Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

In my continuing quest to live a healthy lifestyle and maintain my 60 pound weight loss, I am contantly trying to find new low fat recipes for sweets; my downfall and - I'm sure - the downfall of many of us. One of my go-to substitutions is angel food cake. Spongy, sticky and delicious it has way fewer calories of other cakes; two points per serving on my program. Angel food cake pairs beautifully with fruit and makes a great treat.

When I used to work in a professional kitchen as a gardemanger we used to make the most amazing strawberry shortcake. When I was in the grocery store the other day I found the sweetest individual angel food cakes and decided I needed a shortcake! I started playing in my kitchen, and this is the delicious result!

Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

1 kg (2.2 lb) mixed berries (you could use frozen if you like for the sauce, but get some fresh for garnish)
1/2 c white wine
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 mini packaged angel food cakes
2 individual vanilla pudding packs (4 oz each)

Put the fruit, wine and salt in a medium pot to cook over moderate to high heat until the alcohol burns off. Add the cinnamon, lemon and honey. Cook for 20-30 minutes until the sauce has reduced to be a bit syrupy.

In your dish layer a little of the fruit mix, torn up pieces of cake, then a layer of pudding (one pudding cup per layer in the dish I used). Repeat the layers until your dish is full (I got in two layers). Let the shortcake set up - covered - in the fridge for about four hours (or overnight); this gets better the more you let everything sink in together. Garnish with fresh fruit. Mine made 3-4 servings.
In lieu of the honey, you could use sugar, but I didn't have any at the time so I substituted with the honey. Also, I used a mini cassarole ramekin as I don't like having lots of sweets in my house, but the sauce makes enough that you could either have leftovers for topping yogurt, ice cream etc. or you could make one big dessert by just increasing the cake and pudding portions.

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Low Fat Summer Berry Shortcake

Sasha's Kitchen: Crab Couscous with Green Apple, Mango, Saffron and Lemon

Crab is one of the featured ingredients of the month for February here on A Kitchen In Brooklyn.  For the first crab recipe, I decided to use some fresh lump crabmeat from my local fish market (unfortunately, I was not able to obtain king crab) and decided to prepare a couscous dish.  The crab was not intended to be the star of this dish, but to be featured as one of several complementary flavors.  There are several foods that I think make spectacular food combinations with crab.  These include green apple, tamarind, lemon, avocado, beets, sugar snap peas, snow peas, mango and eggs (not all in the same dish, of course).  I look forward to experimenting with different ways of presenting crab this month.

For my couscous, I decided to complement the crab with some tang/tartness, so I selected green apple, lemon and mango, and also threw in the sugar snap peas.  I added the saffron because the couscous needed a bit of a pick me up, plus it made for a beautiful pale yellow color.  Saffron is very powerful, so you only need a little bit or else it will overpower the other flavors.  The balance of this dish is nice.  Don't forget the lemon at the end, as it adds an important complement and acidity necessary to balance the dish.  This might be one of my best recipes yet, and I'm sharing.

Sasha's Crab Couscous With Green Apple, Mango and Saffron (serves 4)

1 1/2 cups of couscous

1 cup of sugar snap peas (or snow peas, if you prefer)

olive oil (added as described below)

2 diced cloves of garlic

2 T mascarpone cheese

1 diced shallot

1 medium sized mango, diced

2 green apples, peeled and diced

1 lemon, cut into slices

1/8 tsp saffron

salt and pepper to taste

To prepare this dish, I boiled a quart of water and cooked the sugar snap peas until softened (I guess they no longer will "snap").  Then I removed the sugar snap peas and added the couscous to the water.  I cooked the couscous, as per typical instructions, until al dente, about seven minutes.  Then I drained the couscous from the remaining water and mixed with 2T of olive oil.

Next comes the fun part, deciding how to jazz up ordinary couscous to create a new recipe.  I sauteed the shallot and the garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Then I cooked the diced mango and apple for a few minutes, until softened.  Next, I added the sugar snap peas and the couscous and cooked for a few minutes over medium heat, adding the saffron and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Then, I added the crab and the mascarpone to the hot couscous and mixed well, to melt the mascarpone.  (you could substitute butter if you prefer).  

