Andrea The Kitchen Witch

Ricotta cheese

2012-01-26T14:58:00.004-07:00

Cheese making has been a goal of the Kitchen Witch for as long as she cares to remember. Maybe it was reading Little House books, or just the foodie that's always been there, but even as a young teen the Witch has wanted to make her own cheese. That's normal, right? Don't you all dream about making your own cheese? No? Well...pretend like you do, 'k? Do you need to make your own ricotta? No, you don't. Should you make your own ricotta? Yes! Yes you should indeed ! It's easy, quick and really doesn't require any specialty equipment or ingredients. 4 ingredients is all it takes to make the smoothest, richest, silkiest ricotta cheese you've ever been lucky enough to try.

If you aren't a ricotta fan, don't despair. This ricotta isn't at all like the grainy rubbery ricotta in the tubs at the grocery store. There is some grain to it, but it's not at all rubbery and if you aren't a fan of the grain, simply drain off more of the whey until you get a cheese that you're happy with. Other than the noticeable difference in texture there's a taste difference. Store bought ricotta is bland and rather flavorless to me. Between the lack of flavor and the nasty texture it's defiantly not high on my like list. Homemade ricotta, on the other hand, is sweet from the cream and milk, salty and slightly tangy. It's delicious in lasagna as well as dessert.

Wait...ricotta dessert? You mean like a cheese cake? Nope! I mean ricotta topped with fruit, either jam or berries, your choice. I had this at my good friend Phyllis' home, she topped her ricotta with a homemade cherry jam and candied almonds. Holy cow it was delicious!! So thank you Phyllis for the recipe source as well as the tasty and unexpected dessert idea! I hope that you all will try to make your own ricotta cheese. Your friends and family will be impressed to know you made your own cheese, and only we need to know just how easy it is. Enjoy!

Ricotta Cheese
Source: Ina Garten
Makes about 1 cup of cheese (approx. 8 servings) ~*~easily doubled or tripled~*~

2 cups whole milk (2% works fine too)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
heavy 1/2 t kosher salt
1 1/2 T white wine vinegar

In a stainless steel pan add the milk, cream and salt. Bring to a full boil over medium high heat, stirring to avoid scortch spots. Once liquid is boiling turn the heat off and add the vinegar. Give it one good stir to incorporate the vinegar and allow to sit for at least 1 minute to form the curd.

While the curd is forming dampen some cheesecloth. Lay a double layer of cheesecloth in a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl to catch the whey. Pour the cheese curds and whey into the cheesecloth and allow to drain undisturbed for about 20-30 minutes. The longer the cheese sits the finer and less distinct the grain becomes. Transfer the ricotta to a air tight bowl and use anywhere you'd normally use ricotta like lasagna or stuffed pasta recipes. Stores in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

Cheese curds set and ready to be seperated

Whey draining from curds

Curds after draining for 10 minutes

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: No cheesecloth? No problem! Simply drain your curds through a clean wash cloth or kitchen towel. Paper towels absorb too much and don't allow the whey to drain, save those for something else and use cloth to strain cheese.~*~

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculatorAmount Per Serving Calories 133.5 Total Fat 12.2 g Saturated Fat 7.6 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g Monounsaturated Fat 3.5 g Cholesterol 45.6 mg Sodium 156.3 mg Potassium 125.1 mg Total Carbohydrate 3.8 g Dietary Fiber 0.0 g Sugars 3.0 g Protein 2.6 g

Brookies

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

A while ago I won the Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook from a blog. For the life of me I can NOT remember which blog it was from, and for that I am deeply sorry. The cookbook however is great! If you like down home, family friendly food this is the book for you! The cover has the most delightful pancakes, topped with chocolate chunks. It's just a taste of the yummy treats you'll find inside! These Brookies were discovered in this cookbook, and were one of the first things the Kitchen Witch bookmarked when browsing through it. The Witch has made many chocolate cookies in the past - Death by Chocolate cookies, chocolate crinkles, you get the idea, we love a chocolate cookie here - so when I saw this cookie that was a brownie/cookie hybrid, I knew that I had to make it!

The recipe calls for 'high quality chocolate', the Kitchen Witch used Ghiradelli 62% cacao double chocolate chips. I had them on hand, and they're our favorites. Callebaut, Guittard or Valhrona would also be good choices. Nestles Toll House would NOT be a good choice here. You really need that depth of deep chocolate flavor in these tasty treats, so do spend a few extra dollars and get the better chips. You'll be happy you did.

The brookies mix up quick and easily, heck the Witch didn't even use the KitchenAid for this one! In less than 30 minutes the house smelled amazing and the brookies were done. The outsides are dry and cracked, just like a brownie is. The insides are soft, gooey and oh so rich. If you like chocolate cookies make these. If you like brownies, make these! I can't say enough good things about these brookies. They have officially become the chocolate cookie of choice here at the Witches' home. And that's saying a lot!

Brookies
Source: Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook
makes about 30 cookies
2 cups high quality 62% cacao chocolate chips
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 T oil
1 t butter
1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips with the oil and butter until melted. Stir well to melt all chips. Allow to cool slightly.

In a small bowl mix the flour, salt and baking powder together.

In a medium work bowl mix the eggs and brown sugar together. Add the melted chocolate, stirring well to thoroughly mix. Scrape down sides before adding the flour mix. Whisk it in until just in mixed, then add the remaining chocolate chips and stir well.

Transfer batter to a shallow pan, like a pie pan and put in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm up batter before scooping.

Scoop cookies onto either a parchment or silpat lined sheet pan. Using a 1T size scoop, form cookies.

Bake 10-11 minutes, until tops are dry looking and cracked like a brownie. Remove from oven and allow to rest on tray for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. The centers will be very soft and brownie like in texture. These cookies are best consumed in the first 12 hours, they begin to dry out after that and lose that brownie like texture.

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculatorAmount Per Serving Calories 75.6 Total Fat 3.4 g Saturated Fat 1.8 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g Cholesterol 12.7 mg Sodium 30.4 mg Potassium 26.0 mg Total Carbohydrate 13.7 g Dietary Fiber 0.6 g Sugars 11.1 g Protein 1.2 g

Zucchini Cakes

2012-01-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

It seems that the Kitchen Witch has a love/hate relationship with zucchini. If you've read this blog for any length of time you'll know that zucchini is something that is a staple in the Witches' garden. Every year I say I won't worry or over plant, and yet every year I have a mini freak out - will they grow? Will they produce? Will I have beautiful zucchini this year? And because it's me, every single year I over plant, too, just in case one or 2 of the plants don't do well. In 3 years, I've never had an unsuccessful zucchini crop. They're always TOO successful! Despite my fretting over the wee plants in the early days they grow and become big time producers. Before I know it I've gone from "oh my I hope they grow" to "holy shit someone needs to come get some of this zucchini!!" If you remotely like zucchini I highly recommend growing them yourself. It's SO easy, they're very low maintenance plants, and have never failed to produce. Oh, and the love/hate thing is because I absolutely love zucchini but as the season wanes on I grow to hate it...after all zucchini for 3 meals a day is only awesome for a few days.

Now that you've been informed about the trials and tribulations of zucchini growing, let's get to the point of today's post, shall we? Zucchini cakes! Oh sure they've been done before but boy, are they good! A few weeks ago my girlfriends and I were out to lunch. I spotted zucchini cake sliders on the menu and thought now that sounds good! I ordered them and indeed, I was right, they WERE good! So promptly I went to the store to buy zucchini (it's not zucchini season in Colorado currently, much to my dismay) so I could recreate these babies. They seemed pretty basic in their ingredients, zucchini, red bell pepper and feta cheese, with some binders to hold it together.

The Witch decided to use an egg as one of the binders along with some panko breadcrumbs. Not much, I wanted the veggie to be the star of this cake, but enough to hold it together. The panko is very light in texture, not dense like traditional bread crumbs can be. It helped the cakes have a nice firmness to them with out being dense or heavy. The crunch of the red onions provided a nice contrast to the soft zucchini. As the cakes brown the zucchini takes on a fantastic flavor, browned zucchini is the only way to eat it in this Witches' opinion! As the cakes cook the feta softens and melts, adding it's salty flavor to each bite. These zucchini cakes are a taste sensation, low in calories and vegetarian! Sounds like a great lunch or side dish idea to me!

Zucchini Cakes
makes 4 cakes, 2 cakes per serving
1 medium zucchini (about 7-8 inches long) shredded
about 2T diced roasted red bell pepper
scant 1T fine diced red onion
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c panko bread crumbs
1/4 c feta cheese
approximately 1/2 t kosher salt
a pinch pepper, or to taste
about 1-2T olive oil for cooking

Shred zuccini using large holes on a box grater. Squeeze zucchini to remove excess liquid. Put squeezed zucchini into a small work bowl. Add the diced roasted red peppers, garlic, onion, panko, feta and S&P. Pour the beaten egg over top and using a fork, gently mix. You'll want a cohesive mixture with no obvious pockets of dry bread crumbs or uncoated veggies.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Once hot scoop zucchini mix into 4 patties, about 1/4 c each. Make about 1/2 inch thick by 3-4 inches diameter. Cover skillet and fry cakes on first side until golden browned, about 5 minutes. Cakes will still be very fragile so be careful when you flip them. Gently flip and continue cooking covered on second side, until browned and cakes hold together. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculatorAmount Per Serving Calories 223.8 Total Fat 16.8 g Saturated Fat 4.9 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5 g Monounsaturated Fat 9.3 g Cholesterol 109.2 mg Sodium 562.1 mg Potassium 339.6 mg Total Carbohydrate 11.4 g Dietary Fiber 1.6 g Sugars 2.4 g Protein 7.3 g

Citrus Buttercream Sandwich Cookies

2011-12-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Citrus buttercream sandwich cookies were part of my Christmas goody gift package this year. When I went soliciting ideas for Christmas cookies one of my friends suggested a citrus cookie. Honestly it took me by surprise, as I'm a chocolate and caramel cookie kind of Witch. A citrus cookie would be different and very holiday appropriate, after all the best citrus fruits are ripe in December. I wasn't sure what kind of citrus cookie to make, however. I tossed around a few ideas, a thumbprint type of cookie, filled with a citrus curd maybe? What about a citrus shortbread with a citrus glaze? Both sounded quite nice but really my mind kept wandering to a sandwich cookie, something that incorporated both of those ideas, filled and crispy all at once. Now that the type had been hammered down to a sandwich cookie, it was a matter of figuring out what kind of cookie I wanted to make for the sandwich. Shortbread tends to really just crumble away for me so I decided it wasn't what I wanted here. A standard drop cookie isn't structurally strong enough to support filling and a top cookie, not to mention their round shape isn't what I was looking for here. Back to the drawing board.

That's when I went blog hopping and discovered Culinary Connection's by Peabody's recipe for Citrus sandwich cookies. Immediately I knew I had my recipe. The Witch changed a few very minor things; I used the zest of clementines instead of orange and I added lime zest into the mix as well. The colors of the zest are so pretty in the pale yellow citrus dough, which was a pleasure to work with, not dry or crumbly and rolled out easily. Baking the cookies released the essential oils of the citrus zests, adding their flavorful perfume to the cookie. The filling is a reduction of orange and lemon juices whipped into a buttercream, their tangy acidity help balance the sweetness of the filling. A touch of heavy cream keeps the melt in your mouth soft.

The cookies looked impressive once finished. The colorful zest peeping through the cookie with the pale buttercream centers were very pretty. The Kitchen Witch is very sad to say that she never got to taste one in it's finished state. The recipe made 32 sandwich cookies, the exact number of recipients on my goodie gift list this year. I was able to snag a broken piece of cookie, it was delicious, slightly chewy and rich, and the buttercream I sampled and enjoyed. Yet the finished product I didn't get. Sob! That's ok, I'll just have to make these beauties again soon. Enjoy!

Citrus Sandwich Cookies
Makes 32 sandwich cookies
Source: Culinary Connections
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
14 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp finely grated lime zest

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium speed for 3 minutes. Add egg and zest and beat until combined.

Reduce to slow speed and add flour mixture just until well blended. Scrape dough onto a work surface and gather it up into a disk. Wrap the disc in plastic warp and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm(up to 3 days).

350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Place the chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle lightly with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/8 inch.

Using a small cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies possible from the dough.Transfer dough to baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom(not the top).

Transfer the cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

Citrus buttercream filling
¼ cup orange juice
1 TBSP lemon juice
6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 TBSP heavy cream
pinch of salt

In a small nonreactive saucepan, bring the orange and lemon juices to a boil over high heat and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half (3T). Let cool completely.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter, powdered sugar, cream, salt and cooled citrus juices at medium speed until smooth and fluffy.

Pipe fiilling onto the bottom of one of the cookies. Top with another cookie. Press the cookies lightly together. Repeat with the remaining cookies and filing.

Store cookies in the fridge. Allow to warm to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
32 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		142.2
Total Fat		7.6 g
	Saturated Fat	4.7 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.3 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.2 g
Cholesterol		26.5 mg
Sodium		23.6 mg
Potassium		16.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate		18.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.2 g
	Sugars	12.0 g
Protein		1.0 g

Traditional Beef Stew

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Beef Stew was one of those things we rarely had growing up. My Witchy Sisters and I LOVED the canned Dinty Moore Beef Stew (sacrilege I know) until my parents freaked me out one day by saying they didn't know what kind of meat it was in the stew, it could be tongue or something like that. And in my oh so mature 13 year old mind I said "EW!!" and abandon the canned beef stew entirely. Not a bad thing necessarily! So, after I was completely grossed out about canned beef stew, I still had a beef stew jones that needed to be satisfied. I asked, begged even, my mother to make stew for us. Being a wonderful mom she did; however being a fairly lousy cook, it was 'Stew Starter' beef stew. Anyone remember this stuff? A paper canister filled with dehydrated veggies and flavors, a seasoning packet filled with salt and chemicals, just add water and beef and in 4 brief hours, voila, stew. Ish. Stew-ish is exactly what this was. The broth was thin and insipid, not rich and hearty. The beef was tough and chewy - obviously the wrong cut was used. The veggies were still slightly firm from the dehydration/rehydration process and lacked any nutritional value or flavor. Sure the canister says Stew Starter but man, what a disappointment. Finally the Witch said enough is enough and learned how to make beef stew. Real beef stew!

The stew I offer to you all today is quite possibly one of the best beef stews the Kitchen Witch has ever created. The beef is fall apart tender and oh so flavorful. The veggies have texture and flavor, all of which enhance the stew. Herbs are used sparingly, just enough to add the sweet perfume but not enough to overwhelm the rich brown gravy. Like most soups, this stew if very forgiving and accepting of pretty much any veggie you want to offer it. I kept it traditional with carrots, celery, onion, potatoes and peas. The gravy gets some extra rich flavor from the use of mushroom base, a product that the fine folks at Better than Bullion produce. It's basically concentrated mushroom soup in a jar, all natural and organic to boot! It adds a great depth of flavor with out any visual mushrooms, a great way to get that flavor in when you have mushroom haters around. The use of it isn't required but it will make your dish that much better. If you can't find it you can always sautee up some mushrooms and add them to the stew.

When beef stew is done properly it's as warm and comforting as a hand knitted sweater or a hug from your Mom. Since I'm the worlds laziest knitter, consider this my knitted sweater to you. I hope it keeps you warm and comfortable. Enjoy!

Traditional Beef Stew
Makes 6-8 servings
1 three (3) pound chuck roast, cut into 1.5 inch cubes, excess fat trimmed
6 carrots cut into rounds
3 stalks celery, diced fine
1/2 onion sliced thin
4 cloves garlic minced fine
3 sprigs thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
6-7 cups water
1 T Mushroom base (Better than Bouillon) - optional
3/4 c red wine (shiraz is fine)
1/3 c frozen peas
9-10 small red bliss potatoes, cut into quarters
salt and pepper to taste
3T corn starch
2T oil

Cut the meat into cubes and pat dry. Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the oil. Once hot brown the cubed beef in 3 batches. Brown beef aggressively, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Once browned remove from pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat until all meat is browned.

In the same pan add the onions, carrots, garlic and celery. Cook about 5 minutes or until the onions start to brown and soften. Add the water and mushroom base, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add herbs and wine, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover stew and simmer on medium low for 1 hour.

Stir stew. Taste for season. Please note that the stew is NOT done and this is NOT a final season, it's merely a chance to add more salt if need be, or if it's too salty, a touch more water to dilute things a bit. Adjust seasoning as needed, recover stew and continue cooking for another hour.

Stir stew. Add the potatoes, recover and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 min stir the stew and taste for season. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and about 2-3T of water and add to the stew, stirring well while adding to avoid lumps. Allow stew to simmer for another 15 minutes before serving and enjoying.

Nutrition Factscalculated by SparkPeople Recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 508.7
Total Fat 12.7 g
Saturated Fat 4.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.5 g
Cholesterol 126.4 mg
Sodium 643.2 mg
Potassium 1,754.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 50.8 g
Dietary Fiber 7.1 g
Sugars 5.0 g
Protein 42.8 g

Molasses Spice Cookies

2011-12-22T07:28:00.004-07:00

Molasses cookies are the Witches' husband's favorite cookie ever. His Grandma used to make the BEST molasses cookies!! Last holiday season I was searching for a newer version of the molasses cookie, something to dress up the standard spicy treat. I stumbled across this recipe from a blog, but after over 365 days of NOT posting this post (because I forgot to take photos of the cookies, D'oh!) I have completely forgotten which blog it came from. And for that I apologize. The Kitchen Witch did do a google search to see if I could find it to give proper credit where it's due...alas I was unsuccessful in locating the original source. Sorry about that!

Back to the cookies! These molasses spice cookies start off the same as Grandma's, but they take a turn at Spicy Town with the addition of cardamom and black pepper. Yes, I said black pepper. In a baked good. It's tasty, too! A generous 2 teaspoons of ground ginger helps reinforce that these are indeed spice cookies and they pack a wallop! But behind that spicy bite is a mellow sweetness and a delightful chewiness to the cookie. The molasses really make these a crispy outside, chewy inside cookie, which makes me a very happy Witch indeed!

These cookies are not a favorite of the Little Witch, she thinks they're too spicy. I tend to agree with her, they are spicy, but I like that. They are spicy, not necessarily 'hot' but spicy and not overly sweet, and therefore tend to not be a preferred cookie of the kids. And that's ok in this Witches' opinion. After all the cloying sweet Holiday treats, it's nice to have a bit of spice and subtle sweetness. And best of all, Santa loves these cookies! I hope you enjoy them.

Happy Yule to you and yours!

Molasses Spice Cookiesmakes 3 dozen, 2 cookies per serving
Source: Unknown; inspired by a blogger with good taste!
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
2 tbsp honey
1 large egg
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom (7 pods ground)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
sugar, for rolling

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a work bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses, honey and egg until smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Working by hand, or with a mixer on low speed, stir flour mixture into molasses mixture.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in extra sugar before placing on baking sheet.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set but not browned.

Cool for 5-10 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 177.8
Total Fat 5.6 g
Saturated Fat 3.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.6 g
Cholesterol 24.1 mg
Sodium 211.1 mg
Potassium 91.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 30.5 g
Dietary Fiber 0.4 g
Sugars 17.3 g
Protein 2

A Cook's book for Cooks, GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

2011-11-18T07:40:00.003-07:00

There were 25 entries for the giveaway of "A Cook's book for Cooks" written by Stephen Crout. The lucky winner was #16, Yenta Mary!!! Congratulations Yenta Mary on winning this cookbook, you're gonna love it!!! Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. Your support means a lot to both myself and Stephen. Enjoy the book Mary!

Everyone else, don't fret, you can still order this book on Amazon.com. Search BOOKS for Stephen Crout and you'll find it. Makes a great holiday gift for the foodie in your life!

Mushroom marsala sauce

2011-11-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

My Husband's birthday was last week so of course I had to make him something delicious for dinner. Between the two of us, we couldn't decide on what he wanted. One thing was for sure: he wanted beef. And mushrooms. And wine. The first thing he suggested was beef burgundy, delicious indeed, but we'd recently had beef stew, which is very similar and I didn't want those flavors again. Yes, it's his birthday, but I'm in charge of the food! Beef Stroganoff was suggested, we haven't had it in a while, but I've made that plenty of times before. Steak, sure, but what can we do to make it more special for his birthday??

That's when my good friend Phyllis and I got chatting. She told me about a recipe she'd concocted using shallot & mushrooms, a bit of marsala wine, sour cream and Parmigiana done up gratin style. The timing of our conversation couldn't have been better!! Here was something different that would pair perfectly with the beef the Witchy Husband had requested. And it has wine, a flavor he'd been thinking about. And mushrooms! And sour cream!! I couldn't wait to get working on this delightful birthday treat!

Phyllis' original dish was done in a casserole and baked to melt and brown the cheese. I decided to morph her idea into a sauce that could blanket the steaks. I cooked the beef using the grilled steak technique I've written about before, except I seared them on my stove top in a cast iron skillet. The skillet was then deglazed after the steaks cooked so that lovely browned beefy flavor could become one with my sauce. The sauce was done in a seperate sautee pan, starting with the butter, shallots and mushrooms. Once the 'shrooms were deeply browned the pan was deglazed with marsala wine. After reduction the Witch added the deglaze liquid from the steaks pan, a touch of water and sour cream. The resulting sauce was rich, velvety, lusciously and deeply flavored. It was the PERFECT companion to the medium rare cooked sirloins. Birthday dinner perfection!! Happy Birthday Hon, I love you!

Mushroom Marsala sauce

makes 2 servings

Inspired by Phyllis Davis

8 large white mushrooms, sliced

1 medium shallot, fine diced

3T butter, unsalted

1/2 c marsala wine, dry

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 t thyme crushed

1 c water, divided

parmesean cheese, fresh grated, about 4T

2 steaks, pan seared using reverse sear technique

kosher salt and pepper

In a sautee pan melt butter over medium high heat. Once it stops foaming add the finely diced shallot and sautee until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and toss to coat in butter evenly. The mushrooms will absorb the butter, this is ok, just let them cook. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until mushrooms are deeply browned.

Deglaze pan with marsala wine. Allow to reduce by half. Remove from heat and add sour cream, slowly stirring it into the sauce. Add 1/2 c water to the sauce and stir well.

Deglaze pan that steaks seared in with remaining water. Scrape up any browned bits from the pan and add this to the sauce. Add the parmesean cheese to the sauce, stir well, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve over rested steaks.

*~*Kitchen Witch TIP: If you're cooking the steaks outside on the grill simply substitute the steak deglazing liquid with about 1/2 cup of beef broth.~*~

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
2 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories		325.6

Total Fat		29.4 g

	Saturated Fat	18.3 g

	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.1 g

	Monounsaturated Fat	8.5 g

Cholesterol		71.9 mg

Sodium		37.6 mg

Potassium		224.4 mg

Total Carbohydrate		6.2 g

	Dietary Fiber	0.1 g

	Sugars	0.2 g

Protein		2.8 g

Sweet Corn Gelato

2011-11-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a FREE copy of A Cook's book for Cooks! Click HERE to enter!

