Marzipan From Scratch

Marzipan candy made from scratch.

At Christmas, I frequently buy marzipan for certain friends and family.  This year I decided to make marzipan from scratch  As it turns out, it is very, very easy and much less expensive than store-bought.  And fun to make!

There are only four ingredients: almond flour (ground almonds) 1 cup, confectioners sugar 2 cups, light corn syrup l tablespoon, and almond extract 1/2 teaspoon.

You sift the almond flour and the sugar into a large bowl until they become well combined.

Sifting almond flour and sugar together.  

Mix the corn syrup and the almond extract together and add to the dry ingredients.

Almond extract and corn syrup mixed together. 

Slowly add water working into the mixture using a fork at first and then as it becomes dough-like, mix with your hand.  Use no more than 2 tablespoons of water and add the water very slowly.
When you have a smooth dough, roll it into a smooth log and wrap it tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerator for at least an hour before using it.

Rolled into a log ready to wrap and refrigerate. 

After the log had chilled for an hour, I rolled some of it into small balls that I dipped in melted chocolate and rolled into cocoa, finely chopped pecans, or coconut.  I was testing to see what kind of candies I wanted to make using the marzipan. I liked them all, and I was pleasantly surprised that the ones that were rolled in cocoa were my favorite.  Now that I have finished a trial run, I am ready to make lots of candy.

Ready to coat with chocolate and other trimmings. 

Marzipan candy read to eat. 

Aside from being coated with chocolate, marzipan is often shaped into various figures, including fruits and vegetables that look life-like.  Perhaps I shall try that next year.

Marzipan candy made like fruits and vegetables.
 Photo by https://www.ehow.com/how_2313223_make-marzipan-fruit.html

A Dairy-Free Chicken Casserole

Creamy chicken casserole without the cream. 

Since I have become dairy intolerant, I have to avoid cream, milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.  Yesterday I was hankering for a creamy casserole so I googled and found this recipe.   I tweaked it just a bit.  I halved the recipe for a serving of four. And I eliminated the yeast (simply because I did not have any, but apparently that would have given the recipe a cheesy flavor plus a dose of Vitamin B.)

Removing the strands of noodles from the spaghetti squash. 

 I halved a small spaghetti squash and cooked it in the microwave for about 8 minutes.  When it was cool enough, I scraped with a fork to remove the strands of squash noodles and placed them in an 8x8 deep casserole dish.

Spaghetti noodles in casserole dish. 

Instead of baking the four boneless chicken thighs, I poached them.

Poached chicken thighs. 

For the sauce, I assembled 1/2 cup of basil (from my garden), 2 cups of fresh spinach, and a 13.5 oz can of artichoke bottoms chopped coarsely.  Must not forget the 1/2 cup of Duke's mayo.  Mix all the sauce ingredients and mix in with the spaghetti noodles.

Chop spinach and basil and mix with chopped artichoke and mayo. 

Cut the chicken thighs into large chunks and thoroughly mix with the rest of the ingredients.  I refrigerated the casserole and when we were ready to eat, I placed the casserole in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes until it was heated through.  I garnished with leaves of basil before serving.

This certainly satisfied my craving for a "creamy" without the cream chicken casserole.  Next time I shall use the yeast for a cheesy taste.

If you must avoid dairy, you might enjoy this casserole.  It is delicious!

Honeycomb Milkshake

Honeycomb Milkshake.  Yum!

When I was in Northen Ireland several years ago to attend my cousin's wedding, I was introduced to honeycomb ice cream, and I ate it every chance while there.  The bride's mother, also my cousin, visited there recently and remembering my love of it she brought back honeycomb candy for me. I was not aware that this candy was used to make the ice cream that I loved.

Honeycomb Candy. 

Recently I have become dairy intolerant and although I thought of trying to make ice cream using almond milk I decided instead to make a milkshake using the honeycomb candy.  Boy did this turn out great!!!!  This is the first "milk" shake that I've enjoyed so much in several years.

I also try to keep my sugar intake minimal, but having this every so often is a true treat.  I simply drop several pieces of the honeycomb into my blender, add a cup of Kirkland's almond dairy-free drink, blend for a few seconds and voilà there's my milkshake.

Honeycomb candy and almond "milk" in my blender.  

Kirkland's dairy-free "milk".

And there's my "milk"shake. 

I've never seen this candy sold here in Raleigh, but I went online and found a recipe.  It's basically toffee with a lot of bubbles because of the vinegar and baking soda that is added to the candy.  The recipe indicated that this should be made at a time when there is low humidity, and in Raleigh right now the humidity is extremely high (typical summer).  So I'll wait until this fall or winter to try this recipe.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying my honeycomb "milk"shakes. Thanks Robin.

Breakfast with the "Cooking Club"

One of our regular members was unable to participate in our "cooking club" last week, so there were just three of us to enjoy a wonderful breakfast prepared by Jen.  She brought a perfectly ripe pear, and I had a carton of peach yogurt, so as a starter we had the yogurt topped with slices of pear and frozen blueberries with orange juice on the side.  Yum!

The bacon and perfectly scrambled eggs were delicious.  Jen is known for her perfectly scrambled eggs. We chose to forego bread of any kind. Fresh basil from my garden provided a flavorful garnish for the eggs.

I sent Assunta and Jen each home with a beautiful bouquet of hydrangeas from my garden. 

For our next get-together in August, it will be my turn to cook, and it has been decided that we will have a vegetarian lunch (or maybe vegan).  I have to do my research and decide on a menu.

