Bavarian Style Plum Galette with fig jam

The only plums that I really enjoy are Italian Prunes (really, they're a plum). I've also read that they are called Stanley Plums.  Maybe that's an East Coast thing, but here in California, they are sold as Italian Prunes.

These plums are perfect for baking-- the meat is a greenish color, firm and not full of juice. There is a very traditional Bavarian Tart that my mother taught me how to make, called Zwetschgen Datschi (Da-CHI) that my family looks for to my making for my annual Oktoberfest party.  I will be making that, along with my arsenal of Bavarian recipes in just a couple of weeks.

This particular galette (basically a free-form pie) is a super fast version of the traditional Bavarian Tart, that captures the same wonderful flavors of sugar and cinnamon.  I make an excellent pie crust, if I do say so myself. But, when it's a week night, I have no shame in thawing out a pie crust from my local Trader Joe's. The ingredients are good enough for me-- no trans fats and it's pretty darn flakey.  I don't really have a recipe to write down, because you want to sweeten the plums, according to how tart they are.

I "eyeballed" how many plums I would need to fill one pie crust. Cut the plums in half and remove the pit; then I slice the plums into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, I added about 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Let the plums sit a bit and taste them. Add a little more sugar, if they still taste a little tart for your taste buds.

I'm a big fan of King Arthur Flour's website. I bought a few of their products this summer, and the Pie Filling Enhancer was one of them. I like to use tapioca to thicken my fruit pies, but I thought I'd give this product a try-- so I added a couple of Tablespoons to the fruit.

I used my homemade fig jam, but you can also use apricot jam.

On a baking sheet with parchment paper (King Arthur sells perfectly sized half sheets for a reasonable price), spread a nice even layer, leaving a wide border where you'll be folding the crust over the plums.

Add the plums in an even layer...

Now, fold the pie dough and don't worry about it having to look perfect.-- this is a rustic tart. That gives you permission to not be so perfect!  Dot the fruit with butter-- a few pieces.

I like to make an egg wash (well beaten egg, little bit of water) and brush it on the crust-- this gives the curst a pretty golden color and some sheen. The egg wash also acts like a glue for sprinkling regular sugar or turbinado sugar-- but I have to praise another one of my favorite King Arthur Flour products-- Sparking White Sugar!  I just love this stuff!  It made my sugar cookies look pretty, and it doesn't melt. I love the crunch, too.  What do you think?  I love cinnamon, so I decided to shake some extra, for good measure. Sorry, I didn't measure-- I just eyeballed the whole thing.

Make sure that your oven is pre-heated to 350F.  Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Your kitchen will smell so good!

How fast and easy is that?!

Oh, look at that melted butter!  The Pie Filling enhancer worked great, by the way.

These plums are the best! I hope that you can find these in your area!  I also stew these in cinnamon sugar and can them for other recipes. I also freeze the plums, so that I can enjoy them long than their version short season of September-October.

 This is a family favorite, all the way back to my childhood. My brother's are going to drool when I send them a picture of this! From start to finish, you can have this dessert on a cooling rack in about 45 minutes. It's that easy!

Mutti ("mom"), this is in memory of you! Thanks for teaching me how to cook like the true Bavarian that you were!  This is outstanding! I just love this tart!

With love,

Fall Pasta with Pumpkin, Sausage and Sage

I have finally surrendered to Fall, after enjoying two fun-filled days at the Harvest Festival. I still have hundreds of photos (mostly of Tyler Florence) to sort through, organize and compile into recipes. After watching Tyler Florence make his beautiful dish of pan roasted rabbit with roasted pumpkin, harvest grapes, chestnut polenta and garnished with sage infused olive oil-- and garnished with fried sage leaves... I had pumpkin on the brain!

 I'm going to give my blubbering about  meeting Tyler Florence a rest for a few days-- instead, this is a recipe that I watched Rachael Ray make about 4 years ago. I've made it several times, and it's a nice way to work with pumpkin puree as a savory pasta.

