We have all had the experience of seeing something or hearing about it and then it shows up everywhere. For example, you get a new car — an alien green Kia Soul, for example — and then you see the exact thing everywhere when before you never noticed it. Or a friend tells you about a band they have recently discovered and suddenly you hear their music and see the band name everywhere: playing on the radio, printed on t-shirts, mentioned on social media — well, the last one is probably because your phone is always listening… There is a name for this studied psychological phenomenon, Baader-Meinhof. It is basically selective attention bias and it happens to pretty much everyone. And now that you have read this far, you might well see this subject mentioned a few more times this week, thus proving the existence of the very thing.

My most recent go-round with this fascinating brain trick has been with biryani. It is not surprising that my attention is selectively focused on food, my attention is practically always focused on food. But in this case, the item in question is this delicious rice dish. A couple of weeks ago I met a couple of friends for dinner at my favorite Indian/Nepalese restaurant in Lafayette – Tandoori Kitchen. I have my favorite dishes there — paneer makhni, aloo gobi, saag, lamb vinadloo, Himalayan chilli chicken, daal tadka…now that I get started I realize that I love everything. And I am hungry now! But my eye and attention were caught by the biryani. I have eaten and enjoyed biryani but it isn’t top of mind when I order. This time, however, something about it seemed just perfect. And when I suggested we order it one of my friends said she had made biryani the night before, which inspired me and I made it at home the next night. And just today a work colleague was having biryani for lunch. All of these seemingly unusual biryani incidents have led me here — a dive into this spiced, flavorful, filling, delightful rice dish.

It is commonly believed that biryani by that name was introduced to India by Persian traders sometime around the 15th Century AD. There is a history of rice dishes being eaten in the area long before then, but this specific codified dish — the word biryani is thought to derive from the Persian word birian — fried before cooking, is surely related to pilafs, pilavs, and pilaus, traditionally eaten in a wide swathe of the world including parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa and following human migration to the rest of the world in the past couple hundred years.

Tandoori Kitchen’s Biryani

The most common biryani found in American Indian restaurants is probably the Hyderabadi version. Not surprisingly, there are dozens of regional varieties of biryani, but the Hyderabadi version seems to reign. It is often spicier, more savory, and highly aromatic. Basmati rice, ghee, onions, generous portions of toasted ground spices, and often a marinated chicken layer bring so much flavor to this dish that there are songs about it. I am not kidding, look it up! The dish is both satisfyingly filling and fancy enough for a special occasion. Cooking it is involved, this is not a 1-pot, 1-hour dish for a busy weeknight. This dish requires forethought, planning, time, a nimble hand, and patience. But oh mama, it is worth it.

There are many recipes for biryani to be found online and in myriad cookbooks. I won’t include a recipe here as, see above, the dish is complex and time consuming. Instead, I will put a recipe for raita, a cooked cucumber yogurt dish often served with biryani to complement the flavors and cool the burn of the spices. You can find versions of raita that include radishes, carrots, or onions. This one, though, is a very basic recipe using ingredients that you probably have or can easily get, that you can make in advance, and that you can eat with pretty much everything from biryani to falafel to simple raw vegetable salad.

Basic Raita

• 2 cups Greek yogurt (full fat is always the best choice)
• 2 English cucumbers or 4 smaller Persian cucumbers (you can use standard cucumbers in a pinch, just remove the tough skin and the inner seeds)
• ½ tsp granulated salt (Himalayan pink salt is great here) 
• ¼ tsp ground cumin (to be fancy, toast the seeds then grind them)
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro or a combination of cilantro and mint
• (optional – 1 small garlic clove, finely minced – do not used jarred garlic, you will taste the difference here)

Peel and trim the cucumbers. If there are seeds in the cucumbers, remove them with a spoon. Grate the cucumbers into a bowl. Add all the other ingredients, holding out a tablespoon of the fresh herbs, then stir to mix. Taste and adjust with salt. Top with the remaining herbs. Enjoy.

Happy Baader-Meinhof everyone.

The post Culinaria – Biryani appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Nostalgia is “in” at this time of the year, especially in the kitchen where holiday cooking is deeply connected to years of family traditions.

The dishes served at holiday gatherings express this best. Classics like a saucy and crunchy green bean casserole, herbed cornbread stuffing, or even a 1960’s-era jello salad (we once hosted a Thanksgiving guest who insisted we serve a wobbly molded construction he called “Purple Surprise”) have been a part of some tables for generations.

But just because things have a history doesn’t mean they can’t change. In fact, maybe they should change. Carefully.

If you’ve reached the point when the food you’ve served each year has become more boring than beloved, we dare you to try something new. We’ll even help you get there.

We talked to four of our favorite Boulder County chefs to see what they make for the holidays. Boulder’s Manal Jarrar of Arabesque; Longmont’s Sean Gafner of Swaylo’s Tiki Bar, The Roost, Jefe’s Tacos and Tequila, and Smokin’ Bowls; Erie’s Kevin Kidd of 24 Carrot Bistro; and Longmont’s Daniel Flores of Lunada Eatery and Cantina gave us samples and recipes of secret, off-menu dishes so we can share with you.

These chefs got creative but they didn’t turn away from the past entirely. Instead, what they make embraces their culinary training, personal taste, family traditions, and a knowledge of how people like to eat at this time of year.

Put your old recipes away and try something fresh. Your guests will thank you for it and you may even inaugurate a new holiday tradition.

Daniel Flores

Lunada Eatery and Cantina | Longmont

Dan’s choice for a holiday meal is a one-pot meal that takes time to construct, hours to slowly simmer so the flavors meld, and is available to offer company that stops by for the holidays.   

“You don’t make this every day, but when people come it’s ready to go. It’s hot, spicy, filling, and something I make for family, for guests, for anyone that stops by,” he said. “It can also feed a lot of people, and be part of a bigger spread, right on the table next to tamales.”

Flores said that when he makes the recipe, it brings him back to his childhood. He has memories of his mom making it, feeding everyone with it. And he relishes how much they all enjoyed the dish on a cold day.

Red Pozole

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 lbs of pork shoulder, bone-in
• 10 quarts of boiling water
• 10 oz guajillo
• 5 oz puya
• 2.5 oz  pasilla
• 2.5 oz chile de árbol
• 1 garlic bulbs
• 1.5 onions
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup chicken bullion
• 1/8 cup salt
• 1/4 cup oregano
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 large can of hominy

GARNISH:

• Radish
• Shredded cabbage
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Diced onions
• Oregano
• Red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:

Brown pork. Fill a large 24-quart stockpot with 20 quarts of water. Set on heat to bring to a boil then simmer pork in it for two hours, skimming impurities through the process.

Remove and discard the stems, seeds, and large veins from the chili pods. Heat a cast iron pan on medium high and heat the chili pods for a couple minutes, until they begin to soften. Do not let them burn. Cover chiles with boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes.

In a blender add chiles, garlic bulb, onion, cilantro, and all the spices. Then add fresh water to the blender. Strain red sauce, add red sauce to boiling water and cook for one more hour. Rinse the hominy, add to the pozole, and simmer for a half hour more. Serve with multiple garnish offerings.

Sean Gafner

Swaylo’s Tiki Bar | Longmont

Three existing Longmont restaurants and a fourth on the way in February will be keeping Sean Gafner busy during the holidays. But on a bright Friday morning, he made time to share one of his favorite recipes: Hawaiian Fried Rice.

The version we tried reflected Sean’s first attempt at making the dish—ever. He used ham, Fresno chilis, ginger, and his own stir-fry sauce. While he may tweak it for use in his restaurant (possibly swapping Spam for ham or adjusting the spices) overall it worked well with a heat at the end that balanced the sweet.   

While the dish is an obvious choice for his new restaurant, Swaylo’s Tiki Bar in the old Outback Steakhouse space, Gaffner said it’s surprisingly good for the holidays. He’s even making it for his own Thanksgiving table this year. “No one expects but it works because it’s versatile. Sure, everyone’s had it with Asian food, and I’ve even had it a lot for breakfast, but it compliments a holiday meal, too.”

Swaylo’s Dark Sauce

Yield: one quarter gallon

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup minced ginger
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup Sambal Oelek chili paste
• 1/2 cup sesame oil (pure, not blended)
• 1 1/2 cup Tamari (gf soy sauce)
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cups rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

Puree the first six ingredients in a large container (Sean suggests a 12-quart container) with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and puree until thoroughly combined. Store under refrigeration for up to a week.

Surprise! A dish that tastes great at a Hibachi restaurant, during late nights, or even for breakfast, also works well at Thanksgiving dinner.

