Pumpkin French Toast, Green Apples & Red Wine Syrup

Pumpkin French Toast, Green apples & Red Wine Syrup
served with bacon
(serves 2-4)

For the French Toast:
4-6 1/2 inch slices of baguette
1 cup pumpkin puree from can or fresh roasted and mashed
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Whisk all of these ingredients together in a bowl and then pour into a flat dish, so that the bread can be dunked.
Heat a griddle or pan to medium heat.  Add melted butter an allow to melt.  Soak the sliced baguette in the pumpkin, egg and cream mixture for a minute or 2.  Place in the pan carefully.  Allow the bread to be golden brown on one side before flipping over.  Serve with bacon and the red wine syrup and green apples.

For the green apples:
2 tart apples, peeled and sliced, cored
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
Place all ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce is syrup like in consistency.  Top the French toast with a  few tablespoons of the apples.

For the red wine syrup:
2 cups red wine
2 cups pancake syrup
Heat in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Allow to boil until the bubbles are larger than the beginning boil.   The sauce should boil until it is half of the volume; there should be 2 cups of syrup.

Chef Gregg's Roasted Turkey and Gravy

As most of you know, my husband is also a chef and our life is food!  Gregg works with our children's school garden and teaches the kids to know where food comes from and what to do with it.  Today him and other parents and kids are bundling herbs for this recipe to be sold after school.  The money that is made goes back into the garden!   Gregg aka Chef Gregg makes the "mostest bestest evah" Brined Roasted Turkey and Gravy made from all the roasting liquids and vegetables... Plan on purchasing your turkey this weekend so that way there is enough time for you to brine the turkey and dry the turkey before roasting.  Feel free to add any other seasonings, this is a very simple approach.  Happy Thanksgiving Week! Chef Gregg’s Turkey and Gravy Prepare 2 days before cooking the turkey For the turkey brine: Fresh or thawed 14-16 pound young turkey, rinse, remove the package, and contents in the inside the bird if any. Frozen turkeys take 2-3 days to thaw in refrigeration 1 1/2 pounds kosher salt ½ pound light brown sugar 2 cinnamon sticks ½ teaspoon peppercorns, two or three bay leaf 4 star anise 2 orange halved and squeezed 2 lemons halved and squeezed 2 sprigs of rosemary A couple branches of thyme 6 leaves sage 2 pounds ice 1 gallon of water 1 gallon of ice water Equipment needed: Heavy bottom stock/soup pot 5 gallon bucket, these are sold at home depot, wash, rinse and dry Sheet pan or roasting pan blender In a large heavy bottom stock pot, add all ingredients, except the turkey.   Heat until salt and sugar and dissolved, pull of off heat and add the ice water to help cool the brine mixture. Once the brine mixture is cooled fully submerge the turkey in a 5 gallon bucket and place in a refrigerator of if you live where it is less than 40 degrees it can be left covered in a garage.   Let the magic happen for at least 24 hours. Take out of the brine, pat dry and place on a sheet tray or the roasting pan for another 24 hours uncovered in 40 degree refrigeration. For the turkey: 2 onions peeled- chopped 3 carrots peeled-chopped 6 ribs of celery chopped 10 cloves garlic whole 6 sage leaves Herbs such as 10 twigs of thyme 2 twigs of rosemary ¼ cup of olive oil or melted butter 1 tablespoon kosher salt In a roasting pan or sheet pan place cut up the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan. You want a good amount directly under the turkey so they protect the bird from burning on the bottom. Drizzle with the olive oil or use butter or both.  Sprinkle with the kosher salt.  Cook the turkey for 2 1/2 to 3 hours@350 degrees. Finish at 500 degrees crisping the skin and getting desired crispiness, basically if you want a nice color and crispy skin heat the oven and keep an eye on the bird until it is golden brown. The Internal temperature should reach 160 degrees. For the Gravy: Lift turkey onto a cutting board and cover with tin foil and allow the turkey to rest for 15-20 minutes.  This will give you time to make the gravy.  Take the vegetables and drippings from the pan and blend them together until smooth, you may have to remove herb stems before blending. You should not need to thicken with  corn starch or flour, the roasted vegetables will act as the thickening agent.

