Velvety Spring

Two years ago I came across a recipe for "Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta." It's on the kitchn blog, which I don't read. That was before Tastespotting went legal and then switched owners, so probably saw it there.

Doesn't matter so much anymore. It's a standby now. I realized tonight how little I follow the original recipe, so thought I'd document the current version. (Sorry no picture. Also sorry, this is a Granny recipe. Pinch of this. Fist of that. Measurements were not followed. Most precise is 2 cloves of garlic. And 1 lemon.)

Broccoli Pasta
1/4 onion
2 cloves garlic
Oil of some sort
Broccoli
Lemon
Parsley
Nutriuitional Yeast
Vegetable Broth

Pasta

Chevre

Cut the onion into slices. Crush the garlic. Start sauteing them. I used olive oil.

Pull frozen broccoli from the freezer and cut it into some smaller chunks. (I have fresh broccoli, but I save it for munching.) Add it to the saute pan when the onions are getting soft.

Start boiling water for the pasta. Realize you're out of tubes and twists. Debate macaroni or spaghetti. (Spaghetti won.)

Zest the lemon. Freeze most of the zest to have on hand. Sprinkle some in the pan. Juice the lemon and add all the juice.

Let it all sit and cook for a while.

Then dump it in the blender and start blending. Add in some parsley. (2 or 3 stems worth.) Periodically stop the blender and stir it with a cool spatula.

Sprinkle in some nutritional yeast. I don't know. Somewhere between a Tablespoon and a quarter cup.

Taste sauce. Decide it could do with some thinning. Pull vegetable broth from freezer. Melt and add one muffin's worth at a time. (I used two muffins, so about 2/3 cup of broth.)

Test again. Mmmmm.

Dish up pasta. (It's done cooking now, right?) Cover with sauce. Top with chevre. Enjoy.

~At least 2 meals worth. And went from looking up the recipe to sitting at the table in about a half hour.

Easter Dinner

Tuesday last week I realized I didn't have plans for Easter dinner. And, given that I don't have a church home here yet, I wasn't going to be adopted by anyone.

Bummer.

Time to do some growing up and host a dinner of my own.

~~~

Sidebar to note that Easter Dinner to me is obviously the big meal after church in the morning. It's up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas for major meals.

Apparently dinner = supper to my friends. (Granted some of the invitees are international students.) Clarification, in my book, dinner is the biggest meal of the day. But not breakfast. Breakfast just isn't allowed to be the biggest meal of the day.

~~~

Menu

Strawberry Salad
Delicious Co-op bread
Spring Green Risotto
Lemon Cream Tart and Chocolate Bunny Cake with whipped cream and strawberries


New resolution to start taking photos to put up here. Not that I'll be good. But to have something to start from.

~~~

Cooking Logistics (because the cleaning logistics don't belong here)

I started the risotto Saturday night.

Spring Green Risotto

Adapted from Annie's Eats who adapted it from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten

Ingredients:
5 cups veggie broth
1½ Tablespoon olive oil
1½ Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
2 leeks, white and green parts, chopped
1½ cups Arborio rice (medium grain rice)
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 lb. asparagus (thin spears preferable), cut into 1-inch pieces and tough ends discarded
10 oz. frozen peas, thawed (or 1½ cups shelled fresh peas)
zest from one lemon
dash kosher salt
dash pepper
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice (I just used half a lemon)
3 Tbsp cream cheese


Directions:

Find a pot large enough for your stock and heat the veggie stock to simmering. You really just want to keep it warm, so if you want to put it on medium low heat, cover it up, and call it good while dealing with everything else, it's a good plan.

Pull out your largest saute pan, or at least my largest saute pan. This is the one everything ends up in. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Add the scallions and leeks to the pan and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until tender.  Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat well with the oil and butter.  Add the white wine and turn down to heat to medium-low, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed.  Add the chicken stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more.

Meanwhile, in yet another pot, blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water for 4-5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop cooking.  (If you're using fresh peas, blanch them too.)

By this point the risotto's probably been cooking for 15 minutes. Perfect! Add in the asparagus and peas. Stir in the lemon zest, salt and pepper.

*This is where I paused for the night. I had about two ladles of stock left. I added them to the risotto and put them in a medium pot (the one I used for blanching) and put them in the fridge overnight. Please note, the rice will absorb the liquid. It's what rice does. Also, the rice should be pretty much done by this point. Right about at the balance of tender and firm that's good eating.

Coming home from church on Sunday, I put the pot on the stove. Medium-low heat to warm it up. Stirring periodically. (You should stir more than I did because I burned the bottom. Ooops.) Once it's warmed up, mix in the lemon juice and cream cheese. I forgot to mix in Parmesan. It'd be good, but, not knowing better, I didn't miss it.



Salad and Bread

I got home from church. Before I got the risotto back on the heat, I cut two red peppers into halves and popped them into the broiler.

My broiler's under the oven. Since my oven was warming up anyway, I put the delicious co-op bread on a pan and let the muffins and rolls warm up. Fooled people into thinking I made the bread.

About this time was when I figured out the risotto should be heating up too. Done.

Heat up some oil in a pan. Cut up an onion and start sauteing it over low heat.

Open door for first guest.

Wash spring greens mixture. Love my salad spinner. Sometimes Oxo things are weird, but whoever redesigned the salad spinner to be push-button fun is a GENIUS.

Have guest rinse cut up strawberries while I stir everything and check on the red peppers. Oh, black skins. Turn off broiler and pull 'em out. Skin 'em, slice 'em. Spin 'em all around. Put in salad bowl.

Buzz second guest in.

Decide risotto is warm. Stir in things that are supposed to be stirred in. Answer phone. Second guest failed at being buzzed in. Send down first guest to retrieve second while I juice the lemon and measure cream cheese.

Greet second guest and thank first guest. Let first guest stir risotto. Add onions, which should be softened by now, to salad. Mix honey and balsamic vinegar to be dressing.

Sometime in here, set the table. Mismatched silverware. White china. Linen napkins. And all. Risotto in casserole for serving. Bread in bread basket. Just as finishing off table, let third guest in. When he calls back remember that he hasn't been here before. Play Marco Polo to let him in.

Realize people still need drinks. Offer whatever there is. Pour. Serve. And enjoy the fellowship of friends.

