Du'in It in the Kitchen » seasonal

Strawberries take the Short Cupcake!

Du — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:09:13 +0000

Strawberry Short-Cupcake

It’s strawberry season… so I’ve been told. I forget every year until I start seeing strawberries everywhere and I’m drawn to them by their hypnotic aroma. Yes… the aroma tends to put me in another realm and I forget where I am.

Since I’ve been in a cupcake haze the last few weeks and exploring different types of filled ones, it’s only natural I would focus on what’s in season… but what kind of filling? I thought about making a strawberry-rhubarb but couldn’t find any rhubarb…. so good ol’ strawberry it is!!

I researched different white cakes and found they all looked pretty similar. I compared a recipe by Martha Stewart and another site… I can’t for the life of me remember where where the “Classic White Cake” recipe came from because they all are alike, with variations on the amount of sugar…

I wanted to make mini cupcakes… the recipe I found made three 9″ layers, so I roughly adjusted it down to 25%… but the measurements are exact. For the filling, I decided to make up my own recipe. I chose a vanilla meringue buttercream as it is much lighter than a traditional buttercream and adapted it from an online recipe credited to Martha Stewart.

Mini Strawberry Short-Cupcakes (makes 24 minis)

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

3 oz whole milk

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

Whisk together egg whites, milk, vanilla and almond extracts in a small bowl and in another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat butter until for about 1 minute, then slowly add sugar while continuing to mix until incorporated. Continue beating until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes with a stand mixer and several minutes with a hand mixer. With the use of a hand mixer… it was not getting “light and fluffy” so I added a about a 1/4 of the egg-milk mixture (this seemed to work). Scrape down bowl.

Alternate flour mixture and egg-milk mixture until fully incorporated, scraping down bowl as needed. Batter will be very thick.

Scoop batter into cupcake liners, about 3/4 full. Place in center of oven, middle rack. Bake 12 – 13 minutes. Test with cake tester until it comes out clean and tops will be springy. Cool on wire rack.

Strawberry Filling (makes 1 cup – enough for 24 mini cupcakes)

8 oz strawberries, washed and hulled

¼ cup evaporated cane sugar

juice from ¼ lemon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons cold water

1 rounded teaspoon of cornstarch

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Chop and mash strawberries into large chunks in a medium bowl. Mix in lemon juice, sugar and vanilla.

Place strawberry mixture in medium saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Stir in cornstarch/water thoroughly and bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to maintain.

Stir occasionally. At this point, the mixture will have a milky quality. When sauce begins to thicken and become clear, keep on low boil for additional minute.

Remove from heat and stir in butter until fully incorporated.

Set aside and allow to cool completely before using. Store in sealed container in fridge until ready to use.

Vanilla Meringue Buttercream

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated cane sugar

2 sticks room temperature unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium heat proof bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar and place over pan filled with water (making sure bowl does not touch the water). While continuing to whisk, heat egg mixture over simmering water until sugar is completely dissolved. I did not have a candy thermometer but mixture was warm to touch and no grittiness felt between finger when finger were dipped in mixture. Remove from heat.

Beat egg mixture on high speed until it holds a stiff peak. With my hand mixer, it never really formed a stiff peak – more like a pliable hill. After 20 minutes and holding the mixer, I moved on to the next step.

On a medium speed, begin adding butter a little at a time, fully incorporating before adding more butter. Frosting began to come together almost immediately. When all the butter has been added, beat in vanilla and continue beating until smooth, light and fluffy. Use immediately or store in airtight container in fridge. Will keep about 3 days.

filling the cupcake

ready to frost

To assemble cupcakes

Using a small knife, carefully cut a hole in the top of each cupcake, removing tops and set aside. Take the handle part of the spoon, gently scoop out some of the cake to accomodate the filling. Fill each cupcake with filling, using a spoon and replace tops. Frost with buttercream or pipe it with a large size tip. Eat or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Herb Roasted Lamb

Du — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:00:36 +0000

I think the only time I eat lamb is at Easter. It’s not that I don’t think of it – I associate it with Easter as it’s pretty much the only time my mother made it. Occasionally though, she would make a lamb stew…

This is so simple. You can serve it with roasted potatoes or mashed. I like a green veggie and chose asparagus, simply because it looked good in the grocery store. I made gravy from the drippings, flour, a splash of red wine, some water and seasoned with salt and pepper. It would have been better had I used stock but… you make du with whatcha got!

