Prime Cuts

Though it might not feel like it outside, the end of Summer is rapidly approaching. Kids will soon be returning to school, temperatures will start to cool, and the leaves will begin their colorful Autumnal throwdown.

Before this happens, there are countless wonderful things left to enjoy during Summer?s swansong. Ride rollercoasters. Run through the sprinkler. Build a sandcastle. Enjoy as much of the sweet, syrupy goodness of summer fruits as possible.

Cherries. Plums. Strawberries. Blackberries. Peaches.

Nectarines?

Oh, yes. The Nectarine. “What the heck is a nectarine?”, you might ask. The not-so-distant cousin of the peach. Smooth-skinned, and often sweeter than its fuzzy counterpart, nectarines are often overlooked in favor of peaches and plums, which is more than a little unfortunate. Nectarines are delicious as all get- out, have firmer flesh than peaches (which makes them ideal for baking), and have a wonderfully spicy quality, which really sets them apart from other stone fruits.

Like peaches, they come in several varieties. Yellow and white, Freestone & Cling. Which version you prefer is all up to you; each is wonderful. If you have a favorite recipe for peaches, try substituting nectarines. Their subtly different taste will have everyone asking about your “secret” ingredient, about that extra little something special that you added this time. How about a Nectarine Cobbler? For Sunday Brunch, how about a Nectarine Bellini? Or how about … a sublimely sweet Nectarine Pie, kissed with the
zing of candied ginger?

Melissa’s Sweet Summer Nectarine Pie

A couple of notes before we get started. I’m giving the recipe for my homemade pie crust (which is easy as, well … pie), but you’ll get darned fine results if you use refrigerated crust (don’t beat yourself up). Also, if you can get your hands on some ginger ice cream, it makes the perfect accompaniment. On we go!

Easy-As-Pie Pie Crust

Ingredients

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) VERY cold, unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) iced water

Preparation

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse until the butter pieces are about the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll out one piece into a circle and place in a 9” pie pan. Line the pan with aluminum foil and fill with beans, rice or, if you actually have them, pie weights (this will keep the crust down in the pan and prevent it from bubbling up). Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, then bake for about 7-10 minutes, or until the crust feels a little bit set (this process will keep the filling from making the crust soggy later on).

Fab Filling

Ingredients

5 cups peeled, pitted and sliced white nectarines (yellow are fine if that?s all you can find) — about 5-6 large fruits
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons chopped candied ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, small-diced
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 egg lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons cream, for glazing the crust
A little extra granulated sugar for sprinkling on top

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the nectarines, sugar, flour, candied ginger and cinnamon. Toss to coat. Fill the cooled pie shell and dot with the small-diced butter.

Roll out the other pie crust and cut it into wedges with a pizza cutter (or not, it’s up to you). Brush a little bit of egg white onto the edge of the bottom crust, then place the wedges on top, slightly overlapping each piece on top of the nectarine filling. Fold back the points to create an opening at the center of the pie (not only does this look nice, but it will help the pie to vent while it’s baking). NOTE: if you choose to skip this and go super-simple, be sure to cut some slits in the center of the pie, so that steam can escape.

Brush the top crust with the beaten egg/cream mixture, then sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake til the pie is golden brown, about 30 minutes more. Serve warm or at room temperature (and get yourself a scoop of good vanilla or ginger ice cream to go alongside it).

A little extra effort? Maybe. But it’ll be completely worth it when you see the looks of delight on the faces of your friends and family … that is, if you don?t keep it all for yourself!

When she’s not serving up goodness here at Prime Cuts, Melissa makes things easy as pie for her clients at Honeybee Consulting. Feel free to visit her there, or find her buzzing about all kinds of other tasty morsels on Twitter @startabuzz.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Photo by: platinum

We’re finally back with a new episode of Prime Cuts TV!  This week we decided to walk through the process of making flan.  It’s something that’s really easy to make but also really easy to screw up if not done properly.  We will follow up in a future post with the recipe for anyone that wants to try it at home.

