Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

With 3 major family celebrations in the third week of April in our house, it seemed as though each day last week brought a new dessert treat. Each was personal and special, depending on the celebrator (is that a word?). My daughter’s birthday cake was made out of cupcakes and featured a bouncy-ball motif that I think only we understood. My husband loves coconut, and coconut he got in the form of coconut cupcakes with coconut frosting, served at our weekly neighborhood TGIF. And the only requirement for my cake was strawberries, just now in season in California. 

Strawberry cake

Coconut cupcakes

How to make your own Cupcake Cake

Cupcake cakes are great when you are serving a crowd and don’t want to deal with cutting a cake, plates, forks and napkins. To serve, you just stick your hand in and pull out the next cupcake, the frosting comes along with it. And because cupcake cakes are frosted completely over the top, you can decorate just like you would a sheet cake. 

Step 1:

On a cardboard cake support, or plate or pan, arrange your baked and cooled cupcakes, snugging them up close to their neighbor. If your support is slippery, I recommend a dab of frosting on the bottom of each cake.

Step 2:

Using a large frosting tip (Wilton #789), lay frosting over the tops of the cupcakes. Try to be as even with the application as possible. If necessary, you might find that thinning your frosting out will help. For this cupcake cake, I used 2 batches of standard buttercream frosting. 

Step 3: 

Decorate any way you would like. This birthday girl’s party was at a bounce house facility, so we tried to decorate with bouncy balls and trajectory lines. 

And this was decorated for a camping-themed birthday party. The graham crackers make the tent, the pretzel sticks are a fire (along with red gum drops for flames), and the green cornflake blobs are supposed to be trees! Any idea what the brown blob is?

As of Sunday, April 26, the last of the April birthdays have been celebrated and we are moving on to May. However, we still have some residual celebrations this week, without kids, so my menu plan for this week centers around foods that they will enjoy without us, things I can make ahead, and as always, ways to use our produce box.

In our box this week, we received: Chard, Leeks, Lettuce, Nantes Carrots, Broccoli (I traded for double leeks), Sugar Snap Peas, Cilantro and Navel Oranges. And here is my Menu Plan for Monday, April 27:

Saturday: Grilled Skirt Steak with Cilantro sauce, Chard souffle, salad, coconut cream pie

Sunday: Chicken Scaloppine with Sugar Snap Peas, Asparagus and Lemon Salad (my birthday dinner!), bread, Strawberry Cake

Monday: Adults out – kids will have pizza (it has been a while!)

Tuesday: Grilled Leeks, Barley Risotto with roasted Beets (leftover from last week), salad

Wednesday: Adults out – kids will have Orange-Glazed Chicken with Carrots and Brown Rice (from Everyday Food, April 2009) 

Thursday: Leftovers 

Friday: TGIF Mini-block party

What is on your plan this week? Check out more Menu Plan Monday ideas at OrgJunkie!

In last week’s menu plan, I wrote about a new dish I was going to try, Agretti Spaghetti, with the green vegetable Agretti, a slightly tart, stringy vegetable originally from Italy. As it turned out, I ended making two different versions of Agretti Spaghetti, and they were both tasty enough to immortalize them here on Kitchen Gadget Girl!

The first is a tasty, tomato-free pasta dish that took me about 15 minutes to pull together. Both kids declared it a success, and Lisa’s son gobbled an entire bowl after baseball practice. The second recipe uses some of the Asian flavors that I love with Agretti, including sesame seed oil. The recipe was inspired by Lynda from Taste Food.

Version 1: Agretti Spaghetti, the original

Agretti Spaghetti
originally from a recipe by Matthew K
 
1 pound spaghetti (or other pasta, see note below)
1 bunch agretti, cleaned well and chopped into 2 inch pieces
3 Italian Sausages, casings removed
3-4 green garlics or spring shallots, minced 
1 Cup ricotta cheese 
Olive oil 

Clean the agretti and remove the “bulbs”. Chop into 2 inch pieces. 

Boil agretti with spaghetti in salted water according to the cooking time on the spaghetti box.

While the pasta is cooking, brown Italian Sausage in a pan with green garlic with a bit of olive oil.

Drain the pasta and return to cooking pot, mix all ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste. For a little kick, throw in some red pepper flakes. Serve. 

Note: for best results, choose a pasta that cooks in 7-9 minutes.

