Katie's Guide to Epcot: Italy

Welcome back to this edition of Katie's Guide to Epcot!

Today, we're going to take a trip to one of my favorite countries on the Epcot circuit. Okay, it's my very favorite.

Maybe it's just because I want to go to the real Italy so bad, I'll take anything that resembles it, even in an unauthentic Disneyish way.



When you walk into the Italy pavilion, the first thing you see is a large brick tower modeled after the Campanile di San Marco from the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Venezia!

Actually, most of the main plaza area of the Italy pavilion in Epcot is supposed to represent Venice. There is a building on the right that is supposed to represent rural northern Italy, and a fountain toward the back that is supposed to represent Rome, but the main square is modeled after Venice.

The pink building to your left upon entering the plaza is a representation of the Doge's Palace in Venice. The Doge's Palace was the home of the Doge (Duke) of Venice for several hundred years. Now I believe they use it as a center of the municipal government, like a regular town hall, in Venice. The Disney version is an uncanny representation, right down to the stone cutout flowers bordering the top floor, but I am sure it's about 1/4 the size of the original.



Inside the fake Doge's Palace, you will find a shop that sells perfumes, leather handbags and belts, some clothing (mostly soccer related) and a lot of jewelry. There are a lot of things made out of Murano glass as well, which is the special kind of glass they make on one of Venice's peripheral islands. One of the most famous designs is the Milefiori, which means thousand flowers.


I actually don't like that design much. But they also sell other designs, like ones with pretty swirls going through it or just interesting solid colors.

After passing through the main room, you cross into a smaller room at the back of the building. This room usually contains various Christmas wares, even in the middle of summer. I guess they must make some great Christmas ornaments in Italy or something.

Across the main plaza from the Doge's Palace is the rural Italian home, which contains a wine bar, a kitchen store, a candy store, and an actual mask maker from Venice and his various wares.

The kitchen store usually has some pretty irresistible coffee sets and espresso accessories, as well as coasters and wine stoppers and cookbooks. The candy section sells some very good hazelnut flavored nuggets of chocolate, all excellent for eating with a glass of sparkling wine. There are also some prepackaged cookies, which apparently are the real deal, i.e. actually eaten and sold in Italy. My friend of Sicilian ancestry certified them as such, and I believe her.

The wine bar usually has a pretty good selection of red and white wines. You can also get a flight of red or white, as well as some sparkling and dessert wines. One of my favorite wines there is the Banfi Rosa Regale, which is a very sweet, red-tinted sparkling wine. It tastes wonderful with the chocolates.

They do sell quite overpriced glasses of Reunite D'Oro, considering you can buy an entire bottle at Marsh for about 7 bucks.

One of the best things about the wine bar is, however, the limoncello. If you haven't been introduced to limoncello, it is a liqueur made with lemon peel and sugar. (If you want a whole description of how they make it, watch Under the Tuscan Sun.) The final product is pretty syrupy, fluorescent yellow, very sweet, but also very strongly alcoholic. The stuff will knock you on your ass.



It is served in a small shot glass looking thing, but don't take it like a shot. You'll probably start choking, and anyway, it is made to be enjoyed in sips, not gulps.

In the back of the Italy pavilion, there is an Italian restaurant. It used to be this very cool restaurant based in Rome called Alfredo's, which is actually where they invented Fettuccini Alfredo. Hence the name.

Unfortunately, something happened a few years ago involving contracts, and Alfredo's moved out of the space. For awhile, there was even talk about putting in a Buca di Beppo, which would have just been disappointing, however, after some time they put in the new restaurant. I think it is still disappointing, but that's just because I don't like a lot of sausage. Most of their dishes have a lot of sausage or pork content, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, and I am told that in Italy they eat tons of sausage. I am sure it is a perfectly good restaurant, but it isn't Alfredo's. Alfredo's with the tiramisu and the fettuccini alfredo and the usually attractive Italian waiters.

And just to memorialize that wonderful lost tradition of Epcot visits, I post for you here today the original fettuccini alfredo recipe, from Alfredo's.

Ingredients
1 lb fresh fettuccine noodles
4 qrt boiling, salted water
1 cup unsalted Plugra butter, softened
⅓ to ½ cup Parmesano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated.

