Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Positano Lemons: Positively the Best
I was perusing cookbooks at a local bookstore and there was this recipe from a BC B&B, Ivy Cottage Bed & Breakfast. This was their contribution:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cup (4 ounces) ricotta cheese
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 large eggs - separated
1 1/3 cup milk
Grated peel of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
Butter for the griddle

Directions:

1. Whip egg whites.

2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients with a fork until blended, do not over-mix.

3. Heat griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly grease griddle with butter. As soon as the butter is melted, pour pancake batter onto griddle. Cook until batter begins to bubble or pancakes are golden. Flip and finish the other side. Serve pancakes warm with pure maple syrup

Monday, April 20, 2009

Chickpea, Chicken, Tomato Tarts

I found this recipe online. They used eggplant instead of chicken but I kind of hate eggplant. Try mixing it up!

Ingredients:

* 2 boiled and chopped chicken breasts
* 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 medium onion cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
* 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 (14 1/2- to 16-oz) can stewed tomatoes, drained, reserving juice, and coarsely chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika (not hot)
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 (15- to 19-oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
* 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 6 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets (from a 1-lb package), thawed if frozen
* Feta cheese


* Garnish: fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, torn into pieces

Directions:

Make filling:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook onion with bay leaf, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon oil, chicken, and garlic and cook, stirring, until slightly browned. Add tomatoes (without juice), paprika, and cumin and cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Add reserved tomato juice, chickpeas, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, until filling is thickened and most of liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley, then discard bay leaf.

Make tarts:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.

Unroll phyllo and cover stack with plastic wrap and a dampened kitchen towel. Keeping remaining phyllo covered, lightly brush 1 phyllo sheet with some of remaining oil and top with 2 more sheets, brushing each with oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then cut stack in half crosswise with a sharp knife. Spoon 1 cup filling into center of each half. Crumple edges of phyllo and shape into a crescent, leaving filling exposed, sprinkle with feta, then transfer to baking sheet using a spatula. Make 2 more tarts in same manner, arranging about 1/2 inch apart on baking sheet.

Bake, rotating baking sheet 180 degrees after 10 minutes, until edges of tarts are golden, 15 to 20 minutes total. Serve immediately.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Glazed Pineapple Pie

Chris and I made this amazing pie together. It was his idea to add lemon zest to the crust. Yum! I know the picture is a total cop out but we ate the pie too fast to take a picture.

Ingredients:

* 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
* Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)
* 3/4 cup flaked coconut
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon butter, melted



Glaze:
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon rum or vanilla extract

Directions:
Drain pineapple, reserving 2 tablespoons juice (discard remaining juice or refrigerate for another use); set pineapple aside. When making the dough use mom's recipe but add the zest of two lemons to the mix. Line a 9-in. pie plate with pie dough; trim dough even with edge of plate. Sprinkle with coconut.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt, lemon juice, butter and pineapple. Spread over coconut. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut sits in pastry. Add decorative cutouts if desired.
Cover edges loosely with foil. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.
In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, extract and enough of the reserved pineapple juice to achieve glaze consistency. Drizzle over warm pie. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Easter Berry Salad

This was my 2009 Easter salad. I ended up burning the candied nuts because I had my second date with the man who would become my boyfriend and he kissed for for the first time while I was stirring. I'll never forget this salad now.


Salad:

* 1 package (10 ounces) ready-to-serve salad greens
* 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
* 1 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
* 1/4 cup chopped red onion
* 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
* 1 cup candied pecans

Creamy Raspberry Dressing:

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
* 1 tablespoon milk
* 2-1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
* 2-1/2 teaspoons seedless raspberry jam

Directions:
In a large salad bowl, combine the greens, strawberries, kiwi, onion, feta cheese and almonds. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Drizzle desired amount over salad and toss to coat.

Candied Pecans:
In a medium frying pan heat 2 tablespoons canola oil with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Add halved pecans when mixed. Heat til liquid is absorbed.

Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftover dressing. Yield: 8 servings.

Week Pie: Lime Pie

I made this for Easter and walked miles around the city searching for key limes with no luck, so this is just a lime pie and it tasted lovely anyway. For fun, I separated out some of the filling and dyed it green with food coloring and then polka-dotted the top with it. Looked awesome. And of course I forgot to take a picture. I made two. The other had whipped cream on the top with zested lime rind and sliced limes on top.

For crust:

* 7 (5-by 2 1/2-inch) graham crackers, broken into small pieces
* 3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted


For filling:

* 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
* Grated zest of 2 Key limes
* 1 cup fresh or organic lime juice (from about 2 pounds fresh limes)
* 4 large egg yolks

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch pie plate.

Pulse together graham crackers, almonds, and sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl and stir in butter. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. (Leave oven on.) Or you could just but a pre-made graham cracker crust like I did. Some things should be made from scratch but graham cracker crusts are a pain.

Make filling and bake pie:
Gently whisk together filling ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth and pour into crust. Bake until just set in center, 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool completely (filling will set as it cools). Chill pie, loosely covered, at least 8 hours.

* Accompaniment: sweetened whipped cream