Dried Corn, aka my favorite food in the world

For starters, you should know that this is a very "Pennsylvania Dutch" dish (meaning it was invented by German immigrants using native food).  After knowing that bit of trivia, you should know that if you are lucky enough to be in the state of Pennsylvania, you can buy Cope's Dried Corn, and skip the drying yourself.  You can also find it in some stores in Ohio and in Southern Season in Chapel Hill.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of corn, 600g or so (or frozen corn, about a pound)
• 1 liter of milk
• 3T butter
• salt
• sugar
• 1/2 cup light cream

Directions:

• Drain the corn. Use a salad spinner if you have it to get the extra milk out.
• Put it on parchment paper on a baking sheet and let dry in a 250F oven.  Stir every ten to fifteen minutes to make sure no kernels are burning.
• Once all the water is out of the corn, melt 2T of butter in the bottom of the pan.  Add the corn.
• Pour in half a liter of milk.  Bring to a simmer and let cook on low for a long time.
• Add milk as it gets soaked up.
• When the corn is as tender as you like, add sugar and salt to taste. Stir in the cream.
• It is very excellent with a bit of black pepper on top!

My Mother's Stuffing

Ingredients:

• Bread cut into one-inch cubes or stuffing mix (about four cups of bread or 3 cups of stuffing mix)
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 onion
• 2T butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth

Directions:

• Chop celery and onions into small pieces.  Sauté in butter until the onions are translucent and the celery is tender.
• Mix with bread.
• Pour a bit of broth over the mixture and stir again.
• If you want, you can put this inside your bird, or you can just put it in a casserole and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F (covered for the first 15).

Ex-Pat Cranberry Sauce

When you're abroad, cranberries, a native berry to the Americas, are not so readily available.  You can however find them in the dried fruit section of many grocery stores.

Ingredients:

• Dried cranberries
• Orange juice
• Water
• Sugar

Directions:

• Place cranberries in a sauce pan. Cover cranberries with a mixture of orange juice and water (equal parts). 
• Bring to a slow boil and reduce to a simmer.
• Let cook until the berries are plump.
• Add as much or as little sugar as you like.
• This won't be as glistening and bright as when you start with fresh or frozen cranberries, but it still tastes good!

Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe.

Alix K's Pastry Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 C butter (in chunks)
• 6 T cold water

Directions:

Combine dry pastry ingredients, cut in butter. Add water gradually until pastry forms (handle as little as possible). 

For the Filling

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar of your preference
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of pumpkin puree (if using fresh, be sure to squeeze out the water!)
• 12 ounces of whole milk or cream

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.
• Combine sugar, salt, and spices.
• Beat eggs in a separate bowl and stir in sugar mixture and pumpkin.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
• Pour into the pie shell.  This can be in one big pie pan or a variety of mini ones.
• Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature for 350 degrees Farenheit and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (usually 40 to 50 for a large pie and 25 to 35 for smaller pies).
• Cool for two hours before serving.  Can be served warm or refrigerated.

Alix K's Apple or Pear Tarte Tatin with Recipe for Pastry Crust

Pastry Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 C butter (in chunks)
• 6 T cold water

Directions:
Combine dry pastry ingredients, cut in butter. Add water gradually until pastry forms (handle as little as possible). Shape into 5-in.-wide flat circle, wrap, and refrigerate 20 minutes.


Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 flavorful apples or pears (red apples are especially pretty)
• 2 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 T butter in 12 pieces (I forgot this part)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• On a floured surface, roll out pastry into a rough circle at least 16 in. wide. Fold in half, transfer to a baking sheet, unfold (it will hang over the edges). Refrigerate.
• Wash fruit, do not peel. Quarter, core, and slice each quarter into six slices. 
• Get out pastry, spread fruit over it. (You can just dump the fruit onto the pastry, or to make it pretty, you can pinwheel the overlapping slices, innermost circle facing clockwise, next counterclockwise, etc.)
• Mix sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle over fruit. Top with pieces of butter. Fold edges of pastry up over fruit (will not cover the middle). 
• Bake 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden.

