Chicken with Lemon Butter

Another Success from my

Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook: 

(are you sick of it yet?)

The lemon chicken was so yummy, I made the mistake of getting Meyer lemons at the store, I'm sure that made a difference in the final product but I still liked it a lot, I couldn't believe how well the lemon butter came together

I made it with a zucchini risotto, the original recipe was supposed to be made with squash blossoms and zucchini, but squash blossoms aren't exactly in season

I got the recipe from this cookbook

Risotto: With Vegetables, Seafood, Meat, and More

The key to good risotto, is taking your time!

I got that this summer, at the Ferrari Carano Vinyard on a wine tour while I was pregnant, since I couldn't drink any wine, I bought a cookbook

That winery is amazing, its the same Ferrari people as the car

The garden is one of the most amazing places I've ever seen, I had pictures, but they were lost when I lost my Kodak Camera before Annabella was born

Enough about that

Here is diner

A close up of the rissoto, you can see the zucchini

mmmm

Rahmapfelkuchen German Apple Rum-Raisin Custard Torte

Ryan got me a cookbook for christmas, Starting with Ingredients: Baking: Quintessential Recipes for the Way We Really Bake,  Its great it tells you about all kinds of ingredients; flours, liquors, almond, raisins. And the recipes are oh so yummy. I made this and to be honest, I never got to eat it, I sent it over to Uncle Sean's where I knew it wouldn't go to waste. Its so nice to have a place to send extra food where its appreciated.

Anyways back to the cake, it was a German Apple and Rum-raisin Custard Torte or a Rahmapfelkuchen, I still don't know how to say that word, I've been trying since I got the book.

Its pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The first section of the book is on alchohol, and this recipe is all about the rum, And the crust Oh its yummy, it tastes almost tropical, with lemon zest and rum , its called a 'German Mellow Dough" or Muerbeteig dough. I couldn't help but sneak bites of the dough. All day, but I do this anyways.

After reading the Apples section, I read to put the apples in water with a squirt of lemon juice to be sure they didn't brown. Here are the apples and raisins which I baked first to soften

This recipe called for mace, which is the outer covering of the nutmeg, it took a while for me to find it  because I refuse to buy McCormick Spices,because once I bought garlic powder that was hydrogenated, I had to go to Olivers because they just have everything, and I found it no problem.

While this baked, I made a rum-custard that smelled like it might get me drunk, but in a yummy creamy sugary way,  Then it got baked again. And here is the finished torte sitting with my proud chicken (thanks mom)

You see the hole in the side, I think that might be because I baked it a little too long, the springform pan I bought said to lower the temp of the oven 25degrees from what was suggested, I'm not sure I'll do that next time. I had to bake it about fifteen minutes longer then the recipe stated.

Also it called for a 10" sprinform, I used a 9" and it came out fine

Here's a closeup of the buttery lemony crust. Doesn't it look good?? I sneaked a taste and it was CRUMBLY and oh so good. You can see the yellow from the lemon zest.

And a closeup of the top, mmmmmm

I think as far as I can tell it was a success, I did sneak a taste of the custard from that hole that got baked into the top and it was comfort food



UPDATE!!!:
Ryan Just got home and told me the cake was delicious... I can't wait to try the next recipe

I really need to post more

Well hello, my teeth are doing well and I have moved back to cooking solid foods.

My favorite restaurant in New York City is Carmines, hands down (well its italian food so I guess the hands would be up gesturing). So you can imagine my surprise when I found the Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook: More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home

It has everything (except of course cannoli). My first test was the Eggplant Rollatini. I love eggplant, and this dish is eggplant sliced lengthwise, friend and stuffed with delicious cheese, then baked in a casserole, I made it with the suggested 'Carmines Marinara Sauce" and it was so good, and my boyfriend LOVED it, we've been eating leftovers for the last three nights!

the final product, the recipe made a HUGE dish of it, from just one eggplant! It was pretty inexpensive to make

  

I used these tomatoes as suggested and they were definetly worth the extra price in my opinion. You definetly pay for quality

I firmly believe that ziti or rotini should go with any dishes like this, I think they taste great with italian casseroles.

Of course you can't have a dinner without bread!

The finished plate

And of course the inside Oh it was so cheesy and melty YUM!

This book is a keeper

Chicken Florentine

Well we had chicken Flourentine tonight with fresh spinach pasta made in my cuisine art stand mixer and it was DELICIOUS! I am drying the pasta right now and hope that it will come out good, now that I have a food dehydrator it is very easy for me to do this but I have never done it before I am hoping that it comes out better then the stuff I let dry on the counter (yuck) But the chicken was good I didn't even use a meat thermometer to check the temp of the chicken (which I usually do because I am narotic about getting food posioning



the fresh pasta, i toss it in cornmeal after I seperate it so that it doesn't stick



the finished product, it was well liked by all

Now I am drying it and hoping that it comes out well, daddy is playing video games and I am here in the kitchen wishing that all my pots and pans weren't at our other house becuase I am bored here doing nothing, ahh well tomarrow will mean another car ride, but hmmmmm, chicken and rice....