Taste of Italy

My dear friend's mom took it upon herself to teach me how to cook Italian food today. How sweet! And while we were getting ingredients at the store, she found a $100 bill on the ground in the parking lot. Karma is a wonderful thing. On the menu for today was Lasagna and Pizzelle cookies. 

To start off, we sauteed the sausage. I then proceeded to cut the zucchini and carrots. On the stove I also boiled a couple eggs. While cooking, Deborah told me about Italian culture and how import cooking was. It was quite interesting. After getting all the ingredients ready, we started the layers for the lasagna. We did not cook the pasta in advance, it was going to cook while it was in the oven. Keeping this in mind, I put tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan so the moisture would cook the lasagna. In the pan we used, the lasagna strips were too long, so breaking them at the perfect length was the most difficult. After carefully layering all the ingredients in the pan, we popped it in the oven.

Pizzelle Cookies were actually quite easy to make. You just beat eggs, sugar, flour, anise, and vanilla together. Then comes the more challenging part. You put a tiny dollop of dough in the Pizzelle maker and hold it down for 30 seconds. After, you sift powdered sugar on them and you have yourself a delicious treat! But actually getting a perfect shape was difficult to achieve. Most of the time I would put too much in the maker and it would go out of the mold. They were a little deformed but scrumptious all the same.

I want to give a special thank you to Deborah for being absolutely wonderful and taking her afternoon to teach me how to cook some Italian cuisine. 

Easter Dinner!

Yes, this is what my family does at the dinner table on Easter. We spent the whole day cooking and it was so much fun. On the menu was pork roast, mashed potatoes (of course), bacon-wrapped asparagus, raspberry tart, and key lime pie. I made the raspberry tart and the gravy. My siblings all cooked something as well.
 I started on the raspberry tart because that was going to take the longest. I mixed together the sugar, flour, salt, butter, and eggs to make the crust. I put the dough in the pan and popped it in the oven. While I waited for that to cook, I worked on the chocolate and other topping. I boiled water in a pan and then took a metal bowl filled with chocolate chips and put it in the water. I stirred the chocolate chips until the were melted.

Once the crust was done baking, I took it out of the oven and let it cool. I then proceeded to put the chocolate on top of the crust. The final layer of the tart was made by beating mascarpone, cream, sugar, and vanilla. It wasn't as fluffy and firm as I thought it was going to be, so after pouring the mixture on top of the tart, I put it in the freezer to firm. After dinner I took the tart out of the freezer and decorated it with raspberries.

After we finished cooking the roast, I used the juices to make the gravy. I added cornstarch and after cooking it a bit, it thickened and tasted delicious.

It was great cooking with the whole family and the dinner turned out fabulous!

Thank You Cake

I made cake once again. I intern at Health and Human Services in Special Investigations and as a thank you I made them a cake. It was a quick and easy cake because I decided to do this all so last minute. It was just like the one I made for my mom's birthday cake. So after dumping all the ingredients together and throwing it in the oven, I got to decorating. Like last time, I just used home made whipped cream and food coloring. It was still difficult. I left it in the freezer to firm a bit, but I forgot about it and it froze. So I tried to let it thaw, but them it started dripping everywhere. It really didn't work well. And on top of that, the cake was really uneven,
so I decided I would try to cut it to make it look even. It was even worse. So after losing all hope, but continuing because I had already put all this work in, it actually turned out okay.

Hamburger

 Well, I decided to continue to conquer my fear of cooking meat and take the skills I learned from cooking with Rachelle to make a hamburger. It was surprisingly easy. There wasn't much to it. I put the patty in the pan and cut up some onions and put them in the pan along side the patty.

I didn't mention this earlier, but Rachelle taught me how to cut and use knife properly. I was definitively using the knife incorrectly and quite frankly, I'm surprised at how I managed not to hurt myself. The first thing she taught me was that a sharp knife was safer than a dull knife. Luckily for me, my father loves knives and even has a knife sharpener, so that base was covered. Secondly, she taught me where to put my fingers on the thing that I was cutting. It never occurred to me to curl my fingers over the produce so I wouldn't cut my finger.

So I put the hamburger buns in the toaster while I waited for the patty to cook. I guess the most difficult part of this was knowing when the patty was finished cooking . I didn't want to take it out of the pan and have it not cooked, but I also didn't want it over cooked. After a while, I finally decided that it was most likely done. I put the buns on a plate and stacked the patty, lettuce, and the onions together. I dabbed some ketchup and mustard on the buns and the hamburger was ready to go.

I have to say, it was a pretty quick and easy meal. I'm glad to know that I can make one of America's most popular foods now.

Shepard's Pie!

 Let me just take a second to proclaim my love for Shepard's pie. I love it. :) And let me take another minute to express my gratitude for Rachelle Boucher who graciously took time out of her busy schedule to help me learn how to cook this fantastic dish. I greatly appreciate it.

So first, we got all of our ingredients together. Rachelle taught me a great trick for keeping the kitchen organized, put everything on trays, so the clean up is easier and and everything is more organized. We took the potatoes, peeled them, cut them into cubes, and then dropped them into a pot  of water.

While we waited on the potatoes to boil,  we worked on the filling. In a pan, we sauteed onions and carrots. We also peeled our peas and put the pods in the pot of boiling potatoes to cook for a minute. We then added the lamb to the pan or sauteed onions and carrots. I added the flour, peas, and extra spices while cooking the lamb. I let that sit for a couple minutes and turned my attention back to the mashed potatoes. I took the potatoes and put then through a food mill (I had always just mashed them with a potato masher, it was much easier this way). I then proceeded to add butter, salt, and cream.

Once the potatoes were done, I put the filling of the Shepherd's pie from the pan into a baking pan. I then continued to layer the mashed potatoes on top of the lamb. I popped it in the oven and then it was ready to eat. My family loved it. I guess there is still hope for me yet.

I have to say, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The idea of cooking meat has always come across as so difficult, and it was exciting to see that it wasn't at all. It was quick and painless.

So I went to a cooking class taught by Rachelle earlier that week and it was eye opening. I would probably say that I am a picky eater and I just don't eat things I don't like, much less would I cook with them. And in this cooking class, Rachelle ,and a dietitian who came to speak as well, talked about the benefits of vegetables and certain foods. After cooking and eating  the plethora of foods, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't so horrible. It was actually delicious! Though I still think broccoli and I are on bad terms, but besides that, it was fantastic. I guess what I am taking from this journey is to keep an open mind, try new things, and to get out of my comfort zone. It's crazy what you learn when you put yourself out there. So a special thank you, again, to Rachelle for all your help!  I could never have done all of this without you.