mulberryshoots
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver
March 23, 2017
“freshness from the grocery store!” . . .
This morning, I went to the store to pick up a couple of things for dinner: at the fish counter, there were some very fresh looking large shrimp (13-15.) I bought eight of them to make shrimp tempura for supper.
I’ll do the pre-preparation (shelling, cleaning and scoring the inner circle of each shrimp) this afternoon, and use the rice cooker to produce a warm batch of jasmine rice. To round it out, I’ll saute some farmstand baby spinach that I bought yesterday with a couple of garlic cloves.
sweet potato, zucchini, shrimp tempura
The dipping sauce I make for the shrimp includes hoisin sauce, soy and a dab of ketchup and sesame oil. Maybe I’ll make some zucchini and sweet potato tempura slices too. We’ll see.
But what I’m writing this post about is an idea I haven’t done for quite awhile now – which is to make a mixed fruit salad to have on hand in the fridge for snacking or dessert. Organic strawberries, blueberries and fresh pineapple went together in a bowl with some stevia and fresh lemon zest/juice. It smelled so fresh and appetizing – and it was a nice nod towards the beginning of the growing season here in New England.
March 21, 2017
“peach purse” for dessert! . . .
to serve warmed up tonight – with vanilla ice cream!
Recently, I’ve been looking for easier ways to cook yummy dishes without fussing so much. Yesterday, I saw some frozen peach slices in the freezer section of the grocery store and thought how much fun it might be to make a peach pastry for dessert, even though it’s just the beginning of March and fresh peaches are still something we look forward to in mid-summer.
I’ve also been experimenting recently with frozen puff pastry – using it to top a homemade leftover chicken pot pie instead of standard pastry, for example – it looks so fantastic puffed up when you take it out of the oven!
chicken pot pie with cut out vents on top of puff pastry & added on top as decoration!
So today after lunch, I defrosted a small packet of frozen peaches into a mixing bowl, tossed it with 1/4 cup each of flour and sugar; 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Mixed all the dry ingredients together and then with the peaches. The puff pastry thawed along with the peaches.
I looked at the sheet of puff pastry and rolled it out slightly on all edges. Then, I decided to place the peach mixture on the diagonal. Before I closed up the peach “pocket,” I put a few dots of cold butter into the peach mixture, and squeezed a small piece of lemon over the peaches. I had originally planned to make a triangle but as I started to fold the puff pastry, the ends overlapped into a sort of pocket with the ends folded over. I pinched the pastry seams together and swabbed the whole thing with a little beaten egg and water. Sprinkled the pocket with sugar and cinnamon before placing on a buttered baking sheet and slid it into a 400 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes.
Checked it at about 25 minutes and it was already golden brown almost all over. Back in for another 5 minutes, I thought. It’s cooling now on the breadboard and looks pretty appetizing to serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream tonight.
This is the first time I’ve used frozen peaches rather than fresh ones. There’s also a peach with mixed berries in the frozen section that I might try next time. This dessert was really easy to put together and the warming aroma wafting through the kitchen made this a special first day of Spring!
March 7, 2017
chicken pot pie with puff pastry! . . .
Earlier this week we had roast cornish hen with stuffing. Because we prefer dark meat, I saved the breast meat to make a chicken pot pie this weekend. So, this morning, I heated up a skillet and melted some unsalted butter, chopped and sauteed some onion, celery hearts with leaves, carrot and potato. Simmered the vegetables in stock while I deboned the cornish hen meat and cut it into pieces.
To the aromatic vegetables, I added the chicken, diced potatoes, chicken broth and put on the lid. After twenty minutes, I made a roux of butter, flour and milk in another pan and gently folded it into the stew mix, and let it bubble for another twenty minutes. I then let it cool.
