I got a present!

Every once in a very blue moon a friend comes along that you just really love. I have such a friend! My dearest friend, Melanie, sent me a "blog care package" in the mail. Melanie is an amazing cook and a behind-closed-doors foodie. Needless to say, the stuff she sent was awesome! I want to share with you all of my goodies so that you can rush right out and put yourself together this exact same set of fun toys and start playing!


As you can see she went all out! I recieved an adorable red mini-colander with flower holes and two ducky-feet egg cups, a 55 minute kitchen timer in my kitchen color (red) and an athropologie kitchen towel that is way to pretty to wipe wet hands on. Also, because I love to garden as much as cook she gave me "The growing egg" - an egg that grows up to be a thyme plant! YIPPY! I immediately put on the pot and cooked a 3 minute egg with my timer and ate it with my egg cup. I think it tasted better because of it's adornment. Luckily I even had a white egg in my fridge to match my egg cup. It's rare that there is anything but brown or bespeckled eggs hiding in the depths of the fridge.



Melanie also gave me a book. This is not a "cook book", but a Book for Cooks!It has recipes and how-tos and all of your off the wall questions answered. Have you ever wanted to julienne a leek? This book shows step by step instruction! It's called "What's a Cook to Do?" by James Peterson. Check it out.

Salmon Cakes

My mother in law has given me many excellent recipes that my husband and I like and my son will actually eat! I believe her mother, a 90 year old firecracker of a Polish woman, passed this to her. I don't know where Grandma got it but I know we like it! This is a "fish cake". You can use Salmon from a can or a packet, smoked salmon or even tuna. Any minced or flaked fish will do. It's traditionally done with Salmon so that is how I'll write it up.

Salmon Cakes

1 1/2 c flaked canned salmon (no bones or bits
1-2 eggs
1 small white onion, diced
bread or cracker crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Peanut oil for frying.

Mix salmon, egg, onion and salt and pepper together. Add as much crumb as needed to make it stick together and form patties well. Form patties and fry in skillet with about 1/8" of medium-high heat peanut oil. Flip and fry after cooking side turns golden brown.

Serve with your favorite sauces. Here are a few suggestions:

Dill and Lemon Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard

2 tablespoons minced fresh dill weed

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a small bowl mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, Dijon mustard, dill weed, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Tartar Sauce (any is great!)

Ketchup (I know... YUCK! But this is way my husband grew up eating it and he swears by it)

Grandma Great turns 94!!!

Today is my Great Grandmother's 94th birthday! My grandmother, Anita, had all of the local family over for a wonderful brunch. She made waffles and Spanish chorizos in eggs. Yum! My family has a strong Spanish heritage and as far as I know we have always eaten these Basque chorizos. My great-grandmother is not Basque herself, but Castillion. Her father carried the title "De Van Espre". Now that Spain has no noted royalty none of this matters, but the love of the chorizos lives on through generational cooking.

There isn't much I could add to such a wonderful meal but I asked if I might bring a cake. I have really been liking making cakes lately, since Christy's birthday was so nice. To make a cake for a woman of 94 who has eaten many, many wonderful things is a little nerve-racking, but hey, it's the thought that counts!

I didn't have the ingredients for my signature yellow pound cake so I tried a Martha Stewart "moist yellow cake" recipe. I followed it to the T, but still it was NOT moist. The lemon curd, however, was perfect (also thanks to Martha's web-site) and added the moisture needed to save the cake. I won't use the cake recipe again and I won't offer it here either.

I used a brown sugar meringue buttercream frosting and had a ball decorating the cake. My great grandmother is named Flora (meaning "flower/plant"). She is an amazing gardener with many awards to her reputation as well as a private garden plot at her home-away-from-home senior residence. I tried to deck the cake with flowers and vines in her honor. So fun!! She loved the flowers and had a little help blowing out the candles from my son, Albie.

Brown-Sugar-Meringue Buttercream
Makes 6 cups
1 1/4 cups lightly packed light-brown sugar
5 large egg whites
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. In the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer, combine light-brown sugar and egg whites. Place the bowl over a pot of gently simmering water; whisk until mixture becomes hot to the touch, about 5 minutes.
2. Return bowl to mixer stand. Whip mixture with the whisk attachment until cooled, about 12 minutes. Switch to paddle attachment; add butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in vanilla. If not using immediately, transfer to an airtight container, and store at room temperature up to 8 hours.

