Home Made Apple Butter

I took some of the blemished apples from my little Fuji tree and made some apple butter. This stuff is really good on buttered corn bread. Especially recommended as a side to a nice bowl of File Gumbo!!

Bruschetta

Burrata, oven roasted tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and prosciutto on thin sliced and toasted crustini. Very delicious

Key Lime Pie

Why have we never tried this before?? It's so easy to make and the best I ever ate. Graham cracker crust, the juice from about 20 key limes (they're pretty tiny), half a dozen egg yolks, a can of condensed milk, a tiny bit of sugar (we like it tart) and cover it with home made whipped cream. Piece of pie.

Very soon, when my Calamansi(Philippine Lime) are ripe, I'm going to use them in a variation of this recipe that is sure to be something special. Stay tuned.

Still Cookin'

It's not like we haven't been eating... We've just been eating things that I already posted. Take, for instance this Titamisu. We make these all the time. It's not news any more..... Still tastes good :)

Last night we made pizza....AGAIN. Makes me wonder how a place that does nothing but make pizza can't seem to get it right (Are you listening, Dominoes?) It's easy and the pizza is OMG!! This one has some of Natti's left over Chicken Parm sauce, pepperoni, buratta and fontina cheese, garlic and thyme infused olive oil, fresh basil and a sprinkle of parmagiano reggiano when it comes out of the oven. We also made Margherita Pizza and 3 cheese white pizza with arugula.

Rye Bread

Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making rye bread. I mean how can you properly enjoy pastrami or make a Reuben without rye?


2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup whole grain rye flour
1 tablespoon wheat gluten
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons black caraway seeds
1 1/4 cups warm filtered water

In the mixing bowl of the stand mixer, combine the sugar yeast and about a quarter cup of the warm water. Wait about 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low speed with the dough hook for about 5 to 7 minutes. Take it out and spank the dough into a ball. Lightly coat the dough ball with olive oil and put in a bowl covered with cling wrap to rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 400F for about half an hour. I used a pizza stone, so it was in the oven for the preheat. Put a generous amount of cornmeal on the stone to keep the bread from sticking and roll the dough ball out onto the stone. Bake for about 35 minutes.

I downloaded a recipe from the internet to get approximate quantities. From there, I ad libed a bit. For one thing, I added the wheat gluten because I am told that rye flour has very little gluten. The gluten is what gives the elasticity that brings about the bubbles and contributes to the chew. Unfortunately, I stuck with the part of the recipe which only included one rise. I believe this is why the crumb is so fine and the chew is a bit crumbly. Next time, I'll add another kneading session and another rise.

That being said, it really tastes good!

Good News--Natti's Cooking again.....

Do you have any idea how good toasted Parmesan smells when you open the oven??


Spuds that are not like the ones Mama made (sorry Mom)


It's got Potatoes, Heavy Cream, Parmigiano Reggiano, Savoy Cabbage and Bacon

Au Gratin Potatoes just moved up into the OMG range!!

Shameless Christmas Carol