Archive for January, 2008

You could freeze ‘em ’til they’re hard and throw ‘em back but that’s just mean (and quite possibly a felony). Or you could make pie.

When life hands you lemons, make pie! That should be the Daring Bakers‘ official motto for January! Jen at The Canadian Baker is hosting this month’s challenge, Lemon Meringue Pie.
Read the rest of this entry »

So what do you feed a house full of Brady haters?

ANYTHING THEY WANT

The game. THAT game. You know, the game that Peyton’s little brother is playing in this weekend.

The Super Bowl itself is usually a big fat snore. After all, there is only a 1/32nd of a chance that my team will actually be in the game and statistically less than that if you understand God’s wrath directed at Houston pro sports teams. Except for one time in my entire life (last year’s game), I’ve had no interest in the game. I even stopped throwing money at the office squares pool.

The Super Bowl is about two things for this bitter Houston fan football junkie: Food and more food. Appetizer Sunday is an all-day graze fest. Mounds of tortilla chips, margaritas, seven different dips and salsas, wings, margaritas, sliders, fajitas, and margaritas. Okay, so perhaps the game is about food and drink.

So what’s on our game day buffet?

(c) 2008 Confections of a Foodie Bride. This feed contains copyrighted photographs and text from Confections of a Foodie Bride. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, or at the aforementioned url, the site you are viewing might be guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact foodie.bride[AT]gmail[DOT]com.

What appeals most to me in a recipe is the potential – the versatility of substituting one or two ingredients and giving the dish an entirely new flavor. That’s the beauty of this recipe. It has only two essential ingredients: puff pastry and a filling.

Feeling adventurous? Snub your nose at Pepperidge Farm and make your own puff pastry. Feeling rushed to get something out that your friends can munch on? Grab frozen puff pastry and a jar of pre-made pesto or your favorite preserves. Sweet or savory, you decide what you want on the inside. I wanted pesto.

Pesto Palmiers
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2-3/4 cup pesto*
1 egg
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out the puff pastry on a piece of parchment into a 12×12 inch square. Spread the pesto within 1/2 inch of each side of the pastry (you might use more or less than 1/2 cup). Using your spatula, make three indentions on the top edge of the dough at 3 inches, 6 inches, 9 inches to divide the sheet into quarters.

Fold the left and right edges of the puff pastry halfway to the center of the dough (to the closest quarter-mark indention). Fold the sides to the middle again until they’re almost touching. Fold the two halves together like a book.

I’ve stopped here and frozen the palmiers for later use. Just let the logs thaw a bit and then proceed.

Cut into 1/2 inch slices and place onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Whisk egg and water together and brush over the palmiers. Bake for 8 minutes, flip, and bake for an additional 6-8 minutes. Palmiers are best the day of baking.

*I used a traditional basil pesto recipe for this batch. Cilantro-pecan pesto, olive tapenade, sun-dried tomato pesto, and marinara also work wonderfully in this recipe.