Author Archives: TempInnKeeper

About TempInnKeeper

Margot loves people and is very energetic and organized. She is also a quick study. Her background includes having renovated, owned and operated an 1887 Victorian bed and breakfast in Paso Robles, CA for 5 years. Her guests loved her and she loved her guests. What a perfect combination. Margot’s marketing skills and love of people also was used in her career as a Realtor and in participating in many charitable non-profit organizations. Margot loves to cook and to offer concierge services to people. She was born in Geneva, Switzerland.; has lived all over CA. including Beverly Hills, in the Silicon Valley area, Paso Robles, the San Joaquin Valley as well as in Sun Valley, ID. She has traveled extensively throughout the world; is a CAL alumni (go Bears!); and also speaks French fluently and Spanish semi-fluently. Her interests are people, cooking, arts, books (look at the blog book club and join if you wish), travel, sports, gardening, painting, music, playing classical piano and animals. Margot Van Horn 208-721-3551 PO Box 3788, Ketchum, ID. margot6@mindspring.com TempInnKeeper@mindspring.com
Dec24

Calvados Apple Cake

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Calvados Apple Cake—serves 6- 8

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened or room temperature
  • 1 -1/3 cups
  • 1/8  teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (I whisked flour and baking powder in separate bowl before putting in mixture)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 Gala or other flavorful apples, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 slices (2 huge Honey Crisp is more than enough and it’ll probably grant you extras for a smaller cake for yourself. I used the 8 slice apple corer and then sliced the apples slices in 1/2 again.)
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Calvados or apple brandy. (I used regular brandy but rum might be good as well)
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 Tablespoon Turbinado Sugar for the top sprinkling (can be regular sugar as well)

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Slice the apples and place in a large bowl.
  3. Mix the ginger, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, and brandy in a separate small bowl and then place this into the apple slices carefully turning the slices over to get them all coated.
  4. Butter a 9-inch spring form pan, and set aside. (I used parchment paper and put the spring form on a pizza pan which was lined with parchment paper.)
  5. In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (I used regular beater attachment), combine the 8 ounces (2 cubes) softened butter, 1 1/3 cups regular sugar and the sea salt. Mix until blended.
  6. Add the eggs and whisk/beat until smooth.
  7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the pre-whisked flour and baking powder until thoroughly mixed.
  8. Fold into the mixture a few of the apple slices or bits, and spread the batter evenly in pan. The mixture will be very stiff so spread it around with a rubber spatula.
  9. On the top of the batter, lay the remainder of the apple slices (make sure these are quite thinly sliced) in a concentric pattern.  Sprinkle the top with the Turbinado (can be regular sugar or even brown as well) sugar. The cake will rise.
  10. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake dough comes out clean and apples are golden and tender, about 65 minutes.
  11. Serve warm or at room temperature.

More Hints or descriptions:

  • This is a dense East European kind of cake.
  • Think about putting apricot jam glaze on top.
  • I made a lemon sauce to go with it
  • You can make this a day ahead, but don’t put a bowl over it; just leave it out and place some saran on it.
  • You can use a diversity of apples—sweet, sour etc.

Easy Lemon sauce

1 tsp. grated lemon, 1/2 C. lemon juice, 1/2 C. sugar, 1 Tblsp. cornstarch in a small pan; bring to a boil, turn to simmer for 2-3 minutes until thickened.  Add 1 tsp. fresh OJ.  Serve warm.

 

 

 

 

Jan6

Baby Back Spare Ribs with Pineapple and Molasses

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spareribs

 

Baby Back Spare Ribs with Pineapple and Molasses

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 16 baby back pork spareribs (could be a little more or less)
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 3 green Thai chilies or other small hot chilies, roughly chopped
  • 1 two-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons peanut oil or any other kind of oil that you like, even coconut oil. Additionally, because I do like the taste of peanuts, I melt 1-2 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter to add to the oil.
  • 2 tablespoons molasses plus 2 more tablespoons molasses for the very last preparation of the sauce.
  • 2 star anises
  • 1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
  • 1 onion, peeled and cut into eighths
  • 1/2 cup canned pineapple juice or 1/2 cup crushed pineapple with it’s juice (I prefer the latter)

