berry desserts

March's Secret Recipe Club - Sausage Cheese Breakfast Biscuits

Why hello there! I've missed you. I've been blogging less these days.... I hope you'll forgive me! I hope to get back on track one of these days because I really do miss it.

I'm so happy to be bringing you a tasty treat today for The Secret Recipe Club. This month I was lucky to be assigned the wonderful blog, Feast on the Cheap, run by mother-daughter duo Mary Anne and Mariel, and Mary Anne is a professional caterer. I've got love for the catering business because that's what PJ does for a living! It sure would be nice to start a catering company one day.

Um, loved this site! Every month when I get my assignment, I go through and list all the recipes I'm interested in on a word document and save it, and let me tell you... there were a LOT of recipes from this blog that made my list. But eventually I settled on their Southern Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Biscuits, because I can never pass up breakfast food. It's one of my favorite things. I love sausage almost as much as I love bacon. You know that's big, people. So I knew I wanted these balls in my mouth. Oh, oops. Too much?

Went to the grocery and got the necessary ingredients... including ground cloves and allspice, which I've never used before. Kinda pricey! I also purchased maple sausage, but when I got home I noticed that the recipe called for ground pork, not sausage like I had thought. I kinda realized that the recipe was calling me to make my own homemade sausage using ground pork (not ground sausage) and all of the spices, including the allspice and ground cloves. Since I had bought sausage and not ground pork, I didn't want to use all of the spices called for in the original recipe because then I may be over-seasoning it if the sausage I had bought was already seasoned, which I assume it is. So I decided that the best thing to do was just not use the spices since I bought sausage instead of ground pork as to not over season. So now I have some pricey allspice and ground cloves in the pantry waiting to be used up.... any suggestions??

We also halved the recipe as to only make about 25 instead of 50. Turns out that we only got about 20 out of them. Guess I made mine a little too big...

Sausage Cheese Breakfast Biscuits

adapted from Feast on the Cheap

*Makes about 20

2 and 1/4 cups Bisquick
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 lb Bob Evans ground maple pork sausage
1/4 lb extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
warm maple syrup, for serving

Position the oven rack to the middle level. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the Bisquick and buttermilk, stirring to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sausage and cheese, using a fork to combine thoroughly.

Add the sausage-cheese mixture to the Bisquick mixture. Powder your hands with a tablespoon or so of Bisquick or flour and gently knead the mixture until thoroughly combined.

Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls, rolling between palms.

Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or so until golden. Transfer to a serving tray and serve with warm maple syrup.

Printable Recipe

These balls were so tasty! I loved the mix of sausage and biscuit. Two in one! Can't beat that. And I liked the hint of cheesiness. I wanted to experiment and try it with some cool spicy pepper cheese I saw at the grocery store but thought that may mess up the whole recipe if supposed to be served with sweet maple syrup. The sharp cheddar worked well. Next time maybe I will be daring and try some different kinds of cheese! We will definitely be making these tasty breakfast balls for our weekend breakfasts. Can you say, "keeper"?

Linking up here.

Peace, and bacon grease!

My entry into Just Something I Whipped Up sponsored by Appliances Online and the Bosch Washing Machines

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Sadie (Hollywood)

The former Les Deux lounge space had been transformed into a Sadie Restaurant, with a beautiful, quiet, large back patio: a dining space that's a respite from the Hollywood scene (at least before the Hollywood drinking crowd starts hitting the bar inside).

Other food and cocktail bloggers have had great things to say about Sadie and their cocktails (and food), so I looked forward to checking it out with LA & OC Foodie. The cocktail list indeed look quite interesting.
We started with the La China: lychee black-tea infused Avion Silver Tequila, fresh lime juice, organic agave syrup, Velvet Falernum ($12), and Kentucky Ninja: Japanese single malt whisky, bourbon, fresh lemon juice, lavender-infused wild honey, served in a Peychaud-rinsed glass ($13)

Both of them were a great start to the night. Kentucky Ninja is one of the most popular cocktails at Sadie, and I can definitely see why. A strong drink but sweet and balanced.

