Macadamia Nut Cream Pie

When I first tasted this luscious pie on a trip to Hawaii many years ago, I set out to duplicate it after we returned home. I personally prefer making this with a single baked crust, but you can also make it with a graham crust, chocolate crumb crust, or as a pudding with no crust. Everyone has a favorite pie crust recipe: I'll give you mine in tomorrow's post. My pie crust recipe doesn't originate with me, but this Macadamia Nut Cream Pie filling is my own creation. With a modest blush, I must admit that it's the single best pie I’ve ever made! I save it for very, very special occasions!

Macadamia Nut Cream Pie:

1 - 10-inch baked pie crust (see my Oct. 24th blog)

1 - 300 mL (10 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1-½ c. cold water

1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix

2 c. heavy cream

½ - 1 c. macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

1 c. heavy cream, whipped as garnish 

1 tbsp. icing sugar (“confectioner’s sugar)

1 - ⅓ oz. (10 g) pkg. Dr. Oetker’s Whipping Cream Stabilizer (optional, but see my blogged Note about the virtues of using a whipping cream stabilizer; it’s posted with my Pavlova recipe dated Oct. 12, 2011)

For the Pie Filling:

Using electric mixer, combine sweetened condensed milk, cold water, and instant vanilla pudding mix, beating 5 min. until stiff. In a separate bowl, beat 2 c. heavy cream until soft peaks form; fold into pudding mixture with coarsely chopped nuts. Pour into baked, cooled pie shell and set aside. Beat 1 c. heavy cream together with icing sugar and whipping cream stabilizer until mixture forms stiff peaks. Spoon into pastry bag with fluted tip, piping whipped cream rosettes over top of pie, starting at the outside edges and working inward. If desired, top each rosette with a coarsely chopped portion of macadamia nut.

Asemble all ingredients

Add instant pudding mix to sweetened condensed milk and water

Whip heavy cream to soft peaks, folding into pudding mixture

Chop macadamia nuts

Add and fold in

Variations: You can easily change this recipe! For Chocolate Cream Pie: Omit macadamia nuts. Substitute chocolate pudding mix for the vanilla. For Banana Cream Pie: Omit macadamia nuts. Slice one banana over baked crust, pouring filling over top. For Coconut Cream Pie: Omit macadamia nuts. Add ⅔ c. sweetened, long-thread coconut to filling, pouring all over baked crust. Garnish each variation as original recipe directs.
Tomorrow, the recipe for my pie crust and a lesson in rolling, shaping, baking, and decorating the perfect pie, with plenty of step-by-step photos including one of the finished pie! PS: This blog will hit 10,000 views in a few more hours! Thank you, all! xox Nicole

Crab and Corn Chowder

If you never cook a single thing on this blog (Cousin Nancy, this means you!), make sure you prepare this fabulous Crab and Corn Chowder! Served with a salad and baguette, this makes the perfect supper for two! 

Crab and Corn Chowder:

2 cooked cobs of fresh corn (see Amazing Note) or 1 c. canned niblet corn, drained

3 slices lean bacon, chopped

1 tbsp. butter or margarine

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 medium onion, diced (see Slightly Embarrassing Note)

2 c. fish, chicken, or vegetable stock

½ c. instant mashed potato flakes

½ c. light cream

¾ tsp. dried thyme leaves

½ tsp. cajun seasoning

¼ lb. (about ¾ c.) fresh crab meat (see Bargain of the Century Note)

1 tbsp. bourbon or a bourbon blend such as Southern Comfort (optional)

Slice corn into niblets and set aside (See that amazing Note now! Wow!). Fry bacon until crisp in a large, heavy pot; remove and set aside. Add butter or margarine to pot, swirling with bacon fat on medium heat until melted. Add garlic and onion (Let’s just skip the slightly embarrassing Note, shall we?), frying until soft. Add stock and bring to a boil. Gradually sift in potato flakes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to simmer, adding corn, bacon, cream, thyme, and cajun seasoning. Cover and simmer 20 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in crab meat, simmering 5 min. longer. Just before serving, stir in 1 tbsp. bourbon. Ladle into bowls and serve piping hot. Serves 2.

