Hurricane Sandy Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 1 comment

Continuing on my Hurricane Sandy bender. Sitting in the house gives me an opportunity to get to some recipes that I haven’t had time to get to. I already purchased ingredients in the hopes to make them and there is no time like the present, especially while you’re being pummelled by a hurricane. I am just hoping to get through the baking process without losing power, dicey at best. So far so good though and I only have 20 minutes left on the timer. This recipe has been sitting in my recipe file since last fall. I combined a few recipes and came up with this bread. I used fresh cranberries since I had them, I prepared them in 1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar brought them to a boil and simmered for 10 minutes. Cooled them off and drained off excess liquid before folding into the batter. This is going into my freezer and it will be retitled Sandy Pumpkin Cranberry Bread.

*just a little note, this bread was made right before we lost our electricity, we were sitting down to watch Homeland and out went the lights! We did however enjoy this bread as did everyone who ate it. Great with afternoon coffee or tea. I was planning on saving for Thanksgiving but it came in handy the night the lights went out.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger, and 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

1 teaspoon baking powder ( check expiration date or this bread will not work)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 large eggs ( always room temperature)

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup fresh cranberries ( or 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries) * see note above on preparing cranberries

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need a loaf pan ( 9 x 4.3 inches) I sprayed with baking spray and sprinkled flour and shook out excess flour. You can also use parchment paper. In a large bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt and baking powder to blend.

Using electric mixer, beat butter until fluffy ( with paddle attachment) Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, then vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions each. Fold in drained cranberries and walnuts. Transfer batter to pan. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake bread until tester into center comes out clean, about 1 hour ten minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack. Cut around bread at short ends to loosen from pan. Turn bread out onto rack, cool bread completely. When completely cool you can wrap and store at room temperature for a few days. I plan on freezing it for my Thanksgiving Table.

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Posted on November 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Another cozy soup to make if you have power in NY, and bring to someone who doesn’t . Perfect soup to make on a Sunday. Serve with salad and crusty bread.

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I suppose it’s that time of the year again when we crave warm cozy meals. this is perfect for sunday dinner (or any night ) will feed about 8 people nicely. freezes perfectly. and served with a beautiful salad and some bread it’s an awesome meal. i make so many soups, and will be following up throughout the winter with all of my wonderful soup recipes, but this one is really special. the lentils add a wonderful flavor and texture, the sausage adds a savory spice. i mix hot and sweet sausage but feel free to go all sweet, i also like the sausage to have some fennel in it, i use italian pork sausage. you can obviously substitute with turkey or chicken sausage. so cozy on up to this one, it’s a true keeper. I believe this recipe came from a cookbook by julia della croce, who has the most awesome italian…

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Another Pasta e Fagioli Recipe, with meat

Posted on November 3, 2012 | 1 comment

This is another version of Pasta e Fagioli . It contains pancetta.  Hurricane Sandy is about to touch down in NY and I figured this was as good a time as any to make this. I’ve always made my Pasta Fagioli the traditional way with carrots , onions and celery, a basic mirepoix. This recipe gives it a different base flavor, and you can also use canned cannellini beans for those of you who don’t want to fuss with the beans.  This soup is hearty and delicious, and is worth a try for sure. I use canned beans when I am in a rush and don’t have time to soak  the beans.   You’ll need an immersion blender or regular blender to blend. This soup was amazingly delicious. I didn’t blend it completely just for a few minutes so there were still a few beans and pieces of pancetta. This was amazingly delicious, and I ended up having to throw away the 2 containers in my fridge because we lost power and I was worried about the pancetta in it going bad. In retrospect I think it would have been fine. Oh well, it was delicious and I will definitely will be making it again soon.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

4 ounces pancetta

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 15 oz. cans of cannellini beans if canned rinsed and drained

2 tbsp. tomato paste

8 cups chicken broth (2 quarts)

1 cup of mini pasta ( you can add up to 1 1/2 cups of mini pasta, like ditalini or mini farfalla would be nice) the more pasta you add the more like pasta and less like soup it becomes. I did add an extra 1/4 cup because there was just a small amount left in the box.

*1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Use at your own discretion. This is a very little bit. I like the heat so I go a bit heavier, but how much you use depends on your crowd. People can always add a bit more at the table, too.) Totally optional

*Grated Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)

*fresh basil for garnish (optional)

2 – 3 leaves fresh basil, cut up

Directions:

Heat a heavy stock pot on medium high heat until hot. Add olive oil and pancetta, saute for a minute or so. Add garlic and cook for another minute or so. Lower heat to a simmer and add tomato paste. Cook, stirring constantly, for a few minutes. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and beans, then bring to a gentle boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes, I simmered for an hour. House smelled amazing. I had my doubts about this soup while I was cooking it but couldn’t have been more wrong, it’s awesome. Now I have 2 quarts of it left over !

Cool it down, and get out your immersion blender stick or blender, and start to puree until it is slightly chunky, not completely pureed. Bring soup mixture to a boil. Taste for salt and pepper, and if you’re adding it add red pepper flakes now. Add pasta and cook until al dente.

