My dear friend Angela (gifted graphic artist and phenomenal cook) made a piece of art for me for my birthday this year inscribed with the message “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all,” quoting Harriet Van Horne.
Now, knowing Angela’s borrowed philosophy (to which I can personally assure you, she has made a 110% commitment), hang on for the ride while I tell you about the meal we created and shared just a couple of Saturdays ago.
A while back we were having this conversation about food (that’s no surprise, most of our conversations are about food and even the conversations that don’t start about food, somehow, always end up in the kitchen.) Angela was describing in loving detail the liberties she takes with the traditional fettuccini alfredo format. (It involves half & half in lieu of heavy cream, a hint of garlic and a mountain of cheeses beyond the classic Parmigiano-Reggiano). My immediate response was, wow, that would be great with the Barefoot Contessa’s Parmesan Chicken (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-chicken-recipe/index.html ). Then Angela, added “you know, my cheesy garlicky (or is garlicky cheesy) bread would be awesome with that. We really should get together and make this meal.” Yep, looks like we had ourselves a menu and ya’ll know how I feel about that kind of invitation (http://kitchen-loulou.blogspot.com/2010/07/jarrod-me.html ).
With a designated Saturday marked our respective calendars we were all but counting the days until we would cook and feast. I happened to have a package of Basil Fettuccini on had that I’d purchased on a whim at a culinary shop in a neighboring town; I’d been saving it, but I didn’t know for what until we started planning this menu. When our chosen Saturday finally rolled around we cranked up the 70s station on Music Choice and decided it was time to cook. With French rolling pin in hand, my sweet husband pounded the boneless skinless chicken breasts to the requisite ¼” with unparalleled enthusiasm. He cheerfully turned them over to me for and retired the rolling pin for the evening. I commenced prepping for the Parmesan Chicken with Angela worked her magic with the bread (Angela, if you’re reading this, would you be so kind as to enlighten folks as to exactly what all went into that topping for the baguette. I believe I recall cream cheese, butter, pub cheese, minced garlic and possibly/probably some other cheeses. The aroma from this mixture before it even went onto the bread and into the oven was positively intoxicating. People, seriously, you want to try this at home, trust me.)
You know how some nights everything is just perfect? This was one of those nights. The weather had been gloriously perfect all day so hubby opened up to the door to the deck so we could enjoy the breeze while we cooked. Angela put the bread aside while we got going on the longer cooking items. She commandeered the left hand side of the stove and I took over the right (and all of the countertop space within my reach!) She whisked up magic right there in my kitchen while I dipped, dredged and fried the Parmesan Chicken to crispy golden perfect. We cooked and sang with equal enthusiasm (everything from Barry Manilow to ZZ Top), though, truth be told, we both cook way better than we sing. At some point in the mix Angela put that crusty, cheese laden baguette into the oven to get it bubbly & brown. It took about two minutes for the amazing smell of the combined cheeses, garlic and bread to waft throughout the house. Angela measured nothing; she cooked with love and abandon, intuitively knowing when her dishes needed a little tweaking and when they were just right.
I don’t know how we did it, but without really trying, we had everything ready to serve at the same time (I know, when you try to orchestrate this, it never works, but, like I said, this was one of those perfect nights). The weather was so inviting we spontaneously took ourselves outside for dinner on the deck. The smells, the sounds, the shared ritual culminated in one of the best meals, for that matter, one of the best evenings, I’ve ever had.
As we sat around on the deck, after second helpings with empty plates in hand, I exclaimed “oh, man, I was going to take pictures and I got so caught up in the food that I completely forgot.” Angela said “take a picture of these empty plates, that says it all!”
See what cooking with Angela and abandon gets you?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Adventures In Cake Pops
Fully armed with Bakerella’s book, class notes from my cousin Lisa (thanks, Cousin!) and a hefty bag of supplies from the craft store, I took the plunge into Cake Pop making last week. Friends and fellow cooks, let me assure you, this is a happy, happy place.