Amazing Note: You will not believe this trick, Dollinks! See the Index for my June 4, 2012 post for How to Shuck and Cook Corn. You’re bound to fall in love with  “clean ears” Ken!

Slightly Embarrassing Note: I forgot to add onions to the grocery list, so used about a million little pearl onions I happened to have kicking around the fridge. These took forever to chop - but no time at all to peel.  To peel these little guys, snip the root end, pour boiling water over the onions for 1 min., drain, soak briefly in ice water bath, and the skins will slip right off.  

The best crab buy
in North America!

Bargain of the Century Note: Believe me, Dollinks, this blog is impartial. I don’t and won’t advertise for anyone at any price, so any recommendation I make is sincere. I say that because it’s rare for me to promote a product once - let alone twice! Once again, I must praise the high-quality, vacuum-packed, wild-caught crab I bought in the refrigerated deli case in Costco. 

(I last spoke about this product in my April 16, 2011 blog titled Best Crab Dip Ever). The brand name is Phillips, it comes from Baltimore, and - although the price has gone up since I last mentioned it - it’s still a steal at $11 for nearly a pound of the stuff.

See what "clean ears" Ken has to say about this!

Slice off niblets

Teeny, weeny mistake: Buy a big onion, honey!

Chop-chop-chop-chop bacon

Onions, garlic, booze ...

Add stock to onion and garlic

Sift in instant mashed potato flakes

Take a moment to inhale

Add crab just at the end

And ladle into bowls! Utterly, divinely delicious!

Ron’s World Famous Hamburger Stew

I present to you the Ultimate Comfort Food - quick, cheap, nutritious, easy-to-make, and very, very good! Take a bow, Hamburger Stew! You deserve the kudos! We have standards, here in the whistle-clean test kitchens of Nicole Parton's Favorite Recipes. Those standards may be low (we've renamed the “five-second rule” the “ten-second rule”) but they're still standards. 

Our prestigious panel of Anonymous Taste Testers has given three thumbs up to Ron's World Famous Hamburger Stew (It would have been four thumbs, but one of our taste-testers had an unfortunate accident when he stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum from the garburator).         

Does this bag make me look fat?

 Hurry up with that bandage!!!

A question, Dollinks: Why is “garburator” spelled the way it is while “carburetor” - which sounds exactly the same - is spelled so differently? (Bandage! Bandage! Arrrrrgh!) For that matter, I’ve never found it easy to spell “broccoli,” with its naughty double Cs and single L. Which reminds me, why is the definition of “bag man” so different from the definition of “bag lady”? (Must ... find ... thumb! Must ... find ... hospital!) Would someone please tell me why this man is bleeding all over my kitchen floor? It really is true that you can’t find good help, these days.

Ron’s World Famous Hamburger Stew:

1 tsp. cooking oil

1 or 2 large onions, coarsely chopped (Ron says you can never have too many onions)

2 or 3 chopped garlic cloves or a generous sprinkling of garlic powder 

½ lb. to 1 lb. lean ground beef 

½ c. dried shitaki mushrooms, hydrated in boiling water for 10 min. 

8-to-10 crimini (brown) mushrooms, halved

1 - 10 fl. oz. (284 mL) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

½ c. fresh or frozen peas

Salt, to taste (Ron adds none)

Heat oil over medium-high in large pot. Fry onions and garlic until soft, stirring frequently. Add and break up lean ground beef until pink color disappears. Drain and add hydrated shitaki mushrooms and halved fresh mushrooms. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream of mushroom soup. Cover and simmer 30 min., stirring occasionally. Add peas in final 5 min. of cooking. Salt to taste. Serve over mashed potatoes. 

Note: I’m gallavanting around again, Dollinks! I’ll be out of town several days, swanning around eating restaurant food. Keep those cards and letters coming in to nicoleparton172@gmail.com My male secretary (who doubles as one of my Anonymous Taste Testers) will answer them as soon as he recovers from surgery and learns how to type again. 

