Stuffed Mushrooms
Twinnie and I stuffed these bad boys after we had broccoli and watercress soup for breakfast, mmmm. Merry Christmas everyone! Happy cooking!
Endive with Gorgonzola, Pear, and Walnuts
(from Williams Sonoma I think?)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup walnuts
Approx. 30 Belgian endive leaves
1 Bosc pear
5 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, at room temperature
Preheat an oven to 350°F.
Place the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake, stirring once or twice, until fragrant and lightly toasted, 10 to 12 minutes. Pour the walnuts onto a plate and let cool, then chop coarsely.
Separate the leaves of the endives. Choose about 40 of the pale ivory to light green inner leaves (reserve the others for another use).
Halve and core the pears, then finely chop. Spread a teaspoonful of the cheese on the base of each endive leaf. Top with pear and a sprinkle of nuts. Serve immediately.
Hope everyone has a great day filled with family, friends, and food.
Heading home to NY. You know what that means! Many food blogging posts to come! Happy Holidays all!
It's been so long since I've posted here and for that, I sincerely apologize. I just finished up my busy season at work and I finally have my nights and weekends back... sort of. Now I'm studying all the time for my CPA, but I'm trying to balance a normal life while doing so.
The boyfriend and I were in the mood for salmon last night, so I went to my go to recipe box and pulled out one special salmon recipe from Ina Garten. I love that beesch, she's fabulous. She always has the most intense sauses and marinades, usually which are so simple to make! Last time I used one of her recipes, I was salivating before I even put the sauce on the country ribs. It was so delicious.
Today, I used her Asian Grilled Salmon marinade. I altered my way of cooking since I didn't feel like having my apartment fill with smoke like the last time I used my grill pan. Instead, I just used a plain old frying pan and seared my fish the old fashion way.
Asian Pan Seared Salmon - Ina Garten
1 side fresh salmon, boned but skin on (about 3 pounds) -- I used about 2 lbs.
For the marinade:
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good soy sauce
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
Lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board and cut it crosswise into 4 equal pieces. ** REMOVE ALL THE SCALES! This was something I had to do for the first time ever. It was snowing scales all over my kitchen, but I got the job done. Woot! Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. I think letting the fish marinade overnight would make a world of difference as far as flavor intensity goes.
Place the salmon skin side down on the hot oiled pan; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in. Pan fry for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4 to 5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don't worry; it will keep cooking as it sits. ** IF you cook it beyond this point, you'll end up with dry salmon.
Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to
rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
I served the salmon on top of asparagus and sugar snap peas sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice. I thought the extra crunch was a nice addition to the salmon.
The other day, I had a real hankering for steak, but the heat was too much. I didn't want to eat a whole steak and potato dinner. Instead, we had a light steak sandwich with baby arugula, caramelized onions, and boursin cheese. It was the most savory, delicious sandwich.
Filet Mignon Sandwiches with Boursin, Baby Arugula, Caramelized Onions on Ciabatta Bread
INGREDIENTS
8 oz. filet mignon
4 oz. boursin cheese
1 medium sized onion (sliced)
3 ciabatta rolls
Baby arugula
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
In a frying pan, heat a little olive oil on high. Salt and pepper your filet mignon. Just before the olive oil smokes, the steak should be cooked 3 minutes on each side for medium (more or less depending on how you like your meat).
In the meantime, toast ciabatta rolls until golden brown.
Once steaks are done, remove from pan and make a tent to let meat set. Add a small amount of olive oil to the same pan and turn the heat to medium high. Add the onion slices and cook until soft and a nice golden brown color.
Spread boursin cheese on both sides of the ciabatta bread.
Assemble the arugula, onions, and steak on bread.
Bite, enjoy, repeat.
My sister definitely liked them!
So I'm always looking for good citrus recipes in the summer. There's something about citrus fruit that makes baked good seem healthy and light.
Stef over at Cupcake Project put a different twist on a key lime pie recipe that called for baking, scooping, and filling cupcakes. Instead of following a recipe that involved too many steps, I opted for hers. She simplified the recipe by mixing the filling into the batter and simply baking it. What a smartie! She made my life easy, that's for sure.
Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes.
CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS
1/2 C butter at room temperature
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1 C milk
1 C flour
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used 10 graham squares)
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
5 egg yolks (way easier to separate eggs when they're cold!)
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 C lime or key lime juice
Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamed. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing 30 seconds of beating for each egg.
Now, get your graham crackers and put them into a ziploc bag. I keep bag open a bit, so graham cracker goodness doesn't go flying. Then I get a rolling pin and obliterate the crackers until they are all very small crumbs.
