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Rose Bowl Kitchen Finds

I went to the Rose Bowl today to look for some fun new kitchen toys and came away with a nifty toaster cover, 2 Fire King soup bowls, a stash of new hankies and two new cookbooks!  I was a little bummed that I didn't find any Corelle Crazy Daisy aka Spring Blossom to add to my collection, but at least I scored a few fun new pieces for my kitchen.  The green Fire King pattern in the soup bowls mixes in nicely with my current kitchen theme.

The Fire King soup bowls will get used really soon for french onion soup.  Who doesn't love rich french onion soup with a crusty cheesy top?

The cook books provide more entertainment value than anything else.  These were both published in 1959 so the focus is on all the bountiful canned and frozen foods that are now available to the busy career girl.  I'm tempted to through a 1959 themed tea party and only make confections found in the books.

My true love of the day was the toaster cover.  I think it's just perfect in my kitchen.

Off to prep my crock pot chicken for a Chicken Taco Bar dinner.  Monday's dinner will be simple & delicious.
 

1/2 & 1/2 Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vanilla, Chocolate & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

For the cakes:
1 stick of softened butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1.5 cups flour + 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (this mimics cake flour)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup well packed light brown sugar
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla paste or real vanilla extract
2 ounces Dutched Cocoa

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line your 12 count muffin tin with paper liners.

Sift the dry ingredients (except the cocoa)  together.  Cream the butter & sugar in a large separate bowl.  Add the dry to the wet.  Add the milk and vanilla.  Mix well.  Take out 2 cups of the batter and set aside.   Add in the cocoa powder and mix well.  The batter will be very brownie like. 

Spoon the chocolate batter into the tins.  Spoon in the vanilla batter.  Swirl with a toothpick.

Bake for between 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 brick of softened cream cheese
1/2 stick of room temperature butter
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
about 1/2 box of powdered sugar (it depends on the humidity)
1 tablespoon 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream

Cream together the cheese, butter & vanilla.  Slowly sift in the sugar until the frosting comes together.

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

I recently picked up a container of Harry & David's shortbread cookie mix and finally decided to make them.  They turned out great, but I decided to make them even better by dipping them in chocolate.

For the cookies:  Follow the directions on Harry & David's shortbread cookie mix.  I rolled small balls of dough into nice spheres to get round cookies.   The cookies came out a lot lighter than my preferred brand of Walkers.

After the cookies had cooled I dipped them in melted semi sweet chocolate.

Ingredients: Half a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips and one tablespoon of shortening.

In a double boiler slowly melt the chips and shortening.  The shortening helps with tempering the chocolate and makes the chocolate have a nice glossy appearance.  I only dipped 1/2 the cookies in chocolate so that they'd be easier to handle.  After dipping place them on wax paper and refrigerate until chocolate sets up.

Next time I dip cookies in chocolate I think I'm going to add some sprinkled toasted nuts on top.

Cheese Fondue

Who doesn't love some cheesy fondue?

Basic Fondue Recipe: 1-2 cups of white wine, blend of Emmentaler, Swiss, & Gruyere (about 1 lb),  2 Tb corn starch, dash of nutmeg, 1 garlic clove & fresh cracked black pepper.

Get a good glass or enamel saucepan and rub it down with a cut piece of garlic.  Discard the garlic.  Over very low heat bring one cup of wine to simmer.  Add in a handful of grated cheese and stir until nice and melted.  Add in the cornstarch, nutmeg and black pepper.  Stir to combine.  Slowly continue to add in the cheese by the small handful.  If it's too thick add in a little more wine.  This whole process will take about 30 minutes.

I served my fondue with salted and boiled mini potatoes, cubed french bread, broccoli & cauliflower florets, mushrooms and pearl tomatoes.

We ate the whole pot.  It was fantastic.  I suggest a good California Sauvignon Blanc for the wine.  If you use cheap wine, you'll regret it.

Olive Oil, Rosemary & Lemon Roast Chicken

I

Ingredients: 1 whole chicken cut into pieces, 3-4 meyer lemons, 3 parsnips, 4 large carrots, 3 white onions, 1/2 cup good olive oil, fresh rosemary, 4-6 cloves of garlic, salt & pepper.

Start by making a simple marinade of olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  In a bowl combine 1/2 good olive oil and the juice of 3-4 meyer lemons.  Whisk in 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon of crushed black pepper.  Put chicken pieces in a plastic bag and pour in marinade.  Chop up several springs of rosemary.  Bruise with the back of you kitchen knife and toss in the bag as well.  Smash the garlic cloves and had it with the rosemary.  Seal it up and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  I prefer to let it marinade for about 6 to get maximum flavor.

Preheat oven to 450.  Lightly spray a roasting pan with oil or non stick spray.  Slice up the onions into rounds to use as base for the chicken.   The onions add moisture and flavor during cooking.  Roughly chop up the parsnips and carrots.  Season them with salt & pepper.  Take the chicken out of the marinade and arrange in the baking pan.  Place the parsnips and carrots around the chicken.  Place the lemon rinds in the pan as well. Pour any leftover marinade over the top.  Pick out any huge pieces of rosemary and discard.

Roast for 30 minutes at 450 and then turn down the heat to 350 and finish cooking for about 30-40 minutes.

Nudi Dumplings or Malfatta

I make a lot of home made gnocchi and finally decided to branch out to Nudi sometimes referred to as Malfatta.   Nudi dumplings are basically the inside of a ravioli and are super easy to make.  They also go fantastic with Sunday Gravy.

Ingredients: 15 ounces Ricotta, 1 box frozen thawed and drained spinach (really squeeze the water out), 2 egg yolks, about 1/3-1/2 cup of all purpose flour, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, dash of nutmeg along with a little salt & pepper.

Mix everything in a bowl except the flour.  Start adding the flour in by the large spoonful until the dough comes together. You may need a little  more or less flour depending on the humidity.  Roll small balls of the dough in your hand and place on a floured surface.  It's easier if you flour your hands first.  My nudi ended up slightly smaller than golf balls.  I made around 2 dozen.

Drop the balls in salted boiling water.  After they start to float let them cook a bit more.  I served mine with Sunday Gravy and some cheesy toasty bread.