Dessert First, Please

Steve and I celebrated a fabulous Valentine's Day by taking a stab at Indian cooking. Not going to lie - our house smelled ah-mazing! But, I decided that the way to blog our dinner was by starting with the end of our evening...dessert!

I found this recipe for a Strawberry Mousse Cake Strata on Use Real Butter and knew this would be the perfect Valentine's treat. But, since Valentine's Day is nothing without hearts, hearts everywhere, I made some little extras and adjustments to the original.

A day in advance, made some chocolate hearts. I went super simple and just melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a pan. I used a little less than half a bag, but for what I needed I easily could have used less.


After the chips were good and melted, I spread the chocolate onto a baking sheet that was lined with parchment paper. I popped this into the fridge for 30-45 minutes until the chocolate was pretty solid. (Note: if you're not sure if it's done, try cutting out a small shape as a test. It will be VERY easy to tell if your chocolate is firm enough!)


Once the chocolate was firmed up, I cut out my hearts with some cookie cutters.


I think I'm a sucker for everything heart shaped...especially chocolate! I placed the hearts into a tupperware, placed parchment paper in between them so they wouldn't get stuck together, and put them in the fridge.


On Sunday morning it was time to make the cake! The recipe for the strata called for a chiffon cake. I opted to just make a white butter cake (recipe, below) because chiffon cakes call for far too many eggs and I didn't feel like blowing my supply on one cake!

Once the cakes were cooled, I popped them in the freezer for about an hour or two for them to really firm up. I then pulled them out of the freezer and grabbed one of my heart-shaped springform pans to cut out heart shaped cakes.


I got 4 hearts out of two 8-inch layers, which was all we needed. The original strata recipe has you split the layers in half which means you can get more desserts out of this, but we didn't need any more than 4.


We also didn't complain as we shoved the leftover cake into our mouths. Who doesn't love a little cake for lunch? Also, don't make the same mistake as me and line your cookie sheet with parchment before putting the cakes on there or they'll stick like crazy, ugh.


After cutting the cakes I slid them into the springform pans. These worked out perfectly in lieu of using molds. I spread strawberry preserves on top...


And then layered on the strawberry mousse that I whipped up. Then I popped these babies into the freezer. This is a great make ahead recipe because you can freeze them all day and then pull them out a little before you want to eat them.


After we fixed all of the chaos in the kitchen from our spread of chicken tikka, samosas and naan, I pulled the dessert out of the freezer, took them out of the molds and topped them with the whipped cream I had made just minutes before.


This dessert was just ammmazing. It was like eating a strawberry shortcake and the chocolate heart was an excellent edition. My mind is now wandering to the leftovers in the fridge...nom nom nom.

White Butter Cake
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1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar, divided
2 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour.

Strawberry Mousse
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Note: below is the full recipe. I divided this by half because I only made 4 individual desserts.

1 envelope gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
2 cups strawberries (sliced, or if frozen strawberries, then thawed)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan and let soak for a minute. If using frozen strawberries, use 1/4 cup of the strawberry liquid instead of water. Stir over low heat until the gelatin is dissolved (about a minute). Remove from heat.

Mix the berries, sugar, and gelatin mixture in a food processor and purée. Chill until the mixture piles in a mound when spooned. Beat the cream and sugar to soft peaks. Temper the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture (incorporate about a third of the whipped cream first). Fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

Whipped Cream
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Note: below is the full recipe. I divided this by half because I only made 4 individual desserts.

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tbsp sugar

Combine cream and sugar in mixing bowl and whip on high until soft peaks.

Assembly
Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut as many circles from the butter cake, or small springform pans that can double as molds. Place each circle of cake at the base of a 3-inch diameter ring mold (2-inches high) or springform pan. Spoon about one to two teaspoons of strawberry preserves on top of the cake and spread it evenly to the edges. Spoon strawberry mousse into each ring mold to the top. Freeze the ring molds for a couple of hours. When ready, remove ring molds from freezer and push the strata out of the mold onto serving plate. Let it come to room temperature (about 30 minutes to an hour) and top with whipped cream.

