Since I've Been Gone

Finally! After moving a month ago, we finally have the internet up and running. Since I wasn't able to blog stalk regularly, I actually had to crack open a cook book. Just a few pictures of what's been coming out of the kitchen until I can elaborate:

Flour-less Chocolate Cookies

Arugula/Cheddar Stuffed Chicken with Hand-cut Fries

Chocolate-Raspberry Souffle with Vanilla Ice Cream

Sauteed Tofu with Chili-Garlic Slaw and Rice Noodles

Black Truffle we harvested from our new yard and will sell for $100,000! No? Ok, a really weird...fungi(?) growing near Lake Tradition.

A Coconut Cake For No Particular Occasion

This weekend I finally broke down and bought the necessary 9" cake pans for a three layer cake I've been stalking from Cooking Light. It may have been that it incorporated a whole coconut, the water and flesh.

It's also the part that proved to be most time consuming. If anyone has tips on shaving the flesh of a coconut, please share! After successfully hammering (literally with a hammer and nail) three holes into the coconut, I drained a cup of water that was used for the cake batter, which also includes:
3 C cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 C sugar
2/3 C butter
1 C warm coconut water
1 tsp vanilla
6 lg. egg whites
Preheat oven to 350. Coat 3 cake pans with nonstick spray. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Place 1.5 C plus 2 tbsp sugar in large bowl, combine with butter and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture and coconut water. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 2 tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter, pour into pans. Bake 18-20 minutes.

The frosting is Italian meringue which I was on the fence about. It came out to sort of a marshmallow consistency. It made for a lighter cake, which I suppose isn't surprising considering the recipe is from Cooking Light.

Frosting:
Combine 4 lg egg whites with 1/4tsp cream of tartar and a pinch of salt in large bowl. Beat until foamy. Add 2 tbsp sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Combine 1 1/4 C sugar with 1/4 water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Slowly pour the hot syrup over the egg whites, beat for about 8 minutes until frosting has cooled. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla. Toast the shaved coconut you slaved over with a dull blade. Frost and layer cakes.


Sprinkle cake with coconut, but not the stuff you burnt until it blackened, oops.

Cut and enjoy! P.S.-if you're wondering what to do with the TEN egg yolks, try this.

Lemon Rissoto with Shrimp

Although risotto is typically made with a super starchy rice, I didn't have any on hand. Hence, the introduction of basmati brown rice pilaf. I've been a little (ok, a lot) apprehensive towards making risotto. It gets a bad reputation for being so hands on, the constant need to be stirred and tended to and the ease of making fatal mistakes. Or so I hear. I started by sauteing a shallot and lemon zest in a tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons butter. Next, added 2 cups rice and half a cup of chicken broth.

Constantly stir over medium-low heat, continue to add broth, half a cup at a time (total of 3 cups). Cook until it has absorbed and becomes creamy. Since it's lacking in the starch department, it does not become as creamy so a splash of cream or milk is helpful.
Saute shrimp with lemon and olive oil.

Add shrimp to risotto(ish).

Is it just me or did the creamy texture of the risotto just beg for a poached egg? No? Just me.

Egg Obssession

For some reason James and I have been on an egg kick lately. Actually, James is always on an egg kick, I just recently joined. Every time I browse recipes I find myself mentally adding a poached egg on top. In fact, I recently coddled an egg for the first time. Stuffed peppers are not a new concept and quite honestly, they have never really excited me. Can you see where this is going? A pepper, a tomato, really any vessel that can adequately bake with an egg inside will do. Look! We hollowed out a pepper and tomato.

Then added a little pesto and dropped in an egg.

Sprinkle with fresh Parmesan and pepper-add bacon (optional).

Bake at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

Don't overcook it like we did, unless you want the yoke to set completely.
Bon Appetit! More egg recipes coming soon!

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mint Cream

I've never made a souffle, not to mention a souffle cupcake, but this recipe managed to draw me in without an intimidating list of ingredients or massive time consumption. It could have something to do with my new kitchen accessory, an electric beater. Now I can tackle the recipes that require excessive egg beating without breaking a sweat, seriously though, you try making those egg whites stiff using only a whisk and those biceps. This recipe combines the genius of Bon Appetit and Deb.


Cupcakes: (I got almost12)
6 ounces of semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Godiva)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) espresso or instant coffee powder (Yay Starbucks Via!)
3 large eggs, separated
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan. Combine chocolate, butter and espresso powder together in a medium saucepan over low heat until mostly melted, then remove from the heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth.

Beat egg yolks (with your new, or old, electric mixer) and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, 2-ish minutes. Lightly beat chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract, into yolk mixture. Clean and dry the beaters, than beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Slowly add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt; beat until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 stages. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.

Bake cakes until tops are puffed with little air bubbles, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan.



Now for lovely compliment to these little chocolate pots, the white chocolate mint cream.
2 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped (again, I used Godiva)
3 ounces heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon mint extract
Maybe I was too liberal with the frosting, but this didn't provide enough cream to frost my cupcakes (that's what she said! Hah! Beat you to it.) so I improvised with just two ounces of whipping cream, two drops of mint extract and a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar. It actually made for a more structured frosting which was aesthetically pleasing. Plus, who doesn't love homemade whipped cream?

Put the chopped white chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer, pour it over the chocolate allow it to melt the chocolate. Whisk well. Add the mint extract and whisk again. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl and let it chill for two hours.



I loved these while they were still a little warm and gooey in the middle. James gave these a, meh, they're ok. The next day though, after being refrigerated over night, he loved the cool dense chocolate. Go figure.

The Great Meatfest of 2010

Sometimes hamburgers are not enough. When you don't have regular access to a grill, you have to make up for its absence. Hence: The Great Meatfest of 2010. We had cheese stuffed burgers, steak and sausage. Now that it's listed it doesn't sound so grand.

That's better.
Pair that with some of the awesome potatoes (courtesy of Kyle) and grilled asparagus and we were set! Oh, don't forget the beer.
Also, if you haven't tried sandwiching your cheese between the meat, TRY IT. After grilling, it oozes with cheesy perfection

On a side note, do not use cooking spray for photo-ops while grilling pita.

The other side took on a blackish hue...not the appetizing kind, closer to the kind that gets left on the plate because no one wants to touch. Lesson learned.
Oh, and if thought we forgot a meat-themed breakfast, think again.

To answer your question, yes, sausage was indeed added to this dish.

In Other Non-Food News

James and I got to take a couple of quick weekend trips in the last couple of months, all of which involved snow. Lucky for us because Seattle has had nothing on the snow front this winter, not a single flake.
The first stop was Leavenworth, an endearingly overdone Bavarian town 2 hours East of Seattle. We both made our first attempt at cross country skiing. For some of us *coughJAMEScough* it was the last attempt. Could be the amount of time he spent on his ass, just a theory.


Washington DC was definitely a spur of the moment trip, I think the tickets were booked a day and a half before we left. Added bonus: got to see my sister! Fail: didn't take any pictures. Grace and Kevan were wonderful hosts and I was more charmed by the city than I had expected.

Ok, just a little mention of food. It was my first experience in a Dean and Deluca. Oh. My. God. I could have spent hours just looking at all of their overpriced but probably wortheverypennyafterthefirstbite goods.

Cheese anyone?

The last trip was back home to Colorado. Pictures to come. Funny how going home makes you miss your family more. Oh, did I mention I skied? Twice? And even kind of liked it? Yep.