I’d bought some frozen mahi mahi at Trader Joe’s, and I wanted a child-friendly recipe to use them up. I found one for Mahi Cutlet with Meyer Lemons and Capers at the Food Network, which got very good reviews. I, of course, made it with regular lemons (you can read my rant about lemons here). The results were mixed. I liked the fish itself, the breading was crispy and stayed on the fish, but it was bland. Next time I’ll add salt to the eggs.
The sauce, OTOH, was a complete waste of expensive ingredients. It was bitter, too sour, and had a weird off-taste. I think the fish would be better with just lemon juice added.
Camila really liked the fish – and this is a child that has a “it’s yucky” attitude to everything I make. She called it fish nuggets, and I guess that was enough for her to eat it. Mika wasn’t hear for that dinner, but I think she may try it next time.
Of course, fried fish is not ideal for anyone, but I’m hoping that if they start eating fish this way, they’ll accept it in other permutations later.
Category: Recipes (Page 18 of 26)
Last night, to celebrate my oldest daughter’s 7th birthday (which we are celebrating again today, and celebrated before on Wednesday), I made my grandmother’s sponge cake. It has been over 25 years since I’ve had it, but I think what I made was pretty close to the original. The cake, perhaps, wasn’t as light – and the lemon curd was too creamy-looking (I remember my grandmother’s as being more translucent). But it tasted quite close to what my grandmother made, and it was very yummy.
At first I thought the recipe she used came from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook that she used, but then I found a recipe typed up into my aunt Gladys’ recipe notebook, so that’s the one I made. Here is the recipe.
August 2011 update
My oldest wanted sponge cake for a tea we were hosting yesterday so I revisited this recipe with her. It was fun making it together, though a bit messy giving all the sifting and we used up lots of bowls. This time I didn’t make the lemon curd (even as a child I preferred with with whipped cream as a frosting), but rather served it along side fresh strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream. It was a big success with kids and adults alike. Thanks Granny!
December 2020 update
I made this again for our coronavirus Christmas dinner – nuclear family only – and it was a huge success. This time I didn’t add any cream to the filling, and I added only 1/2 cup of cream to the remainder to use as frosting. I think this is how I’ll make it in the future.
This cake was extra special because we used lemons from the tree that started growing on its own besides our house – probably a child of the lemon tree our neighbors used to have.
November 2022 Update
I made the cake for my Thanksgiving dinner this year at my oldest’s request. Even though I didn’t eat it until the next day, as I was too tired for dessert that night, it was perfect and just like I remembered it from my childhood. Like the time before I didn’t add cream to the filling and only 1/2 cup of cream to the frosting, and it’s definite the right way to make it.
Granny’s Sponge Cake
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 tsp. lemon rind, grated
- 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix sifted flour with the baking powder and the salt. Sift three additional times. Set aside.
Beat together 4 yolks with the cold water and lemon rind until light and frothy. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups sugar and then the flour. Set aside.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon juice and beat until it has stiff peaks.
Fold the egg whites into the flour mixture. Pour into ungreased 8″ baking pans. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool, unmold and frost.
Granny’s Lemon Frosting
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 4 tsp. butter
- 2 tsp. lemon rind
- 1/2 cup to 2 cups whipped cream*
Combine the sugar, flour, eggs, lemon juice, water and butter in a medium pot. Put pot on top of a double boiler, or directly under a very low heat, and cook stirring constantly until it thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely.
Fold in the lemon rind and 1/2 cup of whipped cream. Spread between cake layers. Fold in the remaining 1 1/2 cups whipped cream, and frost top and sides of cake.
*Note: I think it comes out better if you don’t fold in any cream for the filling and use only 1/2 cup of whipped cream for the frosting.
Last night I made Crema Catalana, a Catalan custard similar to creme brulee. That meant I had a lot of egg whites leftover, so I figured I’d make meringues.
Both my mother and my grandmother Granny used to make meringues from time to time. Granny made them white and crunchy. My mother insisted on putting food coloring on them, and they always ended up being soggy. I much preferred Granny’s. In Argentina, meringue “sandwiches”, with a dulce de leche filling, are pretty common. Tiny ones are presented as masas finas, and huge ones make a diabetes-inducing snack.
Still, in my many years as a home cook I’d never made meringues – I guess I thought they were too hard. Nothing could be further from the truth. It must be the easiest thing I ever made. Basically all you do is beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks, add sugar (1/4 cup per egg white – I told you they were sinful) and beat until the peaks form again. Then you put them in a 200F pre-heated oven for an hour, turn off the heat and leave them in the oven for another hour. The ones I made last night turned out beautiful, even though the girls (7 & 4 yo) were the ones to put them on the cookie sheets (make sure to oil/flour them well).
