Gnocchi with Leonida's Sauce

Cara gave me a Biba Caggiano cookbook for my 25th birthday.  So many years later, it is filled with dog-eared, sauce stained pages.  We tried another Biba recipe tonight, and it was great.  Simple and great.  Here it is (I modified it very, very slightly, as noted below)

Gnocchi with Leonida's Sauce
1 lb Gnocchi
1 T Olive Oil and 1 T unsalted butter (original called for 4 T unsalted butter)
1 small onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 pound pancetta, cut into 4 thick slices, diced (I used 4 oz. pre-diced from Heinens)
1 cup dry white wine (Mark opened Toasted Head chardonnay)
3 T tomato paste mixed with 2 cups chicken broth, homemade or canned (I used boxed stock; next time, I may substitute with a can of whole tomatoes, pureed)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 T heavy cream (I used 3 T fat-free half-and-half)
1/2 t freshley grated nutmeg
1 C freshly grated parmigiano

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes stirring a few times.  Add the garlic and pancetta and cook, stirring, untill the pancetta is lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in the wine and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste and broth and season with the salt and a pinch of pepper.  Cook, uncovered, 7 to 8 minutes, stirring a few times.  During the last minute or so of cooking, add the cream and nutmeg and stir once or twice. 

While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add 1 T of salt and the gnocchi.  Cook uncovered, over high heat, until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water against the side of the pot.  Place the gnocchi in the skillet with the sauce and mix briefly over low heat.  Serve at once with a generous sprinkling of freshly grated parmigiano.

(NOTES:  1.  Next time, we will eat this with good bread to mop up the sauce.  2.  This tastes best after the sauce has cooled just slightly.  3.  This was great with our House Salad:  Romaine, cranberry, toasted walnuts, blue cheese and oil and balsamic vinegar.)

The Accidental Christmas Cookie

We blame this entirely on Betty Crocker.  Mark and I are no fools.  We've learned much of ourselves and each other in the midst of past baking disasters.  Like when Mark calmly and kindly brought me back from the ledge during the mini-christmas-eve-cupcake frosting disaster of 2006.  So, we started this cookie baking effort with help:  a pouch of no-fuss Betty Crocker sugar cookie baking mix.  Just add egg, water and butter.  Easy.  I turned on the carols and Mark started mixing the batter.  We would roll out the dough and use just one cutter -- a christmas tree -- and one decoration -- green sprinkles.


"@$#*^%*!!!" 


The expletive came from Mark, at the helm of the cookie batter bowl.  It is the precise type of expletive you usually hear when he's assembling TV trays or light fixtures with "poorly written" directions from some clever product engineer.


Apparently, Betty Crocker had two types of mixing directions on the back of the pouch:  one for drop cookies, one for cut-outs.  And, I have to agree with Mark, it was not very clear. 


It was too late for cut-out cookies for us.  Mark had added the butter for the drop cookie instructions, and you can't take extra butter out of batter.


So we improvised.  I was secretly delighted, as I'm not a huge cutout fan.  Mark added about a half-cup each of chopped dried cranberries and almonds (which we always have in the pantry for our favorite house salad).  We dropped about a half teaspoon of batter for each cookie, baked about 8 minutes in a 350 oven, and drizzled an icing we made from about a cup of powdered sugar, a little bit of milk and some almond extract.

Success!

Luxe: Cheese, Wine, Bourbon

Sometimes it's just better to go out.  We celebrated Jerry's birthday on Saturday night a Luxe in the Detroit-Shoreway area.  This place is just plain cool.  I had forgotten.  I don't know if they'd describe themselves as a gastropub, but I would.   Casual and cool bar atmosphere with fantastic food.  It was a fantastic birthday celebration.  The highlights:

1.  The Cheese Plate.  You'd have thought we never ate cheese before.  You'd have thought we never ate before.  We devoured the cheese plate for four.  Local honey, tapenade, roasted garlic, grapes, pears, apples, blue cheese, olives, walnuts, brie, white cheddar and a few other cheeses, all sitting together cozily on a medium wooden platter.  We fought over the very last blue cheese crumble.