There are many online resources, such as Bakerella (www.bakerella.com ), who are far better equipped at tutoring you on the technical aspects of cake pop construction, flavor profiles and decorating potential than moiself. I would, however, like to share a couple of pictures and a few pieces of wisdom I picked up along the way:
1) True confession, the craft store is not my natural habitat. There, I’ve said it. I just don’t have the talent or skills needed to conquer the craft store. The lone exception is the cake/candy making/decorating aisle. When I go to my local craft store for such supplies, I made a hard left as soon as I clear the cash register and make a beeline for “my” aisle. I gather my necessary items and take myself directly to the register as expeditiously as possible. I only tell you this so if you, too, aren’t familiar with such inventory, beware of glitter Styrofoam. Seriously, it’s lurking out there and I never saw it coming. Obviously, on this visit, I had to deviate from my normal craft store route to pick up a piece of Styrofoam in which to stick the completed cake pops. I was unwrapping my Styrofoam as I was walking from my family into my kitchen, when I pulled back the plastic outer wrap there was a veritable blizzard of glitter on my family room floor, on me, on my kitchen floor, everywhere…seriously, it was like this stuff had wings. My point, and I did have one before I started rambling, is cake pop making will go a lot faster if you don’t have to take a time out to Swiffer two rooms (and yourself) before you commence impaling and dipping the cake balls.
2)Definitely take the expert advice that suggests making your cake, then the cake balls in advance. I let mine chill in the refrigerator over night, thus they were well set and I was rested & ready to dip. We were ready for each other.
3)One container of white cake sparkles didn’t go nearly as far as I thought it would. Load up on supplies; you’ll want to be generous with your cake pop flair.
4)Confetti sprinkles (labeled for ice cream in my grocery store) are too big and too heavy for cake pops; keep the scale of the cake pop in mind when choosing decor.
5)Sadly, it is, in fact, possible to have too much candy coating. I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Take heed the expert advice that suggests you patiently allow the excess coating to return to the bowl. Trust me; your patience will be rewarded.
6)Don’t get carried away and get so wrapped up dipping your cake pops that you completely forget you are supposed to even have Styrofoam (as noted in item #1) and end up with two cake pops that appear to have little cake pop flat top haircuts because you had to stand them on their heads on wax paper while you retrieved the evil glitter Styrofoam (two mistakes I’ve vowed not to repeat.)
All of this said, check out these pictures. At the risk of sounding immodest, how cute are these?! I decided for the sake of simplicity (and by simplicity, I mean my sanity), I would use just one color candy melts for this round, but I have more options at the ready for round two.
Come on, take the plunge, the frosting is fine!
There are many online resources, such as Bakerella (www.bakerella.com ), who are far better equipped at tutoring you on the technical aspects of cake pop construction, flavor profiles and decorating potential than moiself. I would, however, like to share a couple of pictures and a few pieces of wisdom I picked up along the way:
1) True confession, the craft store is not my natural habitat. There, I’ve said it. I just don’t have the talent or skills needed to conquer the craft store. The lone exception is the cake/candy making/decorating aisle. When I go to my local craft store for such supplies, I made a hard left as soon as I clear the cash register and make a beeline for “my” aisle. I gather my necessary items and take myself directly to the register as expeditiously as possible. I only tell you this so if you, too, aren’t familiar with such inventory, beware of glitter Styrofoam. Seriously, it’s lurking out there and I never saw it coming. Obviously, on this visit, I had to deviate from my normal craft store route to pick up a piece of Styrofoam in which to stick the completed cake pops. I was unwrapping my Styrofoam as I was walking from my family into my kitchen, when I pulled back the plastic outer wrap there was a veritable blizzard of glitter on my family room floor, on me, on my kitchen floor, everywhere…seriously, it was like this stuff had wings. My point, and I did have one before I started rambling, is cake pop making will go a lot faster if you don’t have to take a time out to Swiffer two rooms (and yourself) before you commence impaling and dipping the cake balls.
2)Definitely take the expert advice that suggests making your cake, then the cake balls in advance. I let mine chill in the refrigerator over night, thus they were well set and I was rested & ready to dip. We were ready for each other.
3)One container of white cake sparkles didn’t go nearly as far as I thought it would. Load up on supplies; you’ll want to be generous with your cake pop flair.
