Monday, November 14, 2011
Yet another busy busy week for me it seems! Last weekend we got out of town for my birthday. We took a short trip up the interstate to Louisville, KY and stayed at the incredibly beautiful & historic Brown Hotel. If you’ve ever heard of a “Kentucky Hot Brown”, this is where it began. I had all intentions of eating one, until I realized it was $22. Umm… Maybe another time!
We also dined out with friends at Garage Bar, a fantastic new restaurant with wood fired pizzas, and an oyster & country ham bar. Nathan & I shared the Brussels Sprouts Pizza that was also topped with roasted garlic, cream, and smoked bacon. HOLY YUM!
And one of the best parts of my birthday weekend? Getting to tell our families there will soon be an addition to our family! Nathan & I are excited to announce we’re having a baby! Our little one is scheduled to arrive in late May. If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram you already know this, but I felt I oughta share it on here too.
Ok, ok, onto the recipe. This is the sweet potato hash I made the morning I made the Swiss Chard & Canadian Bacon Quiche. I had a surplus of sweet potatoes due to my CSA and a friend’s garden. I loved the mix of sweetness from the sweet potatoes & brown sugar, and the spiciness from the chile powder. This was a great accompaniment to the quiche.
Sweet & Spicy Hash Browns
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 30
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed and shredded
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Directions:
Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place shredded sweet potatoes and onion in the pan; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are tender and onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the chipotle chile powder, garlic powder, and brown sugar. Cook, uncovered, until potatoes are golden brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn and allow the potatoes to brown on the other side.
PS. If you want to see a truly hilarious response to our announcement, check out how I announced it to my lifelong hometown friends.
Friday, November 11, 2011
That’s right. It’s my birthday. Ok, technically my birthday is not today, it’s Saturday. In the photo above I’m obviously rocking an awesome 1991 perm, but I’m also showing off the birthday cake my mom made me. A gumball machine with real gumballs on it.
Flashforward 20 years (20 YEARS?!), and I’ve got another cake to share with you. One with bourbon in it. Oh yeah… Being grown up has it’s perks. But you won’t find the recipe here, it’s a guest blog I did for Jen of Beantown Baker. She’s been asking me for ages to guest blog for her “Friday Faves” series, and I’ve always been too busy! First I was buying a house. Then I was planning a “non wedding” wedding. But finally, this last time she asked I able to do it. To hear all about the Tipsy Cake, and a little bit about the awesome new cookbook the recipe came from, Desserts from the Loveless Cafe head on over to Beantown Baker!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
**Don’t forget! Today (Wednesday, November 9th) is the last day to enter to win 2 tickets to Taste of Nashville. Go here to enter, if you haven’t already! Contest closes at midnight Central time!**
Quiche. Not only is it sort of a fun word to say, keeesh, it’s pretty darn delicious to eat! I love that with minimal effort, you can just throw together random ingredients you have on hand, toss that bad boy in the oven, then sit and read the Sunday paper while it cooks. And to top it off, you can eat the leftovers for a day or two.
This quiche was inspired by some beautiful rainbow swiss chard I got in my CSA box, and rounded out by whatever else I had on hand. Sadly, I didn’t get to use the swiss chard as soon as I would have liked, and it got a little wilty. However, once sautéed and baked up with eggs & asiago cheese in quiche form, it tasted great! I loved the little pops and hints color you can still see when you cut into this quiche. Now, please don’t laugh at my photo below. My crust edge totally flopped and fell off. LOL. Hey, I never claim to be perfect, and food doesn’t alway have to look perfect to taste great!
(If you’re wondering, the side item is a sweet potato hash, and if I can find time, I’ll blog it, even though it will go straight into the “fugly” category.)
Swiss Chard & Canadian Bacon Quiche
Ingredients:
1 store-bought frozen pastry shell, such as Wholly Wholesome brand
3 slices Canadian Bacon, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped, rinsed & dried
5 eggs
2/3 cup whole milk, or half & half (depending on how rich you want it)
1/2 cup asiago cheese
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon, shredded parmesan cheese, divided
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Bake pastry shell for 8-10 minutes or until browned. Remove shell from oven, and set aside. Leave oven on.
Heat oil over medium to medium high heat. Add onion, saute 2-3 minutes until tender. Add swiss chard and saute 3-4 minutes until soft. Add Canadian bacon to the pan, cook about 1 min. Stir to combine well.
In a bowl beat eggs and milk (or half & half), season with salt & pepper. Add in veggie/Canadian bacon mixture and stir to combine. Add asiago cheese & 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, stir to combine, and pour into pie shell. Top with additional tablespoon parmesan cheese & cracked pepper.
Bake 20-30 minutes or until completely set, and slightly golden & crispy on top.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Let’s start November off with a bang, whaddya say? I’ve got a giveaway! (If you’re not local to Nashville, or at least able to drive in, you won’t be interested in this giveaway. My apologies.)
All throughout the year I see all my different foodie friends attending food & drink events. The vast majority of these events tend to occur on one of the two nights of the week I work nights. I’m always a little bummed and jealous to miss out on all the fun. Recently I was contacted by the organizer of Taste of Nashville 2011, brought to you by the Phoenix Club about doing a giveaway. As soon as I discovered their event is on a Friday night, I immediately agreed! After all, it would have been a huge bummer to give away tickets to an event I couldn’t even attend! The event will be held at the Cannery Ballroom on Friday, November 18th at 7pm.