Method

Melt Plugra butter over very low heat. Whisk in grated parmesan cheese; continue whisking over a low heat until the cheese melts and the butter/cheese sauce becomes a creamy consistency. Drop fettuccine in boiling salted water. Cook until noodles float to the top of the pot (2 to 3 minutes). Drain immediately and place in large pasta bowl; toss with sauce. Garnish with freshly cracked black pepper.

So much butter. Yet sooooo good.

Moving on back out to the main plaza, there are plenty of small tables and benches to rest upon while you digest whatever it is you have consumed, and soak up the sun while you're at it. If you notice the pattern of the paving stones on the ground, you will see that they are arranged in strange square shapes that seem to make no sense.



In reality, they too are modeled after the Piazza San Marco in Venice. As the story goes, nobody really knows why these paving stones are arranged in these patterns, although some suspect it was an organizational system for vendors that would set up their booths in the square. In Disney, however, it is just for decoration.

If you happen to be hanging out in Italy at the right times of day, you can catch a silly kind of street performance, during which the Disney actors actually pull people out of the crowd to participate.




For future reference, when you get chosen to participate in the play, they give you a button that says you have participated in the humiliating event. If you keep the button and wear it on any subsequent visits, you don't have to experience the embarrassment ever again.



If you want a less crowded space than the main Italy plaza, you should check out the small waterfront area across from the main plaza, located right on the sores of the World Showcase Lagoon. You have to cross one of two bridges to get to it. You will notice a small canal under the bridge, which of course is also supposed to represent Venice. There is actually a gondola tied up in the canal. This is because originally, Disney was going to offer gondola rides, but sometime during the evolution of the park, decided against it.

This is just my own speculation, but I think it was either because they realized they were going to have to give everyone a life jacket because of liability, and it would have been too inconvenient, or they realized the lines were going to be too long. So, the gondola ride is now a peaceful hangout and photo opportunity spot for weary Epcot travellers.

The fountain is a good place to sit and enjoy some wine, while enjoying the music that floats over from the auditorium at The American Adventure, located right next door.

If you happen to be in Epcot's Italy on a hot day, you can get yourself a frozen gelato from a multi-colored cart pulled by a fake donkey. They have lemon, strawberry and chocolate flavors. The cart is usually located right next to the small refreshment stand outside the main plaza, in front of the fake Doge's palace.

The main refreshment stand is where you get your beer, for all you beer lovers. Now, unfortunately, they no longer carry Peroni, my favorite Italian beer. At this stand, they serve Moretti instead. I think it lacks the subtle vanilla flavor present in Peroni, but it is beer, and it works if you don't like wine.

Also in this stand, they sell bellinis, which is a lovely slushie made with peach liqueur and champagne (or spumante), and something called an Italian margarita, which sounds absolutely disgusting to me, but it contains rum, I believe, possibly tequila and limoncello in a frozen mixture.

They also sell little desserts and pastries at this stand, including cannoli. It also may be a good time for you to catch up on your water intake for the day.

That's all from Italy.

Although I do want to mention: If you are at all interested in the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot every fall, the menu has just been announced.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/events/#eattothebeat

Tune in next time for the American Adventure! Also known as redundancy with giant turkey legs.

Fresh strawberry pie, as requested

Taking another small detour from Katie's Guide to Epcot, I have had a request (or demand) for the recipe for my strawberry pie. I just thought I'd post it.

The strawberry pie is a very special recipe. It was handed down to me via my grandma's recipe box. It's what I made the night my boyfriend and I got together. And subsequently, what I made on our anniversary this year.

It's very good. It's very simple to make. It's very sugary. It's not my favorite pie in the world to eat. But it's special to me.

Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
3 tbs. cornstarch
2 tbs. light Karo
1 c. water
3 tbs. dry strawberry gelatin
1 qt. strawberries
Whipped Cream

Method:
Wash and prepare fresh strawberries (cut off stems and leaves). Boil sugar, cornstarch, syrup and water until thick and clear. Add dry gelatin. Cool, add strawberries. Pour into pie crust. Top with whipped cream.

There you have it.

French Onion Soup

I know, I know. Katie's Guide to Epcot: China is coming. Possibly tomorrow, I promise.
However, I HAD to write about this soup while I still have the library book in order to copy down the recipe.
French Onion Soup, I thought, had to be excessively complicated. I have been proven wrong.
I got the recipe from a Julia Child cookbook. I figured it has to be great, if not easy. It was easy.
What you do, is you fry some onions in butter and thyme. Then, you try to resist the temptation to eat them plain. Then, you throw in a ton of broth and some black pepper. Then you eat it.
Try the recipe. You won't regret it. Surprisingly, it doesn't take that many onions. I think I used 1.5 large white onions.

