Family in Town - Dinner at the house

Forrest's parents, aunt, uncle, sister and brother in law were all in the city for the weekend. I seized on the opportunity to do my favorite thing, have loads of people over for dinner. Forrest suggested that we serve fish as being from rural Kansas, the variety of fish available is not as vast as it is here in costal territories. And you know me, I love an opportunity to break out the china and the serveware!

So here goes on the menu:

• Spinach Salad with Orange and Avocado
• Halibut Veracruz with Rice Pilaf and Roasted Asparagus
• Blueberry Lemon Tart

The spinach salad is one of Susi's recipes and I flippin LOVE it! The oranges add a little something extra that is wonderful. This is NOT a Chester friendly protein salad..hehe..this is too leafy green and lacking in any protein.

The dressing was made with some lemon and blood orange juice, orange and regular olive oils, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I dressed the greens, then added the oranges and avocado on top. I used 2 different types of citrus, Tangelos and Cara Cara Navels.

I found the Veracruz very interesting, it is basically a bunch of chopped up veggies and pickled items (green olives, peppers, onions, capers) sauteed with a little white wine, then pour everything on top of the fish in a baking dish and pop into the oven.

The tart....mmmmm that almost deserves it's own post.
This is another labor intensive recipe from Tartine. You have 3 different recipes of things to work with in order to build this dessert, but I'll tell ya - it is some good shiz.

There you see golden flaky and delicious pastry crust! It is a modified pie crust with sugar and eggs...making the dough a little tackier to work with but tasting a lot like shortbread. The recipe had me brush the crust with egg whites just before it finished baking in the oven to create a moisture barrier for the filling.

The filling is a "lemon chiffon" topped with fresh blueberries. "Lemon Chiffon" was basically lemon curd cut with whipped cream to make it light and fluffy. One thing to note for next time is to add a little gelatin to the filling so it sets up more, and so I can fillit higher. Additionally, I could have used another box of blueberries. I just can't believe how pretty that is.

Carrot Cupcakes

No time to post the recipe just yet...but here is a picture of the carrot cupcakes that I made for the Easter Friends Dinner. Notice the little dallop of cream cheese icing - i used my large star decorating tip :)

Easter Dinner is coming!!!

Today is Easter Sunday and while I have long stopped participating in the church portion of the day, I am still a strong supporter of the communal meal - in fact, I am a supporter of ANY reason to get a group together for a meal.

This Easter we are going with a potluck to lighten the food prep load and to involve the guests in the dinner as well. We even went out and picked up a new tablecloth and napkins for the occasion!

Menu as follows....I will post pictures and recipes of my parts later.

• Deviled Eggs
  
• Salad
• Chicken Piccata
• Mashed Yams
• Roasted Asparagus
• Carrot Cupcakes

Happy Easter

Mushroom Ravioli

I almost don't even want to write about this....that's how disappointing it was :( They were like mountainous pillows of pastry filled with portabella / ricotta filling. The filling was fabulous, but the container for the filling left MUCH to the imagination.

I think the issue was the pastry was too thick. It is amazing how tough pasta dough is and even with my toothpick buffed arms, I was unable to get the dough thin enough for pasta consistency. Next time, if there is a next time...I will borrow a pasta machine and try it again for real.

Curried Carrot Soup

Crazy for soup again!!! Above is a pot of Curried Carrot Soup. Really all you need are some cans of chicken broth in your pantry at all times to make soup happen for you. This was to make use of the last dredges of my carrot leftovers in the fridge. I added some fresh leeks from the local farmers market...sautee in a little butter, olive oil and just add chicken stock. For seasoning, I used curry powder, chili powder and some paprika do give the soup more savory depth.

Farmer's market fresh chopped leeks. It is crazy how dirty leeks are when you buy them...dirt in between all the layers. Make sure to run them through the water after you slice them up.

Happy souping!

My Favorite Pizza Toppings

There you see the finished pizza just before I cut it into pieces. I do particularly like the oblong shapes of homemade pizza. I have realized through trial and error that they key to a good homemade pizza is an extra hot oven, literally like 400-500 degrees. This will ensure a nice crisp crust and blubbling melted cheese.


Pre-oven pizza loaded up with my favorite toppings: pepperoni, mushroom and olive - YUMMY! Really you can load your pizza up with whatever you like. When it comes to pizza, I am a traditionalist and cannot bear anything but red tomato sauce and regular toppings. Chicken should NEVER be present on a pizza - can you say gross? Another great use of the dough is for calzones...next time I will make the lovely pizzaesqe pockets.

Pizza Dough Recipe:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine the water, yeast and 1 1/2 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the oil, salt and the remaining flour. Work the ingredients together with your hands or a spoon until the dough holds it shape

Knead the dough about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or dish towel and let rest until it has doubled in size (approximately 1 hour).

When dough has risen, separate into two or more parts and roll them into balls. Cover and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes...then roll out to your pizza pie making glory!

