“Waiter there is too much pepper in your Paprikash, but I would be proud to partake of your Pecan Pie.” I always think of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan saying that with a silly accent in “When Harry Met Sally” when I have Pecan Pie. I love that movie and have probably seen it 50 times. I think this is one of which Harry and Sally would proudly partake. I really like the flavour of this because I am not really a fan of the gooey, gaggingly sweet pecan pies made with corn syrup. I like the flavour of the nuts and some brown sugar, caramelized buttery goodness in this Pecan Pie.  Just saying…

Pecan Pie

• one unbaked 9-inch pie shell of Gabi’s Best Pie Crust
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup ( Real maple syrup can be substituted for a slight twist of flavour. Do not use pancake syrup!)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 Tablespoon whole milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans, plus about 40 extra pecan halves to decorate top
• egg wash for crust : 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon milk or cream

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, combine the sugars, salt, and  flour, mix in the melted butter and stir until smooth. Add the syrup, beaten eggs, milk and vanilla and beat by hand with a wooden spoon until all is smooth. Add the chopped nuts. Pour into the chilled pie crust and decorate the top with the pecan halves. I like to do concentric circles or a basket weave pattern. Make it the way you like it. Brush the crust with egg wash taking care to not drip down into the pecan filling so it stays pretty. Place in the pre baked oven and bake  for 10 minutes then reduce the heat with the pie in the oven and bake for about 50 more minutes until the filling puffs and seems set in the middle. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack.

Serve with vanilla flavoured whipped cream or vanilla ice cream “on the side” for Sally, if you wish.

Enjoy!

With Autumn fastening her chilly grip on our days the thought of something warm and comforting for dinner is needed. So luckily I came across this recipe in Saveur for Toad-in-the-Hole with onion gravy, a lovely combination of pork sausages wrapped in bacon and baked on top of a batter resulting in crispy browned Yorkshire Pudding and sizzling sausages. Perfect!

I did change the onion gravy a bit (you know who doesn’t eat beef -even in stock)and substituted streaky bacon  instead of Proscuitto to wrap half of the sausages, because well $1.00 a slice di Parma seemed a bit much for this dish and my current frugality. The bacon didn’t cling as well as the Proscuitto di Parma but that was okay because it rested on top of the sausages and Yorkshire pudding and got nice and crispy.

Onion Gravy with Chicken Stock

• One jumbo or two large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup Marsala wine
• 2 Tablespoons Tawny Port
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet Browning and Seasoning sauce*
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the onions in the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat until they are golden, stir them often as they cook to prevent scorching. When they are carmelized to a medium golden brown, add the flour and cook for a minute or two just to coat the flour with fat and cook it a bit. Add the stock, wine and Worcestershire, bring to the boil and cook for  a few minutes until it starts to thicken a bit. Remove from heat and stir in the Kitchen Bouquet and taste. Add salt and pepper if needed.

*Kitchen Bouquet is a flavouring sauce that is made from caramelized vegetables and spices. It is available in most grocery stores in the U.S.A. You could probably use Vietnamese Caramel Sauce in it’s place.

I made our typical house salad with Parmesan, pine nuts and shallot-Dijon vinaigrette to accompany and that along with a nice glass of Cider was that! We snuggled under a blanket, warmed by comfort food

and watched Veronica Mars on DVD- highly recommended as a superior TV show but sadly cancelled before its time.

This months choice for Dinner and a Movie hosted by Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy and Marc of No Recipes  is one of my all time favourite movies- “Shirley Valentine.”

This first came out in 1989 (really? 20 years ago?..where DID the time go!?..yikes… eeek!!!) I was in my 20s when I first saw it and now I’m closer to Shirley’s age. But its message  is timeless. Altogether, I’ve probably watched it about 40 times since I first saw it in the theatre. I know most of the dialogue by heart and quote from it fairly often:

 ” I like chips and egg ..on a TUESDAY – today is THURSDAY… Where’s me steak?!”

 ”I enjoy a glass of wine while I’m preparing the evening meal-don’t I wall?” 

“He’s not bad, my fella- he’s just no bleedin’ good!”

“She’s that type Gillian, – I’m not saying she’s a braggart but if you’ve got a headache- she’s got a brain tumor- if you’ve been to paradise- she’s got a season ticket!’

