For once even I am a bit sick of sugar, as there have been a few too many sweets slouching around these days that are going nowhere fast. However, the apartment across from me is waiting to be rented. What does this have to do with sweets? Only that I’m really hoping for someone who likes to eat (or cook) to move in, so I can share baked goods and fatten them up, too. My other neighbors can be annoying with their occasional binge-drinking parties/competitions, so I am not too eager to get chummy with them. Unfortunately, harboring such feelings about my neighbors makes me feel a bit like a crabby old cat lady. Sans cats, because I am allergic, so perhaps I’m the crabby old lady who is slightly bitter but bakes sweets.

Meanwhile, I expect this sugar-sick syndrome is just one of those 48-hour bugs, especially because there is an incredible chocolate tangerine semifreddo in the freezer that would like to be eaten (and written about) soon. Until then, here is a tasty pasta dish that is perfect weeknight fare. The sauce cooks in no time at all, with simple ingredients for a satisfying dinner with no bitterness in sight.

Linguini with Chickpeas, Lemon, and Ricotta

1/2 pound linguini
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
juice from 1/2 a lemon
finely grated zest from one whole lemon
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup ricotta cheese

Pecorino or other hard, salty cheese for grating

Set a large pot of salted water boiling for pasta.
In a sauté pan large enough to hold the cooked pasta, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. When hot, toss in the chopped garlic and cook for about a minute. Add chickpeas, parsley, lemon juice and zest, and ricotta cheese. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil pasta for the appropriate time (usually 4 minutes for linguini), drain, then throw into the sauté pan. Fold the sauce ingredients with the pasta, adding a bit more olive oil or salt and pepper if necessary. Top with grated Pecorino and serve.

Main Dishes | 5 Comments »

Alas, I’m few days late, but did manage to squeeze in a Lemon Meringue Pie for this month’s Daring Bakers challenge. Some unexpected car problems pushed baking out of my mind the past few days, and I must admit, not being the biggest fan of Lemon Meringue Pie, my heart wasn’t completely in this challenge. Distractions and ambivalence are a fell combination for baking, so it’s no wonder my results (and photos thereof) turned out a little funky.

My feelings about lemon meringue pie are mostly due to a slight distaste for meringue, but also probably because I’ve never had a homemade one. The words Lemon Meringue conjure up memories of factory-made pies eaten at diners and places like Eat ‘n Park rather than someone’s own special recipe. Still, I was curious about the challenge pie, as the recipe for the curd filling is made with water, a technique I’d never seen before. Reports from other Daring Bakers also claimed that this filling was very tart, which piqued my interest right away. There’s nothing I love more in a lemon dessert than a nice puckery tang.

I decided to make a few small tartlets shaped in mini-muffin tins as well as “free-style” tartlets: flat discs of dough decorated lemon-meringue style. I liked the way these looked the best. Since I avoid gelatine, I was pleased to see that the filling is thickened with cornstarch, and while it didn’t strike me as particularly tart while warm, an overnight rest in the refrigerator proved me wrong: the chilled filling did indeed have a subtle but pleasant tang. Not as strong a typical lemon curd, but nice all the same (and let’s face it, not everyone loves flavors that are super-sour). I will probably use this filling again for other tarts or pies, or maybe even to fill cakes. I had no problems whatsoever with the it being runny; it was quite firm and would have sliced well in a full-sized pie.

The crust was tender and did not shrink much, which was encouraging. I may also use this again, but will cut the sugar down a couple tablespoons (the combo of sweet crust, sweet filling, and sweet meringue was overkill for me). The meringue itself…eh. I still don’t care for meringue pies, but of course that’s not the recipe’s fault. I piped the topping in what was supposed to be a somewhat whimsical configuration, but didn’t foresee that the cute little turrets of meringue would break apart very easily from their brethren and be extremely difficult to press back on, since they also stick to fingers and everything else. But I liked the look of it, and might try this piping method again if I can be confident that no one will touch the final products except to eat them.

In conclusion, I can now say that homemade lemon meringue pies are definitely superior to assembly-line versions, but I probably won’t experiment much further on this front. I was glad to find the crust and filling recipes are good enough to reuse, and could imagine them pairing up again in a meringueless pie. Meanwhile, I await the next challenge! Thanks to Jen of The Canadian Baker for this one.

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Baking, Daring Bakers | 28 Comments »

For a while now I’ve been eyeing the Coconut Bread that is one of the signature recipes of Bill Granger, an Australian chef whose restaurant has the excruciating-for-those-of-us-who-respect-the-apostrophe name of bills. Even though the abuse of apostrophes causes me great spasms of torture, bills coconut bread truly won me over. It is absolutely fantastic and it will definitely become part of my regular repertoire.

I did make a couple of changes to the recipe, such as cutting the sugar by half. It was still plenty sweet (and honestly, why in the name of Callebaut do I love sweets this much yet am so darn sensitive to sugar?), and crunchy with some Demerara sugar I sprinkled on top. The outside of the bread has a crisp and crumbly crust, while the inside is fragrant and particularly good when eaten hot from the oven.

This coconut bread really is more bready than cakey, and thus well suited for topping with butter, spreads such as lime marmalade (as Granger suggests), or a tropical fruit curd, like naranjilla or passion fruit.