Hawaiian Fried Rice

Yield: 4 side dish portions

INGREDIENTS:

• ¼ cup high heat cooking oil
• 1 cup diced ham
• ¼ cup julienned red bell pepper
• ¼ cup julienned carrot
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 cups of cooked, long grain white rice
• 1 cup of medium diced, fresh pineapple
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chiffonade cut
• ¼ cup Swaylo’s Dark Sauce
• ¼ cup biased-cut scallions

DIRECTIONS:

Maintain the cooking temperature on high for the duration of the cooking process. Once the wok or frying pan is smoking hot, swirl cooking oil in the pan to heat. Then add ham and fry until golden brown. Follow by adding the bell pepper, carrot, and garlic, frying those for 30 seconds.

Slightly stir the egg into these ingredients. Before the egg cooks fully, add the rice and smash it vigorously into the egg, allowing everything to brown. Then add the pineapple, basil, and dark sauce. Smash and flip the rice until all is mixed thoroughly. Let rice sit 10 seconds in the pan before plating. Garnish with scallions.

Manal Jarrar

Arabesque | Boulder

Manal welcomed us into Arabesque, her bright and cheerful restaurant on Walnut Street in Boulder. She quickly urged us to try her holiday favorite, a potato casserole with summer smoked beef sausage. She said she loves to make this because it’s decadent, rich, and filling, with a base made of cream and real butter. “It’s not hard to make,” she said, “but don’t make it ahead of time. It’s best made and enjoyed on the same day.”

Jarrar showed us, rather than told us, why her heart might be close to this dish. It’s perfect for gathering people to eat, talk and enjoy a moment together.

Between forkfuls, we discussed food, with a pinch of politics, and stories of family. She told me that she used to dance in the ballet and that cooking at an elevated level was a strong family tradition. She shared her daughter’s wedding day pictures from her phone, and I showed her photos of my kids and family pets. We talked about parenting tips and how quickly teenage girls grow older. Then we ate some more and she sent me home with a hug and leftovers.

I left with the warm feeling of being well fed and having made a friend; the perfect effect of a holiday gathering.

Manal Jarrar’s cuisine is guided by a principle of balancing each dish with contrasting elements.

Potato Casserole with Summer Smoked Beef Sausage

Yield: 20 portions

INGREDIENTS:

• 9-10 medium potatoes
• 1½ lb smoked beef sausage
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of parmesan cheese
• 1 whole garlic head
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parsley (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and cut potatoes in any desired shape. Cut sausage into diagonal slices and fry to achieve a darker color. Mix the potatoes and sausage in a rectangle-shaped baking pan and combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 90 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Kevin Kidd

24 Carrot Bistro | Erie

Kevin’s recipes paid homage to leftovers, arguably one of the best parts of any holiday meal.  Large scale cooking often means that there’s plenty of food guests can’t finish during the main meal. Although turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwiches dipped in warm gravy are a great use for extra food, cooks can get more creative.

Kevin paid homage to his east coast roots (his father is a fisherman from Fall River, Massachusetts) and his deep love of chowder. He shared with us a turkey chowder that includes bacon, wild rice, and cashews. He also provided a recipe for leftover cranberries and, to go along with that, gave a tip for holiday food garnish: rolling slightly wet, whole cranberries in sugar is a simple, stunning, and tasty accent to a range of desserts, including his tart.

Kidd challenged himself to get creative with holiday leftovers. These recipes prove you can do more with them than a beloved but ordinary next-day sandwich.

Cranberry Tart

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb cranberries
• 1 ¼ c sugar
• ½ c water
• Or 2.5 cups leftover cranberries
• pinch salt
• 3 egg yolk
• 2t cornstarch
• 4 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 c flour
• ½ c cornstarch
• 1/3 c sugar
• ½ t salt
• 6 tbsp very soft or melted butter
• ¾ almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

If not using leftover cranberries, bring cranberries, sugar, water, and salt to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. While cranberries are cooking, whisk egg yolks and cornstarch together until smooth.

In food processor, blend hot cranberries or warmed leftover cranberries (warm on the stove while constantly stirring, take care not to scorch them) and egg mixture until smooth. Let the mixture cool in the food processor while you make the crust. About 1 hour.

For the crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt together. Add in the butter and extract. Stir until a dough forms. In a nine-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, crumble two thirds of the dough and press into even thickness. Crumble the other third around the edge and press around evenly. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Rotate once during cooking.

Add the softened butter to the cranberry puree and blend until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl, pressing all the liquid out of the mixture. Pour mixture into tart crust (it’s ok if crust is still warm), let sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours. To serve, remove from metal tart pan, cut into six or eight slices and garnish with whip cream.

Roasted Turkey Chowder

Yield: 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs roasted turkey, diced
• 1 lb pancetta, diced
• 4 stalks celery, small dice
• 2 carrots, small dice
• 2 onions, small dice
• ½ cup wild rice, cooked
• 4 oz toasted cashews, chopped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 lb unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
• 1 qt milk
• 1 qt chicken stock
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot sauce
• Salt & pepper
• Parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot, render pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Strain out the fat and set pancetta aside. Then, melt butter in the same pot, add celery, onion, and carrot and cook until translucent.

Add chopped sage, thyme, and cook for 2 minutes. Add flour and cook mixture until it thickens, scraping the bottom of the pan.Add chicken stock and milk, stir to combine, and bring up to a simmer.

Simmer for 5-10 minutes to cook out the flour. Add in pancetta and wild rice. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add a dash of Worcestershire and hot sauce if desired. Stir in cubed turkey and adjust seasoning if needed. Garnish with chopped cashews and parsley leaves.

The post Holiday Table Shakeup: Boulder County Chefs’ Secret Recipes are Different and Delicious appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It’s summertime and the 9 best recipes are here to try! We’ve gathered recipes from some of the best local chefs and establishments to bring you a wide selection of delicious, tasteful, slightly decadent, dishes to fulfill your culinary summer night dreams. We wanted to be local, we wanted ‘grown in your own backyard’ local, we wanted right here, Boulder County (and some surrounding areas) L O C A L, local. Whether you’re in the kitchen at home or outside at the grill, these recipes are sure to make your mouth water. As the world gets vaccinated, and we can finally gather safely with our friends and families, what better way to really connect than to share the pleasure and joy of a thoughtfully and well-executed meal created by local residents from our community? From Top Chef, Hosea Rosenberg, to Jax Fish House, Sheila Lucerno, this list of 10 extraordinary recipes is sure to spice things up. So go on, try one, two, or all of them, we know we will!

1) Hosea Rosenberg, Blackbelly and Santo

Skirt Steak a la Plancha with Chimichurri Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 pounds cleaned and trimmed skirt steak 
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 sprigs rosemary
2 cloves garlic
fresh cracked black pepper
1 bunch parsley chopped
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 large clove garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1/2 teaspoon red chile flake
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:

For steak:
1. Combine first five ingredients and let steak marinate overnight in refrigerator.
2. Prior to cooking, remove steak and set out for at least 20 minutes to come to room temp.
3. Season to with salt and pepper and cook (on grill or cast iron pan) to desired temp.

For chimichurri:
1. Combine remaining ingredients except lemon juice.
2. If you have a mortar and pestle this can all be ground up that way, instead of  chopping.
3. Can be made 1 day ahead and kept in refrigerator.
4. Just before serving, stir in lemon juice.
5. Spoon over steak for the most delicious homemade condiment!

2) Sheila Lucero, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar

Pacific Oyster Ceviche

Serves 4

Ingredients:

12 West Coast oysters, medium size
¼ cup lime juice, fresh squeezed
¼ cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
2 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh squeezed
¼ cup shallot, finely sliced
¼ cup Persian cucumber, small diced
6 each cherry tomatoes, halved
½ each serrano chile, thinly sliced in rings
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons basil, chiffonade
1 tablespoons cilantro, chopped fine
Kosher salt
Cracked black pepper
4 tostada shells, broken in half

Directions:

1. Wash oysters well prior to shucking.
2. Shuck oysters, and place oysters into a fine mesh strainer.
3. Discard shells.
4. Place oysters in a plastic or ceramic bowl, add shallot and pour citrus juices over the top.
5. Let oysters marinate for 5 minutes.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
7. Check seasoning, and adjust if necessary.
8. Serve with tostada shells

3) Alberto Hernandez, Frasca Food and Wine

Chocolate Almonds

Makes about 3 ½ cups

We’re including this recipe for purely selfish reasons: We love them—plain and simple. Chocolate-coated nuts are a not-so-secret indulgence for many people, but Frasca pastry chef Alberto Hernandez truly makes the best ones. When we were shooting the photographs for this book, we had to ask Alberto to take them away because we couldn’t stop eating them! These are great as an any-time-of-day snack, and even better served alongside an espresso at the end of a meal.

