English Muffins

There are some things we see at the grocery store, and we just take advantage of the simplicity.  Nobody makes English Muffins at home, it's pretty much unheard of.  We just think of the nooks and crannies, and stock up.  But then, a recipe comes around that puts a stop to the simplicity, and says that a little complication is worth it for the extraordinary taste.  Either get up early and make these, or make them the day before.  

This recipe is from Damaris Phillips, star of "Southern at Heart" on Food Network.  She's darling by the way.  I'd love to have her over for a French 75, I think we'd get along quite nicely.  Door's open Damaris, cheers!

English Muffins

4 1/2 cups bread flour (all purpose is fine)

3 T sugar

1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 large egg

1 3/4 cups whole milk

2 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil (vegetable oil worked fine)

Coarse corn meal

Cooking Spray

Butter and jam for serving, I prefer Lemon Curd, over jam!

1.  Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, ans salt in a bowl of a stand mixer.   Add the egg, but do not mix.

2.  Heat the milk and oil in a saucepan until it reads 110 degrees.  Careful to not make the milk too hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast.

3.  Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture.  Avoid pouring it directly on the egg--you don't want the hot milk to cook the egg.

4.  Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until the dough comes together and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 3-4 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed.  Texture may seem irregular.

5.  Knead the dough.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, soft and elastic 3-4 minutes.  Shape into a ball and place in a large lightly oiled bowl.  Rub a small amount of oil on  the dough, cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.

6.  Form muffins.  Sprinkle baking sheets with cornmeal and set aside.   After the dough rises, punch it down and divide into 16 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball, then flatten into a 3 inch disk.  Place the disks on the baking sheets

6.  Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Coat the skillet with cooking spray and liberally sprinkle with cornmeal.  Working in batches, cook the muffins until they are deep golden brown, 5-9 minutes per side.  If they start to rise in a doomed fashion, flatten them with a spatula (this line is STRAIGHT from the recipe, love Damarias's humor!).   Check for doneness, take the internal temperature with an cooking thermometer, the middle should be at least 200 degrees.  If not hot enough, finish them in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let the muffins cool completely before serving.  Split open with a fork.

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Lemon Ice Cream

This ice cream is not custard based, which means it's egg-less.... but it's still as creamy and wonderful as ever.  There are very few ingredients in this recipe, and less is more.  Light, fresh, crisp, bright.  Unfortunately, I've never made this recipe without an ice cream machine.  So, if you need to borrow one, feel free to stop by and borrow it!

Lemon Ice Cream

Zest of 1 large lemon
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 cup whipping cream
2 T. vodka

Combine lemon zest and sugar in a bowl, sugar should turn a light yellow color.  Add milk to lemon sugar, stir until sugar has dissolved.  Add lemon juice, whipping cream and vodka.  Pour mixture into an ice cream maker, process until thick.  Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

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Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

When you make your own ice cream a door to a new world opens, and the door from your old world closes.  The new world of homemade ice cream is cleaner, fresher, creamier, and just plain better.  It's like fresh veggies and frozen veggies, fresh veggies just taste better.  Same with homemade ice cream, it's just better.  And, it's not hard to make.  Most things are easy to make, it's just takes planning.  If you can invest in an ice cream machine, do it, it's worth it.
This recipe comes from a cookbook called, "Ice Cream and Iced Desserts" by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis.  My only change is that I add two Tablespoons of Vodka to the recipe.  This is because the vodka will prevent the ice cream from turning into a solid brick of ice cream.  The vodka keeps the texture light and creamy.  I've used several of this recipes from this book, and the Triple Chocolate is a family favorite.  For this recipe, I used Oreo cookies.  Not homemade, I know, shame on me.  I needed oreo's for another recipe, and I didn't want to waste the pack, so into the Cookies and Cream Ice Cream they went!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
6 T sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 cups low-fat milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whipping cream
2 T vodka
5 ounces crushed cookies (the original recipe calls for "chunky chocolate and hazelnut cookies", I used crushed up oreos...use whatever you have on hand)

1. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy.  Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan, bring it just to a boil, then pour it onto the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
2.  Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring until the custard thickens and is smooth.  Pour it back into the bowl and cover closely.  Let cool, then chill.
3.  BY HAND: Stir the vanilla and vodka into the custard.  Whip the cream until it is thickened but it still soft enough to fall from the spoon.
BY MACHINE: Stir the vanilla and vodka into the custard.  Stir in the whipping cream and churn until thick.
4.  BY HAND: Fold the cream into the chilled custard, then pour into a plastic or other freezerproof container.  Freeze for 4 hours, beating once with a fork, electric mixer or food processor to break up ice crystals.  Beat one more time, then fold in the cookie chunks.  Cover and return  to the freezer until firm.
BY MACHINE: Churn until thick enough to scoop then scrape the ice cream into a freezerproof container.  Fold in the cookie chunks and freeze until firm

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Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat....said no one in this house. This is a tangy pie that is light, and melts in your mouth. It's a bit tricky to make, but uses ingredients that are usually readily available in the kitchen, so you can practice it over and over again. I got this recipe from my mom's cookbook, "It's All About the Recipe"  Start cooking early in the day, as the cooling time takes 5 hours.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 baked pie crust (homemade is best!)

