April Flowers

I haven't posted about anything other than food in a long time, so I thought I would share some photos I have taken of the flowers in my garden recently.

Coral Bells

Freesias

Red salvia

Gingersnap Rose

Hens and Chicks

Meyer Lemon

Geranium

Navarin Printanier

French Friday with Dorie

Navarin Printanier means lamb stew with spring vegetables and it is a classic slow braised dish served during the Easter season. Lamb is a meat of choice for us, especially in the spring, so I was really happy when I saw this recipe was on the schedule and it did not disappoint. After going to several grocery stores only to find leg of lamb and lamb shanks, I finally found some local lamb stew meat from a farm in Davis, CA at BelAir. 

Small white onions, carrots, and small bits of turnip are cooked in a sugar glaze until browned and then added to lightly seasoned pieces of lamb that has been cooked in broth for 15 minutes. Along with some small potatoes, the stew simmers on the stove for another 15 minutes before finishing off in the oven for 30 minutes. Lucky for us the temperatures dropped from 90 over the weekend to high 60s by mid-week, so this was a perfect dinner choice.

I started preparing this dish after I got home from work and served dinner in just over 2 hours. This was a warm and satisfying meal on a cool spring evening. The lamb was tender and delectable and the sauce, although a simple beef broth base, gave this lamb and vegetables so much flavor. This was a hit with all of us and my daughter declared it a keeper recipe.

See what the rest of the group thought over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Maple Cupcakes

BAKED Sunday Morning

The temperature reached to 90 degrees yesterday and I really didn't feel like turning the oven on and heating up the house and honestly I wasn't really in the mood for a dessert with maple syrup. Even though the intro to the recipe encourages you to make them at any time of the year, typically when I think of maple syrup I think of fall and winter. I thought these would be heavy like a pancake and since I only eat maybe one pancake a year, I wasn't all that excited, so I almost didn't make these.

I halved the recipe to make twelve cupcakes, but I couldn't bring myself to add a full cup of maple syrup because it just seemed too much, so I put 3/4 of a cup instead. That was the only alteration I made. I made these at 10:00 last night and it didn't take very long to mix and bake them. In my oven it took longer than the suggested time. After 20 minutes they were done, but light in color and I wanted them darker so I left them in for another 7 minutes.

I iced a couple of them and on one of them I sprinkled some turbinado sugar. 

John, of course, ate only the plain and thinks these are fantastic. He is glad I didn't put more maple syrup in the batter and he said they aren't very sweet which is the way he likes his cupcakes.

Usually I disagree with him on the frosting when it comes to cakes and cupcakes, but this time I agree that these can stand on their own and the subtle flavor of the maple syrup and the taste of the walnuts really shine without the frosting which I thought really overwhelmed the flavors of the cupcake. I am looking forward to seeing what the BAKED members thought about this one. You can see their links over at BAKED Sunday Mornings and you can also get the recipe there.

Coconut Friands

French Friday with Dorie

Do you like to eat a little something sweet with your cup of tea or coffee? Then these coconut friands are just the treat for you. Dorie's friands are little tea cakes made with egg whites, unsweetened coconut, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract and melted butter - and are perfect little bites that take hardly any time to prepare.

A few years ago I bought these molds that were made in Sweden at the American Cancer Society thrift store, so I decided this recipe would be a good one to try with the molds. I also decided to make some of the friands with raspberries when Dorie suggested that friands were good with little bits of fruit.

And I made some with just coconut because I knew John would probably like these the best and he did, although he thought the ones with raspberries were also delicious. My daughter and I liked both versions, but we particularly liked the ones with raspberries because the raspberries gave the friand a lovely little sweet tanginess. What is also tasty is that as they bake they develop a crunchy coating and so when you bite into them you taste a sweet crunchy top along with moist coconut cake. 

The only difficult thing about these tea cakes is keeping yourself from eating an entire plateful.

You can see rest of the group's friands by following the links over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Lemon Loaf Cake

Tuesday with Dorie

This week's recipe by contributing baker Norman Love is a lemon cake that is made with only the zest of lemon - no lemon juice. I thought it strange that there was no lemon juice and after reading the Ps and Qs I found out that many who had already made the loaf thought it didn't have a strong lemon flavor. So when I made this loaf on Easter Saturday, I followed the recipe exactly except I added three drops of lemon oil. I thought the lemon oil would give it more of a lemon flavor, but after the cake cooled and we sliced it there was not even a hint of lemon.