Will I make them again? Perhaps if I have too many egg whites to get rid off, but really, they are so sugary that I feel bad giving them to my children.
My Caprese menu consisted only of Torta Caprese, I couldn’t find any other recipes that I could tell were uniquely caprese and that both Mike and I would like. The cake, however, was outstanding. You can find the recipe at:
http://www.marga.org/food/int/capri/torta.html
A couple of nights ago I made this Tomato Cream Sauce to serve over frozen ravioli. It was good but not great – definitely not worth the effort or the expense (i.e. jarred sauce is just as good and cheaper). It also produced about twice as much sauce as we actually needed. Won’t make it again.
I had plan on making Irish stew for St. Patrick’s day, but it was Tuesday, and Tuesday I get home late from the kids’ swimming lessons, and I just ran out of time. So I made it last night instead. The recipe I used comes from The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother
The results were quite good, the herbs gave an amazing smell while being cooked, but were more subtle on the final product. My only problem was that the sauce was too liquid. If I make it again, I will uncover the pot during the last half an hour or so of cooking. I also did not put the carrots in the stew. I bought them, I swear, but I couldn’t find them anywhere! Now, it’s true that my kitchen is a mess, but I did look everywhere I could think of! I have to conclude that the two little bunnies who live in this house consumed them and won’t own up to it.
Irish Beef Stew
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 lbs beef chuck, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 2-3 Tbsp. flour
- 3/4 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup Guinness stout
- 1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
- 2 carrots, sliced
- salt & pepper to taste.
Preheat oven to 275F
Put a large pot on the stove, over high heat, and add the oil and the bay leaves. Cook for a moment, and add the meat. Brown on all sides. Add the sliced onion and cook until transparent, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic, thyme, rosemary and flour. Stir until smooth. Add the broth and stout and simmer until the stew thickens a bit, stirring frequently. Add the parsley and carrots and stir. Season with salt and pepper, and stir. Cover the pot and place in the oven for about 2 hours.
I’ve been trying to be a little more thrifty on what I make for dinner, and part of that is using things I have at home – mostly leftover from other meals. Yesterday it was the turn of cream and bacon (both perishable). I also had leftover Parmessan cheese (from Christmas, it’s great that cheese lasts so long), so the logical thing to make was a Carbonara – even though I’d made one a couple of weeks ago.
This time I followed this recipe by Nigella Lawson (which I guess is a Food Network star – I don’t have cable so I don’t really know her). The recipe was quite good and Mika & Mika enjoyed it (though apparently Mika no longer likes bacon). I liked it too, but I didn’t think it was worth the calories. Still, I think it’s the carbonara recipe I’ve liked most so far.
I think the one I made before is this one. It was also quite good. But I think, perhaps, that no carbonara I could make would be worth its calories. Which is not to say I wouldn’t make it again, just not too often.
Yesterday I made some cupcakes from this recipe (who the hell is Amy Sedaris, anyway?). Camila helped me. Perhaps for that reason the cupcakes just didn’t come out – they barely rose. Taste wise they were OK, not very sweet or special, just OK. I wouldn’t make them again. I really need a recipe for cupcakes that is fool-proof – where the measurements don’t need to be too exact for it to work, because God knows, I no longer get to measure anything.
Now, for the frosting I modified this recipe. I chose it specifically because it didn’t require as much powdered cream as the other one. I reduced it by 2/3 because I didn’t have that many cupcakes to frost, and still, there was too much frosting. My modified frosting was very good, in particular the second day. Here is the “recipe”
Buttercream frosting
- 6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 5 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar.
Mix the cream cheese and butter together in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, and mix until creamy.
Today, Lotti and Vienna came over for tea (our fourth tea partner, Regina, has unfortunately moved to NY – we miss you Regina!). The house was a complete mess, so I spent much more time cleaning up than cooking – but I still wanted to have something yummy to go with the tea (that English breakfast tea I bought at Harrod’s in the London Airport). What I served were simple things:
–Chicken salad sandwiches
–Sugar Cookies
–Scones with butter & strawberry jam.
The only new recipe was that for the scones, and they were fairly easy to make and quite good. IT wasn’t the definitive recipe for scones, however, which is why I did not copy it here.
I’ve been looking for tea cups at Thrift Town, a great thrift store, and I’ve bought three so far. I hope I can find more 🙂
Last night I made Pork Chops With Banana And Bacon, an Antiguan recipe. Of course, I’ve now added the recipe to my website, as part of my international cooking project, but I wanted also to blog about the banana-bacon chunks because the combination was absolutely delicious.
Basically, all you do is cut a banana in large chunks, lightly saute some bacon, wrap each banana chunk with a slice of bacon, put them in a skewer, and broil them (or grill them) for a few minutes. Wow!
I think they’d go great as a side to any dish, but also as a small breakfast treat. Try it!
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