Zabaglione with shortbread cookies

Tonight I opened my first bottle of Marsala wine to make chicken marsala. The dish tasted fabulous, but I was left with a whole lot more Marsala than I needed. So I decided to make zabaglione and shortbread cookies. All the ingredients, except the marsala, are common kitchen items! It turned out beautifully and was quite easy to do. :)

Note: it can be nice to have two people do this together (yay Peter!)


Zabaglione (for 2)
adapted from Joy of Cooking

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 egg whites (optional)

In a double boiler (or in my case in a small sauce pan over a larger one), whisk together all ingredients over boiling water. Do not immerse pan in boiling water. Whisking constantly, slowly bring mixture to 160 degrees (will become lighter and thicker). Meanwhile (this is where helps comes in), beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into finished custard. Serve immediately!

Shortbread cookies (for 2 or 3)

2 oz butter, softened
1 oz granulated sugar
3 oz flour
pinch of salt
turbinado sugar (or other large-crystal sugar), or just white sugar

Mix together first four ingredients, form into cookies by hand, and then bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min. Sprinkle with sugar. I actually did this in the toaster oven since it was such a small batch.

Enjoy together!

ps: Peter's comment on the zabaglione: "it was good--interesting, but good." :)

Leftover Ingredients: the mother of invention!

I don't know if I've ever had so many different food items in my fridge and on my shelves! Between the normal, everyday perishables and pantry stock, I also acquired leftover soup, home grown tomatoes, and babaganoush from a party (which meant, of course, that I had to go buy pita bread) and apparently bought too many ingredients for the recipes I did have in mind to make that week. For instance, I had one too many habanero peppers, too much shredded cheese, leftover "lime sour cream", some brussels sprouts that I intended to eat for lunch but forgot about, etc. Oh yeah, and a turnip that I forgot to put into a root vegetable soup. And this, my friends, is what the stress of midterm preparation can do to you!

In order to rectify this odd situation, I did something I haven't done in a long time: I made up a recipe! It was so fun and easy to make. Here's what I did, though since I didn't measure much, have fun adjusting to your own tastes. :)

Hot chicken, tomato, and corn soup
(This is a lot like chicken tortilla soup, but no tortilla. I joked to Peter that it's great for the low-carb diet.)

1 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl canola oil (the fat choice is random, I know, don't ask...)
1 small onion, chopped
Salt, pepper, and seasoning to taste (I used the Pampered Chef Southwest Seasoning plus cumin)
A few splashes Tapatio hot sauce (or a favorite hot sauce)
1 habanero pepper (omit or use jalapeno for something milder)
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted (could have used more)
1 large tomato, diced (could have been 2)
Enough chicken or vegetable broth (I used a mix) to cover everything, but not so much as to make it too brothy
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

Optional (but highly recommended) accompaniments: shredded mexican cheese blend, sour cream, freshly squeezed lime juice, cilantro

1. Saute onion and pepper with seasonings and hot sauce over medium heat for a couple of minutes (should be very fragrant).
2. Add corn and tomato, sauteing another minute.
3. Add broth and chicken, bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors will meld, but just do whatever you have the time for.
4. Serve with accompaniments.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Something Old Revisited

As you may or may not remember, in July Christina and I embarked on the ultimate baking challenge: to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie. We found one recipe that was absolutely delicious, however it had one minor flaw -- the dough was a bit on the goopy side and the cookies were rather spread out and thin. Because we were baking in Rochester, New York, on what I remember was an extremely warm and humid day, we attributed the consistency of the dough and resulting cookies to the humidity. This could mean only one thing: the cookies would have to be baked in another part of the United States (preferably without the extreme humidity) to see if the same thing happened again.

I, one half of Le Tablier Rose, took it upon myself to make them in my hometown in Southern California and find out if I would experience the same results. After baking (and tasting!) this recipe, I am happy to report the consistency was, indeed, due to the Rochester summer, and they are just as good now as they were in July. :-)

Now, this post would simply not be complete without the customary photos, so please enjoy. Hm, I'm starting to feel like Martha Stewart since we're documenting the progress via photography!

*If you would like to try our "something old" recipe, please see July's blog post with recipe #1 in the title.

Gathering ingredients & mixing well the flour and baking powder

The dough is amazing! Warning: You will be tempted to
eat more than you bake.

