Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
LEMON MERINGUE BITES
I am a new convert for the little pre-made phyllo cups made by Athens (found in the frozen foods section). I have found many sweet and savory uses for the little time savers.
These sweet little beauties went together in (literally) minutes, thanks to the phyllo cups.
This filling recipe will fill two packages of phyllo cups and since they are so small, they chill quickly and will be ready to serve in short order. Two packages sounds like a lot of lemon pies, but it really isnt (the filling recipe was originally for an 8" pie). Hubby ate four of these after a big meal, so keep that in mind.
2 packages of phyllo cups
LEMON FILLING
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup corn starch
1 cup water
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
2 drops yellow food color (optional)
MERINGUE TOPPING
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For filling, mix sugar, cornstarch and water in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil; boil and stir for one minute. Stir half of this mixture into the beaten egg yolks (whisking like crazy to keep the mixture moving). After well mixed, pour the whole thing back into the original pan and boil (and stir) for one more minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Spoon hot lemon mixture into phyllo cups.
For the meringue topping, beat (with electric mixer) the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy then sprinkle in the sugar, a little at a time, while you are beating; add the vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.
Top the hot lemon filling with a spoonful of meringue. Bake in a 400F oven for about 10 minutes or until the meringue becomes golden and shiny (watch carefully). Cool on the counter until they are room temperature THEN put them in the fridge to chill.
NOTE: Be careful when you separate the eggs; even just a speck of yolk in the egg whites will stop them from whipping correctly. Also, make sure you do NOT whip the egg whites in anything plastic. Any traces of grease or oil in the bowl or on the beaters will stop your egg whites from whipping properly.
Thank you all for your well wishes, regarding our cat Tabitha. She is walking around today and even has found her kitty voice again!! Thanks to lots of "ear licks" from our dog Chloe, Tabitha is well on her way to a full recovery.
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These sweet little beauties went together in (literally) minutes, thanks to the phyllo cups.
This filling recipe will fill two packages of phyllo cups and since they are so small, they chill quickly and will be ready to serve in short order. Two packages sounds like a lot of lemon pies, but it really isnt (the filling recipe was originally for an 8" pie). Hubby ate four of these after a big meal, so keep that in mind. 2 packages of phyllo cupsLEMON FILLING
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup corn starch
1 cup water
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
2 drops yellow food color (optional)
MERINGUE TOPPING
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For filling, mix sugar, cornstarch and water in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil; boil and stir for one minute. Stir half of this mixture into the beaten egg yolks (whisking like crazy to keep the mixture moving). After well mixed, pour the whole thing back into the original pan and boil (and stir) for one more minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Spoon hot lemon mixture into phyllo cups.
For the meringue topping, beat (with electric mixer) the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy then sprinkle in the sugar, a little at a time, while you are beating; add the vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.
Top the hot lemon filling with a spoonful of meringue. Bake in a 400F oven for about 10 minutes or until the meringue becomes golden and shiny (watch carefully). Cool on the counter until they are room temperature THEN put them in the fridge to chill.
NOTE: Be careful when you separate the eggs; even just a speck of yolk in the egg whites will stop them from whipping correctly. Also, make sure you do NOT whip the egg whites in anything plastic. Any traces of grease or oil in the bowl or on the beaters will stop your egg whites from whipping properly.Thank you all for your well wishes, regarding our cat Tabitha. She is walking around today and even has found her kitty voice again!! Thanks to lots of "ear licks" from our dog Chloe, Tabitha is well on her way to a full recovery.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Spatchcock Chicken with Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
I know it sounds funny and if you have never heard of spatchcock chicken you are probably wondering what in the world I am talking about. However, it is actually not nearly as exoctic as the name indicates. Spatchcock chicken is simply a whole chicken, butterflied, with the back bone and breast bone removed. It is a good way to cook chicken, particularly on the grill, because it is much more uniform in thickness which allows for an even cooking time. You can also enjoy a whole chicken in a fraction of the amount of time it takes to cook a bird which was not butterflied.
I made a marinade of the zest of one lemon, the juice of one lemon, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, about 1 teaspoon of honey, several sprigs of fresh thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil. I poured about 1/2 of the marinade over the chicken in a shallow backing dish, covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. I reserved the other half of the marinade to drizzle over the chicken and to dress the salad (sparingly!).
I wanted to grill the chicken, but I was afraid that I did not have enough propane left in the tank and there is nothing worse than running out of gas when you are halfway into cooking dinner. I really wanted that nice seared skin, so I devised a plan. I placed my long cast iron griddle in the oven and preheated it for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees. I placed the chicken, skin side down, on the griddle and left it to cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Then, I carefully flipped the chicken over using several sets of tongs and spatulas in an effort to keep the chicken from coming apart. After I finally got it placed on the griddle with the skin side up, I let it cook for another 30-40 minutes. After removing it from the oven, I placed it on a plate and drizzled a bit of the reserved vinaigrette.
A perfect Spring dinner is created when a delightfully tender and flavorful leg quarter is served over a tossed salad with an extra drizzle of vinaigrette.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Lemon Soufflé Pancakes Beat it just beat it!
I was recently commissioned to do a video recipe demo for About.com on the topic of "folding." Of course, this culinary technique is most commonly preformed when introducing egg whites into some type of batter. I was going to show "folding" using some sort of soufflé recipe, but since I already had a cheese soufflé recipe clip on the blog, I decided to use it on something much more common, the humble pancake. Every homemade pancake recipe, and almost every store-bought mix, calls for eggs. In almost every case the eggs are simply mixed into the batter and the recipe relies on the baking powder to
make the pancakes rise. This is usually fine, but if you use the little extra step of separating the eggs and beating the egg whites, you will create "soufflé" pancakes that will rise to a whole other level...literally. By "folding" in the stiff egg whites, you are introducing millions of tiny air bubbles that expand when the pancake is flipped. As you will see in the video, the site of the pancake rising in the pan is pure magic. Well, actually its pure physics, but people like magic better than physics.So, Im not sure if this is a "folding" video with a bonus pancake recipe, or a pancake demo with a bonus cooking technique included. But, who cares, youre making soufflé pancakes! By the way, this trick will work for any pancake mix that calls for eggs. Enjoy!
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