Cherry-Asparagus Panini

Yet another find from Spache's fabulous blog! I made a few modifications based on my own preferences and what I had on hand, but it's still her recipe at the core. It's somewhat involved for a sandwich, but very tasty if you're willing to put the effort in.

Balsamic Cherry-Asparagus Panini
1 c. pitted sweet cherries, chopped
3 Tbsp. pomegranate balsamic vinegar
zest of 1 large lemon
6 asparagus spears, shaved (with vegetable peeler)
2 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbsp. almond oil
2 long multigrain buns (or 1 baguette, cut in half)
Brie
fresh mozzarella
salt and pepper
~1 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Combine cherries, vinegar, and lemon zest. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Toss asparagus, mint, and basil with almond oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cover the bottom half of each bun with pieces of Brie. (Make sure to leave the rind on for maximum delicious!)
4. Cover the top half of each bun with thick slices of mozzarella.
5. Slather the mozzarella with the cherry mixture and top the Brie with the herbed and oiled shaved asparagus.
6. Now, very carefully, combine the sandwich halves.
7. Brush the outside of the buns with the melted butter and grill/press until the inside gets deliciously melt-y and the outside gets deliciously toast-y. (If you have an electric panini press, use that, set to 350F. If you're doing this stovetop, I recommend cooking on medium-low.)

So much tasty!

Pumpkin Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon

ToxicFrog here! Originally we were thinking I might do a guest post someday when making a dish I'm familiar with -- cheeseburger pie, say, or spaghetti alla carbonara -- but today the baby was being full of spiders, and symbol asked if I'd make the dish she'd already picked out for today and then guest blog about it.

This is another recipe from Spache the Spatula. It is clearly a distant relative of the much plainer cheese sauce I grew up with, but the addition of bacon and pumpkin transforms it dramatically.

Now that we've tasted it, symbol and I are in agreement that it lacks a certain punchiness; she suggests adding tomato and garlic next time, both of which I'm in agreement with. I wonder if it could do with a certain heat as well, via the addition of cayenne or even mustard, but I'm not sure how well those would coexist with the pumpkin. Symbol suggests that Madras curry powder would be extremely harmonious with the pumpkin (and that the mustard would, as I suspected, be a poor addition).

The recipe as I prepared it is below. I made some substitutions, which are described in footnotes, and some changes in cooking order to make it easier to manage.

Ingredients

• 6 slices bacon¹
• 450g small pasta²
• 1 C pumpkin puree
• 2 C coconut milk³
• ¼ tsp, heaped, of ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 100g extra old cheddar, grated⁴
• 50g emmentaler, grated⁴
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp dried parsley⁵
• a pinch of majoram⁵

• For the topping:

• ⅓ C panko breadcrumbs
• ⅓ C freshly grated parmesan⁶
• 1 tbsp dried parsley⁵
• a pinch of majoram⁵

Instructions

1. Put the cheese in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice; set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the coconut milk, pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Place on a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Drain and reserve the bacon grease.
4. Return 2 tbsp of the bacon grease to the large saucepan, and add 1 tbsp of butter. Melt the butter over medium heat, then whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes until it forms a thick, golden-brown roux.
5. Stir in the pumpkin and coconut milk mixture and simmer, stirring.
6. Meanwhile, begin cooking the pasta. You can start this process earlier if you like; I waited until this point so I could re-use the pot I used for the pumpkin.
7. Once the pumpkin mixture has blended with the roux, after a few minutes of simmering (and thickened even further in doing so), stir in the cheese and let it melt, then add the parsley and crumble four of the bacon slices into it. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. As soon as the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add it to the sauce. Mix thoroughly.
9. Pour the pasta into an oven safe baking dish.
10. In a bowl, combine the panko, 1 tbsp of the bacon fat⁷, the rest of the parsley, and the parmesan. Sprinkle evenly over the pasta in the baking dish.
11. Broil until the breadcrumbs are brown and crispy.
12. Crumble the remaining two bacon slices over it and serve.