4)Confetti sprinkles (labeled for ice cream in my grocery store) are too big and too heavy for cake pops; keep the scale of the cake pop in mind when choosing decor.
5)Sadly, it is, in fact, possible to have too much candy coating. I know, I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Take heed the expert advice that suggests you patiently allow the excess coating to return to the bowl. Trust me; your patience will be rewarded.
6)Don’t get carried away and get so wrapped up dipping your cake pops that you completely forget you are supposed to even have Styrofoam (as noted in item #1) and end up with two cake pops that appear to have little cake pop flat top haircuts because you had to stand them on their heads on wax paper while you retrieved the evil glitter Styrofoam (two mistakes I’ve vowed not to repeat.)
All of this said, check out these pictures. At the risk of sounding immodest, how cute are these?! I decided for the sake of simplicity (and by simplicity, I mean my sanity), I would use just one color candy melts for this round, but I have more options at the ready for round two.
Come on, take the plunge, the frosting is fine!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Frosting, Fun For All
You’ve probably gotten the idea by now that I love cooking classes. Never mind that I’ve been cooking practically my entire life, I love cooking classes. There’s always something new to learn, a tip to be gleaned, a technique to be tweaked or a favorite ingredient to be used in a new and different way.
With this in mind, I signed up for a cupcake decorating class held recently at my favorite grocery store. Two perfect food groups (cake and frosting) in one class, what’s not to love? Each student was given 8 cupcakes; 3 white, 3 chocolate and 2 red velvet. Frosting choices for the evening were butter cream, ganache and cream cheese. The two chef instructors discussed the characteristics of the different frostings, demonstrated a variety of cake decorating tips and frosting techniques and they even taught us how to slice a strawberry fan. With the tutorial complete, the seriously sugary fun began. The chefs presented a veritable buffet of toppings/decorating options: raspberries, strawberries, crushed pistachios, toasted coconut, jimmies, nonpareils, candy corn, red hots…the list goes on. Then we commenced to frost, decorate and embellish at will. We were, to coin a phrase, like kids in a candy store. At best, we each had eight delicious, decadently decorated cupcakes to take home; at worst, we got to eat the mistakes. Talk about a win-win.
This reminded me of my buddy Jarrod (remember him? http://kitchen-loulou.blogspot.com/2010/07/jarrod-me.html). After Jarrod issued that sweet edict “I want to cook with you” we had his family over for dinner and we did indeed cook together. The highpoint of the evening was dessert. I baked two dozen cupcakes earlier in the day and prepared a batch of butter cream frosting. When Jarrod and his family arrived I set out small bowls of sprinkles, miniature chocolate chips and sugar sparkles. While my sweet husband was grilling the entrée, Jarrod, his brother Jason, his mom and I had ourselves a cupcake decorating party. Jarrod and Jason let their imaginations run wild and piled on as must frosting and flair as those cupcakes could hold (and then some!) Did they look like cupcakes you’d see in a bakery window? Absolutely not, they were far superior to anything store bought. You could see the joy those kids had taken in creating their edible masterpieces. One bite and you could taste the love, every grin and giggle we shared that night flavored each cupcake like none I’d eaten before or since.
I think the key is the frosting, it’s just plain fun. Don’t get me wrong, I like cake, too, but really, it’s mostly just a vehicle for the frosting. The good part about people who don’t care for frosting (I know, it’s inconceivable, but they’re out there) is if you sit next to them at party, they’ll eat their cake, but you can have their frosting. Remember this the next you go to a birthday party and scope out the room for the person scraping their frosting aside and just eating the cake. You’d really be doing them something of a public service, preventing them from wasting food and all. A noble lot, us frosting lovers.
However, I digress (I know, ya’ll are shocked). Fast forward three weeks after my cupcake class my dear cousin Lisa took a cake pops class at a craft store in her home town. I’d read about cake pops countless times, been intrigued by them and had every intention of trying them, I just hadn’t quite gotten around to it yet. Once Cousin conquered her class, I was more inspired than ever. We spent the next three days emailing and talking about cake pops. Really, three days and I’m not finished asking questions; Cousin is sending me her tip sheet from the class. If you haven’t met cake pops yet, they’re basically crumbled cake & frosting formed into balls, perched on a lollipop stick, dipped in melted candy coating and decorated in myriad ways, your own imagination is the only limitation with these little gems.
