Asian Corn Fritters

Ingredients

Spice Paste:
2/3 c. coarsely chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped garlic
1 c. chopped fresh chives
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

Body:
4 c. corn kernels, either from frozen or cut from fresh cobs
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/4 c. white rice flour
1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 eggs
4 oz chopped raw shrimp
3 tbsp red chile peppers (optional for spicy fritters)

Procedure:
Put the onion, garlic, spices and condensed milk in a food processor and pulse until it's a smooth paste.  In a mixing bowl, blend everything and add the spice paste.  Add enough water to make the batter slightly loose and no more.

In a skillet, fry the fritters in a 1/4 inch of oil.  This recipe called for deep frying, but I found shallow frying works just fine, and the fritters don't fragment.  Cook for 2 min. per side roughly, until golden brown. 

These are great by themselves or with a bit of sour cream.  There's probably some sort of Asian dipping sauce that would be great too.

Popovers

(requires popover cups for baking)

Popovers are a pastry that is crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside.  Alton Brown has a good eats episode that discusses this and how the steam from the milk puffs up the inside due to the unique shape of the popover cup.

This recipe is a good one for plain popovers or turning into a sweet treat with sugar and cinammon on the outside

1 1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 c. milk
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3 eggs

Optional sugar coating:
4 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinammon
1/4 tsp allspice
2 tbsp melted butter for brushing

Oven @ 450 F
Whisk the milk, eggs, butter, sugar and salt until light and frothy.  Add the flour and blend well until you have a loose batter.  Pour into 6 popover cups.  Bake for 15 minutes. 
After first 15 minutes, turn over down to 350.  Do not open oven.  Bake for additional 25 minutes.

If making the sugared variation, mix the sugar and put in a zip-lock bag for tossing.  Brush each popover thoroughly with melted butter.  Toss each popover in the bag of sugar and spice until thoroughly covered.  Eat.

Fruit Cobbler - Based on Grandma's

Cobbler, in my experience is a scrambled pie.  I've heard the meaning of the name refers to the batter bubbling up through the surface of the fruit and liquid and forming cobblestone-like features.  This is sort of true with this recipe.  Grandma's was a lot like that.  My auntie makes a great cobbler, but she uses store-bought pie crust and layers that.  Somehow it just doesn't jive.  Dad would disagree though; he loves auntie's cobbler more than any I've made.
Ingredients:

1 stick of butter in a dutch oven

Batter:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Fruit:
8 c. fruit
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Oven @ 350 F.

Put the dutch oven in the oven with the butter and let it melt.  Check periodically, remove once melted, or else it will start burning.  Reduce heat to 300 F.

Prepare the fruit (chop, hull, peel, pit, etc), add the sugar and lemon, stir and set aside in a bowl.

Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk till evenly blended.  Add the buttermilk and mix until you have a pour-able batter.  If it's too thick add a little more buttermilk.

Pour half of the batter into the dutch oven, evening coating the bottom of the pan.  Add half of the fruit, spooning it with the liquid over the top of the batter.  Add the remaining batter on top of that as a second layer, then spoon the remaining fruit over top.  Pour any excess juice over top as well.  Cover with dutch oven lid and bake at 300 F for 1 hour.

Pink Rhubarb Curd

Makes 18 oz, or three 6 oz ball-type jars of curd.

Ingredients
400 g chopped rhubarb
1/4 c. water

3 eggs large
3 tsp cornflour/corn starch
1/2 c to 3/4 c sugar
a drop of pink colouring optional
3/4 c unsalted butter cubed

Method
Put rhubarb, water and sugar in a medium pot on stove, over medium heat.  Cook about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  While that cooks, break the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk them up. 

Once the rhubarb's broken down, put the cornstarch in a small bowl and add a couple spoonfuls of the rhubarb mixture, and blend it til smooth with a spatula.  Add food coloring to this if using. 

Temper the eggs by whisking constantly and adding a ladle at a time of the hot rhubarb mixture.  Do two or three of these until the eggs start to thicken.  Reduce the heat to med-low, and add the tempered egg and cornstarch mixture, blending and stirring it well.  Cook over the lowered fire for another 5 minutes, stirring smoothly. 

Remove from heat and add the cubed butter, stirring until they've all melted.  The curd is done and ready for jarring. 

Untested Custard Rice Pudding Recipe

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan
3/4 cup white rice
5 cups whole milk
5 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 to 34 cup raisins, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan with butter.

