Dessert Plates

I am trying hard to post 3 times a week, part of my 101 things in 1001 days. Cooking hasn't really been happening lately. Figuring out how to feed the band and not send anyone to the hospital has been at the forefront, making dessert plates and a yard sale. I think the plates were quite lovely, a nice gift for Mothers day.
So, a question...what would you pay for them? I am just wondering.

Also, self portrait #2 of 101 self portraits in 1001 days. I was at dinner with friends and we took pictures of what plastic surgery would do for our face, my idea of course. Notice the smooth cheeks/lack of jowls? I can not even believe how many pictures it takes before I find one I am willing to put on here. 99 more to go, my poor camera is going to wear out.

Vegetarian, Diabetic, Lactose Intolerant, Nut Allergic...HELP ME!

Help, I need somebody.
Help, not just anybody.

One of my daughters is going to be home for a very short visit. With her will be a band, 4 young men. I plan to feed them lunch before they perform locally. And maybe breakfast and snacks for the road.

So I asked her "By the way Sweetie, does anyone have any food allergies or anything I should plan for?"

She says "Yeah, about that."

So I have one who is vegetarian, one who is diabetic, one who is lactose intolerant and has nut allergies, and a daughter who loves pasta, bread, cheese and fruit. The other guy and I are just there for the ride.
OMG!

Really I am so thrilled to do this. I love company and I love my daughter 92 trillion times more. Is that our deficit right now? But I have no idea where to begin to make everyone happy and out of the hospital. It isn't like summer is here and the fruit stands are in full bloom.

So if you have any help to offer I will love you a lot. Possibly as much as a trillion.

Corned Beef Hash

Now this is the real reason I make corned beef. To make hash with the leftovers. I love this stuff. It is white trash cooking in my eyes and we all have a little white trash in us.


The amounts really depend on what you have leftover so this is just a general idea. Also if you have made the glaze from my last post be careful, it will burn, so either cut around it or add the corned beef towards the end and watch your pan.

CORNED BEEF HASH
Leftover boiled red potatoes, with butter
1/2 - 1 onion, white or yellow, diced in big pieces
2 T butter
1 c or more fresh mushrooms, thick sliced
Leftover corned beef in 1" cubes
1/2 c fresh parsley
Salt and fresh pepper

Preheat large frying pan to medium.
Add the potatoes and all the butter etc..
In a smaller pan on medium heat, saute the onions in butter until soft.
Add the onions to the potatoes.
Saute the mushrooms in the pan the onions cooked in until slightly done.
When the potatoes and onions are just beginning to brown, add the corned beef to the pan and turn up the heat one notch.
When the corned beef begins to brown, add the mushrooms.
Cook until everything is browning and crispy.
At the end add the parsley, salt and pepper.


Serve this with some salsa or ketchup on the side and over easy fried eggs and OJ for breakfast. You will feel like you live in Nebraska.

Glazed Corned Beef

You really, really should make this. Really.

I like corned beef but I love THIS corned beef.
I make this every year.
This and corned beef hash.
Again, a Silver Palate recipe, one which I actually found in my stack.
This is 3 steps more than corned beef on the stove, which you must do first.
And 3 ingredients more.

*Cut off the fat.
*Make the glaze.
*Bake for 45 minutes.

Most people like a traditional corned beef dinner on Saint Patricks day. I find it a little boring. This is what I serve on St. Patricks day because it is soooo much better.

Because this corned beef is a little sweet, which works very well with the salty meat, I prefer simple potatoes. Boiled red potatoes with melted butter, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped parsley. Add to that homemade biscuits and a salad and I am a very happy girl.

GLAZED CORNED BEEF
from Silver Palate

3-4 lbs corned beef
1 c orange marmalade or peach jam
4 T dijon mustard or whole grain mustard
4 T brown sugar

Place corned beef in a large pot and cover with water.
Bring to a boil.
Lower heat.
Cover partially.
Simmer as slowly as possible for about 4 hours or until very tender when tested with a fork.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix marmalade, mustard and brown sugar together in a small bowl.
When meat is done, remove from heat and drain.
Cut off extra fat.
Place corned beef in an close fitting baking dish.
Pour marmalade mixture over meat, coating thoroughly.
Baste with the sauce using a larger spoon a few times during baking.
Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until glaze is crisp and brown.


This time I used peach jam and whole grain mustard and loved it just as much. This is a nice dish because you can start the corned beef on your lunch time (if you go home for lunch) and then finish it once you get home with very little effort. A word of warning, the glaze is really hot and the sugars make it stick, don't get it on you when you baste. Trust me.


