Crustless Sweet Potato Pie with Pumpkinseed Crunch

Crustless Sweet Potato Pie with Pumpkinseed Crunch

WHAT?! Pie without the crust?! Blasphemer! Yes, I know. I am a huge fan of pie crust, and have been known to bake extra pieces of the crust just to dip into my filling while I bake ( I did not say I was proud of that fact, just that it was true). However, I hate pre-made crusts and crusting takes forever and obscene amount of utensils to make it perfect, and after all the time and patience I have found it still is inconsistent whether it will turn out pretty or not. Therefore, I do this for dinner parties because individual ramkins make you look chic and sophisticated, and the lack of a crust means you get to eat twice as many without the caloric overload (or I suppose you could just be healthy and eat just one, but that's just crazy talk).

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes, baked, and mashed (but not overmashed)
- 2 Lg. eggs
- 1 Lg. egg white
- 1/2 cup (or 3/4 if you like it really sweet) maple syrup (the good stuff from Vermont!)
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tablespoons of raw sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (not salted)

Directions:
Preheat to 375.

Whisk mashed sweet potato with whole eggs, 1 egg white, maple syrup, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Spoon into individual ramkins. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake in middle of oven until it doesn't look jiggly (check at 20-25 mins).

Spray foil with cooking spray. Toast pumpkin seeds in skillet with 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup for 1-2 mins until golden. Spread on foil and let cool in a layer. When ramekins are done, crumble seeds over each to garnish.

*Can also whip 1 cup cream with a little vanilla and cinnamon and dollop or serve on the side.

*This also works well for any pumpkin pie recipe. Just watch the ramekins b/c they bake differently in different ovens.

Shashukah...Lichiam!

Shashukah!

This roughly translates to "Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce." This is an Israeli dish kids used to bring to potluck when I was in school, but after a little bit of research (aka typing it into Google) I have learned that nearly all nationalities have their own version of this, which is so good to know b/c any endless possibilities exist for this really easy, bread holding dish. Enjoy!
*This is adapted from the Smitten Kitchen blog and a sheet of paper found in my mother's recipe box, so who knows where it really came from.


Ingredients:
- sick amount of olive oil
- 2 small onions
- 3 fresh chiles (halved and seeded, but if you like it really hot leave in the seeds or use some adobe chiles from the can)
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed and sliced
- 1 Tablespoon of paprika (smoked is better)
- 1 tsp. of cumin
- 2-4 leaves of sage
-1 pat of butter
- 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 4 eggs
- 1 can of crushed tomatoes (or do it yourself with whole tomatoes as if you are making tomato sauce)
- salt and pepper to taste
- crumbled feta
- warm, crusty bread

Directions:

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes. In another pan brown a pat of butter and cook sage leaves in it until they get brown and you begin to smell them, about 2-3 mins. Set aside.

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle with feta. Cut up the sage leaves and sprinkle on top (some people use flat leaf parsley, but parsley makes me gag) and serve with warm crusty bread

*When I made this recently I forwent the feta and instead spread goat cheese on bread for dipping and that was even better, so choose your cheese option to taste.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Simple Tomato Sauce

It has come to my attention that nearly everyone I know, even the sever foodies, still use tomato sauce from the can! This is astonishing, not only because of the pure amount of sodium and who knows what else from the can, and not only because my mother still makes it fresh (the woman who has since been converted to a life of Jenny Craig, Nutra-System, and any other get-thin-quick pre-made food), but because it is possibly the EASIEST thing in the world to make. It is impossible to screw up and as long as there are tomatoes in the house, almost anything goes. So here it is: the simplest homemade tomato recipe. I like to make huge batches at the end of the summer then freeze them individually for all year round good times when tomatoes are no longer in Virginia, but for you warm weathered eaters with eternal access to tomatoes, I am jealous.

Ingredients:
- Tons of tomatoes (3 lbs is recommended, but you know how tomato-y you like it so use some discretion. Also, I like romas, but anything goes and mixing yellow, green, and cherries in with the big tomatoes will give it a great taste)
- 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil or 2 pats of butter
- 3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
- slivers of fresh basil
- Italian seasonings such as oregano, thyme, etc. (*optional)
- 1/2-1 cup leftover red wine (*optional, but don't use anything you wouldn't drink!)
- large onion, chopped or slivered
- 1-2 carrots, chopped
- 8 oz. mushrooms (any kind works, and again all veggies are optional)

Directions:

Cut small X on bottoms of tomatoes. Place in a pot of boiling water for about 20 seconds, then in an ice bath or cold water. Peel off the skin. Then squeeze tomatoes over a strainer reserving juices and getting rid of the seeds. Chop the squished and squeezed tomatoes, or if you are feeling lazy, just wait and use a potato masher in the pot when making the sauce. (*If you are feeling very lazy, skip this step and buy 2 cans of peeled or crushed tomatoes)

Heat olive oil in the pot you plan to make the sauce in (one less pan in better for everyone to deal with). Add garlic and cook until lightly brown. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add any other veggies you want softened (aka mushrooms, carrots if you don't like them crunchy, celery, etc.). Then add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and reserved liquid. Add in the wine and any other spices (I like to add in a lot of red pepper flakes and adobe chiles, but I like things hot in the kitchen). Stir.

Bring to a boil, then put it on simmer, and go watch an episode of Dexter or something for about 1/2 hr while it simmers, stirring occasionally, and that's it! You're done. Salt and Pepper to taste.

OTHER OPTIONS:

- Instead of red wine, you can add 1/2 cup of vodka and some cream to make it a creamy tomato vodka sauce (look to add enough to make it a dark orange color)

- for extra flavor, simmer the basil leaves or sage leaves in the butter before putting other stuff in the pot.

- Add 1/2-1 lbs. of ground turkey to a pan and/or sweet Italian sausages, cook until brown, and throw in to make it a meat sauce.

- Add a scope of tomato paste if you like it to me a little richer, or add less of the tomato juices.

- While making the sauce, roast leftover tomatoes in the oven at 400, drizzled with salt, pepper, and olive oil until sauce is ready. Add them in at the end, mashing with a fork for extra smoky, tomato-y flavor.