Smith Family Weblog

I’m putting “petri dish” right up there in the title, because when I made these for Bryan, he didn’t know what they were supposed to be. I was so pleased with this idea, which I found through Not So Humble Pie via Neatorama months ago, and I was a bit disappointed they apparently lost something in translation. Bryan recovered nicely, noting, “You even make bacteria look appetizing.” Good save.

I used royal icing for these cookies–it was my first experience with the powdered sugar and egg white frosting, and I absolutely loved it. I piped stiff icing around the edges of the cookies, then added a bit of water to make the rest of the icing the right consistency to “flood” the top of the cookie. The result was glossy smooth icing that dried very quickly. Plus there’s a pretty sheen to boot.  Now, I just need to develop a steadier hand for piping the outer edges.

Just in time for Thirsty Thursday, a recipe for Rhubarbritas. My friend Chuck brought this to my attention, and I made a batch this weekend. The original recipe is from The Splendid Table on NPR. It was interesting, but very sweet. I used the rhubarb syrup the next day to make Rhubarbtinis—two parts vodka, one part syrup and one part lemon juice. Delicious!

I used the excuse of Mother’s Day to bake a pie from scratch, using the rhubarb I transplanted from my grandparents’ cabin in Minnesota to my own garden. The plant took well to its new home, even sprouting this beautiful flower.

Come to find out, that’s not a good thing… I lopped it off, and thankfully, the plant continued to produce enough stalks to make a batch of Rhubarbritas (that recipe coming soon), and this Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie from Bon Appetit. I substituted cardamom for cinnamon, because it’s awesome, and also because I like hearing Bryan say, “What’s that weird taste?”

Cook’s Illustrated recently published a recipe for ultra-flaky pie crust. I don’t subscribe, but two kind friends sent it my way. (My friend Chuck wrote a blog entry on the recipe over on Horse Farm Diaries.)

The secret ingredient is vodka, and I think it works pretty well. Cook’s Illustrated is filled with incredibly specific instructions, which is tough for someone who prefers not to measure unless absolutely necessary, but the recommended six one-second pulses in my food processor yielded a crust that still had visible pieces of butter even after rolling.

It wasn’t as good as Gramma’s pie crust, but it was a close second.

My lattice top didn’t bake very evenly, but the final product was good enough to warrant a second slice!

Last Sunday, I made nine casseroles to stock our freezer and those belonging to a few friends. I used three recipes: My Favorite Mexican Casserole and  Roasted Vegetable Lasagna from Epicurious, and Chicken Enchiladas from Cooking Light (with a traditional red sauce). All three freeze very well, though I do eliminate the corn chip crust from the Mexican casserole because it ends up a bit soggy.

I’m always surprised at how fast it is to create dishes in an assembly-line style. The whole process took just a couple of hours start to finish, and I’m looking forward to a few calm evenings after work the next few weeks!

We signed up for a crop share this year, and I picked up our first round of produce this week. I love crop shares because you can try new things without having to dedicate garden space (or time, or effort). So, I was thrilled that in addition to the usual spring suspects (spinach, rhubarb and asparagus), this week’s share included pea shoots. Not exactly exotic—we have some growing in the garden right now—but we are patiently waiting for them to become peas. So, I’m glad that someone was willing to forgo that harvest and share these with us now.

I’ve never tried pea shoots before, but the information that came with them notes the entire shoot is edible. Because I’m already getting rather tired of salad, I decided to follow another suggestion and saute them with a bit of olive oil, garlic and salt.

They looked very pretty, and while I appreciate anything that can serve as a vehicle for the above ingredients, I think I agree with Bryan: I like peas a whole lot more than pea shoots. Still, my interest in trying something new outweighs my patience for the finished product.

Next up, something tired and true—rhubarb pie.

I made these for my birthday last week (it’s office tradition to bring your own treats to share . . . kind of like preschool, actually). The recipe is from Martha Stewart Cupcakes. I used the one-bowl chocolate cupcake recipe, which I know I have raved about before. I added mint extract and cut down on the vanilla just a bit. The cakes are super fast and very moist.

The frosting is fresh mint buttercream, made by steeping fresh mint leaves in milk. I can’t say I’ll make this again–it was extremely complicated and time consuming. And, in the end, it tasted like minty butter. It did set up nicely for frosting, though, and this giant star tip is quickly becoming my favorite.

I topped each cupcake with a leaf, which I made by painting melted chocolate on the back of a mint leaf and peeling it off.

The February issue of Bon Appetit had an entire section on “meat and potatoes”  —  hard to pass up given the recent weather. I made two of the hearty recipes when the Smiths visited last month, starting with Pork Stew with Hard Cider, Pearl Onions and Potatoes. I used a Boston Butt roast, which is one of my favorite cuts for roasting and braising, and lots of little pearl onions.

I have yet to find Calvados here, but I thought apple flavored bourbon would be a good stand in for apple brandy. (It was also a good stand in for a glass of wine come cocktail hour…)

Parsnips and onions simmering with fresh sage:

And really, how can you not love a recipe that has bacon AND beer (well, hard cider)?

Add the browned pork, along with the apples…

Toss in a few potatoes and you’re done!

In an effort to lure my coworkers to a 45 minute presentation about my unit’s spring priorities and initiatives last Friday, I promised to provide a cupcake bar. It was really selfish on my part, as I’ve had a number of recipes from the Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook I’ve been wanting try, and this provided a perfect opportunity.

I baked five batches on Thursday night, and I also made the caramel and lemon fillings. That part of the process took about four hours—I was surprised at how quickly it went. I made the frosting recipes the next morning, which took about a hour and a half. I decorated the cupcakes in the office breakroom with the help from my coworkers (“other duties as assigned,” they joked).

We saved back one of each of the cupcakes and split them into four pieces so we could each try a bit of each one. I had two clear favorites–these strawberry cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream (possibly the best frosting ever)….

And these salted caramel cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, topped with sea salt:

I also made lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling:

And the S’mores cupcakes I’ve made before:

These red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting went pretty quickly!

I loved the volume of this project. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately…) there weren’t many leftovers!