Tarte Normande Ice Cream

I wanted to make a couple of small tarts with the leftover tart dough I had, but I ran out of frangipane. So, I decided to make an ice cream with the same flavors and serve it in the shells I made. I'm happy to report - it worked!


Tarte Normande Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp lemon oil
pinch salt
1 pear, cut into small pieces
1 handful frozen wild blueberries
Mix all ingredients up to salt together. Add to ice cream maker and prepare according to maker instructions. When the ice cream reaches soft serve consistency add pear and blueberry. Freeze to desired consistency.

Tarte Normande

Thanks to KT for the awesome tart pan for Christmas. Here's my first tart - Tarte Normande. It was delicious and I'll be making another one for a gift for our midwife tonight. Thanks KT! 

Beef Stew

I've never actually made beef stew before since that has always been Kevin's ballywick, but I got this dutch oven for Christmas and it seemed like a good first recipe for the oven. Kevin liked the stew a lot, so I call it a win. I served it with homemade biscuits, which were also delicious and way too easy to make for something that is not at all good for you!


Beef Stew
2 tblsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat
1/4 cup seasoned flour
1 large onion, cut in bite size pieces
3 large carrots, cut in bite size pieces
4 white potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
1/3 bottle red wine
2-3 cups stock (I used chicken since that's all I had on hand, but of course beef would make sense here)
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Toss beef cubes in seasoned flour and then brown all sides in hot oil. Add onion and carrots. Cook until tender. Deglaze pan with red wine. Add potatoes and tomato paste and cover with stock. Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low. Cook over low heat for 3 hours. Adjust seasonings before serving.

Felishki

Alright Andrej, you might be the only other person I know who has ever heard of this dish. If you have and you know how to spell it, let me know. Apparently this is a Czechoslovakian dish that my parents learned from my dad's family. It's not a terribly exciting dish, but it's really tasty and an excellent use of leftover ham if you, like me, happened to make an 8 lbs ham for three people. I always loved the noodles that would get crispy on the top. Yummy!

Felishki

1/4 bag egg noodles

1 1/2 cup leftover ham, cut into bite size chunks

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

paprika

salt and pepper

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Combine noodles and ham in a medium casserole dish. Combine eggs with enough milk to total 1 cup of mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture over noodles and ham. Sprinkle top with paprika to your taste. Bake at 375 until casserole is set and top is lightly browned. 

Turkey Noodle Soup

As usual, the end of my Thanksgiving leftovers is marked by the appearance of a basic turkey soup with whatever leftovers I can scrounge together. This year, I managed to have nothing left but turkey, so I opted for some very basic turkey noodle soup.


Turkey Noodle Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 medium carrots, sliced
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
2 cups leftover turkey, dark and light meat, chopped
8 cups chicken stock (or turkey stock if you scored the carcass)
1/2 lb egg noodles
salt and pepper
Sweat onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. Add turkey and heat for a minute or two. Add 6 cups of chicken stock. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer. Let cook for one hour. Add remaining 2 cups of stock and egg noodles. Bring to boil and cook for about 5 minutes or until noodles are at desired tenderness. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with crusty bread for dipping.

Butternut Pasta Revisited

I made this recipe again tonight, but omitted the bacon for meatless Monday. I have to say, it was delicious even without the bacon. I've been trying to stop thinking about the leftovers for the last hour.

Mushroom Sandwiches

This is inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe that Kevin found years ago. It strikes me that it's an odd recipe for Kevin to have discovered since he was definitely a meat and potatoes guy at the time. Anyway, thanks to Jamie and Kevin for this one! This is the most basic version of it that I've ever made and experimenting with the compound butter ingredients is definitely good stuff!


Mushroom Sandwiches
3 portabella mushrooms
1/2 stick butter, softened
5-6 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1/4 cup cheese (fontina or cheddar are my favorites)
3 ciabatta or hamburger rolls
Clean mushrooms and place on broiler tray. In a small chopper or blender, combine butter, garlic, salt, and pepper until garlic is well chopped. Top each mushroom with a third of the butter. Place under boiler until mushrooms are browned and butter is melted (it should melt through the mushrooms and leave delicious flavor throughout). Top mushrooms with cheese and return to broiler until cheese is browned. Serve on rolls - open faced or as a sandwich.