Holiday Egg Nog

How can you celebrate the Holidays without the festive "Holiday Egg Nog".  It is so delicious, who cares about the little extra calories it has, just cut back on the pie and enjoy this simple, but so delicious drink.  You can make this ahead which gives it time for all of the flavors to gel together.  This recipe can be found on page 66 of the Tidewater on the Halfshell.
Makes 40-50 punch cups

12 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 cup Bourbon
1 cup Cognac
1/2 tsp. salt
6 cups heavy cream, whipped
Nutmeg

• Beat yolks with sugar until thick.  Add Bourbon and Cognac slowly.  Chill several hours.
• Beat whites with salt until stiff.
• Add whites and cream to yolk mixture.  Chill 1 hour or more.  Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Fettuccini Carbonara

With all the excitement of the upcoming Holiday, the remaining couple of days are going to be so busy, you need to keep up your strength so I suggest Carb Loading.  A simple and yet most tasty dish is the Fettuccine Carbonara which can be found in Tidewater on the Halfshell, page 81.  Serves 8

I made this dish last week and it was so good, I plan to make it again this week. 

1 pound bacon
1 pound hot fettuccine, slightly undercooked and drained
4 Tsp butter, silvered
3 cups heavy cream
1cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pepper
4 egg yolks

• Cut Bacon into 1-inch pieces and fry in large skillet until firm, but not crisp.  Pour off all but 3 Tablespoons of drippings.
• Add fettuccine and butter bits to skillet. Toss until butter begins to melt.  Add about 2 1/2 cups of cream and toss again.
• When Cream begins to bubble, add cheese and stir to distribute evenly.  Continue tossing until sauce begins to thicken.  Add generous grind of pepper.
• Beat egg yolks with remaining cream and pour into skillet.  Toss to coat evenly.  Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Pasta with Savory Sausage & Cream

A couple of weeks was ago we celebrated the 5th birthday for my two little Maltese, SweetPea and SnowPea.   I always have a small cake for them and a couple of friends come over for food and fun.  Of course, it is all about the guests of honor, but they let me share the spotlight with this award winning recipe.

Pasta with Savory Sausage & Cream

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and reserved
1 tablespoon oil from sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 Cup diced yellow onions
3 Medium cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1 pound sweet Italian Sausage
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
28 ounces Italian-style plum tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces bow tie pasta
1/4 Cup minced fresh wide-leaf parsley or basil
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
Feta or Gorgonzola cheese

• Heat olive oil and reserved sun-dried tomato oil in a large skillet; mix in onions and garlic and cook until tender.
• Stir in sausage, sun dried tomatoes, and red pepper into olive and onion mixture.
• Cook for seven minutes, breaking up sausage until no longer pink.
• Stir in tomatoes, whipping cream and salt.
• Lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens, approximately four minutes.
• Cook bowtie pasta in boiling water with salt, approximately 10 minutes or until al dente.
• Drain Water, stir bowtie pasta into sauce
• Stir in parsley or basil.
• Serve with toasted pine nuts and the cheese of your choice

Serves 4
Preparation Time:  30 minutes
Cooking Time:  20 minutes

To toast pine nuts, I put a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread the nuts on the paper, roast on 350 degrees for about 5 minutes or until they start to turn a light color. 

I used Penne pasta which was just as good.



The Guests of Honor, SnowPea and SweetPea

Overnight Coffee Cake

I had a friend over for coffee last week before work and wanted to make something that would not take up all of my time in the morning by cooking or baking.  I found the Overnight Coffee Cake recipe in the Tidewater on the Halfshell.  It was very easy to make, especially since I made it the night before and popped it in the oven for 30 minutes and it was ready by the time my guest arrived.

