Archive for February, 2009
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Lemon Sorbets
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
One of the best ways to impress guests, I find, is to “razzle-dazzle ‘em,” to quote a well-known Broadway musical. Of course, even the best presentation can’t hide a bad dish, but a great presentation can elevate a good dish. This lemon sorbet recipe in lemon cups is a great way to cause a little stir with something uncomplicated that most people really like to eat. Who doesn’t love lemon, right? In fact, I’d be interested in knowing if lemon is a universal male food. My husband can’t get enough of the stuff, and I’ve known other men that feel the same way. Someone should do a study. Regardless, it’s sure to please and you do not need an ice cream machine to pull this off. I recently took these to a girls’ night out event and they were a big hit. You should note that this recipe produces a very strongly flavored sorbet. If you like your sorbet a little subtler, try cutting back on the amount of zest.
It takes a lot of lemons to make, since the recipe requires a whole lot of zest while also requiring you save the skins of the lemons used for the cups. This means you end up with much more juice and pulp than you need to actually make the recipe. Never fear, just freeze the juice in small bags and use it to make fresh lemonade when the weather gets a little warmer. Your family will be thrilled.
1/3 cup of lemon zest is a lot and I find that instead of reserving the little “hats” to place on top of the finished sorbet, I need those pieces for their zest. It’s easier to prepare if you nix the hats anyway, because it means you don’t have to hollow out all those little pieces. I highly recommend getting one of these if you don’t already have one, or you may be at this step for ages. Since acquiring mine, I use it all the time. Besides being indispensable in cases like this, it can also be used to do quick cheese shredding jobs, like a little parmesan finishing touch on some pasta.
Hollowing out the lemons isn’t as problematic as you might think if you have a proper grapefruit knife. Just make sure you angle it a little too shallow rather than a little too wide so you don’t end up piercing the sides. You can always go back and scrape out whatever you missed.
For some reason, the recipe gets a little unclear at the freezing point, so I’ll just sum up what you need to do. After you’ve finished the mixture in the saucepan, either put it in the freezer and follow the freezer method listed, OR put it directly into your ice cream machine and follow your manufacturer’s directions. Definitely do not freeze it first, as the text seems to suggest, and then try to put it in the machine. It sounds obvious, I know, but sometimes all it takes is not reading ahead enough to miss little problems like that.
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Sweet Orange Salmon
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
I don’t live in a place where I can get fresh seafood most of the time, or at least not without spending a fortune, which makes my self-imposed weekly fish requirement a little tricky to fill at times. Salmon is inevitably what I fall back on when I’m not satisfied with anything else I see at the grocery store. For some reason, it just seems to weather the whole freezing and storing process better than most other fish.
The salmon recipe I keep coming back to using is a simple, ingredients-always-on-hand sweet orange salmon recipe from Cooking Light. It’s fast, easy, and yields a really nice flavor. It’s not the subtlest way to eat fish, but it is undeniably tasty and goes fabulously with some basmati rice and a simple green salad. It’s one of a few recipes that don’t get lost in the constant recipe shuffle at my house. Even the baby loves it.
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This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship….
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Last week I finally used store bought puff pastry for the first time. Which surprises even me since I love baked goods, especially pastry. However, I’m not as much of a baker, and am still more fond of my mom’s pie crust than of my own.
However, a recent episode of Barefoot Contessa prompted me to make the leap, and of course, it started with cheese. If any ingredient could have motivated me, it is definitely cheese. The goat cheese and tomato tart to be specific.
The tart turned out well, and I found it easy to make. Best of all, the puff pastry performed on point, which was my biggest fear. This has officially opened the door for using the prepared dough frequently in the future. As long as one follows the rule of any pastry type dough, which is keeping it as cold as possible for as long as possible before actually baking, I think even a novice cook/baker would find success. If you are a new cook, this would be especially impressive to present at a potluck, or a first course. The total cost of the tart was $8.60, which means $2.15 per serving of four. This tart is probably less expensive to make in the spring or summer, when the cost of tomatoes and basil are lower.As I began the recipe, I was suddenly inspired to make on large rectangular tart, instead of four individual round ones.
Not really.
As I opened the pastry box, I was distracted by one of the recipes on the back of the pastry box, so I cheated, and used only one sheet of puff pastry (saving the other sheet for turnovers), instead of cutting out circles from both sheets. I have to say, this change worked out well, and made me think of what a great appetizer the tart makes - as you can see in the photo, you could easily slice this up into at least a dozen pieces, or in my case, I cut this into four large squares to serve with salad for a light dinner.
