A Healthy Massage

Well, I think I’ve heard of everything, now.  

I’ve been trying to eat healthier since finally attaining my 20 lb. weight loss goal, and so I thought I’d jump on the kale bandwagon.  Kale is everywhere these days, it seems.

My HEB only had kale in two forms of packaging: a giant bag of it which had been pre-cleaned and pre-chopped, and kale in bunches, which looked like it had literally been sitting in the back of the farm truck, in the sun, for about a week.  I went with the giant bag, which of course has caused me to look for more and more creative ways to use it all up.  Larry, of course, wouldn’t touch kale in any form if you paid him.  First I had a kale and lentil dish; then I threw it in with some turkey sausage and pasta.  Both were good, and just having that kale in there made me feel oh-s0-virtuous.

But there was still about a third of the bag left, so I took to the Google machine, and I found this recipe from the Food Network.  I was immediately intrigued by the title of the dish, Massaged Kale Salad.  I figured it had to be poetic license, or a figure of speech, but no…you actually do massage the salad.  You take the kale and add some lemon juice and some olive oil and some kosher salt, and you…massage it.  You rub that healthy kale for at least two minutes, and magically it goes from a crispy, light green vegetable to a softer, dark green salad.  It really was quite amazing.  Then you add a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and honey, a mango, and some nuts–the recipe calls for pepitas but I didn’t have any, so I chopped up some wasabi and soy flavored almonds instead.  This is one beautiful salad.  And delicious.  And did I mention it is healthy?

 

This Happened…

Chocolate fudge cake with salted caramel buttercream

Despite the fact that I am 1 (*ONE*!!) pound away from my goal weight that I’ve been trying to reach since January, I simply couldn’t resist making this cake for our monthly retiree get-together yesterday.  And when it came time to cut it, I couldn’t resist having some.  I did limit myself to a half piece, and it was glorious.

The friend whose birthday we were celebrating has lately become obsessed with salted caramel (and she says it is my fault, because I made this over the Christmas holidays and I forced her to eat some.)

Chocolate, vanilla, and salted caramel mousse

So naturally when thinking about her birthday celebration, salted caramel came to mind. I did a search and found this recipe, which I made pretty much as written.

The first thing I had to do was to buy some pans–six inch ones–for the cake part.  Since buying and loving the cookbook from the pastry store Miette, which features 6 inch cakes, I’ve been wanting to buy these pans anyway, so it didn’t take much to convince me to track some down.  I love the size of the cake.  Even though this one is three layers, a one layer, six inch cake is something that wouldn’t be sitting around too long either (a.) getting stale, or (b.) guilting me into eating it and gaining weight.  So I’m sure I’ll be able to get some more use out of the pans.

The cake part of the recipe is really simple and the result is tasty–fudgy and intensely chocolate.  The chocolate frosting was easy as well.  The pain-in-the-butt part of the recipe was the salted caramel buttercream that is used as a filling–but it was also the best part of the cake.  It includes making a Swiss buttercream, which I’ve never made before, and involves first making the caramel, then the buttercream, and mixing the warm (but not hot) caramel into it.  Swiss buttercream is delicious by itself, but when you add the salted caramel it reaches a whole new level of deliciousness.

layers of deliciousness

I’d also like to add that this cake contains TWO. FULL. POUNDS. OF BUTTER.  Which contributes to its goodness, of course–but in a six inch cake, that’s a lot of butter per serving.  So I won’t be making this again anytime soon.  But I’ll be remembering it for a while.

pretty much worth every calorie

White Chocolate and Lime Mousse Cake with Strawberries

I took the ladyfingers that I made last week out of the freezer, and started thinking about the cake/charlotte they were going to be used in.  Then I realized that in my excitement about the ladyfingers success, I had kind of underestimated the amount I needed.  The one recipe I made fit great around the outside, but upon rereading the recipe I discovered that I would need enough ladyfingers to make a layer on the bottom, and one in the middle of the cake.  So I had to make more.

This time, instead of the ladyfinger shape, I piped the batter into two 9 inch rounds on the baking sheets.  This gave me rounds of pastry to perfectly fit the pan.

