seared citrus salmon with dill-cucumber sauce

salmon is one of those things that i eat because i should, not because i particularly like it. not even smoked salmon with a schmear of cream cheese and capers (although doesn't that sound so hopelessly romantically new york?) but you know, it's healthy and blah blah blah so i try to eat some maybe once a month (and yes, always wild-caught alaskan).



but this salmon dinner was one i actually finished licking my lips. and i don't think it was the dill-cucumber sauce because that's just ordinary. but the orange-lemon glaze was amazing, i wish i had doubled it (though i wonder, does it follow the law of diminishing returns?) so if you're a salmon-phobe like me, do try this recipe out.

seared salmon with dill-cucumber sauce: serves 4
adapted from bon appetit (april 2005, original recipe click here)

2 tb olive oil
2 1/2 lb center-cut wild alaskan salmon fillet, pinbones removed and cut into 4 pieces
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
coarse sea salt and pepper to taste

for the dill-cucumber sauce
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 tb milk
2 tb chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste

1. toss cucumber with salt and let stand for 30 minutes. transfer to colander and rinse well. pat dry with paper towels.

2. mix cucumber, sour cream, milk, and dill in small bowl. season with salt and pepper. cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

3. preheat oven to 375F. season salmon with salt and pepper. heat oil in oven-proof skillet on high, sear salmon skin side up for about 3-4 minutes. flip and sear skin for about 2 minutes. pour off oil (hold salmon with spatula).

4. mix orange and lemon juice and pour on top of fish, finishing in oven to 140F internal temp. the orange-lemon juice should be a bit syrupy -- pour that on top of each plated fillet. spoon the dill-cucumber sauce on the side and garnish with fresh dill.

chicken with clementine salsa

this is going to be another one of those don't look at that photo, just listen to how wonderful this dinner is kind of post. i tend to not repeat making a recipe more than once, but this is definitely going into that small pile of eat, enjoy, repeat recipes. and yes i know that it's now mid-may and past clementine season, but it never hurts to bookmark this and try out later (later, like in next winter when they returns!). or maybe you can try this with regular oranges and see how it works out. a light, easy weeknight meal originally for chicken, surely this clementine salsa would work fabulously with fish, too!

chicken with clementine salsa: serves 4
adapted from bon appetit (december 2009, original recipe click here)

4 chicken breast halves
4 clementines, diced (about 1 cup)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
2 tb fresh lime juice
1 serrano chile, minced
4 tb olive oil
1/2 cup clementine juice (need about 6 clementines)
salt and pepper to taste

1. place chicken breasts between two sheets of parchment paper and pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness.

2. mix clementines and next 6 ingredients in medium bowl, with 2 tb olive oil. season with salt and pepper.

3. season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, heat 2 tb olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. add chicken and cook until slightly browned and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. transfer chicken to platter, but do not turn off heat.

4. add clementine juice to skillet and boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, stirring often, about 2 minutes. drizzle sauce over chicken and spoon salsa on top.

orange cream cheese muffins with pepita crunch

citrus is pretty much my favorite fruit and one of the very few reasons i can tolerate winter at all! however, when i was a wee girl of about 6 impressionable years i was at a family dinner function of sorts. towards the end, fresh fruit was served, including orange wedges. after eating mine and leaving the rinds on my plate, one of my ornery uncles cleverly said "hey, why aren't you eating those? you're supposed to eat all the orange parts!" i had never heard such a thing but i was the quintessential curious kid, so i bit off a big piece of the rind ..... and a thousand glasses of water couldn't get rid of that bitter, awful taste!!



ever since then i've had an unnatural, neurotic obsession with peeling off every dangling piece of rind and white pith whenever i peel an orange. yes, even though i know the white pith has all that good nutrition! but what can i say, my taste buds were traumatized and now i can only have my oranges naked.

so i was a bit wary, to say the very least, with this recipe that asks for the orange - flesh, pith, and rind! - to be incorporated. as a pre-caution, i zipped it to a pulp.



but my fears were unwarranted, because these muffins turned out so good. i'd even prefer them a bit more orangey (maybe a round 1/4 cup?) and the pepita crunch was a lovely topping. here's to a yummy breakfast treat!

orange cream cheese muffins with pepita crunch: makes 12*
from great coffee cakes, sticky buns, muffins & more (2007, p. 106)

for pepita crunch
1 large egg white (reserve yolk)
2 tb plus 1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup pepitas

1. preheat oven to 350F. spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment. in small bowl, whisk together egg white and 1 tb of sugar. add pepitas and toss well. pour onto cookie sheet and spread evenly in single layer. sprinkle 1 more tb of sugar over pepitas. bake for 7-8 minutes.

