I made a Purple Risotto, I kid you not.  It had flecks of different color purples from dark blue purple on down to lavender.  If you have kids that love new colorful meals, this would such a cool dish for them to try.  My son, my husband and I all thought it was scrumptious, and we’d eat it again. Actually we will, because there are leftovers. 

My husband and I went to Lynd’s Fruit Farm just outside of Columbus.  We’ve been going there for apples in the fall plus other fun things.  This was the last weekend of the sale tent and we didn’t want to miss out. They have such cool things available like purple cauliflower, purple broccoli, purple Brussels sprouts – okay, not purple brussel sprouts – just green, pumpkins, gourds and apples.  While we were there, we actually got to be part of an apple tasting.  One gentleman said they were trying out a new apple and we should taste 4 different types and rate where they landed on a piece of paper.  After we placed the apples on the paper in the proper like/dislike square (it was a range), he marked where they landed, and told us the one we liked best was 1238.  There’s only one tree in the world with those apples, and they developed it.  That apple was really delicious and sweet, though he said it was a tart apple.  I hope they plant more of these trees.  As a thank you, we were able to pick out some gold rush apples to take home.  Cool!

I love the bright purple Cauliflower (no, of course I don’t have a before picture) though I’ve never used it before today.  I was really pumped to see that the color when the cauliflower didn’t disappear, but changed as I cooked.  I first boiled the cauliflower in a pot of water, so that I could use that water as the base for the risotto.  The water turned blue purple, but when poured in with the arborio rice, it turned lavender.  So all of these purples – dark blue down to light lavender are in this risotto and make it so pretty.  A few green herbs thrown really pop.  Then I strained the water out into another pot and let the cauliflower cool long enough to be able to dice it up.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup arborio rice
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• thyme
• 1/4 cup grana padano grated

Directions:

In a pot large enough to hold the whole head of cauliflower, boil until almost done but still firm.  Strain the water (it will be blue purple) into a second pot and place that on the stove on low heat to keep warm.  In large deep skillet heat oil, sauté onions and garlic. Pour in white wine, and stir until evaporated.   When the onions and garlic are tender but still firm, add in the arborio rice, and stir for about a minute.  Then pour in one to two cups of purple cauliflower water.  Let it soak up the water, then add more. Meanwhile mince the cauliflower head.  Add more purple water to the rice slowly, until it is just about risotto ready.  Mix in the cauliflower, throw on some salt, pepper, the herbs and add on top the grana padano. 

Deb, you’ve got to try this – T would love it.

This is another of those recipes I found somewhere or other and tweaked to make it my own. This recipe makes enough for two pies. As I was baking these pies yesterday, the UPS man rang my doorbell, which he doesn’t usually do. He said he just wanted to tell me the smells coming from my house were “super amazing.” Here’s to a holiday season filled with good smells and good foods.

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

Ingredients

• *1 29 ounce can pumpkin
• 2 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 package of cream cheese – softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Nitty Gritty

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Beat pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, cream cheese, spices and salt in large bowl until smooth. Pour into crusts.
2. Bake for 40 minutes until knife inserted comes clean.

Serve with a healthy dollop of freshly whipped cream.

When my mother in law called me the other day and asked me if I could bake an apple pie for her party today, I took it to be a great compliment. My mother in law is one of the best Chinese home cooks in the U.S. and she’s very picky about the foods she serves to her guests. Every holiday she calls me and asks me to make my apple pie – but I usually make two so she can enjoy one at home after her guests leave.

This is a recipe I found online but tweaked over the years. My family loves it and I hope yours does too. I use a prepared crust because I haven’t mastered the art of making a pie crust yet, but by all means, use your homemade crust as I’m sure it’s much better than what you can buy in the supermarket.

Deb’s Holiday Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 1 bottom and 1 top pie crust
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 10   apples – peeled, cored and sliced (I like to use a variety of sweet & tart)

Nitty Gritty

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F . Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, sugars, cinnamon and vanilla and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Place apples in a large bowl and mix with butter and sugar mixture leaving out enough of the mixture to brush over the top crust.

3 . Place the bottom crust in your pan and fill with apples. Cover with the top crust. Brush the crust with the left over butter mixture.

4. Bake 15 minutes . Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F  and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.

My favorite dessert in the world is Apple Pie A la Mode, so I like to service this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top. My mother in law likes it with some freshly whipped cream. However you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

I love this for a fall dish. It works especially well as a side dish on a holiday dinner table. The alcohol may be omitted as the cider still gives this casserole a wonderful flavor. I especially love when the edges of the veggies crisp up and caramelize a bit. I’m telling you, it’s a party in your mouth.