Note: for a fancy touch, you can cover 1/4 C raisins with 1 T of Calvados and warm gently (microwave) to plump the raisins. Sprinkle them, and drizzle any liquid, over the fruit before folding the pastry over (I did this with raisins, dried apples, and dried cherries in whiskey.  Excellent).

Note 2: as you will see from the ingredients, this is not very sweet at all. You can dress it up, of course, with pouring cream or whipped cream or crème anglaise or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Pumpkin Spice Bread/Cake

A delicious take on Pumpkin Bread. Adapted from Martha Stewart's collection

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree (if canned, there's no problem.  If you cook your own, make sure to squeeze out excess water ahead of time)
• 1/2 cup raisins or currants (optional)
• salted butter for serving (it's especially good if you mix honey into the butter!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or a loaf pan.
2. Whisk flour, basking soda, salt, and spices.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and mix gently just until smooth.  Over-mixing will cause the cake to peak.
3. Turn the batter into the pan and smooth it until it is even.  Bake until a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out with just a few crumbs.  The baking could take anywhere from 45 to 120 minutes depending on your oven and choice of pan (if it is baking a very long time, and the top looks like it might burn, tent with foil).  Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.
4. Top with butter or your favorite frosting.  Enjoy!

Spicy Chickpea and Eggplant Stew

from Aaron's Greek cookbook.  We'll try to find the name and add a picture.

2 large eggplants, cubed
15 ounces chickpeas (if starting with dried chickpeas, soak 7 ounces or 200g overnight, then cook)
4 T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
42 ounces of tomatoes (we used fresh, but recipe says canned)
salt and black pepper

For the garnish:
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
a few sprigs of fresh cilantro

Serve over rice.  (We served it over toast tonight.)

For the stew...

1. Put eggplant cubes in colander; sprinkle with salt.  Set colander in a bowl or sink and leave for at least 30 minutes to let the bitter juices escape.  Rinse thoroughly with cold water and pat dry on kitchen paper.
2. Drain chickpeas (either from cooking water or can water).
3. Heat oil in a large pot.  Add garlic and onion; cook gently until soft.  (They do not need to brown. The garnish will be browned onions and garlic.)  Add spices and cook, stirring until the spices are evenly coating the onions.  Add eggplant; stir to coat with spices and onion.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and chickpeas.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. 

For the garnish...

1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and, when very hot, add the sliced onion and garlic.  
2. Fry until golden and crisp.

To serve...

1. Serve over rice (or bread).  We prefer jasmine or basmati rice.  A long grain is best.
2. Top with garnish.
3. Add fresh cilantro.
4. I (Lisa) also like to add plain yogurt.  
5. Enjoy!

Aaron and Lisa's Typical French Lunch

Le déjeuner.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small apples (we've been having Elstar, Reinette d'Anjou and Gala, all local)

Local, fresh-baked bread (pictured above is the baguette)

Local cheese (above is Cherista, a mix of goat's and sheep's milk)

(For meat-eaters, add saucisson, a cured sausage)

Cut to desired portions, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Custard

2 cups cooked pumpkin (see below for instructions)

1/4 cup sugar (I prefer raw cane, and I don't like my custard to be very sweet.)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt
12 ounces milk (preferably whole for smoothest texture)
2 eggs

Mix pumpkin with sugar, salt, and spices.

Mix 12 ounces of milk (lower than two percent will lead to a not-as-pleasant texture) into the pumpkin mixture.  (You might need more or less depending on how moist your pumpkin or other winter squash is.)

Mix two eggs into the orange mess you have created.

Bake at 350F (or what seems to the the equivalent in our toaster oven (190C, not an actual mathematical equivalent) until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  This could take anywhere from an hour to an hour and forty-five minutes.  Enjoy!