The Chocolate Caramel Disaster

I would like to start off this post by saying that patience is a virtue, and I hate Lost.

Lost first.

I don't understand why the Lost writers don't get that this entire season is supposed to be about explaining everything that happened in the seasons before.  Instead, they are not doing that.  The only thing I have learned is that the smoke monster is the SUCKIEST explanation of what the smoke monster could possibly be.  I skipped an entire episode last week because I saw on Hulu that it was about Benjamin Linus.  Just skipped it, didn't look back.  And now, NOW I am willing to blame the entire fiasco that was chocolate caramel creation night because I attempted to make my creation while watching Sawyer be annoying and Claire be creepy.  And lots of random new people who SHOULDN'T BE INTRODUCED IN THE LAST SEASON.  Honestly, I think the only thing good about this show is that it taught me that penultimate means last but one.  I'm getting more of a vocabulary lesson than entertainment.  Stupid TV.

Back to the point...

Patience is a virtue, and unfortunately, it is a virtue that I don't so much have.

I began my chocolate caramel creation night well.  I found a recipe for mini brownies on the internet, I got the oven to turn on and stay on (my oven is almost as bad as Lost).  I ignored the fact that it is now so hot in my apartment that the Rolos were melting in their packaging.  I mixed up the brownies, put them in the oven, baked them for about 10 minutes, pulled them out and popped a slightly melty Rolo into each one.  Then all hell broke loose.

First, the oven turned itself off.  This is not an uncommon occurrence with my oven, but it is one that I recommend avoiding.  I got the oven back on and decided the brownie bites needed to cook some more, they went into the oven, came out, went in, it was a dance.  Then I took them out and UNABLE TO WAIT FOR THE TO COOL, I decided to remove them from the pan.  That didn't work.  So, I left them alone for a few minutes while doing the dished (while leaving Lost running because honestly, who cares?), and then tried again.  At this point, I realized that unless I really was willing to give the whole thing up and make a messy trifle, I should leave it alone.  So I took a shower.  Stupid patience.

Patience is overrated.  They were messy, so I smushed them all into a square pan.  We'll see how they look in the morning.  I'll post pictures then either way...

The St. Patrick's Day Feast

Here's the thing: I'm not Irish.  Not even a little bit.  Never been there, boat didn't dock there on the way over from Russia way back when, all the red hair in my family is bottle-born.

But here's the other thing:  I love corned beef and cabbage.  Like, I LOVE it.  I can honestly not get enough of boiled cabbage.  And really, who LOVES boiled cabbage?  And it's not just the cabbage, either.  It's the Irish soda bread and salty boiled potatoes and carrots and mashed turnips.  Yes, that's right, I, of no Irish heritage in the least, just admitted to having a deep and honest love for mashed turnips.  Go figure...

Anyway, I used to date this guy who had a thing for corned beef and cabbage (he was Irish, and red-headed, it make sense for him), and he would make it once or twice a year and therefore, he was the master of the corned beef and cabbage recipe.

This year we weren't so much speaking 'round corned beef and cabbage time, so I had to wing it.  In other words, I made TWO corned beefs this year!

The one yesterday- which was the authentic New England style, flat-cut, gray corned beef- turned into shoe leather about 90 minutes in.  I have no idea why or how it happened, but it now sits in my fridge wrapped in cling wrap waiting the allotted two or three months to go by before I will inevitably throw it away.  I did cook the baby potatoes, carrots and cutest little head of cabbage with it though.  Today, I cooked a 2.5 lb red corned beef (along with another head of cabbage because of the aforementioned unnatural love of boiled green things), and it was AMAZING.  I hate to say it to the hardcore Irish out there, but I am red corned beef all the way now.  I guess there is more Eastern-European Jew in me than I thought.


Adding to the confusion that is my non-Irish heritage-loving-Irish-food St. Patrick's Day is that it has now become a little tradition for my parents to come over for my boiled dinner delicacy.  My mother brings the Irish Soda Bread (from the kosher bakery, of course) and we chow down on the goodness.  Pictures below...

 

Boiled cabbage

 

Mashed turnips

 

Delicious red corned beef

 

Potatoes and Carrots on the table.