Though you can cut the veggies to your preference, we prefer a nice julienne.

Root Vegetable Casserole in White Wine Sauce

3 Cups Apple cider
1 cup semi-sweet white wine
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds carrots
1 1/4 pound sweet potatoes or yams
1 1/4 pound parsnips
1 1/4 pound white turnips
1 1/4 pound yellow turnips
Salt & pepper

• Boil cider and wine in a heavy saucepan until reduced. (about 30 minutes — to 3/4 cup) whisk in butter.

• Peel & cut veggies into 1/2 inch pieces.

• place veggies in baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. Pour cider/wine mixture over veggies. Lightly salt & pepper – toss to coat.

• Roast at 425 until veggies are golden and tender with crisp edges. Usually about 40 minutes.

Last night we ate dinner using a recipe in Guilano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta. Tonight we didn’t have even thirty minutes. Hot dogs in the toaster oven was the dinner fare. The Marching Band had their fall concert. Things are starting to wind down; Friday is the state competition, and then Marching Band Season is over for us, though we will still have a few parades to attend. I don’t think you need the toasted hotdog recipe, but I have permission to provide a recipe from Thirty Minute Pasta. Enjoy this the next time you are rushing to get out of the house quickly.

Fusilli ai Porri e Cipolla Rossa

Leeks are onions’ milder cousins and when they cook down they become sweet and creamy. Red onions add their unique flavor making this quite a luscious pasta sauce.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red onion
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium leeks
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6-7 sprigs flat leaf Italian parsley
• 1 pound fusilli (spaghetti would also be good here)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Peel and thinly slice the red onion crosswise. Put it with the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet and place over medium high heat. Sauté the onion while you are prepping the leeks. If the onion begins to brown, remove from the heat. While the onion is sautéing, cut off the root end of the leeks and trim the tough dark green tops of the leaves. Cut the leeks into narrow strips 2-3 inches long, put them in a bowl, and cover with water. Swish the leeks with your hands to loosen any dirt. Lift the leeks out of the water in the bowl and add them to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and add about 1/2 cup of water. Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium, and cook until the leeks are very tender, 15-20 minutes. Check them periodically and add more water if all the liquid evaporates before they are done. While the leeks are cooking, finely chop enough parsley to measure about 2 tablespoons. After the leeks have cooked for at least 15 minutes, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, put in the fusilli, and stir well. Cook until al dente. When the leeks are done, uncover the pan and if there is still liquid in the pan, raise the heat until it is almost completely evaporated. If the pan is completely dry, add about 1/4 cup of the pasta water instead. Stir in the parsley and cook for another minute. When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.

Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes sounds too good to be true.  Thirty minutes and easy are two words we love to hear when it comes to preparing dinner.  My husband and son are particularly challenge when it comes to preparing food.  They like to use the pasta that comes in a box with orange powdered cheese flavored stuff, though they can and have prepared homemade spaghetti sauce.  Their cooking skills are limited, and while they could come up with a different meal every night of the week, the next week would probably be the same exact ones as the first week.  I was excited with the quick and easy, very excited as a matter of fact. 

The recipes in the book did seem easy, basic, but interesting to the palate.  I wondered if they really were 30 minute recipes.  For the first dinner from this book, I chose Spaghetti Carbonara.  I followed the recipe exactly, working at lightening speed and no stopping to breathe.  Yes, it can be done in 30 minutes, but only because I worked very quickly.  Spaghetti Carbonara was a relatively easy recipe too, but I was the cook, so I wasn’t sure if my opinion could be trusted.

The second recipe we chose to try was Spaghetti with Cauliflower and Pancetta.  This time I wanted my husband to do the cooking.  If he can follow the recipes, then they truly are easy recipes.  He calls himself a newbie, because his cooking experiences are limited, though his usual repertoire makes a decent meal.  There was some cursing and gnashing of teeth, but I think it had more to do with the organization of the kitchen drawers than the recipe.  We chose this recipe because we bought cauliflower at a farm stand sale and had it available.  Thirty minutes went by quickly, but dinner took a little longer to prepare, closer to 45 or 55 minutes.  My husband wasn’t rushing, but that was probably a good thing. The food was delicious and my husband felt he could do it again.

Our assessment:

1. Thirty minutes might be pushing it, but can be accomplished if you know what you are doing and have mise en place.

2. The food is a little under seasoned.  Maybe that’s a time trade off, but a few more herbs and spices would be good, though simplicity was appreciated.