~~~

The dessert was premade. Lemon creme tart from Dorie. Though I'd make Lemon Curd Tart in the future instead.

Chocolate bunny cake was brought by guest one. If you think eating chocolate bunnies is difficult because they're cute, don't try taking a knife to this cake.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Turning 21...

My 21st birthday was just over a week ago, and despite opposition from friends, I didn't want to celebrate in the usual 21st way. (Yeah, I realize that I'm not a normal college student). Anyways, since I've started the habit of baking something new for my birthday each year, I compromised and used alcohol in my birthday dessert. Plus, creme de menthe squares seem twice as fitting for my birthday as I often paired chocolate and mint for my birthday cakes growing up.

Creme de Menthe Squares
adapted from: http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe4.creme-de-menthe-squares.html

1 1/4 cups butter or margarine
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar -- sifted
1 egg, beaten *
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup creme de menthe
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Base Layer: In a sauce pan, combine 1/2 cup of the butter and the cocoa powder. Heat and stir until well blended. Remove from heat; add 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, the egg and vanilla. Stir in graham cracker crumbs. After mixing thoroughly, press into bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2" baking pan. Bake at 350F for 8 minutes.

Middle Layer: Melt another 1/2 cup of the butter. In small bowl, combine the melted butter and creme de menthe. Gradually beat in the remaining 3 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Spread evenly over the chocolate layer. Chill 1 hour.

Top Layer: In small sauce pan combine the remaining 1/4 cup butter and chocolate chips. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Spread over middle layer. Chill for 1 to 2 more hours. Cut into small squares. May be stored in refrigerator.

Foodgawker Obsession: Macarons

In summer 2008, I began to notice Parisian macarons all over the internet. Foodgawker supplied me with gorgeous photos but also tales of how finicky these cookies could be. Still, I decided that I wanted a decadent challenge for my last birthday and attempted a batch of macarons. They ended up with feet, just like they were supposed to! I enjoyed them but didn't make another batch for almost a year.

This weekend, we had Monday off of school, and snow was continuously falling outside, so I decided that spending a whole day baking was a good plan, and remaking macarons sounded like a great idea. I decided to make some plain ones again, but also experimented with some chocolate ones. Both were filled with chocolate ganache.

I must admit that I was lazier this time around. I didn't worry too much about piping them into nice circles, and nearly had a fiasco when the parchment slide off one tray and flipped upside down as I was placing it in the oven. Miraculously, only some of the macarons were messed up and all of them stuck to the parchment paper. Despite all of my carelessness, they formed feet, looked cute, and most importantly, tasted delicious. (The day after I had baked them, I walked into my room and one of my roommates greeted by saying, "Hi! Can I welcome you back to the room by asking if I can have another macaron?" I took that as meaning they're the most delicious thing I've baked all term.)

*Notes: Although I was careless on some things, I do have a couple of suggestions of things not to slide on. First, the eggs work better if they are a few days old and left to sit at room temperature for at least one night. (Or at least, so I'm told. I've never tried with fresh egg whites.) Second, coffee grinders work marvelously for grinding almonds into flour. I buy sliced almonds and then borrow a coffee grinder from a friend. I also tried a food processor but could not get the almonds fine enough.


