Carol's Famous Lemon Chiffon Pie

4 egg yolks
1c. Sugar
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 c. Lemon juice(use only fresh)
1 t. Grated lemon rind
2t. Gelatin softened in 1/4 c cold water
4 egg whites
Baked pie shell or graham cracker crust

Beat yolks, add 1/2 c sugar, salt,and lemon juice. 
Cook and stir in double boiler until it thickens.
Add gelatin until it dissolves. Cool (in frig). 
When it begins to set, beat egg whites until stiff with remaining sugar and fold them (carefully) into mixture. 
Pour into pie shell and chill. 

If you want an extra rich pie, fold in 1/2 c heavy cream or beat it and put on top of pie. I grate more lemon rind on top before serving.

Cherry Almond Cake

Bing cherries can be a little boring in baked goods, unless they're punched up a little.  Cherry and almond flavors go very well together.  This recipe is great if you find yourself with a bag of slightly aged Bing cherries, as I did last week.  It makes a very moist cake. 

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

3/4 pound (350 grams) fresh sweet cherries, divided

1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (55 grams) almond meal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 cup (80 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Rinse, dry, and pit all the cherries. Take about 14 cherries, cut them in half, and set them aside to be placed on the top of the cake during baking. To the rest of the cherries, cut into quarters.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light colored (about 3-5 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and almond extract. Then fold in, with a rubber spatula or wire whisk, the melted and cooled butter and milk. Next, fold in the flour mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in the quartered cherries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. 

Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Quickly arrange the remaining cherries, cut side down, on the top of the cake. Return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean. If you find the cake over-browning, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.

Lemon Ricotta Cake

 This quick recipe makes a delicious light cake, not too sweet, very moist.  It’s a great way to use up that last cup of leftover ricotta.  I love using my late mother-in-law's vintage tube pan, it makes me think of her.  

·       9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

·       3 large eggs, room temperature

·       1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

·       1 pinch salt

·       1 cup fresh ricotta

·       Zest of 1 lemon

·       1 tablespoon baking powder

·       2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional) 

·       Confectioners' sugar for serving

1.    Heat the oven to 400° F. Butter and flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan or tube pan or bundt pan.

2.    Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.    On the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time.

4.    Slowly add the flour, salt, ricotta, lemon zest, baking powder, and poppy seeds (if using).

5.    Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the sides start to pull away from the pan.

6.    Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and cool completely on the rack. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top, or serve with your favorite seasonal fruit, or make a little drizzle by mixing lemon juice and confectioner's sugar.

Hawaiian Passionfruit Butter Mochi

If you're looking for good gluten-free dessert recipes, one place to start is with cultures that use other grains, like rice and corn, for their pastries.  So Asian, Italian, and Mexican cuisines are often my go-to for inspiration.

I was trying to come up with a dessert to take to my wonderful step daughter, who is gluten-free.  I was GOING to make Tang Yuan, those delicious balls with glutinous rice flour and black sesame inside -- but they aren't really suited to the hurly burly of 20-something life.  So I thought of making mochi, which freeze very well.  Then I remembered a wonderful cross-cultural dish I'd had many years ago in Hawaii -- butter mochi.

Butter mochi are a great combination of western and eastern cooking -- it combines glutinous rice flour, known as 'mochiko' in Hawaii, and the standard eggs and butter of Western desserts.  It's got that great mochi texture and it's not too sweet.  What's not to like?  I love the taste of passion fruit, so for this recipe I substituted passion fruit pulp for the traditional evaporated milk.  If you like, you can sprinkle sugar or a passion fruit-sugar glaze, or coconut, on top to make this prettier, but it's pretty addictive as is.  I think I'm going to try matcha butter mochi, too.

Passion fruit pulp is available in most Hispanic groceries.

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
16 oz glutinous rice flour (mochiko)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 14 oz can coconut milk
3/4 cup passion fruit pulp

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a 10x14 baking dish with parchment.  Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into the baking dish.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown on top.  If you are adding coconut or sugar, you should add it in the last 10 minutes of baking.  If you are glazing, add the glaze after you take it out of the oven, but before it's completely cool.  Cool and cut into whatever size you like.  Note that the texture and taste of the mochi will change quite a bit between when you take it out of the oven and when it is cool, so leave some time between baking and serving.  Mochi stores quite well, but I usually store it in the refrigerator, wrapped up.

