Guilt Free Flan

Flan is custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top (as opposed to the French Creme Brulee, which has a hard caramel top).  It originated in Spain.

I love Flan.  But my biggest issue with Flan is that it is traditionally made with heavy cream.  And unless you're a gym rat (which I am not) who needs a whole bunch of extra fat calories, you probably avoid Flan (or wish you had after you ate it).

Because I love Flan so much but don't want to spend all of my free time in the gym, I set out to make a Flan that was both tasty AND not horrible for your diet.  I think this version is a keeper...

Ingredients:
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. fat free half and half
4 eggs, beaten
1 t. real vanilla
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. ground cayenne pepper (no, that's not a typo)
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Place 4 custard cups (or use large muffin tins) in a larger pan.  Fill the larger pan with water so that the water level covers half of the custard tin.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat and stir granulated sugar over medium heat until sugar melts and then carmelizes.  Immediately and quickly pour the carmelized sugar into the bottom of the 4 tins.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat half and half over medium heat, just until boiling point.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat eggs.  Add vanilla, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and cinnamon, and honey.  While mixing, gradually pour warmed half and half into egg mixture.  Blend until smoothe.  Pour mixture over the custard tins.  Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until center sets.  Take out of oven and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.  Then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

When ready to serve, run a flat knife along edges of custard, turn over onto a saucer, and allow caramel to drizzle over the top of the custard.  Serve immediately.

Lobster Mac 'n Cheese

I know I claim to make mostly healthy dishes.  Be forewarned, this is NOT one of them! 

Years ago, dear husband and I took a trip to San Diego, where we went to eat at a romantic restaurant on a pier over the harbor.  I don't normally eat pasta, much less macaroni and cheese.  But dear husband and I had done quite a bit of walking that day, so I felt it was okay to splurge, especially considering that this was the house specialty.

I've tried many, many versions of Lobster Mac 'n Cheese since then. I recommend that you try the recipe this way the first time.  Then the NEXT time you make it (because there WILL be a next time), try it with different cheeses, or without prosciutto, or maybe with bacon.  The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:
2 lobster tails, pre-steamed (unless you enjoy murdering lobsters, yourself)
1/2 lb. Cavatappi pasta (or you can use Rigatoni or Large Elbow macaroni)
1 c. fat free half n half
2 T. corn starch
1 t. butter
1 stick light cream cheese
1 c. white cheddar
1 c. sharp cheddar
1/2 c. parmesan
1 T. dijon mustard
kosher salt to taste
1 slice of prosciutto ham, minced fine
1 raw egg, beaten

Topping:
1 c. Italian bread crumbs
1/4 c. parmesan
1/4 c. butter, melted

In a large stock pot, add macaroni to salted boiling water.  Cook to al dente stage.  Drain and rinse with cool water, then return macaroni to the pot and set aside.

 

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 t. butter.  Whisk in corn starch until well blended.  Add prosciutto and continue stirring for about a minute.  Gradually whisk in half n half.  Add kosher salt to taste.  Stir until sauce thickens (6-8 minutes).  Turn heat to low and add cream cheese and mustard.  Stir until melted.  Turn off heat and then add additional cheddar cheeses.  Stir until well blended.  Set aside.  Stir beaten egg into the cooled macaroni mixture.  Then pour cheese mixture in and stir until well coated.   

Butter the bottom of a casserole dish and then spread macaroni mixture across evenly.  Cut cooked lobster vertically into fourths and lay on top of macaroni mixture, pressing the lobster gently down into the macaroni mixture.   Preheat oven to 400.  Prepare the crumb mixture by combining 1/4 c. melted butter, 1/4 c. parmesan, and 1 c. bread crumbs.  Sprinkle over the top of the dish.  Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until crumb topping is browned.

MMMMMustard Greens!

I've sat with many a foodie and debated the strengths and weakness of many types of greens.  Some people love sports.  Some knit.  Everyone has their own version of porn.  Mine happens to be food.  In particular, the cooking of it.

