Date Bars, Plain & Simple

I received some gorgeous Medjool dates for the holidays and instead of hiding them and stealing one here and there, I decided to make Homesick Texan's Date Bars to share. The recipe is similar to my date nut bread, but it has no oil in it.

These beauties came out moist and delicious and those toasted pecans made the house smell so good!

Since I never have rum in the house, I used Grand Marnier instead to soak the dates, the results were delicious.

Great with afternoon coffee.

Date Bars (adapted from Homesick Texan's Cookbook):

8 ounces (1 1/2 cups, 225 g) diced pitted dates
1 tablespoon rum or Grand Marnier
1 cup (140 g) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon melted butter, salted or unsalted
1 tablespoon hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

1. Toss the dates in the liquor and let them sit for a few hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line an 8" (23 cm) square pan with foil and coat the inside with non-stick spray.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, and eggs until smooth. Mix in the butter, hot water, and vanilla, then stir in the flour mixture. Use a spatula to stir in the dates (and any liquid) and the pecans.

5. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let date bars cool, then lift out the bars. Peel away the foil and cut into squares.



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Bistro Salad: Frisee w/ Lardons & Poached Egg

This is a favorite salad of mine, and I order it in a French restaurant whenever I see it on a menu.

But it can be tricky to make at home, because you want to serve the dressing and poached egg WARM, therefore, you have to move quickly.

There is nothing worse than dining out and having a cold poached egg on top of the dish (this means the egg was cooked hours ago). You want the oozing yolk to be nice and warm to mop up with your crouton or toast. Yum.

Lardons are nothing but bacon that has been cut into matchsticks. (See, that was an easy French lesson).



Frisee is curly chicory and quite bitter, but it stands up beautifully to hot dressings and perfect in this traditional French salad.



Frisee Salad w/ Lardons and Poached Eggs: (makes 2 large salads)

½ pound frisée (French curly endive)
6 slices slab bacon or thick-cut bacon, cut into thin pieces (like matchsticks)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (for poaching the eggs)
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
fleur de sel
2 slices of good bread, drizzled w/ olive oil and toasted

In a heavy skillet, cook the bacon pieces until crispy and remove to paper towels to blot. Save the bacon grease in the skillet please.



Arrange the frisee on your plates so you are ready to go. You have to be ready to serve and eat this salad!
Add the crispy lardons to the tops of the lettuces on the plates.

Boil water in a saucepan w/ the white vinegar and bring to a boil. Poach your eggs for 2 minutes for a runny yolk (3 minutes for a firm yolk).

While the eggs are poaching, cook the chopped shallot in the bacon grease for 1 minute and deglaze the pan with the 3 tbsp red wine vinegar for 5 seconds. Don't stand too close to the pan or you will get a nice vinegar vapor facial!



Voila! This hot mess is your dressing. Immediately pour the shallot vinegar mixture over the 2 salads. Top with the warm poached egg and a piece of olive oil toast (or crouton of your choice).



Bon Appetit!

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Lazy Girl: Aglio e Olio

Is there really a recipe for spaghetti aglio e olio? Sure there is!

Spaghetti w/ garlic and olive oil. This is comfort food at its best. I make it when there is absolutely nothing much else in the house to eat, or when I am just feeling lazy.

Simple and delicious. It's perfect to whip up when you come home late from work (or come home late from a party!).

I am sure everyone has their own way of making it. But here's mine.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (spaghetti w/ garlic and olive oil)

1 lb. of thin spaghetti
6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
a little less than 1/2 cup of good olive oil
sea salt
good dash of hot pepper flakes
zest of a lemon
Pecorino cheese and fresh parsley for garnish

Pour oil and hot pepper in a large skillet, big enough to hold the pasta in it too.

Boil pasta as per directions and drain, saving about 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

Heat the oil on low flame and cook the slices of garlic with the hot pepper flakes for about 5 minutes, without really browning, just till fragrant and golden.



Add the pasta with a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to the skillet of olive oil and toss.

Add the lemon zest, and season with salt and parsley and serve immediately.

Pass the cheese please.



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Tuesday Tart: Kale, Ricotta & Artichoke

This has to be the easiest tart in the world to make.

I was skeptical at first, since there is no cream, no herbs or spices and who likes kale to begin with?

It's not the prettiest tart either, but the combination works well and it's a nice healthy lunch with some soup. (I have since made it with Swiss chard and they are both good hearty greens to use).

I love crustless quiches, because they taste great the next day at room temperature without worrying about soggy crust!

There are only really 5 ingredients in this recipe (not including the salt & pepper), so go for it, it takes no time to put together! (though I think a sauteed onion would really make this tart worth keeping in the recipe file.....hint).



Artichoke, Kale & Ricotta Pie: (adapted from The Kitchn)

4 eggs, beaten
8 ounces ricotta cheese
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup canned artichokes, drained & chopped
1 bunch kale, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9-inch cake or tart pan lightly with olive oil or butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and cheeses. Roughly chop the artichokes and kale and add to the cheese/egg mixture. Stir until combined. Pour contents of bowl into the greased cake pan and cook until custard is set, about 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire wrack for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.



