The Cookbook Junkies

Summer Miller’s debut cookbook New Prairie Kitchen is a unique look at the food of the heartland with an innovative twist.  Included with the recipes are the stories of the farmers and artisans who make cooking the farm-to-table way possible. It is truly wonderful to learn about the craftsmen and women of the Heartland through the vignettes that accompany the recipes.

New Prairie Kitchen is a feast for our eyes, bellies and soul.  The photographs and stories are beautiful and provide inspiration to use the bounty from our farmers’ market and CSA boxes and elevate our everyday cooking.  The book is broken down into seasons – the perfect way to cook farm-to-table with what is in season.

Recipes for Sunchoke Gnocchi with Rosa Maria and Peas, Braised Chicken Soup with Potato Gnocchi and Morel Mushrooms and Strawberry Shortcake with Rhubarb Compote are just a few of the recipes from the Spring chapter.

Summer recipes are just as enticing with Sweet Corn Chowder with Bacon and Sweet Corn Salsa, 24K Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramelized Pattypan Squash Salad with Summer Peaches.

The Fall brings Golden Potato and Cabbage Tacos with Apple-Cilantro Pico, Spicy Brussels Sprouts and Pork-Fennel Sausage with Pickled Mustard Seeds.

Winter is full of comforting recipes.  Creamy Potato Soup with Braised Oxtail and Citrus, Roasted Heirloom Beet Terrine and Ham, Chile and Cheddar Egg Strata.

Thanks to Summer Miller and Agate Midway for sharing the recipe for Black Walnut and Clove Muffins.  Reprinted with permission from New Prairie Kitchen by Summer Miller, Agate Midway, 2015

GIVEAWAY:  Special thanks to Agate for offering a copy of this stunning book to one of you.  The giveaway is open for U.S. addresses only.  Please leave a comment on this post telling me about the last thing you cooked or created. For a second chance – leave a second comment telling me you visited Agate Publishing’s page on Facebook and gave them a Like.  A random winner will be chosen on June 12th.

Good Luck!

Random Number Generator picked #44 — Dawn Cradic – please e-mail your address to icywit@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

I try to avoid the magazines at the checkout stand…I say Bravo to you, Bruce Jenner, but I don’t want to know what enquiring minds want to know. Last month’s Perfect Pies magazine was tempting me while Bob, my favorite cashier at the King Sooper’s, scanned my items and asked me if I checked my cackleberries (eggs).  I picked it up and the trigger was pulled as soon as I saw this Butterscotch Tart.  There were several recipes that caught my eye but I made this tart first.

I changed a few things – like making a homemade pudding and sauce without morsels.  I’m giving you the recipe as written and below the browned butter instructions  – links to the recipes that I used for the pudding and sauce.  The pecan tart shell was amazing.  Next time I’ll double that portion of the recipe to make the shell a little thicker and then make a second smaller shell.

Butterscotch Tart – adapted from Perfect Pies

Pecan Tart Shell

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup finely ground pecans

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon of browned butter, softened (I brown a stick of butter at a time to use for different recipes – see below).

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream

1. Place the flour, pecans, confectioners sugar and salt in a food processor bowl.  Pulse until blended.  Add softened butters, egg yolk and cream, pulsing until mixture comes together.  Shape into a disk and refrigerate for two hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a twelve inch circle, approximately 1/4 inch thick.  Press dough into bottom and up sides of the tart pan with a removable bottom.  Place a piece of parchment in the tart shell, fill tart with pie weights (or dried beans).  Bake until golden brown about 30 minutes.    Let cool for 30 minutes.

(Note this was somewhat difficult to work with – but pushing the dough into the tart shell worked out well so don’t fret over rolling it out and making it perfect.)

Butterscotch Sauce  (from magazine) – link below to homemade version

3/4 cup of butterscotch morsels

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon of light corn syrup

In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients and cook over medium low heat for 15 minutes whisking constantly. Refrigerate leftover sauce for up to one week.