In order to give the pastry the best chance of success since I was changing things up, I made another adjustment. First, I chilled my baking sheet in the fridge for about five minutes. Second, when I did roll out the pastry, I did so directly on the baking sheet. The reason for doing so was to avoid the transfer of such a large piece of dough (about 8 x 11 inches) from the counter to the baking sheet. Most rolling pins aren’t meant to work in the confines of a baking sheet, so you’ll need to used a smaller smooth cylinder, like a drinking glass, always gently pushing the dough out from the middle.
Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I didn’t use fresh thyme. Which is hard to admit because I always try to use fresh herbs in everything because I think it makes a huge difference. After hitting up two different stores looking for even a few sprigs of thyme, I gave up, and was just happy to leave with the little bit of fresh basil I was able to procure because it is February. The only other thing I did differently is that I chopped the onions on autopilot - since most cooking I do requires chopped, not sliced, onions. I do think thinly sliced onions would make a difference, since it took much longer to cook the moisture out, and even then, the onions were still a bit squishy when the tart was done baking and the tomatoes were well done. As for a second opinion, my official taster says he will be happy to eat this tart in the near future. In fact, he has already reminded me about it. “Didn’t you say you were going to try something different when you made that tart again?”
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Spinach Shake
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
2 bananas½ bunch of spinach leaves (remove excess stems)
1 C. frozen strawberries
½ C. orange juice
Get past the name and the photo for a minute and hear me out. This is a totally awesome shake and you will love it when you try it. I haven’t yet met a person that didn’t. This shake is simultaneously delicious and super nutritious, if not the most visually appealing food on the planet. It’s amazing how much spinach you can pack in there without being able to taste it, and the benefits are numerous: vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, calcium, folic acid, vitamin K, iron, and the list goes on. I play the measurements by ear, so the amounts listed above are approximations. Just be aware that you’ll really want to blend everything finely so you don’t end up with any spinach pieces and be sure to use frozen berries over fresh for the “smoothie” texture. This shake doesn’t translate well to a thawed beverage. I find that strawberries are the best for color and flavor, but I often use raspberries as well. I’ve tried blueberries and blackberries and found the results to be less than stellar, so you may want to avoid those.
I make this shake very, very frequently and my initially skeptical husband loves it. So rename the thing if you need to fool your family, but definitely give this a try for a yummy breakfast treat or afternoon snack
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Bread in General and a Challah Recipe
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
I’ve said that I’m a stickler for shopping on a budget, and one of the ways I keep my weekly grocery expenses low is by making my own bread. These days, baking your own bread seems to strike people as either a really arcane or super fancy thing to do (weird how those are almost opposite yet they seem to encompass most reactions I get). Anyway, I receive no special credit because I own a bread machine or as my husband calls it, the bread droid. I know that we all rapidly run out of kitchen space and that every appliance purchased needs to be essential, but if you decide that bread making will be a permanent part of your culinary life (and I hope you will!) you MUST have a bread machine. It saves so much time and organization. Before I go further, though, I need to make it clear that I only consider the bread machine good for three things: mixing/kneading, rising, and taking all that manual timing out of your hair. Baking in the machine is a big no-no. My machine is perpetually set on the “dough” cycle and in the event the power goes out and it resets when I don’t notice, I want to tear my hair out. Ruined bread, as far as I’m concerned. Weird texture, and unusable shape.
Anyway, the benefits of making your own bread are probably pretty obvious:
- It’s cheaper
- It’s usually tastier
- It’s more healthful
- You have endless options of what to make including any tasty additions you may have on hand
The only time I buy bread now is when I am craving a loaf of artisan bread, which we’ll probably get into later. For everyday bread making, I like to do a half-white, half-whole wheat loaf for lightness, but added nutrition. Though it’s more expensive, you can even buy white whole wheat flour now and hide that grainy goodness from your family’s notice! Nothing really beats the smell of fresh bread baking, and you’ll get to enjoy this hot treat frequently when you otherwise wouldn’t. The only downside is that you may end up consuming more bread than normal, if you aren’t careful!
Today I’m sharing a challah recipe that I use frequently. Because challah uses eggs, it’s not the cheapest bread you can make, but it sure is tasty. The recipe yields two good-sized loaves, and may max out your bread machine’s load capacity. Just be sure you take out the dough immediately when the machine tells you it’s ready, or you may be scraping dough off the lid of your machine. The dough for challah is VERY sticky, and I always end up adding in a fair amount of flour as I braid the loaf. Even so, the bread still always comes out light and wonderful. The egg brushed on top isn’t technically necessary, but it gives the crust that beautiful, shiny, golden look. I omit the sesame seeds because I don’t like them.
I personally can’t imagine making challah without shaping it into that fabulous six-braid loaf that is just visually stunning. The method is not that intuitive, so I refer almost constantly to this Youtube video for instructions.
Hope you’ll be enjoying some fresh challah soon!
