Oh, are these a winner. Exceptional breakfast or brunch food. Easy. And amazingly delicious with the pesto and mozzarella, and the little cooked tomato, and the ham. Well, just everything about it is good. I read about this over at Proud Italian Cook, a blog I read regularly. Marie found it in a new cookbook called Gale Gand’s Brunch. Gale Gand used to have a series on the Food Network, years ago, called Sweet Dreams. She’s primarily a pastry chef, and owns (I think) the restaurant called Tru in Chicago.

But, seeing a picture of these on Marie’s blog, I was smitten. I haven’t spotted this new cookbook yet, but may have to go check it out at the local bookstore. If this recipe is any representation of what’s in the cookbook, I’ll have to buy it!

Right out of the oven, without the pesto topping (yet)

Here’s what you do: buy some thinly-sliced deli ham. At my Italian market, the big round ham was Black Forest. Perfect. You need fairly big (not thick, but big in diameter) slices of ham. The recipe indicated making these in ramekins, but Marie had altered it for muffin cups, which worked fine for my needs anyway. So, you butter the ramekins or muffin tins, then gently fan the ham slice in the muffin cup, pressing it out so there’s a nice big hollow in the middle (it’s a little hard to do this, but you don’t have to be precise about it). You smear a bit of pesto in the bottom, then add in a couple of nice-sized cubes of mozzarella cheese, a small cherry tomato, then crack in an egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, bake. The recipe indicated 20 minutes or more, but in a 350 oven (lower than the recipe indicated), when I did them it took 27 minutes. Just keep checking and jiggling the muffin pan a bit. Pull them out when they still jiggle just a small amount. If you wait until they no longer jiggle, they’re overdone.

Once baked, you merely add another dollop of pesto on top. Serve immediately while they’re still perfectly cooked. The ham I bought was quite big, so you notice that the upper edges burned a bit. Next time I’ll trim them down. But I’ll definitely be making these again – great for a brunch with guests. It takes very little time to put it all together, and if you had another pair of hands, it would come together in a jiffy.

Note added later: I made these again – for dinner one night. I still had two slices of ham leftover from the Mother’s Day brunch, and was able to put this together in no time flat. The ham worked much better in ramekins rather than the muffin tin. I also used 2 eggs each. I cut up the cheese in slightly smaller pieces and put them around the outside edges as best I could. I also used two tomatoes, both cut in half and stood them up with the cut sides against the ham (looked nicer), on opposing sides. Then I dropped in the pesto and the raw eggs. The eggs baked in slightly less time, but I removed them BEFORE they got too done. This was a winner the second time around.
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A year ago: Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Two years ago: Baked Onions with Thyme (another family favorite)

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One of my friends said to me the other day  . . . “You mentioned on your blog that you had a dinner party, but you didn’t tell us what was on the menu. Are you going to do that?” Sure I can – here’s what I fixed. All the recipes are on my blog (some old and some new). Click on the recipe title to go to the post about each one.

Black Bean Layered Dip with New Mexican Red Chile Salsa – I just posted this one earlier in the week – it was a real big hit at the dinner. My DH and I have been nibbling on the leftovers ever since, but now it’s all gone. (very sad face) It is a Phillis Carey recipe, from a recent cooking class.

Pasta a la Puttanesca – the one item our son requested for his birthday dinner. A dish I’ve been making for years and years from a recipe I got from Zov Karamardian, of Zov’s Bistro (a local restaurant), at a cooking class she offered about 20 years ago. Zov shared some of her family recipes. It’s vegetarian, although there is a tiny bit of anchovies (mashed up) in the sauce. You’d never know it, though. It’s a room temp sauce served on hot pasta (I used linguine), then sprinkled the top with Parmesan cheese.

Radicchio, Belgian Endive & Dried Cranberry Salad with Pecans – this is one I made a few months ago that suggests soaking the cranberries in bourbon. With grandchildren dining with us, I didn’t do that (although they didn’t eat one bite of it anyway because it wasn’t the kind of salad they like to eat – they like greens with ranch dressing – yuk – they didn’t eat any of the Puttanesca either because I answered truthfully when  asked if there were anchovies in it). I made the salad with Peppered Pecans, another one of our family favorites (from a Cathy Thomas cooking class ages ago – she’s the Food Editor of the Orange County Register).

New Wave Garlic Bread – I posted this recipe back in ’07. It’s different, a tad spicy (hot pepper type), but is another one of our son’s favorites. He didn’t even remember it, it’s been that long since he’d had it. Recipe came from one of Hugh Carpenter’s cookbooks.

Lemon Cake with Limoncello Glaze and Yogurt-Lime Mousse– if you didn’t already read all the accolades about this dessert, I’ll repeat . . . our son thought this was the best-est cake he’d ever had. If you don’t like limoncello (a lemon liqueur), use lemon juice concentrate instead. But it was the yogurt-lime mousse that was the hit. I’m so sad it’s all gone (mixture of whipped cream, strained Greek yogurt, sugar and fresh lime juice). From Food & Wine.