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¹ The original calls for 4 here, but we really like bacon. ↩
² I used radiatori here. The original calls for fusilli, but I think most small pastas, including shells and macaroni, would work. ↩
³ The original calls for milk. Coconut milk has the advantage of being lactose free (I'm lactose intolerant, and we were out of lactose free milk). We generally have a few tins on hand for curries, but coconut milk and cream can be substituted for the cow equivalents in surprisingly many recipes. This turned out really well and we'll probably keep making it with coconut milk in the future even once we've restocked on cow's milk; it goes nicely with the pumpkin. ↩
⁴ The original recipe calls for 50g each of mild and sharp cheddar, and 50g gouda. The "extra old" cheddar here is 2 years, which is probably what is meant by "sharp", but we don't keep milder cheddars (or any sort of gouda) on hand. The emmentaler was a happy accident -- we don't normally keep that on hand either, but had just about the right amount left over from earlier cheese-eating. When next we do this we might use the smoked gouda but would probably still omit the mild cheddar in favour of more robust cheeses. ↩
⁵ The original calls for fresh sage, but we had no fresh herbs on hand. Dried parsley we have in abundance and while it doesn't add a lot to the dish, it's an innofensive and reliable addition. The pinch of majoram adds a bit more personality. ↩
⁶ This is entirely absent from the original recipe but is a delicious addition to the crust. Finely grate it from a wedge of parmesan; if you can't get your hands on a wedge and have to use pre-grated "parmesan", omit it entirely -- the results won't be pleasant. ↩
⁷ In the original recipe a tablespoon of melted butter is used here, but there's so much bacon grease left it seems a shame to waste it. ↩

Cinnamon-Hazelnut Brownies

I'm not really much of a brownie person. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll eat brownies and I actually like most brownies, they're just not my favourite. I generally prefer things like cookies or cake or chocolate or ice cream. (Now, brownies + ice cream? That's a whole different animal! You kind of end up with a "more than the sum of its parts" situation there. Fabulous!) But yeah, brownies are not generally my first choice when it comes to baked goods. TF, however, loves them! He also loves hazelnuts. And Nutella. So, when I found a brownie recipe that called for all of these things, I had to try it.

I was tempted to leave out the cinnamon called for in these and just really focus on the hazelnuts, but I figured I'd stick to the recipe as written the first time around.

Cinnamon-Hazelnut Brownies
from Spache the Spatula
1 c. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. Dutched cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
4 oz. (114g) + 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (sorry for mixing weight, mass, and volume here)
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. chocolate-hazelnut spread (eg. EuroCreme or Nutella)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. hazelnuts, crushed

1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon).
2. Melt the butter over medium heat, then remove from heat and add the 4 oz. of chocolate chips, stirring to melt them as well.
3. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl with the sugar and beat for a couple minutes. (Spache's recipe specifies using a paddle attachment on a stand mixer, but since I have neither, I just used a regular hand mixer. It seemed to work fine.)
4. Mix in the chocolate spread, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until just blended.
6. Spread batter into a well-greased 8x8 square pan. (I skipped the parchment paper when preparing the pan. Feel free to use it if you're worried about sticking though.)
7. Combine the crushed hazelnuts (I just mashed mine up with a mortar and pestle) with the remaining semi-sweet chocolate chips and use this mixture to top the brownie batter in the pan.
8. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes. (TF thinks they probably could've stood another few minutes in the oven, but says they're delicious as is and the edges are perfect. He is in agreement with Spache that it's better to slightly undercook rich, fudgey brownies like these than to end up overcooking them.)
9. Once brownies have completely cooled, cut and enjoy!

Update: I tried a little corner of one of these brownies and, while I'm still not a brownie person, I can say that I am so glad that I didn't leave out the cinnamon! It's so nice with the richness of the chocolate and the hazelnuts! I thought that it might detract and distract from the wonderful nuttiness of these brownies, but it's just the opposite. It really does enhance the flavour. Yum!