Early Osterlamm

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Lucie and I were making antique store rounds in Fort Collins and Loveland, I found this:



I said, "Look Lucie, a chocolate mold from Germany!" She said, "No, that is a cake pan from Germany." Later in the day, we also found cast iron cake pans, quite more substantial. This one will do for now.

Since I gave you enough time before Easter to shop for a tin to make one for yourself, here is a link to start your search.

http://www.cake-pan.net/227/kaiser-nonstick-noblesse-lamb-mold/



The pan comes apart, prepare it by greasing and flouring both sides. Fit the sides back together with the provided clips and place "upside-down" on a parchment lined baking sheet. Some of the batter does find it's way out of the pan, not too bad though.



I used this recipe, mostly:

http://germanfoodguide.com/recipes.cfm?recipe_number=113

The only thing I did differently was, use vanilla extract in place of the "packet of vanilla sugar" I also used more coconut, almost double.

Fill with prepared batter and bake. The above recipe said 40 minutes but mine needed an additional 20 minutes at least.



I had to do a bit of surgery on the head, it didn't release as perfectly as the rest of the cake. There was also a trimming of the "top" before it was released from the pan, so it had a flat surface to sit on.



I have seen these decorated with icing, coconut and jelly beans. Maybe a few piped chocolate flowers. The best way to start though, is with a dusting of icing sugar.

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"Easter is the only time of the year when it's perfectly safe to put all your eggs in one basket." -unknown




"The tradition of eating lamb or ham at Easter finds its roots in pagan times. Pagans would preserve meat to eat throughout the winter. By the time spring arrived and livestock began to reproduce, people would eat the last of the cured or salted meat, knowing that there would soon be more. Lamb is also directly associated with Jesus, called the "lamb of God.""


Read more: Pagan Easter Food Traditions | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6910694_pagan-easter-food-traditions.html#ixzz1kbUgRpba

Caleb!

My new Great Nephew! Born January 22, 2012 @ 4:08pm



7lb, 14oz, 21.5 inches long

Pucker Up My Lovely!

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All of my holidays are running together. I got a new ice cream maker for Crimbo and the first use is a sorbet for Valentine's Day. This would be a perfect intermezzo for the nice meal you make for your loved one.

Pomegranate, Lemon and Vodka Sorbet



1 c. pomegranate juice, unsweetened
1 1/2 c. sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
1 c. water
3 caps full of vodka
lemon zest

Process in a ice cream maker and set further in the freezer. Serve with pomegranate seeds.


The next blog will be coming up soon and it is for Easter. I am really getting ahead this year. You will see why in a few weeks.

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"I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age." -Rabindranath Tagore

Maultaschen

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We are making Maultaschen again! Here is a reminder of past Maultaschen. In the link you will see a promise to ask Lucie to make a more traditional version. This is how Lucie's grandmother taught her to make the filled delights.

http://i-want-my-umami.blogspot.com/search?q=Maultaschen

Make a basic semolina pasta dough. Let it rest. In the meantime....




Make the filling:

1 leek, finely chopped and sauteed, cooled
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped and sauteed, cooled
Fresh parsley, as much as desired, finely chopped and sauteed, cooled
1 pound spinach, chopped and sauteed, cooled
1/2 pound prosciutto, trimmed, chopped in 1/8 pieces
1 pound ground veal, ground very fine in a processor with a small handful of ice.
2, or 3 Eggs
2, or 3 pieces of white bread, soaked in water and then squeeze the water out.

Use these spices and salt and pepper for your taste. The one labeled Rauchsalz is a smoked salt.

Mix all this together as shown above, taste for seasoning.



On the completely rolled out dough, put the filling as shown. Using an egg wash, brush around the filling and the dough edges.



Hide that meaty filling with a top layer of dough.



Seal the edges by pressing lightly around edges. Cut around edges and then once again go around the edges to seal.

Here they are ready to go in boiling water for a few minutes.





Remove to a cooling rack to cool and dry out.

Serve!



You can also make a big batch and freeze them for another day.

