Some sources suggest that the protein complexes found in cooked mushrooms may be as near complete alone as those found in conventional meats. An ex of mine who had worked on a mushroom farm (not the psychedelic variety) once said that mushrooms were as near to meat as anything in the vegetable kingdom ever got. Whereas most vegetarian dinners require combinations of foods to achieve a complete protein (e.g. nuts, seeds or grains with dairy; rice and beans) this is not considered necessary when serving mushrooms.
1 large portobello mushroom cleaned and stemmed
2 large carrots cleaned and peeled
1 young red onion
1 small tomato, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 "handful" (subjective, would suggest approximately 2 tbsps) fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 "handful" fresh basil
1 "handful" greens - escarole, watercress, spinach, frisée, radicchio
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2-3 tbsps dry sherry
black pepper to taste
Pre-heat oven to 400°. Use tablespoon olive oil to coat bottom of glass baking dish and bake portobello for approximately 10 minutes, alone. Dice red onion, smash garlic cloves with flat blade of knife, chop parsley finely. Add red onion and garlic to baking dish. Using tongs, tip portobello to drain accumulated juices, return to dish. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with chopped parsley.
Using vegetable peeler, peel long ribbons of carrot- which can be done directly into small sauté pan. Turn heat to medium and add dry sherry, basil and black pepper to taste. Cook on medium until pan is dry, reduce heat to low and toss to dry out a bit.
When finished with carrots, remove baking dish from oven. Toss cooked red onions with carrot ribbons and chop caramelized garlic finely.
Construction:
First, evenly distribute finely chopped garlic on top of portobello. Then add cold sliced tomato, top with carrot ribbons and onions. Finally, add handful hand-torn greens.
Result: Very, tasty and quite refreshing. Carrots take on a much emphasized sweetness which is balanced with the hot crunch of fresh-ground black pepper. Portobellos seem to take on a slightly creamy flavor when roasted with a high-quality balsamic. I used escarole to top my stacker, which has a nice nutty flavor to it that works well with the earthiness of the mushroom. I suggest serving the tomatoes cold as the hot item/cold item balance is quite nice.
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Roasted Golden Beet Salad with Raspberry-Garlic Vinaigrette
The other day an acquaintance of mine asked me; "Are you available for contract wifing? Because you cook the kind of things I should eat but wouldn't even think of making myself. I swear, I wouldn't ask for sex. Just food." The answer, of course, was no. I am available for catering services upon request but I am not in charge of anyone's daily meals unless the package includes the all-important arts of sexual gratification, various handyman services, hand-holding rights, snuggling and story-listening indulgences, the occasional bunch of flowers, and co-viewing of films of my choice both in-theatre and in-home. Oh, and smooching of both the public and private variety.
So, allow me to impress you with yet another feat of recipe change-up magic. I started with Bella Cucina's little beauty and worked from there. As the farmer's markets begin to present their vegetable wonders (it's been a bit thin on the ground until now) I've decided to pick some things I've traditionally not eaten to see if I still hate them. First up on the list was beets. Historically, I've been served the unnaturally-hued neon candied sort sliced up cold on the side of a salad. While kind of aesthetically lovely in their own way I don't find any enjoyment in their flavor. Perhaps I would enjoy them more if they were homemade but I think these have generally come from a can or store-bought glass jar. Anyway, the verdict has been - until now - that I HATE beets.
When I saw the amber-orange hue of the golden beets sitting on a table at the East Side Open Market I couldn't resist. I was told by the farmer that they were quite sweet as opposed to the earthy flavor of red beets.
I started off cleaning and trimming the beets, placed them in a glass baking dish with 2 tbps of olive oil, a handful of fennel seeds, several sprigs of rosemary, and three flattened garlic cloves. (Rather than crushing them in a press, I simply flattened them with the blade of a large knife and placed the peeled, crushed cloves in the pan.) I then roasted them, covered in foil as the starting-point recipe suggested at 350° for approximately 50 minutes. The last 10 minutes of their baking time I placed a sheet of raw walnuts in, checking and shaking every 2 minutes I toasted them as a topping.
After the beets were roasted to the point of easy pierceability, I set the beets and caramelized garlic cloves aside to cool. (And the recipe suggested discarding them! Can you imagine throwing away perfectly delicious caramelized garlic?!? Oh, the insanity!) I poured the liquid contents of the pan into a salad-dressing bottle and added 1 tbsp of tarragon and shallot vinegar, 1/2 tbsp of olive oil, a little black pepper, some lemon juice, a handful of smooshed-up raspberries (I did this in a plastic baggie with the back of a spoon in order to retain the juices), and gave it a good shake.
In a bowl I cleaned and stemmed baby spinach and basil leaves, added some healthy slices of heirloom tomato, thinly sliced yellow peppers, the toasted walnuts, thinly sliced pearl red onion, and a handful of whole raspberries. Then I tossed it with the vinaigrette.
When the beets were cool enough to touch, I peeled off their skins to reveal their gorgeous jewel-like color and the smell was delightful. I sliced them in half and then into half-moons as the recipe suggests. Then I took the caramelized garlic, chopped it roughly and added that and the sliced beets to the top of the salad.
