Smashed Purple Potato Crab Croquettes with Choron Sauce

Smashed Purple Potato Crab Croquettes
1/2 lb. purple/all blue potatoes - cooked and riced
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cups cream
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs garlic puree
1/4 cup chopped red peppers
1/4 cup chopped yellow peppers
1/4 cup fresh chopped green onion
1 lb canned crab meat (about 2 cans)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs lemon juice
For breading:
bread crumbs
(I used Panko extra crispy)
flour
more Lawry's seasoning salt
egg - whisked

Mix all croquette ingredients together. In 3 small bowls prepare breading. One with the egg, one with the bread crumbs, one with the flour and Lawry's combined.
Take 1 Tbs sized balls of croquette mixture. Gently form a ball and roll the ball first in the flour/seasoning mix, then the egg and then the bread crumbs.
Place ball on a well grease baking sheet. Gently press ball down to form a 1/2 inch thick disc.
Continue with the rest of the croquette mixture.
Bake croquettes at 450F degrees for 10 mins or until browned.
Serve with Charon sauce - recipe below.

Charon Sauce

First step:

1 cup chopped, seeded,peeled tomatoes (I used 1/2 a can)

3 Tbs dried tarragon

2 Tbs. minced shallots or onion

1/3 cup vinegar

2 cups wine

2 Tbs parsley

Second step:

4 egg yolks

(I used the whites to dip the croquettes in)

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 Tbs water

1 Tbs mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 sticks butter, melted and warm

Combine all the first step ingredients and simmer over med-high heat for 20 mins. Remove from heat and strain liquid. Discard tomato/onion/tarragon/ect and return strained liquid to the stove.

Continue cooking over med-high heat until mixture is reduced.

This is going to take a while.

Reduce liquid to a thick dark syrup - 3-4 Tbs.

Remove from heat and continue with second step.

Second step: Making Hollindaise Sauce. Reserve butter, but combine all other ingredients in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk continuously until mixture is thick and pale yellow.

Remove from heat and continue whisking vigorously. Add butter in 4 batches. Continue to whisk. Add tomato mixture and continue whisking until combined.

Place sauce over a pot of warm water, off of the heat, and cover to keep warm. Stir occasionally until needed.

This is me. Waiting and waiting for the tomato mixture to reduce.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano

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Gnocchi

1 large white baking potato

1 large sweet potato

1 large egg

1/2 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving

1 1/2 cups to 2 cups flour

Bake potatoes in the oven until tender - 450F for 45 mins to 1 hour.

Cool potatoes until you can handle them (don't let them get cold or they won't go through the ricer, if that happens just pop them into the microwave for a few seconds).

Remove the skins and force the potatoes through a ricer.

Be careful to remove all the strings in the sweet potato.

Cool potatoes completely.

Beat together egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Add egg mixture to potato mixture and mix well.

Add cheese and 1 1/2 cups flour.

Mix well and add more flour until mixture forms a smooth, but slightly sticky dough.

Don't add too much flour!

Test a piece of dough to see if it holds together, before adding more flour.

In a pot, boil salted water, add test gnocchi. Cook for 2 mins. If gnocchi holds together - don't add more flour. If gnocchi falls apart - add a little flour and then retest dough.

To roll out dough: Cut dough into 6 pieces. Form pieces in to 1/2 inch thick ropes on a lightly floured surface. Gently roll dough. Use a very light touch.

Cut dough into 1/2 inch pieces.

To cook: Add to boiling salted water and cook for 2-3 mins. Remove and drain. Add to a baking dish with Sage Butter and bake at 450F degrees for 5 mins. or until bubbly.

To freeze: Lay cut gnocchi pieces on a baking sheet and freeze. Remove frozen gnocchi and store in a freezer bag. Return to freezer. Do not allow to thaw, before cooking!

Sage Butter

2 tsp. rubbed sage

1 stick of butter

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbs brown sugar

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Melt butter in a baking dish. Add sage, nutmeg and sugar. Stir. Keep warm until gnocchi are ready.

Add cooked gnocchi and bake at 450F degrees for 5 mins. or until bubbly.

Dough



Rolling out and cutting gnocchi.

Frozen gnocchi.

Cooked gnocchi.

This was all the gnocchi I had left after my party.

And I didn't get to taste them!

Roasted Garlic Bianca Pizza on a Crisp Parmesan Crust

Roasted Garlic Bianca Pizza on a Crisp Parmesan Crust

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Roasted Garlic

2 heads of garlic

olive oil

salt

Cut top off of garlic heads, so bulbs are exposed. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast covered in a 375 F degree oven, 30-40 mins, until cloves are soft and easy to remove from the head of garlic. Remove cloves and finely chop.

White Sauce

1 cup whole milk or half and half

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs flour

salt

cayenne pepper

roasted garlic (see directions above)

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In a small saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour and 1 to 2 mins. Pour in milk and whisk to combine. Continue whisking and add salt and cayenne pepper. Increase heat to med. , whisking continuously, until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat and add 2 Tbs roasted garlic. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Parmesan Crust

1 cup warm water

2 tsp. yeast

1 tsp. honey or sugar

2 Tbs olive oil

2 3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

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In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, honey and 1 Tbs of olive oil, stirring to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 -10 mins. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and Parmesan cheese. Mix until the batter is smooth. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is smooth, but slightly sticky. Turn the dough out and knead for 3-5 mins.

