Roasted Tomato Soup with Gruyere Flan

My husband and I took a mini vacation last week...so much fun!  We spent a few days at a fabulous B&B -- Bed and Breakfast on Tiffany Hill in Mills River, NC (about 20 minutes from Asheville, NC).  The Innkeeper, Selena has done a great job with this B&B, it is like being inside Southern Living Magazine!  And she made the best 3 course breakfast!!!

Back to my recipe...while my husband drove, I read cookbooks!!  This recipe is from a new cookbook, Basic to Brilliant, Y'all by Virginia Willis.  After reading this recipe I couldn't wait to get home and make it.  What a  treat to have the Gruyere Flan in the middle of this roasted tomato soup!!

Roasted Tomato Soup
2 (28 oz) cans whole tomatoes, drained, with juices reserved
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch of ground allspice
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup dry red wine

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner.
Working over a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl and using your fingers, open the whole tomatoes and squeeze as many seeds out as possible, catching the juices in the bowl.  Discard the seeds and reserve the juices.
Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar.  Bake until all liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes.  Cool slightly, remove the tomatoes and transfer to a small bowl.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, tomato paste, and allspice.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are softened, 3 to  minutes.  Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined.  Whisking constantly, gradually add the chicken stock.  Add the reserved tomato juices, wine, and roasted tomatoes; cover and bring to boil.  Decrease the heat to simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
Using an immersion blender, puree the soup.  Leave it coarse and chunky if you prefer a more rustic soup, or puree until smooth for a more elegant soup. 

Gruyere Flan
Preheat the oven to 350.  Brush six 1-cup ramekins with 2 tablespoons room-temperature butter.  In a blender, combine 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese, 5 large eggs, 3/4 cup whole milk, 2 ounces room-temperature cream cheese, a pinch each of freshly grated nutmeg, ground white pepper, and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Divide the custard among the prepared ramekins, filling each one three-quarters full.  Cover each ramekin with aluminum foil and place in a roasting pan.  Pour enough hot water into the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake until just set but still wiggly and slightly soft in the center, 25 to 30 minutes.  Using a metal spatula or tongs, transfer the ramekins to a rack.  Run the blade of a thin metal spatula around the edge of each flan to loosen.  When ready to serve, unmold each flan into the center of a warmed shallow soup bowl.  Ladle the soup around the flan, season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

I hope you will try this soup and enjoy it as much as we did!!  If Santa still needs a idea of what to get you I highly recommend this cookbook!!! Basic to Brilliant, Y'all

Cranberry-Pecan Cheese Wafers

If you like cheese wafers you will love this version!  This recipe is from the December 2011 Southern Living Magazine.  I think I have gotten that magazine for over 30 years!  You can always get a good recipe or decorating ideas!  I am "trying" to move forward with all of our new technology, and am no longer a print subscriber, I have it on my Ipad, no more magazine stacks for me!! :-)

This is a great make-a-head recipe and makes 18 dozen, I halved the recipe.  But cheese wafers freeze great and so does the unbaked roll!

 All baked up...waiting for a good glass of wine!

 This is the shaped roll after chilling.

 Sliced and ready for the oven.

 These also make great gifts!

Cranberry-Pecan Cheese Wafers
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped sweetened dried cranberries
2 cups butter, softened
4 cups (16 oz) freshly shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 ts. ground red pepper
4 cups all-purpose flour
Parchment paper

1.  Preheat oven to 350. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Cool completely (about 15 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, soak cranberries in boiling water to cover 15 minutes; drain and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Beat butter and next 3 ingredients at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until blended.  Gradually add flour, beating just until combined.  Stir in cranberries and pecans.  Shape dough into 4 (12 inch long) logs; wrap each log in plastic wrap.  Chill 8 hours to 3 days.
4. Preheat oven to 350.  Cut each log into 1/4 inch thick slices; place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from baking sheets to wire racks, and cool completely (about 20 minutes).

Cornbread "Turkeys"

 In the November Issue of Martha Stewart Living she had a recipe for cornbread loaves that were baked in a pan with two turkey molds.  I have always had a love for turkeys (I have a small collection that I bring out every Thanksgiving) so I thought I would add the turkey mold to my collection.  It is by Nordic Ware.  I love how cute these turned out!  The recipe is great and they really came out of the mold perfectly.  You can also make gelatin molds, and cake in the molds.  This will definitely be a new tradition at our Thanksgiving table!

 The mixture has been divided into the molds.

 All baked out of the oven, cooling, and keeping my fingers crossed they will pop out!

