Easter Brunch 2022

Potato, swiss and ham quiche; arugula salad with pickled beets, Rooster's canned peaches, multi-colored peppers and goat cheese; pear/almond torte and lemon ricotta cheesecake.

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

This cheesecake was light and airy the morning I made it for Easter brunch and that was perfect! We served it with a hearty quiche, layered salad of arugula and fruit, vegetables and goat cheese, and a pear/almond torte. Interestingly, the cheesecake was cheesy and rich at dinner a few nights later. Very different but still yummy.

Note: I used a shallower dish than a 9-inch deep-dish cheesecake pan in this Taste of Home recipe. This meant that I had enough filling for the cheesecake AND six 1-cup ramekins. I cooked them until a sharp knife came out clean - shorter than the recipe called for (which was 70 minutes in the cheesecake pan.)

Crush about 45 vanilla wafers to make 1-1/2 cup. Mix with 1/4 cup melted butter, and 1 tsp. grated lemon zest. Press this onto the sides and bottom of the pan. Bake 325 degrees 10-12 min. until golden brown. 

For filling, mix 2 packages of softened cream cheese, 2 cups half-and-half, 1 15-oz. carton ricotta cheese, 1-1/4 c. sugar, 1/4 c. cornstarch and 2 t. vanilla and beat until smooth. 

Stir in 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice and 3 tsp. lemon zest. Add four eggs and beat slowly until combined. Pour into crust and/or buttered ramekins.

Bake 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes (or less) just until set and not longer. Knife should be clean but the cheesecake should not be overbaked.

Run knife or spatula around ramekins and unmold upside down. Serve with whipped cream and a garnish of fresh mint.

Chicken, Orange and Fennel Traybake

Here's another from Nigella Lawson. It was delicious and the house smelled divine. We didn't eat all of the bed of fennel, but Oreo gobbled it all up and is healthier for it!

The most important thing to know is that the chicken and fennel marinate for 24 hours or overnight. So prepare this in advance. 

2 large fennel bulbs, sliced lengthwise into manageable strips (remove tubers and fronds, reserving the fronds for garnish)

8 - 10 large chicken thighs, with skin and bone

Prepare the marinade and place chicken, and fennel, and marinate in a plastic bag in layers. Release most of the air so that the marinade is touching the chicken and fennel. Turn the bag over several times during the day so that all chicken and fennel have been covered in it.

Marinade: 6 T. olive oil; the zest of one orange and juice of the orange and a lemon. Lawson calls for 2 Seville oranges and no lemon (juice and zest); 2 tsp. sea salt flakes; 4 tsp. fennel seeds; 4 tsp. Dijon mustard. 

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the fennel in a lasagne-type oven pan. Place the chicken thighs on top, using all the marinade to pour over the meat and fennel. Drizzle one T. of oil over the chicken skin. 

Bake for 1 hour. Remove fennel to a warm serving plate and arrange chicken on top. Heat the remaining marinade and juices to boiling, about 2 minutes. Pour over the dish. Garnish with fronds.

I served with roasted petite potatoes and sherried, buttered carrots.

Pickled Golden Beets with Black Cumin and Nigella Seeds

I used a recipe in Simply Nigella : Feel Good Food to pickle golden beets. I love Nigella's philosophy on food - and her use of black cumin (nigella) seeds. I took the book out of the library, but might have to buy it! Black mustard, black cumin and black sesame seeds always add interest to food.

Nigella wrote in How to Eat, "What I hate is the new-age voodoo about eating, the notion that foods are either harmful or healing, that a good diet makes a good person and that that person is necessarily lean, limber, toned and fit... such a view seems to me in danger of fusing Nazism ... and Puritanism ..."

These are quick pickled beets and I adapted the recipe a bit with more spice, although no heat.

Cut three large golden beets from their roots and tops and peel. Cut them into matchsticks, no more than 1/4" thickness on any side. Place them in a bowl that can handle hot liquid.

Measure and place 1 cup vinegar (I used a combination of white balsamic, peach balsamic and white); 1 cup water; and 4 T. ginger syrup (I used a ginger cocktail syrup).

Add 3 tsp. sea salt flakes; 2 large bay leaves; 1 tsp. nigella seeds and 2 tsp. black mustard seeds. Add also a few green cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks.

Bring to a gentle boil and pour over the beets, cool and refrigerate. Keeps for up to a month.

I'm planning on serving over fresh green with sliced peaches and goat cheese.

Garlic Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine with Creamy Polenta

 

We've cooked short ribs several times since discovering this cut of meat. It's not cheap and they can be hard to find.

When visiting Mario's Italian Deli in Fort Myers last week, I had the butcher package up 2 pounds. Well, in the end, 2 pounds was 4 short ribs! Three were nice and meaty and thick, although the fourth was on the small side. 

I wanted to have polenta with them, so settled on this New York Times recipe that seemed to scream POLENTA PLEASE!

First off, you will need a medium or large Dutch oven. I bought a large one for our Fort Myers kitchen on Amazon. It is a Lodge and it was a special price of $49. I am sure that there is a reason to buy a Le Creuset, but not for my needs. I love my Dutch ovens. I have a pair of Tramontina Dutch ovens I bought at Costco for $79 and they are my go-to pots in Marion.

Heat the oven to 275 degrees.