Place remaining olive oil in a large bowl. Place dough in the bowl, turning to coat with the olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place, until doubled in size - about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough. Separate dough into 4-6 lumps. On a piece of parchment paper, roll out dough very thinly.

Potato layer

Thinly slice 2 large baking potatoes.

In a large pot boil potatoes until they are soft enough to pierce, but still hold their shape.

Drain potatoes.

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Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. If you have a baking stone cook pizzas on that, otherwise place a flat cookie sheet in the oven to cook the pizzas on.

On each pizza crust spread 1 Tbs white sauce. Don't use too much or your crust won't crisp. Add a layer potatoes and top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Cook for 10-12 mins.

Remove and slice.

With basil.

Baking in the oven on the baking stone.
Use a baking stone for best results.

With rosemary.

Chocolate Bird's Nests

Chocolate Bird's Nests

1 can shoestring potatoes

14 oz. chocolate

(I used Wilton's Candy Melts - 7 oz mint and 7 oz. dark chocolate)

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Melt chocolate in the microwave.

Combine with shoestring potatoes.

Press into muffin cups and refrigerate overnight.

They can be made ahead - just keep them in the fridge until you serve them.

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To serve: Fill with mint ice cream and decorate with Chocolate Snowflakes

Can Jam January - Citrus

The first Tigress in a Jam - Can Jam!

The theme for this month is citrus.

Pure Gold Marmalade, my own recipe of orange, lemon, passion fruit, mango and peach, is my first choice for citrus, but I still have quite a few jars of it in my pantry and I couldn't find any frozen passion fruit, so I made something new.

I combined Minneola oranges, clementines, peaches, mango puree and guava puree.


The Minneola orange is a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit.

Deep red-orange and sometimes called the minneola tangelo, sometimes misspelled mineola, is easily recognized by its characteristic slightly elongated "neck" on one end.

At its peak of maturity, its pebbly peel turns to a very attractive bright reddish-orange color.

This tasty fruit is easy to peel, has a high juice content.

The ingredients above.

I like to buy fruits like mango, guava and passion fruit as frozen puree.

Because (a) it's easier - I hate peeling mangos (b) I feel like it might be fresher - the difference between tomatoes frozen at their peak in summer and fresh shipped tomatoes in the middle of winter might hold true with mangos too. (c) I can't buy local exotic fruits and it's cheaper to ship flat packages of frozen fruit than fresh fruit.

Just my opinion.

Above: The clementines in the food processor.



Some of the fruit before cooking.

I also added one bottle of ginger beer, 3 Tbs ground ginger and 1/3 cup bottled lemon juice.

Plus one pound of white sugar.



Jars bubbling away.



Removing jars from canner.




Finished orange/citrus ginger sauce.



Mmmmm, yummy!
Good for sauces or salads.
Or just on bread.
I think it is a little too runny to call marmalade, so I'm calling it Citrus Sauce.




Tilapia with citrus sauce.

Citrus sauce tilapia on a bed of shredded cabbage slaw.

The orange and ginger really taste amazing together.

I had a lot of fun with this Can Jam!

I know that on my own I never would have canned anything in January.

Now I have a nice gift to add to the gift baskets I'm making for the dinner party on Saturday.

I think I might include a card with recipe ideas for this Citrus Sauce.

DC's Challenge - Thai Tofu Satay

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

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Obviously, I wasn't going to make this with piggy.

So, I used tofu.

(On a side note - this Jan. 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of my vegetarianism)

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I love Thai food - love, love and I've eaten a lot of it. On the west coast, on the east coast....in my house in the middle of nowhere.

I did not enjoy this recipe and the Ladies ate it.

(Anyone seeing a pattern with my Daring Baking/Cooking stuff being eaten by the Ladies???)

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I like tofu, but I have specific ways of preparing it.

Not coating it in onion and garlic. Uncooked onion and garlic!

I drank pots of mint tea to get the taste out of my mouth!

I pressed the tofu.

Then added the "flavoring" mixture.


And let in marinate overnight.

Then I baked it in the oven.

The tofu was still white inside! Yuck.

And it didn't have any flavor, besides onion/garlic.

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In my opinion: The mix needed much more liquid. Tofu is like a sponge and it will soak up whatever flavor you put it in. Much, much less onion and garlic. And cook the onion - caramelize it, before putting it with the tofu. Add more soy sauce, some rice vinegar, rice wine, a little chile pepper, ginger, ground pepper, maybe some smoked salt.

And cook it in a dish with the sauce, don't bother with the skewers.

Sunday Dinner At Grandma's

I had dinner at my Grandma's house on Sunday.

My whole family went to visit Grandma - all 3 of us!

My Mom brought the dinner, so Grandma wouldn't have to cook.

And so she could eat something different.

It's always nice to eat someone else's cooking occasionally.

Above is the yummy salad with avocados, peppers, feta and tons of yummy veggies.

So nice to eat something fresh in the winter!

We also had lasagna.



And this yummy Butterscotch Pumpkin pie that my Grandma made.



There's my Grandma with a slice of pie.

And my Dad eating the pie.