Oh, my goodness gracious. Welcome to tasty-town, population me. Some might be so inclined to add some dollops of goat cheese or perhaps some greek yogurt to round out the proteins but I didn't find the addition of dairy necessary. Plus, I was afraid it would overpower the beets whose flavor is quite delicate.
New verdict: I love beets. I dunno about the red ones just yet but the golden beets are victorious.
It's summer and therefore my ice cream weakness has reared it's delicious head. While this weekend I indulged myself with Leon's Frozen Custard (their chocolate is to DIE for!), I can't do that every night. *le sigh* Thus, might I suggest, for dessert Purely Decadent's Pomegranate Chip "ice cream"? In the past I've made Rice Dream's Strawberry my favorite but it has a new and powerful rival. Purely Decadent's caloric, fat, sodium, and carb content is actually lower and the texture and taste are MUCH better. It is, in fact, quite wonderful and satisfies my craving for creamy goodness. I highly recommend it.
Next up on the try or die list: Ochra - traditional response: PLEH! Tune in next week and see if I can change my mind.
So, allow me to impress you with yet another feat of recipe change-up magic. I started with Bella Cucina's little beauty and worked from there. As the farmer's markets begin to present their vegetable wonders (it's been a bit thin on the ground until now) I've decided to pick some things I've traditionally not eaten to see if I still hate them. First up on the list was beets. Historically, I've been served the unnaturally-hued neon candied sort sliced up cold on the side of a salad. While kind of aesthetically lovely in their own way I don't find any enjoyment in their flavor. Perhaps I would enjoy them more if they were homemade but I think these have generally come from a can or store-bought glass jar. Anyway, the verdict has been - until now - that I HATE beets.
When I saw the amber-orange hue of the golden beets sitting on a table at the East Side Open Market I couldn't resist. I was told by the farmer that they were quite sweet as opposed to the earthy flavor of red beets.
I started off cleaning and trimming the beets, placed them in a glass baking dish with 2 tbps of olive oil, a handful of fennel seeds, several sprigs of rosemary, and three flattened garlic cloves. (Rather than crushing them in a press, I simply flattened them with the blade of a large knife and placed the peeled, crushed cloves in the pan.) I then roasted them, covered in foil as the starting-point recipe suggested at 350° for approximately 50 minutes. The last 10 minutes of their baking time I placed a sheet of raw walnuts in, checking and shaking every 2 minutes I toasted them as a topping.
After the beets were roasted to the point of easy pierceability, I set the beets and caramelized garlic cloves aside to cool. (And the recipe suggested discarding them! Can you imagine throwing away perfectly delicious caramelized garlic?!? Oh, the insanity!) I poured the liquid contents of the pan into a salad-dressing bottle and added 1 tbsp of tarragon and shallot vinegar, 1/2 tbsp of olive oil, a little black pepper, some lemon juice, a handful of smooshed-up raspberries (I did this in a plastic baggie with the back of a spoon in order to retain the juices), and gave it a good shake.
In a bowl I cleaned and stemmed baby spinach and basil leaves, added some healthy slices of heirloom tomato, thinly sliced yellow peppers, the toasted walnuts, thinly sliced pearl red onion, and a handful of whole raspberries. Then I tossed it with the vinaigrette.
When the beets were cool enough to touch, I peeled off their skins to reveal their gorgeous jewel-like color and the smell was delightful. I sliced them in half and then into half-moons as the recipe suggests. Then I took the caramelized garlic, chopped it roughly and added that and the sliced beets to the top of the salad.
Oh, my goodness gracious. Welcome to tasty-town, population me. Some might be so inclined to add some dollops of goat cheese or perhaps some greek yogurt to round out the proteins but I didn't find the addition of dairy necessary. Plus, I was afraid it would overpower the beets whose flavor is quite delicate.
New verdict: I love beets. I dunno about the red ones just yet but the golden beets are victorious.
It's summer and therefore my ice cream weakness has reared it's delicious head. While this weekend I indulged myself with Leon's Frozen Custard (their chocolate is to DIE for!), I can't do that every night. *le sigh* Thus, might I suggest, for dessert Purely Decadent's Pomegranate Chip "ice cream"? In the past I've made Rice Dream's Strawberry my favorite but it has a new and powerful rival. Purely Decadent's caloric, fat, sodium, and carb content is actually lower and the texture and taste are MUCH better. It is, in fact, quite wonderful and satisfies my craving for creamy goodness. I highly recommend it.
Next up on the try or die list: Ochra - traditional response: PLEH! Tune in next week and see if I can change my mind.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Triple Vanilla Cupcakes - Magnolia Cred
Welcome, friends, to another edition of cupcakery a la Jenn. Today I present to you the pleasures of the famous Magnolia Bakery Vanilla cupcakes.
I started with this recipe, the only additions/changes I made were to use about half a teaspoon extra of Spice House Double Vanilla Extract and top it all off with Pure Vanilla Sugar.
I had planned to make my own vanilla sugar, but as I'm a working girl with a social life, that never quite materialized. Ah, well... the best laid plans, as they say.
I must say, homemade sugar or no, everything turned out rather gloriously.