In a haze of butter cream and cake crumbs, it occurred to me that we shouldn’t limit this kind of fun to kids or classes, why not make it part of your next dinner party, barbeque or game night? Make your own cupcakes or pick up some undecorated from your supermarket bakery, same with the frosting. Visit the baking aisle, the candy aisle and the produce department for topping options. Stop by your local craft store or culinary shop for even more specialized toppings and treats. Your friends and family will love it, I promise. Frosting really is fun for all.
With this in mind, I signed up for a cupcake decorating class held recently at my favorite grocery store. Two perfect food groups (cake and frosting) in one class, what’s not to love? Each student was given 8 cupcakes; 3 white, 3 chocolate and 2 red velvet. Frosting choices for the evening were butter cream, ganache and cream cheese. The two chef instructors discussed the characteristics of the different frostings, demonstrated a variety of cake decorating tips and frosting techniques and they even taught us how to slice a strawberry fan. With the tutorial complete, the seriously sugary fun began. The chefs presented a veritable buffet of toppings/decorating options: raspberries, strawberries, crushed pistachios, toasted coconut, jimmies, nonpareils, candy corn, red hots…the list goes on. Then we commenced to frost, decorate and embellish at will. We were, to coin a phrase, like kids in a candy store. At best, we each had eight delicious, decadently decorated cupcakes to take home; at worst, we got to eat the mistakes. Talk about a win-win.
This reminded me of my buddy Jarrod (remember him? http://kitchen-loulou.blogspot.com/2010/07/jarrod-me.html). After Jarrod issued that sweet edict “I want to cook with you” we had his family over for dinner and we did indeed cook together. The highpoint of the evening was dessert. I baked two dozen cupcakes earlier in the day and prepared a batch of butter cream frosting. When Jarrod and his family arrived I set out small bowls of sprinkles, miniature chocolate chips and sugar sparkles. While my sweet husband was grilling the entrée, Jarrod, his brother Jason, his mom and I had ourselves a cupcake decorating party. Jarrod and Jason let their imaginations run wild and piled on as must frosting and flair as those cupcakes could hold (and then some!) Did they look like cupcakes you’d see in a bakery window? Absolutely not, they were far superior to anything store bought. You could see the joy those kids had taken in creating their edible masterpieces. One bite and you could taste the love, every grin and giggle we shared that night flavored each cupcake like none I’d eaten before or since.
I think the key is the frosting, it’s just plain fun. Don’t get me wrong, I like cake, too, but really, it’s mostly just a vehicle for the frosting. The good part about people who don’t care for frosting (I know, it’s inconceivable, but they’re out there) is if you sit next to them at party, they’ll eat their cake, but you can have their frosting. Remember this the next you go to a birthday party and scope out the room for the person scraping their frosting aside and just eating the cake. You’d really be doing them something of a public service, preventing them from wasting food and all. A noble lot, us frosting lovers.
However, I digress (I know, ya’ll are shocked). Fast forward three weeks after my cupcake class my dear cousin Lisa took a cake pops class at a craft store in her home town. I’d read about cake pops countless times, been intrigued by them and had every intention of trying them, I just hadn’t quite gotten around to it yet. Once Cousin conquered her class, I was more inspired than ever. We spent the next three days emailing and talking about cake pops. Really, three days and I’m not finished asking questions; Cousin is sending me her tip sheet from the class. If you haven’t met cake pops yet, they’re basically crumbled cake & frosting formed into balls, perched on a lollipop stick, dipped in melted candy coating and decorated in myriad ways, your own imagination is the only limitation with these little gems.
In a haze of butter cream and cake crumbs, it occurred to me that we shouldn’t limit this kind of fun to kids or classes, why not make it part of your next dinner party, barbeque or game night? Make your own cupcakes or pick up some undecorated from your supermarket bakery, same with the frosting. Visit the baking aisle, the candy aisle and the produce department for topping options. Stop by your local craft store or culinary shop for even more specialized toppings and treats. Your friends and family will love it, I promise. Frosting really is fun for all.
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