Game Day Dips and Chips

Sunday is a big day.
It's the New England Patriots versus Downton Abbey. There's a great tug-of-war going on in many households and lots of hoping and praying.
That the Patriots will have put away the Baltimore Ravens before 9 pm when Downton Abbey airs on PBS.
I'm wondering how many people are ardent fans of both dramas. I am!
I adore the British drama, with its glamourous costumes, posh accents and amusing class structure.
But I am also a huge fan of our beloved Patriots. Tom (don't hate me because I'm beautiful) Brady, Wes Welker, Vince Wilfork and my new hero, Stevan Ridley, all provide their own drama every season.

All hail the DVR, the best invention. Ever.

So whether you are parked in front of the tv for four hours of tackles and tight ends or one hour of stiff upper lips, you're going to want a snack. I've recently been going through ALL my old blog posts in effort to craft a real recipe index (coming soon!). I've rediscovered a lot of dips/appetizers that you might enjoy while viewing. Click on the highlights to take you to the original post.

Let's start with the classic - guacamole. I am known for my guacamole. In fact, I even had two college boys men ask me for a guacamole tutorial. Now it's their party trick.

This roasted red pepper dip is another popular dip because it's so full of flavor. Love it.

If you're trying to stick to those New Year's resolutions to eat more healthfully, you can't go wrong with hummus. Making your own means you can control the amount of oil. You can also add anything you like to it - lemon, jalapeños, cilantro, loads of garlic, basil. It's an excellent blank palette.

Want to try something out of the ordinary? This Hot Pepper Jelly Cheesecake is awesome. People will be saying "What is that flavor?" and you can be all smug and secretive while they beg for the recipe. Just say you got it on Mignardise. Thanks.

One more, just 'cause I LOVE this - Cranberry Salsa. So delicious, it's crazy.

Whatever you choose to watch, whatever you choose to eat, enjoy your Sunday.
And keep your eyes open for the new and improved Mignardise, coming very soon!

GO PATS!

My Recipe Problem

Since you're reading a food blog, I can only assume that you like to cook.
How do know how to make whatever it is you're making? Do you have a recipe?
Do you even need a recipe? I know there are lots of people who don't.
When I watch those cooking shows, like Chopped or Top Chef, I'm always amazed at how much they can do without a recipe. Especially the baking, where ingredients have to be exact. I suppose that comes from years of practice, experience and a certain confidence in your abilities.

I don't have that so I need recipes. Lots of them.

I am constantly collecting recipes. A lot of them come from other food blogs, such as Joy the Baker, Brown Eyed Baker, Sass & Veracity and many of the other hundreds thousands of excellent food blogs available at the touch of a key. I fear forgetting about a recipe that I might want to cook soon, so I hit "Print" and now I have a hard copy.

If I'm looking for something for a specific event or meal, I'm likely to start with Epicurious and Food Network, where there are thousands a gazillion recipes. When I go on these sites, I tend to get sidetracked by that "You Might Also Like..." feature. That leads me to another recipe I don't want to forget about, so luckily there's that "Print" icon again.

Now let's talk about all those food magazines. Addicted. I love the glossy pages that are so easy to rip out and save because I definitely WANT TO MAKE THIS SOON.  I'll just put those torn out pages in this little pile where I know I can find it. Oh, next month's issue is already here and I haven't made anything from last month yet? That's ok, I know the recipes is right here when I need it!

Newspapers? Yes, I still read them the old-fashioned way. That Wednesday food section is just full of excellent recipes! Can you hand me the scissors so I can just cut out this one. And one other. I'll probably try it this weekend.

Recipe overload. That's what I have. It must be managed. Oh how I have tried to manage. Many years ago (pre-internet) there was the recipe box, where the recipes one collected were then handwritten onto little cards. How quaint and wonderful for a woman with so much time on her hands and lovely script. Thinking about passing this precious box on to one's child made it oh-so-worthwhile.
But the recipe collection begins to outgrow that box and the care of children leaves one no time to lovingly copy those recipes onto the sweet little cards.
Notebooks are called for, with dividers and plastic page protectors. Yes! Three ring notebooks!

The binders grew and grew. After awhile one binder for desserts wasn't enough (clearly a sign of my priorities) so there had to be two - one just for cakes!
And the recipes grew too and were not able to find their way into the correct binders in a timely fashion. So file folders were needed as back up! Yes, file folders - who couldn't be organized with these special file folders? When one found herself with time on her hands on a rainy Sunday, surely one would use that time to move the recipes from the file folders into the binders.

Or would she?
Sigh. Soon the recipes began to make piles of their own, not even bothering to get into their designated folders. Then the recipe piles start to take over one's office and one's husband begins to complain that there's no cleared surface on which to sit.
There's no waiting for that rainy day now. Time for some action, some order! A new year's resolution to keep that order.

Sort the recipes. Get them in the correct folder. Now put those folders somewhere that is not a chair or sofa. A standing file rack? Sounds good to me. Promise to put any newly printed recipe in its rightful folder immediately.

I'm sure I'll use them all one day. Soon. Really I will.
Or maybe I should learn to trust myself to cook (but not bake) without recipes.

How do you keep your recipes organized? I am open to any suggestions!

Merry Christmas!

May your days be peaceful, your family happy and blessed, your homes warm and safe and may you find love and beauty every day.

PEACE xoxox

Karen@Mignardise

The Standard Baking Co.'s Chocolate Sable

One of the most loved places in Portland has to be The Standard Baking Co. It's tiny, there's very little parking and it's not easy to find if you haven't been told where to look. The pastries are unfussy and understated, relying more on technique and ingredients than flash and food coloring. Most mornings, the line is out the door, as anxious customers await their turn for a transcendent croissant, a decadent morning bun (with or without nuts), or a famous blueberry scones. And a good cup of coffee.

