Posts Tagged ‘Lemon’

Sugar Plum Sisters’ Strawberry and Lemon “Short” Cake

Posted on: June 30th, 2012 by Carla Johnson 4 Comments

A toast once heard: “To my big sister, who never found her second Easter egg until I’d found my first.” ~ Robert Brault

by Pam Ratzlaff

Laurel and I met Carla virtually on Facebook through a mutual friend after we posted about gourmet marshmallows on our blog www.sugarplumsisters.com We found out that we have a fair amount in common…we all come from a Mennonite heritage. But I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all broken out of the Mennonite stereotype. Laurel and I love nice things…food, fashion, interior design and we love to travel to amazing places and that’s what our blog is dedicated to.

When Carla asked if I had a recipe for Cooking with Sin, I knew which one right away. And this one is perfect for the strawberries that are currently in season in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia where we live. The citrus of the lemon curd and the Cointreau really enhance the flavor of the strawberries. A guest on Martha Stewart a number of years ago made this dessert, but we’ve put our own “Sugarplumsisters” twist on it.

All photos in this post courtesy of Pam Ratzlaff

Strawberry and Lemon “Short” Cake

Lemon Curd http://www.marthastewart.com/348239/lemon-curd

1 pound cake (store bought is fine) sliced about ¾” thick (about 8 slices)

6 cups sliced fresh strawberries (raspberries are yummy too!)

4 T. sugar

3T. Cointreau

3 cups whipping cream

3 T. sugar

1 tsp. real vanilla

1. Prepare the lemon curd. It will last in the fridge for about a week, so I usually make it a day or two in advance of serving this dessert. One thing that I do differently than Martha Stewart (dare I challenge the guru!) is that I strain the cooked egg, lemon juice and sugar mixture after taking it off the stove and before adding the butter. If the eggs happen to get a bit overcooked, straining the mixture will leave you will a very smooth consistency. Once the butter is added, I add the zest. Put in the fridge to cool.

2. Put the sliced pound cake on a cookie sheet and broil. Watch it closely!!!! This will only take a couple of minutes and you may want to turn the pan around mid-way through to get all pieces evenly toasted!

3. Wash and hull the strawberries. Here’s a great trick I learned from Tina from The Pink Spatula….use a melon baller to hull strawberries. Slice the berries (not too thinly) and add 4 T. sugar and the Cointreau. Mix together and put in fridge until just before you are ready to serve.

4. Whip the cream with 3 T sugar and the vanilla. This can be done ahead if you whip it to a thick consistency.

5. Fold the whipped cream with the cooled lemon curd.

6. Put one slice of toasted pound cake on each plate. Spoon some of the whipped cream and lemon curd mixture over each slice. Top with strawberries. Delish!!!!

Keep an eye on Pam Ratzlaff and Laurel Edwards’ posts on Sugar Plum Sisters for the latest & hippest trends!

Laurel & Pam

“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello

Posted on: April 10th, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments

Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo

“For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here’s a tip: why not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?”

~ Jack Handy, Saturday Night Live “Deep Thoughts” comedy sketch

Did you know? Italy grows more lemons than any other country in the world. Did you know? Lemons in Italy along the Amalfi coast are ginormous! I know. I’ve been lucky to see them.

Two years ago my family and I took a tour of Italy and Greece. It was my first time in Europe and I just loved it. Because the tour was fast-paced I promised myself I would return and spend more time in some of the places. One of those places was the island of Capri. It was on Capri that we bought several bottles of limoncello.

Limoncello is sold in all kinds of small, interesting shaped bottles and it is delicious!

My friend Connie Campbell, from the post “Good Neighbour” Gluten-Free Beer Braised Beef, recently introduced me to Anita Iaconangelo. Anita is from Washington D.C., but now lives in Italy and owns “Italian Connection” tour company. She specializes in walking and culinary tours, taking people to special places most tours speed right on by. She calls herself, “an Italian free spirit trapped in an American businesswoman’s body.”

