Christmas Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Dating further back than the Spinach-Orange Muffins for Thanksgiving is the tradition of the Burton Christmas Pudding. Similarly, you usually don't tell people the main ingredients until after they have taken a bite and fallen in love. My mother found this recipe in Redbook in 1984 and has made it every year since.

The main ingredients? Potatoes and carrots. The key? Overcook the crap out of it. Otherwise it will fall apart when you take it out of the pan. Even if it is the driest thing ever, the caramel sauce brings it back to life. It is kind of like a carrot cake covered in caramely goodness, so how can you really go wrong?

By the way, taking a picture of all the ingredients measured out is really handy, as it can serve as visual confirmation that you forgot to put in the nutmeg. But fear not, my mistake was realized in time.

Christmas Pudding with Caramel Sauce

(Adapted from a 1984 issue of Redbook)

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup raw, finely grated carrots

1 cup raw, finely grated potatoes

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup raisins, rinsed in hot water and drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix baking soda, carrots, and potatoes in a bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Then beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. Sift in flour, spices, and salt over wet mixture. Add the raisins and the carrots and potatoes.

Place batter in 5 cup buttered and floured mold. Place mold in a larger baking pan that is filled with about 1-2 inches of water. Bake for 50-60 minutes (BUT PROBABLY LONGER...OVERCOOK IT DAMNIT) until pudding is moist, but set and starting to separate from the sides of the mold. Set on rack to cool and remove onto serving plate while still warm.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt sugar and butter on top of double boiler over low heat. Add cream slowly, stirring well. Remove pan from heat. Stir in vanilla. Serve warm, poured over slices of pudding.

Tempeh Curry

I had never had tempeh before making this recipe a couple weeks ago, but now I'm hooked. I've made this dish again since then. It's fast, easy, and delicious and makes great leftovers. I used fingerling potatoes, they are my favorite. I was also excited to use tumeric, which may or may not be the best thing for you ever.

Tempeh Curry
(adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

1 1/2 cups fingerling potatoes (you can use any small, waxy potatoes)
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tumeric (I doubled the amount)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
3/4 cup water
8oz tempeh
Cream
Cilantro



Cut the potatoes in half, sprinkle with half the salt, and steam for about 20 minutes or until done.

In a skillet, melt the butter into the olive oil, then add the onion and cook on low for about 5 minutes. Add the spices, then the water, tomatoes, and the rest of the salt. Remove from heat, stir in a bit of cream, then blend in a food processor. Return to the heat and add the tempeh, sliced. Cook for 5 minutes, then stir in potatoes and serve in a large bowl.

Miso Yellow Onion Salad Dressing

I invented a recipe!

And by that, I mean that I became obsessed with the onion miso salad dressing at the salad bar at the Seward Coop & Deli, so I assembled all the ingredients listed on their little bottle and put them in made up quantities in my food processor.

I did not write down what I put in so only the powers that be really know, but I will urge you to be adventurous and do the same. I usually find it difficult to stray from a recipe, so this was exciting, in a nerdy food-and-recipe-loving way. Luckily it turned out well, miso ain't cheap.

Miso Yellow Onion Salad Dressing

(Inspired by the Seward Coop & Deli)

1 medium yellow onion

Miso

Canola Oil

Red Wine Vinegar

Water

Peel the onion and chop in half. Use about 1/4 cup miso. A smidge of oil and vinegar, and 1/4 to 1/3 cup water. Blend. 

Put onto salad. Enjoy.

Eat Your Vegetables Damnit!

Last week Cafe Brenda in downtown Minneapolis closed, so Alex (my partner-in-crime for all things food-related) decided we needed to go while we had a chance. It was started by Brenda Langton, who is very involved in the local food movement and started the Mill City Farmers Market, and has been around for 23 years. I had a wonderful sweet potato soup followed by mock duck tacos and Alex had sesame crusted fish and gobbled up the fresh bread. It was a lovely dinner, but perhaps my favorite part was when we got our checks:



Hah.

That is it for now. I do have another recipe-centered entry on its way, but not enough time before work to share it with you now. Although, I did just eat lunch and highly recommend quinoa drizzled with walnut oil and mixed with parmesan cheese. Super easy and delicious. And in case you were wondering, the persimmons are still not ripe. Persimmon pudding will be mine someday...

Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

My plan for my second post has been foiled by persimmons that have yet to become ripe, so that recipe will have to wait. Oh well, it will give me more time to decide between persimmon pudding and persimmon tea cake. So instead, I directed my baking urge last night to oatmeal chocolate chip cookies care of Orangette. They came out perfectly and keeping the percentage of recipes I've tried from Molly's blog and book at 100%. The only change I made was using dark chocolate chips.

Hopefully I will grace you with something delicious and persimmon related soon, that is, if the three persimmons sitting on my kitchen decide to cooperate.



Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Orangette

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 and 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 and 1/2 cups quick oats

1. Sift together dry ingredients.

2. Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Add dry ingredients.

3. Stir in chocolate chips and oatmeal. Preheat oven to 325 F. Refrigerate dough 30-60 minutes.

4. Bake cookies for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Thanksgiving Muffins

When most people think of Thanksgiving, they think of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and cranberries.

I think of spinach...and oranges.

More specifically, my mom's Spinach and Orange Muffins, also known as Thanksgiving Muffins. I spent many of my childhood years as The World's Pickiest Eater and ate countless Thanksgiving dinners consisting of only these muffins and a slice of pumpkin pie.

"They sounded terrible, I have no idea why I ever made them," says my mother when asked how this tradition started, "but they turned out to be delicious. I made everyone try them before I said what was in them." Which is pretty much what I always have to do, as the words spinach, orange, and muffin in one sentence tend to elicit the words "ew" and "gross" from most people. But trust me. They are delicious.

This year was my first Thanksgiving away from my family, and the first time I made these muffins myself. I don't usually stray from what is written in a recipe (it frightens me, especially when the stakes are a muffinless Thanksgiving) but I made a few substitutions and they turned out perfectly. I put the recipe below with my alterations in parentheses. Give them a try, they are a perfect savory winter treat.

Thanksgiving Muffins (Spinach Orange Muffins)

3 cups fresh spinach, stems removed

1 medium orange, seedless and halved

4 large eggs

1 and 1/3 c vegetable oil (I used walnut oil, which is better for you, but expensive, so I wouldn't substitute it all the time)

2 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 1 cup sugar .75 cups raw blue agave nectar)

1 cup chopped pecans

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

1 and 1/4 tsp salt (I used sea salt)

1 and 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin pan, even if it is nonstick.

Wash the spinach and drain well. Cut into 1/4 inch ribbons.

Cut the orange in half and grind in a food processor, one half at a time.

Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl. Then add the sugar and oil and mix well. Stir in the spinach, orange, and pecans.

Sift together dry ingredients, then add to the liquid ingredients until just moistened. Do not over mix. Spoon into muffin pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes and turn the pan halfway through. When done, a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then on wire racks. They are best served warm, so if you make them ahead of time, warm them in the oven or microwave before serving.

Makes 2 and 1/2 dozen muffins.