Note: Gianduja (“jee-ahn-doo-yah”) chocolate is a Piedmont specialty and consists of sweet chocolate mixed with 30 percent hazelnut paste (think of a purer, sophisticated Nutella!). Chocolate companies such as Callebault and Valhrona offer it in semisolid cream or block form, but you can also use individually wrapped gianduja chocolates, typically found in purveyors of fine Italian products. You can also use any fine milk chocolate of your liking in this recipe.

You will need:

Deep-frying thermometer or candy thermometer
Small silicone offset spatula (optional)
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2½ cups roasted almonds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
2 cups gianduja chocolate pieces (see Note)
2 cups cocoa powder

Directions:

1. In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat, combine the sugar and water and stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the resulting syrup reaches “soft crack” stage — 285°F on a candy thermometer — 3 minutes.
2. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir the almonds into the sugar syrup, mixing continuously to coat completely. As you stir, the sugar will crystallize and form a white coat around the nuts. Keep stirring until all the nuts are evenly coated. The sugar coating may start to caramelize but don’t worry if it doesn’t; give it another minute or two. Sprinkle in the salt and stir in the butter to coat the nuts.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Spread out the nuts on the prepared baking sheet, making sure they are not touching each other.
5. In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water), regularly stir the chocolate until melted, about 2 minutes. Alternatively, microwave the chocolate in short 10 to 15-second bursts, stirring well after every burst, until completely melted. Check the temperature as you’re melting the chocolate; it’s important to temper it for a smooth, even, and crisp coating. If you are using small gianduja chocolates (rather than block chocolate for baking or regular milk chocolate), melt the chocolate until it registers a temperature of no more than 104°F. Remove the chocolate from the heat and allow to cool until it reaches 86°F—this will take 10 to 15 minutes (if using another kind of chocolate, refer to the temperature ranges specific to that chocolate on the back of the packaging). When the chocolate is tempered, you are ready to coat the nuts.
6. Put the cocoa powder in a large bowl. Set up a production line with the nuts, the melted chocolate, and the cocoa.
7. Working with one nut at a time, dip the nut into the chocolate, stir to coat, and lift out using a small offset spatula or your fingers, letting any excess chocolate drip off. Toss the dipped nut into the cocoa powder and shake the bowl to coat. Leave the nut in the cocoa powder while you continue to dip the remaining nuts in the melted chocolate followed by the cocoa powder. Move the coated nuts (still in the cocoa bowl) to a cool place (not the refrigerator) to rest for 1 hour, while the chocolate sets.
8. Toss the nuts in a sieve or colander to discard excess cocoa powder and transfer to an airtight container. The nuts will keep, at room temperature, for up to 2 weeks.

4) Linda Hampsten Fox, The Bindery

Chile Gazpacho

Serves 4-6

This gazpacho resembles a famous Tuscan recipe called Pappa al Pomodoro. In that dish, fresh tomatoes transform an old loaf of bread into a satisfying and delicious meal. Our version turns up the volume with chile pepper and toasty croutons, creating a unique summer gazpacho.

Ingredients:

1 dried ancho chile pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
¼–½ teaspoon hot chile powder
1 pound fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion
1 cucumber
1 garlic clove
1 cup pure tomato juice
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 slices fluffy white bread, crusts removed
4 slices rustic country bread
4 to 6 flat leaf Italian parsley sprigs, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over the ancho chile and let soak for about 10 minutes. Deseed the chile and purée in a blender with 2 tablespoons of the ancho chile water until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl to use for adjusting seasoning and heat later on.
2. Remove the stems and seeds from the red and yellow peppers. Coarsely chop the peppers, red onion, cucumber, tomato and garlic and transfer to a large bowl.
3. Combine the tomato juice, sherry vinegar, toasted cumin seeds, and chile powder in a liquid measuring cup.
4. Add half of the chopped ingredients, half of the liquid ingredients and one slice of white bread to the blender and blend well. Pour this first batch into a large container.
5. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. Combine first and second batches, and season to taste with salt, pepper and puréed ancho chile paste.
6. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
7. To make the croutons, cut the rustic bread slices into 1-inch or slightly smaller cubes. Warm two tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and lightly toast the cubes until golden brown. Finish by tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
8. Serve the gazpacho in chilled bowls or wide-mouthed glasses, topped with toasted rustic croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. Garnish with a sprig of fresh parsley.

5) Dakota Soifer, Café Aion

Paella

Servings: 2 in a 10’’ paella pan 

Remember, cooking paella takes practice and is much more an art than science… so, open up a bottle of wine, nibble on some olives and have fun!

10” paella pan can be purchased locally at Cafe Aion.

Paella Base

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, julienned
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of saffron
¼ tsp. Spanish paprika
28 ounces can of crushed tomatoes

Directions:
1. Sweat a julienned yellow onion and the garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat. When they are soft, add a pinch of saffron and Spanish paprika (pimentón) and stir for a few minutes. Then, add a can of crushed tomatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes until it becomes a nice, fragrant stew.
2. You will only use a ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon of the base for the paella. You can freeze the rest (we suggest in hearty ¼ cup portions like a silicone cocktail ice tray) or use it as a base for a pasta sauce or over eggs.

Paella

Ingredients:
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon paella base
½ cup + 2 tablespoons Arborio rice
1 teaspoon salt
2½ cups stock (chicken or veggie) (You might need another 1/2 cup later on)
1 link of Spanish chorizo, cut into ½ inch slices
½ pound of bone-in chicken thighs
½ pound of shrimp (cleaned and deveined)
½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped

Directions:
1. With your paella pan on the stove (not turned on yet) pour the paella base, rice, salt, and stock into the pan. Turn the burner to high and bring the mixture to a boil; give it a few little stirs.
2. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium-low/low, barely a simmer. Don’t stir it any more, but you can give it a few gentle wiggles if you need to even things out. Add the chicken and chorizo and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Taste test, and add more salt if needed.
4. After about 30 minutes lightly salt the shrimp and place them on top of the paella. At this point the paella should be starting to get drier… like the consistency of loose oatmeal.
5. Flip the shrimp after 5 minutes and add the roasted peppers.
6. After another 5 minutes, taste the rice to make sure it is cooked—it should be almost done. If it seems a little al dente and the paella is dry, add a bit more stock.
7. Serve in the pan with some freshly chopped scallions, a few chilies, and a squeeze of lemon.

Total cooking time should be around 40 minutes.

Other Paella Ideas

• Paella del Mar: Add mussels, clams, and small pieces of fish (we like firm, white flesh).
• Paella de la Tierra: In addition to the chicken and chorizo, add steak, lamb, and roasted pork.
• Vegetariano: Local veggies are the best, like squash, eggplant, fresh peppers, and peas!

6) Paul C. Reilly, Beast + Bottle and Coperta

Moroccan Carrot Salad

North African flavors work so well with sweet root vegetables. This salad really shines the longer you let the carrots rest in the marinade. You can use this recipe with the beets in this week’s bag, too, for a carrot-beet salad; just roast beets as normal and double the marinade recipe. If you love olives (like me), adding some chopped olives on top is a lovely touch. SIDE NOTE: I actually never peel carrots. I love their flavor and find it superfluous to do so.

Ingredients:

4 large carrots, cut in quarters, vertically
Salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1-inch fresh ginger, grated
A pinch of your favorite chili powder
Juice of ½ lime
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, cilantro, mint, or any combination of 2 or 3

Directions:

1. Cook the carrots in boiling salted water for 4-5 minutes until slightly soft but still crispy in the center. Drain and season with salt. In a small bowl, mix together the cumin, coriander, ginger, and chili powder. Pour over the still-warm carrots and let marinate a few hours or even overnight. Right before serving, mix the lime, oil and herbs together.
2. Toss the carrots to coat and serve.

7) Paul C. Reilly, Beast + Bottle and Coperta

Lemon-Summer Squash Bread with Sunflower Seeds

Every summer, we reach a point when summer squash is ubiquitous. It sure grows prolifically in Colorado. Maybe you’ve been saving it in your fridge? If you’re tired of cooking or grilling it, this is a simple quick bread that actually uses quite a bit of it. It’s based on a carrot cake recipe but now in bread form for simple morning snacking.

Ingredients:

2 cups AP flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Grated peel of 1 lemon
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup golden raisins
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup milk
½ cup neutral oil, such as sunflower
1 1/3 cup packed, shredded, unpeeled summer squash

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon peel in a large bowl. Stir in seeds and raisins. In a smaller bowl, combine eggs, milk, and oil. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir until combined and fold in the squash.
3. Spoon the batter into a greased and floured 13×8 loaf pan. Bake 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Remove from pan and let cool to room temperature.

