Sunday Brunch Part 3 – Sweet Potato Biscuits

May 23rd, 2009

No self-respecting Southerner would have a brunch without biscuits. They are a part of our culture. And sweet potato biscuits are even better. The usual filling for our biscuits is country ham, but since I have already used proscuitto with the egg dish I chose a lighter filling. I used Italian turkey sausage. The biscuits are served with a Dijon mustard sauce. There are many recipes for sweet potato biscuits but the one I really like is from Orangette’s blog. She adapted it from a Martha Stewart recipe. As an aside, I just finished reading Molly’s wonderful memoir, A Homemade Life. It is a lovely book that will bring tears to your eyes and make you laugh. She is such a talented writer that it is no wonder her blog has garnered so many awards and a devoted following.

What I like about these orange hued biscuits is the flakiness. The picture doesn’t do them justice but there are layers of goodness achieved by keeping the butter bits cold so that they create pockets of air as the biscuits rise. They slice easily and hold together when you eat them. I would say that this is a perfect biscuit recipe.
SWEET POTATO BISCUITS
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbls light brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbls chilled unsalted butter
3/4 cup chilled sweet potato puree ( I used refrigerated mashed sweet potatoes )
1/3 cup buttermilk
To make the dough:
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 Tbls light brown sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Witha pastry blender or two knives ( or not too warm fingers ), cut in 6 Tbls chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-size lumps of butter remaining. In a small bowl whisk together 3/4 cup chilled sweet potato puree and 1/3 cup buttermilk; stir quickly into flour mixture until combined ( do not overmix ).
To shape the biscuits:
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together but is still slightly lumpy, five or six times ( If dough is too sticky, work in up to 1/4 cup additional flour ). Shape into a disk, and pat to an even 1-inch thickness. Witha floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Gather together scraps, and repeat to cut out more biscuits ( do not reuse scraps more than once ).
Baking the Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with rack on lower shelf. Butter or spray an 8-inch cake pan. Arrange biscuits snugly in pan. Brush with 1/2 Tbls melted butter. Bake until golden, rotating once, 20 to 24 minutes. Yield: 8 Biscuits.
Form turkey sausage into patties small enough for the 2 inch biscuits and saute until done. Biscuits and sausage can be made ahead of time and warmed and assembled when ready to serve. Serve with mustard sauce of your choice.
Coming next: Fruit and Veggies and then Dessert.

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Almond Puff Coffee Cake

May 4th, 2009


While cleaning out the back of an old closet for renovations, I found a small recipe box that I put together years ago. It was done shortly after we bought our 600 square foot Lake Lure cottage in 1984. We fell in love with this lake from the first time we saw it and when a realtor showed us a modest cottage with a huge screened in porch, we knew it would be ours. Our son Michael was seven years old at the time. He did not know how to swim, but an old speed boat came with the cottage and after watching all of the water skiers on the lake, Michael said he wanted to learn to ski. We had grown up on lakes in Michigan and had always skied. But a prerequisite to skiing is knowing how to swim. So he learned to swim and that was the beginning of wonderful summers of swimming, boating and water skiing with all of our friends and their children. Our small cottage was full most summer weekends. Because we had only two small bedrooms, each morning the living room floor and the screened in porch were full of sleeping bags containing exhausted kids. The trip to the coffee pot in the kitchen was a delicate dance, bobbing and weaving between the outstretched arms and far flung legs of deeply sleeping children. The trip to the top of the boathouse with freshly brewed coffee was much easier and the view was enough to quell any doubts about our decision to invest our modest savings in this most beautiful of places.

Feeding the crowd was sometimes a challenge, but one that I enjoyed. That’s why finding my old recipe box was such a treat. There were recipes in it for things I haven’t made in years; Frogmore Stew, Quick Breakfast Rolls, Paella Salad, Quick Coconut-Pecan Upside-Down Cake and this recipe for Almond Puff Coffee Cake. I remember liking this recipe very much, but it was more suited to the adults than the children because of the distinct almond flavor. While they were munching cereal we would dig into this lucsious coffee cake and plan another sunny day on the lake.

