My Wife the Chef (Lemon Risotto with Mushrooms and Zuchini)

This post isn't so much about sharing a recipe as it is to demonstrate an important point.
Five years ago, Anne had never heard of risotto. Tonight she made a risotto that easily could have been served at any restaurant in Ashland (and we have some good ones here). I wish you could taste it. It had mushrooms and zucchini and it was enhanced by a little bit of lemon juice and homemade chicken stock that came from a chicken she roasted herself a couple of weeks ago.
Now for the real surprise . . .
I wasn't even home! This picture is of the leftovers!
The lesson you can learn from this is this:
Don't be intimidated by cooking. Anne loves risotto, so she decided to learn how to cook it. If there's something you want to eat--find a recipe for it and cook it. You might not nail it the first time, but you will learn and get better each time.
When you're trying something new, give yourself extra time and enjoy it. Turn on some good music, pour yourself a lemonade, and enjoy it.

Frosting Recipes

OK--here are a couple of my favorite recipes for frosting. The execution on both recipes is very simple, so I'm certain that all of you are capable of either.

The first is for the tastiest chocolate frosting I've ever had. The recipe is from The Joy of Cooking (which is is something I need to post about in the near future). The frosting is perfectly rich, not too sweet nor heavy. If you like butter than you will especially love this. It is glossy and a beautiful, dark chocolate color. Here's a picture from a couple of years ago so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

So here's the recipe:

In a double boiler (see below for an explanation), melt 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate (that's half a bag of chocolate chips) with 6 tbsp. of milk and 1 tsp. of vanilla. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and stir in 6 tbsp. of butter (that's 3/4 of a stick). Stir it until the butter is melted and cool it until it's stiff enough to stand up but still soft enought to spread without destroying your cake. That's it! So easy, huh? I don't remember exactly how much cake this will frost, but it will at least do the top, sides and 1 layer of filling for a 9-inch circle.

So--about double boilers. They're used to gently heat things by placing a container over a pan of simmering water. You can buy a nice set like the one on the left, or just put a metal or glass bowl on top of a sauce pan like the picture on the right.

Just make sure that the bowl isn't touching the water and make the water simmer, not boil. This is especially important for chocolate because if it gets too hot, it will break, meaning that the cocoa butter will separate from the other parts and you'll have a nasty, unusable mess.

Recipe number two: Raspberry Whipped Cream

I think that whipped cream makes some of the best frosting. The melting point of butter (and therefore whipped cream) is about 90 degrees, compared to about 94 for margarine and 98 or more for shortening. This means that whipped cream and butter-based frostings melt quickly in your mouth and do not have the tendency to coat the inside of you mouth like shortening. Plus, the whipped cream is obviously full of air so it's of course very light.

Simply whip 1 1/2 cups of HEAVY cream until it's stiff enough to stand up on its own. When it starts to stiffen, stop beating frequently and turn you beaters upside down. As soon as its stiff enough that the whipped cream doesn't fall, you're done. Then take 1 cup of seedless raspberry jam and mix it up so it's smooth and has no lumps. Add the jam and a few drops of red food coloring if you want (I did for this cake) to the cream and gently fold it in. Store it, covered, in the fridge until you're ready to put it on the cake. This recipe was enough for the top, sides, and 3 layers in the middle of this 7-inch cake. To do a bigger cake, you could increase the cream to 1 pint and the jam to 10 0z.

The deal with electric knives--They are not a necessity. For leveling tops and splitting layers, a long slicer works great. If you have to straighten edges, however, an electric knife greatly simplifies things.

How to do the squiggles on the cake below--This was my first try and if you look closely it is evident. I just used the chocolate recipe from above and used the fine, round tip on a pastry bag and started swirling, trying to cover all the area wihtout overlapping. The sides were a little trickier and took a few tries to get it right. I had to kind of press the chocolate firmly into the frosting to get it to stick. If you just did the squiggles on top and left the sides bare, it would save you a lot of trouble and would still look cool.

A few tips for cakes

OK, sorry for the extended absence. No excuses, just stopped posting for a bit.

So today's post isn't a specific recipe, but a few pointers for people who want to improve their cake-building skills.

1. Don't feel bad about using a cake mix. I almost always use a mix for the cake. As Alton Brown put it: "they have access to all sorts of super-chemicals that you and I can't get." Betty and Duncan just know how to make cakes turn out consistently well.

2. Do feel bad about using pre-made frosting. I'm sorry, but there are two things which I absolutely cannot support: fake cheese and store-bought frosting. Home made frosting is infinitely better and is really not that much work. I'll post two easy recipes later this week that you can use.

3. After baking your cakes, level with the tops so they are flat. In the picture below, you can see that the cake is totally flat. Rounded tops are normal upon removal from the oven, but removing the dome makes a more professional looking finished product. I just use a long knife and freehand it.

4. Also notice in the picture the strips of wax paper hanging out from beneath the cake. This is so you can decorate without fear of mucking up your cake plate. Cut strips of wax paper and lay them under the bottom layer of the cake. When you're totally done frosting, pull them out to reaveal your sparkling cake plate.

