chipotle sweet potato and pecan gratin

It still has the little marshmallows, but it spices up the table.

3 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil, salt, and pepper and spread on a baking sheet. Put in a 375 oven for about twenty minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups pecans
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the pecans, sugar, and chipotle powder. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar starts to caramelize and the pecans are coated. Spread and cool on a parchment lined baking sheet.

1/8 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Put the sweet potatoes, one third of the pecans, and the spices in the food processor and pulse until you have a chunky mix. Scrape into a 9x9 baking dish and cover with marshmallows. Cook about 25 minutes, until the marshmallows are golden. Sprinkle with the remaining pecans and serve.

Peace,
Milton

brown sugar buttermilk pie

I was intrigued by this recipe because they used brown sugar.

1 refrigerated pie crust

Heat oven to 400. Bake the crust about 12 minutes, until golden. Transfer to rack and cool.

1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons all purpose flour

Mix sugar and flour in a food processor, then add

3 large eggs plus one large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla

until well blended; then add

1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted butter

and blend again. Pour mixture into cooled crust and bake about 45 minutes, until it puffs and is almost set in the center. Cool on a rack and then chill until cold before serving.

Peace,
Milton

sweet potato pie

I made a couple of these today to share with co-workers.

1 refrigerated pie crust
1 egg white, beaten

Paint the crust with the egg white before you fill it with the sweet potato mixture. This keeps the crust from being soggy.

Preheat oven t0 400.

1 15oz can candied yams
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together in a food processor until smooth. Pour into pie crust and bake for 45 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Peace,
Milton

pumpkin pie

Smitten Kitchen has become my favorite food blog. Her pumpkin pie is amazing. You can get the whole deal, crust and all, here, but I opted for a refrigerated crust, so I'm just passing along my version of the pie part.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Put pie crust in the oven for about 10 minutes. (I covered mine with a piece of foil and weighted it with pocket change.)

2 cups half and half
3 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together in medium bowl. Set aside.

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup drained candied yams from 15-ounce can
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground because I’m not a huge fan of fresh ginger)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon table salt

Combine these ingredients and bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, 5 to 7 minutes. Continue to simmer pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly and mashing yams against sides of pot, until thick and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Whisk in cream mixture until fully incorporated. (I then used my hand mixer to make sure the mixture was as smooth as possible.) Transfer to pre-baked pie shell. Return pie plate with baking sheet to oven and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Continue baking until edges are set, 20 to 35 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature, 2 to 3 hours. (The pie finishes cooking with resident heat; to ensure the filling sets, cool it at room temperature and not in the refrigerator.)

This is worth saving room for dessert.

Peace,
Milton

cornbread waffles

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but in this case,my mother was actually the mother of invention. For a while now I have been trying to figure out how to add my open faced chicken pot pie to my restaurant menu. The problem, for me, was putting the mixture on a biscuit, because biscuits are hard to make ahead, or to make in small batches. When I went to Texas for my college homecoming, my mother and I were talking about food and she said, "I've been doing something fun. I started making cornbread waffles."

And a new dish was born.

I played around with a couple of cornbread recipes and ended up with this version, which has corn kernels in it and is more savory, since it is going with the pot pie mixture. Just because I like to say the words together, we call it "Chicken and Waffles."

Here is the waffle recipe. The chicken mixture can be found here.

1 1/2 cups corn meal
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl mix together

1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter

Add to dry mixture and then add

1 1/2 cups corn

Stir just until the ingredients are mixed together. Spoon into waffle iron.

Makes four to five double waffles in my waffle iron.

Peace,
Milton

chickpea and vegetable stew

I came across this recipe looking for a soup to make for a friend who leans toward the vegetarian side of things.

olive oil
2 cups zucchini, cubed
1 cup onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced

Heat your soup pot and cook these ingredients, covered, for about five minutes. Stir in

4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground pepper
1 small can diced green chiles
2 cans (15.5 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes, with juice

Bring mixture to a boil , reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the chickpeas are tender, stirring occasionally.

