Caramel Apple Tart

This is one of our very favorites from the Ivy Bake Shoppe book. As such, you know it's going to have tons o' sugar. But it's oh-so-good. And it has cayenne pepper and parmesan cheese in the crust. Nifty, eh?

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 T. sugar
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 stick cold butter
3 T. ice water
3 T. breadcrumbs

Filling:
5 Granny Smith (ONLY those--no others!) apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
3 T. flour
2 t. cinnamon

Topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cold butter
1 t. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the crust, mix the flour, sugar, cheese, cayenne pepper, and salt together in an electric mixer. Cut in butter until mixture is coarse crumbs and then add cold water. Do not overmix. Mixture will hold together when pressed between your fingers.

Pour into a well-greased 9-inch springform pan [that's best - I used to do a pie dish and it wasn't deep enough and would spill over into the oven]. Press mixture into bottom and up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the crust.

For the filling, gently combine all the ingredients together and then pour into crust.

For the topping, combine all the ingredients together and then sprinkle over the apple filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Drizzle with warm butterscotch caramel sauce (we use Mrs. Richardson's). Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Yum!

Great Baked Pumpkin with Herbed Barley and Chickpeas

Once again, I love "Cookwise." All the recipes from it are so delicious! And they often have such interesting combinations of flavors. This recipe is no exception--as you'll see below, it has sesame oil and soy sauce, but also Italian spices, and then some orange marmalade. It's awesome! And it's the first time I've ever cooked my own pumpkin. Hooray! A very Fall dish.

Ingredients:
-1 fresh pumpkin, about 10 inches in diameter
-2 large onions, chopped
-1/4 cup sesame oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-3 cups quick-cooking barley [I couldn't find barley anywhere! So I used some leftover brown rice that I'd already cooked. Since it was already cooked, I should have decreased the amount of liquid in the recipe, but I just drained some off afterwards and it was fine.]
-3 cups homemade Chicken Stock or canned chicken broth
-3 cups water
-2 cans (16 oz. each) chickpeas, drained
-2 cans (16 oz. each) navy beans, drained [oddly, I couldn't find those either, and used pinto]
-1 T. dried oregano
-2 t. dried basil
-1 t. dried rosemary
-1/2 cup orange marmalade
-2 T. light brown sugar
-1/2 cup chopped parsley
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-1 t. salt
-1/2 t. white pepper
-1 to 2 T. Chinese hot chili oil [I didn't have any and left it out, but it was delicious without]
-Large green leaves, for garnish [also left out]

1. Cut the top from the pumpkin slightly lower than for a jack-o'-lantern. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook onions in sesame oil in a large skillet over low to medium heat (to avoid damaging the sesame oil) until the onions are just clear, not brown. Stir in the garlic and cook briefly. Cook the barley in the stock and water for 10 minutes at a low simmer in a large covered saucepan.
3. Stir together the onion mixture and the rest of the ingredients except garnish in a large mixing bowl. Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin and fit the lid back in place. Place on a small pizza pan in the lower center of the oven and bake for 1 hour. The pumpkin should be lightly browned.
4. Serve the pumpkin surrounded by large green leaves [or not]. Remove the lid and lean it against the side of the pumpkin. Serve a piece of pumpkin with the filling.

Hint: This was extra delicious with some cinnamon sprinkled on top after serving. If you eat the pumpkin separately, it needs a little salt. But it's great if you mix it in with your rice/barley mixture.

Shallot Mashed Potatoes with Garlic

I'm still going through the bushels of potatoes we got from our summer CSA fling. (That's Community Supported Agriculture, if you haven't been as indoctrinated with local food movement thingies as I've been of late.) It's over now, but it was really fun.

This is a delicious recipe from Cookwise (all the recipes I've tried from that book have been). I couldn't find shallots at the store, so I used a combo of small onions and green onions. Was ever so yummy. I also only mashed the potatoes by putting them through a ricer--didn't stir with a hand mixer or anything--so they had a neat texture.

Ingredients:
-4 to 5 medium Burbank Russet (Idaho) or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/3 inch thick
-3 medium shallots, crushed
-2 cloves garlic, crushed
-2 tsp. and 2 tsp. salt (4 tsp. total)
-1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
-5 shallots, finely minced [8 total!]
-2 cloves garlic, finely minced [4 total!]
-3 tablespoons butter
-1/4 tsp. white pepper
-1 cup heavy or whipping cream
-1/2 to 1 cup half-and-half or milk

Directions:
1. Precook the potatoes by heating enough water (about 6 cups) to cover them in a large pot over high heat until hot but well below a simmer. Turn heat down to low and add the potato slices, crushed shallots and garlic, 2 tsp. salt, and vinegar. The potatoes will cool the water down to about 160 degrees F. Cook at about this temperature, well below a simmer, for about 20 minutes. Drain and run cold water over the potato slices to cool them. Let them stand in water in the pot until you're ready to finish cooking, or drain, cover, and refrigerate.
2. When ready to mash, saute the minced shallots and garlic in butter over medium heat until just soft in a heavy, medium saucepan. Stir in 2 tsp. salt and the white pepper. Add the cream and half-and-half and heat gently. Set aside.
3. To finish cooking, add water to the cool potatoes if necessary, bring to a boil, and simmer until fork-tender, about 5 minutes at a simmer. Drain, remove the crushed shallots and garlic, put the potatoes back in the pot, and heat for about a minute to dry them out. To mash, put the potatoes once through a ricer or large-holed strainer into a medium mixing bowl. Bring the shallot and cream mixture to a boil and stir into the hot mashed potatoes. Taste and add more salt or pepper as needed. Serve immediately. (Makes 4-6 servings)

Yum!