Foodbuzz Blogger Restival Recap

I apologize for the long pause here on LFM! I've actually been working on a "super top secret" project that I was hoping to reveal this week, but have been having technical difficulties, so it's looking like I won't get to show you guys until next week.  How's that for a teaser?

This past weekend was the 1st Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco and it was fantastic!

Foodbuzz did a fabulous job of pulling together a wonderful experience for all of us who attended.  You never would have guessed it was their first event of this scale, because it went so smoothly.  Foodbuzz spoiled us with wonderful swag bags filled with all kinds of goodies (olives, cheese, chocolates, spatulas, and more) and the opportunity to taste an overwhelming variety of foods.

The weekend was a wonderful opportunity to meet other bloggers that I've been following through their blogs and on twitter and to meet new bloggers.

Fuji Mama, the Active Foodie, Gaby of What's Gaby Cooking?, and Joy of Gourmeted. (Picture from Gourmeted--thanks Joy!)

 Fuji Mama and Damaris of Within the Corners of My Kitchen.

Fuji Mama and Pim of Chez Pim.

 Elise of Simply Recipes and Jerry of Cooking, by the seat of my Pants!

 

Biggie of Lunch in a Box (she was always on the move, can you tell?)

 

Elise of Simply Recipes, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, and Fuji Mama.

 

Diana of A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa, Jen of Tiny Urban Kitchen, and Fuji Mama, taken by Linda of One Scoop at a Time (thanks Linda!).

 

Here are some of the food highlights for me personally:

Le Petit Déjeuner cheese from Marin French Cheese Company's (aka, Rouge et Noir)--a wonderful soft cow's milk cheese that has a wonderful tangy fruity aftertaste to it.  I'm sure I could sit down and eat way too much of this cheese very rapidly.


 

Salted Truffle Hearts  from Neococoa--Roasted almond butter, applewood smoked sea salt, bittersweet chocolate ganache, cocoa powder . . . it's hard to go wrong with that combination.  It's a good thing that the truffles were being closely monitored, otherwise I may have been compelled to walk off with the entire tray and hide myself in an abandoned room to gorge myself into chocolate ecstasy.

Warren pears  from Frog Hollow Farm--These pears were some of the best pears I've ever tasted.  They were juicy and sweet and the flesh was creamy and firm, instead of grainy and mushy like some pears get.  The guys running the table were kind enough to let me take a couple of extra pears with me so that I could share with Mr. Fuji, who also gave them a double thumbs up.

Handmade marshmallows  from Gâteau et Ganache--We got to taste their Autumn Assortment (the flavors offered change with each season) which consisted of vanilla bean, cranberry, and pumpkin spice marshmallows.  The cranberry was wonderfully tangy and the pumpkin spice was like a pillowy bite of pumpkin pie--HEAVENLY!

Æbleskivers  from Aunt Else's Æbleskiver--If you've been reading LFM for a while, you know how much I love æbleskivers.  They served the æbleskivers with a wonderful apple topping.  On their website is a 9-hole æbleskiver pan based on Aunt Else's pan which started it all!  I want one--mine only has 7 holes!!



 Another highlight of the weekend was the dinner Saturday night done by Outstanding in the Field.  The dinner was held in Greenleaf Produce Warehouse--an urban farm-to-table setting.

It was a fabulous setting with a long table snaking its way through the shelves and boxes of fresh produce.

The menu itself was from Chef Dennis Lee of Namu (who actually ended up not being able to be there due to being hospitalized earlier in the week for appendicitis)--a seasonal menu with a traditional Korean influence.  The menu used local, organic produce as well as sustainable and pasture-rasied meats. 

The roasted brussel sprouts with ponzu, fried garlic, guanciale, and bonito flakes were amazing--the best brussel sprouts dish I've ever eaten.

A huge thank you to all of the wonderful people at Foodbuzz who made the weekend possible!

All kinds of foodie fun.

It has been a fun, but busy week!  Tuesday night I met my mom and one of my best friends (poor girl has had to put up with  me since we were 5) in L.A. at Sur La Table for a cooking class taught by Jaden (of Steamy Kitchen).

It was a blast to finally meet my mentor in person!  These past months as I've been interning for Steamy Kitchen I've come to feel like I know Jaden through all of our emails and phone calls even though we had never actually met face to face.   She is just as sweet and amazing in person, if not more so.

