Salmon Wellington with Dijon Whipped Cream

A while back, I saw an incredibly good looking recipe for beef wellington. I wanted to make it so badly. Unfortunately, it involved meat and dairy being cooked together, meaning that I couldn't cook and eat it. When I was home my mom mentioned that she had found a recipe for salmon wellington that she was interested in trying. Of course, I immediately jumped on that idea. While I may not be able to mix meat and dairy, I can mix fish and dairy!
We enjoyed this recipe so much that we made it multiple times during my short, three-week stay in Houston. The leek and onion mixture just might be the best part. We were worried that the salmon might get overcooked, but it was cooked perfectly and the leek mixture gave it the perfect amount of extra moisture.
This dish also looks so pretty!

I didn't get a picture of the Dijon Whipped Cream, but it was the perfect accompaniment to the salmon

Salmon Wellington

recipe from Food Network

Ingredients for Salmon Wellington:

6 tablespoons of butter

3 leeks, washed and sliced

1 red onion, finely sliced

2 tablespoons dried tarragon

1/2 cup white wine

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 puff pastry sheets, thawed (I used Pepperidge Farm)

flour for dusting a surface

1 egg plus 2 teaspoons of water for egg wash

1 3-lb salmon fillet, skin removed

Ingredients for Dijon Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper (the original recipe suggest using white pepper so that you don't see black flecks in the whipped cream, but it makes no difference in taste if you use black)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the leaks, red onion, and tarragon and saute until the onion mix is soft. This should take about 10 minutes.

Add the wine, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil.

Let the liquid cook off, and then add salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and set aside. Let this mixture cool before using.

Unfold 1 pastry sheet and lay it on a slightly floured surface.

Brush 1 edge with egg wash and overlap the other pastry sheet by about 2 inches.

Roll this pastry out until it's big enough to fold around the salmon.

Spoon the cooled leek mixture down the middle of the pastry, place the salmon on top of the leeks, and fold the pastry around the salmon.

Egg wash the edges to seal and press the well.

Place the whole thing seam side down on a sheet pan. Brush the top with egg wash and place in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

While the salmon is cooking, prepare the Dijon whipped cream.

Pour cream into a chilled, stainless steel bowl and whisk until soft peaks begin to form.

Add the mustard, salt, and pepper, and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

After removing the salmon from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve with Dijon Whipped Cream.

Double Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cookies

I love chocolate. Specifically, I love dark chocolate. At school there's an administrator who has a candy bowl, and the best days are days when the candy bowl contains dark chocolate (and sour punch straws). Over break, my mom and I were trying to come up with some good, new, festive cookie recipes to make for our chanukah brunch. While my mother doesn't like chocolate, the rest of my family does, so I gave this recipe a try and it was a huge success. Considering the ingredients that go into it, I don't see how it could possibly not be a a success.

(mmm...yummy melty chocolate!)

Posting over the next few weeks may prove to be quite difficult. I have grad school auditions in February (scary!), and competitions coming up in June (assuming I get into them). These things will require a lot of practicing. Luckily, the orchestra office gave me a break this semester and gave me almost no orchestra! I shall try to find the time to cook lots of yummy things and share them with you!
These cookies are amazing with a glass of milk!

Double Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cookies

recipe from 17andbaking

Ingredients:

1/2 cup and a tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

5 oz bittersweet chocolate

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

8 tablespoons of butter

4 eggs at room temp

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tablespoon freshly ground coffee

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup dried cherries, chopped

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Set aside.

Melt bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water.

Stir frequently until melted and then remove from heat. Allow to cool for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, beat eggs with mixer (fitted with whisk) on medium speed. Add sugar and beat until eggs triple in volume and hold the line of the whisk. This should take about 10 minutes. Add ground coffee and beat for another minute.

Add the melted and cooled chocolate to eggs on low speed.

Beat until incorporated.

Add dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and dried cherries. Beat until just combined, making sure not to overmix.

Finish mixing it all together by hand with a rubber spatula.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop batter into fairly large mounds (2 inches apart), then cook for about 12 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool and then enjoy!