8) Amy Tisdale, Red Wagon Farm

Lentil Soup with Rutabaga and Collards

This is super simple to make and it makes a lot, so you will have leftovers and the leftovers are great. You can throw in any extra grains or vegetables you have to freshen up the leftovers and eat this all week. Oh, and this just happens to be vegan.

I love adding a little bit of vinegar to lentil dishes, I add a splash about 1/2 way through cooking when I add the greens, if I am using greens and usually a little more right before eating it. If you don’t think you’ll like the vinegar just start with just a little and add more to taste or leave it out. It will be delicious either way.

To make this you’ll need:

1 ¼ cups green lentils
12 ounces canned (or cartoned?) fresh tomatoes (1 ½ cups)
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons to a ¼ cup vinegar to taste (I used white balsamic, I like the slight sweetness but any vinegar is good – red wine vinegar is good)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme leaves
2 cups peeled and diced rutabagas
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups chopped greens – collards, spinach, chard (greens are totally optional)
6 cups water
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Peel and dice the rutabagas and dice the rest of the vegetables you are using. I don’t peel carrots. Put everything in the amounts above in a pan except the vinegar and greens.
2. Simmer that for a total of about an hour. About 1/2 way through cooking add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar and your greens and finish cooking until all the vegetables are cooked through. It’s fine to cook it longer. This photo (above) is when I added the greens. It needs to cook at least 1/2 hour longer.
3. I like eating this with an added splash of vinegar and olive oil and bread or croutons.

9) Chef Dani, Shine Community

Bourbon Brined Buckner Family Farms Pork Chop

Yield: 4 plates

Pork Chop

Ingredients:
4 bone-in tomahawk pork chops
1 quart brine
¼ cup Kosher salt
¼ cup maple syrup
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1 cup water
2 ½ cup cold water
½ cup bourbon

Method:
1. Place all ingredients except cold water and bourbon in a small sauce pan, heat until everything is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat, add remaining liquid and cool completely (below 41?F).
3. Place pork chops in brine for 6 hours, keeping them fully submerged.
4. Remove and place on a sheet tray with a roasting rack

At Service:
1. Dry chops thoroughly.
2. Grill to desired temperature (For a perfect medium, remove the pork chop when internal temperature reaches 130? (use a probe thermometer, and always check close to the bone, as that will be the last part of the cut to cook) and allow to rest for a few minutes. Lower temperature cooking with pork is now considered safe to eat, especially when the pigs are treated so well!
3. Plate pork, kept whole, on the polenta, leaning the bone against the vegetables, serving the bone away from the guest.

Asparagus and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
6 ounces asparagus
6 ounces black oyster mushrooms
¼ cup white wine
4 ounces butter, divided
Salt and white pepper to taste

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil, and prepare an ice bath.
2. Snap bottom ends of asparagus and rinse.
3. Blanch asparagus for 1-5 minutes depending on thickness.
4. Shock in the ice water until completely cold, then remove from the water and set aside.
5. Gently rub mushrooms with a cold, wet towel/paper towel, separate by the stem and trim off bottoms of large clusters.

At Service:
1. Sauté the veggies together in 1 ounce of the butter, and season with salt and white pepper. Allow to cook a couple minutes.
2.Deglaze with the wine, and reduce by 50%. Add the remaining butter in chunks and swirl into the liquid to form a sauce. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
3. Plate with a spoon on top of the polenta, making sure the sauce is nicely coating the vegetables.

Creamy Soft Polenta

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken stock
2 cup whole milk
1 cup polenta
4 ounces butter
4 ounces parmesan/pecorino
Salt, white pepper, parsley to taste

Method:
1. Bring stock and milk together in a saucepan, and heat on medium. Just when the liquid comes to a boil, begin slowly adding polenta in. While whisking vigorously, add all the polenta in this way.
2. Continue whisking frequently and allow polenta to cook for 5-10 minutes, making sure the bottom doesn’t scorch.
3. Melt in butter and cheese, and add seasonings and herbs.
4. Hold on very low heat or in a double boiler until service, adding milk or stock and whisking occasionally to keep nice and creamy

At Service:
1. Check consistency and seasoning before plating and adjust as necessary.
2. Plate on warmed pasta bowls when pork is resting.

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Pot Roasts keep their flavor and cook faster in a pressure cooker.

Do you have fond memories of your mother or grandmother loading a pressure cooker to make homemade soups, stews or even for canning? The unmistakable spit and whistle of an old-school pressure cooker can transport a person back to childhood days when mom could create the perfect hot soup to combat a cold day. Of course, there were always lots of safety warnings that came with the use of a pressure cooker.

The first pressure cookers date back to 1679 when French physicist Denis Papin invented the steam digester to help cook his food a bit faster. It wasn’t until 1938 that the Flex-Seal Speed Cooker, made for home use, popularized the fancy new appliance. The basic premise of a pressure cooker involves capturing all the steam from food or liquids inside. That trapped steam raises the internal pressure in the pot, which helps cook food faster while maintaining the flavor. Most foods that can be steamed or cooked in liquid will cook faster inside, and it’s a great way to get a braised flavor without hours and hours of slow roasting.

New pressure cooker designs have popped up in stores, recipes are making the rounds in cooking magazines and grocery stores now feature sections for instant-cook meals. Programmable pressure cookers, like the uber-popular Instant Pot, are much safer and faster than its old-school counterpart. It’s what Crock-Pot did for slow cookers. Opening a pressure cooker early releases pressurized steam sure to burn on contact. These modern cookers promises 10 levels of safety mechanisms built into the pot, including a lid lock, high temperature warning and excess pressure protection.

So what can you make with a programmable pressure cooker like the Instant Pot? Just about everything. Soups, stews, broths and stock are always a great staple. Beyond the basics there are recipes for everything from homemade dog food to rice dishes, meat dishes and even pasta.

Here are two easy examples of the kinds of meals you can prepare with a pressure cooker. If you already have one, these are still a great introduction into the range of cooking beyond the basics.

Pressure Cooker Pot Roast

If you’ve ever made a traditional oven roast, you’re used to the three to five hours it takes to get that great slow-roasted flavor. This version does it in half the time with just as much punch as the slow-roasted variation. Add any veggies you like and prepare to impress your family. Adapted from the Umami Pressure Cooker Pot Roast recipe at instantpot.com.

Ingredients

• One large chuck roast (about two inches thick)
• Three cloves garlic, chopped
• One medium onion, sliced
• One cup chicken stock
• Two tablespoons soy sauce
• One tablespoon olive oil
• One pinch each of rosemary and thyme
• Two bay leaves
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Potatoes (and any other vegetables you like)

Directions

1. Preheat your pressure cooker to sauté.
2. Pat the roast dry with a paper towel.
3. Season the roast liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and add the seasoned roast.
5. Let it brown for 10 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
6. Reduce heat to medium and add onion and garlic.
7. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
8. Stir and cook for about one minute until garlic is fragrant.
9. Add mushrooms and cook for another two to three minutes.
10. Pour 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar into the pot and scrap the bottom to get up all the fond.
11. Add chicken stock, soy sauce and remaining seasonings. Taste as you go and salt as needed.
12. Place the roast back into the pot with all the juices. Close and cook at high pressure for 45 minutes.
13. Turn off heat and let rest for 25 minutes, then open lid and remove the roast.
14. Once the roast is done and resting, you can add any vegetables you like. Carrots and potatoes are great with this roast.
15. Close pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for four to five minutes.
16. Remove the veggies and slice the roast against the grain. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Creamy Rice Pudding

How about dessert? A warm rice pudding is a great option for a cold winter night and your Instant Pot or pressure cooker can whip up an amazing rice pudding before you know it. This version is slightly adapted from the Creamy Rice Pudding recipe found at PressureCookingToday.com

Ingredients

Creamy Rice Pudding.

• Two cups Arborio Rice
• One cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups milk (use 1% or 2%)
• Two large eggs
• One cup half and half
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Pinch cinnamon

Directions

1. Combine rice, sugar, salt and milk in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
2. Sauté until it comes to a boil.
3. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Cover and seal. Press the “rice” option on your cooker.
5. While that cooks, in a separate bowl whisk the eggs, half and half and vanilla until combined, set aside.
6. Let the rice cook for 15 minutes and remove the lid. Stir egg mixture into the pot.
7. Press Sauté button and cook uncovered until mixture boils.
8. Chill until ready to serve. Pudding will thicken as it cools.
9. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

The post Formation of a Foodie: Safer pressure cookers hearken return to flavor appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When everything starts to be infused with pumpkin spice, it’s a good indicator that the seasons have changed (even if the weather is slow to follow). And while fall food banalities—apple, cinnamon, and yes, pumpkin—are delicious, the tunnel vision attention that gets paid to them all autumn long means missing out on other truly great flavors. Enter pears.W

Pear, the overlooked cousin of the prettier, more popular apple (they really are cousins—both are Pomoideae, a subfamily of Rosaceae), is just as juicy, versatile and affordable as that other side of the family. What’s more, pears are in season right now, which means they’re perfect for baking into a fall dessert right now. Whether its bartlett, anjou, bosc or starkrimson (note: this variety is especially good for baking), treat them like a cardigan sale and stock up on these beauties for a new fall taste.

