ROASTED GARLIC CHICKEN AND POTATOES

This is an easy and satisfying meal. Roasted garlic, if you've never had it, has the most wonderful flavor. Any cloves that you don't eat during the meal can be saved in the fridge and used as a spread for crackers or breads. And any leftover potatoes can be reheated with eggs the next morning for a delightful breakfast.

Roasted Garlic Chicken and Potatoes

INGREDIENTS: 1 Idaho or Russet potato
1 Sweet Potato
10 - 12 cloves of fresh garlic, unpeeled
2 chicken breasts with skin on and bone in
sea salt
black pepper
4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
extra-virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 12 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Wash the potatoes. Peel the sweet potato. Leave the russet unpeeled. Cut both potatoes into chunks and put in the baking pan. Scatter the garlic over the potatoes. Place the chicken breasts in the center, moving any potatoes out of the way so they're not under the chicken. Salt and pepper everything to your liking, lay the sprigs of herbs over the potatoes and chicken, then drizzle olive oil over all. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or till chicken is done. (The herb leaves will fall from the stems as the dish cooks.) To eat the roasted garlic: just squeeze the garlic "paste" from the shell, right into your mouth, or spread it on a baguette slice.

PERFECT APPLE PIE

In the November 2002 issue of Food and Wine magazine, Dana Cowin, then food editor, authored an article entitled, "One Person's Quest for the Perfect Apple Pie." It was the chronicle of her search to duplicate the apple pie of her childhood. She was patiently assisted in this quest by author and cook Peggy Cullen, who, after 9 attempts, was successful in recreating a pie that satisfied Dana. I have made this pie three times. The first two times I followed the recipe exactly except for using different apples (her recipe uses Golden Delicious apples). It was outstanding, but then how could it not be with 2 sticks of butter -- one in the filling and one in the crust, in addition to 1/2 cup vegetable shortening? For this pie, , I halved the butter in the filling and used a different pie crust recipe to reduce the fat somewhat. I also reduced the sugar in the filling, used frozen apple juice concentrate and added a bit of brandy. The pie was every bit as good. This is an outstanding recipe, but it does take a little work. I think it's worth the effort for the wonderful deep flavor you get from precooking the apples and reducing the sauce before making the pie. I usually make this pie with a double crust; however, my original plan was to bake an apple crostada and a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I inadvertently used the crostada crust for the pumpkin pie, so decided to make a regular apple pie instead of a crostada. The crostada called for a crumble topping which I had already made, so I used it for this pie. It was absolutely delicious!!

Perfect Apple Pie

INGREDIENTS: Your favorite pie crust

6 cups Rome apples, peeled, seeded, quartered, cut into 3 pieces each quarter

juice of 1 lemon (about 1 Tbsp.)

4 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup sugar & 1 tsp. molasses (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)

1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

2 Tbsp. brandy

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1-1/2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

Crumble Topping: 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup quick oats

pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup brown sugar (or 2 Tbsp. brown sugar + 2 tsp. Stevia Plus

5 Tbsp. butter (or 2 Tbsp. butter + 3 Tbsp. Smart Balance)

DIRECTIONS: Prepare pastry crust of your choice and line a 9" pie plate with it. Trim the overhang. Refrigerate. Prepare the pie filling: Toss the apples with the lemon juice in a large bowl. In a 12-inch skillet, melt the butter over low heat and stir in the sugar, molasses, apple juice concentrate and brandy. Add the apples and juice, and turn the apples to coat them. Increase heat to high and cook, turning occasionally, until apples are tender but not mushy or overcooked, about 10-15 minutes. Do not overcook. (Note: Although I use mostly Rome apples for pies, I usually add some other apples, such as Granny Smith, Delicious, Cortland, or whatever else looks good in the store. Because I use a mix, they will get done at different times. I stand over the skillet and remove the slices that are done, one by one, onto a cookie sheet. When we lived in the Northeast, Winesap apples were available, and they made the best apple pie; but Winesaps are not available in the Southeast, so I mostly use Rome apples. Rome apples keep their shape better than a MacIntosh or Granny Smith. The Willilamsburg Inn uses Rome Beauty apples for their pies. For this pie, I used 4 cups Rome apples, 1 cup Cortland apples, 1 cup Mountaineer apples) Here's a photo of the apples being cooked, with some of them already removed to the cookie sheet:

Cook the juices that remain in the skillet for a few minutes to reduce and thicken slightly. Remove skillet from heat and set aside. Sprinkle the flour and cinnamon over the apples and toss till flour is incorporated. Pour the thickened apple juices over the apples. Cool completely, for at least 1 hour.

