Elle's Kitchen: Cauliflower and Cheese

We tried a new recipe last night as

a vegetarian entree, serving it with

beets, salad and a pretzel roll.

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower

salt and pepper

2 cups milk

2 cloves

1 small onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

5 tablespoons of butter

1/3 cup flour

1 2/3 cups grated firm cheese,

(I used gruyere)

freshly grated nutmeg

Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower

and break into even size florets.  Add florets to 

a pan of boiling salted water and boil until almost

tender (keep checking, this doesn't take too long).

Drain the cauliflower and lay out on a dish 

towel over a cookie sheet to allow more 

moisture to leave the cauliflower.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Put milk, cloves, onion and bay leaf in a 

saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Cook for

a minute or two, then cover and leave to infuse

off the heat for 10 minutes.  Then strain the milk

for the next step.  Discard the bay leaf and cloves

but keep the onions for later.

In another pan, melt the butter and stir

 in the flour.  Cook over low for a few minutes.

Add the strained milk all at once and

whisk together.  Stir until sauce begins to

thicken and become smooth.  Continue to

cook on the lowest setting you have for

10 minutes (I didn't wait that long).

Add the cheese and stir until fully melted.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Put the cauliflower in a greased casserole.

Add the reserved onions and stir, then add 

the cheese sauce and stir to make sure it 

coats all the veggies.  Sprinkle with a bit more

cheese and some grated nutmeg.  Bake for

25 to 30 minutes until bubbly and the top

begins to brown.

Enjoy!

This was tasty but it took a lot of steps and

a lot of pans to just get a cauliflower with

cheese sauce casserole.  If I ever write

The American Homestead Cookbook, it

will be filled with good but simple recipes...

Penny Lane Pattern

In the "never a dull moment" saga of weather 

in the American Midwest, in the past week we 

have had bitter cold & grey skies, fog & grey 

skies, snow & grey skies, (last evening) 60 degrees

and grey skies and today we are going to have

severe rain and I anticipate... grey skies, though 

the sun isn't up yet.

But the bright spot is ~ the rough draft of my 

manuscript has left the building!

So I plan to get back to some designing and 

stitching, while listening to the falling rain

 and watching some British mysteries on Netflix.

Above is my Penny Lane tablerunner, a nice

stitchery project to work on through the winter 

months.

"Make Do" Pedestals

The days of Butler's pantries and endless

storage in our homes is long gone for most

of us.  Yet, we still like to entertain and 

presenting food on plates of varying heights

makes for an interesting presentation.

I do own a few cake stands but they are

difficult to store.

So here is a little trick I use for "making

do" with what I have.  Take a pretty plate

and a tall candy dish or vase like the ones

shown above.

Place a few rounds of Mounting Putty on

the bottom of the vase or candy dish.  Then

turn the plate over and center the putty

end of the vase on the center of the bottom 

of the plate. Apply enough pressure so the

pieces stick together but take care so you

don't break the plate.

And this is what you end up with.

Mind you, I'd only use this for a 

buffet, you wouldn't want to pass

this around because with too much 

movement it could come apart.

For those that are lucky enough to have

tons of storage space, you could make this

permanent with an adhesive.  Personally,

I like to be able to change the various

tops and bottoms as it fits my needs.

This is how they look in use.  When  finished,

 just pull apart and store as usual.

High Tea for Downton

We usually dine out on Sunday evenings

but there was a threatened ice storm

(which thankfully never came).  So, we 

decided to do something special at home.  

Since it was Sunday and we always watch

Masterpiece Theatre, we decided to make

a High Tea.

A selection of sweets and savouries.  Downton

Abbey is currently on Masterpiece so we 

thought it was fitting.  Perhaps if we have 

threatening weather again soon during this

season of Downton, we will have a "below

stairs" meal ~ maybe beans on toast?

Spice Market

Thank You Mr. Wonderful

In our American Homestead, we cook ~ a lot.

And when we cook we like to spice it up.  When 

we travel we find dishes we like and then buy

spices in the local markets so we can recreate

the dishes at home.  All of this is great, except

where do you put everything?  We had a "spice

cabinet" that had a few lazy susans but it would

take so long to find everything it was not efficient.

I made a little sketch of a simple spice rack

that would fit perfectly on an unused wall 

of my kitchen and my Wonderful built it for

me.  Then it sat empty for over a year while 

I searched for the right containers.  I could

have gone with tins but didn't like the look 

of them, jars needed to have a large enough

opening to fit a tablespoon measure inside.

Finally I found just what I wanted and then

the label problem came up.  I wanted to be 

able to make my own and they had to be

coated so they could be wiped off...

I'm happy to report that problem was solved

and I have been filling up spice jars in the 

evenings as I watch tv.  And now it is done!

The jars are in alphabetical order, I can easily

see when I'm out of something.  If you look 

above, I need to get some chili powder.

There is another thing to scratch off the "to

do" list ~ yeah! Looking at it makes me happy.

Now to cook...

Elle's Kitchen: Pecan Pie

Happy National Pie Day!