This is super quick, folks-- though, it does take me 45 minutes to make in my small kitchen with minimal counter space.  I invite you to try this recipe, even if you aren't a Rachael Ray fan-- for whatever reason that is. Trust me, the first time I heard "Pumpkin Pasta" I thought "bleccccccccccch". I'm a new believer in this recipe. It's simple, with just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, a little kick (I use HOT Italian turkey sausage) and just the right amount of sage to compliment the pumpkin puree.

Many of the ingredients for this dish are probably in your pantry. I didn't photograph the ingredients, but the shopping list isnothing hard to find, at all. You need penne pasta (I used farfalle, this time), Italian sausage (I use HOT Italian sausage), pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling), garlic, onion, olive oil, fresh sage, cinnamon and nutmeg. One of these days, I'm going to roast and puree fresh pumpkin. Still, I buy my canned pumpkin at Trader Joe's and I think it's just as good-- and a lot less work.

I always have fresh garlic and I'm fortunate to have a hearty sage plant in my backyard. I love sage, and I think it's perfect with pumpkin. Don't you?

Here's how easy it is, to make this delicious pasta dinner:

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate.

Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes.Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble.

Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream.

Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute.  This makes a lot-- 4-6 generous servings.
NOTE: Borrowing an idea from watching Tyler Florence, I infused a little olive oil with sage leaves. The oil, I drizzled over the pasta, and I garnished the pasta with the fried sage leaves.  Extra Yummy Units!

Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.  Do I dare say it?  "Yumm-o".  If you click on the picture, you can really see the sauce and the sausage-- it sure was good!

I haven't made a Rachael Ray recipe in a very long, for no particular reason.  I still like her, no matter what her harsh critics say. At least Rachael doesn't use canned cream of "whatever" soups, and she does use a lot of fresh herbs.  This is one of our favorite quick meals, that's a little different. This pasta dish screams "Autumn"! 

Coming up next-- I will finally post a delicious Autumn Plum dessert that is easy and seriously delicious. I have several recipes I need to organize and post (including two of Tyler Florence's dishes he demo'd at the Harvest Festival-- I'm falling behind! 

Foodie Fairy Tale Comes True-- More Harvest Festival with Tyler Florence

Dear Fellow Foodies,

Would you say that this picture is worth a thousand words? Not only did I get a second chance for a photo with Tyler Florence...ladies and gentlemen...

I did not do a lipstick check too soon! In walked Tyler Florence, who spotted me and he remembered me!  Not only did he say hello to me, and "nice to see you again", but he told me that he visited my food blog!  Me!  What an honor!  I had a flood of reactions to that-- flattered, nervous, insecure and just amazed. He said that he found me in his Google Feed. Hmmmm, how many of his other Tyler Florence Fan Blogs does he visit? You never know!

Talk about a few minutes of one-on-one with Tyler... I asked him how his golf game went at Pebble Beach and he enthusiastically shared his experiece with me.

He also autographed my copy of Tyler's Cookbook "Tyler's Ultimate".

 Tyler cooked  pan roasted rabbit with a chestnut polenta, roasted pumpkin with a beautiful sage infused oil and fried sage as a garnish.

Craig had a wonderful day with me, and I think he's becoming a "Foodie".  We had an opportunity to explore all of the food booths, before the crowds arrived-- tasting to much fantastic food, wine and beer.  Five hours flew by fast.

Truly, I can tell you that Tyler Florence is not only a professional chef-- he's also entertaining. Most importantly, Tyler treats his fan as though we are all one big family.  He took the time to, articulately,  explain every step of what he's doing (just like on his Ultimate Show on Food Network). He allowed the audience to ask questions about food, and he patiently and thoroughly answered questions.   He graciously posed with lines of his fans, signed autographs and never did I seem him snub a single person.

...he also photographs his own dishes, and he posted this on his TWITTER. I didn't get to taste this one, but it looked and smelled amazing. I cannot wait to try chestnut flour, which I learned is gluten-free.

