Where I document and record the deliciousness I make.
Hopefully it turns out delicious.
what’s wrong with this picture?
Argh! I forgot to add the lemon juice to the curd. On the plus side I zested all the lemons, instead of just the one that the recipe called for.
However…
Aahh! I processed the curd for canning (wasn’t planning on making a lemon tart anytime soon) but I think I boiled it for too long. The curd solidified and smells very… eggy. Next time I’m just going to make the damn tart shell along with the curd.
via a little zaftig
makes 24+ muffins
3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tbsp meyer lemon zest
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
5 large eggs
1/4 cup meyer lemon juice
1 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with 24 muffin papers. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, zest, and sugars. Add the applesauce and scrape down the sides. Add the eggs one by one, then add the lemon juice and mascarpone.
Add the flour combo and mix only until incorporated. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the tins halfway through.
via thekitchn
serves 5
1 tsp of butter
1 cup steel cut oats dry
1 cup water
2 cups milk
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp group nutmeg
2 tbsp honey
1 dash of vanilla
1 medium pinch of salt
Heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the oats and fry them for about 3 minutes, or until they start smelling toasty. Mix in water, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, vanilla, and salt and stir until there are no lumps. Bring the oats to a boil, simmer for 3 minutes, then take off heat.
Ladle the oats into jars (I used 5 half-pint mason jars). Cover tightly with caps and rings and leave on counter overnight. (You can refrigerate them too but they will be thinner, less creamy in the morning.)
The next morning, put all but one of the jars in the refrigerator. Take off cap and stir up oatmeal inside. Microwave for 1 minute (2 to 3 if from the fridge).
via Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef Takes Off
serves 4 (or 2 if you’re greedy)
1 cup light cream
7 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 large egg yolks
3 tbsp brandy (or any alcohol that you think goes well with chocolate)
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp butter
Optional: 1 tsp of espresso powder and/or vanilla extract
Heat the cream until nearly boiling. Remove from heat and add brandy (book says to add at the very end but it turned out way too strong). Pour over chocolate, let it sit for a minute, and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Beat in egg yolks and stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly before stirring in the butter. Pour into individual serving pots.
Book notes: if you don’t allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little before adding the butter, it will look like chocolate has split. Rectify by letting it cool more and adding some cold milk until consistency is smooth again. Also, if texture is too rich, whip the egg whites (leftover from the 2 yolks) until they are stiff and fold into chocolate mixture before pouring into pots.
via Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef Takes Off
serves 4-6
1 1.5-lb. filet of halibut (the book used whole sea bass instead of a filet)
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 bulb of fennel, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
sea salt, and ground black pepper
1 tbsp of fennel seeds
2 handfuls of fresh herbs (I used rosemary and (too much) dill)
2 lemons
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425. Tear off a piece of aluminum foil at least 3 times as long as the fish. (Note: book advises foil be 5 times as long and folding it in half to double thickness but I somehow had extra strength foil). In the middle of the foil, mix red onion, fennel, and garlic. Place fish on veg and season with salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, then top with herbs. (If using whole fish, stuff herbs in the fish.) Make sure there’s enough salt for the veg too! Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the fish, slice the second and distribute the slices over the filet, and pour over with olive oil.
Fold the foil over the fish and seal the three edges tightly, without piercing the foil. Tip: align the foil lengthwise first and fold the edges create a seal. Before rolling down the long edge, pat the veg from the bottom-up and outside-in to make the shape more cylindrical than rectangular (think burrito-makers when you order too much salsa/guacamole/sides/everything delicious). Then fold the three edges in, creating a tight fish-foil burrito.
