the last of the curd.

I have been in the midst of taking stock of all the food in our freezer and cupboards to try to start using is up (and also to save a little money). The meyer lemon curd of yore has been waiting patiently in the freezer and I've had a box of graham cracker sticks in the cupboard for a while that needed a mission. So when I saw the recipe for Meyer Lemon Cheesecake on The Kitchen Sink I knew that we had a winner.

My big plan was to take it for dinner at a friends house where we were going to watch the final four. My inexperience at making cheesecake hindered this plan because I didn't realize that I needed to chill it for at least 8 hours before eating it... and that is after letting it come to room temperature, which takes about six. Our little cheesecake made the trip to our friends house, sat tempting us for the evening, but never had the time to properly chill, so it traveled back home with us and became our dessert for the next night.

Cheesecake was a lot easier to make than I expected and I am excited to try new flavors. I will say that the recipe for the crust was fantastic and will be used again. I changed a little bit from the original recipe for the cheesecake, adding some more fattening cream cheese to make it a little richer. It is pretty yummy!


Graham Cracker Crust
Adapted from Gourmet

1 1/3 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (5 oz)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. 3Stir together crust ingredients in a bowl, then press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.


Lemon Swirled Cheesecake
Adapted from Cooking Light

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) blocks fat-free cream cheese, softened
3 (8-ounce) blocks 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) blocks full fat cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
1 cup lemon curd (find recipe here)

To prepare the filling, beat cheeses at high speed of a mixer until smooth. Add 1 3/4 cups sugar and the next 4 ingredients (1 3/4 cups sugar through salt); beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour the cheese mixture into prepared pan. Spoon mounds of Lemon Curd over filling, and swirl together using the tip of a knife. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cheesecake is almost set. Remove cheesecake from oven, and cool to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.

behind.

And sick. In between traveling for work last week and having my dad in town for the weekend I caught my first sickness for the year. And I totally thought that I had bypassed it this year. I have a great post on Meyer Lemon Cheesecake on the burner... but for now I leave you with this courtesy of my friend Kelly over at Design Crush.


Welcome to my weekend.

my first vanilla bean.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to find a reason to use a vanilla bean. I watched in envy as food network chefs split the bean and scraped out the seeds to make something really tasty. But I just never found a reason to use one. I didn't have an ice cream maker until recently, so there was no vanilla ice cream to be made. And I just never really had a recipe that required the skinny, little bean. Until now.


Hooray! It's Guinness Ice Cream Day!

I will say, that this ice cream turned out much better than my last attempt. The flavor was great. Like fabulous vanilla ice cream with a hint of the Guinness sharpness. Like a Guinness float! Yum! The perfect treat for St. Paddy's Day.


Guinness Ice Cream
adapted from Emeril Lagasse on foodtv.com

1 can Guinness stout
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 egg yolks

In a large saucepan, simmer the Guinness until reduced by 3/4 in volume, about 8 minutes. Combine the cream, milk, and sugar in a medium, heavy saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pan and add the vanilla bean halves. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat.
Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Gradually add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, to the hot cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 170 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to keep a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and add the Guinness reduction, whisking until well blended. Pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

the great st. patrick's day extravaganza.

It has taken me a long time to get this whole St. Patrick's Day feast uploaded for you all, and I am sorry about that. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. But here it is, with lots of photos to boot.

St. Patrick's Day is a big to do in our little group of friends. There is always a gathering, usually there is basketball (although this year we were a week too early for that tradition), there is beer and there is food. The food is usually made by me. And this year I was ready for the challenge yet again. Especially after I saw the cover of Bon Appetite's March issue. The grilled corned beef and fontina sandwiches were it, but first came dessert. Okay, I made it first... intending for it to be eaten last... but it was not. It was eaten first too.


Dessert was my second attempt at ice cream: Guinness Ice Cream. When our friend Nate gave us an ice cream maker for our wedding, I promised him Guinness ice cream for St. Paddy's. And I make good on my promise. And damn is tasted good. However, I am saving it for the next post. So the partner dessert will have to tide you over until then. I needed something to go with the ice cream. Cookies seemed right and added something else to munch on for the day. I chose Meyer Lemon Sablés by Orangette because I still had a couple meyer lemons from our meyer lemon curd expedition. They tasted great, but...


Since I baked them at a friend's house, I had no parchment and no silpat to bake them on as instructed. Not good. Obviously. But at least the crumbs tasted good. And we got a couple full cookies out of the deal.

On to the savory... as for the corned beef, I did not brine it myself. The week of preparation was just to much for me to commit to this year. But the pre-brined that I bought at Lund's tasted mighty good. I braised it with beer and peppercorns and a couple bay leafs and it came out great.


I also made Braised Cabbage with Carrots and Onions, also by Orangette. You just gotta have cabbage with the corned beef, whether it is in sandwich form or not.


I also did some rosemary roasted potatoes. Red potatoes, olive oil, rosemary, S and P. Simple and perfect.


Last but not least, the sandwich. These were amazing. Melty with cheese, tangy with Guinness Dijon Mustard and sweet with caramelized onions. Just great. I wish I had eaten a whole one instead of just eating bites of my husbands. Oh well, I guess I will just have to make them again!


Guinness mustard
Bon Appétit - March 2008

1/2 cup coarse-grained Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons regular Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Guinness stout or other stout or porter
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon golden brown sugar

Whisk all ingredients in small bowl to blend. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.