I'm not a huge fan of collard greens.  They're the most bitter of greens.  But some people like that bitter taste.  I'm also amazed at how the cooking time of baby spinach is about four minutes, while the cooking time of the greens more Southern in origin take hours to slow cook. 

To demonstrate the depth of my Southern cooking roots, my Granny (rest in peace) used to take me into the pastures and show me how to pick Poke.  Poke is a really tough but edible green that grows wild.  You boil it forever, drain it and then scramble it up with some eggs. 

I've decided that Mustard Greens are my favorite.  They're not as bitter as collards and they have a little more spine than spinach.  Their flavor lands somewhere in between.

Mustard Greens need to cook for a long time to get tender.  Take a head of Mustard Greens and rinse them really well under cold water.  Trim the leaves, discarding the thick part of the spine, and cutting into palm-sized squares.

Dice one medium yellow Onion. 

In a large crock pot, add 1/2 c. chopped Prosciutto Ham, chopped onion, mustard greens, and two cups of chicken stock, and add Kosher salt to taste.  Cook on low setting, stirring occasionally, for three to four hours.

I served mine with broiled catifsh and jalapeno corn pones.  This would go good with a spicy red like a Malbec.  Or if you like something sweeter, perhaps a Chianti.

Dates Wrapped in Bacon

I can't believe it took me 46 years to eat one of these.

While in Germany, we stumbled (literally) into a Spanish Tapas restaurant.  Which should never be confused with a "Topless" restaurant.  Loosely translated, "Tapas" means "Appetizers" in English.  And because of the language barrier, we pointed at a list of appetizers on the menu and the jovial purveyor brought us several platters with many bite-sized delicacies on it.  We had olives, spicy chicken, baked potatoes, roasted squash vegetables, link sausages, and dates wrapped in bacon.  All of this was served with sweet yeast rolls and homemade chimichurri-type sauce.

The food was all wonderful but I was especially surprised by how tasty and simple the dates wrapped in bacon were.  I didn't even have to look up a recipe for it.  However, a friend of mind suggested stuffing an almond inside the date, so I stuffed a skinless, salted almond into each date before wrapping it in 1/2 slice of bacon.  I sealed the end of the bacon with a drop of local honey and then I drizzled some more honey over the top of the bacon wrapped date before broiling it on both sides.

No dipping sauce required.  I have no idea what the house red wine was at this tapas restaurant.  But at home, I drink Kaiken Malbec with Tapas.

Cold Avocado Soup

We receive a quarterly newsletter from our HOA, which keeps us apprised of all the grand plans the HOA has in store for our little subdivision.  I usually throw this away because honestly, I never see these improvements happening, and reading about it makes me feel like I'm being lied to.  And stolen from.  I digress.

My dear husband reads every piece of mail that enters our mail box.  And while he was reading the HOA quarterly newsletter, he came across a recipe for Cold Avocado Soup.  After some debate over whether cold avocado soup is really just runny guacamole, I decided to make it and find out.

And then in what I can only conclude was subconscious passive aggression on my part, I lost the newsletter and the cold avocado soup recipe it contained.  So I had to scour the Internet.  And I was surprised to learn that cold avocado soup is, apparently, only a new thing to me.  Lots of restaurants make it, as do a lot of the celebrity chefs.  I combined attributes that I liked (and left off ones I didn't, like heavy cream) from several different recipes, to create this soup:


Ingredients:
3 large, ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and cubed
1.5 cups chicken stock
3 green onions, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 T. fresh lime juice
4 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
1 T. kosher salt
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground cayenne
1 c. fat free half-n-half
4 T. olive oil

Heat 2 T. olive oil in a deep saucepan on medium. Add jalapeno and green onions and sautee, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes.  Add minced garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Season with cumin and cayenne, stirring until fragrant.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a food processor or blender, add the sauteed onion/jalapeno mixture, fat free half-n-half, 2 T. cilantro, chicken stock and 1 T. of the lime juice.  Puree until an even consistency is achieved.  Return to saucepan, along with salt, and heat on low, for approximately 10 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, place avocados in a bowl and mash with a fork until smoothe.

