Baked Oyster Appetizer to Ring in the New Year!

As 2010 comes to a close, I would like to thank everyone who visits Savoring Time in the Kitchen and for all of your kindness. I would also like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

The weekend before Christmas, our gourmet group got together for a festive, holiday gourmet at another group member's home. As is the custom with our group, each couple is assigned a recipe to prepare from the menu which is chosen by the hosts. Our assigned recipe was a baked oyster appetizer.

Not being from a part of the country where oysters are popular, I've never developed a taste for them and never think of ordering them in restaurants - mainly for fear of them not being fresh.  We are fortunate to have a very well-stocked grocer near us and, as luck would have it, they had just received shucked oysters for sale.  I watched as a new container of shucked oysters was opened in front of me so I knew they were the freshest I could possibly get.

Our group knows we are always free to 'interpret' our assigned recipes as we like, so the final recipe ended up being a composite of several I consulted. The end result was so delicious that everyone wanted to have my version. They were delicious and I know I will make this recipe again!

Baked Oyster Appetizer
Printable Version

Serves 10

About 2-1/2 pounds of fresh, shucked oysters, drained. Enough for each person to have about 5-6 large oysters
1 tablespoon of bacon fat or olive oil (the bacon fat is not necessary but the flavor is great with oysters)
2 leeks thinly sliced (white and pale green part only)
2/3 cup chopped celery
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp minced garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
¼ cup dry white wine
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups bread crumbs from Italian bread
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried oregano
¾ cup finely minced fresh parsley

Place 10 ramekin dishes on a large baking sheet with rim.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté leek, celery, cayenne and bay leaf in bacon fat or olive oil until softened, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook just a couple of minutes until fragrant.

Add white wine and cook briefly, until wine is mostly absorbed.

Add softened butter and stir until melted. Remove pan from heat. Remove bay leaf, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir together until well blended.

Place 5-6 large oysters in the bottom of each ramekin. Divide the bread crumb mixture equally over the top of oysters. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. This can be done in early in the afternoon the day of serving.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Bake ramekins about 18 minutes, or until bread crumbs are golden and browned. Place ramekins on individual serving plates.

Chocolate Pecan Tassies

The cookie machine was running full-speed yesterday! Not only did I made my family's all-time favorite Candy Cane Cookies but I also made another cookie that has been around for years - Pecan Tassies.

Having recently seen David Lebovitz' post on Chocolate Pecan Pie, I decided to add some chopped dark chocolate to the bottom of my tassie cups! It was a great idea (giving self pat on back) and they taste wonderful!

I broke out the imported Danish butter than I had been saving for my holiday baking.

Packed in Denmark at the Dairy :) Loved that!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, My Dears :)

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Chocolate Pecan Tassies
Printable Recipe

Makes 2 dozen (You will want to double this recipe - believe me!)

3 oz cream cheese (I use the lower-fat Neufchatel cheese), softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1-1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate

In a stand mixer, blend softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in flour until blended. Remove dough and cover with plastic wrap and chill for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Shape dough into 2 dozen, 1-inch balls. Place in un-greased mini-muffin tins and press evenly against bottom and sides of pan. If you have a handy, dandy, tamper tool, it will simplify that task!

Filling:

Beat together eggs, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of softened butter, vanilla and salt just until smooth. Place a small amount of chopped, dark chocolate on the bottom of each dough cup. Add half of pecans over the chocolate and add egg mixture to the top. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool before removing from pans.

Santa Madeleines

I am a horrible cookie decorator! I keep thinking one day a miracle will happen and I will finally get it. The fact is, I actually prefer most desserts unfrosted. A little sprinkle of sugar on top of a cookie is just fine with me...or a drizzle of good chocolate.

However, when I saw these Santa Madeleines, I thought they were so adorable that I'd give them a try. Unfortunately, I thought the frosting recipe was very hard to work with (couldn't have been me) and I didn't care for the taste of it either.

The Madeleines themselves were wonderful!  I used the 'optional' crushed anise seed and it added a delightful yet subtle flavor to these dainty little cakes.  I will be making this recipe again.

