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Showing posts from December, 2014

Pancetta and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Loin - Caity

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      If you only make one pork roast in your life, please, let this be it. It's soooooooooooooooo good! It's a nice pork roast stuffed with pancetta, mushrooms, bread crumbs and herbs then has porcini fennel salt sprinkled on the outside before being roasted to perfection. We just ate it last night and I already want to eat it again!  It is a little more work than your average pork loin (with the stuffing) but it is really worth the effort and deserves a place on your table this holiday season. Try serving with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Sage or your favorite risotto and Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan with Panna Cotta for dessert. This recipe comes from Food 52 .  Note: Make sure you have butcher string! You don't want to substitute out of desperation (no blue soup like in Bridget Jones Diary-bleh). Also, I was unable to find porcini powder pre-made, so I took dried porcini mushrooms and ground them using a mortar and pestle. Serves 4 One

Devonshire Cream - Caity

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  One of my favorite rainy day breakfasts is a pot of tea served with Cream Scones , jam and Devonshire cream.  Devonshire cream (aka Devon Cream or Clotted Cream) is a thick creamy spread traditionally made by gently simmering large vats of milk until a thick layer of cream can be skimmed off the top. The areas in Southwest England, like Devon (get it DEVONshire?), are famous for their cream and other dairy products. It is amazing on scones with jam (raspberry is my favorite!).  I can usually buy Devonshire Cream at Whole Foods but if you're unable to buy some or want to make it yourself, try this recipe as it's quite simple to make but does require close monitoring. The recipe comes from Margaret M. Johnson's cookbook "Tea & Crumpets". This recipe makes about a cup of cream which is more than I can (and should) eat in the two week refrigerator time; I've found that it keeps quite well in the freezer in small containers for several months to b

Cream Scones - Caity

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I have a picture of a teapot that hangs in my kitchen and says "Plead contemporary insanity and sit down with a pot of tea". I take that message to heart on a regular basis, especially when I feel spread thin. It was a card that my mom gave me when I left for college 7 (!!!) years ago. I like having it framed in my kitchen to serve as a visual reminder that sometimes, you need to take some time for yourself. There is something really refreshing about stopping everything to sit down, enjoy a pot of tea and reflect on life. I highly recommend a tea break for everyone today!  If you are going to "plead contemporary insanity", it is always nice to have a snack to enjoy with your tea. And what better snack than a cream scone? This recipe comes from a Wall Street Journal article sent to me by my mom called "Romancing the Scone" and makes currant scones but since I am boring sometimes, I decided to leave the currants out this round (my mom made them with