The Great Pumpkin... Cheesecake

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is the ultimate foodie holiday, after all. Put another check in the “wannabe” column for this foodie… I barely did any cooking. B and I had two contributions to this year’s feast – a deep fried turkey and a dessert.

I let B handle the turkey. Otherwise, we would have been just another homeowners insurance statistic. I’m happy to report that the house did not burn down (especially since it was my brother in law’s house), and no one was hurt. And for anyone who may have read my last post and is interested in the outcome of the turkey cook off this year, rotisserie took home the trophy again this year. It was the moistest most flavorful bird of the lot.

Since B took care of the turkey, dessert was up to me. I was up for the challenge, but to be honest I didn’t face it head on. I gave some serious consideration to making a pie. I knew a pie making attempt would most likely result in a great blog post but perhaps a pretty bad pie, so I chickened out. I couldn’t take the risk of screwing up PIE on THANKSGIVING. As much as I want to entertain you all with my cooking failures, I had in laws to impress. Priorities.

Since pie was off the table, I went with – wait for it – pumpkin cheesecake. (I know you didn’t see that one coming.) Still seasonally appropriate, if not all that traditional. I’ve made pumpkin cheesecakes before, but I wanted to try something a little different. So off to epicurious.com I went.

I ended up with a Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe (courtesy of Gourmet, November 1999). Not being a bourbon drinker, I didn’t have any bourbon on hand and didn’t want to buy a bottle for the two tablespoons of bourbon the recipe called for. So I opted instead for a Jameson’s Irish Whisky Pumpkin Cheesecake. Which was great because it allowed me to slightly put my own spin on it. (Sure, I wouldn’t win any awards on Top Chef Just Desserts for swapping out bourbon for whisky, but it was Thanksgiving. No risks!)

It was delicious, and despite the length of the ingredients list, not all that challenging.

Here’s the recipe:

Crust

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted 

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon bourbon (or Jameson’s Irish Whisky)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

Topping

• 2 cups sour cream (20 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon bourbon (or Jameson’s Irish Whisky)
• Garnish – pecan halves

Make crust

• Butter the sides and bottom of a 9” springform pan.
• Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugar and butter in a bowl until combined well.
• Pres crumb mixtgure evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan.
• Chill for one hour.

Make filling and bake cheesecake

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla and liquor in a bowl until combined.
• Stir together the granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt in a large bowl.
• Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy and smooth (about 3 minutes).
• Reduce speed to medium, then add pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth.
• Pour filling into crust, smoothing top, then put springform pan in a shallow baking pan (in case it leaks).
• Bake until center is just set, 50-60 minutes, rotating halfway through.
• Transfer to rack and cool for 5 minutes (leaving the oven on).

Make topping

• Whisk together the sour cream, sugar, and liquor in a bowl.
• Spread on top of cheesecake.
• Bake 5 minutes.

Cool and serve cheesecake

• Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 3 hours.
• Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours.
• Garnish top of cheesecake with pecan halves.
• Remove side of pan and bring to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy – and happy belated Thanksgiving!

Don't Forget to Tip Your Blogger

As promised, it’s time for the second installment of the Wannabe Foodie’s Kitchen Tip series. This time, we’re looking at Food Prep Solutions.

Today’s tips are brought to you by the editors of Martha Stewart Living and their “Good Things for the Kitchen” special interest publication. I’ve been holding on to this magazine since Winter 2007, apparently. Well, you know Martha. She’s always full of great kitchen advice. (Notice, I said kitchen. I didn’t ask her for stock tips. Hey, she served her time. Leave her alone!)

Grating Ginger. If you recall, a couple of blogs ago I mentioned my brilliant idea of putting fresh ginger through a garlic press to save myself the hassle of having to mince it. Naturally, that didn’t work out so well. Martha suggests freezing the ginger before you grate it. This helps prevent the messiness of the fibers separating from the flesh. Ginger freezes very well – buy yourself a nice piece, wrap it tightly and store it for several months.

Bonus sub-tip… this also works for fresh mozzarella. Freeze for about 20 minutes, but no longer.

