Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Almond Meringue (Dessert for Mother’s Day)
From Christine's Recipes
Almond Meringue (Dessert for Mother’s Day) (Printable recipe)
Makes 60 meringues (4cm in size)
Ingredients:
Method:
Read more: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/04/almond-meringue-dessert-for-mothers-day.html#ixzz0mPhZWNJa
These meringues can be kept in an air-tight container for quite a long time, or if they turn soft outside, just pop them in the oven and heat them to dry again. There are many variations you can make, for example, spread some chocolate cream between two mini meringues or simply sprinkle a bit of coco powder over the surface of meringues to your liking. It’ll be a great looking present for your mother. Sweet !
Makes 60 meringues (4cm in size)
Ingredients:
- 4 egg whites (I used 59 gm eggs)
- 1 tsp cream of tar tar
- 120 gm caster sugar
- 90 gm almond meal
Method:
- Prepare oven to 180C (356F). After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 90C (195F). Prepare 2 large baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper.
- In a large clean, stainless steel or glass bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer. (Note: make sure that your eggs are free from any water and oil. It’s very difficult to beat the egg whites and produce a good volume otherwise.) Start with the low speed of your mixer. When many bubbles form, add cream of tartar and continue to beat.
- When the egg whites turn white and increase in volume. Add 1/3 of sugar at a time. You don’t need to worry whether the sugar is beaten well after each addition. After adding the last batch of sugar, increase speed to high, continue to beat the egg whites until peaks form. When the mixture becomes very thick and glossy (as the picture shown above), all the sugar has dissolved, it’s done. You can test it by lifting up the beater, there should be a long trailing peak forms at the end of the whisk.
- Sift and fold in 1/3 of almond meal at a time, until all almond meals are completely incorporated. Don’t stir the egg whites. Just scrape the egg whites from the bottom and bring them up to the top. By folding in this way, you won’t loose the air and volume of egg whites. Carefully transfer the egg whites into a piping bag. Pipe out 4cm-sized discs on the lined baking trays. Each with 3cm apart. Transfer the meringues into the oven for 75 to 80 minutes. Then, turn the oven off and let the meringues cool in the oven. It might take a few hours. (Note: In doing so, the outside of meringues are set without any baking at all. So the colour of the meringues is very light, pale or off-white. And the texture of the meringues is very crisp and light in weight.)
Notes:
- Before beating egg whites, make sure the utensils are clean, free from any water or oil. It’s very crucial if you want to beat egg whites successfully.
- You can omit the almond meal if you want to.
- When you fold the almond meal into the fluffy egg whites, make sure to incorporate the ingredients gently without deflating all the bubbles of whisked egg whites. Don’t even stir it. Just scrape the egg whites from the bottom and turn them up on the surface. Repeat the folding with a quick but a gentle motion until all ingredients are just combined.
Read more: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/04/almond-meringue-dessert-for-mothers-day.html#ixzz0mPhZWNJa
Pasta With Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce
From The Pioneer Woman
I’ll just say it: I’m on a pasta kick lately. I’d like to believe—and in fact, I’m telling myself daily—that the sudden uptick in pasta dishes I’ve been making is being spurned on by some kind of deficiency deep within my body. A carb deficiency, perhaps. Yeah…yeah…that’s it. I don’t get enough…carbs, you see, so my body is crying out for more…pasta.
Here’s what you need: Thin spaghetti (or angel hair), canned diced tomatoes (you can use fresh), olive oil, garlic, blue cheese, heavy cream, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and baby spinach.
Cook some thin spaghetti or angel hair. Keep in mind that if you’re using angel hair, it only takes a couple of minutes (at most) for it to cook!
Chop up some garlic…
And heat some garlic in a large skillet.
Throw in the garlic and get it started…
Then pour in one 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes. I drained as much of the juice as I could—you don’t want it too soupy.
Stir it around and cook the tomatoes.
Sprinkle in a little sugar and salt…
And some crushed red pepper, which gives it some oomph.
After it’s cooked for about 10 to 15 minutes, add in the crumbled blue cheese. I did a heaping 1/2 cup, but feel free to add a little more if you like that strong cheesy tang.
Stir the cheese into the sauce and watch it melt. Lick your chops. Repeat as needed.
When it’s all melted, pour in some cream. You can use half cream, half half-and-half. (Half half-and-half? I’m dizzy.)
