Lavender Lemonade

A small handful of freshly picked and rinsed lavender flowers or a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers

1 cup white, granulated sugar

2 cups of boiling water for the infusion

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups or more of cold water

Ice

1)Cut the lavender flowers from the stems (no need to strip) and place in a medium bowl (a large pyrex measuring bowl works great because you can pour easily from it). Pour the sugar over the flowers and use your (clean) fingers to gently rub the flowers into the sugar.

2)Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the lavender sugar and stir with a spoon until the sugar has melted. Cover and let infuse for 30 minutes (or up to several hours).

3)Strain the lavender-infused simple syrup and pour into a serving carafe or pitcher.

4)Stir in the lemon juice.  Add another two cups of water. Taste and adjust for tartness. Add more lemon juice if too sweet.  Add more sugar if too tart. Add ice and more water to desired level of concentration. 

Yield: Serves 6.

Recommend

Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives and Lemon

Bon Appétit | May 2009

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

2 Meyer lemons or regular lemons
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 4 1/2-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin removed (I used boneless, skinless breasts)
1/2 cup green olives

Cut 1 lemon into 8 wedges. Squeeze enough juice from second lemon to measure 2 tablespoons; set wedges and juice aside. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper; sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Add next 5 ingredients; stir 1 minute. Add broth; bring to boil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Add lemon wedges. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, turning occasionally, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter. Add olives and 2 tablespoons lemon juice to skillet. Increase heat to high; boil uncovered to thicken slightly, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over chicken.

Served it with long grain brown rice and a salad of baby lettuces. Flavorful, healthy, and simple. This has been your Donna Reed-on-acid service announcement for today.

Recipe Sunday Redux

This is a picture of our inaugural brunch/gorge. Scary, yes? A few years back, I came across a very interesting recipe on a Big Island food blog. I had seen this dish on menus when we were in Hilo, and was curious, as I often am when it comes to regional favorites.

It's what we cooked and devoured (slowly) when we stayed home and partied for Obama last month. Had it with mimosas made of Piper Sonoma champagne/Odwalla orange juice. Definitely over-the-top, in terms of excess and sloth-like. But hey, we were really, really happy.

Since then, things are shifting. My beloved has given up his occasional Sherman cigarette habit. He started that particular nasty habit right around the time the Iraq war began. (Enough said) He has been telling me for the last 2 years that if Obama won, he would stop cigs cold turkey. He has. Very proud of his follow through.

We both enjoy good food. Probably a bit too much, so we have been scaling back on the consumption since our death-by-brunch almost a month ago. Oh! And I am finally getting my bicycle.

The celebratory ( and insane) recipe, from Big Island Grinds blog...

Ingredients for 2 big servings:

(Actually, you could feed 4 with this amount of food, but what the heck, right?)

• Hamburger Patties
  • 1lb Hamburger (not lean)
  • 1/4 cup grated onions (optional)
  • salt/pepper to taste
• Gravy
  • 1 can good beef broth
  • flour for thickening
  • 1 tb butter
  • couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 eggs
• hot cooked white rice

Burgers:
1. Gently mix the hamburger, grated onions and salt/pepper. Form either 2 big patties or 4 smaller size patties.
2. Heat frying pan until very hot.
3. Place hamburger patties on the pan/grill and let sear just until juices start appearing on the top. Flip over and cook for a couple more minutes. You will want the burger slightly charred but still tender on the inside.
4. Place burgers on the side.

Gravy:
1. Pour a little broth into the same pan and incorporate the yum yums, then pour in the rest of the broth.
2. Bring to a boil and let reduce for about 3-5 minutes or so, depending on taste, for a more potent gravy.
3. Turn down heat to a simmer.
4. Add couple dashes of worcestershire sauce.
5. In a separate bowl, mix flour with some water.
6. Using a whisk, slowly whisk in the flour/water mixture until gravy is nicely thick & smooth.
7. Turn off heat and mix in the butter until well blended.

Eggs:
Traditionally, the eggs should be sunny-side up. The secret to a good fried egg is to fry the egg slowly on low heat until it’s cooked… just don’t overcook it! It also helps to have the eggs thawed to room temperature before cooking them.

Rice:
Use regular medium grain white rice… like 3 scoops worth per plate.

Assembly (bottom -> top):
Rice -> Burger -> Egg -> Gravy all over

Optional condiments:
Shoyu, ketchup, tabasco

No caloric or nutritional info with this baby... you do the math.

Applesauce Cupcakes

*Update* Recipes now follow the post.
Recently, I made applesauce. This due to a surplus of apples from our trees this year. Lots and lots of applesauce. I used some for applesauce cupcakes with caramel frosting. The recipes for both the cupcakes and the frosting came from my mom's Fannie Farmer cookbook. The 1951 edition.Too bad I didn't have the right decorative doo-dads to top them off. People around here didn't seem to mind.

Applesauce Cake/Cupcakes
(Calls for 1/2 c. shortening-ack.) *I use unsalted butter*
1 c. brown sugar
1 cup cold, unsweetened applesauce
2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. powdered cloves

Cream butter; beat in sugar gradually. Add applesauce. Add flour sifted with soda, salt, and spices. Spread in 2 buttered and floured 9-in. pans. (Or a linedmuffin tin) Bake 40 minutes at 350.
(Makes about 12 cupcakes)


Caramel Frosting
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in small pan, add brown sugar, and cook until sugar melts. Add milk. Cool and beat in confectioners' sugar until thick enough to spread. Add vanilla.

Pear Tart

The man at work in the kitchen, getting fresh pears ready. He bakes great things!


The finished product. We've harvested many pears and Connell apples here in the last month.


Pear Tart

2 cups flour Pinch salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 11 tablespoons cold butter (do not use margarine) 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten with a fork 6-7 pears, peeled, cut in quarters and then into 2 or 3 lengthwise slices (We used our bartlett pears.) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 cup currants 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/3 to 1/2 cup white sugar, depending on the sweetness of the pears 2 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons sugar Place the currants in a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Allow them to boil for a minute and turn off the heat. Let them soak for about 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, salt, and sugar, and cut in butter with a dough blender or 2 knives until it resembles a coarse meal. You can also use a food processor. Stir in egg yolks. Knead this mixture until smooth. This takes quite a bit of kneading (you might want to use 2 hands). Press the dough out on the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9-inch springform pan. Neatly finish the rim. In a large bowl, gently combine the pear slices with the lemon juice, spices, sugar, and currants. Carefully arrange the fruits in the crust. Dot with butter, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Cool and serve.

A Grand Dad

My dad and one of my daughters, last summer.














Now for something completely different...

Here is a ten-minute cooking lesson, courtesy of director Robert Rodriguez. The recipe is Sin City Breakfast Tacos. I admit it: I love a man who knows his way around the kitchen. Yummy.