welcome to martha mondays!

hello out there in blog world. after i heard about the amazing group tuesdays with dorie, i thought it was such a great idea.

but the book i'd really love to pour through and bake to my heart's delight is martha's baking handbook. i've made a couple of things, and everything has always been fail-proof, there isn't one thing in there that i wouldn't love to bake!


and from your comments and emails, it is true - there are others out there, secretly (or not) loving the martha! this would be a bi-weekly event to start out with (unless you're all jonesing for more!) and all of us would post the same goodie on the specified monday.

thanks to the suggestion of columbus foodie, it won't all be baked goods every time. and sometimes it will be a specific recipe, other times it will be a suggested ingredient or magazine issue. and it won't be a member "group" but we'll see what happens with hopefully more and more people joining us!


update: the first bake will be her coconut-pecan-caramel sandwich cookies, on page 114. if you don't have the book, i'll be getting the recipe up in a couple of days.

second update: martha thankfully has the recipe on her website. there are minor differences to the one listed in the book: 1/4 cup coconut (all other ingredients the same) and for the filling 1 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cream, and 4 tb butter. the methods all read basically the same. in the photo she has cookie shapes with circle cut-outs. i'd love to see other shapes too!

click here for the link to the online recipe.

everyone will post on the same day, monday 14 april. all i ask is that you share the word and have fun! :)

oh yeah, and email me your name, name of blog, and permalink for martha monday post and i will do a modified round-up of everyone who participated! send email to mimikatzchen {at} gmail {dot} com with "martha monday" in the subject line.

party time, daring bakers style!

when morven from food art and random thoughts announced that this month's daring baker's challenge was going to be classic party layer cake from dorie greenspan, i was super excited. my previous experience with layer cakes has been (a) betty crocker box mix or (b) just buy a cake, have you seen how many gorgeous bakeries are here in the city? why would i ever bake my own??

but truth be told, the reason why i ever had an inkling of interest in baking was because back when i was bored in undergrad, i had the grand idea that deep down inside i was born to be a cake baker. it wasn't even the cake ... but all those flowers, squigglies, vines, and basket weaves!! i was so impressed with it all and so desperately wanted to try perfect it myself.

well, that lasted about 5 days.

but now, older and wiser, i feel free to indulge my inner cake obsession. this was my first ever layer cake. my first ever buttercream. this is what being a daring baker was all about, and i was totally excited to get to it!!


i made the cakes last week and planned on finishing this weekend (yes, i procastinate, that's the beauty of my life). since this was my first i decided to go by the book and bake exactly as described in dorie's recipe. well, since this was my first cake i have nothing to base my experience on, but they didn't seem to rise too well. i mean, it was like maybe an inch high? which was just about where the batter was to begin with. sigh. was i doomed to just a two layer cake?

when mr. mimi saw it, being the professional naysayer, he immediately pronounced it non-cuttable into additional layers!

well, i'll show him! nobody puts baby in the corner!



so here it is, with the original raspberry jam and lemon buttercream recipe. i used up all the buttercream, so whipped up some quick royal icing for the rest of the decorations, which some how came out all peeps looking, even though i didn't mean the yellow and pink to be so flourescent. but i look forward to many more piping adventures in my near future! :)



check out all the daring bakers for more fantastically beautifully delish party cakes!

classic banana bread

last week at fairway ...

mr. mimi: (as he walks down the aisle) do you want any bananas?

mimi: no, i'm not really in the mood. (yes, there are moods for produce)

mr. mimi: i'm gonna get some bananas. (and he picks up a couple)

mimi: (yelling down the aisle) yeah well you better eat them! i don't want to see any rotten bananas!!

