Witchy Kitchen

Tag: butter

  • Ectolime Curd and Stay Puft Fluff

    Ectolime Curd and Stay Puft Fluff

    Ghostbusters-inspired Ectolime Curd and Stay Puft Fluff are good enough to get you believing in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis.

    There are tons of uses for these sweet goos; on the Fiction Kitchen podcast I talked about using this marshmallow fluff and lime curd to make s’mores and keylime pie gram cracker thumbprint cookies, but that’s just one idea. Eventually I’d love to make a marshmallow popsicles with ectolime curd filling inspired by Andrew Heath’s pop art popsicles!

    Ectolime Curd

    Adapted from Ina Garten
    • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
    • 1 1/2 cups sugar
    • zest and juice of 2 limes
    • 4 eggs
    • 2 drops green, 1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • Cream the butter, then beat in the sugar and lime zest. Add the eggs one by one, then the lime juice and salt.
    Pour into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until thickened (15 minutes or so). Remove from heat and cool completely. Save in the fridge in an airtight container.

    Stay Puft Fluff

    From The Kitchn – this makes a TON, if I make again will do half
    • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water
    • 3/4 cup sugar
    • 3/4 cup light corn syrup
    • 3 egg whites
    • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (if you, like me, forgot you were out, can omit)
    • pinch salt
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    Warm water, sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium high heat until mixture reaches 240°. Meanwhile, beat egg whites until foamy, then add cream of tartar and salt and beat to soft peaks. When sugar mixture is heated, remove from heat and let rest 20 seconds. Slowly stream into the egg mixture while beating on high. Beat for 7-8 minutes until room temperature. Add in vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form. Save in the fridge in an airtight container.

    I love making and using fruit curds. See some other variations with:

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 43: Ghostbusters in which Carrie and Diana talk about the new movie and all that came before. Get ready for Ecto Cooler, twinkies, sad wonton soup, Cheezits, flying sandwiches, refrigerator portals, and wacky party food. We ain’t afraid of no ghost!


  • Codfish Pudding

    Codfish Pudding

    Just always be waiting for me.

    I reread Peter Pan by JM Barrie, a book I loved as a child, a couple of years ago; it was just as sweet and funny as I remembered, but it’s now layered by my adult experience. There’s some unfortunate misogyny (poor Wendy), and now knowing that it’s about the death of a child, much of it is just so unbearably sad.

    But from unbearable tragedy comes a charming and awfully big adventure, and I made a recipe to match. This is equal parts British nursery food for darling little children and the worst insult to effeminate one-handed pirates.

    I based my dish on this recipe from Cook it Simply with several adjustments in ingredients and cooking method (Do I look like I have suet? Or a pudding basin? But I got through it, oh the cleverness of me!). The result was like a crustless mini quiche – super tasty, and I think the lemon zest brought out the pleasant fishy flavor and brightened it several shades above stereotypically tasteless nursery fare.

    It was very good warm the night of, my kids loved it, and, because I am a monster who eats straight from the fridge, can offer that it was even good cold the next day.

    Codfish Pudding

    Adapted from Cook it Simply

    • 1 pound skinless cod, sliced into small cubes
    • 1 stick butter, melted
    • zest of one lemon
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • fresh cracked pepper
    • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 2 slices bread
    • handful parsley

    Heat oven to 350° and grease a muffin tin.

    Combine cod, butter, lemon zest, salt, pepper, eggs, and milk. In a food processor, blitz bread and parsley to fine crumbs. Stir into cod mixture.

    Divide evenly between muffin cups. Place the muffin tin on a large rimmed baking sheet in the oven, and add water to the baking sheet to about three quarters full.

    Bake for one hour (start checking at 50 minutes, it’s fine for the tops to brown but if they start getting too done cover with foil) until the mixture is fairly solid. Remove to a rack and cool 15-20 minutes.

    Gently remove each pudding, I spooned around the rim to loosen it and used two spoons to lift it to the plate. They’ll get less delicate as they cool.

    Garnish with a little extra chopped parsley and serve warm, or enjoy later room temp or even cold.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Podcast Episode 45: PETER PAN, in which Carrie and Diana discuss the novel and various adaptations. Diana dreams of cakes, Carrie gets emotional, and there’s pretend feasts, medicine, panpipes and nursery food to go around.

    Lovely artwork by Renae De Liz

  • Prune Kouign Amann

    Prune Kouign Amann

    This month’s Fandom Foodies theme, hosted by The Hungry Bookworm, is Magical Realism, one of my favorite genres of fiction – and let’s be honest, the one I wish I was living in. Find lots of magical realism dishes using #MagicalRealFood.

    Amélie is an adorably quirky film, one of my favorites of all time. Romantic and twee, and even a bit dark at times, it’s a movie for dreamers – and times are hard for dreamers.

    In a sweetly heartbreaking scene, Amélie does what a lot of us do when miserable which is sad-baking. For her that means her famous plum cake. I never really knew what her plum cake was supposed to be, only that it was a yeast cake which seemed interesting and unusual. On latest viewing I dug into it a little and was introduced to kouign amann, a cake from Brittany, that is made with a yeast dough, and then folded and rolled into layers of butter and sugar, then baked until it is nice caramelized. With all the folding and layering, there’s opportunity for fillings, such as chocolate, cinnamon, jam, or fresh fruit.