Peace,
Milton

spicy shrimp and peanut butter pizza

One of the things I was asked to do on the retreat at Laity Lodge (read Gordon's post about it -- photo courtesy of RLP) was a cooking demonstration. As Ginger I talked about it, I decided I wanted to do something that had some metaphorical nutrition to it as well as something that tasted good. Since our retreat theme had to do with finding our vocation, which translates to me as figuring out what to make of the ingredients of our lives, I gave five people the chance to go into the pantry and refrigerator at the lodge and pick an ingredient. I promised I would use those things (along with a few additions of my own) to make our evening snack.

They chose

scallions
shrimp
jalapenos (we were in Texas)
phyllo dough

and peanut butter.

I spent the afternoon thinking and preparing and then we gathered after our evening session so they could see me assemble the dish and we could eat our Spicy Shrimp and Peanut Butter Pizzas together.

You, too, can make them at home.

½ cup melted butter
8 sheets phyllo dough

Take each sheet of phyllo, one at a time, paint with butter and stack them one on top of the other. Fold in the sides to make about a ½ inch border, or crust, and then put it in a 350 oven for about eight minutes, until it is lightly browned.

½ cup peanut butter
½ cup crushed pineapple
½ cup jalapenos, chopped
½ sweet chili sauce
¼ cup honey

Blend the mixture in a food processor and then heat in a sauté pan until it thickens a bit. Set aside.

10 medium sized shrimp

Boil, grill, or sauté the shrimp (your pick) and let them cool.

½ cup corn kernels
½ roasted red peppers, chopped
½ cup jalapenos, chopped
½ cup scallions chopped
½ cup cooked bacon, chopped
lime juice
salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients together to make a salsa of sorts.

Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spoon the peanut sauce in the middle of the crust, leaving the turned in edges dry. Chop the shrimp and spread over the peanut sauce, then spread the salsa on top (you may not use all of it). The final touch is a layer of crumbled

queso fresco

and then the pizza goes in a 350 oven for five to seven minutes, until everything is warmed through. Sprinkle some more chopped scallions on top to serve.

A couple of notes: you could use a regular pizza crust if you don’t want to fool with the phyllo. You can use another kind of cheese; I used what was available. This isn’t a fast recipe, but it seemed worth it as I watched every last piece of pizza disappear.

Peace,
Milton

guiltless granola

I cook for a friend at church from time to time who is pre-diabetic. She asked if I could come up with a granola that has a low glycemic index and this is an amalgamation of a couple of recipes I found.

1 cup chopped dates
1 cup water

Combine and cook over medium heat until most of the water has either been absorbed or evaporated. Set aside to cool.

8 cups rolled oats (oatmeal)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup dried fruit (your pick)
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix these ingredients together in a large bowl. Cook in batches by spreading a thin layer on a baking sheet and baking for about seven minutes. (It took me about four batches.) Put the mixture back in the big bowl. Add

1/4 frozen apple concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup vegetable oil

to the date paste and mix together. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix well. Return the mixture to the baking sheet and cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool before storing in an airtight container.

Peace,
Milton

triple a pesto

We invited some folks over for dinner last night who have just moved into the neighborhood, which sent me to the refrigerator and the pantry to see what I could make of what I had on hand. I have a couple of recipes to post, but I'll start with this one. I found

marinated aritchokes
dried unsulphured apricots (an equal amount)
almonds (about half the volume of the first two ingredients)
cinnamon basil (from our garden)

I added

a little lemon juice
salt and pepper

and pulsed it in the food processor. Once it was fairly well pureed, I began pouring a slow stream of

olive oil

into the food processor and let it run for a good bit, until the mix was the consistency I wanted. It turned out to be quite good.

Peace,
Milton

balsamic berry chicken

This has way more to do with the sauce than it does the chicken.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Grill the chicken or saute it. Remember, we're trying to get to the sauce. If you saute the bird, remove it from the saute pan and set aside. If you grill it, you can start the sauce while the chicken is on the grill. Add

8 oz raspberry fruit spread
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 small finely diced onion

Cook over pretty high heat until it begins to bubble; lower the heat and let the sauce reduce by about half. You can either add the chicken to the skillet to coat, or plate them and pour the sauce over the top.

Note: I found a good deal on fresh raspberries at the grocery store and covered a pint of raspberries with water and added about 3 tablespoons of honey and let it simmer until the berries fell apart. Then I added the balsamic vinegar and finished the sauce.

Peace,
Milton