Onion Soup by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin
Yield: 6 cups, enough for 5 or 6 small crocks

2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. oil
1.5 lb. onions, peeled and thinly sliced (5 cups)
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme sprigs, or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt, or more to taste
5 c. hot chicken stock, homemade, or low-sodium canned broth (I used 3 beef bouillon cubes, it worked ok)
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c. red or white wine (optional) - I did not use

Set the saucepan over medium-low heat and add the oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the onions, thyme, and 1/2 tsp. of salt and mix together thoroughly. Cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the onions are quite tender, uncover and raise the heat slightly. Cook for another 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are dark brown and have caramelized in the pan. Lower the heat if the onions are in danger of burning.
Stir in the hot stock, scraping any crystallized juices from the bottom of the pan, and bring the soup to the boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding salt and 1.4 tsp. of black pepper or more to taste, and wine if you like. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
The soup may be served plain or gratinéed, as follows.

At first, the beef broth was overpowering. But I just finished it off about 5 days after I made it, and it was perfect. My boyfriend, my French boyfriend, said it was the best onion soup he's ever had. It was running down his chin. I highly recommend it. But I would use chicken broth, if you can.

To gratinée it, just throw in a few cubes of french bread and some cheese on top. Gruyere is the proper cheese to use, but I didn't feel like shelling out 8 bucks for a block of it. So I grabbed some grated parmesan and it seemed to work ok.

Back to regular scheduled blogging after this. Epcot: China!

Chicken and Gravy with noodles

Happy valentine's day!
This isn't exactly a valentine's day cooking post. I don't think I'll be cooking anything special for valentine's day. This is just something I happened to make last week, and while making it was lovely and dare I say, romantic, it's not a spectacular dinner like one would expect on valentine's day. It's just dinner.
So, for those of you that would rather just ignore this day altogether, here's your chance. This is NOT a themed blog post.

See, my boyfriend makes this gravy. (Victoria calls it sauce, but whatever. It looks and tastes like gravy.)
Fabulous Gravy:
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can water
1 package French Onion soup mix
Mix, heat, devour.

Once, I made this gravy and put it on instant box stuffing. It was amazing. But not as amazing as when you throw some one top of noodles that have about 3 tablespoons of butter mixed into them first.
Which is what I did.

But first, we grilled 3 chicken breasts for a little while, and then stuck them in a casserole dish with the gravy and baked them for what seemed like an ETERNITY but was probably about an hour and a half.

Plate, noodles, chicken, gravy on everything. Try not to shovel it all in at once.

Cheese puffs and the giant cookie from hell

Not cheese puffs like you're thinking of cheese puffs. When I say "cheese puffs," normally I think of those things that are kind of like cheetos but smoother, and possibly made out of styrofoam.
Not that those kind of cheese puffs are bad. I looooooooooooove those kinds of cheese puffs.
No, these things are technically called "gougères" according to David Lebovitz and something else entirely by my boyfriend. Something like "_____ ____ fromage." I know it ended in fromage. I didn't have him write it down, so I may have to do a further update with an actual name for these.
Anyway, they are so very easy to make, and soooo very good. This recipe makes "about 30 bite sized puffs."

Via

1/2 cup (125ml) water
3 tablespoons (40g) butter, salted or unsalted, cut into cubes
1/4 teaspoon salt
big pinch of chile powder, or a few turns of freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 cup (70g) flour
2 large eggs
12 chives, finely-minced (or 1 to 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme)
3/4 cup (about 3 ounces, 90g) grated cheese (See above for ideas)

1. Preheat the oven to 425F (220C.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

2. Heat the water, butter, salt, and chile or pepper in a saucepan until the butter is melted.

3. Dump in the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let rest two minutes.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to make sure the eggs don't 'cook.' The batter will first appear lumpy, but after a minute or so, it will smooth out. (You can transfer the mixture to a bowl before adding to eggs to cool the dough, or do this step in a food processor or electric mixer, if you wish.)