Taste of Nashville is a fun night of food & drinks celebrating the finest Nashville has to offer! Just listen to the list of restaurants & food: The Standard, Whiskey Kitchen, Virago, Tavern, The Patterson House, Merchants, Paradise Park, Watermark, Melrose Neighborhood Pub, Noshville, 1808 Grille, Puckett’s Grocery, Sperry’s Cool Springs, Sam’s Sports Bar, The Local Taco, Nashville City Club, Sambuca, Miel Restaurant, Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Corner Pub Green Hills, Frothy Monkey, Mere Bulle’s, Chappy’s, Maggie Moo’s, Bongo Java, Pied Piper Eatery, Steve’s Restaurant, Hit and Miss Ice Cream, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate, The Grilled Cheeserie, Bosco’s, Zumi Sushi. Whew! Some of these are tried & true places I love, and some are spots I’ve yet to make it out to. I’m so excited to eat the night away!
And don’t forget about drinks, Taste of Nashville has got you covered there too, with the help of Pritchard’s Distillery, Collier & McKeel Whiskey, and Jackalope Brewery.
Lest you think this is just a frivolous event, I want to tell you that 100% of the proceeds benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee. Last year, over $16,000 was raised! Tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the door (unless they sell out!), and $75 for VIP (includes some swag & exclusive food!). If you don’t win, here’s where you can go to purchase your tickets.
Alright, so you probably want to know what you need to do to win. First, you MUST be 21 years of age or older. And second, you must be local to the Nashville area, or at least willing to drive in. (Hello to all my Bowling Green friends! This means you.) This contest will end Wednesday, November 9th at midnight CST. I’ll announce the winner Thursday morning, and contact them via email and/or twitter. The winner will have 48 hours to respond, and in the event they do not, I will choose another winner.
***CONTEST CLOSED***
Winner was chosen using Random.org. #53 Paz
Congrats!! See you there!
There are multiple ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling me which of the restaurants and/or beverage suppliers you’re most excited to try.
2. RSVP on the Facebook Event Page
3. Follow me AND Taste of Nashville on twitter (@erinsfoodfiles & @tasteofnash) and tweet “@erinsfoodfiles is giving away 2 tickets to @tasteofnash Taste of Nashville! I entered to win, and you can too! http://tinyurl.com/4yn9evd”
If you do #2 & #3 come back and leave a separate comment for each. GOOD LUCK! I hope to see you there!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
There’s a reason I don’t make up my own recipes. I’m just not good at it, and I don’t have time to waste. These whoopie pies were originally going to be Chocolate & Pumpkin Marshmallow Cream Cheese Whoopie Pies. I had a hard time deciding on a marshmallow fluffy type filling, or a pumpkin cream cheese filling, and figured I could just wing it and do a mash-up. Well… what I made was like 3x the amount I needed, it tasted good, but it didn’t taste spectacular when combined with the chocolate component. *sigh* I hate wasting time, and I hate wasting ingredients.
I was making these whoopie pies to take to a dessert bake-off at work for Halloween, so they had to be GOOD! Luckily my friend Cate of Cate’s World Kitchen had made whoopie pies using the same recipe I had used for the cookie/cake part, and she filled hers with Salted Caramel Frosting. As I’ve said before salted caramel really is one of my favorite flavors. This combo made for a MUCH better pairing than my previous pumpkin-y attempt. These whoopie pies were so delicious! Make them today, and you won’t be disappointed!
Whoopie Pies adorned with sprinkles for the bake-off at work on Halloween.
Are you’re wondering how I did in the bake-off at work? Well, these babies helped me in a three way tie for first place. We drew numbers out of a basket to determine our place, and whaddya know I got #3. In the company newsletter it was announced that I got third place. Either way, these whoopee pies were definitely worth the effort!
Chocolate & Salted Caramel Whoopie Pies
I find it easiest to keep the cookie/cakes uniform in size by using a cookie scoop. I also used a medium cookie scoop to try and keep the filling uniform as well. This way you can also decide if you want to make medium, or large whoopie pies by choosing which size cookie scoop to use. The original yield says 8, but I got 17 total whoopie pies when I used my cookie scoop, which is approximately 2 tablespoons.
Ingredients:
For cakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder*
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
For frosting:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp fleur de sel
1/4 cup sour cream
6 tbsp softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
*If you can't find dutch process cocoa powder, Hershey's makes a Special Dark cocoa powder, and it works just fine. I've found that at various Walmart & Kroger groceries.
Directions:
For cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.
Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.
Spoon 1/4-cup* mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.
*I used a medium cookie scoop, which is approximately 2 tablespoons, to yield more, smaller cakes.
For frosting:
Put the granulated sugar, water and corn syrup into a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to combine, then cook until the mixture is a nice, deep golden brown.
While the sugar is cooking, bring the salt and cream to a simmer in another saucepan.
Once the caramel is the right color, remove the pan from heat. Wait one minute, then stir in the heavy cream. Let cool for a few minutes, then whisk in the sour cream. Set aside to cool.
Once the caramel is cool, beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth. Add the caramel and powdered sugar, and beat until it has a spreadable consistency.
Spread a thick layer of frosting on the flat side of one cookie, then top with another.
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