Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I always like having dessert with my weekend breakfast.

I usually start off with juice and something savory and eventually a big cup of coffee and some pastry I made a day in advance or if I’m pressed for time, just a piece of toast with Nutella.

I had canned pumpkin pie mix stocked in my cupboard. I bought it by accident and decided to make muffins instead of pie.

They came out great!

Recipe

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

yield: 2 dozen

3 3/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 can pumpkin pie mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup buttermilk, or 1/2 milk plus 1 tablespoon white vinegar

2 large eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 chopped pecans or almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350º F and butter muffin tins.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine pumpkin pie mix, oil, buttermilk and eggs. Pour flour mixture into pumpkin mixture a little at a time and mix until just moistened. Add the chocolate chips. Spoon batter into muffin tins and top with the chopped nuts.

3. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes and cool on wire rack.

For high altitude bakers: reduce sugar 3 tablespoons, reduce 1/2 tablespoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Add one egg and bake in convection oven.

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Parmesan Coddled Eggs with Smoked Salmon Toast Fingers

Coddling an egg is just an easy way to get soft cooked eggs. All you need is an egg coddler like the one in the picture I got at Williams Sonoma.

It’s essentially the exact same method as poaching an egg, but way easier: you simmer the eggs in the egg coddler and voilá, perfection. I added parmesan cheese on top for extra flavor.

The bonus points for this delish breakfast came from the smoked salmon toast fingers…essentially they are buttery toasts wrapped in salmon made for dipping into eggs. Mmmmm!

Recipe

Parmesan Coddled Eggs with Smoked Salmon Toast Fingers

Serves 2

Butter

4 eggs

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

Parmesan cheese, grated

2 – 4 slices of good quality white Pullman Bread or Brioche, cut into rectangles

Smoked salmon

1. Pre-heat oven to 425ºF. Butter a baking sheet and butter the bread rectangles. Bake them for about 8 minutes or until crisp. Wrap the smoked salmon around the toast fingers.

2. Fill a medium pan with water and bring to a boil. Butter the egg coddlers, add two eggs to each and sprinkle with salt, fresh ground pepper and parmesan cheese. Screw the lid on with one loose turn

3. Add the coddlers to the pan and reduce to a simmer. Make sure the water level comes halfway up the coddler. Cook for 10 minutes, carefully remove the coddler with a kitchen towel and open the lid. Serve immediately with smoked salmon toast fingers.

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Breakfast Tray

I’m not quite sure we have gotten to the part where I explain how obsessive –compulsive I am. I think it’s time I should mention that I have the same thing for breakfast every weekday—that is to say, 5 times a week my routine breakfast is exactly the same: frozen berries + soy milk + oatmeal + ground flaxseed= blend into smoothie. When I feel adventurous I’ll change the berries for bananas and maybe…I’ll add cinnamon.

And if I want to go crazy? Well I’ll just throw caution to the wind and add a sweetener.

So this is probably why my weekend brunch excites me so much.

I start planning what I’m going to make for Saturday and Sunday on Thursday. By Friday I’m baking muffins or any other breakfast pastry and on Saturday it’s all about indulgence. This means french toasty – bacony – eggy goodness.

The problem with this particular weekend is that I had very little time to cook, so I planned a quick, easy and elegant breakfast tray.

Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, coddled eggs with parmesan and smoked salmon toast fingers so you can dip it in egg yolk goodness, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins made from pumpkin pie mix I bought by mistake and didn’t know what to do with and exquisite coffee. Good morning everyone!

I like to listen to opera and classical music every now and then when I want to ease myself into my day, here goes my playlist:

Breakfast Mix from soireesandsuch on 8tracks.

 

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Lemon Tart

A sweet (and tart) ending to my New England Soiree. This Lemon tart is pretty easy to make, you just have to keep an eye on the eggs when you make the curd, or else you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.

Perfect for citrus season!

There are two ways to get the caramelized top: one would be with a torch, which I think is your best bet. I used the broiler and got too much uneven color for my taste, but it was just as good anyways :)

Recipe

Lemon Tart

Adapted from here

Tart Shell:

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 sticks of butter, cut into small pieces

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:

6 eggs

9 egg yolks

zest and juice of 7 lemons

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1. Make the tart shell: in a food processor, combine flour and sugar. Add butter and process until it resembles coarse meal (10-20 seconds). In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and water. With the machine running, add the mixture in a stream through the tube. Pulse until the dough holds together without being wet (do not process for more than 30 seconds). flatten dough into a disk and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF. Roll the dough out and onto a tart mold. Chill for 15 minutes. Place parchment paper and pie weights or beans and bake for 10 minutes. Take the weights off and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

3. Make the filling: In a large saucepan, combine eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar over low heat and whisk until incorporated. Add half of the butter and keep whisking. Once the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon, add remaining butter and stir until very thick. If mixture curdles, you can fix it by straining into a bowl and cooling it over an ice bath.