I think the most entertaining part about all of this is seeing for absolutely certain what went wrong with the frosting my very first batch of Easter cupcakes. In my inexperience, apparently I didn't realize that a) that this is an old-fashioned butter and sugar icing recipe and not exactly buttercream, thus it is functionally different b) the order in which you add the set of mixing components was INCREDIBLY important and c) that you do in fact have to add a shit-ton of confectioner's sugar before you reach the desired consistency(I believe there was 6 cups to 2 sticks butter and a cup of milk) d) that it's texture and appearance changes as the frosting "sets". Not "sets up" as in hardens totally like cone dip but similarly.
I haven't tried one yet, since it was 10:30-ish when I finished and my guinea pig pooped out. But I have a feeling they're fabulous. I'll probably have one for breakfast or something.
I started with this recipe, the only additions/changes I made were to use about half a teaspoon extra of Spice House Double Vanilla Extract and top it all off with Pure Vanilla Sugar.
I had planned to make my own vanilla sugar, but as I'm a working girl with a social life, that never quite materialized. Ah, well... the best laid plans, as they say.
I must say, homemade sugar or no, everything turned out rather gloriously.
I think the most entertaining part about all of this is seeing for absolutely certain what went wrong with the frosting my very first batch of Easter cupcakes. In my inexperience, apparently I didn't realize that a) that this is an old-fashioned butter and sugar icing recipe and not exactly buttercream, thus it is functionally different b) the order in which you add the set of mixing components was INCREDIBLY important and c) that you do in fact have to add a shit-ton of confectioner's sugar before you reach the desired consistency(I believe there was 6 cups to 2 sticks butter and a cup of milk) d) that it's texture and appearance changes as the frosting "sets". Not "sets up" as in hardens totally like cone dip but similarly.
I haven't tried one yet, since it was 10:30-ish when I finished and my guinea pig pooped out. But I have a feeling they're fabulous. I'll probably have one for breakfast or something.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Chocolate Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Filling
Recently, one of my friends asked me how someone so skinny as me could be so cruel as to take up a fattening cupcake hobby. I've been asking myself that question a lot recently as I rack up the mixer mileage and I think the answer is simple. I love to make cupcakes. Truly. I do.
Will my new obsession undo all the hard work I've done? Perhaps. I tend to think that the muscle I've accumulated over the last year or so will hopefully make it possible for me to ably process the added caloric intake of the one or two cupcakes I eat out of every batch I make. But I'm not sure, really.
Anyway, ages ago when contemplating what to do with my life I seriously considered attending the culinary arts program at the technical college here in town. At the time I was afraid to have to start from the very lowest end of the totem pole in the professional kitchen and also afraid that undertaking my passion professionally (i.e. - be a slave in someone else's kitchen) would kill the joy. I may have been wrong but I guess at this point I've chosen my path and I'm more than fine with it. But the fact remains, I love coming up with new and interesting ways to serve food and lately that love presents itself in a little brown natural paper cup. With frosting.
So today I present to you a rather cobbled-together recipe. It's worked before a la some pumpkin-dark chocolate cupcakes I made last fall for my ex's friend's birthday party and here's hoping. The cupcakes are in the oven now and soon I will attempt to adapt a cream recipe using a random blog entry and a solid recipe. Let's see what happens - shall we?
I present for your consideration the method:
Coconut & Lime's Chocolate Cupcake recipe - with a few noteworthy additions
Basically I followed the recipe verbatim excepting:
1. I added about 1 tbsp. blueberry juice concentrate to the milk & vanilla mixture
2. I added about 1.25 oz. of Trader Joe's Belgian-style dark chocolate, very finely chopped to the final batter
Here's one of the first batch out of the oven
I think I underfilled the cupcake wrappers on the first batch. I think they look a little anemic.
But apparently, the second time's the charm.
On deck, Chockylit's Basil or Mint Cream recipe becomes Jenn's Blueberry-Lemon Cream by way of mixing Chockylit's recipe with a blog entry from Joseph Hall on the subject of simple syrups. Noteworthy additions being that I used 1 cup blueberry juice concentrate, the juice of a whole lemon and about a full tablespoon of rosewater, which I heated until 1 cup of sugar dissolved. I will mix this with the whipped cream.
Now, the cream recipe I doubled. Two cups of heavy whipping cream and I think I actually only used 8 tbsps of the blueberry syrup to fold into the cream, however.
Results:
Well, as it turns out, over-working your cream can be... uhm... interesting. One moment it's fluffy and light and glossy and gorgeous... and the next... it's REALLY fluffy and heavy. As I beat the simple syrup in to my cream I discovered this interesting little tidbit. I think next time I'll just fold it in with the spatula. None the less tasty for the wear, tho. I'll say that about it. I may or may not have sampled a, uh... little bit.
I spooned the "fluff" into the cupcake cavities. Another thing I learned - if you make small cupcakes like I do, use a small knife and be quick and shallow with your cuts. Otherwise you end up digging a little hole in the poor thing anyway and possibly take out a sidewall. After putting the tops back on, I turned my attention to making the mint chiffonade and melting my white vanilla chocolate. (God bless Green & Black) It melted nicely and I then spread a small circle of white chocolate on top. For this application I melted about 3/4's of a 3.5 oz. bar in a double boiler and worked it a bit until it was smooth.
For the decoration I used up almost a whole package of the mint leaves you find in the produce section, and created a chiffonade, I rolled the leaves the long way to create the long ribbons. And pressed some dried organic blueberries on top of that.