Shake the pan around and stir to combine the cream. Taste it and add in a dash of whatever it needs.
Now, this is the most important step! Turn off the burner. And at the very last minute—as in, people are sitting at the dinner table pounding their forks and knives and chanting “We wanna eat! We wanna eat!”—throw in a large amount of baby spinach. This is about two cups, but you really need to add twice this amount since the spinach shrinks away to almost nothing.
Don’t cook the spinach at all! Just toss it around and allow the heat of the sauce to wilt it. And act fast! This is best if the spinach still has a little life to it.
Immediately throw in the cooked pasta (or you can put the pasta in a bowl and pour the sauce over the top.)
Toss it around, and if it seems a little thick…you can thin it with a little half-and-half.
Immediately pour it into a serving bowl and go for it! For presentation, it’s nice to add some blue cheese crumbles to the top.
Lemme tell you something. This was divine. The blue cheese is a really unexpected flavor—looking at the dish, you expect it to be the typical tomato/parmesan/basil pasta. But then you take a bite and realize there’s more to life than tomato, parmesan, and basil pasta.
Enjoy!
Here’s the handy dandy printable:
Pasta With Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce
Apr. 28, 2010I’ll just say it: I’m on a pasta kick lately. I’d like to believe—and in fact, I’m telling myself daily—that the sudden uptick in pasta dishes I’ve been making is being spurned on by some kind of deficiency deep within my body. A carb deficiency, perhaps. Yeah…yeah…that’s it. I don’t get enough…carbs, you see, so my body is crying out for more…pasta.
Yeah…yeah…that’s it.
Okay, fine. But it’s far better than facing the truth: that carbs fill a gaping emotional hole in my psyche.
Anyway, I made this pasta the other day. Marlboro Man and the kids had just left for the farm for two days, which meant I could cook something for dinner that didn’t contain animal flesh. I remembered a recipe I’d seen in Cooking Light (I can hear you laughing) somewhere recently—an airport? A waiting room? My psychiatrist’s couch? I can’t remember. But it was a pasta recipe with a (fresh) tomato-blue cheese sauce, which appealed to me very much because I’ve also been on a big blue cheese kick over the past several months. The dish also contained spinach and a couple of other ingredients I couldn’t remember.
I adapted it for my own sick and twisted use. I apologize to Cooking Light for my changes, which were not light at all.
Here’s what you need: Thin spaghetti (or angel hair), canned diced tomatoes (you can use fresh), olive oil, garlic, blue cheese, heavy cream, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and baby spinach.Cook some thin spaghetti or angel hair. Keep in mind that if you’re using angel hair, it only takes a couple of minutes (at most) for it to cook!Chop up some garlic…And heat some garlic in a large skillet.Throw in the garlic and get it started…Then pour in one 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes. I drained as much of the juice as I could—you don’t want it too soupy.Stir it around and cook the tomatoes.Sprinkle in a little sugar and salt…And some crushed red pepper, which gives it some oomph.After it’s cooked for about 10 to 15 minutes, add in the crumbled blue cheese. I did a heaping 1/2 cup, but feel free to add a little more if you like that strong cheesy tang.Stir the cheese into the sauce and watch it melt. Lick your chops. Repeat as needed.When it’s all melted, pour in some cream. You can use half cream, half half-and-half. (Half half-and-half? I’m dizzy.)Shake the pan around and stir to combine the cream. Taste it and add in a dash of whatever it needs.Now, this is the most important step! Turn off the burner. And at the very last minute—as in, people are sitting at the dinner table pounding their forks and knives and chanting “We wanna eat! We wanna eat!”—throw in a large amount of baby spinach. This is about two cups, but you really need to add twice this amount since the spinach shrinks away to almost nothing.Don’t cook the spinach at all! Just toss it around and allow the heat of the sauce to wilt it. And act fast! This is best if the spinach still has a little life to it.Immediately throw in the cooked pasta (or you can put the pasta in a bowl and pour the sauce over the top.)Toss it around, and if it seems a little thick…you can thin it with a little half-and-half.Immediately pour it into a serving bowl and go for it! For presentation, it’s nice to add some blue cheese crumbles to the top.
But I was all by myself. Presentation wasn’t really a factor.
