Carla Hall's Cheerios Banana Oat Muffins 11.9.11

First, aren't you just a little jealous of my heart shaped muffin pan?

And second, if you check the daily episode page for this recipe, you see that this is the first recipe ever that was not assigned to a host on the show.  I am not sure if that is an oversight on the part of the web writers or if it is a recipe provided by Cheerios.  There did seem to be a lot of product placement, as well as an advertised $1 coupon you can get by signing into The Chew website (Click HERE for The Chew coupon page).

But, my best gal, Carla did the demo for the recipe so I am filing this as a Carla Hall recipe.

Plenty to like about the muffins.  A new way to use up bad bananas.  And with just a tiny amount of sugar, egg whites in place of a whole egg and the whole grain Cheerios as a main ingredient... Well, let's just leave it that my heart shaped muffins are indeed a heart healthy dish!

I followed the recipe exactly as published on The Chew website (Click HERE for the web page and recipe).

Generally, it uses ingredients that I always have on hand.  I even had an old box of Cheerios in the back (doesn't everyone).  I even had some almost rotten bananas.

And the verdict... Pretty darn good.  Just as tasty as any banana bread recipe.  Moist and tender, filled with flavor.  Only down side, they were a bit grainy from the cheerios.  It is possible I did not crush them up enough.  I didn't want to smash them into dust, so I just busted them up a bit.

BUT, if you are concerned about heart health, have the ingredients around, I can certainly highly recommend these.  Maybe even a dish to make with small children.  Something for them to see a point A becomes Point B... that is Cheerios and bananas can become a very tasty muffin (and you could even pretend they are cupcakes)!

Carla Hall's Eggs in Heaven and my Heavenly Eggs in Hell 11.8.11

Miss Carla... I have a confession... I am falling in love.

If you check my stats on the side bar, I have made more of your recipes by double than any of the other hosts on The Chew.  You post accessible ingredients, often with an eye towards budget consciousness and you always make that leap from ordinary to just a shade better.

Except today.

Hey Carla, don't get me wrong, today's recipe is just fine.  Grits, and you showed lots of tips on the episode for making great grits (click HERE to see the video of Carla posted on The Chew website making this recipe), with baked eggs (love those beautiful light creamy whites with that perfect cooked soft yolk).

My only justification for the obvious (to me) changes that should have been made, you were doing a riff on Mario Batali' Eggs in Hell, which I made way back... well, 2 weeks ago.  Mario's eggs were baked in a delicious spicy tomato sauce, taking him back to his Italian specialty.

So you adapted to a more southern flare, using grits as your base.  So, for the sake of the show symmetry, you produced "Eggs in Heaven" to contrast his spicy delicious Hellish eggs.  I am sure, still delicious, but I just could not resist adding two of my favorite ingredients to add to grits...

Sweet Potatoes and a TBS of pureed Chipotle Pepper in Adobe Sauce.

First, look at that beautiful deep rich orange color.  Sure, your cheddar cheese added a little color, but oh my, that orange is a delight to plate.

But the addition of sweet potatoes (I steamed them for about 30 minutes until soft, then ran them through the food processor to get them creamed) made my grits... extra creamy and delicious.  But, I guess deep down I am not a heavenly guy at all.  The spoonful of hellish spice really made these the cat's whisker and the cat's meow.  Unique in their texture, color and deliciously wicked taste.

Carla, I love ya, You are my most copied chef host, but today... My Hellish Heavenly Eggs are better than yours.

Here's what I did...

2 large Sweet Potatoes, peeled, chopped, steamed and pureed
1 TBS pureed Chipotle Peppers in Adobe Sauce
1 cup Stone Ground Hominy Grits
1 1/2 cups Water
1 Cup Whole Milk
1 tsp Salt
4 TBS Butter
6 Eggs
1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Ham Steak and Black Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350
Bring water, milk and salt to boil, gradually add grits, simmer for 20 minutes or until thick.  Continue whisking throughout to prevent lumps
Add the butter and cheese  and also the Chipotle Pepper Puree and the pureed sweet potatoes and stir to combine... move to a baking dish...
Note, I have individual dishes that nicely hold about 1 1/2 cups of grits that fit 2 eggs perfectly.  Carla made this in one large serving dish.
Make an impression in the grits to hold an egg and carefully break the eggs and add into the iompression.
Bake uncovered for 15 minutes or until the eggs reach their desired doneness!

Garnish with a ham steak and pepper!

Oh My...

These are HEAVENLY!

Carla Hall's Biscuits and Gravy 11.1.11

I am still recovering from my weekend cook session... 3 racks of ribs, 2 HUGE Pork shoulders for pulled pork and a wide array of side dishes.  Click HERE to see the post with photos of all the fun.