Wow, this one is TOTALLY out of season but it deserves to be posted nonetheless. I made this late summer with my friend Phyllis, and just now realized that I'd not published it yet. D'oh!

Sweet corn gelato. Yes, that's corn flavored ice cream. Wait, no don't leave, I promise its good! Really really good. Really! Phyllis suggested we try this gelato and I was all in. Being both a corn and ice cream lover, I could see how this could be awesome. I'm here to tell you that it indeed IS awesome! We made this with late summer Olathe sweet corn and it was wonderful. The recipe calls for fresh corn off the cob however if I couldn't get good corn I'd use frozen corn and omit the portion of the recipe that refers to the cob. Enjoy!

How's it taste? Surprising, different, salty, sweet, like the best corn on the cob you've ever had, but only cold. It has a smooth texture with no trace of corn husk or kernal to be found yet it is the very essence of corn. The only one who enjoyed the gelato more than I did was the Little Witch. She LOVED it! The photos don't do this frozen treat justice. If you like corn you need to try this.

Sweet-corn Gelato
makes about 5 cups gelato (10 1/2 c servings)
Source: recipe comes from New York and was served at Gramercy Tavern and then at Babbo

3 ears of sweet corn
3 1/2 c. whole milk
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
1 t. kosher salt

Cut kernels from cob and break cobs into 2-3 pieces. Add the corn, cobs and milk to a sauce pan and bring up to a boil. Allow it to boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Remove cobs from milk and discard them. Puree mixture in batches in a blender. Set a course strainer over large bowl and strain mixture pressing on solids and then discard them. Add more milk if needed to measure 3 1/2 c of milk and corn mix.

Bring mixture, 1 1/4 c. sugar, and cream. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Set a strainer over med bowl and set aside.

Whisk remaining 1/4 c. sugar, egg yolks, and salt and gradually whisk in hot milk, return to saucepan and stir constantly for about 2 min to reach 175 degrees on instant read thermometer.

Immediately pour custard through strainer and place bowl over ice water to chill, about 5 min. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight and then process per manufacture directions with your ice cream freezer. Transfer to container and freeze at least 1 hour before serving. Lasts up to 1 month in the freezer.

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople Recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 288.2
Total Fat 11.2 g
Saturated Fat 5.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.7 g
Cholesterol 188.8 mg
Sodium 243.5 mg
Potassium 262.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 42.8 g
Dietary Fiber 1.2 g
Sugars 35.9 g
Protein 6.5 g

Stuffed Pumpkin with Cheese, Bacon and Chipotles

2011-11-10T00:01:00.006-07:00

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a FREE copy of A Cook's book for Cooks! Click HERE to enter!

Halloween may be over but that's no reason to say good bye to the beloved pumpkin. The orange squash is king of Autumn and until December 21, it's still Autumn, so bring on the pumpkin recipes! Today I happily share with you a pumpkin stuffed with cheese, bacon and chipotle chilies. Holy cow, this thing is good! And rich! And delicious!! This gorgeous dish was found at the Homesick Texan's site. I'm not from Texas (I'm from Michigan!) but this dish makes me homesick for Texas as well!!

The stuffing in this pumpkin is filled with all sorts of deliciousness: French bread cubes, Gruyere and white cheddar cheeses, thick cut bacon and spicy smoky chipotles. A touch of garlic, cumin and cream crown the already rich and flavorful filling. After a long 2 hour baking time the pumpkin is tender and easily scrapes out of it's shell. The sweet and yet bland squash play perfectly with the spicy and rich filling.

Stuffed pumpkin makes a great lunch on its own or would be perfect as a side dish. It'd also be very welcome on the Thanksgiving table. Imagine if you will, the beautiful turkey, golden brown and fragrant, the bowl of red glistening cranberry sauce, fluffy white mashed potatoes, rich brown gravy and this, amazing orange whole baked pumpkin stuffed with cheesy spicy goodness. It's truly a vision of delicious loveliness!

Stuffed Pumpkin with Cheese, Bacon and Chipotles
Source: Homesick Texan
Makes: 4 servings

One 3-to-4 pound pie pumpkin
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 ounces French bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 pound Gruyere, shredded (1 cup)
1/4 pound white cheddar, shredded (1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 chipotle chiles en adobo, diced (depending on how fiery you want it)
1/4 pound cooked bacon, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Small pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 pan or baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

With a sharp knife, cut a circle around the pumpkin stem about 1 inch away from the stem. Remove the top and clean out the seeds and stringy bits from inside the pumpkin. (You can save the seeds for roasting, if you like.) Lightly salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin.

Toss together the bread cubes, shredded Gruyere, shredded cheddar, garlic, diced chipotle chiles and cooked bacon, and stuff into the pumpkin. Stir the cumin and nutmeg into the cream, adding a bit of salt and black pepper to taste. Pour cream mixture into pumpkin over bread and cheese.

Place the top back on the pumpkin, and place the pumpkin into the baking pan. Bake for 2 hours or until filling is brown and bubbling.

To serve, remove the top and spoon out portions of the filling along with bits of the cooked pumpkin. You can either leave it in the pan, or by using the foil or parchment paper, you can carefully lift it out of the pan and place it on a platter. Serve warm.

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 497.3
Total Fat 30.4 g
Saturated Fat 18.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.4 g
Cholesterol 101.9 mg
Sodium 1,691.2 mg
Potassium 1,004.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 37.5 g
Dietary Fiber 4.9 g
Sugars 4.2 g
Protein 21.9 g

A Cook's book for Cooks, GIVEAWAY!!

2011-11-09T00:00:00.002-07:00

The Giveaway is CLOSED at this time.
My fellow blogger and friend Stephen of the Obsessive Chef has written a book! A Cook's book for Cooks is his pride and joy, and it's quite entertaining. Stephen is an incredibly talented writer and cook. His take on this book is different than your average cookbook, it's more of a dialog about food. You won't find carefully measured ingredients or a strict recipe to follow; rather you'll have to depend on your own palette and senses of like & dislike to create a meal you'll be proud of. I for one am very proud of Stephen for this book as well as its concept. As a blogger and avid cook I like to look at recipes for inspiration, but rarely follow them. Be brave, everyone, its OK to play with a recipe, that's how you learn what you like and start to develop your palette as well as cooking skills!! The Witch is enjoying this book immensely, it's almost like having a friend who can cook sitting with you, discussing what's for dinner.

If you're a cook or know someone who is a cook, please consider giving Stephen Crout's book A Cook's Book for Cooks. It would make a fabulous holiday gift for the foodie in your life!

Best of all, Andrea the Kitchen Witch, compliments of Stephen Crout himself, is going to give away one of these books to you, my wonderful readers! If you can't wait to win the giveaway either click on the title above OR search amazon.com for Stephen Crout. (searching for the title only won't work, tried it and now I'm telling you all)

Entry is easy: There are 2 ways to get entry to this giveaway:

1. Become a follower of this blog using Google Friends Connect (GFC) on the left side. Click on FOLLOW. Then leave a comment here that you've a follower and that's it, you're entered. Current followers, please leave a comment that you're a follower and you're entered.

2. LIKE Andrea the Kitchen Witch on facebook (there's a gadget on the left you can click LIKE there) and leave a comment here that you're a facebook fan. Again, current facebook fans, enter a comment for your entry.

The Giveaway is CLOSED at this time.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2011-11-08T07:41:00.001-07:00

On a chilly fall afternoon nothing smells or feels quite as homey as a batch of pumpkin baked goods in the oven. That's what the Witch was thinking when she went blog surfing to find a new and different pumpkin recipe to make. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars: been there, done that. I wanted something different, not seen before in the Kitchen Witches' kitchen. That's when I went to the guru of all things pumpkin, Annie of Annie's Eats!! Annie is a certified pumpkin lover and I knew that if I was looking for baked delicious pumpkin goods Annie's site was the place to be.

I was right! After browsing her pumpkin collection I stumbled upon pumpkin whoopie pies. I'd seen these on her site before. Heck, I had bookmarked them on my old computer, but it died before I could make them. Now was the time!! The Kitchen Witch has never made whoopie pies before so I had no point of reference to go by other than what I knew about the pies; soft, fluffy cake cookies with a creamy filling. Annie's recipe provided both of those things. The pumpkin cake is soft and tender like most pumpkin baked goods are, delicatly flavored with spices and just sweet enough. The filling is the amazing, cream cheese maple icing!! Seriously, this is the best and easiest cream cheese icing I've ever attempted.

The whoopie pies come together quickly; the batter is scooped onto sheet trays with a 1.5T scooper and after a 12 minute bake they're done. After mixing up the delicious icing in the stand mixer I transferred it to a large plastic bag which I cut the end off one corner to make a piping bag. A quick swirl of filling and the pies are finished with a topping cake. Whoopie pies have captured our hearts and taste buds, so much so that the Husband asked for these as his birthday cake. I take that as recipe success anyday! Thanks Annie for the great recipe, we love it!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Source: Annie's Eats
Makes: 32 pies

For the pumpkin cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup canola oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the maple cream cheese filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
To make the pumpkin cookies, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 1.5-2 tablespoons.), about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the filling or it will lose structure.

To assemble, turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling onto the flat side of the overturned cookies. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Nutrition Facts calculated by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 262.2
Total Fat 12.6 g
Saturated Fat 4.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.7 g
Cholesterol 27.1 mg
Sodium 210.8 mg
Potassium 109.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 38.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.7 g
Sugars 27.8 g
Protein 2.3 g

Hot Caramel Apple Spiced Cider

2011-10-28T07:29:00.000-06:00

Hot spiced cider has always been an Autumnal favorite of the Kitchen Witch. When I was a kid we used those apple cider packets, tasty yes, but really, how hard is it to heat up cider and spice it?? Turns out not hard at all!! And its SO much better than the packets. The flavor of cider really shines when its heated, the crisp apple just begs for some cinnamon to compliment it.

Nothing goes better with the fresh fall flavor of apple then sweet buttery caramel. I made a batch of my favorite caramels, salted of course, and dipped a few apples into it. Oh boy were those good!! It seemed only natural to add some of that luscious caramel to the hot cider, allowing it to melt into the drink, adding a different layer of sweet, salty and rich to the mix. You can use store bought caramels if you don't want to make your own, but I promise, its a lot easier than you think and oh so much tastier! Caramel sauce (like for ice cream) would work in a pinch, too.

Finally I topped off each mug with a splash of heavy cream. You could use whipped cream instead, but honestly, I was too lazy to whip up the cream when it was going to just melt into the drink anyway. Whip the cream or not, the choice is yours. Regardless, you'll be very happy with the resulting drink, sweet, tart, salty and creamy. Hot Caramel Apple Spiced Cider is the perfect ending to a busy fall day! Enjoy!

Hot Caramel Apple Spiced Cider
makes 4 servings
4 cups apple cider
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c heavy cream
4 pieces of caramel (homemade is AWESOME but store bought will work too)

In a microwave safe bowl OR a sauce pan heat the cider and cinnamon until it simmers. Add caramels and stir until they melt into the drink. If you're in a hurry you can microwave the caramels until they just start to melt before adding to the hot cider. Once caramels are melted ladle hot cider into your favorite mugs and top with cream, whipped or not.

Isn't that Witch awesome?? She was the cake topper on my 6th birthday cake. I love her!

Nutrition Facts calculated by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 165.8
Total Fat 3.6 g
Saturated Fat 2.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Cholesterol 10.9 mg
Sodium 27.7 mg
Potassium 30.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.4 g
Sugars 6.6 g
Protein 0.6 g

Israeli Couscous salad with beans and tomatoes

2011-10-15T08:16:00.000-06:00

Israeli couscous, have you all seen or tried this yet? Ever wonder what the heck it is? Well, Israeli couscous isn't a strange and exotic grain. It's not a grain at all, rather, it's pasta, just like all couscous. Yes, you read that right, ALL couscous is really just tiny beads of pasta that cook up super quick due to their tiny size. Israeli couscous is no different except its beads are larger than normal couscous, making them more pearl like. They cook up very fast also, less than 10 minutes, and are tasty! I like to get my Israeli couscous from the health food store, they have it available in bulk and you can buy as much or as little as you'd like. It's really really cheap, too, bonus!

Israeli couscous is toasted from the factory. Personally, I wanted more of that roasty toasty flavor so I decided to further brown my couscous in melted butter. Nothing wrong with that! A small amount of onion was added for flavor, but not so much that it overwhelmed the delicate toasty flavor of the couscous. The Witch used chicken broth to cook the couscous in for additional flavor, but if you're looking to make this dish completely vegetarian water or veggie broth would work just fine also. As the couscous cooks it releases a lot of starches which make the texture of the cooked Israeli couscous more like a good risotto than couscous.

Because this was an entire meal I knew that I needed some protein in there somewhere so I added white beans that I have in my pantry. The soft texture and gentle flavor of the cannellini bean was delightful against the soft, rich creamy flavor of the couscous. Having an abundance of cherry tomatoes from the garden it was a no brainer to add a handful of the sweet red treats into the couscous. Feta cheese was in the fridge and its flavors as well as very granular texture again worked fabulously with the couscous. Now all it needed was a dressing! In a small mason jar, or any jar with a lid, add the juice of half a lemon, a touch of honey to counteract the tart of the lemon and 2 parts olive oil. I just eyeballed the amount in the glass jar, when it looked like I had a 2:1 ratio of oil to lemon juice I stopped. It was about 3T of oil. A touch of garlic and fresh herbs including mint, oregano and parsley completed this easy and tasty dressing. The dressing will make a lot more than you need for one serving, you'll actually be able to get about 3 couscous salads out of this dressing, so save the leftovers in the fridge for another tasty salad.

The final results of this are savor, rich, creamy, tart, sweet and plain yummy. The herbs in the dressing added great flavor, just enough to keep you interested in taking another bite. The tomatoes give bursts of sweet tart flavor that counter the rich creamy taste of the couscous. A nice salty tang is provided by the feta and the creamy beans kept me full for hours! This recipe was developed as a quick and easy lunch for myself. Imagine my surprise when the Little Witch wanted to try some (shock!) and then declared that she LOVES couscous and wanted more! (double shock!) If you're looking for a quick lunch, easy side dish or a meatless main course, look no further than this Israeli couscous dish. Enjoy!

Israeli couscous salad with beans and tomatoes
makes 1 main dish sized serving
1/2 c Israeli couscous
3/4 c chicken broth OR water
2 t butter
1 T minced onions
1 T minced green pepper (optional)
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1/3 c white beans (cannellini beans), drained and rinsed (1 can will make 3 salads)
2T feta cheese
3t dressing, recipe follows

Lemon herb dressing
makes enough for 3 salads
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 parts olive oil, approx 3T
1t honey
1 clove garlic sliced thin
pinch kosher salt & pepper
fresh minced herbs: parsley, mint and oregano (small bit of parsley, 5 leaves each mint & oregano)

Make dressing first: combine all ingredients in a small lidded jar and shake well to mix. Set aside.

Prepare salad:
In a small sauce pan heat butter over medium high heat until it foams. Once the foaming stops add the uncooked couscous, stir to coat all pearls in butter. Toast for 2 minutes then add the onions. Stir to coat onions in butter and continue to toast for 3-4 minutes longer, until couscous is browned and smells nutty.

Add the broth or water and bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Add the beans, cover the pan and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Check couscous for tenderness, if soft all the way through then drain couscous of any remaining liquid. Return to pot. Add the dressing, tomatoes and feta, stir well to coat everything evenly. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculator
Salad only, no dressing 1 Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 459.6
Total Fat 9.6 g
Saturated Fat 4.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Cholesterol 25.0 mg
Sodium 308.7 mg
Potassim 294.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 16.6 g
Dietary Fiber 4.8 g
Sugars 0.7 g
Protein 17.7 g

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculator
Lemon herb dressing only -- 3 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 130.5
Total Fat 14.0 g
Saturated Fat 2.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 10.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 96.3 mg
Potassium 14.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.9 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 2.1 g
Protein 0.1 g

Pork Red Chili

2011-10-14T09:26:00.000-06:00

Chili is a great dish to serve in fall, is slow cooked flavors will warm bellies on the coldest of days. It's also very budget friendly, with the bulk of the ingredients being pantry staples. Most of the time red chili is made with beef. Being a rebellious rule breaking Kitchen Witch, I decided to use pork in mine this time. Green chili with pork is amazing, so I figured why not try it with the red version. I found country style boneless pork ribs on managers special for $2.80 and couldn't resist. These ribs do need a long slow braise to maximize their flavor as well as make the darn things tender. Chili seemed like a perfect match for the cut of meat I had on hand.

So, in addition to the super cheap package of pork there was something else that really made me want to make chili, other than the fact that its delicious. The Witch is a savvy shopper - get this deal! I scored a new Food Network 5.5 qt dutch oven, enamel covered cast iron, with a metal handle on the lid making it oven proof, for $46 at Kohl's!! The pan is normally $100, on sale for $70, I had a 20% off coupon AND a $10 off coupon, making my total before tax $46. Not too shabby!!! And the best part, other than the screamin' deal I got, is that its green!! My favorite shade of avocado green! I LOVE IT!

Back to the chili! After browning the pork and onions in the dutch oven I added the spices and allowed them to toast to develop their flavor. I used my favorite Black Canyon Chili Powder blend from Savory Spice - it's combination of cocoa powder, cinnamon, chili powders, garlic and toasted onion really make red chilies shine, in this Witches' opinion. The cinnamon and cocoa powder really remind me of a good slow cooked mole, in a fraction of the time. If you don't have Black Canyon chili powder, well you can order some from Savory Spice OR you can make a knock off version at home by combining unsweetened cocoa powder, cinnamon, chili powder, onion and garlic powders and you'll have a fair representation on what the Black Canyon powder is all about. The pork in this chili was amazing, tender, flavorful and very rich. It worked so well with the cumin and ancho chiles that I may never make a beef chili again!

Pork Red Chili
makes 4 generous servings
1 lb country style pork ribs, boneless
1 large onion diced
5-6 cloves garlic peeled and smashed but left whole
2 t ground cumin
1 T Black Canyon chili powder
1 T ground ancho chilie
4 bay leaves
kosher salt
pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes
water
1 can beans, kidney, black, your choice, drained & rinsed

In a dutch oven heat over medium high heat and brown pork ribs. Brown all 4 sides well then add the diced onions. Allow onions to soften and brown slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the spices and stir well, sautee for about 3-4 minutes. Spices will stick to the bottom of the pan, that is fine.

When spices are very fragrant add 2 cups water and scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add the diced tomatoes and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.

After 2 hours have passed stir the meat, it should be starting to get very tender and fall apart. Allow it to shred naturally while stirring. Add the 2nd can of tomatoes, drained beans and reseason with salt & pepper. Cover again and allow to simmer for 1 1/2 hours longer. Once done shred up remaining chunks of pork - you should be able to squeeze the chunks with your tongs & they will just fall apart. Serve with corn bread or tortilla chips. Top with jalapenos if desired.

Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 331.0
Total Fat 12.2 g
Saturated Fat 4.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 65.0 mg
Sodium 1,835.9 mg
Potassium 252.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 27.7 g
Dietary Fiber 8.4 g
Sugars 6.2 g
Protein 28.2 g

Jalapeno Corn Cakes

2011-10-05T14:54:00.000-06:00

Today I'd like to introduce you to a fabulous foodie and cook, Phyllis Davis. Phyllis isn't a guest blogger; rather she has been a guest in the Witches' house for various cooking dates. Please allow me to introduce Phyllis Davis!

"I was a caterer in Texas in the 70's, a sous chef for six years at the Broadmoor Cooking School during the 80's and assisted: Jacques Pepin, Marcella Hazen, Guiliano Bugialli, Stephan Pyles, Paula Wolfort, Martha Stewart, Ken Hom, and others, became the Food and Restaurant Critic for KKTV in the 80's, taught private cooking classes throughout my cooking life, and now I have the pleasure of cooking with you, Andrea."

Holy cow how did I get so lucky to find a friend and foodie with such a varied and rich history? I'm one lucky Witch, that's for sure! Phyllis and I have a great time cooking, chatting, knitting and generally enjoying each others company. Most recently we made 2 dishes, sweet corn gelato (to be posted soon) and jalapeno corn cakes. Both recipes were delicious and will be/have been repeat offenders in the Witches' kitchen already! The corn cakes were particularly delicious, I loved the crunch of corn, slightly crispy exterior and gentle heat of the jalapeno and the cool sour cream topping was perfect. I've made these twice since then and LOVE them! They are really good for breakfast, too, if you are into a more savory type of AM meal.

Confession time: Phyllis and I made these dishes in August when corn season was at its peak. Yours truly has had a run in with a little thing called LIFE - between a beloved dog passing away, getting a new puppy and a Little Witch starting preK, we have been busy, hence the lack of posts lately AND the unseasonality of this post.

Jalapeno Corn Cakes
Makes 6 servings, 2 cakes each
Source: Sunset Magazine
1 lg egg
1 c milk
3/4 c. medium-grind cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1/2 c. flour
3/4 t. kosher salt
2 t. baking powder
1 t. chopped marjoram (optional, we omitted)
2 green onions, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 c. corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/4 c. veg or canola oil
Sour cream

Whisk egg, and milk and add the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder & marjoram stirring to combine.

Fold in chopped onions, jalapeno, and corn.

Heat 2 T. oil in large nonstick skillet over med heat and scoop 1/4 c. portions of batter into pan. Cook, turning once, until puffed and brown - total about 6 minutes.

You can also make smaller bite size cakes, they are wonderful appetizers!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 272.4
Total Fat 14.0 g
Saturated Fat 2.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.8 g
Cholesterol 38.3 mg
Sodium 428.5 mg
Potassium 224.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 32.2 g
Dietary Fiber 3.0 g
Sugars 3.9 g
Protein 6.7 g

Technique: Breaded chops

2011-09-14T07:55:00.000-06:00

Has this happened to you - you bread and fry up some chops and get your taste buds all ready for a delicious crispy exterior, juicy meat and end up with a crust that falls off and bone dry overcooked chops. Yuck! However once prepared properly you can say good bye to the dry chop blues and hello to a delicious, quick and cheap dinner that the whole family will love. Breaded pan fried pork chops might seem simple, and they are! But don't let their simplicity fool you, there is a technique to getting something as simple as breaded meats right.

Breaded pork chops are a blank canvas for whatever you want them to be. Looking for something simple and clean? Add lemon wedges to each serving and enjoy. The acidity of the lemon really makes the juicy pork sing. Looking for more comfort food? Make a simple gravy to top your chops with an voila! The flavor profile is up to you!

In the recipe I've included some tips and techniques to breading meat that always yields me great success. Having 3 containers to make your 'breading station' is essential to me. I also prebread my meats and allow them to rest with the breading on them before frying for at least 15 minutes ahead of time. This allows the breading to adhere to the meat and gives you a better final result. The same process outlined here works the same for chicken, pork or beef (think chicken fried steak!). Enjoy!