3. Drawback – most recipes ask you to prepare a whole pound of pasta for the meal.  We think a whole pound is a bit much for serving 4 people. 

3. Easy – yes!

4. Clear – yes!

5. We recommend this for a busy parent, a newbie or a college student. 

6. We will definitely use this book.

I like that these recipes are using items normally found in the home pantry and very easily found in the grocery store.  In the early part of the book, Hazan discusses the different types of pastas, and the sauces that work best with them. Also, he lists what you should keep in your pantry to help out with these quick easy recipes. The recipes include pasta soups, vegetarian pastas, seafood pastas and meat pastas.

My grade A- , my husband gave it a B.

Disclosure:  Guilano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta 100 Quick Easy Recipes was provided to me in order to do this review. The honest opinions provided are my own, and my husband’s . 

Dig out those recipes you use when you want to impress your friends and family.  Some of these contests have cash prizes (perfect for buying my Christmas present) others travel and culinary experiences.  Then there’s the Kitchen Aid Mixer, wow!

• California Wild Rice Rocks My World Recipe Rumble – What a name for a recipe contest!  Unfortunately, this contest is only open to culinary professionals of California and Nevada.  What’s with that?  I guess if it’s the California Wild Rice Advisory Board, you can do that. If you qualify for that rule, check out all the other rules of the contest before submitting your recipe. In addition to cash awards for the best recipes, photography enthusiasts will have an opportunity to submit photos of their recipe entries for a chance to win cash and prizes. Contestants must enter their images through the social photography site Flickr in the "California Wild Rice Rocks My World Recipe Rumble" group. Recipe and photo winners will also receive an array of wild rice products.

• The Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation is calling all talented chefs to apply to represent the United States in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or International Culinary Competition, which will take place in Lyon, France in 2011. Established in 1983 by legendary Chef Paul Bocuse, Bocuse d’Or is the preeminent international culinary competition in which teams from twenty-four countries compete for top honors and international acclaim.
  • The Chef Applicant must be an American citizen and 23 years of age or older at the time of the final competition in Lyon on January 25, 2011
  • The Chef Applicant must have at least (3) three years of experience in a fine dining establishment
  • The Commis Applicant must be an American citizen and 22 years of age or younger at the time of the final competition in Lyon on January 25, 2011
  • From the pool of applicants, The Foundation’s Board of Directors – Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Jerome Bocuse – will review all of the submissions and select the sixteen semi-finalist teams, which will be announced at a press conference on Monday, December 7, 2009.  From February 4-6, 2010 at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, these sixteen teams will compete for a chance to represent the United States at Bocuse d’Or.  The teams will compete in a U.S. Semi-Final round on Thursday, February 4. The top eight teams will advance to the U.S. Final competition, held on Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6. The top team will be selected as the U.S. representative. The competition prizes include an award trophy for each competing team and a cash prize for the top three Final Competition Teams: 
    1st Prize: $5,000  2nd Prize: $4,000  3rd Prize: $3,000 .

• California Walnut Board announces the start of its Holiday Baking Challenge Starring California Walnuts! California Walnuts encourages home chefs to enter their most popular holiday recipes with walnuts for a chance to win a Kitchen Aid Mixer. This contest ends December 4, 2009.

  The six food categories to choose from are:

  • Cookies, Brownies and Blondies: perfectly portioned treats from the oven can double as delicious gifts for friends and neighbors
  • Cakes and Pies: classic baked desserts that delight a crowd, these recipes are well suited for holiday entertaining
  • Breads: walnuts sparkle in quick breads and yeast breads…also in muffins, rolls, loaves…
  • Breakfast / Brunch Baked Items: start the day with cinnamon rolls or coffee cake, but walnuts also add crunch to savory strata or quiche

           and these two new categories

• Video (to be posted on YouTube):  contestants  present their recipe in a number of ways, such as sharing holiday anecdotes or demonstrating their baking techniques!
• SMART category: recipes that are made over to be less indulgent but still delicious versions of classic, favorite treats.

• PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur announced that they are giving you the chance to win a trip for 2 to the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen, just by whipping up a recipe of
         your own using PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur. My husband loves coming up with different types of cocktails with PAMA.  I wonder what he could come up with if he baked.
• COOK – Whip, whisk or bake an appetizer, entrée or dessert recipe of your own using                   
         at least 3 TBSP of PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
• ENTER – Become a Fan of PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur on Facebook, but simply
         copying www.facebook.com/pamaliqueur into your browser, and submit your original      
         recipe along with a photo through the Facebook page.
• VOTE – PAMA Facebook fans can vote for their favorite dish on Facebook page
         from November 16th to December 15th, so log-in and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE
• WIN - Finalists will be judged by Bravo’s Top Chef cheftestants, Spike Mendelsohn, Jeff                             
         McInnis and Lee Ann Wong, to determine the Grand Prize winner and three First Prize      
         Winners
  OFFICIAL RULES – Copy www.facebook.com/pamaliqueur into your browser to read
         the official contest rules

• Don’t Forget Star Fine Foods – Flavors of the Mediterranean Recipe Contest – they’re sponsoring our Star Extra Virgin Olive Oil Giveaway – Week 3 , and soon our Week 4.

I just want to remind everyone that we have two contests ongoing at Cookerati right now. 

Win Marye Audet’s – Everything Cookies and Brownies Cookbook – Ends Nov 1st.

Week 3 of our -  Star Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gift Pack Giveaway – Ends Nov 2nd.

Our winners are picked randomly, but you must follow the rules of the giveaway.  Winning from us, does not preclude you from winning again because we want you to keep coming back.

Since we’re listing our giveaways, I’m inviting anyone who has a blog with a giveaway to post their own giveaways in the comments.  Let’s share the wealth like a contest trick or treat.

I received a package in the mail today filled with goodies to review containing, among other things, several packages of Cranberry Raisinets. The timing was good as they came at snack time and I had two seven year olds standing by to give their opinion – The Boy and his friend who, for this study, we will call “The Friend.”

I gave each boy a package of Raisinets and stepped back to catch their honest assessment:

The Boy: Tasty!

The Friend: It’s good. What are they called again?

Me: Cranberry Raisents.

The Boy: They’re like regular Raisinets but different.

The Friend: That doesn’t make sense. How can they be Cranberry Raininets?

The Boy: The should call them “Cranberryets.”

The friend: “Cranberets.”

The Boy: “Cranboogers.”

The Boy and The Friend: “EWWWWWW!!! Gross!!”

The Friend: I wouldn’t eat them if they’re Cranboogers.

The Boy: Me either. We can give them to Matthew. He has peanut allergies. He can eat boogers.

The Friend: EWWWWW!!!!

Me: So what do we think guys, do we like them?

The Friend: Yes. They’re good. You should buy more and give them to me when I visit. My mom won’t buy chocolate because she says it makes me crazy.

Me: I can totally see that.

The Boy: Are they going to make them in big boxes for the movies?

The Friend: No they can sell Cranboogers at the movies for the allergy kids.

The Boy and The Friend: EWWWWWW!!!!!

As you can see, I don’t ask my son and his friend to do product reviews very often. However, the Cranberry Raisinets people sent me some samples, and it’s my duty to give you my honest opinion. They’re good. They’re just what you’d expect. They don’t taste like boogers and they’re healthy-ish. They’ll make a good lunch box snack for The Boy, and they’re in hundred calorie bags for me. They’re tart and sweet and the flavors work well together. If they had a dark chocolate variety, they’d totally rock. They’re like regular Raisinets but different.

My family would totally eat them again.

Full disclosure: Reps for Nestle/Cranberry Raisinets sent me this product so I can do a review. This is my honest opinion.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to taste Wolfgang Candies.  These were sweet dark chocolate candies filled with a light fruit syrup.  They’re individually wrapped and come in blueberry, raspberry and cranberry.  The berries are listed as ingredients which is a big plus, no artificial flavoring.  The ingredients include dark chocolate (sugar, chocolate (processed with alkali), cocoa butter, soy lecithin (an emulsifier) vanilla), sugar, berries, vegetable oil. I enjoyed the dark chocolate outer shell.  It wasn’t too sweet, and is a good contrast to the fruit syrup inside.

While the berries are listed as an ingredient, and it says they are dipped, I wasn’t able to find fruit inside the syrup. The sweet liquid inside the chocolate shell is light and more flowery than fruity tasting, but still pleasant.  While I’m not a huge fan of chocolate covered syrup, my husband and son felt similarly about the fruit and the syrup but gave the candies a little better rating. 

Would I buy these for myself?  Maybe not, I’m not a huge fan of fruit syrups, but I could get them for my husband or son because they liked  Wolfgang Candies.  It might make a nice Christmas gift, Stocking stuffer, or Host gift too.

My grade for Wolfgang Candies Chocolate Dipped Berry Candies  is C+, but to be fair my husband and son gave it a B.