About Feast Everyday

Based in Corning, New York and the beautiful Finger Lakes. Started in 2009 by Barbara Blumer with her family and friends. Her husband, Tom, now regularly contributes, too.

Over 900 Recipes and still growing

From muffins to curries with step-by-step photos and how-to tips: see recipe index https://feasteveryday.blogspot.com/p/recipes-index.html

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Friday, March 15, 2024

Caraway Pumpkin Soup by Barbara

Welcome Home Soup

Weary from our overnight flight from Hawaii and long layover in Detroit, we had no desire to go to the grocery store.  So, this caraway soup from the freezer saved the day.   It was one of my experiments from last year.  I combined pumpkin, cabbage and caraway seeds with shallots into a surprisingly good soup. 
Caraway has a background anise flavor yet it's not sweet. It's peppery with a citrus note. It is best known for its use in rye bread baking.  

I came up with the idea when I was trying to figure out what to do with a small head of cabbage that was a little past its prime. I also had a small pumpkin I wanted to roast. What if I used pumpkin instead of beets like in a borscht? It worked. This soup is much better than borscht. My caraway soup is creamy, fragrant and filling.

Tom's only complaint was the texture of the pumpkin, so next time, I will puree the soup completely.  

---Barbara

Caraway Soup


1 small to medium Cinderella-type pumpkin (3 lbs.) (or 3 15-ounce cans of pureed pumpkin)
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 large shallots, sliced into crescents
3 T. butter, unsalted
1 small cabbage, outer leaves removed, sliced crosswise 
1/4 cup caraway seeds
4-5 cups chicken stock (4 t. Roasted Chicken Better than Bouillon in water)

To roast the pumpkin:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully, remove the stem and interior seeds and pulp. Cut the pumpkin into quarters.

Oil the pumpkin segments well with salt and pepper, on all sides. Place them in a roasting pan or casserole.

Roast for an hour, check to see if the flesh is fully cooked by testing with a knife. It should go in and come out with no resistence. If needed, roast for another half hour. Mine took 1.5 hours.

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Scoop out the cooked pumpkin, and discard the skin. But save any juices from the bottom of the roasting pan.

This can be done ahead of time.

In a large stock pot with lid --- I used an 8 quart ---saute the shallots in the 3 T. of butter with a pinch of salt. The butter will flavor the soup and the sauteed shallots will smell heavenly.

Add any pumpkin juices from the roasting pan, and deglaze the pan.

Add the sliced cabbage to the pot. Add the caraway seeds.

Saute, turning the cabbage over and over, until well coated and it begins to soften. Scrape up any brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Don't let the caraway seeds burn.

Add the pumpkin puree.

Add the chicken stock.

Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until the pumpkin puree spreads out evenly. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat.

Have a serving while it's still hot. Store the rest in the fridge overnight. Portion it out into containers to freeze.

Then, defrost and gently reheat as needed. 

B

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Malasadas


Our rainy day adventure today was to find an Hawaiian specialty called malasadas. 
We found an authentic bakery next to a little mini-mart with the nicest staff. It’s called Paalaa Kai Bakery on the less touristy edge of Hale’iwa. 
Malasadas are similar to donuts. Tom also wanted the flaky turnovers— but I neglected to note what they are called. 
Malasadas come plain or filled with coconut pudding at Paalaa Bakery. 
When I saw them in the case, I said those look like berliners! But they are eggier. 

Malasadas are Portuguese in origin. The Hawaiian islands attracted many people from Portugal to work in the sugar cane fields. And they brought their food traditions with them. You will also find chorizo sausage prevalent here. 

This is a good link by to learn more about malasadas and how to make them: 


B

Monday, February 26, 2024

Lobster Cobb Salad (Beach House)


Another first for me: Lobster Cobb Salad.  

I tried it because I was surprised to see blue cheese paired with lobster. 

Now I know from googling this morning that it is a popular salad with many variations. Ina Garten and lots of foodies have posted recipes. 