Breaded Pork Chops
makes 3 servings
3 loin cut boneless pork chops
1 egg
1/4 c flour
approx 1 cup crumbs made from 4 slices of white bread
2 sprigs thyme
1 T chopped parsley
kosher salt
pepper
season salt
lemon cut into wedges for serving (optional)
oil for frying, up to 1/2 c

Allow the bread slices to stale during the day or dry out in a hot oven. You want them to be similar to toast texture on the exterior, with out the browning. Once bread has dried out & staled break into chunks and place into food processor with the steel blade attached. Add 1/2 t kosher salt, pepper to taste, thyme removed from stems and parsley. Pulse until you have crumbs. There will be a few larger crumbs, that is ok. You want the majority to be small and crumbly. Break up the larger chunks with your hands. Reserve the crumbs for use later.

Begin by removing the fat strip from the pork chops. I do this because I want to pound these chops from the 1 inch thickness that you buy into thinner larger pieces. If the fat strip is left intact it makes this process a lot harder.

Using a meat mallet or heavy bottom pan pound the meat out until its doubled in size and is half as thick.

Season chops with seasoned salt and set aside while you prepare the breading station.

Make a 3 stage breading station:
you'll need 3 rectangular pieces of plastic wear OR 2 plates and 1 bowl (for eggs)
1st container place the flour
2nd container the egg, whipped up like scrambled eggs, incorporating as much white as possible
3rd container the bread crumbs
a sheet tray with a cooling rack set inside of it to receive the breaded chops.

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: Drop a few pieces of bread crumbs into the oil. If they sizzle and start to brown after a minute then you're ready to go. If they brown up right away the oil is too hot, remove pan from heat and allow to cool before continuing. If the crumbs don't sizzle at all let the pan heat up more. This is an easy test if you don't have a thermometer available.~*~

Bread chops by placing into the flour first. Coat each side with a thin layer of flour, patting off any excess. Next dip the floured meat into the egg wash. Coat both sides with egg. Third, dip egged meat into the bread crumbs. Coat both sides with crumbs, pressing crumbs into the meat for best adhesion. Place breaded pork chops on the cooling rack and allow to rest for 5 minutes minimum before frying. This resting period is very important: it allows the breading to 'stick' to the meat better by absorbing moisture from the meat as well as the egg in the breading. You will get a better crust with a 5 minute rest. I usually bread the chops then heat up the pan while the chops are resting.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom or cast iron skillet over medium heat until its hot.

Once oil is up to temp fry the chops. Cook for 3-5 min or so on the first side, flipping when the edges are opeque and the breading has browned. Cook on 2nd side, it will take less time then the first side did. You are looking for an internal temperature of 145F for pork. Given that the chops are pounded out this won't take long at all.

Remove chops from the oil and drain. Serve with lemon wedges squeezed onto chops just prior to enjoying.

Nutrition Factsprovided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 413.7
Total Fat 21.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.1 g
Cholesterol 99.4 mg
Sodium 1,291.9 mg
Potassium 66.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.1 g
Dietary Fiber 1.3 g
Sugars 0.1 g
Protein 26.6 g

Roasted corn and jalapeno cheddar polenta

2011-08-23T09:01:00.002-06:00

Polenta is like the red head step child of the side dish world. Most people don't even know what polenta is here in the US. Its only when its referred to as grits, as most southerns know it as, that it gets any recognition. And, unfortunately, the recognition isn't that warm or welcome. Why, I wondered, are people so frightened of polenta. Is it the name? Do people just not know what it is? Could it be the texture? Could it be that maybe they've just never had good polenta? My best guess is a combination of all the above. I hope today that I can demystify polenta and introduce some of you to a new and tasty side dish.

Polenta is corn meal that's been slow cooked to rehydrate it. As mentioned it is known as grits in the south. But please, don't let the name grits turn you off. Yes there is a texture to polenta. However if it's cooked properly it won't be gritty or rough, rather the corn meal softens and becomes al dente and delicious. It has a great corn flavor and stands up well to rich and hearty dishes. There are different grinds to polenta, from instant (not recommended) to coarse grind super slow cooking ones, the choice is yours. Most supermarkets will have 'quick cooking' polenta available and the Kitchen Witch feels that this is a great place to start. After you've made it and decide you love its wholesome corny goodness then please try the coarser grinds, I hear they're loads tastier. I have a bag of Bob's Red Mill coarse grind polenta in the pantry and can't wait to try it! The quick cooking variety will take about 20 minutes to cook up into a creamy corny pudding. What you add to it to flavor it is pretty much endless!

When I created this side dish it was to accompny green chili pork stew. I was looking for something that would go well with the stews liquidy part and what pairs better than corn? I had an ear of corn in the fridge which I roasted under the broiler - you could of course do this over your grill - knowing that the sweet corn would add bursts of flavor as well as a roasted smokiness. Jalapenos seemed natural, they go well with corn as well as the green chili. Onions & garlic add the background flavors to make it more dimensional and the cheese adds the final layer of deliciousness. I left most of the seeds and veins in the jalapeno and honestly it was NOT hot at all. I could have used another 2 peppers before any heat was felt. Use your discression on how hot you want it for your family. I served this polenta in its creamy puddling like form but polenta is the master of make overs! If creamy pudding isn't your thing, no worries, simply pour your polenta into a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap and allow to cool. Once cooled you can slice your now firmed up polenta into any shape you desire and pan fry it in a bit of oil until its golden browned, flip and brown on second side. The exterior has a crispy brown exterior and the inside is a smooth creamy treat. This is a great way to use up left over polenta and its awesome with eggs.

I hope you try polenta in the future and embrace it as a quality side dish that the whole family can enjoy! Play around with the ingredients and add ins, making each batch as individual as you are. Happy cooking!

Roasted corn and jalapeno cheddar polenta
makes 4 servings
1 cup polenta (coarse corn grits)
3 cups chicken broth
1 ear of corn roasted and kernals cut from cob
1/2 onion diced
1 jalapeno diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 c cheddar cheese
2 T butter
1 t kosher salt
black pepper to taste

Begin by roasting the corn in the oven. Set your oven rack on the highest setting and put it on broil. Place the shucked corn cob on the rack under the broiler. Roast until you have a few blackened kernels, rotate and roast evenly all over cob. Don't be alarmed if you hear popping, this is normal if your corn is very fresh. Its the liquid in the kernel expanding as it heats and essentially 'popping'. The popping is usually my indicator that I need to check the corn. Once roasted remove from oven and allow to cool, then cut the kernels off the cob once cool enough to handle.

In a sauce pan heat the butter over medium high heat. Add onions and sautee for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and diced jalapeno, sautee for 5 min longer until the garlic starts to toast slightly and the onions have softened. Add the roasted corn kernels and stir well to coat in the fat.

Add the chicken stock to the veggies in the pan. Using a whisk slowly whisk in the polenta. Whisk until all polenta is incorporated then switch to a wooden spoon. Bring the polenta up to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cover polenta and cook for 15-20 minutes (or to instructions on package) stirring often to avoid scorch spots and lumps. Once polenta has cooled remove from heat and stir in the cheddar cheese, serve and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 296.9
Total Fat 12.0 g
Saturated Fat 6.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.5 g
Cholesterol 30.4 mg
Sodium 1,685.6 mg
Potassium 183.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 38.5 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 1.7 g
Protein 9.0

Summer Squash Gratin

2011-08-20T09:51:00.000-06:00

The Witch has some SERIOUS over achievers in her garden right now. Yes folks, its that time of year again, ZUCCHINI and CROOKED NECK SQUASH is here!! Yay says the Witch as she pulls her first veggies out of the garden. Hooray for my beloved green zucchini and tasty yellow crooked necks! My mind swims with ideas on how to prepare these treats from the garden. But after a few weeks the song changes from YAY zucchini! to UGH! more freaking zucchini?? What the hell am I supposed to do with all of these???? After your friends and family have taken on their fair share you're still left with TONS of green and yellow fruits and the usual prep method of planks sauteed in olive oil until golden brown just isn't seeming as delicious as it did 2 weeks ago.

So after some serious squash overload I went to my favorite go to place for recipes, blogs! While browsing I saw that Siri over at Siriously Delicious had posted one for Summer Squash and potato gratin. Gratin you say? Hmmm...I like cheese. Yes, gratin it is! Cheese is a key component to gratin. A quick trip through the fridge shows Emmental Swiss cheese, something the Little Witch picked out (she has great taste! What can I say?), a small chunk of mozzarella and as always Asiago. Those 3 cheeses sound pretty darn good together, the swiss for a robust cheese flavor, the mozz for the melting factor and Asiago has a pungent flavor that's just delicious.

When seasoning the dish I kept it simple, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Powder?? Yes, powder. I used garlic and onion powder fairly often, in specific dishes, mostly because I like the way they perform in some ways. In dips, sauces and dressings the powders are great because you don't get a sharp bite that you can get from fresh garlic and onions. I like it in marinades too, as the garlic powder won't burn like fresh garlic will. The main reason you'll see me use onion powder or dehydrated onions in place of fresh is because my Witchy Sissy has an onion allergy, poor thing, and can't have fresh onions. Powdered or dehydrated is fine, however. So when I know she'll be eating a dish I'll use the powdered stuff. In the case of this gratin I used it for 2 reasons: I wanted a light flavor of onion, this is a squash gratin, not an onion one and I feared a fresh onion would overpower the squashs' delicate flavor. And 2, my Sissy was going to be eating it. 'Nuff said! The simple seasonings really highlighted the flavors of the squash and cheese resulting in a delicious side dish that makes me excited to pull more zucchini and crooked neck squash out of the garden. Thank you, gratin!

Summer Squash Gratin
makes 8 side dish servings or 4 main dish servings
1 zucchini
1 yellow crooked neck squash
3 oz good quality Emmental Swiss cheese
2 oz mozzerella cheese
1 oz Asiago or Parmesean cheese
1 t Kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 t ground black pepper
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
4 sprigs thyme OR 1t dried thyme
about 1/2 c heavy cream (a little less is just fine)
1/2 c fresh bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350F

Slice crooked neck squash in half and remove the seeds if desired. The larger the squash get the more pronounced the seeds are. Its a personal preference, if you dislike the seeds, remove them, if not leave them in.

Using a food processor with a slicing disc OR a mandolin slice the zucchini and yellow squash into thin rounds. Place slices on paper towel to absorb moisture. You will want a single layer of squash on each towel, yes you'll go through quite a bit. Don't skimp on this step or you will have a watery gratin.

Shred cheeses and reserve cheese.

Spray a casserole dish with non stick spray.

Begin assembling the gratin

First layer: yellow squash first. Use about 1/2 of the yellow slices in the first layer. Sprinkle squash with about 1/4 t kosher salt, some black pepper and a light dusting of garlic and onion powder. Next layer 1/4 of the shredded cheeses on top of the seasoned squash slices.

2nd layer: zucchini rounds. Use 1/2. Season as above (salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder) then top with 1/4 of the cheese. Pour 1/2 the cream over the squash on this layer.

3rd layer: Yellow squash, seasoned as above and add the thyme, then cheese.

4th layer: Remaining zucchini slices, seasoned and the remainder of the cheese. Pour remaining cream over top of the cheese. Top the cheese with the bread crumb.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until browned on top and bubbly. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving so the cheese has time to solidify before slicing. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 127.3
Total Fat 9.6 g
Saturated Fat 5.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Cholesterol 30.2 mg
Sodium 372.7 mg
Potassium 169.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 4.2 g
Dietary Fiber 0.8 g
Sugars 1.3 g
Protein 7.9 g

Vanilla Bean pudding

2011-08-11T00:01:00.003-06:00

My friend Kelly requested a good vanilla pudding recipe. I immediately started thinking about what a good vanilla pudding would be; rich and creamy, solid but not gummy, complex in vanilla flavor, not just sweetened milk. Its a lot harder to come up with a GOOD vanilla pudding than you'd think! The Witch tried a few different variations, one version was too eggy in flavor, one wasn't sweet enough. Simple fixes resulted in a smooth, velvety, rich, sweet and vanilla is the flavor with all of its complex deliciousness. And I absolutely love the specks of vanilla bean and how they burst when you chew them releasing even more vanilla. Delicious!

Guess what else I learned while making this pudding? The Witch learned that sometimes its not a great idea to recycle plastic things. Why?? Well, allow me to explain. The little Witch sees the pudding cups at the grocery store and of course asks for them. I politely decline, telling her that mommy can make pudding that tastes a lot better than what comes in those cups. Then she says "yeah, but what about the cups? I want the plastic cups Mom." Great...but wait! Then it hits me! Just save the little plastic bowls that mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail come in. Done! "Sure sweetie, Mommy can make it in cups, no problem!"

I make the vanilla pudding. I strain the pudding to ensure its velvety smoothness. I lovingly ladle the pudding into said cups, cover and refrigerate them. We wait 4 hours before tasting them. Finally! I take a bite excited to taste my rich vanilla flavor...why does it taste like fruit? Like mandarin oranges...oh wait...this was a cup of mandarin oranges and guess what? Plastic absorbs flavors. And when plastic gets hot it releases those flavors. Right into my vanilla pudding! So, the lesson here is that unless you want fruit and odd flavors in your vanilla pudding, use glass or porcelain for your pudding. I now use tea cups and they work perfectly, and lets be honest, they look a lot better than plastic cups.

Vanilla Bean Pudding
makes 8 (1/2 cup) servings
1/2 c + 2T sugar
1/4 c corn starch
3 cups 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out
1 t vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a heavy bottom pan add 1/2 c sugar, cornstarch and the salt. Whisk well together to break up starch.

Over medium high heat add the milk and cream along with the scraped vanilla seeds AND the pods, whisking well to dissolve sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes whisking often to avoid hot spots and burning.

Whisk up the egg yolks with remaining 2 T sugar. Add 1 cup of hot pudding to the yolk, whisk well, quickly. Add the yolk mixture to the boiling pudding whisking to incorporate. Bring back to the boil and cook for 2 minutes longer, whisking to avoid scorch spots.

Turn heat off. Add the vanilla extract, stirring well.

Pour cooked pudding through a fine mesh sieve to strain out vanilla pods as well as any lumps or egg pieces. This will ensure a velvety smooth pudding. Pour strained pudding into tea cups and cover with plastic to avoid a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

I just love all those vanilla beans!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 228.1
Total Fat 13.4 g
Saturated Fat 8.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.9 g
Cholesterol 73.7 mg
Sodium 69.2 mg
Potassium 24.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 23.7 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 19.3 g
Protein 4.0 g

Curried chicken salad

2011-08-09T00:05:00.000-06:00

Chicken salad is another one of those classic foods that the Kitchen Witch wouldn't even try until last year. Why?? Mayo! Let me be the first to tell you when you decide you don't like something like mayo it really really really limits your food choices, especially in summer. Potato salad? Nope. Tuna salad? Oh heck no! Chicken salad?! Don't even waste my time. That's how it used to be around here until the Witch put on her big girl pants & got over her mayo aversion. Ok, sure, I still don't love mayo, but I'll enjoy some chicken salad and not be grossed out about it. How mature of me! When the weather is hot outside who wants to stand in an even hotter kitchen and cook? Not this Witch, that's for sure!! Enter the wonder that is chicken salad. There are so many versions of chicken salad, its as varied as your individual tastes. Recently my tastes were telling me curry, and rather than heat up the kitchen making a curry base I decided to just make a curried chicken salad.

Now, as you may or may not know, the Witch is a all about keeping on a budget. this chicken salad was the brain child of wanting curry, stuff on sale & what I had in my pantry. Here's how it came together and its approximate costs. Rotisserie chickens were on sale for $4 each, so I got one and picked it clean and used half of it ($2). About a month ago the store had a BOGO sale on dried fruit: I picked up some dried mangos with no real intent of how or where to use them. Seeing as how I enjoy a burst of sweetness in my chicken salad and mango is awesome with curry, I decided to dice some up and add it to the salad ($3 a bag, BOGO, $1.50 a bag, used less than 1/4 bag so about .25). Walnuts and pecans, what I had on handalong with a rib of celery added a nice crunch and nutty flavor (approx $.50 in nuts and celery). Curry powder and cardamom were in my pantry already, along with garlic and onion powders (cost less than .25 total for all spices). Lastly the mayo and sour cream were already in my fridge, I'll approximate their costs at .50 total. All in all my lunch for 2 people cost $3.50. And no heating up the kitchen, bonus!!

The flavors on this salad was so good. The cardamom and curry powder set the base flavors, spicy but not hot, rich and complex and just plain delicious. The creamy mayo and sour cream round out the flavors. Bursts of sweetness came from the mango which was a delightful contrast to the crunchy nuts and celery. And the rotisserie chicken provided its own savory delicious flavor. Next time I make this, and there WILL be a next time, I think I'll make some naan too. The curried salad on fresh soft naan would be out of this world good. If you don't have naan you can use regular bread, crackers or just eat it plain. Enjoy!

Curried Chicken Salad
makes 2 servings
1/2 rotisserie chicken, picked of its meat including wings, skin & bones discarded
1 t curry powder
2 cardamom pods ground and green pod discarded
1/8 t each garlic powder and onion powder
1/2 t kosher salt
pinch ground black pepper
1/3 to 1/2 c mayo
1/4 c sour cream
1 rib celery diced
1/4 nuts, walnuts and pecans
4 slices dried mango, diced

Mix the spices with the mayo and sour cream. Stir until very smooth and allow to rest for about 20-30 minutes.

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: When ever I'm making a salad or dressing I like to use powdered or granulated garlic and onion. You get all the flavor with out the sharpness that fresh can give you. It is important to let your dressing rest for about 30 minutes before eating it as this gives time for the garlic and onion powders to rehydrate and achieve maximum flavor.~*~

Dice the mango and celery. Chop up the shredded chicken meat. Chop the nuts and add everything into a mixing bowl.

Pour the spiced mayo blend over the chicken and veggie/nut mix. Stir well to coat everything well. Best if allowed to rest for 30 minutes before serving as this will rehydrate the mango slices as well as the onion & garlic powders.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 604.8
Total Fat 54.6 g
Saturated Fat 11.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 7.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.6 g
Cholesterol 77.7 mg
Sodium 1,017.5 mg
Potassium 183.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 14.3 g
Dietary Fiber 2.0 g
Sugars 8.6 g
Protein 19.8 g

Chili style stuffed bell peppers

2011-08-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

Growing up the Kitchen Witch was NOT a pepper fan. From bells to spicy jalapenos, she hated them all. Green bell peppers might not have been spicy but they sure were bitter. And bitter is a flavor that I struggle with to this day. As the years have progressed the Witch has learned to embrace the bell pepper as an ingredient, its bitter green flavor is awesome in so many places - I can't imagine a fajita with out one! But to eat the whole bell pepper is still a bit outside of my comfort zone. Now the Witchs' husband LOVES bitter. And he loves bell peppers. And he's been clamoring for stuffed bell peppers for a while now. So when green peppers went on sale for .50 each I planned my stuffed bell pepper attack. One that hopefully even the Witch would enjoy.

It was a gloomy rainy day the day these were made so a chili style filling seemed in order. The chili style filling also gave me the perfect opourunity to use my Black Canyon chili powder blend from Savory Spice. This stuff is amazing!!! Its a blend of chile peppers, cocoa powder, garlic, toasted onion, Saigon cinnamon and Mexican oregano. The cinnamon and cocoa powder sound strange I'm sure but really they're used often in Mexican cooking, Mole is loaded with cinnamon and cocoa and its delicious!! Don't worry, your chili won't taste like a dessert, rather, it has a spicy flavor that makes you wonder exactly WHAT that delicious component is. The rich flavors blended perfectly with the ground beef, spicy tomatoes, kidney beans and rice in the peppers.

And about those peppers. The Witch decided to blanch them first, to par cook the pepper in an attempt to cook some of the bitterness out of them. It worked pretty well, the peppers were tender yet not mushy, flavorful and not too bitter. The tops of the peppers are diced up and added to the chili mix. And simply because I had it and needed to use it up, I capped each bell pepper with a crown of shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese. All in all I have to say I enjoyed the chili filling a lot more than I enjoyed the entire stuffed pepper, but that's my own strange palette at work. The Witches' husband loved the peppers and really liked the chili style filling. If you're looking for a fun retro type dish with great flavors, give this one a try!

Chili Style Stuffed Bell Peppers
makes 4 servings
4 bell peppers
1/2 lb ground beef
1 can tomatoes with jalapenos
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 T black canyon chili powder blend
OR 2t chili powder, 1/4 t ground cinnamon, 1/2 t ground cumin 1/4 t cocoa powder
1/2 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 c cooked rice
1/2 c water
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t black pepper
4 oz shredded Monterey jack cheese or colby jack

Bring a large pot of water to boil for blanching the peppers
Preheat oven to 350F

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and pithy membranes. Chop up the tops for use in the stuffing. Dice the onions and mince the garlic.

Salt the water generously and blanch the bell peppers for 5 minutes.

Brown the beef in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic when been if 1/2 browned. Add the chili powder, salt & pepper, stir well to coat. Cook about 3 minutes until it smells fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, beans and water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and set aside.

In an 8x8 square pan place about 1 cup of the chili filling at the bottom. Place each of the blanched and drained peppers in the pan and fill with the chili mixture. Any remaining filling can be stuffed into the bottom of the pan to help support the peppers. Top each stuffed pepper with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Allow to cool for at least 5-10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 471.4
Total Fat 21.6 g
Saturated Fat 9.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.7 g
Cholesterol 72.5 mg
Sodium 1,185.2 mg
Potassium 698.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 46.2 g
Dietary Fiber 8.8 g
Sugars 2.3 g
Protein 24.4 g

Sweet Chili sauce

2011-07-22T05:00:00.001-06:00

When I made eggrolls the other day we had a Thai sweet chili dipping sauce to go with it. This sauce was from the Asian market and was very flavorful, like spicy sweet and sour sauce. As we ate the eggrolls the sauce quickly depleated. Not wanting to make a special trip to the Asian market just for the Sweet Chili sauce, I decided to use my witchcraft and just make a batch to use with the last of our eggrolls.

Seriously, it took 10 minutes total. And that includes how long it took to assemble my ingredients. Talk about quick! I made the sauce much like I do my sweet & sour, sugar and vinegar, thickened with a bit of cornstarch. To make it more like the Thai sweet chili sauce we had enjoyed I added finely grated carrot, garlic and of course chili paste. I was absolutely thrilled when the clear sauce took on the orange hue that the bottled one had. The carrot adds sweetness, earthiness as well as coloring to the sauce. Sambal chili paste added the heat as well as more orange color. The great thing about making your own chili sauce is that you can adjust the heat. I made mine a bit spicy and it was perfect. I can also see using this for my sweet & sour stir fries. Yum!