Recommendation

Pears are good savory or sweet, but a delicious option for impressing friends and taste buds all at once, is to bake them into a cranberry pear crumble:

You’ll Need

Topping

• ¼ cup oat flour or whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup canola oil

Filling

• 3 lbs. of your favorite pears
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Handful or two of cranberries (use more depending on how much sour you want)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375º F

For topping: Combine ingredients in a medium bowl and work together with a fork until everything is moistened.

For filling: Wash, peel, core and cut pears into ¼-inch slices (eyeball it). Remember that pears are trickier to peel than apples—you have to stick with narrow strips otherwise the knife will go too deep. Combine the pears with lemon juice and ginger in a large bowl. Add in the sugar, flour and cranberries and toss lightly.

Lightly coat an 8×8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the pear mixture evenly into the dish, and with your hands sprinkle the topping over. Bake crumble until the pears are soft and the topping is brown (about 40 minutes at this elevation). Let cool or serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream; either way, you’ll be saying “apple who?”

Squash Talk

Acorn, spaghetti and butternut are abounding during these months, but there are far more (lesser-known) varieties of the gourd to explore. Follow our guide and grab one from the farm or market for a savory surprise with dinner.

Calabaza

Commonly used in Central and South America, and the Caribbean, they look like green pumpkins (and can often substitute for pumpkin in recipes). Sautee with ground pork, oregano and onion, and throw into a corn tortilla for fall-inspired tacos.

Hubbard

This squash might be mistaken for a giant bumpy, grayish-blue sweet potato. Due to its size, it’s commonly used by restaurants and has a subtly sweet taste that caters well to both a meaty chili or a creamy custard pie.

Turban

Fun to look at and decorate with, not so fun to eat. Makes a good (and easy) centerpiece for the table or addition to the porch with its vibrant colors and namesake shape.

Red Kuri

No, it’s not a bright orange pomegranate, it’s a squash, with an incredibly thick (edible!) skin and full, savory flavor. If you have 15 minutes, braise chunks of it with salt, olive oil and garlic.

Kabocha

An Asian variety of winter squash, it originated in Japan (sometimes called the Japanese pumpkin) and has a matte-like forest green complexion with light stripes running down its sides. It hardly needs any primping, so throw it in a stew or casserole for easy color and flavor.

Email foodie@yellowscene.com if you have any great BoCo food tips!

The post Primping the Pear: Doing Justice to an Overlooked Fruit appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

So you’re a grown up. That’s cool. You think Halloween is a holiday for kids and scoff at the idea of dressing up in an over-priced get-up from your local costume store—parading around town, looking ridiculous or hot or grotesque—whichever style you chose. You think bobbing for candy apples, carving pumpkins and collecting yummy treats is for children.

If that’s the case, then you’re totally missing out because Rock Creek Farms opened this past weekend and they have a ton of fun, pre-Halloween, fall-celebrating activities that will get you excited and amped up for the upcoming candy/costume sales driven holiday.

Rock Creek Farm offers just about everything that I love about this time of year.

First of all—there’s a corn maze. I love corn mazes. There’s just something about losing yourself in a giant field of corn with a bunch of strangers for hours to really make the fall season special. Rock Creek has an 8 mile maze layout through their well manicured and well thought out field of corn. And if the thought of huffing it on a bright autumn day through a maze of maize isn’t enough excitment for you—well, maybe you’ll find a little excitment when you discover that this year’s “Maze Theme” is a Whodunit? Maze goers are encouraged to help find the missing Famer Joe.  Collect clues and evidence along the way, and help put one of the suspicious farm animals behind bars and save Farmer Joe.

Corn mazes rock. So do pumpkins. Nothing says Happy Halloween like a bright orange pumpkin with triangles for eyes and a grinning mouth full of jagged teeth. Now, I’m a geniuses at choosing the best pumpkins, but I’m a little bit of an epic failure when it comes to carving them. I never win the pumpkin-carving contests, and my pumpkins typically don’t survive the first hour of a lit candle. Thankfully, Rock Creek Farm understands that pumpkin-carving inept people, such as myself, exist and they’ve generously put together a collection of free stencils that can be downloaded from their website. I’m totally winning the carving contest this year.

And can we please talk about the hay rides?! Sure, it’s not the late 1800’s anymore, but a cart, full of people, driven through a 1000 acres of beautiful farmland with the famous foothills centered in the viewfinder and the sights and smells of fall lingering is kind of a cool way to enjoy an afternoon.

Tons of family activities for the half-pints, caramel apples, freshly baked pumpkin bread, and a slew of other delicious treats for sale and to top it off—Rock Creek is offering up free recipes for all of your favorite fall and Halloween treats.

Rock Creek Farm is located in Broomfield and is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm from September 24^th to October 31^st. Please note that Rock Creek Farms does not accept credit cards, so be sure to hit the ATM or bring a check for your fun-filled fall trip to the Farm!

The post The Bolder Life: Corn Mazes, Pumpkins and Hay Rides, Oh My! appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Any recipe that starts with “Peal and chop two bushels of tomatoes” is not going to be high on my to-try list. Neither is anything that has warnings about botulism and other nasties at the end. I don’t have a garden that produces more food than I can eat, I don’t have a larder the size of Fort Knox, yet my fascination with canning and preserving wouldn’t go away.

So, I decided to just try it.

Euginia Bone, author of Well Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods, told me that was just the spirit I needed. When she wrote her book, there seemed to be a general fear in the minds of preserving experts that one couldn’t do small batches, but she wanted to write a book that would appeal to the urban, sophisticated home chef “who couldn’t see how a case of dillybeans would work for them.” Her theory bore out, as her book hit the shelves at around the same time that home canning hit the social zeitgeist.

“I think the trend is fabulous,” she said. “It reminds me of civil rights; a demand for independence, standing up to the man.”

For those new to the science of canning, she created recipes that call for eight cups of strawberries, instead of eight pounds; six pounds of apples instead of six bushels; and she explained the science “in a way that appeals to grown-ups.” Then she created recipes for meals to incorporate her canning recipes.

“When you use your preserved foods, you’re halfway done to a meal from scratch,” she told me. Hers are recipes one can make in small batches, folded neatly into a cooking routine rather than lumped into days of processing and preserving. And they’re for things you’ll actually want to eat.

So, one summer Saturday, with two pounds of peaches sitting on my counter, I decided to go for it. I shocked, peeled and sliced the peaches, boiled the jars, made a simple syrup and then, the moment of truth. Both of the jars sealed perfectly in their water bath. Success on my first try! Now, each succulent slice shines like a slice of summer encased in glass, a taste of the warm days and cool nights that formed it. Canning those peaches was nothing less than preserving a memory in a jar.

“We’ve allowed ourselves the passivity to think that corporate entities can take care of us,” Bone said. “But there’s no way any commercial product can be as good.”

It’s official: I’m hooked. So far, I have put up six pints of pickled green beans, a pint of gooseberry jam, a pint of chokecherry jam and two pints of peaches. Not exactly enough to carry us through doomsday, but when I see them, glittering like jewels in the sun, I feel a sense of deep pride, of accomplishment and of self-sufficiency. I have conquered the mystery of canning and will continue to do so, one jar at a time.

5 Tips from Eugenia Bone
1. Eat what you put up
Can something you want to eat. Don’t make pickled beets if no one in your family will eat them.

2. Think small
Can small amounts. You might find that you’re tired of peaches—no matter how much you love them—after your fiftieth jar.

3. Fresh is best
Never use canning as a way to avoid throwing something out. Only use the most pristine foods for preserving, because what goes in, comes out.