This is Beach House in Hale’iwa, Hawaii’s version:

warm lobster and grilled croutons served atop waipoli greens ( similar to butter lettuce) with blue cheese, tomato, bacon, and a 7-minute egg, tossed in an avocado ranch dressing

What I enjoyed about their salad was the variety of creamy and crunchy textures and the little pops of flavor from the bacon and the blue cheese. The lobster was not overwhelmed by the blue cheese which surprised me. 

I want to try making this at home. 

B

Friday, February 23, 2024

Upside Down Pineapple Tip


Local Papaya, Pineapple, Meyer Lemon

Here in Hawaii pineapples are grown locally. We bought this one at the grocery store yesterday. I asked the produce stocker how to buy a ripe one. She said look for one turning yellow and soft to the touch. And the same is true for papaya. 
I read that it is a good idea to turn your pineapple upside down in the fridge overnight. This encourages the sugars that have collected in the bottom to flow throughout the whole pineapple. 

I also watched a tutorial on how to cut a pineapple. It’s not easy but with time I will get the hang of it. 

Be careful. 

Cut the top and bottom off. 
Slice in half. 
Remove the inedible tough core, cutting it out like wedge.
Cut the halves into quarters. 
Slice crosswise about 1/2 inch thick. 
Run knife along bottom of the fruit against the skin. 

You will have triangular chunks  of pineapple! 
And a big mess. 

But it’s worth it.  The pineapple chunks were cold and juicy. The perfect treat after coming back from the beach. 

B
 


Saturday, February 17, 2024

Batayaki (Butter Yaki)


Tom really liked the seafood batayaki dish we had on Valentine’s Day at Aji Limo in Hale’iwa. 

So, I will try to make it when we get home. 

What is batayaki? We didn’t know. It’s a Japanese Hawaiian way of cooking on a griddle using butter to fry the ingredients then dipping or coating them in a special sauce:

1 cup soy sauce (lite)
1/4 cup mirin (rice wine vinegar)
1/4 cup sugar
Sesame oil— just a little— a teaspoon
Lime juice of 2 limes
grated daikon (white radish) 

Some recipes have ajinomoto (MSG)—- which should be avoided due to its questionable health side effects, even though it is a flavor enhancer. 


Some recipes use lemons or orange juice but we really liked lime which was used in our seafood sauce. 

Our restaurant used sake which I will try, too, in place of the mirin. 

It is unclear how much daikon to use. Some recipes call for up to 1/2 cup but in the demos I saw they just grated some in over the top. 

The butter is the main flavoring agent so it is recommended that a good butter, like Irish butter is used. 

B

Friday, February 16, 2024

Hot Pot Heaven


This is something I want to try at home: hot pot cooking.
We had a delicious, fun and healthy late lunch at Hot Pot Heaven in Kailua, Hawaii. 

We had driven down the windy coastal road to Kailua because I was out of books. (I prefer a real book to an e-reader.) We were surprised to find Kailua to be a large mini-city with a Target, Whole Foods and lots of restaurants and little shops. Their small bookstore is called Bookends and was a mix of used and new with piles of books everywhere. Took me a while to make my choices so we were hungry afterwards. 
We googled and wandered around until I happened to see a 4.9 rating for Hot Pot Heaven. You would never guess it would be so good from its looks. But that’s the way many places are on Oahu. 

We’ve never gone to a hot pot place before. Our server was so nice and helpful. You pick a broth.


He brings it steaming hot out to your table’s electric hot plate. 


You pick ingredients from a bank of refrigerators. As many as you want. 

You are charged by the plate and its color. Shrimp, for example, is blue and costs more than the yellow plate of  broccoli. 

We chose

CANH CHA

“Their take on the beloved Vietnamese sweet and sour soup. Chicken broth sweetened with pineapple, tomato & taro stem. Garnished with spring onion and Thai basil.”

And shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, fresh soba noodles, spinach and veggie dumplings. 

