Barefoot Blogger's Frilly Chantilly

Barefoot Bloggers are posting about Ina's Meringues Chantilly from the Barefoot in Paris book. Dave really liked this recipe. I found it so amazingly sweet I wanted to go take some insulin to counteract the diabetic coma I had. I did however LOVE the meringues. I had never bake a meringue before. It just didn't seem all that important to me. Thanks goes out to BMK of Reservations Not Required, for choosing this easy and fun treat.
One tip, I would cut the meringue shell recipe in half . It will make 6 shells instead of 12. Unless you have a crowd, 6 is more practical.
I have changed my tune. The meringue shell is a great little recipe to have in my back pocket. I can think of several ways to make this meringue shell my own. The use of chocolate comes to mind somehow.

I actually loved the raspberry sauce we created for this dessert too. Only I would use the raspberry sauce on cheesecake or something less sweet. Together, it was just too darn much for me. But the spouse was very happy, he even had seconds.

As you can see it was a beautiful dessert. Probably one of the prettiest I have ever seen.

The berries for this recipe were expensive. Partially because of California's lousy growing season. I settled for strawberries on top but use the raspberries as written in the sauce.

Congrats go out to Hosea; This seasons new Top Chef. Carla...you still my girl. And, I still hate you Tom Colicchio, you can learn some lessons from our girl Ina.

Barefoot Bloggers do Meatballs and Spaghetti

I really was looking forward to this post!!! Yes these were terrific meatballs. They came together in a snap and they were so moist and tasty. I have made hundreds and hundreds of meatballs of various sizes and recipes and I have learned that they can be cooked in the oven with great success. So when Ina called for 1/4 inch of oil in a pan and to fry them; I totally ignored that part. I also just used ground beef from the ranch in California that has the sustainable thing going on, I didn't want to use veal or pork like Ina recommended.

The Ragu' was so easy and tasty. I made this recipe after church on Sunday, it took me about an hour. My family loved it.

You can link to the recipe here Ina's Real Spaghetti and Meatballs or click on Ina's picture to order the book.

I added my own mix of Herbs 'd Provance, and I made my own Boule' bread for the bread crumbs.
Check out what the other Barefoot Bloggers did by clicking on the button below!! And thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake , for choosing this fine recipe this month.

Barefoot Bloggers--Easy Sticky Buns

I just gotta say it...I love President Obama!

Now about this week's Barefoot Blogger....Ina does it again with this ooey, gooey, chewy, masterpiece. I put this creative recipe together in under 20 minutes. You can thank Melissa at Made by Melissa for choosing this winner.

Be aware... this is NOT a cinnamon roll. It is not like a Cinnabon "yeasty-bready" roll! This is a sticky bun; Caramely, salty/sweet and flaky/ crisp. As far as I am concerned both types of buns are worth learning how to make. But here below are a few notes about why you should try this recipe.

• quick
• luxurious flakiness
• yet a nice hefty dense weight (go figure)
  
• salty/ sweet
• easy clean-up
• no experience necessary
• looks and eats like a gourmet pastry
• amaze your company
• CONTAINS LOADS of BUTTER (you decide)
  
• makes exactly 12 buns
  
• just one bun will satisfy most
• made in two easy to handle batches
  

You make the caramel gooey topping by creaming butter and brown sugar together . Then divvy- up the pecans among the muffin cups.

After you roll the pastry into a log, slice it thick.

It goes directly onto the creamed butter, sugar and pecans.

You will get exactly 12 rolls. I did not bother trimming ends like Ina directed.

Invert them onto your parchement.

Here is the recipe from page 240
Barefoot Contessa
Back to Basics

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted for the filling
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard(unnecessary step). Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.

For excellent recipes using frozen Puff Pastry check out http://www.puffpastry.com/default.aspx Peppridge Farms has dozens upon dozens of really stunning recipes.

Barefoot Bloggers--Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

This week for our Barefoot Bloggers post, Karen of Something Sweet by Karen choose, Ina's Banana Sour Cream Pancakes, from the Barefoot Contessa's Family Style Cookbook, page 177. I had made these before and several times thereafter. They are exceptional.
Banana takes on a really beautiful flavor when you get it warm. You need perfectly ripe bananas as pictured above to get the full bouquet of the fruit though. The bananas in the pancake itself will almost melt in your mouth; and the bananas you top the pancake with will provide a nice "tooth" to your bite. (I prefered mine diced as opposed to sliced)

I have found that to get a really beautiful color on the pancake itself you need to use oil, not Pam, then wait until the sides of the pancake are dry looking before turning. It will be nice and crispy too.