Tyler Florence is a star. I cannot wait to compose both meals that he cooked into a recipe format, so that I can share it with you.

I have over 200 photos to edit and compile into a story line.

Next year, come to the Second Annual Food & Wine Harvest Festival.  It was good times!

My personal dinner cooked by Tyler Florence, and given to me!!!

I just got home for Day #1 at the Food & Wine Harvest Farm-To-Table Event, being held at the beautiful Quail Lodge Resort-- located in Carmel Valley, California-- my hometown for most of my life.

I'm still quivering from excitement, that I need to calm down and (literally) digest all the fantastic food I have sampled.

The first thing I want to say about Tyler Florence... he's definitely a hottie, but most importantly-- he is a genuinely friendly and approachable chef.  I have to thank my dear friend, Dorothy, who put me on the volunteer list as a "Chef Gopher".

My wrist band gave me early access to the grounds-- three hours before it was open to the public. Yes, that's Stefan Richter of Top Chef and LA Farm. He is also very gracious and very charismatic.

He is also very friendly... and most gracious about being photographed with me! Muwaaaaah!

That's my friend, "Dorothy" (far left), checking in the chefs. I was her assistant (deep chuckle...)

There he is!  Tyler Florence, in the flesh... signing Dot's program.  Tyler has beautiful blue eyes, by the way-- and I caught him putting on his chef's coat. Need some help with that, Tyler? I got front row seats, thanks to Dorothy.

Do you see the photograph of Tyler, with his arm around me, posing for a photo? No? Um, hello, Dorothy...
YOU DIDN'T PRESS THE BUTTON!!! Imagine my weeping, as I realize she didn't take the shot... however, I said to Tyler that I am a participant in the food blog  Tyler Florence Fridays, and he looked at me a smiled. Then he said "that's lots of fun, huh?"  Tyler Florence spoke to me!  My consolation prize, for missing out on a photo of me with Tyler (it really happened)  is yet to come...

So, I forgive Dot for not taking the shot... you see, once all the chefs were checked in, she grabbed me and said that our job was to ask each Chef's Station if they needed anything. I got a white wrist band, that gave me unlimited access to everything!

We inspected the wine glasses and surveyed the tents-- no crowds yet. It was still early...

This pork had been cooking since last night, with oak... pulled pork, my husband's favorite!

 We were offered a taste....

...and I was given a full bottle of cold Stella Artois beer, and was given the glass to keep!  But, back to Tyler's cooking demo...

There is so much more to tell you, but I'm going to tell you that my biggest highlight of all was watching Tyler Florence make a fabulous meal of fresh Alaskan salmon, seared and cooked to perfection. He also made a beautiful herb sauce, fresh baby heirloom tomatoes cooked almost a beautiful relish, a fresh corn succotash with bacon, onion and fresh veggies and perfect tempura style squash blossoms.  I will show you how he made it...

Dorothy's husband, Fatih (third from the left of Stephan Richter) took photos of Tyler Florence picking me-- and my new friend, Michelle, and giving us his plated meal to enjoy!  Yes! Me!!  He waited while I took a bite, standing right in front of me (my fork was trembling) while I took a taste.  I gave Fatih some of our meal, to bribe him into giving me photos of Tyler feeding me! Not only is Tyler Florence a hottie, genuinely nice-- but he can cook!  It was excellent!

Tomorrow is Day #2, and I have a pass for my husband to come with me. Craig knows how to take photos, so I'm determined to get another photo of me with Tyler Florence.

Having met Tyler Florence, and Stephan Richter, and eating Tyler's food...my life is complete... until tomorrow. Lots more photos to come!  (Though, I did meet Alton Brown and I enjoyed a meal by "Iron Chef", Nate Appleman, in May of this year. 

C'mon on a join us! There's still time to make it to beautiful Carmel Valley!  It's so worth the trip here.

Yours truly,
"The Chef Gopher",