Caramelized Onion and Tomato Compote & Apple Pear Butter…Holiday Treats Part 2

Caramelized Onion and Tomato Compote

I received a huge bag of beautiful tomatoes from S's moms garden and thought of using up the abundance of onions I had along with it. Created a Caramelized Onion and Roasted Tomato Compote.

Ingredients:
- about 6 pounds of your choice of tomatoes
- 2 large yellow onions
- 5 T olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground Chipotle pepper
- 1/4 c. brown sugar

Steps:

Slice or chop the onions small and set aside. Add a few T of olive oil to pan and heat to medium high. Add the sliced onions and let them cook down until they get caramelized.

While you let your onions cook, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and chop all your tomatoes into small chunks and place in a roasting pan with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. 

Roast the tomatoes for about 30-40 minutes until they are soft and falling apart. Give them a stir after 25 minutes and continue cooking till done. 

When the onions are all caramelized and the tomatoes are soft like in the picture, add the tomatoes into the pan with the onions and cook together for a little bit. Add another tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of chipotle chili powder and stir well. After about 5-10 minutes of cooking (after some of the liquid has evaporated)

add the 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Let this cook for an additional 5 minutes until all flavors are incorporated. Make sure to taste before finishing. 

Use a hand blender and spot blend until it is well incorporated. Pulse the blender so it doesn't turn to soup. You want to keep it chunky. If you don't have a hand blender then add it to a food processor and pulse blend a couple times. You may need to do it in a couple small batches.

At this point, you can begin jarring to preserve or give as gifts, or just put in a tightly sealed container for further consumption. This can last up to a week or so in the fridge. If you choose to jar and preserve it go to this website and follow the directions very carefully to make sure you are preserving properly. 

http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx

You can use this for a variety of things:

- put over your favorite meats

- On a crostini with your favorite cheese

- Use as a dip with a pita chip

- Put a dolup in your veggie soup

- Experiment to find your favorite way!

NEXT RECIPE...

Apple Pear Butter

I had a request for an Apple and Pear Butter Recipe! So here it is :)

Could use crock-pot!

Ingredients

- 4 of your favorite apples

- 4 of your favorite pears

- 1 cup apple cider juice

- 2 T ground cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 

- 1 split vanilla bean or 1 tsp of vanilla extract

- 1/8 tsp ground cloves

- 1 cup water

- 1 Meyer lemon (zest or peel with no white rind)

Peel, core and chop all pears and apples and put in a large sauce pan along with the rest of the ingredients. (If you are using a crock-pot then you would do the same prep but just add everything to the crock pot, give it a good stir and put on low for 8-10 hours. - the following directions are for using a pot. I will let you know when the next crock-pot instructions are.)

The liquid will only coat the bottom of the pan to give it moisture. As it cooks it is going to release a lot of water and juices. Cover with a lid and put on a medium simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Stir it every 30-40 minutes to help the juices disperse. 

After 1 1/2 -2 hours it will look like this. The fruit will be very soft and breaks apart easy. At this point you are ready for blending.

CROCK-POT USERS: After the 8 hours on low make sure it is nice and soft and falls apart easy. If it is doing so you are ready to blend!

Blend using a hand blender or a regular blender. If using a regular blender you may want to do it in batches. It is very hot and can expand in blenders so be careful. 

When it is smooth and buttery you can proceed to jar it with the same link from above or put in an air tight container for up to about 10 days. 

Typically Apple butter does not have butter in it but I did add 2 T of cold butter in at the end once it is blended.  Stir it into the blended mixture until fully melted and incorporated. The smallest amount makes it so rich and creamy tasting. 

ENJOY & HAPPY COOKING :)

My Christmas Nuts….Holiday Treats: Part 1

Christmas Nuts!!

This is a wonderful addition to the festive collection of treats! They also make wonderful gifts….just add a pretty jar.

1 c. raw almonds
1 c. raw walnuts
1 c. raw pecans
1 c. hazelnuts
3 sprigs of rosemary
1/2 c. kosher salt (may not need all)
2 lemons (zest and juice)
3/4 c. lemon olive oil
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 275

IN SMALL BOWL ADD:
In a spice grinder add rosemary and salt. Do in small batches. Grind until finely ground, then add into a little bowl. Then grind the red pepper flakes until fine. Add to rosemary salt. Add lemon zest and chili powder. Stir all together so evenly distributed.

IN LARGE BOWL ADD:
Add all nuts into bowl and mix. Add lemon olive oil (half at a time) and mix till all nuts are covered. Add spice and zest mixture (half at a time) to nuts until desired flavor level.

COOK:
Lay nuts flat among 2 baking sheets and bake for about 30 minutes. Mix every 10 minutes. Once they begin to toast pull out and let cool. Let them completely cool before adding to jars.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for more holiday treats :)

Happy Holidays!! :)

Turkey Time!

We are all packed in the car heading up to Carson City for some family, fun, and turkey. The Bean Dog (Charley) is all snuggled on her pillow and we just got through the worst of the holiday traffic. 

