Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted on March 13, 2013 by photoappetite

We were shooting a lemon meringue pie this week at the photo studio and I wanted to share with you this beautiful pie that the food stylist Barb Standal created. I wish I could say I could bake such a well crafted crust and wield a lovely swirl top, but I can only admire the skills of Barb. I did get to be a part of the Meringue testing that took place a few days before the photo shoot, they tested four different meringue recipes to test how they performed when baked. So of course we had to do a taste test along the way. One was too sweet, one was too saggy, one was too eggy and one was just right. I will share with you the recipe of the winner..Cuz Betty know’s best. The winner was no other than the classic Betty Crocker. Hopefully this might inspire you to bake this beautiful pie a nice treat.

Cool update Star Tribune story on Lemon Meringue:

1: Heat oven to 450°F. Make pie crust as directed on box for One-Crust Baked Shell using 9-inch glass pie pan. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
2: Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 1/4 cups sugar, the cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in cold water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3: In small bowl, beat egg yolks with fork. Stir about 1/4 cup of hot mixture into egg yolks. Gradually stir yolk mixture into hot mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4: Remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon peel and lemon juice. Cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Pour into cooled baked shell.
5: Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. In small deep bowl with electric mixer, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla on medium speed about 1 minute or until soft peaks form. On high speed, gradually beat in sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Spoon meringue onto hot filling; spread to edge of crust to seal well and prevent shrinkage.
6: Bake at 350°F 12 to 15 minutes or until meringue is light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Refrigerate until filling is set, about 3 hours. Store in refrigerator.
FYI: Eggs separate most easily when they are cold, but the whites will whip best at room temperature. To take off the chill, set the bowl of whites into a larger pan filled with warm water.

Edamame Sweet Pea Dip

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Edamame Sweet Pea Dip

It’s snowing outside in mid february and all I can think about is spring. I have a craving for something fresh and green. I heard about this sweet pea dip that sounded interesting, there are a lot of versions you will find, most of them with garlic mint and parmesan cheese. This one sounded good to me and low-calorie. I mixed half edamame peas and half sweet peas, we really liked the combination. The Edamame gives it the rich base layer and the sweet peas give it some sweetness. It does have a very nice fresh flavor, thoughts of fresh spring peas in the garden. Happy dipping

Lemongrass Trout with Mango Salad

Posted on January 30, 2013 by photoappetite

The other day we had some fresh fish in the studio for a photo shoot, this golden trout was just too pretty not to cook up for a photo shoot. I worked with stylist Karla Spies and we found this recipe from my favorite Donna Hay. I do not cook a lot of fish at home mostly because I don’t have a lot of experience and find it kinda of intimidating. But this method of baking it in the parchment paper in the oven was rather simple and makes for an easy clean up. The combination of the mango salad and trout has a nice compliment of flavors. ingredients Preheat oven to 400 F. Layer pieces of non-stick baking paper on a tray and fold 3 edges in to form an envelope, leaving one edge open. Slide the lemongrass in the envelope, drizzle the Trout with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Slide the Trout in the envelope and fold the remaining edge of the parcel to enclose the fish, bake for 25-30 minutes depending on the size of your fish. The fish should be firm to the touch and cooked through.

Place the chilli, bean sprouts, mango, mint and green onion in a bowl and toss to combine. Carefully open the parcel, letting the steam escape, and top with the mango salad and spoon over the dressing. Serve with the lime wedges.

Spicy Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Pancetta Soup

Posted on January 21, 2013 by photoappetite

It’s dipping below zero temperatures here in Mpls. Makes you want to stay inside and make something warm. I’ve been reading about how healthy sweet potato and Quinoa are for you, so when I saw this recipe in Donna Hay Magazine I had to give it a try. I enjoyed the soup pretty simple to make and you can load it up with all the spinach you want.

Danish Aebleskiver – pancake balls

Posted on January 10, 2013 by photoappetite

Danish Aebleskiver is a traditional Danish pancake that you need a special aebleskiver pan to make. I would have never come across these perfect little dough balls had it not been for a food stylist I work with Karla. Karla brought the aebleskiver pan into the studio along with the Pat Sinclair “Scandinavian classic Baking” cookbook and started making us some pancake balls. It looked so interesting I had to document her baking extravaganza. The process of making the batter is a lot of whipping and whisking, the batter is a fluffy dense texture. Then Karla started dolloping the batter into the pan and little beautiful dough balls started popping out. She was dropping a blueberry in the center of each ball. After dropping the batter in the pan, wait a minute or tow for the dough to rise up a little and then drop whatever your filling may be. That’s the fun creative part, you can experiment with all sorts of combinations. Karla made her pancake balls at home with apple and bacon inside. We tested some chocolate-pretty good. We did all agree the batter could have used some more sugar. But was pretty tasty with maple syrup on them, the recipe calls for applesauce as a side. The cookbook looked really great with lots of pictures and tasty recipes, Pat Sinclair is a local Mpls MN recipe developer and has a blog spot.

patcooksandbakes.blogspot.com

I did enjoy the Aebleskiver pancake balls, not enough to go out and buy myself a Aebleskiver pan. But am more then willing to eat some more pancake balls if they should come my way again.