And, do you want to know how many hours I worked in the kitchen to make all that? No, you probably don’t, but I’ll tell you anyway – about 6 1/2 hours. A labor of love, that’s all it was. The dinner was what our son requested of me/us as his birthday present.

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When the bundt cake works, it works like a charm. I was extremely careful to butter every single ridge and groove of the pan, to help it along and make sure when I inverted it, it wouldn’t leave some cake behind. Then I poked holes all over the top and sides of this and drizzled the limoncello syrup over it, letting it sink in. Then I made the mousse. The mousse was easy. Talk about delicious. Talk about a combination from heaven.

This recipe is going onto my favorites list, so if you have learned to trust in my “favs,” then you’ve gotta make this cake. In case you haven’t looked, I have a separate page (glance at the tabs across the top, under the home page photo) here on my blog that has a list of my favorite recipes, with links to the posts for each. Out of the 500+ recipes I’ve posted here at Tasting Spoons, they are my favorites.

This recipe came from Food & Wine. But, it was created by Lynn Moulton, Pastry Chef at Blu Restaurant in Boston. The cake contains lemon zest, and it’s drizzled with the limoncello syrup. The mousse is just a mixture of Greek yogurt (the strained type, so it’s thicker – use full fat for this) and whipped cream, with some freshly squeezed lime juice and sugar added. It’s stunning all on its own – could be used for a great parfait with a cookie. It’s thickened up with a package of plain gelatin, which helps it keep firm for a day or two. I think this cake will serve more like about 16 people, by the way, so keep that in mind.

Our son, who does enjoy sweets, said, “I think this is the best cake I’ve ever eaten.” Them’s are the kind of words every mom/cook/chef wants to hear. I urge you, without delay, to get yourself some limoncello, some lemons and limes, some Greek yogurt, whipping cream, and bake this CAKE! You simply MUST make the yogurt lime mousse too – it puts this cake into the superlative category. The cake is light (it’s a sponge cake) and very lemony, but with the limoncello glaze and the mousse, it’s just perfect!

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A year ago: Barbecued Short Ribs (pressure cooker)
Two years ago: Algerian Carrots (a real favorite)

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Needing to make something for my DH’s men’s morning Bible Study group last week, I scanned through some new possibilities and spotted this one. We have chives in the garden, I had sharp cheddar, and a new stash in the freezer of some good, thick bacon. These scones came together very quickly. You can substitute green onion TOPS for the chives if you’d prefer. I might reduce the amount of bacon next time, but make sure you chop up the bacon into very small pieces – I didn’t, so had bacon pieces kind of sticking out the sides.

The dough is a very basic scone dough – this one done by hand rather than in a food processor. I chopped up the butter into cubes and mashed them into the dough as instructed. It’s a rich dough – made with heavy cream and a little bit of butter, then you mix in the add-ins and pat it out on a floured surface. I used some new square biscuit cutters I purchased recently, baked them in nothing flat and froze them overnight so they’d be super-fresh in the morning. These were delicious, particularly so if you like bacon. If you don’t, don’t add it in. The cheese and chives or onions would be sufficient. These would go well with a brunch AND would be downright wonderful with a big bowl of soup or chili. Each scone is very large (and the calories indicate such) so if you’d like smaller, that should be no problem. Just bake a minute or two less time.

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A year ago: Mashed Potatoes with Shallots & Truffle Oil
Two years ago: Ribeye Steaks with Amazing Glaze(a real fav at our house – my DH’s favorite way with grilled steaks)

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Ever had skirt steak? It’s an odd piece of beef – also called a flap steak. Comes from the belly of the steer, sometimes covering part of the ribs or below. Often it’s covered in silverskin (which needs to be removed – get your butcher to do it for you ). It can be chewy – that’s why you marinate it. It’s tasty, though, and perfect for grilling. The steak itself is thin – very thin actually – and when it cooks it shrinks, big time. You can grill it on an outdoor, or stovetop grill, either one. Cut it up into manageable pieces (like it halves or thirds (about the size of your hand). It cooks up in no time (remember, it’s thin) so it only takes a couple of minutes per side (until it’s still pink in the middle). You remove it to a cutting board and slice it across the grain (there’s a definite grain to skirt steak) into small strips (as in the photo above).

