notes from my food diary

A few jars of lemon curd in the refrigerator will end any pursuit of happiness in winter days.  The mere mention of lemon curd conjures up an image of luscious and creamy blend of butter, eggs, and lemon juice.  Made with Meyer lemon, the curd is instantly lifted up to a higher status; it is tangy and sweet at the same time, it feels so silky in the mouth.  

My husband has begged me to make cream puffs for almost two weeks, it’s one of his favorites pastries.  I finally had the time to make a special one, the one with the lemon curd in the puffs.  I prefer to make at least 2 batches of lemon curd and store in the refrigerator because I’m sure there would be another revelation of using leftover lemon curd in the future.

Choux

Makes about 15 large puffs

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup water

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the milk, water, butter, and salt and bring to a full boil.  When the butter melts, remove the pan from the heat, add the flour all at once, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until blended.  Return the pan to medium heat and continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of pan and forms a ball.  Remove from heat and let cool for 3-4 minutes.

When the batter has cooled, place it in a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add eggs one at a time and mix at medium speed.  The mixture will separate and appear shiny after eggs are added but continue mixing until the batter becomes a smooth paste.  Let paste cool for 10 minutes before shaping.

Position 2 racks evenly in the oven, and preheat to 425 degree F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper.

Fit a pastry bag with a 5/8-inch plain tip and fill the bag with the paste.  Pipe about 1 tablespoon of paste onto a prepared pan, forming a mound about 2 inches in diameter.  Space the mounds at least 2 inches apart to allow for expansion.

Bake puffs for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degree F and continue baking until golden brown, 15-20 minutes longer.

Remove from the oven and immediately prick the side of each puff with the tip of a knife.  Return to oven, leave the door open, and allow the pastries to dry out for 10-15 minutes.  Let the pastries cool completely on the pans on wire racks before filling. 

Meyer Lemon Curd

Makes 1 1/4 cups 

Zest of 4 Meyer lemons, in wide strips

Juice of 4 Meyer lemons, strained

8 tablespoons sugar

4 large whole eggs, plus 6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup unsalted butter

In a large heatproof bowl, combine the lemon zest and juice, sugar, eggs, and butter and place over gently simmering water in a saucepan.  Whisk steadily until the sugar dissolves and the butter melts, then continue to whisk until the curd coats the back of a spoon, about 6 minutes.  Do not let the curd boil.

Remove from the heat.  With a rubber spatula, push the curd through a sieve into a clean, dry bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming.  Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap to allow steam to escape.  Refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours, or for up to 5 days.

Source:  adapted from Essentials of Baking 

I finally have time to post this after a busy week, remember this post?  These are the two dishes from Mary Ann Espositos’ new book, titled Ciao Italia Five Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen.  You should know by now that I love Italian food  When I was asked to review it the first thing that popped into my mind was that there’re only five ingredients to create a dish!  How exciting is that?  Well, I am.  Most of the time when I cook Indonesian food, the ingredients are sometimes a mile long  Not that I want to complain too much, the end result is as always delicious.  But I’m also looking for something quick and not too complicated when I cook during the weekday.  Life is busy enough with lots of activities that I think cooking is something that needs to be a bit easier, especially when I come home tired already.  What I also like about this book is that it encourages us to use good quality ingredients to achieve optimal flavor.  Plus, I think this book also represents home-cooking Italian style, something that’s very comforting to have when dinnertime comes.

I actually have tried two other recipes from the same book but I didn’t have enough time to beat the ray of light that’s fading into the west.  Those two were roast chicken with lemon and that I paired with whole wheat spaghetti with roasted vegetables, and believe me they were wonderfully delicious, you don’t need photos to proof them.  The short ingredient list and ease of preparation make the meal making was such a breeze.  This time I chose stuffed flounder with spinach and carrots and potato casserole.  The fish dish was just perfect, the ginger in the fish was a nice touch for a mild fish like flounder or dover sole.  The potato casserole was similar to scalloped potatoes but much simpler.  The addition of egg is something that I’ve never tried before with potatoes, it’s said that it is a northern Italian style cooking, but my family loved it.  I only needed to add green salad to the dinner menu and we’re all set to eat! 

Stuffed Flounder with Spinach and Carrots

Serves 4

1 pound fresh spinach, well washed

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

4 flounder fillets (about 5 to 6 ounces each)

Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

Cook the spinach, covered, without any additional water, just until the leaves wilt.  Drain and squeeze dry.  Coarsely chop the spinach and place it in a bowl.  Cook the carrots with the ginger in 2 tablespoons of the butter until the carrots begin to wilt.  Transfer them to the bowl with the spinach.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide and spread the spinach-carrot mixture on top of the fish.  Starting at the short end, roll each fillet up like a jelly roll.

