Raspberry Custard Tart

I thought this tart looked light and fresh, and would be a perfect treat for good friends who kindly offered to babysit Benjamin so Ben and I could celebrate our anniversary at Restaurant Eve (yum!).   I planned it perfectly and I was going to make it after Benjamin and my 'great adventure' taking the metro to the airport to watch the planes (he's all about planes, trains, and automobiles). Correction, it would have been perfectly planned if Martha's instructions hadn't caused me to burn the crust. 

Martha says to bake the shell for 35 minutes.  Because the puff pastry crust was covered in parchment paper and weights it was difficult to see what was going on and frankly, I was distracted by making the custard.  And what was going on was some serious burning.

But as you know, I don't give up easily.  While my friends had to go without on Saturday, I made it up to them on Sunday by dropping off a perfectly baked tart.  The second time around, I watched the crust like a hawk and it was done after only 20 minutes.  That's a 15 minute difference, Martha.

It was a hit and I'll definitely make it again.

Here's Martha's recipe: www.marthastewart.com/893050/raspberry-custard-tart

Ali

Spring Pasta

Martha has done well this month with her article on pasta sauce in a skillet.  Ali raved earlier about the red clam sauce and this week I tried the Leek, Sugar Snap Peas, and Lemon Pasta http://www.marthastewart.com/892626/pappardelle-leeks-sugar-snap-peas-and-lemon. I replaced the snap peas, which no one in my house likes, with asparagus. That alteration didn't make it any more appealing to my kids who won't eat anything remotely resembling leeks, but my husband and I liked it.  It was tasty, quick and easy.  Perfect. 

Leeks cooking away



... with asparagus and lemon zest



Pretty and pretty tasty!

-Jacqui

Scarved Umbrellas?

Martha suggests tying a scarf to your umbrella so it's easily spotted in a stand.  

Nope.

Ali

Martha's Peanut-Buttery Salt Lick

This cookie is Martha's equivalent to a salt lick.  However, instead of providing us with the essential mineral nutrients like calcium, iron, and zinc; Martha's cookie provides ample butter, brown sugar, peanuts.....and well, sodium. 

Ok, that's a little bit of a stretch.  I'll be honest, I used salted peanuts, in addition to the required 1 tsp of salt.  Big. Faux. Pas... BIG.  Though, in my defense, Martha didn't specify whether to use salted or unsalted nuts.  Apparently she assumes her readers have common sense.

The brave buggers', who were the unfortunate taste-tasters of this cookie, initial reaction was 'yum!' and then as they chewed a confused look would come over their faces as if they weren't quite sure what was happening.  I'd ask, 'salty..?'  Poor guys. 

Anyway, learn from my ridiculous mistake, either use unsalted nuts or if all you have in you pantry is salted nuts, use some sense - which I apparently lack - and omit the additional salt. 

  

Ali

Here is Martha's recipe:

• Prep Time 15 minutes
• Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield Makes 24

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Coarse salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup nut butter
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions

1. Melt 1/2 stick butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add oats, and cook, stirring, until toasted, 5 to 7 minutes. Spread oat mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet; let cool.
   
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. Beat together remaining stick butter and the sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add egg, and beat until combined. Add nut butter, and beat on medium speed until well combined.
   
3. Add oat mixture and chopped nuts, and beat on low speed until combined. Add flour mixture, and beat until combined.
   
4. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place cookies 1 inch apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheets.
   

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.

Canned Clams?

I've never cooked with canned clams and really, who has?  Though I love all types of seafood,  the  concept of canned shellfish seemed a little unappealing; especially when I saw the cans I bought from Trader Joes had an expiration date of June 2015.  Really?  That's nutty.  But would you believe they were only $1.99 each?  All-in-all, this meal was about $7.

Canned clams.  Gross.

The sauce with the clams.  I was liberal with the pepper flakes because we like our meals with a little heat.

 I used thin spaghetti instead of bucatini.

It. Was. Delicious!  Seriously.  It was the best meal I've made since we started the project.  AND, it was easy and quick enough to make on a work night.  Well, for those with more ambition than me...

Try it and let me know what you think.

Ali

This is Martha's recipe:

• Prep Time 20 minutes
• Total Time 20 minutes
• Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

• Coarse salt
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Red-pepper flakes
• 1 can (14 ounces) whole plum tomatoes, chopped, plus 1/2 cup juice
• 2 cans (6.5 ounces each) chopped clams, drained, reserving 1 cup clam juice
• 1 tablespoon capers (preferably salt-packed), rinsed and drained
• 3/4 pound bucatini (perciatelli) or other long pasta
• Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions

1. While bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil, heat oil with garlic, oregano, and a large pinch of red-pepper flakes in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until fragrant and garlic is golden, about 2 minutes.
   