LEMON CURD
Makes 1 1/2 cups
3 large egg yolks
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, (2 lemons)
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove saucepan from heat. Add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.
Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour. Store, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 2 days

Broccolli Chicken (kind-of).

Dinner again... It seems like we are always eating. As soon as a day has gone by that I've successfully made dinner I have to turn around and do it again! In a perfect world I could just bake pretty confections all day long and never have to really "cook".

So broccoli and fake chicken it is. I use Morning Start brand soy-based fake chicken fajita strips. It turns out a bit floppy, so if you aren't against it I would use real chicken. The fake is OK, though. I serve over rice. My husband only really likes white rice, though he'll eat brown.

Broccoli Beef:

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 heads broccoli, chopped

1 bag Morning Star fake-Chicken Fajita Strips (still frozen)

1T fresh ginger root, finely chopped

1/3 c soy sauce

3T brown sugar

1 T corn starch

1 1/4 c water

Brown onion in skillet with a little olive oil (med. high heat). Add red pepper and broccoli. Cook until crisp but slightly browned (5 more minutes). Add frozen fake meat and place a lid over the mixture. Reduce heat to medium and let steam until tender-crisp (10-12 minutes).

Mix together in a bowl or liquid measuring glass ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, corn starch and water. Add liquid mixture to pan and replace lid. Let steam together for 5 more minutes. Remove lid and mix well, letting any extra liquid burn off until sauce has the desired consistency. I like mine pretty wet and not very syrupy.

Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

Pancake Fun.

This morning at the crack of dawn Albie woke up and wanted "Pancakes, Mommy!" So I made pancakes. I tried to make a dinosaur (above) as well as a few different letters and a pony. The effort was a lot of fun! I just "free-poured" the batter. I've seen many fun little pancake stencils that one can buy for the perfectly shaped pancake. I've chosen to wing it and let the forces of good and evil guide my pancake pouring. Maybe the future is written in the pancakes? We just don't know!

Pancakes:

2 eggs

1c flour

3T sugar

3T oil

3/4 c milk

3t baking powder

Mix together all with whisk and pour onto a hot and buttered skillet. Wait until batter is bubbly and air bubbles start to pop. Flip pancake and slightly brown on the underside. Serve hot with maple syrup and/or jam.

Just in case you WANT to use the pancake molds for fast pancake shapes here are some I found online for purchase:

Williams Sonoma $16.00

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku9970294/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cpancake&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

Cooking.com $4.95
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=177155

Lemons!

Have you ever seen a lemon flower? When rambling down the cliffs of an Italian village I once had a lemon fall from the rocks outcropping above and roll to rest at my feet. It was sweet and beautiful and the smell was amazing. It grew from a scraggly tree forcing it's sparse foliage out from the rock. I believe that the lemon tree may have endured the harsh environment all of it's little life for the joy of being washed by the Mediterranean mist . And surely it's fruit spoke of that joy.

So today let's celebrate the sunny sweetness that is the lemon. As I sit surrounded by a snowy January I can think of nothing better than to make up a quart of lemonade and spike it with some lemoncella. Maybe even crank up the heat and chance the bill being high.

Lemons and the recipes that they grace:

Lemon Bars ( the perfect mid-winter snack. A lemon bar brings with it a memory of the bright heat of summer fun, but carries the weight and texture of a December snowstorm.)

2 sticks (8 ounces) butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
4 beaten eggs
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
sifted confectioners' sugar
Heat oven to 325°. Blend butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. Pat into ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. For filling, blend together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Pour over first layer. Return to oven and bake at 325° for 20 minutes. Loosen around edges, cut into bars and sift confectioners' sugar over the top while warm.



Lemonade (my own concoction goes something like this... it's not perfect but I wing it every time)

Equal parts
Water
Raw Sugar
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (I retain the lemons to toss into the pitcher for extra lemon-goodness)

Bring to a simmer in a saucepan the water and raw sugar. Simmer until sugar is dissolved completely. Raw sugar will leave the syrup lightly off-color, a brown tint. This is just the caramelly/ molassesy goodness of using a raw sugar! Pour the simple syrup into a jar and refrigerate until cool. Pour chilled syrup and lemon juice into a large pitcher and add chilled water to taste. I usually add about equal the amount of water as the concoction... doubling the amount of liquid in the pitcher. Throw in your squished lemons and serve her up on ice! Yum. The flavor grows as it sits.