Engagement Session W's

Have I mentioned that my husband is a fantastically wonderful photographer? Well, he is! I'm supremely lucky that we have fabulous pictures documenting our whole relationship, not to mention the fact that I have a husband who watches wedding shows, looks at more wedding eye candy these days than I do, and has a high appreciation of bird cage veils.

And, quite honestly, everyone needs great pictures at different stages of your relationship. Yes, I said it - needs. Having professional pictures taken is such a great way to capture important moments and memories!

If you're thinking about taking that first step with some engagement pictures, Steve just did a fabulous post about the what, why and where of fabulous engagement sessions.

Join me in drooling over some of my favorites from his past shoots...love it!

Source: Steve Koo Photography

Source: Steve Koo Photography


Source: Steve Koo Photography

(And yes, I realize that I chose pictures that don't show any faces...I promise he takes fabulous pictures of faces, too! Go on, check it out.)

You Must Whip It

Every once in awhile (meaning on the rarest of rarest occasions) I get it into my head that I need to cook dinner in order to be a good wife. And then after a lot of planning, prep and special ingredients I end up completely flustered, frazzled and, more often than not, burnt.

I got the "be a good wife" bug a couple of weeks ago after seeing this awesome recipe for shepherd's pie. It seemed simple enough, even for this girl. Plus, I've always wanted to make shepherd's pie and since it has "pie" in the name, it's kind of like baking...right?

So I started out with some organic lean ground lamb from Whole Foods. Organic meat is worth every single penny and then some. The recipe called for 2 pounds of meat, but our Whole Foods seemed to have a shortage of ground lamb that day so we ended up with around 1.5 pounds or a little more. Which was fine, I could just cut the ratio down on everything else.



So, I cooked up the lamb - in two batches - and drained the fat. Surprisingly fatty for being "lean." I was really proud of myself at this point. Meat that appeared to be fully cooked and I didn't splatter myself with grease during the process!


Next up I cooked the onion, carrots and some tomato paste. I was a smart cook and did all of my veggie prep before I had anything on the stove so that I could concentrate step by step. I was applauding myself for stellar organizational and planning skills as I cooked away.


I then added the meat, some water, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to the pot and let it simmer. As the peas were to be added at the very end, I planned to leave them in the freezer until the last minute. Until, of course, I read that they should be thawed. Doh! But I caught my mistake early enough and got a pot on the stove to boil. Mini-crisis averted.

With everything simmering, I got started on making my potatoes (which I had been boiling while cooking the meat). So I added in my milk and butter and then re-read my recipe. Hmm. It said to simmer the meat mixture about 10 minutes until it has thickened up, but I had easily surpassed that timeframe and it still looked like soup. Remember above when I said that I had less lamb so I'd cut back a little on everything else? Well, that explains the soup.

I added a little extra flour and used a big spoon to drain off some of the liquid and it finally started to look more normal. After my peas (that I had rushed to make!) had sat in a pot for half of forever (because there were no clean strainers left), I was finally able to add them into the mix.

After all of that, isn't it pretty?


Unfortunately, not all mistakes came out with a beautiful, happy ending. Remember, by the time I had caught onto my error of quantities, I had already started the potatoes. And by started, I mean, I had already added 1 cup of milk and 6 tablespoons of friggin' butter. I had prepped less potatoes (good!) but still put in the full amount of milk and butter (bad!). Go figure.

Since the potatoes were almost pure liquid (but delightfully rich) and I was running around in a state of panic cursing myself, Steve calmly suggested we whip them in the trusty KitchenAid. Come on, sing along with me...

Now whip it
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It’s not too late
To whip it
Whip it good

And, with that, the potatoes were somewhat saved. While they weren't thick enough to pipe on beautifully, they held their own and tasted divine.

Once I had regained my sanity (a bit), I got my containers ready. The recipe called for either 8 8-ounce ramekins or 2 9-inch pie plates. I had 4 ramekins that I wanted to use, so I pulled out a 1.5 quart casserole dish from Crate & Barrel that was the perfect size.