Spaghetti Squash with Shrimp and Tomato Sauce

For our Cooking Club in April, Assunta prepared a dish that I absolutely love, spaghetti squash with a shrimp and tomato sauce.  I think this is a recipe that she developed.  She arrived with all of the ingredients: olive oil,  a spaghetti squash, one onion, fresh garlic, fresh Roma tomatoes, about 2 lbs of shrimp, feta cheese, fresh parsley, and fresh thyme.

The ingredients. 

I had set the table.

The table is ready. 

She cut the squash in half and cooked it in the microwave until it was soft. Maybe 20 minutes.

Cut squash in half. 

Cook in the microwave until soft. 

The onion was diced and sauteed in olive oil, the tomatoes were cut into chunks and added to the tomatoes and cooked until they were softened and three or four cloves of garlic were sliced and added.  Lastly, the shrimp were added and cooked until they just turned pink.

Tomato sauce. 

Add shrimp to sauce. 

Cook just until shrimp turn pink.  

The "spaghetti" was scraped out of the cooked squash with a fork.

Just before the sauce was served, feta cheese, parsley, and tyme were stirred in.

The four of us, Assunta, Boguska, Jeanette and I, enjoyed our delicious lunch. Boguska doesn't eat shrimp so some of the tomato sauce and feta were left on the side for her. 

Ready to serve. 

Ready to eat. 

A New Twist to Chicken Salad

I poached 4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on) until the internal temperature on an instant thermometer registered 165 F.  I removed the skin and bone and sliced the chicken.  Trying to use some ingredients I had on hand, I toasted about a cup of walnuts and sliced 1/2 cup of dried plums (also known as prunes) and added these to the chicken.

Toasting the walnuts. 

The plums. 

The sliced chicken. 

Chicken with walnuts and dried plums. 

For the dressing, I used about 1/2 cup of sour cream, about 3 tablespoons of Duke's mayonnaise, several grinds of fresh pepper, 2 tablespoons of curry powder, and to thin the dressing I added a splash of balsamic vinegar.  After tasting I added a bit more curry powder.  As you can see, I really don't have a strict recipe for this because I didn't really measure most of the things but just added until I had the taste I wanted and the consistency I wanted. 

Adding more curry powder to the dressing. 

Served on a bed of lettuce from my garden. 

I've been following Chef Mohr's Cooking Classes online, and I am becoming more willing to experiment and in some cases not follow a recipe but use what I have and develop my own recipe for a dish.  I'm having fun!

A Throwback to the 80s: Chicken Marbello

Chicken Marbello

In the May 2 issue of the Washington Post, Sandra Gutierrez wrote about some dated but not forgotten old food trends. One that tweaked my interest was the recipe for Chicken Marbello from the Silver Palate cookbook.  This cookbook was first published in 1979, and back in the 80s, I used it quite a bit.  However, I had never made Chicken Marbello. Interestingly, the first main course that was served when the Silver Palate Restaurant was opened in New York was this dish. 

I checked my pantry and discovered that I had many of the ingredients required. A quick trip to the grocers and I had the other ingredients that I needed. What's so tasty about this recipe is that it combines, sweet, savory, salty and spicy.  For the recipe check out this link.

I veered a bit from the recipe when making the marinade.  I didn't measure exactly but mixed together dried plums, black olives, capers, lemon juice, pepper, fresh garlic, sundried tomatoes, dried oregano, dried thyme, and wine vinegar. 

I placed four bone-in chicken thighs with skins in a plastic bag and poured the marinade into the bag to cover the thighs.  I let this marinate for about 5 hours. 

Marinating in a plastic bag in the fridge for 5 hours. 

 A 9-inch square pan was perfect for the four thighs.  The oven was preheated to 375 degrees. The marinade was poured over the thighs and they cooked until the internal temperature of the chicken was 165 degrees (away from the bone)--this took about an hour.  After 30 minutes, I basted the thighs with the marinade every 10 minutes.

Ready for the oven. 

When done I added white wine and honey to the marinade, and  I moved the thighs to a serving platter. The solids in the marinade were removed with a slotted spoon and placed on top of the thighs.  With some parsley from my garden as a garnish, the thighs were ready to be served.

Ready to serve. 

It makes me wish I was having a dinner party, but Patrick and I will enjoy them no doubt. 

Avocado/Sausage Pasta Sauce

Avocado/Sausage Sauce Over Whole Wheat Penne Pasta. 

Since I've been following Chef Todd Mohr's Cooking Classes online.,  I have become much more likely to experiment with cooking and to combine flavors that I might not otherwise have done.  Case in point, today I had leftover sauteed sausage and avocados from yesterday's Easter Brunch so I decided to make a different kind of pasta sauce.

I sauteed a cup of red onions with about 3 tablespoons of That Pickle Guys' Olive Muffalata. When I sauteed the sausage yesterday for the egg casserole, I had more than I needed so I refrigerated the remainder, and I added this to the onions and olives that had caramelized.  The few slices of avocado left over from yesterday's salad were mashed with a few tablespoons of Guacamole to which I added a 1/2 cup of tomato salsa.  The avocado blend was incorporated into the mixture, and voila a new kind of pasta sauce.

Before serving I stirred in 2 tablespoons of HP Sauce and after plated added a few grinds of black and white pepper.   This was delicious over whole wheat Penne Pasta.  And healthful.

Saute onions in Olive Muffalata. 

Add sauteed sausage. 

Stir in Avocado mixture. 

Ready to eat.