Apple Latkes

Happy belated Chanukah!During my winter break I did a lot of cooking. I also did a lot of practicing, reading, and tv watching. So I didn't quite get around to blogging about my recipes. I'm back to new york now and plan to blog about a few recipes before I get back to real work.
I've never really liked latkes. That's because your traditional latkes are potato latkes and are often made with a store bought mix. Ew. When I saw this apple latke recipe, I couldn't resist giving it a try. My family had a chanukah brunch on christmas day, providing me with the perfect opportunity to make these.
These latkes were delicious and sweet. I finally found a latke that I liked! My dad, who also doesn't usually like latkes, loved these. We did end up also trying a potato latke recipe that I had to (begrudgingly) admit that I liked. These apple latkes are definitely my favourite though!

Apple Latkes

recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 lb Granny Smith Apples (2 or 3)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 large eggs

butter for frying

crème fraîche for serving

Peel and core the apples and then grate them (I used a cheese grater).

Transfer grated apple to a clean dishtowel and wring out as much juice as you can.

Transfer grated apple to a medium bowl and toss with lemon juice.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking powder, then toss with the apple and lemon mixture.

Whisk eggs in another dish until lightly beaten, then mix into apple, flour, lemon mixture.

Heat a large skillet to medium heat and coat with a pat of butter.

Drop tablespoons of apple batter in little piles on the skillet and gently press flat with a spatula.

Fry until nicely browned underneath (4 or 5 minutes) and then flip. Drain briefly on paper towels.

Add a pat of butter to the pan between each batch of latkes.

Serve with crème fraîche!

You can keep latkes warm in a warming drawer or heated oven (200 degrees) for up to an hour!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

My roommate Liz turned 21 last week. We had all of our friends over for a big dinner party to celebrate. When I came across this recipe I decided it was the perfect dessert to make for a 21st birthday party.

I only recently discovered what exactly an irish car bomb is. When my friend Yvonne first described it to me I thought it sounded horrible. Doing an irish car bomb entails dropping a shot glass filled with Jameson and Bailey's into a glass of guinness, then chugging the whole thing down before the Bailey's curdles. Sounds awful, tastes delicious. The experience is actually a lot like chugging a glass of chocolate milk.
I began baking these cupcakes early in the morning. Really really early. I went to the grocery store at 7:30 AM. The lady who rang me up gave me a very weird look as she scanned the Guiness. I suppose not many people buy Guinness at 7:30 AM. Especially not girls who, for all intents and purposes, appear to be 14 years old.
My apartment has literally never smelled as good as it did while I was baking these cupcakes. By 9 AM our kitchen and living room were filled with a rich, chocolatey smell. AMAZING.

Our friends loved the cupcakes. They were rich, flavourful, almost sinfully delicious. And considering the fact that they involved three different types of alcohol, they were perfect for a 21st birthday party. I'm not usually a fan of chocolate cupcakes. I am a vanilla cupcake girl all the way. These changed my mind about chocolate cupcakes.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

recipe from the amazing blog smitten kitchen

Yielded about 27 cupcakes

Ingredients for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness

2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Ingredients for Ganache Filling:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, at room temp

2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Ingredients for Bailey's Frosting:

4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp

4 tablespoons Bailey's

First you make the cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring one cup Guinness and 1 cup butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Let cool while you mix the other ingredients.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until blended. Beat eggs and sour cream together in another bowl until blended.

Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat again. Then, using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until it is well combined. Fill the cupcake liners until about 3/4 full.

Bake cupcakes for about 17 minutes, turning the pan about halfway through.

Cool the cupcakes completely before continuing.

The ganache comes next.

Break the chocolate into tiny pieces and put it in a heat proof bowl.

Heat the cream until simmering and then pour it over the chocolate. This should melt the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, and then stir until the texture is completely smooth. Then, add the butter and whiskey and stir until completely combined.

Put this mixture in the refrigerator and stir every ten minutes or so. Take the ganache out when it is thick but still soft enough to be piped.

While the ganache is cooling, use either a 1-inch cookie cutter or an apple corer to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You should go about 2/3 of the way down the cupcakes. I used an apple corer, and if you twist after putting it in the cupcake, the center of the cupcake will come out when you pull the corer out. If this doesn't work, use a small spoon to get the center out. Put the ganache into a piping bag ( I used a big plastic baggy that I cut the tip off of) with a wide tip and then fill each of the cupcakes to the top.

