My new favorite place for color sources…

So, it’s been forever since I’ve updated.  So long that I’ve forgotten everything I’ve cooked.  I’ve even forgotten to take pictures of all the different things I’ve made!  Let me see if I can list them so I’ll have a reference point: blueberry cream puffs, pimiento cheese, Mom’s Bean Salad, My Tortellini Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pasta salad, Ted’s Shrimp and Grits, Stone Fruit (in this case, red plum) tea cake, flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, curry and coriander shortbreads, espresso chiffon cake with fudge frosting (how in the world have I not posted that yet?!)…that could be all?  Might not be, though.  This weekend I’ll be making some desserts that are good for eating in the park, one of which is honey cake, the other I haven’t decided on yet.  I’ll post soon!

Three-Layer Berry and Brown Sugar Pavlova, taken from Gourmet magazine

This looks difficult to make, but it’s really very fun and well worth the effort.  If you follow the instructions, it’s really quite simple!

For Meringue:

• Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
• 1 cup superfine granulated sugar (if you don’t bake often enough to have this sitting in your pantry, just put the same amount of regular granulated sugar in your blender or food processor and pulse a short time until it looks like it’s changed texture)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp distilled white vinegar
• 3/4 cup egg whites (about 5 or 6 large eggs) at room temperature

For Berries:

• 1 1/2 lb strawberries, trimmed and quartered
• 1 lb blackberries (I used blueberries from our local farmers’ market- thanks Nathan!)
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

For Cream:

• 1 cup chilled heavy cream
• 1/3 cup chilled sour cream

Make Meringue: Preheat oven to 275 degrees F with rack in middle.  Lightly butter 3 (8 inch) round cake pans, then dust sides of pans with confectioners sugar, knocking out excess.  Line bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper (if you don’t have parchment paper, like me, you can try dusting the entire pan, but you have to fight to get the meringues out.  Or you can use wax paper- I don’t think the oven temperature is high enough to burn the wax paper, just turn the waxy side down).

• Pulse superfine sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a food processor until well combined.  In some recipes, you can skip this step.  I would NOT omit this step here.  You don’t want any lumps in your meringues.
• Stir together vanilla and vinegar in a small bowl.
• In another bowl, beat egg whites with a pinch of salt using an electric mixer at medium speed until they hold soft peaks.  Increase speed to medium-high and add sugar mixture 1 Tbsp at a time.  After all sugar has been added, beat 1 minute more.  Add vinegar mixture, then beat at high speed until meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes (I did this with a hand mixer, and it worked).  If you live in a humid climate, you may have to beat longer.  Much longer.  Spoon meringues into pans (about 2 1/2 cups per pan) and smooth tops.
• Bake until meringues have a crisp crust and feel dry to the touch, about 1 hour.  While you are baking, do not open the oven!  This could cause cracking and falling before it’s time.
• Play Yahtzee while you wait.
• Turn oven off and prop door open slightly with a wooden spoon.  Cool meringues in oven 1 hour (Meringues may sink slightly and crack while cooling).  While they cool, macerate the fruit (see below).
• Run knife along sides of cake pans and carefully turn meringues out of pans.  You may have to saw.  Carefully peel off parchment.  Meringues will be fragile and will probably crack.  This is messy!  Just eat the crumbs.
• Carfeully turn right side up.

Macerate Fruit While Meringues Cool: Toss berries with sugar and let stand at room temperature until ready to use (up to 1 hour).

Assemble Dessert: Beat heavy cream with sour cream using an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks.  Put 1 meringues on a serving plate and spread one third of whipped cream over it.  Spoon one third of fruit (with juice) over top.  Repeat with remaining meringues, cream, and fruit.

Prepare yourself for a really rich dessert.  Serve with coffee, or (we thought, we haven’t tried) a dry champagne.  Get ready for the post-dessert sugar coma!

Sausage, Arugula, and Piquillo Pepper Sandwiches, taken from Gourmet magazine.

• 1/2 Cup finely chopped green olives
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ciabatta or other rolls about the length of sausages, split
• 4 bratwurst, andouille, or other flavorful, fully cooked sausages, split
• 1/2 cup bottled piquillo peppers or roasted red peppers (much more common), drained and cut into strips
• 2 cups baby arugula

Combine olives and oil (I did this in a food processor and added a little basil), then spread on bottom halves of rolls.

Heat a grill pan or large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot, then heat sausages until hot, about 8 minutes (or just cook the sausage the way the package says, like normal people).

Make sandwiches on rolls with peppers, sausages, and arugula.  Cut in half.

I thought I had everything to make this recipe, but my red peppers had turned to mush in the fridge, so we didn’t have any.  I can’t wait to try it again with the peppers, because the sausage needed another bold flavor to tone it down a little bit.  By itself, it overwhelmed the sandwich a little bit.  Overall, it was a fast recipe and super filling.  Enjoy!

Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza

So I stole this recipe (like most) off of www.smittenkitchen.com.  It just looked so easy and good!  I wanted to make my own pizza dough, but that will have to wait until I get a real mixer.

All you need is:

• One pre-prepared pizza crust (I used Boboli)
• One container of goat cheese
• Lemon juice (fresh or bottled, doesn’t matter)
• Zucchini and Squash
• Fresh and dried herbs
• Olive Oil

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.  Combine the goat cheese and enough lemon juice to make the goat cheese spreadable.  Add freshly ground pepper if you want!  Spread this on the pizza crust, top with chopped basil.  I added some chopped arugula for spice.

Cut the zucchini and squash into thin medallions and layer, working from the center out.  Alternate colors if you want to make it pretty!  Put more veggies on the pizza than you think you’ll need- they will shrink up in the oven!  Add more lemon juice and dried herbs on top of the veggies, then drizzle olive oil on top.  Put in the oven and bake according to instructions provided with your pizza crust (it took us longer because we wanted a crispy crust).

This was a perfect late-Sunday afternoon lunch- super easy and fast.

I’m back from Belgium!!!

I was gone for two weeks, but I experienced plenty of Belgian cuisine- wonderful beer (Chimay Blauw and Roquefort), Speculoos cookies that were crunchy and spicy-sweet, Belgian chocolates, and of course, Belgian waffles!!!

I’m glad to be back where I can cook, though.  On to the recipes!

As soon as people came over for the dinner that night, I realized there wasn’t going to be enough food, so I fixed another recipe I’d discovered online.  I adapted this from an Ellie Krieger (of the Food Network) recipe for Wheat Berry Salad.  Hers was supposed to use hard wheat berries and take an hour and a half…I opted out of that.  Here’s my version.

Whole-Grain Pilaf Salad- I eyeballed this, so I can’t really tell you the amounts.  Eyeball it.  You’ll live.

• One package Kashi Seven Grain Pilaf (I found this with the rices in Kroger’s organic section)
• Chopped walnuts
• About 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• Dried cherries, chopped
• Green onions, chopped- use what feels good to you.  Mine were pretty potent.
• Parsley and/or other herbs
• Squirt of lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Prepare the pilaf according to the directions on the package.  Stir in all ingredients and go!  This is a winner!

This is the veggie mixture from the previous post.  And yes, I do use my washer/dryer as a buffet.

A group of us here in Athens have been trying to get a potluck dinner circle off the ground- one night a week where someone opens their home so everyone can get together, bring food, not have to cook a whole meal, and enjoy each other’s company.  A few of my friends are vegan, and most of us enjoy vegetables, so I decided to challenge myself with the task of making a vegan meal.  This recipe on Earth Fare’s website caught my eye.

Tempeh Salad

• 1 lb. tempeh, diced
• 2/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. tamari
• 2/3 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup celery, minced
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 6 scallions, minced
• 2 cups carrot, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 4 whole wheat pitas

Cooking Instructions

Place tempeh cubes in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover pan
and steam 15 minutes (make sure it doesn’t boil dry!). Transfer to a bowl and chill.  Combine next 4 ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake
vigorously and chill. Combine remaining ingredients, except pita
bread, and toss together with tempeh and dressing. Chill
until ready to serve with pita bread.

*I added more veggies to this mix- roasted red peppers, tomatoes, etc.  It would be great with some fresh herbs.  For my non-vegan friends, I chopped up three large chicken breasts into chunks and cooked them in a pan with olive oil.  I kept the chicken and the tempeh in little bowls out of the veggie mixture and put them to the side of the large bowl.  I left the dressing in a dressing tupperware (making Maddie and I comment on how much of a “Mom” thing that is to have) so people could control how much they wanted.  This was easy and so good!

This Rice Krispy Ice Cream Pie (for lack of a better title) was something I saw in an issue of Real Simple magazine.  It lived up to the magazine’s title and was really something easy to make.  It took no time at all and was a perfect accompaniment to a spur-of-the-moment Big Lebowski viewing at our house.

All you need is:

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

4 cups Rice Krispy cereal (use the rest for Rice Krispy treats!)

Ice Cream- RealSimple used mint chocolate chip, but we saw a more appealing flavor in Kroger while we were shopping:  Mayfield’s Moo-ionare Ice Cream.  Coffee with mini hazelnut, chocolate, and vanilla (?) truffles.  Winner.

Melt the chocolate in a large-ish bowl in the microwave or using a double-boiler on the stove.  Stir in the rice krispies until all blended up.  Press this mixture into a greased 9 inch springform pan, being careful to not get the mixture too thick around where the sides of the pan meet the bottom.  If you don’t have a springform pan, I’m pretty sure you could line a regular cake pan with wax paper and it would work fine.  Freeze this mixture until more solid and colder, then add the softened ice cream variety of your choice and freeze again!