Of her life in Italy, Anita says,

Life in Italy is a love-hate thing. I admit to being seduced by Tuscany’s magical golden light, besotted by the Renaissance, tantalized by Sicily’s sensuous pastry shops, charmed by the Italian language and then quickly disenchanted by the brutal reality of getting almost anything done. I’ve suffered heartless years of waiting for an insurance claim, submitted to diabolical rules for getting a driving license, and wept broken-hearted sobs when the plumber never called back. The tempting dream to live in Italy may sound like a romantic endeavor, but it helps to be nuts.

If I am ever lucky enough to return to Italy, I hope to connect with Anita. She promises to take her guests off the beaten track to discover the Italy of the Italians and share the best of Italian food and wine. She treat her guests like una della famiglia—one of the family.

Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo

Anita has a blog “Anita’s Italy” where she posts her favourite Italian recipes and food tips. She has several lemon recipes: Limoncello, Lemon Cake from Sicily and Lemon Granita.

Limoncello is a very simple recipe. It is just lemon peel soaked in alcohol and sweetened with sugar syrup, but take note of the details so it is clear and tastes wonderful.

“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello

10-12 lemons

1L (4 cups) pure ethyl alcohol (95%)

600 grams (3 cups) sugar

2L water (8.5 cups) water

Rinse, wipe & dry the lemons so no residual dirt and wax remain on them.
Zest the lemons peel being sure to only use the yellow peel. The white part will make the flavour bitter.
In a large glass container, with a lid that seals well, put the lemon zest and cover with the alcohol. Put the lid on tightly.
Place the container in a cool dark place for a month. Occasionally check it and swirl the zest and alcohol together. The alcohol will start to turn yellow in only a few days. After a month of sitting you are ready for the final steps.
Bring the water to a simmer in a large pot then pour in the sugar and stir until it completely dissolves. Set it aside to cool.
Using a fine sieve, strain the alcohol and zest mix, then strain it again through a paper towel or filter. *Tip – Anita lines her strainer with dampened paper towel or several layers of cheesecloth and places it over a wide mouth jar or funnel.
Place the strained alcohol back in the large glass container and mix in the cool sugar/water syrup.
Seal the jar and put it back in the cool, dark place for at least a week or another month.
If it is cloudy, you will need to filter it again.
Taste your limoncello. You can add more sugar/water syrup if it needs to be sweetened. Bottle it when you like the taste. If you use small bottles, it makes a nice gift.
Limoncello often mellows with time, so the longer you keep it, the nicer it tastes. Mmm…

*Tips

a) If you can’t get 95% ethyl alcohol, get the closest thing and adjust the water content.

b) The left over lemons can be juiced. Fresh lemon juice is great for iced tea or cocktails. It can also be frozen until needed.

Inspired by Anita’s post://blog.italian-connection.com/living-in-italy/limoncello-recipe-make-homemade-limoncello

“Proud Mary” Fried Green Tomatoes

Posted on: July 20th, 2011 by Carla Johnson No Comments

Idgie: He won’t even sit in the same room and have a meal today.

Sipsey: Oh, it don’t make no kind of sense. A big old ox like Grady won’t sit next to a coloured child, but he eats eggs which shoot right out of a chicken’s ass.

Script excerpt from the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”

We are such funny creatures, us human beings. We seem to be on a perpetual quest to find, point out and magnify our differences. We are especially superficial about this quest since the tone of our skin continues to be a really big deal.

Last night I watched the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Towanda! I hadn’t seen it since it first came out – back in the day – in 1991 and I loved it even more! While the issues in the south were intense and brutal they are universal struggles that time has not erased anywhere on our globe. It covered a good gamut of emancipations: racism, sexism, agism, the single mom, religions, creeds all blended into one “sauce.”