Now another generation of children are enjoying the cottage and the lake. We have a lot more room now. But you know what? I miss the close quarters and stepping over sleeping kids. Shhh. Don’t tell my husband I said that or he will think all of our hard work was not necessary.

The coffee cake is really very simple. It is just a pastry crust base with a pate a choux topping that is baked and then drizzled with a confectioners sugar glaze.

ALMOND PUFF COFFEE CAKE

For the pastry base:
1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbls water

Mix flour and salt and pulse in food processor to combine. Add butter cubes and pulse until butter is size of small peas. Add water and pulse until dough comes together. Form into ball and place on ungreased baking sheet. Pat into a 12″x 3″ strip.

For Pate a Choux:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 eggs, beaten

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add water and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and flour. Return to low heat and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat again and add eggs. Stir until mixture is smooth. Spread over pastry strip. Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees until top is crisp and brown. Cool.

For Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 Tbls soft butter
3/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp warm water
2 oz. sliced almonds, toasted

Mix ingredients except almonds until smooth and spread over top of cake when cool. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Serves 6.

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Blueberry Pudding Cake

April 18th, 2009


I haven’t done much grocery shopping since we returned to Lake Lure. Our meals have been very simple; grilled meat, baked sweet potatoes and frozen vegies. Breakfast has been cereal and english muffins. Lunch has been sandwiches or leftovers. The reason I have not filled the larder is because the larder looks like this.


David is working hard to get the pantry finished and the shelves will go in this weekend. I can hardly wait. I picture rows of canned goods, baskets with condiments sorted by cuisines, a large bread tin, and glass containers with various flours, rices and pastas, all labeled and neat. The reality is that I am much more organized in my mind than I am in accomplishment. But I will try to keep it in order.

I was in the mood for something sweet for breakfast the other day and had the baking basics on hand and an old Gourmet magazine in hand when I found a recipe for this blueberry pudding cake. I had some blueberries that I brought from Florida in the freezer so it was a fait accompli. This recipe was in the July 2005 issue of Gourmet and was featured in their Gourmet Every Day Quick Kitchen. It is indeed quick and the resulting cake is moist and crumbly and oh so good with freshly brewed coffee.

BLUEBERRY PUDDING CAKE

1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water ( use less for frozen berries)
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice ( I left it out )
1 teaspoon cornstarch
10 oz. blueberries ( 2 cups )
1 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9 inch square baking pan.

Stir together 1/3 cup sugar with water, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small saucepan, then stir in blueberries. Bring to a simmer, then simmer, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk together egg, milk, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl, then add flour mixture whisking until just combined.

Spoon batter into baking pan, spreading evenly, then pour blueberry mixture evenly over batter (berries will sink). Bake until a knife inserted into center of cake portion comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

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It’s a Mystery to Me

February 21st, 2009

I love a good mystery and I love reading about food. One of the best authors who combines the two brilliantly is Rex Stout. Nero Wolfe is a detective who weighs 1/7 of a ton because of his passion for food. His other passion is orchids, which he raises in a greenhouse at the top of his brownstone house in New York City. He rarely leaves his home and has two employees who are indispensible to him. Archie Goodwin is his assistant who ventures forth from the brownstone to help solve the cases that Wolfe undertakes and Fritz Brenner is his Swiss born, European trained chef who collaborates with Wolfe in creating inspired meals. These books make me happy and I have been collecting them. They were originally published from 1934 to 1975. Many of them may appear dated, but it is like watching an old black and white movie from the 40’s. Some truths are universal and eternal. Dining well is one of them.