2.  The Wine.  After a decent enough but unmemorable bottle of chardonnay, we went Russian River Valley for bottle #2.  We were so struck by how good it was (and it's gotta be a $10 grocery store bottle), that I actually wrote the name of the bottle down.  I never do this.  Always wanted to, but never do.  I'll keep a running list on this blog under wines. (It was Contrada chardonnay, Russian River Valley).  It tasted like carmel-covered buttered popcorn. 

3.  The Bourbon.  The expresso machine was broken.  (This is code for the wait staff is to busy to make you a cappucino, so leave us alone).  Therefore, we were forced to peruse that apertif menu.  I tried the house-made lavendar-basil infused bourbon.  Are you kidding me?  This stuff was incredible.  Perfect for after dinner; probably too sweet for before.  The herbs brought out all of the sweetness in the bourbon.  The fragrance in the snifter just before each sip was amazing.  According to the waiter, it was his idea.  He steeps Jim Beam with ground up lavendar seeds and basil in a coffee filter for a few days.  I'm not sure what he meant by lavendar seeds, but I'm going to look it up.  I've got to try thus (or just return to Luxe for more).  Mom and Beth would love this stuff!

Chicken Marsala Meatballs and Penne

I feel like one of those choosy moms that remains awake at night thinking of sneaky ways to add veggies to their kids’ diets.  I finally did it.  I have Mark eating mushrooms and he doesn’t even know it!

This week-worth-of-lunches:  Chicken Marsala Meatballs and penne.  I love chicken marsala.  It is one of my favorite dishes and I order it wherever it is served, pretty much.  I also love making it at home.  Probably because I made it once as a kid and the people didn't gag.  Everyone has a different version.  I like the slightly thickened version that retains wine characteristics in the sauce.  Problem #1:  Mark hates mushrooms.  He’s kind enough to pick them off the plate and still eat the dish, but that seems like such a shame.  You cannot, cannot, cannot have chicken marsala without mushrooms.  What's the point?  Problem #2:  I'm slowly learny that chicken breasts taste pretty crappy reheated 5 days later. 

Accordingly, here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 lb ground chicken breast

1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

¼ cup pecorino romano, grated

½ cup chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley (or dried, I guess)

1 egg

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 shallots, chopped

1 lb fresh button mushrooms, stemmed and chopped

2 cups fine sweet marsala wine (buy this in the actual wine section, spend the dough.  It’s a must).

1 carrot, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chicken stock (possibly more)

2 tablespoons corn starch

Garnish:  parsley and pecorino.

Make duxelles with the mushrooms and shallots.  (I learned that term last year and have always wanted to use it publicly.  Done!)  Saute the shallots in oil on medium to medium low (watch; don’t burn).  Add the mushrooms, and cook to soften.  When the mushrooms start to brown, add salt and pepper to taste.  Then, add about ¼ to ½ cup of the marsala to deglaze.  Cook it down until the marsala is almost gone, leaving a syrup consistency.  Let cool.  Pulse the mixture in a food processor.

In a large bowl, combine the duxelles, egg, ground chicken,  bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, basil, salt and pepper.  Add more breadcrumbs if needed for a good meatball consistency.

Cook the pasta.

In a large non-stick skillet, sauté the onion, carrot and celery in a bit of oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Form meatballs.  Add them to the skillet to brown.  Once browned, add about a cup or so of the marsala, deglazing the pan.  Then add a cup or so of the stock.  If you want more sauce, add more wine, stock and salt and pepper.  Once it all comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover.  Simmer 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.  If you like the sauce thicker, make a slurry in a separate bowl with the cornstarch and some more chicken stock.  Add the slurry to the pan and stir.  Add the cooked pasta.  Divide in 8 containers for lunch.  This is about 5 points (who knows how many "Points Plus".  Aargh.)  You're Done.