Pomegranate Orange Champagne Punch

Posted on December 29, 2012 by photoappetite

champagneglass Time to say goodbye to 2012 and celebrate the New Year. Here is a new champagne cocktail to share with your friends and family. My Aunt had me mixing this punch up on christmas eve and I had to share this recipe with you. It is sure to be a hit so stock up on all the ingredients. CHEERS

Christmas Rosette Cookies

Posted on December 20, 2012 by photoappetite

The holidays are mostly about nostalgia and family traditions for me. Those favorite treats that come out on the buffet table and you try to wait till after dinner before you eat them all. My grandparent’s house is the root of most of my childhood holiday memories. Gathering in the basement and my grandpa playing christmas records, the kids gathered around with the song books in hand. Whomever sang the best got to open up a gift, it was very competitive. Grandma was a good cook and had lots of christmas treats to choose from, one that always made it on the table was the Rosette cookies.

“A rosette called struva in Swedish is a thin, cookie-like deep-fried pastry of Scandinavian (Swedish and Norwegian) origin. Rosettes are traditionally made during Christmas time. They are made using intricately designed irons. The iron is heated to a very high temperature in oil, dipped into the batter, then re-immersed in the hot oil to create a crisp shell around the metal. The iron is immediately removed and the rosette is separated from the iron. Usually, the edges of the rosette are dipped into frosting or sugar. Rosette recipes are popular in the United States among families with Scandinavian ancestry.”

So when my mother in law asked if I wanted to help her make some Rosette cookies I was very excited, I had never actually seen anyone make them before. The tricky part was getting the oil to the correct temperature and getting the batter to the correct crispy pastry texture, and not eating them all as they came off the iron all warm and crunchy.

RECIPE

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
peanut oil for deep frying
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation:

Beat eggs slightly. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and salt. Add flour and milk alternately, blending until smooth. Stir in vanilla. The batter should be about as thick as pancake batter. If it isn’t, add more flour, a tablespoon at a time. If it is too thick, add a teaspoon of milk at a time.Heat 3″ of oil in a deep fryer to 365 degrees. (A deep frying thermometer is very helpful, and I highly recommend it.) Place a rosette iron in the hot oil for 60 seconds. There’s no way to take the temperature of the iron; it just has to be hot.

Dip the hot iron into the batter, making sure NOT to let the batter run over the top of the iron. If you do, the rosette will be impossible to remove. Immerse the coated iron in the hot fat and fry 25-30 seconds until light brown. Slip off onto a paper towel.

On large plate, combine 1 cup sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Dip rosettes in this mixture while still warm. You can also sprinkle them with powdered sugar. Don’t skip this step – the cookies aren’t really sweetened until they’re coated in some kind of sugar! Makes about 36 rosettes…….from Busy Cooks

Have a fabulous holiday and happy baking.

Brownie Cupcake with Chocolate Balsamic Ganache

Posted on December 11, 2012 by photoappetite

I found this recipe for Chocolate Balsamic Ganache and had to make some. This recipe is pretty simple and looks pretty fancy. I am not above making a brownie from a box, still baking in my book. Get your favorite brownie recipe and make them in a cupcake pan, you can make each desert. I then used some Creme Fraiche to frost each brownie cupcake. I put like four fresh raspberries on top and drizzled the chocolate balsamic ganache on top. Delicious and fabulous holiday presentation.

This ganche recipe is pretty versatile, if you cool it longer you can use it as a frosting or some people make truffles. Or use a flavored balsamic to add a flavor twist. Any way you want to use it’s yummy.

Pumpkin Black Bean Chili

Posted on November 5, 2012 by photoappetite

This week I have attended a couple of Chili contest events. What is better than a group of people getting together to eat lots of good Chili, while in costumes no less. I will say I did not win any golden spoons with this recipe. There was some steep competition, and I went with the vegetarian variety. Some people did say they liked it, but let’s be honest usually looking for some meat in my chili.

I found this Pumpkin Black Bean Chili recipe which looked interesting with the pumpkin. This was my first pie pumpkin I have ever cooked, I did like the pumpkin in the chili it gave it an interesting twist. My review of this was too much cinnamon and not enough spice for me. I would cut the cinnamon in half from the recipe and add some fresh chopped jalepeno when dishing up a bowl. I made it with red beans since that is what I had on hand, the veggies were good and the Guinness beer gave it a nice finish. The chili was very colorful and pretty-hey even healthy. But that soon changed as I added a dollop of sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped onions and cilantro on top. One can never have too many assecories with chili, a girl’s best friend.

Recipe from Crumb blog