Breakfast in the brownstone was taken by Wolfe in bed. Now that is a custom that I could get used to. Fritz Brenner refused to fry eggs so his egg dishes were omelets, coddled eggs or this recipe for shirred eggs. Rex Stout even talks about a shirred egg dish for single servings. It would be interesting to find one in an antique store. I’m assuming he is talking about a kind of ramekin. For my serving I used a 6″x 8″ casserole and it was perfect. By the way I found 6 of these at The Dollar Store a few years ago. The recipe for shirred eggs and many more of the dishes discussed in the Nero Wolfe Series can be found in The Nero Wolfe Cook Book published in 1973 by Rex Stout and the editors of Viking Press.

SHIRRED EGGS

4 breakfast sausages ( I used diced ham )
1 Tbls. butter
4 Tbls. light cream
4 large eggs

1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 dashes paprika
chopped fresh chives

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Brown the sausages in a skillet and set them aside to drain on a paper towel. Butter 2 shirred-egg dishes generously, add 2 tablespoons of cream to each, and slip in the eggs, 2 to a dish, being careful not to break the yolks. Arrange the sausages in each dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, and chives. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the eggs are done to the desired firmness. Serves 2.

Savory Leek and Ham Tart

February 8th, 2009

Pie crust has always been easy for me. I know many cooks claim to be intimidated by the prospect of making homemade pastry, but for some reason, I enjoy the mixing, rolling, trimming and crimping. It probably has alot to do with my Mother and Grandmother. I grew up in a small town in Michigan in the house where my Mother was born. My Grandmother lived with us and the two of them were always in the kitchen fixing comforting meals. When my brother and I were small, Grandma did a lot of the cooking, but over the years Mom took over most of it, with Grandma in the background offering encouraging comments like ” You aren’t going to have any potatoes left with the way you are peeling them”, or ” That pot roast is going to be dry if you don’t add more water.” But one thing they always agreed on was how to make pie crust. I have even inherited the measuring device they used for their Crisco. They never used butter in their pie crusts and I am sure that in her younger days my Grandmother probably used lard. So here is their recipe for pie crust if you would like to give it a try. For a 1 crust pie, use 1 cup of flour (with 1/4 tsp. salt), 1/2 cup Crisco cut into flour with a sharp knife until the shortening is the size of small peas, and then 1/4 cup milk stirred in. The ratio of 1, 1/2, 1/4 is easy to remember. A two crust pie would be 2,1,1/2. The dough is then rolled out on a heavily floured board. It is a very forgiving dough and can be rerolled without toughening it if you don’t get it right the first time. I have used this recipe for years, but have also discovered the flaky texture of pate brisee, the all butter alternative. And I have used some recipes that call for a mixture of both shortening and butter. But what I am sharing with you today is a pastry dough that I had never heard of before. It is made with olive oil.

In her book Bistro Cooking, Patricia Wells talks of a version of tart that is made in Provence with the local olive oil. The dish she describes is made with Swiss Chard, but having made it before, I found it to be too heavy and unappealing. I did like the crust though, so I came up with my own filling and tweaked the ingredients slightly for the crust. The advantage of this crust is that, when mixed together, it has the consistency of a cookie dough and all you have to do is is pat it into the tart pan. It does not have the buttery flakiness of most pie crusts, but it is crisp and thin and best of all, simple.

SAVORY LEEK AND HAM TART
Pastry:
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls water
1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil
Filling:
4 leeks, green stems removed, washed well and chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
1/2 cup diced ham

1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
3 eggs, beaten

1 cup half and half or heavy cream
Dash of nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. For the pastry, combine the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium size bowl. Stir in the water and then the oil, mixing until thoroughly blended. Knead briefly. The dough will be very moist, much like a cookie dough. Press the dough into a 10″ loose-bottomed metal tart tin.

Saute the leeks in the heated oil over medium low heat until limp. Add the ham and brown slightly. In a bowl combine the beaten eggs, cream and nutmeg. Place the leek mixture into the prepared tart tin. Top with grated cheese. Pour the egg mixture over all and place in oven and bake for 40 minutes.

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