Pancakes are really personal. We have preferences for thickness, and color, some of us want butter, or fruity syrup opposed to maple syrup, even others want nuts or whole grain. This is a recipe that you can adapt to your preference. I added whole grain to my pancakes in the form of Dee's Cereal . I added 1/2 cup of Dee's Cereal in addition to what is listed in Ina's ingredients list.

Mexican Chicken Soup Ina Style

As a Barefoot Blogger, I have to say I have been thrilled to focus on many of the fabulous Ina Garten recipes in print. I have tried some recipes that I probably would have overlooked for one reason or another. Have they all been winners? No, but I have found a few that with tweaking, I could learn to really love. Today's challenge of Mexican Chicken Soup is such a recipe.

What did I love about this recipe? I loved the shredded chicken technique. I normally cook the hell out of a chicken and bone it and use the broth in some sort of soupy way. Well, since my 16 year old is a vegetarian, I have had to re-think my way of cooking. I am glad to change foods to suit her needs since she is such a good and wonderful child, who hardly ever gives me grief; I figure making things work for her benefit, benefit me too!

What I did or would do different:

• In this recipe I substituted the veggie stock for chicken stock.
  
• Good so far, I roasted the chicken and used the juices in the soup after I portioned out some soup for her.
• I liked the white corn tortillas! My tortillas really kind of thickened my soup.
• I did not care for the carrots. I understand their use in an aromatic sense, but they seemed out of place in this recipe.
• This recipe screamed for Hatch, New Mexico green chile's. Luckily as a good Mexican-American girl, I keep oodles and oodles in my freezer. I don't imagine even Ina goes to the lengths I do to keep a fresh roasted supply of these lovelies in stock.
• I would probably add some hominy in place of the carrots. Even fresh corn would have been a better addition here than the carrots. Do you understand....I did not like the carrots?
• I didn't like the sour cream either, but it did look pretty on the soup. It was optional, I felt it took away from the true flavor of the soup.
  

Did I mention I didn't like the carrots? Even potatoes would have been better here.

Pretty bird....

When Ye Are in the Service....

...of Your Fellow Men, Ye are Only in the Service of Your God. Mosiah 2:17

No matter what God you serve, or how you worship, it is pure and human to take care of each other. I have had that opportunity several times this month. I am not going to list my opportunities here, or keep a running tally; but I just want to say how good I feel when I can perform some service for another person!

So dear Barefoot Bloggers, that is why I am somewhat tardy in my posting of today's recipe
Herb Roasted Onions.

I must admit, I used an already homemade vinaigrette that I had made recently, instead of following the recipe exactly. I added some fresh thyme and other herbs to it. I only used one onion since I didn't cook dinner today because of other obligations, and I didn't think most of my family would eat this.

My daughter and I gobbled it up once it came out of the oven. One onion was perfect for the two of us. I will make this again though, but I will cut the root off and let the sections of the onion separate. And, I will put it on a bigger pan, to let more of the pieces caramelize more deeply.

Barefoot Bloggers Vegetable Pot Pie

With Dave coming home from the deer hunt yesterday, (gone 6 days, and our state is minus 3 deer and 1 elk), I decided it would be a perfect day to make the Barefoot Contessa's Vegetable Pot Pie.


I will clarify on the deer hunt...he went with 3 other guys. Only one of the deer is ours.







The last challenge was such a stinker at our house, that I just knew from reading the Pot Pie recipe, I would have to do some editing.

• I left out the squash, the pearl onions, the saffron and the Pernod (licorice flavored liqueur). And I cut back on the butter by 1/2 a stick. Sorry Ina. The butter requirement was insane.
  
• To keep this gravy vegetarian for my daughter I also used vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth, with great success! It also turned the gravy a really pretty dark color.
  
• I added my own homegrown frozen sugar snap peas, haricot verts (french green beans), and chicken breast to the large pot pie. I left the small one alone for my daughter.
  
• Did any other BB's find that this recipe made twice as much as you thought it would? Mine would have fed a very generous 6+.
  
• There was tons of extra pastry, so I made it into sugar sprinkled treats.
• I loved the addition of the fennel bulb. I will be purchasing this on a regular basis from now on, I can think of lots of ways to use this. Before, I had only eaten it in salads, and it was just ok. I think the fact that I took the liberty to caramelize the onions and the fennel, added great depth to this gravy.
  
• Oh, and I also found some of those great "albino"asparagus at Sunflower Farmer's Market! Only .99 a pound!
• I will be making variations of this again.
  

