Spiced Pumpkin and Hard Cider Spring Rolls

Spiced Pumpkin and Hard Cider Spring Rolls

I made these Baked Pumpkin and Hard Cider Spring Rolls last weekend for us to snack on while we spent a very, and much needed, relaxing day in sweatpants, watching football and loosely working on wedding plans. Wedding planning for me has been such a surreal process. I mean, I've been thinking about my wedding my whole life. Not in a crazy, I have a lace-lined-binder-detailing-every-minute-of-the-day sort of way, but more in just a way thoughtful and hypothetical type of way and now it's real and we're actually planning it!

Our plans are starting to come together and for the most part it's been a really fun process. We still have lots of loose ends to tie up but I can't wait to share some of the details with you. Since we're both chefs, the main focus of our day will be food, which will coincidentally be the theme of the day; after all, it's what brought us together and what we bond over the most, why not share that with our friends and family as we bring the two sides together?

Dipping Action

Getting back to the food at hand, these Spring Rolls involve some of my favorite fall flavors - pumpkin (after all, what's fall without a fun pumpkin recipe?), hard apple cider, roasted fennel, currants and an extra sharp cheddar cheese to really bring it all together. If you find yourself being turned off to making these because you're not into fennel, fret not, just leave it out. You could also make these totally vegetarian spring rolls by omitting the chicken and you can add more roasted veg (I think roasted sweet potatoes, squash and/or parsnips would go especially well). For best results, pair with an ice cold hard cider or other fall-like beverage of your choosing. One extra note - this recipe makes a lot of sauce and that's a good thing. I saved the sauce and then later that week I crisped up some prosciutto and caramelized some onions and added some goat cheese crumbles and made a pizza. I had planned to take pictures of that too, but it got eaten up before I had the opportunity to grab my camera! I'll be making this again for sure though..

A peek inside..

Spiced Pumpkin and Hard Cider Spring Rolls

- Drizzle of olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 fennel bulb, fronds removed and bulb thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup currants
- 1 cup Boiling water
- 1 cup of Pumpkin and Hard Cider Sauce, divided (recipe follows)
- 1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 package Spring Roll wrappers (usually found in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores)
- 1 egg, plus a splash of water

Pre-heat the oven to 400. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Salt and pepper both sides of each chicken breast and sear the chicken for about 3 minutes on one side, flip and then finish cooking in the oven. (About 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through). Set aside to cool.
Add sliced fennel to parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Roast fennel until it gets very soft and turns brown on the edges. Remove and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, re-hydrate the currants by adding boiling water to them and setting aside until they plump. Drain them and discard water.
Drop oven temp to 350. Shred the chicken and add the fennel and currants. Mix in half of the Pumpkin and Hard Cider Sauce. Add shredded cheese and blend, then season to taste and roll (according to package instructions) the spring rolls. Lay onto parchment lined baking sheet. In a small bowl combine egg with a splash of water and blend to make an egg wash. Brush the exterior of each spring roll with the egg wash and lightly salt the exterior. Bake them until they are golden brown on the edges. Serve warm with a side of remaining Pumpkin and Hard Cider Sauce.

Pumpkin and Hard Cider Sauce

- 2 bottles hard cider
- 1 can pumpkin puree
- 1 TBS ground cinnamon
- A couple pinches of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
- 2 fresh sage leaves, minced
- Pinch of chili powder
- Salt to taste

In a medium-sized pot, add all ingredients, stir until well combined and heat until the alcohol has cooked out. (About 15 minutes). Season to taste with salt. 

Homemade Bacon and Beer Barbecue Sauce

Is it too early to start talking barbecue sauce? I hope not. Usually lumped in with a list of summer food favorites, I love barbecue sauce so much that I like to stretch out its season, usually kicking off the season when you can start watching baseball on TV again. Often an underrated condiment, cast aside only for use with chicken and ribs, there's so much more that this little sauce can do. For example, have you ever had a burger topped with barbecue sauce? Not too far of an outlandish idea but I'm always amazed at how many people miss out on that one. And then of course, there's barbecue pizza (a perfect summer staple) or sometimes I like to hide a little smear of barbecue in a good old fashioned turkey sandwich.  With some melted smoked Gouda or even a nice sharp cheddar, it's game on.

When making this sauce, improvising is key and because of that, it can be manipulated and changed according to your tastes and what you have on hand.  This sauce has all the basic components of barbecue sauce (ketchup, molasses, mustard and vinegar) but I also added a nice smoky element so I ground up a piece of bacon which helped bring forward a nice smokiness as well as provided a little boost of salt too. I was also out of Dijon mustard so I opted for plain-jane yellow mustard, which worked quite nicely, providing a nice sharp tang.

