Recipe Revisit: Mediterranean Chicken Wellington

A friend and beginner cook asked me recently for a recipe for a special engagement dinner party that was easy to make and didn't require her to be in the kitchen all evening. This is the recipe I pointed her toward because it has some great flavors, never fails to impress dinner guests and best of all, it can be made in advance. I serve it with some herb roasted potatoes, a simple pasta or even a greek salad.

This recipe well deserves a second look if you haven't tried it before.

http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/12/mediterranean-chicken-wellington.html

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Spiced Pear and Raspberry Cobbler + Quick Cobbler Anytime!

Two recipes for the price of one today!...well one recipe and a really great idea for a quick fruit cobbler anytime, even just a single serving! Look for that and some demonstration photos at the end of this post.

First, today's recipe is a great marriage of flavors in a warm cobbler dessert. Marriage is a good decription for this recipe because spouse's favorite fruit is pears and my favorite berry is raspberry so we both really enjoyed this one.

Spiced Pear and Raspberry Cobbler

6 large pears, peeled cored and cut in large wedges

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Melt the butter in a large saute pan and then toss in remaining ingredients and saute together over medium heat until the pears are just warmed through. This will give them a bit of a head start in cooking before adding the cobbler dough on top. Transfer hot pears to a 9x9 (or larger if necessary) baking dish.

Cobbler dough

In a food processor combine:

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Using the pulse button on the food processor cut in

1 cup very cold butter, cut in small pieces

Pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. ( If you don't own a food processor, you can cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or even a couple of knives.)

To the flour/butter mixture add

3/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Fold in the cream just until a soft dough forms. Do not overwork the dough or it will become too tough. Less is more here and the less you work the dough, the lighter your cobbler will turn out.

Drop the cobbler dough in heaping tablespoonfuls onto the hot fruit mixture in a 9x9 nbaking dish. Over the cobbler sprinkle:

1 pint fresh or frozen raspberries

Bake at 350 degreed F for about  25-35 minutes or until the top is evenly golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Let the cobbler rest for 10-15 minutes before serving warm with some good French Vanilla ice cream.

QUICK COBBLER

The quick cobbler idea that I mentioned at the beginning of this post is really very simple and takes only a little forethought to be able to enjoy even a single serving of fruit cobbler in about 2o minutes. Great for last minute dinner guests or just to indulge a little comfort food craving.

When I make cobbler dough, I generally make two batches and freeze one, shaped into a 3 inch log and wrapped in plastic wrap. With the cobbler dough already made and standing by in the freezer, I can then at any time, very simply cut off a 1 1/2 inch round of the cobbler dough and place it on top of a couple of tablespoons of my favorite homemade jam in a greased ramekin. In the photo below I have used some Heavenly Rhubarb Jam that I recently featured on this blog. ( http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/heavenly-rhubarb-jam-rhubarb-strawberry.html )

Then, i sprinkle the top of the cobbler with a little sugar and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until the cobbler is nicely golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

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Black Bean and Ginger Glazed Ribs

This is one of my favorite rib recipes which I often serve with some great oven baked potato wedges for a weekend supper. (Find the potato wedges recipe here along with a great meatloaf sandwich: http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/01/meatloaf-bacon-and-onion-on-toasted.html )

This past weekend, however, I made a few racks of these ribs to serve at a small gathering of friends to celebrate my continuing march toward oblivion, also known as a birthday! They were snapped up pretty quickly and several guests declared them to be the best ribs they had ever eaten. Who am I to disagree? ;)

Black Bean and Ginger Glazed Ribs

4 racks back ribs

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp chinese five spice powder

2 tbsp freshly grated ginger root

Mix together the garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and five spice and rub onto the ribs. Roast the ribs slowly on a rack at 300 degrees F for about an hour before beginning to brush on the Black Bean and Ginger Glaze:

Black Bean and Ginger Glaze

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbsp peanut oil

1 cup black bean sauce

3 tbsp freshly grated ginger root

2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp chinese five spice powder

4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (use cider vinegar in a pinch)

1/2 cup brown sugar

Simmer all ingredients together for about 15 minutes before beginning to brush the glaze onto the ribs. Increase the heat to 375 degrees F and brush the glaze on both sides of the ribs in 3 or 4 increments about every 10 minutes. Allow the ribs to rest, covered in aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving.

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Raspberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Happy Birthday to me!! Today's my birthday and this was my birthday cake of choice for 2009 simply because I can't get enough of anything chocolate and raspberry. Here, a chocolate scratch cake is filled with a raspberry sauce and my favorite frosting ever: chocolate buttercream! The chocolate buttercream frosting  admittedly may take a little practice to master but it is well worth the effort!

There are a couple of slices of this one still in the fridge from a little gathering of friends last night. Is it wrong to have this for breakfast? It is my birthday after all! ;)

Raspberry Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup soured milk

1 cup black coffee

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla flavouring

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans, or one 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Raspberry Sauce


3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
2/3 cup sugar

Boil together gently and then thicken with a slurry of 1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in a little water. Cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

Combine and bring to a boil. Continue to boil over medium heat without stirring until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile beat together to stiff peaks

6 egg whites at room temperature

¼ tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

Slowly pour in the sugar syrup hitting the side of the bowl and not the beaters. Continue beating the frosting for 10-15 minutes until the meringue is completely cool. When completely cool, slowly begin to add, a few tablespoons at a time

2 cups softened unsalted butter

Beat until smooth after each addition.