5. Cakes from nice bakeries taste nice because they use more frosting than most home cooks. Just becasue you bake your cakes in two round pans, doesn't mean you should settle for two layers. Cut each round horizontally in two then you frost in between all the layers. If you made delicious frosting, this will be a good thing.

6. Basic instructions for frosting the top and sides:
- Use a lazy susan or something that spins. This makes things a lot easier
-Put as much frosting as you think you'll need for the top AND sides on the top, then spread it toward the outside as you spin the cake. Push it over the edge and start spreading it down the sides of the cake. Push more frosting off the top and if you need it until you reach the plate. Use something with a straight edge (I recommend an off-set spatula and not what yousee in this picture--I left mine at my grandma's house) to straighten the sides as you spin the cake.




-Never pull you spreader directly away from the cake. It will pull crumbs off and they will be very hard to get out of the frosting. You have to kind of spread your spatula off-if that makes sense. It's hard to put into words, but you get the idea, right?
7. One more little thing--Tall, slender cakes seem to look fancier than short, wide cakes. Consider buying some smaller pans to increase you repertoire. Anne bought me these 7-inchers from Sur la Table. They're quite inexpensive.
8. Oh yeah, ONE more thing, cheaper cake pans usually have slightly sloped edges making it difficult to achieve straight sides. There are two solutions: buy the nicer, heavier ones with straight side, or trim your edges once the layers are stacked and frosted. An electric knife is the perfect tool for this job. I know you all got one as a wedding present, so dig 'em out and fire 'em up!

Have Fun!

A trick for cutting brownies

I'm sure you've had the experience of cutting brownies and having most of the pan stick to your knife. This is particularly problematic when you make brownies from a mix as they tend to be chewier and stickier than the from-scratch varieties.
So here's a little trick that will end your troubles: Use a plastic knife to cut your brownies. They are the best tool available for the job--simple but effective. So next time you're at KFC, or Cafe Rio, or whatever, keep the knife and toss it in your gadget drawer.

Tips for using garlic

Fresh garlic is an important ingredient in many of my favorite dishes. Contary to what Emeril Lagasse says, however, more is not better. The Emeril theory works for keeping Vampires at bay (maybe not that important to all you Twilight fans) but not for seasoning food that all will enjoy. Here are some tips to help you use garlic:
1. Fresh is best. I don't suppose I'll ever buy garlic salt or powder in my life. I'm not above it or anything, it's just that fresh garlic is inexpensive, readily available, and 1000 times tastier than the dried stuff.
2. To buy garlic. Look for plump-looking heads and feel them to make sure that the cloves are firm and not old and shriveled. You definitely don't want any green sprouts out of the top. These will suck the flavor out and may be bitter. Buy small amounts at a time, as it will not last very long in your cupboard.
3. To peel garlic--give each clove a firm press with the side of a knife to loosen the skin. Don't smash it all the way like Rachel Ray does because then you have to separate the bits of skin from the bits of flesh.
4. To mince garlic--Now give the peeled cloves a firm smash with the knife. This will flatten them and break them up a bit so you don't have to chop so much. After they're smashed, just run your knife through them a few times.
5. To cook garlic--Garlic burns quickly so if you're going to put it in hot oil, only do it briefly. I suggest adding the garlic with some liquid. This way, it keeps more of its flavor and there's no risk of burning it.
6. On mixing garlic with romance--I can only say that if you hope to mix garlic with romance, both partners must be equally yoked in their garlic consumption--wisdom from Mario Batali.
7. To get the garlic smell off your hands--This truly works, I promise it's not just some old wives' tale. Rub your hands on stainless steel under running water. There's something about the molecules in the steel that knocks the garlic scented molecules off your hands. It's like magic. They even sell a little bar-of-soap-shaped bar of stainless steel at Bed Bath and Beyond for this purpose. I'm guessing, however, that you can find something that's already in your kitchen. I just use the knife I used to chop the garlic.

How to Dice an Onion

Onions are possibly THE most important ingredient in the gastronomical world. They are used to flavor savory dishes from all over the world, so it is vital that you know how to use them. I know it might sound overly simple to suggest that there is a right way to cut an onion, but I'm telling you, if you don't already use it, this technique will make cooking more enjoyable for you.

1. Slice off the top and the bottom and cut the onion in half FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! Don't slice it along the equator. Now peel the papery skin off and the tough, outside layer.

2. Lay the half on its side and make slits all the way through it (again, from top to bottom). Cut all the way to the board, but not all the way through to the end. Leaving the end intact will allow the onion to hold itself together and you won't have to worry about it. Notice in the picture how I kind of curl my fingers up so they're not sticking out in the way of the knife. Once you get more than half way through, it's easier to hold it by squeezing it in between your fingers and your thumb.

3. Start slicing across the onion in the other direction until you get to the end of the slits, then drop the end flat and run your knife through it chop it up.