Version 2: Asian-style Agretti Spaghetti

Soba with Agretti and Edamame
based on a recipe from Lynda at Taste Food

1 package soba noodles
1 bunch agretti, cleaned and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 cup frozen edamame
2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced into matchsticks
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and deviened, chopped fine
2 tablespoons lime juice
3-4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Cook soba according to package, along with agretti and edamame in same pot. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again. Toss with 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil and soy sauce.

Sauté garlic, bell pepper and ginger with olive oil over medium heat, until fragrant. Add in jalapeno, remove from heat. 

In large bowl, mix soba, agretti and edamame with garlic and bell pepper mixture. Season with lime juice and remaining sesame oil. Toss with cilantro. Served warm or cold. 

With lots of baking planned this weekend, as well as recovery from last weekend’s marathon of cupcakes, I needed a little break on this week’s Cookie Thursday. Instead, I offer you an old family recipe, which will double as my entry into Vintage Recipe Thursday, hosted by Joy of Joy of Desserts. 

Sand Tarts have been a family favorite since the 1930’s, according to a little note written on the bottom of my copy. My Mom used to make them every year at Christmas; they were always part of her holiday cookie assortment. My favorite memory about this cookie was putting the blanched almond in the center of each cookie, as well as the year my Mom let me sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top!

Sand Tarts

• 1 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 whole egg + 1 egg separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 4 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cinnamon sugar and blanched almond halves

Cream butter until light; gradually add in sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and egg yolk, vanilla and lemon zest.

Sift flour and salt together. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until well blended. Cover with wax paper and chill in refrigerator two hours or more.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

When ready to bake, roll the dough to 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured board. Either use a diamond shaped cookie cutter, or using a butter knife, cut the dough into diamonds (a picture here would be worthwhile!). Put cut out diamonds on prepared cookie sheets.

Beat remaining egg white slightly, and brush tops of cookies. Press blanched almond halves in center and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 

Bake 8 minutes, until lightly browned.

It is hard to be in my presence for more than a few moments without me mentioning my new favorite cookbook, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Written by Jeff Hertzberger and Zoe Francois, who met when their children were together in the same music class, this book removes much of the mystery around baking crusty, artisan bread in your own home. She is a professional pastry chef; he is a doctor and consultant with a love of great bread. With all this practical and analytical skill, it is no wonder they have created this well thought out book.

The reason I love this book is that Zoe and Jeff have made it so easy to have fresh, European-style, artisan bread every day. The premise is simple – create a wet dough, without kneading, and allow it to rise slowly at a cool temperature, basically, in your refrigerator. And it is so simple to bake the bread – 1 hour before you are ready to bake, take out a lump of dough, form it into a loaf and allow to rest. Preheat your oven, and after the dough rests, slide it onto the hot pizza stone.

I have made several of the breads and the taste and texture has always been excellent, although they don’t always end up looking exactly like the pictures (see Pain Epi above). Jeff and Zoe provide several key breads, then build new recipes off those – for example, I made the Cinnamon Rolls and the Pletzel from the same Challah master recipe. From their website, I also tried baking bread in my dutch oven, which worked extremely well. This is good to know, if you do not have a pizza stone!

My past experience includes baking bread from scratch, but I don’t think that is a requirement to use this book. The recipes are very simple and the conversational tone of the instructions makes it very easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to other interested home cooks craving easy homemade bread.

P.S. I am not affiliated in any way with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, I am just a happy customer!

Ok, my attempt at cute subject lines might actually be hurting my SEO – on the other hand, if anyone is searching for a beet recipe, especially beet risotto, you have come to the right place!

I managed to make off with two bags of loose Beets, by trading my bag of Broccoli. Only one of us in this house is really wild about broccoli and since I have some left from last week, I decided to ditch this week’s bag. And, because I have the leftover broccoli, along with smallage (soup celery) and Carrots, I think I am headed for soup at least one night this week. With the Beets, I plan to make Pressure Cooker Beet Risotto (previous recipe), as well as Roasted Beets with Ricotta Salata (on sale this week at Whole Foods).