2. Remove mixture from heat and continue stirring until warm, or cool over ice bath to speed process.

3. Spoon the filling in the pastry shell and caramelize the top with a torch or broiler. Cool in refrigerator before serving.

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Lobster Roll with Fresh Baked Parker House Rolls

Probably the only thing better than a Lobster Roll with fries is a Lobster Roll with fries served in homemade fresh-baked bread. This was the main event to my New England Soiree. I also made homemade mayo…so much better than store-bought. Just by looking at these, you know that they leave your kitchen smelling awesome. I used a recipe for Parker House Rolls, which is very easy and takes no time to make. The only thing I did differently from regular rolls, is cut them into large strips and fold them over with butter. Remember to serve the Lobster Roll with some fries on the side.

Recipe

Parker House Rolls

Adapted from here

yield: 8 rolls

1 stick of butter (plus more for bowl and pan)

3/4 cups warm milk

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 1/2 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cup flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Butter a large baking sheet. Place 1/4 cup warm milk in a small bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Stir to dissolve and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.

2. In a medium saucepan, bring the remaining milk to a simmer. Add 3 tablespoons of butter along with the sugar and salt. Stir until the butter melts and set aside.

3. Place 2 1/4 cups of flour in the bowl of an electric mixer. Make a well in the center with your hands and pour in the yeast mixture, butter mixture and eggs. With the mixture fitter with the dough hook, beat until dough just starts to come together, about 2 minutes. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth (5 minutes) adding remaining flour as needed.

4. Butter a large bowl, place dough in bowl, turning to coat evenly with butter. Cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Punch down dough and let rest for 10 minutes.

5. Melt remaining butter. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle, refrigerate for 30 minutes and pre-heat the oven to 400º F.

6. Cut 4 pieces of dough lengthwise (about 3 1/2 inches each) and then in half. You will have 8 strips. Brush the top half of the rectangle with melted butter and fold over. Repeat the process and transfer to the buttered baking dish. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rolls rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Brush melted butter on top of each roll and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Brush with some more melted butter and serve warm or at room temperature.

Lobster Salad

yield: 4 servings

Adapted from here

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 cup canola oil

salt to taste

1 tablespoon white truffle oil

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon chopped chives

1 pound cooked lobster meat, cubed

1. Make the mayonnaise: in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, lemon juice and Dijon mustard. Add the canola oil in a thin stream, whacking constantly. Adjust the seasoning with salt.

2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Divide the lobster salad among 4 buns and serve.

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Clam Chowder and Parsley Croutons

This Clam Chowder is seriously a meal on its own. I served it right before the Lobster Roll and fries at my New England Soiree and barely made it to dessert. It was also so good and satisfying that thankfully I had enough leftover for dinner the next day.

I went through tons of food blogs to find a recipe I could adapt. I obviously read the reviews and boy, New Englanders are very passionate about their chowder. So I hope I got this right.

The best recipe I found was this one courtesy of the Culinary Institute of America.

I also made some parsley croutons to go with the chowder.

Recipe

Clam Chowder with Parsley Croutons

serves 6

40 oz canned boiled baby clams

2 bacon strips, minced

1/2 onion, small dice

2 tablespoons flour

4 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into fine dice

3 cups heavy cream

6 oz dry sherry

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

For the croutons:

Country Bread, torn into 1 to 2 inch pieces

butter

fresh chopped parsley

salt and pepper

1. Drain the clam juice from the clams and reserve. Cook the bacon over medium heat until it renders the fat and is lightly crisp (about 8 minutes)

2. Add the onion and cook until translucent (about 10 minutes). Add flour and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally (2-3 minutes). Whisk in the clam juice and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes until the liquid thickens a little. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender (15 minutes).

3. Add the clams and heavy cream and bring to a simmer for 1 – 2 minutes. Stir in the sherry and season with salt and pepper.

4. For the croutons: preheat the oven to 350ºF and butter a baking sheet. Add the torn bread and more butter to coat. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Add chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

 

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Bacon Infused Bourbon, Bee’s Knees and Pickle Fries

This is how I started off my New England Soiree.

I always like to welcome guests with some cocktails and something to nibble on.

Ok, so the nibbling part failed me a little, because these pickle fries are sooooo good that one of my guests gobbled the whole plate and (I think) had trouble finishing the rest of the meal. Oh well, don’t say I didn’t warn you…these pickles are addictive!

The pickles went especially well with the bacon infused Bourbon I made. This recipe was adapted from my PDT cocktail book and should be served in an Old Fashioned glass. Another thing I like to do when I serve drinks straight up is use my big round ice molds. You’ll never have a watered down drink again!

