Lemon-Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette -- Mexican week rules!

Easy, quick, delicious, fresh, yes?

Tools: Food processor or immersion blender. Hell, a regular blender will likely work. Cutting board, knife, measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (roughly 6 limes); 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (3 medium lemons); 1 tsp each lemon and lime zest; 1 clove of chopped garlic; 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped and stemmed; 1 tbsp + 1 tsp white vinegar; 1/4 small sweet onion, diced; 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 tsp sugar; pinch coriander & pinch cumin; salt and pepper to taste



Add the juice, zest, garlic, vinegar, and onion to the food processor or combine in a small bowl if using an immersion (stick) blender.  Let sit for about 3 minutes.



Pulse to combine.  Add cilantro and process.  Add olive oil slowly through the feed tube.  (If using an immersion blender, add in stages, combining fully after each addition.)  Add coriander, cumin, sugar. Pulse to distribute.  Taste, and add salt and pepper as desired.

Transfer to a container and let the flavors meld in the refrigerator for at least a half hour before serving.





Toss with romaine, diced radishes, pico de gallo & carrots and top with avocado & jack cheese or cotija.

with tequila refried beans, enchilda & spanish rice

Burrito night with salad

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries

Every once in awhile you come across a recipe missing something crucial. This one was missing the temperature for the oven. Kiiiiiiiinda critical.  Thank goodness Nate managed to find someone else's online- though, when in doubt, 350 is always a good rule of thumb as far as I'm concerned.

This recipe came from Cuisine at Home, the June 2010 issue.

Anyway, the first time I tried this I really liked it but I felt like the cake part of the pudding cake was still a little denser than I fancy it.  I subbed in one semi-heaping tablespoon of cake flour for one of the AP the second time and though the texture was perfect, the lemon flavor was almost too sour. Next time I'll taste the lemon juice and depending on how sour it is, I might add a 1 teaspoon of sugar per pucker.  Or, I'll just use Meyer lemons and skip the puckering all together!

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries


Tools: 4 ramekins, one large baking dish, a tea kettle or pot for water, a hand-mixer, a spatula, a large bowl, a medium bowl

Ingredients: 2 eggs, separated; zest from 2-3 small or medium lemons; juice from 2-3 small to medium lemons; 3/4 cup sugar; 5 tbsp AP flour, 2 tsp unsalted, softened butter; 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries & powdered sugar for dusting



Move the oven rack to the center, pre-heat to 350 and put the kettle on with water to boil.  If you don't have a kettle, a pot will do just fine.

Beat the egg yolks, zest, sugar, butter, and lemon juice in a large bowl on medium speed until well incorporated.



Whisk together the flour and salt in a small bowl and add alternately with the milk to yolk mixture, beating well each time.

 



Take the egg whites in a medium bowl and beat them until you get stiff peaks.





Fold into the lemon batter until incorporated. It's okay if a few lumps of egg white remain-- they'll brown nicely in the oven.



Drop some blueberries (to taste) into the ramekins-- I use four 6-oz ramekins.



Put the ramekins in a suitably accomodating baking dish, and divide the batter among the ramekins.



Pour the boiling water into the baking dish until it's about halfway up the ramekins.  Immediately place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes until the top begins to crack slightly and become golden.



If you want a really carmelized flavor, for the last 30 seconds put the ramekins under the broiler until the tops start to get slightly browned.  Keep an eye out because this happens quickly. No walking away!



Remove from oven, and take the ramekins out of the baking dish and let them cool on a baking rack.  Wait at least ten minutes before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar and stuff it in your mouth. Slowly.

Dinner Menu: 07.17-07.30.2011

New Go-to: Grilled Pizza 07.03 & 07.10.2011

Tried this out one weekend and liked it so much we switched the kabobs for the pizza!

Makes a great dish for company, and also just to try out different things.  I made the dough in the morning and then we selected all of the toppings.  Especially good was when we brushed the crust with the garlic-olive oil and again across the final pizza right before cutting.