2. Stir in tomatoes and their juice, and the reserved clam juice. Bring to a simmer, and cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in clams and capers, and cook until heated through.
   
3. When water boils, add pasta to boiling water, and cook until almost al dente, about 10 minutes (do not drain water). Transfer pasta to skillet using a strainer. Gradually stir in 1 cup pasta water, about 1/2 cup at a time, and cook over low heat, tossing, until pasta has absorbed some sauce and is well coated, 2 to 3 minutes.
   
4. Divide among 4 bowls. Drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with red-pepper flakes and coarse sea salt.
   

Really Martha?

Three projects in this month’s magazine just didn’t make much sense to me.  Two of the three looked good and I was even excited to make one of them, before I read the details. 

The first was Martha’s recipe for olive oil flavored with spring herbs. Sounds good right?  She suggests simmering 2 cups of olive oil with 2-3 sprigs of herbs.  Good so far.  Strain the herbs, put the olive oil in a container and viola, you have 2 cups of herb infused olive oil that will last refrigerated for …. one week.  A week?  Who could use 2 cups of olive oil in a week? Ridiculous.  Yes, I know, I could cut the recipe down, but to what?  Honestly, we wouldn't even use a 1/4 cup olive oil in a week.  I skipped this one.  

The second recipe is the one I was excited to try, the Cinnamon-Bun Bites http://www.marthastewart.com/893055/cinnamon-bun-bites.  These looked like a made-from-scratch version of an Easter Brunch treat my sister makes every Easter using Pillsbury rolls.  I thought it would be fun to try Martha’s version this year and see if going the extra mile to make dough from scratch. Keep in mind I was on vacation for Easter and I didn’t have a stand mixer, but I was prepared to knead the dough by hand. But ... then I read the fine print.  Total preparation time – 5 hours and 40 minutes!  Hmmm.  I checked the article again to make sure it was supposed to be for a brunch.  It was.  In fact, the subtitle to article was “a no stress brunch and an egg hunt in the park add up to one enchanted Easter."  No stress?  Ha! I wonder how un-stressed and “enchanted” the host felt when she started making Cinnamon-Bun Bite dough at 4:20 a.m.!  For a 10:00 brunch (and for kids who want to hunt eggs, making it to 10:00 is a challenge) that’s when you’d have to start cooking. And, this wasn’t a recipe you could make partially in advance.  Dough needs to rise, be punched down, rolled, rise again, yada, yada—you get it.  I could have made it and baked it the night before, but who wants to eat day old Bun Bites?  So, I skipped this one too and frankly don’t see a possibility that I will ever want to get up at the crack of dawn for this.

The last project was in an article on getting organized.  Now I am very organized myself, so I usually embrace new organizational ideas.  I had to draw the line though at Martha’s idea for organizing a tool drawer by tracing, yes, tracing the tools.  She actually traced each tool and then painted a picture of each tool in the drawer.  Seriously? 

Photo credit: Martha Stewart Living

Who has time for something like this and even if someone did, why on earth would they want to spend that time tracing around tools that aren't going to stay in the right spot anyway?  Maybe Martha is playing some kind of sick game with the type-A, obsessive compulsive types.  She convinces them they will be super organized and all their problems will be solved if they just outline their tools.  Then they go crazy every time they open their tool drawer because the tools shift around and move off of the stencil design.  That’s just mean Martha.

- Jacqui

Beer Tasting Party

We thought this was a family friendly menu, so we decided to get together for a family feast.  This was a much less sophisticated beer tasting party than Martha's - more beer drinking than tasting really.  Although we did LOVE Martha's idea of the chalkboard oilcloth tablecloth. It was great to mark which dishes were which and the kids loved drawing at the dinner table.  We bought ours online for about $10 a yard at Fabric.com.

On the menu:

1. Smoky Parsnip Crisps
2. Roasted Buffalo Shrimp
3. Cocktail Meatballs
4. Bacon-Blue Cheese Sandwiches
5. Leek, Potato, Morel Gratin

Desserts from April's issue:

1. Lemon Curd Pistachio Sundaes
2. Golden Cakes with Ginger-Poached Fruit

As we did for the dessert party in February, we split up the dishes.  We learned from that experience and did a much better job dividing the tasks and were much less stressed for it.  Ali was responsible for the parsnip crisps, the bacon blue cheese sandwiches, the leek, potato, morel gratin, and the golden cakes with fruit.  Jacqui was in charge of the buffalo shrimp, the meatballs, and the lemon curd pistachio sundaes.