Serve in bowls with grated cheese and a sprinkling of fresh basil if you like.

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Post Sandy – Thanksgiving menu

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 6 comments

I am sitting here on November 2 gratefully having my coffee in my own living room with electricity, after living without electric for 2 1/2 days.  I am one of the lucky ones for sure. My daughter and her family are still asleep in my apartment.  They have no power and live in NJ and had to come stay with us on Long Island.  It is great having everyone and it’s times like these we have to all stick together. We are still the fortunate ones, we are all OK.  Our other daughter has no power either but she is OK —  all OK.  Our whole family is OK. Faring the best we can but OK. When I looked at my blog from last year I saw that I started writing about Thanksgiving on November 2.  It’s still early and my hope is that many people all over affected by Sandy will be a lot better off very soon.  Thanksgiving will bring us all together.  I will start to post and re post recipes for Thanksgiving and hopefully everyone will have their power back soon and start cooking again and start healing from this experience.

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Baked Salami re-blog

Posted on October 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

I am reblogging one of the most popular recipes on my blog. If you haven’t made this yet , try it. It isn’t the fanciest recipe but it always seems to disappear. It’s that good. Give it a go. It’s perfect and pretty easy for a Sunday game day or anytime you have people over . (optional)

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

This is an oldie but goodie recipe, and everyone loves it always. Rarely is there a piece left over. Good Old Fashioned Kosher Salami. (the kind in the package from Hebrew National is what I’m talking about) I couldn’t believe it when I saw Rachel Zoe cooking this salami on her show!!!!! A-Mazing!

*you will want to double recipe for the larger salami shown. Recipe below is for the smaller one.

Ingredients:

1 Kosher Salami (this is a larger one for a larger crowd)

1/2 cup Marmalade ( I like orange) but can be Lemon or Ginger

2 tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard- I used Maille Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Score into Salami, cut into Salami in narrow slices but not completely through to bottom. Just make slices almost to the bottom. Mix all ingredients together and spread on Salami, place on a lightly…

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Posted on October 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

One of my favorite all time recipes for a soup that’s hearty and healthy.

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

this is one of my absolute favorite recipes. It is a soup , which is also a full meal. It is hearty and pretty healthy.  It is one of my staples from September through April. It freezes well and you can just take it out of the freezer the night before, and you’ll have a wonderful meal the next evening. When you defrost it you will probably want to add broth/water to it. add a little at a time till you get the consisitency you like. Enjoy:)

Ingredients: chicken balls

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed

3 slices whole wheat bread for bread crumbs ( I put into food proccesor with steel blade for crumbs) i remove crusts . should be app. 1 cup of bread crumbs

2 teaspoons minced garlic ( 2 – 3 cloves)

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano ( fresh is best) but…

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What I made for Dinner – Turkey Bolognese

Posted on October 22, 2012 | 1 comment

I must say Pasta is probably my most favorite food to eat. Bolognese sauce is one of my most favorites. Today I decided not to go to my usual Bolognese which is delicious but very heavy and rich. I went with a lighter approach today using Turkey and Chicken Sausage because I couldn’t find italian turkey sausage and didn’t feel like hunting it down, and the chicken sausage worked just fine. I did use dark meat turkey because it is much more flavorful, it is ideal but if you really don’t want to use the dark meat use 1/2 white and 1/2 dark or all white meat . The only negative to this sauce is that it really needs 3- 4 hours for the sauce to cook down. The longer the sauce cooks the more flavorful it will be.  This sauce would probably serve 4 nicely with 1 lb. of pasta. You can easily double it and freeze the leftover sauce. So nice to have it in the freezer and just have to make the pasta and you have a wonderful homemade meal. I have now started serving the sauce over shredded zucchini and spaghetti squash.  It is so delicious and you may feel a little bit better eating it over zucchini or spaghetti squash than noodles.  Pasta or Vegetable it’s pretty awesome. Look on my blog for Zucchini Bolognese Recipe for how to recipe, posted 12/20/2012.

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons Olive Oil, plus more if necessary

1 lb. Italian style Turkey or Chicken Sausage, removed from casings. You can also mix in hot or sweet Italian pork sausage if you don’t mind using the pork.

1 pound ground Turkey ( I used dark meat )

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and finely diced ( app. 2 cups)

3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 28 oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 box. Rigatoni ( or any other macaroni you like ) or spaghetti or if you like use *shredded zucchini or *spaghetti squash ( see notes)

Grated Parmesan Cheese for serving

Directions:

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large heavy pan over medium high heat. ( I use my Le Creuset ) Add the sausage meat and break it up as it cooks, turning now and then, until browned all over, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside, add the ground turkey to the pan along with a good pinch of salt and a few fresh grind of pepper. Cook the meat stirring here and there, for 10 minutes as well, till meat is nicely browned. I remove and put in bowl with the sausage which was set aside. Add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook until onion breaks down and gets soft, another good 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice along with 1/2 cup of water. ( You may need more water as you go) Add the sausage and ground turkey, stir the sauce well. Bring the sauce to a boil, season to taste with salt and pepper and turn the heat to low. Cover almost completely with a lid (allowing a little steam to escape) and gently simmer for 4 hours. You may want to add splashes of water if sauce is drying out. After 2 hours I added the 1/3 cup of Tomato Paste, and replace lid and continue simmering for 2 more hours. I added water as it cooked, you’ll have to judge for yourself how much water you add. I added 1/4 cup at a time.