[viddler id=34f4da3&w=437&h=370]

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Since Justin spent the past few days moving up to Boston, there won’t be an new episode of Prime Cuts TV this week. So, we brought you something even better. Today we have a guest post from Ari Herzog. Ari has been nice enough to share a peanut butter oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. Yes, you read that right, tons of yummy goodness in one perfect cookie. Oh yeah, and it’s healthy too. Without further ado….

Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The original came from allrecipes.com, but I’ve amended it over the past year.  For instance, the original called for butter which I replaced with apple sauce; and white sugar and brown sugar, which I replaced with just brown sugar.  Making it healthy and low-fat.

The “toppings” (banana, oats, raisins) can be substituted with chocolate chips, nuts, etc. for a different result.

Ingredients

1 cup apple sauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter (chunky is best)
1 tsp vanilla extract (or Kalhua, if preferred)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 mashed ripe bananas
2 cups instant oats
1/2 cup raisins

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the apple sauce and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the peanut butter and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda, and stir into the mixture. Finally, stir in the oats and raisins.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly toasted on the edges. Remove and cool.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Are you looking for something different to serve with dinner over the next couple days?  The quality and type of bread can make such a big difference in your meal.  So, today we are providing you with a modified recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking and our friends over at Serious Eats.

As always you should modify the main ingredients to fit yours and your guests tastes.  If you like more of a smoky kick, then add more chipolte.  Don’t like scallions? Feel free to remove them.  As with any biscuit, these are great with a small pat of butter.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chipotle powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups grated and tightly packed sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
Kosher salt for topping

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, chipotle powder, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, scallions and the 1 teaspoon of salt.

3. Add the butter and, using your hands or the back of a wooden spoon, work the butter into the dough. The mixture should look like coarse sand. Add the cheese and stir to thoroughly incorporate it into the dough.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

5. Use a small ice cream scoop or a 1/4-cup measuring cup to scoop the dough and drop it in mounds onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean.

6. Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. The biscuits can be served slightly warm or at room temperature (we like them slightly warm).

7. Store the biscuits in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Are you looking for something different to make over the holidays to serve as an appetizer or snack?  Impress your guests over the next couple weeks with some homemade empanadas.  At the the end of the post we give you a filling recipe but there are literally hundreds of fillings you could come up with.  Have fun and experiment!

A little note before you start reading – we did not have our complete thinking caps on the day we took the pictures for this post therefore we don’t have pictures of every step we mention.  However, we do have pictures of some of the more important steps.  Don’t hate us ok?

Dough Recipe

Dry Ingredients

4.5 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons salt
Few shakes smoked paprika
1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter in small pieces
3 tbsp lard

Wet Ingredients

3/4 cup cold water
2 eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Dough Procedure

Note: It is important to have some type of stand mixer to properly prepare this dough, as it is fairly hard and will require a good bit of muscle to thoroughly combine.

1. Begin by mixing all the dry ingredients with your stand mixer on a low speed with the paddle attachment.
2. Let these ingredients combine for approx. 5 minutes so the fat can be cut into the flour.  When it is slightly lumpy like biscut dough you are ready.  It is better to under mix than to over mix in this case.
3. In a seperate container, thoroughly mix all the wet ingredients together.
4. With the stand mixer on low speed add the wet ingredients to the dry in a constant slow pour.
5. When combined the dough should form a ball and the sides of the mixer bowl will be clean, it won’t take very long.
6.  Your dough is now ready to work.  I find that it is easiest when cut in half. 
    
7. Flatten the dough a bit to make it easier to roll out, then on a lightly floured surface, proceed to roll out to an approximately 1/8″ thickness.
    
