Lemon Curd

This is an Alton Brown recipe that I just LOVE.  It's super easy with a wonderful payoff.

ingredients 

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

4 lemons, zested and juiced

1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Directions

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Remy's Ratatouille

While I love my veggies as much as the next girl, I tend to keep my vegetarian main dishes to pasta or casseroles.  I wasn't sure about this one, but I thought I'd give it a shot.  I got the recipe from Pinterest from a blog: Smitten Kitchen .  Here's the recipe:

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

We didn't really change much on this one.  Ours isn't as "pretty" as the other because frankly we don't have a mandoline or food processor, lol. We used individual casserole dishes and my hubby left out the peppers since he knows I can't stand them (but seriously I did buy them just for this recipe and now I'm stuck with a couple of peppers *sigh*).  He added Italian seasoning on top instead of just thyme.  Delicious!  Seriously this tasted so fresh and smelled incredible both while cooking and eating.  I think I liked it more than the hubs since he used a bunch of salt...in all fairness though he'd put salt on a salt lick.  I worry that without serving it over pasta or with bread we may get a bit hungry later, but for now I'm all kinds of full.  I give this one ****

I'm Baaaaaack!

So, lots going on around here lately.  First, we happily moved into our own home 2 months ago( a small beach shack, but we don't own the land) right now we are staying with my grandmother until my parents return from Canada.  So, rather than cooking for two, we're cooking for three.  I've been pretty good about sticking to good foods, but lousy about taking time to blog and take pics.  So, I'm back with a vengence.  Today's selections are La Baguette's French Onion Soup and Fresh French Rolls.  i took a few pictures as I went along just to demonstrate . Do NOT put this under the category of quick meals, lol.  Here are the recipes as written:


La Baguette's French Onion Soup

Serves 8

6 cups (2 pounds) thinly sliced yellow onions

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc), optional

10 cups boiling chicken stock (or vegetable stock if vegetarian)

2 teaspoons black or white pepper, or to taste

French-bread croutons

1/2 pound genuine Gruyre or Austrian Swiss cheese, grated

Cook onions in butter, covered, over medium-low heat until moisture forms and onions are transparent but not brown, about 20 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to medium and cook 45 minutes or longer, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated and onion's natural sugars caramelize; onions should be dark golden-brown.

Add wine and bring to boil. Add chicken stock; simmer 2 hours, covered with lid partially ajar, on low heat.

Refrigerate, uncovered (to prevent stock from souring) overnight. When cold, skim congealed butter off top.

Before serving, add pepper to taste and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Place broiler-proof bowls on baking sheet. Fill each with soup and top with croutons and a handful of cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and browned in spots, about 5 minutes.


Source: La Baguette.
Nutrition data, per 2-cup serving: Calories 216 (39 percent from fat); fat 9.3 g (sat 5.3 g, mono 2.8 g, poly .6 g); protein 20 g; carbohydrates 11 g; fiber 2.3 g; cholesterol 31 mg; sodium 192 mg; calcium 311 mg.


Fresh Baked French Rolls:
Ingredients

3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups bread flour

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 1 cup flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Sunny Vegetable Pasties

I got this recipe from watching the Cooking Channel's Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots.  These just looked so ...sunshine-y!  It took me a long time to find the recipe he did on the show that didn't get Americanized by the show afterward....then I had to convert the amounts.  Took an hour, lol.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
-1 yellow pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
-1 1/2 Cup carrots, also cut in 1/2 inch pieces
-3 Cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1.2 in pieces
-2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled, grated
-4 Tbls chopped fresh cilantro leaves
-4 green onions, finely chopped
-1 (8-ounce) can corn, drained
-1 cup Colby (or other orange) cheese, grated
-2 - 4 tsp salt
-1 Cup flour, plus extra for dusting
-1½ tsp ground turmeric
-pinch salt
-1 stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
-4-5 Tbsp cold water
-1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions
1)Preheat the oven to 400F. For the filling, place the pieces of pepper, carrots and butternut squash into a deep-sided, lidded pan. Add enough boiling water to just cover the vegetables. Cover the pan with the lid and return to the boil. Boil for four minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, then drain well. Transfer the drained vegetables to a large bowl and add the remaining filling ingredients (thru 2-4 tsp salt). Mix together until well combined, then set aside until completely cool.

2)For the patties,mix together the flour, ground turmeric and salt in a bowl until well combined. Add the butter cubes and rub them into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring the mixture with a spoon, until it comes together as a dough. (You may not need to use all of the water.) Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3)When the pastry has chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4in thickness. Cut six to eight 3in discs from the pastry using a cookie cutter or upturned glass. Divide the filling mixture equally among the pastry discs, covering only one half of each disc and leaving a 1/2in border at the edge of each.

