Thanksgiving & Some Hot Spinach Dip

Hello all! If you're wondering where I've been all November, I was planning Thanksgiving. This was my first year hosting, so I planned the hell out of it, making sure I left no stone unturned. And it was a success! I wasn't even that stressed out, thanks to all the hard work I put in. Now I have some great recipes to share with you, after all that research.

And just because I'm proud of my hard work, I have to share a few photos of the hors d'oeuvres spread and the table setting. But since I don't want you to leave empty-handed, I'm also including the recipe for the {starch free} hot spinach dip that I made. It's excellent with some starch free cheddar crackers, a recipe I'll be sharing in a couple of days. So don't forget to check back later this week. This spinach dip would make an excellent appetizer for any kind of family gathering.

Hot Spinach Dip a la Martha Stewart  
Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds spinach, cleaned, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6 ounces bar cream cheese
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Starch free crackers, for serving
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add spinach in two additions, letting the first batch wilt before adding the next; cook until completely wilted, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a colander; drain, pressing to release all excess liquid.
3. In the same pot, warm milk over high heat. Whisk in cream cheese until melted, about 3 minutes. Add spinach, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and 1/4 cup mozzarella; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a lightly oiled 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.
4. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot with accompaniments, as desired.
   

Classic Chicken Salad

With hurricane Sandy in town, I've been thinking about different meals I could make that we could have already available, no cooking necessary, in case we lose our power. And chicken salad is one of those meals I could eat all year round; it's delicious no matter the season. I know most people probably already have their own favorite version of chicken salad, but this recipe is so good, it's worth posting.

Since apples are available now, I made this version with honeycrisp apples. But if I make it in the spring, I usually use sliced green grapes and celery instead. Chopped walnuts and almonds also make nice additions to chicken salad, really you can make a million variations and they {almost}always turn out delicious. This recipe is adapted from the one in Cooks Illustrated May & June 2012 and makes the perfect classic chicken salad.

Classic Chicken Salad
serves 4-6
salt and pepper (I use seasoning salt too)
4 (6-8 ounce), skinless chicken breasts, no more than 1 inch thick
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 honeycrisp apple, chopped (depending on the season, I'll use 1 cup of green grapes, sliced in half, instead of the apples and add in 2 ribs of celery to add some crunch)
2 green onions, sliced
salad greens

1.) Dissolve 2 tablespoons salt in 6 cups cold water in a Dutch oven and submerge the chicken in water. Heat pot over medium heat until water registers 170 degrees. Turn off heat, cover pot, and let stand until chicken registers 165 degrees, 15-17 minutes.

2.) Transfer chicken to paper towel lined plate and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes. While chicken cools, whisk mayo, lemon juice, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a large bowl.

3.) Pat chicken dry and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Transfer chicken to bowl with mayo mixture. Add apple, green onion and anything else you like in your salad and toss to combine. Season with pepper and seasoning salt and serve on a bed of your favorite salad greens. Salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. 

Creamy Cauliflower and Leek Soup

This hearty soup is a starch-less variation of the popular leek and potato soup and makes an excellent winter stand-by. It stores well in the fridge and tastes great as leftovers. You can even make a double batch and freeze half of the soup to defrost for an easy meal on a cold day.

Creamy Cauliflower and Leek Soup
serves 6-8
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound leeks, cleaned and dark green sections removed (about 4-5 medium leeks)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
1 pound cauliflower, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
1 cup heavy cream
2-3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
green onions or chives for garnish (and cooked & crumbled bacon, if you'd like!)

1.) In a pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and a few shakes of salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until the leeks are tender, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the wine and stir.

2.) Add the cauliflower and the broth, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and gently simmer until the cauliflower is soft, about 30 minutes.

3.) Turn off the heat and puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender, you'll just have to ladle it in in batches.) Stir in the heavy cream and cheddar and adjust seasoning to taste. Sprinkle with chives/green onions/bacon and serve!