Here is the final result
Behind the little piece of gorgeousness you'll see the evidence of my pack-rattery. I could NOT bring myself to throw away the bits of chocolate cupcake that I cut out to make room for the cream. Why? What am I going to do with them? I don't know. And also, I don't know.
I must say I'm pleased with the final result. (A single girl standing alone in her kitchen, shoveling a cream-filled cupcake into her maw late at night might traditionally be cause for concern on a man-related depression issue, but I think I deserve an exception. Slaving for 6 1/2 hours seems to me to create a justified sense of entitlement.) Although you can't outright taste the lemon and the rosewater, you can taste a tang which might be attributable to the lemon. The cupcakes are light and fluffy so thank you again for a great recipe to start from, Rachel at Coconut & Lime. Hopefully the retiree I baked them for appreciates how hard I worked for her. It's 12:30 now. I have to be across town by 7:30 - 7:45 tomorrow which means I need to be up around 5. And this morning I had to be AT an event at 7:00. I woke up at 4:00. Yikes! Sleepiness.
Will my new obsession undo all the hard work I've done? Perhaps. I tend to think that the muscle I've accumulated over the last year or so will hopefully make it possible for me to ably process the added caloric intake of the one or two cupcakes I eat out of every batch I make. But I'm not sure, really.
Anyway, ages ago when contemplating what to do with my life I seriously considered attending the culinary arts program at the technical college here in town. At the time I was afraid to have to start from the very lowest end of the totem pole in the professional kitchen and also afraid that undertaking my passion professionally (i.e. - be a slave in someone else's kitchen) would kill the joy. I may have been wrong but I guess at this point I've chosen my path and I'm more than fine with it. But the fact remains, I love coming up with new and interesting ways to serve food and lately that love presents itself in a little brown natural paper cup. With frosting.
So today I present to you a rather cobbled-together recipe. It's worked before a la some pumpkin-dark chocolate cupcakes I made last fall for my ex's friend's birthday party and here's hoping. The cupcakes are in the oven now and soon I will attempt to adapt a cream recipe using a random blog entry and a solid recipe. Let's see what happens - shall we?
I present for your consideration the method:
Coconut & Lime's Chocolate Cupcake recipe - with a few noteworthy additions
Basically I followed the recipe verbatim excepting:
1. I added about 1 tbsp. blueberry juice concentrate to the milk & vanilla mixture
2. I added about 1.25 oz. of Trader Joe's Belgian-style dark chocolate, very finely chopped to the final batter
Here's one of the first batch out of the oven
I think I underfilled the cupcake wrappers on the first batch. I think they look a little anemic.
But apparently, the second time's the charm.
On deck, Chockylit's Basil or Mint Cream recipe becomes Jenn's Blueberry-Lemon Cream by way of mixing Chockylit's recipe with a blog entry from Joseph Hall on the subject of simple syrups. Noteworthy additions being that I used 1 cup blueberry juice concentrate, the juice of a whole lemon and about a full tablespoon of rosewater, which I heated until 1 cup of sugar dissolved. I will mix this with the whipped cream.
Now, the cream recipe I doubled. Two cups of heavy whipping cream and I think I actually only used 8 tbsps of the blueberry syrup to fold into the cream, however.
Results:
Well, as it turns out, over-working your cream can be... uhm... interesting. One moment it's fluffy and light and glossy and gorgeous... and the next... it's REALLY fluffy and heavy. As I beat the simple syrup in to my cream I discovered this interesting little tidbit. I think next time I'll just fold it in with the spatula. None the less tasty for the wear, tho. I'll say that about it. I may or may not have sampled a, uh... little bit.
I spooned the "fluff" into the cupcake cavities. Another thing I learned - if you make small cupcakes like I do, use a small knife and be quick and shallow with your cuts. Otherwise you end up digging a little hole in the poor thing anyway and possibly take out a sidewall. After putting the tops back on, I turned my attention to making the mint chiffonade and melting my white vanilla chocolate. (God bless Green & Black) It melted nicely and I then spread a small circle of white chocolate on top. For this application I melted about 3/4's of a 3.5 oz. bar in a double boiler and worked it a bit until it was smooth.
For the decoration I used up almost a whole package of the mint leaves you find in the produce section, and created a chiffonade, I rolled the leaves the long way to create the long ribbons. And pressed some dried organic blueberries on top of that.
Here is the final result
Behind the little piece of gorgeousness you'll see the evidence of my pack-rattery. I could NOT bring myself to throw away the bits of chocolate cupcake that I cut out to make room for the cream. Why? What am I going to do with them? I don't know. And also, I don't know.
I must say I'm pleased with the final result. (A single girl standing alone in her kitchen, shoveling a cream-filled cupcake into her maw late at night might traditionally be cause for concern on a man-related depression issue, but I think I deserve an exception. Slaving for 6 1/2 hours seems to me to create a justified sense of entitlement.) Although you can't outright taste the lemon and the rosewater, you can taste a tang which might be attributable to the lemon. The cupcakes are light and fluffy so thank you again for a great recipe to start from, Rachel at Coconut & Lime. Hopefully the retiree I baked them for appreciates how hard I worked for her. It's 12:30 now. I have to be across town by 7:30 - 7:45 tomorrow which means I need to be up around 5. And this morning I had to be AT an event at 7:00. I woke up at 4:00. Yikes! Sleepiness.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Cupcake Addenda
They're even pretty BEFORE they go in the oven! Stay tuned for more Lemon-Strawberry Delight ac-tion! *claps hands* *giggles*___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
And... we're back. It's evening now, post-cookout. And for the first time in the very brief history of my cupcake obsession I am cupcake-less within one day. Every last one of the little suckers got gobbled up because they are rockin' good delicioso. Seriously. Mine even had a mis-adventure in the car - wherein my friends decided that on the way to the cookout that we had to stop at the mall and I had no choice but to leave the cupcakes in the warm car which melted the buttercream frosting I made so they were decidedly unlovely but they went over like buttah at the cookout. I got soooo many compliments.