Finally, for presentation, I used a small bowl to mold the couscous, and garnished with some of the purple cauliflower presented in last night's post.  (I don't suggest eating the cauliflower with this dish, its too bitter, but it looks to pretty).  When you are ready to eat, season with some of the lemon juice.  I used a Meyer lemon.

This dish is one I will make again and again.  An aside here, it really bothers me when people eat lousy food (that I have to be present to see or smell).  I don't mean foods I don't like, per se, just poor quality food - frozen meals, bad restaurant food, poor quality ingredients, lots of chemicals that serve no purpose, msg etc...  You're putting this stuff in your body so you should care too.  Food is an art and should be treated as such, without dumbing down our taste buds.  

For another dish with crab, check out my crabcakes prepared using Marcus Samuelsson's recipe from his new cookbook.

Sasha's Kitchen: Crab Couscous with Green Apple, Mango, Saffron and Lemon

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston:Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Johnny’s Crunchy French Toast

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday. Starting with this blog, I will be suggesting a brunch menu. The main entrée is French toast. I am using a recipe published many years ago in the “old” Boston Globe Magazine. I don’t have a date but the authors, Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, wrote a food review titled “Breakfast of Champions.” One of the featured items was French toast from Johnny’s Luncheonette in Newton Centre. Johnny’s still exists and the Crunchy French Toast is still on the menu. I’ve modified Johnny’s recipe by substituting for the challah (or you could use Sasha's Cinnamon Raisin Challah) the Pane di Signora Belurgi (lemon egg bread) from Mary Ann Esposito’s Ciao Italia (see my blog on lemons (lymons)):
½ cup almonds, ½ cup walnuts, 1 cup cornflakes, ½ cup bran flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs, ½ cup of milk
Pinch of salt
8 thick slices of challah or lemon egg bread
Butter

Set the oven to 375°. Place walnuts and almonds on baking sheet and cook for 5-10 minutes until nuts are brown. Cool nuts then using blender, set to chop, blend for just a 20 seconds. Place nuts and cinnamon in flat bowl big enough to hold bread. Crunch cereal and add to nuts. Beat eggs, milk and salt in another flat bowl. Dip one slice of bread into egg batter and then into nut/cereal mixture. Heat flat grill on medium/high temperature for 5 minutes. Add a little butter then bread. Cook 5 minutes on each side and place in oven-ready plate. Repeat for remaining slices of bread.
Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston:Valentine’s Day Special: Brunch Entrée – Johnny’s Crunchy French Toast

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)

One of my parents' friends in Danville, Pennsylvania was reading our site, and suggested that I experiment with some homemade Italian liquors and cordials.  He was kind enough to provide some instructions on how he had prepared homeade limoncello.  When I heard this, I knew that I had to make my own limoncello right away.

I spent a couple weeks travelling around Italy after graduating from Haverford College.  One of the things I remember about Italy (other than its friendly people, natural beauty and that I want to go back with my husband) is the incredible Italian food.  While in Italy, I remember coming across two after-dinner drinks with some frequency - Limoncello (a sweet lemon-flavored liqueur) and Grappa (which I am told tastes like gasoline, but with that description, coupled by a smell to match, I never tried Grappa).  I brought home several small bottles of wonderful Italian limoncello, unaware that it would be a fairly simple process for me to make my own.  Because Italy is such a romantic destination, and limoncello is the perfect sweet ending to a romantic dinner, such as a Valentine's Day meal, I decided to include this in our Valentine's Day Special.  A further note: they have wonderful Italian after-dinner cordials (after a great Italian meal) at my favorite New York Italian, Acappella.

By way of background, limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur, produced mainly in Southern Italy, such as in the Naples area and the Amalfi Coast.  Traditionally, in Italy it is made from Sorrento lemons, but ordinary lemons (like I used) will also produce an excellent quality limoncello.

Here's what you will need:

1 liter Everclear or Grain Alcohol (don't use regular vodka, or the proofage will be way off)
1 old two liter soda bottle
The peels of 20 lemons - Remove the peels using a conventional peeler, not a zester
2 lb of sugar (About 4 cups)
1 liter water (About 4 1/4 cups)

The process of making limoncello is quite simple, but takes about a week.  First, peel the 20 lemons.  Put the peels in a large jar, or a 2 liter soda bottle.  Make sure when peeling the lemons to use a regular peeler and not a zester, and remove only the peels.  Then, add 1 liter of everclear, or another type of grain alcohol to the lemon peels.  Put in a dark closet for a week, turning the bottle or jar upside down once a day.