The class was great--Jaden taught an extensive menu consisting of Vietnamese Summer Rolls, Firecracker Shrimp, Pan-Fried Tofu with Dark Sweet Soy Sauce, Chinese Sausage Fried Rice, and Chocolate Wontons.  Doesn't my mom make an adorable chocolate wonton model?

The class was a blast--filled with good food and good people.  This lady, one of the Sur La Table people, was HILARIOUS.  I wanted to bring her home with me.

Last night I was back in L.A. to attend a party thrown by Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple, for Jaden, celebrating the release of her wonderful new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. If you don't have her cookbook yet, you may have the chance to win one next week . . . *hint, hint*

Tomorrow morning Mr. Fuji and I are leaving early to fly up to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival.  The kiddos get to spend the weekend being spoiled by my parents, so I don't think they're going to miss us too much.  That being said, I'm off to pack for the weekend! 

Chef Hiro Sone's Niku-Jaga

Memory is a powerful tool, especially when it comes to food.  I recently got a cookbook called Cooking from the Heart, a book put together by the organization Share Our Strength.  The book features recipes from one hundred of the country's well-known chefs.  The book is wonderful.

Usually I love cookbooks with lots of pictures--I like to be able to see the food before I make it.  This book however doesn't have any pictures, yet it is filled with images--images that are created by the chefs' memories.  Each recipe is accompanied by the story of what the recipe means to that particular chef.  The Introduction of the book, Michael Rosen explains, "recipes are simply a kind of memory: an attempt to re-create the taste of some familiar dish . . . a way of passing along a particular method for preparing pie dough or gravy . . . an experiment in recapturing some experience remembered from travels or childhood.  A recipe is a memory made indelible." As I flipped through the book and read some of the stories, I could see Ming Tsai with his family stuffing potstickers around the ping-pong table in his house at Christmas time and I could see Gale Gand when she was a young girl baking pies with her mother, adding her initials in the bottom of the crust with a rope of dough.  Reading these stories I wanted to crawl into the pages of the book and experience them for myself.  This book perfectly captures why I love being a food blogger: being able to create, capture, and share these types of memories. As Rosen wrote, "Each chef's table--whether oceans, generations, or cultures away--will link with yours as though we were all sitting down to eat at one universal table assembled from each of our individual leaves."

The first recipe I made out of the book was Chef Hiro Sone's  recipe for niku-jaga.  I was immediately drawn to it, because it is finally starting to cool down here in Southern California, and niku-jaga, which is a wonderful comforting and filling stew made of meat, potatoes, and mushrooms, is one of my favorite Japanese comfort foods.

The recipe calls for shiitake mushrooms, which I love.  My local grocery store was out of fresh shiitake, so I used dried shiitake.  This requires a bit of advance preparation, but it's easy!

How to rehydrate shiitake mushrooms

With a pair of sharp kitchen shears, snip off the stems of the dried shiitake mushrooms.

 

Don't throw them away though!  The stems are great to add to stock for added flavor.  I save mine in an airtight container and pull them out when I need them.

 

Put the mushroom caps in a container and cover with warm water.

 

Place a small, flat plate (or an otoshi-buta if you have one) on top of the mushrooms to submerge them completely in the water.  I used two plastic containers that fit together.  Soak the caps for at least 30 minutes and up to several hours.  When the caps have softened, strain the liquid to get out any bits of grit, and then rinse the caps in clean water and resoak them in the strained liquid for 5 to 10 minutes.

 

Look how pretty they are after they have softened up!

 

The mushroom caps can be stored for several days in the refrigerator in their strained soaking liquid.

 

Whether you use fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms, make up a delicious comforting pot of niku-jaga and start making your own memories!

 

Niku-Jaga
Recipe adapted from Chef Hiro Sone's recipe in Cooking from the Heart: 100 Great American Chefs Share Recipes They Cherish
Makes 4 servings

2 medium onions, cut into quarters
3 pounds beef short ribs, bones removed, sliced against the grain into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/ 1/2-inch cubes
8 large shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
1/4 cup chopped scallions, use both white and light green parts
Shichimi (Japanese spice mix)
Steamed Japanese rice, as an accompaniment

1. Place the onion and beef in a medium saucepan and add enough cold water to cover everything.  Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat.  Skim off any foam or impurities that rise to the surface.  Add the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.  Bring the liquid back to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, until the meat is tender, about 30 to 35 minutes.