Jerk Chicken Pot Pie with Herbed, Cheesy Biscuits

Chicken Pot Pie is the ultimate use of leftovers from a chicken dinner -- just stick your leftover roasted vegetables and chicken in a white sauce, throw a crust on it, and voila!  But let's face it, it's BO-ring. 

That all ended for me this week, when I had two leftover breasts from this jerk chicken recipe.  Wow!  A little heat, a ton of those aromatic, tangy jerk flavors.    We'll never go back. 


Ingredients

For the filling:
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
3 tablespoons flour
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 cups diced, cooked chicken
2 cups cooked vegetables -- I usually use a mixture of potatoes, carrots, corn, and green peas
1 cup sliced mushrooms (you can also use dried mushrooms, which are nice because they soak up some of the liquid)
1 tablespoon jerk seasoning, or to taste (see note, below)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste


For the biscuit:

I prefer a biscuit dough to a pastry crust on my pot pies, but you can easily substitute your favorite pate brisee or puff pastry if you prefer. 

2 c flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp sage, 1 tsp chopped chives, 1 tsp chopped parsley (optional)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup yogurt


Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To make the filling, melt the butter in a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, and saute the onions gently for a couple of minutes on medium heat, until they get a little transparent.  Add the flour and whisk to make a roux -- just until it's begun to brown a bit.  Add the garlic, and then whisk in the broth, a little at a time, to avoid lumps.  Add the milk the same way.  Continue to stir over medium heat until the sauce has thickened.  Add the chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, and seasonings to taste.  All jerk seasonings are different, so make sure you adjust the amount to a level that you like.

If you want to, you can at this point transfer the filling to a buttered baking dish (about 9x9), or if you aren't serving the whole thing at the table you can just leave it in the dutch oven and put the biscuits on top and put it in the oven.   If you use a baking dish, you want the filling to be about 1 1/2-2 inches thick, and have at least 1-2 inches to spare at the top, so the filling doesn't spill over.

To make the biscuits, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl.  Stir in the shredded cheese and whatever herbs you're using.  Add the melted butter and buttermilk and mix until it pulls together.  I usually give it a knead or two in the bowl, but don't overmix it.  Pat it out onto a floured board and cut out enough rounds to cover the filling in your baking dish.  Or you can just roll it out to fit the whole dish, if you prefer that look.  Just make sure you leave some holes for the filling to bubble up when the biscuits rise.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are browned. 

You can also freeze the whole pot pie, unbaked.  When you take it out, put it in a cold oven (so the dish doesn't crack).  Set the oven on 375 and cover the pie with aluminum foil for 30 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake another 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the biscuits look done.  Time will depend on the size of the pie.

Note:  There are different ways of introducing the jerk spice into this dish.  In order of preference:  you can just chop up leftover jerk chicken, as I did, or you can make a jerk marinade and marinate chicken and grill or saute it, or you can simply mix 1 tablespoon of a prepared jerk seasoning into the white sauce. 

Feng Li Su - Taiwanese Pineapple Pastries

Filling:
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
1/4 c of water

Simmer pineapple and water slowly until the liquid is gone - it will take several hours. Cool and refrigerate until use.  Makes about a cup -- you will use all of it for the pastry recipe below.


Crust:  
1 c butter
1/4 c confectioner's sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
2 1/2 c cake flour
1/4 corn starch
1/4 t salt

Pre heat oven to 325.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix remaining ingredients together and add to butter mixture.  Chill the dough a 1/2 hour.  Pinch off 1" balls, roll each out and put a little spoonful of filling in each, pinch together to close the dough around the filling.  The traditional shape is a square.  Bake on parchment for 20-25 minutes, until the bottoms brown. 

Fried chicken two different ways

For 1 chicken.

Michelle Bernstein's marinade:  

3 cups of butter milk or 2 cups of milk +1 cup of yogurt
2 tablespoons thyme

1 tablespoon tarragon 

6 cloves of garlic 

2 shallots 

1 Tablespoon fennel seed

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 

Add all ingredients to a blender and purée until smooth.

Lefty's cajun marinade:  

3 cups of buttermilk or 2 cups of milk +1 cup of yogurt

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons thyme

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne

Mix together 

Directions:

•  Place chicken in a Ziplock bag with marinade and
  refrigerate overnight.  1 tablespoon of kosher salt mixed with 3/4 cup of flour for dredging
• Heat oil to 350, dredge in flour, and fry until done.