Recipes | Snapshot Chronicles

Potato Galette Recipe

03.30.2014 by Susan Getgood //

On today’s menu, Potato Galette. Super easy.

All you need for 4 generous servings: 2 large potatoes, olive oil, salt and shredded cheese of your choice.

Slice the potatoes very thin. I use a mandoline. Toss with olive oil and salt, some herbs if you wish, and then layer in a pie plate, alternating a layer of potatoes with a layer of shredded cheese (such as parmesan, gouda, gruyere, cheddar). End with a layer of potato. Bake in a 350°F oven until potatoes are tender and cheese melted. I always forget to time it, but it’s probably 30 minutes or so. Longer if your potato slices are thick.

Eccles Cakes: Recipe and Video

03.18.2014 by Susan Getgood //

This weekend I made Eccles Cakes, a family favorite pastry. Wikipedia says they originated in Eccles (Greater Manchester), England. My family associates them with our Scottish heritage (perhaps because my grandfather loved them?) and Demoulas Market Basket supermarkets, which was the only place you could get them locally when I was growing up in Andover, Massachusetts in the 70s. By the 1908s, they stopped carrying them.

This was before the Web. Before recipe sites. Before food blogs. So I invented my own recipe using a filling based on a raisin square recipe from a magazine.

Susan’s Eccles Cakes

Fruit Filling
1 apple peeled cored and chopped (about 1 cup)
2/3 c apple juice
2 to 2-1/2 cups raisins or currants or combination
2 TBSP granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 TBSP conrstarch
2 TBSP cold water

Pastry
1 17-1/4 oz package frozen puff pastry, 2 sheets, thawed (Note: if I use raisins instead of currants in the filling I usually need 3 sheets to use up all the filling)
1 large egg (2 if using 1.5 packages of puff pastry
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Filling – In medium saucepan, bring apple and apple juice to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes until tender. Stir in currants/raisins, sugar and spices. Bring to boil, stirring often. Boil 1 minute. In small bowl mix cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Stir into fruit mixture. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Cool to room temperature. Cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight.

Cakes – Preheat oven to 400°F. Beat egg to blend in small bowl. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll 1 pastry sheet according to package directions and cut into 3 or 4 inch rounds. I use a half-pint glass as a template to make approx. 3 inch rounds. Spoon filling into center of rounds, brush border with egg. Top with second pastry round, press and crimp edges togethr to seal. Brush with egg. Cut a couple vent holes in center, and sprinkle top with sugar. Continue rolling pastry and assembling cakes until you’ve used up all the pastry and the filling. Chill each backing sheet of cakes 15-20 minutes before baking. Bake pastry until puffed and golden brown, and sugar has melted on top about 10-15 minutes (12 is about perfect for my oven). Cool, serve at room temperature.

Christmas traditions

12.29.2013 by Susan Getgood //

Like most families, our Christmas traditions are a blend of heritage, family and the things you add just because YOU like them. Or sometimes, as most of my family will attest in the case of my Christmas music, ONLY because you like them. But I digress.

At my house, our Christmas tree is a blend of old and new traditions, purchased, hand and home-made ornaments. From my childhood, a tradition that my mom brought home the to the US after living in Germany in the early 60s – a mushroom and at least one bird on the tree. I still have a two of the glass ornaments from that era – one on the tree and one on display year round in my office. From my 20s, when I first started having my own tree, handmade quilled ornaments and a needlpoint Santa. Starting in the 90s, an obsession with Scottish Terriers as well as ornaments for every animal in the house, past and present.

My son and I have started a couple traditions together. We have fun hiding (and finding) the glass pickle ornament, and we buy an ornament every year that represents something we did together during the year. This year it was the Empire State Building. We also have a Christmas Village, and have selected all the buildings together, making for an eclectic village full of fire trucks and flamingos as well as the homes, shops and restaurants one would expect.

We also have a few traditions that come right from the time I spent in France during high school and college. Our nativity scene is French santons, a collection I started when I was 16, and every year I make (or sometimes buy) a galette des rois for La Fête des Rois (Epiphany, January 6th).

Christmas Dinner however is straight up British Isles (at least until dessert) – Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and a vegetable (usually steamed brussel sprouts or green beans to add some color to the plate). For dessert, I used to make BIG desserts like cheesecake, tartes, even the occasional Buche de Noël, but in past years I either make Gingerbread or Cranberry Spice Cake. This year we had two dinners, one on Christmas itself, and one Saturday when my son returned for his holiday time with his father so I was able to make both desserts. Both were originally from Bon Appétit and are linked above.

As I was preparing the meal yesterday, I tortured friends on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with the progression of the meal. Here for your pleasure is the short version.

The Cranberry Cake (recipe)

Cranberry Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze and Cranberry Orange Compote

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding

A good meat thermometer is crucial to a successful roast beef. For medium with a warm very pink center , I cook it to about 140°F internal temperature. If you like it more rare, take it out sooner. It NEVER hurts to take it out sooner and check. You can always cook it more, but you can NEVER un-cook it.

The cooked roast should rest for about 30 minutes before carving, which gives you the necessary time to steam your chosen vegetable and cook the Yorkshire Pudding. My recipe for Yorkshire pudding is adapted from one that appeared in Bon Appétit (December 1988) as well, but it predates epicurious.com so I reproduce it here, with some of my twists and alterations.

Yorkshire Pudding (8 servings)
1-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cups milk
3/4 cups water
3 large eggs
3/4 tsp. salt (I use Kosher or Sea salt)

about 3 TBS butter
2-4 ounces sharp cheddar, grated. (I use the more generous amount, play around with proportion that pleases you. Even with a generous amount, the finished dish does not taste cheesy at all.)

Blend first five ingredients in blender until smooth and foamy, stopping occasionally to scrape down side of container. About one minute. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 and up to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat butter in 14×11 roasting pan in oven until butter melts. I prefer a glass or oven proof ceramic dish (versus a metal roasting pan). Whisk batter to blend and pour into pan. Immediately sprinkle with cheese.

If you use the more generous amount of cheese you will cover the top. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°F. Bake until top is golden brown and edges are slightly puffed, about 20-25 more minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

If you make it when preparing a roast, melt the butter in the roasting pan during the last 15-20 minutes or so of the roast’s cooking time. When you take the roast out to rest, adjust the oven temperature to 375°F and continue as above. Your Yorkshire Pudding should finish just about the same time you finish carving the roast.

Yorkshire Pudding in the oven, just about done