Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We have been enjoying our time with the family in North Carolina.  Kristen made a delicious Christmas Day brunch that included these savory Chorizo, Cheddar and Chive Scones.  I have always loved sweet scones, but this savory version is very similar to sausage biscuits and is very festive.  Kristen adapted a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Bacon-Cheddar-Chive Scones.  I will give you her recipe here but you can go to their link for the original recipe.

I love the way Kristen cut her scones.  Because we were serving children as well as adults, she formed the dough into a rectangular log and then cut wedge shapes from it on an angle.  This made many smaller scones which were perfect for everyone’s appetite.  It also has the advantage of more of the crispy edge surface which I love.

Our Christmas breakfast included the scones, scrambled eggs and a tropical salad of pineapple, mango and blueberries with mango bellinis for the adults and mango sparkling water for the children.  These scones will be making a repeat appearance on my New Years’  brunch table.

CHORIZO, CHEDDAR AND CHIVE SCONES

2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur  Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Perfect Pastry Blend
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) cold  butter
1 cup (4 ounces) very coarsely grated or  diced cheddar cheese
1/3 cup (about 1/2 ounce) snipped fresh chives, or finely diced scallion tops (the  green part, 3/4 ounce)
1/2 pound chorizo sausage links, casing removed, crumbled, sauteed and drained on paper towels
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (7 ounces) heavy cream or whipping cream, or enough to make the dough cohesive

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment.

1) Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

2) Work the butter into the flour until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, with some of the butter remaining in larger pieces.

3) Mix in the cheese, chives, and sausage until evenly distributed.

4) Add ¾ cup of the cream, stirring to combine. Try squeezing the dough together; if it’s crumbly and won’t hang together, or if there are crumbs remaining in the bottom of the bowl, add cream until the dough comes together. Transfer the shaggy dough to a well-floured work surface.

5) Pat the dough into 2 smooth  disks about ¾” thick. Transfer the disks to the prepared baking sheet.

6) Use a knife or bench knife to cut the disks into small wedges, spreading the wedges apart a bit on the pan.

7) Brush the scones with a bit of cream; this will help their crust brown.

8) Bake the scones for 20 to 24 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

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One of the first blogs that I ever followed was Clotilde Dusoulier’s Chocolate and Zucchini.  Back almost ten years ago, the number of food blogs were relatively small and the bloggers with foresight and talent took the blogging world by storm.  Many of them have cookbooks now and belong in a hall of fame of food blogging pioneers.  Clotilde started her blog in 2003.  She was born and raised in Paris and had an early career as a software engineer in California and Paris.  She created her blog Chocolate and Zucchini as a creative outlet.  When it became a hit in 2005, she quit her engineering job and concentrated on her food writing, cookbook publishing, and travel writing for several magazines.

Over the years, she has honed her cooking style and is now known for her vegetarian, sustainable, and seasonal fare.  Her latest cookbook, The French Market Cookbook, is a reflection of her current Paris kitchen.  Although she is not a vegetarian, vegetables play a major part of her cuisine and shopping the markets in Paris are part of her daily routine.

The French Market Cookbook is divided into seasons.  This pumpkin and cornmeal bread is a part of the winter recipes.  I loved it from the first glance at the picture.  It is a rustic loaf, golden orange from the pumpkin and studded with roasted walnuts.  But don’t expect a sweet pumpkin loaf.  This is a savory loaf with herbal overtones from the parsley, a pleasant bitterness from the walnuts and an unadulterated pumpkin taste.  Clotilde says it pairs well with a soup or salad.  I love it toasted with a cup of tea or coffee.  I love all of the recipes in this book.  I have a feeling it will be on someone’s Christmas list.

I did make one major change to the recipe.  Because of time constraints, I used a can of pumpkin puree instead of a whole pumpkin or winter squash.  The below recipe appears as written.

SAVORY PUMPKIN AND CORNMEAL QUICK BREAD (Adapted from The French Market Cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier)

1 3/4- pound wedge of baking pumpkin or winter squash
2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup fine-grind stone-ground cornmeal, plus more for sprinkling
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup walnut halves, toasted
3 large organic eggs
1 cup chopped fresh chervil or flat-leaf parsley leaves

Peel and seed the pumpkin and then cut it into 1/2-inch chunks.  Set up a steamer.  Steam the pumpkin, tightly covered, until sloft, 8 to 12 minutes depending on the pumpkin.  Put through a ricer or food mill.

Transfer to a fine-mesh sieve and set over a bowl to cool and drain for 1 hour, stirring gently from time to time to encourage the juices to drain; pumpkins tend to release a fair amount of liquid, but if you’ve used another type of squash, there may not be much to drain at all.  This should yield about 2 cups drained pumpkin flesh.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with oil, line the bottom with parchment paper, and sprinkle the sides with cornmeal until entirely coated.

In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and walnuts.

In a large bowl, beat together the cooked pumpkin, eggs, 2 tablespoons oil, and the chervil or parsley.  Fold in the flour mixture with a spatula just until no trace of flour remains; avoid over mixing, or the texture of the loaf will be heavier.

Pour into the prepared pan and level out the surface.  Bake until the top is crusty and golden and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.