Celery Root Gratin

Celery Root Gratin

umm. y u m. 

whole celery root, cut off ends then sides, slice thin

Baking dish should be full and topped with the Gruyere

raw, sliced celery root, thin

2 cups heavy cream
2 whole eggs
(whisk the cream and eggs together first)
1 teaspoon salt
4 medium size celery root, cut off both ends and then the sides.  Slice on a slicer or very thin if sliced by hand.
4 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese, good quality
cracked black pepper or chili flakes
Baking dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add half of sliced celery root in baking dish and then pour over half of the cream and egg mixture.  Sprinkle with salt and then top with half of the Gruyere.  Add the rest of the celery root, smash down a bit.  Add the remaining cream and egg mixture and then sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper or chili flakes.  Top with the rest of the cheese.  Cover with plastic wrap and then tin foil.  Place on top of a baking dish, in case it bubbles a bit.  Bake for 30 minutes covered, take of the tin foil and plastic wrap carefully.  Finish baking for another 20-40 minutes or until the celery root is fork tender like a ready potato would be and a pretty golden brown.  Can be made 1 day in advanced, be sure that all celery root is pushed down into the liquid and covered well. The celery root can oxidize(turn a bit brown if not soaked).

Leek, Thyme & Italian Sausage Stuffing

4 leeks, whites only - cleaned and sliced thin

4-5 links of Italian sausage, roast in oven for 20 minutes at 350 or until golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then cut in half lengthwise and slice thin. 

2 cups chicken stock or broth

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 small bunch of thyme, leaves removed- throw away stems.

4 ounces butter 

1 quart(4 cups) of toasted cubes bread
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a large pot melt butter and then add leeks- stir occasionally until the leeks are translucent. Add the cut sausage and then the bread. Add the salt, chili flakes, the thyme leaves and chicken stock. Place in baking  dish and place in oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Drizzle the top with extra virgin olive oil and a light sprinkle of kosher salt.  If planning on making ahead and taking out of the refrigerator, cook in the oven for an additional 20 minutes, the first 20 minutes cover with tin foil.

Tart dough

1 quart or 4 cups flour

½ pound butter

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

¼ cup buttermilk

Pulse together flour, butter, salt and sugar in a mixer, robot coupe.  Add the buttermilk until it comes together into a dough.  Shape into 4 balls and flatten a bit.  Wrap them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a ½ hour.

Roll out and cut out circles.  Gently push down into muffin tins that are non- stick or oil them.

For the filling

12 oz cream cheese

4 eggs

3 old bananas

1 cup brown sugar

1.5 cup walnuts

1 cup Whoppers, smashed or any other left over Halloween candy

In a mixer, robot coupe, combine cream cheese, eggs, bananas, and walnuts, and sugar until smooth.  Pour batter into the muffin tins with the dough.  Top with smashed whoppers. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden brown at 325 degrees. 

Baked Bread with roasted shallots, blue cheese & tomato

This makes an incredible side, appetizer or breakfast!

3 eggs

2 cups cream
1.5 cup crumbled blue cheese (I used Hook's Paradise Blue)
1.5 quarts, day old bread, cut into large chunks
a few handful of small tomatoes or 2 cups of diced
herbs, tarragon, parsley, thyme, chopped
10 shallots, peeled, and sauteed slowly with 2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, 1 teaspoon(ish)
cracked black pepper or chili flakes
Grated Parmesan style cheese.
Combine the cream and eggs and salt.  Then place all of the ingredients together in the a (pretty or cool looking) baking dish that you are going to serve it in and top with the grated cheese and chili flakes. 
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until the middle is firm to touch.  This may take a few more minutes depending on your oven.  It should look like the image below. 