Yummy!

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How Times Have Changed (thankfully!!!)

No recipe for Chinese New Year today.
My friend Sarah sent these to me and I had to share them. Enjoy!



















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Far Breton

I received a lovely jar of prunes from Agen, France. Prunes get a bad rap, they are just plums that have been dried. Think big raisins.



These special prunes from the Agen region in France (famous for growing prunes) have no preservatives or sulphur dioxide. They are straight up plums, dried, with the pits. Plump and beautiful.



I tasted one straight from the jar and it was no ordinary pruneaux. I decided to use them in Dorie Greenspan's Far Breton, a flan like dessert from the Brittany region of France. She uses Armagnac to soak her prunes, but that's a pricey cognac, so you can substitute with Earl Grey tea or another type of brandy.

Don't forget if using prunes from Agen, to remove the pits or a trip to the dentist is in your future!

This is similar to a clafoutis and has a more custard like texture than a cake. Either way it's great for breakfast with coffee or anytime.

Loved.

Far Breton (adapted from Dorie Greenspan):

3 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for pan
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup good-quality pitted prunes (for instance, pruneaux d'Agen)
1/4 cup Armagnac plus 1/4 cup water or 1 cup hot Earl Grey tea (I used bourbon!)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt and blend for 1 minute. Add the flour and pulse until just incorporated, scraping down the sides of the blender jar. Chill in the jar for at least three hours and up to one day.

Dorie wants you to ignite the alcohol with a lighter and cook on the stove and then macerate overnight. Since my prunes were plump and beautiful, instead of the usual dried and shriveled variety, and the fact that I have no patience to wait till the next day, I skipped this step. I just added a little bit of bourbon to a bowl and soaked the prunes for the 3 hours, while the batter was resting in the fridge.

Position rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350F degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Line bottom of the pan with parchment paper, butter the paper then dust the pan with flour, tapping out excess.

Blend the batter again until smooth, about 5 seconds. Pour into the prepared cake pan. Drop the prunes evenly into batter. Place cake pan on a baking sheet and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until sides are browned and puffy and knife inserted into center comes out clean.



Cool cake completely on a cooling rack. Loosen cake from the pan by running a knife around the sides. Carefully invert pan onto a piece of wax or parchment paper, remove the pan and peel off parchment round. Place serving plate over cake and invert again. Dust cake with powdered sugar and serve.

Excellent served warm, but delicious the next a.m. for breakfast out of the fridge.



Bon Appetit!

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Winter Squash w/ Pangrattato

It's winter (in case you have been asleep), so let's think of squash again. Butternut squash being my favorite of the winter squash.

Most people think of squash only around Thanksgiving time in the fall, but it is available all winter long and stays well because of its thick skin. You can keep it a month in a cool dry place and there will be no change when you find that bell shaped thing again.

For a vegetarian lunch I made a pangrattato to go over my roasted squash cubes.
What is pangrattato?
I am glad you asked.

Pan-grah-totto are just pimped up breadcrumbs in Italian. Torn bread cooked w/ garlic, zest, butter, chiles and herbs. So good, you will want to sprinkle them on everything.

I found this recipe in Nigel Slater's gorgeous book on vegetables, Tender, A Cook and His Vegetable Patch.



If you want to grow and eat your own vegetables, this is the book for you. Though Nigel lives in the UK, the book includes many US produce varieties and has been edited to US measurement conversions. (No metric system for us, thank you!).



Here is a version of Nigel's pangrattato: (pimped up breadcrumbs!)

about 4 slices of good Italian bread, torn into smallest pieces
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
zest of 1/2 orange
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
a handful of chopped fresh parsley

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
olive oil and kosher salt

Lay the squash on a sheet pan and drizzle w/ olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and roast in a 400F oven for 20-25 minutes, turning the squash over once or twice.

While the squash is roasting, make the pangrattato.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the bread, the rosemary, chili flakes and zest and cook until the breadcrumbs are turning golden.

When the squash is caramelized, transfer to a bowl. Season w/ salt & pepper and spoon the pangrattato on top. Sprinkle w/ fresh parsley and serve.



LOVED!

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Delicious Spanish Chickpea & Chorizo Soup

I wanted to make an authentic Spanish chickpea chorizo cocido (stew), but I knew it would never be as good as the Spanish grandmother's version, because:

A. I can't find REAL Spanish ham (pata negra or a hunk of Serrano) on the bone.
B. I didn't have any homemade chicken stock in the freezer.
C. I was too lazy to soak my chickpeas.
D. I am not in sunny Spain and it just isn't the same.

However, this Jamie Oliver version is very good in its own right!

