CHILE RELLENO for CINCO de MAYO

Pretty peppers... did someone say chili relleno. Now I know these are not pablano peppers but my husband is really sensitive to hot stuff and these looked so nice for stuffing.

I have always wanted to make chili relleno but never really had the guts. I thought it was a pretty complicated process better left for restaurant chefs who do it all the time. Well I must say that I am glad I embarked on the little Mexican journey. I tell you that it was so worth it. So much less grease.
I think that part that I was most concerned about was the roasting and the batter. The roasting was incredibly easy and quick. I have always roasted my red peppers in the oven but I think I might switch to this way as it went so quickly.

Aren't they beautiful? I love roasted anything.














Here is the filling stuffed in the pepper. I made a T-type cut, chopped out the seed portion and rubbed out any remaining seeds. I then scooped the filling in very carefully. This part was the most difficult because the peppers are so delicate, taring very easily.








Insert a toothpick in to hold them together while going through the following steps. Make sure you remember to take them out when they are finished.










The batter is very easy. Whip 6 eggs until soft peaks form. Fold in the six egg yolks utnil combined.

Dredge the stuffed chiles in flour and then dip into egg mixture. Carefully. place in frying pan. They fry up very quickly and do not seem to absorb that much grease. The egg cooks so quickly and forms a crust. I used tongs to turn very gently. The turning is not easy just be gentle and patient.

Prepare a baking sheet with some red tomato sauce. You could use enchilada sauce or just a tomato sauce with garlic.

At this point you could place some cheese over them and bake them in the oven for about twenty minutes. I wanted to keep them on the light side so I served them just like that.

Everyone really enjoyed these and we were amazed about how light they were. Definitely a make again type recipe. One of the most helpful sites I found for chile relleno was the Wiki How To that had pictures of the process. Of course she seems to make it look super simple.

This is definitely a great dish to make for Cinco de Mayo. If you are entertaining that day a lot of the steps can be prepared in advance. You can have it in the oven when the guests arrive.

So enjoy your margarita or cerveza and Mexican food this Cinco de Mayo!

Stuffing recipe

1 ripe plantain
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper. minced
1 red pepper, minced
6 oz mozzarella, chopped

Saute onions, peppers and plantain. Cook until transluscent. Add garlic. Remove from heat and let cool. Add chopped mozzarella.

You can really put anything you want in the chiles. I added mostly vegetables to keep them pretty light.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake with Figs

It's Tuesday again with Dorie Greenspan. This week is a recipe that I probably would not have tried due to the ingredient list but low and behold it was an amazing cake that I thoroughly enjoyed. And would make again.

I divided my cake between a tartelette pan that I got in the mail the day before I made this. How's that for good timing? I also used a little spring form pan that I had.


The house was filled with an amazing aroma from the lemon zest as it was baking. I could hardly wait to try it. After it was done I could hardly resist one of the tartelettes. Oh my I loved it. It is sensational. I love the fact that it has nutritive value. This way I can rationalize it much easier. Okay so a Zumba class afterward was definitely called for.

Here is the recipe and I highly recommend it. I do not recommend the five inch springform. It browned too quickly and the center was not cooked. It was too thick, filled too much.

Now go and check out all the other blogs from Tuesday with Dorie.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed

1 c. medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal

½ c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 c. ricotta

1/3 c. tepid water

¾ c. sugar

¾ c. honey (if you’re a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine, or buckwheat)

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the panm, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.

PINK MACARONS FOR A FRIEND

A friend of mine was just diagnosed with breast cancer. In a few days she will be having a mastectomy. This is the fourth woman I have known that has had breast cancer. WAY, WAY, WAY too many people. The great news is that two of the people I know have survived. They kicked cancer's butt. My Mother in law, who had a very fast moving type of breast cancer, fought hard for three years. I am crying as I write this as she was one of the most loving people I have ever known. It is just recently the anniversary of her death.

I know that my friend will kick this cancer. I decided to give her a treat before all of the chaos begins. I give her these pink macarons as it is the "color" for breast cancer. I give her macarons because they are a special treat and she is a special treat.

