Halloween Table and Menus Of Times Gone By

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Lindaraxa Photo

Halloween has always been, after Christmas, my most favorite holiday to entertain.  In years past, I did a lot of entertaining and prided myself in setting a beautiful table.  I think I thought of myself as the next Carolyne Roehm, my hero!

 I don't know how I packed so much stuff in my apartment.  There were plates and glasses and tablecloths and flower arrangements hidden all over the place!  I had quite a large archive in my brain of where everything was.  Now, as I unpack in a much larger house, I wonder how I ever did it. I don't entertain like that anymore, just don't have the stamina, or the money, for that matter.  Maybe now that I live with my daughter, the artist, I will get a second wind, but for the time being, here are some of the memories:

For the pumpkin, I usually called a kid, a nephew, a niece, a neighbor, anybody to carve the pumpkin.  Then I started to build from that. On that particular year, I was gaga over my black candles, and I was debuting my new china in orange tones I had literally carried from Gien, France.  Some raffia ribbons, lots of goodies from Marshall's, some old silver, and orange and black M&Ms  in little Halloween clay pots and poof! magic!

The menu was French (my idea of being quirky), and every year I invited only 8 people.  Small, intimate, sit down and easy to cook for. No costumes or funny drinks!  But yes, place cards, and  menu cards staggered around the table.  Champagne with cocktails for those who liked it and a good French wine with the main course.  In those days, with the dollar almost at par with the euro, it was affordable to do so.  Nowadays, it's prohibitive and a little ostentatious, if not politically incorrect!

HALLOWEEN 1998

Creme de Potiron

(Creamy Butternut Squash Soup)

Breast of Duck with Corn Cake

And Spinach Puree

Munster Avec Confiture d' Eglantine

Warm Chocolate Tart Jean Georges

That year I had gone to Alsace and come back loaded with confiture d'eglantine, a jam typical and only found in Alsace..  I really can't describe or translate eglantine, nobody, for that matter, can!.  It;s a small red fruit, not terribly sweet, loaded in vitamin C.  The taste is very hard to descibe, the only thing I can compare it to is guava...same color, but a totally different fuit.  At the hotel where we stayed, they served it with the cheese course which, in that region HAD to be Munster.  Here is a clip of eglantine confiture, in French but easy to follow.

Another year, 2002, I had just come back from Normandy and Brittany so Halloween was spent "in Normandy"

HALLOWEEN 2002

Terrine de Coquilles Saint-Jacques

Sauce Pernod

Soupe au Marrons

Creme Fraiche

Cailles Aux Figues Fraiches et Au Miel 

Puree de Poireaux

Tarte Chaude aux Pommes

Once I get settled in I will try to post some of these recipes, if I can remember the source!

Creamy Polenta With Parmigiano, Parsley and Rosemary Leaves

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This is the basic polenta recipe I make except when I serve it with the Braised Short Ribs.  In that case, I omit the rosemary. The ribs already have it, so why gild the lily. You can substitute other cheeses, such as Gorgonzola, and other herbs, such as Herbes de Provence. I try to make enough to have lefovers so I can refrigerate them and make fried polenta the next day, usually with the leftover ribs. It also freezes beautifully for future meals.


Ingredients

6 cups light beef bouillon
1 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Bring the water to a boil in a heavy large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add the cheese, milk, butter, parsley, rosemary, and pepper, and stir until the butter and cheese melt. Transfer the polenta to a bowl and serve.

Braised Short Ribs...A Sunday Afternoon At The Pumpkin Patch!

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This is the kind of meal I love to serve on a Sunday, particularly when my son and his family come to visit.  If you have little  grandchildren in the family (I do!) they will eat it, particularly if it's accompanied with creamy polenta. The meat is so tender even a baby can enjoy it!

Yesterday we had a splendid afternoon at the Kinsey Family Farm in Gainesville, Georgia where we went en famille to pick up our pumpkins for Halloween.  I will be posting photos tomorrow in my other blog , My Kitchen By the Lake.  It was such fun, I had no idea there were so many varieties of pumkins.  I came home with two different ones to make puree, since I still can't seem to find it at the store.  The shortage must be for real.  When I told them what I was doing, one of the owners suggested a variety called Jardale and gave me one as a present if I promised to let him know how the pie came out.  Really nice people and a wonderful place to take the children!

If you make the ribs the day before, I suggest only cooking them for an hour the second time as they will continue cooking when you reheat them before serving.  You want the meat very tender, but you don't want them to fall off the bone!

I love my short ribs with polenta but they'll do with mashed potatoes just as well!