Sweet Chili sauce
makes about 12 servings
1 cup sugar
3/4 c white vinegar
1/2 c water
1-2 T chili paste
3 cloves garlic crushed but left whole
1 carrot fine grated
1 T corn starch
pinch of salt

In a small sauce pan combine the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic and carrot. Bring to a boil and cook at high boil for 3 minutes.

Make a cornstarch slurry of cornstarch and equal amounts water and slowly add to syrup then add the chili paste and a pinch of salt and boil for 3 minutes longer.

Taste and add more chili paste if needed. Remove garlic before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 75.3
Total Fat 0.1 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 149.8 mg
Potassium 36.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.5 g
Dietary Fiber 0.4 g
Sugars 18.0 g
Protein 0.0 g

Eggrolls

2011-07-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

Recently I reconnected with a good friend from high school, Tammi. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years and it was great to catch up with her again. What was the basis of this reunion you may ask? Eggrolls. Tammi's mom made the BEST eggrolls my young palette had ever experienced. They weren't cabbage based eggrolls like most Chinese restaurants, no rather these rolls were filled with delightful clear noodles, egg and beef. They were simple and delicious. I had been trying to recreate these babies for years with no luck. Thanks to facebook I messaged my old friend to see if her mom would be willing to share the eggroll recipe with me. I was delighted when she said yes, and even offered to come over to show me how they're done!

The delightful clear noodles used in these eggrolls are bean threads. They are made from mung beans - the same bean that we get bean sprouts from. You have to soak the threads in hot water first to rehydrate them before use. They are unexpected in eggrolls, honestly these eggrolls are the only ones I've ever known to have bean threads in them. Its those bean threads that set this roll aside from others. Well that and fish sauce. Seeing as how the creator of these eggrolls is Thai descent it makes sense that she uses fish sauce in them. Fish sauce is salty and if used in large quantities can have an overpowering fishy flavor. If used judiciously it adds a nice mellow salty flavor, not at all fishy.

After you've got the filling ready to go, all that's left is rolling. It takes a little bit of practice to get it right; too little filling and the rolls fall apart in the hot oil. Too much filling and the rolls are hard to roll and can burst while frying. I found that it takes about 3T of filling to make a nice plump eggroll. We were able to get 2 packages of eggroll wrappers stuffed and had about 2 cups of filling left over still. The extra filling could be frozen for future eggrolls; I think my leftover filling will find its way into a salad with a sesame ginger dressing. The eggrolls freeze nicely before frying.

Eggrolls
makes at least 24 rolls

Source: Tammi's mom SueBun
2 packs eggroll wrappers
1 pack bean thread noodles
6 eggs, beaten - reserve 1 for sealing the rolls
about 1/2 lb bean sprouts
1 lb ground beef
4 cloves garlic minced
up to 1T fish sauce
oil for frying

Begin by soaking the bean threads in hot water to rehydrate. You'll need about 1/2 to 2/3 of the package of bean threads.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Once hot scramble eggs (5 of them, reserve 1 for sealing the rolls). Once cooked remove and reserve.

Add about 1T oil to the wok and cook garlic until it just starts to brown. Add the ground beef and break up while browning. Once browned add the bean sprouts, stir well. Add the scrambled eggs to the beef. Now drain the bean threads and snip them with scissors into smaller pieces. Add bean threads to the beef and stir well.

Add fish sauce to taste. Start light and add more as needed. Fish sauce is similar to soy sauce in it salt content. If you use too much it'll have a fishy flavor, which is not what you're going for here. 4 times around the wok to start with, stir well and taste. Not seasoned enough? Do it again. I ended up doing 3 installments of fish sauce to get the seasoning where it was needed.

Start rolling the eggrolls by placing about 2-3T of filling on the eggroll wrapper, placed on a diagonal. Pull one end up over the filling, rolling it and using the end to help tighten the roll. Roll 1/2 way up the wrapper before folding in 2 of the sides. When you have a small triangle left at the end cover that with beaten egg and finish rolling. Press to seal.

Fry eggrolls in 350F oil. Cook until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, drain and serve with sweet chili sauce and soy sauce. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
~*~Nutrition info is based on an unfried eggroll. Add approx 75 calories per eggroll when deepfried. The fat will change also, however the amount depends on length of time in oil, type of oil used, etc.~*~
Calories 150.7
Total Fat 4.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Cholesterol 62.6 mg
Sodium 169.9 mg
Potassium 73.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.6 g
Dietary Fiber 0.6 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 7.7 g

Roasted tri color potatoes with herbs and cheese

2011-07-19T04:00:00.000-06:00

Roasted potatoes are a staple in the Witch household. The browned bottoms, crispy and chip like compliment the soft and creamy insides while the skin is crispy and salty. If you're a potato lover you have got to try these!

The potatoes take about 30 minutes to roast, making them an ideal side dish. While you're working on the main dish these little gems mind their own business, getting all delicious in the oven with very little interaction from you. Adding an herb oil to the finished potatoes brings out all the bright flavors in the herbs and compliments the earthy potato nicely.

If you've never tried a Peruvian blue potato this is a great place to experiment. They taste like a regular potato but have a great blue color. Their flavor is slightly more earthy and really good. The blues are my favorite roasting potatoes, not just for their flavor, but its fun to eat blue food! Baby Yukon golds, Red Bliss or any fingerling potato will work fine here too. I hope you enjoy this easy and tasty dish!

Roasted potatoes with herbs and cheese
makes 4 servings
8 small potatoes, red bliss, yukon gold and Peruvian blue are all fantastic
3 T olive oil
3/4 t kosher salt, divided
ground pepper to taste
fresh herbs including chives, parsley, rosemary and thyme, minced
fresh grated Asiago cheese, or cheese of your choice, about 1/3 c grated

Preheat oven to 425F.

Wash and scrub potatoes. Cut potatoes in half. Pat potatoes dry with paper towels.

Place potatoes on a sheet pan and drizzle with 1.5 T of oil, 1/2 t kosher salt and pepper. Toss potatoes to evenly coat in oil and salt. Place potatoes cut side down and put into the hot oven.

Roast for 30 minutes until the bottoms are browned and the potatoes are soft.

While potatoes roast make the herb oil by mincing your herbs very fine and stirring into the remaining oil with the last 1/2 t of salt & pepper. Stir well.

Once potatoes are roasted remove from sheet pan and put into a bowl. Pour the herb oil over top and toss. Add your grated Asiago cheese, toss. Top potatoes with any extra cheese, if desired, and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 382.3
Total Fat 13.1 g
Saturated Fat 2.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.0 g
Cholesterol 6.3 mg
Sodium 465.4 mg
Potassium 1,431.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 59.4 g
Dietary Fiber 7.5 g
Sugars 2.7 g
Protein 8.6 g

Sweet and spicy barbecue sauce

2011-07-18T04:00:00.000-06:00

The Witch has shared a few barbecue sauce recipes on this blog before. And honestly I've not made either of them again because they weren't just right. Let's get a few things straight first: The Witch is very paticular on what kind of BBQ sauce she likes. It can't have any HFCS. It must be sweet, spicy and tangy. Not mustardy. So when a good friend and awesome cook suggested I try her BBQ sauce I said why not??

Boy oh boy that was the best "Why not" decision I've made in a LONG time!! This sauce is GOOD people. Really really good. And easy, too!! The list of ingredients is long - please don't let that intimidate you. Almost all of the ingredients are things that you should have in your pantry. The liquid smoke is one that you might not have, but its readily available at the grocery store in the ketchup/steak sauce section. It comes in 2 flavors, hickory and mesquite. I like the hickory for sauces but please use which ever smoke flavor you like the most.

The sauce is sweet from honey, brown sugar and a kiss of molasses. Its tangy from tomato paste, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. The spice come to you courtesy of chili powder, a mere 1/2 teaspoon, yet it flavors the sauce greatly. The Witch ground ancho chilies specifically for this sauce, they're my favorite chilies, sweetish and spicy but not HOLY HELL THIS IS HOT spicy. To grind your own chilies into chili powder couldn't be easier: get about 6 dried chilies of your choice, break them into smaller pieces discarding the stems and some of the seeds. Place them into a grinder (I have a dedicated coffee grinder that's for spices only) and grind until they are powdered. That's it! Homeground ancho powder!

After mixing up the sauce and allowing it to simmer for an hour or more your house will smell amazing. Try not to eat all the sauce before slathering it onto your favorite foods. I simply grilled some thick cut pork chops and glazed them with this sauce. It was amazing!! Everyone in the Witch household agreed that this is our new barbecue sauce. Thanks again Jenni for the awesome sauce recipe!!

Sweet and spicy barbecue sauce
Source: Jenni
makes about 2 cups of sauce, 8 generous servings
2 1/4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup minced onion
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring
2 teaspoons whiskey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1/2 tablespoon ground red chile powder (I used ground ancho peppers)

In a sauce pan heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes until slightly softened and the edges start to brown.

Add the remaining ingredients to the pan. Whisk well to incorporate. Bring up to a boil then reduce to a low simmer and allow to simmer uncovered for 1.5 hours or until sauce has thickened. Stir every 15 min or so and scrape down the sides to avoid burning and hot spots.

Serve with your favorite grilled meats. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 149.8
Total Fat 4.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 674.2 mg
Potassium 288.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 31.5 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 28.5 g
Protein 0.9 g

Cheesy veggies with bacon

2011-07-15T08:36:00.001-06:00

It was a typical week night: The Witch has been busy (probably playing on facebook or blogging, but busy nonetheless) and suddenly, the Husband is home! Oh joy, its so good to see you Husband but holy crap! When did it get so late? What's for dinner??? I should have thought about this hours ago! A quick inventory yields pork chops, I decide to simply bread and pan fry them. We'll need vegetables, of course. What can I get the girl to actually eat? More importantly, what do I have on hand?

A can of corn. Zucchini. Cherry tomatoes. Onions, garlic, of course. And bacon. Bacon, why yes! The little Witch loves bacon, I can get her to eat the veggies if there's bacon in them. Hmm...there's extra cheese in the fridge too. She likes cheese. The combo of cheese and bacon would be the double whammy to veggie consumption I was sure of it!

And I was right! She passed up everything else on the plate and demolished the veggies. She even had seconds!! And much to everyone's surprise, she ate it ALL, zucchini and cherry tomatoes included. She claims to hate zucchini, and I saw her start to tell me that she wasn't going to eat that part, but after she put it in her mouth all doubt was gone. This side dish was a hit to say the least - I hope you enjoy it as well!

Cheesy veggies with bacon
makes 4 servings
4 strips bacon, sliced into bits
1/4 onion diced fine
1 clove garlic minced
2-3 ears corn, taken off cob OR 1 drained can of corn
1 zucchini diced
about 15-20 cherry tomatoes OR 3 roma tomatoes diced
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded
1/4 c white wine or water

Cook the bacon in a large sautee pan until crispy. Remove and drain bacon, reserve for later use.

In the same skillet use 4 T of the rendered bacon fat, discarding the rest, and cook the onions and garlic until they start to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the diced zucchini and cook until golden, another 10 minutes or so. Stir frequently to avoid hot spots & burning. If using fresh off the cob corn add it now too.

Once the zucchini has started to turn golden add the corn (if using canned) and cherry tomatoes. Stir well to coat everything in the bacon fat. Cover and allow to cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring ever few minutes.

Deglaze the pan with the wine or water. Stir well scraping the bottom to dissolve the cooked on browned bits. Simmer for 4-5 minutes to reduce liquid.

Once the tomatoes burst add the cheese in an even layer over the top and cover with bacon pieces. Cover and remove from heat. Allow cheese to melt, about 2-3 minutes and serve.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 217.8
Total Fat 14.0 g
Saturated Fat 7.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.8 g
Cholesterol 39.8 mg
Sodium 417.4 mg
Potassium 303.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 13.9 g
Dietary Fiber 4.6 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 9.0 g

Polynesian kabobs

2011-07-04T11:35:00.000-06:00

Kabobs are one of the Witches' favorite things to grill. Why? Well, first of all they're really pretty! I love all the colors of veggies lined up on skewers next to perfectly grilled and slightly charred meats. The smaller chunks of meat means that theres more surface area for the marinade to make contact with the meat, therefore more flavor in every bite. They also are quick cooking since the pieces are smaller, an added bonus when its hot outside and standing around a hot grill while a hungry family wonders if its done yet. Yes kabobs are one of summer's perfect foods!

Best part of kabobs is how versatile they are. Want garlic & herb? Go for it! How about BBQ sauce? Sounds good to me. But what about Polynesian? Hmm...the sweet, spicy flavors of Polynesia is perfect for the grill!! The inspiration for this recipe was from my friend Eric. He had us over for dinner and made Polynesian kabobs. I was in heaven!! Grilled chunks of chicken and beef in a deep dark marinade, oh boy it was good!! The grilled pineapple was the crowning glory on this kabob fest. Eric's marinade was so flavorful and delicious that I knew the Kitchen Witch would be recreating this in her own home. Soon!

The marinade has a lot of Polynesian flavors, ginger, garlic, molasses. Yes, molasses. It adds the deep dark color, sweetness and a depth of flavor that is amazing. When the hot fire kisses the molasses marinade it caramelizes and seals in the meats natural juices making one of the best kabobs I've ever had the pleasure of putting into my mouth. The Kitchen Witch took a few liberties with Eric's marinade, no real surprise there, and added a touch of cinnamon, coriander, chili powder and ginger with just a bit of vinegar to balance the sweetness of this flavorful sauce.

The result is a sweet and savory kabob, spiced just right and absolutely delicious. The veggies are a great compliment to the grilled meats; grilling them brings out the natural sweetness and enhances the flavors. Finally the fresh pineapple, caramelized from the grill, brings all the flavors of Polynesia together. These Polynesian kabobs will take your tastebuds on a trip to an exotic island vacation, all with out leaving the comfort of your home. Enjoy!

Polynesian kabobs
makes 6 to 8 servings
Inspired by Eric
2 lbs meat, chicken, pork or beef, your choice, cut into 2 inch chunks
2 zucchini, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 bell peppers, cut into 2 inch squares
1 onion cut into large wedges
1 pineapple, cored, skinned and cut into 2 inch chunks
1/3 c molasses
2 T brown sugar
1/4 c soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 inch ginger minced
2-3 cloves garlic
3/4 t allspice, ground
1/4 t ground coriander
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t chili powder
1/4 t red pepper flakes (optional)
2 T oil

Mix the soy sauce, molasses, oil, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and spices in a bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Pour marinade over meat pieces in a resealable bag. Allow to marinade for 2 hours.

Chop veggies into 2 inch chunks and toss with 1T of oil, salt & pepper.

If using bamboo skewers soak in water for a minimum of 30 minutes before skewering and grilling.

Skewer meat onto soaked skewers
Skewer veggies and brush with oil
Skewer the pineapple chunks

On a preheated grill cook the meat and veg/fruit kabobs until cooked through and slightly charred on the edges. Pork should cook to an internal temperature of 145F, chicken to 160F and beef at 130F for medium. Remove and serve with rice.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving - based on 1 lb pork loin and 1 lb chicken thighs, values will vary based on cut of meat you use
Calories 325.6
Total Fat 12.4 g
Saturated Fat 3.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.6 g
Cholesterol 78.5 mg
Sodium 594.6 mg
Potassium 885.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 31.7 g
Dietary Fiber 2.1 g
Sugars 23.0 g
Protein 24.4 g

Pasta with Garlic scapes, peas and Asiago cream sauce

2011-06-28T10:37:00.001-06:00

Ever heard of a garlic scape? Wondering what the heck it is? Well, garlic and its relatives in the allium family, (leeks, chives, onions) grow underground, where the bulb begins its journey, soft and onion-like. As the bulb gets harder (and more like the garlic we know), a shoot pokes its way through the ground, its long and thin and very pliable and spins itself into a curled tendril. This stage of growth is the garlic scape. If the shoot is left attached to the bulb it will fade in color, becoming papery and whitish like we know garlic to be and it will stop the growth of the bulb below the surface. Farmers who want to keep the garlic growing snip off these scapes and sell them, a double whammy for the garlic farmer, sell the scapes and the bigger bulbs, win/win!

Yesterday the Husband suggested we take a trip to Whole Foods to see 'what looked good'. He's a smart man, that Husband! The Witch of course never turns down a trip to Whole Foods and was pretty darn jazzed about the whole idea.

Kitchen Witch: "Holy cow, garlic scapes! I thought I'd never see those here in Colorado!"
Husband: "What the hell are those?"
Kitchen Witch: "Garlic scapes, the shoot of the garlic plant. Its supposed to be lightly garlic flavored and delicious"
Husband: "So, you're getting them, right?"
Kitchen Witch: "Yes. However what I'll do with them is up for debate as I've never laid hands to them before, muchless cooked with them! Research is in order!!"

And it was then that I remembered that Yenta Mary, the Food Floozie, had just posted a delightful sounding recipe for Garlic Scapes, peas and pasta. It sounded amazing at the time and now that I had my own curled tendrils of garlic goodness in hand it was time to make it! Before I get on with the recipe let me take a moment to say that if you haven't checked out Yenta Mary's site yet, please do! She's a fabulous writer, awesome cook and filled with all sorts of interesting facts - as well as pronunciations of hard to say Yiddish words which will make us gentiles feel like we're kosher. Its a fun and informative site!

Back to the scapes! When I got home I realized I was out of peas. But I did have snow pea pods, so that's what I used. I also didn't have heavy cream and used half and half. The half & half did kinda curdle when it hit the white wine reduction, it wasn't pretty, but once the cheese was added it all came together in a cohesive sauce. However when making this again, and I will be making this again, I'll use heavy cream. Normally when making a cream sauce I'd use a fettuccine pasta but I was out, so fusilli filled in nicely. The spirals of the pasta helped trap some of the yummy garlic sauce in each bite.

Ok Witch, you've told us about how these scapes grow, how you got them and how you didn't have the correct ingredients but made due. Get on with the good part already: How did it taste?? Well my dear readers the taste was amazing! Garlic scapes are defiantly garlic flavored but its more mellow, not as sharp or hot as the garlic bulbs. The flavor of this dish was very reminiscent of chicken with 40 cloves, rich, mellow, carmalized and almost smoky. All that in 10 minutes. If you're lucky enough to run across garlic scapes GET THEM! Try this dish. I promise the garlic lover in your family will thank you!

Pasta with Garlic Scapes, Peas and Asiago cream sauce
Makes 2 servings
8 oz long pasta of your choice (fettuchini)
4 garlic scapes
about 20 snow pea pods OR 1/2 c fresh peas
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/4 c white wine
1/4 c cream
1 sprig fresh oregano
1/2 c fresh grated Asiago cheese (parmesen would be fine, too)
kosher salt
pepper

Slice garlic scapes into 1/2 inch pieces, trimming off any tough or woody ends. Slice snow pea pods into 1/4 inch slices. Rough chop the herbs.

Bring a pot of water to boil for pasta. Cook pasta according to instructions on box in well salted water. While pasta cooks prepare sauce.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add butter and oil, once butter has melted add the garlic scapes. Toss to coat in fat and cook about 1 minute, until the scapes smell fragrent and are barely brown. Add the pea pods and cook 1 minute longer, garlic scapes will start to brown.

Add the wine and oregano and deglaze pan. Reduce wine by half. Add the cream, salt & pepper and Asiago cheese. Stir to melt and incorporate cheese into sauce. Add cooked and drained pasta, toss with sauce and serve.

Nutrition Factsprovided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 703.7
Total Fat 43.0 g
Saturated Fat 23.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.6 g
Cholesterol 87.9 mg
Sodium 1,043.0 mg
Potassium 124.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 47.8 g
Dietary Fiber 2.6 g
Sugars 2.1 g
Protein 29.5 g

Java Chip Frappe

2011-06-24T04:00:00.001-06:00

Have you tried the Starbucks VIA line of instant coffees? The Witch has, and LOVES them! They are make the perfect afternoon mug of coffee and are fabulous for baking. Anytime a recipe calls for instant espresso powder I throw in a packet of VIA, usually Italian roast, in its place. VIA is a lot easier to find and the price is a lot better than espresso powder.

One of my favorite treats from Starbucks is a Java Chip Frappucchino: coffee blended with milk, chocolate chips, mocha flavoring, topped with whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle, its fabulous! It also will run you about $4.50 for a grande, and that grande (16 oz) beverage will cost you 440 calories. But its worth it, or so I thought until I made my own.

Tribute was Starbucks 30th anniversary special blend. It was available for a limited time only and was delicious!

This frosty beverage was super simple, used ingredients I have on hand all the time and took about 2 minutes to prepare. And best of all, its around 200 calories! Into the carafe of my blender I added a packet of VIA instant coffee, milk, a touch of half and half, sugar, chocolate and ice. Now granted, my version didn't have a whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle, but, it was an amazing frappe and I saved myself $4.50 and 240 calories! Now that's witchcraft! Who needs Starbucks when you've got a Witch around?

Java Chip Frappe
makes 1 serving
1 c ice cubes
1/2 c 2% milk
Packet VIA instant coffee
1.5t cocoa powder
1.5t sugar
2T chocolate chips
2T half and half

Combine all ingredients in the carafe of a blender. Pulse to break up ice then blend until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 201.9
Total Fat 11.1 g
Saturated Fat 6.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 20.9 mg
Sodium 62.3 mg
Potassium 39.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 24.8 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 20.0 g
Protein 6.4 g

Gyros with Tzatiziki sauce

2011-06-20T20:44:00.001-06:00

Gyros is one of my all time favorite foods, ever. When I was pregnant with the Little Witch we had to pass 2 gyros places weekly on our way to Lamaze class. Needless to say we had gyros for dinner at least once a week! I love love love it!!!!

While the Witch has a well stocked and equipped kitchen, I do not have a spit or a rotisserie, which would make making gyros hard. After all its a cone shaped loaf of meat, with a large skewer through the middle that is grilled on a vertical rotisserie. Not exactly standard home kitchen equipment. So what does a Kitchen Witch do when she wants to make gyros but has no gyros rotisserie?

I decided to make the gyros meat into a loaf, much like a meatloaf, seasoned gyros style. That means lots and lots of garlic, Mediterranean herbs and spices and a blend of beef and lamb. I used a 50/50 mix of ground beef and ground lamb for cost savings as the lamb is expensive, and most gyros is a lamb/beef blend. Because it is a meatloaf I added some basic binders, 1 egg and a bit of cracker crumbs, to help hold it all together. The Witch then chucked all the ingredients into the food processor and let it all blend together well, which helps it to bind and form a cohesive loaf that won't fall apart when sliced.

When you order a gyros sandwich they shave the meat off the spit so each piece of meat is browned. Its so good, and something I didn't want to forgo in my homemade version. After the loaf cooked I removed it from the oven and allowed it to rest for about 20 minutes. I then sliced the loaf into thin (1/8 inch thick) slices and pan fried them in a bit of olive oil. The meat slices browned up nicely and got crusty and browned on the edges, just like a good gyros should be. Pile the meat onto a hot pita bread, top with tzatiziki sauce, lettuce, tomato and feta and feast!! The final browning step is optional but I'd not forgo it, the seared edges really helped transform the gyro loaf from a meatloaf to a gyro sandwich.

