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Yum's February Must Haves

partysugar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:46:24 -0800

Finally, January is over and we can move on to more exciting times! February is a great month to plan a get-together because there is so much to celebrate: there's Valentine's Day, the Academy Awards, and Mardi Gras! To enjoy February to its fullest, I've rounded up five items you must have.

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Yummy Links: From Tanya Steel to Olympic Diets

partysugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:45:02 -0700

With her new book, Tanya Steel shows adults how to feed kids without being deceptive. - The Epi-Log
What is your most-stained cookbook? - Serious Eats
A delicious combination: tomatoes and vodka. - GlamDish
Before you pack that Spanish ham leg in your suitcase, learn what food and drink can legally be brought into the United States. - The Kitchn
Go behind the scenes of the 19th Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival. - Slashfood
A day in the life of a top mixologist.- 7 x 7
Dunkin Donuts debuts a healthier menu. - FitSugar
Everything you need to know about ramekins. - Baking Bites
How to clean a soft-shell crab. - Chow
Eat like an Olympian. - Food and Wine

Source

Give Your Hostess Some Love

partysugar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:13:18 -0800

Everyone has a friend or family member who loves to entertain so this Valentine's Day surprise the entertainer in your life with a clever heartfelt gift. From a heart-shaped flask to a delicious dessert cookbook, here are my ideas for the perfect gift for the perfect hostess.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Baby Pumpkins with Garlic Custard

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:13:33 -0700

I was flipping through the lastest issue of Sunset magazine when these cute little pumpkins caught my eye. Not only were they adorably festive, but they were full of custard too! I immediately sent YumJimmy to the store to find pumpkins, while I prepped the kitchen for baking. Unfortunately, the store didn't have baby pumpkins, so I had to make do with mid-sized ones. The custard, which is a savory one, came out wonderfully silky - almost like a silken tofu - and the flavor was subtle - almost too subtle, I actually had to load up on salt and pepper afterwards - and it was so fun to look at too!

While this particular recipe is savory -and, if using the right pumpkins, comes together in 30 minutes - the pumpkin vessel can be used for any flavor custard. I definitely plan on trying it again with a pumpkin custard!

If all of this pumpkin talk has you interested, check out the recipe, just read more

The amount of custard the recipe makes is enough to fill six small pumpkins, or one medium-sized one. If you use a medium-sized pumpkin, be sure to up the amount of baking time; they will need to be in the oven for about an hour. Also, if using a medium-sized pumpkins, omit the first step where the pumpkins are baked empty.

If you try this recipe, definitely look for small fist-sized pumpkins - the presentation is much cuter - and make sure your garlic is fresh. The flavor is really subtle, but the texture is lovely and smooth.

Baby Pumpkins with Garlic Custard
From Sunset, October 2007

6 small pumpkins
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely shredded parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Bake pumpkins until just tender, about 20 minutes. Cut off tops and set aside, then scoop out seeds.
In a medium bowl, whisk together heavy cream and whole milk with garlic, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, and white pepper. Pour mixture into a measuring cup.
Arrange pumpkins in a baking dish large enough to hold them without crowding. Divide custard mixture among pumpkins and cover with tops.
Pour enough water into dish to reach halfway up sides. Bake until custard jiggles only slightly, about 30 minutes. Remove from dish and let cool 5 minutes.

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Savory Sight: Gorgonzola, Apple, and Bacon Mac-n-Cheese

Yum Community — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:15 -0800

This story was written by member jadenirvana and comes from the Savory Sights group in the YumSugar Community. I made Yum's insanely good mac 'n' cheese recipe in some ramekins my mother in law gave me for creme brulee. The little tart-size dishes made the meal extra cute, and I substituted bacon for walnuts for extra yumminess. The combo of sharp gorgonzola, crisp apples and rich bacon was so good, literally one of the most delish things I've ever tasted, and I never would have thought of it on my own. How do you do it Yum?

Have you eaten an awesome meal? Join the Savory Sights group, upload your photos and a description of the experience, and it could be featured on YumSugar! If you are new to the YumSugar Community, here's a detailed guide to posting to groups.

Come Party With Me: Bold Flavorful Thanksgiving - The Look

partysugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:50:16 -0800

When serving a bold and flavorful Thanksgiving dinner, the theme should carry over to the table setting. You don't need a tablecloth to add a sense of formality; a satin and embroidered runner is equally as festive. Set placemats in front of each chair and top with a shiny brown charger and white plate. Arrange the utensils and napkins on the placemats next to the chargers. Add white and red wine glasses to the upper right of the plate. Serve the food on light brown platters and the dessert in individual ramekins. Tea lights in globe candle holders create an illuminating and slightly romantic ambiance. Homemade leaf placecards provide an element of whimsy and a lush bouquet of plum flowers completes the look.