This is part of the Halloween Menu posted below. 


Serves 6 to 8.


Ingredients

6 pounds beef short ribs, cut into 1-rib pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 medium onions, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups dry red wine

a 28- to 32-ounce can whole tomatoes including liquid coarsely puréed in a blender

1 1/2 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

six 3- by 1-inch strips fresh orange zest removed with a vegetable peeler

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 ounces pearl onions (about 2 cups), blanched in boiling water 2 minutes and peeled

a 1-pound bag peeled baby carrots

Garnish: finely chopped fresh parsley leaves


Directions

 Pat short ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. In a heavy kettle (at least 6 quarts) heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown ribs in batches, transferring with tongs to a large bowl.

Add chopped onions to kettle and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine, tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, zest, rosemary, and salt and bring to a boil. Add ribs including any juices that have accumulated in bowl and simmer, covered, 30 minutes.

Add pearl onions and carrots, stirring and pushing down to make sure they are covered by liquid, and simmer, covered, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is tender. Transfer meat, pearl onions, and carrots with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Discard zest and boil braising liquid, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and reduced to about 5 cups. Return meat and vegetables to kettle and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Stew may be made 3 days ahead and cooled uncovered before chilling covered. Reheat stew, adding water as necessary to thin sauce.

Serve stew sprinkled with parsley.


Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

October 1995

A Casual Halloween Dinner Party by the Lake

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Obviously, this year with the move and all the unpacking still going on, there will not be a Halloween dinner party! I have, though put one together for you in case you decide to bite the bullet and invite a few friends.  Very casual, no fuss, enjoy!  The recipes have been posted recently on the blog.

A Casual Halloween Dinner Party

Kentucky Beer Cheese

Braised Short Ribs

Creamy Polenta With Parmigiano
Rosemary and Parsley

Pear Crisp With Star Anise

Serve a hearty cabernet with the meal.

Espresso Pots de Creme...Dessert In A Cup

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This is a wonderful dessert to have in your repertoire.  You can serve the pots for lunch or dinner, any time of the year.  If you serve them in fancy cups, which you can do because of the low oven temperture, you can  place a saucer underneath and kill two birds with one stone.  It will take a die hard coffee drinker to ask for a cup after these!

They go well after nearly any entree, but if you serve them on the cool side, they are great after spicy dishes such as the Lamb Tagine, The Shrimp Creole, a curry, or even the Chicken Chili.   After Haagen Daz Coffee Ice Cream, these are my favorites!

This is definitely a rich but lite dessert.  Whatever you do, dont try substituting milk for the cream.  If you must, make something else and save these for a time when you are not watching your figure!  You will be sorry if you do.

Ingredients


2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half-and-half

1/2 vanilla bean, split

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon instant espresso

6 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped cream, for garnish (optional)

Chocolate chavings or espresso beans for garnish


Directions

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Combine heavy cream, half-and-half, vanilla bean, and sugar in a 1-quart heavy saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 180 degrees F. Stir in instant espresso until dissolved.

Place egg yolks in a heat-proof bowl and temper the yolks by gradually adding some of the hot cream mixture.

Return the egg mixture to the pan with the remaining cream mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Strain custard and then ladle 5 to 6 ounces into 8 custard cups or ramekins.

Bake, covered, in a water bath for about 40 minutes or until set. Check at 30 minutes; you may need to reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees F for the remaining 10 minutes. The centers should not be firm. They should have the consistency of creme brulee.

Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate if not serving right away. Bring to room temperature before serving. Garnish with whipped cream.

Adapted from Crescent City Coolbook

Guest Post...The Great Canned Pumpkin Shortage...Worth The Whisk's Patti Londre to the Rescue!

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I have been hearing about a shortage of Libby's canned pumpkin puree, the one we use for our most cherished dishes at this time of the year.  Mon Dieu, what is the world coming to!

The shortage this year is a result of less-than-ideal weather conditions around Morton, Illinois where a high percentage of the canning pumpkins sold nationwide are grown.  One of Illinois newspapers The State Journal-Register, surveyed local grocery managers and was told most stores have canned pumpkin in stock now, but there is uncertainty about whether supplies will last.

