We don’t often get snow in Alabama, so it is an epic event when we eventually get some. Everyone is outside, making snowmen and forts, sledding on sheet pans and cardboard, having snowball fights, and of course making snow cream. But rather than make the tradition snow cream, I made snow cream with a southern twist: sweet tea! I used Peaches and Cream Tea from the amazing Piper & Leaf and it was delicious. You can purchase it at the link above and I highly recommend that you do!The only snag I ran into was placing a bowl outside to catch clean snow and then forgetting about it. At first I thought someone had stolen my bowl, but then I realized I just had to dig it out from the snow. At least I had plenty to work with!
My bowl 5 minutes after putting it out vs my bowl 2 hours after putting it out.
To make the Sweet Tea Snow Cream I just added cold tea, heavy cream, and raw sugar to fresh snow. It was so tasted I made a second batch as soon as I ate the first one. Also check out my post for traditional Snow Cream. Includes photos of gnomes!
Several months ago I met Roberta Adams at a farmer’s market. She was amazingly nice and invited me to come to her home and learn how to make authentic Italian pasta.
Roberta is on the far left. This is the day I met her.
I jumped at the opportunity and said yes right away. It was pretty awesome, though I think I gain 10 pounds after my visit! I also learned the art of pasta making and was surprised that it isn’t has hard as I thought it would be.I did a post for the blog about pasta making for Huntsville Eats several months ago, but I wanted to share. Make sure you check out the extended post on Huntsville Eats: Here.
Here is the video I did for them. It is a first attempt so it is VERY rough and I made tons of mistakes, but I learned a lot!
Left: King Cake Right: I didn’t have 3 kings so I had to make do with 2 queens (I guess the statue of liberty is a queen) and a llama.
Happy Epiphany! To celebrate the three kings locating baby Jesus (pre-GPS, a feat indeed) with their gifts of gold (score!), frankincense (aromatic resin.. lame) and myrrh (more resin… gee thanks) we eat cakes with a hidden choking hazards.
I wanted to photograph my galette with the three wise men, but I didn’t have three king figures, so I had to make do with 2 queens (and that is a loose interpretation of ‘queen’, since I don’t think the Statue of Liberty is technically a queen) and a llama.
In the states we eat sugar and dye covered King Cakes with a hidden plastic baby. I’m not the biggest fan of the American version, but it is tradition. In France they make Galette des Rois, an almond infused cake with a hidden porcelain figurine that many people collect.
I made the french version, complete with a porcelain fève, which literally translates to a fava bean.
The ingredients of the filling of the king cake!
Galette des Rois
Frozen Puff Pastry
Filling:
1 1/4 cups of almond flour
1/3 cups of sugar
pinch of salt
8 table spoons of butter (unsalted)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add 8 tablespoons of cut up butter and mix. Add two eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. Put in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Take chilled puff pastry and cut into a circle. I wasn’t very precise, but I had a pasta bowl and used that as my template. Next add the almond filling to the crust and don’t forget to add your hidden baby jesus. Side note: Don’t forget to not choke on baby Jesus. That would be a tragic celebration of his birth. Pinch the crust together to create a seal and coat the top of the crust with egg whites. Sprinkle sliced almonds on the top. Bake at 400 degrees for 28 to 30 minutes.
The mail carrier came to the door right when I was about to take my galette out and he’s a talker. I got distracted chatting about the weather so my cake is a bit overcooked.
Though I have been completely remiss in posting for the ENTIRE month of December (I’m so ashamed), I did one to get one last post in before we all bid a fond (or not so fond for some of us) farewell to 2014.
Last month I had the great pleasure of photographing Margaret Baggett, chef and creator the catering company The Chef Next Door. She also is the creator of the restaurant and speciality shop The Marketplace Cafe.
She baked and cooked many beautiful (and delicious) dishes, but my favorite was the Apple Pie Crostatas. As tasty as they were stunning. Below is Margaret’s recipe.
Easy Apple Pie Crostatas
recipe and food styling by Margret Baggett
Pillsbury rolled Pie Dough Sheets (NOT a pie shell)
Gala/Fuji/Honeycrisp Apples, unpeeled
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Allspice
Unsalted Butter
Milk
On a clean work surface, roll out the pie dough.
Using a small prep bowl, about 6” diameter, trace around the bowl with a knife to make a perfect circle with the dough. Place the rounds on a baking sheet
(You should get 2 circles from each sheet of pie dough. If you don’t like waste, you can remold the excess pie dough, roll it out, and repeat the tracing procedure to get a third circle.)
Slice the apples thinly.
(If you do not plan to assemble and bake the dish immediately, place the sliced apples in water with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent browning.)
Place 10-12 slices of apple in the center of each pie dough round.
Sprinkle the apples liberally with brown sugar, then a dash of Cinnamon and Allspice.
Crimp the edges of the pie dough in pleats around the pile of sugared apples, almost enclosing the entire pile but leaving the top open.
Place a small dot of butter over the exposed apples, then brush the pastry lightly with milk with a pastry brush or using your finger.
Bake the crostatas at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and the apples and brown sugar are caramelized and bubbly.
In southern states we are ill-equipped to deal with frigid weather, so people are pretty miserable. Not Buffalo, New York, 7 feet of snow miserable, but still cold enough to complain loudly about it to whomever will listen. To help us all get through what promises to be a chilly winter here is a recipe for a delicious and more importantly warm sandwich: the Porter Braised Brisket Sandwich. It is made with craft beer, so you can sip on the leftovers and get toasty.
