Redfern Place

More pictures from our winter storm…which turned icy last night.

We’ve had snow on the ground for 9 days or so now and a lot more has fallen today. The next three or four days promise to bring more snow and freezing rain. Here’s a picture taken right out the front door this evening. We’re ready to hunker in for the season.

I may not be able to play it…yet. But I can take pictures of it.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas!

We got our first snowfall of the year today. It started about 8am and now (at 11:30am) we’ve got almost 4″ on the ground and it’s still falling. It’s going to stay very very cold for the next several days. Here’s some pictures from the morning.

So this one isn’t mine, I downloaded it from FoodNetwork.  I wanted to make mine vegetarian, so I left out the pancetta and it was still really yummy!  It’s perfect for a winter night.

• 1/2 cup kidney beans soaked overnight or 1 (14-ounce) can store-bought beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup cannellini beans soaked overnight or 1 (14-ounce) can store-bought beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling on bread
• 1/2 pound diced pancetta
• 2 cups diced yellow onions
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (14-ounce) can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 2 quarts chicken stock, plus extra water if needed
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 sprig oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 2 heads Lacinata kale, stems removed and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 loaf Italian peasant bread, cut into thick slices
• Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, for serving

Directions

Place the kidney beans in a medium pot, add water to cover by 2-inches and bring to a boil. (If using canned kidney beans, skip this step.) Turn the heat down, let simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until just-tender. Use the same process for the cannellini beans.

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta, rendering the fat and cooking until slightly crispy about 3 minutes. Saute the onion, celery, carrot and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Add the diced tomatoes, the cooked and drained kidney beans, cannellini beans, chick peas, and the chicken stock. Using kitchen twine, tie the herbs and the bay leaf into a bundle and add to the pot. Season with the red chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, then add the kale. Continue cooking until the beans are completely tender.

Slice the bread into slices and toast under the broiler on both sides.  When toasted, rub one side with a cracked open garlic clove and drizzle with olive oil.

So I experimented last night with a dairy free enchilada dish that I think turned out pretty good.  Try it out and let me know what you think.  Kevin is creating a rating system for these recipes, so people like you, Todd, can quantify your thoughts

For the green sauce:

1# tomatillos
1 yellow onion
2 jalepenos
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
about 1/2 cup cilantro
juice of 1/2 to 1 lime

Roast tomatillos, onion, jalapenos and garlic at 400 for 15 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor and add seasonings.  Pulse into a chuncky sauce.

For the enchiladas:

1 rotisserie chicken
1/2 yellow onion
cumin
chili powder
1 can creamed corn
1 can enchilada sauce
1 bag fresh spinach
1 small can sliced olives
any type of hot sauce you like

While the tomatillos are roasting, chop 1/2 sweet yellow onion and saute it on low heat with a small amount of oil.  You want just enough to keep the onions from initially sticking.  Add about a palmful (1 to 1 1/2 tbsp) cumin and the same amount of chili powder.  Let the spices soak up any moisture in the pan and kinda roast.  Keep the heat low.

While this is going on, pull off all the meat from a rotisserie chicken.  Add 1 can creamed corn to the onion and spices, stir and add the chicken, a 14 oz can of enchilada sauce (I used old elpaso), and a couple of handfulls of fresh spinach and a few good shakes of hot sauce (we like Il Tapatio).  Stir together till everything looks steamy.

Coat the bottom of a 9×13 pan with enchilada sauce and add a layer of corn tortillas.  Top with about half of the filling, pour on a bit more enchilada sauce and repeat layering steps, ending with tortillas on the top. You’ll have two layers of filling and three of tortillas.  Pour last bit of enchilada sauce on top, four or five good spoonfulls of the tomatillo sauce and olives.

Bake in a 350 convection oven for about 30 to 40 minutes.  It should be nice and bubble with the edges of the top tortillas looking slightly crispy.

Serve with more tomatillo sauce, fresh avacado chunks, and chopped tomato piled on top of each serving.

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• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar (I prefer C&H raw sugar)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup egg nog

Instructions

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in large mixing bowl; mix well. Cut butter into flour mixture with pastry blender or blend with your fingers until mixture is the texture of cornmeal. Make a well in center of flour mixture; add egg nog. Stir with fork until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Gather dough and divide into 2 balls. Roll or pat one ball on floured surface to form a circle 1-inch thick. Cut into 8 pie-shaped pieces. Place on lightly greased baking sheet; brush with egg nog and grate a light dusting of fresh nutmeg over tops. Repeat with remaining ball. Bake at 425°F. 12 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Serve warm. Makes 16 scones.

Variation:  bring 3/4 cup raisins and 1/2 cub bourbon or dark rum to a simmer.  Shut off heat and let raisins soak up liquid while you prepare dry ingredients.  Drain any excess liquid and add to dry ingredients with egg nog.  Combine.  You want your dough to be a bit dry and not sticky.  If it seems too wet, sprinle additional flour and lightly knead into dough.  Roll out & finish per original instructions.

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This is by far our favorite “mashers” recipie in the holiday cooking arsenal.  Such a simple food made insanely yummy!

5 lbs. potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese
1 cup light sour cream
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp. butter

Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until tender.  Drain and mash until there are no lumps.  Add cream cheese, sour cream, onion powder, salt, pepper and egg whites; stir well to combine.

These are great left over or browned up for breakfast the next day.

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Most people may not be aware that I’ve been fascinated by fractal arts since I first discovered the Mandelbrot Set over 20 years ago. OK, I didn’t discover it. Benoit Mandelbrot did. But I was fascinated with it nonetheless and have played with it and other fractals ever since. I recently discovered flame fractals and a software tool call Apophysis that is used to design and create these amazing flame fractals. There are some exceedingly talented artists out there that are creating awe inspiring images with this tool. I’ve been playing with it for a few days now and have created these images.

Using the program is not exactly straightforward, and understanding the math and algorithms behind it is only for the utterly twisted math geniuses out there. I certainly don’t understand it very well yet. There are several tutorials available (here and here for instance) to help get you started and I highly recommend reading some of them. Getting the first good looking fractal out of the program can be challenging.