Here they are....I can't believe not one problem.  The detail shows up great too!  I was pleased at how well it stood on its own. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels
3 jalapeno chiles, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.  Coat two 5 cup turkey shaped pans with cooking spray.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and let cool.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high.  Cook corn, jalapeno, and shallots, stirring occasionally, until soft, 4 to 6 minutes.
Whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center of the mixture and add eggs; whisk eggs into flour mixture.
Whisk together melted butter and buttermilk; stir into flour mixture, along with corn mixture and cheddar.  Mix until well-combined.
Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans; smooth tops.  Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into the centers come out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.  Let cool slightly before inverting onto a wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Mini Prosciutto-Wrapped Turkey Meatloaf

Here is the recipe that I served with my Stuffed Pumpkin http://hadennews.blogspot.com/2011/10/pumpkin-stuffed-with-everything-good.html

I really meant to post this on Saturday, but I was watching my grandson who is 7 1/2 months old for the weekend.  I forgot you don't have time to do blogging, etc. with a little one.  What fun I had with him!

I am not sure that the picture does these justice!  But what they lack in appearance they make up in taste! 

Mini Prosciutto-Wrapped Turkey Meatloaf
(makes 6 mini loaves)

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons honey mustad, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/3 pounds ground turkey (85% lean)
1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt
1/2 cup crushed saltine crackers
6 thin slices prosciutto

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.  Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions; saute until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes.  Add garlic, saute until fragrant, about a minute longer; set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, mix eggs with thyme, salt, 1 tablespoon of the mustard, and the Worcestershire sauce.  Place turkey in a bowl, add yogurt, crackers and onion mixture: mix with a fork until evenly blended.  Add egg mixture continue to mix until well blended,

Turn meat mixture onto a work surface.  With wet hands, divide mat mixture into 6 portions and form into small loaf shapes; brush with remaining mustard, then wrap a slice of prosciutto round each loaf, placing on a wire rack set over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.

Bake until golden brown and firm, about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes.

Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good - FFwD

 I have been looking forward to making this recipe from Around my French Table all month!  I have had my pumpkin for three weeks, it has been my holiday decoration for my kitchen table.  This was a fun recipe to make and as Dorie states in her recipe you can play around with the ingredients to "stuff" your pumpkin, but I liked what the recipe called for: bread, Gruyere cheese, garlic, bacon, fresh chives, thyme, freshly grated nutmeg, and heavy cream. 

.

 You start out by cutting a cap off your pumpkin and clean the inside out,  Then you salt and pepper the inside of your pumpkin.

 Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing.

 Stuff the pumpkin and bake at 350 for 2 hours,

 Mine was done after baking for 1 1/2 hours.

i

Slice a wedge and serve!
 
We all enjoyed this with Mini Prosciutto Wrapped Turkey Meatloaf (I will be posting this tomorrow) and green beans.  It was a great Fall dinner

Pissaladiere - FFwD

 This week (yes I am posting late)the FFwD group was to make Pissaladiere.  Looks like a pizza, my husband kept asking where is the cheese!  I love caramelized onions, so I knew I would like this.  I am not a fan of whole anchovies, I used the anchovies in a tube because I knew the flavor would be an important part of this dish. 

 It was a lot of onions and a lot of "crying" to make this dish!  I have tried all the tricks, but always tear up when I cut my onions!!

This was delicious, I didn't have the nicoise olives, but the kalamata olives worked fine.  We had this for dinner with salad.  Looking forward to next weeks dish -- Pumpkin Stuffed with everything good!!

Whole Pumpkin Pie Soup

 I made this soup this past weekend after seeing Alton Brown make it.  It was fun making it right in the pumpkin!  The taste is incredible...really smooth and creamy! 

 The pumpkin sits in a casserole dish and you add the ingredients and then cover with the top.

 After baking puree with an immersion blender.

Serve immediately and get ready for compliments!

Ingredients
1 whole baking pumpkin, approximately 4 pounds, rinsed
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees

Make a lid on the top of the pumpkin by cutting around the stem at a 45 degree angle.  Make sure the opening is large enough to work within.  Remove the seeds and fibers with a metal spoon.  Reserve the seeds for another use.  Brush the exterior of the pumpkin and the lid with vegetable oil.  Oil a round casserole dish large enough to hold the pumpkin and place the pumpkin inside.

Combine the butter, onion, salt, garlic, apples, chicken broth, and heavy cream in the hollow pumpkin.  Replace the lid of the pumpkin to cover.  Bake 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the lid.  Add the goat cheese and thyme and bake an additional 30 minutes, uncovered.  Remove the pumpkin from the oven, and gently scrape some of the flesh into the soup mixture.  Puree with an immersion blender to desired consistency, being careful to avoid the sides and bottom of the pumpkin.