Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so this is supposed to be wordless (hence the title) but since it's my first, I thought I'd give a little intro. I'm going rogue here and wording all over this Wordless Wednesday. 

Apparently all over the World Wide Web bloggers participate in something called 'Wordless Wednesday," which basically means they post a picture, maybe with a title or caption, but no story (on Wednesdays). Since I've been incredibly busy lately, I think a Wordless Wednesday is exactly what the doctor ordered. And Amanda hasn't sent me the photos I took her on camera that I need for a post about Evan's birthday.

So, without further ado, this (sort of) Wordless Wednesday is inspired by my dear friend V, who kicked ass in the Boston Marathon, then whipped up an amazing batch of Cake Balls (a silly delicious little confection she discovered on Bakerella.com).

Forgive Me For I Have Sinned

...It has been three days since my last confection.

Awhile ago, my friend Chelsea and I purchased a Groupon for... CHEESECAKES! Six mini cheesecakes (for a killer deal) from The Confectional at Pike Place Market. On Saturday, we finally cashed in on the good stuff. 6 mini cheesecakes + 4 people = major stomach aches. Maybe I'm a masochist, because I think it was worth it!

We had the amazing chocolate coconut cherry - by far my favorite. Dense and rich chocolate cheesecake, studded with tart cherries and bits of sweet coconut.

Chocolate Peanut Butter: If this is what sinning looks like, then I confess. This fudgy sinful treat was Evan's favorite (he said he actually had a dream about it last night).

White Chocolate Raspberry is the shop's most popular flavor, and Anthony and Chelsea's favorite.

I'm more of a chocolate gal myself though, and favored the choco-peanut butter, chocolate coconut cherry, and this rich, creamy, bad boy, the mochaccino.

That lovely little gem up front with the nut, that's the super sweet caramel. Almost too sweet (even for me)! But... maybe that's because we were eating 6 cheesecakes at once?

And last, unphotographed, but certainly not least, we had the classic Seattle's New York. Light and creamy, slightly lemony, it rounded out the collection of confections just perfectly... as every 6th cheesecake should.


 

Easter Made for Three

I usually spend Easter with Evan's family, but Amanda was around this year, so we decided to spend the day together cooking, eating, hunting eggs, and watching movies. We invited LB over as well, and had a simple little Easter made for three.

Lovely centerpieces double as Easter gifts

We started off the day with fruit and yogurt parfaits.

To me, nothing says 'spring,' and therefore Easter, like asparagus... simply prepared with a spritz of lemon juice and a nutty cheese.

Amanda makes the BEST ham ever. Looks the most delicious pulled pork ever, right? Well, it's sweet, tender, amazing pulled ham. The ham (my) dreams are made of.

The full meal deal: ham, asparagus, garlic-rosemary smashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits with rosemary sea salt and rosemary honey butter, and deviled Easter eggs.

Dessert, however, was the real show stopper.

Pavlova with creamy lemon curd and berries.

A lovely finish to a lovely day.

Totally Baked

Amanda and I got totally baked on Sunday. And by that, I mean we baked our little hearts out. She came over, we put on a pot of coffee, and made two delicious recipes, neither one ours.

First off, I volunteered to test a recipe on Food 52, an Editor’s Pick candidate. I picked Anise Biscotti. I’ve actually had anise biscotti a number of times. Amanda will be annoyed about this… but I have an insane memory.... and right now, that memory is taking me back to a box of homemade anise biscotti that our cousin Colette’s mother-in-law made the first time we met her. She also brought me a Barbie that I named Claire because she looked like the main character Claire in “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle”… a movie I probably should not have been watching at that age. And, speaking of Claires, the second time I had anise biscotti was when my friend Claire made a batch for a college cookie exchange. It’s crazy the way things tie together sometimes.

Anyway, with these licoricie cookie memories dancing in my head, I jumped at the chance to try out Bread and Beta’s Anise Biscotti. I was a little nervous at first… the recipe was way different than any other biscotti recipes I’ve made. Instead of a firm dough, the mixture resulted in a loose batter that was poured into a cake pan. And the amount of anise it called for… a teaspoon and a half of extract, and tablespoon of crushed seeds! That’s a lot of strong anise flavoring in one little batter bowl! We were skeptical; we thought the recipe would flop. Luckily, we were wrong! The measurements were absolutely perfect for just the right amount of not-too-sweet flavor, and just the right crunchy-on-the-outside but soft and crumbly-on-the-inside texture. Evan especially liked them, and I’m sure John will too when he gets them in the mail for his Easter birthday (shh, don’t tell him).

