Strawberry Short(cup)cakes

Viv's sugarfree birthday cupcakes as detailed here. Next time I'm going to replace half of the oil with applesauce to lighten them up a bit. The oil makes them moist, but kind of dense. Fluffier would be better. And for the adults, I added a mascapone frosting. It did contain sugar, so V didn't have any of that (plus she's not doing dairy yet). But she was happy with her cake topped with strawberries (her current favorite food) and we were rewarded with the classic one-year-old fist in the cake, mouth stuffing takeown.

The recipe for the frosting a: made twice as much as I needed for 28 cupcakes, so next time cut it in half, and b. insisted it be made just prior to serving, but the extra leftover stored well in the fridge and tasted just as good the next day, so this too can be made in advance next time.

Martha Stewart's Mascarpone Frosting

1 pound mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, I lowballed this and use slightly less
1-1/4 cups heavy cream, I used half and half instead

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat themascarpone, cream and confectioners' sugar until medium-soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes on high speed setting. Be careful not to overbeat. Use immediately.

Viv's Birthday Lunch

For my girl's first bash, I did a simple lunch for the family. Viv had hummus, prunes, cucumber and noodles, but the rest of us had chickpea bruschetta, a green salad and two kinds of lasagna. I made almost everything the day before and just popped the lasagnas in the oven once everyone arrived. It was the lowest-stress cooking for 12 people I've done yet. Recipes follow, plus notes on what I'd tweak for next time.

Roasted Chickpea Bruschetta

2 cans chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) drained
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tablespoons chopped parsley
3/4 cup roughly chopped olives (i used a mix of some cheap regular old black olives plus some capers)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper

Spread the chickpeas and whole cloves of garlic on a baking sheet, drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and mix it all up. Roast in an oven preheated at 450 for 20 minutes or so, or until golden brown. Chop garlic. In a large bowl, mix with chopped parsley, olives, garlic, and balsamic. Serve on toasted slices of baguette.

*I don't think I'll make this version of chickpea bruschetta again. It was too dry and the roasting made the chickpeas into had little nuggets that didn't have a prayer of staying on the bread. Needed more tang and acidity. Maybe next time I''ll ad some tomatoes and use more pungent olives.

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My Winging-It Red Lasagna

1 jar of TJ's tomato and basil marinara sauce (this is a good sauce without sugar or vinegar)
8 lasagna noodles
1 lb. ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 cups fresh, baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 c freshly grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, if baking right away. Boil lasagna noodles until done. Drain and toss with a little bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking together. In a separate bowl beat egg and add ricotta cheese. Mash together and stir until well combined. Cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with a layer of sauce. Then add noodles (4). Top noodles with 1 cup of spinch leaves. Add ricotta mixture, dotting it over the spinach layer and gently smoothing it out to create an even layer. Add another layer of noodles (4). Add the rest of sauce and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes until done. If assembling anf refrigerating, overall bake time will increase by about 15 minutes.

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This next one ended up being quite laborious, but worth it. I had never mae a bechamel sauce before, so now I feel like I've earned some major cred as a home cook for having made one. Thanks Mario Batali for the web guidance. And thanks Jeff for whisking constantly the final 10 minutes after my arm gave out. This lasagna is also notable for perking up a not-so-special Viognier I ha bought for cooking and ended up drinking with the leftovers. I lightened up the recipe I followed, but it still produced a rich, creamy lasagna.

Artichoke Lasagna

12 lasagna noodles
2 jars of TJ's artichokes, quartered
1/2 c pine nuts
1/2 large white onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 c dry white wine
salt and white pepper to taste
3 t fresh minced thyme
1 c freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
3 T butter
3 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, if baking right away. Boil lasagna noodles until done. Drain and toss with a little bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking together. In a large pan over medium heat, heat butter and olive oil. Add onion and garlic. Stir and cook until onion is translucent. Add artichokes and thyme and saute 5 minutes more. Add wine and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the bechamel sauce.
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Bechamel sauce

5 T butter
4 T flour
4 c milk, I used 2%
2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use.

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To assemble lasagna, butter a 9 x 13 baking pan. Line the bottom with a layer of noodles. Follow it with béchamel sauce, artichokes, and some grated cheese, and repeat the order, until all is used up, divvying things out so the last layer is béchamel, cheese, and artichokes. (Made two complete layers, plus an additional top layer of noodes, béchamel and cheese. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes until done. If assembling anf refrigerating, overall bake time will increase by about 15 minutes.

M. Chapoutier 2007 Belleruche Cotes-du-Rhone

A Grenache Noir and Syrah blend. I'm the biggest straight-up Syrah fan, but this blend offered a full-yet-subdued jammy flavor with a good body. Paired nicely with a spinach salad with goat cheese, strawberries and balsamic vinaegrette.