Really.

A little Irish lore...
St. Patrick, according to legend, used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Celts. Three leaves on one stem were as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A fourth leaf on a clover represented Gods Grace.
I think that is sort of lovely.

Lemon Sour Cream Glazed Iced Pound Cake

How's that for a title?

Spring is coming. I have faith. I believe. I trust.
I love spring and fall. I hate summer and winter.
My Dad says I need to be more Zen about life.
Zen shmen.
Cold is good if you have a cabin and can ski. Hot is good if you have a yacht and a pool and a pool boy named Julio. Otherwise...it sucks being cold and it sucks being hot. But it is perfect in spring and fall.

I love citrus.
It seems sunshiny.
Citrus is fresh, clean, light and juicy.
Love the taste, love the smell.
I don't love the burn when it squirts in my eye though.
Citrus works for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, taco truck.
You can drink citrus. Think orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemonade, limeade, and then you can add the naughty stuff for fun drinks with parasols and twists and blurry vision.

So why am I babbling? Because I like to. That, and a sweet older gentleman customer gave me a bunch of lemons and grapefruit. What a love. 'Gentleman customer', now that sort of makes me sound like a little whore doesn't it? Oops!

My very favorite cookies in the whole world are at Alexis Baking Company in Napa, California. One of my wonderful sisters lives there so I visit a few times a year and I almost always stop by ABC, usually on the way home. They make a lemon cookie that is crisp and light with a lemon icing. I can never remember the actual name but they remind me of lemon clouds. I buy every one on the platter. I don't even care what they cost. I take them all. I am searching for a lemon cookie recipe like them but until then the craving must be met. So lemon sour cream glazed iced pound cake it is. With extra lemon. Ahhh, that ought to do it. Oh and if you get to Napa, go to ABC. It is somewhere downtown, right by a (blue?) church, maybe on a one way street and next to a liquor store. I swear I always go there but I have to drive around a little till I find it. It is casual and very local, great breakfast and lunch and baked goods. They should pay me for this.

This cake is dense and moist and very lemony. I upped the juice, upped the zest, upped the recipe. There is juice and zest in the cake, juice in the glaze and juice and zest in the icing.
This is a mix of two recipes from Bon Appetit. It's two, two, two cakes in one.
Don't forget, I simplify... c= cup t=teaspoon T=Tablespoon

LEMON SOUR CREAM GLAZED ICED POUND CAKE
8-10 servings

stuff
3 c cake flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c fresh lemon juice, no bottled stuff!
2 T fresh grated lemon zest
1 c sour cream

fix
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Grease 16-cup tube pan.
Dust pan with cake flour; tap out excess flour.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
Beat in lemon juice and peel.
Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients.
Mix in sour cream.
Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

glaze stuff
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c fresh lemon juice

While the cake bakes, make the glaze.
In a small bowl mix the sugar and lemon juice together, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.

Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
Loosen around cake in pan with a butter knife etc..
Carefully turn out cake onto a rack.
Poke holes with a long skewer.
While the cake is still warm, slowly spoon or brush glaze over it letting it soak into cake.

icing stuff
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2-3 T fresh lemon juice, more or less as desired
1 T fresh grated lemon zest

This is just a basic icing.
After the cake has been glazed and cooled, mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until it is the tart/sweet blend that you want and has a smooth consistency.
Drizzle over the cake.

No I didn't wait till it was cool. It was just a little warm. A little warm and icing means drippy icing and not pretty picture. I don't care, it tasted perfect.

Make this, it will not disappoint.

Dorkiness and Impatience

tNo recipe, just dorkiness and impatience.

I love spaghetti with a good marinara and parmigiano reggiano, but no meat. Since Bethany moved out I have lost my movie buddy and fellow pasta eater.

So, excitedly I made pasta last night. So excitedly. The sauce is simmering, the water is bubbling, I am grating. Ooohhh. The plastic wrap is being ripped into the cheese which in my bliss I fail to notice. I am loving every bite. What? I am spitting pieces of plastic. 8 of them. Not so excited now.

Anyone else ever do this?

Thank goodness it was not for guests. Augh!

Baked Pears In Cream

I think I prefer baked pears to baked apples. The taste is a little more delicate. Lighter. I know I like my pear crisp better than apple crisp. And yes I will make it, but another time seeing as I only have 2 pears on hand. This is from one of the Silver Palate cookbooks, either the red or the white one, regular or Good Times, I can't remember because I tore out what I liked best and tossed the rest. I saved a lot so really I may as well have just kept the books then I could even tell you which book.