Up next, with biscotti down, we had one Reine De Saba to go. You may remember the Reine De Saba—Julia Child’s delicious almond chocolate cake—from such posts as this one. Amanda made it for Bastille day, and I devoured it for Bastille day (you can see a picture of the cake in mid-devoured-state in the Bastille post). On Sunday, I needed a French dessert to take to book club, since we had read a French book. When in doubt on the French food front, just ask yourself “WWJD: What Would Julia Do?” I asked her, and she said to make her delicious Queen of Sheba cake.

I don’t know what happened at the end of that French book, I didn’t finish it…but I definitely finished that cake… finished off every last slice that was left at the end. Oh yeah, it was also really fun to make! I used Bon Appetit's adaptation of the recipe... get to it, bake that cake... and try to share it with friends, even though you'll want to eat the whole thing by yourself.

On Monday morning, I was so baked-out from Sunday goodies that I actually turned down a cookie run with coworkers. I think that means it was a good weekend... the best kind, really.

Out Like a Lion

Biscuit the Lioness

I don’t know if spring came in like a lamb or a lion this year. In Seattle, the spring weather has been changing drastically by the day! One day it’s a record breaking heat wave with shorts and flip flops, and the next its 48 degrees, grey, and pouring. All I know is that I’m stoked for spring to be here, especially with the abundance of tasty, fresh treats it brings! With spring comes many food-related wonders: ham at Easter, fresh asparagus, flower shaped sugar cookies, colorful eggs, lamb…wait, lamb!?

Yep, that’s right. Apparently lamb is the very definition of spring for some people. Some people just can’t get enough of the stuff. I however, am not one of those people. Until I started dating Evan, I had never tried lamb. Then, the first family event I went to with him, I was horrified. The main course… was lamb. Cute, fuzzy, white, little lamb. I tried the smallest of all small bites. The next time I went, I tried a bigger bite. I eventually got to the point where I tasted his lamb and beef gyro at Aladdin’s Gyro Hut. But alas, that’s about as far as that went. With the strong, unfamiliar, gamey flavor, and pictures of darling little fuzzy wuzzies in my head, I couldn’t get past just a bite or two.

As someone who professes to love food, I think this might be a big no-no. Lamb. I mean… chefs and foodies alike love that shit. Last summer, shortly after I started this little blog, a friend asked if I wanted to have food challenges on my blog… like say, a friendly competition, or people proposing a secret ingredient—Iron Chef style—for me to turn into something awesome. His challenge, however, was lamb. I sat on it. I sat on it for almost a year. Until a few days ago, when Food 52 also challenged me with lamb.

There comes a time in every young woman’s life when she must rise to the occasion, and take the challenge. The lamb challenge. I stood up, put on my armor, drew my sword, and looked my challenger in its’ cute fuzzy little face, and then I kicked it’s fleecy, white-as-snow ass. Presenting: the mythical and glorious Perseus Burger.

Perseus was a mythic hero of Greek mythology famed for defeating various monsters of epic proportions. Up until a few nights ago, lamb was my monster. This Greek-inspired lamb burger is sort of an intro course into cooking and eating lamb... it's simple, and has a lot of amazing flavors that meld together to ease even the wariest of lamb-eaters through their first or second lamb experience. Mixed with ground beef, herbs, and spices, and topped with zingy tzatziki, the lamb actually tastes…good! It’s juicy and not over-powering in flavor, but really does have more depth than a solid beef burger. Evan says he’ll never go back to ‘normal burgers.’ I’ve created a new monster.

With the Perseus Burger in your line-up you can take down any beast, be it lamb or lion.

Perseus Burgers
Serves 4-6

Burgers:
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1.5 teaspoons Hyssop*
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon paprika (not sweet)
salt/pepper
4-6 tablespoons crumbled feta
olive oil
4-6 buns (I used ciabatta type rolls)
Tzatziki sauce (recipe below)
sliced tomato, red onion, fresh spinach, and sliced black olives for garnish

Mix together lamb, beef, onion, garlic, parsley, hyssop, oregano, paprika, and s&p until well combined. (*Israeli Hyssop is an herb that is mixed into a powdery blend w/olive oil, sesame seeds, and often other spices. I got this Olia brand hyssop from a friend! )

Separate meat mixture into 4-6 balls, depending on how big you and your guests want the burgers (I made one biggun, 2 medium, and 2 small.) To stuff with feta: flatten into a pretty flat oblong shape, and add about a tablespoon of feta to half. Fold the other half over, squish to seal the edges, and flatten to desired patty flatness. I like mine more patty shaped, less ball shaped. Put patties on plate, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch more hyssop, paprika, s&p.

