Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving Dinner
Dinner was nice this year, though; a small family gathering.
Pickled Vegetables. A bit non-traditional, but still very delicious, courtesy of my Aunt.
Super delicious salad starter was created my older cousin. Actually, I think most everything was prepared by the two.
Poor turkey didn't stand a chance.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
An Attempt @ Puff Pastry
Now, what did I find? A recipe for Raspberry Turnovers! They looked so good I just had to try making some. First hurdle? Make some puff pastry; I didn't want to go and buy any and I had all the ingredients to make it (Wtf? The heat! Why do that to yourself?). So after a few days of researching around online for recipes and instructions regarding this intimidating foe, I rolled up my sleeves and set out to make it! Didn't take any pictures of the ordeal though because I was a bit preoccupied with it and forgot~ Yeah, sadness.
I guess it was super humid 'cause I had a lot of trouble with the dough sticking when I was trying to roll it out and it ate the flour on the rolling surface like a demon. In the end, I finally made it, wrapped it up, and left it to chill in the fridge for 1.5 days ('cause I didn't really want to think about it or do anything with it after the experience of making it). I can confess that I was super worried about how it would turn out. I thought it was gonna just be one flat piece of dough when I finally baked it off.
Anyway, I didn't really have any frozen berries in the fridge 'cause I neglected to buy any...but I did have 2 medium/small sweet onions that I needed to use up. SO, "if like gives you lemons, make lemonade" right? I sauteed the onions til they were soft and caramelized, seasoned with oregano, smoked paprika, salt, coarse black pepper, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Finished that and stuck it in the fridge too.
Ugh. Okay, in the end, I did manage to make it! Talk about scary experience. Rolling the dough out at the end to prep for the stuffing and baking was a nightmare. Was getting soft fast, and sticking to boot. I ended up just getting it rolled out, not trimmed it, cut to enough divisions, stuffed, not sealed properly, egg washed, and into the oven. I watched as the butter in the dough started to melt, transforming it into a soft, melted looking pile of stuff. Checked back later after much brooding and I saw it had some layers! Hurray! Some kind of success!!!
Results!:
Moral of this scary story? That there is hope and you too can make your own puff pastry! I mean, did you read what I went through to make this? I even cut out some more drama to make this entry pithy. I would say try it, just because experiences always add to our understanding of things.
Look at those beautiful buttery flakes!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
For Mother's Day: Blueberry Cream Cake
This was an experimental cake too. Aren't experiments just the greatest? Yes, back on track. It's experimental because I used heavy cream for fat instead of butter. I did some googling to figure out if such a substitute was reasonable, but didn't come up with too much except one recipe for a "Sweet Cream Cake." So I took that one, wrote a few
tagline notes and went at making my Mother's Day cake, hoping for the best results of course.
Lucky me, it turned out great!
Blueberry Cream Cake
-1 2/3 Cup All Purpose Flour
-2 1/2 Tsp. Baking Poweder
-2/3 Tsp. Salt
-Zest from 1 Med. Lemon
-2 Eggs
-1 Cup Sugar
-1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
-Just a bit over 3/4 Cup Heavy Cream + 2% Greek Yoghurt (or more cream or another sour cream, etc.) = Total 1 Cup
-2 Cups Frozen Wild Blueberries
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line, spray, and flour a 9x12 baking pan.
- Beat eggs until well broken up, then add sugar gradually and beat until light in color and well incorporated. Add lemon zest and beat until incorporated.
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt together into a separate bowl. Combine vanilla extract, heavy cream/yoghurt mixture together in a measuing cup (for ease of pouring).
- Alternately add dry and cream mixture to the egg mixture (about 3 sets) and, using a paddle, mix after each set of additions until nicely incorporated. Pour and spread in an even layer onto the baking pan. Distribute the blueberries over the cake batter, leaving some on top and pushing some into the batter itself so there is a nice distribution throughout. (I guess the alternative would be to coat half of the frozen blueberries with flour and mixing them carefully into the batter to avoid major color bleeding, then sprinkle the rest on the top after spreading it out).
- Bake on middle shelf for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Rotate once during baking. (If necessary, turn the oven to 325F 10 minutes before time is up if you feel your oven is browning/burning it faster that it is cooking and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.)
- Remove and let cool for 30 minutes in pan before cutting. Serves ~12-18 depending on how you slice it.
Enjoy~
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Lemon Cranberry Pecan Biscotti
- 2 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1 cup dried cranberries (Craisens are good)
- 1 cup of chopped and toasted pecans
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 medium lemon (or large if you really want)
Saturday, November 29, 2008
White Mushroom Spaghetti
White Mushroom Pasta:
12 oz. of White Mushrooms, about (or more if you like)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
Quarter of a small-medium onion, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp of Olive Oil (or any other kind you have)
4 tbsp of butter
1 tsp, or more, of salt (to taste)
1/2 pack of regular length spaghetti, roughly
Black pepper (optional/to taste)
Basil, roughly chopped (optional)
Rinse and wash the mushrooms under cold running water. And set aside to dry, or you can pat dry. Then slice them into thin, approx. 2-3mm, even slices. Set aside. (The slicing can all be done while you wait for the water to boil)
Bring a large, covered, pot of water to boil. Once boiling, uncover and throw in the dried spaghetti. Stir in and let cook as package directs. Stir occasionally.
While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large, raised sides, pan. When heated, cook garlic for about 30 secs or until fragrant on medium-high heat, then throw in the onions and oregano and cook until browned and softened slightly, maybe about 3 minutes on medium-high heat.
Once onions are browned and softened, throw in the sliced mushrooms. Saute for a a minute or two and then cover, turn heat to medium, and let the mushrooms release their moisture. After about 5-7 minutes, check and stir. They should have lost a lot of their opaqueness. Now uncover, turn heat back to medium-high, add salt, and saute untill some moisture has evaporated, but not completely. Add the butter and stir in until all melted. Lower heat to medium-low.
At this point the pasta should be done. Drain and add pasta to the sauce. Mix well until the pasta is well coated. Add basil, and pepper (if using). Serve immediately.
Serves ~4
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
"Rustic" Pumpkin Pie: Avoiding Textbooks
3/4 cup of Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp. Freshly Grated Ginger
2 Large Eggs
2 (5 oz.) cans of Evaporated Milk
1 (15 oz.) can of Usweetened Pumpkin
1 Pre-made Deep Dish Pie Crust, like Pillsbury
- Preheat oven to 450F degrees
- Prepare a rack on the lower shelf of the oven and put a baking sheet on this lower level.
- Mix/Whisk/Blend Brown Sugar through Evaporated Milk together in a bowl. Add Pumpkin and mix till well combined.
- Pour into Pie Crust, place in oven on top of a baking sheet (for cleanliness and in case of spills. I would put the crust on the baking sheet in the oven BEFORE pouring the mixture in, makes it easier since you don't have to pick it up and balance the liquid inside on the way to the oven).
- Bake at 450F for about 10 minutes. Rotate. Turn temperature to 350F degrees and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
I have a feeling that if I baked it at 325 instead of 350 the pie would'nt have cracked so much...but oh well, it tasted good to me so I don't really care, haha.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Finally, Something New: Chili
Man, it has definitely been a while since I last posted.