food

Starbucks Natural Fusions Coffee [...]

Give the stove the night off and let your grill do all the work. Finish off your cookout with these flame-kissed grilled fruit desserts.

Just To Make You Smile

It was my grand daughter's birthday recently and I made her these cupcakes. Also found these delightful cupcake wrappers which I was dying to use, so........ Ingredients..125g Butter (unsalted)155g Castor sugar.2 Eggs (lightly beaten together)225g S.R. Flour. (Sifted twice)125ml Milk.Vanilla essence or strawberry food flavouring.For the icing..250g Butter (unsalted)400g Icing sugar.Colouring of your choice. (I used paste Grape Violet and Rose Pink) Method..Preheat oven to 180c. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases (makes 20)Using an electric mixer, beat together the cream and sugar until very light and creamy. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Now fold in the flour, flavouring and the milk until just combined. Do not over work the flour.Spoon in to the prepared cases and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean. Set a side to cool while you make the icing.Put the butter in to the bowl of the electric mixer, and beat for at least 10 minutes, scrapping down the sides every now and then. The longer you do this, the paler the butter becomes. Almost white. Still using the mixer, add the icing sugar a bit at a time until smooth, then add your colouring. Put the icing mix in to a piping bag and just start making your pretty designs on the top of each cupcake.Lastly, decorate with sprinkles, little marshmallows or flowers and birds, all edible. Have fun!

Fool-Proof Lemon Meringue [...]

I have to apologize in advance: this is a coobook reject. I know! “A reject?!” you’re probably thinking. “Now why would I want your rejects?” Because this is a delicious reject; it failed because I decided to go in another direction, such a different direction that about the only thing the other one has in common is the word “buckle” and I’m probably renaming it anyway. Gosh, I sure like to make things difficult, though that’s not really news.

Needless to say, working on a cookbook is keeping me busy. Well, that and this (and this lost kneecap; we can’t find it anywhere!). I’m learning a lot I probably should already know. Just Monday, I learned that if I didn’t bake a cake long enough, it would sink in the middle! The week before, I realized if I had my camera on the wrong settings, everything would come out blurry and I’ve have to start all over again. Because I’m cooking seasonally, I’ve learned that things only go out of season when you need them most. (Rhubarb, baby, come back! I wasn’t finished with you!)

... Read the rest of nectarine brown butter buckle on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2009. |
permalink to nectarine brown butter buckle | no comment to date | see more: Cake, Cookbook, Nectarine, Photo, Summer

I saw a table at the market the other night groaning under the weight of a mountain of summer squash. Squash that looked like it wanted to avalanche its way into my basket. I took pity, grabbed a bunch and made my way home. I ended up using a couple that night in a favorite nothing-to-it zucchini recipe. So, I thought I'd share the recipe with you, along with a few non-recipe related links. First, the zucchini. It's a single-skillet kind of thing. Coins of zucchini are browned in a pan, but the thing that makes it special is the toasted golden slivers of garlic combined with lots of fresh dill, plus a sprinkling of almonds for crunch. Prep takes five minutes, if that, and you can treat this as a side dish, or use it as a component of something else...

For example, I often cook up a pan of the zucchini like this, then use it to top off a frittata. You might toss it with a short pasta, a bit of slivered basil, and a bit of feta - also delicious. Over farro, not bad. Baked as a hand-pie in a simple pastry with a smudge of goat cheese? Even better. Anyhow, it's really adaptable. And for those of you who don't use much dill in your cooking...let me just say, dill is under-rated and under-utilized. The more I cook with it, the more I love it - fingers crossed you like this spin as much as I do.

And before I sign off, a few links - because I'm long overdue for a proper "favorites" list:

- I've been using this for a few months, and love it.
- Best ever Redfin listing: La Miniatura.
- Thinking my nephew might like this when he sleeps over.
- More summer camping inspiration.
- If I needed a clothing rack, this would be the one for me.
- Perfect stripes. (via Bliss)
- Loving this idea: banana bread made with chocolate coated walnuts.
- Better than the paper kind. (via innumerable goods)
- Hoping Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF.
- Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride
- Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen.
- And lastly - hoping for an English version of this.

Continue reading Sautéed Zucchini...

