Pots and Pins

Note to Self...

It really IS more productive to work in a clean and organized workroom...who knew?!?  This is my new goal...to get organized in the one area of my life that is totally chaotic...my workroom.  Chaotic because that's where I go to play and create and with one foot in the door, what little left brain I have ceases to work.  I make plans to work on one thing and end up working on another...it's just nuts!  But now, with the Aussie's influence, I have seen the light...organization is the key...here is the before:

I could never find the fabrics I was looking for and never seemed to have the time to organize it properly...so I hired Courtleigh - she folded and refolded and got everything nice and neat...and with her help I was able to keep going...so now my fabric, once a mess, is accessible and it's so fun to pull out a drawer and see it all lined up and ready to go!

And now that everything is nice and neat I can't wait to get in there and mess it all up!

Prosciutto Pinwheels...

When I made these delicious little appetizers for Ali's baby shower, I set them on a pretty plate, right before the shower and told the mister, who was standing nearby salivating, that he could help himself.  Now, when I said "help yourself" I assumed the mister would pick up a couple and then go about his business...it was only after HALF THE PLATE had been devoured and he was going back for more that I realized how addictive these are...I had to slap his hand and shoo him out of the kitchen before there was nothing but crumbs left!  He reluctantly went away, mumbling something about me never making good things like that for him!  Whatever!!  Sometimes I'd like to slap more than his hand!  But, I'm not a violent person...no, I'm a peaceful person, a peaceful person who makes Prosciutto Pinwheels that are SO good that they could bring out the violence in me, like if the mister had dared to stick his head back into the kitchen!   

Thanks to my friend (and hopefully yours) Puff Pastry Sheets, this appetizer is a snap to prepare.  You could use ham if you can't find Prosciutto but really it's available most everywhere these days.  Prosciutto is Italian ham that has been seasoned, salt cured and air dried.  It's delicious wrapped around pickled asparagus spears or cantaloupe slices or on a sandwich with Fontina cheese...a personal fav...but these little appetizers are just as flavorful as they are pretty - so give Prosciutto a try!

Just make sure to make plenty of them because they will fly off the plate.  And if your mister is like mine, ban him from the kitchen as soon as these little beauties go in the oven because your house will smell so good he'll come a runnin'!

Prosciutto Pinwheels - From Simply Classic, The Junior League of Seattle Cookbook

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed, flour for dusting

4 tablespoons sweet hot mustard

4 oz. Prosciutto, thinly sliced

1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Dust work surface with flour and roll pastry sheet into a rectangle approximately 11x14-inches.  Using a pastry brush, brush the excess flour from surface of pastry.  Spread mustard evenly over pastry, arrange prosciutto in a flat layer over mustard and sprinkle cheese evenly over all.  Starting at long end, roll up pastry jelly-roll style until you reach the middle of the sheet.  Roll the other half in the same manner until the two sides meet in the center.  Place on a baking sheet and set a flat spatula or wooden spoon on each side to keep it from unrolling.  Place in freezer until well chilled, at least 20 minutes.  Can be made ahead up to this point and kept frozen, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months. 

When ready to bake, slice well-chilled roll (or partially thawed if previously frozen) into 1/2-inch slices and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Makes 20 pinwheels.  (I always double this recipe!)

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"Intuition is a spiritual faculty, and does not explain, but simply points the way."  ~ Florence Scovel Shinn

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One year ago today:  Tim-Tam-Slams

Cantaloupe Salad...

May I share?  Need I even ask?  Last night, after another late evening out with his good friend Jack, the mister showed up just as HOUSE was ending...you do remember that HOUSE is now my favorite show, right?  So it's the end of the show...the final diagnosis is just about to be made...I'm on pins and needles hoping that Dr. House has all the answers and the little 12 year old swimmer can survive to swim again...and the mister walks in and begins to talk.  Non-stop.  Not coming up for air.  YadaYadaYadaYadaYada...BlahBlahBlah...it was endless, unceasing, constant, and...MONOTONE!!  I was staring at the TV and slowly, ever so slowly, turning up the volume with the remote one decibel at a time and as the volume went up so did the mister's voice...finally, as I could stand it no more, and unable to hear my favorite TV show all I can think is KILL ME RIGHT NOW...so I tear my eyes away from the TV, turn to the mister and say, as sweetly as possible..."WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?!"  Well...who knew that would be so effective?  He was miffed and promptly exited the room with his mouth...but by then I had missed the diagnosis...and House was on a date...and I had no idea what was going on...so, did anyone see last's night show - it was a rerun on cable...anyone?  Anyone?  Buehler?