4)Brush the edges of the pastry discs lightly with some of the beaten egg, then fold the free half of each disc over the filled half and press down the edges to seal using a fork. Brush the tops of the patties with the remaining beaten egg. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the patties onto it. Bake the patties in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown.

This was served with my hubby's specialty, grilled sliced pineapple :D!!  You can see where the pasties get their name, they look so colorful and sunshine-y.  A few changes were made; I did not have fresh ginger so I used some ground ginger. I forgot to use the cilantro and I did not use yellow pepper because I hate bell pepper.  These were really yummy and filling.  I can't say I'm a huge turmeric fan, but it didn't overwhelm the whole pastie.  As usually, whenever I make pasties, turnovers or filled cookies, I ALWAYS end up with WAY MORE filling than I could ever use to fill the pastry.  Frankly, I gave up trying to figure out what I did wrong.  I'm thinking of cooking down the leftovers and making soup. This is a great recipe, but takes an hour or so of prep work, so I would not make this on a weeknight, personally.

*****

Spinach-Stuffed Pasta Shells

I was craving this one.  It's a bit of an indulgence for us at 561 calories a serving, but since the only other thing we've eaten today was a peanut butter sandwich, I think we're all right.  This is from Better Homes and Gardens Great Cooking for Two circa 1992 page 110:


Ingredients:
16 packaged jumbo pasta shells or 8 packaged manicotti
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 beaten eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 cup freshly shredded or grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1 Cook pasta. Drain immediately. Rinse with cold water; drain well.
2 Meanwhile, drain thawed spinach well, pressing out excess liquid.
3 For filling, combine eggs; ricotta, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese; half of the Parmesan cheese; and the spinach. Spoon about 3 tablespoons filling into each jumbo shell or about 1/3 cup filling into each manicotti shell.
4 Place 4 jumbo shells or 2 manicotti shells into each of 4 individual casseroles. Top with sauce; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake 2 casseroles immediately; freeze remaining casseroles as directed.
5 Makes 4 servings. To Eat Two: Bake 2 of the casseroles, covered, in a 350 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until heated through.
6 To Freeze Two: Seal, label, and freeze 2 of the casseroles for up to 3 months. To serve, bake 1 or 2 of the frozen casseroles, covered, in a 375 degree F oven about 1 hour or until heated through.

The recipe is for 4 servings because it assumes you will freeze two.  We just cut the recipe in half.  Yummy, Yummy, yummy!  I used jarred spaghetti sauce instead of making it fresh.  I had some left over from the eggplant parmesan.

*****

Quiche

We had a lovely, quiet Valentine's Day at home and my wonderful hubby made dinner for us.  He bought me a beautiful long stem rose with baby's breath and made quiche with a big salad for our romantic meal. Here is my hubby's quiche recipe:

Ingredients

-4 eggs

-1 C milk

-1 C shredded cheese

-1 Tbl flour

-salt and pepper

-2 tsp dill weed

-add ins of choice

-frozen pie crust

 

Instructions

1)prebake pie crust per directions on package. in a medium bowl, beat 4 eggs. Slowly beat in milk until fully incorporated. Add in salt, pepper, and dill weed.

2)In a separate bowl, combine cheese with flour to coat. Add cheese to egg mixture. If adding vegetables, add them to egg mixture and pour into crust.

3)bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Serving Suggestions

I usually add shallots, and different kinds of cheese

Since it's his recipe, he didn't make substitutions other than separating the pie dough into two individual dishes and dividing the filling between the two.  He stated he had to cook them about 10-15 minutes longer for the centers to set properly. This was very light yet filling.  Perfect for a late evening meal :D

*****

Eggplant Parmesan

OK, so I am having some cardiac issues which necessitated a trip to the hospital.  They found a blood clot. My cholesterol is nice and low as is my blood pressure (normally). I have a follow up with my regular doctor to see if any changes in lifestyle are needed.  Frankly, I'm eating well so I don't think the diet will need to be altered.  So until I find out for sure what's up, I will continue to make my meals as planned :D.

I don't really have a recipe I follow for this one.  I learned this one from a friend and is a go to recipe.  I was in the mood for this one today.:

1 medium eggplant
1 C Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup spaghetti sauce of choice
1/2 C shredded mozzarella
shaky cheese

Wash off the eggplant.  Slice very thin, leaving the peel on.  Dredge the slices in egg and then breadcrumbs.  Pan fry over medium-high heat.  Drain slices on paper towel.  Place slices on a broiler pan , cover each slice in shredded cheese and broil for a minute until cheese is melted.

Serve over spaghetti with warmed spaghetti sauce.

I served this with a big tossed salad with poppy seed dressing.

*****