Maple Flan

Flan is a dessert that I've been wanting to learn how to do right for awhile, since it's one of the standard Cuban desserts. And since we're a little unclear on whether or not caramel is starchy I decided to take a different (but equally delicious) route with our flan and use maple syrup. Roi says that this recipe is more like a "restaurant" version of flan as opposed to a "homestyle" version. I'm not really sure what that means but I'm taking it as a compliment. This recipe makes unbelievable creamy flan, and real maple syrup is the perfect compliment.

This recipe is adapted from the flan recipe in America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two 2009 cookbook. I doubled the recipe and exchanged the caramel for maple, but other than that, the recipe was perfect.

{adding the maple to the ramekins}

{adding the custard to the ramekins}

{in the oven}

{baked custards}

Maple Flan
makes 4 servings
1/4 cup real maple syrup (not a corn syrup substitute! gross!)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup milk (I used whole milk, but you can use any type)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1.) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Place a kitchen towel at the bottom of a 9X13 inch baking pan. Grease four 6-ounce ramekins, divide maple syrup between the ramekins and place them on the towel.
2.) Whisk the egg and egg yolk together in a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Divide the custard evenly between the four ramekins.
3.) Place the baking pan in the oven and carefully pour enough boiling water into the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the custards until the centers are just barely set, 25-30 minutes.
4.) Carefully remove the ramekins from the water bath and let the custards cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Cover the ramekins tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 1 day.
5.) Run a small knife around one of the ramekins to loosen the custard. Place an inverted serving plate over the top and quickly flip the custard onto the plate, drizzling any extra maple over the top. Repeat with the remaining custard and serve.

Pork Chops with Mozzarella and Homemade Tomato Sauce

It's like pizza on your pork chops! This dish makes an excellent weeknight dinner because it's simple to put together and you can leave it alone to cook. And it's pretty quick, especially if you have the tomato sauce made ahead of time. Roi said that he thought it tasted even better as leftovers, which he doesn't say about anything really, so you know that these have to be good.

This is another recipe adapted from Everyday Food and you can find the original recipe right here.  I decided to pan-cook my pork so that I could get it really tender, so my cheese didn't brown like in the original recipe that was done under the broiler. If you go with the broiler method instead, let me know how it turns out! My tomato sauce for this recipe is taken directly from my Starch Free Pizza post and is just re-posted here for your convenience. It's my go-to, on-the-fly tomato sauce.

{getting things ready}

{browning the meat and making the sauce}

Pork Chops with Mozzerella and Tomato Sauce
serves 4-6 (depending on how much you want to make)
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 lb. pork chops/pork cutlets
1/2-3/4 cup tomato sauce (see recipe below for making your own)
6-8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into slices

1.) Trim the pork chops and season with salt and pepper. Add a few lugs of olive oil to a large skillet and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until the olive oil is fragrant.
2.) Add the pork chops to the pan and cook on first side until browned, 2-3 minutes. Then flip them over and brown the other side.
3.) Once both sides of the pork are browned, turned the heat down to medium low, cover the skillet and let simmer for 25-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the skillet, just to make sure the pork chops don't burn. If bottom starts to caramelize, just de-glaze the pan by adding in a little white wine or sherry. And don't skimp out on this part, this is what makes the pork really tender.
4.) Still in the pan, cover the pork chops in tomato sauce then add a slice or two of mozzerella to each one. Re-cover the pan and let cook until mozzerella is melted, about 5 minutes.
5.) Serve with a lettuce salad and add extra tomato sauce on top, if you're like me and you like it extra saucy.

Simple Tomato Sauce*
makes 1/2-3/4 cup
2-3 tablespoons butter
4-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (depends on how much sauce you want!)
a small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper
basil, oregano (to your liking)

1.) Add butter and onion to a saucepan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender and starting to turn golden in color.
2.) Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic.
3.) Add white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium high.
4.) Once the sauce starts boiling, I usually turn the heat back down to medium and let the sauce lightly boil for awhile, so that most of the moisture from the tomatoes can evaporate.
5.) Once the sauce begins to thicken (after 10-15 minutes), add the seasoning to taste. Turn the heat down very low and let the sauce thicken.