I do love Santas - but only the ones I don't have to decorate myself :)

Madeleines (Plain or Santa - You Decide)

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
Printable Recipe

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon anise seed, crushed (optional)

1 recipe Decorator Frosting (see recipe below) or 2 cans vanilla frosting
Red, blue, green, pink, and/or black paste food coloring
Small round candies (optional)

Grease and flour twenty-four 3-inch madeleine molds; set aside. Stir together flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl beat egg and egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Add powdered sugar; beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed about 5 minutes more or until very thick and satiny. Beat in butter with an electric mixer on low speed. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until combined. Stir in orange peel, orange juice, and, if using, anise seed. Carefully spoon batter into the prepared molds, filling each three-fourths full.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 10 minutes or until edges are golden and tops spring back. Cool in molds on rack 1 minute. Loosen cookies with a knife. Invert cookies onto a rack and cool completely.

Divide frosting, leaving about half of it white; color one-third with red and/or pink food coloring and remaining with green, black, and/or blue food coloring.

To decorate, fill a decorating bag fitted with a small star tip with white frosting. Pipe on hat trim at an angle about a third of the way down from narrow end of cookie. Fill decorating bag fitted with a small star tip or plain tip with red or pink frosting; pipe on hat. With white frosting, pipe on mustache, beard, and pom-pom hat. Fill decorating bag fitted with a small round tip with green, black, or blue frosting; pipe on eyes. Using red frosting, pipe on mouth. Pipe on other frosting decorations. (Or, use small round candies for eyes, nose, mouth, and cheeks, attaching them with frosting.) Wrap cookies tightly to store. Makes 24 cookies.

Kringle Cutouts and Snowflake Cookies for A Very White Christmas

 
The first two things that I made to kick off my holiday baking were these pastry cookies called Kringle Cutouts. This recipe won the 2010 Holiday Cookie Contest sponsored by our local newspaper. I practically grew up on the Danish pastry called Kringle in my hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. Quoting from Wikipedia, "Racine claims to be the largest North American settlement of Danes outside of Greenland. The city is particularly known for its Danish pastries, especially kringle. Several local bakeries have been featured on the Food Network."

These pastry-like cookies are a very tasty substitute for Kringle! I filled half with the recommended raspberry jam and the rest I filled with apple pie filling. Both were great and the filling possibilities are as big as your imagination. A drizzle of white icing makes them taste even more authentic.

Another Scandanavian-style recipe I found at Genius Kitchen (click for the link). These beautiful star-shaped cookies can also be turned into tree ornaments by using a plastic drinking straw and cutting out a hole in one of the star tips. You can find the recipes for both holiday treats at the end of this post.

Since the holidays are all about friends and family, I'd like to share two adorable white decorations I have received from thoughtful cyber friends recently.  The first came from my friend, Monique, at La Table de Nana.  We've been cyber friends since 2002!  Monique knows I have been a collector of Annalee Christmas decorations since my daughters were little girls. We both have two daughters, and now we both have grandsons. We became friends sharing our love of gardening and that has continued with our love of cooking...

For our Christmas table I did Christmas Tree napkins (click for link to tutorial).

I used touches of gold and silver mixed into the predominantly white table.  A crystal bowl filled with white and silver ornaments was the centerpiece. A couple of snow birds to cheer the table covered with a white damask table cloth. The gold chargers are from World Market.

As the sun sets, the table takes on a golden hue and we'll feel snug and warm inside as the night light changes the white snow to blue. 

Kringle Cutouts

Adapted from the 2010 Christmas Cookie Contest Winner
(sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Newspaper)

Printable Recipe

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut in chunks
1 cup sour cream
Raspberry jam

Icing (see recipe below)

In medium bowl, combine flour and salt.Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add sour cream, first stirring and then kneading with your hands. Dough will be slightly sticky. Shape dough into a ball, cover and refrigerate 1 hour. Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness, adding more flour, if needed if dough becomes too sticky. Cut out with 2-3 inch round (plain or scalloped-edge) cookie cutter. I used this great gadget from Pampered Chef to both cut them out and seal them.

Place about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon, depending on the size of your circles, of raspberry jam on center of circle. Fold in half and gently pat edges together to form a seam. If a little filling oozes out during baking, that's alright, you'll be able to tell what filling is inside ;)

Bake in preheated oven 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. (Mine took a little longer). Cool completely on racks.

Pipe icing over cooled cookies decoratively using a pastry bag or a zip-lock bag with a corner snipped off.

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

In bowl, combine all ingredients, stirring until smooth.