Combos included jalepeno, sweet white corn, cilantro and lime; sausage with red pepper, onion and mushroom; salami with green pepper & onion; zuchinni, squash, jalepeno & mushroom... You can pretty much do this with anything your tastebuds fancy.

The dough takes awhile to rise but comes together quickly.  Combine a cup of warm water (between 105 and 115 degrees) with a tablespoon of sugar and 2.25 tsp active dry yeast.  Let it proof for five minutes.  (If it doesn't bubble and double the yeast is dead or not active. Start over.)  Meanwhile, mix 1 cup cake flour with 2.25 cups all purpose and a tablespoon of kosher salt.  Once the proof is ready, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and pour into flour mixture.  Knead with the dough hook for 10 minutes.  Turn it out, knead into a ball, and turn into an oiled bowl or other receptacle.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature in a place that isn't drafty, until it's doubled.  It's gonna be about two hours.  Then, punch it down gently, divide it into four even balls and pinch the bottoms close.  I like to lay it out on a cookie sheet on wax paper and cover it with plastic wrap.  Let it rise another hour.

We use a charcoal grill.

When you're ready to go, roll the dough out to about a 10-12 inch circle on a lightly floured surface.  Take it with your toppings, and put it over the grill for about 5 minutes over direct heat, until the bottom starts to crust. pull it off, flip it over and brush the grilled part with olive oil.  Add pizza sauce (make a ton by roasting 4 pounds of romas, two onions and five garlic cloves in a 350 oven for 30 minutes), cheese and toppings and put slightly off the heat, cover with lid, open vent and cook until crust browns & cheese melts. Brush with olive oil, cut, devour.

Sauce makings


PIZZA ON THE GRILL, FIRST GO ROUND

Pizza on the grill, round two: toppings (and yummy drinks!)

 

Fellow Pizza Creators: Tom & Sarah

And Now, for Something Completely Different

So far with this blog I've stuck to recipes, some musings, and photos. But it's Sunday, the day before Independence Day... so... I'm trying something new.  Let freedom ring.


I am a planner. I can't get around it. I plan out of neccesity and habit.  Sometimes I'm spontaneous, but if we're being honest, I'm a fan of the plan.  There's always a little wiggle room in plans-- at least, in mine-- but a plan gives you a net, and an outline, and a direction.  Plans give you accomplishable goals.  These are all things I like.  


Hence, the bi-weekly dinner menu.


I found myself at the grocery store, often wont for something to buy.  I'd see something on sale and purchase it and bring it home and gaze at it in my fridge with a glaze to my eye and then eventually throw it away.  Meat, cheese, veggies, fruit... you name it, I trashed it.  Tired of this constant battle of throwing what was once perfectly good food away, I started making  a dinner menu.  


This is helpful in multiple ways-- one, I get to try out new recipes and ensure I have everything I need. I can allot time for different dinners based on other events I've planned through out the week.  Nate knows what he's cooking on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  My grocery list is succinct, I spend less time browsing and less money on things I throw away.  


So, I give you the dinner plans for the first half of July.  I'll try and blog one or two of these in small snippets-- pictures from the cell phone instead of the fancy camera-- and usually just the end results.  I'll still throw in the recipes and the photos on the biggies, or the ones I like to go back to time and time again.  


One thing about putting your dinner menu out there: people can see how boring (or adventurous) you are... and now the secret is out: I love chicken.  

Escapees have taken residence in my mom and dad's backyard.

But without further adieu, here it is, in all it's... it-ness.

As I write this, I've got the tomato-onion-garlic-red pepper flake-salt-olive oil-merlot mix going for my pizza sauce (also to be tossed with pasta on Wednesday) in the oven, pizza dough rising, and a mandolin longing to slice mushrooms.  We've never grilled pizza before so this will be quite the experiment!