Woke up this morning to get everything packed and ready to go, and headed to whole foods to pick up some munchies for the road. It was rainy and wet and upon entering they had little Christmas trees and wreathes.. The smell of pine put me in the holiday spirit. 

Happy Thanksgiving! There is something so wonderful about waking up to the happy chatter of family bustling around in the kitchen. The turkey has been started while the smells of breakfast fills the house. Carson City is cold and sunny and you hear the puppies playing in the backyard. It is truly wonderful. I mean…it’s an entire day devoted to friends, family, and food! It’s a great day to celebrate all that one is thankful for.

Growing up thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays. It would consist of just the six of us; my three brothers, parents and I. It was a day full of cooking (way too much amazing food) pj’s, the parade, and football. Then we would snuggle in for the night with a movie and usually putting up the Christmas tree. It was always a great way to begin the holidays. When we moved closer to family it was so nice to have more people at our festivities. Last year I cooked for 35 and our house was filled to the brim with family, laughter and smiles. And SO many leftovers  :)

This year has been one of changes and great happiness. I have been fortunate enough to have all of the love and support from S and my family to transition out of my job and into the career of my dreams. It has been nerve racking but has been one of the most exciting things I have done. I love being able to cook for people and their families….

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All the food was prepped and we all had a very nice relaxing day. But we then realized that we needed a little pre-turkey snack. So S requested crab cakes! So I made mini crab cakes with a spicy chipotle dip. 

Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

1 lb crab meat

1/2 red bell pepper (fine chopped)

1 bunch chives (fine chopped)

1/2 cup mayo

4 T dijon mustard

1/2 T cayenne pepper

1 T garlic powder

1 T chili powder

1 lemon (zested)

2 eggs (1 for mixture & 1 for egg wash to stick panko)

1/2 cup panko + 1 1/2 cups panko

Salt

Pepper

Safflower oil (for frying)

Directions:

Add crab meat and the next 8 ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Add 1/2 cup panko and salt and pepper to taste. Taste the mixture and when it is to your liking, then add one egg and mix well.

NOTE: you can make this 1-2 days ahead and leave in the fridge.

Frying:

1) make egg wash (add egg and a couple Tablespoons of water - mix well)

2) put 1 1/2 cups of panko on a plate.

3) put about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a fry pan 

4) take about 2 Tablespoons of mixture and form into ball. Dip in egg mixture and then into panko. Form into a small patties.

5) turn the oil onto medium high. Wait until it is screaming hot. To check the oil, through a panko crumb into to oil. If it starts to bubble you are ready to go. If it just floats, wait until it gets hotter.

6) when oil is hot add crab cakes. Will need to do in batches. Leave a little space between each. Let fry on each side for a couple minutes until each side is golden brown. When done cooking put on a plate that is lined with paper towels. 

Spicy Chipotle Dip

Ingredients:

1 Cup mayo

2 T Chipotle chili powder

1 T Chili powder

1 T Cayenne powder

Salt

Pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

1 T tabasco

1 T paprika

Mix and serve

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Turkey Time!

I got to carve the Turkey! First time ever….

The table looked amazing and all the sides and dishes were getting the finishing touches…

The Bean dog is camping out and ready for any food to drop.

Dinner is served!!

Bon Appetit everyone and I hope you all had a wonderful day full of family, food, friends and wonderful company.

Time for PJ's and a movie :)

Cold rainy weather makes me want soup!

Went for a jog in the rain with S (my boyfriend) and Charley (the dog) and now snuggled in the house with sweaters and blankets. The winter is officially here and a cozy day inside is wonderful. Good book, afternoon naps and puppy snuggles.

But before we get to snuggles with the Charley its time to make some soup! The day is calling for Spicy Indian Curry Red Lentil Soup… That sure is a mouthful. YUM

Ingredients:

1   small yellow onion diced
2   cloves of garlic minced
2   T grated ginger
1   T thyme
1   medium sweet potato peeled and chopped
3   cups red lentils
1   tsp coriander
1   tsp cumin
1   T turmeric
1   tsp curry powder
2-3 red serrano peppers small chopped (depending on spice level desire)
4   cups low sodium vegetable stock
4   cups water
1   can light coconut milk
olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1) Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a medium soup pot on medium heat. When hot add onions and few pinches of salt.
2) When beginning to get translucent add the garlic, ginger Serrano pepper, black pepper and thyme. Cook for a few minutes and stir a couple times.
3) Add in potatoes. Give a stir to coat all with other ingredients. Add in all 4 spices and stir to combine.
4) Add in red lentils, veg stock, and water. Add a couple more pinches of salt and then let simmer till sweet potatoes are cooked through and the lentils are mushy. Add more water if more liquid is needed.
5) Use immersion blender to blend soup in the pot. While blending add the can of coconut milk. Blend until desired consistency is reached. If it still looks to thick for you add a little bit of water in small batches.
6) Serve and enjoy!!

Happy Cooking :)