Festive Creamed Onions

 

This is a recipe the family serves at special meals like Christmas and Thanksgiving and is one of the dishes that is all gone first.

2 Pounds small white pearl onions¹

Blanch onions in boiling water 3-4 minutes to facilitate peeling skins. Cut off root end, squeezing onion from outer peel. Boil peeled onions in two cup of water until just firm. Retain one cup of the liquid. Prepare a heavy white sauce using:

4 Tablespoons butter

4 Tablespoons flour

1 Cup onion flavored water that was retained

½ Cup of milk

½ Cup cream

White pepper

A pinch of ground cloves

A pinch of nutmeg

Combine the flour and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir to prevent burning. Allow the mixture to begin to take on color then remove from heat. Add while whisking, the onion flavored water that was retained. When mixed, return to medium heat, adding the rest of the ingredients. The sauce will reach its thickest point after it starts to boil. Combine sauce and onions and serve hot.

Notes:

1.  When buying onions, consider size and possibility of some being bad. If small diameter, there is considerable waste during peeling. Buy three pounds to compensate.

Seasonal Fruit and Berry Quick Desserts

It is that time of year, seasonal fruit and a holiday spirit create an oportunity for cobblers, crisps, crumbles, brown betty’s, charlottes, torts, buckles, grunts, slumps, sonkers, and pandowdy’s.

Cobbler - Cobblers are an American deep-dish fruit dessert or pie with a thick crust (usually a biscuit crust) and a fruit filling (such as peaches, apples, berries). Some versions are enclosed in the crust, while others have a drop-biscuit, pieces of crust or crumb topping.

Crisps and Crumbles - Crisps are baked with the fruit mixture on the bottom with a crumb topping. The crumb topping can be made with flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie or graham cracker crumbs, or even breakfast cereal. Crumble are the British version of the American Crisp.

French apple charlotte - A classic apple charlotte has a crust of buttered bread slices filled with caramelized apples. Altenatives are made from sautéed sugared apple wedges topped with buttered bread and inverted from the pan like a tarte Tatin. The version given below is my mother’s recipe.

Betty or Brown Betty - A Betty consist of a fruit, most commonly apples, baked between layers of buttered crumbs. Betties are an English pudding dessert closely related to the French apple charlotte. Betty and Brown Betties are popular baked desserts from colonial times.

Grunts or Slump - Early attempts to adapt the English steamed pudding to the primitive cooking equipment available to the Colonists in New Englans resulted in the grunt and the slump, a simple dumpling-like pudding (basically a cobbler) using local fruit. Usually cooked on top of the stove. In Massachusetts, they were known as a grunt (thought to be a description of the sound the berries make as they stew). In Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island, the dessert was referred to as a slump.

Buckle or Crumble - Is a sheet cake made with berries or fruit added to the batter. It is often made with blueberries, or apples, or peaches. The topping is similar to a streusel, which gives it a buckled or crumpled appearance.

Pandowdy - It is a deep-dish dessert that can be made with a variety of fruit, but is most commonly made with apples sweetened with molasses or brown sugar.First mentioned in print in 1805 in New England. The topping is a crumbly type of biscuit except the crust is broken up during baking and pushed down into the fruit to allow the juices to come through. Sometimes the crust is on the bottom and the desert is served inverted.

Sonker (aka zonker) - A sonker is a North Carolina deep-dish pie or cobbler served in many flavors including strawberry, peach, sweet potato, and cherry. The community of Lowgap at the Edwards-Franklin House, hold an annual Sonker Festival First Saturday in October.

Kae Ottesen’s Apple Charlotte

Fresh white bread as required, all crusts cut off

1 stick softened sweet butter

5 large peeled apples

¾ cup castor sugar

Pinches of salt now and then

Little nutmeg

Drops of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter well a soufflé mold. Butter the bread on both sides. Tear into 1 inch square pieces and cover sides and bottom of mold. Grate one peeled apple for the bottom, cover with a little sugar scant hint of nutmeg, 2 drops of lemon juice, a small pinch of salt. Cover with bits of bread, add another grated apple, and repeat the process as before and continue until mold is full. Dot generously with butter and top with a little sugar. Bake at 350F for 40 to 50 minutes or until nicely brown. Serve hot or cold serve with French Clotted Cream.

Whipped (Mashed) Potatoes

8 Large russet baking potatoes

¼ Pound butter

Kosher salt and white pepper to taste

Whole milk

1 ½ Cups sour cream (optional)

Garnish optionally with a pinch of paprika

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 ½ inch wide pieces trying to keep the pieces a uniform size so the potatoes cook evenly. Place in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Add a teaspoon of salt per quart of water. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook until just fork tender. Drain and allow to steam and excess moisture evaporate, and then mash. Return pot to stove-top for five min­utes on medium heat to drive off excess water while stirring. Remove from heat, add butter, and milk and whipped until smooth. Add seasoning. (Include blanched mashed garlic for garlic whipped potatoes.)

Optionally, level whipped potatoes in a flat glass baking dish and top with sour cream. Bake in oven at 325 F before serv­ing. Garnish optionally with a pinch of paprika.

Note:

1. If you have the time, bake pierced potatoes in a 400 F oven until tender instead of boiling. Bake potatoes are nicely fluffy. Allow the baked potato to cool somewhat to peel their skins and remove any discolored sections with a knife.

2. Starting a boil with cold water promotes even cooking.

3. While peeling, potatoes can be held in a slightly acidulated water to prevent discoloration.

4. If the whipped potatoes need to be held any length of time, paint top surface with cream and cover with tin-foil. They are best eating straight off upon preparation.