4. Buy the book
Get your recipes from a reputable source. Recipes on the Internet might be safe, but how do you know?

5. Eat it up
Don’t save things forever. Eat it when you want it, and enjoy preserved foods when they’re off-season.

The post Can-Do Spirit appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Homemade Pop Tarts
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Pastry
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) milk

1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

Cinnamon Filling (enough for 9 tarts)
1/2 cup (3 3/4 ounces) brown sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg, to brush on pastry before filling

Jam Filling
3/4 cup (8 ounces) jam
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Alternate fillings: 9 tablespoons chocolate chips, 9 tablespoons Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut paste or 9 tablespoons of a delight of your choice, such as salted caramel or a nut paste

To make cinnamon filling: Whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

To make jam filling: Mix the jam with the cornstarch/water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool. Use to fill the pastry tarts.

Make the dough: Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.

Divide the dough in half (approximately 8 1/4 ounces each), shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately (see Warm Kitchen note below) or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Assemble the tarts: If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8? thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9? x 12?. [You can use a 9″ x 13″ pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3? x 4? rectangles.

Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.

Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become billowy pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.

Charming tip from King Arthur: Sprinkle the dough trimmings with cinnamon-sugar; these have nothing to do with your toaster pastries, but it’s a shame to discard them, and they make a wonderful snack. While the tarts are chilling, bake these trimmings for 13 to 15 minutes, till they’re golden brown.

Bake the tarts: Remove the tarts form the fridge, and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Cool in pan on rack.

Cheese Straws
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces
3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon half-and-half (I used cream, because I had it on hand; suspect milk would work just as well)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and red pepper in five 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the half-and-half and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.

3. On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough into an 8- by 10-inch rectangle that is 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife (or a pizza or pastry wheel; both worked great), cut the dough into thin 8-inch strips, each 1/4- to 1/3-inch wide (dipping the knife in flour after every few inches ensures a clean cut). Then cut each strip into approximate 1-inch squares. Gently transfer the squares to an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/4-inch between them. You can also transfer the dough first, and then cut into squares. The dough may sag or may break occasionally in the transfer, but don’t be concerned — just do your best.

4. Bake the crackers on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are barely browned. Remove from the oven and set the cookie sheet on a rack to cool.

5. Serve at room temperature. Cheese crackers will keep in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for two days.

Homemade Ho Hos
Recipe from Gale Gand

Cake:

* 5 eggs
* 2 yolks
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 cup clarified butter, warm

Filling:

* 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
* 1 cup butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Glaze:

* 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 2 ounces cocoa butter or 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* Equipment: 2 half sheet pans with sides

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the Cake: Butter the jelly roll pan and line it with parchment paper; then butter the paper to assure release.

Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer.

In the bowl from a standing mixer, combine the eggs, yolks, sugar, vanilla in a bowl and whisk briefly. Set the bowl over the simmering water and stir until warm and the sugar looks dissolved. Attach the bowl to the standing mixer fitted with a whisk, and whip until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder 3 times.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and, while folding the egg mixture, sift in the flour mixture, little by little, until incorporated. Drizzle in the clarified butter, while folding the batter.

Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pans dividing equally and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake until lightly browned and it starts to pull away from the edges of the pan, about 14 to 16 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let sit in the pan for 1 minute. Run a knife along the edge to release the cake then flip it out onto parchment paper. Brush the paper (the one you lined the pan with) with water and let soak for 2 minutes. Peel it off the cake. Trim dry edges from the cake. Let cool covered with plastic wrap.

To make the Filling: In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the sugar and butter and mix on low speed until well blended; then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream for spreading consistency, if needed.

Spread the sponge cakes with a thin layer of the filling, leaving a 1/4-inch space at the far edge. Roll the cake tightly on the long side until you have rolled a 1 1/2-inch thick log. Cut the log off from the remaining sheet of cake and place seam side-down. Repeat with remaining cake. Chill the logs for 30 minutes; then cut into 2 1/2-inch sections.

To make the Glaze: Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. One at a time, gently drop the cake rolls into the hot chocolate. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place on the cookie sheet and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

The post Ho Hos at Home: Recipes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When it comes to buying food, things have gotten a little bit complicated: local, sustainable, organic or all-natural. Food producers and marketers add labels to their products touting the health benefits and natural ingredients—whether they’re actually healthy or not. They want us to believe that Fruit Loops are a good choice for breakfast, because they contain whole grains; that Pop-Tarts are better for us because they contain zero trans fats; and that potato chips must be natural (and therefore healthy) because they only contain potatoes, oil and salt.

It’s part of a larger “greenwashing” trend reaching all corners of the marketplace whereby manufacturers are trying to take advantage of the desire for more responsible and healthy products. But what does it mean for consumers? Where do we draw the line? Is an organic toaster pastry really that much different—or better—than a regular Pop-Tart? It was a question I started to ask when I saw a recipe for homemade Pop-Tarts. Maybe that was the answer: homemade treats instead of fabricated and chemicalized food. But would it even come close to the real thing? I decided to find out.

I included three recipes in my taste test: Pop-Tarts, cheese crackers and Ho Hos. I had seen recipes for each and wanted to try them out in my own kitchen and then present them to the YS staff for a taste test alongside their commercial counterparts.

I started with the Pop-Tarts. The concept is really very simple: piecrust, cut into rectangles, filled with jam or chocolate or any number of other fillings and baked. The recipe wasn’t much more difficult than it sounds. The crust came together easily and rolled out well; the fillings I made from high-quality store-bought jam and Nutella. The hardest part of the entire process was cutting out the rectangles to be the same size for easy stacking. With a yardstick and pizza cutter at my side, I soon had my tarts.

The cheese crackers were even easier. Extra-sharp shredded cheddar cheese, crushed red pepper, flour, leavening and cream all go into the food processor. A few quick whirs later, dough is easily rolled out, cut into squares (my pizza cutter was getting a workout) and popped into the oven.

The Ho Hos proved a somewhat bigger challenge. Deconstruct a Ho Ho and you’ll find a chocolate sponge cake filled with a creamy frosting and “elegantly enrobed in delectable confectionery coating,” according to the Hostess website, which obviously finds poetry in these little baked goods. My sponge cake called for seven eggs and sifting the cocoa powder with the flour three times. After the cakes were baked and the frosting whipped, it was a test of culinary skill to get them rolled together in the signature swirl. Then, the cakes were dipped into melted chocolate glaze—the closest I could come to a “delectable confectionery coating.”

The results were somewhat astonishing. When placed next to the originals, my treats seemed awfully homemade; my mother would call it the “loving hands” look as opposed to the cookie cutter perfection of the boxed treats. The tarts were thicker and flakier, the cheese crackers a distinctly different color (not the classic neon orange of Cheese-Its) and my Ho Hos considerably larger than the ones that come wrapped in pairs.

But aesthetics are easy to overcome if flavor is there.

“It’s hard to even compare,” my husband said, pondering a chocolate Pop-Tart next to my Nutella filled tart. “They don’t even taste like they’re in the same family.” My tarts had a light, flaky piecrust texture with a nice saltiness that complimented the sweet. The real Pop-Tarts were much thinner and had the consistency more of a cracker (Indeed, “cracker meal” is listed in their ingredients).

The flavor of the cheese crackers was definitely stronger than the Cheese-Its we tested them against. The extra sharp cheese came through brilliantly, as did the slow heat of the crushed red pepper. The texture was considerably different; where the Cheese-Its have a strong crunch, my cheese crackers were softer, more crumbly, more the consistency of a wonderful little biscuit than a crisp cracker.

My rolled cakes were a big hit at the office. Probably because of the full stick of butter in the frosting, the cocoa in the cake, and the real dark chocolate in the glaze, they were incredibly rich and definitely tasted more like dessert than a snack. The store-bought Ho Hos seemed disappointingly bland compared to their homemade cousins.

But the reactions were not unanimous. Most of the people who participated in my little experiment vastly preferred the homemade versions over the store-bought ones, but one employee admitted he liked the taste and texture of the processed foods better. And why not? It’s what he’s used to. And as my husband put it, they almost aren’t even the same foods; the homemade versions were so different from the originals as to verge on the unrecognizable. Without being set next to their counterparts, I’m not sure my coworkers would have known what they were meant to be. Other than tasty treats, that is.

The insight I took from this experiment was not that homemade foods taste better than processed; anyone who’d ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie lovingly made by a grandma would tell you they’re no match for Chips Ahoy. The real discovery for me was the amount of time and work necessary to produce these treats. The cheese crackers were simple, and I would gladly make them again, but I certainly wouldn’t take that effort for granted when confronted with the desire to eat the entire batch in one sitting. I can’t imagine making the Pop-Tarts on a regular basis as a breakfast staple, nor spending the time to fold sifted cocoa into whipped eggs for Ho Hos to make a regular everyday snack. These recipes would absolutely fall into the special occasions category of my mental cookbook, whereas their processed counterparts can easily be grabbed at any time, for any meal. And because they are so easily available, we start to think of them as everyday foods. It’s not much of a leap to understand, then, the role processed foods have played in increasing our national waistlines.