Saffron Risotto with Butternut Squash

Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa Family Style was the source of this week's Barefoot Blogger's cooking challenge. I for one, love butternut squash, and I love risotto, so I figured this recipe would be a hit at my house. It sure is pretty isn't it?






The risotto itself is easy to make. Nicely textured and it came out a lovely color. Perfect for fall weather. But, I gotta say, I did not like this recipe. Uggh. My family hated it. Not since I made shepherds pie in 1984 for my new husband, have I had such a failure. It made me sick to throw it down the disposal, but I don't think the dog next door would even eat it. I made it exactly like the book said to. I think it might have been the saffron that was so icky. The squash was really nice, but I would have preferred it with some brown sugar the, way "mom" used to make instead. And, it would have been less mess, less expense, less fuss too. Yep, this recipe was a bust at this house. I am not even going to bother posting the recipe here because I don't want any of my friends to try it and then blame me for their sucky results. Sorry fellow BBr's, I hope no one takes offense. You can't win 'em all.

I wonder what Ina Garten was thinking when she put this in a "Family" cookbook? My family has sophisticated palates, I rarely make the same thing twice, I am an expert in the kitchen, but this recipe was just not a winner. There is no family I know of in my neighborhood who would like this recipe. Granted, we do live in Provo and not in the Hampton's.

I took dinner to a friend's son and daughter-in-law yesterday. They have a cute new baby girl. I was short on time, I relented to convenience foods (gasp!) and decided to make it for my family too. My husband and daughters LOVED it. My friend loved it asked me for the recipe. Her husband (who eats anything) loved it to. I am going to share that recipe here, no phancy- shmancy photographs, but, chances are, when you are called to take a meal to a new mom, or a sick loved one and you are wondering what the heck you are going to make, you will have these ingredients on hand for this recipe and thank your lucky stars for cream of anything soup.
Quick Enchilada Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1 can chili beans
1 can green chilies
1 can (sm) enchilada sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
Corn Tortilla Chips
Monterey Jack Cheese (or just cheese)
Brown the beef, drain off the fat. Dump in all the canned goods, no need to drain anything, and mix with the beef. Put the tortilla chips on the bottom of a 13x9 pyrex dish. Spoon the beef mixture on top. Top with as much cheese as you want. Bake 350 until bubbly, about 30 minutes. This can be made ahead and then baked directly from the fridge. Just lower the heat and use foil and bake it about an hour or til bubbly.

Barefoot Bloggers-Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

The Barefoot Contessa's
Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

I knew when I signed up with the Barefoot Blogger's I would be gaining weight. I mean, have you ever seen an Ina Garten recipe that does not include at least one half cup of butter? Well kids, this exciting recipe was no exception, and was made even richer with the addition of 1 cup each of heavy cream, and half and half. Thanks to Chelle at Brown Eyed Baker for the challenge.

I just loved this recipe. Why? Well, it was really fun to make. I loved shopping for the exotic mushrooms, and it felt kind of naughty adding all that butter and cream. We had to make our own mushroom stock with the stems from the shitake, portobello and chanterelles ( the recipe asked for cremini). I loved the addition of the leeks. Part of the fun for me in a recipe like this is the prep work; leeks are fun to chop! I could kick myself that I don't use leeks more often in other recipes. They hold their texture and color where regular onion would dissolve in a recipe like this. I think the leeks played a supporting role here in this gastronomic drama. Here is the link to this lovely recipe: Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
or you can look it up in your own copy of Barefoot Contessa at Home, page 48.

Also, thanks to good friends for sharing this soup with me. Thanks to Sarah for bring a stunning Potato Chowder and Stacy for the the fruit dip. I could kick myself for not getting pictures...What was I thinking?

Barefoot Bloggers-Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten, was this weeks Barefoot Blogger Challenge. I was really excited to give this one a try. For once, a recipe of the Contessa's that doesn't call for a cube of butter!

This recipe is "grown-up" because of the mature tastes of the cheeses included. I found them delicious here in this recipe.

Bacon makes anything taste better, n'est pas?

I used large macaroni, it was really a good choice. I cooked a bit undercooked.

I wish it had been gooier.

I doubled the recipe and made a smaller dish for my vegetarian daughter.

A nice change side dish, was this crispy salad.

We all have sophisticated palates at the Glad home and, everyone even my baby daughter who is 16 thought it was nice. If I make this again, I will make more sauce, so it won't be so dry.

NOTE"I had this as leftovers several days later, it was better as a leftover"!