Near dinnertime, I folded in a cup of peas from the freezer (because they sometimes get overcooked and hard); spread the chicken pot pie mixture into an oval white porcelain baking dish (buttered,) and rolled out a puff pastry piece to fit the oval shape. I then cut a design into the pastry and crimped the edges inside the edge of the dish, covering the edges with aluminum foil so they wouldn’t burn.
I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and put the pie in to cook; after 20 minutes, it was bubbling but the crust looked flat and raw on top of the casserole. So, I increased the oven heat to 425 degrees, took the aluminum foil off and baked the pie for another fifteen minutes. When I peeked at it, it had puffed up and was a golden, bubbly brown. SO BEAUTIFUL!! I turned the heat down to 200 degrees to keep it risen and bubbly until right before serving. Meanwhile, I put together a salad of romaine, fresh navel orange segments, avocado and maple glazed walnuts that I dressed with vinaigrette.
We invited our downstairs neighbor to join us for supper – and cleaned up the entire chicken pot pie in what seemed like just a few minutes. It worked out so well that I might try this with a beef and mushroom shepherd’s pie filling with the pie crust on top instead of mashed potatoes. It was as scrumptious tasting as it looked!
Not too bad for leftovers!
February 21, 2017
indian pudding . . .
Well, it turns out that the homemade slightly runny meyer lemon meringue pie was G.’s brother, Jim’s, favorite dessert. Today, I mentally went through my dessert rolodex from the past and remembered that one of G’s favorites was indian pudding. I don’t make it too often because it takes a long time to cook (90 minutes after stirring stovetop for 15 minutes.)
Plus, I wasn’t sure if I had all the ingredients on hand. (It’s usually a test of the pantry when it gets to be 4 p.m. and I’m scrounging around for something nice to make for either supper or dessert!) I wasn’t sure whether I had yellow corn meal but I came across some blue corn meal – which I put aside when I came upon some corn grits polenta. That should be okay, I thought. Then I didn’t have enough milk for the halved recipe but thankfully found some light cream after stirring the mixture that made the pudding more like it was meant to be. So here’s the recipe I used –
Indian Pudding:
Combine in a non-stick pot, 2 1/4 cups of whole milk, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1-2 tablespoons of dark molasses, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Cook it over low-medium heat for 15 minutes (that’s right!) stirring it constantly so it doesn’t stick. Towards the end of that time, add 1/4 stick of unsalted butter and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir until everything is thickened. This is also when I added in about a half cup of light cream because I only had about 1 3/4 cup of milk to begin with.
I buttered a low fluted white porcelain dish and folded the thickened pudding into it. I also took a pan that would hold the dish and filled it halfway with water. This would make a bain marie to cook the pudding. The recipe didn’t call for it but I didn’t think it would hurt. It’s now baking in a 325 preheated oven for 90 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and serve with cream or vanilla ice cream. Nice to reheat the pudding in the microwave so it is slightly warm before serving if it cools completely.
For dinner, I’m using the left over Ciabetta bread in the fridge which I’ve refreshed with a little spring water and warming the bread cubes in the oven before dipping them into a gruyere/swiss cheese fondue tonight for supper. Maybe I’ll make a small spinach salad with avocado and navel orange segments on the side.
I think I’m going to wait to spring the indian pudding dessert on G. not until after he’s returned from next door, helping his mother to retire for the evening – a daily ritual.
BTW, I tasted the thickened pudding bits after I filled the fluted baking dish with the bulk of it. They tasted divine! Can’t wait to see how it is when it’s finished baking.
Postscript: This Indian pudding (which does turn out to be my husband’s favorite dessert) had a texture closer to a cake than a pudding. I think that this was due to using corn grits polenta (which is all I had on hand) rather than regular cornmeal plus perhaps not enough milk might have accounted for this.
If you want to try it yourself, either use this recipe, please note these changes in milk and cornmeal. It might be more like an indian pudding than my little corncake. With freshly whipped cream on it, it was very tasty.
February 18, 2017
meyer lemon meringue pie! . . .
