Sunday, April 26, 2009

Lassi

Here is the simple and basic recipe that my mom and G-ma have made for decades (and probably decades before that, but that's back in the old country and I just have to guesstimate how long they've been making this for).

Ingredients:

Tub of yogurt (like I said, I use low-fat or whole-milk, but if you just LOVE fat-free yogurt, go for it.)
Sugar
Ice Cubes


A cup and a half of yogurt, plus a handful of ice cubes and a couple tablespoons of sugar are all blended together and should fill a very tall glass, or two small glasses if you're going to be meek about it. Which is silly, because there is nothing meek about the awesomeness of this drink. You just multiply the quantities for the amount of lassi you want, and, if you so choose, add some mango nectar and go crazy. YUM. As a side note, you might need a small splash of milk or water to make it a bit frothier and drinkable, but just play it by ear and taste.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Like I said, I got this recipe off another website that claims it is from Cooks Illustrated. I have my doubts. HOWEVER, it is still a good basic recipe... I took the liberty of adding dried cherries and walnuts in because it just sounded good. I also sprinkled a little sea salt on top of each cookie for an added oomph.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt, (and more for sprinkling if you'd like, but if you decide to sprinkle, omit the salt here)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups oats (not the quick-cooking kind)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter a cookie sheet. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate chips (and additional mix-ins if you like: nuts, dried fruit, etc). Place dough onto cookie sheet by large spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons each), leaving at least 2 inches between. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Slide cookies onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

They're good warmed up! I'm just saying.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Lemon Curd

I'd say that the basic recipe for Lemon Curd is pretty simple...I found that the easiest one was in The Gourmet Cookbook, and did just fine. If anything, I would reduce the sugar to one cup (I like it on the tart side rather than sweet) and increase the amount of zest.

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice (this ended up being about 4 big, juicy lemons worth)
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
Pinch of salt
1 3/4 sticks (14 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons


Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, eggs and salt in a heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about ten minutes.

You can then either force the curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a owl and discard the zest, or, like me, you just skip this step altogether because you like having your curd with a little zest in it. Cool to room temperature, stir occasionally if you like (I didn't). Refrigerate in an air-tight container until cold (I put the curd into two jars I had laying around).

Note: The lemon curd can be refrigerated, covered, for up to one week. If it even lasts that long, which I doubt, since it is so dee-lish and you probably won't be able to stop yourself from opening the jar and scooping yourself some at any given opportunity.