   

What do you get when you combine the cool, fresh, sweet-ripened taste of cantaloupe with a bit of ginger and honey and lemon thyme?  You get a taste explosion...and if I say anything more it would be food porn...so I'll resist...and let this photo to the talking...

Honestly, this is SUCH a refreshing salad...vibrant with taste and absolutely the perfect side dish on a spring day...or a hot summer day...print this one, make it and eat it...you'll love me for it!  Oh, pretend that's a beautiful crystal serving dish, would ya?  This was another part of a meal that was served to the vegetarians last week...and while I'm sure the prettiness of all the little balls of cantaloupe was lost on them, the taste was not!

Cantaloupe Salad - Adapted from Dave Lieberman

2 cantaloupes, scooped into balls

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped (I used Organics Chopped Ginger, it lasts forever in the refrigerator and is much easier than using fresh - plus it IS fresh!)

One sprig fresh Lemon Thyme, leaves removed for sprinkling OR small handful of fresh mint, leaves torn - either one tastes great

Cut cantaloupes in half, scoop out the seeds.  Scoop cantaloupe into balls with a melon baller, placing in a large bowl, reserving any juice left in the cantaloupe shell.  In a small bowl, add the juice from the cantaloupe shells, honey, ginger and whisk together until smooth.  Pour over the cantaloupe balls, tossing gently.  Sprinkle with thyme or mint and serve cold.  Serves 4.

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"Genius is of small use to a woman who does not know how to do her hair."  ~ Edith Wharton

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One year ago today:  Seattle Art Museum - (The Ford Taurus as art...too funny!) 

Kudos to Kitchen Dough Dough!!!

Just got to give a little shout out to the girl, mother of the most beautiful baby in the world, Baby Max, who I'm certain is missing me terribly right about now...but that's a whole 'nuther post so back to the girl...her creative cupcakes for Baby's Max's 1st birthday party are being featured today on Cupcakes Take The Cake !!   She is OVER THE MOON HAPPY, and I am PROUD AS PUNCH!   You can also see more of Max's birthday party creations on the girls' blog, Kitchen Dough Dough.  Okay, enough bragging, back to my death bed! 

Polenta Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Marsala Sauce...

This is one of the dishes I served to the vegetarians last week...simple to prepare but don't let the simplicity fool you...this simple (again with that word!) dish is really a sophisticated and elegant meal, and when drizzled with Marsala sauce, it's stratospheric in taste!

Wipe each mushroom with a dry rag, just to remove any dirt and then scoop out the brown "gils" from the portobellos, being careful not to break the shell.  That's all the prep there is to the mushrooms.  So set them aside while you make the most incredible polenta on the planet...and I mean to tell you this is truly good - even the Blonde Bombshell, who claims to hate polenta, (note to BB, that's 3 mentions in about as many days...you now owe me!) loves it prepared this way - click here for the Mascapone and Parmesan Polenta (just ignore the tomato part of that recipe and make the polenta - it's a 5-danger and I'm not kidding!  Oh, for the vegetarians I used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth...I wouldn't DARE "fowl" up their diet!)

Stuff the portobellos with the polenta...aren't they something to behold?!?  Just wait until you taste them!  Throw them, I mean gently place them into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes...until the mushrooms are tender and the polenta is bubbly on top and slightly browned.  While they're in the oven, make the marsala sauce. 

Just a side note...the mister came home quite late, he'd been with his good friend Jack, and when I served him a stuffed portobello he said, "Things are THAT bad that we have to eat COW-PIES?!?"  And then he promptly ate every bite and asked for more.  Next time perhaps he'll get a REAL cow-pie, topped with polenta, of course, because that would make even a cow-pie taste great, and why should I waste a portobello on someone who can't tell the difference between them and a cow-pie?!?

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Marsala Sauce ~ Me

12 portobello mushrooms, gils removed, wiped with dry rag to clean

1 recipe Mascarpone-Parmesan Polenta, click here (Recipe from the Balthazar Cookbook, remember to disregard the tomatoes)

Marsala sauce:

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1/4 stick butter

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 cup Marsala wine

1/4 cup good red wine

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt to taste

Melt butter over medium high heat in a saucepan and saute shallots, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper for 5 to 6 minutes.  Add Marsala wine and red wine (away from heat) and reduce to half, approximately 5 to 6 more minutes.  Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for an additional 5 minutes, until sauce has thickened a bit.  Stir in heavy cream and season to taste with salt and more pepper if necessary.  Drizzle Marsala sauce over baked stuffed mushrooms.  Serve hot. 