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Scandanavian Snowflake Cookies
Adapted from food dot com
Printable Recipe

Makes about 30 Snowflake Cookies

2 cups plain flour
1 cup icing sugar
11 tablespoons/150g of chilled butter, cubed
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
Milk, to mix
4 ounces of your favorite white icing
Edible glitter or edible sparkling cake dusting powder

Place flour and the icing sugar in a food processor. Process for 30 seconds. Add butter. Process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and vanilla. Process until dough comes together. If it is too dry, add some milk.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth. Press or roll into a 9"/20cm circle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 180C/360F, and line 2 flat baking/cookie trays with parchment paper or silicone liners. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper until about 1/8-1/4"/5mm thick.

Using snowflake biscuit/cookie cutters, cut shapes out of dough. Place on them gently on to the trays. (It is important to work with very cold dough to get the shapes to release properly.) Press leftover dough together and repeat cutting out shapes, chilling dough again, if it gets too sticky to work with.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, swapping trays after 5 minutes, or until just golden around the edges. Allow to cool on trays completely.

Decorate with white icing and then dust them with edible glitter/edible silver dusting powder while the icing is still wet.

Note: to make holes for hanging on the Christmas Tree: Just before baking, take a plastic drinking straw and press into the top of the snowflake shapes. If the holes have closed up while baking, use the drinking straw again while they are still hot to open the hole.

Seared Sea Scallops with Celery Root Puree, Sauce Verte and Hazelnuts~

My husband is always supportive of my efforts in the kitchen but if he doesn't like something he will usually remain quiet.  When I hear 'this is absolutely fantastic' then I know I've hit a culinary home run!

This was a 'this is absolutely fantastic' comment dinner!  I knew I wanted to make scallops for our dinner and found the recipes in "Stir" by Barbara Lynch, one of my favorite new cookbook purchases. I was torn between the scallops on a bed of celery root puree and the scallops with sauce verte so I made both!  The combination was 'absolutely fantastic'. 

Celery root puree (aka celeriac) is a much healthier alternative to mashed potatoes and has a delicious flavor.  The fresh herb 'sauce verte' is flavored with garlic, anchovy paste and capers to give the dish a bright burst of flavor and the toasted, chopped hazelnuts are a good source of protein and good Omega-3.

I seared the scallops on the stove using the flat side of my cast iron griddle that I also use for searing fish on the grill outdoors.  Dry scallops are important to get a good sear and they can't be crowded or they will steam and not sear.

If you enjoy scallops, I hope you give this 'absolutely fantastic' dish a try!

Seared Sea Scallops with Celery Root Puree, Sauce Verte and Hazelnuts

Inspired by two recipes in Stir by Barbara Lynch
Printable Recipe

Serves 4

Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Small bunch of fresh chives

6 sprigs of fresh parsley, stems removed
4 sprigs of fresh tarragon, stems removed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (sold in a tube in the canned seafood section of your store)
1 tablespoon capers, well rinsed
1 small shallot, chopped

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if necessary
1/2 pound celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1-1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 pound (about 12) sea scallops, drained and dried very well with paper toweling. Removing as much moisture as possible from the scallops is essential for a good 'sear'.

For the sauce:

Fill a small saucepan 3/4 full of water, add some salt and bring to a boil. While the water is heating, fill a medium bowl with ice water. Add the chives, parsley and tarragon to the boiling water and allow to blanch for about 10 seconds. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and place in the ice water to stop the cooking. Remove the herbs from the ice water and gently squeeze out excess moisture. Coarsely chop the herbs and place in a blender or food processor. Add the garlic, anchovy paste, capers, 1 teaspoon of salt, a few grinds of pepper and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Puree until smooth. If too thick, add a little more oil. The sauce verte can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated, covered, and rewarmed before serving.

For the celery root puree:

Place celery root pieces and milk in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook until the celery root is fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer the celery root and milk to the bowl of a food processor. Add the 1-1/2 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper and puree. This can be prepared in the morning. chill covered, and rewarmed in the microwave before serving.

To toast the hazelnuts:

Heat the oven to 350F spread the nuts out on a small baking sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant and lightly browned, about 8 minutes.

For the scallops:

To sear the scallops, heat the remaining olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the scallops in batches, leaving space between them so they sear and don't steam. You could also use a stove-top griddle for this. Allow them to cook, without turning, until very browned and crisp, about 1-2 minutes. Turn them over gently and sear another 1-3 minutes, depending on the size of the scallops.

Place 1/4 of the celery root puree on each of four serving plates. Divide scallops between four plates and season with a little salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the sauce verte over and around each serving. Sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts on and around the scallops and serve.

Whole Wheat CheeseBoy Crackers!