Tender Beef Tapas

Mark and I concocted this with a bunch of leftovers in the fridge, but now we will make it for real.  It’s like a street café tapas meal.  Awesome.

Sirloin Beef Roast

Salt and pepper

3 Small Onions

Sweet Marsala (the good stuff, again)

Water

English Muffins

Crumbled Gorgonzola

Fresh chopped parsley

Horseradish sauce (Honeybaked store, leftover from Easter)

Maple Chipotle Sauce (Stonewall Kitchen)

A-1 sauce (or any other sauce that’s been hanging around in the condiment bin)

Peel and halve onions.  Let beef rest at room temp for a bit, like 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Toss the onions in a crock pot, add the seasoned beef on top, then add enough marsala and water to reach the beef, but not cover it.  Slow cook for 8 hours.  It will be tender enough to shred.

Toast the English muffins.  We used the weight watchers 1 point muffins.  On a small plate, place toasted muffins halves open-faced.  Top with hot shredded beef, gorgonzola, and a sprinkle or two of parsley.

The sauces make this.  Either drizzle them on top or pool them on the side as dippers.  The combo of the maple chipotle, horseradish sauce and A-1 with this is incredible.  The Stonewall stuff is pricey, around 8 bucks a bottle, but it’s darn good.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Gnocchi, butternut squash and spicy sausage – It came to me in a dream this Fall, and I had a chance to give it a try on Sunday for a Week’s Worth of Lunches.  I ate every last drop of it today.  This is a keeper.

Ingredients

Gnocchi (whole wheat or sweet potato preferred), 2 packages

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 lb mild turkey sausage, removed from casings.

Salt and pepper to taste

Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Soup (another Trader Joe’s Hit)

Nutmeg, fresh grated, to taste

Baby spinach, one bag

Shredded fontina (about a cup)

A sprinkling of toasted chopped walnuts (if you have them)

Directions

Boil water in a large stock pot for gnocchi. 

In a large non-stick electric stick, heat a swirl or two of oil.  Add onions, carrots and celery and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the turkey sausage.  Brown and break up, like ground meat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Once the sausage is just cooked through, add about ¾ of the soup-in-a-box.  Let it boil up, then turn down to simmer.  Sprinkle with a little nutmeg.  Taste.  Add more salt, pepper or nutmeg if needed.  Toss the entire bag of baby spinach over the top of sauce, and place the lid on top.  Keep simmering.

Add a palmful of salt to the boiling water and cook gnocchi according to package directions, about 3 minutes.  Drain gnocchi well, then add to the sauce and spinach.  Mix it up to wilt the spinach and incorporate the sauce and gnocchi.  Top each serving with a sprinkling of fontina, toasted walnuts, salt and pepper.

Makes 8 serving at 6 points per serving.  Great for lunch.

Bean Sorting

I’ve avoided dried beans for years.  But, I love lentil soup.  Elegant, simple, exotic.  I get it at restaurants, but have been afraid to make it myself.  One reason:  sorting the beans.  Every single lentil recipe I’ve read has you sorting the beans.  What the hell does that mean?  Sort them into what?  Big ones and little ones?  Darker medium green ones and lighter medium green ones?  What?  Some recipes say, “pick over,” the beans.  What for?

I have no idea.  I asked Colleen, who knows a thing or two about ingredients.  “Pick out the weird, odd ones.”  She said. 

“Why?”  I said.

“Cause they taste funny when you leave them in?  I don’t know.”  She replied.

I looked it up on the internet and, surprisingly enough, there were really no answers.

So this summer, I set off to make lentil soup.  I was being clever and local, so I decided to substitute the kale in the recipe for fresh mustard greens grown here in Northeastern Ohio.  Mmmmm.  I “picked over” the beans.  Ultimately, I decided to pull out the brighter yellow flatter ones.  They almost looked like half beans.  It was painstaking.  There were a lot of beans to sort through.

I made the soup. 

The soup was…no good.  I mean, the beans were okay.  But the mustard greens?  The whole soup stunk like pungent weeds.  Big mistake; huge.