5. Add about 3/4s of the grated cheese and the chives, and stir until well-mixed.

6. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a wide plain tip and pipe the dough into mounds, evenly-spaced apart, making each about the size of a small cherry tomato.

7. Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese, the pop the baking sheet in the oven.

8. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375F (190C) and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until they're completely golden brown.

{End.}

That's really all.
We couldn't resist eating the majority of the puffs right off the cookie sheet. Only about 6 survived longer than 30 minutes.
But, there are 2 things I must mention:
Because I am poor, I decided I would just use bagged, pre-shredded Parmesan cheese in the mix and to top off the puffs. I would have absolutely loved to go out and buy some comte or gruyere, but unfortunately those are just too rich for my blood at the moment. The parmesan looked, worked, and tasted just fine.
The second thing is, don't panic when you put the 2 eggs in and it seems too runny. Just keep mixing it until it looks more like dough than egg soup. Remember, it needs to be squeezed out of a hole in a bag, so it should be a little runnier than you would think.
The best thing about this recipe is that it really only dirties one dish. If you're careful enough with your parchment paper, the cookie sheet shouldn't even be messy at all.

Now, the giant cookie from hell.
It wasn't supposed to be a giant cookie, it was supposed to form a bunch of little swirly pinwheel cookies. But something went wrong with my dough (I suspect not nearly enough flour, although I measured it correctly) and it would not peel off the damn parchment paper so that I could even begin to roll it.
The idea was posted on The Kitchen Sink around about Christmastime, and I only just now got around to making it. Oddly enough, that blog post was even about how much the cookies went wrong, although they were still good. Mine went even wrong-er. Unbelievable, but true. But I was determined to try to make something that day that involved chocolate and peanut butter, and since this recipe involved both those things melted together, I decided it was fate and I had to make them.

Here is the recipe, via the link above.

For filling:

6 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter I WILL NOT USE CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER! It is against my religion. I used regular, and it was awesome.

For dough:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature [UPDATE: see Ellen's comment below. 2 sticks it is.]
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Make filling:
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, and remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter.

Make dough:
Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into egg mixture and beat until combined well.

Assemble rolls:
Halve dough and roll out each half between sheets of wax paper into a roughly 12- by 8-inch rectangle. Remove top sheets of wax paper (if they stick too much, chill dough briefly to firm up slightly) and divide chocolate filling between rectangles, spreading it in an even layer. Tightly roll up each rectangle jelly-roll fashion, beginning with a long side and using wax paper as an aid, to form a 12-inch log. Wrap rolls in wax paper and then foil. Chill rolls until firm, at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Working with 1 roll at a time (keep remaining roll chilled), cut rolls crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange slices 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in batches in middle of oven until pale golden and set, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer warm cookies to racks to cool.

{End.}

Can you believe that in the 2 years since I inherited my double boiler, that I never used it even ONCE until last Saturday? I will never go that long without using it again. In fact, I am thinking of just making the filling this weekend and dipping strawberries in it. Mmmm.
Anyway, I made the dough, I made the filling, and I stuck the dough in the freezer to be less sticky, only it didn't become less sticky enough for my purposes. What we ended up doing is just sticking one half of the dough on top of the filling, which was spread all over the other half of the dough, like a gigantic filled-in pancake, or a misshapen version of those huge party cookies you find at the mall, only without the decorative icing.
We had to bake it to almost twice as long, so that the middle would be cooked. To my surprise, it wasn't hard as a rock either. They were good.
We cut them into little bite-sized cookie pieces with a pizza cutter. I can't imagine how much better they would have been had they actually looked like little swirls.

But, one good thing about this is, I didn't use all the filling, so there was more melted chocolate/peanut butter mix for me to both eat with a spoon and to coat banana slices with. It would have been amazing on top of ice cream.

I highly recommend the filling. The cookie making was a different story.

xxixlovexdumplingsx14xx

It's been horribly, bitterly cold here in Indiana. And with so much ice! I have never before actually fallen on my ass trying to walk to class, but this winter it has happened no less than four times. All of those times, there were people watching.
So, how to survive? Since hibernation isn't an option (I wish), the only alternative seems to be to make warm food and drink alcohol. Drinking warm alcohol is also a plus.
I did just that last night. I had been eyeing a recipe on Bread and Honey for chicken and dumplings. I kept putting it off, because I didn't want to buy a carton of heavy cream and then waste half of it, but since I had to get the cream for the vodka cream sauce, I decided to go ahead and make it.
My friend Victoria was feeling sick. That was another good reason to make it.

