Toscana Prawns & Pasta

Hot, hot, hot pan. The hotter the better, to the point where the smoke alarms are going off.

Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, throw in a scoop of roasted garlic and minced shallots. Sizzle until evenly coated on the bottom of the pan. Throw in the 1 lb. cleaned prawns with tails removed, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar (or wine) salt and pepper, cook until slightly crispy.

Toss in about a 1/2 cup marinara cook until sauce is evenly coated on the prawns. Take 1/4 cup frozen peas and toss.

Serve on cooked seasoned pasta. Top off with fresh parm and a bit of chopped Italian parsley.

Pink Hearts, Cookies for Valentine’s Day

(photo's top: glazed this morning, center close up of last nights glaze, bottom: last night's goodies)

The wonders of baking when so much comes into play when trying to make sweets for the sweet. Before I get into the heart of it (pun intended) a little baking story is in order.

I was always afraid of baking because it never seemed to come out like intended. Knowing now, much of it can be contributed to the inferiority of the equipment used, the environment (temperature and climate) and the vast amount of wasteland, my patience.

With baking, it is pretty much like science. Follow the rules and don’t eyeball like you do with creating a gourmet dinner. But ahh, it also takes a keen eye to know “when” to break the rules.

I presently work part time at an upper crust bed and breakfast, which I shall refer to as the Villa. My duties include assisting the Executive Chef (which shall remain nameless) and the Pastry Chef, Kara. A gift to the world of baking she is.

I have learned a tremendous amount from watching and observing her behind the wheel of her spatula but we have also had enlightened conversations over a cup of coffee in the wee hours of the morning when waiting for the guests to arrive.

Kara makes wonderful brioche bread, which we use to make our French toast and eggs Italia. I’ve seen her come in when it is slow to get caught up of her list of baking tasks and whenever she does this it takes forever to have the bread dough rise but when we are buried in the weeds with making appetizers for the evening, baking and preparing for special events, the bread rises right out of the bowl like a huge billowing rain cloud.

This she attributes to the “heat” in the kitchen. All the ovens, stoves, toasters are going full steam ahead, which in turn raises the temperature in the room and spirits of all those involved. Busy creating with the mission charted ahead everything seems to flourish.

Such as life improvisation in my kitchen is a must. Equipped with my old hand mixer knowing if my counter was graced with a $298.00 Kitchen-Aid mixer would make baking these cookies an easier feat but the strong-arm of a partner works just fine too at this juncture!

As to temperature, I started this feat in the evening with the oven and stove going preparing the shrimp Toscana Pasta (recipe above). After dinner I glazed but only a few cookies, not happy with the final result I decided to wait until this morning to finish the task, when lo and behold, the glazed cookies done the night before came out better. The texture of the cookie itself is right on the money.

Enough rambling, let’s move onto the recipe…keeping all of the above in mind.


Sugar cookies with a Hint of Citrus

Pre-heat oven 350°

6oz unsalted butter, at room temperature (preferably warm)
10 oz of sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
t tsp vanilla essence
grated rind of lemon
¼ tsp salt
10 oz of flour

With an electric mixer (preferably a Kitchen-aid Mixer) cream the butter until soft. Add the sugar g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Using a wooden spoon, s-l-o-w-l-y mix in the whole egg and egg yolk (do not “scramble” these before hand). Add vanilla, lemon rind and salt. Stir into mix well (strong arm needed).

Add flour and stir until blended (really blended, not just a little bit). Gather the mixture into a ball, wrap in greaseproof paper, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (Depending on the temperature in kitchen where you plan to roll out the dough you may have to put this ball of cookie dough in the freezer).

On a floured surface, roll out the dough about 1/8 inch and stamp out your heart shapes with a cookie cutter.

Bake until lightly colored, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely before icing.

Shiny Icing

1 cup Confectionary Sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp corn syrup
3 drops of red food coloring

Depending on room temperature the measurements are only approx. You have the ingredients and play from there! It’s either less/more sugar or milk.

As of this morning, the heat of the coffee pot didn’t assist with the making of the icing. First it was too stiff and then I added a bit more milk and it appeared to be right until I applied them to the cookies. The glaze thinned out too much for my liking and you can see the cookie through it. Oh well, they still taste good and they aren’t up for an Oscar this morning. That is what baking is all about.