Recently, Chef Mark Gold of Eva Restaurant had jumped on board as a consulting chef at Sadie, so the menu has slowly been changing and Gold will soon be launching a new Spring menu. Some of the things I had are still on the menu now, like these oysters:
Oysters, Deer Isle, Maine (1/2 dozen blue hill blonde oysters, $18)

Market Chop salad: kale, beets, cucumber, peas, carrots, quinoa, lemon vinaigrette ($11)

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Spinach Cannelloni!

How was your St. Paddy's day?
Me? I was falling asleep by 9pm. I just don't party like I used to.
And I didn't cook anything especially Irish this year, although I am Irish in heritage.
But I did cook up something green. Or, green on the inside.
Spinach Cannelloni! The real kind, with crepes.
It is labour intensive, but you can break down the parts and make some earlier.
And of course if you have a television and stereo in your kitchen and a well-stocked bar, the hours will just fly by.
So go on, eat your greens! You'll be happy you did.

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
adapted from Tessa Kiros, Apples for Jam
for I♥CC Go Green!

Crepes - makes 12
3 large eggs
1½ cups AP flour
Pinch salt
3½ Tbsp melted butter
1 cup whole milk

Whiz together in a blender or a in a pitcher with a blending stick. Let rest 30 minutes to an hour. Thin with a bit of milk if necessary to get crepe batter consistency.
Heat a nonstick crepe pan to medium and cook up half a ladle at a time, swirling to get a thin, round crepe. It only takes a minute on each side to get to golden. Layer cooked crepes with wax paper between, and cover until needed. This will keep them soft and from sticking to each other.

For a side dish I just roasted some asparagus with cherry tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, S&P and some Parm. 15 minutes at 400°F.

Tomato Sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 14-oz can of Italian stewed tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
½ cup red wine
Kosher salt and black pepper

Warm the garlic in the oil until you can smell it, then add in the tomatoes and basil. Cook until hot, then add in the wine. Season to taste with S&P, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Blend until smooth.

Filling
1 10-oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed out
1 cup chopped parsley
2 cups fresh ricotta (I used yogurt cheese)
1 large egg
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh grated nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Combine in a bowl, season and set aside.

Bechamel Sauce
4½ Tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
2¼ cups whole milk, warmed
Fresh grated nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Heat butter in a medium pan on medium heat. Add in the flour and whisk gently but constantly for a couple of minutes until the flour is cooked through. Add in the milk a little at a time, whisking til smooth. When all the milk is in and you have a smooth sauce, continue to cook for another few minutes and season to taste.

Assembly & Bake
Preheat your oven to 350°F
Butter a lasagne dish
Spread a little of the bechamel on the bottom of the dish.
Take a crepe, put 1/12th of the filling in it and roll up. Place in the pan, seam side down. Repeat with the rest to make 2 rows of 6 crepes.
Cover with the bechamel sauce, then the tomato sauce.
Sprinkle on ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake for about 40 minutes, until bubbly.
Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

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The Bread Baking Babes bake Swedish Rye!

I read a lot of Swedish and Scandinavian murder mysteries and one thing I have noticed - they all seem to live on coffee and sandwiches. So I guess they have great bread!

Bread Baking Babe Astrid challenged us to make a Swedish Rye from The Tassajara Bread Book, circa 1970. I actually have this book, my copy is from 1973 and is well-loved. I was happy to try the Swedish rye, and fondly remembered my first attempts at ~~brick~~ bread baking when I was younger, from this very same book. Somehow I have gotten the hang of this bread baking thing over the years, thank goodness.

I have to admit that I am rather fond of my stand mixer and did my mixing in there for the most part. I just finish up the kneading on the board. I use instant yeast, because I find it blends better, put the whole wheat flour in the dough and used the 1 cup of white for kneading, but otherwise followed the directions.

I sprinkled them with caraway after the egg wash as we really like caraway, and formed them into torpedoes or mini French bread shapes and baked them in my French bread pans for about 30 minutes.

The recipe delivered and the dough was easy to work with. The resulting bread was absolutely delicious. It has a tight crumb and is great with sharp cheddar and cured meats. I also like it toasted with a thin smear of plain peanut butter. Yum!

Check out Astrid's post for step-by-step photos and information on how you can be a Bread Baking Buddy this month!

