Heidi's May Dessert Pick

So my new favorite magazine is Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. I've made three recipes from the May issue of the magazine. Below is the one that came out the best. It's a little time consuming, but that's because I wasn't really prepared that well when I made it. It was a good thing that Mike was not home that night or he would have seen the mess I made in the kitchen. Enjoy!!

Lemon Pound Cake with Candied Lemon Slices

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
Candied Lemon Slices and lemon syrup (recipe to follow)
Lemon Glaze (recipe to follow)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 (6 cup) loaf pans; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and lemon zest; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in three parts, and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

3. Divide batter between prepared pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes (tent loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Mean while, make candied lemon slices and lemon syrup.

4. Remove cakes from oven; while they're still in pans, use a wooden skewer or toothpick to poke several holes in tops. setting aside 1/4 cup lemon syrup, pour remainder over cakes. Let cakes cool completely in pans, about 2 hours. Remove from pans and place right side up on rake set over a rimmed baking sheet. Brush cakes all over with reserved syrup.

5. Prepare Lemon Glaze; pour over cakes (still on cooling rack), letting it drip down the sides. Let set, about 30 minutes. Garnish with Candied Lemon Slices.

Lemon Glaze - In a small bowl, whisk 2 cups confectioners' sugar, with 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; add up to 2 more tablespoons juice until pourable but thick. You can also use some of the lemon syrup from the Candied Lemon slices.

Candies Lemon Slices and Lemon Syrup

1 cup sugar
2 lemons, sliced 1/8 inch thick or thinner with seeds removed
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about two lemons)

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add lemon slices, and simmer very gently over medium-low heat. swirling pan occasionally, until slices are opaque throughout, 20 to 30 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer slices to a sheet of wax paper; set aside. Use Lemon Syrup in step 4 of Lemon Pound Cakes and Candied Lemon Slices in step 5.

This recipe came out really good and is worth the extra step of making the candied slices. I didn't use as much syrup as the recipe calls for, but it still came out good. I also, didn't garnish with the candied slices. Another thing I like about this recipe is that it makes two loaves. Next time I might make one loaf and than some cupcakes.

New Candy

Saturday Heidi and I went to CVS and found Neapolitan Hershey Kisses. Since this is something we never saw before we had to buy them. It is just like the ice cream flavor with all three flavors in the kiss...strawberry, vanilla and chocolate.

When I was searching the internet for a picture of the Hershey kiss above...I found a website (Candy Addict) that say the people at Reese's are coming out with a special Elvis version in July. In honor of the 30th anniversary of his death they put his favorite sandwich (deep fried banana and peanut butter) into a Reese cup. I can't wait to try it and will be searching my local CVS for them.

Kool-Aid Dill

I like to look at the NY Times Dining & Wine section every week. To see what articles they have on food and to see what recipes they are featuring. This article caught my eye about Kool-Aid Dill which are pickles made with Kool-Aid.

I took this part from the article saying how they make them:

“They’re easy to make a gallon,” Ms. Williams said. “You pull the pickles from the jar, cut them in halves, make double-strength Kool-Aid, add a pound of sugar, shake and let it sit — best in the refrigerator — for about a week. The taste takes to anything. A while back I made a mistake and bought a jar of pickle chips instead of halves or wholes. Came out fine. This whole Kool-Aid pickle thing is going so good, you wonder why somebody hasn’t put a patent on them.”

I also saw yesterday that ljcblog also wrote something about the article.

Bad Pepper Lemon Chicken :(

Yesterday I decided to try and make something new for dinner. Every once in a while we will buy one of the already made chickens from the supermarket. At the A&P near here they make a couple of different flavors but the one we like the best is the Lemon Pepper Chicken. So I decided to find a recipe that I can make with cutlets and see if it close. I found a few at allrecipes.com and decided to try the one that uses actual lemons and not the lemon pepper spice (which I don't have and didn't want to buy).

OH MY GOD it was so bad!! The recipe was written for one serving so I just increased it to the number of cutlets that I had. I saw the amount of pepper it now called for and thought....hmmm that does seem to be a lot of pepper. So I only used about half of the pepper because 1/4 cup of ground pepper is WAY TO MUCH....and about half of 1/4 cup is still WAY TO MUCH! I couldn't even eat it and I tried because I didn't want to waste it. Mike who loves to cover his food in pepper couldn't even eat it and he thought it was a lot of pepper on it.

So if I decide to try and make this recipe again...only use a very small of pepper.

Update on the Egg Rolls

On Sunday I finally baked the egg rolls I made a couple of weeks ago. I have to say they came out really good and didn't even taste like they were frozen. It was super fast to bake them and I will defiantly make these again.