Mac Attack! Goat Cheese and Pesto

YumSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:15:41 -0700

You love pesto, I love pesto! I have to admit I was giddy when I found a recipe that combines the comfort of mac and cheese with pesto. It also uses another one of my favorites, goat cheese. Since I had already eaten a lot of elbow macaroni, I picked up a box of orecchiette. They are said to be shaped like small ears, but I think they look more like little bowls; a perfect vessel to fill with sauce!

The combination of goat cheese, Parmesan, and pesto is insanely creamy. For a great crunch and texture, the mac and cheese is topped with panko. Rather than make a big pan, I cooked it in easy-to-serve individual ramekins. With a little planning this recipe won't take much longer than a box of Kraft - except it's a million times more rewarding. If you want to wow your friends and family with scrumptious mac and cheese, keep reading!

And Now For a Few Words With Christopher Kimball

YumSugar — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:07:33 -0800

The folks behind America's Test Kitchen have just released a new book called America's Best Lost Recipes. It's a collection of heirloom recipes that could have easily gone missing forever if it wasn't for this collection.

Recently we had a chance to ask editor Christopher Kimball - the one with the bow tie - a few questions. He chatted about the new book, what goes on at the test kitchen, and why you should quit trying to be a chef, and start trying to be a great cook instead. Here's what he had to say:

YumSugar: What brought about the Lost Recipes collection?

Christopher Kimball: I am a huge fan of old cookbooks and old recipes but have wondered for years where all of these great old recipes went. But I wasn't interested in recipes that were purely historical or anthropological in nature - I wanted tried-and-true recipes that still resonated today. That is, one would really want to make and eat them. So, we started with a nationwide recipe contest for "lost" recipes and received 2,800 responses, selected 300 that seemed the most interesting, cooked them all, and finally whittled the list down to 121 recipes that were interesting, delicious, and also still, I hope, relevant for modern cooks.

YS: What was the most unexpected thing to come out of this collection?
CK: Oh, all of those cooking techniques that I had never heard of before. Baking a pound cake in an oven that is cold when you put the pan in. Or, making a chocolate cake with no eggs, milk, or butter. Or, and this was our winning recipe, putting peeled peaches around a pie plate, placing an upside down ramekin in the middle, drizzling a caramel sauce over them, topping with pie pastry, baking, and then, when baked, turning the whole thing upside down and all the juices have been sucked up into the ramekin. Now there is a magic trick for you!

To read the rest of part one of our interview with Chris, read more

YS: How would you explain Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen to our readers who are just learning about it?
CK: That's easy. We are a 3,000-square-foot test kitchen just outside of Boston that employees 35 full-time test cooks (almost 100 people total). Recipes are researched, a few sample versions are made and tasted, we construct our own recipe, and then we make it over and over again until we like it - like it a lot. In some cases, we have made a recipe over 100 times (our Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake comes to mind). We made over 1,000 pounds of fudge and never published the recipe in Cook's because it was not foolproof.

We publish two magazines - Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country - and we film the public television show, America's Test Kitchen, on the premises. We are also launching a new show on public television next summer based on Cook's Country magazine. It was filmed in Vermont in a house that was renovated specifically for Cook's Country.

YS: Could you explain more about your testing procedure? What does it take for you to publish a recipe?

CK: Each round of tests involves a blind tasting so we do not know which recipe is which. Each round focuses on one set of variables - cake flour versus all-purpose for example. Once we get that right, we move on to the next set of issues. Once a recipe is perfected, it is sent out to a former editor in San Francisco who makes it for her friends and gives us a fresh perspective. Then it is sent to 5,000 subscribers. About 150 to 200 of them will make it in the first week, and we use those ratings to continue revising the recipe. We need 80 percent of those surveyed to want to make the recipe again. If the ratio falls much below that, we go back to the drawing board. The whole process can take up to two months. Of course, not every recipe goes through this level of scrutiny. Here, I am talking about the recipes
that we publish in Cook's Illustrated.

YS: Who gets the final say on whether or not something is "finished"?
CK: A group of us review the reader surveys and taste the food to determine whether it is done or not. This includes our test kitchen director, our editorial director, two or three other editors, and then myself on a more cursory level near the end of the process.

Tomorrow Chris answers our questions about gourmet cooking, the difference between home chefs and home cooks, and we also learn about his FOUR freezers. Be sure to check back!

