Mango-Chile Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Saturday Leslie made Mango-Chile Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting for our dinner, Wedding Crashers and Saturday Night Live night. I had forgotten how hilarious Wedding Crashers is. I love that movie and Zac Efron on SNL wasn't half bad.

We were doubtful throughout the baking process... The batter looked awfully wet and tasted like like a muffin - almost healthy - which cupcakes obviously never are. The frosting required a lot more confectionery sugar than stated in the recipe. And with the addition of all that sugar would the lime flavor hold? Then they required 15 additional minutes of baking time. All our worries for naught. The cupcakes didn't rise evenly, which apparently made frosting harder than normal, but they tasted good. By the time we ate our second "mupcake"* they tasted great and they tasted even better a day later. These cupcakes are addictive.

The cupcake is like a muffin - very dense nad moist with a fruit flavor that you can't forget thanks to the mango chunks. The chili flavor is very subtle, so much so that I would consider adding more in the future. The frosting is divine; as Leslie said while we were eating it from the bowl it is just like key lime pie filling. If you make these be careful not to over frost or you'll obscure the mango flavor of the cupcake.

This summer we plan to create a variation on this recipe for peach mupcakes with a marscapone cheese frosting. We just have to figure out how to make the cupcakes a touch lighter. Who's in?


And, yes, we used the leftover mango nectar with vodka and soda to make cocktails.

*Leslie came up with the term mupcake to describe them and it is/was perfect.

Fundamental Knife Skills

Last month I took my first cooking class: Fundamental Knife Skills at the Whole Foods Bowery Culinary Center. While I knew my cooking would benefit from learning knife skills I wasn't sure what to expect going into the class. However, I did know that a $65 three-hour lesson including dinner was a great deal, less expensive than the Institute for Culinary Education's Recreational Division where I'm taking Fine Cooking on Sundays starting next month. In fact if I had known the Culinary Center was going to start a series of Fundamental Kitchen Techniques Courses I might have done theirs instead. Either way, I'm excited and nervous for May. Back to the topic at hand...

The class was comprised of 9 students, mostly couples, and 2 very knowledgeable instructors. We each had a station with a cutting board, an 8" Chef's Knife, a Paring Knife, a waste bowl and another bowl with a piece of citrus fruit, a carrot, half a leek, an onion, a clove of garlic, a sweet potato/root vegetable and a tomato. Christine Carroll, who runs the Culinary Center, led the class. We went over knife safety, sharpening, watched a precision cutting demo for each item in the bowl, did guided practice and then ate a delicious meal of Bass and Tomato Compote Baked in Parchment, Maple Roasted Root Vegetables with Goat Cheese; Avocado, Red Onion and Citrus Salad made from what we cut.

I learned that I held my knife wrong (as of Sunday night I have officially blistered my hand holding it properly), that the knives in my apartment are SUPER dull and we don't even own the proper tools for sharpening them (a steel is key) and most importantly how to cut properly. We also learned that to be efficient you should cut everything in stages i.e. peel the outside off of all the onions, halve all the onions, then get into dicing them, etc. I always did each onion fully before moving to the next one. Apparently this is not a speedy method.

It is going to take plenty of practice and, more arm muscle for things like sweet potatoes, but I walked away with an info packet and more knowledge. I only wish I had been less self conscious in the class as I probably would have learned more and asked a few more questions that way. Oh well. Practice makes perfect with that too.

Spring Is Coming?

The Greenmarket had onion chives and ramps this weekend. The trees have buds and sometimes blooms. I see the signs of Spring, but it is still in the 30s way too often. Maybe some sort of weather miracle will occur and I'll return from the Bahamas to more warmth or at the very least the next Spring vegetable: Asparagus. Mmm.

Hearth

Friday night Meg and I decided to dress up and treat ourselves to a nice dinner. This week was great, but last week pre-DC I was a bit all over the place and I needed a palate cleanser. Our evening at Hearth was fantastically refreshing, although maybe more so without the East Village bar hopping afterward (Cheap Shots was, um, interesting. Aces was better. I'm awful as Skee-Ball though.).