Anyhoo, here is a shot of the finished product, pre-frosting:
Aren't they pretty? They were a bit tricky to get out of the cupcake pan, and the cake part of the cupcakes split a little on one or two when I tried to lift them out but they managed to make intact. They were just itchin' to get naked and shed their papers too!
I followed Coconut & Lime's basic buttercream recipe, adding the juice of a whole lemon and some zest as recommended and it is absolutely DELISH! So very tart and tasty. And the lemon cupcake is really lemon-y and the strawberries I got were wonderfully ripe and sweet. I couldn't wait until we got to the cookout to eat one - I just had to. Here it is on it's way home to my belly:
I am so very pleased with the results. I'm going to have to make another batch because I've promised them all over town. I'll probably do that tomorrow because I'm totally exhausted now but I have PLENTY of frosting left over so that's one less thing to do.
Now, for my next trick - I go in search of the perfect vanilla cupcake. I think it will involve homemade vanilla sugar *raises eyebrows suggestively* because I am just that fou-fou.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Adventures in Cupcaking
So for the last several months I have been obsessed with cupcakes. I blame Rachel Kramer Bussel for this obsession, for it is her site Cupcakes Take the Cake that started it all. Since then I have branched out to Coconut & Lime, Chockylit, and The Cupcake Underground. All fabulous sites that you should check out when you get the chance.
These days I wait patiently for my next excuse to steal my mother's hand blender, dig out the cupcake liners, and my $30 muffin pan and make beautiful cupcake. The first chance I got was on Easter, when I attempted to adapt Cupcake Underground's Chocolate Lavender Cupcake recipe to suit me and came up with Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes (via Epicurious) and Underground's Lavender frosting recipe - which is not so much a recipe as it is some very vague instructions. Sort of like Camilla Engman's instructions on how to make her adorable critters (which I WILL attempt someday, when I learn how to knit and crochet.) The major problem with the frosting, I believe, is that I was attempting to adapt a vegan recipe to be dairy-based.
Normally I would have checked out how to do a traditional cream cheese frosting and I think I might have - I can't quite remember - but one way or another there was no butter involved when I did this. A rookie mistake. I bought cream, cream cheese, powdered sugar, hibiscus blossoms, and lavender flowers. I adore cooking with lavender so this was an exciting chance for me to integrate it into a dessert. I put the cream on the stove and the lavender and hibiscus blossoms in, and attempted to simmer the cream. Oh, what a bad idea. The first attempt was a total flop. Everything appeared to be going well until all of a sudden - the cream clotted. It looked absolutely awful. I'll spare you the detailed description because it might spoil whatever meal you happen to reading this near. The second attempt was not so bad. The cream turned a lovely pinkish-purple color and didn't clot (though, the blossoms when removed did not exactly escape unscathed by their harrowing creaming experience). Then I started blending the cream cheese and powdered sugar, which was going pretty all right until I added the cream. That was when everything went wrong. Little dots of sparkly powdered sugar started forming, giving the appearance of snow - which, while kind of pretty in its own way, was definitely not what I was going for.
The cupcakes turned out fabulously. They were very dense and tasty. Another rookie mistake I made was frosting them as soon as they'd cooled. And, being slightly nervous about the idea of leaving cream cheese frosting out of the refridgerator I immediately stuck them in a container and into the fridge they went. I didn't research enough to know that that was pretty much all right but that I needed to bring them to room temperature before I served them to anyone. Otherwise they were like tiny fudgy-brownie-like matza balls. They were very pretty and the purple was very Easter-y. I put a few little lavender blossoms on top for decoration (no pictures of the results, sorry) - unfortunately the only way you could taste any lavender at all. The frosting swallowed any hibiscus or lavender flavor the cream simmering had attempted to give it. Lessons learned. Next time, I make a simple syrup I think.
I took my lumps and the next opportunity I had to get my hands in some batter was my friend Tim's birthday. Every year I do a southern-themed cooking extravaganza and this year I chose Red Velvet Cupcakes. I chose a recipe from Coconut & Lime and used her Cream Cheese Icing recipe as well. This time, I beat the hell out of that frosting. It rocked. It was perfection. These were the results:
I was very, very proud. I shared them with anyone I could convince to take one. Last time, I ended up throwing out a number of leftover cupcakes. This time, I threw out not a one. And Tim was verrah happy -
My new adventure is about to begin today. Ages ago, I saw a picture on the interwebs of a cake with sliced strawberries inside and I thought, could I not do this with a cupcake? And could not the strawberry be whole? I thought about doing a lemon chiffon cupcake with a whole strawberry sunk inside but I could not for the life of me find a lemon chiffon cupcake recipe. I do not pretend that I am experienced enough to take a cake recipe (which is all I could find) and adapt it to anything. I am a newbie. I must accept my limitations. So I went to the expert, Rachel at Coconut & Lime and requested help in locating a recipe. I related my idea and she had some thoughts - 1) That chiffon cupcakes are tough to do all by themselves and 2) That chiffon might not be dense enough to support the strawberry. Now, I had actually wondered about the second point but I hadn't thought of how the upside-down cooling process might work with a cupcake. But Rachel volunteered to test drive the idea and the results are posted on her site.
