Sweet Spring Onions

My sweet onions are ready for harvest!  Is there a better sign that spring is in the air?

Okay, so spring isn’t in the air everywhere at the moment and I should know–the family and I just flew home from Denver, CO where Old Man Winter is blowing hard and furious.  But the cold will make this recipe all the sweeter.   It’s sweet and savory and the aroma alone will delight your senses.

If you like French Onion Soup, you’re going to LOVE this dish.  While a sure-fire hit in the fall, this delicacy is welcome in my home any time of the year.   Taken from the magazine, Cuisine at Home, it’s simple and easy to make, much like homemade French Onion Soup.   And worth every minute.   Sliced onions cooked until they caramelize are a guaranteed winner in any household and when you add cheese, the whole world turns sweeter.   Especially when we’re talking Gruyère cheese.   (Is your mouth watering yet?)

Onions au Gratin

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

8 cups sliced sweet onions

1/2 cup dry sherry or chicken broth (I used sherry)

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved (I skipped these)

Preheat oven to 400°F

Melt butter in a large cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, stirring until slightly softened to make room in the pan (I don’t know what this means—I just sautéed the correct amount of onions); cover and cook until completely softened, 10 minutes.

Add sherry, thyme, and bay leaves; increase heat to medium-high.  Sauté, uncovered, until the liquid evaporates and onions are browning, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes (mine may have been 20 minutes, but caramelizing onions is a fairly forgiving process).

Combine cheeses, then stir 1/2 cup of cheese mixture into onion mixture.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake until cheese is bubbly and browned, about 20 minutes.

Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves, then sprinkle with olives.  Let stand to cool slightly before serving.

Makes 4 servings.   Total time: approx. 50 minutes.

Cuisine at Home is a great publication.  Not only does it offer phenomenal recipes, but it includes color photographs of the cooking process.  Indispensable for novices like myself!

Enjoy!

 

Pecan Tarts

Following in Dianne’s awesome culinary footsteps…I thought I’d share what I will be making tomorrow night.  My mother’s pecan tarts.  I do not have a picture yet, but once I do, I’ll put this in the recipe tab.

Each year, my daughter and I go through my mother’s old recipe box that I confiscated (stole) after she passed away.    We decide what we will attempt that season, out of her handwritten recipes.

So here you go, exactly how my mother wrote it…and fair warning…they are addictive.

Pecan Tarts

1) 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 1/4c butter (stick)
2 1/2c flour

Blend softened cheese and butter.  Stir in flour.  Chill for 1 hour.  Shape into 1″ balls.  Place in ungreased muffin cups, and press dough to bottom and sides.

Make filling:
3 eggs
2c brown sugar
2 1/2 tbsp soft butter (stick)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1  2/3c chopped pecans
Dash of salt

Beat together till smooth, all except pecans.  Divide half the pecans among cups, lining the bottoms, add the filling.  Top with the rest of pecans.

Bake at 325 degrees, 28 mins. Cool then remove.

Enjoy!!!

Cranberry Bread

One of our favorite goodies to share this season is cranberry orange bread.  I discovered this recipe on a trip to Kennebunkport, Maine at a lovely Bed and Breakfast Inn by the name of Captain Lord Mansion. It was years ago.  Frankly, I don’t care to admit how many years, but numerous to be sure.  Translated:  they may not serve this bread anymore but when they did, it was warm and accompanied by a bowl of oatmeal.  While its delicious plain, butter makes for a delightful addition. 

So this year, if you’re looking to bring  a smile to someone’s face and you want to try something new, give this one a chance.  It’s a hit with everyone who tries it, cranberry lovers or not!

Cranberry Bread

With this recipe, they say to make sure it is made exactly as written. Or as close to exact as possible.  I don’t follow recipes to a “T” and this one still manages to come out delicious. So feel free to experiment!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together in large bowl:

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

5 cups flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

In small bowl using a hand mixer, place the following ingredients one at a time. Beat vigorously after each addition.

