May 5, 2013

Cactus Meringue Cookies

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Cactus Meringue Cookies

Cactus Meringue Cookies

May 5: Cinco de Mayo

When Islander and her brother were in Arizona for a work conference a few years ago, they took a break from some of the sessions and went sightseeing in Phoenix, Sedona and the Grand Canyon. They enjoyed the drive through the desert and imagined that the saguaro cacti were waving to them! The tour guide even stopped along the way and picked a prickly pear for us as a succulent snack.

Some cactus plants are edible and are characteristic of Southwestern and Mexican cuisine. Below are a few nopales photographed outside of Islander’s brother’s house and some being sold at a grocery store in Texas.  

Nopales

However, it is the distinctive saguaro shape that inspired us to create cute cactus cookies for a fiesta. We also make cactus meringue cookies for Cinco de Mayo celebrations! Olé.

Recipe

(Based on our Meringue Skeleton Bones post)

Ingredients

  • 3 egg whites
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • pinch of salt
  • 2/3 cup sugar (granulated white)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla (we used Mexican vainilla)
  • green food coloring
  • green sugar sprinkles
  • pink fondant flowers (see a similar tutorial here or here)
  • pink tube frosting
  • yellow tube frosting

Directions

With a handmixer or in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and pinch of salt until fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until shiny.

Cactus Meringue Cookies

Stir in the vanilla. Mix in the food coloring. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip with the meringue. Trace the cactus pattern on top of a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Start tracing with the cactus’ left arm, then the right arm and finish off with a downward middle stroke.

Cactus Meringue Cookies

Remove the pattern from underneath the parchment paper. Sprinkle with green sugar. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees F for an hour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to dry for another hour. Remove from the oven and carefully peel off the meringues from the parchment paper.

Cactus Meringue Cookies

Make the fondant flowers and let dry. Attach to the meringues with a dab of pink frosting. Finish by piping a small round center with yellow frosting. Seal in an airtight container in a single file. When ready to serve, arrange in single file on a platter. Avoid stacking them or the meringues might stick to each other. Yield: Approximately 2 ½-3 dozen cactus meringue cookies.

Cactus Meringue Cookies

Notes

  • Download our cactus pattern here.
  • Saguaro cactus flowers, when in bloom at night, are white and yellow. But we colored our fondant flowers in the shade of prickly pear pink.
  • Humidity affects this recipe. Leave the cactus meringue cookies in a warm oven for a dry, crisp dessert. Otherwise, our friends have told us that the soft meringues still taste delicious as they melt in your mouth like a marshmallow.
  • Muchas gracias to Phyllis S. for helping to make the fondant flowers for our cactus meringue cookies. For a review of making fondant flower cutouts, please see our posts here or here.
 

April 21, 2013

In Ovis Apalis

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In Ovis Apalis

(Roman Boiled Eggs)

Roman Eggs

April 21: Birthdate of Rome (753 BC)

Highlander chose to spend his 50th birthday in Italy (Rome, Florence and Venice) a few years ago as a most memorable milestone trip. We went all over The Eternal City (churches, piazzas, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, the Vatican, cafes and more) and were awed by the history, art, architecture and culture!

On Capitoline Hill, we saw the famous statue of the she-wolf suckling twins Romulus and Remus, the mythological symbol of the founding of Rome. According to the popular legend, the unwanted twin sons of the war god Mars and a Vestal “virgin” were cast off into the River Tiber. A she-wolf found the babies and nursed them as her own, until a shepherd came and raised them. When the brothers grew up, they fought over a site where they were to establish a city. Romulus killed Remus and became king of the Italian capital that bears his name.

Romulus and Remus

In observance of the birthdate of Rome, we ate an ancient appetizer called In Ovis Apalis (boiled eggs with a pine nut sauce). There is an old Latin saying “ab ovo usque ad malum” which translates to “from the egg to the fruit,” suggesting the courses of an Italian meal from the beginning to the end (or from antipasti, primi, secondi and all the way to dolci).

Do as the ancient Romans did and eat In Ovis Apalis to celebrate Rome’s birthday!

Recipe

(Adapted from PBS)

Ingredients

  • 4 boiled eggs
  • 2 ounces stone pine kernels (pine nuts)
  • 2-3 tablespoons vinegar (we used white wine vinegar)
  • 1-2 teaspoon honey
  • pinch of ground black pepper

Directions

Boil the eggs. Cool down. Remove the shells. Cut them in half lengthwise. Set aside to make the sauce.

Roman Eggs

Toast the pine nuts by sautéing them in a pan till lightly browned (about 5 minutes or less). Remove to cool. In a measuring cup or little bowl, combine the vinegar, honey and pepper. Stir in the pine nuts. Place the sauce in a small dish or serving boat to accompany the boiled eggs. Pour the sauce on the eggs and eat immediately to avoid making the yolks soggy.