Chicken and Dumplings, via Bread and Honey:
6 or so cups of broth (we made our own chicken broth last night.)
2 large carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery (oh my god, try not to freak out about how LONG IT TAKES TO CHOP IT), diced
1 med-large yellow onion, diced
handful of minced garlic
2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
Oil, butter, flour
about 1/3 cup (or like, a glug) of heavy cream

Saute vegetables in a good sized hunk of butter and a drizzle of olive oil (starting with onions & garlic) for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Throw in a handful of flour and stir in quickly to make a roux. Toast for a moment, then add stock. Stir rapidly until liquid begins to boil, then drop to a simmer. Add the chicken breast, and a glug of heavy cream. Toss in a bay leaf, and let simmer for a few minutes.

In a mixing bowl, prep your dumplings:

2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
generous dash of salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
fresh thyme leaves
lemon zest

Mix together dry ingredients, then add cream until "desired consistency" is reached. Jason didn't tell me what the 'desired' consistency is, but I'm guessing something thick enough to spoon into the hot soup that will keep its shape. Cook's Illustrated describes is as "very thick and shaggy." I like describing dough as "shaggy."

Spoon dumplings into the soup pot, covering the entire surface of the soup. Put a lid on the pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until dumplings puff up.

{End.}

Well, I didn't use celery. But not because I thought it would take too long to chop it, I just didn't have any and didn't want to make my boyfriend buy it at the store, although I did send him to get broth. I didn't make my own broth either.
When I started making the dumplings, the dough was way too thick, so I ended up adding milk, which did the trick. I didn't have enough cream left from the vodka sauce to make it entirely out of cream and flour, but I think that's perfectly all right, because my GOD they were rich. I finished my bowl, but didn't go back for seconds. Now, I am craving the leftovers like none other. I decided to try to brave saving the leftovers, because they were so good I didn't have the heart to throw it out.
As far as the drinks, there was a bottle of red wine, a six pack of Heineken dark lager (which I think tastes a little like soy sauce), a Bailey's and milk on the rocks, a good portion of limoncello and a good portion of Chartreuse. A post on Chartreuse is yet to come, because it really deserves its own.
I highly recommend that you make dumplings. I had never had real homemade dumplings before, only the canned kind or the kind you get at Cracker Barrel, or the kind in Campbell's soup. This completely blew them out of the water. But I might suggest using a little bit less cream, at least in the broth. Because it was incredibly rich.

Pasta a la Vodka

I read a recipe a long time ago on Smitten Kitchen for vodka cream sauce. I'm such a sucker for a good vodka cream sauce. I will order it anytime.
However, this recipe was purportedly magical. It was originally from Rachel Ray (EVOO? Come on), but still sounded intriguing. Although, I take issue with the title. It is called "You won't be single for long" vodka cream sauce.
That was absolutely not my objective in making it. Just to set the record straight.
So, the recipe (via Smitten Kitchen):

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, once around the pan in a slow stream
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 cup vodka
1 cup chicken stock
1 can crushed tomatoes (32 ounces)
Coarse salt and pepper
16 ounces pasta, such as penne rigate
1/2 cup heavy cream
20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil, butter, garlic, and shallots. Gently saute shallots for 3 to 5 minutes to develop their sweetness. Add vodka to the pan, 3 turns around the pan in a steady stream will equal about 1 cup. Reduce vodka by half, this will take 2 or 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it). While pasta cooks, prepare your salad or other side dishes.
Stir cream into sauce. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from heat. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves.

{End.}

I was lucky enough to have some actual Italian pasta on hand that my boyfriend brought back from Rome, which was a stop on his flight back from France in early January. It was the best pasta I've ever had, but as I told him, I'm sure it's nothing compared to the pasta in some rural Italian village where the Italian mamas make it in their own kitchens. He said that was true. What a showoff.

I didn't use the fresh basil, because I'm cheap. And is heavy cream the same thing as heavy whipping cream? I don't know, but I used the heavy whipping cream and it tasted just fine.

I would have liked it a little more on the spicy side, but this is me we're talking about, and I would like everything a little more on the spicy side. If there were tabasco-flavored ice cream, I'm sure I'd go for it. My boyfriend added salt. He was right.