A-HUH!


so here i was again, with some brown bananas. not rotten, but definitely not enticing (this photo shows their good side; the backs were bah-rown!) i'm sure there are many different options for softy bananas, but i was still wanting a classic banana bread, something a little more true to my memory than what i made before. i googled around the usual suspects, but everything sounded much more complicated than what i wanted, with rum, or coconut, or this and that. i knew that what i was looking for was just simple bread - flour, sugar, leavening, maybe some cinnamon - and mushy (not puréed) bananas.



and here you have it! next time i would probably even leave the bananas mashed up a little more rough. it was delish, and even better the second day ... and third and fourth :)

this whole brown bananas = some baked yumminess is the start of a beautiful relationship!

for the recipe, click here.

magnolia's got nothin' on mimi!

shiny happy frosting

this weekend, my dear good friend SV visited because he loves cars. we always have such a good time together and so he's always a good friend to have around and we wish he'd visit more often!

when the mimis first moved to new york city nine years ago, we lived in the west village. one day we discovered that we were about 3 blocks away from the famous magnolia bakery. back in the pre- sex in the city cupcake craze, this little bakery made quite a few good sweet temptations.

our trifecta of good friends (SV, H, and K) would often come down to visit and once we took them to magnolia on a perfect summer night. everyone fell in love with the old fashioned cupcake with melt on your tongue buttercream frosting. especially SV, who bought a boxful to go! and now every time he would come down to visit, he'd always make a side trip to magnolia for an orgy of buttery proportions.

well this time i was going to trump magnolia! sure, it was busy especially on a nice evening when everyone's walking down bleecker. but it eventually became the "you must try this. now." type of place for every out of towner and their fanny pack wearing mother. and nothing against tourists and their mothers, but the cupcakes have never been the same since. a little too dry now, and the frosting was too oily tasting. so the challenge was on!

i knew i wanted to make two different types for him, and i wanted to make it a surprise. ever since i'd first drooled over the photo of martha's yellow cake with chocolate frosting i've been wanting to make my own. then i spent the rest of my otherwise unfruitful workday afternoon scouring the internet for a second choice. i decided on coconut cupcakes from the lovely barefoot contessa. i have never made any of her recipes before, but it received rave reviews, so i thought why not?


the first thing SV saw when he walked in our door was four dozen cupcakes cooling on racks on the dining table, and he was in bliss! once i got them all frosted (which i found is much more tiring than i thought) i anxiously awaited his verdict ...

"they are as good as magnolia"

hmmpf!! good as?? good AS?!! what does that mean?!!

well, since he had two cupcakes that night, and another one the next morning, i'll take it as meaning pretty darn good and finally he admitted the only thing that would've made them better is if they were bigger :)


for the coconut cupcake recipe, click here. i toasted the coconut for the topping; i also followed other's suggestions and halved the frosting recipe and still had plenty for two dozen. they were okay. a bit too sweet for my tastes.

martha's recipe for yellow cake and chocolate frosting is in her baking handbook. no changes were made and it came out delish!



this is my first ever entry for sugar high fridays #41 hosted this month by danielle over at habeas brûlée where the theme was "sweet gifts"!

mini veggie pot pie for the revolution!

when it was announced that pot pies were the theme for this month's revolution, i was psyched. i love me some yummy pot pies. the only problem is that i kind of stopped eating them when i became vegetarian again. sure, there are veggie pot pies, but what i really loved and craved were steaming hot chicken pot pies of wonder years gone by. so since then (seven years ago?) i have been deprived of the singular pleasure of the deliciousness of creaminess covered in pie dough. then last winter i said, enough of this denial, i need a pot pie! we made one from deborah madison and it was like a dream. so creamy, so full of vegetables. but i just couldn't help but feel like it was missing ... chicken :(

so for a chance at a redux, i couldn't wait! especially tonight when it's so windy cold on the first day of spring! this time we went with the mr. mimi SOP (standard operating procedure) recipe. and because i didn't want to be bothered with cooking an entire chicken from the farmer's market in advance, i decided to use fake chicken. haha. i know! what was i thinking?


because a bit of time management issues, i had to make the pie dough this afternoon. typically i like to make the dough at least a day in advance so it gets a real good chill before rolling and baking, but it is what it was. i had been wanting to try out the flaky pie dough recipe given by julia. remember the old adage to trust your eyes (and nose and fingers) when baking and not the recipe? you know, if it says brown in 30 minutes and yours is brown in 20 minutes, take it out of the oven! yes, i do know this. and yet, as i was streaming in the cup of ice water i could hear myself: "self, look how it's all balling together moist, i think this is enough water, despite the fact that i still have a good 1/3 cup left." and then you know what i did?? i foolishly continued: "self, but julia says 1 cup, so there goes 1 cup!" of course you know the rest of the story. it was a wet, gluteny, ball of dough. sure it would be edible. but it wouldn't be flaky.