The recipe stated that when the cake cools completely to wrap it tightly and wait to cut it after a day, but, of course we couldn't wait that long. The loaf rose beautifully and was a pretty cake, but it just didn't have any flavor. That first night John said he didn't like it. I made a lemon glaze for my slices (John doesn't like sugary glazes) which made it very lemony and very sweet. I was really disappointed, but thought it might make a good cake for strawberry shortcake, so on Easter Sunday that's what I served for dessert and it was a hit with the family. The cake had developed a very mild lemon flavor overnight and paired with the strawberries and whipped cream it was really delicious.

What we discovered, however, is that this cake tastes even better on the third day - plain. That is when the lemon taste shines. So I made another one this past Sunday, but this time I used the zest of meyer lemons and added a little bit of meyer lemon juice, along with three drops of lemon oil. Adding that little bit of juice required about 10 minutes longer of baking time, but the loaf had a lovely lemon smell and taste. I served it again with strawberries and whipped cream and it was just as delicious as the first time. On Monday we ate it plain again with coffee and it tasted wonderful. This is a cake that I will make often.

Thank you to Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life for hosting this week's recipe. You can see their beautiful cakes and get the recipe on their blogs. You can also see what the rest of the bakers thought about the lemon loaf cake over at Tuesdays with Dorie. 

Sardine Rillettes

French Friday with Dorie

When I see a can of sardines or anchovies it reminds me of my dad because he loved eating those little fish. I remember small stacks of those tins in our pantry when I was growing up, but you won't find them in my pantry - only when there is a FFwD recipe on the schedule will they make a very brief appearance. So, for this week's recipe I decided to buy just one can of sardines because I knew that I wouldn't be eating more than a nibble and wasn't sure if anyone else would like this recipe.

Of course not realizing it, I bought a can that needed to be deboned. It wasn't that difficult to do, but it was more handling of the sardines than I really would have preferred. The rillettes consist of cream cheese, a little chopped onion, minced white and light green parts of a scallion, lemon juice from half a lemon, and salt and pepper. I snipped some parsley and chives from my herb garden and minced those before adding to the mixture. When I took a little taste before putting the rillettes in the fridge to chill, I didn't think it tasted that bad.

I toasted some thin slices of wheat bread and cut the crusts off to serve the sardine rillettes. I also chopped some green onion and finely minced serrano pepper to add a little heat and give it some visual appeal. I ate one and that was enough for me. All I could taste was sardine with a little hint of onion. John ate the rest and said he thought it tasted like tuna fish and really liked it with the serrano pepper. He said that he would prefer to eat it as a regular-size sandwich with his pepper on the side (this is how he always eats tuna fish). He really liked the cream cheese instead of the mayonnaise in tuna fish. The jury is still out where my daughter is concerned because she won't be able to give this a try until Friday afternoon. Even though she looked at me like I was crazy when I told her what was on the schedule this week, she doesn't mind eating sardines at all, so I have a feeling I will be in the minority opinion on this dish.

See what the rest of the group thought about sardine rillettes over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Happy Easter and Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs

BAKED Sunday Morning

I have to confess that when I saw that the recipe for this week was Chocolate Marshmallow Cups I seriously considered skipping this one because I don't really care for marshmallow candy; however, since this recipe also happened to be on Easter and my daughter loves marshmallows, chocolate-covered marshmallows, hot chocolate with marshmallows - pretty much anything with marshmallow - I thought I would give the recipe a whirl. When I was looking in the cupboard where I keep my cupcake liners I came across these candy molds from the Martha Stewart Collection from a few years ago, but had never used so I thought I would try to use the egg molds instead of making mini-marshmallow cups.

I halved the recipe for both the chocolate and marshmallow and after melting bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate together I used a teaspoon to coat the egg molds and then put them in the fridge to set. I have never made marshmallows before and was surprised at how easy it was although you really have to work quickly to spoon the marshmallow into the molds because it starts to stiffen and then is difficult to smooth. The recipe recommended piping the marshmallow, but I felt it was easier to just spoon the marshmallow over the chocolate layer. I then put another layer of chocolate over the marshmallow and put the molds back into the refrigerator to set again. 