And now I can't find the actual recipe but I think I have it right. Why did I throw out those books again? Oh regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few too mention...yes it's from Frank.

Okay this is so simple, so fattening but light, and oh so good. Which means yay, who cares, and yum.
4 ingredients.

And do use d'anjou pears, they really work the best, not too firm, not too mush, and great flavor. These are nice because the most work is peeling and coring the pears so it doesn't take much time away from family or friends and they really are nice enough for company.

BAKED PEARS WITH CREAM
From the Silver Palate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

D'anjou pears, ripe, 1 per person
Butter
Sugar
Cream, yes the good stuff - heavy

Peel the pears, cut in half and core them.
Place them in a single layer, cut side down, in a baking dish to fit how many you are making.
Sprinkle 1 T sugar per pear on top.
Add 1 T butter per pear to pan.
Bake for 20 minutes, basting a few times.
Remove from oven and add 2 T cream per pear.
Bake for 15-20 minutes more, basting again, until the cream is bubbling and thick.
Set pears on serving plates.
Use an immersion blender or regular blender to smooth the sauce if you like, then pour sauce over pears.

If your pears are large or you would like this a little sweeter or more sauce then double the sugar, butter and cream amounts.
You could add a little scraped vanilla bean or vanilla sugar, or a little cinnamon if you like in the beginning.
If you want the cream thicker, remove the pears to serving plates and put the cream back in the oven for a few minutes.
The pears are perfect on their own and don't need ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate, rasberries or caramel etc. but who am I to put limits on you?


Show me love now.

Oh yeah. When it is just me, I lick the sauce.

Scone, Scon, Scoon

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Have you ever noticed, Amber, that the only difference between "think" and "thank" is one letter?

I haven't decided what that means, but it's got to be absolutely HUGE.
Tallyho, The Universe

Two words you just don't want to leave home without, Amber."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I have been receiving these emails for a few years now and I adore them. They arrive M-F and have put a smile on my face so many times. They are free, so if you like this, here is the link and they do keep your info private.

I think I will be thankful today.

I have a half pint of heavy cream in the refrigerator with todays date and I have the day off and the sun is shining. 3 things to be thankful for at this very moment, wow. So what to make with heavy cream? Scones of course. Duh.


This came from Design Crush which got it from yumsugar which evidently modified it from Baking Bites. There. I think I covered everyone. Anyway, of course it is February in the North Hemi and not much is in season so I used dried apricots instead of fresh figs or strawberries in the recipe and of course heavy cream instead of milk. Again...Duh.

Yumsugar had the best title for scones..."Everybody must get Scones". Imagine Bob Dylan singing at your breakfast table. That would be way too cool.
'But I would not be so all alone. Everybody must get sconed'.
Ha ha.

DRIED APRICOT & GOAT CHEESE SCONES

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
4-6 t sugar
1/3 c butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 c heavy cream, 1/2 & 1/2 or milk
1/2 c crumbled goat cheese
3/4 c dried apricots, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the crumbled goat cheese in the freezer, this keeps it from becoming too mushed and blended when mixed in.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Gently add in butter and toss to coat.
Place the flour/butter mixture in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Using your finger tips, crush the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles crumbles.
Add about 1/2 cup cream and stir gently, adding additional cream if necessary, until dough comes together into a slightly sticky ball.
Mix the apricots and goat cheese in gently by hand.

For a more traditional scone shape, place dough on prepared baking sheet and press down into a disc that is about 1-inch thick.
Lightly brush the top with cream.
Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 6 or 8 triangles.


Separate slightly on the parchment covered baking pan, giving them room to spread, and place pan in the oven.


Bake for 15-20 minutes, until scones are light gold on top.
Let cool on a wire rack before serving.
Scones can be served warm or at room temperature.
Or...For a drop biscuit-like form, make 2-inch balls of dough, placed on the cookie and flattened to 1-inch thickness.
Makes 12 drop-style scones.


I only made 1/2 the above recipe because it is just me, and yes I could eat the whole thing butt... yes that is how I meant to spell it.

Thankful for...
3 children
Sophie
3 sisters
1 brother, finally
1 dad
2 moms
girlfriends
sunshine, storms, stars, moonlight, light, dark, wind, stillness, clouds, air, water
days off, a job

Dinner For One (me)

Cooking for one. It is a reminder that I am alone.