The brilliant scene with George BBQing the ribs

Watching the movie followed on the heels of finishing the book “The Help.” Last Sunday I woke up and told myself I wasn’t doing anything until I finished it. Even though I was raised here in the Great White North, the attitudes of the south were paralleled up here.

I grew up in a very pale community. The “n” word was used freely, but I had no idea what it meant. Not a clue. Every time I heard that word I’d scratch my head and wonder. I also remember hearing people talking about “chewing” someone down in price. It made sense. I was in my 20’s when it hit me like a brick what they had actually been saying all along!!

I was a pre-teen when I met Georgia. She was the first “coloured” person to come into my life. She arrived new to my class one year and she was just fun and sweet. A really nice friend. My dad, knowing how much I liked her, thought he was being nice by calling her my “blackie friend.” (Sigh)

To categorize and create hierarchies based on skin tone requires no sense, no logic and no intelligence. It just requires stupidity and that creates fear.

It also means you don’t know your colours. Here is the selection of foundations tones from the Smashbox line of cosmetics designed for people all over the world. Look at it. No white, no black. We are all tones of the SAME colour.

We’re all brown. From very pale to very dark, we’re all brown! We always have been. Yes! 😯

Our species is so determined to find differences though, I am certain we could even if we all had the same tone of skin. We would pick out eyebrow arches or attached earlobes or nail biting or whatever! My friend is of Dutch descent – a pale people – and he was born and raised in a pale community, but he remembers receiving slurs from some community members as a child walking to school emphasizing his Dutchness. Why? Because we seem to be on a perpetual quest to find, point out and magnify our differences.

Yes, we are funny creatures, us human beings.

So where is the booze in all of this?

Don’t worry I’ve got something for ya. I couldn’t find a recipe for fried green tomatoes with alcohol, but I found an interesting drink. Based on the Bloody Mary, it’s a Green Mary and best sipped with some “Proud Mary.” Allow me to digress. This is how my right brained mind likes to work. 😉

Tina Turner and Cher both know more than a little something about emancipation. Oh ya!

Here it is! The recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes from the original novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Milk Gravy

Serves 4

3 tablespoons bacon grease

4 tomatoes, green, firm, sliced
2 eggs, beaten
flour
milk
salt
pepper

“Heat your bacon grease in a heavy frying pan. Dip tomatoes in eggs, then in bread crumbs. Slowly fry them in the bacon grease until golden brown on both sides. Put your tomatoes on a plate.
For each tablespoon of grease left in the pan, stir in one tablespoon of flour and blend well; then stir in one cup warm milk and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper till you like it.
Pour over the tomatoes and serve hot. The best there is.”

— Sipsey Peavey, Whistle Stop Cafe, Whistle Stop, Alabama.

The Green Mary

Makes 6 drinks

4 green tomatoes, chopped

5 green tomatillos, chopped
1 celery stalk
3 mint leaves
1 jalapeno, seeded
5 jarred olives
1/2 cup olive juice, from a jar of olives
1 cup orange juice
2 oz lemon juice fresh horseradish, grated, to taste
12 oz vodka

1. Puree all the ingredients, except the vodka, in a blender.

2. Add the vodka to the mixture. Stir and serve in highball glasses.

3. You can garnish with celery or mint, something else green if you like.

Credit for this recipe goes to http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/healthy-drinks-0.

Y’all come on and “Like” Cooking With Sin on Facebook where I have a video posted of Paula Deen making her version of Fried Green Tomatoes!

Click Here!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cooking-With-Sin/180946528621424

If you are interested, I received a copy of an “Open statement for the Fans of The Help” from the Association of Black Women Historians. I posted it on my personal blog and would be very interested in your opinion.