Leafy Herbs. Isn’t chopping leafy herbs a pain, when all you want is the leaf and not the stem? Next time, try holding the bunch of herbs (such as parsley or cilantro) upside down, and using a chef’s knife in a short downward motion, strip the leaves from the stems.

Bonus sub-tip… those stems will come in handy when you want to add some flavor to soups and sauces. Think spaghetti sauce and chicken soup. But not together. That’s gross.

Dusting a Pan for Chocolate Cake. This is one of my favorite tips. I actually first learned it from America’s Test Kitchen, so it’s probably not that big of a secret. But here it goes… when you grease and flour a pan for baking something chocolate – cake, brownies, what have you – use cocoa powder instead of flour. It’s just as effective, and won’t leave spots of white powder on your chocolate cake. I am now feeling inspired to bake a chocolate cake.

Yolks without Whites. Don’t you hate it when you have a recipe that calls for separating eggs, but you need more whites than yolks? Well, just freeze those leftover yolks in an airtight container. You can easily defrost them in the fridge overnight, but be sure to include a pinch of salt for every four egg yolks (or, if you prefer, a teaspoon of sugar).

Leftover stock. I always buy those four cup boxes of chicken stock (or I make it homemade). But if you don’t use the whole box within a week of opening it, you’re SOL. If I’m really being honest, I’ll tell you that I still use the stuff after seven days, but I will boil the hell out of it first. But the better tip is to freeze the leftover stock or broth in muffin tins, and then place the frozen stock muffins in a zip top freezer bag. And if you use one cup muffin tins, you’ll actually know how much you have.

And look at that… turns out I did go to Martha for a stock tip! I honestly didn’t see that one coming. (Swear to God, I caught it during proof reading.)

I hope you are enjoying the tip series! As the holidays approach, there will sure to be more cooking to blog about. Last year for Thanksgiving, B and his brother did turkey three ways – deep fried, oven roasted and rotisserie grilled. We were supposed to decide which method produced the best turkey, but no one kept track of which platter was which preparation. We think rotisserie turkey won. I’m hoping for a repeat this year… I’ll keep you posted.

And this Sunday is the Patriots-Colts game. We’re planning another Tailgate Clambake, but I am not attempting clam chowder again (see October 2009’s Disaster post). We’re thinking oysters as B has become quite the shucker. And I’m a sucker for a good shucker. Sorry, couldn’t resist. No cooking involved, but I’ll whip up some mignonette that is sure to be a crowd pleaser. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll get Sofia to eat one.

Until then, don’t forget to tip your blogger! I’m here all week.

Seriously… tip your blogger. What’s your favorite kitchen tip that you’d like to share with the world? Or the approximately one dozen people who may or may not read this.

Introducing the Kitchen Tips Series

I’ve decided to start a “tips” series. You know, once a week post a list of cooking and kitchen tips that we can all benefit from knowing. Don’t worry – these are not my tips. What good would those be? I promise these tips are compiled from various expert sources. No wannabes allowed.

So, welcome to the Wannabe Foodie’s Kitchen Tip Series!

Today’s tips are Recipe Conundrums, and they are brought to you by Fine Cooking magazine.

What is a sprig? I always thought a sprig was a sprig, but it turns out that when a recipe calls for a sprig of a fresh herb, and they don’t specify the exact length, you can feel safe going with a sprig that is approximately 4” in length. Just make sure it’s not a sparse sprig – if it is, you may want to use a little more to compensate.

Used too much salt? I’ve become a huge fan of kosher salt, thanks to Alton Brown. But while I know that it’s not an even swap with regular table salt, I never remember (or more likely, ever knew) how to make the correct conversion. Salting “to taste” is great until you add too much salt, which I often do (sorry, Dad). So now we know… Okay, now I know. Use 1 ¼– 1 ½ times the amount of table salt when using kosher salt. You are not actually using more salt – the kosher flakes are bigger, so they take up more volume. The larger the kosher flakes, the closer to 1 ½ times you should be.