Then, make the frosting.

Whip the butter for several minutes until it is light and fluffy. I used an electric hand mixer. Add the powdered sugar a few tablespoons at a time.

Once the frosting is thick, pour in the Bailey's and whip until combined.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

It topped them with sparkling sugar confetti! Very festive!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

This week has been one of the best, most relaxing weeks I've experienced in months. This semester has been my busiest ever. First I had my Fulbright application to deal with in september and october. That application was a nightmare. Then I had to start work on prescreening tapes and grad school applications. Those aren't so bad, but they are tedious. Now, with my graduation recital looming on the horizon (December 16th), practicing is getting more and more stressful. Tomorrow, I fly back to New York and all of that craziness, but for now I get to enjoy my fourth day of relaxation, family, good food, and warm weather.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. I stuffed myself with turkey, cranberry sauce, and cherry pie. My family sang happy birthday to me and I got to open some awesome birthday presents (including the camera with which I took pictures for this post), despite the fact that my birthday doesn't happen until next wednesday. Then, I took advantage of my food coma and slept the entire 3 hour car ride home!
Yesterday, my parents and I had my previous violin teacher, Mr. Goldsmith, over for a late afternoon cheese and wine fest. My mom and I decided to bake something to eat in addition to cheese and crackers. We went with Mexican Wedding Cookies because they're my mom's favourite cookie recipe. I had eaten and enjoyed them before but I had never helped to make them.

These were surprisingly easy to make, and they were delicious. They were definitely a hit. I can't wait to make them for my friends in new york!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle

Yield: 33-35 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup pecans, toasted

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

pinch of salt

1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar placed in sifter for dusting cookies

Place toasted nuts, 1 cup flour, and salt into the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse lightly. The nuts don't need to be really fine. I pulsed it until it was just smaller chunks of pecans.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and the powdered sugar until well combined. Then add the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat just to mix and then begin adding the flour and nut mixture by 1/2 cupfuls.

Blend in the remaining 1 cup flour and mix just until a dough is formed.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place walnut-size pieces of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Then, cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

Dust a sheet of waxed paper with powdered sugar. Place the cookies on top of the sugar and sift more powdered sugar over them. Let the cookies cool some more before storing them.

All I Want For My Birthday Is...

...a really awesome, fancypants camera.
And that is exactly what I got! Thanks mom and dad!

Now I just have to learn how to take good pictures with it!

The Most Delicious Lemon Squares

One of my favourite places to visit is San Francisco. It is an amazing city, and it is also home to my sister, my aunt and uncle, and my cousins. As a result, I end up going to San Francisco at least 2 or 3 times a year, despite the fact that it takes longer to get there from New York than it would take to get to Iceland.

All of my relatives who live in San Francisco are awesome cooks. My sister always amazes me with her creativity when it comes to food. Last time we were both in Houston, she made a pizza with barbeque sauce, peaches, and chorizo. I was seriously skeptical of these flavour combinations, but it was incredible. I also love my Aunt Jeanie's cooking, and have often asked her for recipes.

When I was in San Francisco almost a year ago, Aunt Jeanie made lemon squares that were to die for. I think I ate almost an entire pan of them. Before these lemon squares, I had never loved lemon squares that much. These were so buttery and crumbly, with the perfect balance of tart and sweet. I was so addicted. This was a recipe I had to have, and it is now a recipe that I perhaps make too often. The good news is that my friends love them too, so I always have someone to share them with.

I made a batch recently, realized I hadn't blogged about them yet, and decided that I needed to.

Right after I made this batch, I went to an orchestra rehearsal, during which my roommate Liz texted me to ask if she could have one. I said yes and asked if they turned out okay. Her response was, "Oh my holy f**k they're amazing!" When I returned from orchestra, half of the pan was already gone, courtesy of Simon and Liz.

Lemon Squares

recipe from my Aunt Jeanie

Part 1:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sifted flour

Spread these ingredients in a 9 by 9 greased pan.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Part 2:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix all ingredients together and pour over first part.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still hot.

Cut into squares!