2. Add the potatoes and simmer until the potaotes are tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Add the mushrooms and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4. To serve, spoon the beef and vegetables into individual bowls, sprinkle with scallions, and add a bit of shichimi to taste.  Ladle the broth over everything and serve with a side of steamed rice.

Starfrit Apple Pro-Peeler Giveaway Winner!

Last night random.org selected the following Barbara, of Barbara Bakes, as the winner of the Starfrit Apple Pro-Peeler!

Barbara said:

"We love a cherry apple crisp. Although I have a fabulous cranberry apple pie recipe and we did have caramel apple fondue last night. It's just so hard to choose!"

Thanks to everyone for sharing your favorite apple dishes!

Tips for getting small kiddos involved in the kitchen.

Today I'm over on the Curious Chef website sharing my tips for getting small kiddos involved in the kitchen, and sharing a recipe for my favorite pizza dough!

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Reminders: 

* Voting for the Foodbuzz Blog Awards closes at the end of the day today (the 29th)!  If you haven't voted, please do!  LFM is a nominee for Best Family Blog!! (There's a link to vote under "How to Vote" #2.)

* Today is your last chance to enter my Starfrit Apple Pro-peeler Giveaway!  All entries must be in by 10 pm PST today (October 29th, 2009)!

Val's Kale & Chanterelle Pasta

My wonderful exchange with Jim Davey about Cornish pasties got me thinking about some other wonderful people I know.  I gain so much inspiration from so many people in my life and since the food community is all about sharing in the collective experience, I thought it would be fun to start a new series of posts here on LFM spotlighting some people who come from different backgrounds, perspectives, and places about their perspectives on food and cooking.  I am very excited about this series and can't wait for you to "meet" everyone I've got lined up!

Today I'd like to introduce you to Val.  Val writes a blog called Collecting the Moments... one by one... and is someone that inspires me.  Val majored in Developmental Psychology and minored in Nutrition in college (it was almost a double major, but in the end she decided to forego 2 extra quarters because she was getting married).  Val is the mom of three gorgeous children who she homeschools.  Somehow she finds time to craft, can, cook up a storm, and work running a farmer's market stall with a partner at the Ballard Farmer's Market in Seattle.  How she does it, I have no clue, but I think that the tagline of her blog says it all: "These are the recorded files of the hobbies of a domestic goddess. Why yes... I do wear a super hero costume under my jeans and apron."  Not only is this domestic goddess Super Women incognito, but she's a smart cookie as well.

Val and I had a phone interview a couple of weeks ago and one of the first things I asked her was what led her to her current job of working the farmer's market stall.  She explained that her market partner, Hannah, has been a friend for a long time and that they had worked other jobs together.  Their paths crossed again when they both became interested in joining a CSA.  Val's house became a drop site for the CSA she had joined the same year that Hannah started working for the farm, and then the next year they decided to take on the market.

Now a typical market day starts with Val being picked up by Hannah at a carpool location at 6:30 am.  They are in Seattle by about 7:45 am and then set up their tent.  They have 2 stalls, because the farm they work for is such a large farm.  Then they move about 10 to 11,000 pounds of vegetables out of the truck in big crates.  Hannah delivers a load of produce to a downtown restaurant and comes back right as Val is finishing setting up the tables, right at about 10 am.

At 2:30 pm they start to pull signs down because the market closes at 3 pm.  After 3 pm they load everything back into the truck that is left over.  She's says there's normally about 2,000 pounds left, which they then deliver to a food bank called Teen Feed, which feeds homeless teens.  Val gets usually gets home about 6:30 or 7 pm.

So why does Val do this?  Val said, "Food is so fundamental.  You do it every day.  It is the basis for every cell in your body . . . . Having my son was a very pivotal point in my life where, although I was always passionate about food, I started thinking even more about food and every cell in his body coming from these things that I was feeding him, or things I was feeding me, and it became even more of a passion to get good food into him so that he would know what good food tastes like.  So finding ways to get organic food, or lots of fruit and vegetables, that was how I cam to look for things like the CSA drop spot."