Today is National Pie Day, at least, that's

what I saw on facebook...  But since I like

pie, I'm taking advantage of this holiday

and making a pie.

Ingredients:

1 cup light corn syrup

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tabl. butter, melted

1 teas. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups pecans

1 unbaked 9'' deep dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350F.  

Thoroughly stir together the first 

5 ingredients using a spoon.

Then mix in the pecans.

Pour into pie crust.  Bake on center rack of 

oven for 60 to 70 minutes. 

If pie crust is over-browning, cover edges with foil.

 Cool for 2 hours.  

Store pie in refrigerator (using a pie keeper is

 helpful to keep the pie from picking up any

odors from other foods.)

Pecan Pie is now my favorite pie.  I used to think

Pumpkin Pie was my favorite but now I find I

prefer to eat Pumpkin Bread.  I never made pecan

pie until a few years ago, we never made it in my

house growing up and I thought it would be difficult.

Oh how wrong I was, this is one of the simplest 

pies you can make!

Enjoy!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

It is VERY cold here in the American Midwest.

  It would be a good day to curl up in front of the

 fire and stitch some American Homestead feltworks

 patterns.    It was 4 F when I woke up this morning!

What is the weather like where you are?

Elle's Kitchen: Bacon and Swiss Quiche

I learned to make quiche from

Julia Child (of course...) many years 

ago and it used to appear regularly on

the menus at Avalon.  Then, one of the 

kids decided they didn't like it and it has

been so long since I've made it I actually

had to consult The Way to Cook for cooking

time and temps.

Ingredients:

a pre-baked pie crust

6 strips of bacon, crumbled

3/4 cup swiss cheese

3 eggs

half and half

salt

pepper

freshly ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375F.

Place the bacon evenly over the bottom of the 

crust, sprinkle the cheese over that.  Beat the 3 eggs

and then add enough half and half to make a mixture 

of 1 1/2 cups, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Pour liquid over the filling and add a bit more nutmeg 

to the top.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until puffed and

browned.  Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Dream Rides

At the Henry Ford Museum, you can imagine

there would be many great cars.  I picked out

the three I would like to own.

This VW Westfalia has always been a dream,

I remember looking at one at the VW dealership

when I was a child and dreaming even then.

If I ever get to live on Longboat Key, I 

want something like this to drive up to the 

north end to watch the sunset each night.

As a teenager I spent a lot of time in a VW bug.

My sister and I drove all over the eastern US 

and Canada.  Her bug was Texas yellow ~ loved it.

Kitchens

I visited the Henry Ford Museum recently and

of course, I was drawn to the display of kitchens

through the years.

I wish I could have been a Kitchen

Anthropologist, I love to research

all the gadgets and wares of the various

time periods.

Though I wouldn't want to live with

a pump and a dry sink, I still like the

look of it.

Looking through these displays, I realized

I own or have owned some of these pieces.

I loved the 1930's kitchen,  I would not 

want to cook in this in my busy life I lead

everyday but if I had a cottage I could escape

to and spend hours whipping up meals,

this kitchen would be perfect for me.

That sink is one that got away for me...

Years ago before I had a house, before I

was married, I saw that sink on the trash

pile of St. Mark's Church in my hometown.

I said to my sister I want that to be my

kitchen sink someday!  We tried to pick it 

up and even though we were young, healthy

and strong, we could not move it an inch.  It

weighed a ton!  I still dream of having that

sink ~ someday...

Bagel Love

I grew up in a part of the USA that is 

probably the area of the country where 

you can get the best bagels ~ in and around 

New York City.  Yet, I didn't love bagels, I 

felt they were a bit plain, too doughy and

hard to eat.  Then I had my first 

EVERYTHING bagel, my life changed...

Then my life changed again when I moved 

to the American Midwest and at that time

we could only buy frozen bagels.  Eventually

we got a Panera Bread and even the grocery

stores stock fresh bagels now.

Every once in a bit I treat myself to an

everything bagel.  I cut mine in 3 slices

before I lightly toast them.  I like the

 slices to be thinner and that makes more 

surface in which to spread my delicious

homemade scallion cream cheese.

Scallion Cream Cheese:

Thinly slice 2 scallions, stir into 1/3 cup

of whipped cream cheese.

Elle's Kitchen: Swiss Chard Frittata

 

Here is a quick, tasty dish that uses

one of the healthiest veggies you can find.

Ingredients:

 

4 teas. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 bunch Swiss Chard, remove

tough stems and chop leaves

5 oz. roasted red peppers,

drained and chopped

4 eggs

2 egg whites

1/4 teas. salt

1/8 teas. pepper

1 cup shredded mozzarella

 

Preheat broiler.

Heat oil in an oven proof non-stick pan over

medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook,

stirring for about 5 minutes.  Add chard and peppers,

cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes.

Whisk together eggs, egg whites, salt and

pepper in medium bowl, add mozzarella.

Pour over vegetable mixture and stir gently

to combine.  Reduce heat to medium and cook

until eggs are set, 7 - 8 minutes.  Place

frittata under broiler and broil 5'' from heat for 

2 minutes until top is lightly browned.  Let

stand for 2 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!