Combine and melt in a double boiler:

1 pound chocolate, chopped in small pieces

½ cup butter

Add to the meringue mixture and beat well until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. This may take 15 minutes or so and you may have to chill the frosting for several minutes before beating it again to get it to stiffen. Alternatively, you can place the frosting bowl in an ice bath while continuing to beat constantly until the icing stiffens sufficiently.

Split the cake layers in half, horizontally, making 4 layers in total. Fill with alternating layers of buttercream frosting and raspberry sauce.  Garnish with fresh raspberries and chocolate ganache or chocolate curls if desired.

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Savoury Turkey Stroganoff (Another Leftover Rescue Recipe)

Savoury Turkey Stroganoff

If I have to eat leftovers, then at least let them be turkey leftovers! ( Did you miss my recent post: All That Leftover Turkey? http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/recipe-revisits-all-that-leftover.html )

A good roasted turkey dinner is one of my very favorites, and one of the few things that I even bother to try to stretch into a second  leftover meal. This one can be very simple and very fast to make, especially if you have leftover gravy from that roast turkey dinner. The only caution I would add here is that it had better be GOOD gravy! I like to reduce mine by boiling it down considerably to concentrate the flavour before making a stroganoff sauce out of it. The more you reduce the gravy, the better this dish will be.

The same applies if you are starting your gravy from homemade turkey stock, like I do. I reduce my turkey stock by at least half to make the gravy that is used in this recipe.

Serves 4
1 clove minced garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 cups good turkey gravy (measured after reducing, see note above)
1 tbsp dry summer savoury
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
4 cups leftover diced or shredded roasted turkey

Begin by sauteing the garlic and mushrooms in the oilive oil for just a couple of minutes. Add the other ingredients except the turkey and simmer for only about 5 minutes before adding the leftover turkey and continuing to simmer until the turkey is well heated. Serve over egg noodles.

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Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes

This is a variation on one of the most commonly made desserts at our house, especially at summer barbeques and picnics. I love shortcakes made with sweet biscuits, simply filled with fresh fruit and topped with whipped cream. Here are a couple of examples of other versions featured on this blog in the past:

Strawberry Orange Shortcake

http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/04/strawberry-orange-shortcake.html

Easy Peach Shortcake

http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/05/easy-peach-shortcakes.html

Today's recipe uses Frozen Strawberries to make a very simple sauce and the biscuits are filled with good vanilla ice cream. When the kids had these at dinner last night, they didn't look up from their plates for 10 whole minutes of blissful silence. That might be a good enough reason in itself to make these easy and delectable sundaes.

Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes

Shortcake Biscuits:

In a food processor, combine:

1 ¾ cups flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

Cut in:

3/4 cup very cold butter cut in cubes

Pulse process until this mixture resembles a coarse meal. It is very important that pea sized pieces of butter remain in this mixture. Transfer from processor to a large bowl.

Mix together:

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp lemon juice

½ cup milk

Pour over the dry ingredients and toss together lightly just until a soft dough forms. Do not over mix. Drop the dough in large rounded tablespoons into greased ramekins . Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until evenly golden brown. 
Cool completely on a wire rack after removing the biscuits from the ramekins. Split in half and fill the biscuits with scoops of good vanilla ice-cream. Top with Strawberry Sauce and some sweetened whipped cream.

Strawberry Sauce

6 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple juice or water

Gently bring the ingredients to a boil. It is important not to boil too vigorously or the strawberries will not maintain their shape. After boiling gently for a few minutes, thicken the sauce with a slurry of 1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in a little cold water. Cool completely before serving.
Makes 1 dozen.

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Deep Dish Apple Crumble Pie

To my way of thinking, if you're going to make an apple pie, make it a deep dish apple pie...after all, its all about the apples and more is always better! ;) One of the tricks I use for deep dish apple pie is to slightly cook the apples in a large saute pan before adding them to a bind baked bottom crust. This technique helps keep the bottom crust from getting too soggy as the filling bakes and also provides a heat start on getting the fillling nice and bubbly to ensure it is well baked without burning the crust. Of course, an aluminium foil collar around the perimerter crust always hels to keep the outer crust from getting too dark.

Deep Dish Apple Crumble Pie

For the crust:

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening  (Very cold and cut in cubes)
1/2 cup butter (Very cold and cut in cubes)
6 tbsp ice water

Pulse the cold butter or shortening into the flour sugar and salt using a food processor until the shortening or butter is reduced to pea sized pieces. Remove to a large bowl. Sprinkle the water over the surface and toss with a fork until the water is just incorporated into the dough. Do not over work the dough; handle it only enough so that the dough stays together. Separate the dough into 2 balls and wrap in plastic. Place in the fridge to chill well. You can freeze one for another time. Roll out into a 10 inch round and place into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate. Tuck the excess pastry under the edges and flute the edges with your fingers or a fork. Wrap an aluminum foil strip around the outside of the crust and blind bake the pastry using baking weights in parchment paper for about 15 minutes at 375 degrees F.

For the filling, add to a large saute
1/4 cup butter
3 lbs apples, peeled, cored and cut in large wedges
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

Saute until the apples are just warmed through, remove from the heat and add:

1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

Toss together well with the apple mixture. Set the apples aside to cool a little before adding them to the blind baked pastry shell.

For the crumble topping:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cold butter
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup rolled oats

Run all the ingredients together with your hands until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour, then sprinkle the crumble mixture over the apples. Bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour or until the filling is bubbly. You may need to use another strip of aluminium foil over the outer crust if it begins to get too dark during the baking time. Cool for at least a half hour before cutting and serving.

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