A Dinner to Remember

Today was soooo easy!

I finished the fresh fruit tart, made potato gratin (pg 423), roasted salmon with cranberry-mustard sauce (pg 380), and broccoli with mustard butter (pg 462). The potatoes took a while to cook, but thanks to my food processor, slicing them and shredding the cheese took all of 5 minutes. The potatoes just disappear into the processor in seconds and turn into evenly cut potato slices.

The tart was fun to top and the broccoli and salmon cooked quickly. I don't eat a lot of meat and seafood is just not my thing. Scott described the salmon as good with the lean cuisine cranberry dessert as topping. I didn't think it was bad, but really enjoyed the potatoes and broccoli. The roles I made yesterday were buttery good and I could see the layers after biting into it. :)

Some photos :

Long Waits :)

Yesterday was Sunday and I cooked up a storm!
Pizza Blanca with Goat Cheese and Greens pg 214
Butterhorn Rolls pg 486
Caesar Salad with sourdough croutons pg 142
Fresh Fruit Tart pg 608

As soon as we got in from church I made pizza dough for the white pizza. This dough takes about 6 hours to make. That wasn't because it is complex, just because there are hours of waiting in between. I never know how much flour to add to pizza dough, so this was rather sticky.

Next, I started the dough for the butterhorn rolls. This also takes over five hours and was again easy to whip up, but what does "just begins to pull away from sides of mixing bowl" I have no clue.

After that, I started the crust for the fresh fruit tart. This was difficult because I couldn't get the butter and shortening to becomes "coarse meal". It instead turned into a wet ball with lumps of butter. I guess I didn't make the chunks of butter and shortening small enough.

After much in and out of the fridge and punching down of different doughs, I made sourdough croutons. They were easy and delicious. I snacked on a few while, I made the Ceasar salad dressing. This was the most different dressing I've seen for Caesar. It seems healthier because it has no mayo or eggs.

Now for the rolls, which were so sticky to roll out and seemed to need a trip to the fridge before I could roll up. I think I need to be brave next time and just add more flour.

Same with the pizza dough. I got it to roll out beautifully, but then it wouldn't come off the counter. Next I put it on wax paper, but that slides over the counter as you try to roll it out. Whew!

The pizza was great and the salad was good. My feet were sore, but I really enjoyed the day.

Summer is Sweet

Yesterday I took my last final of the spring semester and have one week off before summer classes begin. I can't wait to burn off some stress by cooking all week. Today we went to only two grocery stores and got my ingredients for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Up this week are Salmon, Pizza, and lamb. Also a lot of breads will be involved, so I'm planning on having a lot of time in the kitchen.

To get things started today, I made Double Berry Preserves on pg. 497 with Strawberries and raspberries. I used a mini-processor to chop them up and it was on the stove in no time. The smell of the fruit cooking down was excellent and so fresh. I thought I'd made much more than the recipe called for, but after cooking it down, it came out about right. They are cooling in the fridge now. :)