It's not magical. But it's good.

Dried beef and gravy

On a cold winter's night, I can think of nothing better to eat than dried beef and gravy.
Correction. Anytime, anyplace, I can think of nothing better to eat than dried beef and gravy.
My mom and I have been having a disagreement about the stuff. She says that it was always a dinner dish, and I say it was always breakfast. I have been known to have a bad memory when it comes to certain things from my childhood (i.e. my grandma's van was black, not navy as I thought for years), but of this I am certain. She made this for me for breakfast.
Nonetheless, it's one of the best foods I have ever eaten. And yes, I am aware that it is a full-fledged hick entree. Oh well.

Dried beef and Gravy with Biscuits
1/2 package of dried beef
1/2 can carnation condensed milk
3/4 c. milk
3 tbs. butter
1 tbs. flour

Tear dried beef into small, bite-sized pieces. Put in skillet with butter over medium heat. Once butter melts, add tbs. (or more) flour and form a paste. Then add condensed milk and regular milk and cook over low-med. heat until thick.

That's it! Pour over biscuits and eat.

Incidentally, the best biscuits to use are always the cheapest ones.

Requiem for a TV show

One of my favorites, Pushing Daisies, has just been cancelled. Or infinitely postponed. Or whatever they called it.
Someone has postulated that it's possible that ABC just wants the loyal viewers to send hundreds of free pies to its offices. I will not be sending them any pies. Maybe some exploding packages, or other revengeful items.
I loved this show. The first season was lovely and whimsical, and now we will never get to see the aunts reunited with their Charlotte, and Ned will never be able to find a loophole so he can touch Chuck. And Emerson will never find his lil' gumshoe!! And last but certainly not least, the guy who makes the beautiful pies for that show will be out of a job.


How ridiculous! This show was so cute and lighthearted, but alas, I guess it was just too different for mainstream TV. Although how shows like Prison Break and Ghost Whisperer stay on the air and Pushing Daisies gets cut is a complete mystery to me.

But, in tribute to Pushing Daisies' demise, I will post my pies that I made for Thanksgiving. I didn't realize they would be a tribute to this show, or I would have made them prettier.

1. Pumpkin Pie
Honestly, I can't stand pumpkin pie. I won't take more than a bite of it to make sure it's not poisoned. But as far as being able to tell if the pie is exactly perfect, I honestly wouldn't know. I couldn't tell you what a pumpkin pie is supposed to be like.
But I have heard from most of my family yesterday that the pie was something fabulous. I blame the recipe, not the cook. This will be the first of many postings of my grandma's recipes that I inherited.

Ingredients:

4 - 5 eggs
1 large can pumpkin
1½ c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg
3½ c. milk
1 can milk (carnation)

Mix well in a bowl, bake at 425 for 15 min., 350 for 25-35 min.

Simple, yet (apparently) wonderful. I hate squash of all varieties.

Maybe just "peace between the U.S. and Canada" cookies

Note to self: Don't mess with World Peace.

I found a cookie recipe on the smitten kitchen. I made it. Supposedly, these cookies were supposed to cure humanity's giant animosity problem if everyone in the world had one per day. Deb was skeptical, and so was I, but for different reasons.
Whereas she thought she would not be prompted to feel peaceful, she would be more inclined to steal others' cookies, I thought they could actually be improved upon. Silly me.
I am not a big fan of sandy, grainy cookies, and these certainly were. Maybe it's because I have deficient taste buds, but I value the texture of something almost more than the taste. More often than not, when I say I don't like something, it's because I don't like the texture. Tapioca pudding? Pudding is supposed to be smooth. Chunky applesauce? Applesauce is not supposed to have chunks. Fruit on the bottom yogurt? I'd rather not have any fruit in my yogurt at all - just the fruit flavor. Fruitcake? Looks like bread, isn't bread, and has odd bits of crystallized fruit and nuts. Blech.
But, these cookies were very good, just a little too grainy for me. Also, I couldn't really get my mind around the fact that the recipe called for unsalted butter, and then a teaspoon of sea salt. The sea salt made it salty in certain places but not at all in others. Weird.
So I resolved to improve upon the Cookies of World Peace.
Big mistake. When world leaders are "pretty close" to a Middle-east peace accord, do they scrap the whole thing because Saudi Arabia won't give women the right to drive? I should hope not. Because while unequal rights is bad, irrational blowing up of each other is much worse, and a step to stop the blowings-up is a step in the right direction. People can work on the rights (soon) after.
In the same way, I should not mess with the world peace cookies just because they are too grainy and salty in weird places. They were still the best cookies I've ever made. Duh.
So, I changed them. I changed them yesterday morning because my boyfriend was having a bad day, and I thought, what better way to overcome a bad day than Better Than World Peace cookies?
We ended up going to a bar instead.
They weren't inedible, but I did deem the last 1/3 of the dough to be not worth the baking. I added 2 eggs and only used one stick of regular butter, and no salt.
They were oddly more like brownies than cookies. Small, round, oddly-shaped brownies. But my roommate liked them. So much so that she ate a good 8 of them between 3 and 6:30 p.m.
I don't know. They were okay. But they sure won't cure any world peace. They sure didn't create any peace between myself and my baking skills.