Unsurprisingly, Hearth's decor is warm: red walls, low lighting with candles and wooden tables with lots of room. It was surprisingly loud at capacity, although not overwhelmingly so as we could still carry a conversation without yelling. The service started slow, in spite of our timely seating at 9:00p, but was very attentive yet unobtrusive for most of the meal. Our waitress was very bubbly and had an instant rapport with Meg. It was funny to watch.

Hearth's wine list is very comprehensive i.e. overwhelming. We finally settled on Yellow + Blue's 2007 Malbec thanks to "Wine in the Box" by Justin Timberlake (page 17 here) and Meg's love of Malbec. It is supposedly more eco-friendly due to its Ceres-like juice box packaging and contains 1,000 mL rather than the standard 750 mL. Its rich, smooth flavor took boxed wine to a new level. It also brought up memories of the MTV movie 2gether and one of its hit songs: You + Me = US (Calculus). Ha.

Our meal started with several slices of a hearty, sesame-crusted bread and butter (what I was hungry!) and a complimentary shot of warm fava bean soup, which tasted similar to lentil soup. Both items were delicious.

As I'm never able to resist a deal and have been curious about goat, I ordered the Cucina Povera i.e. their prix fixe menu of humble cooking. It started with an Escarole Salad with Walnuts, Red Onion and Aged Pecorino. I liked the ingredients and the presentation, however, the dressing was strangely sweet and distracting. The Braised Goat was better - a generous portion accompanied by Rapini, Cannellini Beans and Gremolata. The goat had an earthy flavor reminiscent of rabbit or venison, but was dry and the tomato-based Gremolata and creamy Cannellini Beans, the real stars of the course, could only help so much.

While I wouldn't go out of my way to order my starter or main course again Meg's were very impressive. The Pork Terrine was moist with a concentrated, savory flavor and was presented nicely with colorful Pickled Vegetables and House-Made Mustard. But it was nothing compared to the complexity of the Veal and Ricotta Meatballs. My taste melted in my mouth - the flavors were like a wave. The Meatballs came with Ricotta Ravioli, Parmesan and Parsley.

I also loved, loved, loved the dessert we substituted for the one included with my prix fixe: Semolina Pudding with Blood Orange Soup and Pistachios. Semolina Pudding is reminiscent of Panna Cotta, if it contained plumped up raisins, very smooth, creamy and slightly sweet. The Blood Orange soup's rich citrus flavor really made the dessert pop - think of a very decadent marmalade soup with decorative pistachios.

I would definitely revisit Hearth one day. For now though I'll probably continue to vary my self-indulgent dinners as my nonprofit salary is limiting.



Location: 403 East 12th Street (the entrance is between 1st Avenue and Avenue A - closer to First)
Hours: Sun-Thurs 6:00p-10:00p, Fri-Sat 6:00p-11:00p
Cost: $$$

Double Crown / Madam Geneva

Having read reviews for Double Crown all over, I had placed it high on my mental list of places to try so it was a great start to things when K suggested it for drinks a few Fridays ago. We arrived right at 8, which was perfect for grabbing two seats at the bar as the restaurant became progressively more packed all evening. Luckily the volume never became too loud to hear each other speak. Service was prompt and attentive without being cloying. The drinks were well mixed, although for the most part I stuck to vodka soda.

Most enchanting was the decor. I was especially fond of the gold chains with decorative elephants hanging right where you turned to go downstairs and the ornate wooden carved walls by the restrooms. Overall the space feels very open and the bathrooms while overpoweringly scented with cinnamon and too dim to touch up make-up are clean and private. The main restaurant's lighting was warm and flattering and the "speakeasy" Madam Geneva is appropriately dark with its lace decorated walls. British Colonial really is the perfect description.