This is not to suggest that we should give up their processed foods entirely, nor that anyone strive to make at home that secret favorite that comes individually wrapped—though, with accessibility to the Internet, the recipe probably exists. The point is merely to take a second look at those processed foods, to look past the labels, and to pay a little more attention to what we are putting in our shopping carts, and in our bellies, as though we had to whip those seven eggs ourselves.

Click here for the recipes featured in this article—and let us know if you make any ho hos at your home.

The post Ho Hos at Home appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When I stand in my new kitchen on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving Day this year, I shall not stand alone. My son and my sister will be there, and so will my mom and her mother in spirit.

I am not a culinary traditionalist for the most part. I seldom use recipes or make the same thing twice. But I make my family’s turkey stuffing exactly the same way every year and I have since I was a little boy. There never was a recipe for this wonderful dish, but I’ve tried to create a reasonable facsimile below.

My grandmother, Vincenza “Nanna” Mazzola moved with my grandfather, Michael “Papa” Mazzola to Willimantic, Conn., in the early 1900s where they eventually opened an Italian market under the apartment where they raised their family.

Nanna grew up in Sicily. She’d never seen a turkey before in her life but cooking one was part of being American. Legend has it that she started talking to a French woman who rented an apartment in the building who suggested stuffing the bird with meat and potatoes. So Nanna got some of Papa’s famous Italian sausage, cooked it up and added in mashed potatoes. She taught my mom, Rose, and her sisters how to make it. I learned it from her while sitting in the kitchen of the house I grew up in.  

The formula is now part of the genetic code. First, we get some potatoes, a mix of Idaho bakers, red skinned boilers and Yukon Golds. We cover the dining room table with paper and start peeling. Normally, I would leave the skins on when making mashers but in this case it would just be wrong.

We cut them into big chunks and cover them with cold water in the large saucepan that Nanna once used. The potatoes are boiled until barely tender but not too mushy. They’ll cook more in the turkey.

While the spuds cook, I get out my immense, black, cast iron frying pan that I have no use for the rest of the year. We crumble chunks of good sweet and hot Italian sausage into the pan, along with some ground pork.

The meat gets fried just until the pink is barely gone, but not until it is completely cooked, and extra fat gets drained off, but not all of it because fat is flavor. We save some of the potato water to make turkey soup.

The spud chunks go back into the big pan over low heat with a quarter-pound of butter—make that at least a half pound of butter. Then we start stirring—but not mashing, while adding black pepper, a little salt and poultry seasoning. If we want to get wild, we’ll add onion and garlic. The magic moment occurs when the sausage is added to the mashers. We taste it, and then taste it again and again, to assure its authenticity. We always make extra because we’ll eat a bunch getting the seasoning right, and also because this stuff is absolutely, positively addictive.

All that’s left is to fill the bird early the next morning, forcing the stuffing into the nooks and crannies of the deceased beast, a replacement for its heart and soul. Some stuffing always gets baked separately in a pie pan, but technically, that’s “dressing.” We all want some of the mix that emerges glistening from the slow-roasted gobbler fat with flavor.
In the days that follow we enjoy the leftovers. I sometimes fry up stuffing cakes in the morning with eggs, an impromptu Mazzola Benedict. In repeating this sacred ritual year after year, I honor my ancestors and pass along the history to the next generation. For this and more I am deeply grateful.

5 to 6 pounds (approx.) mixed red, Russet and Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chunked
3 pounds (approx.) Italian sweet and hot bulk sausage
1 pound (approx.) ground pork
1 large yellow onion, minced
3 or more large cloves garlic, minced
1 pound butter, or more
½ teaspoon fresh black pepper, or to taste
salt, to taste if needed
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning or ground sage, to taste
turkey or chicken broth, if needed

Boil spuds in plenty of water until barely tender, not mushy. Drain, place in large pot over low heat and add butter. Crumble sausage and ground pork in a frying pan with onions and garlic in frying pan and cook until pink is gone. Don’t overcook. Add sausage to potatoes along with seasonings and stir. Add broth or more butter if too dry. Taste and adjust seasonings. Feel free to change this recipe in any way you wish in order to make it right for your family.

The post The Origin and Species of Stuffing appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The holidays will be here faster than you can say, “I’d like to get an order for take out, please.” That means it’s time to dust off your fine china, warm up your oven and start your timer. It’s time to get cooking. Yellow Scene solicited dishes from three of our favorite local chefs and they happily handed over recipes they serve for their families during the most thankful of gatherings. All have been tested by Yellow Scene staffers, who volunteered to try the recipes before writing up this holiday menu. As they say, bon appetite.

Hearty Fare

Quebec Tourtiere with Nova Scotia Chow, Alexander Porter, Flatz

Chef Alex Porter of Flatz Restaurant at the Renaissance Suites at Flatiron likes to use fresh, local produce grown within a 100-mile radius of the restaurant, but his recipes come from a little further north.

He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up on Prince Edward Island, and the recipes he sent us are traditions for his family at home. Our creative director, Stephanie Mott, whipped up the Quebec tourtiere for a small gathering at her home.

“This is the kind of food I love,” she said. “I would make this just for me and my husband.” The meat pie, rich with spices and full flavors, would be an appropriate centerpiece for a special occasion, or just a warm meal at home on a cold night. “The Nova Scotia chow is great with any hearty meat dish as well as the tourtiere,” Porter told us. And should you be so inclined, the green tomato chutney is excellent for preserving, which only intensifies the bright flavors and ensures you can have the treat even in the depths of winter.

Quebec Tourtiere
Pastry for two 9-inch double pie crusts
1 lb. lean ground pork
4 1/2 lbs. ground beef or veal
1/2 cup water
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp mace
1/8 tsp ground cloves
pepper to taste
2 medium potatoes
1 egg beaten

Combine meats, water garlic and all seasonings in large saucepan with tight lid. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook 25 minutes, stirring frequently and breaking up meat with a fork. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cook in boiling salted water for 20 minutes or so. Drain and mash. When meat mixture is cooked, don’t drain. Add potatoes and mix well. Fill uncooked pastry shell with mixture and add cover of pastry. Stir egg and brush top of pastry. Cook 425? F for 15 minutes and reduce heat to 375?. Cook until pastry is golden brown, about another 20 minutes. Serve the traditional way with green tomato chow.

Nova Scotia Chow

Chef Alexander Porter, Flatz Restaurant
10 lbs green tomatoes
4 lbs onions
1/3 cup coarse salt
Layer and let stand overnight
Next day drain well
3 ½ cups white sugar
2 cups white vinegar
6 peeled and diced apples (MacIntosh Red if possible, not green or red delicious)
4 ½ tsp pickling spice (in spice bag or tied cheese cloth
5 tsp mustard seed
Bring to a boil in large sauce pan. Reduce to a simmer for 2 hours. Bottle, seal, store at room temperature or cooler.

Marshmallow Squares
1 package chocolate chips
1 package butterscotch chips
½ cup butter or margarine
¾ cup peanut butter
1 package small marshmallows
Melt first four ingredients over a double boiler and pour over package of small marshmallows spread in bottom of 8 inch cake pan.

***

Hanukkah Feast

Sephardic-Style Brisket and Potato Latkes, Jim Cohen, The Empire

Whether your family gathers for eight crazy nights of holiday festivities, or just one or two, this hearty brisket is the ultimate crowd pleaser. “The brisket is a nice twist on a holiday tradition,” said Jim Cohen, chef and co-owner of The Empire Lounge & Restaurant in Louisville. “It’s a little bit spicy with great flavors.” Our publisher, Shavonne Blades, chose it to serve at a little pre-holiday get-together for the YS staff. “Don’t be daunted by the long cooking time,” she told us.

The brisket simmers away in its lush sauce of orange juice, cinnamon sticks, onions and peppers and asks very little attention from the chef once it’s in the oven. As a first course or a side dish, the latkes are an impressive, traditional and exceedingly tasty addition to the meal. “The latke recipe is nice because you can have them as hors d’ouvres or just serve the latkes with the brisket,” Cohen said.

Our tip: double the batch, because when it comes to potato pancakes fried in butter (or even better—schmaltz), people can’t seem to get enough. We served them with sour cream, smoked salmon and applesauce to rave reviews.

