Under a blue moon

Donut muffins

Rick and I were watching an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate (favorite snackfood) and one of the chefs was talking about donut muffins.

I did a search online and found a version on Noble Pig's blog.  Hers called for jam in the middle but I left it out.  I also made mine mini-muffin size.

I swear I had to take that bite for food staging purposes.

I don't know that they tasted exactly like donuts but they were very good.  Light and cinnamony.  I think I would put in a smidge less nutmeg next time.  That's the flavor that was most predominate.  

Since mine were smaller the batch made 28 and I baked them for about 12 minutes.

But like hers I'm pretty sure there won't be any left for tomorrow's breakfast.

Can you believe that my Mother brought that antique jam dish all the way from England and gave it to my 7 year old son?!  He loved having high tea with her, especially the scones with clotted cream and jam.  

I'll give it back to him.  Eventually (he's 24 now).
 
 

Dulce de leche

Dulce de leche or Confiture de lait if you want the French version. It's the same thing - essentially milk and sugar that has been caramelized.   It is heavenly.

I did the easy method which is to just boil the heck out of a can of condensed milk.  Alton Brown has a recipe for it or - if you want a really easy way - go to a hispanic market and I'm sure you can buy it ready made. 

I have always been afraid to make it because the explosion risk.   There is the danger of the can exploding and spraying molten caramel sauce all over your kitchen.  It's actually happened to my cousin.  Fortunately she wasn't in the room at the time - but the mess was horrendous. 

The dangerous way is to buy a can of sweetened condensed milk, remove the label and completely submerge it in a pan of water.  Bring to a low boil and cook for three hours.  The important part is that you have to make sure the can stays completely covered with water the entire time.  You have to be diligent about watching it and adding more water as needed.  If you are lax about it and the water level goes below the top of the can the pressure inside the can could possibly cause the lid to blow off.

I found a less risky method which is to just poke a couple of holes in the top of the can with an ice pick and don't completely submerge it in water.  Just get the water level as high as you can without it covering the top.  You still have to add water during the cooking process but at least it won't blow up on you if you forget.

I like to spread it on toast (or pound cake like the picture above) but you can also use it on ice cream.  Or as a filling between the layers of a cake.

The reason I bought condensed milk in the first place was because I found a recipe for a pound cake that called for it.  I figured I'd buy an extra can and try making dulce de leche.

The pound cake was a disaster.  I should have trusted my instincts when I read the recipe that it seemed to require a rather large ratio of butter to the other ingredients.  It was so greasy it was like eating a pat of butter.   Baked goods go pretty quickly at our house and that pound cake is still languishing under the cake dome.

I got right back on the baking horse and made another batch of biscotti. I made two smaller loaves rather than the big one I made last time and I'm packaging up half of it to take to my Mother in law tomorrow.  I have to remember this next Christmas.  I can see a cute gift basket of coffee beans, a couple of mugs and a batch of biscotti.

 

Almond Biscotti

If you haven't ever baked biscotti before I urge you to give it a try and then come back here and tell me it wasn't just about the easiest thing you have ever made.

Which makes me ponder....why the heck is it SO expensive?  It's not made up of pricy ingredients.  It's not complicated or overly time consuming.  So what gives, biscotti manufacturers?

I came up with the recipe the way I often do.  I google the heck out of it and then come up with my own version.  I'm a pretty intuitive cook.  I can tell by looking at a recipe how it will turn out and what I would do differently. 

This is my version of Almond Biscotti.  The end result is a light, crisp cookie that will not break your teeth and holds up well to dipping into your beverage of choice.

Almond Biscotti

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp.
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds
Milk (to brush over the top)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Cream the butter and  1 cup of sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs slowly and mix well.  Add the extracts.  

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl (tip: use a whisk to combine).

Add flour mixture slowly to the butter/sugar mixture until combined.  The dough will be sticky.  Add the chopped almonds.

Using a spatula, spread the dough onto a baking pan that has been lined with either a Sil-Pat or a piece of greased foil.  You can either make two narrower rectangles or one wider one.  Once you have the general shape, wet your hands and smooth down the dough.