On the cookie sheet with somewhere to go: the oven!

The finished product.

Mrs. McCabe's Poppy Seed Cake

I am not one for cake. I don't like cake. But this is one cake I absolutely love! It's moist, texture is delectable, and flavor absolutely delicious. The recipe came from a Tae Kwon Do Mom, and per her request, the following story stays with the recipe.

"The recipe is named after a sweet old lade from Santa Ana who lived across the street from us. She was just a sweetheart. She and her husband lived alone and she would bake a cake every weekend. When I found out she had died all by herself I cried. One night when she found out she was very sick and could not drive she left from 11th street in Santa Ana to the bus station (in downtown Santa Ana) about one mile from her home. Where the bus station is, is not a good neighborhood. She then took the bus to the hospital. About a week later the neighbors said she had passed away. She just never wanted to bother anyone. After hearing this stry, I decided I would try to be a better neighbor after that."

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Ingredients:

One yellow cake mix
One small vanilla pudding, instant
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup very warm water
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tbs. poppy seeds

Place all ingredients in a large mixer, except poppy seeds. Mix for 5 minutes on high. Fold in poppy seeds. Pour into greased and floured bunt pan or angel food pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, cool in pan for 15 minutes on rack. Remove and dust with powder sugar when cool.

Variations:

You can also change this to a lemon, orange, chocolate, with a chocolate cake mix or add a different extract.

You can also vary the size of the pan for different thickness. Any way you make it, it's delish!

Enjoy, and if you pass the recipe on, please don't forget Mrs. McCabe.

Vegetable Pie

What happens when you come home from the market (actually, two markets) with a ton of random vegetables with no recipes in mind? Why, vegetable pie of course! My inspiration came from this "recipe". It's not exactly a recipe, but more of a guide on how to create your own vegetable pie. I adjusted it to what I had from the market and on hand. Here's my version:

steamed rainbow chard
the following sauteed in extra-virgin olive oil:
-a few cloves of garlic
-1 medium onion
-2 red bell peppers
-1 yellow squash
-the stems (chopped) from the chard

Place in a pie plate (I used the Pampered Chef Deep Dish Baker) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, marjoram, and parmesan cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven 15-20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings

Oh, and to fulfill my usual carb-cravings, I made drop biscuits.



I look forward to trying other interesting combinations. And I HIGHLY recommend rainbow chard. Mmmmmm

Cookie recipe #4: Something from a website

All right, folks, it's about time we returned to the original point of this blog: to document our journey toward the perfect chocolate chip cookie! This is the 4th and final recipe in our original set of something old, something new, something borrowed, and something...from a website. Kira has already posted a review of the first two. I will post here the recipe for #4 and in a subsequent post, the review. Recipe #3 has still yet to be tried (sorry, my spontaneous ways led to a disregard for the order!), but in due time it will be reviewed here as well.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com. They are "Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies." They make A LOT, so I only made half.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional) (I didn't add)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture.
3. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Yield: 6 dozen

Spicy Quinoa Bowl

I recently discovered quinoa. A powerhouse of good-for-you-ness, I was eager to find yummy ways to utilize it. Well this dish certainly fits the bill! It's fairly quick, easy, and absolutely delicious. It's adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com. Note that the fresher the corn, the better. I was lucky to have recently purchased corn at the South Wedge market from the local farmer himself (accompanied by his corn-raising anecdotes). Peter and I were thinking afterwards that the addition of ground beef or shredded chicken would augment it as well (but it's hearty enough alone). Or try topping each serving with a fried egg.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 whole guajillo pepper (mine was dried)
2 ears of corn, as fresh as possible
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
chopped fresh cilantro, to taste

1. Saute onion and garlic in a medium saucepan until onion is translucent.
2. Rinse the quinoa; add to pot and add chicken broth; add seasonings, bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 15 minutes (there should be a bit of liquid left).
3. De-husk the corn; carefully cut off the kernels and set aside; chop/crush/crumble the dried pepper until minced.
4. After the quinoa has been cooking for 15 minutes or so, add the corn kernels and minced pepper. Simmer another 5 minutes (trust me, fresh corn doesn't need much cooking).
5. Stir in beans and top with desired amount of cilantro.

Yield: 8 side dish servings or 4 main servings

Spiciness rating: medium