While apples are cooling, prepare crumble topping (if using): Combine all ingredients in work bowl of food processor and pulse several times till butter is in tiny pea-sized or smaller pieces. If you don't have a food processor, then cut the butter into the other ingredients as you would for a pie crust. After apples have cooled, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. and place a pizza stone on bottom half of oven. Arrange the apples in the pie shell; drizzle the juices over them. If using top crust, put it on and trim the pie. If using crumble topping, carefully place it on top of pie, distributing it evenly over the top. Place pie on pizza stone and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and bake for 30-35 minutes longer, or until the filling starts to bubble. (If crust browns too quickly, cover with foil. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before cutting into wedges and serving.

GINGER CREAM TOPPING FOR PUMPKIN PIE (and other pies too)

Here's a great way to use up some crystallized ginger. It goes really well in this topping. And this topping is also good on apple pie..

Ginger Cream Topping for Pumpkin Pie (and other pies too)



INGREDIENTS:
1 cup heavy whipping cream, very cold.
1/2 cup Mascarpone (or 6 Tbsp. Mascarpone substitute, see recipe below)
1/4 cup 10 X sugar
1/2 tsp. dried powdered ginger
1-1/2 tsp. brandy (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla powder or vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger

DIRECTIONS: Chill beaters and small deep bowl for about 15 minutes, preferably in the freezer. Whip the cold heavy cream (be sure the carton says heavy whipping cream -- there is a difference in creams) till it's stiff. Set aside in fridge. In medium bowl, whip the Mascarpone (or substitute) till it's smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and powdered ginger and whip again till it's smooth and creamy. Add the brandy, vanilla and crystallized ginger and whip again till ingredients are incorporated. Add the whipped cream and beat till everything is incorporated.
Refrigerate till ready to use.

Mascarpone Substitute: 

8 oz. cream cheese 
3 Tbsp. sour cream
2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Beat everything together till it's smooth.  (If you can find and afford mascarpone, please buy it as there is really no substitute that comes close enough to the real thing.)

MASCARPONE SUBSTITUTE

I am tired of plain old whipped cream with vanilla, whipped cream with rum and even plain old whipped cream with maple syrup and cinnamon. I wanted to do a mascarpone cream for the pumpkin pie this year. But I guess I decided too late. The store was sold out of mascarpone. Not to be deterred, I made a mascarpone substitute. Now, I will say, there is no real substitute for mascarpone. That creamy and mild flavor cannot be duplicated by anything else. Here are the true facts: cream cheese tastes like cream cheese; sour cream tastes like sour cream; and mascarpone tastes like mascarpone. Period. But, in a pinch, you can use this substitute when it's mixed with whipping cream, so long as you don't overdo the substitute amount. There are actually several ways to substitute mascarpone, but this recipe is the closest to the real thing. Again, I want to add, the closeness is about 1 mile away.

Mascarpone Substitute

8 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp. sour cream
2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Beat everything together till it's smooth.

GREAT PUMPKIN PIE

Rose Levy Beranbaum is one of the goddesses of bakedom. Her recipes and techniques are not only legendary, but are accompanied by explanations of why certain processes work and others don't. This is her recipe, and I found it on epicurious.com. I chose this over hundreds of others for the following reasons: 1) Instead of prebaking the pie shell, Rose sprinkles a mixture of crushed gingersnaps and ground pecans on the bottom of the raw dough. She calls it a crunchy bottom crust (it's not crunchy; the cookies and pecans absorb excess liquid from the filling.)

2) Rose precooks the pumpkin to intensify the flavors. 3)She purees the cooked pumpkin in a food processor to produce a silky texture. I was a little nervous about using her spices -- Rose calls for 2 tsp. ground ginger and 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon. I changed it to 1 tsp. ginger, 2 tsp. cinnamon. I added a pinch of cloves and a pinch of allspice. I also reduced her 1/2 tsp. salt to 1/4 tsp. Instead of the 2/3 cup milk in her recipe, I used 1/2 cup fat-free Half and Half + 3 Tbsp. Jim Beam brandy. She uses canned pumpkin, stating that the texture and flavor are more consistent than fresh, but I always use fresh. I like her method of baking the pie on a stone in a preheated oven at the bottom of the oven to produce a crisp and brown crust. She says to bake the pie for 50-60 minutes, and I checked for doneness at 50 minutes. The pie was done. In fact I thought it was too done. It cracked all around the edges. Next time I bake it, I will check for doneness at 40 minutes, and you should, too. Any cracks in pumpkin pie can easily be covered with whipped cream.

There was one little glitch: I made two pastry doughs: one for the pumpkin pie, and one for the apple crostada. Unfortunately, I got them mixed up, and used the crostada dough for the pumpkin pie. The crostada dough was a puff pastry which is definitely the wrong pastry for a pumpkin pie. It doesn't keep well. By the time I discovered I had the wrong dough, it was too late to change it and too late to make another dough. Remarkably, our hosts raved, not only about the pie (declaring it the best pumpkin pie they ever ate!), but also about the crust. It wasn't my favorite for a pumpkin pie crust but they thought it was great.