I filled everything up with the beautiful meat and veggie mixture...



And spooned the sort of okay potatoes on top and tried my best to make them look somewhat fancy. Hmph.

About 30 minutes later in a 425 degree oven, everything was brown up and ready to go.

I won't lie to you, the smell in our house was amazing.

We busted into the casserole dish that evening and simply devoured the contents. Then, after cooling we refrigerated the ramekins and reheated them in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes a couple of nights later for dinner. The pie was even better the second time around because the potatoes browned up even more.

And, thus, I will continue to stick with baking until I see another recipe that seems too simple for even me to mess up. Le sigh. I really would like to be good at this (or at least somewhat competent), but there's just something so intimidating about cooking, with all the pots, pans, hot oil and raw meat that goes into it. Baking is just so....zen.

Shepherd's Pie

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Ingredients
2 pounds freshly ground lamb
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Coarse salt and ground pepper
10 ounces frozen peas, thawed
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a large skillet over high heat. In two batches, cook lamb until no longer pink, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer lamb to a colander set in a bowl; let fat drain off and discard.

Add 1/4 cup water to the skillet, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to medium; add onion and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour; cook, stirring, 2 minutes.

Add Worcestershire sauce, 2 cups water, and lamb. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in peas; cook 1 minute. Divide among eight 8-ounce ramekins or two 9-inch glass pie dishes.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, cover potatoes with salted water by 1 inch; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain.

In pan, bring milk and butter to a simmer; remove from heat. Return potatoes; mash. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread over pies; use a fork to make peaks. Bake on a baking sheet until tops are browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly; serve.

CB Chair Love

My dearest Crate & Barrel,

Remember me? I was meek and timid to start scanning away for registry items from you. I made lists, deliberated on quantity, cost and the usefulness of everything that popped on over to our registry. In fact, if you'll just take a peek, you'll notice that each and every item we scanned was purchased. (I told you I had a master registry plan.)

Everything except, of course, for the 4 lovely green Felix Side Chairs that you convinced me I just had to have to compliment our Span Gateleg Table (that we registered for, I might add, because you convinced me it would make our space "modern" and more flexible). You don't even show that table paired with any other chairs, so who am I to break up a family?

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Now, day in and day out, we're left with a folded up table against a wall and surrounded by a graveyard of rickety IKEA chairs. It's really quite sad.

So if you could please just do me a solid and put these chairs on sale, it would be so very appreciated. I stalk them regularly on your Web site, hoping and praying for that magical red sale price. Between a sale, my 10% registry fulfillment coupon and the $100 gift card that's burning a hole in my pocket, I might just be able to make this relationship work. I don't care that at $89.95 that these are the cheapest chairs you will probably ever have on your Web site besides lawn furniture. We're not all millionaires, ya know.

Thank you so much for considering my teensy, weensy little request. I look forward to the prompt move of the Felix Side Chairs to your sale list. Or heck, even to the Outlet if you're feelin' really crazy.

xoxo,

The Kooky Wife

Celebrating with a Little Adventure

I love, love, love giving presents - I'd be the ultimate philanthropist if I actually had any money. However, since I don't anticipate ever having oodles of money to just give away as I please, I make sure to put a lot of time and effort into gifts for my loved ones.

However because Steve's birthday is in the middle of January, I tend to be a wee bit tapped out on great ideas that will dazzle him. So, last year I decided to take him out for a total splurge dinner at a restaurant we had wanted to try (which I fully intend to blog about soon, Steve and I still talk about it a year later). This year, it only made sense to continue with tradition and hit up another great restaurant.

Since Steve had been talking non-stop about Top Chef finalist Dale Levinsky's new endeavor, Sprout, my decision of where to go was pretty easily made. Check out this article to read about how Dale ended up at Sprout and the inspiration behind his menu.