Gyros
makes 8 servings
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
6 cloves garlic minced
1 medium onion minced
1.5 t kosher salt
1/8 t pepper
1 sprig fresh rosemary minced
3 sprigs fresh oregano minced
1/2 t cumin, ground
1/8 t coriander seed, ground
1 egg
2 T milk
6 saltine crackers OR 1/4 c bread crumbs
3 T olive oil

Pita bread (click here for a homemade version)
Tzaiziki sauce
shredded lettuce
feta cheese
diced tomatoes

Tzatziki
makes 8 servings, 2 T each
1 cup greek yogurt plain (Greek Gods Traditional Greek Yogurt is what the Witch used and recommends)
1/2 cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
1/2 t dried dill weed
about 6 leaves each mint and oregano, chiffonade
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 t kosher salt
1/8 t ground pepper

Combine everything into a bowl and stir well. Allow to sit for at least 1 hour before eating so the flavors can blend.

Preheat oven to 375F

Finely mince the herbs and press garlic thru a garlic press (or finely mince, your choice). Combine everything BUT the olive oil into the work bowl of a food processor. Run for 30 seconds or until the mixture forms a ball and is throughly mixed.

Form the meat into a long rectangle, (about 8 inches wide and 2 inches tall, 14 inches long) making it slightly thinner in the middle. Drizzle 1 T olive oil over the top of the loaf and bake for 35-45 minutes or until it reads 160F internally. Remove from oven and allow to rest before slicing.

OPTIONAL: Slice meat into thin (1/8 in) slices. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add 1 T of olive oil. Once oil is hot fry the slices of gyros until they are golden browned. Flip and brown on 2nd side. Remove from pan and allow grease to drain off.

Assemble the gyros sandwiches with 3-4 slices of gyro meat, lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and tzatizki sauce wrapped in a warmed pita bread. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe Calculator
Gyro meat ONLY
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 371.8
Total Fat 30.3 g
Saturated Fat 11.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 14.2 g
Cholesterol 107.4 mg
Sodium 467.7 mg
Potassium 295.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.6 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 0.2 g
Protein 20.7 g

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Tzatiziki sauce ONLY

8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 35.2
Total Fat 2.8 g
Saturated Fat 1.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 7.5 mg
Sodium 77.9 mg
Potassium 25.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 1.8 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 1.1 g

Spanakopita

2011-06-14T04:00:00.000-06:00

My first experience with spanakopita was with my Aunt Katina. She's from Greece and these were always one of her specialties. I remember small triangles of some awesome flaky pastry with cheese and something green in them and that they were amazingly good. My mom always heated them up in our toaster oven - they were a perfect little snack! Little did I know that 'those triangle things that Aunt Katina makes' had a real name and that you could actually get them from other places than Aunt Katina! Who knew?

This recipe might not be an authentic Greek version, I don't know if they use cream cheese or Asiago cheese, my guess would be not. The Kitchen Witch uses these cheeses because, well, they're delicious and work well with the spinach. Something both versions do have in common is the use of feta cheese, its salty sharp tang is what makes this spinach pie delicious. Well, that and the filo dough, and the butter. Mmm...butter...

If you've never worked with filo don't fear it! It's not as hard as it looks. You'll find filo (or phyllo) dough in the frozen section of your grocery, where pie shells are. One box has 2 sleeves of dough in it, and you'll use less than 1/2 of one sleeve for this recipe. Allow the dough to thaw completely before using it, if its even a little frozen it will rip and tear. Been there, done that. Unroll the filo dough and cover it with a damp towel. Have your butter melted and the pan that the dough is going into ready to go. Work quickly as the thin sheets of pastry like to dry out but do not be alarmed if the dough tears. Its very thin and this is to be expected. Honestly, after its all baked no one will ever know if your pastry is pieced together because it kept ripping or if it stayed in one nice sheet. Again, I've had both happen, they both ended up fine.

Spanakopita can be made in a large pie form as I've done here, or you can make smaller appetizer sized ones by folding a bit of filling into strips of buttered filo dough and folding into triangles. Both versions can be frozen with great success. Enjoy this Greek delight!

Spanakopita
makes 8 wedges
12 oz bag frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 green onions sliced very thin
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup feta cheese
1/4 c asiago cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dill weed, dried (if using fresh double the amount)
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg or a pinch ground nutmeg
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t white pepper
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted
7 sheets filo dough

Combine everything BUT the butter and the filo dough sheets. Mix well.

Preheat oven to 400F

Using an 8x8 pan butter the bottom and sides liberaly with melted butter. Lay 1 sheet of filo dough over the pan, making one edge flush to the sheet of dough and the other overhanging. Press into place and up the side. Brush that sheet of dough with melted butter. Place another sheet of filo over the 1st one, leaving another edge hanging off. Repeat 2 more times so each side of the pan has a piece of overlapping filo dough.

Spread the spinach and cheese mixture evenly into the pan.

Bring the overhanging sides up and over the cheese mixture, buttering each layer before folding the next over top.

Butter 2 full sheets of filo dough, fold in half and lay on top. Press into place. Butter top layer.

Using a sharp knife cut the pie into wedges or squares before baking.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 212.9
Total Fat 16.1 g
Saturated Fat 10.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.9 g
Cholesterol 50.3 mg
Sodium 600.9 mg
Potassium 174.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.1 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 0.5 g
Protein 7.2 g

Kapama

2011-06-13T04:00:00.004-06:00

This recipe came to me courtesy of my cooking buddy Eric. He said that kapoma, a Greek chicken stew, was a family favorite when he was growing up. I say we never had deliciousness like this when I was a kid, but I am very glad to know about it now!

This dish couldn't be more simple or delicious. Its got 7 ingredients in it, and that includes salt & pepper! I bet you have most everything in your pantry right now!

Chicken pieces are dredged in cinnamon and braised in tomato and lemon juice. It sounds odd I know, but believe the Witch, its delicious! The cinnamon is not at all dessert like, you won't think that someone somehow mixed up a cinnamon roll with your chicken dinner. The cinnamon mellows a lot while cooking, the acidity of the tomato and lemon also help take it in a new direction far away from the cinnamon in desserts that we all know and love. The sauce that results is amazing, so rich, flavorful and delicately scented with cinnamon.

I do hope you'll try this dish soon. Its become a family favorite here as well - the 4 yr old Little Witch loves it and requests it often. I'd call that a success any day!

Kapama
makes 4 servings
6 chicken thighs OR 4 chicken breasts, your choice (I used boneless skinless thighs but have done it with boneless skinless breasts too. I'm sure you could use bone in meat, it would probably have more flavor in the finished dish as most bone in meat tends to be more flavorful. If using bone in adjust cooking time to 1 hr)
3 T cinnamon
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t pepper
2 T butter
29 oz can tomato sauce
juice of 1 lemon
about 1/2 c water

Mix the salt, pepper and cinnamon together. Dredge chicken pieces until thoroughly coated in cinnamon mixture.

Heat butter in a large non reactive skillet with a lid. Once butter stops foaming add the chicken pieces and sautee until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip and brown 2nd side.

Pour the tomato sauce over chicken. Add the water to the can to rinse it out and pour into the skillet as well. Add lemon juice. Bring up to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and simmer on low heat for 45 min to an hour.

Serve chicken with sauce over rice or orzo pasta.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 258.3
Total Fat 10.5 g
Saturated Fat 4.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g
Cholesterol 101.5 mg
Sodium 1,611.8 mg
Potassium 946.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.1
Dietary Fiber 6.7 g
Sugars 8.9 g
Protein 23.3 g

Technique: Grilled Steaks

2011-06-10T15:55:00.000-06:00

Grilling steaks seems like a relatively simple concept: hot coals meets slab o' beef, let it cook and voila, a perfectly medium cooked steak, just like your favorite steak house, right? Well how many times has it worked out for you? If you're like the Witch, that answer is not nearly enough! Usually the outside is beautifully seared, the milliard reaction done to perfection and yet the inside is raw, beyond rare OR cooked so well done that a shoe could be made from your steak. Neither of these is acceptable. Nothing is more frustrating than spending a lot of hard earned money on steaks just to mess them up in the cooking process.

Recently the Kitchen Witch purchased some beautiful thick cut top sirloin steaks. These babies were THICK, 1.5 inches or so!! Honestly I've never cooked a slab of beef this large, except in a braise, so the idea of throwing it onto hot coals and hoping for the best wasn't too appealing to me. By the time the internal temp was up to 130F (med rare) the outside would be charcoal. Not what I wanted for my beautiful thick cut top sirloins! Whats a Witch to do?

That's when I remembered a technique for cooking steaks that I heard about from America's Test Kitchen. For cuts of beef that should never be cooked beyond medium, which is pretty much everything except commercially ground beef, they suggest starting the meat out in a slow oven (250F) until the internal temperature is with in 20 degrees of your final desired temperature. So if your target temp is 135F then pull the meat out of the oven at 115F. Then you take the meat out of the oven and sear the exterior for the crusty browned deliciousness you'd expect from a good steak.

The gentle heat of the oven does a few things for your meat.

1. The internal temperature of the meat is slowly brought with in 20 degrees of finished product target temp, so when you put on the grill all you're really doing is searing the outside and getting lots of color and flavor. The heat from the grilling will bring the meat up to the proper temp, awesome sear on the outside, keeping it tender and juicy inside, since the bulk of the cooking has been done in the oven.

2. The relatively low temp of the oven also helps desiccate the meat, which may sound counter productive but, believe the Witch, it works. When you evaporate some of the surface moisture you are able to get a good sear and brown color on the exterior. Desiccating the meat also acts as slow aging process in fast forward. Removing some of the moisture concentrates the beefs flavor and jump starts the enzymes that break down the beef tissues resulting in tender and flavorful meat, much like your favorite steak house.

This technique works best on thicker cuts of meat. If your steak is less than 1 inch thick then you should be fine just grilling it directly because there is less mass to heat through. This is also a great technique to use on London Broil, a relatively inexpensive cut (it goes on sale for $2 a lb often here) and needs to be cooked to med rare/medium at the most.

Technique: Grilled Steaks
thick cut steaks (1.5 inches thick)
kosher salt
pepper
cooling rack that will fit into a sheet pan
thermometer

Pat the steaks dry with paper towel. Remove as much surface moisture as possible.

Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and pepper and allow steaks to rest at room temperature for an hour.

Place steaks on the cooling rack set inside a sheet pan and place into a preheated 250F oven. Allow meat to cook until internal temperature is 110-115F (time depends on the thickness of the meat, how long it sat at room temp, etc). Remove from oven and place immediately onto a heated grill or skillet to sear.

Cook meat until the outside is browned and the internal temperature is 135F for medium. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes so the juices can redistribute themselves with in the meat.

Tortilla Soup, Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2011-05-05T07:15:00.002-06:00

This recipe was first posted on Andrea the Kitchen Witch in Feb of 2010. In honor of Cinco De Mayo the Witch has decided to share it with you all again. The Witches' camera is broken right now - no new posts until it gets fixed :( Until then please enjoy this recipe from the archives!

After making mole last week, I had a lot of Mexican style ingredients around the kitchen that needed to get used. Things like corn tortillas and jalapanos. It was lunch time on yet another snowy day here in Colorado Springs, a bit of warming was in order. What warms you inside and outside better than tortilla soup?

I've made tortilla soup many times and it always follows the same basic recipe. And its usually good, not great, but good. This tortilla soup, however, was amazingly good. What a taste sensation! It was the first time that I added lime, something I'll never leave out again. Other than the chicken stock, this soup contains no meat. Between the beans and toppings I guarantee you'll never miss the meat.

I cook corn tortillas into my soup, rather than just garnishing the top with them. After all, this is tortilla soup! It takes about 30 minutes of simmering for the tortillas to break down and incorporate into the soup. Its not a pretty process but the taste is fantastic. When you look at the finished product you'll see how creamy the soup looks, and theres no dairy in it at all. That's the magic of the corn tortilla. Rich chicken stock, creamy black beans, spicy jalapanos, all made rich and creamy by the addition of tortillas. A splash of lime juice makes everything stand up and pay attention.

The best part of tortilla soup is the garnishes - add anything you like. I like the creaminess of avocados, the color and acidity of tomatoes and the cooling action of sour cream and cheese. This is a great dish for the entire family, kids and adults both have fun adding their own toppings, making their own custom bowl of soup.

Tortilla soup
serves 4
4 cups chicken stock
2 fresh jalapanos or fresh chili of your choice OR 1 small can jalapanos or green chilies
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 t fresh toasted & ground cumin seeds (pre ground is fine if that's what you have)
1 cloves garlic minced
2 T onion fine mince
8 fresh corn tortillas
1/2 lime, fresh or squeeze of lime juice on each bowl of soup
drizzle of oil
S&P
GARNISHES: diced avocado, tomato, green onion, olives, cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips

Prep all ingredients first. Dice jalapanos, discard veins and seeds if you like a milder soup. Mince onion and garlic. Toast the cumin and grind it.
Kitchen Witch Tip: If you're unsure about the heat level desired from your soup, remove the vein and seeds from your pepper. Dice the pepper and add to the soup. Dice the vein and seeds and reserve, add some if you need more heat. The vast majority of the heat is in the vein and seeds of the pepper. I do this when making spicy dishes that I expect the kids to eat, the base dish is quite mild, the adults can add more spiciness as desired.

Heat a medium sized soup pan over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of oil to the pan and sautee onions for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, beans, jalapanos, cumin and stock, reduce heat to medium. Taste and season with S&P as needed. Tear 4 corn tortillas into hunks and stir into soup, allow to rapidly simmer for 30 minutes. You need some good simmering action here, the agitation of the bubbling will help break down the tortillas and allow them to dissolve, helping to thicken the soup and add a rich corn flavor. Stir every 5 minutes.

While soup is simmering heat oven to 450*. Brush both sides of corn tortillas with a touch of oil. Slice tortillas into 1/8 inch wide strips. Put tortilla strips on a baking sheet and toss with 1/2 t kosher salt. Bake strips 8 minutes, turn them over and bake about 5 minutes longer, or until strips turn golden and smell like toasted corn.

Ladle soup into bowls topping with tortilla strips and any/all garnishes you like.

Nutrition information provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving *~*does not include garnishes*~*
Nutrition Facts
Tortilla soup
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 195.8
Total Fat 2.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Cholesterol 6.3 mg
Sodium 1,400.5 mg
Potassium 342.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.5 g
Dietary Fiber 7.4 g
Sugars 1.0 g
Protein 8.5 g

I've entered this soup into a blog challenge for tortilla soup recipes, click HERE to check out all the awesome soups, too!

Skillet Quiche with sausage and cheese

2011-04-25T02:00:00.000-06:00

The Kitchen Witch loves quiche, let that be understood. Egg pie, filled with delicious things like cheese, veggies, meats, I mean hello!? Its delicious! Quiche is also a major caloric blow, thanks to the pie crust. Pie crust can be a nightmare to make. It can be disastrous to roll out. And even when both of these steps go well, the crust can fight back and be tough and dry, not flaky and flavorful like it should be. So why not forgo it all together and use something that we KNOW goes well with eggs? Something like hashbrowns.

A layer of hashbrowns serve as the crust, the fillings get piled on top and it's capped with an eggy custard that is so soft you'd swear there was a LOT of cream in it. But no, the Kitchen Witch strikes again - using a mere 4 eggs and 2% milk the custard will never miss the cream. Now this is not to say that quiche is low calorie, well at least not this version loaded with Swiss cheese and sausage. It rings in at 590 calories per serving, but that serving is 2 slices of delicious quiche. Add a salad with a low cal dressing and you're good to go.

When making quiche really look at what you have in your fridge to use up. Quiche is magic for left overs. What better place to use up some of that left over Easter ham than in a quiche, add some cheese and left over asparagus from the same meal and voila, a brand new dinner, using only 1/2 new ingredients. Experiment with your families favorite flavors or be bold and make up a new one of your own. I like to follow the guideline of 1 veg, 1 meat and 1 cheese when making quiche.

Any leftovers will reheat nicely but avoid the microwave. To reheat quiche place slices on a baking sheet and put into a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350F. Heat quiche until hot through, about 5 minutes.

Skillet Quiche with sausage and cheese
makes 4 servings, 2 slices each
1 box sausage links (8 links)
4 eggs
1.5 c 2% milk
2 slices swiss cheese
1-2 roasted red bell peppers diced (jarred)
1/2 onion diced
3 large russet potatoes
3 T butter
2 T oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 375F

Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Shred potatoes for hashbrowns. Squeeze out the potatoes to drain the juices. Add 2T oil to the hot pan then put onions and potato shreds into the pan pressing firmly to make a solid layer. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Dab pieces of butter over top of hashbrown and sprinkle with salt, continue to cook until deeply golden on 1st side. Once browned flip hashbrown and cook on 2nd side.

While hashbrown is cooking cook the sausage until done. Remove, drain fat and dice sausage.

Once hashbrown is browned on 2nd side add the cheese slices, sausage and diced red peppers.

In a bowl add the eggs, milk and a pinch of salt & pepper. Whisk until well combined. Pour egg mixture over the hashbrown/sausage/cheese/peppers and place skillet in the preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until center is just set and doesn't wiggle. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings, 2 slices each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 589.9
Total Fat 40.7 g
Saturated Fat 15.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.1 g
Cholesterol 263.1 mg
Sodium 894.8 mg
Potassium 544.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g
Dietary Fiber 1.9 g
Sugars 5.4 g
Protein 21.5 g

Cake Pops

2011-04-24T09:24:00.000-06:00

Cake pops have been all the rage in the blogesphere for a while now. I'm pretty sure we have Bakerella to thank for these delicious little treats. The Little Witch LOVES the birthday cake pops at Starbucks but man, they get pricy!! $1.50 a pop is highway robbery when you can make an entire batch, of 40 pops, for $5 or so.

So a few weeks ago the Little Witch and I were at Starbucks. She wanted a cake pop. I caved and got her one to go with my grande Pike Place. As we were enjoying our treats I was asked a question.

"Mom, can you make cake pops?"
"I sure can sweetie!"
"What? You can? With sprinkles too? What about the stick?" I love how she thinks she's caught me in some big fallacy and tries to call me out. Such a sassy girl!
"Stick and everything. I can make them, no problem!"
"I want you to make cake pops TODAY Mom. Let's go to the store & get what we need!"

Now thats a girl after my own heart. So being a good Kitchen Witch I did my daughters bidding and off we went to the craft store for candy melts and pop sticks.

~*~Disclaimer: The candy melts DO have PHO's in them. While this breaks one of my 'unapproved ingredients' rule I made the exception for these babies. If anyone knows of PHO free candy melts PLEASE let me know!! The brand I used claimed to be 'trans fat free' yet ingredient #2 was partially hydrogenated oil, so, as far as I'm concerned its unapproved. And yet I used it. So there! Rules were meant to be broken, right??~*~

I've made 2 batches of these pops, the first I used a store bought cake mix and homemade frosting, the 2nd batch was homemade cake and frosting. I have to say that the homemade cake held up a LOT better in pop form than the cake mix did. Cake mix cake is very soft and got too mushy. The homemade cake had more tooth to it, and when the frosting is mixed in made a thicker paste to work with. If you have the time I highly recommend making your own cake. And if its a bit on the dry side that's GOOD! With all the icing that's added to the cakes a dry cake tends to work better than a super moist one.

Vanilla cake
Source: Epicurious
makes approx. 40 pops
2 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free preferred)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temp.
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup 2% milk

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract
2 T milk
3 T butter, softened

Candy melts, about 8 oz
candy sticks (available at craft stores, 50 for $2 or 150 for $4)
sprinkles
Optional: foam to stick pops in to dry, if you don't have foam then you can either hold the pops to dry (drag) or place on parchment paper (which works but makes flat spots and your sprinkles will sink into the candy coating.) Your choice!

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare pan of choice (The Witch uses a sheet pan lined with parchment for cake pops, it bakes faster and since you're making cake crumbs the shape is not important.)

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter. Add the sugar and beat again until fluffy. Add the vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping down the sides after each addition. Add 1/3 of the milk, beat until smooth. Add 1/2 the flour and mix well. Scrape down sides and add 1/3 milk, beat well. Add remaining flour, scrape down sides and mix. Finish with last addition of milk, mixing until just smooth. Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake until done by toothpick test method.

Icing:
In the work bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter. Once light and fluffy add the vanilla and powdered sugar. SLOWLY mix this, adding 1T of milk at a time until you have an icing consistency. Once all sugar is incorporated turn the speed to HI and whip the icing for 2-3 minutes.

Making the cake pops:
1. Allow the cake to cool completely. The cake must be room temp or it will melt the icing and not form balls properly.

2. Crumble cake into the work bowl of a stand mixer. Yes, just crumble it up. You are going for cake crumbs. I know it seems wrong, trust me.

3. Once cake is crumbled up attach the paddle to your stand mixer and mix until nothing but crumbs remain. Any big pieces break up by hand.

4. Add 1 1/2 c icing or 1 tub of premade stuff to the cake crumbs. Mix on low speed until completely incorporated. The cake will take on the texture of play dough once its mixed properly.

5. Shape balls. The Witch uses a cookie scooper to make the balls then goes back and smooths the balls by hand.

6. Melt candy melts in microwave using 30 second bursts to melt candy melts. Stir well between heating cycles. It took about 90 seconds to melt throughly in my microwave

7. Dip sticks into melted candy melts and then place stick into cake ball. (this really helps the cake to stick to the stick)

8. Place cake balls with sticks in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up before dipping in candy melts

9. Remove cake balls from the freezer and dip into candy melts. I like to have a spoon on hand to pour melted candy melts over the top by the stick. Swirl the pops in the melted candy and allow excess to drip off.

10. While candy melts are still wet sprinkle with sprinkles. Place cake pop into styrofoam to allow candy to harden OR place onto parchment paper to cool.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
40 Servings, 1 pop each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 142.6
Total Fat 5.7 g
Saturated Fat 4.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Cholesterol 22.8 mg
Sodium 63.5 mg
Potassium 13.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.1 g
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g
Sugars 16.2 g
Protein 1.3 g

Yakitori Sauce

2011-04-16T08:15:00.000-06:00

Here in Colorado Springs there's an awesome little Japanese restuarant that I've been going to for over 25 years now, called The House of Yakitori. They serve, yes that's right, Yakitori! Yakitori for those of you who don't know is skewered pieces of chicken, cooked over a charcoal grill, glazed with a delightful sweet sauce that is similar to teriyaki, but yakitori sauce is thicker, richer and a lot more flavorful than teriyaki sauce. For years I've been saying that I need to make my own yak sauce (as we fondly refer to it) and yet getting it just right has elluded the Witch, until now!

After many, many, many taste tests at the restaurant I was fairly confident that I knew what was in the sauce. Soy sauce, that was a given. Sugar, most likely brown sugar seemed right as well. And yet, time after time, it STILL wasn't yak sauce. Good teriyaki sauce, sure but yak sauce, no. What was missing I wondered?