Brush with milk and sprinkle the reserved tablespoon of sugar over the top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and slide the Sil-Pat or foil, with the biscotti on it, onto a cooling rack.  Turn the oven down to 300 degrees farenheit. 

Cut biscotti into 1/2" wide strips and return, cut side down, to the baking pan (no Sil-Pat or foil needed at this stage).  Bake for 10 minutes then flip over and bake for another 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and cool on the cookie sheet.  Enjoy!

 
 

Sunday rituals

 

Isn't the Fall time change the most delicious thing?  I love having that extra hour in the morning, especially on a Sunday when the mornings can be kind of hectic.

I usually spend it doing laundry and getting ready to head down to my Dad's.  If I want to miss the Tahoe traffic (weekend travelers heading back home) then I need to hit the road by Noon. 

Lately we have added a calmer, more relaxed ritual to our Sunday mornings;  Sunday breakfast.  Initially we were thinking we would find a neighborhood restaurant, something casual, clean, friendly and that served great, inexpensive breakfasts.  That's not too much to ask, is it?

Well we tried a few places and it just didn't quite measure up to the fantasy so we decided we would just make breakfast ourselves on Sundays.  Put in a little more effort than our standard toast or bowl of cereal.

That waffle iron has been in Rick's life for more than 40 years - maybe close to 50.  He grew up with it and when we moved in together his mother gave it to him.   I can't tell you how many waffles he has made over the years. 

Isn't it sad that most appliances are disposible these days?  Forty years ago if your toaster or your waffle iron broke you would take it in to get repaired.  Now you just toss it and buy a new one.

This morning's breaksfast was waffles with peach syrup and assorted breakfast meats. 

I have to point out we didn't eat all that breakfast meat up there.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I started cooking it up.  

This little ritual has turned out to be a nice way to end the weekend and start the new week.

Soup weather

It has finally cooled down around here.  We kept getting teased with beautiful Fall weather then the next day it would in the 80's again.  Wrecks havoc on one's wardrobe choices.

I made cream of zucchini soup last night.  I do this thing where I'll make something down at my Dad's and like it so much that as soon as I get back up here I make it again.  So this is the second time this week  I've made this soup.  It is so easy.

My mother used to make huge batches of zucchini soup and freeze them before she added the cream.  Then she could thaw a batch, heat it up and add the cream to it just before serving.  We're lucky enough to get lovely zucchinis well into Fall but if you don't you can make the base of the soup in the Summer when zucchinis are plentiful and then serve the soup when colder weather finally gets here.

This makes four servings.

Cream of Zucchini Soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. zucchini, sliced (get small, dark, shiny ones)
2 shallots, diced
1 clove of garlic, finely diced (more if you like lots of garlic)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Herbed goat cheese

Saute shallots in olive oil until soft, about five mintues.   Add garlic and saute another minute.  Do not let garlic brown.  Add the zucchini and chicken broth and bring to a boil, turn down to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes. 

Blend with an immersion blender (or in small batches in your regular blender and return to the pot) and simmer for about five more minutes (At this point you can cool it down and freeze until ready to serve).  Slowly add cream, whisking briskly while adding it.  Heat through.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add a dollop of herbed goat cheese when serving.  It gets all melty and adds a nice brightness to the soup.

I served it with smoked turkey and havarti panninis.

Jam

I would have to say Sara and my first attempt at canning was a success.  Strawberry jam is a good beginner project. 

We just followed the basic Ball Jar recipe and guidelines for making the strawberry jam.  If  you google Strawberry Jam you'll find all kinds of tutorials out there. 

I think we got started a bit late in the season.  Lucky for us we live in California and can get Strawberries late in the season.  We are about 50 miles up the road from Watsonville, the Strawberry capital of the world. 

I am kicking myself for not being on the ball during apricot season though.  Mmm...apricot jam.... Here's a little useless tidbit about me - when I was pregnant with my youngest son I craved apricot pie and my boss used to go get it for me.  She would just stop what she was doing and go to Marie Callendar's and get me a slice.

Here is another little known fact:  Sara is a ghost.  Her energy must have been kind of low last night because she is especially see-thru.

By the way, drinking a glass of wine during jam making is essential to the success of said jam making. 