Roman Eggs

Notes

  • In Ovis Apalis is also a good recipe to use up leftover boiled Easter eggs.
  • Ancient Romans added a pinch of lovage (celery leaf) to the sauce recipe.
  • We toasted the pine nuts to accentuate its flavor. Soaking them in the sauce somewhat tones down the acid in the vinegar.
  • Highlander’s birthday is on April 20. Our trip to Italy for his 50th year coincided with Roman (and national) celebrations around the week of April 21. Several museums and public events were free or discounted then, allowing us to take advantage of what the country’s tourism industry had to offer.
  • Search our blog for other Italian recipes.
 

April 11, 2013

Our 3rd Blog-o-versary

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HI Cookery is 3!

April 11: HI Cookery Blog Anniversary

What a difference a year makes! As we, Highlander and Islander, continue to cook our way through the calendar, we pause to post not a recipe but our reflections.

In the past year, Islander has returned to school recently to learn basic web design (perhaps she can re-design this blog someday?). She says that homework assignments are taking up her cooking and blogging time! Highlander travels constantly for business, especially with current corporate restructuring (hopefully we do not have to be relocated to another state again). So he has not been able to help her as much with the food photography.

Although we are posting recipes less frequently than before, it is also because we are closer to our goal of cooking something ethnic or eclectic for each day of the calendar year. We know it takes a lot of work to maintain a food blog. Some of those we follow have discontinued or have become less regular in their postings. We admire those whose food blogs are still going strong. They are an inspiration for us to finish what we have started three years ago on April 11, 2010.

We are thankful to Catholic Cuisine for including our feast day recipes on its blog this year. We are especially grateful to all our blog subscribers and readers who “like” or “pin” our posts. We are appreciative of our family, friends and co-workers (the guinea pigs) who continue to show their support by giving us recipe ideas and/or taste-testing our cooking. God willing, everyone’s encouragement will help us reach another blog-o-versary next year!

 

April 1, 2013

Chick-in-Eggs

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Chick-in-Eggs

Chick-in-Eggs

April: Easter Week

We dress up deviled eggs as little devils after Halloween, on November 2, National Deviled Eggs Day. But around the Easter season, we make special spring chicks because they look so cute cracking out of their shells.

Eggs are festive food this time of the year as they are symbolic of transformations. The dead of winter is reborn into the hope of spring; the rising of Jesus from the dead represents new life; yolks turn into yummy appetizers.

Do deviled eggs differently during Easter Week and decorate them as spring chicks! Blessings to all our blog readers on Easter!

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 hard boiled eggs, cooled and shelled
  • 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)
  • carrot sliver
  • black food gel tube

Directions

Boil, cool and shell the eggs. Slice a little piece off the bottom of an egg so it could stand on its own. Slice the egg 1/3 from the top, making the bottom 2/3 larger.

Chick-in-Eggs

Remove the yolks to a mixing bowl. Use a sharp paring knife to cut triangular “cracks” from the top and bottom of the egg whites. Set aside. Add mayonnaise and curry powder to the egg yolks and mash with a fork until smooth.

Chick-in-Eggs

Generously fill the bottom of the egg whites with a mound of the yolk mixture (we used a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip). Cap off with the top egg whites. Peel a small part of a carrot. Cut out into tiny triangles for the beaks. Position them on the egg yolks. Lightly touch the tip of the black tube frosting to make the eyes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chick-in-Eggs

Notes

  • Thanks to Lisa L. for the idea of decorating our deviled eggs into spring chicks.
  • Knead the black tube icing and squeeze out the excess liquid on a napkin before decorating the chick-in-eggs to avoid runny smears on the yolk filling.
  • Search our blog for other Easter and egg recipes.
 

March 31, 2013

Chocolate Bunny Butts

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Chocolate Bunny Butts

Chocolate Bunny Butts

March 31, 2013: Easter

As a reward for surviving Lent (and giving up chocolate for 40 days), Islander gets a chocolate bunny from Highlander as an Easter gift. Whether it is a hollow or solid candy bunny (she likes the latter better!), Islander can indulge in all that chocolate goodness after sacrificing sweets for a few weeks.

As an alternative to chocolate bunnies, Chocolate Bunny Butts are a differently delicious dessert made with deviled food cookies, miniature marshmallows and melted chocolate.  They look especially cute with colorful candy eggs—and they are quick and easy to make.

Eat an Easter fun food and have a Chocolate Bunny Butt. Hoppy Happy Easter from HI Cookery!

Recipe

(Inspired by Hungry Happenings)

Ingredients

Directions

Place the bunny head pattern on a cookie sheet. Lay waxed paper over it. Melt the chocolate according to the package directions. Cool slightly.

Chocolate Bunny Butts

Flatten a miniature marshmallow. Dip one flat side in the melted chocolate. Attach it to the cookie. Fill with melted chocolate a pastry bag outfitted with a round decorating tip (or fill a plastic bag and snip off a small hole in the corner). Carefully trace the bunny head pattern with the melted chocolate leaving a small tab at the end.

Chocolate Bunny Butts

Place in the refrigerator to cool and harden the chocolate. Carefully peel off the bunny heads from the waxed paper. Use the remaining melted chocolate to attach the cookie to the head. Refrigerate to set the chocolate. Arrange the dessert on a platter and serve.

Chocolate Bunny Butts

Notes

  • Download a PDF of our bunny head pattern here.
  • Search our blog for other Easter or egg recipes.
 