I'll post my results after I've made them, which should be this afternoon. But three cheers for Rachel for being a great sport and for helping me out!
These days I wait patiently for my next excuse to steal my mother's hand blender, dig out the cupcake liners, and my $30 muffin pan and make beautiful cupcake. The first chance I got was on Easter, when I attempted to adapt Cupcake Underground's Chocolate Lavender Cupcake recipe to suit me and came up with Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes (via Epicurious) and Underground's Lavender frosting recipe - which is not so much a recipe as it is some very vague instructions. Sort of like Camilla Engman's instructions on how to make her adorable critters (which I WILL attempt someday, when I learn how to knit and crochet.) The major problem with the frosting, I believe, is that I was attempting to adapt a vegan recipe to be dairy-based.
Normally I would have checked out how to do a traditional cream cheese frosting and I think I might have - I can't quite remember - but one way or another there was no butter involved when I did this. A rookie mistake. I bought cream, cream cheese, powdered sugar, hibiscus blossoms, and lavender flowers. I adore cooking with lavender so this was an exciting chance for me to integrate it into a dessert. I put the cream on the stove and the lavender and hibiscus blossoms in, and attempted to simmer the cream. Oh, what a bad idea. The first attempt was a total flop. Everything appeared to be going well until all of a sudden - the cream clotted. It looked absolutely awful. I'll spare you the detailed description because it might spoil whatever meal you happen to reading this near. The second attempt was not so bad. The cream turned a lovely pinkish-purple color and didn't clot (though, the blossoms when removed did not exactly escape unscathed by their harrowing creaming experience). Then I started blending the cream cheese and powdered sugar, which was going pretty all right until I added the cream. That was when everything went wrong. Little dots of sparkly powdered sugar started forming, giving the appearance of snow - which, while kind of pretty in its own way, was definitely not what I was going for.
The cupcakes turned out fabulously. They were very dense and tasty. Another rookie mistake I made was frosting them as soon as they'd cooled. And, being slightly nervous about the idea of leaving cream cheese frosting out of the refridgerator I immediately stuck them in a container and into the fridge they went. I didn't research enough to know that that was pretty much all right but that I needed to bring them to room temperature before I served them to anyone. Otherwise they were like tiny fudgy-brownie-like matza balls. They were very pretty and the purple was very Easter-y. I put a few little lavender blossoms on top for decoration (no pictures of the results, sorry) - unfortunately the only way you could taste any lavender at all. The frosting swallowed any hibiscus or lavender flavor the cream simmering had attempted to give it. Lessons learned. Next time, I make a simple syrup I think.
I took my lumps and the next opportunity I had to get my hands in some batter was my friend Tim's birthday. Every year I do a southern-themed cooking extravaganza and this year I chose Red Velvet Cupcakes. I chose a recipe from Coconut & Lime and used her Cream Cheese Icing recipe as well. This time, I beat the hell out of that frosting. It rocked. It was perfection. These were the results:
I was very, very proud. I shared them with anyone I could convince to take one. Last time, I ended up throwing out a number of leftover cupcakes. This time, I threw out not a one. And Tim was verrah happy -
My new adventure is about to begin today. Ages ago, I saw a picture on the interwebs of a cake with sliced strawberries inside and I thought, could I not do this with a cupcake? And could not the strawberry be whole? I thought about doing a lemon chiffon cupcake with a whole strawberry sunk inside but I could not for the life of me find a lemon chiffon cupcake recipe. I do not pretend that I am experienced enough to take a cake recipe (which is all I could find) and adapt it to anything. I am a newbie. I must accept my limitations. So I went to the expert, Rachel at Coconut & Lime and requested help in locating a recipe. I related my idea and she had some thoughts - 1) That chiffon cupcakes are tough to do all by themselves and 2) That chiffon might not be dense enough to support the strawberry. Now, I had actually wondered about the second point but I hadn't thought of how the upside-down cooling process might work with a cupcake. But Rachel volunteered to test drive the idea and the results are posted on her site.
I'll post my results after I've made them, which should be this afternoon. But three cheers for Rachel for being a great sport and for helping me out!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Creative Cuisine Solutions: Get the Bread Out!
