2009 September | This Dame Cooks

Archive for September, 2009

Fig and Walnut Butter

Monday, September 14th, 2009

As a kid I disliked fig Newtons. I liked the fig filling well enough but not the cookie dough which seemed too sweet to me. In fact fig Newtons were practically nauseating to me for 30 years or more. It wasn’t until I had my own fig tree outside the backdoor of my Seattle cottage that I learned to love figs in a variety of compositions. I still have not acquired a taste for fig Newtons to this day. At any rate dried figs, sweet and sour figs, and fig butter with walnuts are just a few of the many ways I preserved the bounty of my fig tree.

This recipe is simply made in a crock pot with just sugar, walnuts, salt, cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon juice. The preserve is smooth with little crunchy fig seeds and the walnuts add a bit more texture and nutty flavor. Peeling the fresh figs will eliminate having to puree the cooked figs. However, the skins add color and richness to the butter and a handheld puree wand works great for this chore. A food mill or food processor will work just as well.

This butter is delightful on a biscuit or toast and great as a cake filling. An added bonus of figs is their diuretic and laxative qualities…much like prunes. Fresh figs are in season so get to cookin’ and fill your pantry with fig goodies. Fig and Walnut Butter will make a lovely holiday gift for any foodie on your list.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of fresh black or white figs, chopped, about 8 cups
2 cups of brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Method:

Place all ingredients except walnuts in a covered crock pot. Stir to combine. Set temperature to high and cook until bubbly.
Puree cooked figs in a food processor or use a hand-held puree wand.
Return figs to crock pot, add walnuts and set temperature to low. Cook uncovered until buttery smooth and thick enough to mound up on a spoon.
Sterilize glass jars, fill to 1/4 inch from rim with hot butter. Seal and place in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.
Refrigerate once opened.

Donate to My Coffee Kitty and help a senior pay for cataract surgery. 70% of seniors are afficted with cataracts. It's a simple surgery to remove cataracts but very expensive...about $3000 per eye. If you're not old enough to qualify for medicare, and you're uninsured, can't find a job, can't get a driver's license, or read a good book because of cataracts, your world is impoverished. Help save someone's sight!

Tags: fig and walnut butter, fig preserves, fruit butters
Posted in Preserves & Condiments | 1 Comment »

Sausages and Balsamic Grapes with Mash

Monday, September 14th, 2009

This dish is a take-off on “bangers and mash” or sausages and mashed potatoes. It has its origins in London and Dublin public houses or pubs going back to 1919…the ultimate pub-grub for the working class. However, bangers and mash is immensely popular in all Common Wealth countries around the world. Its cheap comfort food that can be made in quantity. Normally served with caramelized onion gravy, some gastropubs today have kicked up the traditional recipe with mushrooms, garlic potatoes and some fairly sophisticated sauces.

Seedless red grapes and onions stewed in balsamic vinegar is surprisingly not tart and adds delightful richness to a spicy Italian sausage or traditional Cumberland sausages. The new potatoes are boiled in their jackets (not peeled) slightly mashed with buttermilk and seasoned with salt and pepper. The whole affair needs only a salad or other slightly blanched green vegetable such as haricot verts (French green beans) or asparagus. The next time you need comfort food for a gang on football Sunday try this dish. Serve with a pint of ale and you’ll score for sure.

Ingredients:

4 oz sausage per person
1/2 cup red or green seedless grapes per person
1/2 onion per person, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar per person
1 Tbsp cold butter to bind sauce
1 large new potato per person, scrubbed and boiled until fork tender
1/2 cup buttermilk
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 scallion sliced for garnish

Method:

Place sausages in 1-inch of water in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Cook until nearly all water dissipates and sausages begin to brown.
Add onions and cook until wilted and fragrant.
Add grapes and balsamic vinegar and cook until sausages are browned on all sides. (Turn sausages to brown as sauce stews.)
Meanwhile, boil potatoes until fork tender, drain and mash until broken up. Add buttermilk and mash until lumpy. (You want texture here.)
Season potatoes with salt and pepper. Keep warm over simmering water until serving time.
When sausages are done, remove from pan, swirl cold butter into grape and onion sauce until smooth and thickened sauce results.
Plate mashed potatoes, top with sausages, spoon grape and onion sauce over all.
Garnish with sliced scallion threads.

