Apple and Pear Crostada

A Crostada is a rustic Italian tart. Don't worry about rolling this into a perfect round pie crust because you are just going to free form it anyway. The original recipe called for just pears but I had apples too so you really can mix and match this fruit tart with almost any seasonal fruit. And, I din't make a crust from scratch....pre-made baby pre- made...so much easier to do.

So here is the short cut version....

Place a piece of parchment paper onto a cookie sheet....unwrap a pre-made pie dough circle and place onto parchment paper.

Pre-heat at 400 F.

4 firm-ripe pears or apples or a combo - peeled and sliced
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cups sugar divided
2 tbls all- purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
freshly ground nutmeg
1 tbls unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Toss pears/apples/fruit with lemon juice and vanilla in medium sized bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg: toss gently.

Arrange filling in center of pastry to within 1 1/2 inches from the edges. Fold edges of dough up and over the filling.

Dot filling with butter and sprinkle the remaining sugar over pastry and filling.

Bake 40 minutes at 400*

Let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes to cool before serving.

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You can add pumpkin spice if you wish, that's always good too.

Excellent with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream or both.

Have fun making it. It takes about maybe 10 minutes to make and put together. So it is a fast dessert to make if you are in a pinch.

Solveig's Persimmon Cookies

This recipe is from my late Mother in Law, Solveig. Whenever I make them I get the best reaction... so for the holiday's here it is.

1 cup Persimmon pulp
rind of one lemon (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 egg
2 cups flour

SIFT TOGETHER
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

1 cup diced nuts - walnuts, pecans or almonds
1 cup raisins

Cream sugar and butter: add persimmon pulp, lemon rind and soda. Beat until creamy. Beat in egg, then add flour and spices. Fold in nuts and raisins.
Drop spoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes. Makes 3 dozen. Recipe can be doubled.
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I always use butter. And since I have diverticulous I don't use any nuts at all and the cookies are still good. The raisins can be left out if you wish but I do use golden raisins only. They seem to stay softer than the black ones.

So enjoy and remember when you taste them for the first time...close your eyes and say to yourself... damn I'm good!

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Mushrooms and Cheese

The original recipe is from Relish.... the holiday issue. I didn't have all the ingredients. So this recipe turned into a Fat Lady creative substitute. Which you will find happens to me quite a bit.....so I really can't call it by the Relish name of Baked Pasta with Sausage, Mushrooms and Fontina.

12 oz sweet Italian sausage, castings removed
1 lb mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
1/2 c sliced onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp minced fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried
1/3 c reduced-sodium chicken broth
freshly ground pepper
3 tbls butter
1/2 or so of white wine
1 lb rigatoni
a bunch of cherry tomatoes and 3 little tomatoes
1/2 c parmigiana cheese
1/2 c provolone, fontina or mozzarella cheese or a combo.

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly oil a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.

Cook pasta according to package, drain, put back into pot add just a little olive oil and stir.

In a large heavy skillet, saute the sausage. (I had a package of turkey, sweet Italian sausage. Cut open one end of a sausage and squeeze out the meat into the skillet and cook until crumbly.)

Transfer sausage to a plate. Add butter, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary to skillet and saute for about 5 minutes. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add white wine and stir a few minutes to release all the cooked food.

Stir pasta again to loosen it. Add mixture from skillet and sausage. Stir well. Add parmigiana cheese and stir.

Place everything in the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 8 to 10.

Note: The tomatoes came off my bushes. I picked about 15 cherry tomatoes and 3 small sized tomatoes. I sliced the cherries in half and chopped the 3 small tomatoes. No skinning or blanching or de-seeding just threw those tomatoes in and cooked those babies.

It was tasty so try it out yourself and let me know how it was and remember when you taste say to yourself..... Damn I'm Good!.
This is a hardy pasta dish that tasted great. And it lasted for a few dinners.

Balsamic Syrup

The Relish Magazine insert from the Star News is a great place for recipe ideas. Though some of them look like you need a 5 five star chef to cook them. However, Relish from last week had some good ideas. Here's one that was easy to do.

Balsamic Syrup

Combine 1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 star anise

2 sticks cinnamon in a saucepan.

Simmer until reduced by one-third, about 45 minutes. (You do need to stir it occasionally because the sugar settles) Let cool. Makes a cup.

Summary:

Excellent taste. I made this for Christmas gifts filling glass mason jars. I would measure out how many jars you are going to fill with the syrup and do the math from that. I had 8 different sized jars and doing the math before hand helped. I had no syrup left over. Filled the jars perfectly.

I went to Smart & Final and got a big container of their cheapest balsamic vinegar. Brown sugar came from the 99cent store (2 boxes of C & H brown sugar, can't beat that). The cinnamon sticks I had but you can find bags of them from the 99 cent store and Food for Less in bulk. The Star Anise, well yeah, I had, but that too can be bought in bulk from Foods for Less.

I saved the cinnamon sticks and star anise for another batch.

This syrup is thick and you need half of what you would normally for salads and such. I tried it on tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. It was really good.

So try it...and when you taste it and realize it is perfect.. say to yourself....Damn I'm good!!!

Let's start right

Hi,

My name is Susan Koenig Shiells and I am one fat lady that cooks and my blog is going to be about just that...cooking. I will be doing recipes that I find in the Star News and the insert mags there of. I will be reviewing the recipes because I know there are some of us out there that want to try the recipes but they can be daunting so I am here to do the initial cooking for you. And, if there is a recipe that you would like me to try out, please, send it on over and I will give it my best try.

Thanks,

Onefatlady