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"Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding"

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Stagier Who Once Stared At Goats

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There was a surprise in the post! A book from my niece Becky! One of her fellow author friends wrote a cookbook and it was delivered signed by the author. Well, this sent memories flooding back, of my time in France. While I am a raging Anglophile, I'm going to sometimes do a bit of Franco reminiscing on the blog. I already highlighted Rugis in a previous blog. During culinary school our class spent a month in Provence, the rest of the class each had a stage at a restaurant. In my case though, I had a stage at a goat cheese farm. I got to view and help in the making of Frommage de Chevre. Living on site of the small farm was a delight and insightful. Besides helping to manage the goats and making the cheese; I cooked for the family, babysat a grandchild, refinished a chair to conform with regulations from a then recent inspection, collected herbs to adorn the cheese for market, delivered to market, helped plant the garden, etc. The dairy is connected to the farmhouse, the first thing I noticed is the smell of milk and developing cheese as I walked in the front door. A hop, skip and head-butt away from the house was the goat barn. All around was the grasses that the goats frequently grazed. A flavour that came out in the cheese. The buildings were built stone by stone, by the man of the house. Yes, this was quite hands on! There must be a picture of this farm in a dictionary entry for terroir.

La Ferme les Billiardes






“Put silk on a goat and it is still a goat” -Irish saying

....But if life throws goats at you, make cheese!



Different goat cheese styles ready for delivery to market: (One of my favourites is the ash coated cheese on the top right. There is a version in England, Kidderton Ash, can't wait to taste that again!)



A speciality of the area, Banon cheese. There was a hired lady that comes by to the farm kitchen table, after the cheese has matured, about 8 weeks. This lady has the cheese lined up and her job is to, at great speed, spray the cheese with brandy and wrap the cheese in Chestnut leaves in a nice neat bundle with the farm's label. This cheese is not available in the United States.



Back to the book I mentioned at the start. This book is for showcasing and making available the food of French housewives. I recommend this book to anyone that wants elegant, everyday food put together in easy recipes. After a quick peruse, I looked up goat cheese in the index. I was delighted to find this recipe for goat cheese broiled onto bread. I can attest that it is in fact, a recipe well used in restaurants, as well. Every restaurant I have worked at has had a version of this.



It is really nice with the honey drizzled at the end.

Another good thing to do is use local ingredients when possible. I was happy to use local Chevre' and honey.



This wouldn't be my blog without a twist to the recipe. This time it comes in the form of roquette pesto. A basic pesto, but made with roquette and the nuts used are almonds in this particular recipe.

I have to show off my goat bowl. I bought it at a St. Remy market. St. Remy was just one of the wonderful markets our class shopped at on a regular basis in France.







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“Don't approach a goat from the front, a horse from the back, or a fool from any side.” - Yiddish proverb

Kind Of Hard To Beat Brinner

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My Ryan brought a present home to me. Smoked duck breast from Choice City Deli here in Fort Collins. What a rare treat! We snacked on some and I plan to make a smoked duck breast/arugula pizza with three cheese cream sauce. Oh, but first, Smoked Duck Breast Eggs Benedict.

This time the sauce was Maltaise, from the mother sauce Hollandaise. Maltaise is made with blood oranges. Blood oranges are a mutation of sweet oranges, they contain anthocyanins. Anthocyanins is a pigment found in flowers and fruit, but not common to citrus fruit. Here is a word, or two about the health benefits of Blood oranges:

http://blood-oranges.com/health-benefits-of-blood-oranges/

"Blood oranges’ red pigmentation contains anthocyanins, which are basic natural compounds that give color to fruits, plants and vegetables. Nutrition experts believe that anthocyanins have anti-inflammatory properties that affect the collagen, and are also good for preventing cancer, diabetes and bacterial infections, as well as reducing the risk of heart disease. Studies show that they also help against illnesses that come with age. Another one of the health benefits of blood oranges is that they help to defend blood vessels from oxidative damage. In addition, they help prevent LDL cholesterol accumulation. In general, the anthocyanin in blood oranges will help the body heal itself."

I had a few blood orange trees when I lived in California and used the fruit to make pink lemonade very frequently. Blood oranges originated in China and are most often grown in Italy now. In this recipe the variety is Moro.



Thanks Ryan!





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"You got brinner? Daaaaaamn, Turkle Dog!" -Dr. Kelso