Filling
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (Meyer lemons that makes the pie SUPER lemony, my personal preference)
3 eggs separated, egg yolks slightly beaten
2 T butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tsp. grated lemon zest.

Make sure your pie crust is baked, cool and set aside.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Gradually blend in water and lemon juice.  When smooth, stir in slightly beaten egg yolks and butter.  Stirring constantly, stir in boiling water.  When combined, set heat to medium and bring mixture to a full boil.  Whisk the boiling mixture over medium heat until it thickens, about 5 minutes, maybe longer.  When thick, stop whisking, reduce heat and let the lemon mixture simmer for one minute.  Off heat, whisk lemon zest, and then pour mixture into baked pie shell. 

For Meringue*
3 egg whites (reserved from filling ingredients)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Use an electric mixer for this process.  Make sure that your mixing bowl, and beaters are dry, dry, dry.  Put egg whites in the mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium-low speed so the egg whites get broken down and frothy.  Add cream of tartar and vanilla, and keep whisking until the egg whites start to turn completely white and foamy.   Increase speed to high, and add sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time.  Beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks.  This means that when you pull the beaters out of the egg whites they form a point.  Not a curled point, a straight up POINT.  

These are STIFF PEAKS!

It takes a lot of time to get stiff peaks, but too much time and your egg whites will fall, and they cannot be saved.  When you reach stiff peaks, carefully mound the meringue on top of the lemon pie filling.  Smooth meringue over the top of the pie, making sure the meringue is completely spread all the way to the edge of the pie.  NO lemon pie filling should be showing.   Bake pie until meringue is nicely browned, about 10 minutes.   Remove pie from oven and let cool 5 hours.

*I like a lot of meringue, so I tend to double the meringue recipe.  The pictures associated with this recipe are with 6 egg whites rather than 3.  With the extra egg yolks make a half batch of lemon curd.

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Roasted Crab

I cherish family dinner, and I love having people over for dinner.  Roasted crab is usually a spontaneous dinner party, and it's so exciting.  We only get crab when it's  $5.00 per pound or less.  And,  It's usually between January and March that the crab goes on super sale.  When it happens, I do some mass texting to family and friends to see if I should get a crab for them.  Everyone has to change their plans, I recommend one crab per person, plus an extra for the table.  Crab is citrusy, buttery, salty and MESSY!  Serve this dish with a light salad, and a baguette.  Champagne pairs nicely with this dish, but put a straw in the glass.  This meal is meant to be eaten with your fingers and you will get messy, don't risk dropping your glass of champagne with your buttery fingers!  If you have room for dessert, something chocolately works best....or something light .... mmm ... angel food cake with berries!
This recipe is from my mom, Polly Ferguson, it's ALSO on her website, www.inthekitchenwithpolly.com .  Thanks for the recipe mom, and thanks for teaching us the value of a family dinner!


Roasted Crab

2 pre-cooked crab, cracked and cleaned (the person behind the fish counter at the grocery store will do this for you!!  It takes a lot of time to get the job done though, so get the crabs when you first walk in the store, then do some shopping, come back and get your crabs! I've been known to annoy the people in line behind me, because it takes a long time to crack and clean so many crabs.  oh well...)
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil*
2 minced cloves garlic
1 minced shallot
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon orange zest

*This is A LOT of fat and oil, as you double, triple, quadruple etc. the recipe, you do not have to do the same for the oil and butter.  I would suggest adding an additional 2 tablespoons of oil and butter as you multiply the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees (YES, that's hot!)  Divide the crab onto rimmed baking sheets.  (up to 3 crabs on each sheet)  Sprinkle crab with parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  In a skillet melt butter and olive oil, add garlic, shallot and red pepper flakes.  Saute until garlic and shallot has softened, and red pepper flakes are fragrant.  Carefully pour oil mixture over crabs.  Place in hot oven for 6 minutes.  Toss the crabs, rotate the pan, put back in the oven for another 6 minutes.  Remove crabs from oven, and carefully pour juices from the baking sheets into the skillet.  Over medium-high heat, add lemon and orange juices and zests, bring sauce to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes.  Then carefully pour sauce over crab.  Serve.  Cheers!

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Lemon Curd

Bright, fresh, and yellow.  I love me some homemade bread, or a homemade English muffin, with a light spread of lemon curd, it beats toast and butter any day.  This recipe is from a cookbook I got as a teenager called, "Lucious Lemon Desserts" by Lori Longbotham.  I prefer Meyer lemons for this recipe, and if you can't find Meyer lemons, stop on by my house and take as many as you'd like.  You can have a French 75 too, Cheers!

Lemon Curd

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks

1.  Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
2.  Remove the pan from the head and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt.  Whisk in the yolks until smooth.
3.  Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens and leaves a path on the back of a wooden spoon when a finger is drawn across it; do not allow the mixture to boil.
4.  Immediately pour the lemon curd through a strainer into a bowl.  Let cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally.  Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.  (lemon curd keeps for a month in the refrigerator, and for about 3 months in the freezer!)

What do you do with the egg whites?  WELL!  You can make pavlovas!  Or, I like to save them in the fridge and make egg white omelettes for breakfast.

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