Monday, February 4, 2013

Today we had small showers most of the day. Some sun did peek out, but it was mostly cloudy. Still warm though! :-)

While sitting on the lanai this morning (and I have to admit, almost any morning you can find whales playing in the ocean near shore), we saw several whales out on in the water between Maui and Lanai and Molokai. A small whale was doing what is called "lobtailing". This is done to warn other whales of danger but also to "scare" fish so that they swarm in a tighter "school" to make it easier for the whales to eat (oh, my!). It was SO cool to watch the whales as they jump out of the water or "lobtail" of just blow water into the air through their blow hole.

Before starting lunch, I made a small cheesecake to serve as dessert for the next day. Cheesecake needs to chill some before serving or it just isn't quite right. I followed a recipe from Grace Parisi whose recipe was for 12 individual cheesecakes. I had Oreo cookies left over from making the Chocolate-Raspberry Truffle Tarts, so had the crust. I had cream cheese, but no fromage blanc ("white cheese", kind of fresh tasting cheese, somewhat like creamy chevre). I substituted ricotta cheese for the formage blanc and whipped it up. I did not have any cupcake papers or foil so made a small 5 inch square cheesecake. It's for dinner Tuesday night! Here is Grace Parisi's Mini Cheescakes, you'll see mine later.

Mini Black-Bottom Cheesecakes
Contributed by Grace Parisi of Food and Wine Magazine
Active: 20 MIN
Total Time: 45 MIN
Servings: Makes 12 Tarts

F&W's Grace Parisi made several versions of these brilliant little jam–topped cheesecakes, substituting fromage blanc and other tangy soft cheeses for the usual sour cream. Some versions were sweeter, others more tart; all were delicious. In these single-serving desserts from Parisi, the rich and creamy cheesecakes are baked atop a chocolate-wafer base. You don't need any special equipment to make them—just a muffin tin and foil liners.

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil spray
24 plain chocolate wafer cookies, preferably Nabisco
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup fromage blanc (6 ounces), at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves, warmed

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with foil baking cups and spray the cups with vegetable oil spray. In a food processor, crush the chocolate wafer cookies. Add the butter and process until fine crumbs form. Spoon the chocolate cookie crumbs into the prepared baking cups and press with the bottom of a glass to compact. Bake for 5 minutes, or until almost set. Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the fromage blanc, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Pour the cheesecake batter into the baking cups, filling them three-quarters full.
Bake the cheesecakes for 15 minutes, or until slightly jiggly in the center. Remove from the oven and spread 1 teaspoon of the warmed raspberry preserves on top of each cheesecake. Transfer the muffin tin to the freezer and chill the cheesecakes until set, about 15 minutes.
Remove the cheesecakes from the pan and peel off the foil baking cups. Transfer the cheesecakes to a platter and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The mini black-bottom cheesecakes can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
NOTES Instead of Fromage Blanc Crème fraîche, goat cheese, lebneh or quark.

For lunch I was feeling industrious so made Croque-Madame, the French version of a ham and cheese sandwich (this particular version topped with an egg). Mine was a little unusual as I used whole grain artisan bread (tastes kind of nutty). You spread both sides of your bread with soft butter, then toast it in the oven. Once the bread is toasted, spread a little Dijon mustard on one side, layer sliced ham and shredded Gruyere cheese, then top with a second slice of toasted bread. While your bread is toasting, you can make your bechamel sauce (really more like a Mornay sauce as the bechamel gets flavored with Parmesan and Gruyere cheeses). Top your sandwich with some of the bechamel sauce, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of shredded gruyere and pop is back into the oven for ten minutes. While your sandwich is warming in the oven, soft fry an egg and place the egg on top of your sandwich once it comes out of the oven. The yolk should be soft enough that when broken, it will run out over your sandwich. Quite a decadent lunch, but well worth it!!

I did make it to the pool for a bit in the afternoon but showers finally drove me back to the condo. Still, no complaints. It is lovely here!

Dinner was Stuffed Zucchini with Tomato Sauce, another recipe from Ellie Kreiger. Healthy, easy to make (kind of easy-I had to core out zucchini without a melon baller but found some very long handled measuring spoons in a drawer that work well for this!). This dish looks impressive, although almost anything "stuffed" presents well.

I made Zucchini muffins to eat for breakfast the next day. I just couldn't toss out the zucchini I scraped out for the stuffed zucchini dinner! It was definitely a good use for leftover zucchini!

More to follow.....