Val went on to explain, "There's this cartoon I saw that has a woman looking at all these apples.  The first frame has a sign that says, '$0.49 a pound, grown with chemical pesticides and petroleum residue and shipped from Argentina 25 days ago.' The next sign says 'Grown with chemical pesticides using slave labor and shipped from Chile.' Etc. There's no choice there that seems to make sense.  That's what I kept coming to.  I seriously consider it health insurance.  Very quickly it came to how about I choose none of those.  How about I choose apples from my neighbor?"  Val explains, "That personal interaction is so important.  They count on your contribution to get what they need for their family.  They're much more interested in your opinion than the slave industry in Chile.  If you know the farmer you can ask questions.  You can't have the same conversation with Fred Meyer.  With local food it's much easier to slide into that market and get in contact with people."  Val also said, "The environmental aspect is huge for me.  The actual reason behind the organic movement was to help the environment and get the best food."

Talking to Val was inspiring.  She is one of those people that could probably convince you that you could climb Mt. Everest.  I came away from our conversation invigorated and with more enthusiasm about looking carefully at where the food comes from that I feed my family.  Val shared a recipe with me for Kale and Chanterelle Pasta that I made last week for dinner.  Val and I both agree that just because something is healthy doesn't mean you should force yourself to eat it.  Food should taste good too.  This dish definitely fits the bill.  It was a hit with all of the Fujis, including Bug, despite the fact that it is full of kale--a vegetable that sometimes doesn't go over so well with kids.  In keeping with what Val and I talked about, I made the pasta without the chanterelle mushrooms because I don't have a local source.  Whether or not you have any chanterelle mushrooms, you have got to try this pasta--it is delicious!!

Val's Kale & Chanterelle Pasta

Makes 6 servings

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 head of garlic, minced

½ pound of chanterelle mushrooms, chopped

½ bunch of kale (or 2 cups of baby kale), chopped with the ribs removed (they're very woody)

1 pound linguine pasta

Salt (for the pasta water and to taste)

½ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook the pasta to your liking.  Drain the pasta, but save a bit of the pasta water. 

2. Melt the butter and olive oil in a pan and then sauté the minced garlic in it until it starts to go slightly clear.  Add in the kale and sauté until slightly limp.  If the kale needs additional water, add in the reserved pasta water from step 1.

3. Add the chanterelle mushrooms, and agitate until the mushrooms and kale are both limp and tender.  Salt to taste.  Toss with the pasta, and serve topped with the parmesan cheese.

Daring to Attack Macs (again)!

In my last mac post I wrote, "I've learned that this is not the last time that macarons and I shall meet.  I am determined to get this right."  Well, true to my word, I'm back with more macs!  The Daring Bakers provided the impetus for my most recent mac escapade.   

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.  The rules were simple--make Claudia Fleming's recipe for macarons and fill and sandwich them.  Above and beyond that, we were allowed to make any flavor variations that we wanted to.  I went for a basic flavor combo.  I added vanilla sugar to the macarons batter for a hint of vanilla,

and then made a rich chocolate ganache,

which I whipped, and then piped onto the macarons using a star tip for a bit of extra visual interest. (For a great ganache tutorial, see this post by Alice of Savory Sweet Life.)

This past weekend we made our annual trip out to The Pumpkin Patch.

Squirrel was in heaven traipsing through all of the pumpkins.

I couldn't help but be inspired by all of the wonderful Fall colors.

So I decided to take a bit of inspiration from our trip and added some orange gel coloring to my mac batter, 

to give the finished macarons a subtle burnt orange color.

It made for a perfect autumnal mac attack.

Macarons
Adapted from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern
Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

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* Voting for the Foodbuzz Blog Awards is open for just a few more days (through the 29th)!  If you haven't voted, please do!  LFM is a nominee for Best Family Blog!!

* Don't forget to enter my Starfrit Apple Pro-peeler Giveaway!

Apple Peeler + Fried Apples + A Giveaway!!

I love apple season because apple season means apple cider, fresh apple sauce, apple curry, and apple desserts.  An apple peeling gadget can be a wonderful thing to have in your kitchen during apple season.  It makes apple sauce and apple pie making a much quicker process.

Recently, I received an e-mail from STARFRIT USA about one of their companies products, the Starfrit Apple Pro-peeler.  I was curious to compare the Starfrit peeler to the Norpro Apple Master which I've been using for years, so I asked Starfrit if they would be willing to send me one to review and then also give one away to one of you and they kindly agreed!  (Giveaway details come later in the post after my review and an apple recipe!!) 