Sub-tip… Bonus! As I turn the page in the magazine, I found out what to do if I over salt a dish. If you know immediately that you added to much salt, don’t stir it in, scoop it out. If you find out that your dish is over salted after you taste it, and the recipe has an acid ingredient (such as lemon juice, vinegar, wine or buttermilk), you can try adding a little more of the acid to balance the salt. As a last hope, add some more liquid (as appropriate to the recipe) to dilute the salt. Beyond that, you’re SOL. Make sure you drink plenty of water.

Eggs to cold? Often times, recipes call for room temperature eggs. If you are like me, you probably realize this merely minutes before you need to actually add the eggs to the recipe. And where are the eggs? In the fridge, of course. Just place the eggs in a bowl of warm water, and you ‘ll be good to go lickety split. (Did I really just say “lickety split”?)

Sub-tip… Another bonus! You should crack eggs on a flat surface, and not on the edge of a bowl. This minimizes shell shatter, and reduces the chances you’ll be fishing shell shards out of your mixture.

Butter too cold, too? Room temperature butter is another ingredient that usually hangs me up. I usually turn to the microwave, and tend to get overly softened butter. But you can cut the refrigerator cold butter into small cubes, separate it into a single layer, and let it sit on the counter. It will take about 30 minutes for the butter to come to room temperature, but it’s better than nothing. And certainly better than cold or melted butter.

In a pinch? Don’t you love those recipes that call for a pinch of something? How does my pinch measure up against B’s pinch? He has bigger fingers than I do, so wouldn’t his pinch therefore grab more of the ingredient than mine would? Well, it turns out a “pinch” is technically 1/16 of a teaspoon. If you are a perfectionist, you can find measuring spoons this small. But, a pinch is so small that a little more or a little less is not going to affect the outcome of your recipe. So pinch away, and don’t ask me what a dash is. It wasn’t in the magazine.


So there it is folks. Your first five tips from the Wannabe Foodie’s Kitchen Tip Series. Check back mid-week for the next five.

These Squashes Keep Multiplying

I think I have mentioned before that B and I signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this summer. The season is now over, and we are trying to figure out what to do with the six – yes, that’s right, SIX – butternut squashes we have. One a week for the last six weeks of the program. That’s just an awful lot of squash for two people. And believe you me, I’m not even talking about the acorn, spaghetti, and buttercup squashes we also got.

Which leads me to one question. Okay, two questions.

1) How in hell are we supposed to use all this butternut squash?

2) Is the plural of squash “squashes,” or is it just “squash”?

The answer to the first question is half easy. Give as many of them away as possible. Then experiment.

So we gave three squash away. (And I think there is the answer to my second question. Squash, not squashes.) Then we cut one up and roasted it like I roast potatoes – olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and my absolute favorite herb mix, Italian seasoning.

Yeah, not so good.

Tonight, we made butternut squash risotto. I found the recipe on epicurious.com. It got a rating of 3 1/2 forks (out of 4), and 94% of the people who rated it would try it again (out of 121). Sounds like a sure thing.

Here’s the recipe, then I’ll tell you what I learned:

Ingredients

• 1 small Butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced thin
• 1 1/4 teaspoon minced, peeled fresh gingerroot
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• Shredded parmesan cheese 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Peel one half and cut into 1/4 inch dice. Put remaining half, cut side down, in an oiled shallow baking pan with the diced squash, and season with salt and pepper. Bake squash in middle of oven, stirring the diced squash occasionally, until tender and browned lightly (15-20 minutes). Holding halved squash in a kitchen towel, scoop out flesh and chop coarse.
3. In a saucepan bring broth and water to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.
4. In another saucepan cook onion, garlic, and gingerroot in butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Stir in rice and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring, until absorbed. Stir in 1/4 cup broth and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a simmer throughout, until absorbed.
5. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until about half of broth has been added.
6. Stir in diced and chopped squash and continue simmering and adding broth in same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 18 minutes.
7. Stir in chives and salt and pepper to taste.
8. Spoon risotto into 2 shallow serving bowls and garnish with chives and shredded parmesan.

So what did I learn?

Even though it sounds like it will work, you can’t really use a garlic press to press gingerroot. Unless you only want the juice. It squeezes all the juice out of it, leaving you with a pretty dry piece of solid ginger. Stick to the microplane. It’s awesome for a reason.

