TWD: Coconut and Lime Butter Thins

Unlike last week's Tuesdays With Dorie selection, the Blueberry Crumb Cake, these delectable cookies were rather unassuming in Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Baking From My Home to Yours. You see, the crumb cake enticed me immediately with its beautiful color pictures and the two pages of instructions- but the cookies took up one page and had no picture at all. This is why I feel so indebted to Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch for selecting this wonderful recipe! These are really delicious cookies. They are simple to mix together and very easy to roll out (thanks to Dorie's method of rolling the dough out in a ziploc bag and refrigerating it in said ziploc) and easy to cut.

The cookie is very buttery and crisp but not quite as crumbly as a shortbread or as chewy as a lace cookie- it falls somewhere in between the two. It is flavored with lime zest, shredded coconut, and a pinch of coriander. The recipe calls for chopped macadamia nuts too, but alas, I have to cut back on costs somewhere and those fancy little nuts were just not in my budget! I bet they would have been delicious!


There was some debate about how the cookies were supposed to look after being baked. You see, they seem like they will hold their perfect little square shape but they really spread quite a bit and get kind of lacy around the edges. I had to laugh because my husband, Derrick, looked at the recipe that was working with and asked, "how do you know what they're supposed to look like if there isn't a picture?", Ok, so obviously he doesn't look through the book very much because only about 1/2 of the recipes include pictures...but I do have to agree with him that a picture would have been helpful since this not a standard chocolate chip cookie or a blueberry muffin- you don't know what its going to look like in the end! Although I will say that I was a little upset that the cookie didn't hold its shape at first, I pretty much forgot about the shape when I bit into one! The flavors intensify if the cookies are left in an air tight container overnight making the lime zest an even more unexpected and wonderful treat!

Daring Bakers: Emilia-Romagna Lasagna

Like many of the Daring Bakers I was really surprised at this month's challenge! Lasagna is not typically what I think of when I think about baking- but this recipe was extremely daring! Every component is homemade- including the spinach pasta. I've never made pasta before but I've always wanted to try it out. Although it is a lot of kneading and hand rolling- I have to admit that the end result was worth it. I have always loved eating hand made pasta at restaurants because the taste and more prominently, the texture is so different from the dried store bought variety. The dough consisted only of fresh spinach, eggs, and flour and was not difficult to make but extremely labor intensive!

I really was interested in preserving the integrity of the recipe from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy because it is so different from the lasagna that we are used to eating and making in the United States. The recipe for the ragu sauce was especially different from the usual tomato sauce that we often use here. The problem is that the recipe is VERY meaty- like four or five different kinds of ground meat...and I don't eat meat. So...I knew that I could easily substitute a regular vegetable based marinara or something- but like I said, I wanted to stay true to the Northern Italian flavors. So, I compromised. I used the recipe and changed the meat out for eggplant, baby portabella mushrooms, and kalamata olives. Now this sauce was absolutely delicious... but it took about a million years to make it! Seriously, I stood over the stove for about four hours! The outcome was great- I just don't know if I could commit to making it again anytime soon!

The last component was the bechemel sauce. This was the easiest and most straightforward part of the recipe and it yielded great results. Instead of mounds of stringy mozzarella and a bunch of ricotta (which I actually also love!) this lasagna had only a cup of freshly grated Parmesan layered in with the bechemel.


The end product was really delicious and very different from the lasagna we eat here in the states. I served the dish to my parents, aunt, uncle, sister, husband, and baby and everyone really enjoyed it- there wasn't even one tiny square left over! I'm so glad that the challenge really challenged me but I'm also glad to be finished with it because it was really a two day long affair and I'm starting to feel this pregnancy a little more now that I'm getting close to the third trimester. I think I'll be sticking to recipes that require me to be on my feet for less than 2 hour increments.

Be sure to check out the beautiful, new Daring Kitchen website- it's a lot of fun to browse through!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)#3
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)

Working by Hand:

Equipment

A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.