*I don't have any pictures to show you the end result...hot and steamy polenta stuffed mushrooms drizzled with the incredible Marsala sauce...I wrapped everything in aluminum foil containers and raced over to my event to get it there while hot...I didn't stay for the "unveiling,"  just dropped the food and ran - literally - until I was back home where I could log on to my computer and wait to see how the vegetarians liked their meal...and they LOVED this one!  So what I'm saying is, try to get a visual on your own...and then once you imagine how wonderful it looks, imagine how wonderful it tastes and then multiply that by then and you'll get the idea...

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"When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep walking."  ~ Sarah Jessica Parker

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One year ago today:  Olive Tapenade

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For anyone who cares...the mister and I are currently in Las Vegas...make that LAS VEGAS BABEEEEE!

This is the first time the mister and I have been away on a vacation together in 18 years...we don't count going to visit family as vacation...and we always take separate vacations which is the secret to our long marriage...so wish us luck...not in the casinos, but luck that we don't KILL each other!  I plan to hit the slots, or the roulette table where I will try to parlay my weekly budget pittance into a small fortune.  If I win BIG I'll be blogging LIVE from Paris!  If I don't win BIG I'll be blogging to you from the poor house - gee, I hope they have DSL! 

Oh woe is me!  I'm the color of this type!  I woke this morning with a nasty flu...too sick to get on a plane and so the mister flew off to Vegas without me...he's at the Bellagio without me!  (Oh, I forgot to mention that HE was going there on business so we decided to make it a vacation, too.)  So I won't be winning BIG on the slots...or the roulette table...and the only luck I've had so for has been hitting the toilet with amazing accuracy!

Just a thought...how is it I got sick and the mister didn't...you don't think he put something in my food, do you?  Naw...he wouldn't do that...I'm 50% certain of it!

Can you get SWINE FLU from watching news reports about it?  I'm delirious...

Dutch Baby...

This is NOT like any other breakfast you've ever had - I promise you that!  I also promise you that it's ten times better than anything you've ever had...and you can't just take my word on this - you MUST make this for yourselves!  I posted a recipe for Pannekuchens, Old World Dutch Pancakes a while   back and they are a favorit e at the manse - so much so that I would never have even thought about messing with the recipe if I hadn't seen a show on Food Network about The Pancake House in Oregon.  I'm sorry I don't remember the show - or the host - or anything else about what was featured - I only remember seeing them squeeze LEMON JUICE on their Dutch pancake instead of slathering it with maple syrup!  Blasphemous!  But then they raved and raved about it and said it was the ONLY way to eat a Dutch pancake...ergo...

And they were right...you just can't believe what the addition of lemon does to the flavor of this already perfect dish...it's enhanced from a 5-danger to a 5 1/2-danger...something I've never done before!  It's light and refreshing and positively worth every single calorie - every one!

Here's the hard part...after it comes out of the oven, all puffy and browned, you sprinkle it with powdered sugar and you RESIST the urge to dig right in...instead, you slather it with melted butter, then squeeze half a lemon over the top of it, add MORE powdered sugar and then, and ONLY then can you eat...and oh you will eat...and you'll kick yourself for not making TWO!

Dutch Baby - Adapted from Various Recipes

(By the way, the Pancake House is a chain of restaurants on the West Coast and this is their all time best selling breakfast - it's what they are known for...this is not their recipe, but I'd bet that it's pretty darn close!)

2 teaspoons butter, plus additional 2 tablespoons

3 eggs

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of one small lemon

powdered sugar for dusting

juice of one small lemon (or you could serve with lemon wedges)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put 2 teaspoons butter in 10-inch oven-proof skillet, and place in oven to melt.  Meanwhile, in a blender add the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt, process until smooth.  Using hot-pads, remove the skillet from the oven and immediately pour the egg mixture into the skillet.  Return to the oven and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, but DO NOT open the oven door while baking.  When the Dutch Baby is done, remove from oven, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and slather with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over top and sprinkle with more powdered sugar.  Serve immediately.  (The Dutch Baby/Pannekuchen/Old World Pancake - whatever you want to call it - will lose it's puffiness out of the oven..which is A-Okay...it's supposed to...but you won't notice because it will be gone before that!  Serves 4.

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."  ~ Judy Garland

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One year ago today:  Trophy Cupcakes

Kitchen Dough Dough...

You might think I'm bragging...and you'd be right...but I DO have something to brag about!!  The girl (mother of the most wonderful baby in the world, my grandson Baby Max) has just recently launced her own cooking/baking blog...it's adorable and fun and I hope you'll give it a look-see...I'd say she was a chip off the old-block but it's more like a block off the old chip!