Ali - Smoky Parsnip Crisps:
I have never deep-fried anything and after this experience I doubt I will again.  Needless to say, I don't have a deep fryer and I found out that maintaining the appropriate frying temperature is quite an art.  My first batch came out limp and oil laden.  My second batch was much better, but I had the temperature at about 400 degrees instead of Martha's recommended 365. I peeled about ten parsnips and made about 5 batches of chips.  They were actually quite good right out of the pan.  But, I made them three days ahead of our party, since Martha said that they'd last up to five days in a zip-lock bag. So I let them cool and dry, and put them in a bag.  So what Martha said was true, if you like limp and soggy chips.  Unfortunately, I don't.  I tried to re-crisp them by baking them right before the party. No such luck.  They ended up in the trash.

I should also highlight the disgusting film of grease on the floor and everywhere immediately around the stove.  So gross.  And right before we went to bed, Ben and my eyes watered and burned terribly.  Sounds like fun, right?

Don't do it. Ever. Stick to Terra chips - much tastier and much less mess.

Jacqui - Roasted Buffalo Shrimp:
The shrimp were super easy.  Yet, I still managed to make a mistake.  The recipe called
for zest from two lemons and 2 T. of lemon juice, all of which I threw in the shrimp
sauce. Oops. The lemon juice was for the dip, not the sauce.  The shrimp would have
been slightly drier and more "roasted" as the title of the recipe says, but they were
delicious anyway.  I would make them again and I would make them the right way,
because I like my shrimp drier on the outside, but Ali said she'd make them the same
exact way again.  The dip for the shrimp was really good too.  The only modification I
made to the dip was adding some celery salt to replace some of the regular salt. It added
some nice flavor. All around, great dish.  My favorite, runner up for everyone else.

Ali: Was my fav. too, Jacq.  Mistake and all - definitely a keeper!

Yum, I'm getting hungry thinking about them.

Jacqui - Cocktail meatballs:
While these meatballs were easy, and the kids ate a ton of them, my husband and son
agreed that "the ones from Costco are much better."  Well since nothing is easier than
opening a zip top bag and defrosting a few meatballs in the microwave, I think I'll be
sticking with Costco in the future.  It also saves me from having to roll raw meat in my
hands - something non-meat eaters like me really do not enjoy doing.

Ali: Benjamin loved these meatballs and granted he has never tried Costco meatballs -
he must have eaten at least eight. "More MEATBALLS!" is still ricocheting through my
head.  I have to say though, the likelihood of my making these is slim... what's the name
of the ones from Costco, Jacq?

Could have used a sauce or something.

Ali - Leek, Potato, Morel Gratin:
I normally associate any-gratin with cheese, no?  There's no cheese in this recipe. But there is lots and lots of cream...  I went to WholeFoods in search of fresh morel mushrooms as instructed and only found dried ones, so instead I used portobello mushrooms.  I didn't think there'd be too much difference.  The result?  So bland.  Ben had to break out his hot sauce.  Jacq and Scott thought the dish was OK, but I think they were being generous.  Me?  I could have done without it, especially considering the cream content.  Just not worth it.

Jacqui: Ok, so I think of cheese too when I think of gratin, but I looked it up. True it was
on Wikipedia so take with a grain of salt, but sounds right: The etymology of gratin is
from the French language in which the word gratter meaning "to scrape" or "to grate"
as of the "scrapings" of bread or cheese, and gratiné, from the transitive verb form of
the word for crust or skin. Who knew?

Ali - Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches:
The boys loved this one and ranked it as their favorite for evening.  And really, what's not to love? Blue cheese?  Bacon?  I bought the onion jam from Williams Sonoma and the sandwiches wouldn't have been the same without it.  The combination is very, very rich and the bite of the blue cheese (I used Stilton) was balanced by the sweetness of the jam. So good.  With that said though, I only had a half because of its richness.  The boys, on the other hand, had either two or two and a half each. Did I mention it has bacon?

For those who don't know, Jacq is a pescatarian, so her sandwich only had the cheese
and jam.  What did you think?

Jacqui: I liked it.  As Ali said it was very rich, and probably more so without the bacon,
because of the concentration of cheese, but tasty.  I'm probably still partial to an old
fashioned grilled American cheese with tomato though. :)

As for the kids - well, we knew better than to try to give them blue cheese.  They had a more
traditional grilled cheese with cheddar/American cheese and bacon.

Jacqui - Lemon Curd Pistachio Sundaes:
The March issue didn't have many desserts and the April issue is loaded with them, so
we got a jump on April and borrowed two for our dinner.  I got to pick first this time so I
chose the pistachio sundaes. Good choice!  I didn't realize how easy it was when I picked
it, but it was, and turned out delicious too.  And the lemon curd recipe is keeper for so
many other things.  Would be wonderful on those scones I made in February, or on a
spoon, right out of the container - right Ali?

We actually did a blind taste test of this curd and one Ali brought back from England
and Martha's won hands down.

Ali: Sorry Tidsa lemon curd, but there really was no comparison.  This stuff IS
AMAZING!!!  No joke.  For all the duds and frustrations I've had in this project so far
finding this recipe has made everything worth it.  I actually preferred it without the ice
cream and with the cake I made below.

