(From Rick Bayless)
10-12 tomatillos
3-4 serrano chiles
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
juice of one lime
1/2-1 cup cilantro, finely chopped (measure before chopping)
2 cups broth (chicken, beef, or fish–depending on what you are using the sauce for)
salt to taste (if broth doesn’t provide enough)
Remove the husk from the tomatillos and rinse them to remove the sticky residue. Place the tomatillos and the serrano chilies on a baking sheet and place under a hot broiler. Broil each side of the tomatillos and the chilies until they are slighly blackened. The tomatillos will turn sort of an olive green in color. (Alternatively, you can place them in a heavy-duty pan on the stovetop, or you can boil the tomatillos.)
Place the tomatillos and the chiles in a food processor and pulse until they are broken up, but not pureed.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, cook the onion and garlic in a small amount of canola oil until soft. Add to the food processor. Pulse until everything is uniform and almost smooth. Wipe out the pan and add a little more canola oil. Heat the pan again and add the puree. Fry the puree over medium heat until it starts to thicken, darken, and smell very fragrant. Slowly add the chicken broth. Stir occasionally and cook sauce until it thickens–about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and stir well. Set aside until ready to use.
1 prepared recipe sour cream pound cake, sliced or cubed (recipe follows)
1 prepared recipe lemon curd, chilled (recipe follows)
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold
16 oz. fresh strawberries, sliced
2 pints fresh blueberries
To make the cream:
Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add the heavy cream and continue beating until thick. Chill until ready to assemble trifle.
Assembly:
Layer in a trifle dish or large bowl–
Half the sliced pound cake–use smaller pieces to fill in the gaps
Half the lemon curd
One third of the blueberries and strawberries
Half the whipped cream mixture
Repeat with the remaining cake, lemon curd, another 1/3 of the berries, and whipped cream. Top with the remaining 1/3 strawberries and blueberries.
Let chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Serves a bunch.
Sour Cream Pound Cake
adapted from The Joy of Cooking
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
6 eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 8″ square baking pans or a 9″ Bundt pan.
Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugar and continuing beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Don’t skimp on this step.)
Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating for at least 1 minute between additions. Add the vanilla extract.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, beat just until it disappears into the creamed mixture. Add 1/2 of the sour cream. Beat to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and sour cream, making sure to end with the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar a little at a time. Continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.
Carefully fold in 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter using a large rubber or silicone spatula. (It’s okay if there are some streaks of egg white. This is to lighten the batter before the remaining egg whites are added.)
Add the remaining egg whites by gently folding, being careful not to deflate the whites.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. If using 8″ square pans, bake for about 35-40 minutes. (Don’t open the oven at all during the first 30 minutes or the cake will fall in the center.) If using the bundt pan, bake for 60-75 minutes. Tent the pans with foil if the top browns too quickly. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Let cool for a few minutes in pan before removing the cake to a wire rack to finish cooling. Cake gets better the longer it sits. Be sure to wrap it well in foil or plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
Lemon Curd
from my husband’s aunt
Juice of 3 lemons
Zest of 3 lemons
1 cup granulated sugar
3 whole eggs
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
In a bowl, rub the lemon zest with the sugar until wet and sandy. Whisk in the eggs. Add the juice. Add the melted butter.
Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel (or other non-reactive) pan. Cook over medium heat while whisking constantly until the curd thickens. (It will be about the consistency of thin yogurt.) Quickly remove from heat. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface and chill until ready to use.
1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.
3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.
Serve with ice, sliced lemons.
Serves 6.
from chiccookiekits.blogspot.com
Recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
This recipe is pretty much the same idea as the crumb cake, but with a pie crust instead of cake at the bottom. On low heat, cook fruit covered about 5 min. Add lemon juice. Combine 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup cornstarch. Add to rhubarb mixture. Cook and stir 4 - 5 min. until thickened and bubbly. Cool.
Prepare your pie crust and pour in the filling. Make your topping in a seperate bowl of sugar, flour and butter. Sprinkle it on top of the filling.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 for 25-30 minutes. If you feel it needs more time, reduce the heat to 350 for another 10-15 minutes. You want the sugar to have melted with the butter for a brown and crusty topping.
