November party post 6: Crisp spicy pecans (p. 70), bagel chips (p. 93), and Anchovy toasts (p. 87)

I am still blogging my way through the November party!  It's truly amazing I cooked so much for it!  Start with Post 1.  I honestly think that 3 more posts should finish this out.  

I'd been meaning to make Crisp spicy pecans (p. 70) for a long time.  Honestly, they have been on my list to make at least 25 times and I've never gotten around to making them for some reason (probably because I needed to whip egg whites and I balk at doing that most of the time).  So I whipped an egg white with salt until foamy.  I added sugar and beat until the soft peaks formed:

I mixed melted butter, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and ground red pepper together:

I folded the butter mixture into the egg mixture along with the nuts:

And they were baked for about a half hour.  They went from this:

To this:

It's hard to explain these strange little nuts.  They were really good and amazingly addictive.  Totally savory.  The paprika and hot pepper gave them a surprisingly little kick and the egg helped the spice mixture stick to the nuts.  I noticed myself going back for more and more of these.

Another recipe I had meant to make FOREVER were bagel chips (p. 93).  I don't have a full complement of pictures for this one, which shouldn't surprise you, because I made SO MANY things for this party.  Frankly, it's amazing I kept up on the pictures as well as I did!

I sliced a bagel (realizing that I probably shouldn't have used pre-sliced bagels much too late).  I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled salt and garlic powder over them:

I only have a before picture, no after, but imagine all the bagel chips you've ever seen and that's what they were like.  They were good!  They were pretty much like every other bagel chip, which I consider a good thing.  This is a perfect recipe to make if you have too many bagels and you know you aren't going to get through them all before they start to stale.  This is also a good recipe for a group because almost everybody likes them.  Plus they were cheap and easy and you could customize them easily by switching toppings.

I was concerned about making Anchovy toasts (p. 87) for a party.  Almost everyone out there lists anchovies at the top of the list of foods they hate and I didn't think the group coming to my party was any different.  Regardless, I had warned the group that I would be making strange foods so they were prepared.

I soaked the anchovies in cold water for ten minutes:

I toasted some baguette slices (you don't have a picture of that because it wasn't very interesting).  I minced the anchovies and combined the fish with olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley, garlic cloves, and pepper.  The toast was spread with the fish mixture and broiled until warm.

I was actually really, really proud of myself with the night of cooking.  I managed to get every single thing done within ten minutes of the last guest showing up, so I wasn't in the kitchen cooking almost at all.  I pulled these out and served them right away.  They were actually a really big hit!  The anchovies were salty and the garlic and vinegar cut through the fishy flavor.  I honestly think almost everybody ate one and was pleasantly surprised!

November party post 5: Miniature quiches (p. 90), Cream cheese dough (p. 666), Miniature tartlet shells or turnovers (p. 90), and Miniature turnovers with caramelized onions and blue cheese (p. 91)

I recommend starting with my November party post 1.  Essentially, I had a big party, cooked a ton of stuff, and need to get the posting on the party finished (especially considering it's nine months later!).

What's better for a party than Miniature quiches (p. 90) made with Miniature tartlet shells or turnovers (p. 90)?  The dough was really easy to make.  I prepared the Cream cheese dough (p. 666). First, I whisked together flour and salt and then added butter and cream cheese.  

It went from this:

To this:

I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and left it overnight.  This is one of those recipes that you need to think about the night before since the dough takes a night to cure:

The next day I formed some of the dough into little balls (they look like cookies!):

I didn't have a mini muffin pan (I do now but I didn't back then) so these quiches had to be muffin sized (which is still pretty small).  I spread the dough into the cup, which was much more difficult than it seems like it would be:

I baked the shells (as you can see, they got a little overcooked):

I filled the shells with a mixture of eggs, heavy cream, Parmesan, shallot, salt, pepper, and ham.  My thinking was that ham is one of those things that almost everyone likes so it would be a good choice.  I think ham and broccoli would have been even better!

The quiches were popped in the oven:

These were absolutely delicious!  They were also surprisingly filling.  I think these would be a great item to make and eat for breakfast on the go.  Even so, with a lighter hand, these could be interesting and elegant and perfect for any appetizer meal.

I used that same dough to make Miniature turnovers with caramelized onions and blue cheese (p. 91). I love blue cheese but I hate caramelized onions so I thought this would good to make when I had other people to feed.  I sauteed onion, olive oil, and salt in a skillet, and added it to blue cheese, walnuts, and rosemary:

I rolled out the dough and cut it in to circles.  I filled each circle with some of the filling and folded them in half.

After they went through the oven, they looked like this:

These were a HUGE hit.  There is something very fancy about the combination of rosemary, caramelized onions, and blue cheese and the sweetness of the onions cut through the strength of the blue cheese.  These turnovers were actually really easy to make--I really recommend making them.

The dough was tasty, too!  The cream cheese gave the dough a little acidic kick that I really liked and the dough came together much easier than the dough made with only butter.  Has anyone else made both these doughs?  What did you think?

Scallion and mushroom soup (p. 145)

Scallion and mushroom soup (p. 145) is a challenge to write about because it wasn't very interesting.