Yesterday I served the completed cake.  I think it came out well, and tasted pretty good, too.Here’s the recipe:

White Chocolate and Lime Mousse Cake with Strawberries

Syrup 6     tablespoons          sugar 6     tablespoons          Grand Marnier or orange juice 3     tablespoons          fresh lime juice 3     tablespoons          water 2     7-oz packages       Champagne biscuits (4-inch-long ladyfinger-like cookies)                                 Mousse 3/4  teaspoon              unflavored gelatin 1/2  cup plus 2 tablespoons           fresh lime juice

1/2  cup                     whipping cream 9     oz                      imported white chocolate, chopped 2     teaspoons            finely grated lime peel 2     cups                   chilled whipping cream 1/3  cup plus 2 tablespoons           sugar 1/4  cup                     sour cream 2     1-pint baskets       strawberries, hulled, sliced 7                              large fresh strawberries with stems 7                              lime slices, twisted 3                              lime peel curls

Procedure

Syrup:

1   Stir first 4 ingredients in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Trim 1 biscuit to 3 inch length.  Brush both sides of biscuit twice with syrup.  Place rounded end up and sugared side facing out against side of 9-inch diameter springform pan with 2 3/4 inch high sides.  Repeat with as many biscuits as necessary to cover sides of pan completely.  Brush some whole biscuits with syrup and arrange on bottom of pan, covering completely and trimming to fit.

Mousse:

1   Sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons lime juice in heavy small saucepan.  Let stand 10 minutes to soften.  Place over very low heat and stir to dissolve gelatin.  Set aside.  Bring 1/2 cup cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan.  Reduce heat to low.  Add chocolate and stir until melted.  Mix in remaining 1/2 cup lime juice, gelatin mixture, and lime peel.  Let stand until cool but not set, about 15 minutes.

2   Beat 2 cups cream, 1/3 cup sugar, and sour cream in large bowl to medium-stiff peaks.  Add chocolate mixture and fold together.  Spoon half of mousse into prepared pan.  Brush more biscuits with syrup and arrange atop mousse, covering completely.  Spread remaining mousse over.  Smooth top.  Chill overnight.  Can be prepared 2 days ahead.

3   Toss sliced berries with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.  Fan 7 large strawberries with stems by making 5 lengthwise cuts in each, starting 1/4 inch from stem and extending through tip.  Fan with fingertips.  Arrange fanned berries around edge of mousse, spacing evenly.  Arrange twisted lime slices between each berry.  Place lime peel curls on center of cake.  Cut cake into wedges and serve with sliced berries.

Who knew that was so easy?

I’m gearing up to make a Charlotte for an event–a White Chocolate and Lime Mousse Charlotte to be exact.  I’ve made Charlottes before, and I have to say that the most frustrating thing about making them is trying to find flipping ladyfingers in this benighted city.  I’m sure they are out there, but I always seem to have to drive all over to find them, and then they always disappoint me.  Yesterday I called World Market, which is the closest non-HEB near my house, and they assured me they had them.  After I drove over there, I found that what they (and the package) were calling ladyfingers were hard cookies in the shape of ladyfingers.  I was after the soft ones that you can brush with a simple syrup and actually have them absorb it.  (While I was at World Market, though, I did find these adorable springlike cupcake liners to use at some future date, so the trip wasn’t a total wash.)

springy!

Anyway, after I got home, frustrated with the ladyfinger-lessness of my life, I wondered–how hard can it be to make your own?  So I got a-Googling, and turns out, it’s not all that difficult.  In fact, it’s dead easy.  And ten times better than driving all over town.

Ladyfingers
1/2 cup cake flour
3 eggs, separated
5 Tablespoons sugar, divided
a pinch of cream of tartar
powdered sugar

Beat the egg yolks with 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar until “ribbon stage” has been reached–about 6-7 minutes with a stand mixer.  In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and the remaining 3 Tablespoons sugar until fluffy and the meringue holds its shape when the bowl is turned upside down.  Put the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture, sift the cake flour over the top, and fold together very lightly, just until the flour disappears into the mixture.

Pipe ladyfingers from a pastry bag onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  If desired, you can make marks on the paper to keep the size of the ladyfingers consistent.  Space them close together but not touching.

Bake the ladyfingers at 350 for about 8 minutes.

no more driving all over town!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

So, I seem to be on a lemon kick again.  Really, I never go off of a lemon kick.  Lemon might just be my favorite flavor ever.  I ate a lot of sweets over the holidays, and I’m trying not to keep too many around, but just tell me–how bad can this cake be?  It has lemons (fruit), olive oil (good fat), buttermilk (sounds farm-ish) and rosemary (green).  Plus it has no frosting and is not very sweet.  I’m declaring it healthy.

Plus, it is easy to put together and has a scrumptious texture, which you want your healthy stuff to have if at all possible.  Win!

I combined and adapted this recipe from several I found on that great untested recipe database, the Internet.  But you can make this, because I tested it.  You trust me, right?Lemon Olive Oil Cake
makes one 9 inch layer

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9 inch round baking pan with olive oil, or spray with Pam. (I used olive oil Pam to continue the theme.  I also put a round of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, because I worry.)