Lemme tell you something. This was divine. The blue cheese is a really unexpected flavor—looking at the dish, you expect it to be the typical tomato/parmesan/basil pasta. But then you take a bite and realize there’s more to life than tomato, parmesan, and basil pasta.Enjoy!Here’s the handy dandy printable:
Pasta with Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce
| | | Print
| Prep Time: 2 Minutes | Cook Time: 15 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6 |
Ingredients
- 1-½ pound Pasta (angel Hair Or Thin Spaghetti)
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 whole 28-ounce Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
- Dash Of Sugar
- Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, To Taste
- ¾ cups Crumbled Blue Cheese
- ¾ cups Heavy Cream
- 4 cups Baby Spinach
- Half And Half, For Thinning
- Extra Blue Cheese Crumbles, For Garnish
Preparation Instructions
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. When hot, add minced garlic and cook for a minute. Pour in drained tomatoes. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to low. Stir in crumbled blue cheese. Add cream and stir, then a little splash of half-and-half if sauce is too thick. Cook for a minute or two, tasting and adding more seasonings as needed.
At the very, very, very last minute. toss in spinach. Immediately toss in the cooked and drained pasta. Serve immediately!
Cinnamon Banana Muffins
This post courtesy of The Pink Apron
First off, thanks for all the thoughtful comments on my post Monday. I normally save emotions like that for my (offline) journal, but for some reason the idea of admitting to the world that I was not perfect seemed like good therapy. And it was. The moment I hit publish I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve been feeling so much brighter ever since. Nothing in my situation changed, only my attitude. (Well to be honest, the sunshine we’ve been having and the fact that after a month long fight with the DMV I finally got my license plates for my car hasn’t hurt either.) It seems appropriate then to share a recipe that’s a little bit lighter, although quite frankly compared to bacon that could be almost anything. In this case it’s a muffin, and not just any muffin, but an incredibly moist, cinnamon-y muffin. The cinnamon flavor comes from some Cinnamon Flav-R Bites that I picked up at the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Store on atrip to Vermont, but you could also use cinnamon chips. With its cake flour base it is certainly not going to win a healthfulness award, but it is great for the times when you might want a lighter (in texture, not calories), moister muffin. It would be great for a mother’s day brunch or to sell as a bake sale item.
Cinnamon Banana Muffins
First off, thanks for all the thoughtful comments on my post Monday. I normally save emotions like that for my (offline) journal, but for some reason the idea of admitting to the world that I was not perfect seemed like good therapy. And it was. The moment I hit publish I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve been feeling so much brighter ever since. Nothing in my situation changed, only my attitude. (Well to be honest, the sunshine we’ve been having and the fact that after a month long fight with the DMV I finally got my license plates for my car hasn’t hurt either.) It seems appropriate then to share a recipe that’s a little bit lighter, although quite frankly compared to bacon that could be almost anything. In this case it’s a muffin, and not just any muffin, but an incredibly moist, cinnamon-y muffin. The cinnamon flavor comes from some Cinnamon Flav-R Bites that I picked up at the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Store on atrip to Vermont, but you could also use cinnamon chips. With its cake flour base it is certainly not going to win a healthfulness award, but it is great for the times when you might want a lighter (in texture, not calories), moister muffin. It would be great for a mother’s day brunch or to sell as a bake sale item.
Cinnamon Banana Muffins
Yields 12 muffins
Yields 12 muffins
Ingredients
-1 ½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/4 cup canola oil
-1/4 cup skim milk
-1 large egg
-1 ½ cups cake flour
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup cinnamon Flav-R Bites (or alternatively cinnamon chips)
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either line a muffin tin with papers, spray with non-stick cooking spray, or if using fancy pants papers as above, just set them on a baking sheet. In a medium bowl, stir together bananas, sugars, butter, milk and egg. In another bowl, whisk together flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients, stirring until barely combined. Gently fold in chips–don’t overwork the batter!–and then fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before removing.
-1 ½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/4 cup canola oil
-1/4 cup skim milk
-1 large egg
-1 ½ cups cake flour
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup cinnamon Flav-R Bites (or alternatively cinnamon chips)
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either line a muffin tin with papers, spray with non-stick cooking spray, or if using fancy pants papers as above, just set them on a baking sheet. In a medium bowl, stir together bananas, sugars, butter, milk and egg. In another bowl, whisk together flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients, stirring until barely combined. Gently fold in chips–don’t overwork the batter!–and then fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before removing.
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