Very Best Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I've always been a huge fan of Swiss Meringue Buttercream because it's less sweeter than the American Buttercream. It's just as easy too! Below is the recipe that I've been using for a while and it's definitely a keeper. Sometimes I'll add peanut butter and that turned out fantastic as well.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

(Source: Food Network)

6 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.Set the bowl on top of the pan (do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Cook, whisking, until the egg whites are frothy, the sugar dissolves and the mixture is warm, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until the mixture is cool and stiff glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes. Beat in the butter a few pieces at a time, waiting until they're incorporated before adding more. The frosting may look liquidy or curdled but just keep beating until smooth and shiny. Add the vanilla and beat until fluffy, 3 to 5 more minutes. 

Very Best Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti with Sausage

(Source: Once Upon a Chef)

1 lb ziti noodles
1.5 lbs ground spicy or sweet Italian sausage (or removed from casings)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano Reggiano) cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for serving
8 oz whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the ziti according to the package directions for very al dente, about 7 minutes. (It will continue to cook in the oven so you want to undercook it just a bit.) Drain and add the pasta back to the pot. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425°F and set the oven rack in the middle position.

Heat a large sauté pan (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned and just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked sausage to a plate. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan and set over low heat (if you don't have enough fat in the pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil). Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until soft but not browned, about 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar and red pepper flakes and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add the heavy cream, 1/3 cup of the Pecorino Romano, cooked sausage, and basil to the pan; stir until evenly combined. Carefully pour the contents of the sauté pan into the large pot with the pasta and gently stir to combine. Spoon half of the mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the shredded mozzarella and half of the remaining Pecorino Romano. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture on top and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino Romano. Transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, until the cheese has melted and browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with more basil and serve.

Make Ahead: This dish can be assembled and refrigerated, covered, up to 2 days in advance. Since the dish will be cold, the baking time will need to be increased. To bake, cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in a 425°F oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly browned and the pasta is hot throughout.

Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The dish can be frozen unbaked. When you’re ready to cook it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then proceed with the Make Ahead instructions above.

Best Ever Succotash

We absolutely love corn in the spring/summer months, so when I saw this recipe for Succotash, I had to try it. The recipe is so simple to follow and we love all the veggies in this side dish. Dr. Sweetpea raved about how good this was and ate several servings of it during his dinner.

Best Ever Succotash

(Source: Southern Living Magazine) 

10 ounces fresh or frozen baby lima beans (2 cups)

4 center-cut bacon slices

1 cup chopped sweet onion (from 1 small onion)

4 ounces fresh okra, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (1 cup)

1 garlic clove, finely chopped (1 tsp.)

3 cups fresh corn kernels (4 ears)

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

5 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved (1 cup)

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Place lima beans in a medium saucepan, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce to medium-low, and simmer until beans are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While beans simmer, place bacon slices in a large cast-iron skillet over medium. Cook until crisp, about 8 minutes, turning once after 5 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels; crumble and set aside. Reserve drippings in skillet.

Add chopped onion, fresh okra, and garlic to skillet over medium, and cook, stirring often, until onion is just tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in fresh corn kernels, salt, pepper, and drained beans, and cook, stirring often, until corn is tender and bright yellow, 5 to 6 minutes. Add butter, and cook, stirring constantly, until butter is melted, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Stir in halved cherry tomatoes and sliced basil; sprinkle with crumbled bacon, and serve immediately.

Egg Shop Fried Chicken

We ate at Egg Shop a few years ago when we were visiting my brother in NYC. I had their fried chicken breakfast sandwich and it was probably one of the best that I've ever tried. I've been looking for their fried chicken recipe ever since and I finally found it! Definitely a keeper for us!

Egg Shop Fried Chicken

(Source: Egg Shop Cookbook)

Brine: 

6 cups water

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup packed browns sugar

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tablespoons red chile flakes

4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Marinade:

2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 egg

For Frying: 

3 to 4 cups canola oil, for frying

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

Wildflower honey and coarse sea salt, for serving 

To make the brine, in a large saucepan, combine the water, salt, brown sugar, garlic, and chile flakes and bring to a boil over medium heat. Set aside to cool completely. 

Add the chicken to the brine and soak for 24 hours in the fridge, or at least overnight. Drain the chicken from the brine. 

At least 1 hour before you're ready to fry the chicken (and up to 24 hours ahead), in a large bowl make the marinade. Whisk together the buttermilk, celery salt, cayenne, paprika, and egg. Add the chicken and marinate it in the fridge. 

To fry the chicken, in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Set up a cooling rack or some paper towels on a baking sheet to drain the chicken. 

