October 10, 2011 - Pass the Peas, Please

Pass the Peas, Please - October 10, 2011

Greetings to all the wonderful friends and fans of Rosalie Serving Cookbooks.  If there is one thing I have learned about cooking, it is simply this...there are usually one or  two food items that most everybody hates.

 

It could be the black olives on the pizza, the mushrooms or onions on the burger, the raisins in the cookies, or more likely, the dreaded peas, fixed alone or in anything.

 

My husband tells the story of when he was growing up and how his mother was insistent on her children eating everything on their plate.

 

He would simply wait until his mother was not watching, and then scraped the peas off into a 2-inch hollow ridge below the table top, which also served as a brace to the table itself.  The brace was lower on one side, and easy enough to stuff in any contents desired.  It wasn't until years later, when my mother-in-law decided she needed a new kitchen table that she discovered a green dried paste lining the under  brace.

 

I think we can all sympathize to the taste of the canned mushy peas, but also admit that the fresh frozen peas of recent years are a much better version.

 

Take for instance the awesome recipe of Vermicelli with Peas & Pancetta. This recipe features Pancetta, and Italian salt cured bacon, seasoned with such spices as nutmeg, fennel, peppercorns and dried ground peppers.  It is then dried for at least  3 months.  It's rendering  goes right into the creamy sauce, giving the whole dish a most pleasant flavor.

 

The fresh frozen peas are tossed into the dish along with heavy cream and cheese, giving it  just a little crunch of goodness.  Put it all together and you have a classic  pasta with peas dish that even peas-haters will have to love.

 

I say, cook it up tonight, and let your taste-buds go crazy with delight!  You may even have to say…"pass the peas, please."

 

Pasta with Peas and Pancetta

October 10, 2011

Vermicelli with Peas & Pancetta

NOTE:  This is a delightful pasta dish, with a creamy  sauce and fresh  frozen peas and mushrooms.  Awesome!  Can't find pancetta?...use a thick meaty bacon, it works great.

 

12- ounces vermicelli or thin spaghetti

1 tablespoon salt

 

4 to 5 slices pancetta, or thick sliced lean bacon, cut into small pieces

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

 

1 medium onion, chopped fine, about 1 cup

2 cups thick sliced white mushrooms

 

3 cups heavy whipping cream, a little more if needed

2 full cups Pecorino Romano, or Romano/ Parmagiano cheese 

 

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas

 

1 cup reserved pasta water, if needed

 

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

crushed red pepper flakes

  

1.  Fry pancetta in 2 tablespoons olive oil until crisp, about 10 minutes.  Move pancetta to edge of fry pan and add the onions and mushrooms with another 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Saute together for about 5 minutes until onions and mushrooms are lightly browned.

 

2.  Add the heavy cream and cheese and stir constantly for about 2 to 3 minutes, until sauce is just bubbly.  Turn way down, and watch closely to avoid scorching

 

3.    Boil vermicelli in an 8-quart pot boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt for about 6 to 7  minutes. During last 2 minutes of boiling, add the peas. Complete cooking the pasta al dente.  Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain pasta and peas together.   Add pasta and peas to pan with the cream sauce.  Add salt and pepper; stir together well and place into a large pasta bowl.  Sprinkle the top with a few red pepper flakes.   Use the pasta water for later if the pasta gets a little to thick, then add a little at a time if wanting to refresh the sauce a little. 

Serves 4 to 6. 

The Best Pumpkin of All

 November 9, 2011

The Best Pumpkin of All

 

Greetings to all the wonderful friends and fans of Rosalie Serving Cookbooks.  Here we are again right smack in the middle of Holiday time, and that means cleaning, decorating, and of course....baking.

 

One of America's favorite deserts, of course, has to be the Pumpkin Pie.

 

Worried that there wouldn't be enough pumpkin available this year, I did research on the largest pumpkin ever grown.  It turns out that Jim and Kelsey Bryson of Ormstown, Quebec, Canada brought their homegrown pumpkin to the annual Prince Edward Pumpkinfest for the winning weight of 1,818.5 pounds.

 

Now we can recite to our kids for real...."Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater, had a wife but couldn't keep her.  He put her in a pumpkin shell, and there he kept her very well."  She not only had her own private bedroom and sauna, but a greenhouse, pool, and mother-in-law quarters.

 

With this one pumpkin alone, everyone here and every Third World Country can have their very own pumpkin pie.

 

Is the lowly pumpkin worthy of all it's popularity?  Yea, I say, in every way.  Just to mention all the vitamins alone would take from now to tomorrow.  It is rich in antioxidant fiber, full of Vitamin A and low in fat and calorie.  The pumpkin seeds are a whole other nutritional matter.

 

Besides being so good for us, we can use the pumpkin in breads, cakes, pies, cookies, jams, sauces, soups, stews, ravioli, and for wallpaper paste.  Well, maybe not the last one.  You do get the drift.

 

So I offer my most awesome, wonderful, mouthwatering, pumpkin dessert... Pumpkin Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Filling and Candied Pecans.

 Your guests will kiss and hug you, just looking at this beautiful creation.  The cake is soft and rich in cinnamon, and the cheese filling along with the candied pecans, send it over the top.

 

So, have a blessed holiday, and be sure to serve the "best pumpkin of all."

 

Happy Holidays

Rosalie

 

 

Recipe - Pumpkin Cake Roll with Cream Cheese and Candied Pecans

Pumpkin Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Filling and Candied Pecans 

 

NOTE:  This recipe is one that you will make over and over.  I can't tell you how good it is, you will just have to experience it.

 

1 (15-inch by 10-inch) cookie sheet

parchment paper to fit cookie sheet

melted butter

flour

 

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup solid packed pumpkin

 

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

peppermint sprigs

 

Cream Cheese Filling

1( 8-ounce) package cream cheese

4 tablespoons butter (not margarine)

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 

Candied Pecans

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoon sugar

 

1.  Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Using parchment or waxed paper, brush on melted butter and dust with flour.

 

2.  Beat eggs, sugar, and pumpkin until well mixed, about 1 minute.

 

3.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  Add to same mixing bowl containing the pumpkin mixture, and mix on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.  Scrape down sides as needed.

 

4. Pour mixture onto cookie sheet, making sure batter is evenly spread, using spatula.   Bake cake for 15 minutes.

 

5.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  After cooling, loosen cake around edges.  Sprinkle a large clean kitchen towel or pillow case with 3/4 cup powdered sugar.  Flip cake onto towel, and gently remove pan.  Starting from the 15-inch side, roll up cake and towel together; let set for about 1 hour.

 

6.  While cake is cooling, make cream cheese filling using an electric mixer.  Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth; set aside in refrigerator.

 

7.  Place pecans in dry skillet and sprinkle with sugar. Over medium heat constantly stir pecans until sugar melts and pecans are candied, about 2 to 3 minutes; set aside on waxed paper.

 

8.  Unroll towel and cake; remove towel and place cake  back on cookie sheet.  Spread 3/4 cup cream cheese filling over cake, spreading within 1/2- inch of edges. Next, sprinkle 3/4 cup candied pecans over filling. Roll cake up gently and place seam-side down on decorative tray.  Spread remainder cream cheese filling across top of roll, and sprinkle with remaining nuts.  Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar, and garnish ends with peppermint springs if desired.  Makes 12 1-inch slices.