Amaretto Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis

This cheesecake was a special request. But after searching and searching I couldn't find a recipe I liked, so I adapted a Dorie Greenspan recipe. It was a fantastic success. Keith has raved about steaming cheesecakes before like Dorie does in this recipe, but this was the first time I'd done it. I'll never go back to baking cheesecake again.


For the Crust:

1 ½ c. graham crackers crumbs
3 T. sugar
a pinch of salt
½ c. ground almonds
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the bottom of a 9" spring form with two layers of heavy aluminum foil. Mix the dry ingredients in a shallow bowl and then pour melted butter over. Mix thoroughly until damp and then press into the spring form pan going half way up the sides. Bake the crust for ten minutes until lightly browned. Cool, then wrap and freeze while preparing the rest of the cheesecake.

For the Cheesecake:

2 lbs. cream cheese (4 8-oz. packets), room temp.
1 1/3 c. sugar
½ t. salt
1 ½ t. pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temp.
1 c. sour cream
1/3 c. minus 2 T. heavy cream
2 T. amaretto
½ t. pure almond extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put a kettle on the stove to boil.

With a stand mixer use a paddle mixer, and beat the cream cheese at medium speed until soft and creamy, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and then continue to beat for another 4 minutes, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract. Add the eggs one by one, beating a full minute in between each one. Reduce speed and mix in the sour cream, amaretto, and heavy cream. Pour the mixture into the crust and then place in a large roasting pan. Fill half way up the side of the spring form pan with boiling water and place in the oven. Bake the cheesecake for 1½ hours. Turn the oven off and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Let the cheesecake sit for another hour. Then carefully remove the whole contraption, take out the pan, and remove the foil. Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature, then cover with saran wrap and chill in the refrigerator. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Raspberry Coulis:

2 c. frozen raspberries
1-2 t. lemon juice
sugar to taste
2 t. cornstarch

Cook down the raspberries; then strain the berries through a fine sieve. Return strained berries to pan and add lemon juice and sugar to taste. Put cornstarch in a separate bowl and add just enough water to make a thin paste. Slowly stir into the raspberries until slightly thickened. Chill until serving time.

Bird's Nest Cupcakes for Spring

I've been on a cupcake kick lately. So on a lazy Saturday this month, I spent most of the afternoon frosting cupcakes. These are lemon flavored, but really any white cake and frosting would work. The fun part here is really the decoration.



Lemon Cupcakes:

2 ¼ c. cake flour
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
1 ¼ c. whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ c. sugar
2 t. grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp.
½ t. pure lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 22 muffin cups with cupcake papers.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Whisk together the milk and the eggs whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 3 minutes. Beat in extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, then add half of the eggs whites and milk, alternating until all added. Then give the batter a good 2 minutes of beating, and divide among the cupcake papers. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.


Lemon Meringue Frosting:

½ c. sugar
2 large egg whites
1 ½ sticks butter (6 tablespoons), at room temp.
2 T. fresh lemon juice
½ t. pure vanilla extract

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
44 jordan almonds

Put the sugar and the egg whites in a double boiler, and place over medium heat. Whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. It should look like glossy marshmallow cream.

Transfer to a mixer, and beat on high speed with a whisk attachment until cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to a paddle attachment and then add butter in pieces until fully incorporated. Then bean 6 to 10 minutes until very smooth. On medium speed beat in lemon juice and the vanilla extract. Place a piece of saran wrap over the frosting until ready to use.

Toast the coconut on a baking sheet in a 300 degree oven until lightly brown, about 8 minutes. Use a folk to stir the coconut every few minutes to get an even toasting. Let cool completely before using.


To Decorate:

Spread a generous amount of frosting on the cupcakes, mounding it higher around the edge. Press toasted coconut into the soft frosting, completely coating it. Place a couple Jordan almonds into the depression in the center.

and...

Pecan Praline Cupcakes
In February I made these cupcakes for my sister-in-law's birthday. I used a white cake recipe, topped them with a melted brown sugar icing, and candied pecans.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Lavender & Polenta

Made this delicious salad and it's a definite keeper :)

4 chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups polenta

3 3/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup butter

spinach

small tomatoes

pecans

feta

Marinade fro chicken:

dried lavender

2 tsp grated orange rind

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp chopped fresh marjoram

(mix together and spread on chicken. leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes)

Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add polenta and cook on low heat 3-4 minutes, until thick stirring continuously. Spead into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Let cook until hard. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Heat butter in frying pan and cook cubes until golden brown. Also grill or broil chicken. 