The Bee’s Knees is a classic Prohibition-era cocktail. It’s gin, lemon juice and honey, so it tastes very fresh and is a lot more ladylike than the above-mentioned. I guess you could say it’s a yin-yang cocktail pick.

Serve it up in a coupe glass.

Recipe

Benton’s Old- Fashioned

Adapted from here

1.5 oz bacon fat

1 750 ml bottle Bourbon

On low heat, warm bacon fat in a small saucepan. Stir until it melts, about five minutes. Combine the fat and bourbon in a container and stir. Infuse for 4 hours, then place the container  in the freezer for 2 hours.

Remove the fat and strain the bourbon with a cheesecloth.

To make it an Old-Fashioned:

2 oz bacon infused Bourbon

.25 oz real maple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with one large cube. Garnish with an orange twist.

Bee’s Knees

Adapted from here

2 oz Gin

.75 oz lemon juice

.75 oz honey syrup

For the honey syrup mix one part honey with one part hot water. Measure out ingredients into a shaker, shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Pickle Fries:

Made it exactly like here.

 

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New England Dinner For 4

Whenever I have close friends over for dinner, I ask them what they want me to make them. They are usually shy about it and say, “whatever you want”, but my guests last weekend were anything but shy. They specifically asked me to make them a New England dinner. I guess it’s because they lived in Massachusetts for 5 years and maybe miss it.

So I busted out my lobster plates I have been dying to use and made Lobster Rolls, but I didn’t use hot dog buns obviously, what fun would that be? I made the buttery rolls from scratch and boy did that make a difference.

But wait. Here I am talking about the main event and I haven’t even told you about the cocktails yet.

We started off with two cocktails adapted from my PDT cocktail book I just bought. (Have y’all been to PDT? If you are ever in NYC please don’t miss this place) (did I just say y’all?)

Anyway the two cocktails were the Bee’s Knees and a Bacon infused Bourbon…. yep, you read it correctly…. bacon in a cocktail. This was served with pickle fries, courtesy of this beautiful blog.

Then we sat down for the mandatory New England clam chowder and parsley croutons, followed by lobster rolls and fries and we ended it with a lemon tart. If it were summer I would probably have made a blueberry pie, but it is citrus season. So…. you know.

As for the decoration, you can see it was pretty simple. A few flowers here and there. The style of my table is French Provence, so it naturally has a few imperfections that gives it character. I like how it looks without tablecloth and the formal china directly on it.

Here’s the evening’s playlist:

 

 

Indie Dinner Party from soireesandsuch on 8tracks.

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Vegetarian Ceviche

I have always found ceviche to be confusing. I’ve seen it spelled cebiche, seviche or ceviche and they all seem to be correct. It also has a million variables…. and the origin? Who knows!

I used to think that ceviche was a Mexican dish, but it turns out it’s just native to the Americas and probably originated in Peru around colonial times. Peruvians have tons of different ceviche styles, but I grew up with one very specific style of ceviche: Acapulco style.

Acapulco style ceviche is very tomatoey and this is exactly that…but vegetarian. I used heart of palm and jicama to give it crunch factor, but feel free to use water chestnuts instead.

Recipe

Vegetarian Ceviche

2 cups of heart of palm, diced

3 cups of water chestnuts or jicama, diced

1 cup of ketchup

6 to 8 tomatos depending on the size you should have 2 cups of tomato pureé

½ cup capers

¼ cup cilantro minced

1 cup olives, chopped

1/2 onion, finely diced

3 avocados, diced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon of tabasco sauce (or more to taste).

Salt and pepper

1. Cut the the tomatos and  pureé in a blender to make 2 cups. Strain and pour into a large bowl. Combine all the ingredients and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

2. Serve cold with saltine crackers or tortilla chips.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pea and Mint Soup

Here’s a healthy and delicious start to any meal. I adapted this recipe from Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food. It’s one of my favorite cook books ever, because it’s full of easy, heathy and vegetarian recipes.

You could probably substitute frozen peas for fresh ones….just let me know how it goes.

Another thing you may or may not do: blanch and shock the peas. It’s a very simple step that gives you a vibrant color, if that’s what you’re looking for. Just boil some water, add the peas for 1 minute and then drain and shock the peas by immersing them in ice water. Done. Vibrant green peas.

And last, but not least, you gotta add mint to the pea soup. It just goes well.

Oh, and another insanely delicious addition is a little bit of goat cheese on top. It melts into the soup beautifully.

Recipe

Pea and Mint Soup

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

3 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, sliced

salt

5 cups stock (either vegetable or chicken)

3 cups shelled peas

1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced

goat cheese, optional

1. Heat a large pot and melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, but not brown. Season with salt.

2. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the peas and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Puree in a blender with the mint. Adjust seasoning and serve with goat cheese crumbles on top.

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