Apple Crumb Pie, Too

Autumn has arrived, and its time for more apple pie. In my home we love apple crumb pie. This recipe is as simple as they come. My Aunt came to visit from Hawaii. They live on the prettiest island Kauai. Her son and my youngest cousin who is in the army is going to Afghanistan soon. She stopped by to see us and her family in her travels.
For lunch my Mother served us a Pumpkin Curry soup and a Tortellini salad, and tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and a balsamic vinaigrette. My Grandma who is in a nursing home came to visit, and after we went back to the nursing home and saw a show and talked. We finished the evening with pizza from Fiore's in Old Saybrook. It was such a big day!

APPLE CRUMB PIE

1 9" unbaked pastry shell (If frozen allow to thaw)

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

7-9 green cooking apples, peeled , cored and sliced (I used Granny Smith)

½ cup of butter plus 4 teaspoons 

½ cup of Sugar (or ¼ cup for sweeter apples are used)

 Melt butter in pan under a low heat.  Each of the prepared apples should have been cut into about 8-9 pieces. Add apples to butter and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, covered.  Stir apples and butter mixture every few minutes till they start to look a little cooked and there is some apple juice in the bottom of the pan. 

Uncover and add sugar and cinnamon. Coat apples by stirring, and leave uncovered allowing a syrup to form as the juice evaporates.  Keep stirring apples till the syrup forms. Place partially cooked apples and syrup into a unbaked pastry shell and set aside, then prepare topping.

Topping

6 tablespoons butter (butter should be cold not at

¾ cup flour

room temperature)

⅓ cup sugar

Cut butter into ½" pieces and drop on top of flour, using a pastry blender (or 2 forks).  Blend flour and butter mixture until it is crumbly.  Add the sugar and keep blending till crumbs are formed. 

Place topping over partially cooked apples in 9" pie crust working to spread evenly. Bake at 375°F for 50-60 minutes depending on your oven, top should be a little brown and juices should be bubbling. 

Place your pie on a baking sheet or a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any juices if the pie may boil over.

Cool before cutting serve plain, with cheddar cheese or ice cream.

So that was lunch and dessert.

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Baked Yogurt Chicken

As you can see from many of my recipes I eat chicken like it were here, there and everywhere. Sometimes the recipes I choose to make have to do with what I have leftover in the pantry. Other times I love to explore the vast wasteland of gourmet ingredients I have yet to try. After all, food is an exploration in new flavors to tempt and tantalize your taste buds.

The chicken recipe can be found on page 139 that I made in today's blog which came from Best Recipes by Ceil Dyer. This recipe more than likely came from Dannon.

Baked Yogurt Chicken
Serves about 4
1 cut up chicken, 2-1/2 to 3 lbs or more
salt and pepper
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons paprika
2 cups Dannon Plain Yogurt (although I used Lit and Fit) Vanilla Flavor instead
1/3 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or parsley
Wash chicken pieces and pat dry. Salt and pepper. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large pan and brown chicken on a medium high heat. While browning chicken butter a shallow baking dish. As chicken is browned take and place in buttered baking dish. Once all the chicken has been removed add flour and paprika to pan with grease. Mix well, do not leave pan on stove, take on and off frequently while mixing. Add yogurt and mix well on stove on a medium heat. Preheat oven to 325 F. Spoon sauce on chicken in buttered pan. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and add mushrooms and lemon juice. Cook for about a minute or so, then take and spoon over chicken and sauce. Cover baking dish and place in oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is tender.

The chicken is tender and juicy, and slightly sweet due to the flavor of the vanilla.

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Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

Thanksgiving, a time to get together with family to eat turkey and roasted asparagus with hollandaise sauce.  This year I contributed a vegetable to my family thanksgiving. I choose to follow in the footsteps of the Barefoot Contessa with her recipe. It was quite easy and definitely flavorful.

This recipe is from the

English: The logo of Food Network. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise
Copyright 2010, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
2 pounds fresh asparagus
Good olive oil

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)

Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp.

Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.

The Hollandaise and the Asparagus are easy to cook. This is a vegetable that is easy to put together and is an elegant addition, and worth serving for Thanksgiving.

Roast Chicken by Julia Child

I have to admit, I have made many a roast chicken. I have made so many chickens you can say for me they have become multicultural. I have not made any recipes by Julia Child, so you could say, this is the first. For me, I would say this is fitting.