2. stir pepitas with fork and bake for another 7 minutes. stir pepitas again, sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp of sugar and bake for another 3 minutes. remove and allow to cool; set aside.

for muffins
1/2 small navel orange, cut into 6-8 pieces (rind, pith, and flesh)
4 oz cream cheese, room temp, broken into 3-4 pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly firm
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk (from pepita crunch)
1 tsp vanilla

1. increase oven to 375F. whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and bakng soda; set aside.

2. turn on food processor and drop orange pieces through the tube. process until finely chopped. measure out 1/4 cup pulp and return to food processor bowl (discard any excess orange). add cream cheese and process in three 10-second intervals, scraping the sides after each.

3. but butter into 1-inch pieces and with electric mixer and paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until smooth and light, about 1 minute. stop and add cream cheese/orange mixture, mix on medium 1 more minute. add sugar in steady stream, then blend in eggs, yolk, and vanilla.

4. reduce mixer to slow and add flour mixure in three additions, mixing until just blended after each addition.

5. portion level scoops into muffin pan. sprinkle top of each with 1 tb of pepita crunch. be sure to use any sugar that remains in the pan.

6. bake for 22-25 minutes, rotating halfway through, until golden brown and tops are spingy. cool on rack.

* note: despite ms. walter's annoying insistence on making 14 muffins in her recipes, i just whip up the whole batter and make 12 and it's never been a problem. however, i have to wonder, why write recipes for 14 muffins??!

day 9: lemon bars

at first i was really excited about nablowrimo. but now i have to admit, i'm kind of tired. and i still have 22 more days to go!!

but in a couple months i will probably be in a new place where i might not have the luxury of baking as many things as i want to, or when and how i want to. so i want to take advantage of this time to really enjoy myself, enjoy the city, my family and friends, and time well spent in the kitchen.

in this way, nablowrimo helps me keep focused on bringing you more savory meals and sweet treats. because goodness knows you don't want to hear 22 more days of politics from me!! ;-)

and because not everything can be chocolate (or can it??) here are some lemon bars. and while this is the second recipe for lemon bars that i have tried, i don't think i have ever eaten a lemon bar from a bakery, so i have no idea what they are "supposed" to taste or feel like.

so if you're a lemon bar connoisseur, don't take my word for anything. but the lemon was a great flavor, the texture was like a jellied candy. the shortbread was a little thick because i made the mistake when the recipe called for a 9x13 pan and i used 9x9 (i don't even have 9x13). but i love shortbread so really, no problem there.

for the recipe from gourmet magazine, on the food network online, click here.

lemon (non-poppy) muffins

although i'm no longer part of tuesdays with dorie because of the weekly time commitment it requires, i still like to see what they are up to and use her book now and then. her lemon poppy seed muffins were always top on my list to try. i haven't baked anything since we returned from vacation and even though i was dying to get back into it, i wanted something easy parcheesi (gosh, i used to love that game!)

of course, i drive mr. mimi crazy because i am the opposite of mis en place. which is weird since i'm a typical virgoan organizational maniac. but somehow, when it comes to the kitchen, i like to go with the flow ...

which means that i forgot the poppy seeds in lemon poppy seed muffins!!!

but fear not - these muffins were still rockingly awesome! i halved the recipe and it came out fine. i didn't have enough sour cream, so i had to throw in a couple tablespoons of yogurt to make up the difference. these babies will not fool you into thinking that muffins are "healthy" - these are definitely more like a loaf cake with lots of lemony goodness. and yes, i have more of that sweet icing on my muffins than dorie has in her photo, but can ya blame me?!



lemon (non-poppy) muffins: makes 12
adapted from dorie's baking book (2006, p. 10)

2/3 cup sugar
1 lemon - juice and grated zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
8 tb butter - melted and cooled

1. preheat oven to 400F with center rack. prepare muffin pan of your choice. in large bowl, rub sugar and lemon zest together until sugar is moist and fragrant. whisk in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. in other bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and melted butter until well blended. pour liquid ingredients over dry and gently but quickly stir to blend. do not overmix the batter (a few lumps are okay).