Grilled Corned Beef and Fontina Sandwiches
adapted from Bon Appétit - March 2008

Good bread, I used a french style loaf, but you could use rye or whatever you wanted
Guinness Dijon mustard
1 pound thinly sliced corned beef
8 ounces thinly sliced Fontina cheese
2 sweet onion (such as Maui or Vidalia), thinly sliced and caramelized
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, divided

Place 4 bread slices on work surface. Spread mustard on 1 side of each. Divide corned beef among bread slices. Top with cheese and onion. Cover with remaining 4 bread slices, pressing slightly to adhere.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in each of 2 large nonstick skillets over medium heat. Place 2 sandwiches in each skillet and cook until golden brown on bottom, pressing occasionally with spatula, about 3 minutes. Turn sandwiches over and cook until golden on bottom and cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Transfer sandwiches to plates, cut in half, and serve.

meyer lemon ricotta pancakes.

Still basking in the glory or the Meyer Lemon Curd, and with a whole lot of leftover zest, Sunday morning brought pancakes. Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. I have always wanted to try these little guys, but at every brunch I have had the chance I always lean toward something else. I really am much more of a savory brunch gal. And I am very picky about my pancakes. In the olden days, I wouldn't eat a pancake unless it was very small... silver dollar sized. My mom made them for me special. High-maintenance, even at age 5.


So Sunday was the day for pancakes. These were a bit more time intensive then I would have liked. I mean, for me, Sundays mean ordering coffee, not whipping egg whites. But I was chipper and I whipped and folded with the best of them.


They had great flavor, especially with all the lemon curd that I put on top of them. But they were a little too grainy for my taste. Next time I will probably use whole milk ricotta instead of part skim... hopefully that will help. One key point I will mention is that the batter is pretty thick, so pouring was not an option for me. I used a scoop and spread method which worked out better and help make the pancakes not to thick in the middle. Dave ate three platefuls, so, in my mind, that means the pancakes were a success.


Meyer Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
adapted from Gourmet

4 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups ricotta
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
melted butter for brushing the griddle
large dollops of Meyer Lemon Curd for topping

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, the ricotta, the sugar, and the zest, add the flour, and stir the mixture until it is just combined. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold stiff peaks, whisk about one fourth of them into the ricotta mixture, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Heat a griddle over moderately high heat until it is hot enough to make drops of water scatter over its surface and brush it with some of the melted butter. Working in batches, pour the batter onto the griddle by 1/4-cup measures and cook the pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden, brushing the griddle with some of the melted butter as necessary. Transfer the pancakes as they are cooked to a heatproof platter and keep them warm in a preheated 200°F. oven.

an amazing find.

I just wanted to share with you all this amazing thing that I picked up at Whole Foods the other day. Anyone who visits Whole Foods regularly knows that they have a great cheese department with lots of little sample to enjoy as you peruse their selection. Well, my cheese department wander led me to a fantastic find: Palatte Fine Foods Chili Honey. It was sitting there, calling out to me next to a pile of Dubliner Cheddar cubes that were just waiting to be dunked into their new neighbor. It was a pairing to jump around about. The honey has a deep honey sweet flavor with a hint of heat from the peppers, which is obvious, but not overwhelming. Paired with the slightly salty cheese, it is a match made in heaven. I couldn't resist. I picked up a honey jar and a slab of cheese and headed home excitedly to enjoy it with my fresh loaf of Olive Oil Focaccia from Lucia's To-Go. It was the best Sunday afternoon snack a gal could ask for. I highly suggest you try it.

nectar of the gods.

Everyone who's anyone knows that it is meyer lemon season. And, I ask you, is there any better way to enjoy the lovely taste of lemon than in curd form? I think not. And enjoy it we did, my friend Megan and I, the whole entire process of the curd from zesting to custarding.


I never really knew what the deal was with curd and I never dreamed that I would be able to make it myself. But, I gotta tell you, it is so easy! It does take some tenderness to make sure that the custard doesn't curdle... no need for scrambled eggs in the curd. We actually made a triple batch and had no problems.

The whole process is a treat for the senses. The beautiful color of the lemons and the juice. Then the amazing smell that wafts through the kitchen while you whisk it... like lemon pudding but better. Rich and fresh at the same time. And then of course the taste. Good enough to eat straight off the spoon.


There may be a whole lot of butter involved, but I definitely will make curd again. Lemon, lime and more meyer lemon if I can get my hands on them.


Meyer Lemon Curd
Gourmet
3 to 4 Meyer lemons (about 1 lb)
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Finely grate enough zest from lemons to measure 2 teaspoons and squeeze enough juice to measure 1/2 cup. Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a metal bowl and add butter. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, whisking, until thickened and smooth and an instant-read thermometer registers 160°F, about 5 minutes. Force curd through a fine sieve set into another bowl. Serve warm or cover surface of curd with wax paper and cool completely.

Lemon curd keeps, covered and chilled, 1 week and can also be frozen.
If substituting regular lemons, increase sugar to 3/4 cup.



Enjoy your curd with a nice scone, some pancakes or just a nice spoon. A related recipe for Lemon Ricotta Pancakes that, topped with Meyer Lemon Curd, are out of this world, will grace this blog very soon.