I'm still not baking - at least not cookies and not for my husband and myself. One more week to go of eating healthy! That's doesn't mean I can't make a treat for my grandson, though :)

 

However, these treats are not cookies - they're whole wheat cheese crackers!

 

I made these using the Christmas pastry cutters from Williams Sonoma. They're less than 2" long and just adorable. The crackers are healthy and delicious! I had a hard time keeping my husband from devouring them all.

 

I found this great recipe here after doing a Google search for cheese crackers. Mack loves cheese crackers and these are so much better than Goldfish.

Whole Wheat Cheese Crackers
Adapted from High Five Recipes
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, room temperature
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cold water

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

In a large bowl, beat butter and salt until creamy. Add cheese and mix well. Gradually add flour, baking powder and water, mixing until dough begins to form a ball. Remove the dough from the bowl, divide in half and pat into two balls with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap.

Using one ball of dough at a time, roll the dough into 1/8 inch thickness between two pieces of parchment paper. Cut the rolled out dough in shapes with cutters or simply cut into 1 ½ inch squares. Place on parchment or silicon baking mat lined baking sheets.

Bake 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Rainbow Trout Amandine with Lemon-Butter and Parsley

Keeping my determination to eat light and healthy for the next couple of weeks, I prepared another favorite fish of ours - rainbow trout. We are very fortunate to have locally raised rainbow trout that is the preference of many restaurants in our area and is also sold by the best fish markets. I recently found a new preparation for it that is so delicious that my husband has again declared my preparation better than the trout at our favorite restaurant. Can you see me smiling?

This recipe isn't much different from most trout preparations but there are just a few things that make it really special - the first, being the addition of corn meal to the flour for dusting. There is no egg wash step and the addition of shallots and thyme give it a wonderful taste.

I found this particular recipe in Gordon Hamersley's Bistro Cooking at Home cook book. This is the second recipe I have tried from his book and I've been very happy with both.

I served the trout with oven-roasted asparagus which I lightly coated in olive oil, salt & pepper and roasted in a 400 degree oven for six minutes while I was preparing the fish. 

The original recipe did not call for almonds but it's such a wonderful, traditional combination with trout that I incorporated them into my preparation. However, if you can't eat nuts or dislike them, feel free with leave them out. It will still be delicious.

The fish is crispy on the outside and light and flaky on the inside.  The lemon, butter and parsley add just the right sparkle of flavor to the dish. I don't eat the skin but my husband loves it!

Shop my favorite fish spatula HERE! (Affiliate Link)

Shop my favorite frying pans for fish HERE! (Affiliate Link)

Rainbow Trout Amandine with Lemon-Butter and Parsley

Inspired by ‘Bistro Cooking’ by Gordon Hamersley
Printable Recipe

Serves 2-4 depending on the size of the trout and your appetite for fish! My husband can eat 2 whole trout easily.

4 whole rainbow trout (I have the whole fish cut into fillets when I purchase them but it's easy enough to do on your own), rinsed under cold water
1 tablespoon shallot, very finely diced (Tip: I keep a jar of Penzey’s Freeze Dried Shallots in my pantry)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped (or ¼-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme - crushed)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cornmeal
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons slivered or sliced almonds

Use your two largest sauté pans (12" or larger) in order to prepare all the fillets at the same time. You should be able to fit 4 fillets in each pan if you're making this entire recipe.

In a dish large enough to fit the trout, mix the flour and cornmeal, season with a dash of salt and pepper and add the finely minced shallots and thyme. Stir to combine. Press the trout fillets into flour mixture and pat onto both sides to adhere as much as possible. (This step can be done several hours ahead. Place the seasoned and floured fillets on a large plate in one layer. Use a piece of waxed paper or parchment and add the second layer of floured fillets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to prepare.)

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1-1/2 tablespoons of butter in each large pan over medium-high heat. When the butter stops bubbling, place half of the fillets in each pan, skin side down. Sauté for about 3 minutes, watching carefully so that they don’t burn but they should be nicely browned. Turn the fillets over and cook them for about 3 minutes more. Transfer the fish to a warm platter while making the sauce.

Wipe out one of the pans with a paper towel and place it over medium heat. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and cook over high heat until it stops bubbling and turns a nutty brown. Add the sliced or slivered almonds and stir until just barely toasted. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the pan to cool for a few seconds. Add the lemon juice, parsley and a little salt and pepper and shake the pan to combine. Pour over the trout fillets and serve immediately.

Be prepared for compliments:-)