faced with either: (a) buying some puff pastry or (b) using that wet ball anyway i decided on (c) let's try another round. this time i used the old recipe from joy of cooking that i've done before. and this time i trusted myself. came together crumbly but slightly moist. it looked and felt like the beginning of the perfect measure of flakiness!



so here are two little mini veggie pot pies with faux chicken. aesthetically, i wished the top browned a little more but they were absolutely delish (even if i did run out of top crust because i mistook how big my so-called "single serving size" le creuset dishes are!) i can't wait to see what our next revolutionary tactic will be!

oh yeah, and next time ... i think i'll get a real chicken from the farmer's market :)

bake-off of the biscotti babes

mise en place

i hate coffee but i love biscotti. especially classic almond biscotti. however, the biscotti goddesses were not with me this night. i tried two (2!) recipes tonight.

the first one was a disaster. of course, it could have been of my own making, who knows? i had all great hopes as it smelled sooo delish after it's first bake. but it was strangely still moist when i sliced it, and hardly risen at all. i went ahead and baked it twice, but it was a mess. a burning mess that is. one toppled off the rack, unnoticed, until that rancid burning smell could be ignored no longer. i saved the rest but the taste was too sweet, and almost lemony?

the flat sticky mess

but i was determined to enjoy biscotti tonight. so i pulled out another cookbook, with slightly different ratios in the recipe. hmm, could this be the source of my consternation? unfortunately i did not have whole almonds, as i love the crunchy nuts in my biscotti. and the logs came out a little mini looking. and the taste? meh. it was okay. but nothing like what the best bakery in carroll gardens can provide. although after trying them again in the morning, they actually aren't too bad. maybe it's the missing whole almonds.

meh tasting minis

one recipe was from dorie. everyone loves dorie. and one recipe was from martha. and well, you either love her or hate her. but which one was which?

if you guessed that dorie's was the one that didn't come out right, you are correct! but martha shouldn't be too proud of herself either because hers didn't come out tasting all that smashing. hmm. or maybe it was just me? can a baker have such a ridiculous off-night that she ruins not just one, but two!, recipes of the same thing?

mushroom ricotta tart

i know that almost any recipe can be tweaked and altered, but i especially love those dishes which have endless variations ... such as risotto, or vegetable stews. another new found favorite are savory tarts. almost anything can be combined to go on these light sheets of puff pastry.

last time we did asparagus and gruyère by the book. i can't wait for summer's fruits and vegetables for tomato tarts, zucchini and squash tart, caramelized onion with fresh herbs. i can't wait, too, until i am a little more experienced and can make my own puff pastry.

last week we were inspired by the mushroom tart described by martha, but used up leftover ricotta mix instead of the goat cheese. i think the photos speak for themselves ... delicious!! :)

world peace cookies

and the winner for the nobel peace prize goes to ...

what more can i say about these that can't be read elsewhere? almost any baker worth their blogger has either read about these cookies or tried baking them him/herself. although i do have to say that i never heard about them (gasp!) until i was pouring over my new dorie book.

a creation of monsieur hermé, these cookies are buttery and sandy with a whole lot of darkness. i didn't find them particularly salty or amazing, but then again i'm not a big chocolate fan, so please don't go by my opinion! i was re-assured from my other half that they were yummy and so we brought them to a going away party for our good friends H and M (and no, i don't mean hennes and mauritz, although they are just as cool) who are returning home across the atlantic. sniff sniff.


but why "world peace" cookies? originally called korova cookies by dorie, the story goes that her neighbor was so smitten by these lovelies that he became convinced a daily dose was all that was needed for peace and happiness all over the world.

world peace cookies: makes 3 dozen
from dorie greenspan's baking book (2006, p. 138)

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tb butter, room temp
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips

1. sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

2. beat butter until soft and creamy. add both sugars, salt, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. pour in sifted dry ingredients and mix on low until just incorporated, about 40 seconds; don't overwork the dough. toss in the chocolate pieces and mix just until combined. the dough may look a little crumbly but that's okay.

