Eric Linne's Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

Crust
1 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
5 tbsp cold butter

Filling
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla

Procedure
Oven at 350 F
Cut in butter to dry ingredients.

Press into a 8x8" pan.
Bake 15 min
For filling, mix all together, scrape/pour into the baked crust.

bake for 25 min or more til firm.

Eric normally makes a triple batch and used a 13x9 pan.  The bake time for the filling increases to ~60 min.

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

1/2 large onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 c. pureed pie pumpkin
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning, or to taste
pasta


Fry onion and garlic in butter until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Stir pumpkin puree, chicken broth, half-and-half, sour cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper, stirring often, until sauce is creamy and thick, about 5 minutes.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.

Chicken & Sausage Meatballs

These are great meatballs.  Good recipe when you've got raw chicken on hand instead of beef/pork. 

1 pound ground chicken
1 lb Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, whisked
6 tablespoons unseasoned whole-wheat bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Hungarian or hot paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves, about 1 small sprig
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, about 5 sprigs
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 lemon, zested
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Put the chicken, sausage, garlic, egg, and spices, sugar into a food processor.  Pulse until well-shredded.  Mix in bowl with bread crumbs, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, lemon zest. 

In a frying pan, melt a tbsp of butter and add the olive oil.  Turn heat to medium and make meatballs roughly the size of golfballs and fill the frying pan.  They take about 3 minutes per side to fry.  fry on both sides and set aside when done. 

Southwestern Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe may make more than anticipated.  We made it once and it was great, but I recall we had excess filling and it made a pretty large, deep-dish pie.  We have an old pie/casserole dish that's about 4 inches deep and 9 inches wide.  Makes fantastic pot pies that are very thick.

Ingredients

1 recipe pie crust of your choice
1 lb of chicken, cooked and diced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 c uncooked white rice
1 15 oz black beans, drained, rinsed
1 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 green or poblano pepper, diced
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, minced fine (optional)
1 c. sliced ripe black olives
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 c. sour cream
1 c. salsa
2 c. shredded cheese (colby, Monterey Jack; cheddar or a blend)
1 egg, beaten

Preparations

If using a prepared crust, lay it out in the pie pan.  Use a deep-dish pie plate.  If using another crust recipe, make the crust first and put dough in the refrigerator while prepping the other ingredients.

First, put the rice on to cook.  This will take about 20 minutes.  While the rice is simmering, cook the chicken if its not cooked already.  Do so in a tbsp of bacon grease or butter, add the peppers and spices.  In a large mixing bowl, add the corn, beans, olives and the cooked rice, once it's done.  Add the beaten egg and the chicken & peppers mix to this when the chicken's done and Mix together.  

Try to make two layers of filling.  Layer roughly 1.5 inches of the veggie-chicken filling on the bottom of the pie crust.  Then spread half of the sour cream on top, then half of the salsa and half of the shredded cheese.  Repeat with another layer of filling, sour cream, salsa, cheese.  Top the pie with a layer of crust and seal the edges. 

Bake at 325°F for 1 hour.  Should be golden-brown crust with bubbling hot interior and all veggies cooked.

Linne Family Mincemeat Pie Filling

Mincemeat is a rare treat that not so many people know about.  Possibly because less people cook and we're in America.  The impression I have is that this is a British tradition.  The spice, fruit and meat combination is ancient, going back to the Crusades.  Returning Crusaders brought the experiences of Middle Eastern cooking and this influenced British cooking.

This recipe is an amalgam of several.  Years of tweaking this recipe have brought me to this, which is my favorite.  This pie has unmistakable character.  Somewhere between sweet and savory, meaty and fruity, it's a Holiday treat that is definitely surprising.

I think a mincemeat pie ought to have actual meat. Any store bought version and many recipes (including Alton Brown) out there do not make this with meat, though they call for suet.  I have yet to try the recipe with suet as it's hard to find and likely expensive were I to go to a butcher.  Bacon grease does just fine.

Mincemeat is one of those fillings that's heavily preserved between sugar and alcohol and benefits from storing and aging.  I make mine at the beginning of October and it's great by Christmas.  Though you could make it earlier in the year and keep it longer.

I prefer to make my own mixed peel.  It's not terribly hard, but it's time consuming and a pain in the butt to do on the same day.  If you want to make mixed peel, do it on a different day.  Store bought will work too.