Hours were spent at the Asian Pacific grocery, staring at the products in the 'SAUCES' aisle (and let me tell you thats a BIG aisle there!) wondering what I needed to take my sauce from good teriyaki to holy cow that's it Yakitori sauce. Then it hit me. Mirin! Mirin is a rice wine product with a very high sugar content. And it is EXACTLY what my yak sauce was missing.

The joy on the faces of my daughter, nephew, sister and husband was aparent when I offered them a sample of my yak sauce. At first they all looked at it like "oh sure Witch, you've claimed to make yak sauce before and its just NOT the same!" Then they try a sip. Their faces changed from dismay to delight, eyes light up and my wonderful wonderful nephew Ben even proclaimed "this is BETTER than yakitori sauce, it has more flavor and isn't as sweet as theirs!" The boy is almost 10 and is a genius, what can I say? :)

So here it is dear readers. Yakitori sauce. Its rich, thick, syrupy, sweet, salty, savory, umami laden and delicious. Perfect on grilled meats, especially chicken and beef. Because of its high sugar content it will burn quickly on the grill so use a judicious hand when dolling out the sauce over the coals. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this as much as we do!

Yakitori sauce
makes about 8 servings
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 T rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic whole, crushed with back of knife

Combine everything in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer. Remove garlic cloves after 5 minutes of simmering. Continue to cook until sauce has reduced and is a thick syrup.

Chicken skewers:
1 lb chicken thighs boneless and skinless, cleaned and cut into chunks for skewering
2 T yakitori sauce
1 T soy sauce
bamboo skewers, soaked in water a minimum of 30 min before grilling

marinate chicken in the sauces for 1 hour. While chicken marinates soak the bamboo skewers in water. The moister the skewers are the less chances there is that they'll burn up on the grill.

Skewer about 2 oz of chicken on each skewer. Grill over hot charcoal until done.
Drizzle with yakitori sauce when finished.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Yakitori sauce only
Amount Per Serving
Calories 101.4
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 1,054.0 mg
Potassium 85.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g

Nutrition Facts
Chicken skewer with sauce, 1 each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 183.5
Total Fat 2.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 57.3 mg
Sodium 1,113.4 mg
Potassium 244.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g
Protein 14.6 g
Protein 1.0 g

Vanilla Bean bundt cake with strawberry topping

2011-04-13T05:00:00.001-06:00

Strawberry season is in full swing much to the delight of the little Witch and her Daddy. Those two LOVE strawberries! With pounds of strawberries on the counter, which have an especially short shelf life, whats a Witch to do? Make strawberry shortcake is the logical answer, but there's one big problem with that: the Witch doesn't like the shortbread part of the strawberry shortcake. That's why in the Witches' kitchen you'll find a vanilla bean bundt cake in lieu of shortcakes. Same idea, better flavor, who doesn't love that?

I was making this dessert for a dinner party for adults I decided to add a splash of white wine to the berries while they macerated. I really liked the way the wine flavored the berries, it added sweetness, acidity and a nice balance that really elevated this from a simple strawberry sauce to something special. The syrup that resulted from the wine, lemon, sugar and juices from the berries was awesome with the vanilla cake. Now if wine's not your thing you can of course leave it out. But I highly recommend trying it. It really made the berries shine!

The vanilla bean in this cake and strawberry sauce come from my latest acquisition from Savory Spice Shoppe, vanilla bean paste. Now I feel this name is a misnomer, when I think of a paste I envisioned a thick paste that was all vanilla beans. What it is however is vanilla beans in a thick syrup. Delicious still but not what I had envisioned. As a result you need to use a LOT of this product to get the vanilla rich results. I started out with a teaspoon and soon ended up with about 1 TABLESPOON in the batter. Honestly it could have used another tablespoon - but I wimped out (mostly due to costs!) and added some vanilla extract as well to emphasize the vanilla flavor. If you don't have vanilla bean paste fear not, you can use vanilla beans split and scraped or just use vanilla extract. It won't be 100% the same but when the cake is being slathered with berries, who cares!

One last thing, when I served this dessert I made a vanilla bean whipped cream too. It was really good, but I forgot to take a photo of it, and it was all gone by the time I got around to actually taking pictures. Which is a shame, it was the crowning touch to this already delicious dessert. I'll include the recipe for the vanilla bean whipped cream, but you'll have to use your imagination on how it looks. Here's a hit: white, whipped and fluffy with black specks of vanilla in it. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with strawberry topping
makes 12 servings
2 c ap flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T vanilla bean paste
1 t vanilla extract
1 c sugar
1/2 c oil
3/4 c milk

Strawberry topping
1 lb strawberries, hulled, washed and sliced thin
1/4 c sugar
2 T white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 t vanilla bean paste OR 1 t vanilla extract

Vanilla bean whipped cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 T powdered sugar
1 t vanilla bean paste

Slice berries, place into a bowl and toss with sugar. Add the vanilla, wine and lemon juice, stir well. Allow berries to macerate at room temperature for 3-4 hours. If desired you can crush berries with a potato masher.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and paste and mix well. Add the eggs, mixing well. Finally add the milk, mix until smooth.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth. Pour into a sprayed bundt cake pan.

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 40-50 minutes or until cake tests clean and top is browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with berries and whipped cream.

Whip cream by combining all the ingredients in a work bowl and mix on HI until thick and whipped. Don't let it go too long or you'll end up with vanilla bean butter.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
12 Servings with berries, juices and whipped cream
Amount Per Serving
Calories 357.9
Total Fat 17.6 g
Saturated Fat 5.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.8 g
Cholesterol 43.8 mg
Sodium 208.3 mg
Potassium 159.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 45.4 g
Dietary Fiber 1.9 g
Sugars 27.5 g
Protein 4.8 g

Brined curried & roasted chicken legs and thighs

2011-04-12T10:00:00.001-06:00

Brining chicken is the single most important thing you can do to ensure you'll get juicy flavorful chicken. I don't do it every time I'm ashamed to admit and when I do, I'm always blown away with just how juicy and how much flavor gets into the meat. The reasons not to brine are flimsy: not enough time, seems too hard, just an odd idea for the home cook, but really it couldn't be easier!

All a brine is is a super salty flavored solution. The salt in the solution draws moisture out of the protein but then through osmosis, the brine is drawn into the flesh, along with all the flavors you add to the brine. I like to add herbs, spices and aromatics to mine since those flavors actually penetrate the meat. This time I decided to add a bit of curry powder into my brine. I love the flavor of curry powder, its not over powering and really works well with chicken. 1 T worth of the yellow stuff in addition to some garlic & onion granules (they dissolve better in the brine which is why I use the granules, but fresh is fine too), a touch of brown sugar for flavor and a background sweetness along with the required salt yielded a very flavorful brine.

The chicken brined for 8 hours before I baked it. Baking was as simple as removing the pieces from the liquid, putting them into a roasting pan, pan into the oven. Set a timer for 1 hour and voila, dinner's done! The flavor of this was really delicious. The curry was mild and both the husband and I decided that our chicken tasted similar to rotisserie chickens from Sams, which is a pretty good thing if you've ever tried their rotisserie chicken. Savory is the best way I'd describe the flavor. It was not overly salty, rather just gently seasoned and juicy, bursting with flavor.

A few final notes on brining:

~~the skin (in my experience) doesn't get as crisp as non brined birds. That makes sense to me, the chicken is submerged in salty water for 8 hours so crisping up that skin is going to be hard! If crispy skin is very important to you take care to pat the chicken dry before baking it (I did not) and/or run it under the broiler before serving(this I did do).

~~You can brine boneless skinless cuts but they take a LOT less time, up to 2 hours maximum for a boneless skinless chicken breast, otherwise you run the risk of over brining which would produce a salty piece of meat. Ew.

~~Some choose to rinse their brined meat before baking, that choice is up to you. If you are sensitive to salt then please rinse. If you're like me and can't get enough of that rock then forgo it.

~~Experiment with the flavors in your brine! Fresh rosemary spears is delicious on poultry, as is sage. I've added fruit to the brine and then stuffed the bird with the fruits and let it roast, delicious!

Most importantly, give it a try!! All it takes is a little for-though to get the protein into a brine 8 hours before cooking time and a bit of imagination on what flavors you want to experience.

Brined curried chicken legs & thighs
makes 4 servings
Brine:
1/4 c kosher salt
1 T brown sugar
1 T curry powder
1/2 t garlic powder, can use fresh minced garlic, 2 cloves
1/2 t onion powder, can use 1/2 fresh onion cut into chunks
4 cups boiling water
about 8 cups ice

4 pieces of bone in skin on chicken thighs
4 pieces of bone in skin on chicken legs
(can use any chicken pieces you like, breasts respond well to brining, they stay juicy and flavorful)

Mix the spices, salt, sugar and boiling water together until salt & sugar dissolve. Pour into a large bowl that can hold the brine as well as the chicken pieces and add ice. Stir to cool brine down. Not all the ice will melt, this is OK.

Add the chicken pieces. Move chicken and brine to a cold location, like the fridge, and allow to brine for 8 hours.

Transfer brined chicken pieces to a baking pan (I had to use 2) and bake at 375F for 1 hour or until internal temperature reads 180F and skin has rendered fat and browned slightly. Finish browning under hot broiler if desired.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 142.4
Total Fat 4.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.4 g
Cholesterol 96.4 mg
Sodium 222.3 mg
Potassium 273.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 23.8 g

Bananas Foster syrup

2011-03-26T05:00:00.001-06:00

The basis of this syrup was that of my good friend and chef Angie. Angie and I have been friends since the 8th grade. We used to ditch school to, get this people, watch cooking shows on PBS!! Yes, we'd be missing (or not so much) English all while watching Jacque Pepin create some delicious and exotic French dish. Angie went on to culinary school, lucky dog, so when she suggested that I take a banana and puree it with syrup next time I made pancakes I knew I had to heed her suggestion! Being a Kitchen Witch I couldn't leave well enough alone. Nope I had to go and add vanilla, butter and cinnamon. But not just any cinnamon, no the Witch used her brand spankin' new Vietnamese cinnamon purchased at Savory Spice Shop. It was amazing!! So much so that the little Witch declared that "this banana syrup is way better than the house syrup Mom" and proceeded to douse her pancakes with it. (The 'house syrup' in question is Log Cabin syrup as it's HFCS free) Thanks Angie for the suggestion, its a good one! I hope you all try this one, its kid tested and Witch approved!

Bananas Foster syrup
makes 4 servings
1 banana
1/2 bottle (4 oz) maple syrup
1/4 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla extract
2 T butter melted

In a blender put the banana, syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. Puree until very smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce speed to lowest setting, drizzle in melted butter and mix about 30 seconds until very well incorporated.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculcator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 156.6
Total Fat 6.0 g
Saturated Fat 3.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 15.5 mg
Sodium 3.8 mg
Potassium 180.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.5 g
Dietary Fiber 0.9 g
Sugars 20.8 g
Protein 0.4 g

Buttermilk Pancakes

2011-03-24T19:18:00.004-06:00

Pancakes for dinner is a fairly regular item in the Witch household. Its fairly quick and the mess is minimal which makes me happy, especially when I'm not particularly motivated to cook dinner. Yes folks, even the Kitchen Witch gets tired of the old dinner routine. So on days when I'm not feeling the creative juices flowing or when I've been busy and time gets away from me, pancakes for dinner it is! Usually I go with my tried and true pancake recipe, and its a good one folks. However this night I had some buttermilk that needed to be used so I broke free from the tried and true and made buttermilk pancakes.

After much research at foodblogsearch.com I decided on the Amateur Gourmets version of buttermilk pancakes. 5 ingredients, a very basic technique, 1 hot skillet and about 10 minutes later, dinner was done!

The pancakes were puffy and golden. They browned up beautifully and had a nice crisp exterior. The interior was a soft airy delight. The buttermilk in the batter added a nice tangy flavor to the cakes as well as make them light and fluffy. The whole family agreed that these were good pancakes. So good that they might become our new go to for pancake night!

Buttermilk Pancakes
makes 8 small or 4 large pancakes
Source: the Amateur Gourmet
1 cup AP flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t table salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk

In a medium size mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk well to combine ingredients as well as aerate them.

In a separate bowl mix the eggs and buttermilk.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and using a whisk, lightly combine them. You do NOT want to overmix the batter. A few pockets of dry lumps is fine, they will work themselves out. You want the batter to be fairly lumpy. It will thicken and puff after resting for about 30 seconds.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Once hot spray with nonstick spray and scoop batter out, making cakes about 3-4 inches in diameter. Allow to cook on first side until edges are slightly dried out and large bubbles break the surface and leave a hole in the top, see photo below.

Flip cakes and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes longer on second side or until golden browned.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 155.8
Total Fat 2.1 g
Saturated Fat 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Cholesterol 48.7 mg
Sodium 821.1 mg
Potassium 143.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.8 g
Dietary Fiber 0.8 g
Sugars 3.0 g
Protein 6.8 g

Chicken Enchiladas with refried beans

2011-03-16T08:45:00.000-06:00

Chicken enchiladas are always a hit in the Witch household. However the last few times I've made them they just weren't quite right. I made special note of a few areas that I felt just weren't working, and vowed to make some changes next time I prepared enchiladas.

The chicken was one place that I knew needed work. In the past white meat chicken breasts were all I'd even consider eating. I'd season it, cook it, dice it and make enchiladas. And every single time I was underwhelmed: the chicken was too chunky, not the right flavor, not at all what I was thinking it should taste like! Now a days my palette has expanded and I understand the beauty of using thighs. The meat isn't as dark as you'd think, so haters, give it a try! They aren't greasy, fatty or gross. As a matter of fact, they're lots more flavorful than the breast, it shreds like you want chicken to shred and has the flavor that I wanted in an enchilada. I slow braised the chicken in some spices in the oven, you could use a slow cooker, then shredded it. The chicken stayed moist, shredded perfectly and most of all had the flavor that I was hoping for. WIN!!

The next area to attack was the tortilla. Rater than add extra calories by flash frying I've always softened my tortillas in heated up enchilada sauce. That's how my Dad taught me, that's how we do it on Christmas when we make our homemade enchiladas, and I was always pretty happy with that. Until last time I made chicken enchiladas. Oh the sauce softened the tortilla, sure enough, but softened it so much that it turned to mush under my fingers. Trying to roll a soggy sauce logged tortilla is disastrous. It rips, tears and splits. Despite its visual appearance, its still tasty, right? Well...no, not really! I recall that last time I made chicken enchiladas I was NOT happy with the overall flavor, the tortilla was flavorless mush, no strong corn tortilla flavor that I was hoping for. You NEED that corn flavor to meld with the chicken and sauce, its a whole enchilada experience. So this time I decided to do it the restaurant way, briefly fry each tortilla in hot oil to soften it, fill with chicken, roll and spoon enchilada sauce over the top. SUCCESS!

These chicken enchiladas were exactly like the ones we'd get in a good Mexican restaurant. They were delicious. The tortilla had flavor on its own and didn't turn to mush. The chicken was seasoned and tasty. And best of all, because the chicken is cooked ahead of time, this is an easy weeknight dinner. The assembly didn't take long and after a quick trip through the broiler to melt the cheese, dinner was done.

And because I'm a Kitchen Witch, I couldn't just discard the cooking juices from the chicken. All that chickeny flavor, spices and goodness, well to dump it down the drain was sacrilege! Instead I whipped up a quick and healthy side dish of quick refried beans. A can of pinto beans, about 1/2 cup of the chicken cooking liquid and a pinch of salt, mash them up together and voila! Refried beans that are healthy, tasty and not laden with fat and calories.

I hope you enjoy these enchiladas as much as we all did!

Chicken Enchiladas
makes 14 enchiladas
1 lb chicken thighs
1/2 t each onion and garlic granules/powder and oregano
1 t each chili powder and ground cumin
1 t cumin ground
1/2 c chicken broth or water
S&P
1 can green enchilada sauce or up to 2 cups homemade
6 oz Monterey Jack cheese
14 corn tortillas
oil for tortillas

Refried beans
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c reserved chicken cooking liquids
pinch kosher salt

Prepare chicken first
Preheat oven to 250F
Place chicken thighs in a small dutch oven or a slow cooker along with the spices, herbs and chicken broth. Add a bit of salt and pepper, cover and cook about 3 hours (on low if using a slow cooker) or until thighs are tender and easily shredded.

Remove chicken and allow to cool until easily handled. Shred chicken, discarding any gristle and fat.

Reserve the cooking liquids from the chicken for refried beans.

Assemble enchiladas
Preheat broiler in oven.
Heat a sautee pan over medium high heat. Heat oil, enough to fill pan 1/2 inch deep. Once oil is hot quickly flash fry each tortilla. Immediately place tortilla in a 13x9 pan and fill with about 2-3 T of the shredded chicken. Roll tortilla and place in pan seam side down. Repeat for all tortillas.

Spoon enchilada sauce over top of the enchiladas, top with shredded cheese.

Place on top rack of oven and heat until cheese is melted and slightly browned on top. Remove from oven, allow to cool before serving.

Top with additional enchilada sauce if desired.

Refried Beans
Put drained and rinsed beans in a small sauce pan. Add the 1/2 chicken cooking liquid and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Using a potato masher smash most of the beans. The beans will thicken as they cook. Taste for season and adjust salt as necessary.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Chicken enchiladas
Amount Per Serving
Calories 333.2
Total Fat 9.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.2 g
Cholesterol 76.9 mg
Sodium 427.5 mg
Potassium 491.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 40.6 g
Dietary Fiber 6.6 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 23.5 g

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Refried Beans
Amount Per Serving
Calories 104.4
Total Fat 4.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.6 mg
Sodium 249.4 mg
Potassium 53.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 18.9 g
Dietary Fiber 6.6 g
Sugars 1.1 g
Protein 5.7 g

Death by Chocolate cookies

2011-03-13T21:30:00.000-06:00

Do you like cookies? What about brownies? Wouldn't it be awesome to have them both, at once, in a delicious dark chocolate cookie concoction of deliciousness? Well guess what readers, YOU CAN!! Yes, the Kitchen Witch has been casting her spell over chocolate cookies and I present to you the fruits of my labors, Death by Chocolate cookies.

Recently the Witch made a trip to Savory Spice, a fun spice store that has everything you could possibly need for spices and herbs. They also carry a lot of different cocoa powders. I found some black onyx cocoa powder and had to buy some. I've used other black cocoas and LOVE the intense dark color that it adds, not to mention the super chocolate kick in the flavor department. Savory Spices' black onyx cocoa delivered, nicely, on both of these requirements. Because the onyx cocoa is more expensive than regular old cocoa powder, I use just a bit to add color & flavor with out breaking the bank. In the 1/2 c cocoa powder that this recipe calls for 2 T of that was the black onyx cocoa. You can make these with out black cocoa but the results won't be as dark and delightful.

The Witch uses a combination of white and brown sugar in these cookies. The brown sugar adds moisture as well as a deeper, more caramelized flavor whereas the white sugar provides necessary sweetness and crispness to the exterior crust. A bit of oil is also added to these cookies, it helps balance the dry crumblies that cocoa powder can cause, due to its dry powdery nature. The extra oil helps hydrate the cocoa and make it act more like melted chocolate would in recipes. In addition, mixing the cocoa powders with the fats help coat the cocoa, keeping the grainy dusty texture that is all too common with cocoa powder recipes at bay.

So there you have it. Rich. Dark. Soft. Moist. Slightly crispy. Death by Chocolate cookies. Enjoy, I know you will!

Death by Chocolate cookies
makes 3 dozen cookies
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 stick (1/2 c) butter, unsalted
3 T oil
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 egg
1 t vanilla
almost 2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream butter and oil in the work bowl of a stand mixer until very smooth. Add cocoa powder and sugars, mix until light and fluffy. Scrap down sides. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until light and fluffy again.

Add flour, salt and baking soda, scrape down sides. Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.

Scoop cookies onto sheet pan. Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes. You want the bottoms and edges to be set and slightly crispy. Its hard to tell when these are done due to the dark color so use a timer!

Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes on sheet pan before removing to a cooking rack.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 111.5
Total Fat 5.6 g
Saturated Fat 2.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.5 g
Cholesterol 12.0 mg
Sodium 71.2 mg
Potassium 39.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 16.2 g
Dietary Fiber 0.6 g
Sugars 9.6 g
Protein 1.6 g

Hackbraten & Spaetzle with mushroom cream gravy

2011-03-09T06:00:00.006-07:00

The Kitchen Witch is NOT a convenience foods fan. As a matter of fact I go out of my way to avoid all things processed and 'easy'. But sometimes you get in a rutt. And sometimes a friend suggests that you use a seasoning packet for a German dish that you've never heard of, much less tasted. And when you look at this seasoning packet and see that its got no HFCS or PHO's in it, well why not? There are times when a seasoning packet becomes your best friend and sparks an entire dinner that the family really loved. This meal was one of those times!

The meal in question, my dear readers, is Hackbraten, which are German mini meatloaves and they are delicious!! I served these delightful patties with spaetzle, a German egg dumpling, from a BOX! Yes. Seasoning from a packet and noodles from a box, heck I even used better than bullion for the broth!! Does using these prepackaged ingredients make me less of a cook? No. What it does is make me human and recognize that sometimes not every single thing needs to be from scratch. It can be semi homemade. But not cheesed out like Sandra Lee's version of semi homemade, after all I am a Kitchen Witch, therefore I do have standards.

The hackbraten are delicate patties of beef that are seasoned with onion, garlic and paprika and bread crumbs. They are light in texture and have a delicious seared outer crust. The spaetzle are tender yet firm morsels of tastiness. The gravy I made from caramelized cremini mushrooms, shallot, garlic, beef broth and half and half. It was a most delicious and satisfying meal, one that we'll be enjoying again I have no doubt. I am a very happy Kitchen Witch to have heeded the advice of a good friend and tried something new that I normally wouldn't have.

~*~The review of products is the opinion of the Kitchen Witch solely. The Kitchen Witch was not paid or reimbursed for her product review~*~

Hackbraten with spaetzle and mushroom cream gravy
Makes 4 servings
1 lb lean ground beef
1 packet Maggi hackbraten seasoning mix
1/2 box Maggi spaetzle
about 15-20 cremini mushrooms
1 shallot finely minced
1 clove garlic pressed or minced
1/4 c white wine
1 cup beef broth
1/3 c half and half
2 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T canola oil
1 T corn starch

Bring a large pot of water to boil and season it with salt. Cook spaetzle according to package, about 25 minutes.

Mix the ground beef with seasoning mix according to directions. Form into 8 small patties.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add 1T canola oil and pan fry the patties, using 2 batches so as not to crowd the pan. Cook until desired doneness.