Shittake and Beansprout Noodles

Improvising something Japanese-ish with pantry items from way back (kombu and bonito flakes) and whatever was on hand. Additionally, most of the things for this dish are available at the big chain corporate grocery store right around the corner from my house, which I hate to shop at, and seldom do, but on this particular day convenience won out.

Dashi:
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, cut up into smaller bits
1 large spring onion, chopped
8 cups of water
2 sheets of dried kombu, rinsed
1 1/2 packages (about 5 T) dried bonito, tied up in a little steeping bag

Noodles:
1 package Nasoya Japanese style noodles
4 T black sesame seeds
4 hard boiled eggs
1 package of bean sprouts
4 T spring onion, chopped
1 package of shittake mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 c baby spinach
3 T sunflower oil
1 T sesame oil

To make the dashi, bring water to a boil and add kombu, ginger, and onion. Cover. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add bonito and let simmer for 10 more minutes.

Boil noodles. They only take 3-5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a pan over medium-high heat, heat sesame and sunflower oils. Add garlic and onion and saute until translucent. Add mushrooms and beansprouts and saute for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked through and tender. Stir in spinach and cook 2-3 minutes more, until spinach is wilted but still bright green.

Serve noodles in a bowl topped with warm mushroom mixture, slices of hard boiled egg, sprinkling of black sesame seed and a ladle or two full of dashi. Tamari may be added to taste.

This made extra dashi which ought to freeze well and be useful to have on hand for future okayus or noodley brothies.

Viv's sugarfee birthday cupcakes

Sugarfree experiment #2 yielded a winner. I was a little worried because the batter looked kind of rubbery, but the texture of the cupcakes once they were baked was moist and cakey. Not sure what I'm going to frost them with yet, or if I'll frost them. Maybe I'll just top hers with a strawberry.

1 cup unbleached white flour, less 1 tablespoon
1/4 tablespoon arrowroot
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 c sunflower oil
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/8 c milk
2 eggs
½ tsp organic vanilla extract

Preheat the over to 325 degrees. Measure the 1 cup flour, then remove 1/4 tablespoon of flour and replace it with the 1/4 tablespoon arrowroot. Mix flour, salt, arrowroot, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, combine oil, milk, vanilla, rice syrup, and eggs. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Pour batter into silicone cupcakes cups (don't require greasing). Bake for 28 minutes. Makes 9 cupcakes.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pregnancy and then breastfeeding has really cranked up my sweet tooth for the past 2 years, but now that Viv is wanting to eat everything off of my plate I've decided to bake without sugar so she doesn't get conditioned to have a big sweet tooth from an early age.
Since I've found a local supply of date syrup I'm experimenting with this and rice syrup and agave nectar as sugar replacements.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sunflower oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c date syrup
1/4 c brown rice syrup
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, date and rice syrups, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly.

3 Pour into muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes for small, silicone cups; 30 minutes for large muffins in muffin tin pan.

Makes 8 large muffins or a dozen small.

Verdict: Cut the allspice next time because the date syrup already lends it that smoky flavor. Try the agave in place of the rice syrup next time for more sweetness? They aren't decadently sweet, but moist and spicy and perfectly tasty.

UPDATE 10.2.09: I used 1 full cup of date syrup and no rice syrup; canned sweet potato instead of pumpkin; and omitted the allspice altogether. Much more dense and rich tasting as a result. J even thought they were chocolate muffins.

Carrot and Fava Bean Tagine

I'm certain I've prepared a meal or two since January. I'm shocked to find no posts here since then! Most likely they have been replays of old standards, as time to experiment in the kitchen continues to be minimal with the soon-to-be-one-year-old Vivi Bea in full-throttle toddle. I'm also now cooking with shortcuts: i.e. Trader Joe's presteamed beans, or precut broccoli florets; and cooking with the grocery store restrictions of our new, suburban locale. Future posts may feature rare foodie finds in this neck of the woods. All I can say is, we're cooking a lot at home because the restaurants down here leave much to be desired. And now for that tagine...

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, sliced
1½ tablespoons minced fresh ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
¾ pound carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch coins
1 1 oz. package of Trader Joe's presteamed fava beans
1 cup No-Chicken broth
⅓ cup capers
1/3 c raisins

1. Heat a wide-bottom pan over medium heat. Add oil, then onions and ginger. Cook until onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add cardamom, cinnamon, and cayenne. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds.

2. Add carrots, beans, and broth. Cover and simmer until carrots are almost tender, about 8 minutes. Add capers and raisins. Cover and simmer until carrots are fully tender, 8-10 minutes. If tagine is a bit dry, stir in a few extra tablespoons broth. Add salt to taste.