SHORT RIB SEAR: Heat 2 T oil in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season the short ribs on all six sides with salt and pepper. This recipe calls for 5 pounds (a better number of ribs than just 2 pounds) and you will need to sear them in batches until they are deeply and evenly browned, about 6-8 min. per batch. Transfer them onto a large plate. Most of the visible fat should be cooked off.

COOKING SAUCE: Use 2 T of the fat from the Dutch oven, but leave all the browned bits. Reduce the heat to medium and add the following, in four steps:

1. 2 large heads of garlic, halved crosswise between the top and bottom. Remove most of the papery stuff but not so that the garlic cloves fall apart. Cook cut side down until golden brown, being careful not to burn (about 1-2 min.) 

1. 1 medium onion, chopped; 4 ribs of celery, chopped; 2 medium carrots, chopped. Add these to the pan with the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Be generous with the seasoning - I found my sauce to be a bit less rich than I would have liked. Cook until all the vegetables are softened, about 5-10 minutes. Add 3 T tomato paste and cook until the paste has started to carmelize, stirring constantly, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add 2 cups dry red wine and scrape up the bits, deglazing the pan. Let this simmer 2-3 minutes, taking the edge off the wine and reducing the liquid slightly. 
3. Stir in 2 cups beef stock or bone broth along with 4 sprigs of thyme.

BRAISE IN OVEN: Using tongs, return the short ribs to the pot along with juices - bone side up. Cover them in the sauce. Bring to a simmer and cover and transfer to the heated oven.

Cook until the short ribs are tender about 3-1/2 to 4 hours. 

Remove the ribs from the pot being careful not to remove the meat from the bone (or rather, capture the bone along with the tender meat.)

Either strain the sauce OR keep all the vegetables in the sauce and cool quickly and try to spoon off extra fat.  Pick up the large pieces of garlic paper. Process the sauce and vegetables, seasoning to taste. 

Hint: Make the ribs the day beforehand and chill the sauce in the fridge AND remove the fat the next day. Process the sauce in a food processor until chunky but not pureed.  Reheat with ribs. 

CREAMY POLENTA: 

An instant pot comes in handy for polenta. Place 4 cups water and 1 cup polenta in the IP pan. Stir and add 1 tsp. salt. Cook on porridge for 20 minutes. The IP will vent constantly in the porridge setting.

When the cooking is done, carefully vent and remove cover. The polenta will have a layer of water on top. Stir vigorously until creamy, adding in 1 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese and light or heavy cream as you need to for a creamy polenta. Add salt and pepper. 

FINALLY, serve ribs with creamy polenta, sprinkled with sauce and 1 cup finely chopped parsley, 1/2 c. chopped chives, and 1 T. lemon zest. 

Mussels in Sauce with Grilled Buttered Bread

We love the frozen mussels that you find in a box and packed in a bag with garlic and butter. You can find them anywhere - many of them are imported from Ireland. 

Although they are great cooked and served with a baguette of bread and a salad, there are other ways to serve them. Add them to a fish chowder or New England stew. The garlic wine sauce is a time saver. 

We often serve them in a creamy sauce as a first course. Here's how I do it:

Chop about 1/4 cup of shallots and about 3/4 cup of celery (and tops) and 1/2 cup carrots and a few sprigs of parsley. Saute in buttery olive oil with a nice helping of Herbs d'Provence and some pepper and some celery seed.  (Salt to taste at the end because the garlic and wine sauce has salt.)  Sprinkle vegetables with Wondra or white flour and cook a few more minutes.

Cook the mussels in the packaging in the microwave - about 5-6 minutes per bag until all are opened. Discard the one or two that haven't opened. Shell all but about 8-12 mussels. 

Add about 1/2 cup or more of cream to the vegetables and stir until you have a nice creamy sauce. Add the shelled mussels. 

Plate in warmed soup plates and top with a few mussels in the shells, sprinkle with chopped chives, and add buttered and grilled bread or croutons.

Buttery Shrimp with Peas and Potatoes

This is a Food and Wine recipe that Gerry found and it is delicious. He knows I like potatoes and peas ... and he's a shrimp fan. Perfect combination.

We liked the large shrimp in this recipe - we get them from Costco (15 per pound).

Bring 5 cups of water to a boil in a large skillet and turn down to medium high, stirring in 2 T salt. 

Add:

•  8 ounces baby gold potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices (1-3/4 cup or more to taste), stirring occasionally until barely tender about 5-7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a  plate.

Add:

• 8 ounces fresh or frozen peas (about 1-1/2 cup). Cook until crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, pouring off peas into a strainer or colander. Rinse them under cold water. Set aside.

Add 1/4 cup unsalted butter and 1/4 olive oil to the dry skillet. Cook until butter is melted and add:

• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped (1/3 cup)
• 4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (about 2 T.)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Add about 15 red pepper flakes (or to taste - the recipe calls for a medium fresh Fresno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped)

Cook and stir until fragrant and softened, about 2-3 minutes. Add and cook, stirring occasionally, until wine is almost completely reduced, about 2 minutes.

• 1/3 dry white wine

Add in a single layer:

• 12 ounces peeled, deveined raw large shrimp.

Sprinkle with black pepper and more salt and cook undisturbed for about 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp and add:

• 1 cup chicken broth

Add potatoes to the skillet and bring to a simmer until shrimp are just cooked and opaque. Add peas. Add:

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Stir until heated about half a minute. Remove from the heat and season with any additional salt and pepper to taste. 

Sprinkle with fresh dill to taste (1/4 to 1/3 cup). Serve with crusty bread.