Except maybe when you are trying to pull boiling hot jars out of boiling hot water.

Or stirring molten hot strawberry goo. 

The very best part is after you have put the jam in the jars, sealed them, boiled the heck out of them and then removed them and placed them on the counter is when you hear the lids pop! pop! pop!  We made six jars of jam and one right after the other they popped to let us know they had sealed properly.

Next on the agenda is pear butter.  Doesn't that sound like a good Fall project?

  

 

Weekend of the tarts

 

We had guests this weekend.  Nicki, Dennis and Ozzie came up to visit on Friday and just left an hour or so ago.

We love having people come up and see us.  We are sort of far away from everyone so we really enjoy having visitors that we can wine and dine. 

This weekend it was all about the food.  Tarts in particular.  On Friday night I made wasabi/panko encrusted salmon, a vegetable tart and a caesar salad.  The vegetable tart was so easy and so pretty and was the highlight of the meal.  Here is a before picture:

 

It couldn't have been simpler to make.  I used a frozen deep dish pie crust that I pressed into my own tart pan.  I pre-baked the shell and when it was cool I sprinkled on crumbled goat cheese.  Then I layered thinly sliced red onion, red bell pepper, yellow Summer squash and zucchini.  I drizzled on some olive oil and then seasoned with salt and pepper.   I baked it at 375 for about a half an hour. 

If you go to tastespotting.com and search on ratatouille tart you'll find the original recipe, including the pastry.   Okay I was really feeling lazy when I first posted - here is the link to the orginal recipe of the Ratatouille Tart.  I feel better now.

 

On Saturday Rick picked apples from our very own tree and I decided to make an apple tart.  I looked on-line for a recipe and ended up kind of cobbling together several recipes to come up with this one.

Again, using the frozen pie crust (Marie Callander's) I pressed it into my tart pan and pre-baked it.  While it was baking I made a simple applesauce using the apples, some sugar, a dash of maple syrup and cinnamon.   I spread it on the tart shell and then layered thinly sliced apples in a pleasing pattern on top. 

After I baked it (40 minutes at 400F) I brushed on a glaze of marion-berry preserves, golden syrup and a splash of rum.  I would have used apricot jam if I had it but we were out so I used the marion-berry preserves instead.  It gave the tart a bit of a rosy glow.

I think if I was to make this again I would go to the trouble of making the pastry myself and would do a sweeter pastry.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  It's a three-day one for us in the states.  I'm about to start sewing yards and yards and yards of hand-crocheted lace to a bed skirt.

That ought to keep me busy and out of trouble for a while.

 

P.S.  Two weeks of being Diet Coke free!  It isn't getting any easier yet. But I'm sticking with it. 

Palmiers et Thé

Since I can't come up with my own creative ideas I've decided to try out some of the suggestions on other peoples blogs. 

Like these Palmier cookies from French Garden House.  

I can remember what a treat these were when I would go to the bakery with my Mom and she would buy one for me.  Crispy, buttery and sugary - what could be better? 

The really huge ones we called Elephant Ears.  These little ones are perfect with a cup of tea. 

I have re-quit drinking Diet Coke.  I quit last year and didn't drink a single one for about three months.  Then I had one.  And the next day I had another.  Then pretty soon I was drinking two a day.  Last Saturday I had six.  I knew it was time to do something about it.  So I quit cold turkey on Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday I had a splitting headache but by Thursday I was fine.

I'm drinking iced tea and water for now and when it cools off I'll start drinking pots of hot tea.

For the record these cookies go great with either hot or cold tea.

And I'll be eating them here:

 

iStockphoto

With six you get eggroll

 

One of my very first postings on this blog (going on three years of me blathering) was on making Spring Rolls or Lumpia so this is a bit of a repeat.  I think my photography has gotten a little bit better since then and I wanted this post to be a little more educational than that first one.

I'm not entirely sure what the difference between egg rolls and Spring rolls is.  I do believe it can depend on the nationality of your roll.  A Vietnamese Spring roll might be very different than a Thai or Chinese Spring roll.  Some people even go so far as to say that if it has any sort of meat in it then it is not a Spring Roll but rather an egg roll. 