Did “The Help” help? http://carlajohnson.ca/2011/08/27/did-the-help-help/

“Takin’ the Piss” Crisper Sangria

Posted on: July 28th, 2010 by Carla Johnson No Comments

“Balmy days, sweet sangria.
She’s been gone, have you seen her?
Señorita shyly turning away,
Leaving me our fading flame.” ~ Tori Amos “Sweet Sangria”

Carla’s note:

I’ll never forget the darkness in my sister Michelle’s voice when she told me her best friend Martin Poyser had suddenly died. The shock in her voice echoed the pain of having part of her heart torn away. Martin had filled a special place in her life and he could never be replaced.

Michelle and Martin were a marvellous two-some supporting each other’s ups and downs and always laughing boisterously through it all. Michelle always said that Gordon Ramsey, the “Hell’s Kitchen” chef, was remarkably similar to Martin. Their energy, passion, fiery tongues and British accents along with their physical similarities were uncanny.

The love they had for each other was more profound than a romantic love. Martin helped Michelle navigate the her new world of singleness after her separation, treating her to meals and pampering her any way he could. While Michelle appreciated the joy of Martin’s relationship with his partner Martin. Yes, two Martins! She called them “Big Martin” and “Little Martin” – because her Martin was taller than his partner.

Michelle gesturing at one of her gallery openings with “Little” Martin and “Big” Martin. (I am extremely proud of my sister and the vision she brings to her art. www.MichelleJohnson.ca)

You can see the sparkle & joy in all their eyes in the next beautiful photo below. They all knew how to have fun!

_________________________________________________________

By Michelle Johnson

I answer the phone and an English accents calls out, “Get your dimply ass over here. The sangria is ready!” My heart fills with love. I put on my lipstick and dash out the door knowing that soon Martin’s cozy kitchen will be noisy with laughter and frivolity. Upon my arrival, someone announces, “The wife’s here!” It’s a label I earned due to my tendency to lean on him. The guest list could have filled a mansion so this party spills out onto the lawn, both front and back.

Martin is like an oak tree that allows all kinds of strange birds to perch on his branches. Lucky enough to be one of those birds, I’m greeted with a huge warm hug. Martin says, “Go on, Love. Serve yourself a tall glass. You gotta catch up – it’s in the crisper!” The nibbly food is out for munching, the BBQ is ready and the fridge is filled to capacity. I nudge my way over to the fridge. Grab a glass and slide open the crisper drawer. Oh, a beautiful array of colour awaits. Scooping it out with the soup ladle the glass quickly cools my hand. One sip and I know it’s gonna be a fun and “oh so messy” evening.

Martin Poyser, a dear friend, a keeper of secrets, a partner in crime and expert when it comes to “Takin’ the piss.” He suddenly passed away a few years ago of a heart condition. Gone much too soon.

Martin taught me many things, mostly by example.

“Little” Martin, Michelle, “Big” Martin and their close friend Stephanie

Photo Credit: Michelle Johnson

Here’s one of the lessons I learned.

1. Invite everybody over to your house – trust me, it’ll be fine

2. Throw out your vegetables.

3. Clean your fridge crisper drawer so it gleams a welcoming shine.

4. Line the bottom with fruit – raspberries, strawberries, oranges, pineapple, lemons, kiwis, blueberries, plum, grapes.

5. Add some spirit – cover the fruit with brandy or whiskey, add a splash of triple sec.

6. Let that sit for an hour or two… resist the urge to nibble or the guests will be hungry and you will be too tipsy to care.

7. Add your favourite cheap and cheerful red wine to fill the crisper 2/3’s from the top.

8. Add some sparkly water or lemony pop to add some fizz.

9. If you are a bitter person, add sugar.

10. Using a soup ladle, serve, toast, sip and … at every chance you get, lovingly “take the piss.”

HEY!! DID YOU SEE MY RECIPE FOR SANGRITA?

“Goddess Supper II” Chicken au Champagne

Posted on: March 28th, 2010 by Carla Johnson 2 Comments

“I always love being in the company of women. It’s all about good conversation and great wine.” ~ Naomi Watts

“God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there’s no turning back.” ~ Gloria Steinem

Sometimes we call ourselves “The Goddesses.” Other times we’re “The Divas.” Either way, it’s clear what we think of of ourselves. We are women who met 10 years ago at work. We are all teachers or principals and while we have all moved on to different schools, we continue to get together a few times a year.

