Michael Symon's Pumpkin Chocolate Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce 11.16.11

I LOVES me a bread pudding!

And I LOVES me a whiskey sauce!

On the show, Michael made a Caramel Sauce that looked delicious.  BUT...

For Thanksgiving, I made a Caramel Apple Cheesecake and a traditional Pumpkin Pie to serve for dessert.

Since the cheesecake had a caramel taste, and the pumpkin pie was "kid friendly", I opted for a more adult Whiskey Sauce.

And it was delicious!

The sauce recipe is very easy...

1 stick of Butter (softened to room Temp)
1 1/2 cup Confectioner's Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Bourbon (I like Maker's Mark)

In a small sauce pan over low heat, combine sugar and butter until the butter has melted and the sugar is absorbed.  Remove from the heat, add the egg yolks one at a time, whisking the entire time.  It is important that the yolks do not cook.  Finally, add the whiskey to taste!

As to the brad pudding...

What a great combination, pumpkin savory, with the seasonings of the season, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the chocolate for sweetness and pecans for nutty roasted aroma and texture.

Simply DELICIOUS and oh so easy to make.

From the recipe posted on the Chew Website (Click HERE), I made a few minor changes

Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees

1 3/4 cup Half and Half
3 large Eggs
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
6 cups Day old Bread cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
1 cup pureed Pumpkin (can use can)
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 cup Toasted Pecan Pieces
1 stick melted butter
Whole pecans to garnish

In a Kitchenade mixer or large bowl, combine 1/2 and 1/2, Pumpkin, Sugar, Eggs, and seasonings
Add the Bread Cubes, mix gently (do not mix the cubes so much they reduce to crumbs).
Add the Pecan pieces, melted butter and Chocolate Chips and mix again (carefully)

Transfer to a prepared baking dish, bake for 45 minutes, until the custard is set.
 About 15 minutes before it is done, add a few whole pecans to the top for a pretty presentation!

Best served warm and best served with the whiskey sauce!!!

Simply delicious... A bit savory, a bit sweet and a bit whiskey; a real crowd pleaser!

Eva Longoria's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake 11.3.11

What is more delicious than a classic Pineapple upside down cake???

Today's guest, fresh from the set of the final season of Desperate Housewives was Eva Longoria.  Of the actor/actress guest stars that The Chew has had, by far, Eva was the best.  She has serious cooking chops, owns a restaurant, has a family history in the industry (Aunt in the catering business) and just seems to really know what she is talking about!  Beautiful and funny doesn't hurt either.

I have to admit it has been a long time since I have made an upside down cake.  They are always impressive and not nearly as difficult as they look.  Eva does a nice job of explaining everything on the video of her segment (Click HERE to see that).  It was actually shown in two segments (and props to The Chew producers for giving her enough time for a short fun interview and to cook this dish.  Click HERE to see the second segment when the cake is flipped upside down.

The baked pineapple is delicious, flavored with the caramel sauce made with the butter and brown sugar.  And the candied Maraschino cherries add a such a wonderful sweet zip no one can resist this!

There is a bit of a controversy.  On the show, Eva mentions the importance of using Cake Flour.  On The Chew website, the recipe calls for all purpose flour.  I did make mine with cake flour.  I am sure that AP Flour would work, but the cake has a lighter texture with cake flour.  Almost a spongy cake.  Which considering the topping of caramel that is baked in, it is a much better texture than the denser AP flour would make.

Use Cake Flour.

Other than that, I followed the recipe printed on the website to a TEE!  Click HERE to see the website printable recipe.

The cake was delicious, light and filled with so many layers of flavors.  Caramelized pineapple, cherries and a delicious sweet cake makes this just about perfect in every way.

Now, how about bringing Eva back to make the soup she talked about???

Carla Hall's Mexican Chocolate Mousse 11.2.11

It was romance day on The Chew!

Guests were the Neeleys, from "Down Home with the Neelys" Food Network fame.  And it was among the best of the series so far.

If you take a look at the episode breakdown showing the different clips and different recipes shown you will see plenty for me to pick from.  Bacon wrapped shrimp looked fun and Daphne's pistachio crusted fish really sounded tasty.  But I chose the romantic Chocolate Mousse that Carla showed.

