Tres Leches Cake with Berries

Tacos were on the menu for my first birthday party (many years ago!).  I have no recollections from that party but do know that tacos have been my birthday dinner menu ever since.  The tradition has evolved in that most birthdays, in my immediate family, are celebrated with a taco dinner. My daughter-in-love’s birthday coincided with our first free after-tax season weekend.  It was the perfect time to have the family over and have tacos with all the trimmings! They were so good! Most importantly, it was wonderful to have my family gathered in our home once more! Between grandchildren, children and my parents, we had 12 in attendance.  I loved it! Nana’s house was full once more!

I wanted to make something different for dessert and found a recipe for Tres Leches cake in Ina Garten’s latest cookbook, Make It Ahead.  How perfect was that, a Mexican-style cake after our taco dinner? Tres Leches literally means three milks.  It is a light sponge cake that is drizzled with a mixture of three milks; evaporated, sweetened condensed, and cream.  The milk mixture soaks into the cake overnight.  The cake, surprisingly, isn’t soggy but has a cream-like consistency to it. It was part pudding, part cake. I served it with fresh-from-the-patch strawberries and freshly whipped cream. It was a wonderful dessert!

 

Tres Leches Cake with Berries

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup whole milk
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
½ teaspoon almond extract
Whipped cream
5 cups sweetened berries (strawberries, or combination of strawberries, raspberries & blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking dish and set aside.

Place the room temperature eggs, sugar, and the vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  Fit with the paddle attachment, and beat on medium-high speed for 10 minutes or until extra light and fluffy.

While the eggs and sugar are mixing, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.

After 10 minutes of beating time, reduce the speed to low, and add half of the flour mixture. Then, add the whole milk, and finally the rest of the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula to make sure that the batter is mixed completely, and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Smooth out the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake springs back from the center when touched a cake tester comes out clean.

Place on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.

While the cake cools, whisk together the heavy cream, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and almond extract.

Poke the cake all over with a bamboo skewer, and then slowly pour the cream mixture over the cake, allowing it to soak in before continuing to pour more of the mixture.  Cover the cake and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 5 days before serving.

To serve, cut the cake into slices and top with the sugared berries and whipped cream.

I was beginning to doubt myself at this step, it seemed like so much milk mixture, but the cake absorbed it quite nicely!

 

Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp

I’m almost embarrassed to say this, but I only cooked one dinner last week. We either grabbed a quick bite on the way home from work, had pizza with our son and his family, or munched on cheese and crackers. I am so anxious to get back in the kitchen again. Only a few more days of tax season left!

A few days ago I was bound and determined to cook a nice dinner.  I knew it had to be something quick and easy as our life is so hectic right now.  I turned to my favorite cookbook author, Ina Garten, and her most recent book Make It Ahead and her Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp.

I first began roasting shrimp when I made Ina’s roasted shrimp appetizer.  Roasting the shrimp is so easy.  With this method of cooking, the shrimp has a very nice flavor.  I find sautéing shrimp often makes “rubbery” shrimp.  This is not the case when you roast them!

A good thing about this recipe is the ability to make part of it ahead of time. I prepped everything in the morning and refrigerated until I got home. All I had to do for dinner was throw the pan in the oven and make the side dishes. 

The sauce is very flavorful, with lots of lemon.  I served it with steamed broccoli and angel hair pasta, both of which were enhanced with a little of the lemony butter sauce.  We also had a few slices of sourdough baguette which we dipped in the butter. It was a great dinner!

Garlic & Herb Roasted Shrimp

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large lemons
2 pounds (8-10-count) shrimp, peeled with the tails on
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium sauté pan.  Add the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper and cook over low heat for one minute.  Off the heat, zest one of the lemons directly onto the butter mixture.

Meanwhile, arrange the shrimp snugly in one layer in a large (12-inch) round ovenproof sauté pan (or 10x13-inch baking dish) with only the tails overlapping. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.  Slice the ends off the zested lemon, cut five (1/4-inch-thick) slices, and tuck them among the shrimp.  Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, just until the shrimp are firm, pink, and cooked through.  Cut the remaining lemon in half and squeeze the juice onto the shrimp. 