8. Once your dough is completely rolled out use a 5″ round biscut cutter to cut out circular “pie shells” from your rolled dough.  The remenent or part of the dough that is left over after cutting can be balled up and re rolled one time.  Just be sure to remove as much dry flour as possible before attempting this, it will be more difficult than the first batch, but is possible, and will produce an additional 1/3 – 1/4 more empanada shells.  Brush off any excess flour from the shells and place on a parchment lined sheet pan with out overlapping and place additional sheets of parchment between each layer of shells.  These can be refridgerated for up to 4 days for later use, just wrap the whole tray tightly with plastic to prevent air from drying out the shells.
    

Filling Your Empanadas

1.  To fill and prepare the shells as empanadas, you will need your favorite savory filling, and an egg wash of 2 parts beaten egg to one part water mixed thoroughly.  
2. Let the shells rest at room temp for approx. 10 minutes before beginning to fill, this will help to make them more pliable and easier to work with.   I like to work in an assembly line style doing four or five empanadas at a time.  
3. Place a tablespoon and a half of your filling mixture dead center of your shells.  
    
4. Next brush your egg wash on half of the inside diameter of the shell.  This is to form the seal that will lock the pastry together while cooking, dry sticks best to wet and vice versa.   
    
5. Next fold the shell on top of itself pressing the dry edge against the egg washed edge, and press firmly to seal.  
    
6. After I do this I like to use the tines of a fork to decoratively crimp the edges, then I take my biscuit cutter to round out the edge for presentation and to eliminate any misshaped or excess dough from pressing.   Your empanadas are now ready to be transferred to sheet pan lined with parchment and lightly sprayed with non stick baking spray.   
7. To finish simply egg wash over the tops of the empanadas thoroughly, poke a small vent hole for the steam with a samll skewer and lightly sprinkle with salt,  bake at 350 for 13 minutes Let cool breifly, then enjoy!
    

 Joe’s Favorite Empanada Filling

This one couldn’t be more simple…

Ingredients

1 small deli style ham (pre-cooked)
Some shredded provolone cheese (the older the better)
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Good quality balsamic vinegar

Preparation

1. Begin by shredding the ham on a box grater, (or chopping it finely)
2. You want about 2 cups shredded ham
3. Add approx 1-1 1/2 cups provolone
4. Season lightly with salt, pepper, and oregano
5. Add approx 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vin.
6. Mix thoroughly to combine, check for taste, and then ball the ham mixture tightly into 1.5 teaspoon amounts, and use to fill your empanadas,  you should get approx. 15 -20 empanadas. 

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

We’re both suckers for all things chocolate and peanut butter.  So when someone that Justin knows gave him a recipe for chocolate-dipped peanut butter pretzel cookies, we just had to share it with all of you.  The recipe comes courtesy of Sarah Brewer, a culinary student at the Allegany College of Maryland and was posted in a recent issue of Maryland Life Magazine.  This recipe was recently featured in a magazine but we’re unsure of which one.  But, we highly recommend you give this recipe a try, we’re sure you won’t be disappointed.

Do you have a special recipe that you would love to share?  Please contact us about featuring your recipe on Prime Cuts.

Ingredients

1/2 c. unsalted butter
3/4 c. smooth peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
16 oz. mini pretzels, salted (coarsely chop 1 cup for the dough, keep the rest whole)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. milk or dark chocolate
powdered sugar (optional)

Preparation

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  With a mixer, cream together the peanut butter and both sugars for approximately 1-2 minutes, scraping down the bowl halfway through.  Add the egg and vanilla, mix until blended, and scrape the bowl again.  Don’t over-mix!  Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and add to the batter.  Mix on low until just combined.  Add the chopped pretzels and mix until just blended.  Scoop out 2-inch balls of dough and drop on greased sheet pans.  Press one whole pretzel into the center of each ball to flatten.  bake for approximately 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Cool.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler.  Dip the bottoms of the cooled cookies in the chocolate.  Place the cookies upside-down on a parchment-lined tray.  When dry, flip the cookies back over and sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

You can download a PDF version of this Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies Recipe.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Photo by: abbyladybug