Set on a baking sheet and cook in the preheated oven for 10 minutes per lb. Please keep note if your filet is thicker in some areas than others - my 1.5 lb fish needed an extra 10 minutes in the oven and I removed the thinner tail end of the filet after 20 minute to prevent overcooking. Once removed from the oven, let the fish rest for 5 minutes before serving.
via vatcharin bhumichitr’s gourmet thai in minutes
serves 4
2.5 cups chicken broth
1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and chopped into pieces
4 kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped
2 small fresh red chiles, finely chopped
button mushrooms
shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
cilantro leaves
in a saucepan, heat the broth to boiling. add lemongrass, lime leaves, chiles, and mushrooms, and return to boil. add shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and simmer until shrimp cooked (about a minute).
via nytimes
serves 4
1 pound Chinese egg noodles
2 tablespoons sesame oil, plus a splash
3½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste
Half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/8,-by- 1/8,-by-2-inch sticks
¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until barely tender, about 5 minutes; they should retain a hint of chewiness. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with a splash of sesame oil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame paste, peanut butter, sugar, ginger, garlic and chili-garlic paste.
Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss. Transfer to a serving bowl, and garnish with cucumber and peanuts.
via nytimes
makes 8 cocktails
2 small white nectarines or white peaches
1 small green pear or green apple
1 small navel orange
1 bottle cava, moscato d’Asti or other sparkling wine
1 3/4 cups apple juice
1 1/3 cups Cointreau
1 cup club soda
Slice fruit into thin bite-size pieces. Place in large pitcher. Pour in sparkling wine, apple juice and Cointreau. If possible, refrigerate an hour or two to draw out sweetness and floral aromas of fruit. Add club soda, and stir. Spoon some fruit pieces into glasses filled with ice, and pour.
adapted from jon shook and vinny dotolo’s two dudes, one pan
serves 4
olive oil, salt, pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like spicy)
3 lb mussels, cleaned (see note below)
2 cups heavy cream
1 loaf bread
1 bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped
2 1/2 tbsp roughly chopped tarragon
NOTE: Make sure your mussels are ALIVE when you get home. They should be closed - if they’re open (and stay open when you tap them), they’re dead. Likewise, if they are closed after being cooked, they are dead. UNSALVAGEABLE! To clean mussels, dump in a big bowl of water with a little flour or corn starch mixed in. Rinse, then debeard - pull off the hairy threads that poke out around the tip.
Heat oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Add shallots and garlic, lightly season (think of mussels as pre-seasoned), and cook until they begin to brown (2 min). Make sure you don’t burn the garlic! Pour in wine, scraping browned bits off the bottom of the pot, and stir in red pepper flakes.
Add mussels to pot, cover, and steam until just beginning to open (3 min). Pour in cream, cover, and cook until all mussels are open (3-5 min). Remove from heat, sprinkle with chives and tarragon and serve with bread.
adapted from jon shook and vinny dotolo’s two dudes, one pan
serves 8
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
8 oz sliced bacon (i used pancetta)
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bottled clam juice (i used 1 cup and still not clammy enough)
1 1/2 tsp chopped thyme
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 6.5 oz can of clams with juices
salt and pepper
Melt butter in dutch oven over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, while stirring, until it bubbles (2 min). Scrape the roux into bowl and set aside. Wipe out pot and turn up heat to medium-high. Add bacon and cook until brown and crisp (8-10 min). Set aside on paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Add potatoes to bacon fat and cook, stirring often, until they begin to turn translucent around edges (2 min). Stir in carrots, celery, and onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook until potatoes start to brown (4 min). This is where the finely chopped part becomes important - my pieces were not small enough and everything took double the time to cook. Smaller pieces of potatoes ended up turning into much, thickening the chowder too much. Add clam juice and thyme and simmer until broth reduced by half (4-6 min).
Pour in cream and milk, season, and bring to a boil. Simmer until carrots are tender (10-15 min). I also added uncooked pasta with the cream and milk. Cooks along with the veggies in same amount of time. Stir in roux a little at a time until chowder is thick and hearty. Stir in clams with juices and crumbled bacon. Cook for 1-2 min until heated through, then serve. With all the cream and milk, the original receipe was grossly under-seasoned. Clams and juice were not enough to season. Actually, you need at least double amount of clam meat to keep this from tasting like cream of veggie soup with hint of clam.