The baguettes and other breads are extraordinary, but you know me. I'm all about the chocolate.
No matter how many other wonderful things I taste at Standard, I always come back to the chocolate sables. ( by the way, that's sa-blay, not say-bull). These simple chocolate cookies are just the right combination of texture and taste - crispy and full of butter and cocoa with a touch of salt.

As a huge fan of Standard and an avid home baker, I was thrilled when they recently published a cook book, aptly named The Standard Baking Co. Pastries by Alison Pray and Tara Smith. The book reveals the how-to's for such treats as Pear Frangipane Tarts, Chocolate Corks, Vanilla Bean Shortcakes. And thankfully, the Chocolate Sable.

Of course I made them for you. Here they are:

The recipe makes a lot of cookies. Delicious, crunchy, chocolaty cookies. And  I still have three logs of the dough in the freezer so I can make more any time (like tomorrow). Here's the recipe so you can make them too.

Chocolate Sables
The Standard Baking Co. Pastries

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 1/3 cups (2 2/3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until soft and smooth. Add both sugars and vanilla to the butter. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until just blended thoroughly.
Add the chocolate chunks and mix until they are evenly distributed.
Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into six equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 6" log and wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap.Refrigerate until firm, at least 45 minutes. At this point, the dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to three days, or frozen for up to a month. (Frozen logs should be defrosted before slicing.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove two logs from the refrigerator. Unwrap, and with a sharp knife, cut into slices about 1/2" thick. Place on prepared baking sheets, spaced 2" apart. Sprinkle with a few flakes of sea salt.
Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Bake for another 4 minutes, or until the centers are just firm to the touch. Remove from the oven transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Keep in mind...
The longer you chill the dough, the more likely the sables are to hold their shape.
At Standard, they stack the cookies and sell them in a cellophane sleeve. Looks very pretty and would make a nice gift.

Quinoa Harvest Salad

So much for succeeding at National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoMo).
I had committed to writing a blog post every day for the month of November and I was kicking it!

Until I spilled the coffee on my laptop last week. I hope you never do this. It's a terrible feeling as you watch, seemingly in slow motion, the coffee flooding the keyboard. Then, after you think you wiped it all up, you turn over the laptop and more coffee runs out of the ports. I wish I was kidding.

I have a very nice iPad but it's not optimal for blogging. So I have taken the past several days off from NaBloMoPo to regroup, get my laptop to the iHospital (anxiously waiting for the prognosis), cook the Thanksgiving feast and entertain guests.

The Thanksgiving meal was a big success. The turkey cooked beautifully, using Ina Garten's instructions for Accidental Turkey. As I've said before, you can never go wrong with a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Can someone please remind me next year that this is the turkey method I want to use again? Thanks.

There was lots of other good cooking too, including that pumpkin almond cake I mentioned previously (stay tuned for recipe).  But one of my favorite things wasn't even on the Thanksgiving buffet table. It was this harvest salad.  I made it a couple of weeks ago, using quinoa,  to take for lunch at the bookstore. Then I thought I'd try it with wheatberries because I love the chewiness. You could really use any grain you like here - barley, rice, farro. This photo shows wheat berries, and the one below it shows quinoa. They were both delicious, but I probably prefer the quinoa.

Harvest Quinoa Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

1 cup quinoa, rinsed if necessary (I use Ancient Harvest brand - no rinsing required)

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces

1/2 apple, preferably Honeycrisp, chopped into 1" pieces

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

For the vinaigrette :

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsps. orange juice

1 tsp. maple mustard

1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

1/3 cup good olive oil

sea salt and pepper to taste (be generous)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine I cup quinoa with 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a full boil for 5 minutes,then cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Turn cooked quinoa into a large bowl and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, spread squash on a baking sheet, coat lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven , without turning, for approximately 20 minutes, or until squash is easily pierced with a fork. The sides that were on the pan should be nicely browned and caramelized. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Mix all ingredients, except almonds, with cooled quinoa.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients except olive oil in a small bowl (or better yet, a small glass jar). Drizzle in oil, whisking continuously to blend. Add to quinoa salad and mix well. Top with almonds.

Keep in mind...you don't have to be exact with the ingredients in this dish. If you don't have an apple, use a pear. Try fresh cranberries. If you prefer a different kind of squash, go for it. And swapping out the goat cheese for cheddar would be an excellent thing.

SECRET INGREDIENT ALERT:

This cranberry pear white balsamic vinegar from LeRoux Kitchen in Portland (also Portsmouth NH) is unbelievably delicious in all kinds of things, but especially in this salad. I love their white balsamic vinegar too. This store has a fabulous selection of vinegars and oils (I'm partial to the blood orange evoo). See their website (www.lerouxkitchen.com) if you're not a local.

Hopefully my laptop will be back and as good as new soon.
You don't know what you're got till it's gone.

Thanks to You!

To my wonderful Mignardise friends-

Thank you for reading my little blog, my rants and raves, for sharing my successes and failures. May your turkey be ready on time and your pie (or cake) be as sweet as you are.

Here's something to keep your friends and family busy while you cook...

Xoxox ~Karen @ Mignardise

Bad Coffee

Due to the fact that I spilled an entire cup of coffee on my laptop this morning, there will be no blog post today. :(

With any luck, I will have access to a computer tomorrow, so we can talk about Thanksgiving Perfection Syndrome. It seems to be going around.