As the oil comes to temperature, combine the flour and black pepper in a shallow bowl (this will affectionately be referred to as "Judge Dredge"). When the oil is hot, remove one chicken thigh at a time from the marinade and dip in Judge Dredge to coat it fully. Shake off any excess flour. Then repeat to dip each piece back in the marinade and then the dredge to ensure an even, crisp coating. 

Fry the chicken, one or two pieces at a time, taking care not to overcrowd your makeshift deep fryer. The chicken should be fully covered by the hot oil. It's fully cooked when it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit at it's thickest part, 5 to 7 minutes. If you don't have a well calibrated thermometer handy, it's okay to cut into the chicken slightly and check for done-ness, no more pink. The chicken will stay juicy because we did all the work of properly brining. 

Remove the chicken to the cooling rack or paper towels. You can keep the chicken warm and crispy in a 200 degree oven or serve immediately. Just before serving, drizzle the chicken with your favorite local wildflower honey and garnish with a pinch of coarse sea salt. 

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

This is the BEST Brussel Sprouts that we have had in a very long time. It's definitely faaaaar from healthy, but it's so damn good. I don't make this regularly for us because it's packed with fat and calories, but when I do, it's always a huge hit. Definitely a keeper recipe in our household!

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

(Source: cafedelites.com)

10 ounces (300 g) bacon, cut into strips

2 tablespoons butter

2 pounds (1 kg) Brussel sprouts, washed, (trim bottoms and cut sprouts in half)

Salt and pepper to season

5 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 1/2 cups (400 ml) light or heavy cream, (thickened cream)

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water (cornstarch slurry -- optional)

1/3 cup fresh shredded or grated mozzarella

1/4 cup fresh shredded or grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F | 190°C. Fry the bacon in a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel lined plate to soak up some of the oil. Set aside.

Drain most of the bacon fat from the pan, leaving about 1-2 tablespoons for added flavour (adjust this amount to your liking). In the same pan, melt the butter, then add the Brussels sprouts and season with salt and pepper. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook while stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes. The edges should start crisping and slightly charring.  Add in the garlic and stir it through the sprouts for a minute, until fragrant. Pour in the cream, reduce heat down to low and allow them to simmer until tender (another 3-4 minutes). If the cream is too thin for your liking, add in the cornstarch slurry, stirring it through immediately, until combined. Add the bacon in and give everything a good mix to combine all of the flavours together. Top the sprouts with the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Bake until cheese is bubbly and sprouts are done to your liking (about 15 minutes). If you like your cheese browned, change oven settings to broil for 2-3 minutes, until golden.

Season with a little extra pepper, if desired, before serving. You can also sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, thyme or rosemary.

Cinnamon Babka

This is by far the best homemade Cinnamon Babka that we have ever tried. In fact, it's so good that I made it twice in a month for us and Dr. Sweetpea kept raving about it each time he took a bite. It's definitely time consuming and labor intensive but the end result is SO worth it!

Cinnamon Babka

(Source: King Arthur Flour)

Dough

3 cups (361g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

2 tablespoons (18g) Baker's Special Dry Milk

2 teaspoons instant yeast, SAF Gold instant yeast preferred

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup (50g) sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 to 2/3 cup (113g to 149g) lukewarm water

1 large egg

5 tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling

1/2 cup (106g) brown sugar, packed

4 teaspoons (11g) cinnamon

1 tablespoon King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 57g) melted unsalted butter

2 teaspoons water

1/2 cup (57g) diced pecans or walnuts, toasted if desired

1/2 cup (57g) golden raisins

Glaze

1 large egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

Topping

2 tablespoons (28g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.

Combine all the dough ingredients (starting with the lesser amount of water), mixing until everything is moistened. Add more water if necessary to enable the dough to come together. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Then mix and knead it until it's soft and smooth.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow the dough to rise for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it's quite puffy.

To make the filling: Just before you’re ready to shape the dough, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Stir in the melted butter and water until evenly incorporated. Set aside.

To make the topping: Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until evenly incorporated. Work in the butter until coarse crumbs form. Set aside.

Shape the dough into a 9" x 18", 1/4"-thick rectangle. If the dough "fights back," cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten, then stretch it some more.

Smear the dough with the filling, coming to within an inch of the edges.

Scatter the nuts and raisins atop the filling.

Starting with a short end, roll the dough gently into a log, sealing the seam and ends.

Using a pair of scissors or a sharp knife, cut the log in half lengthwise (not crosswise) to make two pieces of dough each about 10" long; cut carefully, to prevent too much filling from spilling out.

