive oil
8 slices of very thick cut bacon cooked and crumbled
2 T butter
1 onion , sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1/2 T caraway seeds
1 t fennel seeds
3/4 head of cabbage, thickly sliced
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
Salt
Pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy - based saucepan and saute the bacon until it's crispy.  Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels.

Lower the heat and add the butter to the pan.  Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, caraway seeds and fennel seeds and sweat for about 5  minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not colored.

Add the cabbage to the pan, cover with a lid and sweat for around 5 minutes or until the cabbage begins to soften.  Season then increase the heat and cook stirring frequently, until the pan juices have evaporated. ( it took ours around 15 minutes but we wanted it browned and nicely caramelized).

Stir through the fried bacon and parsley and serve.  If you wish, you could also add a splash of lemon juice or red wine vinegar.  the slight tartiness is a nice add to the buttery richness.

Beef and Red Wine Pot Pie

Perfect Meal for a Fall Weekend!

Beef and Red Wine Pot Pie

Boneless beef shoulder or chuck and cut into cubes
6 teaspoons olive oil
2 onions diced
2 stalks of celery diced
1 carrot peeled and diced
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
20 oz.beef stock
12. 5 oz red wine - use a nice, gutsy cabernet or shiraz
10 sprigs of thyme
3 fresh bay leaves
1 dozen button mushrooms chopped
3 T plain flour
6 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg lightly beaten with 1 T milk
Sea salt
Pepper

1. Dust the beef cubes in plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper and shake off the excess.   Heat oil in a heavy based casserole pot over medium heat and brown beef cubes in batches, stirring to prevent the flour from catching and burning on the bottom.  Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.

Add a splash more oil and add the veggies and garlic and cook for around 5 minutes or until softened.

Add stock, wine, herbs and the browned beef cubes and season lightly with sea salt and black pepper (it's always best to do most of the seasoning after everything's cooked and liquid has reduced).  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours.  Add mushrooms and cook another 30 minutes or until meat is tender.

If it's still a little liquidy, place flour in a small bowl and add enough braising liquid to make a thin, smooth paste.  Add to casserole little by little, stirring, until it's smooth and thick.  Season to taste, add vinegar and cool.  Once cooled, spoon into a large pie dish, removing the bay leaves.  Alternatively, you can spoon into individual pie dishes or ramekins.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll pastry to to cover pie topping and place over filling, with edges overhanging.  Press with fork to seal edges and trim excess with a knife.  Brush with the eggwash and bake for around 20 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Columbus Day Weekend

Another 3 day weekend back to back with last weekend.  The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire time.  We managed to put up more deer fencing, get 3 sides of the garden sheds painted and started the makeover for the mud room.  Ceiling and crown moulding in the mud room got painted.  The cabinets get painted next, then new tile, wall paneling and wallpaper.  Big job for such a little space.  Atticus came with us again on his second weekend upstate.  He was great on the commute.  We are so used to such cat drama and he was absolutely quiet and perfect.  Sookie is content to stay home in the city.  What a difference a week makes with the trees.  Last weekend was peak for us up here and the leaves were gorgeous.  A week later and most of the leaves are already gone on our property.  We took a walk up in the back pasture to see the view with the leaves turning.  In the afternoon, once all the leaves are gone, you can watch the sun set over the western ridge lines from our backyard.  It was beautiful.  I love this time of year.  We had our furnace inspected and thank goodness we did - only to find out that the computer panel was burned out - after only 4 years?  We had to have it replaced and Dubben Brothers came and replaced it this morning.  Great timing because the evenings are really cool already.  It's supposed to be a very cold winter.  Tim made this amazing pot pie and we watched Brian DePalma movies back to back.  Atticus everywhere in the house like a little puppy running constantly and eating the ferns and shamrock plants in the window.  Very nice weekend.

Chicken, Mushroom and Pumpkin Stew

A 3 day weekend last weekend and we continued to prep and dismantle the garden for winter.  Putting up deer fencing, painting the garden sheds, transplanting and putting away outdoor pots.  A couple trips to Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware and the grocery store were the only interruptions over the weekend.  We met our new neighbor.  The adjacent 12 acres and house sold finally and the new neighbor, introduced himself - another Jeff.   We invited him over for cocktails and we had a nice couple hours to chat and get to know each other.  Looking forward to having them over for dinner sometime.  Tim made a couple pots of stew to freeze so that if we get a cold evening soon and are sans groceries - we have some stew in the freezer.  This Pumpkin stew was great - nice rich flavors and creaminess!

Chicken, Mushroom and Pumpkin Stew

4 large chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 T fresh thyme
1 small pumpkin
12 mushrooms
1 small onion
4 T flour
2 & 1/2 T butter
T olive oil
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 T chopped parsley

Vegetable Broth ( see below separate ingredient)
6 cups water
2T extra virgin olive oil
2 T soy sauce
3 sprigs of parsley
4 carrots
Sprig of thyme
1 celery stalk
1/4 head of cabbage
1 leek
12 mushrooms, chopped

Put all ingredients for Vegetable broth in a saucepan, season with salt  and bring to a boil.  Cook on low heat 30 - 40 minutes until the carrots are very soft.  At the end season with freshly ground pepper and salt.

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, thyme and 1 T olive oil . Mix thoroughly.  Then add 4 T of flour and thoroughly coat the chicken and set aside.

Cut pumpkin into several smaller pieces.  Cut mushrooms into pieces.  Dice onion.

Preheat large pot.  Melt 1 T of butter and add the chicken breasts.  Saute breasts until browned. Remove and set aside , let cool and cut chicken into cubes.

In the same pan, add 1 T of olive oil and toss mushrooms and onions.  Saute for about 2 minutes until they are browned, set aside on a plate.

Put pumpkin into pan with 1/2 T of butter, season with salt and cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Combine all ingredients into pot and allow to dissolve .  Add broth and let boil.  Cover and cook over moderate heat for about 3 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

Pour into a bowl and add 3 T of cream and mix so that cream warms and does not curdle.  Once warmed add balance of cream  and add parsley and mix gently . Can be served over mashed potatoes or rice.