Fastnacht Day in Savannah

So These are the ones I made with the same recipe Pam used (from our Dutchie mother)I dipped half in chocolate and the other in cinnmon sugar.

For the holes I mixed in poppy seeds and dipped them in a lemon glaze. These I couldn't get to cook all the way through with out over cooking the outside.

I Also made crullers which were freekin awsome!

Here's the recipe:

1 cup water

8Tbs unsalted butter

pinch of salt

1cup flour

4 eggs

vegetable oil

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt, in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally so the butter melts. Remove from the heat, add all the flour at once, and stir wiht a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated and it forms a ball. Return the pan to medium heat and cook. Stir continuously to evaporte some of the moisture, about 90 seconds.

Scrape the micture into a medium bowl, beat in 3 whole eggs one at t time, making sure they are completely incorporated. Add as much of the 4th egg as neede so that the dough is thick and holds its shap, but falls slowly and steadily from your spoon. It should be smooth and shiny.

Using a pastry bag with a star tip, pipe the dough onto a squares of parchment paper in 3" circles. Heat 3" of oil to 360F . place the crullers (still on their papers) upside down in the oil, After about 15 seconds use tongs to pull off the papers. Turn the crullers until golden brown on both sides, using a skimmer transfer them to a wire rack to drain the oil.

I just piped them right into the oil and set them on paper towels to absorb the oil and it worked just fine.

The first batch I covered with powdered sugar.

and the second I dipped in an orange glaze

(made simply with orange juice and powdered sugar)



-Jackie

Ashville

On our second day in Ashville we popped into town for a bite to eat before we heade home. We ended up finding this great restaurant called Carmel

I got a salad and Pizza:

Chopped spinach with spiced pecans, pear, blueberry stilton, and a balsamic honey dressing

Thin crust pizza with sundried tomoto pesto, baby spinach, bree, and candied tomatoes.

Both were amazing, I can't believe we randomly found a restaurant were we got to experience some new flavors. I definatley need to find a recipe for candied tomatoes, and will be recreating a version of this salad in the near future.

Scott got the potato corn chowder and BBQ chicken pizza.

Also very good. Especially the soup becuase it was snowing.

A very happy day.

-Jackie

Fastnacht Day

Happy five days after fastnacht day! In honor of this hallowed event, we agreed to make doughnuts. I wanted to do something interesting... but couldn't really think of anything. I almost decided on basil or rosemary, but... a little scared, I thought I'd stick to the classics. So here we have sugared persimmon doughnuts (above), and plain dougnuts filled with vanilla-orange cream.

The basic recipe is the one our dutchy mother grew up using, so it's the real deal.

Fastnachts

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 2 cups milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm
• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups sifted flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 cups sifted flour to the milk, stirring until smooth. Stir in the yeast. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled. Stir in eggs, butter, the remaining sugar, salt, nutmeg, and enough flour so that mixture can no longer be stirred with a spoon (a soft dough). Cover; let rise until doubled. Punch down dough and divide into two portions. On a floured surface, roll out each portion about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with a doughnut cutter (anything with a circular rim works fine- I used the rim of the flour sifter). Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Fry in vegetable oil heated to 370 degrees 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned; turn doughnuts to brown evenly. Remove and drain.

the first doughnut I ever made! and its hole.

I found it hard to regulate the temperature of the oil. But even when I was 15 degrees below what it was supposed to be, they never took 3 minutes to cook. It was much closer to 1 minute. For the persimmon doughnuts, I added 1 chopped persimmon to half of the batter. The other half I left plain. The persimmons really didn't add much though- they just taste like sugar, themselves, as did the doughnuts. Not to say that they weren't delicious.

Vanilla Orange Cream Filling

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 cup sugar
• zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in container with lid (I used a jar) and shake until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream. Put into a piping bag, or a ziplog bag with the corner cut off. Prepare doughnuts by making a hole in the side reaching to the center, and enlarged to create a hollow. Squeeze cream into hollow as neatly as possible!

To make up for this debacle, I had steamed brussels sprouts and mushrooms for dinner, but felt over-sugared anyway. But, alas, such is life!

--Pam

Mushroom Crepes

Since it was such a long time before I got cracking on these crepes, this is going to be a very detailed account of a very detailed recipe. Which means mostly pictures. For some reason, when we decided to make crepes, I got the thought to do mushroom and pear... no idea where it came from. But awkward as the pairing seemed to me at first, I realized that they both go great with the same things-- parmesan and endive. So these are crepes with endive, mushroom, bosc pear, watercress, and parmesan cream sauce. And they are delicious.

Crepes with mushrooms, endive, pear, watercress, and cream sauce

I started by broiling the endive with oil and salt at the highest temperature, so that the top got nice and crisp, but the inside was still raw. Then I sliced it and cooled it in the refridgerator for a few hours.


Next were the mushrooms. I used a mixture of shiitake, oyster, and crimini. These I baked-- which I thought was kind of a no-no when it came to mushrooms, but it turns out I prefered the texture over any other cooking method-- with oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary at 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. In the meantime, I started on the crepes.



The ingredients were just so lovely that I had to take their picture. Those are organic brown eggs and almond flour- with skins!


Almond Flour Crepes

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp melted butter

Mix all ingredients well, making sure the butter is not warm enough to scramble the eggs. Let sit at least 30 minutes. (This allows the flour to absorb more of the mixture, giving the batter more elasticity and making it easier to work with. Although apparently it makes no difference in the final texture.)

On medium heat in an oiled pan, spread a few tablespoons of batter and cook unti the top is no longer liquid- flip carefully, and cook until the bottom is browned.

I found that the almond flour, although delicious, was of such a coarse texture that rolling these crepes was almost impossible- they had no flexibility, and just broke. They were also thicker than they should be. I think they would do much better if eaten flat like pancakes, or in layers.

This was the watercress, which I haven't had in a very many years (comparatively speaking) and found that I love. But I'll definitely forget all about it again. It has a very peppery, grassy flavor, with a delightfully delicate crunch. The next component was bosc pear- I thought it would work well because it is such a sturdy variety of pear and has a flavor that can stand up for itself- I didn't want any mushy bartletts in there. And then, finally, it was all topped off with a cream sauce.

Parmesan Peppercorn Cream Sauce

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
• salt, freshly ground peppercorns, and rosemary, to taste

Heat the cream on medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for a few minutes. Add the cheese and continue to stir constantly, until melted. Add spices to taste. Serve hot.

This went very well with a book on Flemish arcitechture. Of course.

--Pam

Brussels Sprouts

This is the best way I've ever eaten brussels sprouts.

I just steamed them in my bamboo steamer, added a little butter, and topped them with fried prosciutto and chevre.

- Jackie

Birthday muffin

For my Brithday Pam got me a lovely crate full of delicious food products and some books.

Included in the crate was this fantastic pistachio muffin... I recomend everyone try a pistachio muffin before they die. They are 100% delicous and the fact that they are bright green inside makes it very fun to take the first bite.

Lemonade

Last weekend I made lemonade with my new/old lemon squeezer

(another item from my birthday crate)

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

Fun and delicious

-Jackie