Big Girl/Small City

I know i haven’t posted in a LONG time, but i needed to share a recipe that has been a hit over the holidays:

Cream cheese lemon tarts:

For shell:
Blend 3 oz cream cheese with1/2 c butter. Add flour. Combine until just blended. Chill for at least 1 hr and up to 24 hrs.

Preheat oven to 325.

Break dough into twelve balls for large tarts or 24 balls for mini tarts. Shape into tin mold to make shell. Bake for twenty- ish minutes for mini tarts and about thirty-ish minutes for muffin tin size. They should be golden when you remove them from oven.

For lemon filling:
Use a double boiler. While you wait for the water in the pot to boil, mix 2 large eggs and 2 egg yolks as well as 3/4 cups (or more if you prefer) sugar in a bowl.

Fill a measuring cup with 1/2 c lemon juice. Cut 3 oz butter into six chunks.

Place your bowl over the water and set your timer for ten minutes. Whisk. At the 8 min mark add a third of the juice. Whisk. At 6 min add the next third. Whisk. At 4 min add the last third of juice. Whisk. At two minute mark you may find it has thickened up. If not, continue to whisk the additional 2 mins.

Turn the burner off. Add a chunk of butter and whisk until melted in. Continue untill all chunks of butter have been incorporated. Pour warm custard into tart shells. Let sit at room temp until set (maybe 45 min).

Enjoy! Happy new year!

Holy dina! Have you all tried this? Fentimans dandilion and burdock soda. Soo sooo yummy!!! Kind of like root beer meeys cream soda. Bought at a Nutter’s.

My latest macaron: coconut shell with mango jam

This recipe yurned out a bit thick and not as shiny as i like, but the BOY who despises my macaron making (and who i force to test them anyways) actually had TWO! He liked how chewy these ones were. Those are his dirty fingers.

Here goes:

Line three baking pans with parchment.

In a large bowl whisk together 5 tbsp of coconut, 3 2/3 icing sug and 3 1/4 almond flour.

In your mixer beat 5 egg whites until frothy and white. Add 2 tbsp white sug and a teaspoon of cream of tartar, and 1 tbsp vanilla. Beat until stiff and glossy (about 2 mins).

Add the dry ingredients in quarters, folding each time until just incorporated before adding the next quarter.

Pipe onto parchment lined sheets. Pipe about a 2 inch circles. Because this dough is tougher, you may need to smooth the tops with your finger dipped in cold water. Sprinkle tops with coconut. Let rest 40 mins. Place in 325 oven, which you will immediately reduce to 300. These will probably need 12 min, but check at 10.

I filled half of them with yummy gourmet mango jam and half with sweet chocolate ganache.

Lemon macarons:

So i have a great recipe to share that i’ve molded from a few. It makes twelve lemon cookies. I used trader joe’s lemon curd for filling. It is yummy, but i think i prefer buttercream or ganache as i am a sweet tooth.

1 1/2 c icing sug
2/3 c almond flour
3 aged eggs room temp
3 tbsp white sug
3 pinches cream of tartar
Rind of 1 lemon (make sure it is unwaxed by using a fruit and veggie wash)

Line two pans with parchment. Whisk together icing sug and almonds in bowl. In you standing mixer (or handheld, i’m just lazy) beat the egg whites until they are almost opaque and fluffed. Gradually add the white suger. Gradually add tartar. Beat until white and glossy and stiff. Add lemon zest and yellow food coloring here. Mix on lowest speed til even in color or stir with spatula. Add the icing/almond mixture in fourths while on the very lowest speed, just until incorporated.

Pipe onto parchment (about a 2 inch diam.). Let sit at least 45 and up to an hour. Preheat oven to 325.

When they are done resting pop them in the oven and turn temp to 300. After 4 min rotate and bake another 5 min. Once out of the oven, carefully slide the parchment onto counter, so the bottoms don’t continue to bake as they cool. Once cool (about 20 min-ish) fill with the curd - or like i said a yummy buttercream.

Feel free to ask me q’s or send me hints. I am still on the search for the best macaron recipe ever!

Sundried tomato quinoa salad:

2tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 c chopped sun dried tomatos (the dry kind)
1/2 cup white wine (i used sibling rivalry)
1/2 cup chicken stock
Juice of half a lemon
2 pinches pepper
3 pinches salt
1/2 c quinoa
4 green onions chopped
A few sprigs parsley chopped

Cook red onion and garlic in oil on med high heat two mins. Add tomato and cook another min. Add white wine, stock lemon juice, s & p, and bring to boil, add quinoa, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 20 min. Add green onion and parsley. Stir, eat.

I worked on this with leslie of try to keep up, so u can check it with a full meal at www.westcoastleslie.blogspot.com

Japadog in vancouver. This is some street meat worth eating friends!

Rusted roots and cold french lentil salad:

For the roots:
4 or five new potatos
3 medium beets, peeled
4 small carrots
1 spanish onion
1/2 c hard marg
3 cloves garlic

Slice roots and layer in greased casserole dish. Top with slices of onions. Crush garlic and disperse atop roots. Top with chunks of the hard marg. Cover. Put in 350 oven for about 1 hr or until roots are soft when stabbed. Remove lead and cook another 5 to 10 min. Voila! Top with salt and pepper.

Cold french lentil salad:
1 cup french lentils
3 cups water
1 tbsp tarragon vinegar
3 tbsp evoo
1 crushed garlic clove
2 pinches goid salt
2 pinches pepper
Just a bit of agave nectar for sweetness
Half a small tube of goat cheese (i used the honey flavored kind)
A couple handfuls of sweetened dried cranberries

Put lentils and water jn saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 min. Meanwhile combine ingredients 3-8 for the dressing. Once soft, drain lentils and place in bowl. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the dressing and toss. Let cool in fridge for 5 minutes. Add cranberries and crumbled goat cheese. Toss. Let cool in fridge. Toss and devour!

Strawberry shortcake was the dessert for last night’s pulled pork sammies. I used hand picked berries that my parents had pawned off on me (which i gladly accepted). The recipe comes from:
Www.joyofbaking.com/BerryShortcake.html

Now, the pic shows an unfinished cake… There is a top layer of cake that was placed on top before we brought it out. The original recipe tells you toslice the cake horizontally so you get two layers. BUT seeing as hiw the caje is actually one giant scone, we were sure it would crumble to pieces. We made another entire cake to place on top, which makes for a heavier, albeit prettier, portion. If you do this i suggest the following:

1) cut up additional berries and make more whipped topping to have on the side

2) sprinkle granulated sugar on top of one of the cake’s cream glaze. This will give your top layer a pretty (and sweet) sparkle

Could definitely serve 8. Could likely serve 10.

You could also crumble and layer into little serving bowls for individual trifles!