These are Andrea Spring Rolls.  I like my rolls to have a combination of veggies, chicken and shrimp in them. 

First I precooked a boneless chicken breast in a saute pan with a little bit of olive oil.  I also boiled about a 1/3 lb. of shrimp in water, a splash of rice vinegar and some Old Bay seasoning.  When it had cooled I finely diced the lot of it.

Then I chopped up some savoy cabbage, green onion, crimini mushrooms and some carrot and sauteed it all together in a hot pan.

 

When the cabbage was just starting to soften I threw the veggie mixture into a bowl with the diced chicken and shrimp and some finely chopped fresh cilantro.

I drizzled on a little bit of sesame oil and a splash or two soy sauce and mixed it all up.  That's it for the filling.

 

Look - here's my "thank you for coming" pile.  Anyone know what that is from?

 

Now we are ready to assemble the rolls.  I used smaller wrappers, about six inches square.  I would have preferred larger ones but the backwater, gastronomically challenged grocery store near where I live didn't have them.  

Lay one wrapper flat in front of you (is that overstating the obvious?  It's not likely anyone is going to make the mistake of laying in on their head or behind them) and place about two heaping tablespoons of filling in the middle.

 

Fold up the point closest to you over the filling and then fold the sides in.  Please ignore my spotty hands.  That one spot near my right thumb is a corn fritter related injury.

 

Roll the, umm, roll away from you, moistening the top corner before the final roll.  Look at this action shot folks.  My fingers were FLYING!

 

There you have it.  A nice little roll. 

Now do it eleventy hundred more times

 

Now here's where I mix it up a bit.  Instead of frying them I baked these.  After last week's corn fritter fry up I didn't think Rick couldn't handle me splattering the kitchen and myself with flaming hot oil quite so soon.

So I liberally brushed these with some oil and baked in a 425 F oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.  Flipping half-way through.  I don't think our waist lines were spared but the kitchen was. 

I made a simple soy chili dipping sauce for these.  I really just winged it.  I'll post the Spring roll recipe below but honestly for the dipping sauce I just threw things in until it tasted good to me. 

What I combined was light soy sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, chili flakes, minced garlic, about 1/2 tsp. of sugar and about a tsp. of honey.  Let it sit for 45 minutes for the flavors to meld.

We ate every last one of them.

 

Andrea's Spring Rolls

1 boneless chicken breast, cooked and minced (I sauteed mine, you could poach if you like)
1/3 lb. cooked shrimp, minced
1/3 Savoy cabbage, finely sliced
1 carrot, jullienned into small matchsticks
4 Crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced into matchsticks
3 green onions finely minced (use about 1/2 the green part)
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, finely minced
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. soy sauce

Springroll wrappers

Vegetable oil

In a large saute pan heat about 2 tbsp. vegetable oil over medium high heat.  Add cabbage, carrot, onion and mushroom.  Cook, stirring constantly for about four minutes; until the cabbage starts to soften. 

Add vegetable mixture to the cooked chicken, shrimp and cilantro.  Drizzle with the sesame oil and soy sauce and toss well.

Lay out Spring roll wrappers and start assembling rolls.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil cooking spray.   Cover until ready to cook.

Now you can either fry these or bake these. 

For frying:

Heat approximately three inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees.  Cook in small batches until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.

For baking:

Brush Spring rolls liberally with vegetable oil on both sides.  Place cookie sheet into a pre-heated 425 F degree oven.  Cook approximately 20 minutes, turning the Spring rolls over about half way through.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

On the Clafoutis bandwagon

 

I keep seeing blog posting for clafoutis.  Must be the proliferation of stone fruit that is in season (I think of clafoutis as being a stone fruit dish) right now.

I love a rustic dessert.  Something that doesn't require much fussing.  I used this recipe  but I substitued sweet, dark cherries for the plums.  Because our grocery store, in the agricultural mecca that is California, did not have plums.  Can you even imagine?  Isn't this prime plum season? 

Guests arrived last night, we had a nice dinner and plenty of wine (no sewing as we have a no drinking and cutting rule) and went to bed fairly early so we could get cracking on the sewing first thing this morning.

I've been taking pictures as we go along so I'll post those in the next day or so.