Swedish Rye Bread
adapted from Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown
adaptation by Astrid

1.
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast (2 packets)
1/3 cups honey
1 cup dry milk
grated peel of 2 oranges
2 teaspoons anise seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
4 cups unbleached white flour

2.
4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
4 cups rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (for kneading)

    Dissolve the yeast in water. Add the honey and dry milk plus the oranges and seeds
    Add the flour to get a thick batter.
    Add one cup of flour at a time, stirring good after each addition. The more flour you add the more you knead to go into a beating mode with your spoon. Best way is to stir up and down in a circular mode from the bottom of the bowl to the surface of the dough. Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time. After the 4 cups of flour you should have a thick mud-like dough.
    Beat well with a spoon (100 strokes).
    Continue to beat until you have a smooth dough. Again pull your spoon under the dough and bring it up to the surface again in a circular mode. The batter will be more elastic while you are doing this as more and more air gets incorporated.
    Let rise for 45 minutes.
    Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place.
    Folding in the remaining ingredients. Do not stir! Do not cut through the dough, this will improve the elasticity and strength of the dough.
    Sprinkle on the salt and pour on the oil. Stir around the side of the bowl working carefully your way towards the center. Rotate your bowl a little with every stroke you do. Repeat until all of the salt and oil is incorporated.
    Sprinkle the flour 1/2 a cup at a time onto the dough. Again fold it in while rotating your bowl.
    Continue until the dough comes away from the sides of your bowl. Now the dough is ready to give it a good knead!
    Plop your dough on your kneading board and scrap all remainings from the bowl onto the dough. Keep in mind that your surface should be floured enough to prevent the dough from sticking to much on the board.
    Flour your hands and the top of the dough. From the middle of your down stretch it away from you and then fold it back onto the remaining part of the dough. Continue to push down and forward.
    Turn the dough a quarter turn. Again continue with the pushing and folding.
    Turn, fold, push. Rock forward. Twist and fold as you rock back. Be careful not to stretch the dough too much and tear it. Add flour to the boards as needed.
    While you continue with the kneading the dough will become more and more elastic, smooth and shiny.
    When you are finished, place the dough in your lightly oiled bowl smooth side down, then turn it over so the dough ball is covered lightly with oil. This will prevent the dough from forming a crust on the top while rising.
    Cover the bowl with a damp towel again and set aside to rise in a warm place. (50-60 minutes until doubled in size)
    Punch down your dough with your fists steadily and firmly about 15-20 times.
    Let rise again 40-50 minutes until doubled in size again.

    Preheat your oven at 350°F.
    Turn your dough onto the board again.
    Form the dough into a ball. Cut the dough into two even pieces and form smaller balls again. Let rest for 5 minutes.
    Knead the dough and fold it about 5 times, this gives the dough added spring. After the final push turn the dough a quarter turn.
    Roll up the dough into a log shape. Seam at the bottom, flatten the top of the dough. Square the sides and ends. Turn the dough over and pinch the seams all the way.
    Put the dough seam side down into your pan. Press it down into the pan with your fingers.
    Cover and let rise again. This will take 20-25 minutes.
    Cut the top with 1/2 inch deep slits to allow the steam to escape.
    You and brush with eggwash and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame if you want!
    Bake for about 50-60 minutes.
    Remove from pan to cool down completely. (On racks)

The Bread Baking Babes

This bread has been YeastSpotted!

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Check Out Plan Check: Craft Cocktails on Sawtelle

There have been plenty of exciting new places on Sawtelle recently, including Tsujita and their amazing tsukemen, but Plan Check brings something completely new to Little Osaka: cocktails! I've been looking forward to the opening since learning that Pablo Moix and Steve Livigni are consulting and created the cocktail menu for this new place.

I was able to attend their friends and family night before the official opening, where they brought out the signature dishes for us to try. The kitchen menu is the creation of Ernesto Uchimura, the chef who was at Umami when they first opened, so think heavy drinking food: burgers, fried chicken, and the likes just a stone's throw away from all the curry and tofu houses.