March 30, 2013

Creole Turkey Neck and Cabbage Soup

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Creole Turkey Neck

and Cabbage Soup

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TDZN_aM68rY/ULkrRwBNisI/AAAAAAAAEug/VnfOwKq7dgQ/s800/turkeyneckcabbbagesoup.jpg

March 30: National Turkey Neck Soup Day

Highlander sometimes eats turkey giblet gravy and Islander gobble-gobbles up the oven-roasted tail at Thanksgiving meals. We enjoy our leftovers and try not to waste any of the turkey meat. But we rarely save other turkey parts, such as the neck, because they do not look or sound too appetizing to cook. Yet we decided to try making a Southern soul food-style dish, Creole turkey neck and cabbage soup, in observance of National Turkey Neck Soup Day. Islander did not like it at all and practically gagged at the “aroma” of the boiled neck pieces (a foul-smelling fowl?). The cabbage, along with the spicy seasonings, did tone down the odor a bit. Highlander agreed that it was not worth the effort and few ingredients of making it again since it took a few hours to prepare this dish in our kitchen. However, for those who are more adventurous with their appetites and cooking experiments are welcome to try the recipe below.

Recipe

(Adapted from Live Strong)

Ingredients

  • 1 turkey neck
  • 1 head cabbage
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • Creole seasoning to taste
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • hot sauce (optional)

Directions

Cut off the bottom core of the cabbage. Halve it and rinse well. Slice into strips and drain in a colander.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pMvTsz5oF_A/ULkrRwA6BNI/AAAAAAAAEuk/o3Noyo6_elg/s800/turkeynecksteps1.jpg

Cut the turkey neck into three or four pieces. Place in a pot and pour enough water over the pieces. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the neck pieces and skim the debri out of the liquid. Add the sugar.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QkeMVrbie_8/ULkrSGZuclI/AAAAAAAAEuo/pfH9ph6NtBw/s800/turkeynecksteps2.jpg

Stir in the Creole seasoning. Return the neck pieces in the liquid. Boil on medium low heat for another hour. Remove the neck pieces again and strain the liquid. Put the neck pieces back in the pot, then add the cabbage strips and strained liquid.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7NEqEwWXSAE/ULkrSiqyJVI/AAAAAAAAEu8/mOblWkiaX4o/s800/turkeynecksteps3.jpg

Pour in the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover with a lid and let the cabbage cook for about 30 minutes or until wilted. Turn up the heat to medium and cook for another 45 minutes to reduce the liquid. Adjust the taste with Creole seasoning. Stir gently. Ladle the cabbage strips and liquid into soup bowls. Top with a turkey neck piece. Serve with a splash of hot sauce.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xkEREcy3K6Q/ULkrTGVprcI/AAAAAAAAEu4/1Zr7VA_pudk/s800/turkeynecksteps4.jpg

Notes

  • Turkey neck is a tough meat so it needs to be cooked for a long time to become tender.
  • Smoked turkey neck, if available, would lend a more unique flavor to this recipe.
  • Although Thanksgiving is many months away, try our traditional turkey recipe (simple oven-roasted method). Or prepare our popular Oreo turkey cookies.
 

March 26, 2013

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

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Spinach Salad with

Warm Bacon Dressing

Spinach-Bacon Salad

March 26: National Spinach Day

Popeye loves spinach and Olive Oyl, but we love our spinach salad with bacon just as much! The healthy-green-vegetable leaves go well with a not-so-healthy-but-delicious dressing. The caramelized red onions and sauteed mushrooms lend a yummy flavor and the eggs add a bright color to this hearty and tasty salad. Prepare what Popeye would love, too, and make a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing for National Spinach Day!

Recipe

(Adapted from Pioneer Woman)

For the spinach salad

  • 8 ounces baby spinach, washed and dried
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 cup white button mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
  • 6-8 slices bacon

Directions

Prepare all the ingredients for the salad. Slice the red onion thinly and separate into rings. Slice the mushrooms. Boil, cool and shell the eggs. Slice them and set aside.

Spinach-Bacon Salad

Fry the bacon until cooked and crisp. Reserve 6 tablespoons of bacon grease for sautéing the onions and mushrooms and for making the salad dressing. Remove the bacon from the skillet and drain on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.

Spinach-Bacon Salad

In the another skillet, heat two tablespoons of bacon grease and slowly fry up the onions until wilted and caramelized. Transfer to a plate and set aside. In the same skillet, fry up the mushrooms, adding another tablespoon of bacon grease, if necessary. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Make the warm bacon dressing.

Spinach-Bacon Salad

For the warm bacon dressing

  • 3 tablespoons reserved bacon grease
  • 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon dijon or honey mustard
  • dash of salt

Directions

In a small pan, mix the reserved bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, mustard and salt. Mix well over low heat.

Spinach-Bacon Salad

Assemble the salad. In 2-3 individual salad bowls, layer the spinach on the bottom. Top with the caramelized onions, mushrooms and crumbled bacon. Pour the warm bacon dressing over the salad and toss lightly to combine. Garnish with boiled egg slices. Serve immediately.

Spinach-Bacon Salad 

Notes

 

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