PINK MACARONS with WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY GANACHE
(the macaron recipe is from Veronica's Test Kitchen)

• 125 grams almond flour
• 225 grams powdered sugar
• 100 grams egg whites
• 25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F (I used 310°F to compensate for opening and closing the oven door). Run the almond flour and powdered sugar through a food processor and sift twice. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat at medium speed. Slowly add the granulated sugar and continue beating until the whites attain medium-peaks and are glossy.

Add your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue taking about six additions all in all.Pipe the batter to a diameter of an inch. And let rest for 30 minutes before baking.Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

(In her recipe she calls for cream of tartar, I missed that and did not use it.)

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY GANACHE (adapted from rasberry ganache at Tartelette's site)

8 oz white chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cranberry puree

To make cranberry puree: Boil cranberry's until soft. Run through the blender and pour through sieve afterward.
In a heavy bottom saucepan, heat the cream to boiling, remove from heat and stir in the white chocolate. Whisk until completly combined, add the cranberry puree. Refrigerate until ready to fill the macarons.

DAILY BREAD... NOT SO DAILY

I was able to get a big bag of flour before the price really skyrocketed. How upsetting to see the price of flour and rice start to soar. Well I wont focus on that because I find that too depressing. I will just live in a lovely state of denial. Okay I know it is not reality but it does help to keep a smile on my face. So what the hay?

I have always enjoyed making bread, particularly when I got over my fear of yeast and all. I use to think that after I mixed everything and kneaded that if I did not tuck it into the bowl with a cover that it would surely fail. Silly me. Now, after making countless loaves I am so very nonchalant about the whole process. I even recently started making my own recipes. Never thought that would happen.

This here is a recipe from Bernard Clayton's book, New Complete Book of Breads. The recipe is on page 39, Sister Virginia's Daily Loaf. I must say Sister Virginia, you make a good loaf of bread! Seems Sister Virginia was part of the Shakers. "Sster Virginia, who created this loaf, was one of Kentucky's community's members. As that was a celibate order, all members were gone by the mid 1920's but Sister Virginia earned herself a certain immortality for creating this fine loaf." (Bernard Clayton, New Complete Book of Breads).
What more could we hope for then some immortality and happiness. Believe me, this bread will make you happy.

SISTER VIRGINIA'S DAILY LOAF (yield 2 loaves)
(I did not write the instructions verbatim as there are lots of different directions for food processors, etc. Please refer to the book for specifics. What is written here are the essential instructions to form your loaf.)

1 pkg dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water, plus 1 cup water (105-115 F)
1 cup milk
2 T sugar
2 t salt
4 T vegetable shortening or lard
7 cups bread flour or ap flour. approx.
1/2 T butter, melted

Prepare two medium loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2) with grease.
In a small bowl or cup dissolve yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water. Stir to dissolve and set aside. Warm the milk in a large saucepan and the sugar, salt and lard. The lard need only soften, not melt. Add the 1 cup water. Pour in the yeast mixture and stir together with a large wooden spoon.

Pour in 3 cups flour and beat 100 strong strokes by hand or for 3 minutes with a mixer. COntinue adding flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for about 8 minutes by hand or with mixer. The dough should be smooth and not sticky.

Place in bowl with a plastic cover and rise 1 hour.

Fold loaf over itself to deflate, a few turns. Cut into two pieces for two loaves. Fold/roll with the outside of your palm, then pinch together. Raise in loaf pans for about another hour.

Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes. Loaves really should sit for an hour uncut, if you can do this.

CARROT CAKE A LA DORIE

This is a very nice carrot cake recipe. I sure liked all the cinnamon. I also like how the oil gave it kind of a "crusty" appearance on the outside. Great taste. I did tweak the frosting a little. I usually have a ton of lemons in the refrigerator but unfortunately did not have any this time. I did however have oranges and I thought well hey carrots and orange juice go together, why not use an orange. It was definitely a twist on carrot cake!



Well it was a lot of fun making those cute marzipan carrots. I have never done anything like that before. I have seen so many pics of cute marzipan charactors and flowers, etc., I just had to try it!