4. turn dough out onto work surface and divide in half. shape dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches thick. wrap in plastic or parchment and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours (up to 3 days).


5. preheat oven to 325F. using sharp thin knife, slice logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. they may crack, but just patch together.

note: it is true, i have no knife skills. so when mr. mimi saw my terrible attempts that more resembled butchery, he gracefully showed me the better way. don't slice or cut into the dough log. instead, use the rocking motion where you basically have the front tip of the knife on the board and lift the knife up and rock down as you come down. in this way, you're cutting with the back of the knife which is heavier and more stable. all my slices were crumbly. all his slices were clean!

6. arrange rounds on baking sheet 1 inch apart. bake for 12 minutes. they won't look typically "done" or firm, but that's right! transfer sheet to cooling rack.

pi(e) day!

pizza rustica

besides warm weather, i am also a sucker for foodie blog events. time constraints mean i don't get to participate in as many as i would like, and inevitably i am always super-last-minute, but when i saw the event to celebrate the revered mathematical constant coming i knew i had to join up!

i am also very weak at the knees when it comes to books. i don't "browse" amazon or strand. if i'm online or in the aisles, i will most certainly find something i want to buy! my usual book buys have always been literature (typically russian) or history (typically german) but for the past month i have just been flat-out obsessed with increasing my collection of baking books. thanks to the wonderful experience of the daring bakers, i received some good recommendations. and here you have it ... the four new books that are now gracing my shelves:


so of course for pi day i just had to try a new recipe from a new book. i didn't want to do a fruit pie because i like to keep those in-season. pecan pie was out for the same reason. i've already made key lime and lemon meringue and wanted something different, but coconut cream wasn't doing it for me. i browsed and pondered and finally settled on the original diva of american kitchens, ms. julia child. her pizza rustica sounded so delish.


i had to do some substitutions with what i had on hand (the recipe below is as written). i used chives instead of parsley and parmesan instead of pecorino. even though the dough wasn't challenging, this was the first time i was going to do a lattice top, so i was excited. then i realized that to do a "true" lattice top takes a lot of time and space, none of which i had tonight. so i did just the regular criss-cross lattice and it still looks beautiful! the crust also of course came out a little too brown around the edge, so if you make this keep on eye on it and tent it if you'd like something more even looking.

so pizza rustica is my entry for pi day, a nice savory option. i can't wait to see what every one else comes up!

pizza rustica: serves 8-10
from baking with julia (1996, p. 430)

dough-
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1. put flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into food processor; pulse a few times to mix. add butter and pulse 15-20 times, or until mixture resembles cornmeal.

2. with machine running, add the eggs and process until dough forms ball on blade.

3. remove dough and knead it until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. divide the dough in two pieces, one twice as large as the other. wrap in plastic and set aside until needed (you can refrigerate in advance for up to 3 days).


filling-
1 lb ricotta
3 large eggs
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, grated
1/4 lb thinly sliced prosciutto, shredded
2 tb chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp pepper

1. in medium bowl, stir ricotta with spatula until smooth. add rest of the ingredients one at a time, stirring until each addition is incorporated and well blended.

2. preheat oven to 350F. butter 9-inch pie pan.

3. knead the large dough piece into disk and roll out on lightly floured surface to fit pie pan (about 12" circle). transfer dough to pan and press on bottom and up sides; trim excess. fill pan with ricotta filling.

4. knead and shape the remaining piece of dough into 9-inch square. using pastry cutter or small sharp knife, cut dough into 12 even strips. lay strips across the pie, in criss cross (easy way is to lay the 6, and then lay the other 6 the opposite way). trim edges of lattice and pinch to seal.

