Thursday, March 27, 2014

Orange Souffles with Orange Sauce

Oh.
My.
Goodness.
These are amazing.
You simply must make these individual orange soufflés with orange sauce (recipe makes two), next time you get your hands on a few of these.
With all these oranges, I have been making jars and jars of freezer jam,  lots of juice to freeze, this chocolate-marmalade-gingerbread,
some orange poppyseed cookies, and now, these soufflés.
No kidding, my keyboard and mouse are sticky because of my zest (ha!) to share this with you. 
Seriously.  Mark this one down.  You have got to make these someday.
Recipe from a long ago-clipped magazine article --  if I had to guess, I'd say Bon Appetit.
MAKE THESE.

NOCKERLN (Individual Souffles with Orange Sauce)

(makes 2)
SAUCE
1 T. butter
3 T. sugar
1 t. cornstarch
1/4 c. fresh  orange juice
1 T. grated orange peel
1 t. fresh lemon juice

SOUFFLES
2 eggs, separated
pinch of cream of tartar
pinch of salt
3 T. sugar
1 T. flour
1 t. grated orange peel
powdered sugar (to garnish)

Make sauce:  In small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  In small bowl, mix together sugar and cornstarch.  Stir sugar/cornstarch mixture into butter.  Slowly whisk in orange juice and lemon juice and orange peel, and cook, stirring, over medium-ish heat until thickened, about five minutes.  Divide sauce evenly into two 4 x 6-inch oven-proof gratin dishes.

Make soufflés:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate eggs, putting whites in medium bowl and yolks in small bowl.  Get our your electric mixer and beat whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and salt and beat a bit more, until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and keep beating until "stiff and glossy."  Set aside. Stir yolks with a fork "until lemon colored" (I just did this for 30 seconds or so).  Stir in the flour and peel until mixed (should be thick).    Gently fold the yolk mixture into the whites (use a spatula or large spoon; you don't want to beat this down, you are just trying to mix and add a little air in there with big swooping motions).  Spoon in mounds over sauce and bake until golden, about 14 minutes.  Sift powdered sugar over the top.

These are AMAZING.  Please do try them.  You will not be sorry.

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Green Tea Banana Split Smoothie

A really good blogger, I think, would not spend her time pondering why
the lemon, on the left, is bigger than the orange, on the right.
She would probably type in the recipe for the wonderful orange freezer jam
instead of just leaving it on the kitchen counter and hoping it would type itself in.
She would instruct you on how to make your own bragging food labels from leftover scrapbooking stickers that, alas, never made it into the scrapbooks.
Likewise, she'd instruct on making orange sugar with the leftover orange rind.
She would probably regale you with stories of the open road

and inspire you with decorating tips like this antler chandelier
spotted at an Elko, Nevada hotel.
But alas, if you've spent any time at all on this blog, you will realize I am not a really good blogger.  I often go weeks between posts.  My pictures are uninspired.  The careful viewer will notice paper towels in the background or eyeglasses or a pile of mail that has been stealthily pushed to the side, only not far enough.
Aaaah, well.
What can I offer you?  How about this:  Green Tea Banana Split Smoothie.
A yummy snack, made with green tea, which is supposed to be good for you.  (A really good blogger would provide links here.)

Recipe from this book:  Green Tea:  50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats, by Mary Lou Heiss.
And shared with joy, from one imperfect blogger to . . . well, you.

GREEN TEA BANANA SPLIT SMOOTHIE

1/2 c. chilled green tea
1 c. low-fat vanilla yogurt (I used plain yogurt, added about 1/2 t. vanilla and about 1 t. maple syrup)
1 small ripe banana
1/4 c. chocolate syrup
4 ice cubes

Put everything but the ice cubes in the blender and mix.  Then add the ice cubes and whirl away.  This serves 2, by the way, so cut in half if it's just for you.
 
 
 

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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Parmesan-Roasted Acorn Squash

We've been trying to eat more vegetables around here.
Don't tell our mothers, they'd never believe it.
Not to worry, we are still sneaking in other nummy foods -- like these maple oatmeal scones (bake 30 minutes, not 40), from the book Flour by Joanne Chang.
And these pancakes made with leftover Panettone crumbs.   See sad panettone story here.
But, really, and truly, we are aiming for more fruits and vegetables.
Here is exhibit A. 
Too bad I didn't take a picture of the asparagus salad, that would have been Exhibit B.
But back to acorn squash.  I was talking about acorn squash.
This fine recipe, from Real Simple magazine, really is simple.  And really is tasty.  You just chunk slices of the squash, 3/4-inch thick, toss with a bit of olive oil, thyme, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese, and put 'er in the oven.  Snapperooni.
Parmesan-Roasted Acorn Squash.  Give it a try, even if you're not big on vegetables.  You just might like it.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Make your own almond paste

Making your own almond paste -- how cool is that?  Go check out Juliana's post at Color Your Recipes blog, if you haven't seen it yet.

I've gotta try this.