Let Them Eat Fruitwood-smoked Quail with Quince Gastrique Quinoa Risotto

The Hotline has the menu from last night's G20 summit dinner.

Food Ideas for Your Holiday Party

It might be very hard to decide which one of these recipes to make to impress your friends and family. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks, LY.

Princess Diana Makes Stuffed, Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Yum, this looks good.

This Chick is Cool

I can't remember how I stumbled across Princess Diana 161, but I'm glad I did.

She has a bunch of short cooking videos, like this one for Rigatoni Carbonara, posted. Check out this amateur action.

King of the Casserole

I picked up a really good cookbook some time back that I've been digging into...The Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles.

I've made a few of the breakfast dishes on weekends (a baked egg/hashbrown/ham/broccolli concoction this morning and a cinnamon raisin baked french toast dish a few weeks ago were both winners) as well as some dinners (the Reuben casserole was easy and just as good as the name suggests).

I recommend this book without reservation...even if you think it should be called HotDish.

This Looks Really Good

I've seen these horseradish mashed potato recipes before, but never tried. Grabbed some hr this morning at the market and I think I'll try some variation on this recipe today or tomorrow.

For all the preaching some people do about how Yukon Golds are the best for mashed, I dunno about that...I still don't mind a good mashed russet.

clipped from www.epicurious.com

Horseradish Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
Salt

Preparation

Prepare perfect mashed potatoes (but do not add milk). Whisk sour cream, chopped chives, and horseradish in medium bowl. Fold sour cream mixture into potatoes. Season with salt.

Servings: Makes 6 servings.

Cool-Looking Podcast

One silly thing about iTunes (unless it turns out I'm just a dolt who can't figure out how to do it!) is that I can't seem to hyperlink you over to this listing. You need to go into iTunes yourself and find it.

That said, I happened across the Cook's Illustrated weekly video podcast this morning and it's very neat. CI has been my favorite cooking mag for, jeez, almost 10 years. I anxiously await each arrival of both it and its sister publication, Cook's Country, which has more of a home-cooking bent.

Bon appetit!

What is Dan Cooking Today?

In between bouts with Mother Nature, I've been making a little Christmas cheer for friends/co-workers this afternoon. Aunt Frances' Caramels are to die for, and they probably help accomplish that once you get them, too.

They're quite simple to make, but do require an hour of baby-sitting to be sure you don't burn anything or boil the pot over. Read: because the mixture bubbles up considerably, don't be confused by the small amount of materials. Your pot should be able to accommodate the volume tripling.

Aunt Frances' Caramels

2C sugar
3/4c light Karo syrup
1 stick butter
1 pt whipping cream
1 t vanilla

You'll also need: a candy thermometer and wax paper for wrapping

In pot, melt butter over low heat. Add syrup and half the cream, stirring constantly. Gradually add sugar, stirring well. Cook over medium heat. When mixture reaches rapid boil, add remaining cream. Lower heat so that it remains at a consistent simmer and put in the candy thermometer. Cook at this gentle boil for about 45-60 minutes until you have a nice, deep caramel color and the mixture is just shy of 250 degrees. Take off heat, whisk in vanilla and pour into a 9 or 7 by 13 pan (with sides!) that's been greased and let it cool for at least two hours. When it's somewhat solid, cut into little pieces and wrap in wax paper.

Enjoy!

Apple Slices

This was probably my favorite desert when I was a little kid and I finally remembered to ask my mother to send the recipe up...and I made it the other day. Thanks Mom.

You really should do yourself a favor and make this...courtesy of the Dyer Jaycees.

BTW, the powdered sugar frosting may not be entirely clear. I used 1C of powdered sugar, a tablespoon or two of water and a tablespoon of light corn syrup. That seemed to work fine. I might also up the dough recipe just a touch more up to 3-cup proportions. Click the pic below for easier reading.

Okay, This Sounds Good

I have a little thingamajig on the side of the blog that gets new recipes from Epicurious all the time and I scan now and then. Every once in a while, I find a winner and tonight I think I have one.

