The Traveling Epicurean

egg white

Crazy Good Candied Pecans

by

Crazy Good Candied Pecans

Crazy Good Candied Pecans

This crazy good candied pecan recipe came from a golfing friend, Denise, who brought them to the annual Christmas party years ago and I have been making them ever since.  They make for a wonderful holiday treat and certainly don’t last very long when you put them out.   If you want any for yourself you may have to stash some away.  The candied pecans are very addictive and everyone will be asking you for the recipe.  In fact, I did have some requests so I promised to get the recipe out this week…..enjoy!

During the holiday season I make several batches of these pecans and give them as party favors and Christmas gifts in decorative bags with pretty ribbon and everyone goes crazy for them. Hence, the name “Crazy Good Candied Pecans”. Don’t miss my YouTube show “Crazy Good Candied Pecans” on how to make these addictive little morsels.

If you want some appetizer’s to have before these treats check out baked asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto, roasted garlic bean dip, buffalo chicken dip, or spanakopita and end with chewy chocolate chip cookies to go with the candied pecans!

iphone-pictures-572-300x225 IMG_6722 buffdip cookedspan IMG_6064

iphone pictures 451  iphone pictures 459  iphone pictures 454

iphone pictures 457  iphone pictures 458  iphone pictures 466

040  001  008

 Ingredients:

  • 4 cups of whole pecans
  • 1 extra lg egg white
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tsp salt

Directions: 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 275º.
  2. Beat egg white and water in a large bowl until frothy (not stiff) with a fork or whisk
  3. Add pecans and mix to coat.
  4. Then add the last 3 ingredients and stir until coated.
  5. Coat the cookie sheet with 2 tbsp room temp butter to lightly cover the bottom, then spread the pecans onto the coated cookie sheet in an even layer
  6. Take out to stir pecans around at the 25 minute mark and then gently shake pan to evenly distribute pecans on tray and back into the oven
  7. Bake for total of 55 minutes – til fragrant
  8. Take the pecans out of oven and run a spatula under the pecans to loosen them from the tray and then let the pecans cool right on the same baking tray
  9. When the candied pecans are completely cooled up can package them up…enjoy!

 

Sausage Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms

by

Sausage Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms

These sausage stuffed mushrooms are literally the easiest appetizer ever. Wipe the mushrooms off with a damp paper towel or mushroom brush, add your favorite sausage and bake for 14 minutes…that’s it! You can stuff the mushroom caps with chicken sausage, or pork sausage, really any kind you like as long as it can be taken out of the casing it comes in as shown in the pictures below. In this recipe I used Italian sausage and a D’Artagnan sausage that consists of a mix of pork, duck, duck liver and egg white which is out of this world… meaty and very flavorful yet mild… just delicious! I really like D’Artagnan products and you can buy them at Bishops Orchards Market in Guilford, CT. This brand carries a lot of duck products which Bishops carries and anything with duck or goose whether it be breast or liver is a no brainer in my book…YUM! You can have these stuffed mushrooms for hors’ d oeurves before serving stuffed roulades of chicken on a garlic-bean purée, Asian shrimp & rice noodle salad, turkey stuffed peppers or Chilean sea bass with green goddess sauce II for dinner.

iphone pictures 1418 iphone pictures 940 iphone pictures 941 iphone pictures 1420

iphone pictures 1421 iphone pictures 1422 iphone pictures 1423 iphone pictures 1419

iphone pictures 1424 iphone pictures 1427 iphone pictures 1426 iphone pictures 1425

iphone pictures 1428 iphone pictures 1430 iphone pictures 1441

Ingredients – Makes 15-17 Stuffed Mushrooms:

  • 2 pkgs of baby bella mushrooms (there will be about 7 or 8 per pkg)
  • 1 or 2 varieties of your favorite sausage
  • Sprinkle of salt – (for after the mushrooms come out of the oven)
  • Fresh grated Reggiano Parmesan

