Thanksgiving = Delicious

Thanksgiving has come and gone. The meal was amazing. Turkey, dressing with Portuguese sausage, mashed potatoes, the dirty, awesome gravy, pie...
Wait, what is the dirty?
Oh boy, the Dirty Southern Casserole...

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Matt & I were graciously given this dirty southern recipe from our good friend Moe. The ingredients shall remain secret, but we just had to show you the dirty. It is back again for its second year for our family Thanksgiving.Here it is ready to go. There were plenty of leftovers too.

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Happy Holidays to you all and enjoy this wonderful season for food, family, and friends.

Huevos Rancheros with onion, chorizo, and tomatoes

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Huevos Rancheros is a great way to start off your morning. There are many combinations of Huevos Rancheros including using fried egg, bacon, avocado, and refried beans to name a few. The recipe here calls for the following:

• 3 eggs
• 4- 8 oz chorizo
• One small chopped onion
• One small diced tomato
• sliced cheddar cheese 
• fresh herbs - oregano, basil
• 1 - 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 chili pepper (we use the Hawai'ian chili pepper, but any pepper will work)
• pinch of salt and pepper

 First heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan. Once the oil is heated, slice the garlic and pepper and add them to the heated oil. Let the garlic and pepper season the oil for about 5 minuets.

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Once the oil is seasoned and add the sliced onion and chorizo. I start cooking the chorizo and onions as pictured bellow for about 5 to 10 minuets on medium heat.

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Here is the chorizo and onion after it has been stirred and cooked for about 10 minutes.

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Once the chorizo has cooked add the eggs. I mix the eggs with the fresh herbs and the salt and pepper before  I add it to the pan in a small bowl or coffee cup. This is what the mix looks like after about 5 minutes on the burner.

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 Once all the egg is cooked (about 10 minuets),  add the sliced cheese and broil the top in the stove for about 3- 5 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Let it cool, add the chopped tomatoes, and your breakfast is ready.

Simple Pasta Sauce

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These are some fresh vegtables from the garden and the local market here in upcountry, Kula, Maui, Hawai'i.. Pictured are: heirloom tomatoes, roma tomatoes, Kula onions, squash, Hawaiian chili peppers, rosemary, basil, and oregano. We typically use these vegetables and herbs to make red sauce for pasta, pizza, and calzones. To make a simple pasta sauce you will need the following:

• 2 Tablespoon olive oil
• peppers (if you like)
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 3-4 medium size tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 squash or bell pepper.
• 1 Tablespoon rock salt
• 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped - Rosemary, Basil, and Oregano (each)
• 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• 6 ounces chicken broth or water

With all savory sauces I start by heating 2 Tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Once the oil is heated it is then seasoned with chopped Hawai'ian chili peppers and one to two cloves of chopped garlic. After the peppers and the garlic has cooked for a few minuets add the diced onion and continue cooking for about 10 minuets stirring occasionally.

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Once the onions have started to become transparent add the diced squash and tomatoes and let cook for 20 to 30 minutes again stirring occasionally.

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You should notice the tomatoes breaking down. Now add the tomato paste, and chicken broth (or water) along with fresh herbs. With this red sauce, you want to be able to see the herbs you are adding (to taste of course), be generous. The freshness will come through the more herbs you add. It allows the oils from the herbs to combine with the tomato, squash, and other ingredients.

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Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce heat to low to allow the sauce to slowly thicken - stirring often.

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At this point the sauce is ready to serve. Often for pizza we will puree the sauce to make it extra smooth.

Pumpkin Pie & Homemade Pie Crust

We wanted to share our pumpkin pie recipe. Fairly certain this is my favorite type of pie. To make it from scratch is a great deal of fun! We have a simple pie crust recipe - here.  Baking the pumpkin and letting it cool can take up to 3 hours.

For the Pie Filling

• 2 cups cooked pumpkin or one can pumpkin (15 oz)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 12 oz (one can) evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger

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While at the local produce farm in Kula on Halloween day, I found a great deal on pumpkins. We got two, one for carving, and the other to use for this pie, soup, and quick bread. To bake this pumpkin we cut a whole in the top and added 1 Tablespoon rock salt and 2 Tablespoons of butter and then put the top back on. The oven was pre-heated to 400 F.

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Here is the pumpkin in the oven ready to be cooked.

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We cooked this pumpkin at 400 F for about an hour and a half. The pumpkin is fully cooked when all of the pumpkin is soft. Checking some of the thicker walls with a knife will help tell you if all of the meat is cooked.  Here is our cat Billy doing his part.

While the pumpkin was in the oven we started the our pie recipe. This is a picture of the pie crust before it was par-baked.

This was the fate of our second pumpkin.

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After the pumkin is cooked and cooled it was added to all ingredients in the following order. First add the milk, sugar, vanilla, and the other spices and mix well. Next add the eggs, one at a time and again mix well. Finally, add the pumpkin and puree until smooth (make sure to scrape the sides often with a spatula).

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Pour the filling into a pre-baked crust and bake the pie in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 50 minuets, or until the center of the pie is set. If you look at the photo bellow you can see where we checked our pie with a knife to make sure the center was cooked. This pie took closer to 55 minuets

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Finally, after a batch of fresh vanilla whip cream and vanilla ice cream.

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Homemade Pie Dough

Making a good flaky pie dough is simple but requires taking your time. One of the keys to making the dough flaky is keeping the butter as cold as possible throughout the mixing and shaping stages.  We use a small food processor for this recipe but it can also be done by hand. Often I double the recipe for more dough.

For the Pie Dough:

• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar in the raw
• 1 Teaspoon rock salt
• 3-4 Tablespoons ice water
• 1/2 cup chilled butter (put in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes) cut into pieces.

Place the four, salt, sugar into the food processor.

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Add the chilled butter and pulse the food processor for about 10 - 15 seconds. The butter should look like very small pebbles with no large chunks.

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Quickly wrap the dough with plastic and form the dough into a tight ball.

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This is what our dough looked like in the bag.

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Let the dough chill in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes. At this stage you could also put the dough into the fridge to work with the dough the next day. This is a good time to pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

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Once the dough has chilled roll out the dough into the shape of your dish and form the edges with your hands. Work quickly to keep the dough cool.

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Use a fork to poke holes into the dough to let it bake evenly in the oven. Chill the dough one last time for 5 to 10 minuets and then par-bake or pre-bake the dough at 350 for 7 to 10 minuets.

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We made a pumpkin pie with this pie crust. This is how the pie turned out.

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