Here is the original recipe, with my notes:

World Peace/Korova Cookies (via Smitten Kitchen)
Paris Sweets, Dorie Greenspan

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick regular butter)
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (nope)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Plus 2 eggs

Makes about 36 cookies

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

{End.}

I didn't do the log thing with the second batch, it wasn't necessary. Honestly i found even the first time around that I don't have knives sharp enough to cut good cookie log pieces.

Anyway, let this be a lesson to all. Don't mess with the world peace.

The best macaroni and cheese EVAR

Yeah, the best. I made it. In fact, I invented it on the fly. Last night.
I needed to make dinner for my blind-as-a-bat boyfriend, who lost his glasses and enlisted me as his personal taxi service for the evening.
I was happy to be the chauffeur, because I didn't want him to wreck my car and die. And I like doing nice things for him. Which is how this dish came about.

I had an indeterminate amount of time to kill between dropping him off and picking him up again later, so I decided to use that time to make him some dinner.
I had input from a couple of friends, which explains why I used an entire box of shell noodles. I had a lot of various cheeses in my fridge from dinners that had gone before.
To be honest, the idea for this dinner came to me in a dream about a year ago. I was craving macaroni and cheese so badly that I dreamed some chef made some for me, with some ridiculous blend of cheeses and either sake or red wine. And it was fabulous. So, I decided to make the fictional macaroni and cheese that my unconscious brain made up.
So, I boiled a whole box of pasta. I melted about half a brick of velveeta, and probably half a cup of the remaining feta, and 3 tablespoons of butter, and a little bit of olive oil in with the cooked shells. I also used about 3/4 of a can of Carnation while the cheese was melting.
Then, I dumped the noodles and melted cheese mix into my largest pie pan, as the actual deep casserole dish is being used somewhere.
Then, I decided to fry some onions in a bit of cheap Pinot Noir we had laying around the kitchen. Stuck those on top of the cheesy noodle pie. Then, I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes to go and get the boyfriend.
When I came back, I put yet more feta, yet more Velveeta, and some grated parmesan on top, along with some bread crumbs. And I baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Mmmmmmm.

The onions were a little fruity by themselves, but with the cheese, they taste absolutely magnificent. And they're a lovely purple color that contrasts nicely with the yellow. And the Carnation makes the whole thing delightfully creamy and sticky.

Pictures will be added when I stop being a lazy ass and download them from my camera.

Crazy chicken marinade and fabulous, sticky risotto

Food blogs. I love them. Smitten Kitchen, the French Revolution, Bread and Honey. I want to be them. I want to be able to cook like them.
I don't know if I cook enough to write about food. I have been trying, because I hear that letting your boyfriend pay for dinner at a restaurant every night is bad on several levels. Also, I've always wanted to learn to cook.
So, I collect recipes. I buy ingredients. I try not to forget the baking powder. But it doesn't always work out. If it doesn't, I'll still blog about it. You know why? Because some of us are kind of crappy in the kitchen sometimes, whether it's due to human error, or a lack of expensive kitchen items such as...nonstick saucepans.
I'm in college. I'm poor. Sometimes I can't afford basic stuff. One day I will get my revenge.
So, this Saturday. Saturdays usually end up being my cooking days, because my boyfriend decides to be an overachiever and work on his lesson plans for the week. And I decide to give myself the day off, and cook instead.