While the patties cook make the gravy.
In a 2nd skillet melt the butter and olive oil. Once hot add the mushrooms and brown well. When mushrooms are about 80% done add the shallot and garlic and continue to cook until shallot starts to brown on the edges, 2-3 minutes longer. Deglaze pan with white wine and allow to reduce by 1/2. Mix the cornstarch into the beef broth, stir it well and add to the pan. Bring gravy up to a simmer to thicken. Once thickened stir in the half & half. Serve with hackbraten and spaetzle.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings, 2 patties, spaetzle and gravy
Amount Per Serving
Calories 678.6
Total Fat 36.6 g
Saturated Fat 14.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 14.6 g
Cholesterol 138.0 mg
Sodium 1,606.6 mg
Potassium 388.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 50.0 g
Dietary Fiber 4.1 g
Sugars 2.5 g
Protein 30.6 g

Cheddar and broccoli soup

2011-03-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Some broccoli cheese soups are more broccoli than cheese. I don't like that. If it claims to be broccoli CHEESE soup, I expect to see and taste more than just a garnish of shredded cheese. This soup delivers in the cheese department, rich, deep and flavorful.

I used a bit of dry mustard in this recipe. Dry mustard is spicier than regular mustard, its the ground mustard seed with out any vinegar or water added. Don't try to use regular mustard for the dry. Theres something about the way the dry mustard makes the cheese taste, it brings out the sharpness of the cheddar and is wonderful. There's also a few dashes of tobasco in this soup. Much like the dry mustard, tobasco helps the soup have a depth of flavor with out spicy heat, I mean after all theres about 1/4 t of tobasco to almost 6 cups of liquid, how spicy can it be?

Lastly I like to use the broccoli stems in my soups. They're filled with nutrients and fiber and its just so wasteful to throw them away in favor of their prettier friends the florettes. I simmer the stems in water and puree them so I get a lot of broccoli flavor in the soup, along with all the vitamins and fiber, but no one knows it in there. Witchcraft I tell you!

If you're looking for a soup that delivers big in the cheese flavor this is the one for you. If you like broccoli soup, this is the one for you! So pretty much unless you hate cheese and broccoli, you should like this soup. Enjoy!

Cheddar and Broccoli soup
makes 6 large servings
2 heads broccoli
4 c chicken stock
1 c milk
1 c water
1 onion diced fine
3 cloves garlic
3 dashes tobasco sauce
1/2 t dry mustard powder
pinch turmeric (optional, helps add yellow color to combat the green from the broccoli puree)
kosher salt & pepper
1/4 c butter (half stick)
1/2 c flour
8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Prep veggies first, dice onions, mince garlic and reserve. Remove florettes from broccoli and reserve. Slice the broccoli stems thin (1/4 inch thick approx) and place into a small sauce pan with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and allow stems to cook. Once stems are cooked put them into a blender with 1/2 the cooking liquid and puree until smooth.

Meanwhile, heat a large soup pan over medium high heat. Melt the butter in the pan, once it stops foaming add the onions and garlic. Stir well to coat in butter and cook until onions are starting to brown on the edges.

Add the flour and about 1/2 c of the chicken stock, whisk well, this will thicken and become a paste. Keep whisking and slowly add the remaining chicken stock. Whisk until no lumps remain. Add the milk, tobasco sauce and dry mustard and optional turmeric, whisk well to incorporate. Bring up to a simmer.

Once the soup starts to simmer add the cheese and stir well until all cheese is melted. Taste for salt & pepper, add as needed. Add the broccoli puree to the soup along with the reserved florettes.

Simmer soup for 20 minutes, stirring often to avoid burning. Once broccoli is tender taste soup again for seasoning, adjust salt & pepper as needed.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 392.9
Total Fat 23.4 g
Saturated Fat 13.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.5 g
Cholesterol 64.0 mg
Sodium 924.2 mg
Potassium 1,046.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.4 g
Dietary Fiber 9.9 g
Sugars 2.6 g
Protein 20.6 g

Swedish Meatballs

2011-02-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend of mine asked for a recipe for Swedish meatballs. It took me a while to make them, and for that I am deeply sorry. These little babies are GOOD!! Please don't let the extensive ingredients list discourage you. Once you try these meatballs you'll be hooked.

The meatball is lightly seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. The nutmeg makes the dish have a rich quality, I wouldn't leave it out. I also threw in a bit of ricotta cheese, mostly because I had some, but also for the flavor as well as moisture they provided to the meatballs. You didn't get a 'cheesy' flavor from them at all, the cheese kept them moist and light. They were very well received by the 3 children that were lucky enough to eat them. Knowing that all 3 kids disliked mushrooms meant there were more for the adults. I left the mushrooms large so they were easier to pick around for the kids, however if I were making this again I might dice the mushrooms finer so they were more evenly distributed in the sauce. The choice is yours. We made the meatballs bit size using a small 2 teaspoon cookie scoop. The smaller size allows a quicker cooking time and they are the perfect bite size.

Now the Witch makes no claims at authenticity, I've never been to Sweden and honestly I don't know if 'Swedish Meatballs' are even Swedish. They could be as Swedish as French toast is French. You get the idea. But when I was brainstorming this recipe I thought that a bit of bacon in the sauce wouldn't be a bad thing. Really, when is adding bacon a bad thing?! The bacon was indeed well received and added a great depth of flavor that would have been missed otherwise. I sauteed the mushrooms in the bacon fat for extra flavor and discarded the fat after the mushrooms cooked, so all the goodness of bacon fat flavor was in the dish with out all the bacon fat itself.

The results were very successful! Tender, flavorful meatballs in a creamy rich sauce filled with mushrooms, bacon bits and deliciousness. Swedish meatballs will be gracing our dinner table more often, this I'm sure of! Enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs
makes 6 servings
1.5 lb lean ground beef
1/3 c ricotta cheese
fresh ground nutmeg, about 1/4 t divided (if using preground use a bit less)
1-1.5 t kosher salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
1 egg
1/2 c panko
1 onion, small, fine mince
1/2 c white wine, dry
1/2 t garlic granules
1/2 lb bacon, diced
1 package cremini mushrooms (4 oz), quartered
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
1/3 c sour cream
1 t worstershire sauce
2-3 T flour

In a mixing bowl place the ground beef with 1/8 t nutmeg, about 3/4 t kosher salt, 1/4 t pepper, panko, 1/2 the onions, granulated garlic and 2 T white wine. In a small bowl mix the ricotta and egg together. Pour the ricotta mix over the meat & other ingredients and mix until very well incorporated. Make small bite sized meatballs, about 2t of meat mixture for each ball. ~*~the Witch used a small 2t cookie scooper, made things easy & uniform~*~

Place formed balls onto a baking sheet, bake for 15 minutes, turn the oven off and allow to rest in oven for 5 minutes before removing tray.

While the meatballs bake start the sauce.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crispy and all fat is rendered out. Remove and drain bacon, reserve for later use.

In the same bacon drippings add the mushrooms and cook until very browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Once browned remove mushroom to drain and reserve.

Discard the bacon fat.

Place the pan back on the heat, add the onions and sautee for a minute or 2, until the onions start to get browned from the cooked on bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining white wine, deglaze pan, scraping up the fond that has cooked on to the bottom of the pan. Allow wine to reduce by half.

In a small bowl combine the milk and flour, whisking well to break up lumps. Once you have a smooth slurry mixture add it to the pan with the onions & reduced white wine. Whisk well, it will thicken immediately. Add the chicken stock slowly, whisking the entire time to break up lumps. Bring to a simmer, add the remaining nutmeg, mushrooms and cooked meatballs to the sauce, taste for season & add more salt & pepper as needed. Simmer covered for 5 minutes to marry all ingredients. Top with bacon just prior to serving, stirring it into the sauce, coating all meatballs with sauce. Serve with pasta or mashed potatoes.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 421.4
Total Fat 28.5 g
Saturated Fat 12.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 11.7 g
Cholesterol 120.1 mg
Sodium 884.6 mg
Potassium 435.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.9 g
Dietary Fiber 0.7 g
Sugars 2.9 g
Protein 25.5 g

Pate au choux, pastry cream and ganache AKA Eclairs

2011-02-12T09:15:00.001-07:00

Eclairs. You've seen them in the pastry cases of your favorite bakery, their delicate puffed shell, golden browned, filled with a luscious pastry or whipped cream, topped with rich chocolate. They're beautiful delightful little treats. And not nearly as hard to make at home as you might think!! They are labor intensive, however, so plan ahead if eclairs are on your dessert menu. Because they are so labor intensive they're the perfect treat for Valentines Day.

There are 4 recipes for this post:
~the pate au choux (translated is cabbage paste, because the batter is a paste and they resemble cabbages when made in round forms, well at least according to some French person who named them that!)
~Vanilla pastry cream
~Vanilla whipped cream filling
~Chocolate ganache glaze

The whipped cream filling is optional, and really is more of a cream puff filling than an eclair one, but honestly, the Witch household LOVED the whipped cream version a LOT more than the pastry cream filled ones. The Witch recommends trying both and deciding which you like best (and since you need the pastry cream to make the whipped cream, too, you're not really making anything 'extra')

Have fun with your shapes. The Witch made a few round puffs, they were a hit with the Little Witch. She liked the smaller bite sized puffs. Hearts would be really cute for Valentines day, too.

Apologies for the very lousy photos on this one folks. It was a cloudy snowy day, I was alone in the kitchen and really didn't realize how bad they were turning out until it was too late. As dark as the photos are, the eclairs were delicious!

Pate au Choux
Source: Pierre Hermeas via Apple Pie, Patis and Pate
makes approximatively 24 eclairs
1 c AP flour
5 eggs
1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
1 stick (1/2 c) butter
pinch salt
1/4 t sugar

Pastry Cream
makes about 2.5 cups
2 c milk
2 t vanilla
3 T cornstarch
3 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 c sugar
pinch salt

Whipped Cream filling
makes about 2 cups worth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
about 1 cup pastry cream
1T vanilla
1 T sugar

Ganache, for glaze
makes enough to cover about 24 eclairs
1 c high quality chocolate chips
1/3 c heavy cream

Begin by making the pate au choux
Preheat oven to 375F
In a medium sized heavy bottom sauce pan combine the milk, water, sugar, salt & butter. Bring to a boil. Once it boils add the flour and stir vigorously until it forms a paste. Keep stirring this to cook out excessive moisture as the flour grains hydrate. It will take about 3-4 minutes. You may notice a white film forming on the bottom of the pan, this is normal & completely fine. Don't try to scrape it up.

Transfer the dough ball (which will be very soft and pliable) to the work bowl of a stand mixer with the flat paddle attachment. You can also do this by hand but it WILL give your arm a serious work out!

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing 1-2 minutes between additions. Scrap down sides before adding the next egg. This mixture will look curdled after each egg is added - don't panic - it WILL come together with enough mixing. When the last egg is fully incorporated you will have a thick smooth rich batter.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag (or a large zip top bag with the end cut off) and pipe long thin eclair shapes onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Pipe eclair shaped strips of the pastry dough OR make small rounds for cream puffs. Space them an inch apart from each other to allow room for expansion.

Bake as soon as piping is done. DO NOT ALLOW DOUGH TO SIT LONG BEFORE BAKING OR YOU RISK IT NOT PUFFING. Bake eclair pastry for 20-25 minutes total, rotating tray half way through. Remove pastry when they have puffed and are golden brown on top & bottom. Allow to cool.

Make the pastry cream
In the work bowl of a stand mixer combine the egg yolks, egg, corn starch and sugar. Mix with a flat paddle on medium speed. Mixture will lighten in color and thicken as it mixes. Keep mixing the egg sugar mixture while the milk heats on the stovetop.

Heat milk in a medium sauce pan until it boils. Remove about 1 cup of the milk and SLOWLY add this milk to the egg sugar mixture, to temper the eggs. Once the milk is incorporated add that to the remaining milk in the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high and cook pastry cream about 3-4 minutes, until its thickened considerably. Remove pastry cream from heat, pass it through a fine mesh sieve to remove any coagulated egg pieces and allow to cool. Once cool put into a piping bag for easiest distribution into the eclair shells.

Make the whippped cream filling
In the work bowl of stand mixer add the cream, sugar and vanilla. Using the whisk attachment whip cream until it has firm peaks. Add 1 cup of pastry cream to the whipped cream and fold it in. Place in a piping bag for easiest distribution into the pastry shells.

Make the ganache
Heat the cream in a microwave safe bowl until it starts to simmer.
Place the chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Pour the hot cream on top of the chocolate and cover TIGHTLY with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes stir the cream & chocolate. Keep stirring, the heat from the cream will have melted the chips but it takes your stirring to break down the chip shape to make a smooth ganache. This ganache will set up firm making it a nice icing or glaze.

Assemble eclairs
Cut each pastry in half with a sharp knife. The pastry should be hollow inside.

Pipe filling of your choice into the bottom of the pastry. Cover with the top half of pastry. Coat the tops with the ganache.

Allow ganache to set before eating (if you can wait that long!) and refrigerate left overs.

Lemon & garlic scented rice

2011-02-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

If you own a rice cooker you're about 30 minutes away from one of the tastiest and easiest side dishes ever. If you don't own a rice cooker, well you can still have this delicious side dish, it'll just take a little bit longer. This rice was served with the Greek grilled chicken thighs and it was amazing! Lightly scented, perfumed with garlic and lemon zest. Simplicity at its finest and darn good eats, too.

Lemon and garlic scented rice
makes 4 servings
zest of 3/4 lemon
2 cloves garlic whole, smashed with the back of a knife but left whole still
1/2 t kosher salt
1 cup basmati rice
1 3/4 c water
drizzle olive oil

Rinse the rice well until water runs clear. In the bowl of a rice cooker combine all the ingredients. Cook according to manufacture instructions.

If cooking on the stove top follow the rice instructions, adding the lemon zest, garlic and salt to the water.

Remove garlic cloves and fluff with a fork just before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 190.5
Total Fat 1.1 g
Saturated Fat 0.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 242.9 mg
Potassium 9.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 40.3 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 3.5 g

Greek grilled chicken thighs

2011-01-31T09:30:00.002-07:00

Sometimes in the middle of winter you need a burst of fresh summery type flavors. Ya know, just to remind yourself that the cold will end someday and warmth will return. This chicken dish did just that, reminded me of summer with its bright lemon and herb flavors.

Its no secret that the Witch adores Mediterranean and middle eastern foods & flavors. There's just something about smooth creamy hummus and warm pitas that make my heart happy. When you add highly seasoned and grilled meats into the mix, it just becomes a symphony of flavors that make my heart sing. Cumin, lemon, garlic, oh my!

The marinade on the chicken is quite simple, lemon, garlic, herbs and spices. Something magical happens when you combine these common ingredients with chicken and grill it. The garlic is spicy, the herbs are subtle and the tang of lemon cuts through the spices creating a savory delight that just has to be tried. The hint of cinnamon tells you that this is something special and not your usual chicken dish. I highly recommend eating this chicken with pita bread, hummus and lemon garlic rice (post to come soon!)

Greek style grilled chicken thighs
makes 2-3 servings
juice of 1 lemon
1 t oregano
2 cloves garlic pressed or minced
1/2 t coriander seed ground
1/2 t ground cumin seed
3/4 t kosher salt
1/4 t pepper
pinch cinnamon
1 T olive oil
1 lb chicken, thighs or breasts, boned & skinned

Mix everything but the chicken together in a bowl. Add the chicken and marinade for 1-2 hours.

Grill over high heat until internal temperature of 165F is reached. Remove chicken and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with feta cheese if desired.

If you don't have an indoor grill or access to an outdoor one you can also just cook these in a sautee pan, simply add a little oil to the hot pan & cook.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 162.8
Total Fat 8.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.7 g
Cholesterol 76.4 mg
Sodium 561.6 mg
Potassium 268.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 3.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.6 g
Sugars 0.4 g
Protein 18.5 g

Pita bread

2011-01-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things the Witch love about making bread is how versatile it is. For the most part, bread recipes tend to be the same: flour, yeast, salt, water. Its in the skilled hands of the cook that these humble ingredients change from flour and yeast into bread; chewy, crunchy delicious bread. And many varieties of bread, too. The same basic recipe can make white bread, french bread or pita bread, same basic ingredients, its in how you handle them that it morphs.

Let's take pita bread for example. It should be soft, puffy, chewy and hollow inside. It is very similar to a flat bread, but to be considered a real pita it needs that puffy hollow inside. How in the world do you get it to puff, when the ingredients are pretty much the same as pizza dough or flat bread dough??

Simple. The answer is moisture. Keeping the dough nice & moist is key to the puff. As the bread cooks, the water evaporates and causes steam, which puffs the bread. Getting your dough damp enough to puff, yet not so wet that its gluey is the key. I learned a tip from Deb from the Smitten Kitchen, she spritzed her pita rounds with water & let them rest for 10 minutes. This additional moisture was just enough to really get a good puff and yielded perfect pitas.

The pitas bake in a very hot oven and take only 3 minutes each. I'm so glad I decided to try my own pitas, the ones from the store are usually stale, filled with unpronounceable ingredients and cost more than I'm willing to spend on stale bread. Homemade pita is perfect for beginning bread makers, too; the dough is made in a stand mixer, no need to kneed and it rises in the fridge overnight, allowing the flavors to develop slowly giving a depth of flavor usually found in artisan breads. Even if you're new to bread making please give these a try. You'll be happy you did!

Pita Bread
source: Smitten Kitchen
makes 12-16 pita breads
3 1/4 c AP flour
2 t instant yeast
2 t kosher salt
2 T olive oil
1 1/4 c water

Mix all the ingredients in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Attach the dough hook and kneed for 10 minutes on medium speed. Dough will be soft, slightly sticky and not sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Add a touch more flour if too wet or water if too dry.

Put kneaded dough ball into a lightly oiled large bowl and cover with plastic wrap that's been sprayed with nonstick spray. Put covered bowl in the fridge and allow to rise slowly overnight (or up to 3 days). If dough rises too rapidly punch it back down & recover. The long slow rise develops the flavor of the dough and the cold of the fridge slows down the yeast production giving you a nice artisan flavor and excellent crumb texture.

When ready to bake pitas place a pizza stone in the lowest rack of your oven (If you don't have a pizza stone a cast iron pan will work too) and preheat oven to 475F. Allow oven to heat for 1 hour.

While oven is heating remove the dough from the fridge. Divide dough into 12-16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball then lightly press it out to a thickish disk, about 4-5 inches diameter. Place discs on a lightly oiled sheet pan, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.

Once discs have rested lightly flour counter tops and a rolling pin. Roll each disc into a thin flat, about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Spritz each round with water and allow to rest for another 10-15 minutes, covered with plastic or a damp towel.

Now its time to cook the pitas. Place 3 rounds on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 minutes. The pitas will puff as they cook. There is no need to flip these breads. The tops will not have any browning, this is ok. The bottoms will be slightly browned and crispy.

Allow the oven to recover temperature for 5 minutes between batches of pitas.

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: If the pitas don't puff spritz the rounds with water and allow to rest again. The water is the key to the puff, you need the dough adequately hydrated to produce the pitas signature puff pocket. If they don't puff, don't dispare, they're still delicious and are perfect for dipping in hummus or any dip of your choosing.~*~

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 107.4
Total Fat 2.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 120.5 mg
Potassium 27.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.7 g
Sugars 0.1 g
Protein 2.6 g

Italian style stuffed Pork Chops

2011-01-28T08:00:00.001-07:00

We love stuffed pork chops. There's just something delightful about cutting into a piece of meat & discovering a surprise tasty filling stuffed inside. And when that filling is creamy cheese with tart sun dried tomatoes and zesty garlic, that just makes things even tastier.

This recipe was created for a few reasons:
1. I had some awesome thick cut pork chops that were just begging to be stuffed!
2. I've done a few stuffed chop recipes before & they've been fruit & nut stuffings, delicious but been there, done that
3. I was making polenta as my side dish so I wanted an Italian flair to the chops

So the Witch put her Witchcraft hat on & went to work. Cream cheese is always a good start as far as I'm concerned so it made the cut. Sun dried tomatoes, another natural choice, in they go. I have a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer but only wanted a touch of it, too much spinach and all you can taste is SPINACH - so a few nuggets of the green stuff thawed out was perfect! Garlic and herbs only made sense given the Italian direction we were heading, and a touch of Asiago gave the sharpness I was looking for.

Stuffing the chops is an easy process, simply take a sharp thin knife and create a pocket in the chop. Using your finger open up the pocket more, leaving the sides intact to hold the filling. All that's left then is to stuff the chop then cook it and before you know it, a delicious and impressive dinner is done. Enjoy!

Italian style stuffed pork chops
makes 3 chops
3 thick cut boneless pork loin chops
4 oz cream cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
handful of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
1/4 c julienne cut sun dried tomatoes
2 T fresh grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
3/4 t dried Italian herbs
kosher salt & pepper
drizzle of oil

preheat oven to 300F
In a small bowl mix the cream cheese, Asiago, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, herbs with a pinch of salt & pepper. Divide this cheese mixture into thirds.

Create a pocket in the pork chops and stuff one portion of the cheese mixture in it. Sprinkle stuffed chops with salt & pepper.

Heat an oven safe skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil, once pan is hot add the chops. Sear chops on 1 side, once they're nicely browned flip and put pan in the oven, cook about 5-10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160F. Remove from oven and hot pan, allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 361.0
Total Fat 26.0 g
Saturated Fat 13.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.7 g
Cholesterol 104.1 mg
Sodium 678.6 mg
Potassium 701.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 5.7 g
Dietary Fiber 0.9 g
Sugars 2.7 g
Protein 26.2 g

Chopped at home week 1: Babaganoosh & A Pork Roulade

2011-01-27T06:00:00.002-07:00

Here's the second dish we made during our Chopped at Home playdate. The first dish you'll remember was Pork Wonton soup. Please allow me to introduce the rest of the ingredients we had to work with for this first challenge.

2 Chinese eggplants
3 tomatoes
2 red bell peppers
1 pork loin roast
a bunch of Chinese herbs

Recently I went to a cooking demo where the Chef made a garam masala spice blend - he sampled it to us via some fantastic babaganoosh with roasted red peppers and it was fabulous. I've never been much of an eggplant fan until I tried this babaganoosh, it was really flavorful and addictive. So when presented with 2 large Chinese eggplants I immediately thought of babaganoosh and the fabulous garam masala which I just happened to have all the spices to make it. Turns out my buddy was thinking babaganoosh as well, awesome! So we whipped up a batch of the spice blend and we roasted the veggies. Then we stood there and asked each other, "Ok, now what? We still have this pork loin to use up" and that's when we decided to pound out the loin, slather it in babaganoosh and roll it up roulade style.

We seared the pork rolls in a hot cast iron pan then finished them in the oven. They were pretty darn good I have to say. The babaganoosh filling turned out to be more of a tunnel of babaganoosh rather than a spiral roll but meh, that happens. The flavors blended nicely with the pork and the garam masala spices were really good with it. Would I make this again? Absolutely, with a few changes. First of all, it made a TON of babaganoosh (which we did enjoy with pita chips later that week) so keep that in mind. Second, I don't know that I'd go thru the messy work of making it into a roulade again; rather I'd cut the loin into chops, cook them & serve the babaganoosh as a side dipping sauce. But the flavors were really good and it was fun to work with different ingredients off the cuff.

