this old thang?? kristin's strawberry cheesequake mini masterpieces

kristin made these little guys, a strawberry version of the mini cheesequakes, for her coworker's b-day.  by the looks of them, they could be straight out of a cooking mag, because they are just so pretty.  Pretty tasting as well, I'm sure.  Photography courtesy of Elof Meat-Cheese-Meat-Cheese Peitso.

Oh yes we can, I know we can can

If you can't make it to the Bordeaux region of France, but CAN make it to Honoré Artisan Bakery for a Saturday morning coffee and a canelé treat, I highly recommend it. If you want a little baking project, these are sweet and taste like a mixture between cake and baked pudding. Or baked cake soaked in pudding.

Canelés with Cardamom Crème Anglaise


2 cups milk
3 tbsp. salted butter, diced
1 vanilla bean, split
¾ cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup rum


Yields about 20 canelés.


Cardamom Crème Anglaise


1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 cardamom pods
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup white sugar


To prepare the cardamom cream…Start by boiling the milk with the cardamom pods. Filter it. Mix together the egg yolks and sugar until very white. Add to the milk, stirring constantly. Place on heat again and slowing thicken the preparation without making it boil. It thickens slowly. Make sure mixture doesn't boil. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.


To prepare the canelés…Combine the milk, butter and vanilla in a medium saucepan, and bring to a simmer. In the meantime, combine the flour and sugar in a medium mixing-bowl. Separate the eggs in another, smaller bowl, and beat yolks gently. When the milk mixture starts to simmer, remove from heat, take out the vanilla pod if using, and set it aside.


Pour the yolks all at once into the flour mixture (don't stir yet), pour in the milk mixture, and whisk until well combined and a little frothy. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod, and return the seeds and pod to the mixture. Add the rum and whisk well. Let cool to room temperature on the counter, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.


The next day, preheat the oven to 480° F. Remove the batter from the fridge: and whisk until blended. Pour into silicon molds, filling them almost to the top. Put into the oven to bake for 20 minutes, then (without opening the oven door) lower the heat to 400° F and bake for another 40 to 60 minutes. The canelés are ready when the bottoms are a very dark brown, but not burnt. If you feel they are darkening too fast, cover the molds with a piece of parchment paper.


Unmold onto a cooling rack (wait for about ten minutes first if you're using silicon molds or they will collapse a little) and let cool completely before eating.

moving week. not COOKING week.

excited to soon be all done moving and start settling in. my favorite thing is this one random green door.

plum kuchen

This plum cake is something my mom makes towards the end of summer or early in the fall, when plums are in full bloom. Before she made it, my Grandma Marce made it for us on her summer visits. This recipe is sweeter and more cake like than I remember their's ever being. If that's what you're into, it's perfect.

Consider this version more of a dessert item, like a cakey-cobbler, than a grab-n-go breakfast item. I had some leftover blueberries that I threw into the mix as well, but plums are all you need. Oh yes, and kuchen is the German word for cake. Much better than kaka, which is what they call it in Sweden.

PLUM KUCHEN
From Gourmet

2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105–110°F)

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

1 cup sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain yogurt at room temperature

1 large egg, warmed in shell in warm water five minutes

1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened, divided

3/4 pound firm-ripe plums (about 4 small), halved and pitted

Stir together yeast and warm water in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Add two cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, zest, and vanilla to yeast mixture and mix at medium-low speed 1 minute. Beat in one stick of the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Beat at medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny, about five minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.) Scrape down side of bowl and sprinkle dough with remaining two tablespoons flour. Cover bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Spread remaining two tablespoons butter in bottom of an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Cut each plum half into five or six slices and arrange in one layer in pan.

Stir dough until flour is incorporated, then spread evenly over plums. Loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan five minutes, then invert and unmold onto a rack to cool completely.

Serve with additional yogurt, lightly sweetened, or sweetened crème fraîche.

the big soup

a tasty soup for chilly fall days. this soup is very forgiving, making it easy to improvise and include whatever beans, grains or veggies you wish to use or have on hand.

MINESTRONE

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

3-4 celery stalks, diced

1/2 cup chopped prosciutto or ham (optional)

6 cloves garlic, diced

2 cups potatoes, chopped into cubes

salt and pepper

6 cups chicken stalk

2 cans diced tomatoes, including juices

2 cups zucchini, chopped into cubes

1/2 cup green beans

1/2 cup kidney beans

1/2 cup cannellini beans

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

Parmesan rind

1/2 cup pasta, such as ditalini or barley (optional)*

Heat the olive oil on medium heat and saute onions, carrots and celery until tender. Add in the prosciutto (or ham) and garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant and thoroughly cooked. Add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add the stock, tomatoes and Parmesan rind. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook about 30 minutes. Add the zucchini and different beans, along with the parsley. Add in the pasta and cover, cooking at a simmer until ready to serve. Serve with parsley and grated parmesan.

*Note pasta will continue to expand even during refrigeration. If you intend to eat over multiple days, add cooked pasta at serving time and store pasta separately for future servings.

living off the land, a labor of love

Labor day weekend marks the best weekend of the year to live off the bounty of the land. this is because all laborers take a break, and no one is around to cook your meals and wait on you hand and foot. to commemorate this day we caught a few crabs, Dan caught a salmon and then we ate what we caught.


the prize-winning salmon

if you extend your arm so that the fish is closer to the camera, it makes the fish look bigger. that's why this fish looks so huge.

crabs from the crab pots

crabs cooking in a pot on the BBQ

LEMON DILL SALMON

Sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. worcesterschire

juice of half a lemon

2 tsp. dried dill

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Mix all of these ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

for the fish:

olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1-2 lbs. salmon fillets

salt and pepper

juice of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After you've prepared the sauce, drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a glass baking dish, and cover with sliced onions. Place salmon fillets on the bed of onions, salt and pepper fish, and then cover fish with the juice of half a lemon. Spread the salmon with a light layer of the sauce mix, and then sprinkle with additional dill for garnish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until fish is opaque. Serve fish alongside the baked onions.

this pie sweats...so you don't have to

this was my first endeavor with a making a lemon meringue pie, and i made it for corey moran's birthday dessert. it was pure deliciousness. gotta love the lemon. i really really love the lemon. i think this is my new favorite. and now that i know that this isn't such a high maintenance pie after all, and that i can turn egg whites into stiff peaks while i'm watching tv (thanks to the kitchenaid), we are in trouble. i want to make it everyday.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE
(Courtesy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

1 flaky pie crust (out of the freezer section or homemade)
1 cup granulated sugar
salt
boiling water
4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons grated or minced lemon zest
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

In saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Gradually add hot water, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks to temper, then return to hot mixture. Bring back to boiling and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add butter and lemon zest. Slowly add lemon juice, mixing well. Pour into pastry shell. Spread meringue over filling to the edges. Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool before cutting, best served cool.