52 Weeks of Baking: Peach Puzzle

YumSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:01:31 -0700

The magazine Cook's Country recently hosted a recipe contest where their readers sent in their old-school family recipes. The winner, a crafty "Peach Puzzle" looked delicious, but didn't really catch my fancy until I read the recipe. The whole thing is prepared like an upside-down cake - with an empty ramekin placed in the middle - and when flipped over the ramekin is surprisingly full of a sweet liquid treat! It's wonderfully old-fashioned, absolutely tasty, and I actually couldn't wait to tell everyone how it was made. If you're curious yourself, then check out the recipe now, read more

Definitely serve this one warm. I had leftovers and brought them in to the office the next day. Since the liquid didn't travel well (it spilled all over), the peach puzzle was completely soggy - still tasty, but awful to look at - and had lost its crispy crust.

Peach Puzzle
From Lois Schlademan of Stow, Ohio via Cook's Country Magazine

Serves 7

Lois says to choose peaches that are neither very ripe nor rock-hard. They should give a little when squeezed. Also, be sure to invert the pie plate quickly to avoid losing any of the syrup.

Peaches and Syrup
7 medium peaches , peeled (see note)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
6 tablespoons milk

For the peaches and syrup:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 6-ounce custard cup or ramekin upside down in center of 9-inch pie plate and arrange peaches around ramekin.
Combine brown sugar, water, butter, vanilla, and salt in medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and butter melts, about 5 minutes. Pour syrup over peaches.

For the dough:

Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until blended.
Add butter and pulse until flour mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, five to six 1-second pulses.
Turn mixture into medium bowl.
To make dough by hand: Use large holes on box grater to grate frozen butter into bowl with flour mixture, then rub flour-coated pieces between your fingers until flour mixture turns pale yellow and coarse.

To assemble:

Using rubber spatula, fold milk into flour mixture, pressing mixture against sides of bowl to form dough.
Squeeze dough together and flatten into disk. On lightly floured work surface, roll dough into 9-inch circle.
Lay dough directly over peaches and press dough so that it fits snuggly around peaches. The dough will stretch as you fit it around peaches, but do not attach dough to pie plate.
Bake until top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on rack for 30 minutes.

To Serve:

Place large rimmed serving plate over top of pie plate and quickly invert Puzzle onto plate.
Cut into wedges around each peach and serve, pouring syrup over each portion.

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Reader's Recipe: Hearty "Cleaned Up" Chicken Pot Pie

YumSugar — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:58:13 -0800

For some reason, I have been craving chicken pot pie for the past few weeks. I'm not sure where the craving came from, or why, but I do know that I need to make one sooner than later. I've got a few recipes in my repertoire, but I decided to see if there were any great recipes online. Lucky for me, I didn't have to look too hard. My first stop was TeamSugar and reader suzanne has provided a great looking chicken pot pie that's she's altered from The Best Light Recipes cookbook. To check out what suzanne has come up with, read more

Recipe submitted by suzanne

This recipe (from "The Best Light Recipes Cookbook") started out at 380 calaories and 9g fat (instead of the usual 510 calories and 28 g of fat...) The changes I made did not alter the taste or texture at all... just brought the fat and calories even lower. Serves 8

It's delicious and satisfying. give it a try!

Light Chicken Pot Pie

- 6 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 3 celery stalks sliced 1/4 in. thick
- I medium onion chopped fine
- 2 garlic cloved, minced
- 2 tsp. fresh Thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 medium skinless boneless chicken breasts trimmed of all fat
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1 cup skim milk
- 2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley leaves
- pinch salt and ground black pepper
- 1 Kroger frozen pie crust (4gm per serving) taken out of the shell, moistened, a bit formed into a ball and rerolled into a thin round circle.

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine carrots, celery, onion, garlic, thyme and 1/2 tsp. salt in a cooking pot. Cook in 4 cups chicken stock until vegetables are soft and tender. Stir in white wine and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.
3. Place the whole chicken breasts into the vegatable/sauce mixture and cook until the chicken is not pink in the center - about 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and allow to cool.
4. While the chicken cools, whisk the cornstarch into the milk and add to the simmering pot. Simmer until thick, then turn off heat.
5. Take out the bay leaf, stir in the peas, green beans and parsley and season with salt and pepper
6. When the chicken is cool enought to handle, shred it and then cut into bits sized pieces. Stir the chicken into the sauce/veg mixture.
7. Use a turned over ramekin as a cookie cutter and make 8 pie crust circles for topping the pot pies.
8. Evenly divide the mixture into individual ramekins and top each with a pie crust round. Brush each pie crust round with egg white or milk.
9. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the sauce is bubbly... 20-25 minutes.

Serve on a dinner plate alongside a fresh salad. Mmmmmmmmm!!!