3. divide evenly in muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes until tops are golden and thin knife inserted in center of muffins comes out clean. transfer pan to rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin. let cool completely before icing.

4. to make optional icing (but is icing ever really optional?) - put 1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted, into bowl and add about 1 1/2 tb of fresh lemon juice. stir to moisten and then add enough additional lemon juice (it will be about 2-3 tb total) to get a thinned, drizzable icing.

shf: citrus with key lime "cannoli"

sugar high friday was created by jennifer of the domestic goddess. this month is hosted by tartelette and of course she just had to pick citrus ... during my most busiest month of school!! this is the last week to get anything done and i have nothing to show for it yet. time to get the juices flowing, so to speak :)

i bake a lot of chocolate things because that is what is usually requested. but personally i love citrus. i had some mascarpone leftover from these lovely cookies. i searched high and low for a recipe that combined it with some citrus flavor and finally found a recipe from gourmet on epicurious. it was called key lime mascarpone "cannoli" and i should've known better with those rabbit ears. why mess with the great thing that is the cannoli?? but SHF was less than a week away so i plowed ahead.



and folks, let the rabbit ears be a lesson to you all ... don't be fooled!! i'm still including this recipe in the link because the flavor was there and it was definitely yummy. and maybe somebody more industrious and intelligent than i can figure out how to tweak the method to make this work. the shells became too greasy (and sticky when dry) and too delicate. the filling never really firmed up, although i think that was due to my over zealous mixing.



but i can't have these almost there but not quite "cannolis" be my only citrus treat for SHF. i'm hoping to squeeze in one more thing by saturday ...

and un-related, but does anyone know how to get rid of highlights in photoshop (see bad photo below)?? or even better yet, how to adjust my camera/light set-up to avoid this problem?

twd: florida lime pie

for this week's tuesdays with dorie, dianne of dianne's dishes choose the lovely dorie variation on the classic key lime pie. after all the more rich peanut butter tortes out there last week, i was really looking forward to everyone's light, refreshing lime pies.



the variation here is the coconut cream layer on the bottom, plus the coconut meringue. i like coconut, but i'm not a fan, i really wouldn't go out of my way for it. so i chose to only do the cream layer. and because i'm even less of a fan of meringue, i also chose to do a simple whipped cream for garnish (although i have to admit i walked away while the lovely KA was whipping, and i came back to almost butter, woops!) i also added a little bit of zest to the filling because i am a firm believer that limey things should be puckery tart!





even though graham cracker crusts are easy enough to make, dorie says that she usually just buys a store crust. well, if it's good enough for dorie, it's darn good enough for moi! especially when i find myself at 22:30 on monday night just starting to make this thing! to make myself feel a little better, i opted for an organic crust. it was 9" but maybe a little shallow because with the cream layer and lime filling, it went right up to the top.

coconut cream layer


i wasn't terribly fond of the coconut cream layer, but mr. mimi liked this pie lot. then again, you'd be hard put to find a sweet treat that mr. mimi doesn't like! just kiddin' hunny!! but i prefer the full tartness of a classic key lime pie. if i were to make this one over again, i probably would at least toast the coconut first.

i really wanted to make candied lime slices and rim around the crust, but again, the 22:30 on a monday night kind of made that a no-go. i hope someone else did, because i'd love to see how it looks! to catch up with all the other TWD bakers, check out here.



florida lime pie: serves 8
adapted from dorie's baking (2006, p. 340)

1 9" graham cracker crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs yolks
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1 tb of fresh lime zest

1. preheat oven to 350F. put pie plate on baking sheet lined with parchment.

2. on medium low, heat the cream and coconut in small saucepan. bring to boil, stir almost constantly. continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and mixture is slightly thickened. set aside.

3. with mixer and paddle attachment, beat egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. reduce to low and beat in condensed milk. add half of the lime juice and mix. add the remaining juice and zest and mix until well incorporated.

4. spread coconut cream layer in bottom of pie pan. pour lime filling on top.