5. bake for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden and filling is firm and slightly puffed. transfer pie to rack and cool completely before serving.

seven days until spring

and it couldn't come any sooner! i am a sucker for warm weather. and it's not just the cute cotton dresses, or the mister softee jingle, or those briny ocean waves. what i really also love about seeing crocuses, and longer days, and cleaning out the backyard ... are the first arrivals of the new local spring produce. one of the first to come bursting from the dregs of winter are artichokes. or fartinchokes if you really must know what the mimis call them at home. don't tell me i didn't warn you!

artichokes should be heavy, fleshy, and the leaves should be tight. they don't have to look pretty or unblemished, as the outside appearance of the leaves typically do not indicate its freshness. there are many ways to cook artichokes, but my absolute favorite is steamed. no matter how big, i can always eat an entire steamed artichoke all on my very own, thank you. back in the day i used to eat them with melted butter. but now i just make a super simple vinaigrette, heavy on the lemon juice, with just a bit of salt and pepper. wow. easy, easy, easy, but a great reminder that even sunnier days are yet to come!


tips for steaming and eating artichokes:

1. trim the stem, but not too short, so it can stand upright. run artichoke under water, rinsing the outer leaves and flushing the inside of the leaves.

2. set the artichokes in a large pot of water (about an inch or so covering the bottom of the pot). squeeze lemon juice directly over the artichokes, and add lemon slices (a few juiced), peppercorns, and bay leaves. be generous with the lemon; i typically use about 3-4 lemons. bring to a boil and cover to steam. make sure to keep watch that the water doesn't boil away and add more if necessary.


3. artichokes are done when the outside leaves can be pulled off fairly easily. it should be about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size.

4. discard a couple of the outer leaves if they are too tough. then pull off each leaf, dip into vinaigrette, and scrape the bottom of the leaf with your teeth. with a really delicious artichoke you can usually eat quite a bit of the inside of the leaf, not just the bottom part.


5. once down to the soft inside leaves, pull off and discard. you'll then have the fuzzy choke. scrape or cut if off with a small knife. you're left with the most delicious tasting "heart". dip into vinaigrette, close your eyes, and sail off to artichoke heaven!

this sh*t is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

banana cake with chocolate

i admit it. and it is so wrong on so many different levels. but i've got a problem. with rotting fruit and veggies. i always try to stock up my grocery cart with the good stuff from the produce aisle. but inevitably what i think i'm craving while i'm shopping ends up forlorn in the fruit bowl, pale and overripe, or shriveled up in the crisper. i have all good intentions, but i leave the house at 8am and usually don't get back until 9pm and i'm soooo bad about bringing food to work or school. i know that is just a poor excuse, but it's not like i'm intentional about this wanton wastefulness.

but to my defense, some things are just tricky! i always buy organic bananas. but they seem to ripen on a weirder schedule than conventional ones. it's like hard green ... green ... green ... soft brown! so here i am, stuck with three lonesome bananas, brown on the outside, mushy on the inside. but this time, i was not going to let them go to waste!!

many moons ago mr. mimi baked a banana bread for his work. it was just another one of his work-related creations but i found it scrumptious. of course at that time the kitchen was the last place you'd ever find me, unless you wanted a burnt pierogi for dinner (true story).

but now that i'm on a baking bonanza, i keep bugging him for that recipe. all i get is a pathetic "i don't remember" ... wahhh! i'm sure he could re-create it for me if he *tried* but i figure this one isn't worth fighting for. so i settle on searching around my google reader and see what i can find.


david lebovitz to the rescue with his banana cake. yes, that's cake, not bread. you can read all about the whole nomenclature issue and find his lovely recipe on his website. i followed his recipe, minus the espresso because i absolutely hate the taste and smell of coffea arabica. but trust me, it wasn't missing a thing! it didn't rise as well, because i was having trouble with the temp in my oven and kept opening/closing the door to adjust. but looks aren't everything!



ps: yes, that title is from gwen, and yes i did rock karaoke night with that song!

international women's day

mac-n-cheese for international women's day

celebrated on 8 march, international women's day (IWD) is the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential.

fiordisale and zorra are celebrating with a call to yellow!

and i couldn't wait to join them! so here is my humble entry, in a light yellow, to show my support all the achievements, big and small, that women have enjoyed and to support the continuing fight against gender discrimination in all its forms. i hope for the day when the need for a global celebration of women is obsolete. if someone were to ask me what i consider my cultural identity to be (with cultural being defined in the correct way as a perspective lens, and not strictly race or ethnicity) i would immediately reply that i identify as a women, first, foremost, and most strongly.

