Raspberry Butter

Ok, so the lemon poppyseed muffins I made were just okay. But the raspberry butter paired with them totally made the flavor pop. Think of making some butter balls & freezing them for the holiday feasts ahead.

Recipe:

1 (6 oz) container fresh raspberries (or 6 oz frozen, thawed)

1 t fresh lemon juice

3 T powdered sugar

1 1/2 C (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 T honey

pinch of salt

Place raspberries in a food processor & pulse until completely pureed. Place in a food mill & process until all juice & puree is removed into a bowl (or pan). Pour the strained puree into a medium saucepan, adding the lemon juice & powdered sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook for 2-3 minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat & cool completely.

Cream together the butter, honey, salt & cooled puree until smooth & well blended. Roll the butter into logs or scoop with smallest scoop onto a plate. If in a hurry, put in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Otherwise, refrigerate until well-chilled and firm. Slice rolls into pats as needed.

Yield 1 1/2 C butter. Note: Recipe may be halved.

source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/lemon-poppy-seed-muffins-with-raspberry-butter-recipe/index.html

Comfort food: Cauliflower Soup

Since it was chilly, I decided soup was in order. Wanting something a bit different, I opted for Phyllis Stanley's Cauliflower Soup (Healthy Recipes, 2001).

After making a white sauce in my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker with 1/4 C butter and 4 T flour (stirring well with a whisk), I added I C milk, 1/4 t white pepper, one egg yolk, 1 t salt, 1/8 t nutmeg, 1/2 t lemon juice . . . cooking until bubbly. Then I added 4 C vegetable stock (2 cans) and 1 head of cauliflower, chopped in pieces.

After everything came to a boil, I put the lid on & brought the pressure up to the 1st ring - for just 4 minutes. After letting the pressure release naturally, I mashed the cauliflower a bit using Mom's vintage potato masher. A sprinkle of parsley and voila - about six cups of slightly exotic soup for lunches this week.

Phyllis has pressure cookers on sale now: phyllis@breadbakingsupplies.com or

Her mailing address is: 7455 Winding Oaks Drive Colorado Springs, CO. 80919 Her telephone:719 528 7098

Wolfgang Puck's Goulash

Oh yum! That is what I say every time I make this dish. Granted, the 45 minutes it takes to caramelize the onions seems like forever. Be sure to leave the pan uncovered - the process will go quicker. You want the extra moisture to evaporate - but the onions to just brown. Keep an eye on them.

But then, putting the meat & sauce into the pressure cooker for 15 minutes on high, letting cool naturally and then just stirring in no yolk noodles for another 10 minutes . . . the flavor is quite amazing. (Note: I like the noodles a whole lot better than the spaetzle in the recipe; for the beef, I just use stew meat - it's already cut to size).

The real taste kicker requires using both smoked sweet paprika as well as a spicy paprika. Be sure to go easy on the fresh marjoram - it’s a stronger taste than you think. And finally, to toast the caraway seeds - put in a small frying pan over a medium heat for about three minutes, stirring almost constantly. Dump into your mortar. Let cool before grinding.

If the resulting sauce is too thin, make a flour & cold water mixture (about 1/4 C of water & 1T flour), mix & stir into the very hot sauce. It will thicken as the pan cools.

Find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolfgang-puck/wolfgangs-beef-goulash-recipe/index.html

Focaccia Bread

Just a quick update - made some focaccia last week using the equivalent of one loaf of my usual bread recipe (key ingredient: freshly ground wheat flour). After patting the bread dough into my gold 9" X 13" pan, I topped it with: 1 heaping C chopped black olives, 3/4 C dried tomatoes (Costco), 3/4 C feta (reduced fat), cracked dried rosemary (Savory Spice - coming to Colorado Springs soon!) and 2 t coarsely ground salt.

Note: gold pans are available at Williams Sonoma - they are non-stick & brown things extremely well. Savory Spice should be opening next week down on Tejon.

It turned out so well - was so flavorful and required less salt on top due to the very salty black olives. Because it was thicker in the 9" X 13" pan it took about 25 minutes to bake instead of the usual 10 minutes.

Squash Ravioli for dinner

Since I was gone all day, I opted for a quick dinner. I had found some squash ravioli at Costco . . . they were just waiting in the fridge! So, I made a white sauce, added garlic, parsley and shallot salt and enough 2% milk to make two cups of sauce. For dessert, I had some lovely banana bread compliments of my friend Sarah (thanks Sarah!). It was all so very yum and there are leftovers for lunch!