Cook your ingredients in the broth then ladle them out into your bowl. And add condiments like hot sauce or miso sauce. They had a variety. We cooked the dumplings first. While the broccoli and mushrooms cooked longer. Then our shrimp with spinach for about 3 minutes. Noodles went in last for about 5 minutes. We finished the broth which became even more concentrated—-and delicious.  It was sweet and sour at the same time. 

Or you can put it all in at once.There did not seem to be a right or wrong way to cook a hot pot meal. 

So, I’ve done some googling this morning on the sweet and sour broth —-and it could be tricky to find the traditional Vietnamese ingredients at home in rural New York state— but I will adapt, as I usually do. We have an electric warmer that Tom’s mother gave us years ago that I think will work. 

It was the shabu-shabu style cooking at the table that we really enjoyed. It was so much fun— we both like to cook— and this way we can do it together. 

B

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

SPAM Musubi (Sheldon Simeon)



Lucky us. Our rental for the next month on the North Shore of Oahu not only gives us a base to explore the more laid back part of Hawaii, with lots of food trucks, it has a cookbook by Top Chef, two time finalist and fan favorite, Sheldon Simeon. His cookbook came out in 2021 and is called Cook Real Hawai’i. It’s more than a cookbook. I am really enjoying reading it and learning about local ingredients and dishes. 

Yesterday I saw a big display of SPAM which led to researching the snack food musubi is made.  

I’m posting Sheldon’s directions so we can make it at home when we get back. Want to buy one of the musubi molds as a souvenir. 

Note that he recommends the 25% less salt version. 


I also found this nice little instagram demo by @mangomoniica for teritaki SPAM musubi. Click the link.  https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2iNmwaPONX/?igsh=b3BlcDQ5eDA0czh2

B

Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Halekulani Coconut Cake

“Really light and really good!” —-Tom
The signature Halekulani coconut cake did not disappoint. 





 

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

The Halekulani Mai Tai



 
The Halekulani Mai Tai
We’ve begun our winter escape here in Honolulu at the Halekulani hotel. It’s a Japanese owned hotel and we stayed here many years ago.  It is just as nice as we remembered. My photo above and their recipe below. 
—-Barbara




Monday, February 5, 2024

Morning Glory Muffins (Pam McKinstry) by Barbara


Newspapers ran versions of this popular recipe for years and years
If you search in old newspapers and online you will find countless versions of Morning Glory Muffins.  This is the original recipe that Pam McKinstry made famous.  Back in 1978, she created it for a new cafe she was opening on Nantucket called the Morning Glory Cafe.  

I enjoyed researching and learning the backstory about this recipe...but the actual muffins not so much.  Tom agrees.   

Yet, people still claim it is their all-time favorite muffin!  Even when they say they have to put a paper towel in the storage container. Morning Glory Muffins are a little oily.  Nonetheless, it is a good recipe to know about.

The recipe has been adapted over the years.  People have added ginger, cut back on the oil, and switched the sugar from white to brown.  Some add baking powder. Golden versus regular raisins.  Tart versus sweet apple.  Sweetened versus unsweetened coconut. Pecans versus walnuts.
 carrots, apple, coconut, pineapple and raisins

But what doesn't change is the use of carrots, apple, crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins, and cinnamon.  

It first became popular on Nantucket, then in the Boston region.  It later received national attention when it was featured in Gourmet magazine in 1981, and then was chosen in 1991 as one of the best recipes of the last 50 years.  

I saw it in Sarah Leah Chase's New England Open House Cookbook.  She is a long-time friend of Pam McKinstry and felt she never received enough credit.  But I wasn't sure if it was THE recipe, so I tracked down the original.  First, I tried to find the Gourmet magazine feature with no luck.  (On a side note, it is very frustrating to me that Gourmet magazines and their wealth of food history, travel, and recipes are still not available online.  Then, I tried to buy the actual magazine on eBay.  No luck.  Then, I thought about asking my sister-in-law, Laddie, who used to save every single issue. But they have probably been donated or recycled by now.)  Next,  I tried to find Pam McKinstry's cookbooks from that era, but they are all out-of-print and not available.  Next step was to search newspapers.com.  There I found lots of recipes for Morning Glory Muffins but not THE recipe.  Finally, I had some luck.  I searched the archive for the newspaper on Nantucket.  It's called the Nantucket Atheneum.   
Click here to go to article in the Nantucket Antheneum.  