this baked macaroni and cheese comes from martha stewart (i didn't even realize until writing that now, what a fitting connection!) and it was good. but it was baked. so not oozily cheesily amazingly great. so the search for the best mac-n-cheese continues!


baked macaroni and cheese: serves 8
adapted from martha's great food fast (2007, p. 317)

1 lb elbow pasta
4 tb butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups skim milk
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups (5 oz) shredded yellow cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cups (5 oz) shredded white cheddar cheese
salt + pepper
1 cup bread crumbs

1. preheat oven to 375F. cook pasta. meanwhile in pot, melt butter over medium heat. add onion and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. whisk in flour to coat the onion. in slow stream, whisk in milk until there are no lumps.

2. cook, whisking often, until mixture is thick and bubbly, 6-8 minutes. stir in cayenne and 1 cup each of the yellow and white cheddar cheeses. season with salt and pepper.

3. toss pasta with cheese mixture. transfer to 9 x 13 baking dish. toss bread crumbs with remaining shredded cheeses and a pinch of salt. top pasta with bread crumb mix. bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes.



what is wrong with blogger? i think i'm going to strangle this blog. i don't spend 1/2 hour on here just so that when i post, it looks like crap and not at all how i set it up.

pistachio butter cookies

i love cookies, who doesn't? and i love baking cookies cuz they are super easy. except when some domestic diva ruined this traditional ease with her paper towel tube obsession (or is it my obsession to whine about it now? okay, rant over).

this was the third of three desserts for last weekend's supper with friends. i just baked off the second roll this morning. still delicious!


pistachio butter cookies: makes 5 dozen
from martha's baking handbook (2005, p. 101)

2 stick butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 oz (1/2 cup) pistachios, finely chopped and dust sifted out
1/2 cup sanding sugar for rolling

1. beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, abut 3 minutes. add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. add flour, nuts, and salt; mix on low speed until combined.

2. turn out dough on work surface. divide in half and roll each piece into a log about 1 1/2-inch diameter. wrap in parchment paper, making sure to cover ends completely. refrigerate 1 hour to overnight.

3. preheat oven to 350F. line two baking sheets with parchment. let dough stand at room temp until soft enough to slice, about 10 minutes. roll dough logs in sanding sugar to coat. slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds. bake, rotating halfway through, until golden round around edges, about 15-20 minutes. transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

does blogger suck or is it just me?

what am i doing wrong here folks? ever since i'm using this new template, some post text is small and tight (sunday supper) and others are nice and space-y (pineapple cheesecake). any ideas on how to fix? i understand how to change line spacing in the HTML template, but for some reason, certain posts don't change even when i adjust the code?

chocolate tart topped with raspberries

what's dessert without some chocolate?

and just like the crazy cheesecake incident, this lovely chocolate tart had its issues too. i am by now means a tart expert. i still haven't learned what doughs go best with what fillings. heck, i still haven't even learned how to make any dough with confidence and consistency. i'm trying out different pie and tart dough recipes so i can try to learn what works best for me.

so saturday night (yes, the infamous saturday night) i proceeded to make the tart dough as outlined in this recipe. it seemed impossibly crumbly and dry but i already added extra ice water. but i balled it up anyway, tried to have a little faith and waited until the next afternoon.

well, i should have known better. i take it out to roll and the crumbs just plop out. i try to shape it a bit, roll it, swear at it ... but it just insisted on doing its thing, which was basically become a dry, crackly, crumbly mess. mind you, this is now about 2:00pm and our friends are supposed to arrive at in three hours.

but like i said, i'm proud and i'm stubborn. there was no way i wasn't going to make this! martha hasn't let me down (besides her ill-placed tragic faith in paper towel tubes) so i decided to make the tart dough from her baking handbook. yes, with only a couple hours until dinner time, i decide to make a new tart dough, sheesh i'm crazy! i didn't watch it carefully and it turned a little wee brown. but whatever, with chocolate heaven in there who's gonna complain about a little crunchy crust?

a slice for you, a slice for me

so all was saved, in the end. i did end up making tyler florence's chocolate filling, but i made it 7 oz bittersweet and 3 oz semisweet. the end result was a velvety smooth, simply rich, knock your chocolate socks off, decadent slice of deliciousness.