It is rare that something meets my expectations, but Double Crown and Madam Geneva did so much so that I took Leslie for a drink there the next weekend. She tried Madam Geneva's signature Gin and Jam, which sounds confusing but literally is gin over crushed ice with a spoonful of jam. I don't like gin, but this was surprisingly good - less Christmas in my mouth and more Slurpee. I can't wait to eventually have dinner here.

Location: 316 Bowery (at Bleecker)
Hours: Double Crown Mon-Wed: 6:00p-11:00p, Thurs-Fri: 6:00p-12:00a, Sat 11:00a-3:30p, 6:00p-12:00a, Sun 11:00a-3:30p, 6:00p-11:00p Madam Geneva 6:00p-2:00a
Cost: $$ for drinks, probably $$$ for dinner

Cheese Ravioli with Three Pepper Topping

This recipe was one of my two go to recipes for most of junior and senior year in college. The other one involved chicken, a can of peaches, salsa and rice... See this isn't my first cooking phase, but this one is much more serious and sincere. I visit a wider variety of sites than Allrecipes.com, I am not coming off the cottage cheese/salsa/Diet Coke diet and I don't even make Hamburger Helper anymore (much less burn it on a regular basis!).

When confronted with way too many yellow, orange and red peppers a few weeks ago this recipe was a great, simple solution. I still like it and so does my family, who experienced this dish countless times. I strongly advise you to tone down the olive oil if you don't like having slippery lips and to be generous with the Parmesan cheese!

Cheese Ravioli with Three Pepper Topping
Prep Time: approx. 15 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 15 Minutes.
Makes 6 servings.

• 1 pound cheese ravioli (I never have used cheese ravioli. No reason)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cups chicken broth, divided (or vegetable broth)
• crushed red pepper to taste

Directions
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ravioli and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat olive oil in large saute pan. Add peppers and onion; cook 5 minutes. Add one cup of the broth and cook stirring another five minutes.
3. Add remainder of broth and cook until most of the broth has evaporated. Top ravioli with pepper and broth mixture.

This Week's Main Meals

Homemade Pizza topped with Caramelized Onions, Garlic, Goat Cheese, Arugula and Prosciutto... The results were pretty good, although the toppings could have stuck better. Pizza dough is much easier to make without whole wheat dough.

Stir Fry with Sauteed Tofu, lots of Veggies and a sauce made from Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Chili-Garlic Paste, Rice Vinegar and a touch of Sugar topped with sliced Basil. The dish's base was glass noodles from the Korean Grocery Stores i.e. Saifun Bean Threads.

Sweet Revenge

After two and a half years of discussion, no lie, Courtney and I finally had a cupcake together. When choosing the bakery, my biggest priority was finding somewhere with enough space to sit and catch up. Bakeries typically require the grab and go, but it was too cold to walk around outside (can't wait for that weather to get here).

Based on Yelp reviews, I chose Sweet Revenge. The large windows and white walls help the space feel airy, even though it was carefully filled to the brim with seating for about 15. There was a little bit of a wait and service wasn't 100% due to a high volume of customers, but the most important part - the cupcakes - was good!

Courtney had the Dirty (Valhrona Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Truffle) with a cappuccino and I had the Pure (Mexican Vanilla Cake with Mexican Vanilla Icing) with milk in a wine glass. The cupcakes came wrapped carefully in paper rather than in a traditional cupcake wrapper. We agreed the cake was moist; it left that yummy residue on the cupcake paper, which is always a good sign for me. You could actually taste the vanilla in the cake and frosting, rather than just enjoying something sweet. I especially liked the frosting. It was not cloying and had large sugar crystals on top for texture.

Sweet Revenge paid a lot of attention to details that enhance the experience. I will definitely make a return visit. I want to try their namesake cupcake the Sweet Revenge.

Location: 62 Carmine Street (Between South 7th Avenue and Bedford Street)
Hours: Mon-Thurs 8:00p-11:00p, Fri 8:00a-12:30p, Sat 11:00a-12:30a, Sun 11:00a-9:00p
Cost: $$ ($3.50 per cupcake, which is a bit higher than most)

Homeade Oreos

The lovely and bubbly Louise is moving back to London, which is definitely New York's loss. For this occasion I was willing to watch The Bachelor's season finale (What a dick! I hate boys!) and naturally offered to bring something. With no suggestions, I recalled that Louise liked chocolate and found a recipe for homeade oreos.