This Saturday, I kind of outdid myself as far as making an entire meal as opposed to just one (usually dessert) item. I can't resist the desserts.
I ended up making tomato and arugula salad, grilled chicken marinated in a crazy mix of liquids and herbs that I made up (which was really good) and onion and feta risotto. Earlier in the day, I made something called World Peace Cookies that I found on Smitten Kitchen.
I'm only going to talk about the chicken and risotto, because the other two dishes are things that I plan to make again and improve upon.
(Side note: I know that it's approaching the sacrilegious to propose making changes to the recipe for World Peace Cookies. Just hear me out in my blog post after I make it. I promise to think up a new name for them.)

So first, for the chicken.
I defrosted 2 chicken breasts that I had in my freezer.
Last week, I bought a bag of like 15 frozen chicken breasts for $5.99 at Meijer, and being a college student, this is like buying a bag of gold for $5.99. I digress.
To defrost the chicken, I filled my sink with hot water and stuck the chicken breasts in the sink in a medium-sized but sturdy ziplog bag. I then stuck a large mixing bowl on top of it to keep it submerged. That lasted for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, I took the bag out of the water, and looked around my kitchen to see what I could make into a marinade.
I decided on this:
(Just so we're clear, this was very haphazard so there were no precise measurements. I just filled the bag enough to mostly cover the chicken breasts.)

Katie's insane chicken marinade:
Lots of lemon juice
A medium amount of olive oil (about 4 "glugs" of the bottle)
Equal (or more) amount warm water as olive oil
A spoonful of salt
4 large drops of vanilla (as my mom said, "Ew!" But you really couldn't taste it)
Too much dried rosemary
Teaspoon (I guess) of coriander
Few shakes of dried cilantro shaker
Few shakes of cayenne pepper (My definition of "few" is probably larger than yours, when it comes to cayenne)
6 tiny pieces of minced garlic
8 grinds of black pepper grinder

The chicken was very good on my trusty world's tiniest George Foreman grill. If I were to make it again, I'd take out the vanilla, half the rosemary, and all the cilantro. I'd use more coriander and more garlic and add basil, I suppose. But again, that's just a guess.

Now the risotto was a much more precise recipe, because I found it online. (Cooking Light, via MyRecipes.com) My notes are in blue.

Vidalia Onion Risotto with Feta Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (Olive.)
  
• 2 cups chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion (Couldn't find any vidalia, used red onion instead. It was fine.)
  
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked Arborio or other short-grain rice (I just used plain old white rice.)
  
• 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used curly parsley, because it's what I have.)
  
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground pepper
  

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic; sauté 1 minute. (I did this for way longer than 1 minute, but no longer than 5. I resisted the impulse to saute them in beer.)
Stir in rice.
Add 1/2 cup broth; cook until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is nearly absorbed before adding the next portion of broth. (As usual, I ignored this "gradual" part and just added all the liquid at once.)

Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 cup feta cheese, parsley, and Parmesan cheese. Spoon rice mixture into a serving bowl; top with 1/4 cup feta cheese and pepper.

{End.}

I used chicken broth instead of vegetable, because I didn't have any vegetable. It seemed to taste better with the crazy grilled chicken anyway. Also, I only used 1 can of broth because I only had one can of broth. I used 1 can of water instead, and added extra salt to compensate. At the end, the rice wasn't cooked (probably due to my ignoring of the directions) and I had to add probably another cup and a half of water, and half a cup of whole milk to the mixture. The milk was an impulse that struck me at the last second, but it didn't seem to do any harm, if it did anything at all.
I also added probably more feta than was necessary, and way more parmesan than was necessary. The parmesan wasn't my idea - I forgot to tell my boyfriend to stop grating the cheese at a certain point and so our risotto was extra cheesy. Oh well - the more cheese, the better, I say. Except in the case of a certain stromboli from Sbarro. Yuck.

I've got to tell you, this feta I bought was the best $4 I've spent in a long time. I got a whole pound of fresh feta from the Meijer deli for only $4. Yum.

Anyway, the risotto turned out to be quite excellent, and a great accompaniment to the crazy chicken. It wasn't bad as leftovers either. My only regret is that I didn't make more of it. And that I don't have a teflon-lined saucepan, because everything sticks to the bottom of my glass ones. Including a lot of my precious risotto.