Kids Dish

Sam’s third birthday was on Sunday and once again I decided to bake him a train cake. Last year I baked two train cakes. One was a chocolate cake in the shape of a generic steam engine, the other was vanilla in the shape of Thomas the Tank Engine. I borrowed two different cake pans for the jobs and learned rather quickly that decorating cakes with ziploc bags and butter knives isn’t easy.

This year I knew I’d be baking the Thomas cake again since Sam’s obsession with the blue engine has only gotten worse. But I also saw a cake pan at a friends house that made a little steam engine with train car cupcakes. I borrowed the pan with the bright idea to send the little cakes home with the kids as party favors.

The cake pan looked terrifyingly intricate. The directions called for using a brush to grease the pan and specified Wondra flour to flour it for easy release. I decided to give it a trial run well before the party. Despite the fact that I followed the directions exactly, the first batch of train cupcakes was a total disaster. The batter overflowed and spilled all over my oven and the cakes were essentially glued to the pan. I scraped out as much as I could with a spatula and used my fingers to get out the rest. Washing the pans required bottle brushes and toothbrushes, both wet and dry. It was a trainwreck.

But I couldn’t let it go. I bought a can of Pam for baking, a formula that combines grease with flour. It smelled disgusting and made me gag, but I sprayed the pans until they were dripping. It worked. The cakes fell right out of the pan.

Sadly I saved the second batch for the night before the party. I was tired and handed over the majority of the decorating duties to my husband. He’s not much of an artist but he did a reasonable job, especially considering it was 11pm and we were both a little bit buzzed.

When I was young and idealistic I swore I’d never fall into the consumerist, commercial trap of licensed character toys for my child. I still have not succumbed to the temptation, and though I’ve bought him a few Curious George books, all other licensed character items have come from others. I won’t buy them, but we borrow videos and books from the library feeding his licensed character addiction. Worse, I’ve actually suggested exactly which licensed character toys, namely Thomas the Tank Engine, to purchase for my little train-a-holic.

For his birthday I went to the next level. Rather than serving a regular birthday cake I borrowed a Thomas the Tank Engine cake pan from a friend. It was an arduous, painful process, but I colored two batches of frosting, and even made a practice cake in case I screwed up. I will never have a career in cake decorating, but considering my only tools were a small icing spatula, a butter knife, toothpicks, ziploc bags and my fingers, it didn’t come out too badly. The recipe, straight from the pages of Cooks Illustrated, was superb.

Yellow Layer Cake
from Cook’s Illustrated

* Move oven rack to the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350°.
* Grease two 9â€? round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Dust pans with flour. (I was using one Thomas shaped pan so I did not line it with parchment fearing I’d lose the details necessary for proper frosting.
* Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 ½ cups sugar in a large bowl.
* In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and egg yolks.
* Beat egg white in a stand mixer small bowl until foamy, about 30 seconds. Then slowly add the remaining ¼ cup sugar to the egg white while beating. Continue to beat until whites hold peaks, but mixture still looks moist.
* Add butter mixture to flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture, then add the remaining egg white mixture and gently fold in until fully incorporated.
* Divide batter between two pans, tapping filled pans gently on counter to dislodge air bubbles. (I just used the one pan. A sheet pan works too.)
* Bake 20-22 minutes or until done. (Using the oddly shaped pan this took a lot longer- maybe 34 minutes? If you don’t use a standard sized pan check often to avoid over- or under-cooking the cake)
* Cool 10 minutes before removing cakes from pan. Remove cakes from pan, and cool on a cooling rack for 1 ½ hours before frosting.

I just made a standard white frosting so it would dye well. Cooks Illustrated recommends serving this cake with chocolate frosting. Next time I will.

I love macaroni and cheese, especially the real kind. I like the stuff in a box too, especially Annie’s brand, but the real stuff, baked in the oven is superior. I’ve fiddled with a number of recipes over the years and found two that have stuck out. The first is Patti Labelle’s insanely decadent Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. This stuff is the real deal, the mac and cheese of legend. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, five kinds of cheese, eggs and some seasoning. There’s no milk, no flour, no breadcrumbs. It’s insanely good, but since I’ve become more aware of what I eat, it’s hard to justify buying processed cheese food like Velveeta when other recipes exist. If you don’t have similar qualms, run out for the ingredients right now and bake this mac and cheese. It’s worth every calorie.