Beat sugar and eggs until pale and foamy, 2-3 minutes.  Add zest, salt, buttermilk, and olive oil and beat about 1 minute.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl, and add to wet ingredients.  Beat just until combined.

Place batter into prepared pan and bake 30-35 minutes.  Cool cake in pan 10 minutes, then turn over onto plate and invert onto cooling rack.  Cool completely, about 1 hour.  Dust with confectioners sugar.

 

Risotto

For a moment there, I kind of felt like I had died and gone to food-lover’s heaven.

After a conversation with  my brother a week or so ago about risotto, I haven’t been able to get the dish out of my head.  I love it, but I don’t make it often; I’m not sure why, except that it is kind of fiddly, with the boiling and stirring and everything.  Some beautiful asparagus I found yesterday, however, pushed me over the top, and I decided to make risotto incorporating it.

Asparagus makes me think of ham and lemon.  I don’t know where the association comes from–maybe from an eggs benedict dish I had once that had asparagus in it.  Whatever the reason, I decided to go with it.

some of the ingredients

This was the finished dish, and it was so good I thought I’d write about it here, even though I don’t have a real recipe for it.  I’ll walk you through the steps, and I’ll provide the measurements I think I used, though I didn’t measure.  I used my knowledge of how a risotto is put together to add ingredients until it looked and tasted right.

Asparagus Risotto with Ham and Lemon

Asparagus Risotto with Ham and Lemon
(again, all measurements are approximate)
To begin, get all the ingredients ready, because as you are stirring you won’t want to be stopping to chop ham or something.

First, pre-cook about 10-12 spears of asparagus.  I cooked mine yesterday, and I left them crisp-tender, the way I like to eat them.  They won’t get much cooking time in the risotto.  Cut the asparagus into bite-sized pieces.   Bring about 3 1/2 cups of chicken broth to a simmer in a small saucepan.  I had some homemade chicken stock in the freezer and that’s what I used, but you could use canned as well.  Chop about a quarter of an onion.  Dice about a cup of ham.  Zest one lemon, and squeeze the juice into a bowl.

Now you are ready to begin.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons olive oil, then add the onion.  Cook the onion until it is transparent.  Pour in 1 cup Arborio rice–the type of rice is all-important.  You want a short grain rice that will absorb the liquid and become creamy, and Arborio is the rice of choice for that.  Stir to combine it with the olive oil-onion mixture.  Add about 1/2 cup dry white wine–I’ve seen and made risottos without the wine, so if you don’t have it you can leave it out.  Stir in the zest from the lemon.  Stir constantly until the wine is all absorbed.  Then, in 1/2 to 3/4 cup increments, start to stir in the simmering chicken broth.  Stir constantly over moderate heat until the broth is all absorbed into the rice.  Continue to add the broth in 3/4 cup increments, stirring all the while.  After two or three additions you will see that the risotto is starting to become creamy, and tasting a grain of rice you will notice that it is starting to get soft.  About halfway through, add the lemon juice and some salt.

Halfway through.

After the risotto is almost to the consistency you like it, but perhaps still a little on the underdone side, add the asparagus and the ham.  Stir constantly until the risotto is finished.  You may not need all the broth, or you may need a little more–it just depends on the consistency you like the final product.  I wound up adding about 3 1/2 cups for 1 cup of rice.

Put the risotto in a bowl, and grate over some fresh Parmesan cheese and perhaps some good black pepper.  You will be very happy.

 

Legacy

As the holiday season approaches, I always think, as most people do, more of family past and present.  And there is nothing in this world that evokes the presence of those I love like food–the food they loved, or the food they prepared.  Chef Michael Chiarello said, “What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.” and I agree–though the food itself is a pretty good motivator.  When I think of the holidays, I inevitably think of my mother, who loved Christmas–loved to decorate, loved to keep up the traditions, and above all loved to cook all the special dishes that the family came to expect.  But I also think of my children–my daughter Julie, who shared with me the love of the fragrant zucchini bread that I made every year, who would eat my mother’s spiced peaches until there were none left; and of my son Bryan, with his insistence on pigs in blankets during the opening of the gifts, and the chocolate peanut butter chip cookies that he had to have every year.

This year my daughter and her family will celebrate Christmas together at their own home in Virginia, where I suspect zucchini bread will make an appearance along with new  traditions special to their family.

zucchini-pineapple bread

My son and his family will be with us on Christmas Day, so pigs in blankets and chocolate peanut butter chip cookies are already waiting in the freezer.