And by recovering, I actually mean I have a refrigerator filled with leftover and I am under very specific orders from the boss (my wife) to NOT buy any new ingredients until I make a serious dent in the food we have already cooked.

SO, in fairness to Carla's recipe, I made her biscuits exactly as she showed on the episode.  And indeed, they came out perfect.

The gravy however is nothing like what she showed on the episode... well, a little.

She used Turkey sausage... I used left over pulled pork (There will be peace with the boss tonight).

She used Butternut Squash... I used a small onion

She used Sage and Chili Flakes... I used some of my fresh made Cajun Spice mix I call "Big Easy In a Jar".  Has a few savory spices as well as plenty of heat...

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes

1 part Onion Flakes

1 part Dried Thyme Leaves

1 part Dried Oregano

1 part Black Pepper

1 part White Pepper

1 part Lemon Pepper

1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper

1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves

4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up or even to a gravy!

OK, I will admit that my gravy and Carla's are not terribly close, but the techniques and ideas are all the same.

Mine is just a little bit more redneck than hers.

Here's what I did...

Actually, I made this for my breakfast this morning.  So, it was just me.  I actually divided the recipe by 4 to come up with a single serving.  To see Carla's biscuit recipe, including her Butternut Squash Gravy with Sage, click the blue letters.

Here's my single serve Biscuits and Redneck Gravy...

pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees (HOT)

1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 TBS Butter (COLD)
1/2 TBS Shortening
2 TBS Greek Yogurt
3 TBS Milk

I used my food processor.  Combine the dry ingredients, pulse
add the butter and shortening, pulse
add the milk and yogurt, pulse

Now, on the show, Carla gave a great talk on the texture of the dough.  What not to do (These are drop biscuits, no rolling, no kneading, no punching of the dough).  If you are not an expert biscuit maker, please take a look at the video of the episode (click HERE).

This made 6 biscuits (Drop a heaping TBS on a silipat or a sheet of parchment paper)  Bake in the oven for about 6 minutes.

DELICIOUS, but wait till you get redneck on this...

For the gravy...

1/2 cup left over pulled pork, minced
1 small onion, diced medium
1 TBS Olive Oil
2 TBS Flour
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar"
1/2 cup Milk

In a saute pan over medium high heat, heat the oil and then add the onions.  Saute for about 5 minutes, until they are clear and soft.  Add the Pork and heat for another couple of minutes

Add the spice, add the milk and then the flour.  Whisk together.  if you need to thicken the gravy, add a bit more flour as needed.

Salt and pepper to taste and just as delicious as you can imagine!

Mario Batali's Eggs in Hell 10.21.11

Hmmmm... I've seen this before.  In fact, I've made this.  But I made mine as a Turkish dish, called Kefta.  My version has meatballs (Mario's just uses the eggs).

I did just a bit of research and this is actually one of those international dishes that has lots of names, lots of origins.  But the basics...

Eggs basted in a spiced tomato sauce.

And that's it.  As with all dishes, easy enough to personalize.  Add some Cajun spices for a New Orleans treat.  Add the spiced meatballs for a trip to Turkey.  Change it just a bit and you have a French, British, Mexican or Chinese dish.

Mario posted a very easy to replicate dish.  I followed his recipe exact (except for adding the meatballs).  You can see his version by clicking HERE.

The technique is all you need to know.

I am lucky enough to have a domed lidded stove top dish that this works perfect in.  You can see the cooking process.

Basically, saute some onions and jalapenos.

 Add the tomato sauce.

It has been a very good season for my tomatoes.  I happen to have made some fresh marinara sauce just a couple of days ago, so I had a 2 cup container ready to go.  I did add a cup of the Tomato Soup I blogged about a few days ago.  This was spiced with sriracha sauce, so it added plenty of heat to my dish!  Just the way I like it.

Get the sauce simmering.  I added my pre-browned meatballs in a pattern leaving enough room to drop the eggs in between the sausage.

It takes only about 5-6 minutes for the eggs to cook.  They are being basted in the sauce, so they get that lovely milky creamy look.

The yolks are also cooked PERFECT!  Just cooked through, but still nicely runny on the inside.

And this makes a GREAT breakfast.  Fast to assemble (even faster if you don't do the meatballs).  Delicious with the onions as a base, the spicy tang of the tomato sauce and just easily perfectly cooked poached eggs!

And again, so easy.  I am planning a few visitors in the near future and for the holidays.  This is an ideal dish for Thanksgiving morning (or the day after when you can add some turkey in place of the meatballs).  Like I said, I knew the dish already, and it was on my list.  BUT, thanks to the kick up the list from Mario's recipe, it's now moved up to be made again... and often!