Preparation

  • In a bowl, combine the lime zest and juice, soy sauce, chilies, ginger, oil and 2 tablespoons molasses. Add the star anise, cinnamon and pineapple juice or the crushed pineapple, and stir to mix well.
  • In a large plastic bag, place the onion eighths in first and then the rest of the liquid marinade. Put in the ribs (you might have to have cut the rack in half or thirds for it to fit into the bag properly), seal well, shake and turn over and over several times to make sure the marinade gets on both sides of the ribs; then refrigerate overnight. Every now and then, I turn the bag over just so the ribs are for sure well marinated.
  • Remove the ribs from the refrigerator, and pour the contents of the bag, including the marinade, into a roasting pan. Allow the ribs to come to room temperature.
  • Heat oven to 400F and cover the pan tightly with foil, place in oven, and bake for 1 hour, turning the ribs once halfway through cooking.
  • Remove the pan from the oven (leave oven on), discard the foil, and carefully spoon only the liquid from the pan into a saucepan. Return the pan to the oven, and continue to bake the ribs uncovered.
  • Add the remaining 2 tablespoons molasses to the liquid in the saucepan and place stove top over medium heat. Cook until the mixture is foamy and syrupy, about 10 minutes.
  • Remove the ribs from the oven and remove the star anise and cinnamon sticks; pour the saucepan’s sauce over the ribs, turning them until they are well coated.
  • Transfer everything to a large platter, and serve.
  • I serve this with rice and coleslaw or some kind of greens like mustard or collards.
  • Sometimes unconventionally and as shown in the picture, I’ll add carrots and even cut Brussels sprouts to the ribs as they bake. It’s an easy way to add your veggies and these two in particular go nicely with the sauce. You can use your imagination here however you might like to be more conventional and only bake the ribs by themselves.

 

Nov23

Cranberry and Apple Cake 6-8 servings

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Cranberry and Apple Cake 6-8 servings

cranberry-apple-cake

This is an easy and fairly healthy dish to make when the holidays are here.  Actually, it’s good for anytime of the year.  You can vary it as to how you think that you want to enjoy it.  I personally like less cake so I cut the cake ingredients in half (shown in my picture).  There are other options as well.  It’s all up to you.  I like versatile recipes like that.  So, bon appétit and Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

 

Step # 1Ingredients for the filling:

  • 12 ounces fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over for stems if necessary
  • 1 Granny Smith or other good kind of cooking apple you like, cored and diced (I diced mine in the food processor).
  • 4 ounces Sun Dried Cherries (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon of grated orange rind/zest (about 1/2 of 1 large orange)
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice from that 1 large orange you just used
  • Orange segments from that 1 orange after you’ve juiced it. I put the segments in with the apple and diced it all together.
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or some other similar spice that you enjoy
  • Some ground black pepper if you wish or even some pepper corns

Step #2 Ingredients for the cake (for more cake like, use the amounts I have listed; if you wish more of a topping like effect, as in my picture, use half of the amounts of these ingredients which also means less calories. )

  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or any other extract you like or even brandy (I used brandy)
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Step # 3 Topping ingredients for the end result:

  • Some Turbinado Sugar to lightly sprinkle over all before placing in the oven
  • Some more cinnamon, whatever also to sprinkle over all before placing in oven

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 325F
  • Slightly oil or butter a 10-inch glass pie plate.
  • Step #1: Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Let sit while you do Step #2.
  • Step #2: In another bowl, on medium-high, beat with an electric beater the eggs for 2 minutes. Then, on medium, add the remainder of the ingredients except for the flour and beat until just combined.  On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt till well combined.
  • Step #3: Pour the cranberry mixture into the pie dish. Spread the batter with a spatula over the fruit covering it as completely as you wish.  Top with ingredients listed in Step #3.
  • Bake in oven for about 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature. Cool Whip, whipped cream or ice cream makes for a nice accompaniment.

 cranberry-apple-cake

Nov12

Apples Sauteed serves up to 4

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Sautéed Apples—serves up to 4

apples-in-sauce just-apples pancake-w-apples-sauce-1

I served this often to my B&B guests and they loved it.  It’s so easy to make and is so much better than store bought syrup to use for pancakes or waffles and you get the apples as well.  But don’t stop there, it’s great over ice cream as well.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup (or a bit more if you wish) butter
  • 2-3  large tart apples cored and sliced in large segments
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 to 1 cup hot water
  • 1/4 -1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or another flavor if you wish
  • Raisins (optional)

Directions

  • In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 6 to 7 minutes.
  • Dissolve the cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamon In hot water in a microwaveable dish. Place in micro for 1 or more minutes.
  • When apples are just about tender, pour heated liquid into the pan along with the optional raisins if you wish and cook for 2 more minutes.
  • Hints: I started out with the lesser amounts of the hot water and brown sugar. After micro-heating and placing in pan with apples, you can always add more hot water.  If you wish to have more sugar, dissolve the sugar first in hot water and then add to pan.  But truthfully, I found that 1/4 C. brown sugar was plenty sweet enough.