Filling (from magazine) – link below to homemade version

2 (3.4 oz) boxes of butterscotch instant pudding

2 3/4 cups of cold half-and-half

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Combine the filling ingredients in a large bowl and beat until softly set.

To assemble:

Spread 1/2 cup of the butterscotch sauce in the bottom of the cooled pecan tart shell.  Refrigerate.

Make the filling.

Pour filling into tart shell which has the small layer of butterscotch sauce which has set up.  Smooth out top. Refrigerate until set about 2 hours.  Carefully remove tart from pan.  Drizzle with butterscotch sauce, and garnish with chocolate shavings.

Store, covered, in fridge for up to three days.

To brown butter:  Melt butter in stainless steel skillet over medium heat.  Cook, stirring constantly until butter becomes honey colored and has a nutty aroma.  Remove from heat.  Pour through a fine mesh strainer.  Refrigerate until slightly set or until use.  I make a stick at a time or more.  You can use browned butter in so many recipes.

I used this butterscotch pudding recipe for the filling and this sauce recipe both from Smitten Kitchen.

This was an excellent tart.  I will be experimenting with different custards – vanilla, coconut and others.

 

 

 

I have faced this empty screen for fifteen minutes trying to find a word or words adequate enough to describe The Broad Fork, Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits by Hugh Acheson.  To say it is gorgeous is an understatement — the recipes and photographs would make a devout vegetable hater stand up, drop their giant turkey leg and take notice.

The book is not strictly vegetarian in nature.  About seventy-five percent of the book is vegetarian,  the recipes that contain meat, for the most part, can be worked around to be made vegetarian and in a portion of the recipes the meat ingredient is sometimes a very small component of the dish.

Yellowfoot Chanterelle and Goat Cheese Tarts, Enoki Custard, Roasted Eggplant with Boiled Peanut Sauce, Steamed Kohlrabi with Shallot and Celery Leaves, Seared Lettuce with Pine Nuts, Butter and Lemon, Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Maple Gastrique, Sweet Onion Soup with Caraway and Croutons, Tartine of Mustard Greens, Parmigiano, Reggiano, Caramelized Onions, and Olive Tapenade, Fried Brussels Sprouts with Lime Vinaigrette, Kabocha Squash Soup with Pear, Coconut Milk and Red Curry, Roasted Poblano and Pecan Guacamole, and Sauteed Carrots with Pine Nuts, Malt Vinegar and Sorghum are some of the recipes that were standouts in this book of truly standout recipes.

Special thanks to Clarkson Potter, Fried Pie, LLC and Hugh Acheson for allowing me to share three fabulous recipes from this book with you.

Click on link to download the recipes:

TARTINE OF MUSTARD GREENS

 

 

YELLOWFOOT CHANTERELLE AND GOAT CHEESE TARTS

 

 

SWEET ONION SOUP WITH CARAWAY AND CROUTONS

Reprinted from THE BROAD FORK by Hugh Acheson. Copyright © 2015 by Fried Pie, LLC. Photographs by Rinne Allen. Published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

The photographs are beautiful and plentiful.  The recipes do not appear overly complicated or complex but the flavors and results look like you spent a day slaving in the kitchen. I can honestly state that I did not see one recipe where I thought “I wouldn’t make that.” There might be a component of a recipe that might not appeal to me – sweetbreads for instance – but overall this book inspires you to run to your farmers’ market and start cooking.

I particularly loved the page devoted to his cookbooks.  “My Bookshelf, and How I Learn Every Day”.  Acheson says, “I buy more cookbooks than my lifetime will allow me to fully read, but they still serve me well.  Those books are my anchors, reminding me of where food has been and of the journey to make it better.”  I get you Hugh, I do.

The Broad Fork is perfect for food lovers everywhere.   Thanks to Clarkson Potter for this lovely opportunity.