Okay, everybody is on this "low carbs" thingie... still. And while I certainly don't shy away from the bread, I think it's important not to eat it with every meal. I believe 21 grams of fiber is the magic number and 1 serving of bread per day will do that if my memory serves me correctly. I usually have Whole Foods' Seeduction toast with peanut butter (and sliced banana this morning! YUM!) for breakfast so when it comes time for lunch I'm usually staring down the barrel of another salad or a wheat-free veggie alternative tortilla or something like that. Just now, just this afternoon, modeled after some fast food joint's lettuce wraps (can't remember which, I try to be responsible for everything that goes into my mouth and yes, that does sound dirty) which are modeled after a Thai creation I can't think of the name of, I just created the following:
Tuna Salad Spinach Wraps
1 individual serving-sized can white albacore tuna packed in water
2 tbsps Vegenaise
2 finely chopped stalks celery
2 finely chopped scallions
2 tsps dried cilantro
4 finely chopped fresh basil leaves
pepper to taste
Mix it all up in a bowl and yank out your spinach - I used organic stuff from Whole Foods cuz some of the leaves are appropriately enormous for wrapping purposes. Wash and roll, it works cuz the ends of the leaves kinda curl under so you just roll 'em up and munch 'em down like dolmaldes. Super tasty, super easy. Just watch out for the sodium content in the tuna - if you buy Chicken of the Sea you're looking at over 300 grams.
Tuna Salad Spinach Wraps
1 individual serving-sized can white albacore tuna packed in water
2 tbsps Vegenaise
2 finely chopped stalks celery
2 finely chopped scallions
2 tsps dried cilantro
4 finely chopped fresh basil leaves
pepper to taste
Mix it all up in a bowl and yank out your spinach - I used organic stuff from Whole Foods cuz some of the leaves are appropriately enormous for wrapping purposes. Wash and roll, it works cuz the ends of the leaves kinda curl under so you just roll 'em up and munch 'em down like dolmaldes. Super tasty, super easy. Just watch out for the sodium content in the tuna - if you buy Chicken of the Sea you're looking at over 300 grams.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Fucshia Snapper with Dinosaur Kale
Welcome to another installment of Friday night fish recipes for the single girl. Tonight I bring you a gorgeous, girlie-pink, deliciously spicy-sweet recipe fit for a queen. And yes, yes it is snapper. Again. What? It just works. Plus, it's like... my favorite. Aside from grouper, which seems to be difficult to get your hands on around here. Well, really I'd just have to get into the car and drive uptown but I'm a lazy biotch, okay? I, uh... like to... support my local... uhm... giant chain organic grocery... which, uh... may or may not drive out my favorite locally owned joint.... uhm... just... uh... shut up.
Seriously, I had sole last week... it wasn't exciting enough to post so I decided not to bore you with the details. It was very tasty... it involved potatoes, shallots, and wood ear mushrooms.
But this! This is going to come out the MOST gorgeous color AND be tasty AND be eeeeeaaaasssssy as a $2 hooker.
You will need:
1 handful still-firm thusly slightly tart and fairly acidic kumquats
1 blood orange
1 lemon
2 tbsps garlic & chili infused olive oil
1 small bunch dinosaur (lacinato) kale
1 small onion
1 healthy snapper fillet
Same cooking drill as before, 400° oven, yada yada - I put mine together by putting all the liquids in a bowl so, the juice of 1/2 blood orange, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and your infused oil (with some chili flakes for added punch).
Then, slice your kumquats into 1/4" slices (very thin), slice your onions very thin and make a chiffonade of your kale - being careful not to take any of the bulky stems).
Make up your packet and slap in your fillet. Pour your liquid over the top making sure to coat the whole piece. Lay your sliced onions over the top (look, I'm the daughter of a girl of norweigan decent... onion goes on absolutely everything - I even make an onion pie when I feel so moved), then your kumquats, then your kale chiffonade.
Close up your packet, toss it in the oven and wait for the aromas to start overtaking the kitchen. Ultimately, probably a whole half hour depending on the size of your fillet.
Truly delicious. And so damnably pretty, such color in such a grey and white and crunchy world. Even the blue sky felt hard as a marble today. Anyway, I enoyed this with a nice Luzon Jumilla.
Seriously, I had sole last week... it wasn't exciting enough to post so I decided not to bore you with the details. It was very tasty... it involved potatoes, shallots, and wood ear mushrooms.
But this! This is going to come out the MOST gorgeous color AND be tasty AND be eeeeeaaaasssssy as a $2 hooker.
You will need:
1 handful still-firm thusly slightly tart and fairly acidic kumquats
1 blood orange
1 lemon
2 tbsps garlic & chili infused olive oil
1 small bunch dinosaur (lacinato) kale
1 small onion
1 healthy snapper fillet
Same cooking drill as before, 400° oven, yada yada - I put mine together by putting all the liquids in a bowl so, the juice of 1/2 blood orange, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and your infused oil (with some chili flakes for added punch).
Then, slice your kumquats into 1/4" slices (very thin), slice your onions very thin and make a chiffonade of your kale - being careful not to take any of the bulky stems).
Make up your packet and slap in your fillet. Pour your liquid over the top making sure to coat the whole piece. Lay your sliced onions over the top (look, I'm the daughter of a girl of norweigan decent... onion goes on absolutely everything - I even make an onion pie when I feel so moved), then your kumquats, then your kale chiffonade.
Close up your packet, toss it in the oven and wait for the aromas to start overtaking the kitchen. Ultimately, probably a whole half hour depending on the size of your fillet.
Truly delicious. And so damnably pretty, such color in such a grey and white and crunchy world. Even the blue sky felt hard as a marble today. Anyway, I enoyed this with a nice Luzon Jumilla.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Red Snapper with Deconstructed Salsa in a Packet
I'm a single girl and I love, love, love quick and easy. So every Friday I treat myself to some tasty fish. Tonight, the victim of choice was a beautiful snapper filet from Whole Foods. It was worth having to lie to the bum that followed me into the store to talk to me, I think.