Macarons (adapted from http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/10/how-to-make-macarons-recipe.html)

4 egg whites
2 ¼ c powdered sugar
1 ¼ cup almonds
2.5 Tb. Granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2.5 Tb. Cocoa powder

1. Prepare sheets and parchment. You may choose to trace circles on the parchment to help with piping.
2. Sift almonds and powdered sugar together.
3. Whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase to high and gradually add sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form.
4. Split the egg whites in two. Fold egg whites in one bowl and half of the almond mixture together carefully. At the desired consistency, soft peaks should dissolve to flat surface.
5. Pipe batter onto parchment. Tap underside of baking sheet to remove air bubbles.
6. In the other bowl, fold in the rest of the almond mixture plus the cocoa powder.
7. Let dry for at least an hour so that the crust will form and you’ll get feet.
8. Bake between 325-350F with the oven door ajar for 10 to 11 minutes. Remember to rotate sheet halfway through.
9. Let cool to room temp. Pair the macarons based on shape and size. Then, prepare ganache and sandwich the macarons.

Ganache
1. Boil 1 cup cream in saucepan and ½ stick soften butter.
2. Stir cream into 8 oz. chocolate. Let cool for a couple of minutes.
3. Add butter in 2 additions always working from center out.
(As you may guess, this ganache recipe makes way more than you need. However, truffles are always a good option.)

Muffins this healthy sounding should definitely taste this good

This afternoon's 30 minute lie-down turned into a 3 hour nap. I made it to my evening church group, but was no where near hungry for dinner.

On my walk to my apartment from the parking lot, I called Vicki. It's a school night, so I wasn't sure if she could talk. "Yeah. I'm making muffins, so I can talk while they're cooking."

Muffins! It's been a long time since I've made you. And the bread I was going to bake today didn't happen. If I get the dishes washed, then I can bake muffins!

I turned to Jane Brody's sugarless blueberry muffins. I didn't have enough white flour, so that got changed. Vicki's a vegan, and while she's not going to eat this batch, I decided to veganize them. And then I went a little bit crazy with the blueberries. The muffins are so much better than I remember them.

I've eaten 4 big ones and 1 small one so far. That counts as dinner, right?

Sarah's New Favorite Blueberry Muffins

3/4 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
.25 teaspoon cinnammon
.25 teaspoon nutmeg
5 Tablespoons applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup orange juice
~ 1 teaspoon lemon zest (I zest all my lemons and freeze it for when I need it. Really does add to this recipe, though they'd still be good without it.)
1 pint blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. I skipped this step. Then as I was spooning out the batter I realized the oven wasn't on yet. The chemistry of muffins is such that they should go straight from mixing to oven, so be better than I was.

Add in the wet ingredients.

Fold in the blueberries. Supposedly they're supposed to be tossed with flour. Whatever. I just used frozen ones and it worked.

Spoon into treated muffin tins. (Treated. You know, greased. Or lined. Or whatever you do so they don't stick like crazy. Cause that's what they'll do otherwise.)

Pop in the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve hot.

Makes: 1 dozen baby muffins + 9 big muffins. At least today it did.
Mix the dry ingredients.

Mora-Manzana Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we headed up to Rumi Loma, since that’s where we have an oven. It was a marvelous day, and we split up cooking dinner. Coral made a green bean casserole. Then, Elizabeth made mashed potatoes with a mushroom gravy. Alex was put in charge of stuffing. Tim and Jesse worked together to make macaroni and cheese. (I must admit that I was sad that it was creamy mac-and-cheese. In my opinion, that’s just blasphemy.) Then, I was in charge of baking a pie. Since we lacked both pumpkin and pecans, I decided that apple was the best option. However, that seemed a bit boring so I added in mora (blackberries).

Mora-Manzana Pie

3 cups sliced apple

2 cups blackberries

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. flour

½ cup sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp. browned butter

First, prepare your choice of crust. Then, mix all of the ingredients except for the butter. Layer the mixture into the crust. Next, pour the butter over the pie. Finally, lay the top crust on top. (I suggest lattice.) Then, bake until done, and eat.

C is for Cookies

Last week would've been a good week for me to be at Dacie's. Alas, I'm grown up now and have to buy my own ingredients.

I was running out of ingredients right and left. Led to some amazing Mint Double Chocolate cookies when Lauren came over though. They're like thin mints. Only not dry. And with nuts. And I just ate four of them.

Mint Double Chocolate Cookies

inspired by Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

1.25 cups flour

.75 cups coca powder

1 teaspoon salt I know it's a lot, but it's actually an advisable amount

.75 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks butter led to greasy cookies, next time I'll use 1.5 sticks and then 1 if that'll work later

1 cup sugar

.66 cups light brown sugar

1 teaspoon mint extract

2 eggs

12 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts. I used walnuts this time, just crumbled them in my hands. Pecans would be delicious too.

Preheat oven to 375º.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Cream in butter and then sugars.

Mix in mint extract and eggs.

Fold in chocolate and nuts.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool a bit before you eat them. They're too fragile when they first come out of the oven. Have milk on hand for dunking.

Makes about 2 dozen good sized cookies. The dough freezes well. The four cookies I ate today, popped from the plate where I froze them last week.