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!

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!

Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11

Here's the description for this recipe, found on The Chew website (Click HERE for the recipe)...

In this recipe Clinton married a bacon cheeseburger with nachos. One word comes to mind, yum!

And that's the truth!

This may be the very best thing I have made from The Chew.  Just simply loaded, these will ruin you for bar food forever!

In honor of the St Louis Cardinals and one of the best World Series I have ever seen, I found some red and white corn chips (they are actually for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the episode was devoted to baseball, and I am so much enjoying the series.... But I digress).

I followed the recipe exactly as posted on The Chew website (again, click HERE).  I used a white Monterrey Jack Queso cheese, I believe on the show, Clinton used a yellow queso cheese.  I was using some pretty hot peppers, plus the cheese was plenty spicy, so I didn't add any spices to the hamburger.

And these are now my "goto" bar food.  A great dish to make for a ball game, Super Bowl party, progressive dinner (I'm claiming the appetizer course from mow on).

I weep at the memory of how good these were!

Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT 9.26.11

Welcome to blog post number one, from the first day of the CHEW, ABC's new daytime all food all the time talk show.

Only the first day.  I have some opinions, most strongly that the show is too full.  Too many people, cooking too many recipes, not enough details to really stick out.  Also, too easy.  I am fine with 5 minute meals, 5 ingredient meals, etc.  But so far, the entire show was filled with these quickie dishes.  With the exception of Mario Batali's very quickie take on homemade pizza.  4 minutes, including a homemade crust recipe just does not cover it.

But, first day, way too early.  Time will tell and I am sure we are just getting the early version of a terrific idea.

I decided to make Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT.  Clinton is the "Entertainment" guy on the show.  His specialty is parties and style.  He chose the first show as an opportunity to showcase some party appetizers.  His theme was to deconstruct big main courses and turn them into tiny appetizers.

Like a Classic Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich...

Big change from the classic sandwich is no bread.  It's a lettuce wrap.

You can view the ABC The Chew Homepage official recipe and photo by clicking HERE.

Under the categories of "Who am I to make such changes", I made a few changes...

I didn't do anything terribly special to change.  I made mine two bites, so I used a little larger piece of bacon and two cherry tomato halves instead of one.

I also caramelized the tomato halves.  Very easy to do and by heating these you bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes.  Very simple, heat a saute pan over medium heat.  Add just a single TBS of Canola Oil (Best not to use Extra Virgin Olive oil as it can burn at higher temperatures).  Do that chef flip thing to coat the tomato halves.  Cover and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.  Double check them every few minutes to be sure they are not burning.  You do not want to discolor them with char marks.  I did this the same time I was making the bacon, so I do not think it added any real time to the recipe... just an extra dish.

I also changed the recommended store bought spicy Mayonnaise with my own home made Cajun Garlic Aioli.  This sounds so incredibly special and exotic.  Honestly, it is a matter of a few squirts of a couple of liquids, a quick and easy peel of a few garlic cloves and a whirl in the blender or handy dandy mini chopper.  Once you stop taking the time to measure, you can whip this up in 2 minutes.  Again, while the bacon was frying, I just added, whirled and it was done!

Here's the recipe...

1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
4 cloves garlic
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lemon
2-5 Basil Leaves
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar", or any Cajun Spice mix

Add everything in a blender, whirl until garlic has been minced and the Aioli is the constancy of the original mayo.

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.

Again, feel free to substitute a commercial brand of spicy Mayo or if you make the Aioli, you can sub a store bought spice mix.

 And that's what I made from day 1!