Transfer to a rack.  Let cool for 20 minutes before turning out, and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Printable recipe

As part of a nostalgia trip, I have decided to share some of my oldie but goodies posts.  I have been at this blogging business for many years and have even surprised myself with some of the recipes I have posted.  I need to make these delicious Boston Cream Pancakes again!  Enjoy.

Do any of you remember Long Johns?  No, not the underwear version.  I am talking about the doughnuts. When I was young, my Father would always go to the local bakery on Sunday mornings and come home with a bag of doughnuts.  There would be cinnamon twists, elephant ears, round jelly filled doughnuts and, my favorite, long johns.

Long Johns are a cake-like doughnut with a pastry cream filling and chocolate ganache smeared on top.  I adored them.  Recently I got a request from a family member who was going to be here for the Labor Day Weekend.  He asked if I would please, please make a recipe for Boston Cream Pancakes that he had seen online on the Country Cleaver website.  The pancakes are based on the Boston cream pie which was created by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian at Boston’s Parker House Hotel in 1856.

I made them for breakfast one morning during the Labor Day weekend but never got a picture because they were devoured so quickly.  All I could think of when I ate them were those wonderful long johns that I had eaten as a child.  The fluffy pancakes, the smooth pastry cream and the decadent chocolate ganache all conspired to bring the flood of memories back.  I tucked the leftover ganache and pastry cream in the freezer because I knew that they would be making a repeat performance in my kitchen.

We had them for breakfast again on this beautiful Saturday morning, a day after my birthday. They were a welcome indulgence.  Sometimes you just have to eat like you are a kid again and stop worrying about calories, fat and sugar and how old you really are.  The pancakes themselves are an easy combination of yellow cake mix and Bisquick.  They are light and fluffy.  The pastry cream can be made way in advance and the chocolate ganache is easy.  I would recommend these pancakes to you for any special occasion, whether it be for a birthday or just because  it is a sunny day.  Indulge!

BOSTON CREAM PANCAKES (Country Cleaver Website)

ingredients:

directions:

The changing of the seasons seem to be speeding up in my life.  I want to hold each precious moment in the palm of my hand and grasp it greedily so as not to let it fly away.  I want to be here for my Granddaughter’s wedding someday.  I want to witness what my precocious Grandson becomes.  All of these thoughts intensify with the arrival of Fall.  There is an urgency to Fall.  Squirrels gather their acorns.  Farmers harvest their crops and gather hay.  Many of us can and freeze the bounty from our gardens.  Fall is the season for soups, pumpkins, stews and freshly baked bread.  Fall food is solace for the soul and gives us a reason to look forward to Spring and bright days ahead.

Few things smell as good as pumpkin and cinnamon baking in the oven.  One of my favorite pies is pumpkin.  But this pumpkin flavored quick bread has also become a favorite.  The recipe appeared in a 2003 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.  The article and recipe came from Ken Haedrich.  I have written about Ken before in this post.  By the way, I am still waiting for a guest post from you Ken.  He has a very informative website called The Pie Academy.

This is a dense and moist quick bread that is studded with cranberries and walnuts.  Eating a slice and sipping a cup of coffee while gazing at the changing colors across the lake is a celebration of all that is good about Fall.  The urgency and cold winds of Winter can wait.

CRANBERRY-WALNUT PUMPKIN BREAD

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a standard loaf pan.  Line bottom and 2 long sides with waxed paper.  Whisk flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl to blend.  Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy.  Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating until blended.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in pumpkin, then vanilla.  Beat in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions each.  Fold in cranberries and nuts.  Transfer batter to pan.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes.  Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes.  Cut around bread at short ends to loosen from pan.  Turn bread out onto rack; peel off waxed paper.  Cool bread completely.

Printable recipe

Impossible pies were invented in the 1970’s by Home Economists at General Mills.  I’m sure it was to promote their baking mix, Bisquick.  The baking mix is combined with other ingredients in a pie plate that, when baked, turns into a crustless pie that tastes like a traditional pie.  Usually the ingredients are those that you would use for an apple or other fruit pie.  But if you check the internet you will find everything from cheeseburger impossible pies to chicken and broccoli impossible pies.  If for some reason you don’t want to use Bisquick, you can make your own baking mix.  You can find the recipe here.

We are staying with my Brother and SIL while in Michigan for my class reunion.  It was fabulous by the way.  Here are a few pictures.

For a class of 180, we had a great turnout.  The music was great and it was fun catching up with people, some of whom I had not seen since graduation.

My SIL  Barb made this impossible breakfast pie for brunch Sunday morning.  It was delicious and we demolished the whole thing.  Dancing, partying and staying out past midnight ( we are not as young as we used to be after all) builds up an appetite.  She used a recipe for impossible cheeseburger pie, but substituted  sausage for the ground beef.   We will be heading back to Lake Lure tomorrow.

IMPOSSIBLE BREAKFAST PIE

1 lb. bulk sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
1/2 cup Bisquick or homemade baking mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Tomato slices for top (Optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Spray a 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.

In a skillet, cook the sausage and onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sausage is brown; drain.  Stir in salt.  Spread in pie plate.  Sprinkle with cheese.

In a small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended.  Pour into pie plate.  Place tomato slices on top if using.

Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

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