I grew up watching my mom use the same a Norpro Apple Master.  Then when I got married, she gave me my own.

I love this gadget because it does a beautiful job of peeling the apples and cores and slices them at the same time.  I used to love to eat the peel when my mom was done peeling an apple.  I'm not normally a peel fanatic, but there's something about eating a thin ribbon of peel that turns the peel into something special and delicious.

I also love how it slices the apple into a long thin spiral.  The Norpro can (1) peel, core and slice; (2) peel only; or (3) slice and core only.  It's made of a rust-free, tool-grade cast alumininum frame.  The blade is made of stainless steel and can be replaced.

The downsides to the Norpro are that it can be a pain to clean because of all its little nooks and crannies and handwashing it is recommended.  It also currently retails on Amazon.com for $27.99, which is a bit steep for something you may not end up using very often.

The Starfrit is slightly smaller and is made mostly of plastic, so it is much lighter than the metal Norpro.

The blade on the Starfrit peeler is also stainless steel, and the peeler comes with 2 spare blades as well as plastic protectors for the blades and for the spike holder (that you push the apple onto).  The Starfrit was easy to use and made quick work of peeling apples.

It was very easy to clean (the directions say to clean it with a wet soapy cloth) because it didn't have as many nooks and crannies.

The downsides to the Starfrit are that I wished that it also cored the apples, as well as peeling them, though the peeler also comes with a combination apple slicer/corer.

I also wonder how well it will hold up in the long run compared to my sturdy Norpro which could easily last for years if well taken care of.  One huge selling point (in my book) of the Starfrit is the price.  It currently retails on Amazon.com for $15.20, almost half the cost of the Norpro.

In the end, the best peeler for you depends on how much you are willing to spend and what you are going to use it for.  As soon as someone designs a gadget that also has the option to peel and core, without slicing, then that will be the best peeler in my book.

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So now that I've got all these peeled apples, what to make with them?  I was in the mood for something simple, so I whipped up some fried apples and spooned them over some vanilla bean ice cream.  Pure heaven!

There are lots of recipes out there for fried apples, but the way I do it is by melting a bit of butter in a 10-inch non-stick skillet,

and then sprinkling a layer of brown sugar over the butter,

followed by the apple, which I slice into thin wedges,

and then stirring the apples so that they get coated in all that buttery sugary goodness until it forms a syrup.

Then I sprinkle some cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt over everything,

and keep stirring until the apples get fork tender and the syrup is thick and yummy.

You could just eat these apples by themselves after they've cooled a bit,

 or spoon them over ice cream--SO GOOD.  The apples are soft and covered with caramel syrupy goodness, which starts to melt the ice cream . . . mmmm . . . time to go and make so more!!

Fried Apples
Makes 4 to 6 servings

2 medium apples
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon table salt

1. Peel and core the apples and then slice them into 1/4-inch wedges.

2. Melt the butter in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat.  When the butter has fully melted, sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter and then quickly place the apple slices in a single layer on top of the brown sugar.  With a wooden spoon, stir the apples to coat them in the butter and brown sugar.  Continue to stir the apples.  When the butter and brown sugar have formed a syrup, sprinkle the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt over the ingredients in the pan and stir to incorporate.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to stir the apples until they are fork tender and the syrup has reduced and thickened slightly.  Remove the skillet from the heat and let the apples cool for several minutes.  Serve alone, or as a topping for ice cream.

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS!! *Contest now closed*


Starfrit wants one of you to be able to try out the Apple Pro-peeler too!  In order to enter this giveaway, leave a comment below telling me what your favorite apple dish is.  This contest is only open to those with a US address (but I still love my international readers!).  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you, otherwise I'll have to choose a new winner!  I will keep the comments open until Thursday, October 29th, 2009, 10 pm PST.  The winner will be chosen using a random number generator (random.org) and will be announced on Friday, October 30th, 2009!

** Starfrit is on Facebook!  Become a fan here.  If you scroll down their Facebook page, there is a link to a video of Chef Curtis Stone cooking with Starfrit products . . . I have a total foodie crush on him (gotta love that accent!).