Upcoming: National Chocolate Caramel Day!

Friday, March 19th, is National Chocolate Caramel Day.  I know St. Patty's Day is Wednesday (hence the corned beef boiling on my stove), but a whole day devoted to the marriage of chocolate and caramel? -that I can get behind.

I am thinking of making brownies in muffin tins and then shoving a rolo into the center of each one right before it's done baking.  Turtle brownies were also recommended, but I'm not crazy about pecans.  I did throw back the idea of brownies with rolos in the middle and turtles on top, but it might be a bit decadent (did I really just say that?).

Check back Friday to check out what I end up baking.

Until then, chocolate-caramel pairing favorites, ready, go!

The Ricotta Extravaganza

It seems to be Ricotta Day on Sarah's Kitchen today.

When I was in high school, I took a cooking class in which we made these ricotta cookies.  They were amazing.  It might have been because, not having come from an Italian family, I have never had ricotta cookies before, but whatever the reason, they were good enough that I asked the cooking teacher for a copy of the recipe and I think my mother still has it in her recipe binder.

Of course, my mother having this magical recipe in her recipe binder doesn't help me right now, so I am going to have to make it up as I go along (or "borrow" ideas from people online.  Librarians are good at "borrowing").

When searching for ricotta cookie recipes, I kept getting hits for ricotta gnocchi.  Gnocchi is maybe one of my most favorite things in the world, but I am pretty sure I usually only have potato gnocchi.  I typically only get this dish in restaurants, so don't really know what it is that I'm eating (I am a very trusting restaurant patron).

As an aside, Il Villaggio in Boston's North End is an awesome place to go for gnocchi.  Their gnocchi with creamy tomato basil sauce is incredible.  Actually, the whole place is incredible.  It's a tiny little hole in the wall on Hanover Street with totally reasonably prices.  I showed up at 7pm on a Saturday night there once with seven people and they sat us in 15 minutes.  The bread is crusty, staff friendly.  Hmm, maybe I'll ditch the whole cooking idea and just go there for dinner tonight.

I could write a book about tangents.

Anyway, I have decided to make ricotta gnocchi in addition to ricotta cookies.  It's ambitious, I know, but this weather puts me in a cooking mood.  (And by the way, why warm, spring-like weather puts me in the mood to close myself in my kitchen and cook, I have no idea.)

An Afterthought: I made all the food and it came out outstandingly.  The cookies yielded dozens and dozens and are currently being enjoyed by the poor, starving teachers at work.  The gnocchi was super good and super easy, once I remembered how to roll it.  I took some pictures, but I don't think they came out too well.  I'll check later and post them if they're any good.  Until then, the recipes follow...

Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe  
Borrowed from Nibbledish
Ingredients

    * 1 lb whole milk ricotta
    * 1/2 cup fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano
    * 1 to 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
    * 2 teaspoons salt
    * 1 large egg, beaten slightly in small bowl

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, except 1/2 cup of the flour. Mix together with hands until it forms a ball. Put dough on a wooden board and sprinkle with the remaining flour, and knead until no longer sticky.

Break out into small balls, about a handful. Roll into strips, and cut into 1-inch pieces, then roll with thumb on gnocchi board (optional).

Sprinkle with flour and spread onto a platter until ready to boil.

Cook in boiling water until floating. Doesn't take long at all.

Ricotta Cookie Recipe
Borrowed from AOL Food
Ingredients

    * 1 cup butter softened
    * 2 cups sugar
    * 1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
    * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    * 2 large eggs
    * 4 cups all-purpose flour
    * 2 tablespoons baking powder
    * 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease large cookie sheets.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add ricotta vanilla and eggs and beat until combined. Add flour baking powder and salt and beat until dough forms.

Using two tablespoons drop dough onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies begin to turn golden. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

The Spring Salad

It's been over 50 degrees for three days in Massachusetts in March, which is an uncommon and joyful occurrence.  I am celebrating by making a spring-inspired bean salad.