These cookies are delicious, but pretty darn sweet, especially when you can't resist eating another and another and another... I love the chocolate cookie; you can feel the crispness of crystallized sugar when chewing. The filling's consistency is dead on with a regular Oreo, but with a much better vanilla flavor and less waxy aftertaste.

I followed the suggestion for decreasing the cookies' sugar and might even try taking more out next time. My other alterations were using Spectrum's Organic Vegetable Shortening, which is trans fat free and not hydrogenated, and using vanilla bean paste instead of extract. The paste substitution made the filling have the cutest brown specks. These will definitely be made again. Maybe for the holidays next year instead of caramels, marshmallows AND cookies?


"Brilliant! This falls right into my “why buy it when i can make it for twice the cost and 20 times the work” ethic." 2007 comment on the linked recipe describing my mentality perfectly. ;)

bill Granger's Caramel Chicken

My parents were my Valentines this year. They kindly came up to visit and decorate my room with my birthday present, an Ikea mirror from September, over Presidents Day weekend. They also hung a few photos and fixed up the bathroom with, sadly, only the tiniest bit of assistance from me. Everything is much more homey now and my room looks slightly more like a grown-up room.

As a thank you, and because I was a bit under the weather and not inclined to go out, I made them bill Granger's Caramel Chicken. It is fantastic and simple to put together. It tastes much better than Chinese takeout with impressively similar results. If you want to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, they work almost as well though you lose a lot of the chicken's tenderness, which is part of what makes this so similar to something at a restaurant. I also think this could successfully be adapted into a pescetarian dish with braised firm tofu.

I recommend using low sodium soy sauce instead of regular based on my experience with regular in July; I couldn't get enough water while eating due to the saltiness. I also feel like the low sodium soy sauce allows for a better balance between sweet and salty.

Between this dish and his amazing coconut bread, I'm seriously considering investing in at least a library reservation for bill's cookbooks. Both dishes have been easy with impressive results.

Cafe Habana

Cafe Habana still is one of my absolute favorite brunches in the city. This trip I tried something new - their flan. It is a very smooth and served with a sweet, sweet caramel sauce. I've never loved flan, but it was pretty decent. I had the revelation that flan is similar in texture to panna cotta. Maybe I'll research that. Regardless of what I eat at Cafe Habana nothing trumps the grilled corn i.e. choclos.

(Carving and Photo courtesy of JM, who introduced me to the place.)

Ricotta Zucchini Cheesecake

Sunday one of my friends had a birthday party for her Yorkie, Dixie, who was turning one. The hostess flattered me into cooking, in spite of some serious reluctance on my part. The best part was she had only tasted my cookies before so the flattery was without any knowledge of results. Ha ha. Her request was something savory, not a bread. I found this challenging as the easiest dishes to take on public transportation are sweet and/or bread. Plus! I'm more comfortable with sweets.

Intensive online research turned up this recipe for Ricotta Zucchini Cheesecake. I found my lack of a spring form pan a little disconcerting, but everything turned out okay even with my substitution of oregano for dill and use of an 8 x 8 cake pan. It didn't look quite as pretty as it could have, but the flavor was good and the cheesecake very filling. For me the goat cheese on top's rich, tangy flavor made the dish. It also added a contrast in texture to an otherwise slightly soft yet grainy (?) dish. One heads up: it took forever to make, even with the lovely mini-food processor my brother gave me for Christmas (that machine is a miracle worker).

I'll probably try this again in the summer. It's been a great leftover breakfast in the morning most of the week. Should you happen to take this back home via bus with saran wrap on top, start reading a magazine with it under your purse and stand up in a rush dumping it off your lap upside down (saran wrap intact), I'm pleased to report it will hold up.