Overnight Coffee Cake

3/4 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup of sugar
2 Eggs
8 ounces of cour cream
2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar (you can also use dark)
1/2 Cup chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon

• Combine butter and sugar; cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, mix well
• Combine next 5 dry ingredients, add to batter and mix well.  Pour into greased and floured 13 x  9-inch pan.
• Combine brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon; mix well and sprinkle evenly over batter.
• Cover and chill overnight.  Uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Glaze

1 Cup Confectioners Sugar
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and drizzle over warm cake.

Serves 12

Peanut Chicken

If there is one thing about Virginia, we are known for our home grown Peanuts.  Suffolk's most celebrated and treasured crop is the peanut and the best time to recognize and honor this favorite crop is during Suffolk's Peanut Fest.  Held in October to celebrate the peanut harvest, this festival has been celebrated for fifty plus years and, today is host to as many as 200,000 visitors throughout the four day event.  Guests travel from all over Tidewater to be a part of the fun filled affair.  Children can participate in Peanut Butter sculpturing contest or ride many of the wonderful attractions.  You are able to stroll down main street and sample many peanut confections.

Who knows, you may see Mr. Peanut, the icon of Planters Peanuts.  Amedeo Obici, an Italian immigrant and an enterprising, young man from Pennsylvania, moved his peanut business down to Suffolk, Virginia, to form Planters Nut and Chocolate Company.  Soon, his peanuts were the favorite of nut lovers everywhere and his business was booming.  When his wife, Louise died, he created a trust fund to have a memorial built in her honor.  Today, husband and wife are entombed in the gardens of Suffolk's Louise Obici Memorial Hospital.

While Suffolk is famous for its peanuts, it can also claim to be Virginia's largest City with 430 square miles of woods, lakes, rivers and farmland. 

Suffolk is also home to Tommy Newsom, the former leader of the Tonight Show Orchestra with Johnny Carson and local artist Chip Wilkinson.

Peanut Chicken
Toast to Tidewater page 91

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 Cup milk
1 Cup flour
2 Cups finely chopped salted peanuts without the skins
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
8 Skinless boneless chicken breasts, approximately 1/2 inch thick
Peanut oil

• Combine eggs and milk in pie pan or shallow dish; mix well.
• Combine flour, crushed peanuts, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl, mix well.
• Place chicken in egg mixture, then dredge in flour mixture.
• Pour 1/2 inch of peanut oil in skillet; heat over medium high.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees
• Place chicken in peanut oil; cook approximately two minutes per side or until tender and golden brown.
• Remove chicken from oil; place on a paper towel-linted baking sheet.
• Keep chicken warm in preheated 250 degree oven until ready to serve

Serves 8
Preparation Time 25 minutes
One thing to add, try to cook chicken so that it will be ready to be served immediately, if you need to keep it warm in the oven, do not do it for a long period as the chicken will dry out.  I prepared my side dishes ahead and served the chicken as soon as it was cooked. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I love Pumpkin, whether it is in a cake or pie or cookie.  Pumpkin is such a great flavor to work with.  I decided that I would try the Pumpkin Cheesecake in our Famous Tidewater on the Halfshell.  I made this cheesecake or our October cluster meeting with the Junior League.  It is found on page 310.

Crust
1/3 Cup butter softened
1/3 cup of sugar
1 Egg
1 1/4 Cup of flour

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; blend in egg; add flour and mix well;
• Spread dough on bottom and 2 inches up dies of a 9-inch spring form pan.
• Bake at 400 degrees for five minutes Remove from over and lower temperature to 350 degrees

Baking with a spring form pan can be challenging if you have never used one before.  They are wonderful pans to work with.  When purchasing one, break down and get a good one.  Make sure that it is a non-stick and leak proof pan.  Not only are they good for cheesecakes, but work well with cheese appetizers.

Batter
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 Cup of sugar
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of salt
2 Eggs
Whipped cream

• Combine cream cheese and sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Blend in pumpkin, spices and salt;
• Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition.  The batter will be a beautiful Carmel color, then pour into baked crust
• Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
• Let cool for 15 minutes.  The best way to tell if a cheesecake is done is to insert a knife into the center of the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.  A lot of times, you will get a slit in the center of the cake, but the way to prevent that is to immediately remove the cake from the pan after baking.  The only problem is you run the risk of the sides falling. 

• After removing, Chill and serve with whipped cream.

If you do not want to cut and cook your own pumpkin, you can use a 16 ounces of canned pumpkin.  Whether you use real or canned pumpkin, you will have a delicious pumpkin cheesecake and it will not last long.