Carla gave two hints that I have been using for years in the recipe to set hers apart.  BTW, there is a clip of her making the dish that you can see by clicking HERE.

She uses just a tiny amount of Cayenne Pepper!  REALLY, it works wonders.  The key is restraint, just a pinch or two is all you need.  It does not make a huge difference in the taste, but it does increase the number of taste buds (some buds respond to sweet, some to salty and some to HEAT Spices).  Trust me (and Carla), the mousse is still plenty sweet enough!  And BTW, add just a pinch of cayenne to your standard oatmeal Scotchie recipe and you will never use the bag recipe again.  But I digress...

To top it all off, she adds a tiny bit of strong espresso to her chocolate.  Again, just a bit, but the mixture of chocolate and coffee accents the taste of the chocolate.  Makes it fuller and a stronger taste of chocolate!

It is nice to have these little extras I have found validated.  LOVE this recipe!

And one more BTW tip from me... This is a make ahead dish, needing to chill in the fridge for 8 hours.  Since the episode was about romance, here's my romantic tip.  Use your good crystal.  I mean what's the good if you just leave it in the cabinet.  Are you saving it for when the Pope visits?

My wife and I got our crystal as a wedding gift.  Any chance we have to use it is always a romantic occasion... Even a Tuesday night.

I made the recipe exactly as Carl posted on The Chew website (Click HERE).  There is a lot of whisking.  Sure helps to use a Kitchenaid stand mixer.

But the Mousse was delicious.  Rich and chocolaty but also light and fluffy (from all that whisking).

Another big winner... I think I am in Love!

Carla Hall's Chew Chew Clusters 10.27.11

Happy Halloween!

I am writing this up on Sunday morning after a LOOOONG Friday and Saturday of pretty much wall to wall cooking.  I have a cousin, almost as big a foodie as myself.  This weekend I had a pretty big back yard BBQ planned (last day temps in the 70's for a long time... great excuse to smoke some ribs and pork shoulder).

So, with just a tiny bit of pleading, Cousin David, ... his wife and daughter and my wife started a few days of cooking, cooking, cooking!

First up was a dessert.  Handy to have around throughout the weekend to snack on and I know from experience, no one wants a heavy dessert after a huge BBQ meal (more on that at the bottom, I was able to feature a couple of The Chew recipes from the past.

But first... The candy!

If you check the video highlight on The Chew website for this recipe (Click HERE for the video highlight). you will see Carla loving describes making these as a home made version of a beloved southern candy treat.  She does mention that you can use whatever candy fillings you might like for these.  Think designer Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

Now, her version (the copy of the childhood memory) features peanuts, caramel and marshmallow fluff.  I had everything except the fluff.  I was already into an expensive weekend, so i substituted mini marshmallows.  The recipe was so good, I am sure at some point I will happily revisit this recipe.  When I do, I promise to hunt down the fluff.  But, for the day, the mini marshs worked fine.

The recipe actually could not possibly be easier.

Bag of chocolate chips to start.  I prefer the double boiler method of melting the chocolate.  It is possible to melt in the microwave, but this is just easier and works better for me.  If you do the microwave thing, just be sure to do it in stages, 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between each stage.

And, while the chocolate is melting...

Have a package of those tiny cupcake cups handy.  and a mini muffin baking pan.

one cup in each of the spaces in the tin and fill with 1 tsp of melted chocolate.  be careful not to put too much in there.  You are going to be making a sandwich, with a layer of chocolate, layer of candy and another layer of chocolate.

And now time for filling...

Peanuts...
Marshmallows...
And a layer of Caramel Sauce (I did make Carla's recipe and it came out GREAT!  Hope that makes up for me using mini mashs instead of the fluff).

And finally, top with another tsp of the HOT melted chocolate.

It will seep into the fillings and seal itself on the bottom layer.

take a few seconds and push some around all the edges and you have a very simple designer candy cup.

But wait... There's more!  I only made 1/3rd of my candy with the peanut cluster.  I also had a candy corn/cashew nut snack mix handy (easiest thing in the world, 1 part CC to 1 part cashews... tastes like a Payday Candy bar).