Crème du Barry: Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Pretend you’re in France, mes petits choux. That’s how the French address one another. If a man had called me mon petit chou in my single days, I would certainly have swooned! Being called “my little cabbage” is the language of love in France.

The French fascination with cabbages extends to les choux-fleurs - cauliflower. Crème du Barry - one of the easiest French soups you can make - honors the memory of the (also-easy) Countess du Barry, courtesan and mistress to King Louis XV. Mme du Barry inveigled her way into men’s hearts by fixing them a bowl of soup.

(I made that last part up. The Countess was skilled at what she did, and it wasn't cooking. When she lost her heart to too many suitors, she also lost her head. Had she lived today, rather than during the French Revolution, she and her ample bosom would have had their own reality show, likely titled Keeping Score with the Countess. Instead, she went to the guillotine - poor little cabbage! Proving once again that sex sells, Hollywood made many films about her life - one starring none other than that fine French actress Lucille Ball.)

I like this variation of the classic French soup. It’s tremendously easy and economical to make: Cook a head of cauliflower. Dump in chicken or vegetable stock. Buzz the whole thing in the blender. Eat! That’s a simplification, but that's also basically it. Here's the recipe:

Crème du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup):

1 medium head cauliflower

2 tsp. (10 mL) lemon juice

3 tbsp. (45 mL) butter or margarine

2 tbsp. (30 mL) flour

2 c. (500 mL) chicken broth

¼ c. (60 mL) milk

Pinch of nutmeg

1 egg yolk

¼ c. (60 mL) dairy sour cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Trim cauliflower into flowerets, measuring 6 c. (1.5 L)  for soup. In a large pot, add lemon juice to 2 in. lightly salted water; bring to a boil. Add flowerets, covering and cooking gently for 10 min. Drain in colander; set aside. In same pot, melt butter or margarine. Blend in flour, whisking to combine before slowly blending in stock, whisking between each addition. 

Return cauliflower to pot, briefly bringing to a bowl before lowering heat to simmer. Cover and cook 30 min. Cool almost to room temperature. Transfer stock and cauliflower to blender, puréeing in small batches. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, nutmeg, egg yolk, and sour cream. Add a small quantity of warm cauliflower mixture to bowl, whisking to combine. Pour egg mixture into blender, pulsing until well mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with a dusting of paprika and a few seasoned croutons. Serves 6.

Trim cauliflower into flowerets ...

Uniformly small.

Cook in lightly salted boiling water; drain.

Working in small batches, purée 

flowerets with stock in blender.

Ladle or pour into soup bowls.

Garnish with seasoned croutons; and serve piping hot.

Note: For a another version of this soup, try Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Goat Cheese.

Spaghetti with Walnuts and Blue Cheese

My Dearest Dollinks!

As I cooked fettuccine last night, I gnashed my teeth (gnash! gnash!) in annoyance. Should have made spaghetti! Should have made spaghetti! Dang! Run - don’t walk - to your closest food store to buy the first of the annual spaghetti harvest, flown in fresh from Italy and Switzerland! To be sure, the pick of the crop costs a little more than everyday fettuccine, lasagna, and cannelloni, but the best of the best always comes at a premium price. Don’t settle for stale spaghetti when the harvest is heading your way! This fabulous treat is available only once a year - don’t miss out!

For a simple and tasty meal, toss that fresh spaghetti with olive oil, toasted walnuts, and crumbled chunks of blue cheese.

Sesame Crunch Tea Bread

Earlier this week, I looked in the cupboard, yanked out this and that (whatever was on hand, really), and modified an existing recipe to create this interesting tea bread. I like it because the addition of seeds, nuts, and wheat germ adds extra nutrition and taste. This is an easy bread to make, Dollinks! If you don’t have the ingredients I used, add raisins, currents, or candied fruits with a handful of chopped walnuts, instead. Keep the proportions the same et voilà! You, too, will have invented a new recipe! 