So that leaves the Chinese herbs. We decided the best idea was to determine WHAT these strange herbs were before using them. Its a DARN good thing we did, too; turns out that we got a medicinal herbal packet, one of them you had to boil 9 times before its considered safe for ingestion. Another one claimed to be "Flavorless, sweet and neutral, however it could cause hallucinations as well as damp excretions" Needless to say we decided to forgo the herbs. There'll be another cooking playdate this weekend, who knows what we'll make next!

Babaganoosh Pork Roulade
Makes about 4 cups of babaganoosh
Pork Roulade serves 4 people
2 Chinese eggplant sliced 1/4 in thin (regular eggplant can be used if the Chinese variety can't be located)
3 tomatoes, halved and seeded
2 red bell peppers, halved and seeded
4 oz cremini mushrooms
Olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
1 T Garam masala
Pork Loin roast
butchers twine or cotton string for tying

Preheat oven to 400F. Distribute vegetables between 2 sheet pans. Drizzle vegetables with about 3 T oil for each pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast. Check veggies half way and rotate pans if needed. If they're not browning much add a bit more oil. Once they've browned remove from oven.

Put roasted vegetables into the work bowl of a stand mixer along with the spices and puree, adding up to 4 T olive oil. Puree until you have a smooth mixture.

Pretty it isn't, however it is darn tasty!

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: No food processor? No worries! This babaganoosh would be quite good in a chunky fashion as well. Simply chop all the roasted veg to your desired consistency then add the spices and stir. Next time I make it I'll leave it chunkier, more like a salsa~*~

To make the roulade:

Preheat oven to 350F

Cover counter tops with plastic wrap, you'll need 2 overlapping sheets. Dampen counter before laying plastic out for best adhesion. Cut roast in half and cover with plastic. Using the smooth side of a meat mallet pound out the meat to 1/4 in thick, trimming any tendons as you go.

Salt and pepper the meat. Spread babaganoosh over it evenly. Roll the pork along the long side and tie with butchers twine in a running knot. Sprinkle the roll with garam masala. Repeat with 2nd half of meat if you had to cut your roast in half as we did. (click here for more info on how to tie a roulade)

Sear tied roll in a hot cast iron skillet on all 4 sides, placing pan in oven once you start the sear on the last side. Cook pork until internal temperature of 150F is reached. Allow meat to rest at least 5 minutes before removing twine and serving.

Lasagna

2011-01-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love lasagna? Well if you asked me that question 5 years ago I would have said ME!! ME!! The Witch can't stand lasagna!!!! Turns out I was wrong, I do like lasagna, I just like GOOD lasagna, not the stuff my parents used to make & call lasagna.

My parents, bless their hearts, are just not the most food savvy people created. To them, using cottage cheese, Carl Budding ham and pizza sauce was how you made lasagna. Now I know a lot of you out there enjoy cottage cheese in your lasagna, and I'm not knocking that. But please, do try the ricotta instead. Its about the same price as cottage cheese, the texture is leaps & bounds better and it makes lasagna lots better. The Carl Budding ham, well that can be eliminated entirely and no one will miss it. I think the ham was some kind of a strange nod to prosciutto, however that still makes me wonder because my Dad, who put the ham in, hasn't ever heard of prosciutto in his life! If you use jarred sauce please do yourself a favor and get good jarred sauce.

This particular lasagna was made with ground beef but you can use whatever ground meat you like: sausage, beef, turkey or chicken, all work. If meat's not your thing replace it with thin sliced vegetables like broccoli, zucchini or eggplant.

Like all lasagna this makes a TON. It reheats well which makes it idea for lunches. It also freezes well however I'd freeze it before baking it. If you choose to freeze lasagna here's a few tips:
~get disposable pans otherwise your 'real' pans are tied up in the freezer
~write what the dish is along with cooking times & temps on the top layer of foil
~thaw lasagna in the fridge overnight before baking, or if that's not an option then bake for about 2 hours or until its bubbly in the middle.

Lasagna
Source: Barilla pasta
makes 12 servings
1 box Barilla lasagne pasta sheets (not the ones with ruffled edges, the flat sheets)
2 eggs
1 15oz container of ricotta cheese
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (4 cups, divided)
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
1 lb ground meat (sausage, beef, turkey or chicken, your choice)
5.5 cups marinara sauce (2 jars worth)

Preheat oven to 350F if using glass, 375F if using a metal baking pan.
Spray a 13x9 baking pan with non stick spray and spray a piece of foil to cover the dish as well.

Combine the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan and 2 cups mozzarella cheese in a medium bowl.

Brown meat and drain off fat.

Assemble lasagne:
1. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of the pan.

2. Layer 4 uncooked sheets of pasta, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, half the browned meat, 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup sauce

3. Layer 4 sheets pasta, 1/3 ricotta mixture and 1.5 c sauce

4. Layer 4 sheets pasta, 1/3 ricotta mixture, remaining meat and 1 cup sauce.

5. Layer 4 sheets pasta, the remaining sauce and remaining mozzarella cheese.

Cover with sprayed foil and bake 50-60 minutes until bubbly. Remove foil and bake 5 minutes longer to melt cheese. If desired turn broiler on and brown the top layer of cheese.

Allow to rest 15 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 460.3
Total Fat 22.6 g
Saturated Fat 10.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.6 g
Cholesterol 100.0 mg
Sodium 792.9 mg
Potassium 189.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.0 g
Dietary Fiber 3.2 g
Sugars 5.4 g
Protein 29.2 g

Garam Masala spice blend

2011-01-25T07:00:00.001-07:00

This recipe is courtesy of Chef Andrew Sherrill from the Blue Star here in Colorado Springs. About a month ago I went to a cooking demo that Chef Andrew held at a local spice store called Extraordinary Ingredients. He demonstrated 3 recipes for us, a delicious Jamaican Jerk rub, the best cajun blackening spice I've ever tried and this mind blowing Garam Masala.

A few of the ingredients in this spice blend are a bit more exotic than your local grocery store will carry so I recommend scouting out your favorite spice retailer for the black cardamom pods as well as the black cumin. Chef Andrew explained that the black cardamom and black cumin have a more intense, deeper flavor than their 'regular' counterparts. They provide a distinct depth of flavor that you won't get from standard cardamom or cumin. If you are unsuccessful in your hunt for black cardamom and black cumin, fear not, the regular versions can be used, your spice blend just won't be as intense as the Chef intended.

Lastly, be sure to toast your spices before grinding them. Toasting spices is very easy and imparts so much flavor you'll wonder why you never toasted them before! Simply heat a DRY skillet over medium high heat, once the pan is hot add your whole spices and shake it around for about 20-30 seconds. Once you can smell the spices you're done. Over toasting leads to burning and burn is not a flavor you're going to want in your Garam Masala. Allow the spices to cool for about 3-5 minutes for easiest grinding. A mortar and pestle is the preferred grinding device, however a coffee or spice grinder works just fine, too. This Garam Masala spice blend will last about 6 months stored in your spice cabinet.

Garam Masala
Source: Chef Andrew Sherrill of the Blue Star
~*~Makes a LOT of spice blend, feel free to scale it back for your use~*~
4 T coriander seed
1 T cumin
1 1/2 t black cumin
3-4 large pods black cardamom
1 T black pepper
2x1 inch pieces cinnamon sticks OR 3/4 t
3/4 t bay leaves crushed
3/4 t cloves

Toast all whole spices (reserve the bay leaves, they do not benefit from toasting). Allow to cool about 3-5 minutes before combining with the bay leaves in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Grind until very fine. Store in a sealed container, in a dark dry place.

Best when used directly after grinding as the flavor components are released by the toasting and grinding process. Flavor will diminish the longer it sits. I'd store this Garam Masala no longer than 6 months.

Chopped at Home week 1: Pork Wonton soup

2011-01-22T06:00:00.004-07:00

I'm a lucky Witch! Why you ask? Because I've got a good friend whos amazing in the kitchen AND has a kid about the same age of the Little Witch. We've been having 'cooking play dates' where the kids play and the cooks, well cook! We've made quite a lot of delicious things - the cheese blintz pancakes were one of our creations.

This past weekend, my buddy came over with a hodge podge of ingredients. It was his idea that we'd play our own version of "Chopped", the cooking contest show from Food Network. On the show the contestants are given an ingredients basket and they have 30 minutes to create an edible dish using all of the strange ingredients. In the Witches' house, we take the mystery ingredients, spread them out on the kitchen table and then discuss what our plan of attack is. There is no time limit! Sure, its not the same as Chopped, but then again there's no TV crew to film us, either.

One of this week's mystery ingredients was pork hocks. All I could think to do with these was to cook them down & make a stock out of them. Pork stock. Ok sure, you've never heard of it but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try it. Right away the Witch gets her trusty dutch oven out and starts the hocks browning. Throwing in a basic mire poix of celery, onion & carrot was only natural for stock making. I threw in a bit of garlic and ginger for a bit of Asian flavor. 2 hours later, we were witness to an extremely flavorful pork stock that was just begging to be made into a soup.

The wontons were just premade frozen wontons from the Asian market. Use whatever frozen wontons you like, or you can make your own. When we ladled the soup into the bowls and topped them with slices of green onions, well it was like being in a good Chinese restaurant. Rich. Flavorful. Unctuous and filled with umami. This soup was GOOD!! I'd have to award the Chopped championship to us, for sure! With a rockin' soup like this the competition didn't stand a chance. Oh wait...there was no competition. Well whatever, the soup was still good!

Pork Wonton Soup
makes 4 servings
5-6 pork hocks - unsmoked
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
2 ribs celery, cut into thirds
1 onion, rough chop
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed but left whole
1 inch ginger, cut roughly, you don't even have to peel it
kosher salt & pepper to taste
frozen pork wontons
water
drizzle of oil

In a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot, heat over medium high heat and add oil. Once hot add the pork hocks and allow to brown. This will take about 5 minutes per side.

After first side is browned add the veggies to the pan, onions first, then carrots then celery and garlic. Allow to cook on 2nd side about 5-10 minutes, stirring veg once or twice to avoid burning.

Once the pork has browned and the veg have a slight bit of color on them add water, enough to cover the hocks in 2 inches of water (about half the pan full). Bring up to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

After 1 hour stir things around and add some salt and pepper (best guess is about 1/2 t kosher salt and 1/8 t pepper) and the ginger. Allow to simmer for another hour. The stock will start to thicken as the collagen is dissolved from the pork hocks enriching the stock. the stock will also reduce by about half, concentrating the flavors so be sure not to over salt initially. You can always add more salt later on.

Once stock is done, about 2 hours, strain off solids and discard them. Rinse out the stock pot, return the strained liquid to the pot and add 8 frozen wontons to the stock. Allow wontons to simmer in stock for 5-10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Serve soup with a drizzle of soy sauce and green onions if you have them.

Cranberry & Spice jam

2011-01-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cranberry and spice jam, it tastes as good as it sounds. This jam was created to go alongside brie en croute with pralined pecans. Its not what most would consider a sweet jam, its quite tart; retaining the cranberries tang and flavor. We really enjoyed it with the brie, the tartness of the cranberries really cut through the creamy fattiness of the cheese and the flavors were very complimentary. This jam can be canned - use the hot pack method and process in a water bath. If you choose not to can the jam, it'll last about 3 weeks in the fridge, covered. This would also be delicious on a turkey sandwich.

Cranberry & Spice jam
makes about 3 cups
makes about 3.5 cups, or 28 servings (2T each)
1 bag cranberries, fresh
1/2 c orange juice
2 1 in pieces of cinnamon stick
4 all spice berries
2 cloves
~*~ can substitute 1 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice for the whole spices ~*~
3/4 c sugar
pinch of salt

Combine everything in a sauce pan. Stir well. Heat over medium high heat until it starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium low. Simmer over medium low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. Remove whole spices (if used) before serving.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 26.1
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 5.7 mg
Potassium 14.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.7 g
Dietary Fiber 0.3 g
Sugars 6.0 g
Protein 0.1 g

Sesame Shrimp Lo Mein

2011-01-12T07:00:00.003-07:00

Recently the Witch got brave, and with a little help from her friends, went to the Asian Pacific Grocery store. Why this place intimidated me for so long is a mystery, I'm just so glad that I've discovered it! As a lover of Asian flavors I was in foodie heaven with all those different types of soys, sauces, chili pastes and noodles. Oh, the noodles!! SO many choices: rice noodles, ramen in every variety you can imagine and a few you've never thought of, lo mein noodles, etc. The ones that really caught my eyes were the nested egg noodles. Something about them spoke to me, and I'm really glad I listened to their call!

The lo mein noodles are thin, yet have nice texture to them, light yet hearty enough to stand up to the intense heat of a wok. Their flavor is exactly what a lo mein dish needs. Once you've tried real Asian noodles in lo mein you won't be going back to plain old pasta as a substitution.

The flavors on this are inspired by sesame chicken, our most ordered dish from Chinese restaurants. The Witch chose to use a bit of tahini in the sauce to really bring the sesame flavor home, however I'll be the first to admit that the sauce needs a bit of tweeking. It was good, quite good, don't get me wrong, but its not perfect. I don't quite know what's missing, maybe a touch more acid? Less tahini? The flavor & texture of the sauce was very similar to peanut sauce, thick and rich, spicy and sweet, but SOMETHING was missing. If you all have any suggestions please let me know! Despite the sauce not being up to my high standards of perfection this dish was devoured and not a single left over noodle was to be found. Which just means that I need to make it again, and work on that sauce!

Sesame Shrimp Lo Mein
makes 4 servings
1 lb shrimp, defrosted, deveined and peeled, removing tails
red bell pepper, julienne
1 bunch scallions, sliced on the bias
1 large carrot, julienne
1 stalk celery, sliced thin on the bias
4 bunches of Asian egg noodles
3 T soy sauce
2 T white wine
3 cloves garlic
1 T tahini
2 T water
2-3T sugar
2 t Sriracha
sprinkle of sesame seeds for garnish
2 T oil for stir fry

Chop all vegetables and set aside first.
Peel and devein shrimp and pat dry.
Mix up the sauce ingredients in a bowl and reserve.

Cook noodles according to instructions on bag & reserve.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and stir fry the veggies until they start to brown & have softened slightly. Push the veg aside in the pan and add the shrimp. Cook about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through then add the sauce, stirring to coat everything evenly. After sauce is added throw the noodles in and stir fry about 1-2 minutes longer. Shrimp will finish cooking in this time. Garnish with sesame seeds and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 374.6
Total Fat 12.0 g
Saturated Fat 1.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.4 g
Cholesterol 185.8 mg
Sodium 963.5 mg
Potassium 784.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 38.3 g
Dietary Fiber 5.2 g
Sugars 16.3 g
Protein 28.1 g

Chocolate Crinkles

2011-01-07T07:45:00.002-07:00

Are you a chocoholic? Do you like cookies? Do you like your chocolate to be on the darker side, full of complex flavors and not cloyingly sweet? If you answered YES to these questions then I've got the cookie for you! Chocolate Crinkles!

What makes these cookies so special? First of all, they call for melted chocolate, not cocoa powder. Now don't get me wrong, the Kitchen Witch LOVES cocoa powder. But even the Witch will admit, its not 'real chocolate'. Cocoa powder is a large contributor of the dreaded dry crumblies in cookies, and sometimes it just doesn't have that CHOCOLATE punch of flavor that I'm looking for. There's nothing more disappointing than taking a big bite of a deep dark chocolate cookie and have no flavor to back up that beautiful color. These cookies, on the other hand, deliver on the chocolate in a big way. The Witch used a combo of 60% dark (4 oz) and semi sweet chips (6 oz, yeah I know that's more than the recipe called for, but I love chocolate!). Next time I'll use all 60% cacao dark chocolate, as always, use whatever chocolate you like.

Second, there's not a lot of sugar in these babies, a mere 2/3 c plus 2T for the entire batch means these won't be cloying in the slightest. I also really like how the less than sweet cookie base allows the powdered sugar coating to bring a bit more sweetness to each bite.

Lastly, the coffee powder in these cookies really take them from ho hum to WOW! Dark chocolate and coffee are BFF. Just like real BFF's, they bring out the best in each other. Coffee intensifies chocolate's flavor while chocolate makes coffee less bitter. The deep complexities of each of these sing in perfect harmony in this powdered sugar coated chocolate lovers dream come true cookie. Please keep in mind that these are not very popular with the kids. Between the intense dark chocolate, the lack of sugary sweetness and the deep coffee notes keep the kiddo's hands off these, which leaves more for us adults. I like that!

Chocolate Crinkles
source: adapted from King Arthur Flour Recipes
Makes: about 3 dozen cookies (more or less depending on size)
1 1/3 cups (8 ounces) chopped bittersweet chocolate and/or chocolate chips
1/2 cup (4 ounces, 1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup plus 2T (4 3/4 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons espresso powder (optional) (I used a packet of Starbucks VIA Italian Roast)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups (7 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
confectioners' sugar* (for coating)

In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate and butter. Using 30 second bursts of power, heat chocolate until melted, stirring well after each heating cycle. It took 3 rounds in my microwave. Stir chocolate and butter until you have a smooth consistency.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, vanilla and espresso powder. Stir in the chocolate mixture, baking powder and salt, then the flour. Chill the dough for 2 to 3 hours, or overnight; it'll firm up considerably.

Scoop cookies using a cookie scoop and place into powdered sugar. Roll in sugar to coat all sides and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (these cookies do want to stick so please use parchment, silpat or lightly oil the sheet tray). Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes. The bottoms will be slightly crispy and the tops will be very soft, almost liquid. Allow to rest on baking sheet for 1 minute before carefully removing to a cooking rack. Let cookies cool for at least 1 hour.

Cheese blintz pancakes

2011-01-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for something new and different to offer for your breakfasts and brunches? Cheese blintz, while delicious, can be a serious pain to make. First you have to make crepe batter, let it rest for an hour, make the crepes - a task that in and of itself is challenging, then fill the crepes with the cheese filling and serve. Wouldn't it be awesome if there were a cheese blintz pancake that gave us the same flavors but with only half the work? Guess what? There is! Cheese blintz pancakes!

New Years day we had friends over for a cooking brunch playdate. The menu planning was the duty of our buddy Eric and he chose cheese blintz pancakes. Sounds good to me, says the Witch. Add cheese to pretty much anything & I'm a happy girl! I was really excited to make these - something different from plain pancakes, a savory twist on a family classic.

The finished product is a thing of beauty, a browned crispy pancake and inside is smooth, creamy & cheesy. We topped our blintz pancakes in the traditional way, with a schmear of sour cream and a dollop of strawberry jam. We also tried a lot of other fruit toppings, blueberries, cherries, apricot jam, raspberry jam and apple pie filling. After much sampling we concluded that the strawberry jam was the best, its sweet tart flavor balanced the rich cheese pancake perfectly. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Cheese Blintz Pancakes
makes 4 servings, about 2 pancakes per serving
Source: My friend Eric and his mom, Phyllis
1 cup Wondra flour (~*~see Kitchen Witch Tip below)
2 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 T sugar
1 t table salt
oil or butter for cooking pancakes

In a large mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar, sour cream and cottage cheese. Mix together, it will be lumpy.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Once beaten fold them into the cheese & flour mix. This will make a very thick batter.

Cook over medium low heat in a well buttered sautee pan until cooked on both sides, about 3-4 minutes on first side, 2-3 on 2nd side.

Top with your choice of toppings: sour cream and strawberry jam is the best!

~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: WONDRA flour is a super fine milled flour designed to dissolve quickly into sauces & gravies with out producing lumps. Its delicate texture helps the otherwise heavy blintz pancake stay light & airy. You can use all purpose flour in lieu of WONDRA, however please use 2 T less AP flour (so 3/4 c + 2 T of AP, vs 1 cup of WONDRA) AND be aware that you might have a slightly more chewy pancake if using all purpose flour.~*~

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Cheese blintz pancakes - values do not include any toppings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 323.2
Total Fat 15.6 g
Saturated Fat 9.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.7 g
Cholesterol 136.1 mg
Sodium 872.7 mg
Potassium 167.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 30.9 g
Dietary Fiber 0.6 g
Sugars 3.3 g
Protein 15.7 g

Meyer Lemon shrimp cocktail

2011-01-05T07:15:00.001-07:00

Shrimp cocktail usually falls into one of 2 categories: bland and meh at best or out of this world delicious. I'm happy to report that this shrimp cocktail falls into the latter category. If you like your shrimp plump, perfectly cooked & delicately seasoned and your cocktail sauce hot, spicy and sinus clearing, then this is the shrimp cocktail for you.

Speaking of cocktail sauce, according to this Witch, it had better be spicy. Clear your sinuses spicy! If you don't like your cocktail sauce as hot as the Witch does, feel free to back off on the horseradish. However the beauty of horseradish is that its a quick burn, up front in your palette and sinuses, and it doesn't linger. One big burn then its gone, leaving you with a serious need to double dip your shrimp to get more of that spicy goodness back into your mouth. A touch of the Meyer lemon and Worcestershire sauce add just enough acid to make your taste buds stand up and pay attention.

The shrimp are baked in a very hot oven, which concentrates their flavors unlike steamed or boiled shrimp, which tend to be rubbery and flavorless. The Witch likes to use shell on shrimp and roast them in their shells, again adding to the flavor component, and helps keep them from drying out while in the hot box. Meyer lemon is a sweet lemon, not as intensely tart and the perfect citrus for shrimp. The tart lemon compliments the briny flavor of shrimp yet isn't heavy or over powered. Please remember to peel your shrimp before dipping into your cocktail sauce.

Meyer lemon shrimp cocktail
makes 2 large servings
1 lb shrimp, shell on & deveined, thawed
juice of 1 Meyer lemon
2 T olive oil
3/4 t kosher salt
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed but left whole

Cocktail sauce
1 very heaping teaspoon of extra hot horseradish (prepared)
1/2 c ketchup
1 T lemon juice
pinch salt
2 t Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 450F.
While oven heats dry thawed shrimp with paper towels or give them a run in your salad spinner. Once shrimp are dried add the lemon juice, oil, garlic and salt. Toss to coat. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Pour marinated shrimp onto a sheet pan in a single layer. Bake for 10 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and curl and are just cooked through. Remove from sheet tray immediately, discard garlic and peel shrimp, enjoy with cocktail sauce.

Cocktail sauce:
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Taste for season, add a bit more salt or horseradish depending on taste.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Meyer Lemon Shrimp
Amount Per Serving
Calories 182.7
Total Fat 8.7 g
Saturated Fat 1.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.3 g
Cholesterol 172.3 mg
Sodium 407.9 mg
Potassium 224.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.3 g
Protein 23.1 g

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Spicy cocktail sauce
Amount Per Serving
Calories 41.0
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 445.0 mg
Potassium 1.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 10.3 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 8.0 g
Protein 0.0 g