Brush a casserole dish with 1 tablespoons of the remaining butter.  Add the fillets, and drizzle the tops with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

Bake the flounder for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the fish turns white and easily flaked with a fork.  Serve hot.

Potato Casserole

Serves 4 to 6

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

Brush a 12×9-inch casserole dish or 12-inch cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.

Layer the potatoes in the casserole dish, and pour the remaining melted butter over them.

Whisk the egg, milk, nutmeg, and salt and pepper together in a bowl.  Pour evenly over the potatoes.

Bake the casserole, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is browned, and a knife is easily inserted into the potatoes.  Serve hot.

Source:  Ciao Italia Five Ingredients Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen by Mary Ann Esposito.  Reprinted with permission. 

January is almost over, I couldn’t believe how fast this month has gone.  A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take these pictures for my food photography group; I considered myself lucky when there’s enough light and decent weather to shoot something during winter time in Oregon.  The theme for my group this month was Celebration and I thought to myself why not making these ice cream cone cheesecakes for the challenge.  My concept was a birthday party, perhaps for children as these were handy-sized cheesecakes for little hands, completed with primary colored tissues, a birthday card, and some candles and colored sprinkles for the cheesecakes.  

I had problems when I made these cheesecakes.  I should have gone to bigger size cones because I used smaller sized cones and one recipe yielded twice as many cheesecakes as the recipe stated.  As a result of using smaller cones, I had to wrap them in foil before stuffing them in muffin pans, their bottoms were to small to stand by themselves in the pan.  Inevitably, the cones were not as crispy when they came out of the oven.  This might happen since the foil probably acted as a barrier preventing them to become crisp.  Despite the shortcoming, my family enjoyed these small-sized cheesecakes very much.  They’re small enough that we ended up eating two at a time  

Ice Cream Cone Cheesecakes

Yield 12 mini cheesecakes

12 flat-bottomed ice cream cones—find the jumbo size instead of regular size

Filling:

3 packages (each 8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degree F.  Fill the muffin pan with ice cream cones.

To make the filling:  In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until very smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs, one a time, beating after each addition.  Scrape the bowl and beat again for 1 minute.  Fold in chocolate chips, vanilla and lemon juice by hand.

Fill each cone to about three-quarters full.  Bake in preheated oven until tops begin to brown and slightly cracked, 35 to 40 minutes.  Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 hours.  Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before decorating or serving.

If desired, top cheesecakes whipped cream (1 cup cold heavy cream beat with 1 tablespoon sugar until soft peak formed) and decorate with colored sprinkles.

Source:  adapted from The Cheesecake Bible by George Geary 

This past Christmas holiday, my parents came to visit me.  As usual when they come to town, I love to bake Indonesian cakes/desserts with my mom.  She has a wealth knowledge of difficult cakes/desserts recipes which I haven’t had time to try each one of them, lots of time the recipe is complicated enough that I need a mentor to make it.  This can be said for making Kue Lapis Legit or in English is sometimes called A Thousand Layer Cake.  Even though the layers are most likely to have less than 25 layers, it’s called that way because the layers are thin enough to appear to have thousand of layers.  "Legit" is an interesting Indonesian word, I think of it of being sweet and tender when describing a baked goods, it also implies that the texture is soft to the teeth but not mushy.  

The recipe for Kue Lapis Legit is similar to Kue Lapis Coklat which I made a long time ago because Kue Lapis Coklat is a variation of Kue Lapis Legit recipe in which the batter is divided and chocolate is added into one of the batters—hence the name Lapis Coklat.  To bake this type of cake, one originally uses a special oven that has upper heating element as well as bottom heating element.  Ideally, the upper heating element needs to be on all the time and has a constant temperature so it doesn’t burn the cake layer easily.  Here in the US, we seldom see this type of oven in everyday household so baking this cake poses certain challenges.  I have an oven that has a broil element in its top part, but the distance between the broil element and the bottom of the oven is very tight.  That is one of the reasons I don’t bake this cake very often.