After a week has passed, remove the yellow liquid from the lemon peels.  The peels should have whitened considerably in color, and have a brittle feel to them.  Filter the liquid through a coffee filter and put aside. 

To prepare the simply syrup, put the water in a pot and add the sugar.  Heat and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, around a temperature of 115 degrees.  At this temperature, add the syrup to the yellow everclear lemon infusion.  If you add the syrup when it is warm, the limoncello will be a clearish yellow color, and not cloudy, which would be the likely result if the syrup were allowed to cool first.

At this point, you have successfully extracted and made your own Italian limoncello, the perfect after dinner cordial for with a sweet dessert for Valentine's Day.  You can order some 16-17 oz bottles from Specialty Bottle in whatever shape and size suits you, bottle the limoncello and decorate with a pretty ribbon.  This makes a great gift.  My bottles haven't arrived yet, as I ordered them a bit late in the process, so the picture is shown in a large bottle.  I will update the photos early next week when they are bottled for gifts!

The drink should be served chilled, after dinner, as a digestivo.  In Italy, it is often served in chilled ceramic glasses.  The quality of the limoncello I made was excellent, second only to the limoncello I tasted while travelling around Italy.  A funny note from Wikipedia - apparently limoncello garnered some media attention after Danny DiVito gave the following quote in a 20066 episode of the View:  " knew it was the last seven limoncellos that was going to get me."  (sic)

So here they are finally - the bottles that I ordered with the Limoncello.  This makes the perfect gift - my mother in law loved hers. 

If life gives you a lot more lemons, check out the following post from Margie's Kitchen on Boston for many wonderful and inspired ideas on how to cook with lemons.  If life gives you limes instead, try my recipe for Key Lime Bars.


Limoncello

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Lymon

Photos by Lena

My title uses the Middle English name for lemon in deference to the first English reference to this berry fruit at the beginning of the 15th century. The lemon goes back much further, back to the beginning of civilization. Its earliest identification is associated with the Indus (Ancient Indian/Pakistani) Civilization around 5,000 B.C. (see Food in History by Reay Tannahill for more interesting insights on the importance of food and cookery in history). As for modern cuisine, the lemon is an important source of the “sour” flavor, and along with the other four flavor groups: bitter, hot/pungent, sweet, and salty, are considered essential balancing agents in the human body.

The lemon is an ingredient seen in every kind of food to sharpen flavor alone or in combination with other seasonings. When combined with sweetness, the true essence of a lemon is revealed. What I recall with fondness about the ethnic cuisine of my mother and grandmothers are many things, but in particular those dishes that used lemon as a key ingredient: lemon meringue pie, homemade lemonade, hot lemon pudding served over home-made ginger bread; and then there were my Italian grandmother’s fried artichoke hearts sprinkled with lemon juice. They say that touching and smelling lemons makes one happy. I think this may be true because I’ve gotten the greatest satisfaction from cooking with lemons, and my favorite liqueur is limoncello, a homemade variety introduced to me ten years ago in my cousin’s flat in Arezzo. A close imitation to hers is the Pallini brand (remember to place the liquor bottle in the freezer for several days to get the true affect).

So, before I tell you all about my favorite “lymon” recipes,

let me first pour a little glass of limoncello—now I can begin:

Over the years I’ve collected many cookbooks, particularly of the ethnic variety, and embedded as an ingredient in many of the recipes is lemon: The Flavor Principle by Elisabeth Rozin, Memories from Brownie’s Kitchen by Brownie Schrumpf, The Vegetarian Epicure: Book Two by Anna Thomas Nationality Rooms Recipe Book of the University of Pittsburgh, Ciao Italia by Mary Ann Esposito, and Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen, just to name a few.

The Flavor Principle (1973) is a wonderful cookbook. I bought my copy (now out-of-print) at CMU’s (Carnegie-Mellon University’s) bookstore many ions ago as a graduate student trying to escape operations research and other quantitative coursework [I should have trusted my instincts more.] The recipes all center on one or more ethnic flavor principles, e.g. lemon-oregano or cultured milk (sour cream or yogurt)-herb or spice. I have many favorites that use lemon, including “Baked Eggplant and Zucchini (Lemon-Oregano)” (201).

