Raspberry Shortcake with Lemon Curd

Our Easter this year was a more quiet celebration--but no less fun or tasty.  For dinner, I roasted a chicken with some oranges and scallions.  There was also sauteed tofu with ginger and honey, mashed potatoes, carrots, deviled eggs, and a spinach salad.  And then for dessert, mostly after finding what are apparently elusive at Whole Foods this week--fresh raspberries (though clearly I've bought a lot lately)--I made raspberry shortcakes with lemon curd.  Flaky, slightly sweet biscuits were layered with chantilly cream, lemon curd, and then piled with raspberries.  It's hard to go wrong with that combination really.

Thanksgiving Catch-Up

I've now recovered sufficiently from Thanksgiving to say a little about the non-dessert foods we had. The thing with Thanksgiving foods, though, is that the menu is fairly predictable--which is both good and bad. I always have a long list of things to try, but I don't want to (or can't) take out one of the regulars, and there's already a lot of food. I'm not sure how people do different themes every year, though I appreciate the creativity. The turkey was about 14 lbs--more than enough for our group of 11, which included vegetarians. It's resting on a bed of cilantro, well, because why not? Plus, three of us each bought big bunches of it. Everything else is vegetarian-friendly, save for the gravy.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thanksgiving Just Desserts

After the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and squash, there's not always a lot of room for dessert on Thanksgiving. Still, I usually make three or four pies and cakes so we can have choices. But this year, thinking more is better, and having more people over, I made seven desserts. Yes, seven--it's not like I made 19 pies or anything. From front to back, we had classic apple pie, raspberry key lime tart, pumpkin chiffon pie, carrot cake, chocolate-cranberry-pecan pie, apple crumble cake, and mocha buttercrunch pie. Possibly it was too much ... but I don't think so. One day later, and there's not too much left.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! Our table was very full and happy this year, with lots of family, friends and food. The main meal is pretty traditional, including roast turkey, Mom's famous stuffing, mountains of mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash, and homemade cranberry-orange sauce. However, my focus was on making the desserts. We had four desserts this year--and sadly, now only slivers of these remain.

Cheddar-apple pie, with lots of cheddar cheese mixed into the crust

 

Salted caramel banana pudding tart

 

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

 

Pumpkin chiffon pie

Rosh Hoshanah

Happy New Year! This year, with a mid-week Rosh Hoshanah, I kept things fairly simple, though still very flavorful. We had chicken roasted with honey and wine, rosemary potatoes, and honey-glazed carrots. For dessert, I baked an apple layer cake -- I made it like a carrot cake but with apples and a slightly cinnamony cream cheese frosting. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vacation Food

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Carrot Cake Birthday

Happy birthday to my sister! For her cake I made a simple but delicious carrot cake. I skipped the pineapple that some people seem to love, but flavored the cake with lots of cinnamon, ginger, and finely chopped pecans. And I covered it with cream cheese frosting, of course.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicken Tagine with Tomatoes and Honey

We're in Morocco tonight, at least for dinner. We had djaj matisha mesla, or chicken with tomatoes and honey, rice pilaf with almonds, carrot salad, and spinach with raisins and pine nuts. The chicken was cooked with onions, tomatoes, saffron, ginger, and cinnamon til the mixture was a thick, caramelized sauce. Honey was added, and the whole thing was topped with toasted almonds and sesame seeds. All of the recipes, except for the rice, come from Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Cupcake in the Oven

For a baby shower today, I made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The basis was the Barefoot Contessa's carrot cake cupcake recipe, but I played around with it a bit, adding more spices and brown sugar, among other things. I topped the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (a different one from the recipe), and then stood lemon shortbread cookies on top of that. For around the platter, I made chocolate-dipped strawberries and sprinkled a few raspberries around, too. Strawberries with white and dark chocolate

Coriander-Crusted Pork Loin with Rice Pilaf and Sweet n' Spicy Roast Vegetables

I saw this meal featured in the current issue of Fine Cooking and decided to try it. Week night? Why not? -- and for all that this sounds involved, it can be done during the week, though it would be great for entertaining, too. I've liked Ellie Krieger's recipes in the past, and these were no exception. As usual, I made a few changes to the recipes -- some out of necessity and some just because. I didn't have any red peppers, so I left them out of the roasted vegetables, which I actually think I wouldn't have liked as much if I had put the peppers in (for all that I love red peppers.) I also used maple syrup instead of honey. The rice pilaf was pretty straightforward, though I used white rice instead of brown, but the overall result was very, very flavorful. Definitely let the rice get nice and toasty in the pan before you add the water; it tasted nutty even before I added the walnuts at the end. For the pork, I used a loin vs. a tenderloin, so the cooking times were a little different, but the end result was super flavorful--and it even converted a declared non-lover of pork to the other (white meat) side.

Pumpkin Curry with Chicken

Some nights just nothing in the fridge seems appealing, not even a bowl of cereal is what I want. Tonight was one of those nights, so I started digging around in the cupboard, and this curry is what evolved. I combined one can of coconut milk with about a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste and some freshly grated ginger, and then added about a cup of pumpkin puree, two diced carrots, and maybe a tablespoon of fish sauce. This all cooked down for a few minutes, and then I added six boneless skinless chicken thighs, each cut into six pieces, some chicken broth, and a little brown sugar. This all simmered for 2o-30 min., and then I adjusted to taste with lime juice and soy sauce, and served the whole lot over gingered rice.

Carroty Cupcakes for Spring

Carrot cake cupcakes to mark the beginning of Spring. The batter is filled with grated carrots and chopped walnuts as well as warming spices like cinnamon and freshly grated ginger, all balanced by the cool sweetness of the cream cheese icing.