I used the leftover chocolate to make chocolate butterflies. I only had a little bit of marshmallow left over and John put a piece in his coffee. It quickly melted and left a layer of milky sweetness on the top of his coffee. He said it tasted delicious.

John and I tasted a couple and I was surprised by how much I liked them. They are so much better than the candy you find in the stores. And the marshmallow is far superior than those bags that you get at the grocery store. I am sure I will be making these again. John also thought these were really good.

The rest of the eggs and butterflies are for my kids. I think they will be a little surprised when they taste them and I have a feeling they will want me to make these for every holiday. I'll have to keep an eye out for other seasonal molds.

Visit BAKED Sunday Mornings to see how the rest of the group made this candy and you can also get the recipe there. I hope all of you have a very lovely Easter!

Asparagus and Bits of Bacon

French Friday with Dorie

While making this week's dish I felt like it was déjà vu and then I remembered it was pretty much the same preparation for the asparagus in the Bacon and Egg Asparagus Salad we made last year. I don't really enjoy peeling the asparagus, but it sure makes the asparagus cook faster. It would have been easier to peel thicker stalks, but a bunch of thin asparagus was in our farm fresh csa box this week. Perfect timing!

I wish I could tell you, though, what this recipe tasted like as written, but when Dorie said to set aside the walnut oil and lemon juice mixture - that's exactly what I did. And I forgot about it. But, I can tell you that even without this mixture the asparagus and bits of bacon and onion was pretty tasty.

After a busy week at work and coming home tired every night, it was nice to have a simple recipe to prepare. We nibbled on this with leftovers from the previous night, but it would be a perfect side for so many main dishes. 

See what the others thought about it over at French Fridays with Dorie. Next week's recipe is Sardine Rillettes. Now that should be interesting!

Pizza Rustica

Tuesday with Dorie

Thank you to Emily from Capital Region Dining Blog and Raelynn from The Place They Call Home for hosting this week's recipe. Pizza Rustica is by contributing baker Nick Malgieri. It is a surprising pizza recipe because it has savory ingredients for the filling, but a sweet dough for the crust. I had my doubts about it when I saw that there were three different types of cheese and not a tomato in sight, but I wanted to give the recipe a try without tweaking the ingredients too much and as much as I wanted to add some tomatoes or a little bit of sauce, I resisted the impulse, and instead, added some minced green onion and substituted little chunks of ham for the prosciutto.

I made the dough Sunday morning and put the two rounds of dough in the refrigerator to chill even though the recipe says that you can use it right away. We left for the afternoon and didn't get back until late, but I went ahead and assembled the pizza pie even though I knew it would be too late to eat it for dinner by the time it finished baking. The dough was a little difficult for me to work with because it was warm in my kitchen and the dough got really soft. I put the dough-filled pie plate in the fridge to chill while I cut the strips for the top. The filling came together easily. After 30 minutes in my oven at 350 degrees, I checked on it and noticed that the edges were getting brown, but the middle was still light-colored, so I put my pie crust shield around it (John picked this up for me at a garage sale and it has come in so handy - beats tearing off pieces of foil and trying to work it around the edge of the pie) and let it bake for another 10 minutes.

At 10:30 at night I pulled it from the oven and let it cool on the cooling rack, wrapped it in foil and put it in the fridge. When I got home from work on Monday, I sliced some pieces and popped them in the microwave to heat them up. These slices were our afternoon snacks. The combination of sweet and savory is so wonderful in this pizza. John thought it tasted like a quiche, but I disagreed. I liked this so much better than quiche. I fixed a green salad with homemade ranch dressing and served more slices of pizza rustica for dinner. It is perfect as a snack, for lunch, or for dinner. This would also be perfect to serve for Easter or at any gathering because you can make it ahead, reheat, and serve.

Let's talk about the dough for a second. John helped me cut the strips for the lattice top and not wanting to waste the dough, he rolled them up like a lasagna roll and we baked it in the oven. He said it was the best 'roll' he has eaten! Looks like I will be making more of the dough for Easter dinner rolls.

Visit Tuesdays with Dorie to see the other pizza rusticas. You can get the recipe over on Emily's and Raelynn's blogs.