Sweet (and lemony) Success

After one very painful Easter afternoon of several failed attempts at Angel Food Cake, I finally finally got it.
Sunday morning we got up and decided to work on this recipe again. We bought a new hand mixer from Bed, Bath, & Beyond in hopes that the cheaper Target model had been the culprit of our failure. While this may have played a small part in our inability to actually whip the egg whites, we discovered that it was something else.

Egg whites at ROOM TEMPERATURE. While I had let them warm a bit on my very first attempt, it was nowhere near the amount of time I should have given them. Letting the eggs warm out of their shells (with super fun egg white separator might I add) made all the difference. It was so fun for us to actually watch this recipe come together the way it was supposed to originally.
So recipe (by Giada of course!):

Angel Food Cake with Lemon Honey Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients
Cake:

12 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (or half a lemon)
1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus extra for garnish
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cake flour
Fresh mint sprigs

Sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions
For the cake: Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar. Using an electric hand mixer, beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat on high speed until soft peaks form, about 2 to 4 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks, about 2 minutes longer. Sprinkle the flour over the egg white mixture. Using a spatula, carefully fold in the flour until incorporated. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch nonstick angel food cake pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and a skewer inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall of the pan comes out clean. Invert the pan on a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

For the sauce: In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, honey,

and lemon juice until smooth. Pour into a serving pitcher.
Using a spatula, loosen the cake around the sides and middle.

Release the cake and place on a serving plate. Cut into slices and drizzle with the sauce.

Garnish with lemon zest and mint sprigs.

It ended up tasting pretty fantastic. The lemon honey yogurt really makes a world of difference.

We didn't use the mint sprigs this time, but i fully intend to the next time we prepare one!

Hopefully by then I will have also purchased a cooling rack.

I bake a lot. How do I not have one yet?

(ps... we worked hard to get this picture. Isn't it gorgeous?)

Feeling lemony, refreshed, and successful.

Mark's night in the kitchen

A few weekends ago, the Mark came in town on Thursday and had to entertain himself while I went off to work on Friday (this seems to be a running trend these days, and sucks for me!). Anyways, I suggested that he plan and prepare our dinner for that night since I'd be working all day long. Fortunately, he loved the suggestion. Anything that requires him having to do research, even if it's just in search of a recipe, is a tasking that he'll happily take on. Now boo hasn't cooked for me too many times, but each time he has, it's been some sort of fish. No exceptions this time and no complaints from yours truly!



For our dinner, he picked out Salmon with Brown Sugar and Bourbon Glaze. Along with it he made us long grain and wild rice (myseteriously one of my absolute favorites). What an absolute treat!! I got to sit on the couch with a glass of wine and a magazine as I heard my boy happily putting together a delicious meal for us. Now I'm not saying I'd want him to cook every night, after all, I really love being responsible for preparing our tasty (and hopefully healthy) meals and treats. But this Friday night surprise happened to be just what I needed that day.



Recipe for super tasty (and sweet!) Salmon follows:


Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 (6 ounce) salmon steaks
1/3 cup bourbon whiskey


Directions
Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Place salmon fillets on top of brown sugar mixture. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Turn salmon, and pour bourbon around the fillets. Continue cooking for 5 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Spoon glaze over the salmon, and serve.



Delish!

Apron needed please!

I've recently (within the past year or two) started to love time in the kitchen. Taking the time to prepare a meal gives me this silent sense of satisfaction. I love searching out new recipes, perusing the beautiful cookbooks already in my collection, and planning out the perfect treat for dinner. I have to say, it's so much more enjoyable on the weekends when Mark's here to keep me company/share the results.
A fun treat we made a few weeks ago: Giada's Pizza Pockets
We had a great time together in the kitchen putting these together. Though Mark's didn't end up as pretty, he was a big help and sure was proud of himself. ;)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces Italian turkey sausage
1 cup tightly-packed arugula (about 1 ounce)
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup (for topping)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (13.5-ounce) package of store-bought pizza crust
All-purpose flour, for rolling out pizza dough
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce (we did store bought)

Directions
Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized, heavy skillet. Add the sausage and cook until crumbled and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the arugula and cook until wilted. Turn off the heat and let cool about 10 minutes. Add the cream cheese, 1/3 cup Parmesan, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface to a thin 20 by 12-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise. The cut each half into 8 equal rectangles.
Spoon topping onto 1 side of each of the rectangles. Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of the rectangle with egg wash. Close the rectangle of pizza dough over the topping. Use a fork to seal and crimp the edges. Place the pizza pockets onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush the top of each pizza pocket with egg wash. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the marinara sauce over low heat in a medium saucepan. Serve the hot pizza pockets with the marinara sauce alongside for dipping.

Overall, they turned out fab. Maybe would have used a little less arugula, a little more cheese? We'll experiment next time...