8.05.2009

birthdays, providence, sunday night music

this weekend we celebrated our friends birthday, he enlisted us to cater his party and our menu was my favorite yet. liz's stock was used to make risotto and mozz balls. risotto and mozzarella covered in panko breadcrumbs and pan fried, i could eat them every day. we also had a pomodoro dip, slowww roasted tomatoes with lots of garlic and herbs. any many more...

we took a trip to providence yesterday and stopped by bowl and board on westminster street for some kitchen essentials(along with some non essentials).


like that little magnetic kitchen timer, which i adore. the company is kikkerland and they make too many nice little non essential items.

elissa at calico hosted a show last night at the green bean so we whipped up a few little items, some pasta dishes and some sugary treats.



coconut ginger cupcakes


1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

preheat over to 350

whisk flour, baking powder, salt and shredded coconut together on medium sized bowl. set aside.
cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. scrape down sides of bowl and beat for another 30 seconds or so to get everything combined well.

add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each egg. add 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger, mix well.

in a small bowl stir coconut milk and vanilla. with the slowest speed on the mixer, add 1/3 flour mix to butter mix. add 1/2 of the coconut milk mix then another 1/3 of the flour. then rest of coconut milk, then last part of flour mix. stir until just combined.

fill lined cupcake tins 2/3 of the way up and bake for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

i frosted mine with a rich buttercream frosting and dipped them in shredded coconut. enjoy!

Tuscan Inspired Veggie Broth :)


I ran out of vegetable broth JUST in time to get ready to make 40 servings of risotto :(. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed out- then I thought... "you can make this..."
I ended up coming up with something delicious and with MUCH less sodium than the usual store brands...

Servings: 8-9 Cups

BIG POT of water (about 8 cups!)
4 Whole Carrots
1 Red onion, quartered
1 White onion, quartered
4 Cloves Garlic (lightly smashed as to release more oils)
4 Stalks of Celery
1 Lemon, juiced and halved in water
1 tsp of Celery Salt (for extra flaaavor!)
1 tbl Sea Salt
1 tbl freshly ground black pepper (or if this is too much, just to taste)

1 package of fresh Herbs de Provence (I always keep this around, I find it really handy, but if you do not have it a mixture of dried sage, thyme, rosemary, and oregano really any Mediterranean herbs will do!)

None of these herbs are really necessary, but I thought it would be a lovely light and summery version of a usually boring and quite salty veggie stock!

Makes about 8-10 cups.

Birthday

we catered a birthday party today for 40 vegetarians. it went over really well, the tofu was confused for chicken!! you know that's good.





















we also have been working on our desserts for the fresca grill. so far we've made insanely yummy italian cheesecake, it's citrus filled and smooth as can be. a flourless chocolate cake that is super rich made with organic 70% cocoa, and little parisian fruit tartlets. our order double in our first week, so that seems to be going well. next week we are making new desserts, we'll keep you notified!!