 

Bon Appetit

Margot Van Horn

Blog: http://blog.tempinnkeeper.com

 

Nov3

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Cassoulet, the easy way     serves 6-8 finis Originally the cassoulet originated in the South of France and was named after the traditional earthenware pot, a casserole vessel that was used specifically for it.  It was a “peasant’s” dish and utilized all sorts of left-over’s.  It was a slow cooking dish that traditionally contained pork, sausages, goose, duck, mutton, pork skin and white haricot beans.  But it has transformed itself by cooks worldwide to now even containing fish.  This is such a versatile dish and it can be quite healthy.  It can be a little time consuming due to the chopping of the veggies and the browning of the meats so give yourself a minute or two to this creative dish.  The end result will be well worth it.  Also, if you wish to vary the meats such as using pork, go for it. The fun thing with this dish is that you can make it your own by using your imagination with many different kinds of variations.

Ingredients for the cassoulet pictured above:

  • 2 lbs. lamb shoulder slices (bone in)
  • 1 ½ lbs. organic chicken thighs-skin on
  • 12 ounces Cajun Style Andouille Smoked Pork Sausages-cut crosswise in large 1 inch or more slices
  • Bacon-chopped about 1/4 cup or so.
  • 1 shallot, 1 yellow onion, 2-4 garlic cloves–all finely chopped
  • 2 large peeled carrots, 1 large peeled turnip, 1 large peeled rutabaga, 1 large peeled parsnip, several celery stalks with their tops all chopped in large chunks
  • 1-14.5 ounce can of chopped tomatoes—do not drain and 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 or more 15 ounce cans of cannellini white beans—drained, placed in a colander and well rinsed with cold water
  • 1-3 cups of organic chicken (or beef) stock (I used chicken but beef is good too.)
  • At least 1/4 cup white wine or white vermouth (taste as you go)
  • Seasonings: use as you please and pinches only: all spice, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, paprika, cayenne, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, a pod of anise.
  • Herbs: sprig of Rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, chopped parsley or even dry parsley flakes
  • Olive oil—could be up to 1/2 cup

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 350F
  • Place your 10 inch cast iron skillet on top of the burner
  • Place all of your meats in a separate bowl—if you wish you can S&P them.
  • Place your finely chopped shallot, onion and garlic cloves in a small bowl or maybe like I did you’ve made it easy for yourself and used your Cuisinart.
  • Place all of your chopped root veggies in a bowl
  • Open your chopped tomatoes can and remember the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
  • Drain and rinse the cannellini white beans and place in a bowl.
  • Heat the skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon in it (about 5 minutes). When the bacon is done, scoop the bacon bits out but leave the bacon drippings in the pan.
  • Over medium heat, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to the bacon drippings and gently sauté the onion, shallot and garlic (about 5 minutes) till softened. Remove the ingredients to a separate dish.
  • Now, still over medium heat, add to the skillet the chopped veggies and sauté them till slightly brown—stirring every now and then.
  • Remove the veggies to its separate bowl.
  • To the skillet, still over medium heat, add the meats (maybe in several sessions) and brown, turning every now and then (about 10 minutes)
  • Remove the meats to its separate dish.
  • Over medium heat in the skillet add the chopped tomatoes with its liquid, the tomato paste, the onion, garlic, shallot and 2 cups chicken broth and bring to a slight boil. Add which ever spices you like tasting as you go.  Add the white wine or vermouth.  Keep on tasting.  Add the herbs.  If you like the sauce—go for it.
  • At this point add the beans, meats and veggies. Now if you need some more liquid add some more stock but you don’t want the mixture to be drowning in the liquid.  If you have too much liquid, spoon it out.
  • Place the whole skillet, UNCOVERED, in the pre-heated 350F oven and bake for 1 hour. Watch every now and then to see that your liquid has not evaporated.  If so, add some more chicken stock.
  • Serve with crusty French bread and wine of course.

