Gratinéed Mustard Creamed Onions

It's not Thanksgiving if there aren't boiled onions. For years my mom has been making them, and I have to admit, I'm only a recent believer. I didn't really get the point of onions and bechamel sauce until my taste buds and I grew up. This year, I thought I'd try a new recipe to put a spin on the classic. The result: one of my favorite dishes from the entire experience.

Gratinéed Mustard Creamed Onions

2 lb white pearl onions
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cup whole milk
3 Tbsp Sherry
1 Tbsp grainy mustard
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Equipment: 2 Qt shallow gratin (2 inches deep)

Cook onions in a large heavy pot of boiling salted water, until just tender. 25 min. REserve 1 cup of cooking water, then drain and when cooled, peel. DON'T be like me and always forget and peel the onions before you cook them. Their centers will pop out and you'll feel silly.

Melt butter in dry pot over medium heat. Add flour and stir 2 min. Whisk in reserved cooking water, milk, sherry and cook until thickened, whisking. 8min. Whisk in nutmeg, mustards and 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Add onions to sauce and simmer 5 min.

Preheat broiler.

Transfer creamed onions to baking dish and sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4 to 5 inches away from heat until top is golden and bubbly. 3 min. ENJOY!!!

Cranberry Sauce with Port and Tangerine

I am normally not a huge fan of cranberry sauce, again because it tends to be overly sweet. I'll add a tiny dollop to my Thanksgiving plate, but it's not really something I go out of my way for. This recipe, however, may make me change that.

The port gives the sauce depth and the tangerines give it a kick. It's not too sweet but it still complements Turkey (at least that's what they told me) and other savories nicely.

Cranberry Sauce with Port and Tangerine

1 bag fresh cranberries
3/4 cup sugar (scant)
1/2 cup Ruby Port
3 strips tangerine zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice

Bring cranberries, sugar, port and zest to a simmer in a heave saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cranberries burst (12 min). Remove from heat and stir in juice. Cool completely.


This recipe came from the November 07 issue of Gourmet in the section called 'Bringing Fancy Back', which I'm all about.

Bourbon-Walnut Sweet Potato Mash

I have this thing that happens when people say they don't like a particular kind of food. I take it as a challenge. I'm convinced that it's not the ingredient's fault so much as it is the preparations the person has had, that have made him decide he doesn't like a certain food. For once, I'm not talking about my better half. In fact, this time I'm talking about another member of my family, who claims that she's not a big fan of sweet potatoes. Now, she started to become a convert a couple of years ago when Alison first made her sweet potato cheesecake, but still, I wanted to convert her to a side dish she'd like. Her biggest complaint? Too cloying. How to fix this? Less sugar, more flavor.

So it was with some excitement that I stumbled across the following recipe in the pages of Bon Appétit's Thanksgiving issue.

Bourbon-Walnut Sweet Potato Mash

4 lbs red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams)
1/2 cup whipping cream
6 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup (scant) maple syrup
3 Tbsp bourbon
1 1/2 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Roast potatoes on rimmed baking sheet until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool slightly. Scoop flesh into large bowl; discard skins. Mash hot potatoes until course puree forms.
Heat cream and butter in a small pan over low heat until butter melts. Gradually stir hot mixture into hot potatoes. Stir in syrup, bourbon and spices. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle nuts over top and serve.

The result? Sweet Potato convert. This recipe is fabulous because it has kick and flavor without being overly sweet. Also, it smells like pumpkin pie and the walnuts set off the bourbon and maple syrup perfectly. I made these a day ahead without adding the walnuts, then reheated and added the nuts at the last minute.

Jan 2: The Inauguration of the Bar-B-Q and other News on the Food Front

I can think of no better way to spend an evening in January than barbecuing, if just for the fact that we live in a place where barbecuing in January is no big deal. Take that places that snow.

Go Baby Go!

Anyway, Greg gave us a fab new barbecue for Christmas (he had witnessed first hand the sad state our previous barbecue had fallen into - in our defense we did find the thing on the side of the house when we moved in and I spent a long day trying in vein to clean it up) and we thought it was high time we broke it in. After all the carbs and cheese that made up Christmas Eve, Christmas and Christmas Post, we were in need of some good ol' fashioned grilled fish. A trip to the downtown seafood market found us picking up some great halibut steaks and scallops for tomorrow (I just discovered I like them thanks to Xinyu).

By the way, the downtown seafood market is way better than Santa Monica Seafood, if just because it brings out a much wider cross section of clientele. Instead of being filled with bourgie Westsiders, this is filled with the real folk who work in the warehouses, live on the streets or are in business suits from working in the high rises downtown. Infinitely better and much more our speed. But I digress.

So now we have a working barbecue and until it starts raining again, we'll be using it regularly. But on to the aforementioned recipes from Christmas. I'll start in chronological order as best I can over the next few days.

Christmas Eve Dinner Menu
Pamplemousse Cocktail (Gourmet Magazine)
Roasted Asparagus (me)
Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese (Well Fed blog)
Leek and Mustard Pie (Greens)
Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce (Gourmet Magazine, I think)


Pamplemousse Cocktail
(makes 6)
7 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons honey
1 1/2 cups vodka
3/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
18 fresh mint leaves

Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. *can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated

Combine pom mixture, vodka, grapefruit & lime juice and mint leaves in a large pitcher. Fill with ice. Stir. Strain drink into Martini glasses. Serve!