Sephardic Brisket
2 dried pasilla chiles
1 4-pound brisket
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Flour for dredging
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, diced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
1 cup orange juice
4 cups chicken or beef stock or water
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon peppercorns
4 tea bags of strong black tea
2 cups dried pitted prunes
2 cups dried apricots
Yield: 8 servings

1. Soak pepper in lukewarm water for 30 minutes. Seed, remove stems, and chop into tiny pieces. Season brisket with salt/pepper. Dredge with flour. Heat olive oil in a heavy roasting pan. Brown brisket on all sides. Remove from pan.
2. Preheat oven to 400?.
3. In the same pan, over medium heat, sauté onions and ginger until onions are transparent. Add pepper and deglaze with orange juice. Reduce for a few minutes. Add brisket and enough stock or water to cover. Add cinnamon stick, bay leaf and peppercorns. Cook, uncovered, until brisket is tender, about 3 hours, turning at 30-minute intervals.
4. Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Puree sauce in a food processor or blender.
5. Cool and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Remove congealed fat that floats on the top.
6. About 30 minutes before serving bring 4 cups water to a boil. Steep the tea bags in the water to make a strong tea. Discard tea bags. Put prunes and apricots in the tea for half hour. Drain. Reheat with the brisket and the plumped fruit.

Potato Latkes
Chef Jim Cohen, Empire Restaurant
4 peeled Idaho Potatoes
½ medium onion
3 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
1 egg
2 tablespoons potato starch or all purpose flour
¼ clarified butter or schmaltz
4 ounces smoked salmon
¼ cup sour cream
1. Grate the potatoes and onion on a large hole of a box grater.
2. Mix the chopped parsley, egg and potato starch with the potato and onion mixture in a bowl.
3. Form pancakes the size of silver dollars and saute in the butter or schmaltz until golden.
4. Serve with smoked salmon and sour cream as a topping.

***

Sweet Traditions

Butternut Spice Cake with Brandied
Mascarpone, Seth Witherspoon, Sugarbeet

“I love to cook,” our account executive Andrew Jones said one day. He didn’t say anything about baking; though, he told us later he wasn’t really much of a baker. So, this culinary adventure, a butternut spice cake from Seth Witherspoon of Sugarbeet, was pretty…well, interesting.

The bundt cake isn’t too challenging, even for a novice baker. “And you can put that frosting on just about anything and it would be tasty,” he said with a grin. We had to agree 100 percent. The stuff is amazing.
“This is a recipe that I make for my family back in Atlanta every time we get together for Thanksgiving,” Witherspoon told us. The cake is a good use for butternut squash, which is abundantly in season at this time of year. “We also make it a couple times a month at the restaurant during the fall and winter,” Witherspoon said, so if you can’t quite bring yourself to make your own, you still have an opportunity to give it a try.

Butternut Spice Cake with
Brandied Mascarpone
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 T fresh ginger, peeled, minced
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 lb. butternut squash, peeled, cubed (1/2 in. squares) and steamed until tender
3/4 cup currants or raisins
1/2 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Sift and mix flour and spices. Run steamed butternut through a food processor until smooth then add oil and sugar. Mix together all ingredients until smooth. Do not over mix. Pour into greased bundt pan and bake for approximately 40–45 min.

Whipped Mascarpone Frosting
2 cups mascarpone
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 T brandy or cognac
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend in mixer on medium-high for 2 minutes

The post No Place Like the Stove appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Halloween is a time for celebration—for sugar-fueled giggling, for face paint-covered revelry and for otherworldly fun. It’s pretty much the perfect time for a party. To help you conjure inspiration for a ghoulish gathering, here are a few apparitions of our own. Bob for apples next year; this Halloween, it’s all about chic yet casual ways to spend time with friends and family and to celebrate the fact that you perfected your Farrah hair for your Charlie’s Angel costume.


Trick or treat Pre-Party
We all know it takes a lot of energy to scamper around the neighborhood for countless hours. Start the Halloween fun early by inviting your kids’ friends and their parents over for a Trick or Treat Pre-Party. Why would you want a pack of rambunctious Transformers running around your house? With hope, you can serve them healthful (or at least something that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup) snacks and get them set for tricking and treating.

• Start the evening with some non-candy treats to give your little ghouls and goblins the energy for lots of trick-or-treating. Make pigs in blankets (we call them “monster fingers”) with crescent roll dough and cocktail sausages, leaving one end exposed. Put out bowls of ketchup and mustard (labeled “blood” and “bile” if you’re not easily disgusted) for dipping.
• Have a face paint station. Let the adults take care of the painting.
• Give out cool flashlights as party favors.
• Make cupcakes and let the kids decorate (pictured above: Tee & Cakes cakes).

Baking and decorating tips from Kim Boos at Tee & Cakes

1. Use candy in unexpected ways to decorate the tops of cupcakes: black licorice ropes for spider webs, marshmallows for ghosts, fruit leather to cut out shapes, strawberry jam for blood, oval shaped cookies cut in half for tombstones.
2. Red velvet is really popular nowadays for cupcakes. Make them more holiday-focused by adding orange or green dye to the batter instead.
3. Make cupcake flags by printing your favorite Halloween images, cutting them out and wrapping them around toothpicks with double sticky tape and placing them in the tops of the cupcakes.
4. For you or older kids, use a piping bag to get a more professional look for your cupcakes. You can make one by cutting the corner off of a Ziploc bag.
5. Have fun! Be creative!
   Think outside the (cupcake) box. Visit teeandcakes.com for more info.

Horror D’Oeuvres
The best part about being an adult at Halloween is watching the kiddos parading from door to door. Make the most it by hosting a costume-watching-and-candy-handing-out party…we call it Horror D’Oeuvres. Serve a few spooky—yet sophisticated—treats to your grown-up friends and let the adorable spooks and specters that come to your door be the evening’s entertainment. A digital camera, photo printer and a corkboard make a quick way to display and vote on the best costumes of the evening.

Serve:

• Blue corn chips with mango chutney
  or salsa.
• Toss warm, toasted pumpkin seeds with a little olive oil and pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and sugar.
• Take bite-sized fresh mozzarella balls and hollow out a small hole in each. Cut pimento olives in half and insert into the cheese to make spooky eyeballs.
• For a sophisticated take on deviled eggs, gently tap one side of the boiled egg to create a spider-web crack. Soak the cooked eggs in a strong tea solution or soy sauce until completely cooled. Peel the eggs; you should see a lovely spiderweb pattern on the egg white.
• Make a specialty cocktail or three. Sage Swink, bar manager at The West End Tavern, 926 Pearl St., made us two screamingly good cocktail recipes to ensure your Horror D’Oeuvres has a kick (see below). Plus, check out her recipe for black, flavored ice cubes (pictured above).

Satan’s Scream
2 oz. pumpkin spiced vodka
1 oz. pomegranate juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
Add ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail or old fashioned glass with a red sugar rim. Garnish with a black ice cube. Check out thewestendtavern.com.

Pumpkin Spiced Vodka:
Cut the flesh of one small pumpkin into 2″ cubes, and put into an infusion jar
Add: 2 liters of vodka
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice seasoning
1 vanilla bean, split open
Let infuse for at least 24 hours and up to five days. Strain, and discard solids.

Vanilla & Anise flavored black ice cubes:
4 cups water
1 tablespoon anise seed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 to 4 drops black food coloring
Boil water and anise together. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and let cool 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve then add food coloring. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

Harry Potter Happy Hour
With Potterheads hitting their 20s and 30s and still loving Pottermania, this is our favorite idea for a late afternoon get-together. Ditch the sexy schoolgirl costumes and use a little Ravenclaw brainpower to come up with your attire: With a brown long-sleeved shirt, a grass skirt and a little gold face paint, dress as your favorite broomstick; or a tea-cozy hat and bed-sheet toga make a convincing house elf with some green face paint and a pair of Spock ears. Decorate with candles, house banners made from colored felt and large glass jars filled with colored marbles, beads or stones to serve as the house-point counters from the films.

Serve:

• Pumpkin Pasties: Put squares of frozen puff pastry in muffin tins to create individual pie crusts. Pour in pumpkin pie filling (made from your favorite recipe) and bake.
• Cauldron Cakes: Bake slices of polenta and top each with your favorite flavors.
• Wizard Wands: Roll pre-made pie crust as thin as possible. Sprinkle the dough lightly with grated parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Cut the dough into inch-wide strips. Twist the strips several times. Bake until lightly browned.
• Butter Beer: Recipe below, created by the mixologist James Lee at The Bitter Bar.1 oz. Maker’s Mark Bourbon
  1 oz. Butterscotch Liqueur
  1 tablespoon of butter
  4 oz. Cream Soda
  0.5 oz. lemon juice
  In a sauce pan, add butter, soda and lemon juice and heat until hot. In a beer mug, add bourbon and butterscotch. Pour the heated cream soda/butter/lemon juice into the mug. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Visit happynoodlehouse.com for information on The Bitter Bar.

The post Posessed to Party appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.