With the exposed filling side up, twist the two pieces into a braid, tucking the ends underneath. Place the twisted loaf into a lightly greased 9” x 5” loaf pan.

Brush the loaf with the egg glaze. Mix together the topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle it over the loaf.

Cover the loaf, and let it rise until it’s very puffy and crowned a good inch over the rim of the pan, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 40 to 50 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil during the final 15 to 20 minutes of baking; the loaf should be a deep-golden brown and a digital thermometer into the center of it should register about 195°F.

Remove the babka from the oven, and immediately loosen the edges with a heatproof spatula or table knife.

Let the babka cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

Slice the babka and serve it at room temperature; or rewarm individual slices briefly in a toaster, if desired.

Store any leftovers, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Korean Potato Salad

One of my favorite Korean Chef's is Chef Paik. He's one of the most popular chefs in South Korea and has a fantastic Youtube channel where he shares a lot of his recipes. When I saw that he shared his Korean Potato Salad recipe, I knew I had to make it at home since it's one of my favorites! The only problem is that the recipe is for 100 people!!! So I wrote down the original recipe and converted anything that was in kilograms to grams, so it's easy for me to cut the recipe down. The original recipe is as follows and you can cut the recipe down to serve 10 or 20, etc.

Korean Potato Salad

(Source: Chef Paik)

10 kilograms potatoes, cut into large chunks (10,000 grams)

2 kilograms cucumbers, sliced into thin half moon shape (2,000 grams)

2 kilograms onions, sliced into thin half moon shape (2,000 grams)

1.5 kilograms carrots, cut into large chunks (1,500 grams)

500 grams celery, cut into equal sized chunks

3.4 kilograms mayonnaise (3,400 grams)

480 grams brown sugar (I used regular granulated sugar)

68 grams salt

20 grams black pepper

500 millilitres heavy cream

160 millilitres vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

Boil potatoes in a pot of water along with 40 grams of salt. Meanwhile, while the potatoes are cooking, mix sliced onions with 40 grams of salt and set aside. Then mix the sliced cucumbers with 40 grams and salt and set aside as well. When the potatoes are almost done cooking, add the carrots into the pot with the potatoes and cook until the potatoes and carrots are cooked. Drain the pot and let the potatoes and carrots cool down on a baking sheet. Once the potatoes and carrots are cooled, dump them into a huge mixing bowl. Then squeeze the access liquid out from the onions and cucumbers before  adding them to the bowl containing the potatoes and carrots. Add the celery to the potato mixture. Then in a separate bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, salt, black pepper, heavy cream, and vinegar together. Pour this mixture of the potato mixture and use your hands to combine everything thoroughly. Serve the potato salad after it's been chilled for a few hours. 

*My favorite way to eat Korean Potato Salad is on top of toast. You can also add in some canned corn or cooked macaroni to the potato salad for variety. 

**I used vidalia onion for the potato salad since it's milder than yellow onion. I also used kirby cucumbers because of the thin edible skin. English cucumbers would work well for this recipe as well.

Chocolate Pecan Biscotti

I made this biscotti recipe over the holiday season, and I can't believe I haven't posted it yet! It was definitely a huge hit and something I'll continue to bake during the holiday season. It's a super easy and tasty biscotti recipe.

Chocolate Pecan Biscotti

(Source: Southern Living)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Powdered sugar, for dusting

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter and granulated sugar with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Step 2

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Beat in chopped pecans until just combined.

Step 3

Lightly dust hands with powdered sugar. Divide dough in half. Shape each dough portion into a 12- x 3-inch log. Arrange logs 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Step 4

Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 30 minutes. Cut each log diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices using a serrated knife (use a gentle sawing motion). Arrange slices side by side on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Step 5

Return to oven, and bake at 350°F 7 to 8 minutes. Turn slices over, and bake until dry and crisp, an additional 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, and cool completely, about 20 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container up to 1 week.

KFC Copycat Cole Slaw

Dr. Sweetpea is a huge fan ot KFC Coleslaw. So I found a copycat recipe online and have made it for him several times already and it's always been a huge hit. I made some minor adjustments to the recipe to suite our tastes and it's so good!

KFC Copycat Coleslaw

(Source: crunchycreamysweet.com)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup granulated sugar (I always use half the amount)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 and 1/2 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar

2 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

4 cups shredded then diced cabbage (I just use a 14 oz bag of Dole Cole Slaw Mix)

1 medium carrot

1/4 medium yellow onion minced (I omit)

Shred the cabbage and carrot and dice finely. Mix all veggies in a large mixing bowl.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over the veggies and stir all with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with a saran wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Stir again before serving.