A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.

A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.
Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.

Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.

A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.

Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

#2 Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

#3 Vegetarian Ragu

Preparation Time: Ingredient Preparation Time 30 minutes and Cooking time 2 hours

Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound/450g dried pasta)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (45 mL)
2 ounces/60g kalamata olives chopped
1 medium onion, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced

2cloves of garlic, minced
1 large eggplant, peeled and chopped

1 lb of baby portabella mushrooms chopped

2/3 cup (5 ounces/160ml) dry red wine
1 &1/2 cups (12 ounces/375ml) vegetable stock
2 cups (16 ounces/500ml) milk
6 canned plum tomatoes, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Working Ahead:
The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.

Browning the Ragu Base:
Heat the olive oil in a 12 inch (30cm) skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat. Have a large saucepan handy to use once browning is complete. Add the minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Add the eggplant and mushrooms and stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the eggplant and mushrooms are soft. Turn them into the saucepan and set over medium heat.

Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.

Stir ½ cup stock into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another ½ cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick stew. Season with salt and pepper.

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

This cake was SO good! Sihan of Befuddlement chose this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe (you can find the recipe on Sihan's blog). I love coffee cake- and the thing I love most about it is crumb topping- so sweet and crunchy, mmm! Well this coffee cake does not disappoint- the cake itself is moist and flavorful and the crumbs are the best I've ever made at home. The cake has a really nice thick layer of topping that really got nice and crunchy in the oven. A few people had trouble with the crumb mixture melting into the cake- I think the key to preventing this from happening is keeping the crumbs in the refrigerator until right before the cake goes into the oven.

I went ahead and used the blueberries that the original recipe calls for- but Dorie says that any berries (other than strawberries) and most soft fruits (plums, peaches, etc.) work great in it too. So now I can't stop thinking about making this cake with cherries or raspberries! I also doubled the lemon zest and the cinnamon which turned out great- but I'm not sure if I would do that with other more flavorful berries.
Another great thing about this cake is that the ingredients are more like a quick bread so there is no yeast (the best coffee cakes seem to always have yeast in them) which makes the cake really quick to throw together the morning you plan to serve it. My brother was in from college for Spring Break so I served the cake to my family for a late Saturday morning breakfast (since college kids sleep 'til noon...still hard to believe that was me two years ago!)- and the whole cake was gone in one day!

And just for fun, here's Helen Mae enjoying the Spring day with a wreath of clovers on her head which she dubbed "hat".

TWD: French Yogurt Cake and Delicious Lemon Curd

I planned way ahead for Tuesdays with Dorie this week and bought all of my ingredients in advance to make sure that I would be able to bake up this delicious French Yogurt Cake selected by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction (recipe can be found on her blog) . And then I played the waiting game. You see, it has been humid, humid, humid here and when it is not humid... it's raining- in short: horrible baking weather. Then all of a sudden it was a rainy Monday afternoon and I still had not baked up my little TWD treat. So I baked it. In the rain. And this is what happened when I tried to pop it out of the pan:


Yep, the whole bottom remained in the pan. But don't worry! I scraped it out and put it back in place and pretended that the whole thing never happened.


And then it looked like this:


Ok, so back to the actual cake. Dorie explains that this is a mainstay for French home bakers (in fact she says that it's one of the only things the French bake- and why would they with those amazing patisseries on every corner?!). It's similar to a pound cake- but without butter. The fat comes from a half cup of oil and a half cup of yogurt. I actually ended up using low-fat vanilla yogurt (gotta cut the fat where I can!) and it worked very well. Dorie gives the option of using a half a cup ground almonds in place of some of the flour, which I did, and it gave the cake a nice hearty, nutty texture.

Although you could do pretty much anything in the world with this cake, I decided to make Dorie's lemon curd. I have never used her recipe for it and I was really pleased with the results. It was very, very tart which is exactly how I like my curd! I was pretty worried about how thin it looked when I put it in the fridge last night, but this morning it had thickened perfectly and really complemented the faint flavor of lemon zest in the cake.