Herb Roasted Lamb

3 – 4 lb boneless, shoulder lamb roasted

Herb Roasted Lamb

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

6 -7 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

In a small food processor, combine butter, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. Rub herbed butter over roast and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Take meat out of fridge about 30 – 60 minutes before roasting.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place roast in roasting pan on lower rack on oven for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 and continuing roasting until desired doneness.

For boneless shoulder roast:

Medium rare – approx 30 – 35 minutes per pound (internal temp 140 degrees)

Medium – approx 35 – 40 minutes per pound (internal temp 155 degrees)

** for this particular roast, it took just under 90 minutes at 2.85 lbs. I meant to pull it out of the oven at 140 degrees but my quick read thermometer decided to “die” just as I was taking a reading. I sent my “man” out to get another one… he came back with a regular meat thermometer (love him – it’s the thought that counts). The roast came out at 145 degrees and after resting went up to 150. It still came out medium instead of medium rare.**

Ginger Cookie Madness

Du — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:35:29 +0000

The perfect Ginger Cookie

Some people go for the chocolate chip as their favorite cookie. For me, I have to go with a ginger cookie. Not the ginger snap mind you. While some people prefer the crispness of the snap, I love biting into a soft, chewy cookie all full of spicy goodness. As soon as it starts to get cool in the Fall, I start thinking about this cookie.

For the following recipe, I used a #00 cookie scoop and reduced the cooking time to 10 minutes, turning the cookie sheet front to back at 5 minutes.

GINGER COOKIES (adapted from Sherry Yard)

2 ½ cups unbleached, all purpose flour (I use King Arthur’s)

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks cold, unsalted butter – cut into ½” pieces

1 cup light brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 large egg, room temperature

½ cup unsulfured blackstrap molasses

1 cup sugar for coating

Sift flour and baking soda together and set aside in a bowl.

In a large bowl, cream butter on medium speed until pale yellow. Scrape down bowl and add sugar, spices and salt. Cream at medium speed, scrap down bowl.

Add egg and molasses and combine on low speed until incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Add flour mixture over low speed and mix until all ingredients are incorporated.

Remove dough from bowl and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Dough will keep in fridge about a week or 1 month in freezer.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a small scoop, roll dough into ball and coat dough in coarse sugar and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, 1” apart.

Bake on middle rack, 6 – 7 minutes, then turn baking pan 180 degrees and bake for additional 6 – 7 minutes. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

Du — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:20:07 +0000

I don’t know what it is about the cooler weather that brings to mind fruit crisps. Warm, cooked fruit with a crunchy topping makes my heart sing. Overly sweet desserts are too overwhelming to me but there’s something about the tartness of cranberries mixed with apple that’s extremely appealing.

This recipe came about because I had some apples on hand and leftover homemade Apple-Ginger Spiced Cranberry Sauce from Thanksgiving and thought – what a great combo!!!

APPLE-CRANBERRY CRISP

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

3 large apples (tart baking apples), cored, peeled and sliced

½ – ¾ cups cranberry sauce (see recipe above or use your favorite)

1 cup fresh cranberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup cane sugar

TOPPING

¾ cup rolled or quick oats

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup flour

½ cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

* extra cold pats of unsalted butter

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Toss apples with lemon juice in a large bowl then mix in sugar. Add cranberries and cranberry sauce and mix until combined. Place mixture in a greased 8 X 8 inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans and spices with a fork until combined. Slowly drizzle melted butter into dry mix while stirring with a fork until butter is incorporated into topping.