Since today is Saturday and G.’s out on tunings for the afternoon, I harkened back to an inspiration that I had the other night – a lemon meringue pie which I didn’t have enough time to make. Turns out also that as a substitute for cream of tartar in the spice cabinet, you can add a little fresh lemon juice as an alternative.
So after lunch today, I took out my batch of meyer lemons, made lemon zest on the microplane and squeezed half a cup of fresh meyer lemon juice. This is the same proportion of zest and juice that I use in making key lime pie (but with limes, of course) but the zest and the fresh juice make all the difference.
I separated 4 eggs and removed the little bubble of white egg stuff from the yolks and from the whites which I kept in a separate stainless bowl to whip up later. Put 3 tablespoons of butter into the microwave to melt to add along with the lemon juice and zest.
Into a clean pan, I heated up a cup and a half of granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of corn starch and a cup and a half of distilled water. This mixture thickened after a few minutes of constant stirring. I added a little of it into the stirred egg yolks, then added it back into the mixture, making sure that the mixture was mixed well with a small hand whisk, mixing until well combined. The pan was off the heat for the egg yolk combining – added the melted butter, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, mixing well but gently.
With a whipping attachment on the hand mixer, I beat the egg whites, adding six scant tablespoons of sugar gradually and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (to replace the cream of tartar) until it was thick and stood up on its own.
Meanwhile, the prepared pie crust had been baking for about 12 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Lightly browned, I poured the warm filling into the pie crust. Then, I scooped up the meringue and made swirls on to the pie, making sure the egg whites extended to the crust.
Back into the 400 degree oven for about eight minutes until the meringue was lightly browned. Can’t wait for G. to see it – and for us to enjoy it for dessert tonight!
P.S. the lemon custard was a little runny when we cut the pie to take some next door. It was still warm and had been sitting on the table since it was taken out of the oven. I put it in the fridge to chill and by evening, the filling stayed in place – and the pie was delicious!
February 17, 2017
(almost) instant dessert when you don’t have any . . .
So tonight, we had pizza for dinner. Yep, courtesy of Papa Gino’s! I had a late appointment so stopped by and picked up three large slices of pizza. It was tasty. Afterwards, I asked G. what we might have for dessert? Hah!
I decided to make something that took a minimum of effort and would be tasty. Plus, the ingredients all had to be on hand. I thought about making a lemon meringue pie, believe it or not, because I have a bunch of Meyer lemons in the fridge. I know that was a crazy idea, especially since it takes a lot of effort to make the lemon filling – plus you had to beat up all those egg whites to make the meringue after the lemon filling had baked. Plus, I didn’t think I could lay my hands on cream of tartar required to make the meringue stay up which was probably somewhere in the spice cupboard but I didn’t know where, offhand.
So, I decided to make shortbread cookies, cutting a recipe in half so that all the ingredients would fit into my mini-Cuisinart processor:
1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar (confectioners or fine granulated), 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. water and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Cut up into small pieces, 1 stick of chilled unsalted butter. Whir the little processor engine, back and forth until the mixture comes together. I dumped it out on a piece of aluminum foil, patted it down into the thickness I would use to cut out the cookies, using my little square cutter with crimped edges. I put the foil wrapped dough into the fridge to chill for half an hour. I’ll use my antique meat fork to make pretty pin pricks into the cookies before baking.
When G. goes across the street to help his 98-year old mother get ready to retire for the evening, I figured I’ll take the dough out, bake the cookies at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, sprinkle with a dusting of sugar, and they’ll be ready to have for dessert when he returns.
So, there’s my idea for a quickie home-made-from-scratch-dessert with the least amount of effort, ever! Bon appetit!
February 14, 2017
valentine brownies! . . .
still warm from the oven!