I found a recipe I liked last year and am basing this salad off of that one.  I should really say I found a recipe I liked the idea of, because what I made and what they made were never actually all that similar.  The blogger used spring colors to inspire her salad though and I like that idea, so I did (and am again doing) the same thing.  I chose edamame (green), black beans (black), corn (yellow), red pepper (red), red onion (purplish), and chickpeas (white).  I'm going to toss it all with a honey lime dressing I found on Tastespotting (shocking, I know).  I haven't made the dressing recipe before and imagine it will end up with significantly more chili powder and cumin than called for.

I also thought I'd throw some salmon on top for extra protein (and color).  I typically pan sear my salmon, I like it with a bit of a crispy edge. Luckily this is a salad that can be eaten cold as leftovers because I am not a fan of reheating fish in the microwave at work.  At least, I'm not a fan of when other people do it, so I try to stay away from being "that guy."

Pics!

 

Ingredients 

 

Let's take a moment and check out these super cute bowls my friend Anne got me from Sur la Table.  They go perfectly with the multi-shade green kitchen thing I've got going on.

 I didn't have any cilantro, so I decided I need something else, so I mixed up half an avacado with some Greek yogurt.  It was AMAZING.

The Zivah Lily Cake

My niece, Zivah Lily, was born on December 30th.  Her baby naming celebration was this past weekend.  For it, I decided to make a cake that was a little less ambitious than the one I made for her sister, but hopefully that would taste better.  It definitely did as that the other one pretty much tasted like cardboard frosted with butter. 

For this cake I found a recipe on Tastespotting for a Grasshopper cake (grasshopper like chocolate and mint, not like the bug in the grass.)

It called for three cake layers, with a filling of chocolate mint ganache and mint buttercream.

As with pretty much anything I make, there were issues.  For one thing, when the cake recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of baking powder, it is recommended that one uses 2 TEASPOONS of baking powder, not 2 tablespoons like I did.  Also, don't freeze heavy cream.  Or at least, if you do freeze it, check to see what happens when you defrost it before you intend to cook with it so you don't end up with half mixed frosting and a carton of something with the consistency of small curd cottage cheese. 

In any case, it came out really, really well.  I used clear creme de menthe rather than green and iced it in pink (cause it was for a girl...).  It was really rich and delicious.  Even I had a piece, and that's saying something.

The Chalk Bag

Wow, it's been a long time since I cooked something.  I think I have lost motivation since my icebox, I mean my condo, hit it's winter cooling temp of 52 degrees Fahrenheit and stayed there.  By the way, I only know how to spell that word because I have to type it into the catalog so many times this time of year when the 8th graders forget their copies at home. And, I guess I have cooked something.  I have a pot of something I am now affectionately referring to as "salt soup" sitting on my stove at home.  I probably need to throw it away, because of the whole salt thing, but because I live in the icebox, I don't have to worry about fridge room.  Of which there is none.  Because it's too cold to clean it out.  So I'm just leaving the soup where it is.

I digress...

I have been sucked in by the phenomenon that is rock climbing.  I think it is partially because it's one of those things that makes you feel good about yourself and you don't have to worry about anyone being pissed at you because you can't throw or kick something into a net and nobody is trying to kill you.  That and I assume if I do it long enough I will grow muscles that will cause people to confuse me with Scandanavian men.

So anyway, when you climb you use chalk to keep your hands dry so you don't slip, go flying and bang into a hard, rough wall with pointy things sticking out of it.  (I don't speak from personal experience there at all.  Nope, not at all.)  And you keep the chalk in a chalk bag.  There are a lot of chalk bags out there, but I wanted something cute, so I Googled "cute chalk bag" (aren't I clever?).  I came up with a whole lot of nothing, except this one post from this woman who I assume is a master seamstress.  It was super cute though, so I decided to emulate it.  Her's turned out cuter than mine (what with the being a master seamstress this is not overly surprising), but I think mine is pretty darn cute.

First, being cheap, I purchased this little Ugly Doll from Amazon, causing my mother to state: "That's certainly ugly!"

Then, followed the directions on the Master Seamstress (Mistress Seamstress?)'s website as best I could and came up with something kind of decent looking.  I might not cause a stir in the climbing world, but at least I know it's one-of-a-kind.

As a note, it came out pretty small, which is fine for me cause I have little hands, but if I were to do it again, I might use the normal size Ugly Doll instead.