Tags: bangers and mash, cooking with seedless grapes, origin of bangers and mash, sausages and mashed potatoes
Posted in Main Dishes | No Comments »

Roasted Chicken and Fresh Fig Salad

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Figs are in season now and they are sweet reminders that fall is just around the corner. Figs were the first fruit cultivated by ancient civilizations. They were used for sweeteners before sugar cane was discovered and are still used in Northern Africa and the Middle East to sweeten confections and savory dishes. Its been proposed that Eve tempted Adam not with an apple but with a fig.

The explorers brought figs to the new world in 1520. Black California Mission figs and a white variety make excellent preserves. They are dripping with syrup when ripe and add elegant flavor to meats, make delightful confections such as clafoutis and cookies and wonderfully smooth butter like apple butter. Walnuts and fresh figs go well together as stuffing for chicken breasts. Figs with Gorgonzola cheese and fresh tomatoes, or with fresh mozzarella make great bruschetta. Figs wrapped in prosciutto with goats cheese and arugula make perfect hors d’oeuvres. Fresh or dried, figs make great out-of-hand snacks and are good for you.

This salad will satisfy your hunger pangs for something sweet, meaty and crunchy. Dress it with your favorite vinaigrette or just a little extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. Serve with crusty French bread and a glass of wine for a light dinner.

Ingredients:

1 package of baby spring lettuce greens
1 roasted chicken breast, chilled and sliced
1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 fresh button mushrooms, sliced thin
6 fresh white figs, halved or quartered
2 scallions sliced thin
6 bocconcini (mini mozzarella cheese balls)
vinaigrette of choice
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Arrange everything on top of lettuce greens, drizzle with vinaigrette, season and enjoy.

Tags: California Mission figs, chicken salad, Figs, history of figs
Posted in Salads & Dressings | 3 Comments »

Crock Pot Apple Butter

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Apple Butter Festivals reign supreme throughout the USA from September through the end of October. Washington state to Virginia, everyone is getting in the swing for mouth-watering comfort apple-butter. Maybe your great-great-grandma made apple-butter in a copper kettle over an outdoor fire or your great grandma made it in the oven and the whole house was apple fragrant for a week. We can now adays pretty much achieve the same quality and flavor cooking a batch of this smooth and creamy apple preserve in a crock pot. Its so simple. Once the apples are peeled, cored and chopped the crock pot does all the work. Sterilize jars and heat lids to preserve your finished product or fill freezer-safe containers. Nothing is as welcomed as a basket of homemade preserves for the holidays. If you are fortunate to have apple trees in your yard, make several batches and have a fundraiser for school or church. Your good neighbors will snap up every jar that you make. Note: use windfallen apples and be sure to compost the peels and cores.

Apple butter is perfect on toast, muffins, corn bread, crepes and makes a fabulous glaze for pork or ham roasts.

Ingredients for 5 quart Crock Pot:

3 quarts of apples, peeled cored and chopped
2 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
3 cups brown sugar, packed
1 tsp sea salt or canning salt

Method:

Place all ingredients in crock pot. Turn to high and cook until bubbly.
Turn temperature to low and cook until thick and creamy smooth, about 10 hours.
Taste from time to time for more cinnamon or sugar.
Fill sterilized jars within 1/4-inch of rim and seal.

Tags: apple butter, apple butter festivals, apples, crock pot apple butter, crock pot recipes, homemade gifts, Preserves
Posted in Preserves & Condiments | 5 Comments »

Fresh Figs and Pork Tenderloin in Port

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Organic fresh figs add an elegant sweetness to medallions of pork tenderloin simmered in onions and port wine. This dish will impress dinner party guests and family alike and its so easy to make. Serve it with rice pilaf and French green beans cooked with a bit of butter and garlic.

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup onions chopped (scallions or yellow onions)
1 cup port wine
1 cup homemade chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 pork tenderloin (3-4 oz per person), silver side trimmed, sliced into 1/2 inch medallions
8 large fresh figs, remove stem and quarter (2 figs per person)
balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp or to taste

Method:

Saute onions in olive oil until soft and fragrant.
Add wine, stock, salt and pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce to half. Set aside.
Flatten pork medallions a bit and season with salt and pepper.
In a very hot skillet just wiped with olive oil, sear pork medallions for 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a plate.
Return sauce pan to heat and add fresh figs, balsamic vinegar and pork medallions. Cook over medium high until pork is medium rare, about 5 minutes more.
If sauce is too thin, remove medallions and figs, mix 1 tsp of corn starch in 2 Tbsp of cold water and blend into sauce until thicken and satiny.
Plate medallions over figs and spoon over the sauce.