Pigs in Blankets

chocolate peanut butter chip cookies

Yesterday I made gluten-free rolls for Christmas dinner–these are even better than gluten rolls, I think.

gluten-free rolls

I’ve just pulled the flourless chocolate and vanilla marbled cake out of the oven, and it will go into the freezer too.

flourless chocolate and vanilla marbled cake

And last but not least, a few days ago, all alone in the house, I thought about, and missed, my mother while I made her spiced peaches.

cooking the spiced peaches

spiced peaches in the jar

Here’s my mother’s spiced peaches recipe.  If you make it, take a minute and give a thought to a wonderful lady who loved to make Christmas special.

Spiced Peaches
56 oz. canned peach halves
1 cup vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 sticks cinnamon
2 teaspoons whole cloves

Drain juice from peaches into saucepan.  Add vinegar, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes.  Add peach halves.  Return to simmer, then remove from the heat and cool.  When cool, put the peaches into jars with lids and refrigerate to age.  (I usually let these sit in the refrigerator for several days before eating them).

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but that doesn’t mean that there has been no kitchen activity.  The Tasting Lunch on November 30 went off very well–the only thing wrong was that I was not able to get photos of the food, at least good ones.  The best I could do was to snap a quick picture of each course as it went to the table, and even then I forgot a whole course.

Here is the first course, the amuse bouche.  Clockwise, starting with the upper left, they are: Bacon Wrapped Fig with Balsamic Reduction; Crab Salad in Potato Nests; Beet Mousseline on Corn Blini, topped with lime sour cream and bacon; Red Pepper Soup with Lemon, Thyme, and Sea Salt Shortbread; and Homemade Cheese Crackers with Leeks, Shrimp, and Persimmon.

Amuse Bouche course

The next course was the salad: Arugula, Quinoa, and Cannellini Beans with Roasted Tomatoes, Smoked Paprika Dressing.

Salad course

The pasta course was next, and I completely forgot to photograph it.  Unfortunate, because I thought it was really good.  I made homemade agnolotti, filled with chicken and Marsala filling, and a Marsala sauce over it.

After that, we had the fish course, Roasted Salmon with Caramelized Onions and Spinach on Puff Pastry.  The photo is very dark, and I was also disappointed that the balsamic vinegar in the caramelized onions darkened the pretty green spinach, something that didn’t happen when I test-drove this recipe.

Fish course

Finally, the meat course, which was Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, Duchesse Potatoes, Green Beans.  This along with the amuse bouche course seemed to be the most popular among those attending.  Julia Child never disappoints.

Meat course

Then there were the desserts–six of them: Vanilla, Salted Butter Caramel, and Chocolate Mousse; Cranberry Orange Tassies with Nutmeg Whipped Cream; Pumpkin Frangelico Cheesecakes; Tartlets with Fruit and Brandy Cream; Oreo Mint Balls; White Chocolate Lemon Truffles.  The mousse was the prettiest and was all eaten up, but the fruit tartlets seemed to be the favorite.

Dessert course

I had so much fun doing this.  I hope to be able to repeat the feat next year, but if I can’t, at least I know I can do it.  My friend and frequent sous-chef Herlinda came over early to help me with the last minute prep, and if she hadn’t I’m not sure it would have come off smoothly.  She was a life-saver, as she frequently is!

I took a short trip to see my grandchildren, then came back and started cooking for the holidays.  I’ve been busy with that, but that will have to wait for another post.

The week I’ve been waiting for

Well, Thanksgiving, the ultimate foodie holiday, is over.  We didn’t host the family at our house–rather, we took some dishes over to Larry’s brother’s house, where our sister-in-law had prepared the rest of the feast.  This was great for me, because Thanksgiving was just a distraction for me from the real event, the tasting lunch for my friends that is taking place this week.  I’ve been waiting and planning for this for a while now, and I am excited that it is about to come to pass.

For our contribution to the Thanksgiving feast, we took this

Cornbread, apple, and sausage stuffing

and this

Green bean casserole with sour cream and Swiss cheese

We also made the mashed potatoes and a couple of appetizers.  Our sister-in-law made the rest–turkey, sweet potatoes, a wonderful cranberry-lime relish, a green salad, her fabulous yeast rolls, and desserts.  I ate till I was miserable, which is what Thanksgiving is all about, after all.