Make this, same way as above, add a little caramel and you have a chocolate-caramel payday candy bar.  Really Really GOOD!

And I made 1/3rd of my candy with the seasonal candy mix.

And that leaves 1/3rd more to be made...

HMMMMMM... wonder what I should use....

I know, something for Michael Symon...

BACON BACON BACON BACON BACON

I am so proud of my guests... Equal numbers of all the treats were made... Chew Chew Clusters, Chocolate Paydays and BACON Cups... All were eaten by the end of the parties, but by far, most popular were the BACON Cups!  Think a salty sweet treat!

A wonderful winner from The Chew!

And speaking of the weekend parties...

On Friday night when it was just 5 of us (Cousin David, wife Becky, daughter Breann, shown above snacking on the BACON Cup) and my wife, we were planning to watch the final game of the World Series (Whoo Hoo, what a great Series this year!).  So I made a batch of  Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11



These were a great way to start the weekend, Nachos and friends!

And here's the table ready for our BBQ Blast, well represented with a few of The Chew's past hits...  Look close, if you toss aside the Cole Slaw, Robs, Pulled Pork and the BEST smoked beans you will ever have in your life, you will see...

Mario Batali's  Potato Salad 10.12.11

Don't you just love the Texas serving plate for the Italian warm potato salad?

And Monday I have a leftover dish planned... Pulled pork shepherd's pie with this potato salad mashed up to make the mashed potato topping!

And if you look close, inside the pulled pork sandwiches, shove aside the red, white and blue cole slaw and you will see some of Michael Symon's pickled Red Onions (well pink).

A good day was had by all!

Carla Hall Cranberry Apple Pie... well Apple Peach Pie 10.5.11

I DID IT!!!

I consider myself a fair,  experienced home cook.  I have knife skills and can do that TV chef flip thing with a saute pan without splashing hot oil in my eyes.  I can poach an egg and bake with yeast.  But I have always had a serious hole in my skills set.  My pie crust have always sucked.  I tried.  I have three recipes that I followed to the letter.  yuck always.

Until yesterday!  Carla Hall and the good folks at The Chew made and posted a recipe for an Apple Cranberry Pie.  While on the show, Carla shows a premade pie crust with just a toss away line that should you prefer, you are welcome to use a store bought.  I was very disappointed as I really wanted a lesson on pie crust.

But, when I looked up the recipe on the website, click HERE, I was frightened to see that Carla had added a recipe for a pie crust.  Well, in for a pound and all that (and besides, I had the ingredients in my pantry, no need to go to the store), I decided once more into the breach dear friends, once more.

AND I DID IT!  Just as good as any restaurant or grandma pie crust and MUCH better than the store bought cardboard!

I do have one issue with the recipe.  Carla has us divide the dough into two balls.  She then never refers to the balls.  The pie on the show (and in the photo on the website) does not show a top crust.  But, with all due respect to Carla and the website editors, the photo is ugggggggggly.  Click HERE and see what I mean.

Now, had I known that the crust would be so good, I probably would have done a lattice top.  Instead I used a cut out form that my wife had bought at a local Cider fest.

Not as pretty as a lattice top, but certainly prettier than Carla's pie.

I made another BIG change in Carla's recipe, but somewhat with her permission.  During the commentary on the show she mentioned other options besides cranberries.  Dried Cherries or raisins were what she mentioned.  But I had fresh Peaches...

So, again... I had everything and did not need to go to the store if I used peaches.  I chose fresh fruit that I had over dried cranberries that I would have needed to buy.  So, as you can see, it was a matter of layers.  Layer half the apples on the bottom, all of the peach slices next (I used 4 apples and 2 peaches)  and the remaining apples on the top...

See...

And finally, a word about the crumblies on top!  GREAT.  It is a combination of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and flour.  Just perfect.  When I make this recipe, I am planning to add some of the crumblies in between the layers of fruit.  But not this time...

I then topped with the second pie crust and baked as explained in the recipe.

And so, Carla, Great recipe.  And I certainly must thank you for the pie crust recipe...

BUT, mine is prettier