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400º
  2. Clean your baby Bella mushrooms off with either a damp paper towel or a mushroom brush … you should NEVER wash your mushrooms or submerse them in water because mushrooms are porous.
  3. Pop out the mushroom stems
  4. Drizzle 3 Tbsp olive oil across a cookie sheet and rub it with your hands or use a brush to smear all of the olive oil across the baking sheet
  5. Place all of the baby bella mushroom caps on the olive oil and roll them around lightly coating mushrooms then make sure they are all open side up on cookie tray
  6. Slice open the sausage casings to get the sausage meat out and place on a small dish
  7. Begin to gently fill mushroom caps with approximately 1 1/2 Tbsp of sausage per mushroom (some may be smaller and only need 1 Tbsp)
  8. Do not pack in sausage just lightly stuff mushroom caps
  9. Bake for 12-14 minutes til slightly crispy on the edges
  10. DO NOT SALT the mushrooms before you bake them because all the water will release from the mushrooms and they will steam instead of baking
  11. When you take the mushrooms out of the oven THEN you can sprinkle a little salt
  12. The mushrooms will be juicy when you take them out of the oven so before you place them on a serving dish tilt them a little over the cookie tray that way some of the juice can drain out onto the tray and not on the serving platter
  13. Sprinkle a little Parmesan on the mushrooms and serve

Baked Coconut Shrimp

by

Baked Coconut Shrimp

Who needs to go thru all the trouble of deep frying when homemade coconut shrimp can taste this gourmet and be BAKED.   You don’t get that heavy fried taste …… it’s lighter, fresher and so flavorful with the crispy caramelized coconut.  This Baked Coconut Shrimp recipe is from Bobby Deen with some minor altercations from me.  I wanted to add a little more flavor and more volume so I made the addition of sweetened coconut, Italian seasoned bread crumbs and Siracha instead of Tabasco.  I really like to have a hot pepper jelly to go with coconut shrimp this particular one made from Beth’s-Farm-Kitchen called “Mighty Hot Pepper Jelly”.  Their web site is www.bethsfarmkitchen.com and you can pick up the jelly and the shrimp locally at a favorite fish market of mine Star Fish Market in Guilford, CT.  This homemade gourmet baked coconut shrimp recipe is such a quick and easy recipe and you’ll just love the results.  There isn’t any fussing or flipping over of the shrimp during the baking either because the bottom side does get the caramelization.  Also your hot pepper jelly will of course be in that thick jelly form and you’ll want to put the jelly into a bowl and heat it in the microwave for 15 seconds to smooth out the consistency so it makes for a nice dipping sauce (it should be room temperature when serving).  After heating the jelly briefly give it little whisk and that should do the trick!

iphone pictures 439iphone pictures 438

 

 

 

 

iphone pictures 443iphone pictures 440

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. med/lg shrimp ( peeled and deveined with tails off too!)
  • 3 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
  • 1/2 cup sweetened coconut
  • 2 lg egg whites whisked til lightly frothy
  • a dash of Siracha or Tabasco in the EGG WHITES (Siracha is hot chili sauce found on shelf at store where tabasco is sold)
  • S&P
  • Pam canola oil spray

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400º.
  2. Spray cookie tray with canola oil.
  3. Place all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork.
  4. Add a dash of Siracha or Tabasco to the frothy egg whites-Optional.  Add and coat raw shrimp with whisked egg whites.
  5. Then dredge shrimp into the dry coconut mixture and place onto the cookie sheet in rows approx. 1″ from each other.
  6. VERY IMPORTANT:  spray a coating of Pam canola oil over all the coated shrimp and place into the oven.
  7. Bake for 12 minutes.  (No need to flip shrimp).
  8. Using a spatula remove shrimp from cookie tray and place onto a serving platter flipping them over now to show the caramelized side and serve with your favorite hot pepper jelly.
  9. Don’t forget to warm the jelly briefly and whisk it to get that nice smooth consistency serving it room temperature with the shrimp.