A Special Gift-5/26/10

The other night I made the bulk of the Moroccan meal in this month's Food and Wine but I still had the Moroccan Lamb Stew with Noodles to make.  In keeping with the theme, I made this recipe tonight.  It was pretty labor-intensive, something that cooking expert, Paula Wolfert, is not afraid of if the recipe tastes right.  The use of powdered sugar was a bit strange at first but the bit of sweet was surprising.  I really liked this dish for its mix of rich lamb, crunchy almonds, flavorful noodles, and the aforementioned powdered sugar.  I even got to pull out a wonderful old fondue pot of my grandmother's that made this dish look great.  Sorry for the rather cloudy picture.  It really did look good. 
The title for this blog came from the second recipe I'm writing about.  Last night I took some friends who just had a baby dinner.  I get a bit nervous about experimenting on friends, especially when the dish has to travel well so I just made lasagna and bought salad and bread.  I looked in this month's Bon Appetit for a good cookies recipe and found Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing on page 70.  These cookies were very yummy and tasted just like carrot cake in cookie form.  My only concern was that my cookies were quite flat, unlike the rounded cake-like cookies in the picture.  I think my problem was using all-purpose flour, instead of the called-for cake flour.  Seems like a little switch but it may have made a big difference in how these cookies looked and stayed together.  Oh well, the new mommy loved them and that's what gifts are all about.

Moroccan Lamb Stew with Noodles-A-
Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing-A-




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hambrick's-Party of Four!-8/1/11

Image
On August 24th of last year, I wrote a innocuous little post on this blog about my husband being a good sport about my creative culinary exploits.  And then....nothing....for over 11 months.  What happened, you may ask?  Well, the picture at left tells a rather significant part of the story but not the whole thing so I'll try to summarize here in case another 11 months go by before I post again.  (Okay, I will seriously try not to do that!)  The year 2010 started off on the wrong foot with the loss of our fourth pregnancy (Thankfully, pregnancy #2 had resulted in Eyrleigh!) at 18 weeks.  We were still reeling from the devastation of that event when my only sibling, my brother Ben, committed suicide at the end of February.  Then in April, Richard's company hired a new CEO and things professionally went south from there for him.  Since a blog is a public format and could therefor be accessed by anyone, including this individual, let me suffice it to say that after 9 years with th
Read more

I Don't Boil Lobsters...July in Review-7/31/09

Image
Gourmet's July recipes are in the bag and aside from the two recipes I refused to do, I made every recipe for the month. I suppose I should explain... I eat meat but I cannot actually kill the animal before I eat it. I suppose I should amend this statement. The mussels I brought home from the store said "Live mussels" but they sure didn't move or give any other indication that they were alive. Lobsters do, they move, they squirm, and whether you believe it's simply air escaping from their shells or not, they make a high pitched screaming sound when first put into boiling water. I just can't do that. The very thought of it turns my stomach and makes something I find fun, cooking, fill me with dread. So I didn't make the Boiled Lobster Dinner with Sesame Mayonnaise on page 54 or the Lobster Rolls with Lemon Vinaigrette and Garlic Butter on page 28. Everything else I made and here's my highs and lows from this month's issue. This month's best reci
Read more

He Even Eats Sardines-8/24/10

Image
My husband is a really good sport.  I was reminded on several occasions this week how many spouses, husbands in particular, would take no part in the experiment I've been blogging about for over a year and a half.  Some friends came to eat last week and the wife made a point to tell me her husband did not eat vegetables.  He's a great guy but I'm really glad I'm not married to him.   I couldn't handle a picky eater.  And I'm 100% sure a picky eater could not handle me!    Another friend, after I told her what we were having for dinner, asked very incredulously if Richard would eat that.   Tonight I think I found Richard's least favorite food.  It's sardines.  I had to eat them as a kid so though I don't love them, I can eat them.  Richard took one bite of the sardine spread and asked what I had made him eat.   The recipe for Grilled Monterey Sardines with Lemon and Herbs in the To Big Sur, With Love article in this month's Bon Appetit called for
Read more