Author: Rae

Baby Bok Choy and Beef Noodle Soup with Warm Spices

Best soup for when you think you might be coming down with a cold.

Borrowed, tested, and adapted — this nutritious soup is both low fat and satisfying. Original from Williams Sonoma.

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients

  • 1 4-inch piece fresh ginger
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 onion
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 star anise
  • 2 tbsp chopped garlic
  • 3-4 tsp Asian chili garlic sauce
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1⁄2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 pound beef tenderloin (cheaper cuts need to stew, extending cook time)
  • 5 baby bok choy
  • green onions
  • 3 servings udon or buckwheat noodles

Instructions

  1. Peel and grate or finely chop ginger.
  2. Warm oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add sliced onion and saute until softened. (If sticking, add a little water rather than oil to keep this a low-fat recipe.)
  3. Add cinnamon stick and star anise and allow to hydrate, about 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic. Stir about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and soy sauce. Cover and bring to a boil, then medium-low and simmer.
  4. Trim the ends of the bok choy and cut lengthwise into long quarters. Add to the pot to simmer. Add more water if necessary to cover. Cook bok choy 4-7 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, cut and trim beef and saute in a separate pan. Cook to desired doneness then set aside.
  6. Add chili sauce to the soup gradually, to taste. Adjust salt to taste. Add the meat juices to the soup.
  7. Prepare noodles separately and divide into soup bowls.
  8. Divide meat into soup bowls.
  9. Ladle soup into soup bowls. Hot soup should warm the noodles and meat. Garnish with chopped green onion.

Notes

  • Also good with thinly-sliced fresh jalapeno, cilantro, mushrooms, or Thai basil.

Lemon Mousse Trifle

This is my absolute #1 favorite dessert to serve and to eat, but it takes a lot of work and makes a lot of dirty dishes. However, it also makes plenty of scraps for the chef to snack on along the way!

* This dessert contains raw eggs, so if that’s not appealing, just stop here. Otherwise, be sure to get fresh high quality eggs and consume within 24 hours of preparation.

Fresh, light textured, creamy, sweet and sour, delightful. This dessert incites intrigue and wonder. How can this be so good? Please don’t let me ever find the bottom of the dish kind of delicious.

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

  • 1 sheet pan cooled flat jelly roll lemon cake
  • 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
  • 4-6 tablespoons cold water
  • 3 large lemons, zest and juice (Meyer lemons turn out good too)
  • 4 separated eggs
  • 4 tablespoons sugar (for mousse)
  • 2 2⁄3 cups whipping cream (for mousse)
  • about 1 extra cup whipping cream (for the top)
  • simple syrup with lemon juice (for assembly)
  • candied lemon zest (for the top)

Instructions

  1. Bake a lemon cake in a parchment-lined jelly roll sheet pan; allow to cool while you prepare the other items. (Once cool, you will cut out shapes to fit neatly into your trifle container.)
  2. Zest 1 lemon and combine with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar in order to candy the zest. Rest in freezer until ready to garnish.
  3. Juice the zested lemon and prepare a simple lemon syrup by warming juice, water and sugar on the stove. Reserve for assembly.
  4. Whip approximately 4 cups of whipping cream. Allow to rest in refrigerator while you prepare the mousse. Don’t add sugar yet.

Prepare the lemon mousse

  1. Dissolve gelatin in cold water in a small pot that can later go on the stove. Let stand for at least 5 minutes.
  2. Beat the 4 egg yolks and 4 tablespoons of sugar until light and fluffy. Carefully blend in juice and zest of 2 remaining lemons.
  3. Melt dissolved gelatin over low heat. Add to the egg mixture, stirring well. (Once you add the gelatin you must be ready with the whipped cream and egg whites quickly or you will have lumpy mousse.)
  4. Take about 3⁄4 of the whipped cream from the refrigerator and fold into the egg mixture.
  5. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into egg mixture.
  6. If desired, add any powdered sugar to remaining whipped cream to taste.
  7. Assemble trifles: layer cake, brush with simple syrup (prevents cake from being too dry), mousse, cake, syrup, mousse, etc. until containers are full. Try to end with mousse. Add a large dollop of sweetened whipped cream to the top. Finish with candied lemon zest.
  8. Chill for 2-20 hours prior to serving.

Notes

  • This recipe uses gelatin and is therefore not vegetarian. You might be able to substitute with agar agar powder, but I have not experimented with this yet.

Cream Cheese Pastries

From an old Betty Crocker desserts cookbook, arises this irresistible family holiday classic mini cookie. The image was borrowed from the web since these disappear faster than a camera shutter in our house.

Servings: 6 desserters

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 8 oz package cream cheese
  • 1⁄2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1⁄4 tsp salt
  • 1⁄2 cup jelly

Instructions

  1. Cream butter and cheese together. Mix in sugar.
  2. Combine flour and salt. Cover and chill dough in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.
  3. Divide dough into rough thirds. Roll flat on flour-dusted surface. Cut into 2 1⁄2″ square shapes.
  4. Move pieces to cookie sheet with parchment. Place dot of jelly in center of each square and bring up set of diagonal corners and pinch to seal.
  5. Bake in 375°F oven about 10-13 minutes.

Notes

  • Using parchment will spare your cookie sheet from boiling jelly spill-over which is very hard if not impossible to get off.
  • Sometimes the dough is dry from rolling; to get a better seal when closing use a drop of water.