At the end of adding this and that and tasting to season, I let it all bubble and heat through until all of the flavors formed a thick and solid sauce. It was sweet and smoky and the type of sauce that really clings to meat or whatever other kind of delicious use for it that you can dream up. To make things more interesting, you could also add your own touch by making this spicy (add a couple TBS of chipotle sauce, Sriracha, or even crushed red pepper flakes) or you can sweeten it further by adding honey.  Sky's the limit, get a little creative. Why not, right?

Bacon and Beer Barbecue Sauce
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup light beer
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
 - 1 bay leaf
- 2 TBS molasses
- 2 TBS brown sugar
- 1 TBS tomato paste
- 2 TBS yellow mustard
- 2 pieces smoked bacon, crumbed
- Salt and Pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, heat the vegetable oil and add the diced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook for a couple minutes on medium high heat until the onions soften and become translucent. Add the ketchup, beer, mustard, molasses, brown sugar, bay leaf and tomato paste. Stir well to combine. Bring the sauce to a slow simmer, cover and let it simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the vinegar has sweetened.  Add the bacon crumbles and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce until it is relatively smooth. You can take this a step further by running the sauce through a fine mesh strainer but I personally liked the little chunks of bacon.

Baked Pasta in a White Wine Herbed Mushroom Sauce

Baked Pasta in White Wine Herbed Mushroom Sauce 

I do love me a good baked pasta.  It's just so comforting on a chilly gray Boston day but I tend to find myself in a rut when it comes to a good baked pasta.  Most I find are tomato based, which is all fine and good but sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit and create something a little different.

YUM

I was really happy with the way this turned out and it was exactly what I was looking for.  Sweet bits of Italian turkey sausage swimming in a bubbly sea of penne pasta and a simply rich mushroom white wine herb sauce.  The entire dish was then topped off with a positively delightful blend of gruyere and swiss cheeses.  The entire dish was then popped into the oven and then dusted with fresh chopped parsley.

Aren't new baked pasta recipes the best?

The best part?  This easy baked pasta took little time to put together but yielded some pretty tasty results that totally broke me out of a tomato based pasta bake rut.  Additionally, you could used some shredded chicken or turkey instead of the sausage or you could make this a vegetarian option by omitting the meat all together and using veggie stock instead of chicken stock.  In hindsight, a bit of fresh spinach would have also gone nicely in here.  Next time..

Honey Mustard Tastes Better When It's Homemade

I really don't know what made me decide that today was going to be the day that I'd attempt to create a homemade honey mustard recipe from scratch, but I am glad I took a stab at it.  I am a huge fan of mustard.  I use it in everything from salad dressings to marinades and to sauces and I wouldn't dream of having a sandwich without a streak of mustard somewhere in there.  In fact, at any given time, if you were to open my refrigerator, you'd find anywhere from 3-5 various mustards at any given time.  Suffice it to say, I'm a fan.

When I woke up this morning, I knew I needed a food project and for some reason, creating my own honey mustard seemed like a great idea.  Like a mad scientist, I took to my Small Boston Kitchen, ready to experiment with different ingredients and measurements until I got them just right.  The whole process from start to finish was relatively easy and didn't require much time or a giant mess in the kitchen.  The hardest part for me was grinding up the mustard seeds because I used a mortar and pestle and those damn little balls kept flying out and all over my kitchen.  I have a feeling I'm going to keep finding them for quite some time.

Below I've outlined the recipe the I created to make this mustard.  As with all recipes, you should keep tasting until it is the way you like it.  While this was the first batch, I didn't want to make too much for fear it wouldn't come out right.  This recipe yields about one cup of honey mustard.

Homemade Honey Mustard
- About a cup on apple cider vinegar
- About 2 tbs crushed mustard seeds
- About 1 tbs powdered yellow mustard
- About 1 tsp molasses
- 2-3 tbs honey
- About 1 tbs brown sugar
- A pinch of salt and a couple twist of fresh ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients into a small pot.  On medium-high heat, whisk them together.  (Be careful not get your face too close to the cooking vinegar, it can be pretty potent!)  Constantly whisk the mustard together until it visibly starts to thicken up a bit.  Although it's hot, take a small spoon of it, let it cool a bit and take a taste.  While the mustard will really start to come together as it cools, you should be liking what you're tasting.  If not, adjust accordingly.

Once the vinegar starts to smell less (you'll know when this happens) and the mustard has become relatively thick, pour the mixture into a small glass jar (I usually clean out and save old jelly jars and mustard jars to reuse).  Let it cool and come almost to room temperature before you place the lid on and stick in the fridge.  Let it chill for a couple of hours.  It really thickens up if you keep in the fridge overnight.