Sift the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add the graham crackers to the sifted mixture.
Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture. Then add some of the milk. Keep adding the ingredients in a dry - wet - dry method, ending with the dry. Mix until just combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. Dump the key lime mixture into the graham batter and lightly stir. Do NOT fully integrate the key lime and graham batter. You should have clumps of batter in a key lime soup.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full (always my biggest problem!!!). Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.
FROSTING INGREDIENTS
1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 C butter (room temperature) -- this is a half a stick of butter
4 C powdered sugar (I recommend that you sift it.)
1 t lime extract -- I used lemon extract because I had no idea where I could get lime extract. No worries, it tasted just as good!
Mix the cream cheese and butter. Add the powdered sugar little at a time and lime (lemon) extract. Voila!
I thought the little lime wedges added a little something. I'm all about decorating with ingredients that are actually in my desserts, so I was happy with the results. I hope you guys feel inspired to do some citrus baking! Off to enjoy my cupcake now.
I've been hankering to make some toasty meringue topping. There's something so delicate about the light brown on the grooves and contours of meringue. I found a great recipe from Jennifer Shea, the owner of Trophy Cupcakes.
2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.
Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping. Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.
For the Frosting:
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions
Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.
Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip (such as Ateco #867 or Ateco #809). Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.
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And here is where the failure begins... well I'm so mad at myself for being so dumb. Instead of bittersweet chocolate, I mixed bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates together because that's what I had on hand. Who doesn't like a spontaneous cook? (MISTAKE!!!) For anyone who doesn't know, unsweetened chocolate tastes like ass. It's a universal truth -- according to me anyway. Not smart.
I also filled the muffin tins way too high. I probably hit above the 3/4 mark. That was my bad. So the already icky tasting cupcakes looked like doo doo muffins from hell.
The chocolate is what ultimately ruined the cupcakes. They were inedible. I tried one and almost gagged. No, "marshmallow" topping, no matter how toasty and pretty would not salvage these babies.
As wasteful as I feel, I threw them away. I had no other choice. I didn't want to poison myself or my family. No, no.
After feeling depressed for maybe 30 minutes, I decided to go ahead and make my meringue and do cookies!!! Woot woot!
Meringue Cookies
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.
In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Drop by spoonfuls 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy over the cookies.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours (I would actually go for 2 hours -- my spoonfuls were more like heaping spoonfuls, so I had pretty large cookies) in preheated oven. Meringues should be completely dry on the inside. Do not allow them to brown. Turn off oven. Keep oven door ajar, and let meringues sit in the oven until completely cool. Loosen from foil with metal spatula. Store loosely covered in cool dry place for up to 2 months.
After a rather drunken night, my friend Jae put the idea in my head that chicken fingers and honey mustard would be the absolute most delicious meal one could eat. Instead of going to a local diner and getting this perfect meal, we all went home thanks to Anthony's "you're fat asses". I love my friends. Today, we ate those chicken fingers. Yes, I felt like a fat ass and no, I did not care.
I went absolutely fatty on those fingers. <3 Yum.
You can see the condensed milk this time!! I whipped out my camera just in the nick of time. You know, before the condensed milk starting making those strange "dry" spots in the ice.
I'm so sad that I can no longer get this. Good thing I got mochi on the bottom of my last Hawaiian shave ice. Who knows the next time I'll be able to get one!
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On a side note and more probably the main purpose of this post is to say a friend of mine has returned from Taiwan. She taught English to young school children, who looked adorable. She was there for 6 months doing just about the coolest job ever -- that is after being an accountant by day and a wannabe chef extraordinaire by night. My life is pretty awesome.
In any case, she's having a welcome back BBQ tomorrow and I was thinking I'd bring over cookies, cupcakes, or some kind of fatty treat. Yum! Be on the lookout for some new baking tutorial. Haha.
Shave ice in Hawaii is a really nice sweet, light treat. I scoured through Oahu to find this "Waiola Shave Ice" place -- not to be mistaken with "Waiola Shave Ice and Bakery". Very very confusing. Yesterday, I found it and simply ordered a small cup of rainbow with condensed milk drizzled on top. OH MY GOOD GOD, it was AMAAAAAZING.
The condensed milk looked a little more appetizing when I first got it. You know, just a little bit more like condensed milk. The ice just "dried" up after a while with the syrup on it. Very strange, but very, very yummy.
Next time you're on Oahu, come get some shave ice on Waiola St. and Paani St. It's so uplifting... it's almost holy.
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