This pie is silky and has a wonderful flavor from the ginger and cinnamon. I am now happy that I lost the cookbook with my old standby pumpkin pie recipe. This recipe is definitely better. One thing I never did before was to precook the pumpkin, and it really does make a difference.

Great Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS: 1 pie crust for a 9-inch pie

4 (2-inch) gingersnaps

1/4 cup pecan halves

2 cups fresh cooked pumpkin, or one 15-oz. can unsweetened pumpkin

1/2 cup white sugar + 1 tsp. molasses + 1/2 Tbsp. Stevia Plus

OR just use 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar if you prefer

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

pinch ground cloves

pinch ground allspice

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup Land-of-Lakes fat-free Half and Half

3 Tbsp. brandy

2/3 cup heavy cream

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS: Roll out pie crust to fit a 9" deep dish pie pan. Process the gingersnaps and

pecans in a food processor or blender till they are fine crumbs. Sprinkle them over the bottom of the pie crust, and, using your fingers and the back of a spoon, press them into the dough to coat the entire bottom, going about 1/2 inch up the sides. Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 24 hours if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F at least 20 minutes before baking. Plan to bake directly on the floor of the oven, or set an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or cookie sheet on it before preheating. (I used a pizza stone on the lowest shelf.)

Make the pumpkin filling: In a small heavy saucepan (I used a 2-quart), stir together the pumpkin, sugar, molasses, Stevia Plus (or brown sugar), spices and salt. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a sputtering simmer, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes, or until thick and shiny. Scrape the mixture into a food processor and process for 1 minute, or till smooth. With the motor on, add the Half and Half, brandy and cream, processing until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the work bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, processing just to incorporate, about 5 seconds after each addition; add the vanilla along with the last egg. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and bake for 50-60 minutes or just until a knife inserted between the sides and center comes out almost clean. (Start checking for doneness at 40 minutes.) The filling will have puffed and the surface dulled, except for the center. The filling will shake like jelly when moved. This will happen before it has finished baking, so it cannot be used as a firm indication of doneness; conversely, if it does not have this jell-like consistency, you can be sure that it is not baked adequately. If the crust appears to be darkening too much on the bottom, raise the pie to the next rack. After 30 minutes, you may need to protect the edges with a foil ring.

Place the baked pie on a rack to completely cool before refrigerating. When cool, the surface will be flat. Characteristic star-burst cracking is the result of overbaking. Serve this pie with ginger cream topping (see post under Frostings and Toppings.)

PATE SUCREE (BASIC SWEET DOUGH)

This is the pastry I made today for the apple cobbler crostada I will be bringing to our Thanksgiving dinner. I've made this dessert before, and it's very good. The pastry does not keep well, however, so you should plan on eating this the day it's made. Or reheat it if it's from the day before. The dough must be made a day ahead and left to rest in the fridge overnight. I'm letting it rest for 2 nights because I will put this together on Thanksgiving Day. (Note: I halved the recipe since I am only making one crostada.) This recipe is from nbc11.com. As with all pastry dough, have all ingredients as cold as possible before starting and work quickly with the dough. Get it in the fridge as fast as you can.

Pate Sucree (Basic Sweet Dough)

INGREDIENTS: 1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
pinch sea salt
1/3 cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
2 - 4 Tbsp. heavy cream

DIRECTIONS: Put the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add the butter and pulse quickly until the butter is "cut" and the mixture looks and feels like pebbles. Add the egg yolks and half the cream and pulse to incorporate. Keep adding cream (up to 4 Tbsp. total) and pulsing until the dough starts to come together. Remove from the mixer, form into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

BUTTER PIE CRUST FOR ONE-CRUST PIE

This is the pie crust I made today for our Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie. It's always best to make pie crusts a day or two before you make the pie, so the gluten can relax. The secret to flaky pie crusts is not only the ingredients but also having them at the right temperature. Pie Crusts are the one thing that needs cold ingredients, the colder the better. And they must be mixed as quickly as possible. The idea is to coat the fat rather than mixing it in. A food processor is a really wonderful help in making a good piecrust, because the short pulses coat the fat rather than mixing it in.

Butter Pie Crust for One-Crust Pie

INGREDIENTS: 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk, cold
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ice water

DIRECTIONS: Pulse flour, sugar and salt in food processor (or mix with whisk in large bowl). Add butter and pulse till mixture is like cornmeal, with maybe some of the butter like pea size (or cut in butter with pastry blender). Combine the water, yolk and vinegar in a small cup or bowl and slowly add to the flour mixture. In food processor, pulse till it comes together. By hand, toss with fork as you add the liquid. This is where you have to be attentive. Don't add any more liquid than the flour needs to hold it together, so don't be too quick to add liquid. Once it comes together in a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or longer. I make my dough several days ahead. You can also freeze this; put it in the fridge the night before you need it. This dough has a nice flavor and is tender and a little flaky, but not as flaky as a shortening crust.