Using a double boiler over medium heat, cook the rice in the milk uncovered for 25 minutes, and then covered for another 25 minutes, until the rice is thoroughly cooked. If the rice is still a little too firm, let sit on the burner over low heat for another 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

While the rice is cooking, make your egg mixture by combining the egg yolks, vanilla and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add the egg yolk mixture, dry ingredient mixture, 3 tablespoons butter and the heavy cream to the cooled rice, mixing between each addition.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Add the raisins, if using. Set the entire pan in a water bath and bake for 1 hour. If you use raisins, halfway through the baking you have to stir the bottom by sliding a knife along the sides (this is so the raisins will not gather at the bottom) without disturbing the custard. Bake until the rice pudding is no longer liquid. It will have solidified and a slight caramel colored crust will have formed on top. Cool and refrigerate until serving.

Awesome Rice Pudding

Based on Alton Brown's Recipe

Ingredients
2 1/2 cup cooked long grain or basmati rice 
2 cup whole milk 
1 cup heavy cream 
1 1/2 cup coconut milk 
4 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup 
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 
1/2 tsp cinnamon

optional:
3 ounces golden raisins, approximately 2/3 cup 
3 ounces chopped unsalted pistachios, approximately 2/3 cup 

Directions
In a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat, combine the cooked rice and milk. Heat until the mixture begins to boil. Decrease the heat to low and cook at a simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, stirring frequently, approximately 5 minutes. 

Increase the heat to medium, add the heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar, and cardamom and continue to cook until the mixture just begins to thicken again, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Use a whisk to help prevent the cardamom from clumping. Once the mixture just begins to thicken, remove from the heat and stir in the raisins and pistachios. Transfer the mixture to individual serving dishes or a glass bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Dirt Cake

Dirt:
1 package chocolate sandwich cookies

Pudding:
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 pkg vanilla pudding (or use 2 chocolate)
3 cups milk

Cream Cheese Mixture:
8 oz. package cream cheese
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Cream:
Whip together 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

One package neon sour worms (or you could use regular gummy worms instead)

Directions:

Crush sandwich cookies, using a rolling pin or a food processor. Place half the crumbs in clean planter pot or large bowl; set remaining crumbs aside.

In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter. Gradually add powdered sugar; stir in vanilla.

In another large bowl, beat together pudding mix and three cups of milk for two minutes. Fold whipped cream or whipped topping into pudding, then fold cream cheese mixture into pudding mixture.

Scrape filling into pot or bowl, then sprinkled with remaining cookie crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Decorate with candy worms before serving.

Jam and Rhubarb Curd Tart

This recipe uses jam instead of fresh fruit and sugar to go with the rhubarb.  I used blackberry, but probably any jam will do.

Size: this fills an 11 inch tart pan with a crust already baked and prepared in it

Make one recipe Pate Sablee

1 1/3 c. prepared fruit jam
1.5 lbs rhubarb stems, skinned and chopped
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
juice from 1/2 an orange
1 tbsp water

1 hour before making the filling, start by preparing the dough for the crust (see Pate Sablee above).  This must chill for 30 minutes and then bake for 15.

After the crust is baked and cooling, start preparing the Curd filling.

Skin and chop the rhubarb, place it all in a medium pot on stove.  Add the jam, salt, juice and water.  Bring to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes.  While that comes to a boil, separate the eggs and whisk the yolks till smooth.  In a separate small bowl, put the dry cornstarch, then add a little (just enough to make a paste) of the curd mixture, blend it.  Keep blending until you have a mixture that's free-flowing, and add it into the filling pot.

After the 5 minutes cooking time, the rhubarb should be dissolving.  This is the time to temper the egg yolks.  Like with the cornstarch, add a little of the cooking mixture to the egg yolks, whisking them to blend evenly.  Blend about 2/3 c. of the fruit mixture, then pour it all into the pot.  Add the butter.  Cook for another 5 minutes on med-low, stirring constant and slowly.  Do this until the curd mixture has thickened. 

Pour the curd into the baked and cooled tart crust.  Let it cool completely overnight before serving.

Pate Sablee - French Shortcrust

This is a great crust for Tarts and certain Pie types.  It's and lightly sweet, and crumbly, not flaky.  First used it in making a blackberry and rhubarb tart

Quantity:
Makes enough dough for a thick crust in an 11-inch tart pan.  If thinner, there will be leftover that is great for making small tarts or even a galette (an unshaped pie with the dough rolled out and folded over the filling)

250 g flour
180 g. butter, salted
3/4 tsp salt
1 lg egg
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/3 c. powdered sugar

Start by whipping the granulated sugar and butter together.  This is a bit different than normal pie crusts that want the butter cut into the flour.  This gets the crust to be more crisp and crumbly.  Add the egg, and powdered sugar, and beat in the flour.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes and then roll out on floured surface.  This makes great thin crusts for tarts of various sizes, or thicker.  Roll at 1/4 inch for a thicker crust.

Once you've set the crust in the backing pan, prick the bottom with a fork in various places and weigh it down.  The simplest way is put a sheet of aluminum foil and then fill it with dry beans.  The beans aren't hurt by the high heat, and can be stored again after they've cooled.  Bake the crust by itself (without filling) for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.