Sesame Crunch Tea Bread:

1-½ c. all-purpose flour

½ c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 c. lightly packed brown sugar

¼ c. wheat germ

¼ c. chopped walnuts or pecans or hazelnuts, toasted (see Note)

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted

2 tbsp. flax seeds

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

¼ c. oil

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, wheat germ, nuts, and seeds in mixing bowl, blending well. Add egg, buttermilk, and oil, beating just until moistened. Pour batter into greased 9 x 5-in. loaf pan. Bake 50 to 60 min., until toothpick or skewer inserted at center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min. before turning out on wire rack. Serve warm or cold. Makes 1 loaf.

Note: See How to Toast Nuts in Index.

Choose a pleasing selection of seeds and nuts

Add egg, buttermilk, and oil to dry ingredients

Spoon batter into greased loaf pan

Fresh from the oven

Warm, fragrant, and ready for the table!

Herbed Red Potatoes in Jackets

As our friends in the Southern Hemisphere welcome spring, those of us who live north of the equator are opening our arms to fall - “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” as John Keats so famously penned in his beautiful ode To Autumn. With so much bounty in the fields and shops, now is the time to enjoy all the fresh vegetables you can!

Herbed Red Potatoes in Jackets:

7 or 8 red potatoes, slightly larger than a golf ball 

Lightly salted boiling water

1 tsp. snipped rosemary (preferably fresh) 

1 tsp. fresh thyme 

4 or 5 coarse grindings of pepper

Dash of dried chili flakes 

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. butter 

2 tbsp. olive oil

Halve the smaller potatoes; quarter the larger ones. Steam potatoes (see Note) for 12 to 15 min., until tender when pierced with a sharp paring knife. Toss with spices, butter, and olive oil. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Note: Steamed potatoes are less likely to lose their jackets than simmered or boiled ones. 

Ideal potato size 

Steam those babies!

Baby Beets Supreme

I’m always surprised that some people don’t know how to cook beets! Canned beets are an easy and tasty substitute, but nothing tastes fresher than fresh! Look for small-to-medium beets - the larger ones can taste woody. Whether picked from your vegetable patch or from the supermarket, young beets have a slightly sweet flavor that I find irresistible.

I present to you, Dollinks, this yummy side dish for Baby Beets Supreme! Steamed and tossed with a little butter, beet tops are excellent, too. Beets are an acquired taste: Never force a child to eat them!

Baby Beets Supreme:

12 baby beets, slightly larger than a golf ball (perhaps this recipe should call for “fore” beets - Hahahahaha! Ahem! Sorry!)

Lightly salted boiling water

6 tbsp. butter

4 or 5 tbsp. white vinegar

Coarsely ground pepper, to taste

Wash and scrub beets; do not peel. Trim beet tops, leaving about 1 inch of stem. Pop into boiling water and immediately lower heat to simmer. Occasionally checking water level in pot, cook 40 - 45 min. or until the blade of a sharp paring knife easily pierces beets through. Drain. Cool slightly, slipping beets’ skins while they’re still warm. Slice beets, if desired. Toss with butter, vinegar, and coarsely ground pepper. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Note: I keep a package of disposable latex gloves in my pantry. They’re invaluable for slipping beet skins, hand-mixing cookie dough, or chopping hot peppers. 

Any way you slice ’em, beets are delicious!

Autumn Borscht

As the warmth of summer winds down, we’re midway to wanting comfort foods, and midway to wanting something to refresh the spirit and the soul. This lovely borscht fills the bill.

Autumn Borscht:

2 - 15 oz (425 mL) cans sliced beets, liquid reserved (see Note) 

1 small dill pickle, coarsely chopped

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tbsp. cider or wine vinegar

2 tsp. dried lemon zest (or zest of 1 fresh lemon)

Salt and coarsely ground pepper, to taste

2 c. dairy sour cream

2 tbsp. capers, coarsely chopped

Fresh or dried dill weed, as garnish

Purée beets, pickle, sugar, vinegar, lemon zest, and seasonings in food processor or mini-chopper, thinning with a little of the reserved beet liquid. Transfer to mixing bowl, stirring in sour cream and capers. Cover and chill several hours, allowing flavors to blend. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a dusting of fresh or dried dill weed.

Note: Do not use pickled beets in this recipe.