This is a feel good movie about reclaiming your inner girl when you’ve turned into “The Wife” or “The Mother” and most of all about bravely choosing a new path when the one you are on doesn’t suit anymore. Full of quirky British humour and the beautiful scenes of Mykonos in Greece -it’ s a holiday you won’t want to return from either. Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Bernard Hill, Julia McKenzie, Alison Steadman and Joanne Lumley are a stellar, lovable, brilliant cast.

* Updated* One thing that is funny is that it took a while for this movie to come to DVD in the USA (I was on the Amazon waitlist forever and about wore my VHS copy out) and they put both an UK audio track and an USA audio track. I could find  only 5 times where it is different- watch the UK version and see if you can catch them- I’ll send a nice prize to the first person who emails me (or leaves a comment here) with at least 3 of the correct changes.

“Chips and egg”  appear several times throughout the movie -in Britain as a pivotal meal that seals Shirley’s determination to take advantage of a windfall trip to Greece and then later in Greece she meets “Dougie and Jeannette” and says: “They’re that type you know- if they’d been at the Last Supper they’d have asked for chips and egg.”  After she decides to stay in Greece she offers to cook chips and egg for xenophobic British travelers at Costa’s bar who are too afraid to try any lovely Greek offerings such as Kleftika.

lemon balm and oregano in the garden

For my version I  baked sweet potato chips and added a “gremolata” of fresh oregano, shallot, garlic, salt and Feta cheese- just to pull Britain a bit closer to Mykonos.  I used fresh Oregano from my garden- don’t use dry if you can’t find fresh-skip it or change to a real gremolata with parsley. Alexia is a good brand of pre-made sweet potato chips or simply cut some sweet potatoes into batons and toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and bake for about 30 minutes at 400F, turning often and finishing off under the broiler for crispness.

I made scrambled eggs with Feta for Rick as he doesn’t like fried eggs- but I had mine over-medium- fried in one of my favourite Griswold cast iron skillets. They, along with the chips, some chile sauce and a couple of Rick’s homemade cream biscuits, made a divine meal.

Oregano “Gremolata”

• 1/4 cup fresh, washed Oregano
• 1 large shallot
• a few grindings of garlic salt and pepper
• crumbled Feta cheese

Mince the Oregano and Shallot together finely, add the salt, pepper and Feta and toss over the chips and egg.

Opa! Wow! Check out all the other great Greek offerings from the Dinner and a Movie crowd at Susan’s roundup here!

xo

For me one of the benefits of cold weather is that Rick and I get to share tea fairly frequently. One of us will skulk about the kitchen  hovering near the stove and suddenly turn with a smile to the other and say ” How about a nice cup of tea?” 

Last Sunday, as the snow fell from the sky in huge flakes, we cancelled plans to go out to a movie- The Sundance Film Festival was overrunning our favourite cinema house so we avoided the crowd and snuggled up together on the couch with a tea tray and a DVD of “The Wizard of Oz” By the way -those flying monkeys with the blue faces-um they still freak me out just a wee bit. But still- a perfect Winter’s afternoon. Grab the good stuff as you can I always think.

Somehow I always put tea and oranges together in my mind ( lyrics from the Leonard Cohen song Suzanne-”..and she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China” inevitably sings out in the background) so there must be a sliced or quartered orange and if we’re lucky there will be a homemade biscuit or a scone. These scones go very well with a nice pot of Earl Grey tea. As for the blueberries I think using dried works so well- it makes them a bit like currant scones but with blueberry flavour and they don’t turn all grey-blue as they tend to do when you use fresh or frozen.

Blueberry Orange Almond Scones

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Ceylon Cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1 cup whole dried Blueberries
• finely grated zest from one whole orange
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 beaten egg for topping
• Turbinado (raw) sugar for topping
• 2 ounces almond paste crumbled, optional for topping

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and cut into the flour with a pastry cutter or rub between your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs with a few pea sized butter pieces remaining. Add the blueberries and almonds and stir in. Mix the buttermilk, one large egg, zest and extract together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture. Stir just until combined and the dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Dump out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead only a few times until the dough holds together. Don’t over work as with most short doughs.

At this point you can form small handfuls of the dough into balls and place on parchment lined baking trays or you can pat out into a large circle, brush with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with the raw sugar and scatter the crumbled almond paste evenly over the top, place the round on a parchment lined or lightly greased baking tray, cut into 8 wedges and separate slightly (a bench scraper works great for this job) and bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden and risen and just springs back slightly when very lightly touched in the center.

Serve warm or room temperature. They will keep well covered for a day or two but are best the day they are baked.

Enjoy the Winter as you can and hold on for Spring!

xo