Remove soup mixture from heat.  Gently whisk in the avocados until well blended.  Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

In a food processor or blender, combine remaining 2 T. olive oil, remaining 2 T. fresh cilantro, and remaining 1 T. of lime juice.  Puree until a smoothe paste forms.  Pour paste into a bottle with a nozzle or pour spout (I use a bottle intended for hot dog condiments).  Refrigerate until ready to use.

When ready to serve, give the avocado soup a few stirs before ladling into bowls.  Drizzle top with cilantro paste and serve immediately. Garnish with corn chips.


I served this with chilled red sangria, using frozen green grapes as ice cubes.  It was surprisingly good, especially now, when the temperatures are 100+ degrees, rendering chili undesirable.  And to answer the original question -- Cold Avocado Soup does NOT taste like runny guacamole.

I guess my HOA is good for something, after all (not really).

Pork and Sweet Potatoes in a Crock Pot

I belong to a cooking forum with a group of women who are really awesome cooks.  My friend Kathy had the brilliant idea of combining pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, apples and onions in a crock pot.  So I had to try it.

When I made this, I didn't have the time it would take to cook a pork tenderloin, so I bought 3 thick cut, boneless pork chops, and I cut them into cubes.  I also bought a large sweet potato, a Grapple apple (my grocer sells these amazing apples that have some grape notes, however, you can use any kind of apple you like or have in your fruit basket at home), and a large Vidalia onion (use a yellow onion if Vidalias are not in stock).

After cutting the pork chops into cubes, I added kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and lots of (Indian) curry powder.  In a skillet over medium heat, I added a little (2-3 Tablespoons) olive oil, and browned the pork on all sides before chucking it into the crock pot.  Then I added the (thinly) sliced apples, sweet potatoes (sliced 1/2-in chick and then quartered) and chopped onion.  I happened to have some fresh thyme in my crisper so I pinched off the leaves of about 4 stalks into the pot.  Then I poured about half a box of chicken stock over the mixture, put the lid on and turned the crock pot on high.  Slow cooked for approximately 3 hours.

This was so yummy!  And this says a lot coming from me, because I normally have an aversion to combining fruit with savory dishes.  But the apples, after soaking in the salted, curried broth, mimicked the texture of a root vegetable, rather than an apple.  And the sweetness really balanced out the curry powder. 

I added another dash of curry powder right before serving.  I think a little dollop of plain Greek yogurt would be good with it, too. 

My dear husband thinks it would be good with a chopped pepper coulis.  But he likes his food really spicy.

I drank a glass of 14 Hands Hot to Trot with this.

Goat Cheesecake

Years ago I had a group of 15 girlfriends over to Chateau McCoy for an estrogen-filled weekend.  My dear husband is such a trooper.  Without going into a lot of detail, some of the highlights included firecrackers (in February), lots of imbibing, and panties being burned in the fire pit, followed by a warning from the HOA.  It's not a good time until the HOA gets involved.

But one of the better, neighbor-friendly highlights of the weekend was the Goat Cheesecake.  I took my old cream cheese cheesecake recipe and modified it to use goat cheese instead.  I also stirred in some fig preserves, and made a crust of Ritz crackers.  It was a huge hit.



Ingredients:
30 Ritz crackers
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1 stick butter (melted)
18 oz. goat cheese (chevre style - not seasoned)
1 can (14 oz.) fat free condensed milk
3 eggs
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. fig preserves
2 T. sliced almonds (for topping)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cracker crumbs, slivered almonds and butter in a food processor and pulse until dough forms.  Press into the bottom of a springform pan.  Place pan in the refrigerator.

In a mixer bowl, beat goat cheese until fluffy.  Gradually beat in condensed milk until smoothe.  Add eggs and cornstarch; mix well.  Pour into springform pan (over cumb crust).  Drop small spoonfuls of the fig preserves into the cheesecake.  Sprinkle sliced almonds on top.

Bake 50 minutes or until center is set.  Cool; chill.  (I love saying "Cool" and "Chill", together).  This is great served with a glass of Pinot Noir.