Rosemary Spiced Nuts

Earlier this month I had an ugly sweater party, so I made some of the appetizers from the Beekman cookbook. They planned out all of their recipes so well to compliment the seasons that the appetizers were perfect for a holiday party.

The rosemary spiced nuts are crazy easy to make too.

Ingredients:

1 cup pecans*
1 cup roasted cashews*
1 cup unblanched almonds*
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

*Instead of purchasing all three kinds of nuts, I bought a batch of mixed nuts combined. I did have some walnuts and plain old peanuts thrown in there, but it's a little easier on your wallet to go about it this way.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To start, I coated the nuts in melted butter and put them on the baking sheet. The Beekman boys suggest you put the nuts on the baking sheet first, and then you pour the butter over them and then toss them. I just did the reverse.

I put the butter on right in the plastic container the nuts came in and shook it up in there so they were evenly coated.

In a bowl, I mixed the other spices. I poured those right in the container too and mixed it up in there by shaking it. It made sure everything was coated, and it kept the mess contained.

Then I baked them for 10-12 minutes. When they're all cool, you can store them for up to two weeks.

It's been a busy month!

I know it's been a while since I've cobbled together a post for the blog, and I wanted to apologize for that. I've been incredibly busy this month with things work related and with my social life. Add to that a dash of the holidays, and you get a life filled with things to do. Unfortunately, this put my blog on the back-burner, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I already have nine recipes done from the winter section of the Beekman Cookbook. I'm hoping to get one more done before the new year, but if I don't get it done I still won't be behind. 

I've also been cooking a lot of other things on the side, so when I have a lull in Beekman recipes, I'll post them up here too.

Sorry about the delay! I hope you're all having a happy and safe holiday season.

Fall: The Beekman Recipes in Review

Soups:

Roasted Cauliflower and Apple Soup
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Cheese Toast Topped Onion Soup


Salads:

Roasted Beet Tangle
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Entrees:

Sauteed Chicken with Apples
Blue Cheese Pizza with Carmelized Onions and Apples
Beer Braised Beef with Onion Dumplings
Hungarian Pork Goulash
Butternut Squash Filled Lasagna Rolls
Roasted Pork Loin with Gingerbread Stuffing
Chicken Succotash
Harvest Pork Chili

Deserts:

Apple Crumb Cake
Applesauce
Caramelized Pear Bread Pudding
Apple Butter Turnovers
Red Wine and Spice Poached Pears
Baked Apple Dumplings
Orange Gingerbread and Bourbon Custard *
Rustic Apple Pie

Other:

Pumpkin Cheese Bread
Butter Crumbed Cauliflower
Leek & Potato Gratin
Mulled Cider
Braised Fennel
Basic Pie Crust
Butter Stewed Lima Beans
Mushroom Pilaf

*Technically a recipe from the winter section, but we made it in the fall.

My Top Five:

This was pretty hard for me since I liked so many of the recipes, but some stand out more than others. Usually, these are the recipes that tasted great, were something new to me, and were easy to make.

When it comes to the soups, I'd have to say the Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I know it's something you can easily get anywhere, but this is the best one I've had. Plus, I feel like it's healthier since I'm the one making it, and I know just what is going in there. It was easy to do, and I could see myself making it again in the future. (It doesn't hurt that I love soup either.)

For the entrees, I'm going to pick the Hungarian Pork Goulash. I didn't think this would be something I enjoyed, but it's a total feel good food. It's warm and hearty with good flavors that blend well. I also like it because it's easy for me to bring to work and it's one of those foods that tastes just as good (if not better) re-heated.

In the desert category, the Apple Crumb Cake is a solid choice. It's easy to make, looks good when you're done, and it tastes so stinking good. It holds well, and it stayed moist over time. Granted, it didn't last long because people eat tasty things, but that's just another vote in its favor.

Ok, this one is going to sound dorky, but the Basic Pie Crust really won me over. It's not something you're going to eat alone, and it's not particularly special, but it's a darn good pie crust. Really, having a good pie crust recipe is a good trick to have up your sleeve because it means you're well on your way to making really good pies.

And, lastly, the Red Wine and Spice Poached Pears gave me multiple reasons to like them. You can stuff them with various things, and they're so tasty. Plus, they make your whole home smell wonderful, and they look lovely plated.

I hope you find these recipes as wonderful as I did.