veggiesmeat-browningbefore-the-oven

 

 

Oct22

Oven Baked Fresh Pork Hocks and Veggies Serves 3

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Oven Roasted Pork Hock plated

Oven Roasted Pork Hock plated

pork-hocks-roastedOven Baked Fresh Pork Hocks

This is a German inspired dish.  It’s called Eisbein in Northern Germany and Schweinshaxe in the southern part.  My inspiration is not totally authentic because I’ve added more root vegetables to it;  for fall time cooler weather this is a perfect dish.  It’s nice to serve for the family and even guests.  Not only is it quite healthy, but it’s also super economical.  The dish shown here cost me $13 (including the sauerkraut and optionals) for 3 generous servings.  And that cost is here in the Sun Valley, Idaho region where prices are a bit more than in other lower lying areas.  If you wonder from where the “hock” comes, let me tell you: it’s the part of the pig where the foot was attached to the leg.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Fresh Pork Hocks
  • 1 or 2 onion(s)-sliced thin
  • 4-6 garlic cloves, halved or quartered
  • 1 leek sliced thin
  • 3 celery sticks roughly chopped or even diced
  • 1/4 C. olive oil
  • Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 Tsp. juniper berries or some rosemary (I used about two small sprigs but you can use dried as well—maybe 1 Tsp. full) and 1 Tsp. or more of fresh lemon juice or you can use some gin (use your discretion for this)
  • 4 C. or less of heated beef stock (if cumin is your thing, you can add a little of that to the stock)
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • Additions if you wish
  • 3 white potatoes – quartered or in large chunks
  • 3 carrots peeled and cut in large chunks
  • 3-4 Brussels sprouts—quartered
  • 1 parsnip- peeled and cut in large chunks
  • 1 turnip peeled and cut in large chunks
  • Serve with separately heated sauerkraut and if you didn’t use the potatoes in the dish, those can be cooked separately and served with the “kraut” and the hocks.

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 425
  • In a roasting pan that you can easily cover, spread the onion, celery, garlic cloves and leek on the bottom.
  • Place the pork hocks on top of the veggies and pour the olive oil over the hocks and pepper and salt both sides but make sure the hocks are rind side up before placing in oven.
  • Pour on 1 C. beef stock
  • Place in 425 oven and bake for about 25 minutes or till the rind is crispy.
  • Remove the pan from the oven and turn the oven down to 350.
  • At this point of the recipe, I did check every half-hour to make sure the stock had not totally evaporated. If so just add more.  Also you can baste the meat every half-hour.
  • Probably all of the stock has evaporated which mine did; so add 2 more C. of beef stock. Add the juniper berries or fresh lemon juice and rosemary sprigs (or gin), the 2 cinnamon sticks and bay leaves.  I also added the optional parsnip and turnip at this stage.
  • Cover and bake for 1 hour.
  • Then add the optional potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts. You might need more beef stock at this point so add another cup.
  • Cover and bake for another hour or until the meat is easily removed from the bone. However, don’t over cook or the hook will become tough.

 

 

Aug24

4 dinners in August for a wonderful group of 8

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Accolades first; Menu below

“Margot-You need a halo! The food is unbelievable.  Thank you! I am getting too fat!  See you Friday.  XXOO Jean”

“Margot-

I am so grateful for your Delicious food and feel so spoiled

Thank you-I won’t be losing weight.

The meal was beyond delicious.

Jean”

“Margot,

Fabulous fantastic dinner!

Thank you-we are so thrilled and spoiled-

Yum!

Thank You-

Jean”

“And thank you!!! We are rolling home many pounds heavier and we are all 

So appreciative of your meals 

You spoiled us and I can only imagine how much work that was for you.

And that cake!!!!

Omg

Thank you!