She calls herself a do-do in the kitchen, because she is really just learning how to bake and cook...I know, I know, you'd think with me for a mom - someone who is always in the kitchen - that she would have learned SOMETHING while growing up...but she preferred to be in her room reading...or outside playing and when I would ask if she wanted to come and help bake a cake or make cookies she would politely say, "No Thanks!"  So now that she has a family of her own she is finally learning to cook - and I say it's about time! 

Check out her new blog:  www.kitchendoughdough.blogspot.com

Black Brownie Bites...

Up until the the moment I had my first bite of one of these brownies, my favorite brownie came from a mix...not any more...these, oh these...they are enough to make one swoon.  

 swoon   /swun/

–verb (used without object)

1.	to faint; lose consciousness.

2.	to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy:  The teenagers swooned at the sight of the singing star.

 

The grown woman swooned as her lips caressed the crumbly side of the Black Brownie bite...

 

The grown woman swooned as her teeth sank into the rich, dense, chocolate center...

 

The grown man walked into the kitchen, not noticing the grown woman's eyes rolled back in her head, he asked what was for dinner, thereby forcing the grown woman to snap out of it!

You will need parchment paper or waxed paper, so the brownies will come out of the pan easily.  You can use a 9x13 or a jelly roll pan and you will need the secret ingredient, Black Cocoa Powder, which you can order here.   Of course, if you don't want to use Black Cocoa Powder, you could also use a Double Dutch Dark Cocoa or a Dutch-process Cocoa...but please, don't use regular cocoa powder, it  just won't be the same :(

This past week was a bit hectic, I catered 3 small events for a group of vegetarians...which was a bit of a stretch for this carnivore...but it all worked out great and they loved the food...this was one of the desserts I made and they were scarfed up in minutes!  Instead of cutting the brownies into squares, I used a 3-inch cookie cutter and cut them into circles.  Sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped with shaved chocolate, these Black Brownie Bites are now my all-time favorite Brownie - and I'm sure they'll be number one on your list too!   

Black Brownie Bites - Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 cup unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup Black Cocoa Powder

3/4 cup Dutch-process Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tablespoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or your favorite chocolate candy bar chopped up - I used chocolate truffles chopped into small pieces - simply amazing!)

1 cup chopped nuts, optional (I did not use nuts as one of the people I was serving to had allergies)

powdered sugar for sprinkling

chocolate bar for shaving chocolate for topping

whipped cream or ice cream, optional, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan or a 9 x 13-inch pan.  Line the pan with parchment paper or waxed paper and grease the paper. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt hte butter. To the butter add the sugar, stirring to combine.  Stir in the cocoa, espresso powder, salt, baking powder and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, stirring until smooth.  Add the flour, chips and optional nuts, again stirring until smooth.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake the brownies for 28 to 34 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  The borwnies should feel set on the edges, and barely set in the center.  Remove the brownies from the oven, and cool for at least 1 hour before cutting. 

Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut as many circles as possible, (about 9 from a 9 x 13-inch pan) out of the brownies.  Using a vegetable peeler, "peel" the chocolate bar, creating shavings.  Dust with powdered sugar and top with shaved chocolate.  Serve with a whipped cream or ice cream for an extra swoon or two!

"Why do we love certain houses, and why do they seem to love us?  It is the warmth of our individual hearts reflected in our surroundings."  ~ T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings

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One year ago today:  Creme au Chocolat

New York Cupcakes...

I'm going to take a moment from our regularly scheduled program to bring you this breaking news...New York Cupcakes is by FAR the BEST cupcake shop in the WORLD! 

Located in the Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue, Washington, New York Cupcakes is not a chain folks, it's truly a one-of-a-kind cupcakery, owned by Lisa Johnson, who's eye for whimsey and talent for cake, has made this a "destination cup-ca-tion."  Yep, a cup-ca-tion...because one bite of her delicious, moist, rich cupcakes will transport you to Eden...Nirvana...or to whereever your personal happy place is...mine would be a 90% off sale at Nordstrom...hey, a girl can dream!  I love their "frosting to cake ratio"...just the right amount...but, if you're a frosting freak like the Blonde Bombshell, they also offer up daily "frosting shots" for a buck...so you can have your cake, and eat it too, with all the frosting your little heart desires!   If you're in the neighborhood and your sweet tooth gets a hankering, stop in and say hi to Lisa -

New York Cupcakes

15600 N.E.8th Ste. A-4 Bellevue, WA 98008
425.283.5445

And be sure to try the Candy Store Salted Caramel Cupcakes...and the Royal Red Velvet...and the Orange Dreamsicle...and the Black and White...and the Coney Island Coconut...oh heck, just try them all!  

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"One of the secrets to a happy life is continuous small treats."  ~ Iris Murdoch 

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One year ago today:  My Boy Mike