This is amazing served with sour cream, though whipped cream is nice too.

Ingredients

Meat:

2-3 lb lean beef (I like it meaty)
8 oz bacon grease

Liquids:

liquid from cooking the beef
1 c. apple cider
3/4 c. molasses
3/4 c. honey

Fruits:

2 lb. granny smith apples
8 oz. raisins
4 oz cherries
4 oz figs
8 oz prunes
6 oz currants
8 oz candied mixed peel, minced

3 oranges, juiced and zested
3 lemons, juiced and zested

Spices:

4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp ground clove
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp mace
1/2 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp salt
pinch saffron, optional

Alcohol:

1 c. red wine
1 c. brandy

Preparation (Reserve an afternoon for this recipe)

Get out a large slow-cooker and start it heating.

Simmer the beef in the bacon grease.
While the meat is simmering, chop the fruit.  Larger fruits like cherries, prunes and figs need to be chopped.  Dried cherries should at least be chopped in half.  I slice the figs & prunes into 1/4 inch strips and then cross cut them into chunks.  The apples get cored and cubed into 1 cm chunks.  Don't bother peeling them, the peel contributes pectin to the recipe.  Add all the fruit to the slow cooker.

When the beef is done cooking, cube it into 1 cm chunks and add it to the slow cooker.  Add the remaining bacon grease and the spices, the citrus zests & juices, and the mixed peel.  Add the honey and molasses.

I like to reduce the red wine over a simmering heat.  This takes awhile, but we're in no hurry.  Set a low fire under a small saucepan and add the wine to it.  Let it simmer for ~15 to 20 min until reduced by half.  Add to the pot.

Let the mixture stew for several hours, or overnight on a low heat setting.

When it's done after 4-6 hours, or overnight, add the brandy and mix well.  It's ready for jarring.

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Icing

These are great gingerbread cookies.  We made them for Halloween, hoping for pumpkin-pie flavored gingerbread.  It didn't quite work out that way.  I think that there wasn't enough pumpkin perhaps.  It just tasted like good gingerbread.  The cream cheese frosting is great.

This might be tweaked to taste more like pumpkin pie.

Cookies Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree {pure pumpkin~ not pumpkin pie filling}
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. cloves
3/4 tsp. nutmeg

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick of butter softened
1 package of cream cheese softened
5 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions
Cookies
In your mixer, combine butter, sugar, and molasses. Add your pumpkin puree and mix well. Add egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine all of the rest of the dry ingredients. Slowly mix your dry ingredients into your butter mixture until combined.
Wrap in wax or parchment paper and throw in the refrigerator for at least 3 or 4 hours until it firms up. I leave mine in over night.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly flour your work surface and split your dough into thirds. Lightly pat the top of one section of dough with flour and roll out until it is about 1/4″ thick.
Cut into desired shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Cook for 6 to 7 minutes at 375 degrees. Mine were perfect at exactly 7 minutes. Let cool completely.
Pipe your favorite icing onto each of your cookies into desired design.
Cream Cheese Frosting

Whip together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in your mixer until well combined. Add powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. It may take a minute for all of the ingredients to combine. It might look too dry to begin with, but it will mix together and turn out perfectly.

Liver, Avocado and Cashew Salad

Ingredients:
350 grams beef liver (sliced, 4 slices)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 c, arugula
2 c. mixed greens
1 c. red onion (very thin slices)
1 large avocado (ripe, diced)
150 grams roasted, salted cashews

1 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. paprika

1/2 c. dry sherry

cooking fat (butter, bacon fat, peanut oil, etc)

Method:
Marinate the liver in the balsamic vinegar overnight.

The next day, mix together the flour and spices.  The liver, if bought in slices are likely large and should be cut up into manageable pieces.  Coat each liver slice in the flour mix, then fry in a skillet in the oil for 1 minute on each side.  Don't overcook the liver. 

Once that's all cooked, slice each liver piece up into bite-sized pieces. 

For a sauce, pour the remainder of the marinade into the saucepan and add 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of butter.  Make a roux by gradually adding water and 1/2 c. of dry sherry.  The sauce should be fairly loose and pourable. 

Toss together the salad pieces; arugula, greens, avocado, cashews.  Bring to boil a small pot of water and blanch the onions for 1 minute.  Add the onions, liver, drizzle with the sauce and toss.