Herbed Mushroom Custards

A quick perusal of my computer turned up a few recipes that I hadn't shared before my blog hiatus. As soon as I saw this recipe in the December issue of Everyday Food I knew I had to make it. It looked so good! I had larger ramekins than the recipe called for, so I made 4 instead of 8. And I was a little low on the mushroom count, but regardless the recipe was delicious and I'm sure will be even better when I have more mushrooms the next time I make it. This is one of those recipes that is so easily elegant. The individual serving size and creamy flavor make it seem like much more effort than it really is and would be wonderful for entertaining. I know I'll definitely use it for a future dinner with friends.

Herbed Mushroom Custards
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8













4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms (such as button, crimini, and shiitake), trimmed and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• In a large bowl, whisk together cream, egg, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in mushrooms, and divide among eight 6-ounce ramekins.
• Line a roasting pan (just large enough to hold ramekins) with a dish towel; place ramekins on towel. Transfer to oven, and pour enough boiling water in pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until custards are just set, about 30 minutes. Carefully remove ramekins from water.

My notes: As I mentioned, I was low on mushrooms, so next time they won't be quite as yellow. There'll be more delicious brown jewels in there. :) I can't remember what else I served this with off the top of my head, but if I can find it in my notebooks I'll add that here.

The New Pantry

When we bought the house it had your average pantry, typical of most older houses. It was also pretty darn gross. Something, which went unidentified, had been spilled (exploded?) on the shelves and seeped into the wall. That stain even remains after three coats of Killz primer, so it's a real mystery to me what that substance was. But I digress- the point was it was gross and a general cleaning wasn't going to solve anything. This little project was done almost entirely by yours truly. I took the shelves out and removed the slats from the walls that were holding them up. Then I had to sand down some of the paint and muck that had surrounded the slats, clean all that mess up, and fill in the nail holes. Once that was done I painted two coats of primer (and a third over the mystery spot). After the primer I was planning on trying to paint it with some leftover color from the hallway- however I realized that painting a 36" x 36" square box was incredibly uncomfortable. And there was also some question as to how much paint I had versus how much I'd need. So the pantry remains a lovely shade of primer, ha. And I'm fine with that. At this point in the project I brought in my lovely husband to help install the Elfa shelving we bought for the new pantry. He screwed in the top bar for me, and then I put all the shelves up. While I did that Josh put together the cart. And then all that was left was to fill our pantry with all our food! The end result is a much more usable space. With the ventilated shelves the light can filter through, which means no more strange things lurking in the dark corners of your pantry. No mystery cans popping up here! And don't worry, I spared you a close up of the stain. I utilized an Elfa cart to store our snack foods and the microwave. I didn't want that big thing taking up any of my new counter space. An added bonus is that we haven't used the microwave yet since we've moved in!
































As far as organizing the items in the pantry I've got a shelf for baking supplies, one for canned goods, and one for pastas and grains. We store our chips and bread in the cart's large basket and smaller things like granola bars in the shallow drawer. At the top you might just spy a couple of bottles of wine and liquor. Not sure if that will be it's final resting place, but it works well enough for now. Here is a closer look at the shelves. You can also spy some of the fresh ingredients that are best stored in a cool, dry place. This week it was sweet potatoes, an avocado and a tomato.

The New Kitchen

Setting up my new kitchen was a pretty exciting adventure. Since we had plenty of time before we actually moved in I was able to mull over where I would like to put everything. I tried to be logical about my use of the space, placing things close to where I would most likely use them in the space. There are still some things to be done(I still need to create a solution for spice storage, actually hang my hanging baskets), and I'm sure as I begin to work more and more in here that some necessary adjustments will become obvious, but for now this is where we stand.



This is a general outline of how I've organized my kitchen cabinets.



To the right of the cooktop I set up my prep area. I have my cooking utensils, knives and cutting board set up for easy access while cooking. In the cabinet above I will store my spices and currently store my cooking oils, vinegars, the plastic cutting boards that I use for meats, and other prep work tools like my cheese graters and mandoline slicer. In the drawers beneath this area are my less frequently used knives, measuring spoons, vegetable peeler, zester, etc.



This is my mixing area and also where I keep our dishes. I originally planned on storing our dishes above the dishwasher, but the upper cabinets aren't deep enough for our large dinner plates. So instead I arranged our smaller salad plates and bowls in the upper left cabinets and the large dinner plates in the lower left cabinet. These cabinets are still definitely within easy reach of the dishwasher though. The rest of the upper cabinets contain the glass and Corningware serveware and my mixing bowls, measuring cups, etc. I keep my mixer on the counter top for easier access, much easier than it's apartment space- the top of the refrigerator! In the lower cabinets, beside the dinner plates, I store appliances like the slow cooker, blender, and toaster.



This slightly disheveled area is where we keep the coffee stuffs, on a tray to help prevent staining our white counter top & grout. The upper cabinets are filled with our glassware and cups and saucers. I split up our dinnerware this way because it made more sense to me to keep things where they would be used. The lower cabinets are mainly filled with Tupperware and food storage supplies. This area is next to the refrigerator, so it seemed like a logical space for the leftovers tools.

Cooking in this new space has so far been pretty easy. Every space has pluses and minuses- for instance my new oven is smaller than my old one. But this smaller oven also has a window and oven light. I don't have to open the door to check on stuff- which saves me cooking time and energy. It's a give and take with everything I guess, but so far I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of this kitchen. Soon I'll share my new pantry with you!

Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake

Well, things are still progressing slowly at the house but I had some good motivation to give my new kitchen a work out recently. I signed up to make a dinner for Josh's boss during her recovery from surgery and I of course wanted to go all out. You gotta impress the husband's boss, right? I wanted to make something that felt fresh and healthy to help cheer her up and help her on the road to wellness, and since I would be making the same meal for us I wanted to make sure it was something we love too. I know the family enjoys Mexican food, so I made a batch of my favorite guacamole, some cilantro-lime rice and a big pan of vegetable enchiladas. I decided I'd like to make something for dessert too and settled on this Everyday Food cake that I'd had on my to-bake list. We still don't have permanent internet at the house, so uploading pics is not something I can get around to yet. I was too busy cooking to take pics anyway. Photo via Martha Stewart.

Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 10















1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, tossing occasionally, 6 to 10 minutes; set aside. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch (8-cup) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and alternately add flour mixture in three parts and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).
• Using a rubber spatula, fold pineapple and 1 cup coconut into batter. Spoon into prepared pan, and smooth top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes (cover pan with foil halfway through). Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My notes: I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and used a can of pineapple "tidbits", which are smaller than chunks but larger than crushed. I think the slightly smaller pieces of pineapple made the loaf easier to cut. Also, I cooked my cake about 75 minutes after reading several reviews on Martha's website about undercooked results. This cake was really delicious and the flavors worked well together without anything being too dominant. I think I'll definitely make this again.