2 eggs

8 TBSP melted butter

2 cups orange juice

1 cup water

Make well in dry ingredients and pour at once wet into well. Stir until moist.

Fold in

2 cups whole cranberries (can be frozen)

Pour into 3 greased and floured pans and bake for 1 hour — careful NOT to over bake.  Check with knife — should come out clean.  Serve warm and enjoy.  Freezes well.

Labor of Love

Or sisterhood in the making.  Either way, my daughter learned a valuable lesson this last week.  Several, actually. It began with a personal request from one of her very good friends.  “Will you make the cake for my birthday party?”

Well if that wasn’t music to my daughter’s ears!  Sound the orchestra, gather the dancers, we’re baking a cake!  And not just any cake, but a grand, elaborately constructed and ornately decorated cake, one surely worthy of a guest appearance on Cake Boss.  (Oh yes, she watches the man every chance she gets.)  As does her girlfriend, hence the request.  

And like any other order placed with the Venetta Bakery first up is the color selection, design creation, cake flavors…  Oh, but it’s a process.  Days in the making actually, but my daughter minded none of it.  In fact, she relished every minute.  Deciding on three layers, three colors and three flavors (we do like variety around here!) she went to work baking and mixing—both batter and frosting—creating her largest cake creation to date.

And during this process, I noticed her self-confidence bloom.  She took such pride in her work–felt really good about herself–it was a joy for a mother to see.  The bottom layer of her cake was perfection in chocolate, covered by her ever so favorite purple frosting.  Next came the middle layer which she decided to elevate.  Perfect.

But with no formal columns to support this raised platform, we had to get creative.  Tough, since Dad wasn’t home and I’m not the engineer type.  However, after a quick scavenger hunt, we found some cardboard tubes (think wrapping paper roll) and built our very own platform.  A little wobbly, but it would do.  Lucky for us the builder of the house arrived on scene just then and set us straight.  FYI:  for a solid base, three support points are sturdier than two.

Then catastrophe struck.  The top cake crumbled in her hands as she removed it from the pan.  Egads—the trauma, the horror!  So emotionally invested in this cake was she that I thought her heart would break before my very eyes.  “Mom!  What am I going to do?” she shrieked.

“You’re going to fix it,” I said calmly.  Staring at me in utter disbelief, I reassured her, “Trust me.  There’s nothing here that can’t be fixed.”  A lesson I’ve learned from experience and one it was time to pass on to my daughter.  Much like the ripped stockings we had to mend for her Halloween costume (too late to buy another), it was time to improvise.  While frosting usually makes for the perfect glue, this disaster was beyond frosting repair.  It needed total structural rehab.  “Grab the fondant, darlin’—we’re going to make us some walls!”

And away we went, rolling, shaping and cutting until we had the perfect height and length fondant to wrap around our cake.  You could practically hear her sigh of relief as it all came together.  Next we used filler frosting to create the illusion of a level top and then it was back to decorating.  Hip-hip-hooray!

However, we were racing against time now.  Half hour left and we had yet to sculpt our little birthday gal for the topper design!  Not an easy feat.  I mean, people are hard to draw, let alone sculpt.  But my girl persisted. This was more than a cake to her.  This was a gift, a labor of love.  And as a budding artist, she had her reputation to consider!  Delivering a cake without proper adornment was unacceptable.

But it’s amazing what we can do when our heart’s in it, isn’t it?  Sure the lows can be heartbreaking, but the highs?  They’re worth every second.  My daughter learned another important lesson:  in the scheme of things, her friend won’t remember that we didn’t arrive early, or that we were slightly stressed during delivery of this triple-decker cake.  Nope.  She’ll only remember the fabulous custom-made cake baked especially for her. 

I do love a good HEA, don’t you?

Now of course she wants to start her own baking blog. Where on earth she came up with this brain child of an idea beats the heck out of me.  God love her—she takes after her mother!  And while I would love to share the recipe with you, no can do.  My daughter would have my hide if I started divulging her secrets.

Maybe she’ll reveal the secret to her double chocolate brownies.  Stay tuned!