Butternut Squash, Apple, and Carmelized Onion Gallette with Rosemary

I've been intimidated by pastry dough for quite some time, in spite of owning A New Way to Cook and reading blissfully about the "easiness" of free form galettes for years.

Yes! It really has been years. This was the first cookbook I ever wanted; I received as a gift from Jaime and I've used it twice. Well, the other night I finally decided to make a tart and purchased ingredients to improvise a filling only to discover THE INTERNET WAS BROKEN, which was SO not okay. I had to do things the old way with a good cookbook and my mind.

Somehow everything came together. The tart was pretty easy to make, although time consuming as the flaky butter pastry has to chill twice, the onions have to caramelize and the squash/apples have to be peeled and cubed then tossed in oil with rosemary before you can even cook the pastry.

The end result was well worth the effort. This was a very tasty breakfast all week long, although I need to work on pressing the ingredients into the crust a bit more as things tended to fall off the crust into my lap (or maybe I just should use silverware when trying to eat tarts).

Random Fact

New York Magazine, February 16, 2009 issue

"Fenugreek, the processed seeds from which produced that maple-syrup smell."

Zuni Cafe's Roasted Chicken

Zuni Cafe's recipe for Roast Chicken is the easiest roast chicken recipe I've made to date. Oh wait. In the past I haven't exactly used a recipe. I just followed Mom's expert advice and winged it with a small piece of citrus in the middle and thorough rub down of the chicken with salt, pepper, etc. before placing it in an oven cooking bag. I also have poached chickens twice in a just barely large enough pot.

While those results were tasty, this recipe trumps the aforementioned methods due to its fantastic results without the oven bag.* If you aren't squeamish about feeling around a small chicken, this recipe will provide fantastic results. Typically I don't enjoy skin on my chicken, but this crispy, not greasy, skin was an exception. The chicken itself is tender and moist on its own or an excellent source for making chicken salad, stir fries and soups during the remainder of the week.

I didn't even use marjoram as I couldn't find it fresh, without spending way too much for something I only needed a 1/4 sprig of. Best of all the clean-up was minimal and the pan juices were quite tasty mingled with the leftover brown rice, cherry tomatoes and parmesan in the fridge.


*Unless you want chicken soup and stock, in which case poaching the chicken is probably the best choice.

Hearty Potato Leek Soup

I'm in love with this potato leek soup. There are beautiful step by step pictures if you follow the link, although I didn't realize that until I went back just now.

I made the soup Sunday night, without a food processor, using my amazing immersion blender. It took a little over an hour; I only had to pay attention half the time. I ended up cooking the potatoes for around 25 minutes to get them soft enough to mash/blend, but otherwise found the recipe very accurate.

More importantly, I could NOT stop eating the soup, even before I added the cup of cream. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to try using regular milk or a lot less cream as I just didn't find it necessary (although the cream certainly makes it much more rich). It reminds me of New England Clam Chowder without the clams. ;)

It's divine, rich, creamy, comforting and warm in my stomach when it is so, so cold out. I hope you will try it and fall in love too.

Brown Rice Broccoli Cheddar Pie

This recipe for Brown Rice Broccoli Cheddar Pie was proposed as a way to use leftover brown rice, which I never have. It was so appealing that I purchased all the ingredients fresh to put it together.

The broiled cheese and broccoli on top was the best part, followed by the spicy spots from the chili garlic paste I used in place of hot sauce. I really need to buy S'ri cha. It would have been the perfect spicy sauce for this dish. This pie similar to a quiche or frittata with rice and reheats really well in the toaster oven. It is chunky and yet a little soggy at the bottom, which makes sense given the ingredients.

While tasty enough that I would make it again if I ever do have leftover rice, it didn't hit the spot for me. I think the texture is what throws me off, not the flavor.

Chicken and Dumplings

You wish Chicken and Dumplings with Leeks and Tarragon was your lunch. It hs been mine almost every day this week, even though I halved the recipe.