I am going to call it a "dumbed down" version, because it doesn't take all day to make. Instead, you use canned chickpeas, a box of chicken stock, and Serrano ham in the package. Luckily, my market has authentic Spanish chorizo. You can make this soup/stew in less than an hour.



This is the perfect cold weather soup/stew. The heat from the chorizo opens your sinuses and this makes for a wonderful hearty winter meal.

In Spain, many places grate a hard boiled egg on top of the cocido. Don't skip this garnish, it's almost like putting a dollop of ricotta on bolognese sauce, or sour cream on top of chili, or ranch dressing with hot wings. You get my drift?

Spanish Chickpea & Chorizo Soup: (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

• olive oil
• 6 oz. chorizo sausage, finely chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 1 lb fresh spinach, washed and chopped (I used whole leaf frozen spinach)
• 8 fresh tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped (I used a 24oz. can of plum tomatoes)
• 1 15oz can or jar of good-quality cooked chickpeas, drained
• 4 cups chicken stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2oz pata negra, Spanish Serrano ham or prosciutto, finely chopped
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 hard-boiled eggs

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large pot and add the chorizo. Allow to heat up and cook for a couple of minutes until the fat comes out of the chorizo, then add your onion, garlic and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Stir it around and get some color happening now. Add your spinach, tomatoes, chickpeas and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for around 40 minutes.

At this point you can remove about a third of the mixture and purée it in a food processor (but I did not bother, I liked the chunky roughness of the stew). Pour it back into the pot, give it a good stir and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and stir in the pata negra or ham and 2 or 3 tablespoons of good Spanish extra virgin olive oil. Divide into bowls and grate some hard-boiled egg on top.



This served 4 people plus leftovers for the freezer.
This was GREAT. Hope you try it.

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Roasted Beets & Carrots w/ Goat Cheese Dressing

I seem to have this craving for beets lately. In the winter I love roasting multi color beets w/ heirloom carrots and having them in the fridge all week for salads and other fun stuff.

In this recipe, you make a creamy dressing by whisking some goat cheese in w/ the vinegar & oil. Good idea!

I found some tiny little golden beets, not sure of the variety; a neat looking bunch of golden baby carrots, and some sweet red beets. We are in business.



The author also uses the beet greens in the salad, and says it is best to eat vegetables from the "root to the leaf" (sort of like head to tail).



Roasted Beets & Carrots w/ Goat Cheese Dressing: (adapted from Food & Wine)

1 1/2 pounds golden beets with tops
1 1/2 pounds red beets with tops
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, halved
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 ounces fresh baby carrots
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 large shallot, minced
1 ounce soft goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 425°. Peel the beets and cut them into 1-inch wedges. Discard the tough stems from the beet tops and coarsely chop the leaves. Trim the carrots, leaving some of the tops attached.

Lay the beets and carrots with the halved garlic cloves in a large roasting pan.
Drizzle w/ olive oil and sprinkle liberally w/ kosher salt & pepper.



Cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes. I like to remove the foil and cook for another few minutes for crispy edges.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat a large skillet w/ olive oil and saute the beet greens until wilted, about 5 minutes. Season w/ salt & pepper.



In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and half of the shallot. Season with salt and pepper and whisk in the goat cheese.

Add half of the goat cheese dressing to the beet greens in the skillet and toss. Add the roasted vegetables to the pan and toss once or twice. Transfer the salad to a platter and drizzle with the remaining dressing. Serve right away.



Delish!

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What to do w/ Leftover Salmon: Make a Quiche!

Have you tried my favorite salmon recipe yet? It's so easy and so good, but I always seem to have a small piece of salmon leftover and some of the roasted asparagus. I usually wind up throwing it out, 'cause leftover fish just doesn't taste right. Yuck.



I decided instead of being wasteful, I would make a quiche with the leftovers (what a refreshing change from my usual repertoire!).

Since the salmon has lemon juice, thyme, shallots and capers all built in, it really doesn't need much help except for a nice custard.

You can use this basic recipe for any leftover cooked salmon from the night before, just make sure you jazz it up a bit by adding some lemon juice, capers, some herbs and definitely a lot of salt & pepper before adding it to the pie shell.

Salmon & Asparagus Quiche:

I would suggest making the Roasted Salmon & Asparagus recipe, otherwise, just use leftover cooked salmon and doctor it up a bit.

a small piece of leftover cooked salmon
a handful of steamed or roasted asparagus, cut into pieces
(you can add more capers, shallots, thyme, lemon zest, dill, salt & pepper for seasoning)
3 eggs
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup of heavy cream or half & half
1 prepared frozen pie shell

Flake the salmon and cut up the asparagus. Lay on the bottom of a prepared pie shell.
Season with some more lemon zest, capers, shallots, salt & pepper and anything else you like.



Whisk the eggs with the cream together and add the cheese.



Pour the custard over the salmon and asparagus.

Bake for 35 minutes in a 350F oven until puffed and golden.

Wait 15 minutes before serving.



Enjoy!

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