Light BBQ and brush grill with olive oil. Grill burgers, turning once, for about 10 minutes total- until desired doneness. Grill buns. On bottom half of bun, make a bed of spinach and olives for burger, add burger, and top with red onion, tomato, and tzatziki! Savor your first delicious bite, because you just showed that lamb who's boss!

Tzatziki:
1/2 seedless cucumber- peeled
2 cloves garlic- minced
1 teaspoon each salt & pepper
1 teaspoon paprika (not sweet)
1/2-3/4 cup crumbled feta
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons chopped mint
juice from half a lemon

Grate cucumber and squeeze out then discard excess liquid. Whisk to combine all ingredients. Serve with delicious lamburgers and Greek fries!

Eggcellent

Eggs are better with cumin seeds! There I said it, whew. I’ve been thinking it for awhile, but hadn’t cooked up something pretty enough using the combo to share with you. But I just can’t sit on this any longer. This hen has got to get off the nest, because you need to know the truth. You need to add cumin seeds to your eggs. Now.

I’m surprised I didn’t think of it myself, because I cook a lot of eggs (which is crazy, since I hated eggs up until a few years ago), and I love cumin. But alas, I’m not the genius behind the egg-cumin love match. This gal is. Shayma on Food 52 posted a recipe for 'Khagina': Aromatic Scrambled Eggs the Afghani / Pakistani way. I’ll admit it, I’ve never actually made the full recipe. But I have used the recipe’s technique for toasting cumin seeds in butter and sautéed onions, until amazingly aromatic, before adding eggs to the skillet. O.M.G. Seriously… I sort of can’t imagine scrambling eggs without cumin from here on out. Eggs without cumin? Get outta here! Seriously, get out of here, get some eggs and cumin, and get busy.

Eventually, when all the stars align and I magically have all the ingredients for khagina, I’ll make the dish that started it all. But until then, I’ll be satisfied with a little toasted cumin in any (and every) scrambled egg I make.

Inner Stallion

I’m not Italian. I didn’t grow up eating fancy pastas, tortas, or tiramisus... our pasta was spaetzle or mac n' cheese, our tortas were huckleberry pies, and our tiramisus were German chocolate cakes with coconut pecan frosting. Italian just wasn’t our thing. I don’t even really like going to Italian restaurants that much… I mean, I can boil some pasta and throw some marinara on it myself. Evan’s part Italian, but he doesn’t really even like pasta.

I’m starting to realize, however, that there’s a lot more to Italian than spaghetti, chicken fettuccini, and fist-pumping members of the Jersey Shore cast. I’m starting to understand what good Italian cooking is all about. I like the idea of simple, fresh ingredients, with little fuss but a lot of flavor. The more I learn, the more I like it. Italian food, I mean… not the Jersey Shore.

It was this new found appreciation of the simplicity in Italian cuisine that helped me come up with a new risotto recipe…which is so good it almost had me pumping the ol’ fist a little bit. I made a margherita risotto with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. Apparently red, green, and white ingredients (representing the Italian flag) make something “Margherita.” It was fresh, flavorful, and what I like to think basic Italian food should taste like.

And then… because I can’t just leave well enough alone, I decided to go a little crazy with my new love of Italian—making a honey ricotta gelato with honeyed almonds. At this rate, I’ll be tanning, poufing my hair, and pumping my fist at the club before you know it.

Eat your heart out, Snooki.


Margherita Risotto

3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white onion- diced
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 garlic cloves- minced
1 cup Arborio rice
1 cup chopped tomatoes (fresh or good quality canned)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Shredded parmesan and chopped basil for topping


Warm chicken broth in a saucepan, keep on low heat. Heat oil and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat- add onions, black pepper to taste, and oregano and sauté until onions are softened. Add garlic and sauté until softened and fragrant (about 3 minutes). Add rice and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes (and natural amount of juices, but not excess juice if you used canned) and basil- stir in.


Ladle in 1 cup simmering broth and cook, stirring, until absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next. Continue until rice is tender and creamy, 16 to 18 minutes. (Add water or more broth to simmering saucepan if more liquid is needed). Stir in mozzarella, and serve topped with parmesan and additional basil!