the making of an (almost) chef

don't worry, this is still your favorite mimi on the move, just with a new look! spring is coming (i think?) and i wanted something lighter and brighter. some of my older posts look weird now in the new template (if anyone knows why, please let me know so i can fix!). i'm not really 100% happy with the template layout and design, but since i'm too busy (lazy?) to learn HTML or CSS, it is what it is. but now on to the food!

i don't entertain the idea that i am a chef or a cook. and i am certainly not a pastry chef. and until i understand the science of the fine art of baking, i don't really consider myself a baker either. i'm really a student.
sizzling pineapples
however, as most people in the profession will tell you ... there comes a moment in every kitchen where someone goes a crackin' and something goes a flyin'. now sometimes this is a regular occurrence because the guy running the place (and let's face the sad fact that most of the bosses of the kitchen are men) is just a mean and nasty a**hole. yep, plenty of those to go around. but usually, it's just the point of boiling in a pressure steamer ... nothing even really has to go beyond technically wrong, but there's a palpable feeling of negative energy in the air ... and then wack! a fork is flung, a dish is tossed, a wine glass chucked.

welcome to my past saturday night :)

because i waited until the last minute to shop at fairway i got stuck baking all my desserts on saturday night before the supper. and because i am an über-doer, i also just *had* to do (i mean, truly had to do!) three different kinds of desserts. folks, this the ultimate mix for the pressure steamer if you couldn't tell already.

the scene: about 1:30 in the morning. the oven has been on all night and i'm sweating (figuratively and literally) to get this shit done. my last baking (because i thought it would be easy) are some icebox cookies. mr. mimi is snoring on the couch, totally and blissfully immune to the storm brewing in the kitchen.

martha may be very good with what she does, but she had the brilliant suggestion to stuff the rolled cookie log into an empty paper towel thing for it to keep its shape. let me save you the heartache: don't do it!! as i'm trying to stuff parchment wrapped cookie logs into this stupid towel tube (which by the way, i took off half of the paper just so i could do this) it became an obvious what the frick? the roll becomes a completely mess of nearly melted butter and i'm ready to toss it into the trash, but i'm too proud.

it's at just about this swell time that sleepy mr. mimi saunters by. we have very different styles, and basically, we drive each other crazy in the kitchen. so he's yapping about cleaning up after myself, a few choice words are exchanged, and he walks away.

and then i had my first (almost) chef moment.

i threw a just-cooled mini cheesecake at his head, but i missed, and it splattered the wall instead. it wasn't my finest moment, but you know what? i happily went back to rolling my icebox cookies (sans the stupid paper towel tube). it was as if a weight had been lifted.

of course the mimis talked about it the next morning. gracious mr. mimi forgave me and said it happens to the best of us in the kitchen. so without further adieu ...

i found this wonderful pineapple almond cheesecake over at tartelette, and i knew i had to make it. i only had a 9" cake pan, so i had the leftover batter for mini cheesecake cups (which, yes, are better used as dessert than as arsenal). it came out a little creamier than i expected, the pineapples were a little under-caramelized, and the crust stuck to my parchment lining. so it wasn't the purtiest of things. but we served it as our first dessert for our sunday supper, and it was devoured. so delicious! for the great recipe, click here.

pineapple almond cheesecake

not the best looking slice, but delish!

sunday supper party

smoked salmon with caper berries and dijon

wow. has it really been over a week since i was last on here? sorry to all my faithful readers (all three of you!) there really is no good excuse. but you will be in for a treat as i have many juicy (and delicious looking!) things to post these next couple of days.

it took us awhile to feel like home here in the city. even with millions of people, it can get kind of lonely when you're first here and know no one. we feel fortunate now to have a great group of friends, but we don't always get to see them as much as we'd like. so we decided to start trying to throw more informal, casual supper parties (as opposed to the fancy, set the table to impress dinner parties) on a regular basis. too often we only host people at our apartment with our two big seasonal shindigs (summer solstice and holiday), and we may have temporarily lost the art of simply being at home, sharing good food, laughs, and wine with a small group of friends.