This week’s box also included Agretti, a tasty vegetable/herb originally from Italy. We had it last year, and some folks are not too wild about it, so I ended up with two bunches this week. I enjoy the slightly tart taste, and like to sauté it with olive oil and garlic, then drizzle sesame oil over the top for a nice Asian-themed side dish. Leftovers are great cold! I found a few other recipes including Lemon Garlic Agretti and Frittata Con Agretti, as well as this yummy sounding Agretti Spaghetti recipe I found on the Two Small Farms site:

Matthew K’s Agretti Spaghetti

[for two people] 
1/2 pound spaghetti (or other pasta, see note below)
handful of agretti 
1 link Italian Sausage
2 green garlics or spring shallots, minced 
1 Cup ricotta cheese 
Olive oil 

Clean the agretti and remove the “bulbs” 

Boil agretti with spaghetti in salted water according to the cooking time on the spaghetti box.

While the pasta is cooking, brown Italian Sausage in a pan with green garlic with a bit of olive oil.

Drain the pasta and return to cooking pot, mix all ingredients together and add salt and pepper to taste. For a little kick, throw in some red pepper flakes. Serve. 

Note: for best results, choose a pasta that cooks in 7-9 minutes.

The rest of the box included Strawberries, Mint, Fresh Shallots, Carrots and Bok Choy.

So, without further ado, here is my Menu Plan for the week of April 20th:

Sunday: Beet Risotto (see recipe below), grilled meat, green salad

Monday: Potage of veggies (see recipe from last week), roasted Beets with ricotta salata, bread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Agretti Spaghetti, sautéed Carrots, bread

Thursday: Fish with teriyaki marinade, cold Agretti salad, sautéed Bok Choy, soba noodles with edamame

Friday: TGIF with mini-block party

Be sure to check out Laura’s Org Junkie site for more Menu Plan Monday ideas!

Kim brought me culinary lavender from Ali’i Kula Lavender Farms in Maui, and this week, I decided to try it in a Madeleine recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. In addition, Louise recently gifted me a Shell Pan, useful for making Madeleines, so I now had no excuse. I have never made Madeleines before, although I did name my cat in high school Madeline. Spelled different, but just as unique!

The recipe in Dorie’s book calls for chilling the dough at least 3 hours, or up to 2 days. Other Madeleine recipes do not call for the same waiting period, I might have to experiment and see which I like better.

These cookies were tasty, fluffy little pillows, with a nice perfume of lavender. I think they would be a tasty addition to a tea party or afternoon coffee group. Let me know if you start one and I will bring them!

Lavender Madeleines

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon culinary (edible) lavender
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in the lavender and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain through a cheese-cloth lined sieve and discard lavender.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.

In another bowl, work the lemon zest into the sugar, using your fingers, until the sugar is very fragrant.

Into your stand mixer, add the eggs, sugar and zest and beat together until pale and thick, about 2-3 minutes. Add the honey and vanilla and beat another minute. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in butter. 

Press a piece of plastic wrap on surface of dough and refrigerate for 3 hours, or up to 2 days. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400F.

Butter your madeleine mold, and dust insides with flour. Don’t try to use cooking spray, it does not work well in this application. If you have a silicone madeleine mold, then you don’t have to do anything!

Spoon batter into molds. Bake 12-14 minutes until tops are golden and they spring back when touched. Remove from oven, and remove madeleines from pan by tapping pan against the counter. Cool on rack, but eat quickly. These are best the day they are made!

My mother’s favorite thing in the whole world was lemon curd, spread on toast or just eaten by the spoonful. I am sure if she had tried lemon cream, she would have added that to her list of favorites. And in my Baking, From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, we are introduced to this wonderful cream and a very easy lemon cream tart. This would be a lovely dessert for Mother’s Day, and can easily be made ahead. I am pretty sure a clever husband could even handle it (hint, hint).

Lemon Cream

• 1 cup sugar
• Grated zest of 3 lemons
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I used juice that I had previously frozen)
• 2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Get your kitchen tools ready : instant read thermometer, a strainer, a blender. If you don’t have a blender, a food processor will also work.

Bring water to simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. In a heatproof bowl that fits over the saucepan of water, add the sugar and lemon zest. Using your fingers, rub the lemon zest into the sugar (my daughter loved doing this part), until it is grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan of simmering water and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture is tepid. Cook the cream until it reaches 180F. Whisk constantly – as you do, you will see the cream start out light and fluffy, then the bubbles will get bigger, then the as the cream gets closer to 180F, the cream will start to thicken. Pay attention, even if it seems like it is taking forever. It is important to continue to whisk the cream, otherwise the eggs will overcook and curdle.