The ingredients

before it it baked...

After is is baked, the center should be firm, no jiggle. 

Little slice of heaven that is sure to put a little junk into your trunk. 

Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen, about Chef Kelly Wangard

Kelly Wangard has been cooking most of her adult life, but nothing quite prepared her for the twists, turns and curveballs of her October 26, 2014 (subject to change) appearance on the Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen with Alton Brown!

Raised in Paso Robles, Kelly graduated at the top of her class at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and was awarded the prestigious Carlisle Walker Award for her achievements.  From there, she landed a front of the house job at Hubert Keller’s Fleur de Lys, but quickly gained a position in the kitchen.

Her résumé would go on to include the Kimpton Hotel Group’s Puccini & Pinetti and Grand Café restaurants, where a colleague referred her to an opportunity at Rosewood’s Caneel Bay Resort in the Caribbean. Again, she rose through the ranks, from Chef de Partie to Garde Manger Chef, all the while “tuning my skills in pâtés, roulades, galantine’s, charcuterie and platter-food design -- and loving every second of it!”

As luck in love would have it, she would also meet her future husband on that tiny nine-mile-long island. Wisconsin native Gregg Wangard was also working as an accomplished chef on the island, but had another job waiting for him back at the five-diamond American Club resort in Kohler, Wisconsin. Kelly returned stateside with him, developing two exclusive properties at the club, but the cold winters eventually got to the California girl.

The Wangards headed for the L.A. sunshine when Gregg was named Chef de Cuisine of Loews Santa Monica Resort, where he was later was promoted to Executive Chef.  Kelly was offered the position of Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage at Loews Beverly Hills Hotel.  

After beginning their family, they hoped to move to a slower pace of life (which Kelly noted “still has not happened!”), and moved to Paso Robles Wine Country. Currently, Kelly is the Executive Chef at SummerWood Inn, while Gregg is the Executive Chef at the Gardens of Avila and Corporate Chef for the Boutique Hotel Collection.

While juggling career, parenthood AND training for the Boston Marathon, Kelly received a private message via Facebook from the casting director for the Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen with Alton Brown (“… gotta love Social Media for that!”).  The casting director was searching for female executive chefs and after a phone conversation she asked Kelly for a Skype interview the next day.  Within a week, Kelly was asked to be on the show. 

Knowing that the show starts with simple dishes that all cooks/chefs should know, Kelly practiced on making a wide variety of those in a short amount of time. However, she also realized that the contestants can/will be tested with unforeseen “sabotages.” In addition, she also brushed up on her baking skills, especially since she’s not a fan of time consuming measuring. She wanted to be as prepared as she could, especially knowing that she’d be running the Boston Marathon in April and filming Cutthroat Kitchen just a few weeks later!  

For many months, Kelly was sworn to secrecy about even appearing on the show, and still can’t give up any information in advance of the premiere. However, she can admit that “I expected it to be very challenging and intense, and it was!  It was by far the most challenging, nerve damaging, stressful and hilarious cooking experience I have ever had.  Please watch my episode and cheer me on!”

“The Undertater” episode of Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen, hosted by Alton Brown and featuring local chef Kelly Wangard, is slated to air on October 26th, 2014.  Check your local listings for show times.

Tarragon-Bacon Vinaigrette with poached eggs, tomatoes, bacon, roasted potatoes

For the vinaigrette:

1 shallot, chopped 

5 cloves garlic chopped

4 ounces bacon fat, warm

Small bunch of tarragon, chopped

2 ounces red wine vinager

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Put all ingredients into a quart jam jar and shake until emulsified. Use to drizzle on poached eggs and tomatoes. 

For the salad:

1-2 tomatoes, sliced

2-3 slices of cooked bacon

1 small potato fried in shoestring shape or roasted for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Garden greens for texture and garnish. 

2 eggs poached, 3-4 minutes or desired time. 