The only tiny problem I had was that they stuck together a little bit. So when I separated them to put them on the baking pan holes where created. I thought a lot of juices would escape but that didn't happen. The easy fix is not to put them so close to each other...silly me. I really do think these would be prefect in mini form and would make GREAT appetizers.

Super Fudgy Brownies

So, every time Mike has to work on his truck and he says it's only going to talk an hour or two, it usually takes about three or four. So, after I went for a walk I decided to try to make the brownie recipe I read in Everyday Food magazine. I had to find out if they were really super and fudgy. Well, all I can say is yummmmmmmy!! Below is the recipe.

Ingredients

* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
* 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, remove bows from pan. Add sugar, mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture, mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Transfer, batter to prepared pan, smooth top.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Cinco de Mayo

As most of us know Saturday May 5th is Cinco de Mayo which is a national holiday in Mexico. When I think of Mexico I think of the FOOD!! I am going to make for dinner Fajitas and Margaritas.

Fajita recipe links:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/World-Cuisine/Latin-America/Mexico/Fajitas/Main.aspx
http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/searchResults?searchType=Recipe&searchString=Fajitas&site=food

Margarita Recipe links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarita
http://www.drinkboy.com/Cocktails/recipes/Margarita.html
http://www.webtender.com/cgi-bin/search?verbose=on&name=margarita

And if those links fail then we will have to “settle” for a Mike Stolfi Mike-a-rita. Which is basically a bottle of tequila and some other stuff...and no ice.

So I tried my ethnic dish...

...and have to say that I am not very happy with it. I tried an Asian Yellowfin Tuna dish. First, the recipe calls for you to create a sea salt crust on the tuna. But this made the tuna wayyyyyyyyyy too salty! If you cut off the edges of the tuna, then it was rather tasty. I also found that the sauce, while good was not great. But maybe it's because I didn't have the exact ingredients (haha) - for example, I used lemon juice instead of lime juice and white vinegar in place of rice vinegar and powdered ginger and garlic in place of fresh ginger and garlic. Needless-to-say, the ethnic dish was a wipe out. I guess I'll have to try another one, so I can add a recipe to the ethnic dishes.

I once tried making Moroccan lamb kebabs with a yogurt sauce that I had seen on Dave Lieberman's Good Deal show. It's a different taste than I'm used to (Karen tried them too), but after you get used to it (and I think it is an acquired taste), I started to like them. I think I'll try something else though, but am happy to share that recipe if anyone is interested.

Michelle's April Recipe

I receive the magazine Everyday Food in the mail each month. I really like everything about this publication and have enjoyed reading it each month. When I saw the recipe Pork Egg Rolls which looked great and looked easy to make...I decided that I had to try them. What a perfect excuse to make them but our recipe of the month Ethnic.

Overall this was a very easy recipe with easy to follow directions. The only thing I didn't like was the amount of time for prep. Next time I make this recipe I will try to get already shredded carrots and maybe shredded cabbage. I would also maybe try and use the Wonton wrappers instead of the egg roll wrappers to make mini egg rolls.

Pork Egg Roll
Serves 8
Prep Time: 45 min
Total Time: 1 hour

What You'll Need
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (I didn't have this so I used cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
6 cups (48 ounces) vegetable oil
1 napa cabbage (about 2 1/2 pounds), thinly sliced
4 medium carrots, coarsely grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pould ground pork
16 egg-roll wrappers ( 6-7 inches square)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
bottled sweet-and-sour sauce and spicy mustard, for serving

What to Do
1) In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add cabbage, carrots, garlic, and ginger; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing, until vegetables are tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

2) Raise heat to high; add pork and soy sauce mixture. Cook, tossing, until pork is no longer pink and liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes; mix in scallions. Transfer mixture to a plate to cool. Lay wrappers flat on a work surface, and assemble egg rolls.

3) In a 5-quart pot, heat remaining oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350. Working in batches of 4, and returning oil to 350 for each batch, fry egg rolls until golden, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes; drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet-and-sour sauce and spicy mustard.

Notes:
To Freeze:
Prepare egg rolls through step 2; freeze in a single layer until firm, at least 2 hours. Transfer to a resealable bag; freeze up to 3 months. To fry from frozen, increase frying time in step 3 by 3 minutes per batch.

To Bake, Not Fry (which is what I did):
If you prefer, these egg rolls can be baked. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet; place egg rolls on sheet and brush with 1/4 cup oil. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Serve with sauces. If baking from frozen, bake about 15 minutes.

April Recipes Are Due

Today is May 1st and that means that our April recipes are due today.

When I have a minute I will post my recipe Pork Egg Roll....yummy!