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I love that Sprout is doing a prix fixe menu but calling it an adventure. Who wouldn't love to go out to dinner and choose the adventure option? For $60 per person on weekends ($40 on weeknights) it includes a starter, main, and dessert, along with a splash of wine, a little sorbet between courses and a yummy cheese course. The weeknights adventures are cheaper because they don't include the little extras, but the little extras were totally worth it in my book.

Ok, enough details - let's dig in! (Oh, and please note: we got to the restaurant and I realized that my camera was dead - so sad! Fortunately, Sprout has so fabulous pics of their food on the Web site.)

Steve started off with the scallop, which featured corn, parsnip, sage and peanut. I really really really wanted this dish, but it was his birthday so I let him win. I had a bite, though, and it was divine. I started with a yummy veal dish, however, no pictures or description are on their site right now.

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Steve chose the rabbit for his main course, featuring celery root, chamomile, golden beet and hazelnut. Yum! We flip-flopped dishes so that we could try each other's mains.

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I had read online that the short rib was amazing, but I was still torn as to what to order. I asked our waitress for suggestions, and when I ended up choosing the short rib her eyes just lit up. I knew I had hit the entree jackpot.

The short rib was super tender, flavorful and featured mushrooms, chicory, manchengo and TRUFFLE. Well, truffle dumplings, to be exact. TO. DIE. FOR. I really could have just eaten a whole bowl of the dumplings and been a happy camper. Since it was Steve's birthday, I managed to share two of them with him before scarfing the rest down.

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No culinary adventure is complete without a cheese course, and I really don't think any cheese course could compare to Sprout's grilled cheese with sharp, aged cheddar, sauteed onions and Dijon mustard. Yummers. (And yes, you are correct - the whole top half of the sandwich is cheese that has gotten all brown and crackly in the pan, the best part!)

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Our desserts were just as good as the rest of the meal. Steve went for the chocolate option, which featured a milk chocolate (I think) mousse, a dark chocolate dipping sauce, and a cookie for dipping. I chose the lemon, which included a cherry lemon poundcake and a tart lemon filling.

We had so much fun at Sprout from start to finish. We realized we hadn't been out to dinner just the two of us since our honeymoon back in September. It felt good to splurge a little.

The truffle dumplings were hands down the highlight of the evening. The only down side to the night? While Dale came into the dining room multiple times, surveying the room like a proud parent, he did not stop by our table. Waaah. I would loved to have told him in person how great our meal was, and that he most definitely should have won Top Chef, of course. He was totally robbed.

A happy happy birthday to my wonderful husband - I will make sure every year's celebration is filled with fabulous food and wine!

For the Love of Stainless Steel

When we bought our condo a year and a half ago, even though we wanted beautiful stainless steal appliances with a French door refrigerator, we chose a place with 10-year-old, basic and boring white appliances. But, we also knew that buying new appliances one day would give us the opportunity to (hopefully) add some value to our little place.

So, we've dealt with our freezer leaking into our fridge, a dishwasher that cleaned nothing and was falling apart and a dirty old oven that didn't sit level on the floor. Booo.

Check out the "goods":


This dishwasher sounded like the door was going to blow off when it was running, and yet always spit out dirty filthy dishes that we had to re-wash. (Looking back, I wonder why we even used it...probably would have served better as storage.)


The black weather stripping stuff was falling out, too. Double ugh. Our silverware would get caught on it and continually yank it out. Stupidest. Dishwasher. Ever.


So, after putting together shopping cart after hopeful shopping cart of appliances online, debating amongst ourselves and trying to justify this major purchase, we bit the bullet at the beginning of the year and got a great deal from ABT Electronics on our new LG Appliances!

See how gorgeous?! I'm starting to realize that my major love for these appliances is a true sign of my age. Sigh. Oh, and putting the freezer on the bottom is the best invention ever.


I like to think that our new stove is pretty awesome. We have 5 burners, a warming drawer and big fancy knobs that make the stove look extra-important.


