Sunday, September 20, 2009

Salad (Leisy Miller)

California Pizza Kitchen's bbq chicken salad

I HIGHLY recommend
SWEET BABY RAYS hickory and brown sugar bbq sauce.
serves 4-8

SALAD

CHICKEN. marinate in first four ingredients for 15 minutes. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Chop into cubes- chill- and coat in bbq sauce.

Lemon Curd (Maria Carter)

Lemon Curd Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)

1 tablespoon (4 grams) finely shredded lemon zest

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces [I felt like this was a little too much butter, I would probably go with 3 Tbsp].

[Note: Room temperature lemons provide more juice. Cold lemons are much easier to grate. I put the lemons in the fridge and when I was ready grated them while they were cold then put them in the microwave for like 20 seconds and then squeezed them.]


Instructions from the Joy of Baking web site:

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) (160 degrees F or 71 degrees C). This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. [I did not do this, if there are lumps it is from cooked egg white and that doesn't bother me so I didn't strain it]. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

Makes 1 1/2 cups (360 ml).

If you want a lighter lemon curd whip 1/2 cup (120 ml) of heavy whipping cream and fold into the lemon curd.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonCurd.html#ixzz0R8Atli3G

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sauces and Dips

French Brie Fondue

13 oz. ripe French Brie 1/4 cup butter
1 onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup flour 1 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2/3 cup heavy cream 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
salt freshly ground black pepper

To Serve: grapes, cubes of French bread, raw button mushrooms

Cut away find from Brie and slice cheese thinly. Set aside.

Melt butter in teh fondue pot ( I have an electric fondue pot and made the whole thing in it.) over a low heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook gently for 10 minutes until softened. Sprinkle flour over and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring. Gradually add stock and continue to stir until mixture thickens. Simmer gently for 2-3 minutes.

Stir sliced Brie and ceam into the fondue. Cook, stirring, until cheese has melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the fondue pot to the lighted spirit burner. To serve, spear grapes, bread, and mushrooms on to skewers or fondue forks and dip into the fondue. Serves 4-6.


Ham and Potato Casserole (Cyndi Ericksen)

Ingredients

4 large potatoes (peeled and cubed)

8 oz ham (cubed or diced)

8-12 oz sour cream

½ - 2/3 can of cream ck soup can

Cheddar cheese grated for the top

Steam or boil cubed potatoes until soft (if boiling in water it takes about 20 minutes). Salt and pepper potatoes and put in 8x8 casserole dish. Stir in ham, sour cream and cream ck soup (Don’t actually make it into a soup. Just take directly from the can.) Make sure all of the potatoes are covered in the sauce. Top with cheese and bake in oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.