When the cream reaches 180F, remove from heat and strain into the container of the blender. Allow cream to stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender on high, and with the machine running, add the butter, 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed. Once all the butter has been added, keep the blender on for another 3 minutes. This is the step that allows the cream to be light and fluffy. My photo above does not do the cream justice – it is light, lemon yellow, and wonderfully fluffy. 

Pour the cream into a container and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. 

For a Mother’s Day dessert, spoon the lemon cream into a pre-baked tart shell and top with whip cream. Or, use the cream on scones or cookies for a delightful Mother’s Day Tea Party. The cream will keep up to 4 days in the fridge, or can be frozen for up to 2 months. Personally, it does not last that long around our house!

My kids helped me cook dinner this weekend, after my daughter watched a Food Network show featuring fish in foil packets. She decided that would be a good dish for us to make too!

Here are our raw ingredients – sablefish filets, olive oil, lemon juice, S&P, carrot slices, green garlic and chopped red bell pepper. We could of used pretty much any other vegetables – sliced zucchini, chopped tomatoes, garlic, shallots, spinach, etc, as well as any sort of mild white fish. 

Then we each created our own little packets. This is my son’s, he was very organized about his layout and design. Season the fish filets with S&P, then lay veggies over the top. Drizzle with a little lemon juice and olive oil. Could also drizzle with white wine or vermouth, instead of lemon juice.

Bake 20 minutes at 350F.

Serve with rice and salad for a complete, kid-friendly dinner. Because my kids chose their own ingredients, they ate up every last bite!

One of the “benefits” of hosting a CSA drop-off site, is that occasionally you get to keep leftover veggies. The downside is, they are usually veggies that folks are not terribly thrilled about! Such is the case this week, as I returned to find my box along with 3 extra-huge turnips, an extra bunch of cooking celery and a bit of dill. Why doesn’t anyone leave the strawberries?

In our box this week: Dill, Turnips, Smallage (soup celery), Parsley Root and Chantenay Carrots, Baby Leeks, Orach, Baby Carrots, Broccoli and beautiful Strawberries. 

This week is a little busy, with two nights of swim lessons, two nights out for board meetings and school tours, and the big launch of our school lunch composting program, which I am helping with. To get a jump start on the week, I am cooking a bunch of things this weekend. Here is my Menu Plan for April 12-17:

Sunday: Roast Leg of Lamb, Turnip and Onion Gratin, steamed asparagus, bread

Monday: Potage* (I think this is French for “soup full of veggies your family would not otherwise eat”), Baby Carrots, bread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Salmon with Dill Sauce, brown rice, Roasted Broccoli (it is the only way my husband will eat broccoli!)

Thursday: Sloppy joes (from the freezer), any leftover veggies as crudites with ranch dressing

Friday: TGIF mini-block party

For more menu plans, be sure to check out Laura’s post at OrgJunkie for Menu Plan Monday.

On Sunday, I made a Potage, from Soup, a Way of Life by Barbara Kafka. Her recipe is very open ended, and I improvised based on what I had left over from last week’s box and what I thought my family would not want to eat from this week’s box. I also added the carrots (it makes it sweet) and some of the green garlic from last week. I used a bean broth that I had in the freezer from the last time I pressure cooked beans, and I also threw in a cup of cooked brown rice, since I did not have any potatoes. Here is the recipe I followed:

Potage of Spring Vegetables (or, how I cleaned out my veggie bin this week)

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6-8 ounces chopped green garlic and leeks (I could also use onion, shallots, or garlic, or a mixture of all)
• 5 cups of mixed chopped hard veggies, including carrots, turnips, parsley root, and broccoli (could also use peas, fennel, cauliflower)
• 3 cups of mixed greens, including smallage (soup celery), and braising mix (could also use spinach, cabbage, escarole, kale, chard)
• 1 cup cooked rice, or 3/4 of a pound of mashing potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 6-7 cups of water or broth
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large pot, and sauté green garlic and leeks until translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Add in the rest of the veggies, rice or potatoes, and water or broth. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.

Using your immersion blender, or food processor, puree the soup until coarse and slightly chunky. Return to pot and season to taste.