Chipotle Pork Quichelettes

A few weeks ago I received an email from Challenge Dairy, a dairy company here in the West, asking if I would be interested in participating in a holiday recipe showdown.  The deal was that Challenge Dairy would send me some free goodies and I would then use those goodies to create a recipe using Challenge Butter in a category they would choose for me.  I figured it would be stupid to say no to free butter! As Julia Child said, "With enough butter, anything is good."  Besides, I'm never one to back down from a recipe challenge!

When my Challenge Dairy package arrived in the mail I learned that my challenge was to create a holiday appetizer recipe.  I began thinking about a way to showcase butter in an appetizer. One of the items included in the package was a jar of ground chipotle chile.  The spice bottled triggered an idea to make chipotle pork quichelettes, so I used the coupons also included in the package to go to the grocery store and pick up a box of Challenge Butter.

I used the butter to make a SUPER EASY soft pastry dough.  I'm serious--EASY.  I'll show you.  All you do is mix together some flour, egg, salt, and lots of butter together in a bowl until it makes a dough that you can form into a ball.

Then, on a floured work surface, you roll that ball of dough out into a log,

and cut the log into 20 pieces (I cut the log in half, then cut those halves into halves, and so on).

Still with me?  Then you roll each piece into a ball and flatten the ball in between your hands.

Then you just press it into the well of a muffin tin and use your fingers to press the dough up the sides a bit.

 

That's it!!  No worrying about cutting in any ingredients or about your butter not being cold enough--you START with softened butter!

Ok, once you've prepared all of your quichelette crusts, it's time to make the filling.  This is even easier. Just fry up some ground pork in a skillet and season it with some salt and ground chipotle chile.  Then you sprinkle the pork, along with some finely shredded cheddar cheese and minced chives into the quichelette crusts.

Then you beat some salt, eggs, and half-and-half together in a bowl and then slowly pour a bit of it into each quichelette until it reaches the top of the crust.

I like to pour the mixture into a liquid measuring cup so that it's easier to pour into the quichelettes.

Now just stick 'em in the oven until they've started to brown and they're DONE!!

The butter really is the star in these quichelettes.  It's important to use a butter that you love the flavor of, because it makes all the difference in the crust.  The butter makes the quichelette crust buttery and flaky so that it melts in your mouth.  The quiche filling has a wonderful smoky flavor with just a bit of a kick from the ground chipotle chili. These quichelettes are so good that you may just want to skip the meal altogether and fill up on appetizers!

Chipotle Pork Quichelettes
Makes 20 quichelettes


Tart Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
11 tablespoons (5.5 ounces) butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, butter, egg, and salt together with a wooden spoon, or with a hand mixer on the lowest speed.  Mix until the dough comes together into a cohesive mixture, rather than lots of individual lumps, and can be formed into a ball.

2. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a log about 15 inches long.  Cut the log into 20 equally sized pieces.  Roll each piece of dough into a ball and then flatten it slightly with your palms.  Place the dough into a greased muffin tin and use your fingers to press the dough out and up the sides of the muffin well to shape the sides.

Filling
6 ounces lean ground pork
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon minced chives
2 eggs
1 cup half-and-half cream

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  In a skillet, cook the ground pork over medium heat until no longer pink.  While it is cooking, season it with the ground chipotle chile and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt.

3. Sprinkle the sausage, cheddar cheese and chives into the tart shells.  In a bowl, beat the eggs, cream, and remaining salt together until combined. Pour the mixture into the quichelette crusts until it reaches the top edge of the crusts.

3. Bake the quichelettes for 26-28 minutes or until slightly browned.  Let them cool for about 10 minutes and then very gently lift them out with a butter knife and serve warm.

**Challenge Dairy is running a sweepstakes for a chance to win a 7 day/6 night vacation to the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch (ooooh, pick me! pick me!) in Montana's Paradise Valley, just North of Yellowstone National Park.  They're also giving away a big kitchen package from OXO and Spice Islands worth $850 to one lucky first place winner. Go and enter the Sweepstakes!  Also, if you write a post about the sweepstakes, you can submit the link to ChallengeButter@gmail.com and be entered into the drawing.

SUPER TOP SECRET GYOZA RECIPE

Today I'm over on Steamy Kitchen sharing my SUPER TOP SECRET recipe for gyoza. 

Click on over to get my recipe!