Winter Recipe List

Well, now that fall is over and all of the recipes that come with it, I'd like to introduce you to the list of recipes that we'll be making for the winter months. (December - February)

Soup/Salad

Winter Vegetable Soup
Celery Root Puree

Entrees

Macaroni & Cheese
Chicken n' Dumplings
Pasta with Cabbage, Bacon, and Chestnuts
Pork Roast with Veggies
Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Rosemary
Bourbon Roast Turkey with Cornbread Stuffing
Turkey and Spaghetti Squash Stir-Fry

Deserts/Sweet Things

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Sauce
Spiced Carrot Cake
Fresh Cranberry and Dried Fruit Cobbler
Sweet Potato Pie
Rich Double-Chocolate Pie
Orange Ginerbread

Other

Poached Figs
Rosemary Spiced Nuts
Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Crostini
Spiced Tea
Eggnog
Maple Glazed Candied Sweet Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Glazed Carrots
Smashed Potatoes
Utica Greens
Quick Braised Collards
Supermoist Corn Bread
Cord Bread Stuffing

It's beginning to look a lot like delicioso up in here this season.

Butter Stewed Lima Beans

This side dish was incredibly easy to make, and it was the final recipe I did from the fall section of the Beekman cookbook.

The recipe requires fresh lima beans, but I have no idea where to find them. So, I had to use frozen ones. My lima beans were probably sub-par as a result.

Aside from your lima beans, here are your other ingredients.

Parsley
Thyme (that's the green leafy package laying down there)
Butter (4 tbsps divided evenly)
Salt

You cover the lima beans in cool water, about one inch higher than the beans.

You bring them to a boil and add one pat of the butter, a couple shakes of salt, and some fresh thyme.

You wait about 20 minutes until the beans are soft, but not mushy. 

Then you add the parsley, let it hang out a few more minutes, and you drain.

Mix in the remaining pat of butter, and there you have it. Some super thymey, buttery lima beans. 

I wasn't very impressed with this recipe, but mostly because I'm not a huge fan of lima beans or how over-powering the thyme was in this recipe. If you happen to like lima beans or thyme though, this might be right up your alley. It is easy to make, so why not give it a shot.

Harvest Pork Chili

This recipe was originally for beef, but I don't eat beef so I substituted pork. It also calls for pumpkin, but said that another winter squash could be substituted. I used butternut.

The recipe for this can be found online here.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds well-marbled beef chuck, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 1 1/2 pounds pumpkin (or other winter squash, such as kabocha), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 cups cooked pinto beans (one 15-ounce can, rinsed)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven. Dredge the meat in the flour, shaking off the excess. Working in batches (this is so the meat browns, rather than steams), add the beef and cook until browned all over, about 7 minutes. As you work, transfer the meat to a bowl.

Add the garlic, onions and bell peppers and stir to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/4 cup water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, about 7 minutes.

Stir in the coriander, cocoa powder, cumin, paprika and ancho chile powder. Return the meat to the pan and stir until well coated. Stir in 1 1/2 cups water, the pumpkin, tomato paste and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake until the meat is tender, 1 hour 30 minutes.

Stir in the beans, return to the oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.

I had the same problem with this recipe that we did with the Beer Braised Beef. It needed a lot more seasoning than what the recipe suggested. It was pretty flavorless overall, and it didn't have the kick I'd want in a chili.

Also, in the future, I think I'd use black beans. That's just a personal preference though.

I didn't take many pictures when I was cooking. Mostly because I was cooking alone, so I couldn't sneak pictures over someone else's shoulder.

There's my partially cooked/browned pork.

And there it is, all mixed together as an end result. If you make it, I'd up all the spices and add some red pepper in there for sure.

Rustic Apple Pie

This recipe totally threw us off because it's nothing like the pies we're used to making. It's supposed to look like this:

(Image taken from myrecipes.com)

We totally made ours look like a pie, and so when it comes to presentation, we'd fail. 

The inside of the pie is strange too. There's no cinnamon, not a lot of sugar, and rosemary. Because of the rosemary, we were afraid the pie would taste a lot like apples and pine trees. 

This recipe is similar to the one we used, except of course, we used the basic pie crust recipe from before. 

Instead of lemon juice we used maple whiskey. 

We made our crust more like a normal pie crust though.

We laid out the bottom of our crust, but we didn't leave enough to fold over the top like a rustic tart.

In a bowl, we mixed the flour, sugar, and rosemary. 

Then we put our apples in. (We used MacCowan.) The flour/sugar/rosemary mixture was sprinkled over the top. Over this, I poured the maple whiskey. It was about an ounce's worth. Jess created a lattice top for the pie so that it was still open, but compatible with the bottom we had already created. 

When we finished the lattice top to the pie, we coated it with an eggwash so it would turn a nice golden brown in the oven.

Our pie took an hour to cook at 350 degrees.

In the oven, make sure you cover the edges with foil so that they don't burn.

It's a tart pie, and the rosemary compliments the flavor if you don't get too much of it in a mouthful. I prefer a tart pie, so this one was right up my alley. In fact, I had seconds.