Season all with a bit of kosher salt and drizzle vinaigrette on top of egg and tomatoes. 

Smoked Paprika Tomato Sauce with Fennel & Sarvecchio Meatballs

For the Meatballs:

1 pound Italian sausage, remove casing and crumble
1 pound ground beef 80/20
1 large yellow onion, diced small
1 lemon, zest only
2 eggs
6-10 crackers, crumbled
¼ cup milk
1 small bunch thyme, leaves only, chopped. 
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup shredded Sartori Sarvecchio cheese or Parmesan cheese. 
Crumble the crackers and soak them in the milk.  Combine all ingredients and roll 2-3 inch ball shapes. Place on a cutting board and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Set aside. 

For the Sauce:

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, Olea Farms Arbequina
1 large yellow onion, diced small
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2-3 large heirloom tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ -1 quart water
Heat sauce pan, add olive oil and then the onion.  Cook the onion until it is sweating and slightly golden in color.  Add the paprika and chili flakes and stir for 30 seconds.  Add the diced tomatoes with their juice and ½ quart of water.  If the tomatoes are not covered in water then add a bit more until it is.  Bring to a simmer.  Let simmer for 30 minutes.  Puree with a blender or hand blender.  Season the sauce with 1 teaspoon of salt or to taste.  Add more water if it is too thick.  Place meat balls and sauce and bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve the meatballs with a bit of sauce and fresh basil atop.  

 Makes about 24-27.

Olive Oil & Butter Banana Bread

1/4 # butter, room temperature 

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup or 4 ounce sugar 

2 eggs

3 over ripe bananas

2 cups ap flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 

In a mixing bowl add butter, olive oil, and sugar. Mix until light beige in color and it has a creamy consistency. Mix in one egg until combined and then the other. Mix in the bananas and smash with your fingers as you toss them in. Turn off mixer and then slowly add the flour mixed with the baking powder and salt. With a spatula, scrape batter into a bread loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or poke the center with a toothpick, skewer or knife and if it comes out clean it is ready. 

Feel free to add flavors like vanilla, cinnamon or chocolate chips. Top with butter and a sprinkle of salt. 

Roasted Tomatoes and Melted Mozzarella

Roasted Tomatoes and Melted Mozzarella

Roast sun-gold tomatoes in the oven with olive oil, garlic and salt for 10 minutes at 400. Place fresh mozzarella in jam jars and top with roasted tomatoes and bake at 300 for 10 minutes- rip fresh basil over the top and serve with toasted bread for dipping.

 

Zucchini, Fennel & Pistachio Salad

How many things can you possibly do with zucchini this time of year?  This is just one idea, it is crunchy, light & refreshing, and tons of crunch!

Zucchini, Fennel & Pistachio Salad

1.5 cup grated Sartori Sarvechio or Parmessan Reggiano

2 Meyer lemons, juice

1 bulb fennel, sliced thin on mandoline

4 small or 2 large zucchini or yellow squash, sliced thin

1/2 cup roasted pistachios, whole

1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (Olea Farms-Arbequina)

Prep fennel and zucchini by slicing them very thin then toss all ingredients in a bowl. Serve immediately.  If you want to make the salad ahead of time, prep your ingredients and add the lemon and olive oil just before serving.

Click on links below to find ingredients and equipment. 

Where to buy:

Olea Olive Oil, Arbequina

http://www.oleafarm.com/

Sartori Sarvecchio Cheese?

http://www.vivantfinecheese.com/

or

http://www.sartoricheese.com/about-us/news/2013/10/14/sartori-sarvecchio%C2%AE-parmesan-named-%E2%80%9Cbest-healthy-cheese-in-the-world%E2%80%9D-at-2013-global-cheese-awards/

Chinese Mandoline

 http://www.amazon.com/Benriner-Japanese-Mandoline-Slicer-Green/dp/B0000VZ57C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410547146&sr=8-1&keywords=chinese+mandoline