Nobody loves me.
Everybody hates me.
Might as well just eat worms.
Long thin skinny ones.
Big fat juicy ones.

How is that for self pity?
But ha ha. I have control of the remote.
Actually, Sophie thinks I am cooking for her. Yes, slow cooked roast pork for one fat fluffy dog, and maybe a few little bits for the lady who pays the bills.

I miss cooking for a family, sitting at the table together, talking about the day. Of course that was before they were teenagers and their eyes were on a bungee cord roll to the back of their heads. I don't know, maybe they weren't being disrespectful, may all 3 of my children had seizures starting at age 13, and Turrets too obviously from what came out of their mouths. Okay, I don't miss that part of being a family so much. Just when they were younger and sweet and thought I was wonderful. I was wonderful. Who but a mom works all day, comes home, handles homework, laundry, baths, cooks a warm dinner and still loves to read bedtime stories?
To all of you who are raising a family...God bless you for all you do with selfless love and through utter exhaustion. One day your teenagers will love you again.

Now, what's for dinner?
Slow roasted pork shoulder with carrots, onions, celery and garlic.
Then it becomes pork ragout with soft polenta. Mmmm.
The basic recipe came from Fine Cooking, but 7 lbs of meat is a bit much and I didn't have any wine. "Gasp"some of you are thinking. Or garlic. Now I am gasping. So slow roast pork ala Amber.

This is soooo good. It takes a little time, but it isn't difficult at all. The ragout and polenta are for 2, which leaves plenty of roast pork for other things.

ROAST PORK AND VEGETABLES

325 degrees for 3 hours
2 lb pork loin with some fat
lots of salt and fresh ground pepper and whatever dried herbs sound good

Then cut meat into 4 hunks
Add around the meat
cut in 1/2" - 1" pieces, 1 carrot, 2 celery stalks, 1/2 yellow onion, 3 cloves garlic
roast 1 hour more

Break up meat with forks (not shredded)
Add
6 large mushrooms cut in 1/2" - 1" pieces
1 c chicken stalk
place meat on top to keep juices in vegies
roast 30 minutes more

Done! Carmelized, brown and tender with vegetables that are just done.

Okay, now the good part.

POLENTA

in a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil on med-hi heat
1 c milk
1 c water

add
3/4 t salt

whisk in slowly until it begins to thicken, 1-3 minutes
1/2 c polenta
Reduce heat to low so the polenta slowly bubbles, cook until tender and no longer gritty, 20 minutes, whisking and adding a little milk or stock to keep it soft as desired

add
1/8-1/4 c Rarmigiano Reggiano grated
1/2 T butter

season with salt to taste

While this is simmering, make the Ragout

RAGOUT

In a saute pan over medium heat add
1 T olive oil

Then add and cook 3-5 minutes
1 tomato, diced
1 clove of garlic, chopped

Add and cook until sauce is reduced by half
3 c roasted pork and vegetables
1 c chicken broth

Add and toss
Salt and pepper to taste
1 T butter
1/4 c chopped fresh italian parsley

To plate
Spoon 1/2 of cooked polenta onto plate
Then top with ragout


Warm and yummy and comforting!

LATE TUESDAYS WITH DORIE

I work in a supermarket, have for 30 years, 2 months and 26 days. No, I am not kidding. Why do I know this you ask? Because I have worked there 30 years, 2 months and 26 days. If you ask me in the middle of my shift I can also give you hours, minutes and seconds. No one should work at a job for that long.

Anyways, Thanksgiving through Christmas and New Years kicks our butts. By Christmas Eve, most of the women I work with just want a bubble bath, a huge glass of wine and a soft quiet bed. Screw Santa.

I can't believe I just said that.

So I am catching up on baking, photos, sanity, etc. now. Tuesdays with Dorie forgive me please.

I have my cravings when it comes to sweets. Chocolate is always at the very tip top of the list. Always. Did I say always? Things without chocolate better include the good stuff: butter, caramel, nuts, cream or fruit. When I saw the title 'Buttery Jam Cookies' the word 'buttery' saved this cookie from being discarded into 'cookie recipe hell'.

Now, are these supposed to be pretty? I am not very good at pretty evidently because mine are just sort of there. Blah. They were easy enough to throw together. Maybe throw is my problem. Are you supposed to love the dough, be one with the dough?

I used a blueberry/cherry jam from Sarabeths Kitchen. Great jams if you can find them though they are pricey. In the recipe it says to add the jam to the mix. Hmm...

Okay, you know what?
These cookies sucked!


And...........................Scene!