I have my coming week’s plan in place.  With the number of dishes I’m making for this tasting event, organization and early preparation is paramount.  I have already made the following dishes or parts thereof, and they are waiting in the freezer: homemade cheese crackers; potato nests; beet mousseline; corn blini; preserved lemon; thyme and lemon shortbread; chicken and prosciutto agnolotti; boeuf bourguignon; Duchesse potatoes; cranberry orange tassies; mini-pumpkin cheesecakes; tartlet shells; Oreo mint balls; white chocolate lemon truffles.  Wow–I’m tired just looking at it, but really it was not that difficult because I spaced the preparations out over the last month.

Here’s my plan for the next week.  It looks really do-able.  Here’s hoping!

SUNDAY

Final shopping

MONDAY
Puree persimmon
Make lime sour cream
Make soup
Make orange creamMake paprika dressing
Make three layer mousse

TUESDAY
Make leek topping
Make balsamic reduction
Cook quinoa
Make caramelized onions and spinach
Cook puff pastry squares
Pre-cook haricot verts
Smoke tomatoes
Make nutmeg whipped cream
Make brandy cream
Dip chocolates
Make almond crunch topping
Set table

WEDNESDAY MORNING
Sear shrimp
Make crab salad
Make bacon topping
Heat fig and bacon
Make marsala sauce
Make butter sauce
Roast salmon

Thank you, Cooks Illustrated (and Leah)

I’m going to guardedly call success on making a good piecrust.  As I said before, my piecrusts have generally been erratic, but I’ve made two using this recipe and they were both tender and flaky and tasty.  Hallelujah.

flaky layers

I owe this triumph to my niece Leah, who remembered that she had seen a recipe using vodka, to Google, which led me to the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, and to the good people at Cook’s Illustrated, who tirelessly try out variations of recipes until they get it right.  So I made and froze my little pastry shells (which will be filled with Brandy Cream and topped with a single berry for my tasting lunch), and then this morning I made a quiche.

quiche

You can even see a little flake of crust there on the plate.  Delicious!  Here is the link to the recipe, if you would like to try it.  The dough is very moist, so some people have success rolling it out using two pieces of plastic.  I’ve never had much luck with that technique, so I just used extra flour in the rolling and it turned out fine.  The trick, I think, is to refrigerate the dough for a long time before rolling it out.  The second batch, refrigerated longer, worked much better.  Anyway, the vodka is the unusual thing, of course.  The idea is that the alcohol in the vodka burns off during baking, more quickly than water, and this leaves the crust with more of a crisp flake.  It doesn’t taste at all like booze, either, in case you were worried.

Yesterday I broke out my old, stained copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and made Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon , which turned out just as delicious and rich and perfect as it always does.  This will be frozen for the final savory course at the tasting lunch.

For the final dish that I will pre-make for the tasting lunch, I also made these little pumpkin cheesecakes.  They have a gingersnap crust and they have a good healthy dollop of Frangelico (a hazelnut liqueur; if you have never tasted it, you should).  These are going into the freezer (which is filling up, I might add) and at serving time will be topped with a little sweetened mascarpone and a kind of almond brittle I’ll be making later.

mini-pumpkin cheesecakes with Frangelico and gingersnaps

By the way, I made these in my mini-cheesecake pan, which I love.  You can buy one here.

Sadly, there are no more parts of the tasting lunch, scheduled for November 30, that I can make ahead.  The next cooking for it will take place on the Monday before.  I’m amazed, though, at how many parts to this meal I have managed to make ahead.  The final 2 1/2 days should not be too overwhelming–fingers crossed!

I sent out the final menu to the guests, so it’s now carved in stone–no more changes to it.  Here’s hoping I can pull it off:

“Gang of Six” Holiday Luncheon

 Course One—Amuse Bouche

Shrimp with Star Anise, Leeks, and Persimmon

Crab and Green Apple on Potato Nests

Beet Mousseline on Corn Blini with Lime Sour Cream and Bacon

Figs Wrapped in Bacon, Balsamic Reduction

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Orange Cream and Lemon, Thyme, and Sea Salt Shortbread

 Course Two—Salad

Arugula, Quinoa, and Cannellini Beans with Roasted Tomatoes, Smoked Paprika Dressing

 Course Three—Pasta

Chicken and Prosciutto Agnolotti with Marsala Sauce

 Course Four—Fish

Roasted Salmon with Caramelized Onions and Spinach on Puff Pastry

 Course Five—Meat

Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

 Course Six—Dessert

Vanilla, Salted Butter Caramel, and Chocolate Mousse

Cranberry Orange Tassies with Nutmeg Whipped Cream

Pumpkin Frangelico Cheesecakes

Tartlets with Fruit and Brandy Cream

Oreo Mint Balls, White Chocolate Lemon Truffles