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Baking, Sweet Sauces & Fillings | 7 Comments »

Pastry cream is such fantastic stuff. It’s quick and very easy to make, it can be flavored in nearly unlimited ways, and can star in or enhance any number of sweet treats. Since I have been extremely busy at work and too knackered to barely spare a thought to dinner let alone desserts, this post ended up being some quick ideas for using pastry cream when one can’t really be bothered for more than 15 minutes of other preparation.

You’ll also have to forgive my recent orange phase, an occasional occurrence wherein I experience a small obsession with a single flavor for a week or so. It was probably the fault of those yummy muffins from the other week. Oranges are so welcome during the creaky, dry, and frozen air of January, though, so it’s no wonder that my daydreams have been featuring all things citrusy and cheerful. I even went so far as to bring out a bar of blood orange soap.

The pastry cream is Flo Braker’s recipe, which is the best I’ve tried so far. It has a good amount of sweetness and is reasonably thick without being floury. I don’t mind being a piglet and eating the cream straight from a bowl, but there were also some pomegranates to use up, and who could refuse such a lovely combination? Phyllo nests can be made pretty quickly, and it takes no time at all to spoon pastry cream inside and top with pomegranate seeds. These looked very pretty and would do nicely for a party.

There were still a lot of pomegranate seeds and pastry cream left, and it doesn’t get much simpler (i.e. if you really want no further effort, i.e. me, tonight) than a fruit parfait. Even Saint Expeditus seems tempted join me in avoiding doing real work and eating this stuff instead. See how he gazes longingly at those precious rubies…

Later on, it seemed clear that trying to get work done was a silly waste of time, so I made these mini orange yogurt cakes, a simple French favorite that takes less than 15 minutes to mix up and pour in the pan. They were pretty good plain but even better when split and filled with more of the orange pastry cream. There are no pictures of this, unfortunately, as it was done quickly in the morning before bringing them in for friends so they wouldn’t get too soggy (the cakes, not the friends). I did keep one for myself, and you’ll just have to trust me that it was pretty darn good for such little effort. The sesame seeds added a bit of interest, but I think next time I will toast the seeds and also add some to the batter in addition to the tops (oddly, they did not toast as the cakes baked).

Here’s the recipe for the Orange Pastry Cream. Feel free to substitute orange with any other citrus, or mix in nuts, chocolate, extracts or otherwise. For a smooth pastry cream, you can press it through a sieve while it is still warm. Leaving the peel in gives little bursts of orange flavor.

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Baking, Sweet Sauces & Fillings | 8 Comments »

My alcohol intake - apart from a glass of wine on special occasions - has dwindled to nearly a teetotaler’s in recent years, but I still consider myself a whisky kind of gal. A nice Islay Scotch, if you have it, and neat, if you please, although I wouldn’t turn my back on a cheeky glass of whisky sour, either. My problem it seems is that I like the taste but am not too keen on getting drunk. I also happen to find that the flavor of whisky is especially marvelous when it comes in contact with sugar. Even though alcoholic desserts don’t usually appeal to me, I think whisky brings a lovely depth without being as boozy-tasting as rum or certain liqueurs.

I came up with these cookies while trying to figure out how to use up the rest of the delicious Chatsworth honey that Brilynn gave me months ago for Blogging By Mail. After musing on how well whisky would go with the honey, it only took a short session of tasting, mixing, and flying nuggets of butter (from enthusiastic whisking) before these yummy little guys were born. They are soft, buttery-sweet, and somewhat delicate, with a note of whisky that is subtle but distinct. It’s worth mentioning that as much as I love Islays, it’s probably best not to use them in these cookies (there’s not much point in cooking with any high-quality single-malt, for that matter). A drinkable blend or something like Jameson would be fine.

I would gladly serve these on any occasion, but they’d be brilliant at a Burns Nicht celebration. If you want to know the truth, I’ve been longing for ages to hold my very own Burns Nicht, but don’t seem to have enough mad Scotsmen (or women, or heck, enthusiasts) in my vicinity who are willing to play silly music and explore the mysteries of Haggis with me. And I’m not even Scottish! Still, even if it’s just me singing my favorite Rabbie Burns songs loudly in the kitchen again this year, I’ve found a particularly sweet tribute to the man’s national spirit.

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Baking | 6 Comments »

I’ve just found out that I received a Host Award (which I think is like an Honorable Mention) for the December DMBLGIT (aka Does My Blog Look Good In This) contest! The notable picture was the lemon curd which you can see above in the header; I’d submitted it sort of on a whim and am completely surprised to be counted among the winners! Many thanks to all the judges and to Dayna the host at food+photography. I competed with some very talented photographers and it’s quite an honor to have my pic picked among so many gorgeous entries.

In other news, I recently found out that someone from the Pittsburgh City Paper, a local newsweekly, did a brief article on local food blogs and mentioned cookworm. The article also introduced me to some other Pittsburgh bloggers that I’d not known previously. Thanks very much to writer Colleen van Tassell, who fortunately seems to find me amusing rather than simply freakish (good thing she doesn’t know me in real life).

But seriously, it really is encouraging to see that people are reading and enjoying things around here. I’ll do my best to keep up a steady stream of improvements. Thanks!

General | 6 Comments »