My husband and I are of an age where we like to keep things simple when holidays arise (except for Christmas!) So, this morning, I looked around our pantry and found an unopened bar of unsweetened Baker’s chocolate, organic sugar and best of all, a batch of macadamia nuts! I thought that making a batch of brownies with macadamia nuts might be a special treat for this sweethearts’ celebration day.
The recipe I used was the one on the back of the Baker’s unsweetened chocolate box except that I had already melted two sticks of unsalted butter on the stove. To it, I added the whole bar of chocolate to melt; then two cups of organic sugar and three extra-large eggs, beaten into the warm mixture, one at a time. A teaspoon of Maldon salt and a teaspoon of vanilla went into the brownie mixture – and then, I coarsely chopped a cup of macadamia nuts which I added after folding in a cup and a fourth of flour. I have a favorite oval fluted white porcelain baking pan that was the perfect size for this batch of goodies. Into a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes.
To keep things simple but still delicious after the brownies are out of the oven, I’m heading out to our local seafood shop to pick up some Maine crabmeat for do-it-yourself sliders. There’s a half of a butternut squash that will roast in the oven and be combined to make a butternut soup to go along with the crabmeat rolls, coleslaw – and macadamia brownies for dessert!
Plus, we don’t have to get in the car, drive to a restaurant but instead can look forward to relaxing at our own kitchen table tonight.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!
January 23, 2017
“salad nirvana”! . . .
It’s not often that a new taste treat enters our habit of eating simply most of the time. Last year, it was truffle salt, an inexpensive condiment from the San Francisco company that has a fragrant umami taste and is divine on soft-boiled eggs for breakfast. It’s also delicious on many dishes and roasts!
For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, my daughters gave me two graceful dark bottles of oil and vinegar from the Cape Ann Olive Oil Company, located in Cape Ann New England – (often confused with Cape Cod, but surrounded by the towns of Gloucester and Rockport.)
One was a bottle of walnut oil and the other was a bottle of fig balsamic vinegar. I placed them carefully on my stove top with my own olive oil and looked forward to trying them out. January has gotten away from me but tonight, I decided to try it out on a butter lettuce, avocado and navel orange salad. I used 1 tablespoon of fig vinegar, 3 tablespoons of walnut oil, a clove of crushed garlic, a tip of a spoon of sweetener and a half teaspoon of Poupon Dijon country mustard. I whisked it together as usual, amalgamating the dark syrupy vinegar and the walnut oil.
Tasted it.
Well, you have to get some and try it on your own because I can’t describe in words how wonderfully delicious it is. It’s slightly sweet with a deep flavor of ripe figs. It’s smooth with the subtle taste of walnuts along with the crackle of mustard and garlic in it. Heaven!
I looked online and found the Cape Ann Olive Oil Company to reassure myself that I would be able to replenish my supply – and also to let you know where you may order some to try yourselves!
January 15, 2017
macro-bowl #3 . . .
So tonight, we’re branching out a little bit – from the two previous macro-bowls with freshly cooked brown/sweet rice. Instead, I’m going to cook a batch of cellophane noodles added to ground pork, soy and cooking sherry. Green onions and a little chicken broth to help it all meld together. This recipe is known as “ants crawling up a tree” – but don’t ask me why. All I know is that it’s a tasty dish that we enjoy.
At the same time that’s simmering on the stove as it cooks down, pieces of cut up chicken thighs marinated in Korean Bulgogi barbecue sauce are broiling in the oven. In a small skillet, some zucchini squash is pan fried to round out the one-bowl meal.
[“Ants crawling up a tree:” Soak cellphane noodles in warm water until soft. Cut into smaller pieces with a knife. Marinate a quarter cup of ground fresh pork with soy, cooking sherry and a spoonful of cornstarch. Mix well – (the cornstarch will tenderize the pork as it cooks.) Cut up a stalk or two of green onions. Heat up some vegetable oil in a skillet; brown the ground pork and separate. Add more soy, sherry and chicken broth until well mixed. Cook until all liquid is absorbed.]
mulberryshoots 