The other reason is that the cake needs to be made with lots of egg yolks.  This poses another challenge on how much and how often my husband, my son, and myself could eat it.  Let’s just simply said that this is a very special cake, if there’s no celebration or a strong reason to make it, I don’t make it, period.  With that in mind, it’s no wonder that whenever my mom is here, I ask her to watch me make it.  I feel inadequate every time I make it.  Now, my mom is a wonderful mom; she’s not the one who will criticize me if I fail to produce the best cake, she merely points out gently where my mistakes are.  I would disagree with her again and again; but as if my tongue is also educated by her teaching, in the end I will agree with her, after eating several slices of the cake, that improvements are still needed to the cake.  I couldn’t be blamed squarely on the failure to produce the best of Kue Lapis Legit because I felt that the oven is just as inadequate as my practice making it  

Still, I feel that I’m very fortunate to have my mom guided me through the process of making Indonesian cakes/desserts.  I’ve compiled most of her recipes from when she took baking lessons years ago and I thought this is the best way to preserve her love to me as her daughter.  I hope some day my son would join me as a cook or a baker and he would be able to keep the tradition going.  I would forever hold on to her cherished recipes…

Believe me, what I will tell you in this post is related to food.  The strawberry is the key word here but you also have to have iPhone to reveal the secret.

Toward the end of the year I was approached by a certain person from California Strawberry Commission.  Jodi Reinman, who works in public relations for California Strawberry Commission, approached me regarding my cheese blintzes with raspberry-strawberry sauce.  She wanted to put it in an App that was developed by California Strawberry Commission.  In it there are over 50 strawberry recipes chosen from top food blogger and chefs.  I’m happy, elated, and thrilled to be among the chosen few; imagine that, me, a top food blogger?  I’m deeply honored by this opportunity and very thankful to have made that blintzes in the past.  Who knew people love blintzes that much!

Next Wednesday will be the day for the app to be launched and even though I don’t have an iPhone, hey my readers might have iPhone and I know one friend here who has an iPhone who I’ll be bugging her to download it and show it to me

Here is the formal press release from the California Strawberry Commission that was given to me today:  

FREE IPHONE STRAWBERRY RECIPE APP LAUNCHES

“STRAWBERRIES” iPhone App to View and Share 50 Strawberry Recipes  from Top Food Bloggers and Chefs

Watsonville, CA (January 13, 2009) – The California Strawberry Commission today announced the availability of the free “STRAWBERRIES” mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch users featuring more than 50 mouth-watering strawberry recipes from some of the most popular food bloggers and chefs from around the web. Individually selected for that “wow” factor, these recipes will inspire families, foodies, cooks, the health conscious and strawberry lovers everywhere to get even more creative with strawberries.

iPhone and iPod touch users can now access different strawberry recipes complete with vivid food photography and step-by-step directions to create that special dish for those around you. The free app neatly categorizes recipes under Snacks & Appetizers, Breakfast, Cocktails, Main Courses, Salads and Sweets. Recipes range from traditional favorites, such as shortcakes and pies to more exotic dishes like strawberry dumplings, salsa and ceviche.

 Individual recipes can be shared with friends, family and online networks by simply posting the recipe to Facebook or Twitter with the click of a button. Recipes can also be emailed to anyone for viewing or printing.

“I’m excited to have one of my recipes included in this app because I enjoy sharing my passion for cooking that goes all the way back to when I was in the fourth grade,” said Michael Ruhlman, food writer and blogger behind Ruhlman.com. “This is a great way to further inspire people to recognize the importance and ease of preparing good and healthy food in their own kitchens.”

Strawberries are among the healthiest and most delicious foods in the world and the STRAWBERRIES app demonstrates the varieties of ways people can enjoy them. This app is ideal for a mom looking for a snack that will delight her kids and husband, a college student looking for something impressive to bring to a party, or for anyone just trying to figure out how to get more strawberries into their daily diets.

“As the nation’s leading producer of strawberries it’s exciting to see the passion that people of all ages have for strawberries when it comes to eating them – and cooking with them,” said Mark Murai, President, California Strawberry Commission. “This app was created to help people easily share some of that passion and to help people learn new ways to eat strawberries. We appreciate all the great cooks and bloggers who contributed their recipes to help us do that.”

Strawberry Recipe App Features:

·        Over 50 recipes, categorized by dish type

·        Share recipes on Twitter, Facebook and email

·        Access nutrition information

·        View recipe photos, ingredients and preparation information

·        Connect with California Strawberry Commission on Facebook, Twitter and the web

Availability

The Strawberries app for the iPhone and iPod touch is available immediately as a free download at the Apple iTunes Store. Click here to download: http://bit.ly/8LANJo

More Information on California Strawberries:

·        Become a fan of California strawberries at www.facebook.com/castrawberries for recipes and interesting facts and information relevant to strawberries and nutrition.

·        Twitter: Follow us http://www.Twitter.com/CAstrawberries.

·        Visit the California Strawberry Commission  to get additional information.

About the California Strawberry Commission

The California Strawberry Commission is a state government agency that represents an industry of more than 500 growers and 60 shippers and processors of California strawberries. With a focus on food safety education, Commission strategies also include production and nutrition research, trade relations, public policy and marketing communications.

For more information, contact the California Strawberry Commission at 831-724-1301.