If you do have similar issues about strange orange cheeselike substances, skip Patti Labelle’s heart attack in a greased casserole dish, and give this recipe from the New York Times a go. This is also the real deal, pasta and cheese mixed to perfection using a ratio of 2:1 cheese to pasta. I love the recipe because you don’t have to precook the pasta- it cooks perfectly in the oven. I’ve made it several times now and each time people have raved about it. Yesterday I made a double batch for Sam’s birthday party. I got distracted and left it in the oven for 20 minutes too long, alerted to my mistake only by the heavenly smell of cheese wafting through the house. It wasn’t as creamy as it is ordinarily, but the extra 20 minutes produced a nice brown crust all over. Overdone or not, it was still fantastic.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Sam’s second birthday is tomorrow and we’re throwing him a small party on Sunday to celebrate. I’m not an indulgent parent. Sure, I’ll let him eat pretzels for breakfast, but when it comes to an event he’s not going to remember I’m not the type of person rent out an establishment or provide pony rides, clowns, Elmo or an ice sculpture. We went all out for his first birthday and invited all of our family and friends, but that was more of a milestone for us. We made it through a year. At this point, a year later, we’re glad to celebrate Sam’s second year of life outside the womb and look forward to his third, but at seven months pregnant I don’t feel like feeding fifty people again. So a small party it is.

Of course Bob’s family is big and close so small is relative. His generous aunts send cards and call when Sam’s sick so it would feel wrong not to invite them. And if we’re inviting his aunts and uncles it would be weird not to invite his cousins, who may or may not come anyway. Right now small looks like it’s going to be about twenty people. Maybe a few more, maybe a few less. We scheduled the party for four o’clock in the afternoon which is kind of an odd time for a party on a Sunday afternoon, but any earlier, say a normal two o’clock in the afternoon party, would probably interfere with naptime. At four we sort of have to provide dinner, yet it’s not a dinner party so the question of what to eat is a big one.

Rather than have a specific dinner time, we’ll have cold foods out when the party begins and put the warm foods out later. I’ve decided against serving a ton of hot food for twenty people who will be milling about, not seated, but there will be a few hot items. My mother-in-law, at our request, is making roast beef and gravy for sandwiches, Bob’s aunt is making a few strombolis, and I’m going to make a big tray of macaroni and cheese. I considered serving another hot entree, but decided to order a hoagie tray instead.

I feel like I’m slacking, but I’m hoping all of the cold food makes up for the lack of hot. It is a late afternoon party, not a dinner party after all.

Remember how I wrote that I was going to attempt to start using some quick and easy recipes? It turns out I’m not so good at it. The Saturday after Christmas we had my husband’s aunt, uncle, cousins and their kids over for Christmas round two and I decided that to make things easy on myself I’d make a salad, two lasagnas (because I could make them in advance) and let everyone else bring the rest. I new that one of the lasagnas I planned to make was labor-intensive. It’s a Lasagna Bolognese from Cook’s Illustrated and I’ve been eying it for months. But for the second lasagna I decided to make a regular spinach and cheese lasagna as simply as possible.

Of course I couldn’t make it simple. Rather than use a jarred sauce like most easy lasagna recipes call for I decided to make my own. Two days before the scheduled dinner I pulled out the tomatoes I froze over the summer and made a quick (ish) chunky tomato sauce. Then I started the ragu for the bolognese. As the meat simmered I realized that most of my husband’s family wouldn’t understand a plain meat lasagna. They’d want to know where the cheese was. So I decided to make a third lasagna with meat and cheese. This meant making more sauce because if I was making homemade for the first two I certainly wasn’t going to buy a sauce for the third.

While it should have taken no more than 2 hours to assemble all three lasagnas it ended up taking most of the following afternoon after making another batch of tomato sauce, reheating the ragu, making a bechamel sauce, cooking the meat for the third lasagna, chopping, cleaning and spinning spinach and basil, combining the ricotta mixture and grating four cups of Parmesan. Once all of that was done it took no time at all to assemble the three lasagnas, but I really could have simplified things by buying a couple of jars of sauce, pre-grated cheese and frozen spinach.

Here they are assembled and uncooked. From left to right: meat and cheese, spinach and cheese, bolognese

Sam just woke up from his nap so tomorrow I’ll post the recipes for the meat and cheese and the spinach and cheese. I promise I’ll make it easier for you than I did for me.

I found my green bean recipe after a quick search last night. It was between two- Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Haricots Verts with Herb Butter. The herb butter recipe only had one review, and though it was glowingly positive and I’m making herb butter anyway I decided to go with the shallot recipe for a few reasons: It sounds delicious, It can be completely made ahead of time and reheated before serving, and the reviews were all positive.

I’m kind of low on shallots since I have more than 2 pounds of green beans to cook and they’re the regular kind which aren’t as tender. (I’m bummed I used all of the haricots verts from my garden during the summer, but I didn’t really grow enough to save any. Note for next year: either skip the green beans or plant 3 times as many) And I’m going to use fresh thyme from my garden. Reviewers suggest cutting the butter/oil a bit so even though I’m going to use more beans than the recipe calls for I’ll try it with the original amount of butter and oil and add more if necessary.

Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots
Bon Appétit | December 2006

2 pounds haricots verts or slender green beans, trimmed
1 pound medium shallots
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Cook haricots verts in boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes (or 6 minutes if using green beans). Drain. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain well. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in several layers of paper towels. Seal in plastic bag and chill.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last night I picked up the turkey, did the grocery shopping and spent a good three and half hours in the kitchen accomplishing… Well, I don’t even know what I accomplished. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot.

I cleaned out the refrigerator and discarded all of the expired condiments. We somehow had a fridge full of salad dressings I’d never buy since I make all of my own. I guess my mother-in-law must have brought them here for some meal or another and forgotten them. I also discarded an ancient jar of mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is one of those things I won’t touch unless I’ve made it myself (well, I’ll eat some restaurant aioli, but only sometimes.)

So the refrigerator is cleaned out, the shelves are clean (except for the two drawers that I just didn’t have the energy to deal with) and some of the prep work is done. I still need to figure out how to make the green beans and I haven’t decided if I want to make multigrain dinner rolls or buttermilk biscuits. I bought the stuff for both. I was pleased to see that the turkey (unlike the chickens I’ve bought from the farm) was pretty well cleaned. The giblets and neck were actually detached and stuffed inside the cavity and I didn’t have to scrape out any nasty, gooey innards. Nothing like fresh from the farm animal goo.

The menu:
roasted butternut squash and garlic bisque
turkey
extra stuffing (aunt bea)
mashed potatoes (aunt bea)
cranberry sauce (aunt bea)
roasted potatoes (I have close to five pounds. Will people eat two kinds of white potatoes?)
candied sweet potatoes
green beans
balsamic glazed carrots
rolls or biscuits
cheesecake (mom)
apple pie
chocolate chip oatmeal pecan cookies

Completed prep:
Butternut squash and veggies roasted and pureed
Stock made for soup and stuffing
Onions and celery chopped for stuffing and gravy
Turkey ready to be brined
Giblets removed and liver discarded
Green beans trimmed
Sweet potatoes scrubbed
Refrigerator cleaned
Cookies baked

Today
1. Prepare brine
2. start bread dough? Biscuit dough?
3. make pie dough
4. make sweet potatoes
5. blanch green beans
6. cut herbs from the garden: thyme, chives, rosemary
7. clean up
8. bake bread
9. make herb butter for turkey

Thursday:
1. rinse and dry turkey
2. make stuffing
3. stuff turkey, and start roasting
4. start gravy
5. assemble pie
6. make carrots
7. reheat sweet potatoes and bread
8. finish green beans

I know I’m missing plenty from the lists. I have to set the table at some point and get all of my serving dishes labeled and ready to go. I don’t know if I’ll do that today or tomorrow though.

You know that I’m a huge fan of dip. Kids love to dip food in things. I learned this the day that Katie scooped up a big pile of ketchup with a chunk of honeydew. Dip = fun for kids.

So take advantage of this notion to get your kids to eat some vegetables! In addition to the crudites mentioned before, you can encourage your kids to eat other veggies like eggplant.

Eggplant dip is yummy and easy to make. The most traditional version is called Baba Ghanuj and has tahini in it. Not all of us have tahini in the house, so try this Greek version, called melitzanosalata, that is a bit more simple to make.

Melitzanosalata

That’s what we like to call cheese quesedillas. Girls love grilled cheese, therefore girls love Mexican grilled cheese. Easy and quick.

Here’s the recipe:

Cheese Quesadillas

8 flour tortillas
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
Olive oil
Garnish: sour cream, cilantro, salsa, black olives, scallions and guacamole

Brush 4 tortillas lightly on one side with the oil. Top with cheese and another tortilla on each. Place in hot pan (or griddle) and cook until lightly browned and cheese begins to melt. Flip. Brown on the other side. Serve hot. Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, salsa, black olives, scallions and guacamole, as you like.

If you’d like to incorporate some veggies, it’s easy to do. You can add raw mushrooms or peppers, just mix together with the cheese before placing on the quesadilla. You can also try zucchini or spinach, but I would recommend blanching or sauteeing before adding to the quesadilla. Add grilled fish, shrimp, beef or chicken for an even heartier meal. You can mix it up even more by using spinach or tomato tortillas. The possibilities are practically endless.

Sooo easy to make and kids love them! We actually incorporated this idea into a “make your own quesadilla” party last year and it was a huge hit! We set up bowls of chopped veggies and different cheeses and let each child build his or her own quesadilla before throwing them onto the griddle. We marked them all so that we knew which quesadilla belonged to who…

And be sure and check out this recipe for chili rellenos - a great accompaniment!

Mexican food, quesadillas, cheese