1 medium eggplant, peeled, sliced, and quartered

2 or 3 zucchini, sliced

1 large yellow onion, sliced

½ cup olive oil

½ cup lemon juice

1 ½ teaspoon salt

Dash fresh ground pepper

1 tablespoon crushed dried oregano

1 clove garlic

Place eggplant, zucchini, and onions in fairly deep casserole. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables. Cover and bake in a preheated 375˚F oven 40-50 minutes. Serves 6. Fresh herbs can be substituted for dried.

Memories from Brownie’s Kitchen (1989) is full of hardy Mainer recipes. My favorite is called “Common Sense Coleslaw” (28).

½ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground ginger
2 cups shredded red cabbage

2 cups shredded green cabbage

Wash and dry completely shredded cabbage. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, except cabbage. Add cabbage; toss to coat well. Cover; chill at least 2 hrs. [Note: I first soak cabbage in water for about ½ hr. with the ½ tsp salt]. Makes 8 servings.

The Vegetarian Epicure: Book Two (1978) is another out-of- print cookbook acquired during my time at CMU. I have many favorites but I would like to share one recipe that I’ve never made, because of my fear of layering cooked meringue shells. I may get the courage to make this scrumptious recipe “Lemon Torte” (326-327) but I would love to have a beta taster go first.

1 ¼ cups egg whites

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 ⅔ cups ground almonds (unblanched)

Lemon filling (see below)

Garnish: blanched almond halves

Beat the egg whites with sugar until they hold soft peaks. “Sift together the second cup of sugar and the cornstarch and then add it to the egg whites along with the almond extract, and continuing beating until egg whites are stiff. Fold in ground almonds.” Butter and flour 2 10 inch cake pans and divide egg whites between the two, “spreading it as flat and smooth as possible”. Bake layers for 1 ½ hours in preheated 275˚F oven. They should be pale and gold in color and shrinking away from sides. Let them cool slightly in pan then remove and let them cool completely on racks.

Lemon Filling

“4 tablespoons cornstarch

¾ cup cold water

⅓ Fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

3 egg yolks

1 ½ tablespoons butter

Combine all ingredients up to eggs yolks in heavy-bottom saucepan. Stir over low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until mixture thickens. Stir with whisk if needed. When thick, remove from heat and beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Return to low heat for 3 minutes only and then remove from heat, stir in butter and let cool, stirring occasionally.

Spread half filling over one meringue layer, place the second layer on top, spreading the remaining filling on the top with some filling spread only on the sides of the top layer. Chill torte for at least an hour. Serves 10.

Nationality Rooms Recipe Book (1975) was originally designed as a fundraising project for the upkeep of the nationality rooms at the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh). The cookbook may still be available at the gift shop or you can check the link. The recipes in this book are truly ethnic. I just bought this cookbook recently and have tried one recipe (“Iranian Spinach and Lamb Meatballs”). Here are two recipes using lemon that I would like to try very soon: “Leeks-Turkish Style” (155) and “Filled Pastry (Hamantaschen)” (177).

Leeks-Turkish Style

2 pounds leeks

2 onions

⅓ cup olive oil

1 carrot (pared and cut into ¼˝ slices)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon dill weed

2 tablespoons rice

¼ teaspoon sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

1 lemon for garnish

Salt to taste

1 cup of water

Cut leeks into 2˝ long pieces. Wash and drain. Saute finely chopped onions in oil for five minutes. Add leeks, carrots, tomato paste and dill weed. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, shaking pan and stirring frequently. Add rice, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and water. Cover and cook another 30 minutes or until leeks are tender. Remove from heat and cool. Serve with lemon at room temperature. Serves 6.