Because the cake is not overly sweet and because Helen Mae had a really horrible time sleeping last night (note very puffy eyes and mussed hair) I decided that I could feed it to my child for breakfast and not feel like a horribly indulgent parent:

TWD: Lemon Cup Custard

Apparently custard is something that most people have heard of but not many have actually eaten. I'm basing this on the fact that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for Lemon Cup Custard chosen by Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles (recipe can be found on her blog- even if you aren't a custard fan you should check out her blog anyway- it's one I read regularly!) was not very well received by the TWD bakers. Lots of people complained about the "eggy" flavor and texture...well my friends, as Dorie herself pointed out, that's pretty much what custard is. Custard is eggy. If you don't like eggy, you don't like custard- and I don't like custard! But see, I knew this going into the recipe, so I thought the recipe was pretty fantastic! I thought custard was going to be really difficult to make with all the steeping the milk, baking in a water bath, etc. but actually it was extremely easy and pretty foolproof. SO...if I ever need to make custard again (for someone else obviously!) I will certainly turn to this recipe!


My poor dad LOVES spoon desserts: custards, flan, puddings, creme brulee- but my mom and I really don't like them at all- and since we are the primary bakers/dessert makers in the family he pretty much never gets these desserts unless he's at a restraunt (don't feel too bad for him though- my mom is an amazing baker- so he gets plenty of delicious non-spoon dessert treats!). Anyway, back to the recipe- I made this custard for my dad and he really loved it. I had read that some of the other bakers found the lemon flavor to be extremely light so I ended up infusing the milk with the zest of one lemon (as the recipe dictates) and then rubbing the zest of another lemon into the sugar. I also added 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract. These additions seemed to amp up the flavor just enough to give the custard a light, but decidedly lemony flavor.


I think the real triumph with this recipe is the texture of the custard. Even though I do not personally like it, I could tell that the consistency was exactly what one would look for in a custard. It is thick and firm, like flan, not creamy like pudding. All in all, I think this recipe was a success and very easy to make (oh and it was sort of nice to make something that didn't tempt me like crazy the minute it came out of the oven: see Chocolate Whisky Cake!).

TWD: Chocolate Whisky Cake (with a secret ingredient)

Sorry this post is late, my internet has been acting up for days- I'm finally back online now!

Ok so I know this cake looks mysteriously similar to the Daring Bakers cake I posted right before it- but it was actually really quite different. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Lyb of And then I do the Dishes (you can find the recipe on her blog). This cake was AMAZING! Seriously, I am having a very difficult time not eating the entire thing by myself and I cannot wait to make it again. The cake actually calls for Armagnac but as I walked down the liquor aisle of the grocery store at 7:45 AM with my one year old child and burgeoning pregnant belly I didn't immediately see Armagnac or any type of Cognac- instead I just grabbed an inexpensive bottle of whiskey and checked out as quickly as I could! I'm not a huge alcohol drinker when I'm not pregnant (which is starting to feel like never, by the way) and I definitely know almost nothing about liquor so I was not interested in buying a big, expensive bottle of it just to bake a cake. Well, apparently many of the TWD bakers felt the same way because most of them ended up using whiskey as well!


Anyway, back to the actual cake and the secret ingredient- prunes! That's right! Prunes! Dried plums in a chocolate cake! Don't be deterred by the bad reputation that prunes often have- they are delicious in this cake- of course, they are soaked in liquor, so that might help a little. The other really great ingredient in this cake is the ground pecans- it gives a little nuttiness to the chocolate and helps to give the otherwise extremely fudgey, moist cake a little bite.


I have to admit that I used semi-sweet chocolate for both the cake and the icing even though the recipe called for bittersweet but it turned out great anyway. I really loved this cake- I think it is the best chocolate cake I have ever made! Thanks so much to Lyb for picking this gem of a recipe out for us to bake!