**I never really measure anything when I make this sauce, I kind of just throw in what I have available, go on what feels right, and keep tasting it as I go along. It always turns out delicious; this sauce is almost impossible to mess up.

Cold Cucumber Soup

I know that this recipe is kind of late because summer is gone, and I actually meant to post on this almost 2 months ago, but I forgot so I'm posting it now. You'll just have to deal with it. Wink. Wink. I'll be posting much more Fall-friendly recipes from now on, so you can breathe easy.

And I think I've told you this before, but this year our cucumber plant has done really well, giving us a steady stream of giant cucumbers. So I was left trying to find different cucumber recipes to make so that Roi didn't get sick of eating the same cucumber salad every week.

I adapted this recipe from the Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup in Judith Jones' cookbook, that I inherited from my grandma. This soup is really light and refreshing and makes a good substitute for a salad with your lunch or dinner.

Cold Cucumber Soup
serves 2
2 medium cucumbers
2 scallions
1 1/3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
fresh chives or dill

Peel the cucumber and roughly chop. Trim the scallions of the course outer layers and chop into rough pieces. Put the cucumber and scallions with the broth and sour cream into a food processor/blender and blend until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper to tasted. Pour into a chilled soup bowl and sprinkle with herbs.

Simple Flourless Chocolate Mousse Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a variation on the Chocolate Mousse Cake I posted earlier this year, and you'll be happy to know that this is the quicker and easier version to make! I decided that I wanted to post about a simple cake that you can make even if there's no special occasion, or if the occasion is just that you feel like eating cake. This recipe makes one 8x8 or 9x9 single layer square cake and is only 4-5 servings.

The cake recipe is the same that I used in my earlier post, and you can go check it out if you're wanting more pictures about the cake process; I just halved the recipe for this version. The Honey Cream Cheese Frosting is from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. It's this recipe, without the butter. But if you'd like a fluffier frosting, add in the butter and tell me what you think!

I added a thin layer of high quality strawberry preserves under the layer of frosting, to add a little depth of flavor. And since I had strawberries on hand, I added those on top of the cake. It would be just as good without the fruit though, I'm just partial to fruit flavors in my cakes. Or you could substitute other flavors as well. Raspberries would be delicious with this cake.

{Cake batter and softening cream cheese. Isn't our cafetera family cute?}

Chocolate Mousse Cake
serves 4-5
5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs, separated --  (make sure the whites are completely free of yolks or oil, or they won't fluff up correctly -- also make sure that the whites are at room temperature before you mix them, they'll form stiffer peaks that way)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
makes 1 1/4 cups - enough to cover one single layer cake
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey

 For the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 1 8x8 or 9x9 inch glass or metal baking pan and line the bases with buttered parchment paper.
2.  In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter (I put the butter in the pan first to protect the chocolate from direct heat) over low heat until smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks until completely blended. Beat in the vanilla extract and pour into a large bowl. Set aside, stirring occasionally.
3. In a clean, grease-free bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites slowly until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed and continue beating until they form soft peaks, then stiffer peaks that just flop over a little at the top. Have patience, this will take 5-10 minutes.
4. Stir a large spoonful of white into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remaining white until they're just combined. Don't overmix, or the whites will fall. It's okay if there's still some streaks in the batter.
5. Pour batter between cake pans, smoothing the top evenly and tapping the sides gently to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes until puffed. The cake will fall slightly when you take it out of the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then use a knife to loosen the sides and invert the cake onto the rack and remove the paper.

For the frosting:
If your cream cheese isn't room temperature, just zap it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds so that it softens a little, but not so much that it's melty. In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the honey and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate until needed. 

To assemble:
Stir about 1/4 cup strawberry or other preserves in a small bowl so that it's easy to spread. Spread a thin layer over the cake and add the cream cheese frosting on top. Spread over the cake until you have a even and smooth layer. If you'd like, add sliced strawberries or raspberries on top. Buen provecho!