Singin’ River Brewing Company
This recipe was created by the super-talented Lily Plauché. The recipe was originally posted in a craft beer article in NoAla magazine.
Singin’ River Brewing Company
The recipe features beer from Florence, Alabama brewery: Singin River Brewing. The brewery was super fun, with excellent beer and super stylish decor. It is an hour and a half drive for me, but well worth the trip.
Porter Braised Brisket Sandwiches
Recipe by Lily Plauché
Serves: 8
The main purpose of the beer in this recipe is to tenderize the meat while providing another layer of flavor. Use the meat for these sandwiches, in quesadillas, or serve as a stew over potatoes or rice.
4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed, cut into 3-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 cup Singin’ River Porter
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
8 sandwich buns
Slaw
1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Sprinkle brisket with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large ovenproof Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add half of brisket, browning on all sides. Remove brisket and set aside. Brown remaining half of brisket in Dutch oven; remove and set aside.
2. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot; cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add beer, stirring to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in tomato paste and broth. Return brisket to the pot, nestling it nicely into the liquid. Cover and bake until brisket is very tender and can easily be shredded with a fork, about 3 hours.
3. Shred brisket with 2 forks; serve the meat on buns topped with slaw.
This recipe has a porter brownie AND porter ice cream. It is delicious!!!
Several months ago, I wrote and photograph a story about the craft beer industry in Huntsville for Huntsville No’Ala Magazine. My favorite recipe (created by the uber-talented Lily Plauché) is this one: The Porter Brownie Sundae with Porter Ice Cream. Amazing!
Also amazing is the Brew Stooges Brewery itself. The brewers are super fun, super nice and the beer is delicious. If you live in the North Alabama area you definitely need to pay a visit to their tap-room, which is opened 5:00 pm until 9:00 pm, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays unless otherwise posted.
Knucklehead Brownie Sundaes
Recipes by Lily Plauché
Serves: 8 (you will have brownies left over, which isn’t usually a problem)
For the brownies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Brew Stooges Knucklehead Porter beer
½ cup chopped pecans
Heat oven to 350◦F.Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a medium pot, melt butter and 12 ounces chocolate over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Let cool slightly.
Whisk sugar and eggs into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in beer. Stir in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in remaining 6 ounces chopped chocolate and pecans. Pour batter into a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool on a wire rack.
Porter Ice Cream
¾ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups whipping cream
6 large egg yolks
1 ½ cups Brew Stooges Knucklehead Porter beer
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a medium pot, whisk together sugar, salt, and cream. Heat over medium heat just until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk 1 cup hot cream into egg yolks. Whisk egg mixture back into pot with remaining cream. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until mixture thickens slightly and reaches 160◦F (do not boil). Pour mixture through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl; whisk in porter and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours. Pour chilled custard into bowl of an ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon ice cream into a container and freeze 4 hours or until firm.
Who is excited for premier of the 5th season of Walking Dead?
Tomorrow (October 12th) is the premier of the 5th season of Walking Dead on AMC and to commemorate it, this week’s post is a recipe for a cocktail to drink while watching what I’m sure will be a very violent and stressful first episode of the season. It is VERY strong so it will help calm your nerves.The Carl cocktail is a play on “The Zombie” cocktail, which I had the great pleasure of ‘testing’ yesterday. The drink was created in the 1930s, so I was surprised that it would be called “The Zombie”, as I didn’t think zombies were all the rage 80 years ago, but after seeing how much rum and brandy went into this drink the name made so much sense.
Since season 4 of the Walking Dead was the first season that I wasn’t actively rooting for Carl to be zombified I figured I’d name the cocktail after him.
The recipe was created by the always talented chef and food stylist Victoria Cox. Enjoy the recipe, but be warned this is a strong cocktail, so don’t drink it too early in the episode or you’re likely to forget what is going on. The traditional Zombie Cocktail is also called the Skull Crusher if that gives you any idea what you are in for.
The Carl Cocktail Aka The Zombie Apocalypse
by Victoria Cox
2 oz light rum
1 oz dark rum
½ oz brandy
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz blood orange juice (they sell this bottled in produce/refrigerated juice section at publix)
1 oz lemon juice
Optional garnishes: Maraschino cherry, lemon slices, pineapple slices, mint sprig
Combine first 6 ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice; cover and shake 15 seconds. Pour into an ice-filled glass. Garnish as desired.
*Optional pyrotechnics:
½ oz high proof rum (150 or higher)
Hollowed out lemon peel
*this is cool and would be cool with your brain ice cube. Cut a lemon in quarters. Hollow out one quarter (scrape out flesh) to create a “boat.” Float on top of drink. Pour ½ oz (or small amount) of high proof rum into lemon boat. With a long handled match or lighter- be careful- ignite the rum in the lemon boat atop your cocktail.
WARNING: Do I really need to do a warning about playing with fire and alcohol? Don’t be a moron when you are combining fire and flammable substances. I had a fire extinguisher handy during this shoot, just in case things went terribly wrong. Also notice that the glass is cracked in the photographs, that was not intended. It took quite a while to get my shot right so the flame was lit far too long (15 minutes) and it cracked the glass. Don’t let your glass get too hot.
Also: AMC-I borrowed some of your photos from your website, which as a photographer I never do, but it seemed fitting with the premier and all, but I can remove anything if that is a problem.
The only snag I ran into was placing a bowl outside to catch clean snow and then forgetting about it. At first I thought someone had stolen my bowl, but then I realized I just had to dig it out from the snow. At least I had plenty to work with!
Also check out my post for traditional Snow Cream. Includes photos of gnomes!
