Cream of Celery Soup

 Cream of Celery Soup

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter

1 onion chopped

2 Leeks chopped - white and light green parts only

2 bunches celery chopped (I save the outer stalks and use those)

6 carrots peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 can white navy beans drained

4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup heavy cream

Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a thick bottomed pot. Add the chopped onion, leeks,

celery and carrots

Cook on medium heat until the celery and carrots are softened, stirring from time to time.

Add the garlic and cook one minute more.

Add the chicken stock, white navy beans and bay leaves to the pot.

Taste for salt and add salt as needed.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cover the pot. Continue to simmer for 25 minutes.

Allow to cool a bit and then discard the bay leaves. Puree the soup in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

Return the puree to a pot, stir in the cream.

Serve  with Italian bread.

Key Lime Pie

 

 This is a pie that floats in the sky with its light fluffy texture and just the right amount of lime to cut the sweetness. Heaven!

  Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the Filling

5 large egg yolks beaten

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

For the Topping

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

9 thin lime slices

 

Directions

Make the crust first

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Set oven rack in middle position

In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs and 1/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar, (you can soften the sugar in the microwave) Melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and mix all together with your fingers until well combine. Using your fingers or a glass measuring cup press the graham crackers firmly, starting with the sides first and then into the bottom of the dish. Crust should be about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Bake for 10 minutes or until slightly browned. Let the crust cool while you make the filling.

To Make the Filling

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, combine 5 egg yolks, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice and 1 tablespoon grated lime zest. Whisk together until combined

Pour  ithe thick mixture into graham cracker pie crust

Bake at 340 degrees F. For approximately 15 minutes, but check to make sure the filling is almost set, should be a bit wobbly. Let cool for a good 30 minutes.

 

To make the topping

Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of cold heavy cream until it makes soft peaks.

Add 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar and beat until medium peaks form

Spoon over the pie and grate lime zest over the top

Decorate with very thin slices of lime.

You can make the crust a day ahead but the filling should be added on the day you plan  to eat. Key Lime Pie should be served cold.

Apple Cranberry Brussels Sprout Salad

By Olivia Mack McCool 12/15/2023

My daughter, Leila, found this recipe on Delish. We decided to try it out on the family with a view to serving it for Thanksgiving. It was all eaten with great approval 

Ingredients

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small clove garlic, grated

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon honey 

2 lbs Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut very thinly (about 8 cups)

1 honey crisp apple, cored and thinly sliced

2 oz. Mature cheddar, shredded

1/4 dried cranberries

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, mustard, pepper, and honey until combined. 

Add Brussels sprouts and toss until coated. Let sit, tossing occasionally, at least 20 minutes and up to 4 hours.

When ready to serve, fold in apples, cheese, cranberries and pine nuts.

Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto and Burrata

April Bloomfield, JBF Award winner, ....."I really love my vegetables, they are so beautiful and versatile"

Portia made this for Easter. We all loved it so much, my daughter in law, Maryanne, took a picture of both the dish and the recipe. My son, Jason and Maryanna are hoping we have it this Thanksgiving. This makes a lot of pesto, the next day I had some ricotta cheese and mixed it with the leftover carrot top pesto and then used it with linguine pasta. It was delicious

Ingredients

20 small carrots with tops (size of pointer fingers, scrubbed well but not peeled) with tops

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

For the Pesto

4 cups of delicate carrot tops lightly packed

A small handful of basil leaves

1/2 cup walnut halves or pine nuts

1 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated

1 medium garlic clove, halved lengthwise                                        

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups reserved carrot tops, lightly packed

A five finger pinch of basil leaves, torn at the last minute

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice.                                                                             

Flaky sea salt to taste

To Plate

1/2 lb room-temperature burrata, drained

3 tablespoon carrot top pesto

Directions

Cook the carrots: 

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F.

Trim the carrot tops, until about a 1/2 inch stem remaining. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into a heavy ovenproof pan big enough to hold the carrots in a single layer. Reserve the trimmings, Set the pan over high heat and bring the oil to a light smoke. Add the carrots, sprinkle with salt and turn them to coat in oil. Cook, turning over the carrots occasionally until they’re browned in spots, 6-8 minutes.

Pop the pan in the oven and roast, shaking the pan occasionally, until the carrots are evenly tender about 8 minutes.

Pesto

Discard the stems from the reserved carrot tops. Add basil leaves and some parsley to it all amounts to approx 4 cups lightly packed. Add to a food processor and pulse several times.

Add 1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts and 2 oz Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese finely grated. Add 1 tablespoon oil and pulse again. Process until the mixture is well combined but still a bit chunky.

To Serve

Halve the burrata and arrange the halves on a platter Arrange the carrots on the platter so they are pointing this way and that. Add the pesto here and there in little dollops

Honey Salabat Ginger Cake

 Salabat -“ a simple tea of fresh ginger root, brought to a boil and left to steep until it relinquishes every drop of its restorative power.” Recently, in the New York Times magazine, a recipe appeared for a ginger honey salabat tea cake. Arlyn Osborne learned from her Philippine mother to rub salabat on a bruise so it would heal faster. She went on to experiment with baking and has written a book called Sugarcane Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen.

This recipe was adapted by Ligaya Misha, however, I left out the glaze when I made it - I thought it might be too sweet for me. It is a moist delicious ginger cake, where the salabat is transformed into a ginger tea cake - I’ve left the glaze directions in as it sounds something many of my friends would enjoy. We just sliced it and ate it with some butter, like a banana  bread.

Ingredients

For the cake

Cooking spray for spraying the pan

1/2 cup diced peeled fresh ginger

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

11/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup neutral oil ( canola or vegetable)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

Grated zest of l lemon - 1 tablespoon

1 tables spoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze (optional)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

Heat the oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan with spray and line with parchment paper so there is an overhang on both long sides.

Make the salabat (fresh ginger tea) in a small saucepan add 3/4 cup water the diced ginger and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce to a very gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let steep for 10 minutes.

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve (I used a teas strainer), pressing with a rubber spatula, you should have 1/2 a cup, if not add water.

Prepare the cake in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cooled salabat, honey, oil, l sugar, sour cream, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and whisk until just combined. The batter will be loose and lumpy like pancake batter.

Scrape the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean - about 1 hour.. Cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent over browning.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack set inside a foil-lined sheet pan (this will catch the glaze later if you are glazing) Using the parchment overhang as handles, lift the cake onto the wire rack. Discard the parchment and let the cake cool completely.

Make the glaze in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, honey lemon juice and 1 teaspoon water. Drizzle the glaze down the center of the cooled cake and spread outward, letting gravity pull long drips down the sides. Let the glaze set before slicing and serving.

 

You could also add as a garnish crystalized ginger on top. I don’t like crystalized ginger but it  certainly looks pretty.