TI beat butter until it was fluffy and added scallions:

Seemed like a strange step

 I added salt and pepper and cooked it for about ten minutes (so, really, just cooking the scallions in a ton of butter):

I removed the pot from the heat and added flour and chicken stock:

It was simmered for about ten minutes:

I added thinly sliced mushrooms:

I used the immersion blender and blended the whole thing (sooooo much easier than using the sieve that TJOC recommends).  I also added some cream (making it a "cream of" soup).  The soup was not an attractive color:

I added some more of the thinly sliced mushrooms:

It was okay.  It required a TON of salt to bring out the flavors, and, even then, was pretty bland.  I like cream of mushroom soup quite a bit but button mushrooms are not the most delicious and scallions don't really add that much.  Maybe with more black pepper and salt and a ton of garlic, the soup could be improved.  Then again, it's possible that not everybody is as obsessive as I am about soup.  Has anyone else made this recipe?  How do you feel about cream soups?

Vanilla coconut shrimp (p. 388)

Okay, so Vanilla coconut shrimp (p. 388) just sounded horrible but I was optimistic that, with an open mind, it would be surprisingly good.  Also, I can't believe I'm over a year behind on blog posts--that will be rectified and will never happen again!

I sauteed some shallots in olive oil.  Quite a bit of olive oil, actually.  I added white wine and a vanilla bean with the guts scraped out (the guts of the vanilla bean are the little dots you see in vanilla bean ice cream).  I really hoped this was going to be an amazing recipe because vanilla beans are expensive.

The vanilla bean

Shallots, wine, and the bean

Once that concoction was reduced by half, I added chicken stock, coconut milk, fresh ginger, salt, and pepper:

This simmered until it was reduced by half again.  At this point I added the shrimp:

Hmmmm....not looking so delicious:

Why is the coconut milk separating?

 I added some chopped basil to the top and ate it over rice:

Just as horrifying as I expected it to be.  The coconut milk and shrimp are a delicious tried and true combination but the vanilla bean just added a horrible, desserty flavor that I detested.  A total waste of a delicious vanilla bean, although the recipe was ultra-easy.    

Random facts:

• Vanilla comes from a type of orchid (Wikipedia)
• It wasn't until a 12 year old slave figured out how to hand-pollinate the vanilla flower than the spice could be globally cultivated (Wikipedia)
• The word "vanilla" comes from the word vaina from the Latin "vagina".  Yes, that's right.  Now you have a great piece of trivia to dazzle your friends (Wikipedia)

Pita salad (Fattoush) (p. 159)

I had a good feeling about Pita salad (Fattoush) (p. 159) because I really like pita bread.  I'm not a big salad eater.  I want to be.  I really want to love salad.  But I don't.  

I started by tossing cucumber and salt in a colander and leaving it to drain for a half hour:

I also split some pitas and baked them until crisp:

I whisked together olive oil, lemon juice, a crushed garlic clove, salt, and black pepper.  The dressing was good, nicely spiced.  I'm sure I used more garlic than I was supposed to, I always do.

I mixed tomatoes, romaine lettuce, scallions, parsley, cilantro, and mint in a bowl:

And tossed it with the dressing.  The pita chips were added to the top and it was done!

The salad was easy and very tasty.  I like a crunch in a salad (I notice that they really care about texture on the cooking shows but I don't usually pay a whole lot of attention to that--even so, the crunch is nice in salad).  The dressing was perfect, although I would have liked to add some olives or feta or something briny.  I've never had fattoush before this--anyone have any experience with the dish?  Does this seem similar?

Joy of Cooking-75th Anniversary Edition - 2006 (Google Affiliate Ad)
Acacia Salad Bowl, 11 3/4 " x 4" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Pizza dough (p. 607) and Focaccia (p. 607)

I'm not sure what motivated me to make Pizza dough (p. 607) other than I wanted to make a bread recipe and pizza sounded good.  I usually just buy my pizza dough at Whole Foods because I hated baking at high altitude.  And Whole Foods has good pizza dough! 

(I know these posts are super late so I'm not going to backdate them.  Look forward to a lot of posts all at once)

I mixed water and yeast:

Yeasty!

I added flour, olive oil, and salt.  I omitted the sugar because I don't like my pizza dough sweet (does anyone?):

I mixed it by hand for a minute:

And started kneading.  TJOC always recommends kneading for what I think is way too long.  I kneaded until it looked good:

At this point I separated the dough into three sections because I was only going to make pizza with part of it, I was going to make Focaccia (p. 607).  I covered all the dough so that it could rise. 

It went from this: 

To this: 

   I punched it down, rolled it into a ball, and let it rise for another 10 minutes.  I flattened the ball, stretched it, brushed it with olive oil, and made a pizza!  I never use pizza stones but some people swear by them.  I would love to know your experiences in the comments....

It was really good although no better than the pizza dough from Whole Foods!  So I don't know if I would bother with it in the future.  You all know my theory--if it's not better or cheaper homemade than I might as well just buy it.  Your time is worth something, right?

I like focaccia but almost never buy it.  I took the pizza dough, rolled it out, and put it in a baking dish.  

Well, actually two dishes.  They were let raise in the pans.

I topped mine with garlic, olives, and spices!

I topped moms with mushrooms, garlic, and tomatoes:

I wish you could have smelled how terrific these were when they were cooked:

Focaccia is totally worth making.  Honestly, it was delicious and easy.  And I'm sure you could make it with store-bought pizza dough if you didn't want to make it from true scratch.  I even think mom froze some of it and ate it later and that totally worked.  Has anyone else made focaccia?  How did it turn out?

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Joy of Cooking-75th Anniversary Edition - 2006 (Google Affiliate Ad)