When the sauce is ready for serving, bring a large pot of water and prepare pasta according to package directions.

serve with sauce over the rigatoni ( or any pasta you like) with a nice grating of Parmesan.

Yum!

*so many stores now sell zucchini already shredded and it’s dry and ready to go. The only problem with doing it yourself is that you must get the extra moisture out.

*Spaghetti Squash – just have the store cut it in half because it’s a tough one to cut at home. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and scoop out the seeds. Spray a rimmed baking sheet and turn squash open side down on baking sheet and cook till soft, probably 45 minutes or so. Remove from oven and with a fork remove the inside of the squash into a bowl, it comes out like very thin spaghetti.

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Posted on October 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Posted this last October and it is really an all time winner! If you haven’t made it, you must. It will certainly become a staple for you. It’s Fall , go make a soup.

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I decided to re-post this amazing soup as it is one of my most favorite recipes and one of my most popular recipes. So very easy to make with pre-cut butternut squash readily available almost everywhere now. If you’d like a little different flavor you can roast the squash first.

It’s definitely fall and my first soup of the season  is almost always butternut squash soup. I’ve simplified the recipe along the way so that now it is just the way Joel and I like it. it’s pretty easy as long as you buy the squash pre – cut (available in every supermarket, and corner produce store). I just made my first batch of the season, and the squash is sweet and delicious. I always add a little butter to it, but you can totally leave it out. It tastes so creamy you’ll swear there’s cream in it, but really, there is none.  I love a little…

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Tomato Soup

Posted on October 17, 2012 | 1 comment

I have made many tomato soups and this one was very easy. I used one can of crushed plum tomatoes. If you don’t have crushed in the house, you can crush in your food processor. I almost always have parmesan cheese in the house and I loved using the rind, as they have many uses particularly in soups where they can soak and soften. This time I diced it up into small little pieces so the result was like little explosions of flavor. Don’t ever throw away those rinds, they are so perfect used in soups and sauces.  The saffron threads give it that warm wonderful flavor.

Ingredients:

1 small piece of rind (2×3) from either Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces pancetta, diced up (you can buy packages pre-chopped, keep in the freezer and just take out when you need them)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

* scant 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (if you like the heat)

1 28-ounce can crushed plum tomatoes (San Marzano the best)

2 – 2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon kosher salt (and you’ll probably need a drop more after tasting)

1/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads (buy a package of saffron threads sold in most supermarkets, and just gently crumble before measuring )

Directions:

In a soup pot, warm the olive oil. Add the pancetta and saute over medium heat until it is nicely browned and crispy. (I prefer it very crispy.) Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the onion, garlic, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes to the pan and saute until onions are softened, about 6 – 10 minutes.  Stir in the crushed tomatoes and  1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Simmer  until the mixture becomes more condensed and aromatic. I did this for 30 minutes.

While this is happening, I placed cheese rinds into microwave for about 15 seconds just to soften. They are easier to dice up once they are warmed. I cut into pretty small dice size pieces.

Turn heat off, and using an immersion blender (they are the best), roughly puree the soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can do this in batches with a regular blender. You will probably want to add some more of the chicken broth at this point. I gradually added as I blended. I used about 2 1/2 cups total chicken broth. Taste for salt at this point, and add accordingly. Bring the soup back to simmering and drop the diced cheese rinds into the soup to soften. Ladle into individual soup bowls, scatter the surface of the soup with the reserved pancetta, and serve. You will want to have a nice crusty bread to serve alongside this delicious soup.

*serves app. 4 people

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Posted on October 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

I am re-posting this great recipe as it is from last October and for those of you looking for a great weeknight staple here you go. Enjoy!

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

This is one of  my go to meals when the weather turns a little cold and throughout the winter months.  When I need something to make that’s easy, healthy and comforting. Food for the soul I like to say. I serve this with crusty bread,  and a green salad. It’s very filling and makes a beautiful presentation for 2 or 6. Hope you enjoy, it’s really very easy , just chop up a few vegetables (carrots, onions, and celery, a basic *mirepoix) open a few cans and buy the chicken, don’t be intimidated by ingredients! This recipe inspired from Giada de Laurentis’s chicken stew. I have made a few changes to suit us.

*Basic Mirepoix is a combination of chopped carrots, celery and onions used to add flavor and aroma to stocks, sauces, soups and other foods. Usually comprised of 50% onions, 25% carrots, and 25% celery.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 stalks celery, small…

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