Filled Pastry (Hamantaschen)

1 cup pitted prunes

¼ cup golden raisins

½ orange, sliced

½ lemon, sliced

½ cup orange-chocolate liqueur

¼ chopped blanched almonds or walnuts

1 recipe homemade biscuit dough

(or 8 oz. crescent roll dough)

Churned honey

Grated rind of half and orange

Pour liqueur over dried and fresh fruits in saucepan and simmer lightly, covered for 10 minutes, until prunes are slightly plumped and some of the liqueur is absorbed. Remove from heat and cool. Place cooked fruit (reserve half of raisins) and liquid into a blender. Blend. Remove. Stir together with ½ chopped nuts and other half of raisins. Prepare biscuit dough and roll out into a 6x16 inch rectangle. Cut into 2˝ squares and then cut each square into 2 triangles. Spread half of triangles with honey(not quite to edge) and then sprinkle with grated orange rind. Cover with plain triangles, seal edges, and flatten with rolling pin. Put 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in center of each triangle, bring up corners, and press firmly together. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with reserved nuts. Bake at 375˚F for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ciao Italia: Traditional Italian Recipes from Family Kitchens (1991) is the first cookbook drawn from the New Hampshire PBS Ciao Italia cooking show hosted by Mary Ann Esposito. Mary Ann has published several other cookbooks, including Ciao Italia in Tuscany. My favorite still is her first cookbook, and there are several lemon-based recipes but my favorite is “Pane di Signora Belurgi”(121), a lemon-egg, Tuscan bread. Making bread had always been intimidating for me, and bread making machines seemed to take away the purpose of making bread at all. It was until I tried this recipe, which yields double the 2 round loaves as suggested, that I got over my fear of making bread. This is a Tuscan-style hard exterior bread. I’ve given it as a gift to many individuals¸ and they have all told me how much they like the bread. As with other breads containing no preservatives, the shelf life is about 3 days, but much longer in the refrigerator for toasting, and all loaves can be wrapped in foil and sealed in a container or bag in the freezer for several months.

2 tablespoons (2 packages) active dry yeast

1 cup warm (not hot) water

3 Tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar

6 large eggs

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) butter, melted

½ cup warm milk

2 tablespoons vanilla

Juice of 1 large lemon (I add juice of two)

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

9-10 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water and 1 tablespoon sugar for egg wash

In bowl or large glass measuring cup, dissolve yeast in warm water. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons sugar over and stir to dissolve. (I would warm bowl or glass cup before placing warm water and yeast into them, as well as utensil used to dissolve yeast and sugar). Let bowl sit in warm place until foamy, about 10 minutes (I warm up microwave first then put in yeast bowl). Meanwhile, in large bowl that has capacity to hold 10 cups flour, beat 6 eggs with whisk to pale yellow, add 1 cup sugar, melted butter, milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and beat for 5 minutes with whisk. Stir in yeast mixture and mix well. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing with a spatula until it becomes very thick and holds together (may not need all of the 10 cups). Turn dough onto floured surface (you will need to keep surface well floured) and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place bowl in lightly butter deep bowl (not metal), turn to coat, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap (or clean towel), and let rise for 2 hour, or until double size (warm microwave for about 1 minute and then place dough into it).

Turn dough out into well-floured surface. Divide into 2 (there really is enough for 4 loaves or you could cut recipe in half to make two loaves). Shape into 2 free form loaves and place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel, and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes (I place onto of oven while it is warming up). Preheat oven to 375˚F. After 30 minutes brush top of loaves with egg wash. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread is nicely browned and hollow-sounding (bread should be done in less than 45 minutes (check at 35 minutes for Esposito’s definition of doneness). Let cool on racks (although you will be tempted to slice into this bread immediately).

Finally, let me end with Irish Traditional Cooking (2005), a gift from my son for the holidays. I haven’t had much time to browse the cookbook, but I’ve found several appealing recipes using lemon. In honor of my mother, who made home-made lemonade and would be happy that I’m writing about food, let me present Darina Allen’s version titled “Protestant Lemonade” (269).

Basic Syrup (Makes 3 ½ cups):

2 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ cups water

Dissolve sugar and water into saucepan and bring to boil. Boil for 2 minutes, the allow to cool. Store in refrigerator until needed.

Lemonade:

4 lemons

1 ¼ cups syrup

3 ¼ cup water

Springs of fresh mint or lemon balm (lemon-scented member of mint)

Squeeze juice from lemon and add syrup and water. Taste and add more water or syrup if necessary. Add ice and springs of mint.

Margie's Kitchen in Boston: Lymon