In this salad, the meat is marinated with lots of garlic, olive oil and pepper (and some fresh thyme sprigs). Meanwhile you make homemade croutons which are baked briefly, then combine with some tomatoes, onion, olives and arugula. Add a bit of basil and you’re done. It’s not required, but there’s a little bit of blue cheese-butter that tastes fab on the meat. That’s it. And oh, is it wonderful! The recipe came from Food & Wine, but is Suzanne Goin’s creation (she’s the chef at Lucques, in Los Angeles). If this is any representation of her recipes, I’m going to be paying a lot more attention!
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A year ago: Green Salad with Chevre Dressing
Two years ago: Cauliflower, Bacon & Mushrooms

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A black bean mixture with roasted poblano chiles, onion, spices, spread with a layer of sour cream and topped with a roasted New Mexico chile salsa

Making this a couple of days ago, I could hardly keep my tasting spoon out of the food processor as I was whizzing up the bean mixture. Oh is it good! Thanks to Phillis Carey, who made this at a recent cooking class. It took me about 3 days to decide this needed to be on the menu for our weekend family birthday.

Now, I’ll be the first one to tell you that there is a moderate amount of prep to making this – it’s not like buying canned bean dip and spreading on some sour cream and jarred chile salsa and calling it done.

There’s a fairly simple chile salsa to make (dried chiles, fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, cider vinegar and salt) first. The bean layer isn’t all that hard exactly, but you do have to char the chiles first (poblano/pasilla), peel, seed and chop them. With onion, garlic, fresh lime juice, cilantro, then some seasonings, it does take a few minutes to prep too. A note about the chiles . . . New Mexican chiles are nothing more than dried Anaheim chiles (they’re not hot). You may also see them as “California chiles.” I believe they’re the same thing. These are not necessarily chiles FROM New Mexico – but once Anaheims are dried they seem to be attached to New Mexico (they do grow thousands of pounds of them).

The bean layer is spread into a flat dish (like a decorative pie plate at right) and allowed to chill awhile. Meanwhile you can make the chile salsa (including a bit of broiling and baking time for the tomatoes, onions and garlic). The food processor makes simple work, though, of the sauce once the ingredients are all ready to go. The salsa recipe makes more than you’ll need, but it can be used for other things (another recipe from the class that I’ll share soon). I actually used two poblano chiles when I made it, but I like that chile flavor.

An hour before you’re ready to serve this, remove the bean mixture from the refrigerator (so the dip isn’t chilled-cold), then just before serving you spread on the sour cream, then the salsa. Done. Your guests will just not recognize this from the throw-together-from-cans-type of layered bean dip. The flavors are deep (not hot) and complex. Serve with tortilla chips, and I defy you to stop at one! I heard comments like this: “wow, what’s IN this,  “Mom, this is amazing,” and “is this ever GOOD!”
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A year ago: Lemon Rice Pilaf

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If you enjoy margaritas, but prefer just a little bit of sweetness, this recipe is for you. It’s still got the margarita kick, but it’s not sickeningly sweet like some of the fruit concoctions made at restaurants. Usually they are simply too sweet for me. But this one, from a Phillis Carey cooking class, was just great. A little bit of fruit, a little sugar on the rim, and a goodly sock of tequila. [I had a 3 ounce margarita total, so don’t get excited.] Don’t use frozen strawberries, as that will make the margarita more like a smoothie. As usual, photographing beverages is a bit difficult – I snapped this at the class, balancing a cafeteria tray on my lap with nothing but the printed recipes as my decorative backdrop!
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Every few days I look at some new food blogs. Surely I shouldn’t be spending any more of my time reading more and more food blogs, but I can’t seem to help myself. If you notice the Foodie Blogroll thing on my sidebar, it lists a bunch of blogs. That list changes every day. They aren’t my lists (my personal blogroll is down on the bottom of my page – those are the ones I follow regularly), but is a commercial site that gives food bloggers some visibility. Once in a great while my blog shows up on the list.

Sometimes the blogs linked there are in foreign languages. Scratch those. Sometimes they’re ones I’ve already examined or watch regularly. This time it was a new one, so I started reading LaDue & Crew’s last month of posts. And what did I spy but a kumquat recipe. Hmmm. I still have oodles of kumquats. Well, I did – most of what’s left (below) will be used in a reprise of this recipe it’s so good!

You know about kumquats, right? They look like miniature elongated oranges. But boy, do they pack a punch. It’s the SKIN that’s sweet. The juice inside (which unfortunately contains a few seeds) is super-tart. The kind that makes your mouth pucker and you stand taller for a few seconds. If you eat them out of hand, you simply must chew some of the rind with the juice or you’ll be shaking your head and wanting to spit it out.

This comprises the end of my kumquat harvest.

So, what I found over at LaDue & Crew was a story about an Asian pear dessert with poached kumquats in a vanilla-scented syrup. What can I tell you about this dish: my DH said “fabulous, honey.” Then he said “it is so unusual, and different. I expected something kind of blah from looking at it. It didn’t LOOK like how it tasted, that’s for sure. It just looked like slices of apple” [no, it was Asian pear, though they have the texture of apple]. THEN, he said “wow, it is just this unbelievable combo of the pear, kumquat with the mint.” I garnished with the mint, and it’s a super addition to this recipe. Our recommendation: each and every bite must include a piece of pear (about thumb size), one slice of kumquat, AND a tiny slice of mint.