Three months later, on the first day of November, with a pantry full of dried lentils, I tried again.  I didn’t bother sorting the beans this time.  Screw it.  If I get funny tasting beans, so be it.

The results?  Fantastic.  Truly a good, servable to others, decent soup.

I used a Weight Watchers recipe and added some spices.  Here it is, for three points a serving.

2 carrots, peeled and cut into half moons

2 celery ribs, cut into crescents

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups dried lentils, unsorted

3 dried bay leaves

3 fresh thyme sprigs (throw them in, then pick out the stems after the soup is cooked)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablesppon curry powder

1 teaspon smoked spanish paprika

2 boxes of chicken stock (8 cups)

5 slices Canadian bacon, chopped.

Dump everything into a crock pot on low.  Cook covered for 6 hours.  When you get home from work, dump in the chopped Canadian bacon.  Unload the dishwasher, feed the cats, open the mail, uncork a bottle of pinot noir.  Soup is done.

The Perfect Storm: Pumpkin Risotto with Lobster

So it didn't storm really last night, but it was cold and rainy and we stayed home.  Dinner came together like a perfect storm, throwing together whatever we had in the fridge, freezer and pantry.  This was so good, I did not even stop to take a picture of it. 

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
Small onion, minced
1 cup-ish Arborio rice
A swirl or two of oaky chardonnay (I used Toasted Head)
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1/2 box leftover beef stock (about 2 cups)
2 cups of warm water, with sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 can pureed pumpkin
Fresh nutmeg
1 cup or so of shredded fontina
A few pats of butter
2 frozen lobster tails
1 lemon

What to do:

Boil water in a large stock pot to boil lobster tails.  I boiled them covered for about 10 minutes, then I turned the heat off, added two lemon wedges and salt, then covered the pan again and let the tails sit while I cooked the risotto.

Heat oil in large saute pan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook about three minutes or until soft.  Add risotto and toast for a minute or two, stirring.  Add the wine, let it cook and soak into the risotto for a minute or so.  Then, add the stock little by little, then most of the water (save maybe a quarter cup), for the next twenty minutes or so, until it's all absorbed and the texture of the risotto is just almost cooked (soft, but still chewy).  Add pumpkin, a bit of salt, then fresh nutmeg.  Turn heat off and cover.

I let the almost finished risotto sit while we had lentil soup.  That's another story. 

When we were ready for the main course, I turned the heat back on the risotto, low, added the rest of the water and mixed it in, turned the heat off again, then added the cheese and a pat of butter.

I took the lobster meat off the tails. 

We plated it as follows:  A few scoops of risotto in the bowl, then the lobster meat, a squeeze of fresh lemon over the top, then a pat of melted butter.  Sprinkle a little parsley.  I added some pine nuts (again).

This was the best risotto ever.  Seriously.

Trader Joe's Hit: Lobster Ravioli and F&P's Salad

For me, Trader Joe's is hit or miss in the pre-packaged department.  Chilli in the jar?  No good.  Potstickers?  Excellent.  By far, the best, most decadent offering is the Lobster Ravioli.  We had it on Thursday with our version of the Frank & Pauly's salad (I miss that place!).  It takes 10 minutes to make.  About 7 points total meal.  Here it is.

Ingredients:

1 full package of Trader Joe's Lobster Ravioli

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 pat of butter

Pine nuts (again, with the pine nuts.  Got to use them.)

Any fresh vegetable in the kitchen

Salt and pepper
Pecorino Romano
Real Bacon Bits

For the salad:
Bagged italian lettuce mix
Sliced red onion
Crumbled gorgonzola
Real Bacon Bits
Newman's Own Light Balsamic

What you do:
Boil water.  In small sauce pan, heat oil and butter on medium low.  Add pine nuts.  Let brown, but don't burn.  Salt boiling water, toss in ravioli and any boilable fresh veggies you have (I had carrots, but broccoli or spinach or something would probably be better).  Boil five minutes.  Drain.  Toss ravioli and veggies with the oil and butter sauce.  Seaon with salt and pepper.  Garnish with grated pecorino, bacon bits, and a sprinkle of parsley flakes.