Serve hot with toasted bread for dipping into the garlic butter.

 

 

Spring Has Sprung!

After a fairly wet March, we have rolled into April with sunshine, clear blue skies and the signs of spring all around us. Every morning I take a walk through our yard and enjoy the latest changes.  The roses are blooming.  The vines, once frost-bitten over the winter, are showing signs of new growth. Seeds planted in the days before Thanksgiving are now sweet peas with their fragrant flowers. Bees and butterflies are making their annual appearance.  I think Spring is my favorite season.  After a dull winter, with everything dead and brown, it's such a delight to see color again!

Each year I think my old bench won't survive the winter, but I think we'll have this for another season!

A geranium in Grandma McGee's old pot.

The mint plant, also known as the Mojito plant, is ready for another year of refreshing drinks!

The espalier apple tree in bloom.

The tiger lilies are almost ready to open!

Fragrant sweet peas!

The lavender plant attracts many bees!

A very fragrant jasmine vine!

My favorite rose bush, nothing compares to the fragrance of these red roses!

A clematis reaching for the sky (and daffodils done for another year).

Cross Stich Progress....Or, Lack Thereof!

I had such good intentions the start of this tax season to keep up with my cross stitching.  In late January I started on a marriage sampler and made pretty good progress.  My goal was to get some stitching in every few nights, for relaxation, if anything.  Well, life and other projects got in the way! I joined a quilt sew-along so have been (barely) keeping up with each week's new block.  I have had three eye surgeries since January, none planned. Days off for the procedures, doctor visits and recovery meant I got behind at work.  I've been working very long hours and weekends. So I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped! I started on the second row in February and that's as far as it's gone!

I did manage to finish two projects that have been gathering dust in my to-do pile. They didn't need much done to finish them, I just got bored with working on them.  They are now ready to go to the framer.

This very bright piece will go in my craft room. I love the little bee and ladybug!

This hummingbird piece took me forever to finish.  There are 45 different color threads in this and I stitched it on a piece of high-count (think small stitches!) linen. I was continually changing thread colors so it felt like I was never making progress.  Finally done and it will go in our guest bathroom where my other hummingbird stitcheries reside.

Three more weeks of tax season to go!  I have so many projects waiting!

Old-Fashioned Rhubarb Crisp

A few weeks ago, while driving home from San Francisco, we stopped at a little grill-type restaurant and had a late lunch. The daily dessert special was a rhubarb pie.  I haven't had rhubarb pie in eons, I instantly craved some, and ordered it.  Well, lo and behold, it seems this restaurant doesn't make their own pies.  What they thought was rhubarb was actually cherry.  Not even close to being the same!  Now I have nothing against a piece of cherry pie, but I wanted rhubarb!

 Rhubarb makes its annual appearance each spring.  Imagine my delight when my local grocery store had a display of freshly-picked rhubarb. Into my basket they went! Checkout took a little longer than normal as the clerk didn't know the produce code for rhubarb and had never heard of it. Nor had the friend, who I had run into, and was behind me in line. I was amazed! 

In case you don't know what rhubarb is, it's a pink or light red crisp stalk, very similar to a celery stalk.  Rhubarb is very tart.  Sugar is a must when baking with it!

I didn't have time to bake a pie.  The next best thing, in my opinion, is a crisp.  A layer of sweetened fruit on the bottom, topped by a brown sugar, crumbly top. It baked while we ate dinner.  My Hubbers likes his with ice cream, I'm fine with just the crisp.  It was equally good warmed up the next morning for my breakfast!

Old-Fashioned Rhubarb Crisp

4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, if desired

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, combine rhubarb, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Mix thoroughly (it will be crumbly, the sugar will not create a juice).  Pour into a greased 8" x 8" glass baking dish.

In same bowl, mix butter, oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt.  Sprinkle topping over the rhubarb mixture, creating an even layer.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until topping starts to brown.

Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

Lemon Tart

The last few weeks found my Hubbers and I having to spend a lot of time in San Francisco.  Doctor's visits, labs and scans, and emergency surgery meant that we drove back and forth three times and spent numerous nights in the City by the Bay. San Francisco is one of my favorite places.  However, the only sightseeing we were able to do was driving from hospital to hospital! I can say I saw parts of the City I had never seen before!

The City has wonderful restaurants, I always have loved to explore the eating scene there.  On two nights we were able to get out and  have a nice meal. At one place my Hubbers ordered a lemon tart for dessert.  Anytime he tells me he enjoys the meal and/or dessert, with the comment that I could do better, I take that as a personal challenge to recreate that dish.  So making a lemon tart went on my to-do list!

I started with homemade lemon curd (made the night before), using my favorite recipe from Martha Stewart (recipe here). I whipped 1/2 cup whipping cream and lightly folded into the curd.  It all got poured into a baked tart shell and refrigerated. My Hubbers ate two pieces so I think he enjoyed it!

The restaurant served the tart with fresh raspberries. I love raspberries so I put them on my grocery list. I forgot to buy them. My excuse is either that I'm having general anesthesia brain, tax season-tired brain, or, as we say in the drag racing circles, "all cylinders aren't firing".  But the tart would be extra good with raspberries or strawberries!

Lemon Tart

I pre-baked pie shell
Lemon curd
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped

Prepare lemon curd, per recipe.  Refrigerate overnight.

Gently fold whipped cream into lemon curd, pour into baked pie shell.

Top with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh berries.

Shrimp Lasagna Rolls

Tax season 2016 finds me, once more, working 7 days a week. We've done it so many years now, we are used to it. Strangely enough, Sunday is the day I most look forward to.  No client appointments, no phone calls, no interruptions, I go to work in my workout clothes. I save my big projects for Sundays, turn on the stereo and work away!  I do, however, try to be home by 4ish and to cook us a nice dinner. This not only gives us a chance to relax, unwind, and chat, but also enables us to start the week with leftovers, either for lunch or for dinner. By the time we hit Thursday or Friday we're often eating cereal for dinner! Such is the glamorous life of two CPA's!

This week found me making Shrimp Lasagna rolls, a recipe from Giada De Laurentis. We love pasta and lasagna, and anything with shrimp in it, so it seemed like a good combination.  This wasn't a very involved recipe, was very easy to prep, or should have been. I had some unsettling medical news earlier this week and my mind has just been wandering all over the place.  I didn't buy enough ricotta so had to send my Hubby to the store for more.  The first four rolls I made, I used the marinara sauce as the filling, rather than the shrimp mixture.  I had to take them apart and re-do them! So if your brain is working correctly, these little rolls are easy to do!

We really enjoyed them.  The filling is flavored nicely with the shrimp.  They are a nice change from a traditional lasagna. A loaded green salad and a few glasses of wine made for a enjoyable Sunday night dinner!

Shrimp Lasagna Rolls

1 lb. lasagna noodles
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 (15 oz.) containers whole-milk ricotta
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3 cups marinara sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese


 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and partially cook until tender but still firm to the bite, about 6-8 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add the shrimp and garlic to the pan and saute until shrimp are cooked, about 4 minutes, stirring often.

Remove from heat and let cool. Coarsely chop the cooled shrimp and place in a bowl with 1 cup ricotta cheese, the parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.

In another bowl, combine the marinara sauce with the remaining 1 cup ricotta and stir to combine.

To make the lasagna, cover the bottom of a baking dish with 1/2 cup marinara mixture. Lay 4 noodles flat on a dry work surface (I used waxed paper). Spread about 1/4 cup shrimp mixture evenly over each noodle. Roll up and place seem-side down in a baking dish. Repeat to make 12 rolls total.

Pour the remaining marinara mixture over the rolls and top with the mozzarella. Bake until the lasagna rolls are heated through and cheese begins to brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.


Garlic & shrimp?  What's not to love about that combination?

The ricotta/shrimp filling.

Assembling the rolls was easy!