Autumn Fruit Salad

I first saw this on Cookbook , a twitterer who posts teeny tiny recipes. I thought it would look beautiful as a painting, but never knew what persimmon and pomegranate taste like. Now I know. And now I am hellbent.

It comes in two tweets:

1.

Autumn Fruit Salad: toss c grn+rd+blk grape/¾pomegranate/2kiwi&pear&fuyu persimmon/1-3T VanillaSyrup&lem. Chill; top w ¼pomegranate. Yld~8c.

2.

Vanilla Syrup: speckly magic for desserts/drinks. Scrape½vanilbean in c h2o/2c sug; +pod. Stir@med to dissolve. Rmv pod. Yld2c; refrigerate.

Let me know what you think if you try it.

Addendum:

I made this for Thanksgiving in Los Angeles at my friend's house. People appreciated having fruit to eat, I think, after three kinds of pie. Here's the long-winded version:

The vanilla syrup really doesn't need to be explained more. I just boiled it until it had really big bubbles, then waited about five minutes until it started to get faintly yellow. It's a simple syrup.

The fruit salad of course can be varied according to what you find. Because I knew that if I bought a big sack each of green, red and black grapes it would be hard to get them all eaten, I just bought black thinking they would look good with the rest. Here's how I got them on the platter, 12 by 9 inches oval, and it didn't look bad. Tossing everything together is an option, followed by putting the reserved 1/4 pomegranate on top.

I had to get artsy, see above photo, and directions below. Have fun figuring out your own way.

Open the pomegranate and loosen all the arils, put them in a bowl. Pick out the membrane.
Peel and slice two kiwi.
Peel and slice four Fuyu persimmons like you would an apple for apple pie.
Wash peel and halve 2-3 cups of black grapes and put them in a bowl.
Peel and slice up 2-3 pears. Keep them together in a row if you want, like a little deck of cards.

Plate it this way if you like: persimmon fanned out around the edge of the platter, points out. Kiwi circles on top of that. Rest of persimmon over the center. Pomegranate, most of it, over the middle, and a little on the perimeter. Pear slices along one end of the oval's center, pears on the other end of the central oval too, with a little space in the middle for black grapes. The reserved 1/4 of the pomegratate on top.

The syrup can be passed since some people don't like super sweet things.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies: Variation

Usually I think of perfection as a sickness, except when it came to these cookies.

This is the New York Times recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Thems good cookies. No denying it. But they started my dreaming about something a little more to my taste. So I've been tweaking the recipe progressively with each new batch. Here's todays:

Instead of 20 oz. of dark chocolate, I put in:

2 3.5 ounce bars of dark dark chocolate, chopped with a cleaver to half centimeter chunks
2 3.5 ounce bars of dark chocolate with toffee (Ghiradelli brand) (also chopped)
6 ounces of pecans chopped to small bits

I put in about 1 cup and a smidge of white sugar instead of 1 2/3 cup.

Splash of Jim Beam. This will probably not even be detectable. But why not.

7+7+6=20, right?

Homemade Thin Mints

Thin Mints made from scratch. I think they're really chocolatey and best frozen.

Fruit Cake Cookie

via Jesseca Cornelson:

This is a recipe that makes a truckload. I halved it and got only a million: filled two and a half huge freezer bags full. I use real butter. They were a hit with Jesseca's family, the people at my Writing Center and friends thought they'd like the chocolate thin mints best, but no, it's the fruit cake cookie. It doesn't taste the way you think it would. I left out the milk and when it says "can of coconut flakes" (and I couldn't find a can at three stores) I think about a cup and change works fine for the halved recipe, about two and a half for the full recipe. Also, yes, you have to mince the candied fruit which is a little labor intensive. You can also substitute dried pineapple for the candied.

I dare you to let this dough refrigerate for 24 hours before you make them. I bet something sort of awesome happens.

Honestly, I wish I'd made the whole recipe. They make a good present.

coconut macaroons

From Emari!