Anyway, the easiest and most fool-proof way to do fish is in an aluminum foil or parchment paper packet. It's nearly impossible to dry it out and it marinates it beeeautifully. It happened that I asked the (very cute, very young) fish counter guy what herbs he thought would go best with snapper. I've done mushrooms and potatoes with rosemary, thyme, and garlic. I've done Thai style with curry, coconut, and lime. But tonight, he mentioned that snapper does well with salsa. So I thought, "ah, ha!" Why buy a jar of salsa, or waste time with a food processor I don't own when I can make own deconstructed salsa, I ask you, why? So, here it is, eat your heart out Rachael Ray. (Also, if you want to make the recipe for two... I suggest you double it. This here cookin' is for the single ladies... can I get a "HEY LADIES... get, get funky.")
Now, the foodies around here won't need nearly this much instruction, but you never know who's going to stop by...
1 lovely red snapper filet
7-8 grape tomatoes cut in half
2 crosswise slices of a small yellow onion (we want rings here girls, and not the kind you wear on your finger)
1 quarter section of a yellow pepper cut into *very thin* slices
4 jar jalepeno rings, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tsps cilantro (I used dry, though I prefer fresh)
1 tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tbsp olive oil (we need a little fat)
Pre-heat your oven to 400° and start slicing and dicing your vegetables. Take out a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper and fold up sides to make a little box-like structure and throw in your fish. Dump all of your other ingredients over the top. Since I like a little presentation, I lay the yellow peppers over the fish first on an angle with the onion rings over that, in sort of an arty way. Then the halved grape tomatoes and finally the diced jalepenos and garlic. Sprinkle the cilantro over the top and the salt as well. (If you're not a cilantro fan, and I know a LOT of you out there aren't, you can try to find Mexican oregano. Try your local Mexican grocery, that's where I've been successful. It's more fragrant and pungent but very tasty - use sparingly.) Then drizzle the lemon juice, lime juice and olive oil over the top, wrap it up and pop it in the oven.
Now, the filet I got tonight was a little thin so I only left it in the oven for about 20 minutes. For fatter filets I go a full half hour.
Amazingly, because of the tomato I imagine, I suggest a red wine pairing for this dish. I enjoyed a glass of Barons de Rothschild 2003 Bordeaux and it was perfect. It offset the citrus and tomato acidity quite nicely and was just mild enough not to exacerbate the tiny fire in my mouth because I actually used about 7 jalepeno rings instead of the 4 I suggested to you. But it was still bold enough not to be intimidated by the onion and cilantro.
Enjoy!
Anyway, the easiest and most fool-proof way to do fish is in an aluminum foil or parchment paper packet. It's nearly impossible to dry it out and it marinates it beeeautifully. It happened that I asked the (very cute, very young) fish counter guy what herbs he thought would go best with snapper. I've done mushrooms and potatoes with rosemary, thyme, and garlic. I've done Thai style with curry, coconut, and lime. But tonight, he mentioned that snapper does well with salsa. So I thought, "ah, ha!" Why buy a jar of salsa, or waste time with a food processor I don't own when I can make own deconstructed salsa, I ask you, why? So, here it is, eat your heart out Rachael Ray. (Also, if you want to make the recipe for two... I suggest you double it. This here cookin' is for the single ladies... can I get a "HEY LADIES... get, get funky.")
Now, the foodies around here won't need nearly this much instruction, but you never know who's going to stop by...
1 lovely red snapper filet
7-8 grape tomatoes cut in half
2 crosswise slices of a small yellow onion (we want rings here girls, and not the kind you wear on your finger)
1 quarter section of a yellow pepper cut into *very thin* slices
4 jar jalepeno rings, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tsps cilantro (I used dry, though I prefer fresh)
1 tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tbsp olive oil (we need a little fat)
Pre-heat your oven to 400° and start slicing and dicing your vegetables. Take out a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper and fold up sides to make a little box-like structure and throw in your fish. Dump all of your other ingredients over the top. Since I like a little presentation, I lay the yellow peppers over the fish first on an angle with the onion rings over that, in sort of an arty way. Then the halved grape tomatoes and finally the diced jalepenos and garlic. Sprinkle the cilantro over the top and the salt as well. (If you're not a cilantro fan, and I know a LOT of you out there aren't, you can try to find Mexican oregano. Try your local Mexican grocery, that's where I've been successful. It's more fragrant and pungent but very tasty - use sparingly.) Then drizzle the lemon juice, lime juice and olive oil over the top, wrap it up and pop it in the oven.
Now, the filet I got tonight was a little thin so I only left it in the oven for about 20 minutes. For fatter filets I go a full half hour.
Amazingly, because of the tomato I imagine, I suggest a red wine pairing for this dish. I enjoyed a glass of Barons de Rothschild 2003 Bordeaux and it was perfect. It offset the citrus and tomato acidity quite nicely and was just mild enough not to exacerbate the tiny fire in my mouth because I actually used about 7 jalepeno rings instead of the 4 I suggested to you. But it was still bold enough not to be intimidated by the onion and cilantro.
Enjoy!
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