i’m only human, and twinkies have been in the news night and day, for the last week. how could i not think seriously about making twinkies? gluten free twinkies! continuing on my Cup4Cup flour kick, i gathered all the necessary ingredients and tools. rattling around in the back of mind was a memory of a twinkie mold somewhere in my mom’s basement. locate twinkie pan. check! find lorann princess cake and cookie flavoring. order from amazon. check!
with an eye towards turkey pot pie for dinner tonight, i made a double batch of pie dough yesterday. for thanksgiving dessert, i filled the dough with fresh cranberries, maple syrup, dried cherries, butter and a generous glug of cherry marnier liqueur. the finished pie was served with a dollop of creme fraiche.
for a couple of years, i have been trying to remember my nana’s plain cornbread recipe, but have not quite managed to recall it completely. for the time being, i have settled on my own adaptation of ms edna lewis’ cornbread, as interpreted by chef scott peacock.
the other day, i spent more time fiddling with my pizza crust recipe, in hopes of making it easier to handle. i’m getting close, so more on that later. i stored the leftover dough in the fridge for a couple days and totally forgot about it. when i saw it languishing on the shelf, this morning, i kind of panicked.
for lunch yesterday i made mushroom ravioli with the fresh pasta dough. the filling is mushrooms sauteed in butter finished with madeira and grated parmesan cheese and topped with same and some added evoo.
after weeks of waiting, my kitchenaid pasta roller finally arrived. it’s been years since i’ve made fresh pasta and in the past i’d always rolled it and cut it by hand. in an attempt to limit my challenges on a first try with fresh gluten free pasta i tweaked the Cup4Cup recipe from gilt taste, based on my pre-gluten free preferences. since, i firmly believe that more is more, i used half & half instead of whole milk in the dough. so far, i’ve made some flat noodles, which i ate with butter and cheese for dinner and mushroom ravioli, which is shown in the next post. i am one happy camper!
using the leftover C4C pizza dough from yesterday’s pizza adventure, i made crackers sprinkled with herbes de provence and grated grana padano cheese. they come out very much like water crackers and have a nice crisp texture and are just perfect for everyday snacking or used as a base for canapés.
a couple of weeks ago, i attended martha stewart’s “american made workshop” at grand central terminal in nyc. it was a nice chance to tryout some some new craft products, see some demonstrations and bring home some cool stuff. 
but the main reason that i wanted to go, was to attend a master class in gluten free baking featuring lena kwak, r&d chef for the thomas keller restaurant group and co-founder of Cup4Cup and one of the american made honorees.
it’s cabinet organization day and as i work through the shelves, i realize that i have like 20 kinds of beans on hand and i’m not using them anywhere near often enough. the small red beans are the first up at bat. i think the borlotti beans or the good mother stallards will be next. red beans & rice seems like the perfect dish for this slightly chilly day and the cooked red beans will freeze well, for later. my preferred recipe is adapted from The Buster Holmes Restaurant Cookbook, it’s a very simple recipe: beans, water, onions, green pepper, garlic, smoked meat, salt, pepper and margarine. instead of ham hocks, i use bacon ends. i also add finely diced celery and use butter instead of margarine to finish.
Red Beans
Ingredients
1 lb. dried red beans
1/2 lb. smoked ham hocks or bacon ends
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped finely
1 rib celery, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) sweet butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Sort the beans and remove any debris (rocks, etc.). Wash the beans and place in a heavy bottomed pot. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, meat and garlic. Add enough water to the pot to cover. Simmer uncovered on a medium low heat for about three to four hours (if you use canned small red beans you can cook this in just about one hour), stirring occasionally. Adjust the heat to compensate for the amount of cooking liquid lost, add liquid if you need to. You’ll want to have enough liquid for the beans to have a nice consistency at the end of the cooking time.
When the beans are a good texture, (you can puree 1/2 of the beans and return to the pot if you like a creamier texture) add salt, pepper and butter. Cook 5 minutes more. Serve on white rice with Louisiana hot sauce