Sprinkle topping over apples and cranberries. Place in oven for 45 – 50 minutes, until apples are tender and topping is brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve while still warm – with ice cream if desired!

* for extra goodiness, place a few extra pats of butter over the topping before placing in the oven.

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Du — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:38:04 +0000

OLD FASHIONED PUMPKIN PIE

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Basic single crust pie pastry

Filling:

2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 1 15oz can of pumpkin puree)

¾ cups evaporated cane sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 – 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground or fresh nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

2 large eggs

1½ cups of half and half

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pie pastry as directed and place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Combine the sugar, salt and spices in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the eggs in a large bowl then stir in the pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture. Slowly add half and half while stirring until completely incorporated. Pour into pie shell.

Place on center oven rack. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and rotate pie, front to back. Bake an additional 40 – 45 minutes until the pie sets and a knife comes out clean when inserted in the center. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack approx 2 hours and then serve.

Basic Pie Pastry (single crust)

1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/16ths (1/2 cup)

4 – 5 Tablespoons cold water

Using a food processor, pulse dry ingredients several times to blend. Add butter and pulse several times until mixture appears pea and pebble size. Add 2 tablespoons of the water and pulse 5 – 6 times. Slowly add remaining water while pulsing dough only adding enough water until dough starts to form larger pieces.

Remove from food processor and form the dough into a flat ball and wrap with plastic. Chill at least one hour. Remove dough from refrigerator a few minutes before rolling out.

On a floured surface, carefully roll out dough into a large 13” circle, using flour as needed to prevent from stick to surface or pin. When desired size is reached, carefully fold dough in half, then quartered and place in pie pan. Carefully unfold dough and gently press into pan. Trim excess dough and form an edge (or pinch edges). Place pie pastry in freezer for 15 minutes before using.

Roasted Pumpkin Thai Soup

Du — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:02:26 +0000

2 small pie pumpkins (approx 6 – 6 ½ lbs), roasted*

Roasted Pumpkin Thai Soup

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lemongrass, finely chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cans of coconut milk (14oz each)
2 tablespoons red curry paste

3 – 4 cups water
freshly ground pepper
¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped for garnish

In a large pot, heat oil and gently cook onion, garlic and shallots with kosher salt over low heat until softened (8-10 minutes). Add ginger and lemongrass and sauté for 1 minute. Turn heat off.

Add roasted pumpkin, coconut milk, red curry paste and brown sugar, stirring until blended.

Using a stick blender, puree until smooth. Begin adding water until desired consistency. Add freshly ground pepper to taste.
Simmer over low heat, approx. 15 minutes.
Just before serving, adjust seasoning to taste and garnish each serving with cilantro.

*see previous post on roasting directions

Du’in it Local

Du — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:19:29 +0000

Farmer's Market, Union Square in NYC

The benefits of buying local produce are numerous. The most important – helping to support local farms and bring fresh, in season produce to your table. Nothing beats being able to speak to the folks that actually grow your food. Not only can you ask about their growing methods but also get the low-down on how crops are growing during the current season and a heads up for produce in the coming weeks. Your local farmer may even have a suggestion you try something new. I’ve even had the pleasure of starting up conversations with other shoppers on the various produce currently available and sharing how I used it in a recipe. At the market, everyone’s a chef.

Growing up in Southern California, we had one orange tree and enough room in the back yard to grow a small garden. We grew monster zucchini and tomatoes. The neighbors that lived behind us had an apricot tree with branches that draped over the back wall… I remember keeping an eye on the fruit, just waiting for it to drop into our yard. Much of my summer time was spent at my cousins house where they happen to have avocado, peach, nectarine, apricot and plum trees and a large garden every year.

As a child, I didn’t appreciate being able to grow your own food, tending a garden and bringing it right to your table… and now many years later, living as an adult in NYC in a small apartment with no direct sunlight, I long to have enough space to grow even a container garden on a window sill.

At least I have the next best thing – access to one of the best Farmer’s Market in the country!

To find out more about NYC’s local greenmarkets:

CENYC.org