5. bake pie for 14-16 minutes (should look set but still a little quivery; this time is longer because i didn't use the meringue). transfer to cooling rack, let cool completely, and then refrigerate until cold or next day. serve with dollop of fresh cream!

lime meltaways

extra limes left over from mexican poker night last weekend. i'm sure there are more creative ideas, but i decided to go with lime meltaways. hmm, who wouldn't like to melt away to warmer weather and soft beaches?



these were fun and easy to make, although i made a mess with the confectioner's sugar. and they were a bit more delicate than i expected, so i don't think i can bring these into work (delicate and powdery? that's nothing but trouble and a messy keyboard!) i am also not sure if i particularly like this type of cookie, with the sugar coating all sides. i know i like linzers, so i thought i would like these too. it was worth a try. these were good. but not great.


although you know what? mr. mimi likes them. so maybe you're a limaholic and would like to take your own try? i would suggest adding more juice or zest. you can find the recipe, along with a very cute video, if you click here.

update: i just had some meltaways (two days old now) and let me say, wow, delish! i guess, for me, these are one of those cookies that taste better the next day. super yummy, with a slight saltiness. i would still probably add just a pinch more juice or zest next time. but i take it all back, these are great!

twd: lemon cream tart

by the stroke of the seasonal luck, when i went to fairway this weekend to buy lemons for this week's tuesdays with dorie, the meyer lemons were back in stock! i first spotted them in february, but hadn't seen them recently and was begrudgingly paying $1.50 for each pair of plain measly thick-skinned lemons. but here they were in all their gorgeous orange-yellow soft juicy glory and i bought a whole bagful. so be ready for lotsa lemon posts :)

first is the lemon cream tart by dorie, inspired by pierre hermé (who isn't inspired by him?), with a pâte sablée dough.


hermé's lemon cream (and dorie's recipe) is pretty much a traditional lemon curd, but with the butter added at the end, after the double boiling of the sugar, eggs, and lemon juice. according to dorie's description, emulsifying the butter like this creates a "velvety light" texture.

who doesn't want velvety light lemon curd?


and what beautiful fragrance the meyer zest made! i was in lemon heaven.


continued to whisk in the double boiler until 175F, thick and whisk tracking. moved to adding the butter. looks light and airy with lots of bubbles. i set it in the fridge sunday night. come home monday evening, i take a look, and it's fairly thick.

or so it seemed! i whisked it loosely as prescribed but then proceeded to pour it into the tart shell. that's right ladies and gents, it poured. no spoons need apply! if you need a lemony crème anglaise, i got what yous need. but a tart curd? uhh, just move along folks, nothing here to see.

this was obviously beyond set-able in the proper sense. so i popped it in the freezer for a little over an hour to get it to firm up in the fastest, easiest way i knew how. it came out manageable. and absolutely velvety light and delish. no complaints on the taste at all, one of the best i've had. but a couple of photos later, and it was already melting.

which i'm sad to say because i've now tried five dorie recipes and have been unhappy with all of them. sometimes with the taste and sometimes with the mechanics and end result. of course it could be me, i'm a newbie, what good do i know? but i've been happy with many other baking recipes so it can't be that i'm totally ill-equipped and incompetent.

then again, many other people out there thoroughly enjoy her book and have great success with her recipes. but baking chemistry is more than just what goes on in the oven, right? it's also the relationship between the teacher and the student. so i (somewhat) look forward to trying more, but it may just be that dorie isn't the right lady for me :(

for the lemon cream tart recipe, click here.

to see the list of other lovely tuesdays with dorie bakers, click here!




oops! all three photos have a different yellow hue. pardon my complete lack of post-processing skills ;)

swiss orange chocolate cupcakes

i work full-time five days a week. i go to school three days a week. including school and gym classes or tennis lessons, i don't get back home until past 9 o'clock at five nights a week. add all of that to my renowned lack of time management skills, and it is rare that i actually have any leisurely spent afternoons on the weekends.

yesterday afternoon, after the morning spent running errands, and before our friends would arrive in the evening, the most sensible thing would be to relax on the couch with mr. mimi as he watched in perennial disappointment as the maine went down.


but ladies and gents, i have caught the baking bug and the fever is running high. two or three hours down time? sure, that's all i need. i just NEED to bake something, anything. i need to measure, mix, whip, crack, fold, and pour.

and i had leftover buttermilk burning a hole in my fridge. so i dreamed and salivated around the daring bakers until i found a recipe with buttermilk and all the other ingredients on hand.



so here they are, quick and easy. i omitted the chocolate glaze because i only had regular size chocolate chips, so the cakes were quite chocolatey already (okay, okay, the real reason was because i was lazy). i forgot to dust the chips with a little flour so they wouldn't all sink in baking, but let's not get picky. they were delicious and buttery. almost too buttery. is there such a thing? :)

for the recipe, click here. thanks to mary at alpineberry!

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!