Jean”

Menus for the dinners

Dinner One:(Think Italian) Sun. Aug. 16

Oven Baked Salmon with Cashews & Spicy Yogurt Sauce and Dill Mustard Sauce

Asparagus and Prosciutto Strata

Mixed Salad with Margot’s Lemon Dressing

Margot’s Homemade No Churn Coffee Ice Cream

Buttery Italian Almond Rounds (cookies)

Melting Moments (cookies)

Chocolate Truffles

Balsamic Strawberries

 

Dinner Two :(Think USA) Mon. Aug. 17

Rick’s Slow Cooked Pork

Turkey Sausage and Potato Salad

Corn, Arugula and Tomato Salad

Clafouti

Vanilla ice cream

 

Dinner Three: (Think Indian) Tues. Aug. 18

Curried Cornish Chicken Thighs

Curried Pink Lentils

Roasted Coconut Carrots

Mixed Salad with Jicama and Mango

Linzer Torte

Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Dinner Four: (Think Louisiana) Fri. Aug. 21

Frogmore Stew with homemade Louisiana Seafood Cocktail Sauce

Pickle Back Slaw

Chocolate Dump Cake

Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Jul23

Pork Steak, Economical & the Easy and Delicious Way for a Dinner Fix

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 pork steak

Pork Steak, Economical & the Easy and Delicious Way for a Dinner Fix

6 servings

 

Pork steaks present such an economical value and can be so tasty. Here is a very easy way to fix them and I am sure that you will enjoy them greatly. A side of fried potatoes or even a potato salad along with coleslaw would be a perfect accompaniment.

 

Ingredients:

  1. 6 Pork Steaks or 3 large ones like the one I cooked (shown in picture)
  2. 1/4 C. Butter
  3. 1/4 C. Soy Sauce
  4. 1 Bunch green onions or one medium regular onion, chopped
  5. 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

  1. In a large skillet, melt the butter and mix in the soy sauce.
  2. Sauté the onions and garlic until lightly browned
  3. Place the pork steaks in the skillet, cover, and cook 8-10 minutes on each side.
  4. Remove cover and continue cooking 10 minutes or to an internal temp of 145 degrees in the chops.

pork steak

Want a recipe? Take a look at http://blog.tempinnkeeper.com

Jul13

Baked Trout with Sour Cream Parmesan Sauce

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 all in one pan end result

 

Baked Trout With Sour Cream Parmesan Cheese Sauce

Serves 4

I love Idaho trout and yesterday, I was in the mood for just that. I also was in the mood for an easy dinner fix and that’s what this was. I sliced some new baby potatoes very thin and added some olive oil and sliced onions plus herbs and put them in aluminum foil which I folded to close. I did the same for some broccoli crowns but you could have used squash, whatever. The trout I made as this recipe calls for and left the aluminum foil open. Into the oven it all went and voila, 25 minutes later a glorious meal. I made the trout with the larger amounts written for the sauce but actually wished I had only used 1/2 of the amounts because frankly that was too much sauce for me. So, that’s why I put the amounts of the ingredients the way I did. If you like a lot of sauce use the larger amount and if you are not a huge sauce person, go for the lesser amounts.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound trout fillets
  • 1/2 to 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
  • 1/8 to 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 to 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 to 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Paprika

Directions

  • Place fish in a greased shallow 3-qt. baking dish.
  • In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, cheese, lemon juice, onion and salt; spread over fish. Sprinkle with paprika.
  • Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
Jun18

Pork Chops-stove top and baked featuring cumin and mustard; easy and delicious

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cumin baked pork chop

Pork Chops—stove top and baked featuring cumin and mustard— easy and delicious

This particular recipe serves 4 however it can just serve one or more than 4 if you have a very large skillet.

Ingredients:

  • 4 8-ounch thick pork chops
  • 1 Tsp. kosher salt
  • 4 Tsp. grainy Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tblsp. crushed cumin seed or ground cumin will do as well
  • 1 Tsp. cracked black pepper
  • 1 Tsp. canola oil and another generous tsp. or more for the iron skillet (or any skillet that can be used stove top as well as in the oven)

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • In a small bowl mix the salt, mustard, cumin, black pepper and 1 tsp. canola oil
  • Spread the mixture above on both sides of the pork chop
  • Stove top, heat the other Tsp. canola oil in the iron skillet
  • Put the pork chop(s) in the heated skillet and brown for 2 minutes on each side.
  • Put the skillet in the pre-heated oven and bake until the chops are just cooked through—about 12 minutes but it can be before, so watch carefully. You don’t want your chops to be tough.
  • There you go—easy and delicious.
  • Now, that you have the basic recipe, try to imagine other variations to spread on your chops and let me know what you like the best.

Bon Appétit—From Margot’s Table to Yours and http://blog.tempinnkeeper.com