Found it!  A 1981 article ran with the whole backstory on Pam McKinstry, including photos. Note:  Recipe does not include raisins in this version.  Otherwise, it is the same, if halved, as the one Sarah Leah Chase published and I used.  The gist of the story is that she had no cooking experience but wanted to open a restaurant on Nantucket.  She was a hospital administrator in Boston area with a creative bent who learned to fly and was flying to Nantucket for lunch weekly on Wednesdays.  She decided to move there and make a career change.  So she read cookbooks and took classes.  Taught herself and became a successful restaranteur with several restaurants.  

She was a gutsy entrepreneur who pursued her dreams when it wasn't common for women to do so.

---Barbara

Morning Glory Muffins
(a Pam McKinstry recipe with my directions)

Makes 16

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 T. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins (golden)
1 apple, peeled and shredded
1 cup (8-ounce can) crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups shredded peeled carrots (about 4 carrots)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla

I used the Sarah Leah Chase recipe but changed the direction to include my methods.   For example, I use a Cuisinart for grating the carrots and apple. And no paper liners.  Not a fan of them.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk together, then add the chopped pecans.
Scrape the carrots and shred them using a Cuisinart with the grater insert.  I find this to be the fastest, easiest way to shred carrots.

Peel and core the apple, and then shred it in the Cuisinart too.  

Drain the crushed pineapple well.
Add all of these to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.  It will look like a thick cookie dough. 

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla and whisk until well combined.  
Pour the wet ingredients over the dough, 
and stir until it loosens up and the egg mixture is evenly distributed.

Spray 16 muffin cups with PAM or baking spray
Fill them to the brim with batter.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes, then pop them out of the muffin tin and on to a rack to cool completely.  

Best when allowed to "ripen" overnight at room temperature and served the next day.  But also very good hot out of the oven.

I have seen suggestions of serving them with cream cheese and honey.  

I have also seen suggestions to place a paper towel under the muffins before you put them in a container, to absorb any excess oil.

They freeze well.  

If we make them again, I would definitely cut back on the oil or try melted butter instead.

B

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Lemon Squares (Cook's Companion) by Barbara

A buttery shortbread crust with a layer of bright lemon curd

On the facing page of the cookbook with the Hazelnut Squares ,which I just posted, were these Lemon Squares.  Tom loves lemon squares, so I thought I'd try them too.  

Very glad I did.  I like this recipe even better than the ones I've used in the past.  Easy to make once I calculated the conversions of ingredients and British terms.

We will definitely make these again.  

---Barbara

Lemon Squares
(adapted from Cook's Companion by Carole Clements)

Makes a 9x13" pan

2 cups less 2T. (225g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (55g) powdered sugar
1/4 t. salt
12 T. (1 1/4 cup) unsalted cold butter, cut into tiny pieces
1 T. ice water
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups regular white sugar ( or 1 1b. caster sugar if you can find it)
3 T. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. grated lemon rind
2 fluid ounces fresh lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons squeezed)
powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the ice cold water, and bring the mixture together into a ball, using your hands.
Cover and refrigerate for 15 - 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate.
Pat the mixture evenly into a 9x13" pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until very light brown around the edges.
Remove the crust from the oven, and let it cool slightly.
Meanwhile, beat all the other ingredients ---the 4 eggs, 2 cups regular sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and lemon juice--- together on high for several minutes until very smooth and frothy.  Be sure the sugar is well integrated into the batter.  Otherwise, the lemon layer will be grainy.  
Pour the lemon curd layer on top.
Return to the oven (remember to use hot pads!) and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
The top of mine developed a slightly brown crust.  
Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar.
Cut squares using a very sharp knife and lift them out using a small metal spatula.

To store, cover and refrigerate due to the eggs.

Excellent when served cold, too.

---B