Ingredients:

3 cups shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

Generously grease baking sheets. Combine all ingredients, stir until well-blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls, 1 inch apart, on prepared baking sheets. Press down with back of spoon to even thickness. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until macaroons are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes. Remove.

Kentucky Derby Pie

It's a pecan pie with chocolate in it, rich and muddy. I once put chocolate chips into a pecan pie recipe from Fanny Farmers, and that was really not okay.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 Mix together:

half a stick of butter, melted
1/4C white sugar
3/4 brown sugar corn syrup
3/4 C light Karo
4 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/4 C bourbon
3/4 C dark chocolate chips
1 1/4 C pecans or walnuts toasted

 Bake for 50-60 minutes allow to cool serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Yellow Curry Chicken

I had a great dish of vegetarian chicken yellow curry (or yellow chicken curry) at Hunan Delights in Park Slope yesterday. I told my roommate she could have the leftovers because she'd been terribly sick all weekend and couldn't leave the apartment to get food. But then all morning I thought about this curry and went to the co-op to get the ingredients in this recipe I found that looked very authentic. I made it tonight. Not far off at all. I'm upping the curry powder a bit --

1 lb bnls, skinless chicken breast, cut in bite-size pieces (I tore apart the meat from 4 roasted chicken drumsticks but I think a tub of seitan sliced thin would do, too -- and using roasted salted meat keeps the curry from being too bland).

2-3 c fresh veggies: mushrooms, asparagus, onions, zuccini
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in pieces, pre-cooked
1-2 carrots, cut in bite-size pieces, pre-cooked
1/2 c or so frozen peas

(for veggies I used fresh green beans, frozen peas, a zucchini and about 1/8th of a yellow onion)

1-2 T veg. oil
1 T red curry paste
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
3-4 T fish sauce
dash salt
1-2 T sugar
1.5 T yellow curry powder
1/2 c water or chicken stock
1/2 bay leaf

Instructions:
-------------
1A. Pre-cook potatoes and carrots. Don't cook them too done, since
they will simmer with the main dish later. (See, this is why I didn't use potatoes or carrots).

1. Cut boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite-size pieces.

2. Wash and cut fresh vegetables into bite-size pieces.

3. In a heavy saucepan on medium heat, heat the veg. oil, red curry
paste, and about one third of the coconut milk. Heat 5-10 minutes,
stirring, until it forms a thin gravy.

4. Turn the heat to high, add the chicken, and cook until the chicken
is half cooked, maybe five minutes.

5. Add the fish sauce, sugar, salt, and rest of the coconut milk, and
mix well.

6. Stir in the curry powder, potatoes, carrots, and water/stock. If
desired, add 1/s bay leaf. Let simmer just a minute or two.

7. Add the fresh vegetables and the frozen peas, and let simmer for 3
to 5 minutes, until fresh veggies are just done.

8. Serve (with jasmine rice...). (Or brown rice).

Macaroni and Cheese

Adapted from a 2000 Oprah Magazine Thanksgiving recipe.

1 lb macaroni or cavatappi
3-4 C sharp cheddar shredded
1/2 C shredded American or 4-5 slices unwrapped
4C milk
4T butter melted
1/3 C white flour
salt
pepper
1/4 t nutmeg (optional)

Boil pasta. Drain off. Oil them a little.

While boiling water and pasta, make a white sauce:

Make a paste out of butter and flour in a saucepan on medium/medium high.

Add milk, salt, pepper and a dash of hot sauce (or cayenne). Let sauce thicken (whisk constantly). Take off heat and whisk in half the cheddar.

Put half pasta in oiled casserole (4Q). Layer on American cheese and remaining cheddar. Put on rest of pasta. Cover with cheese sauce.

Oprah says to put on half a cup of parmesan but that seems nasty, don't it? I'd do crushed and buttered Ritz crackers if you wanted it southern style.

Bake 350 degrees uncovered for 25-30 minutes.