Out of the two burgers we tried I liked the Bleuprint Burger: akaushi red wagyu beef, smoked blue cheese, pig candy (candied bacon), fried onions, steak sauce, peppercress, "crunch bun" ($11)

The buns are made especially this restaurant and they described it as a Portuguese milk bun with extra crunch. I liked how it's moist and sweet, though it makes the burger a tad richer. There's a lot going on in this burger, as you can see, but since I liked every component, I enjoyed it as a whole.

Their "standard" burger is the Plan Check Burger with akaushi red wagyu beef, americanized (?) cheese, ketchup leather, onions, pickles, "crunch bun" ($10)

You've probably read about the "ketchup leather" elsewhere, but yes. Remember the fruit leathers you might have had as a kid? They've made their ketchup into one of those, to avoid the buns getting soggy from ketchup. I think I still like regular ketchup better, though, since it's a bit drier with the "leather." You can taste the flavors of the wagyu patty better in this simpler burger.

Read more »

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The Tuscan Sun Cookbook!

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook
Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen
Written by Frances Mayes and Edward Mayes
Hardcover, 224 pages
Also available as an eBook

You may already be familiar with Frances Mayes, she has been dubbed "The Bard of Tuscany" by The New York Times. Her many bestsellers on Tuscan life have earned her a a warm place in millions of readers' hearts.

In this intimate cookbook Frances and her husband Edward, an award-winning poet, share one of the aspects of Tuscan life dearest to their hearts. The food! The book is beautifully photographed and filled with memories, anecdotes and information about Tuscan cuisine. There are over 150 delectable but unfussy recipes for you to enjoy at home, so that you can bring a little of Tuscany to your kitchen. Beautiful!

Chapters include:

La Cucina

Keys to the Pantry

Antipasti

Primi

Secondi

Contorni

Dolci

Aperitivi e Digestivi

This weekend we tried the Chicken with Artichokes, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Chickpeas. A brilliant tray bake with succulent chicken, red wine, lots of herbs and brilliant pantry staples. Perfect with a little rice or pasta and a green salad.

And since there is wine in the dinner, there should be wine in dessert! Massimo and Daniela's Wine Cake is perfect after dinner fare - try it yourself!

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook

Massimo and Daniela’s Wine Cake

Massimo and Daniela preside over Bar Tuscher in a venerable palazzo in Cortona. All the expats in town are lured by their house-made desserts and the intimate tables, so perfect for a private conversation away from the piazza. When I walk into town in the mornings, I’m assured of a quiet spot for writing in my notebook. Although I’m torn between their warm cornetti filled with berries and this tender vin santo–scented cake, the cake usually wins.
SERVES 8

1 cup (2 sticks) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for the pan
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups (11 ounces) whole-milk ricotta
3 eggs
1/3 cup vin santo
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for the pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 to 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour a nonstick 9-inch springform tube pan or 10-inch tube pan.
In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and ricotta until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then incorporate the vin santo. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl, then slowly and thoroughly beat them into the batter. Pour into the prepared pan, sprinkle the pine nuts on top, and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake is firm but springy to the touch and a promising aroma fills the kitchen. Cool before removing the cake from the pan. Sift confectioners’ sugar over the top.

Learn more about Frances Mayes here - http://www.francesmayesbooks.com/
And join the recipe club here! - http://www.therecipeclub.net/

Browse the book here:

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Giveaway! Toasting Package from I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! has asked me to host a giveaway for this lovely gift package - good for all your classy party needs! This was the gift I was supposed to receive at their recent Red Carpet Viewing party but I wasn't able to make it.

In the package are a set of four Crate and Barrel champagne glasses, a metal Ralph Lauren serving tray,

cute ICBINB-related glass charms

a beautiful decorated spreader

and a set of four toast-shaped coasters!

There is also a coupon for I Can't Believe It's Not butter and a set of recipes included in your package.

Pretty good package, if I may say so myself! Want them to send you one? Just enter my giveaway:

1. Leave a comment below with your email address by midnight of Tuesday, March 20.
2. Get an extra entry by tweeting: "Win a gift package w champagne glasses, serving tray and more from @ICBINOTButter on @gourmetpigs! http://bit.ly/zsenoQ"
3. For new "fans", get an extra entry by liking my facebook page.

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