Ali - Golden Cakes with Ginger Poached Fruit:

I made the poached fruit ahead of time.  The recipe called for pineapple and mango, both
fruits I love, as well as fresh ginger and clove berries.  The ginger and cloves transformed
the freshness of the fruit, into something woodsy and earthy tasting.  It seemed just not
right.  The cake actually tasted like a drier Dunkin' Donut.  Definitely edible, and out of
the desserts, the cake was the kids' favorite... well, besides the ice cream, but who can
compete with ice cream?

It was all such fun!!  I'm not sure who enjoyed themselves more, the kids or the adults!!

Ali and Jacqui

Easter at Martha's Twenty Years Ago?

So, this picture was featured in this month's issue:

Source: Martha Stewart

Nope, not Martha's 1992 issue, her 2012 issue.  Is it just me, or is this look hopelessly dated?  It's more from a time when more was more, and not the current modern simplicity.

I should mention there's also a photo of Martha and she looks suspiciously younger.  

Martha, are you cutting corners?

So is Martha recycling her photos?  Or is she stuck in a bygone era?

Ali

Hippity Hoppity - Part III: The Prequel

Prequel you ask?  For this project I went back in time to a Martha Stewart Living from years past - 2010.  I have actually had that magazine sitting on my night stand for two years and never went through it.  Why now?  Well, to be honest, I was not that excited about the Easter crafts in this month's issue and wanted to see if there was something fun to do with the kids in one of the past issues.  There was!

Martha made eggs from paper mache.  White on the outside with a pretty color on the inside.  So Cute and a great project to do with the kids - or so I thought.

I'm not sure what Martha used for her paper mache mold.  I used balloons.  My kids and I each chose a balloon and a colored paper for the first layer which would become the inside once the egg was "cracked."  We had a choice of pink, green or Christmas tissue paper (what I had left over from gift wrapping.)  Ellie and I chose pink, Ben green.  I used the standard paper mache recipe, flour and enough water to make a nice smooth mixture.  I tore the tissue in strips and we got to work.  Ellie put one finger in the paste mixture and said, "this is dirty."  That was the end of her involvement.  Ben did a great job on his inside layer, but lost interest after that and asked me to finish it.  Sigh!

I actually love doing paper mache so no problem here.  I used one layer of colored tissue for the inside and two or three layers of white paper on top of that, letting the layers dry somewhat in between and letting them dry completely after the final layer.  I ended up with nice hard eggs.  To cut the cracked top I started with a knife and then went to scissors which gave cleaner more precise cuts and didn't mess up the inside as much as the knife.  Although Martha's eggs were pure white on the outside, we decided to cut polka dots from the pink tissue for the outside of Ellie's egg.  Ben decided to go for a pink stripe.  They are Easter eggs after all.

Pretty cute.

Jacqui

Hippity Hoppity - Part Deux: Battle of the Bunny Wagons

Martha suggests creating a candy-laden cart from a berry basket, wooden wheels, dowels, and a drinking straw.

You know we had to try it.

I skipped the wheels (dowels and glue? no.)  But I had this really cute ceramic strawberry container from Anthropologie that a friend gave me for Christmas.  Perfect, right?  I filled it with Cadbury Mini Eggs and Lindt chocolates in the shape of carrots.  My chocolate bunny isn't hand poured in antique chocolate molds as Martha did, and suggests you do too, mine is a Russell Stover Chocolate bunny from Rite Aid.  I admit it.

This is what I came up with:

This is Martha's:

Source: Martha Stewart

OK, Martha.  You win this one.

Ali

* * *

I wasn't going to try this one at all.  Like Ali, I scoffed at the plan for wheels and making an actual axle from a dowel and I'm pretty sure I commented to Ali that painting such a thing was "out of the question."  BUT, then I was in line at Marshalls and saw Jelly Belly Peas and Carrots!  They called to me from the check out area and I couldn't resist, knowing that the perfect project awaited my find.  So, yes, I ended up whipping out the paint.

I headed off to Michaels to find the required berry cart, but no luck.  I did find a little wooden box which I thought was a decent substitute.  I'm on vacation this week and didn't really want to make another stop at Home Depot for wheels and a dowel, so I cut wheels from the top of the wooden box, cut some bamboo from the yard to use for the axle and handles and used a shopping bag handle for the harness.  Voila! 

As pretty as Martha's?  No, but I think it turned out pretty cute. 

Jacqui  

Hippity Hoppity - Part I

These are for the little guys who will be Easter egg hunting on Sunday.  So simple: faux nests, Cadbury Mini Eggs, and stamped ribbon. 

 My inspiration came from a photo from the April issue:

Source: Martha Stewart

• 
  

I agree, mine are way cuter.

Ali