Roasted Asparagus
I tossed asparagus with olive oil and garlic salt, placed in a roasting pan and set in an oven set to 450. We tossed the asparagus several times during the 15-20 min they cooked. It was served on lettuce and halved pear tomatoes tossed in champagne vinaigrette. Easy.

Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese
This recipe is on Grant's blog called Well Fed. You should read this blog for really tasty things. I've liked everything I've cooked from it. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE RECIPE.

Leek and Mustard Pie
Here's the thing about this recipe. It calls for tart dough, the recipe for which includes Crisco. We didn't have any Crisco and besides it full of trans fat which is, as we all know, as evil as eggs and meat once were but now maybe aren't. At any rate, I searched google for butter pie crust and made up a recipe. I can't even tell you because I also screwed it up but suffice it to say it involved butter, flour, salt, sugar and some ice water. The filling's the thing:

5 cups leeks (1 lb, trimmed) cut into 1/4 inch rings
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup white wine
salt
pepper
2 eggs
1 cup creme fraiche
3 Tbsp coarse ground mustard
6 oz Gruyere Cheese
(here the recipe calls for Chives, which I didn't until now notice, but I actually added some Rabini - only because I found it at the farmer's market and was excited because I'd once spent an entire morning trying to track it down for a recipe - I blanched, chopped and added it too)

Get your dough ready.
Wash the leeks well (cut in half to split and get all the hiding dirt out). Melt the butter, add the leeks and cook 2 min, stirring.
Add wine and salt, cover, reduce heat and cook slowly until tender. 15 min. Check halfway thru and add more wine if necessary. Season with pepper.
Beat the eggs and stir in creme fraiche, mustard, leeks and grated cheese (and maybe those greens)
Preheat oven to 375F. Pour custard into shell, smooth top and add the illusive chives.
Bake pie until top is firm and golden brown. (this takes about 45min - 1 hr or about the time it took me to take a quick shower and dry, but poorly style, my hair - hence the ponytail).
Let sit 5 min. Serve. Eat. Go back for seconds.


Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce
I didn't really follow the recipe very closely here so I'll improvise this. Basically I took about 1/4 cup of balsamic and red wine vinegar (I ran out of balsamic, hence the addition of the red wine vinegar) and reduced them with a little bit of butter for about 5 min. Once the vinegar was thick and syrup-y I whisked in about 1/2 stick of butter. This was the sauce drizzled on the fish and in the container beside them.

For the fish I washed, dried, salted and peppered the fillets, heated a bit of olive oil and pan fried them for about 3 min each side. Then I served them with the sauce on a warmed platter.

See how hard that was?

THE END.
OF RECIPES.
FOR TODAY.

Check back tomorrow for Christmas breakfast - or as I like to call it BreakFEAST!

Zucchini and Basil Filo with Pine Nuts

Unfortunately, this is probably the best picture I have of the Zucchini and Basil Filo I made last night for dinner. There on the right, Auna is grabbing one.

Last night Alison, Auna, Jake, Craig and my mom came over for dinner before we went to see Tim Cumming's dance piece in the Now Festival, which is worth a post for itself. At any rate I made a few things out of the Greens cookbook and promised I'd share the recipes here, which I will, over the next few days. Here goes:

Zucchini and Basil Filo with Pine Nuts

INGREDIENTS

1/2 package frozen filo dough
5 to 6 medium zucchini (or 1/2 zucchini and 1/2 summer squash)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups pine nuts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
Pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped basil, loosely packed
3 Tbsp parsley, minced
1/4 cup white wine
2 eggs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 oz feta cheese
3 Tbsp butter, melted and mixed with 3 Tbsp olive oil

Let the filo thaw for about 2 hours. Make sure it has come to room temp before unrolling.

Grate the zucchini, toss with the salt and set aside for 30 minutes.


Then drain and squeeze out the excess water. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Roast the pine nuts for 5 minutes, chop them finely and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the zucchini, season with pepper and cook for 4 minutes. Then add the garlic, basil, parsley and white wine. Cook covered for 3 or 4 minutes, and then remove from heat.

Beat the eggs, stir in the cheese and then add the cooked veggies. Check for seasoning.

Brush a baking sheet with the butter/oil mixture and lay down a sheet of filo. Brush that with the butter/oil and lay another layer. After three layers, sprinkle with 1/4 of the nuts. 3 more layers of filo and then layer the cheese/veggie mixture. cover this with three layers filo, a layer of pine nuts and 3 final layers of filo. Cut into 3 inch squares and then diagonally.

Makes 2 sheets of triangles or about 32 triangles.


***This recipe is Auna and Alison approved***

A note about the filo:
It seems like a lot of people are freaked out when it comes to using filo. The truth is that it's just about the easiest pastry thing you can make. Seriously. WAY easier than a pie crust even. Here's the trick: keep it moist! When you have the filo unrolled and laying out, cover it with a piece of wax paper and cover that with a clean damp kitchen towel while you're arranging layers. If you let it get dried out it will get papery and crumbly and become a pain. Likewise, if you put the damp towel directly on the dough it will often get mushy and the sheets will cling together. Otherwise, it's just a matter of layering with butter, which is always a good thing (for you tastebuds, if not for your thighs.)

ps. bake the whole thing for 30-40 minutes or until it's golden and crisp.