Serve chicken and polenta over a bead of spinach topped with tomatoes, pecans and feta. 

Portabello Marinade (10 min or less)

Ok, here goes my first attempt at recipeeeez! This has been adapted from Colleen's veggie cookbook... The marinade can be strong (salt from miso and sour from balsamic) if you are eyeballin' the ingredient amounts, so be careful and dilute with water if necessary.
3-4 portos
2 tbsp Miso Paste
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp water
Optional depending on desired flavor is grated garlic, ginger, or pepper to taste.

Add the portos to a gallon ziploc, then add the above ingredients after mixing separately in a bowl. Seal the bag almost all the way, but leave a small space to blow into. Inflate the bag (a la, Franzia volleyball), and gently shake for a minute. The inflated bag will keep the shroomies from crushing. heat oven to 350 degrees, and by the time the oven is warm, the marinade should be sufficiently soaked in. Lay the caps out, gills up, on a cookie sheet and cook for around 10 min (depends on how cooked you like your mushies.

You cant go wrong with this and it is really easy and quick to make, though not very appetizing looking unless you can figure out something to put it on/garnish. (parsley anyone?)

No Knead Bread

I blatantly stole this recipe from my cousin Erik, who deserves much of the credit for perfecting the technique. This recipe is EASY, and on a given batch you probably do 15 minutes of actual work; the rest is just rise time, temperature and equipment. The bread has the good, springy texture of artisan bread complete with the big gas bubbles. I have had great results letting the dough rise 24 hours (my house is about 65 degrees F) and you could let it rise for up to 36 hours, depending on the the temperature. A longer rise time will typically yield stronger flavors, and this is part of the reason the bread is tastier than plain ol' white bread. I baked mine in a dutch oven and sprinkled on cornmeal, which makes for a spiffy crust. The recipe doesn't mention, but I usually wet the towels to hold in moisture. I also like a bit crispier crust so I bake the bread out of the dutch oven and right on the rack for the last 5-10 minutes. Think that's it. Enjoy!



Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street BakeryTime: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.


Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Olive apricot and pistachio quinoa

I tweaked a Martha Stewart couscous recipe and it was really good. I used quinoa instead of couscous and upped the apricots, olives, pistachios and added feta. Its a great mixture of flavors, i was really pleased with how it came out.

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

½ cup dried apricots chopped

½ cup green olives chopped

1/3 cup pistachios chopped

juice for ½ a lemon

feta

 

cook quinoa until mostly done. Add apricots an olives and continue to cook. When finished, mix in pistachios and lemon juice. Serve topped with feta J

Lard; Why are we so afraid of it?

 LARD...dun dun dun. Who cooks with lard? "I don't want all that fat going straight to my ass... talk about a a heart attack waiting to happen...I don't eat stuff like that." Sound familiar? 

Why are we all of the sudden so afraid of something our ancestors have been doing for centuries? I know that many of my favorite recipes from home call for lard... or if you are weary of animal fat you can opt for the Crisco substitute, which I always have been. But, I've got to thinking, hy is it that we look down upon traditional ways of cooking as unhealthy, and instead use processed chemically derived ingredients? 

Crisco was invented before the civil war when a soap maker James Proctar, and a candle maker William Gandle got together and invented it as a response the the monopoly that was held over lard and tallow, ingredients needed to produce their products. Scientist E.C Kayser helped them develop the science of hydrogenation which changes oils into solids, creating a lard-like substance.  It wasn't until 1911, that Procter & Gamble realized they could turn a profit by introducing Crisco into the public for cooking and baking. It was marketed under the slogan "A healthier alternative to cooking with animal fats...and more economical than butter". It was an amazing marketing scheme that demonized lard forever.  As we now know, Crisco is not healthier than other forms of fat, and hydrogenated oil has been found to increase heart disease because our bodies have a hard time processing the man made chemical  structure.

Despite all the new information about hydrogenated oils and transfats, people still seem scared of the one thing that should be the least threatening, the traditional way. Lard is all natural and worked just fine for generation after generation before we decided that we can create something better (which obviously didn't work). How disconnected from our food and our traditions have we become? How can we believe it is more healthy to put chemically altered substances in our bodies as opposed to something natural?

A couple weeks ago I made bizcochitos the traditional way...and they were delicious!