Cake Decorating

During my most recent move I acquired a number of things from my childhood that had been sitting unused in my parents' house.  Among them were cake decorating supplies.  After continuing to sit unused (though in my apartment), the tools finally cried out loud enough for me to take pity on them.  Actually, I was asked to duplicate a cake I'd made a few weeks ago, and decided that we all could do with a bit more festiveness than that provided by plain white icing (albeit cream cheese).  Combine that thought with an unusually free weekend, and I suddenly found myself at the hobby store buying glycerin, meringue powder, and clear vanilla flavoring, and contemplating signing up for a four-week class in cake decorating.  I shall chronicle my escapades here.

Attempt 1: Royal Icing Pumpkins, to top squares of Pumpkin Bars

P.S.  Also, an unrelated shout-out to Smitten Kitchen's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. I've made them twice in the last couple weeks, but unfortunately didn't get to take a picture before they were devoured!  The dough recipe works well in a bread-machine; just put things in in the standard order--liquids/eggs/salt/flour/sugar/spices/yeast.

A real update

A few recent successes: 

-My mom's Jewish Apple Cake (this recipe is pretty similar)
-Potato Latkes from Smitten Kitchen
-Brown Sugar Cookies from More Best Recipes
-Crock-Pot Pulled Pork with Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce (something I'd canned this summer)

Brown Sugar Cookies

Pizza

And here's a photo I found from the fall:

Kale chips!  Very easy, very addicting, and very healthy.

I'm alive!

Here's an entry I wrote a couple months ago--I couldn't find the cable to transfer photos from my camera and then forgot about the draft I'd written.  Alas, I still haven't found the cable, but I did figure out a way around the problem.

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With final exams, the busyness of Advent and Christmas, and traveling, there weren't too many cooking experiments around here in the last month or so.  I did try this Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese somewhat successfully, and I can't stop thinking about the Pork Chops with Sauerkraut that my mom made for New Year's (hint: it has sour cream and paprika).  I've also made cabbage rolls twice--really easy to bake a large casserole of them and then freeze in small portions.


If ye be worried that this post might lack photographic culinary detail, do not despair.  I almost wrote that I had lots of potatoes, left, but that is no longer quite the case.  Having many potatoes on hand, as well as bacon in the freezer, and random cream in the refrigerator, I tried this Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe from Slow-Cooker Revolution by America's Test Kitchen.  Delicious.  Click on the recipe to view it.

I also made Smitten Kitchen's Sour Cherry Slab Pie yesterday, and it turned out fantastically.  I used the all butter crust that she linked (as opposed to my standard shortening crust), and--provided one keeps everything cold--it was very easy to make and work with.

Unfortunately, the pie slab finished off the last of my sour cherry stash in the freezer.  I think I know of a place that has more, though, if I really get desperate.  Just don't tell my roommate.  She's probably enjoying being able to see a little bit of the back wall of the freezer again.

Culinary adventures

Given the vast (read "slightly more than usual") amount of free time we have this summer, a couple friends and I decided to spend a leisurely Saturday afternoon in the kitchen. We were interested in trying out this recipe for homemade ricotta, and, also anxious to use up a pound of CSA chard, decided to cook up a Swiss Chard Lasagna with Ricotta and Mushroom.  For dessert we had Apfelstrudel, which I learned to make from an Austrian friend whose grandmother taught her.  I've vowed not to write down a recipe (and I don't even know know specific ingredient amounts), always relying on my learning experience.  Let me know if you'd like me to pass it on to you!

Making the ricotta cheese was very easy.  You boil milk and cream to a certain temperature, stir in lemon juice, let it sit, and then strain.  After an hour or two we were left with about 16 oz. of cheese and a few cups of whey.  We used some of the whey in place of water in a loaf of white bread, but it has many culinary uses, and even as the basis for a soda in the cheese-making-and-thus-whey-overload-having country of Switzerland.




















The  lasagna turned out quite well though incredibly rich (especially with the homemade ricotta).  I actually like and recommend this other (and lighter) vegetable lasagna just as much.  The new recipe had the very interesting addition of nutmeg to the sauce, and I think that would work quite well in either recipe.  One could also replace the spinach with chard in the latter and add mushrooms.

Thanks friends for your hard work!!

Baklava

I've read that many ethnic groups lay claim to the development of baklava, the most legitimate probably being the Turkics.  I'm particularly attached to the Greeks' claim, though, having often ordered baklava at Christo's, a tiny restaurant frequented by my friends and I on sojourns into Pittsburgh during college.  Get out of a symphony concert and not want to abandon the allure of the city quite yet?  Need a location for some good conversation, and perhaps a little caffeine for the return drive up north?  Christo's it was.

Here's the version I make, tweaked from one on allrecipes.com.

Baklava

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough, thawed in refrigerator
• 1 pound nuts roasted and chopped finely (use a mix of pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and/or pecans)
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In medium saucepan, boil sugar and water until sugar is melted.  Add vanilla and honey and simmer for 20 minutes.  Place in refrigerator to cool.
3. Toss nuts with cinnamon and set aside. Unroll phyllo dough, and if necessary cut stack in half to fit pan.  Place two sheets of dough in pan and brush with melted butter. Repeat three more times and sprinkle 1/4 to 1/3 c. nuts on last layer.
4. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, and nuts, layering as you go.  Repeat approx. six more times.
5.  End with a top layer of about 6-8 sheets phyllo and brush with butter.
6. Using a sharp knife cut diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan.  Bake for about 45-50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp. (You may need to cover with tin foil after approx. 20-30 minutes to prevent burning.)
8.  Remove baklava from oven and immediately pour sauce over it. Let cool.