The dish has a thick stew-like consistency that is very warm and filling for the cold week we've been having. One problem with using this for lunch is that while I LOVE dumplings - savory, firm yet squishy and in general delightful - I have to admit they don't reheat well. They end up a bit soggy, basically returning to dough.

A few notes: This dish takes a while, so plan on spending a few hours cooking. There is lag time, but you can't really leave the house. In spite of following the halved ingredient list exactly, my dough was too firm to be dropped. I had roll and place the dumplings. I doubt this effects the flavor, but certainly changes the presentation. I also ended up adding a bit more chicken broth to every serving to juice it up enough for my taste.

Um, the picture is really small. I'll have to upload it again at home. I can't figure out how to do that with Picasa and deleted the thumbnail that I typically load up by accident. :(

Curly Kale, conquered.

For a year now I've been trying to find a way to eat kale since it is so healthy. I've followed countless sets of instructions off the internet: I've cut it into ribbons, I've steamed it, I've sauteed it and I've even made cashew cream to top it, which was real feat without a food processor. Regardless of the preparation, kale just was too bitter and chewy. Nothing about kale made me happy. I gave up.

Then in early December I ended up taking a GIANT Whole Foods veggie platter home after an event. How could I let that go to waste? It was calling to me to take it home. I found easy uses for the asparagus, carrots, celery, etc., but the whole thing was lined with kale. I had to do something with it, so instead of throwing it away, I tossed it in some chicken vegetable soup I was making. It was in there about 25 minutes simmering. Turns out Kale can be good. It just needs to be cooked until it is very, very tender while retaining it's shape.

Ultimately kale is reminiscent of spinach with more texture, if cooked enough. This made it a perfect complement to another one of my healthy winter concoctions, which I'll definitely recreate at a later date. The flavors of this dish went well together and I liked the crunchy, earthy mouth feel. Plus, I knew everything I was eating was great for my health! It's a full bunch of curly kale cut into ribbons and cooked down, cubed sweet potatoes, skins on, tossed in olive oil, cinnamon and cumin and roasted in the oven, and quinoa.

Winter Israeli Couscous

In a rare turn of events, I threw together a meal that I found creative, and enjoyable, enough to try posting about it. This couscous concoction was easy to put together, seasonally appropriate and fairly inexpensive.

Unfortunately, my description at the very end might not be entirely accurate as the dish was eaten weeks ago before Christmas. Then again my descriptions, perhaps, are never that accurate.

Winter Israeli Couscous
This prepared 4 to 5 servings, which I ate as individual meals.

• 1 box of Israeli Couscous from Trader Joe's
• 3 lbs of Butternut Squash
• 1/3 c. Italian Parsley, finely chopped
• 4 pieces (I think) of Trader Joe's Uncured Turkey Bacon
• 1/2 Red Onion, chopped
• Salt to taste
  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the butternut squash and cut in half. Scoop the seeds and stringy part out with a spoon. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until you can easily poke through it with a knife.

While the squash cooks prepare the couscous as directed on the box. Cut the red onion and place on top of the couscous to steam (in the future I may saute it before cooking the couscous for a sweeter flavor) while the couscous cooks. Take the bacon and place it on a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven until not quite crisp, which in my oven took around 20 minutes as expected from the package. Cut up the parsley and set it aside.

By now the squash should be done. Remove it from the oven and let cool until you can handle touching it. Cut it into cubes, whatever size you'll enjoy. Add the squash and parsley to the couscous once it finishes cooking. Cover pan again to keep everything warm.

Remove the bacon from the oven and cut into pieces; I used scissors as it was easier. Add to the other ingredients in the pan and toss. Enjoy.


I liked the texture of the larger couscous. It is denser and chewier than the smaller version, similar to the tapioca balls in Bubble Tea. The roasted butternut squash and turkey bacon provided a salty sweet contrast that spiced up a potentially plain grain. Onions are a safe bet and the parsley added a splash of color with a refreshing flavor. I will make this again.