Blueberry Bread

Here in Northern Michigan in mid July it’s blueberry picking season.  Every year when we don’t get a late frost  and we get plenty of rain there will be  loads of blueberries  on the Sand’s plains in the Upper Peninsula. My wife and I will pick 20 to 30 quarts each season. What do we do with that many blueberries?  We make our own blueberry jam and blueberry bread throughout the year.

Blueberry Bread 

Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup oil and 1 cup blueberries.

Directions:  In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, and baking powder and give a quick mix to incorporate the ingredients.  Next, add the wet ingredients and mix well for 1 minute until all the lumps are gone.  Then fold in the blueberries to the batter.

Take two small loaf pans 6″ x 3″ and take a small amount of shortening and grease the inside of the pans and sprinkle each with a light flour coating.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes.

Squash Soup

Squash soup is a welcomed  dish for cold winter nights  .  The first time I had this soup was in the Veneto Region of Northern Italy.

Ingredients: 

2 Cups winter squash  (butternut,Hubbard), 4 medium size carrots, 3 stalks celery, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons coriander, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 4 cups chicken stock, sour cream and 1 small bunch  of chives.

Directions:  First take a medium squash, cut in half and remove the seeds, put in a dutch oven and cover with water and cook until done 20 to 25 minutes . Once cooked remove the flesh from the skin of the squash.  Mash the squash into a puree. 

In a dutch oven add 4 cups chicken stock, homemade  is best, but if not available you can use one Knorr Bouillon Cube and 4 cups of water. Add the two cups of squash to the stock.

Next chop the  carrot and celery into small pieces.

Take a separate frying pan  and heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon ,add the vegetables…  saute about 10 minutes …your house will smell like Christmas at this point. 

Once the vegetables are cooked, put in a blender, add a 1/2 cup of water and puree.  Add the vegetable to the dutch oven with the stock and squash.  Add the 2 teaspoons of coriander to the dutch oven and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve soup with a dollop of sour cream in the center and a few cut up chives on top and some crusty garlic bread and you have a meal.  A good wine paring would be a Bolla Soave white wine from the Veneto Region of Italy.

Danish Rice Pudding

The first time I had Danish Rice Pudding was when I went to Saeby, Denmark to meet my future in-laws.

Ingredients:  4 cups of whole milk, 1 cup white short grained rice(basmati rice), 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 tablespoon sugar, 8 oz heavy cream,  handful of almonds.

Take a medium pan and heat one cup of water until it starts to boil, add the 1 cup of rice and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the 4 cups of milk, put a cover on the pan and turn down to low heat for approximately 50 minutes.  Check on the rice cooking  and stir every ten minutes or so.

Next, take the heavy cream…add the sugar  and vanilla and mix until you  have whipped cream and refrigerate.

When the rice has cooked  put in the refrigerator to cool….it needs to be ice cold.  Once chilled, fold the whipped cream into the chilled rice.  Take the almonds and clean the skin off of them and  chop coursely and add to the rice pudding.

Brandied Cherry Sauce:

I can cherry pie filling and 2 tablespoons brandy…mix well and put on top of your rice pudding……ENJOY

Linguine with Salmon and Zucchini

Linguine with Salmon and Zucchini in Cream Sauce

Ingredients:  1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 4 cloves garlic,1 small zucchini, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup marscapone cheese, white wine, one egg yolk, nutmeg, and two cups fresh salmon cut into pieces, and linguine enough for 2 large servings.

Directions:  1.  Take a large fry pan and add olive oil and heat, add garlic and brown. 

2.  In the mean time get you water boiling for the linguine. 

3.  Quarter the zucchini and cut into pieces and add to the garlic in frying pan and brown.

4.  Once water is boiling for the linguine and a pinch of salt and add the linguine and boil for 9-10 minutes until al dente.

5.   Make the cream sauce, in a seperate bowl add 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup marscapone cheese, and one egg yolk.  Mix.

6.  Add two cups of salmon to the frying pan and cook through.  Add a few table spoons of good white wine to the zucchini and salmon. 

7.  Add the cooked linguine to the salmon mixture and add the cream sauce as well.  Cook for 1 minute and incorporate the sauce into the linguine. 

8.  Plate your pasta and grate a small amount of fresh nutmeg over the pasta dish and serve with a good Italian white wine.

Hello world!

This is my first post.  I have been on Facebook for a while sharing my passion for cooking with my friends.  Every nights dinner was posted with what my wife and I were having for dinner.  I love to cook using fresh ingredients.  A lot of the food I cook is Italian, but I do from time to time cook other recipes from other nationalities and  I do some wild game cooking.  My niece asked me why not start your own food blog and so here I am…at the beginning!