    For my first try, this wasn’t bad. Lessons to take away:

    • It was a little dense, so next time I might try my pizza dough method, which is to add the flour gradually until it juuuuuust makes a dough, rather than add it all at once.
    • Also, as you can see, caramelization is good, but there’s always too much of a good thing – I’ve complained before about my oven running hot (and yet, forgot to check how things were going along the way), so my cake got veeeery caramelized, and even a little burnt in spots. Next time I’ll lower the heat a bit and babysit it a little better.
    • Finally, as plums are not in season I used plum preserves, which was definitely tasty, but a little messy as it leaked out of the dough, onto my counters, and into the oven as well (I had to slide a sheet pan underneath to catch the drips). While this is still a legit version, I’m excited to try it with fresh fruit, so that’s the plan come July or August.

    Amelie’s Famous Plum Cake (Prune Kouign Amann)

    Rather than transcribe the entire recipe, I’m just going to link to David Leibovitz’s as I pretty much did that exactly, and he has very detailed instructions as well as pictures along the way (the folding pattern can get a little confusing without a visual).

    The only thing I did differently was replacing one of the 1/4 cups of sugar with several tablespoons of plum preserves. Again, just a note, that you may have to adjust temperature and cooking time to your oven.

    Recipe for Kouign Amann

    This dish was first posted for Fiction Kitchen Episode 38: AMELIE in which Carrie and Diana discuss the 2001 French film in which times are hard for dreamers, but things work out ok. Plus, cherry earrings, cracking crème brûlée, plum cake, endives, and scribbles for nibbles.

  • Buttered Leeks

    Buttered Leeks

    Leek, leek, it rhymes with Reek.

    This is an innocent side of green veggie that is secretly, luxuriously bathed in butter. Leeks are delicate, with such a softness to their sharpness that even my daughter who hates onion with the fire of seven hells was happy to gobble up.

    Buttered Leeks

    • 2 pounds leeks
    • 3 tablespoons butter
    • generous pinch salt
    • several sprigs thyme to garnish

    Trim leeks of almost all green (you can leave a little of the spring green stem) and slice vertically. Wash well to remove all grit, and slice into half moons.

    Heat butter on medium heat, and add leaks, season with salt, and stir to coat. Cover and cook, stirring frequently, until completely soft and wilted. Season if necessary, serve garnished with thyme.

  • Cajun Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

    Cajun Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

    So with all the pumpkining there is clearly an excess of pumpkin seeds that need attention. These are fragrant, warming, and just a little spicy (but not so much that my kids aren’t devouring them).

    Unlike my sister, who lived in Baton Rouge for several years and is never without Tony’s in her cabinet, I usually just throw together a few of the spices typically found in cajun spice mixes. And to be honest, although I do like Tony’s, most mixes are so salty it’s hard to get the spice you want without salting the whole thing to hell. The next time I make gumbo maybe I’ll make a homemade Cajun Masala – but for now a little paprika, cumin, coriander and of course cayenne with do!

    Cajun Spice Pumpkin Seeds

    Slightly adapted from About.com

    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/2 tsp paprika
    • 1/4 tsp each cumin, coriander powder and cayenne
    • few turns cracked black pepper
    • sprinkle cinnamon
    • 1 tbsp butter, melted
    • 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
    • 1 cup pumpkin seeds, cleaned and dried

    Heat oven to 300°.

    In a medium bowl, mix salt, paprika, cumin, coriander powder, cayenne, black pepper, cinnamon, butter and Worcestershire sauce.

    Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast, turning occasionally, for 45 to 60 minutes (mine only took 45) until nicely brown and crunchy.

  • Devilish Eggs

    Devilish Eggs

    I’m still a Southern girl…of course I have a deviled egg plate.

    For deviled eggs, most use a sprinkle of paprika or aleppo pepper as a garnish, but the hedonistic and excessive use it by the spoonful. Since the flavors are otherwise subtle, the aleppo pepper shines – or smolders.

    A couple gathered tips: Virginia Willis’s deviled eggs in Bon Appetit, Y’all contain her French secret ingredient: butter. I never miss an opportunity to hide butter in things, and it really does take these to the next level (of hell! muhahaha). Also, for easy-to-peel eggs, use eggs that have been in the fridge a week or so. Much recommended – mine were super fresh since we go through eggs like chickens were going extinct, so they were annoying hard to peel.

    Edit: I have a new hard boiled egg technique, which I saw on The Kitchn (replacing my previous method of just boiling them to hell). It works perfectly (as I instagrammed in my excitement).

    Devilish Eggs

    (recipe can be doubled)

    • 6 eggs
    • 1 scant tablespoon aleppo pepper (or an equal amount using 3 parts paprika to 1 part cayenne)
    • generous pinch or two cayenne
    • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
    • 1 tbsp butter, softened
    • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • coasre salt and fresh cracked pepper
    • green onions, chives, or other herbs for garnish

    Hard boil eggs. Technique of perfection: put in a pot and cover with an inch of cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then remove from heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove to a bowl and cover with cold water for a couple of minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, peel.

    Slice in half and remove yolks to a medium bowl. Smash yolks as smooth as you can get them. (Alternately you can use a food processor and mix with the other ingredients).

    In a dry pan, lightly toast spices to wake them up a bit. Add to yolks, plus mayonnaise, butter and salt and pepper to taste. Combine thoroughly.

    Spoon mixture back into eggs (piping is lame), garnish with greenery.