Here is everyone's favorite cook. She didn't even need to graduate from cooking school to achieve her dreams. Here is her recipe which I found in Food and Wine Magazine.

JULIA CHILD'SFAVORITE ROAST CHICKEN                    Serving Size  : 4

Recipe By : Food and Wine Magazine

2½ tablespoons Unsalted butter	Salt & freshly ground pepper
⅓ cup Each finely diced carrots, onion	Parsley stems & celery leaves
and celery	6 ⅛-inch thick lemon slices
1 teaspoon Thyme, savory or mixed herbs	½ cup Each sliced onion & carrot
OR 2 fresh thyme sprigs	1 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
4 pounds Fresh chicken	¾ cup Chicken stock or broth

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet.  Add the diced carrots, onion and celery and cook over moderate heat until softened about 5 minutes. Stir in the herbs.

Wash the chicken rapidly inside and out with hot water and pat thoroughly dry.  For easier carving, cut out and discard the wishbone. Pull the neck skin up over the breast and secure it to the back with a toothpick. Salt and pepper the cavity and spoon in the cooked vegetables, a handful of parsley stems and celery leaves and the lemon slices. Massage the chicken all over with 1 tablespoon of the butter then truss it. (Alternatively, tie the ends of the drumsticks together and tuck the wings under the body)

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Choose a flameproof roasting pan that is 1 inch larger than the chicken.  Salt the bird all over and set it breast up on a rack in the pan.

Roast the chicken in the oven for about 1½ hours, as follows:

AT 15 MINUTES:  Quickly brush the bird with the remaining ½ tablespoon of butter.  Scatter the sliced vegetables around the bird. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

AT 30 MINUTES:  Baste the chicken with the pan drippings.

AT 45 MINUTES:  Brush the lemon juice over the chicken, Add ½ cup of water to the pan to prevent the vegetables from burning.

AT 60 MINUTES:  Baste with the pan drippings.  Begin testing chicken for doneness: the drumsticks should move fairly easily in their sockets and their flesh should feel somewhat soft. If not, continue roasting, basting and testing every 7-8 minutes.

Spear the chicken through the shoulders and lift it up to drain; if the last of the juices run clear yellow, the chicken is done. Set it on a carving board and discard string. Let rest for 15 minutes.

Spoon all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the juices in pan. Add the stock and boil rapidly until reduced and lightly syrupy. Strain the juices -- you will have just enough to bathe each serving with a fragrant spoonful.

Reprinted from Food and Wine Magazine - January 1997.

Here is the juices for the chicken, all prepared. 

In the favor of Julia Child, all this chicken had was flavor and was very moist. It was quite enjoyable. 

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Crispy Chicken from the Longhouse at Mohegan Sun

This meal took some time to prepare. There was a couple of hours of pre-preparation plus I let the chicken sit overnight before cooking. If you are expecting guests this is the meal to make. This meal has lots of flavor,. It has Julia Child's one ingredient no meal should be without ingredient - butter.  And if you have chicken eaters who won't touch the dark meat - this is an ideal dish.
Here is a picture of the restaurant at Mohegan Sun where this meal would have been served.

I have eaten at a number of restaurants at the Mohegan Sun, including this one -  but this restaurant is no longer at Mohegan Sun.

This meal comes from Under the Mohegan Sun Cookbook which I purchased while at the casino in Connecticut..
Here is the recipe.

What is really tasty is what is inside the chicken.

The buttery sauce lent so much flavor to the meal. You should make sure you have some of the butter you prepared for the meal set aside to serve on other side dishes you have prepared.  The meal is worth the work.

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Chicken Veronique

How is this for the main course of the meal - chicken with grapes with a wine butter sauce.

This recipe came from Chicken Breasts by Diane Rozas. I have had this book for a while and cooked quite a number of recipes from this including Chicken Paprika.
Here is the recipe.

Here is the chicken in the pan, ready to be served. The grapes are heated a minute before serving so they had a very fresh flavor. I cut the chicken breasts in half. I actually only bought a little bit over a pound of chicken breasts.

This meal is really appetizing and if you are worried about not having a dinner that included grapes as part of the main course - don't be. I have a fussy eater in my household who at first turned up their nose at grapes. Then they tried it and said it was quite tasty.

I leave you with this quote:

Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.
Julia Child

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