If you want to use a garlic press on the garlic, instead of slicing it thinly, go right ahead. It doesn’t make a difference in this recipe. In fact, it probably saves lives. Okay, well, it probably just saved me from slicing my finger open once again. But that’s important too.

On a more serious note, don’t forget to add the squash in at the midway point, as instructed in the recipe. Don’t wait until the end. Otherwise the squash won’t be quite cooked enough. Or as B said, cook it longer in the oven. Sure, great idea, B. But that’s presuming I’m going to know in advance that I’m going to miss that step.

I would probably skip the water, using more broth instead, then use even more broth. The rice was a little too al dente (meaning not quite cooked enough), and the chicken broth didn’t over power it, so I see no reason to use a combination of water and broth. Unless you run short of broth.

Aside from both the rice and the squash being slightly underdone, it wasn’t all that bad. Instead of as a main course, we ate it as a side with roasted turkey tenderloin and it was pretty good. I have some risotto left over and I plan to use it to make risotto cakes later this week. My plan is to reheat it first, adding some more broth to try to compensate for its less than cooked thoroughly aspect, then form it into cakes and pan fry. I’ll keep you posted…

That leaves us with one more Butternut squash. Any suggestions? No? Well, here’s to hoping it keeps until Thanksgiving. 

Restaurant Review - Maxwells 148, Natick, MA

B and I enjoyed dinner and the theater the other night – without leaving our little domesticated suburb.

True story. We went to dinner at Maxwells 148, a nice, elegant restaurant located just outside of the center of town, and then headed over to the community arts center for their opening night performance of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. It was just like a night out in Boston without having to pay for parking and tolls!

Maxwells 148 is an Itialian-Asian restaurant. I once read that it was a fusion restaurant, but saw very few fusion examples on the menu. Taking a closer look my second time around, there does seem to be more distinct Asian and Italian dishes, but there are a few fusion items to be had.

Their website describes the restaurant and your experience as:

“This wonderful treasure located in Natick, MA is the creation of partners Mitchell Maxwell and Randy Nason. Invaluable assets such as Maxwell's culinary skills and Nason's savvy business experience create the perfect duo for success at Maxwells 148. The imaginative Italian and Asian cuisine shines with the inspired glow of Maxwell's experiences with chefs from the Friuli region of Italy, and by traveling through Hawaii, Japan and south to Indonesia. Partner Randy Nason is the accomplished leader of Maxwell's staff, a superior crew providing extraordinary service. Take your time to peruse the specially selected eighty bottle wine list, a delight for wine lovers, and a tribute to Nason's wine knowledge.”

The restaurant itself is very nicely appointed – its Asian influence comes out in the décor. It’s not over the top or even really classically Asian, but it’s very calming and serene. I’d almost describe it as “zen.” It’s not a huge space, but they do a great job to make sure that the tables are not on top of each other. It’s elegant and tasteful without being too high-falutin’, and it does have a small bar. I wouldn’t say it’s an “eat at the bar” sort of place, but you can get a drink while you’re waiting for your friends to get there.

We started with a cocktail, and while B stuck to his old standard Bombay Sapphire martini, I opted for the special Ketel One martini with anchovy and bleu cheese stuffed olives. My old standard is a Grey Goose martini, dirty, up with olives. I know, not much of a stretch, especially if you do like to experiment with stuffed olives as I do. But in fairness, I was actually leaning toward experimenting with their black fig vodka martini (which I overheard is their private label vodka). I did request the martini to be made on the dirty side, and I think that prevented me from really tasting the anchovies influence in the flavor, but it was still quite a good olive.

For an appetizer, we shared a risotto cake that was served with mushrooms and some type of mushroom cream sauce. (Forgive me for not knowing or being able to describe the details… remember, I’m a wannabe foodie. Still working this stuff out.) It was delicious. But then again, I love risotto, I love risotto that has been fried or pan seared in any way, and mushrooms are the world’s greatest fungus. (There is a joke in there about fungus, but I’m writing about food so I’ll let it go.)

B ordered the mozzarella salad special, which sounded good, looked good, but I never tried and I can’t remember what else was in it. It was not a caprese-type salad which I think made it interesting, and the mozzarella was marinated. He cleaned his plate. He’s good like that.