This cake was just begging for color.

Bill's Big Carrot Cake

Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

½ cup shredded coconut (optional)

Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:

Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:

This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:

The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

DAIKON CAKE AND COURAGE

I don't know if this ever happened to any of you but it sure happened to me. I saw this wonderful recipe at Nook and Pantry and being the lover of Asian food that I am I decided to try it. My pantry is full of Asian stock (Thai, Japanese and Chinese stuff). Some of which I have wanted to try but did not have the courage. I am embarassed to say that some of the stuff has been there about two years. So of course when I see a recipe that uses one of these "I don't have the courage" to make, then I have to try it. Besides I have this rice flour that I have been wanting to use up so this was an ideal recipe for me to try. Thank you Nook and Pantry.

So here I am making it and after I added the dried shrimp I thought I would gag. I love shrimp but it was just the idea of trying this new way of eating it. (How lame is that?). I am happy to say that I forged on. I was richly rewarded with the yummiest dish. My husband and I had them two nights in a row until they were all gone! We did fight over the last couple of pieces. I ended up giving them to him because honestly I stole a couple while I was making them.
(I dont want you to think I lack all the food courage in the world as I have eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters and some other things, he he and I loved the Rocky Mountain Oysters).

I served them with soy sauce mixed with a little water, sesame oil, a teaspoon or so of brown sugar, ginger and garlic. I did modify the recipe a little.

Next time I make these I am going to make them like shrimp toast as the texture really reminded me of that.

Chinese Daikon Cake (Luo Buo Gao) from Nook and Pantry
3 C coarsely shredded daikon (around 1 1/2 to 2 lbs)
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, finely diced
3 Tbsp small dried shrimp, finely diced
4 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
2 C rice flour (do not use glutinous rice flour)
1 3/4 C water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and white pepperoil for frying ( you do not need very much)
sesame seeds for sprinkling on them when they are finished

Soak dried mushrooms and dried shrimp in hot water. You can do this in the same bowl or seperate bowls. Peel and shred daikon. Lightly pack into measuring cups for the most accurate measurement. Mix rice flour with remaining cup of water.

In a skillet with a teaspoon of oil saute rehydrated shitakes, shrimp, and green onion for 2 to 3 minutes. Add daikon, 3/4 C water, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp white pepper. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Meanwhile, grease a square cake pan or loaf pan and start the steamer. ( I used a 9 inch cake pan. In a very large saute pan I put a round cookie rack and placed the water inn the pan. I carefully dropped the 9 inch cake pan round into the saute pan and placed the cover on it.)

Stir in the rice flour water mixture then spread into the greased pan. Steam for 50 minutes.

Cool or chill overnight. After cooling, cut the cake into 1/4 in slices and pan fry until both sides are golden brown.

LIVESTRONG EVENT

I found out about the Livestrong event on Tartlette's site. I jumped at the chance to participate. I recently lost my Aunt to cancer. About three years ago I also lost my Mother In Law to cancer. Both of these women were so sweet and beautiful. They are so missed. I think of them often. Unfortunately so many of us have been touched by cancer in our lives. I did this to honor my loved ones and all of those who have fought cancer!


MINI PASSION FRUIT CHEESECAKE WITH PASSIONFRUIT CURD
recipe adapted from epicurean

8oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup passionfruit puree
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar

Cream the cheese with the sugar. Combine thoroughly. Add egg. Combine thoroughly. Periodically scrape bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are in the mix. Add vanilla and sour cream. Swirl in passion fruit. Bake at 300 F for about 45 minutes.

Crust for Cheesecake:

Combine 1/2 cup crushed vanilla wafer cookies and 1 tablespoon butter. Press in cheesecake pan on bottome and 1/2 inch up the sides.

Passion Fruit Curd

3 egg yolks
3 whole eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup passion fruit puree
1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted

Combine eggs and yolks, sugar and passionfruit in a double boiler. Whisk over boiling water for about ten minutes. Once it is thickened remove double boiler from heat and stir in butter one tablespoon at a time. Cover and refrigerate.