Back in the day, nearly 30 years ago, when I was newly married, I was introduced to my first "blondies" (so-called because they are a light, non-chocolate version of brownies) in two different ways. There was a bakery on the mezzanine level of the big Davison's Department Store about a block from my office downtown. The only thing I remember from that bakery is their "blond brownies" - they were big and wonderfully chewy in the center - a perfect mid-afternoon snack. (There was also a cookie store in the ground floor of my office building, so even though I had no time to spend in the kitchen, thanks to those two shops I was not starved for freshly-baked goodies)Around the same time I learned of an old recipe in my husband's family called "Butterscotch Delights" (which I recently posted, here). Over the years when I had just a bit of time I'd whip up a batch of those bar cookies and they always make a hit. In fact that's part of of the charm of a good blondie recipe: nearly everyone loves to eat the final product!This week's assigned recipe for the baking group Tuesdays With Dorie is Chewy, Chunky Blondies, chosen by Nicole of the blog Cookies on Friday. I was eager to bake this version, which is filled with lots of chips and nuts.n.o.e.'s notes:- Dorie's recipe (which you can find on Nicole's post, here) calls for light brown sugar and granulated sugar. I used dark brown sugar and palm sugar - to emphasize the butterscotch-y flavor.- Although I forgot the vanilla (accidentally) I doubled the salt (on purpose) to wake up the flavors.- My add-ins were: toasted chopped pecans, toasted sweetened coconut, chopped Heath bar, chocolate covered cocoa nibs, and 72% chocolate chips.- I baked half a recipe in an 8x8 pan, which I lined with a buttered parchment sling so the blondies would release easily from the pan.- The blondies stayed in my oven about 40 minutes. They were a bit moist in the center, but I knew they'd pull together as they cooled.- Earlier this year I tried a different loaded blondie recipe, "Killer Blondies" from the kitchn, which I posted here. That recipe was more intensely flavored; it used dark brown sugar along with even darker muscovado sugar, and instant coffee dissolved in brandy. (It also had a topping which I found to be a bit too crumbly and quite sweet.)the verdict: These blondies were nice and chewy and were packed full with add-ins. Mine turned out to be quite chocolatey, from the generous quantity of chips, the chocolate in the Heath bar and in the chocolate-covered cocoa nibs that I'd used, and I found myself wishing I could taste more of the blondie and less of the chocolate. The coconut added a subtle, but nice, note. Overall, I prefer the "Killer Blondies" from the kitchn's recipe (minus the topping), but I liked these blondies very much.

Isn't this the most wonderful title?One of Scotland's national treasures. It is somewhere between a fish soup and a stew. Called 'Skink' locally. Whatever, it is a meal in a bowl and a very good one too. I could push the boat out and tell you you need Finnan Haddies to make it but I wouldn't be so cruel. Any smoked white fish will do. I used a mix of white and smoked cod. You do need the smoked fish to give the special flavour though. It is a perfect winter warmer or a good dish on a wet summer day here. Keep left over mashed potato to make this. It's a good use up.Serves 4Ingredients.750 mls / 1.6 pints full fat milk or a mix of milk and cream if you are feeling decadentA small handful of chopped parsley (reserving the stalks)1 bay leaf12 black peppercorns450 gms /1lb Smoked haddock fillets or any firm white smoked fish or a mix of smoked and plain fish. Whatever you have or whatever you fancy.5ogms/ 2oz butter1 medium onion chopped2 scallions finely chopped200gms/8 oz buttered mashed potatoSalt and PepperGarnishChopped parsley and four poached eggs.MethodPour the milk into a saucepan large enough to accommodate the fish.Add in the bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley stalks and fish.Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for five minutes or more.Remove the fish, strain the poaching liquid and reserve.Flake the poached fish removing any skin and bones.While the fish is poaching heat the butter in another saucepan and fry the onion until soft but not brown.Then stir in the strained poaching liquid, then the mashed potatoes until you have a thick creamy consistency.Add the chopped parsley leaves, chopped scallions and the flaked fish and simmer for another 4-5 minutesSeason well with black pepper and salt if needed.Pour into serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley and a poached egg.Poached EggsYou can of course poach the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water. A short cut is to put boiling water and a little vinegar into a microwavable dish. Make sure the water is enough to cover the eggs well. Microwave for a minute to make sure the water is good and hot. Swirl the water and drop in the egg and microwave for 30-40 seconds per egg. They will not cook a great deal after removal but will keep hot.

I love perusing the bulk bins at various super markets to see what’s new. My latest spotting was miniature peanut butter cups – the tiny ones like you get in peanut butter cup ice cream. First I saw them at a store called Sprouts and later found them at H.E.B., so I guess they’re catching [...]

Parchment paper. Ramekins. Candy thermometers. These are tools for when it’s less than 100 degrees F outside.But when you make that first trip to the mailbox that leaves you sweating like a whore in church, it’s time to downshift into Summer Mode and survive on foods that require as little effort as possible. Leftover peach cobbler for breakfast. Tomato sandwiches. Big salads. Vegetable plates. Pimento cheese. BLTs. And a batch of Mama’s Trashy-Good Orange Crush Sherbet.My mom has been making this sherbet since the beginning of time. When Adam and Eve were booted from the Garden of Eden, my mom handed them each a cone of orange sherbet and told them to stay out of the tall grass or they’d get chiggers. I can’t imagine a summer without a bowl. Sure, you could make an orange sherbet with actual fruit juices, but something about the trashy triumvirate of Orange Crush soda, sweetened condensed milk and canned crushed pineapple makes me giddy. Stir them together, pour them directly into your ice cream maker, and you get an orange sherbet that tastes like a Creamsicle on speed.So sweet. So cold. So, so wrong.Continue reading: Mama’s Trashy-Good Orange Crush Sherbet© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.