For the salad, toss the lettuce, dressing and onions together (leaving onions out of Mark's serving, of course), and then top with the gorgonzola and bacon bits.  This is the closest we've been able to replicate the F&P chopped salad.

Nice with a glass of chardonnay.  Thank you, Trader Joe's!

Wine Dinner

The gales sailed through, the sky cleared, and a rainbow over Rocky River led us straight to Tartine for a wine dinner.  Five Spanish wines served with elegant tapas. 

We learned two things:  (1) Mark does not care for squid salad, but he does like the combination of Manchego cheese and quince; and (2) not a good idea to schedule early morning meeting the day after a wine dinner.

Live & Learn: Leftover Chicken Piccata, Not So Good

We started a new lunch routine about 6 months ago, which killed two birds with one stone:  Manage calorie intake, but still spend Sunday afternoons cooking.  So, instead of making a big rich meal on Sundays, we (I) started making a week's worth of lunches.  For the most part, it's worked out great.  We've done various big salads, turkey chili, beef stew, any number of variations of pasta.  All delicious, all week long.

But this week, we tried to get cute. 

"How about some sort of lemony chicken with just regular green beans?"  Mark suggested.  Done.  Eight servings of a beautiful lemon chicken piccata with toasted pine nuts, steamed green beans, and roasted fingerling potatoes.  All for about 6 points a serving.   

On Sunday, they were beautiful.  Lunch on Monday, not too bad.  By Tuesday's lunch, I had to call Mark and apologize.  Two-day old chicken piccata sucks.  But, the green beans and fingerlings were still good.  Better luck next week.


Chicken Piccata with Toasted Pine Nuts, Green Beans and Fingerlings

*Live and Learn:  Only make as much of this as you will eat that day.  Also, two things I don't believe in:  Cold water baths for veggies, and pounding chicken.  I've done neither in this recipe. 

Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts, butterflied OR Perdue's pre-scallopined (if that's a word)
Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Pine nuts, a handful

Capers, drained

2 lemons, juice and zest

Cooking sherry or white wine (about 1 cup)

Green beans, fresh, ends trimmed

Fingerling potatoes, about 3-5 per person, sliced in half.

Preheat oven to 400 (or 425 for normal ovens).  Toss halved fingerlings in a bit of olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.   Meanwhile...  Boil water for the green beans. 

It's taken me ten years to figure out how to adequately saute a chicken breast.  Here's what I've learned.  Preheat the oil pan in between medium and medium high.  Just enough oil to cover.  This is critical.  Rinse the breasts under water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Sprinkle with lots of salt and pepper.  Saute the breasts 5 minute each side.  Don't be tempted to flip or check before 5.  That's it.

Remove the chicken to a plate.  Add the pine nuts and toast for about 2 minutes.  Watch them so they don't burn.  Add the capers, as much as you like.  Deglaze with the sherry, about 1 cup.  Add the lemon juice and zest.  Mix together to combine and let boil for a minute.  Reduce heat to simmer and add the chicken.  Simmer covered for 20 minutes. 

Next, boil the the green beans for 5 minutes, drain, splash some cold water over them.  Set aside.

Taste the sauce.  Add salt and pepper.  If it's too lemony or too winey, add some chicken stock or water.  If you like a thicker sauce, ladel a bit of the sauce into a bowl, stir in a tablespoon or so of corn starch, and then add that mixture back into the sauce.

An Old Family Recipe

For our wedding shower ten years ago, Aunt Joyce sent us a beautiful handmade gift.  She wrote a lovely note explaining the gift, a nostalgic collection of old family recipes culled over the years.  Awwww, I thought, how wonderful.  I opened the book, a collection of pages bound in an album, to savor the first family recipe.  Chicken and rice?  Aunt Carol's homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?  What would it be?

It was a copy of the restaurant section of the Yellow Pages.