Close up of the greasy, golden and crispy goodness that is pizza. Note the use of cornmeal on the baking pan...that helps to keep it from sticking and gives it that final touch similar to restaurant pizza.

Such Lovely Oranges!

I don't know if you can read the sticker, but it says "Pink is the new orange" This is for the Cara Cara pink navel orange. I found the taste to be sweeter and mellower than the regular navel oranges. If you get the opportunity, try them for yourself.

Orange Chiffon Cake

I can't believe it but I actually make that. The picture above is of a food product that I actually made. I decided to finally attempt something out of the Tartine bakery cookbook. I was initially very excited to get the cookbook, but after reading its complex recipes I instantly shelved it. Almost 6 months later, I finally tried something.

That's a big bowl of cake batter. You have a bowl of dry ingredients, wet ingredients and a separate bowl of meringue that you add separately. First it's the dry and wet into a batter...then you fold in the meringue in stages so you can lighten up the batter, resulting in a fluffy sponge cake.

Those are the hubby's hands cutting parchment paper for the cake pans. Apparently you are not supposed to butter and flour the pans like you would with other cakes.

We took the cakes out of the oven and then went out for dinner at Chez Papa for date night (highly recommended, btw) and we came back to these lovely cooled cakes. They are kinda funny on top with their orange peel surface.

In between layers. I think that was after layer one... I even made pastry cream from the Tartine book to fill in between the cake layers with sliced strawberries. One thing I would change up is to dice the berries instead of slicing the fruit. I think kiwis would be great as well.

Viola! I am still amazed at how well it turned out! Forrest made it a point to have two slices. I found the butter cream frosting a bit too sweet but Forrest has a sweet tooth and he seemed to like it enough.

Orange Chiffon Cake

2 1/4 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
6 Egg Yolks
3/4 cup Orange Juice
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
10 Egg Whites
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
Grated Orange Zest of one orange

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and have ready a 10 inch spring form pan or two 9 inch cake pans lined with parchment paper

Sift together the flour, sugar (minus 1/4 cup), baking powder, and salt and whisk until combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks, oil, orange juice, zest and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add egg mixture and beat about one minute or until smooth.

In a separate bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold the 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter just until blended, then fold in remaining egg whites into the batter (being careful not to deflate the batter).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (When lightly pressed the cake will spring back). Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven invert the pan and place on a bottle or flat surface so it is suspended over the counter. Let the cake cool completely before removing from pan (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Sushi Spot #100 - Yoshi's

Whenever Molly comes to town, we head out for asian food as that is difficult to find in Napa County. This time, on a tip from a work friend Tiffany, we hit up Yoshi's in the Fillmore. Nothing else describes this place but, swanky. It was a little vegasy on the inside but the service, creativeness of the food and diversity of the drink menu won us over! Molly even got a little teary eyed.

Lemon Meringue Pie - Again

We meet again, my tangy friend.... This may be the 4th or 5th time I have made lemon meringue pie in the past year and it keeps getting better with all the practice. I used some meyer lemon juice this time so the filling was much mellower and creamier than before.

The meringue was the winner this week. I had been having trouble making my meringues extra fluffy so this time I used free range eggs, left the eggs out for about 4 hours and whipped them for awhile before adding any sugar. The result? Tall, fluffy meringue.

There are a number of factors there, but I think the higher protein content of the free range eggs are a big boost because higher protein levels and low water have direct meringue impact...the ability to whip air in between the molecules.

In love with a crazy fruit

Pictured above is Jaboticaba, a tropical fruit that is native to Brazil but has since been migrated to other tropical areas like Hawaii. We came across this fruit at Volcano Winery in Hawaii as they use it to blend in one of their wines.

Forrest thinks it looks gross, to see all these berries basically blooming from the trunk. I will admit that I was initially a little wierded out. It does sort of look like the tree has a parasite infestation...Imagine if we just grew babies out of our skin?!?!

But now my curiosity and fascination has completely taken over and I can't stop thinking about it. And I have discovered that the trees have been successfully migrated to CA. I can't wait to have a place with a yard so I can get one of these trees!!!

See more images here...

Baby Shower Menu

Last Sunday was Julie and Susan's baby shower. Forrest, Chester and I hosted the party and well, yours truly volunteered for the food. We had about 25 people attend with about an average of 1.5 kids per every 2 adults. Since this was an 11:00 am party, I prepared a mediterranean lunch menu that would be filling, but also easy for light nibbling.

Mediterranean Baby Shower Menu:
- Crudite with Roasted Red Pepper Dip
- Hummus
- Tzatziki (Yogurt Dip)
- Israeli Cous Cous Salad
- Chicken and Beef Souvlaki (kabobs)
- Pita Bread and Naan
- Chips, Salsa and Guac
- Devil's Food Cupcakes
- Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

I'll get to posting the individual recipes in later posts. The Magnolia's cupcake recipe has already been posted. One thing I did change was to bake the cupcakes for 15-17 minutes instead of 20-25 minutes like the recipe calls for. This resulted in a moister cupcake.