And finally, the wonderful world of our new dishwasher. Swoon (yes, I'm swooning over our dishwasher, sue me). The controls are on the inside of the door, we can delay its start by hours, it makes a quiet little "hum" when it runs...oh, and it actually cleans dishes.


Now that the wedding is over, it's been nice to start putting some time and effort (and, umm, money) into our place. This is probably the most major/expensive project we had planned, but I'm excited for all of the little things that will make our place feel a little extra fancy.

Nothing Says New Year's Like Quiche

Our wonderful friends Stacey and Brian are always gracious enough to host parties at their place, especially on New Year's! Steve and I are now only a few "El" stops away from them, which is even better.

Since I was looking forward to spending a good night with friends ringing in '10, I decided to make a quiche. I mean, what screams parrr-tay better than cheese and eggy goodness? I found a recipe for a cheese and onion quiche in one of my favorite cook books, Best-Ever Pastry Cookbook. I picked this book up in the Barnes & Noble bargain section for $5 and it has never failed me.

I started with the really basic crust, so simple to make, and put it in my 9-inch removable bottom tart pan. While it looks pretty, I should have spent more time pressing the sides of the dough against the pan. You'll see why very soon.


I sauteed the onions with a whole lot of butter. This is about as close to cooking as I get. Fortunately, I like using our new Calphalon pans, so I find it more exciting these days to pull one of them out. The onions were sauteed until they were soft, golden, and smelling delicious.


After blind-baking the crust, I spread the onions out on the bottom, then covered with the cheese. (The recipe called for a grated cheddar or Grueyere. All I had was parmesan, which I finely grated with my zester. It works) On top of the cheese I added the egg and milk mixture. It looked like the crust was going to overflow and spew dairy all over my stove at any minute, but everything managed to stay put, much to my surprise.


After baking when the quiche was finally "set" (I looked it up, the quiche should still jiggle in the center and a toothpick should come out clean), I let it cool before removing the pan.

Now you can see what happens when you don't press the dough firmly against the side of the pan. When I blind-baked the crust, some of the sides moved away from the pan resulting in a misshapen crust. But no worries, I just told everyone I'd made a "rustic" quiche.


Or, by simply cropping down a picture, one would never know my mistake. Ha!


From what I heard, the quiche was mighty delicious and was enjoyed by many! I, unfortunately, did not get to try any of it. The New Year's Eve fairy decided to give me a wonderful cold to finish up the holiday season. Boo! By the time it came to actually eat the quiche, I had completely lost my appetite. But I would totally make this recipe again - it was so easy, I had every single ingredient on hand, and it made the house smell delicious!

Happy, happy 2010 everyone!

Cheese & Onion Quiche
Source

For the filling:
2 T unsalted butter
1 large onion
3 Eggs
1 1/4 C light cream or milk (I used skim milk)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 1/2 oz hard cheese, such as Cheddar or Gruyere, grated (I used parmesan)
Salt and ground black pepper

For the pastry:
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, dized
4 T chilled water

To Make the Pastry
Sift the flour and salt into a small bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 3 T of the water and mix to a firm dough, adding more water if required. Knead until smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a clean, lightly floured work surface and line a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Press the pastry FIRMLY into the sides and base of the tin and let it rise above the rim by about 1/2 inch to allow for a little shrinkage during cooking. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork.

Line the pastry case with foil and baking beans (I used brown rice) and chill again for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F with a baking sheet placed in it. Stand the tart pan on the baking sheet and bake blind for 15 minutes.

Remove the foil and beans from the pastry case and return it to the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove the pastry case from the oven along with the baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

To Make the Filling
Melt the butter in a large, heavy frying pan. Add the onion and saute for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft and golden. Beat the eggs and the cream or milk together in a bowl. Add the grated nutmeg and seasoning to taste.

Spoon the onion mixture into the cooked pastry case and evenly sprinkle over the cheese. Pour the egg and cream/milk mixture slowly over the filling. Bake the quiche for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling as just set. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then gently ease the quiche out of the tin and transfer to a serving place. Enjoy!