So, we followed Aunt Joyce's old family recipe this weekend, and we went out.

Friday, basic pork roast, mashed potatoes and baby carrots at the West Side IA.  Lovely with Jim Beam or Guinness. 

Saturday night, Mark and I wanted to go to a restaurant we had not been to before.  Heard good things about Parallax in Tremont.  It was fine.  Did not rise to the level of our favorites, Players or Three Birds.  The highlight of the evening, however was getting cocktails at the Velvet Tango Room. Love that place.  Worth every bit of the $15 per drink price tag.

Dinner for Two in Fifteen

Had a great weeknight dinner last Tuesday that took about 15 minutes to make. 

Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Veggies and Couscous.

Ingredients:

Boxed herbed couscous

Stir-fry veggies

½ Premarinated pork tenderloin*

Soy Sauce

Corn starch

Honey

Dijon Mustard

Beef stock (or juice, water, chicken stock, wine, etc.)

Directions:

Cut the tenderloin into six medallions, toss in a bowl with soy a few minutes while you make everything else.

Herbed Couscous.  Follow package instructions.  Completely easy.  You basically boil water in a small pan, dump in the couscous, take it off heat, and let it sit covered for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork; done. 

Prechopped stir-fry veggies from Heinens.  Saute in a non-stick skillet with cooking spray on medium heat for about 7 minutes.  Remove from pan and keep warm.

Using the same skillet, spray more cooking spray, increase heat to medium-high-ish, and add pork, saving the bowl with the soy remnants.  Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.  If it seems to brown to quickly, turn the heat down toward medium.  Remove pork to a plate temporarily.  Lifting the pan from the burner, add stock, about a cup or so.  It will bubble up and boil if all goes well.  Return pan to burner, reduce to medium heat, and let the sauce boil and reduce a little, using a rubber scraper to scrape everything up.  Meanwhile, in the bowl with the soy sauce remnants, stir in a little Dijon, honey, and corn starch in equal parts.  I used about a tablespoon of each.  Add this mixture to the sauce, reduce heat to simmer, and add pork back to the pan.  Cover and keep heated on medium heat.

Make drinks.  Enjoy your drinks and set the table, like real adults, while everything stays warm on the stove.  Talk about your day.  Pet the cats.

Plate everything up together like a chef would.  I used our salad plates to make it look more decadent.  I filled half the plate with veggies, ¼ of the plate with couscous, then topped with three medallions each leaning on the couscous.  Drizzle sauce.  I garnished with some chopped parsley and green onions that I had from something else.  Final touch, sprinkle a few sesame seeds over the whole thing.

Loved it.  Took about 15 minutes from start to finish.  Two pans and a bowl to clean.  The pork tenderloin was extremely tender.  I estimate this meal to be about 7 points, max.

*I bought one with a Montreal steak seasoning type marinade, but anything would work.  I cut the tenderloin in half first and froze half. 

Apple Brown Bethie

Well, we had plenty to cry about last weekend in Wisconsin.  Those Badgers broke our Buckeye hearts at Camp Randall.  But, our times at the Jackson farm lightened our moods.  Especially the Apple Brown Bethie.  Neither Beth nor I had made any sort of apple crisp/crumble affair before, and we wanted to.  We spent a laid back Friday night lounging around Beth and Greg’s huge new kitchen island, making dinner, listening to 90’s music, and getting pop culture updates from Dan.  Beth perused a few crumble recipes, then we developed our own.  It was so good that the sweet memory of the Apple Brown Bethie almost—almost—erases the pain of the Buckeye loss. 

Recipe:  Apple Brown Bethie

(Tweaked primarily from the Neeley’s recipe for Apple Crisp on http://www.foodnetwork.com/)

Filling:

4-5 apples, peeled, cored, chopped small (we used two Jackson apples and three honey crisp apples)

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cooking spray

Topping:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all filling the ingredients together in a glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. 

For topping, mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl.  Blend the butter and walnuts into the mixture until it forms crumbles.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving this great dessert.

(10 servings; 5 points per serving)