It took very little time to make this – except for slicing and de-seeding the little kumquat gems. That probably took 15 minutes. Maybe you can recruit one of your children to help with that, if you have some around. You make a simple syrup, really (half sugar, half water) with some lime juice added. I used Splenda so my DH could enjoy this too. The syrup is simmered very briefly with a half of a vanilla bean (the seeds scraped out into the syrup as well as the pod). That’s it. Then the warm/hot syrup is poured over the pears, and it’s allowed to cool, then you refrigerate it. I think next time I’ll just put the whole batch into a plastic bag so you can turn the bag over a few times during the cooling process, because the pear slices that were IN the syrup had a much more vanilla-accented flavor than the ones on top which had almost no contact with the syrup. The benefit to using Asian pear is that it can sit for hours without darkening. Because the pear isn’t cooked, you see.

Next time I think I’ll make a double batch of the syrup, because it is scrumptious. I wanted more of it. The next morning, after the pears had soaked for 12+ hours, the flavor was sensational. I think marinating overnight, or at least 8-12 hours is essential. I might also try putting a dollop of creme fraiche on top too. Just for fun. We ate the remainder yesterday with some Fage Greek yogurt – for breakfast. The flavors were still fabulous. Thanks to LaDue and crew for this great recipe.

I also made a kumquat salad dressing (for greens). I’ll be writing that up in the next few days. So stay tuned if you’re searching for kumquat recipes.
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A year ago: Grilled tri-tip roast with tequila marinade and cherry tomato relish
Two years ago: Tangerine vinaigrette

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When I bought my Fagor pressure cooker, I recall watching a video (on a DVD included in the package) and one of the recipes was for risotto. Really, I thought? You can make risotto in a pressure cooker?

Well, I’m here to tell you this recipe worked like a charm. I rarely make risotto, for two reasons: (a) rice is a high glycemic carb; and (b) it’s labor intensive. But, as you probably know, risotto is also downright delicious. It’s probably been 2 years since I’ve made risotto, but I think I might make it slightly more often with this new recipe.

We had a nice thick ribeye steak for dinner, a green salad, an artichoke, and this risotto. Arborio rice always lives in my cupboard, even though I rarely use it.  I had some already-prepared mushrooms (leftovers) so I decided to add them to the mixture. I wasn’t sure the mushrooms would withstand the pressure cooker method, so I added them in at the end (along with the garlic and parsley and Parmesan cheese).

First you saute the onion, then add the rice and cook it briefly in olive oil. You add the white wine and let it evaporate, then broth is added and you let it do its pressure cooker thing. Mine pressured for five minutes. Once I removed the lid there was just the perfect amount of liquid in the pan, but once I added the mushrooms, it thickened up some, so I did end up adding a bit of water. Taste the rice to see if it’s cooked perfectly – still slightly firm to the tooth. You do not want to overcook it, that’s all. You may need to try your pressure cooker. The creaminess was perfect. And it was really tasty. Next time I might add a bit more Parmesan. If you’re eating this as your entree, it’ll serve 2. As a side, it’ll serve at least 4, maybe 5.
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A year ago: Brownie-Bottomed Pudding Pie (easy)
Two years ago: Mexican Chopped Salad (oh, a real favorite)

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Well, it’s a good thing my friend Norma needs some “new” kind of cookie, because I’d about run out of recipes to try, to make soft chocolate chip cookies. Her doctor has told her she can’t have any more chocolate or nuts (too much potassium). She said coconut sounded really good.

Nary a coconut cookie recipe did I have in my collection because it’s not a flavor I crave. Well, I do have a cranberry noel that has coconut on the edges, really nice for Christmas, but I don’t usually make them other times of the year. They also have nuts in them, so that one’s out.

I turned to an ancient cookbook that belonged to my mother, called The Spice Cookbook by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey. It has recipes of ALL kinds from soup to veggies, but using spices. Sure enough, it had an orange coconut cookie that sounded good. I wanted to use butter instead of shortening, and I only had low-fat sour cream. Plus I had tangerines instead of oranges. No matter. All those substitutions worked just fine.

These cookies are soft. The batter is soft too. Just what Norma likes. And believe it or not, I liked them too. They were easy to throw together, easy to bake, and very easy to eat! The lemon and tangerine rind in the cookies gave it a lovely citrusy flavor. The coconut isn’t overwhelming, but I used shaved coconut (dried), not covered in sugar. If you use the store-bought shredded coconut I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the cookie batter by a couple of tablespoons. I haven’t heard back from Norma yet as to how these cookies taste. . . I’ll report later on that.
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A year ago: White Chicken Chili

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