And again, click HERE for the recipe!

Daphne Oz's Poached Eggs With Sweet Potato Pancakes 10.17.11

Oh My!

I am such a huge fan of Latkes.  Those wonderful potato pancakes.  Around our house, it is a traditional breakfast on Christmas morning.  The kids got to play with the toy that Santa brought while I whipped a few up.  No gifts from Mom and dad till after breakfast.  So I always associate warm family times with them.

These are a Daphne's healthy version and my my... dare I say better than my original?

I saw her make these and knew they would be on my must make list.  I adore sweet potatoes, combined with a snappy granny smith apple and a little bit of carrot, this just screamed healthy... But it also was just delicious.  Would make a fine alternative side dish for dinner.

But when you top them with the poached egg, it is simply a wonderful breakfast!

I do need to quibble with the servings, as I made this exactly as posted on The Chew website (Click HERE for the recipe).  the recipe says it serves 5.  I made this for a lunch for my wife and myself.  It served two and only two.  Maybe we were just hungry.  Maybe I used a small potato.  Or, maybe it was just that good.

I'm gonna say it's that good.

There is quite a bit of grating to do.

It was about a tie in the amount of time it would take to grate by hand vs. grating in a food processor.  But, if I were making enough for a larger family, I would recommend the processor.

Plus, I didn't grate my knuckles.

Aside from the processor, no changes to the recipe.

Again, click HERE for the recipe.

I did like the poached egg that Daphne used.  Personally, I like a VERY runny egg, my wife prefers a runny egg, but not as much as mine.  Poaching is a very easy way to cook to order.

But honestly... what a great dish!

Carla Hall's Pumpkin Beignet with Caramel Dipping Sauce 10.10.11

OK... Right off the bat, I cheated.

During the show, Carla specifically says to NOT use canned pumpkin.  BUT, this was just after she had said that once you have the batter, you can add anything to it.  Well, I have a cooking pumpkin, but I have a soup planned for it.  But I did have a can of pumpkin (not a can of Pumpkin Pie mix, that is pumpkin with spices added).  Well, I chose to ignore Carla and listen to Carla.  I used canned pumpkin since she said I could add anything.

Since I added the pumpkin from the can, there was no way to extract the water.  When I made the batter as directed, I was liquid heavy.  So, I just added some flour until I thought I had the right consistency.

And next, I moved to her recipe for Caramel sauce.

HMMMMMM....

This was not covered in the episode.  It was just glossed over.  I did see her take the hot pan and have the tasters dip the beignets into a sauce, which I assume is this.

Well, I followed the directions and while hot in the pan, it was indeed PERFECT.  Dipped great, or worked well as a drizzle.  BUT, when it cooled, it was a ROCK.  I mean a solid as a well... rock, ROCK.  It is implied it could be saved and used as a hostess gift.  Well, not mine.  I have no idea what I did wrong, and in fact, it would not really be called a failure since if I used the sauce as Carla had on the show, serving right from the pan, hot, it was perfect.  But once it cooled, I was done with the left overs.

There was a bit of a funny moment on the show that should I ever be invited to produce, I would fix...  Daphne Oz mentioned that she had never been to New Orleans... I smell a road trip!

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities.  In fact, as a foodie it is by far my favorite city.  So much history, so many amazing restaurants at great prices (easily half what NYC restaurants charge).  It is also one of the few cities in America that has it's own unique cuisine.

Which brings us back to these beignets...

Made famous by Cafe du Monde in the heart of the French Quarter, these French doughnuts are a "must Have" for anyone visiting the city.  I have made these in the past, but have never made a flavored one... Like this.

Oh my were these terrific.  The pumpkin and apple shine through the dough and they are simply delicious.  Personally, when i make these again, I will skip the caramel.  They had a wonderful flavor on their own.  The powdered sugar made these plenty sweet and just no need for the dipping sauce.

So, with the two changes I made (extra flour because I used the more wet pumpkin from the can), I followed the recipe as posted on The Chew website... Click HERE.

The beignets came out WONDERFUL.  Just enough pumpkin color and taste, just enough apple to make these a delight.  Certainly a more adult taste; but with the powdered sugar added, it becomes a family taste treat.

BTW, this recipe was part of a "cook off" between this and a bacon/bourbon banana split made by Michael Symon.  There was a panel of audience tasters that chose the beignets over the more convoluted recipe that Michael provided.  His recipe was fine, and who doesn't love bacon, but sure seemed too much effort for a dessert.

My vote is for this new twist on a New Orleans classic!