Illinois is the nation’s No. 1 pumpkin-producing state. Of the state’s 13,679 acres of pumpkins, 9,749 of those acres are harvested for processing. Most of the processing is done at Libby’s in Morton and Seneca Foods in Princeville

If you cook with canned pumpkin as most of us will be doing this month and next, particularly for Thanksgiving,  you might want to buy it now (Plan A) or you might want to take a look at my friend Patti Londre's excellent food blog, Worth the Whisk for a quick and easy recipe on how to make it from scratch (Plan B).  As far as I am concerned, I plan to keep Plan B close at hand for an emergency.   There is no Thanksgiving worth attending that does not have at least one variation of pumpkin pie, my favorite and my ultimate reason for cooking the whole meal!

Canned Pumpkin Shortage? Simple Steps to Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree by Patti Londre of Worth The Whisk


Hello from Los Angeles! If you’ve just heard about the national shortage of Libby’s canned pumpkin, you aren’t alone. About a month ago, I noticed my local store had no small cans of pumpkin. A week later, still none. Then my husband showed me a newspaper article about a real shortage. Another week later, a friend circulated an email about it but by then, I had three “sugar pumpkins” to make my own supply.

Ya gotta luv the internet. My pumpkins came with a website. Which is how I discovered I’ve been making pumpkin puree the hard way all these years. Here is the easy way, below. My three punkins made 9 cups of puree.

What to make with it? Try this Light Pumpkin Custard for starters.

1. Rinse off the pumpkins, plop them on a baking sheet, roast at 350 degrees F. for 90 minutes or until tender.

2. Let cool for a while.

3. Slice in half, scoop out seeds and pulp (seed making post upcoming).

4. Peel off the rind. It’s like working with a large, super ripe avocado, so using my fingers helped not lose chunks of rind in the mash.

5. Put the meat onto a cookie sheet and mash with potato masher.

6. Scoop into freezer bags in one-cup portions.* Store up to six months in the freezer.

For additional photos on these preparation steps, CLICK HERE.


Lindaraxa's Note  Before I pack it away, I put the puree in a colander to drain the excess water.  Just set it over a pot and let it sit there for a couple of hours.  I also proceed to make the pie filling and freeze.  This is what they do at the pumpkin farm!

Chicken Chili by the Fire

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 I love Sunday nights in the Fall... a roaring fire, a good bottle of wine, the playoffs, particularly if the Yankees are playing, and a nice bowl of chili.  I am not a football fan, but if you are, this is right up your alley too.

Today was the first day this week when we didn't have rain, at long last!  We spent all day unpacking more boxes, going back and forth to Home Depot and finally making some headway settling in the new house.  On the way back from the second trip, we saw a guy selling firewood, the good kind... pine... the one that makes all those nice crackling noises. And there it was, all planets aligned.   By five o clock I couldn't wait to take a hot shower, a drink and start cooking for the big event!

Recently I've been making chicken or turkey chili, not because it's healthier...after all that goes into it, why make a big deal between beef and chicken;  but it's lighter and I enjoy it more.  It's also a great way to use leftover roast chicken.  The addition of kidney beans serves to thicken it and gives it a nice flavor but you can leave them out if you prefer.  You will notice that there is no chili powder per se, but believe me, all the components are there.  I just prefer to have control of my heat and that is done through a combination of red pepper flakes, paprika, and ground chipotle chili pepper, which is really smoked jalapeno.  It is a "cleaner" heat, where you can taste all the individual spices instead of one.  And then, of course, there is beer to round things up.  A little cheese, a little sour cream, some tortilla chips and you're ready for burp city..I mean, you're ready to watch the game and keep your fingers crossed those Yankees make it to the finals!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 chopped yellow onion
3 TB good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
2 green bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch chipotle chili pepper powder (ground)
Dried red pepper flakes, to taste
Kosher salt, 
1 (28-ounce) can Pomi chopped tomatoes
1/2 a broiled chicken or 2 lg chicken breasts or leftover turkey breast
Freshly ground black pepper
1 can pinto beans
6 oz. beer

For serving:
Corn chips, grated cheddar, sour cream

Directions

Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, paprika, cumin, coriander, oregano, cilantro, red pepper flakes, chipotle, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook uncovered for 25 minutes.

Add the chicken, the beans, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Halfway through, add the beer.

Correct the seasonings. Let it rest on top of the stove for a few minutes before serving to let the flavors come together.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top and some grated cheddar cheese.  Accompany with tortilla chips.

Cooks Note:  Heat means different things to people.  I suggest you start with a pinch of all the spices in the recipe and add according to your taste.  Don't skip any of them, it's a nice roundup, just go slow until you find the "heat" you like!

Turkey Chili: the secret here is the homemade turkey broth! I usually make turkey noodle soup at the same time and use the broth to lighten the chili as needed.  Substitute wine wine for the beer.