I ordered the salad with baby greens and roasted mushrooms. It had a lemony salad dressing (by this time the martini was in my head and we were onto a lovely bottle of Italian red wine, so the details get fuzzy) and shaved Parmigiano Regiano cheese. (Notice, I didn’t say “parmesan cheese.” That’s significant. This cheese actually came from Italy.) The salad was really good, but I thought it could have used a bigger hit of the dressing to kick up the flavor. I would have salted it had there been salt on the table. (But I do love that really nice restaurants don’t put salt and pepper on the tables because their food is supposed to arrive perfectly seasoned.)

Choosing my entrée was a challenge. While it’s not a huge menu per se, there is an enormous selection of delicious sounding meals. The menu focuses on house specialties that include both Asian and Italian fare, but also has a generous assortment of other meals – pasta, fish, chicken and meat – both from the Asian and Italian side of the culinary table.

I went simple… Shrimp fra diavolo. B opted for the rack of lamb special – one of the fusion type dishes I mentioned, it came with lobster fried rice.

The fra diavolo was definitely devilish… it was spicy and yummy. I could only eat half of it. (I confess to ordering spicy pasta dishes when I’m trying not to do overdue it in an Italian restaurant. Inevitably, I cannot eat the whole thing because my mouth is en fuego.) But let there be no confusion – it was delicious. (I don’t “review” a lot of restaurants…. I’m working on my synonyms for delicious that don’t make me sound like an asshole. Scrumptious, mouth-watering, to die for… yeah, just not there yet.)

B cleaned his plate. And I’m proud to say he did this without picking up the bones and sucking them clean. (We differ on the appropriateness of this in a public setting, but he threw me a bone this time, no pun intended. And he didn’t actually throw me a bone.) He ordered the lamb medium rare, and thought it might have been over cooked. I thought it looked perfectly cooked. That then launched us into a discussion of what medium rare is supposed to look like. I say “warm red center.” I don’t know that he had a description, but quite frankly, they looked closer to rare than medium if there was an argument to be had. But his meal, his opinion. (Compromise is that thing about marriage I’m having the toughest time with… It’s hard to take an Italian-Irish girl who has been on her own for a long time and tell her she can’t always get her way.)

The one thing about Maxwells 148 where there was no debate – the service. It was impeccable. The servers were knowledgeable without being pretentious, friendly without being overbearing. I’m not 100% sure, but when we asked to order a bottle of wine that would complement both of our meals, I believe it was Randy, the co-owner, who brought the list to our table, suggested three bottles that would be good, and offered us a sample of the one that was also available by the glass. And his recommendations ranged in price – from the $90 bottle that they had a limited amount of, to the $44 bottle we ended up buying. (And not because we’re cheap… B spends a ridiculous amount of money on wine in restaurants. But now that we’re married, the show’s over… let’s rein it in, buddy. That money needs to go towards a new house with a big, fancy chef’s kitchen! Oh, just imagine the blogs… but I digress.)

The servers worked well as a team. There was never any doubt who our server was, but we had our water re-filled by a number of different people, as they didn’t just focus on their tables. They all took care of the restaurant. And what I really liked was that the chef made the rounds. I saw him in the dining room several times, and he stopped by our table to ask how our meals were and if we had any questions for him. Nice touch. Restaurants need to do that more. Well, really just the nice ones. No offense, but I don’t need to make small talk with the head chef at TGI Friday’s.

So, I highly recommend Maxwells 148 if you are ever in the Natick or Metro West area. Just one suggestion… if you order one of the off-menu specials, you might want to make sure how much they cost. We were a little sticker shocked by my $18 martini (that’s more expensive than Grill 23, and it wasn’t nearly as big) and B’s $52 rack of lamb. I still chuckle that his entrée cost more than the bottle of wine we ordered. You just don’t see that very often!

Maxwells 148 is located at 148 East Central Street, in Natick, MA.  They are open for lunch Tuesday – Friday (noon to 2:00 p.m.) and dinner Tuesday – Friday (5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) and Saturday (5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.).  You can find them on the web at http://www.maxwells148.com/.  Reservations are available through Open Table.