Christy has a birthday.

My friend at work decided to get a year older and so I decided to bake. We all cope in different ways. Christy getting a year "wiser" reminded me that my birthday is just two weeks away and, while looking forward to celebrating, it's never easy to admit I'm growing up.

For Christy's B-day I asked her what her fav. cake was. She is an honest, clean-living yellow cake with chocolate frosting kind of girl. That I could handle! I had a hard time deciding how to make a yellow cake and still add glamour. Unlike Christy I am not satisfied with the purity of the yellow cake. So I made a yellow pound cake with lots of sour cream and density and then added cream cheese and dark choc. ganache filling to her simple eden. I can't leave it alone..... have to eat the apple...

It was fun and it came out pretty. Pretty is the hard part for me so I'm glad I did it. She seemed happy and I was touched that she liked it so well.

Albie, in true 2 year old form, had a very hard time with the idea that all of the cake was walking out the door to go to mommy's work. So Albie got a little "scraps" cake of his own with left-over batter and cream cheese filling on top. He requested sprinkles and lo-and-behold! The cupboard provided!

Friday Night Food

Friday nights are always fast and furious... even when we don't do anything. This friday was no different. Red beans and rice is a great dish that can be done ahead of time and served up whenever the mood strikes. Not only is it great for you and low in calories and fat, but it's yummy and kid-friendly!

Red Beans and Rice:

(American Cancer Society's Healthy Eating Cookbook)

3/4 lb ham hocks, washed

1 Qt. Water

1 lb dried red beans, sorted and washed

1.5 c onions, chopped

1 c fresh parsley, chopped

1 c green bell pepper, chopped

1 8-oz can tomato sauce

1/2 c green onions, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1t pepper

1/2 t red pepper

1 T fresh oregano
1T Fresh thyme

3 dashed hot sauce of choice

Serve with 5 c cooked rice

Place ham hocks and water in large saucepan, bring to a boil, and cover. Reduce heat to a simmer for 30 minutes, until tender. Remove and discard ham hocks. Strain broth and chill overnight. Remove surface fat from cold broth and set broth aside. Place beans in enough water to cover in a stck-pot and let stand covered over with lid overnight. Drain beans and add ham broth. COver and cook over low heat for 45 minutes. Add all ingredients remaining. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding additional water if desired. Serve over rice. Makes 8-10 servings. 282cal per serving with 1/2c rice; 1g fat

Don't forget dessert! I am on a perpetual diet. It is much more important to me in the month of January than it is all year round. I guess that's why it's perpetual! So... low-fat low cal is the way I've been cooking lately and this dessert fit the bill: Angel food cake with dark choc. ganache and whole raspberry sauce. Yummy and REALLY low-cal. However... it has so little sustenance that the chocolate I used hadto be good. I tried Guittard. It was yummy, but not as pretty as I hoped it would be. Some cooks just make the food so pretty it's a shame to eat. I think I would be better on the diet if my food were THAT pretty!

Angel Food cake:

1 1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 large), room temperature
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, divided
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 tsp cream of tartar1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
1/2 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar and the cake flour. Set aside.
Beat egg whites until frothy, the add cream of tartar and salt. Beat until fully incorporated then begin to add the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar 1-2 tablespoons at a time. When sugar has been added, beat egg whites to soft peaks. You will know when you have soft peaks because the egg whites will look like soft waves and when you lift the beaters, the peaks will droop back down into the batter. If your batter is falling in ribbons, it is not quite down. Once you have soft peaks, add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat for a few seconds to evenly distribute.
Sift the flour/sugar mixture over the egg whites in 6-8 additions (depending on your proficiency with folding flour into egg whites) and gently fold it in after each addition
Spoon batter into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan with a removeable bottom. Smooth the top with a spatula and tap the pan on the counter once or twice to ensure that there are no large bubbles lurking beneath the surface.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed. Mine took 55 minutes.
Remove from oven an invert pan over a bottle. Allow to cool completely or overnight.
Gently run a thin knife around the sides, then around the bottom, of the pan to release the cake when you are ready to serve it.

Kicking Off the Blog

After much cooking and fuss I've decided to go digital. From now on my food will also appear in virtual form via this blog. I can't wait to share it with the world (or at least those that read the blog). So Cheers from:

the modern forager