so this past sunday was our first. we started casual with some smoked salmon with crackers, caper berries and dijon, and olives and grapes. for the main meal we wanted it in the style of the old italian mama sunday supper so we decided on a menu of (vegetarian) meatballs and eggplant rollatini. our friend C would bring the green salad. everyone would bring some wine. and yours truly would be making the desserts ... which will be posted about in the coming days.

but first, a whole hearted recommendation for these great vegetarian meatballs. even if you eat meat, these would be a great healthy choice, or a quick meal alternative. even though they're vegan, they have a great soft texture. if you were ever going to try to convince that diehard carnivore friend of yours, this would be the to try out on him or her!

as for the rollatini, i don't even like eggplant but these were delicious. and super easy to make ahead for a large dinner. i don't have an exact recipe (when mr. mimi creates things, it just happens) but this is the general gist, plus a few tips for using eggplant and standard breading procedure.

rollatini before being baked

eggplant rollatini: serves 8

4 medium eggplants (about 4 lbs)
16 oz ricotta
basil
4-5 garlic cloves
2 shallots
salt + pepper
olive oil
oregano, dried
hot pepper flakes
parmesan
shredded mozzarella
couple cups of homemade marinara sauce
flour / eggs, beaten / bread crumbs

1. cut ends of eggplant so you can stand it up on cutting board. then slice eggplant lengthwise about 1/4" thick.

sweating the eggplant
* eggplant tip: to pull out the bitter liquids naturally found in eggplant seeds, coat both sides of eggplant slices with coarse salt (kosher or sea). this will also work to tenderize it, and season it of course! you'll actually see the water sweating out. wait about 15 minutes, or longer if necessary, and then rinse excess salt with cold water.

2. make ricotta mix: sautée garlic and shallots until golden. fold into ricotta and mix with a handful of mozzarella and grated parmesan, salt and pepper, pepper flakes, oregano, basil chiffonade.

* basil chiffonade technique: if you cut basil like a typical herb in chopping fashion, you will easily bruise it. while this doesn't necessarily affect the flavor in immediate usage, it sure won't look pretty. and isn't cooking all about being pretty? well, at least the french thought so, and created the chiffonade technique, whereby you cut the basil in thin strips. take the rinsed leaves and stack them and roll them up like a cigar, or, ahem, like a herbal smoking somethin' or other :) with the tip of a very sharp knife, do a gentle rocking motion, letting the knife's weight do the cutting; that is, don't cut down. slice the basil as thin as you possibly can. it will become fluffy as the slices unfurl from the roll. there are other knife skills that can chiffonade in a more fluid, clean and gentle manner, but the rocking motion is easier to control for most home cooks.

3. lay out some of the eggplant slices, and spread an even layer of the ricotta mix on one side. make sure there is ricotta on one end of the slice.

4. proceed to roll them up. this is where that ricotta on the one end of the slice comes in ... when you roll it up, you'll use that ricotta on the edge to seal the roll. bread the rolls in small batches as you work.

ricotta mix on slices

rolling, rolling, rolling

* breading procedure: no matter what you're breading, the procedure is always the same. three bowls: flour in one, beaten eggs in another, and plain bread crumbs in the last bowl. and in case you're wondering, the old age is ... season the food, not the bread crumbs ... or at least, so says mr. mimi :) basically, just coat (with flour), dip all sides (in egg), and coat (with the crumbs). if you're making a lot of breaded items it's best to keep one hand dry, one hand wet (bakers know this rule well from julia). for rollatini, make sure to bread all sides, including the short tips (where the cheese peeks out a bit).

ready to bread

5. heat generous amount of olive oil in skillet over medium heat. generous because you're doing a pan fry, not a sautée. i never said this was a healthy vegetarian meal folks! place rolls gently in oil, making sure not to crowd the skillet. after a couple of minutes, check the ones that seems to be cooking the fastest and flip them with a slotted spatula (so the grease doesn't collect in the spatula and splatter), and brown both sides to golden color. drain on paper towel.

ready to fry

6. put in casserole dish, with marinara sauce, and shredded mozzarella on top. bake at 325F for 15 minutes. presto! sunday supper is served!

full disclosure: all these cooking tips, and those cute hands, come from mr. mimi :)