This Toffee Crunch Caramel Cheesecake sounds really friggin' good.

I have a go-to plain cheesecake recipe, so I might just follow their directions for the topping, but if the weather continues to chill down out here in the rust belt, I may be dishing some of this up for the neighbors sometime soon.

Actually, this is funny...I wanted to link you over to the cookbook where I get my aforementioned go-to cheesecake recipe and remembered that I still have a commentary for it up on Amazon from way back when...

Gorgonzola-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This has been one of my go-to recipes ever since the parentals got me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated about 7 years ago. It's a great cooking magazine because they don't take ads, minimize fluff, and just get to straight cooking things...recipes, tool reviews and little tricks.

I also love the articles because they start with something simple like, "how do you make a good carrot cake?" and then go through the several schools of thought on this and settle on a general gameplan. After that comes the part I really like...they present a few different routes to the same desired outcome and tell you why this-that-and-the-other-thing didn't work. That's just so interesting to use and it also helps the ambitious reader avoid making the same mistakes.

I could not find a nice pic of a chicken breast oozing out blue cheese and walnuts, so I settled for a cheddar and broccoli one, but you get the idea.

Follow this sometime...it's really good!


Two tablespoons dried cherries or cranberries can be substituted for the figs. The chicken breasts can be filled and rolled in advance, then refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
INGREDIENTS
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5 to 6 ounces each), tenderloins removed and reserved for another use
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small onion , minced
1 small clove garlic , minced
2 ounces cream cheese , softened
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese , crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cups chopped walnuts , toasted
3 medium dried figs , chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dry sherry
Table salt and ground black pepper
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (fresh)
3/4 cup vegetable oil

See Illustrations Below: Assembling the Stuffed Chicken Breast

1. Following illustration 1 below, place each chicken breast on large sheet of plastic wrap, cover with second sheet, and pound with meat pounder or rolling pin until ¼-inch thick throughout. Each pounded breast should measure roughly 6 inches wide and 8 ½ inches long. Cover and refrigerate while preparing filling.
2. Heat butter in medium skillet over low heat until melted; add onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds longer; set aside. In medium bowl using hand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Stir in onion mixture, thyme, gorgonzola, walnuts, figs, and sherry; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Place breasts skinned side down on work surface; season with salt and pepper. Following illustrations 2 through 4 below, fill, roll, and wrap each breast. Refrigerate until filling is firm, at least 45 minutes.
4. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread flour in pie plate or shallow baking dish. Beat eggs with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon water in second pie plate or shallow baking dish. Spread bread crumbs in third pie plate or shallow baking dish. Unwrap chicken breasts and roll in flour; shake off excess. Using tongs, roll breasts in egg mixture; let excess drip off. Transfer to bread crumbs; shake pan to roll breasts in crumbs, then press with fingers to help crumbs adhere. Place breaded chicken breasts on large wire rack set over jelly-roll pan.
5. Heat remaining ¾ cup oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, but not smoking, about 4 minutes; add chicken, seam side down, and cook until medium golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn each roll and cook until medium golden brown on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Return chicken rolls, seam side down, to wire rack set over jelly-roll pan; bake until deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of each roll registers 155 degrees, about 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing each roll crosswise diagonally into 5 medallions; arrange on individual dinner plates and serve.

(click the pic below and it opens larger so you can read it better..)

Recipe I Plan to Try

For years, I've been ashamed of my inability to make good ribs inside, but a friend turned me on to this braising way of doing it, so I think I'll give it a stab....

Oven Fried Chicken Recipe

Off on the right-hand side of my page, I have a link over to an RSS feed at Epicurious. It grabs their newest few recipes and links them up.

One up there now is for spicy, oven-fried chicken.

I may have to try this for no other reason than they use my favorite tip for 'regular' fried chicken....marinating in buttermilk for 24 hours. You have no idea how much juciness that adds to the chicken once you cook it.

Do yourself a favor and try this technique...whether with this recipe or augment your existing recipe!