Whatever we have gone through individually, The Goddesses have been there to support. We are all passionate about living life vibrantly with integrity. We all love travel and adventure. We are intellectuals and insist on delving into issues rigorously, especially when it comes to education, and most important of all we laugh loud and we laugh long.

We have seen each other through the inevitable ups and downs of life. Some of us are married, some of us are divorced, some of us are single. We raised a glass of bubbly when when one of us got married, we poured lots of red wine when one of us faced a break-up and we championed the virtues of being single when one of us struggled with the idea. We anguished together when one of us faced daunting parenting challenges and we were consoling when one of us faced a hysterectomy that came too early in life.

Among The Goddesses, I have been the most prodigal, so I invited everyone to my house for a “Sin Supper” and the jokes ensued. “Can we get tipsy on pork tenderloin?” “I’m bringing a dish called ‘Potted Cheese’ with Riesling, not pot.” “We may need to make it a sleep-over.”

The dinner was pot-luck and we had an absolutely wonderful time tasting each other’s dishes and ranting about the need for more Arts in education. There was Pat’s Potted Cheese, Laurie’s Chicken au Champagne and Trish’s Pork Tenderloin with Brandied Mushrooms & Shallot Sauce. Gillian brought Pasta Amatriciana and a bottle of Passion-Fruit Jamaican rum. I made George’s Sherry Potatoes and Melissa made Sex In The Pan (What a great idea!) for dessert.

Here are all the recipes from our “Goddess Supper” one course at a time. Enjoy!

Entree #1

Laurie

Laurie Douglas made Chicken Au Champagne. Laurie works with primary students, and recently won a prestigious teaching award. She brings such a thoughtful and caring spirit to her classroom, that you may miss the fact that she is actually very organized and direct. I am easily distracted and rarely look at the time, so Laurie kept me focused on getting food on the table in for our dinner. Thank you Laurie!

chicken-au-champagne

Chicken Au Champagne

Ingredients: Champagne

4 organic, free range, chicken breasts

salt & freshly ground pepper

Chervil, tarragon or thyme (These herbs are optional and can be substituted according to taste.)

1 shallot quartered

1 cup Champagne (with a sweetness of “1”)

4 cups cooked brown rice

Garnish:

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

a touch of olive oil

a few drops of lemon juice

1 teaspoon freshly chopped sage

1 tablespoon butter

Bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts were recommended, but Laurie used boneless, skinless chicken breasts for our meal.

Place chicken breasts in a roasting pan, skin side down, and season them with the salt, pepper and herbs. Pour ½ cup of the champagne over the breasts. Make a slit in each breast and insert a piece of shallot.
Place the pan under the broiler for 3 minutes until the skin is nicely browned. Turn and broil the other side for 5 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the broiler and baste in the pan juices, adding the remaining ½ cup of Champagne.
Adjust the oven temperature to 475°F and bake the chicken for 30 minutes, basting once or twice.
Place each breast on a bed of rice.
Garnish:

Sauté chopped mushrooms in a touch of olive oil.
Add the lemon juice & sage seasoning to taste.
Stir in the butter until it melts.
Pour over the chicken & rice and serve.

I added George’s Sherry Potatoes to the plate.

http://cookingwithsin.com/2010/03/03/comfort-of-home-sherry-potatoes/

In case you were worried, the remaining Champagne did not go to waste – unless you mean my waist… tee hee!

chicken-with-potatoes

Check out the next post for the next entree of our dinner; Trish’s Pork Tenderloin and Brandied Mushroom Shallot Sauce.

http://cookingwithsin.com/2010/03/28/goddess-supper-iii-pork-tenderloin-and-brandied-mushroom-shallot-sauce/

Posts Tagged ‘Lemon’