Blue Cayenne

My market had big bunches of asparagus today–beautiful, tender green stalks.

Can it be Spring?

My recipe was adapted from a recipe that appeared on the All Recipes site. The link to the original recipe appears at the end of this post.

Recipe: Cashew Rice Pilaf with Asparagus

1/4 C. butter
2 oz. uncooked spaghetti (broken)
1/4 C. minced onion
1/2 t. minced garlic
1 1/4 C. uncooked jasmine rice
2 1/4 C. vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2  pound fresh asparagus (trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces)
1/2 C. cashew halves

Directions:

Melt butter in a pan. Saute broken spaghetti in the pan until the spaghetti is a light brown. Be careful, the spaghetti can brown pretty quickly.  Add the minced onion and garlic to the pan with the butter and broken spaghetti and saute for 2 minutes until the onion and garlic are soft. Add the jasmine rice to pan, stir to mix and saute for about 5 minutes until the rice is a light brown. Add vegetable broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower heat and cover pan. Cook for about 20 minutes until rice is tender and has absorbed the broth.

Trim asparagus and cut into 2 inch pieces. Put asparagus in a pan with water to cover and cook until the asparagus is al dente but not mushy.

Mix cashews into rice/spaghetti mixture and garnish with asparagus.

Here is the link to the original recipe from the All Recipes site:

Asparagus and Cashew Rice Pilaf

I first made a trifle many years ago when I took cooking classes at a school in Seal Beach called La Bonne Cuisine. The school is long-closed but I still treasure many of the recipes from that experience.

The original English trifle dates back to the 16th Century. Over time, all sorts of variations have appeared. This recipe uses sherry to flavor and moisturize the cake but the Scots’ version, Tipsy Laird, uses Drambuie or whiskey. There is a Creole version that uses rum to moisten the cake and an elegant French version that uses brandy.  Whatever the version, this dessert is rich and delicious. Hardly a trifle.

Recently, I posted a recipe for Maida Heatter’s 62nd Street Lemon Cake on Blue Cayenne. Being that I’m a party of one and the cake was a big cake, I found myself with a lot of leftovers. Making a trifle seemed like a good way to use my leftovers.

As a side note, when I’m not cooking I’m in my garden. My Cymbidium orchids are in full bloom right now and the flower in this photograph is one of the blooms from my Cymbidium tracyanum, my absolute favorite orchid. It doesn’t get a lot more exotic or beautiful than a tracyanum. It is fragrant, too.

Here is the recipe.

Recipe: Trifle

2 C. fruit (I sued raspberries, strawberries and blackberries)
Sugar to taste
Half a left-over lemon cake (or two packages of lady fingers or pound cake)
Raspberry Jam
Sherry
Vanilla custard (I used an English product,  Bird’s Custard Mix, available many supermarkets–locally available at Stater Brothers)
Toasted, sliced almonds

Directions:

Sprinkle the berries with sugar and let them sit for about an hour.

Cut the cake into 1/2 inch slices and spread with raspberry jam. Sandwich slices together. Alternatively, you can use ladyfingers or pound cake.

Line the bottom and half way up the slides of your trifle bowl with the cake. Sprinkle cake generously with sherry (6 T. or more) and any juices you have in the bowl of berries. The cake should be quite moist. Place the fruit over the cake.

Make the custard according to the directions on the Bird package. Alternatively, you can make your own custard. Pour the custard over the cake. Chill overnight.

If you chose to make your own custard, here is a recipe:

1 1/2 T. cornstarch
2 C. milk or cream
1/4 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 egg yolks

Combine the cornstarch with 1/4 C. milk to form a paste. Heate remaining milk and sugar in a saucepan and bring to boil. Pour the milk/sugar mixture onto the cornstarch mixture and stir. Return mixture to the pan and cook, stirring constantly,  until it thickens. Simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and egg yolks. Cool slightly and then pour over the fruit and cake in the bowl. Chill overnight.

When ready to serve, cover the top of the trifle with whipped cream and decorate with more berries and toasted sliced almonds.

Cook’s Notes: I sieved my custard to be sure I had a really smooth custard with no lumps before pouring it over the cake and berries.

Involtini is an Italian culinary term for a small bit of food consisting of an outer layer wrapped around a filling.

This Nigella Lawson recipe for eggplant involtini wrapped around a flavorful feta cheese filling  appeared on the New York Times food page this week.

The incorporation of plump raisins, lemon zest and pine nuts in the savory filling for these eggplant rolls caught my eye. (I’m going through a pine nut phase. Go figure.)  As it turned out, the combination was wonderful and the dish is beautiful both going into and coming out of your oven.

The original recipe from which this recipe is adapted appears at the end of this post.

Recipe: Involtini
2 eggplants (trimmed and cut lengthwise into slices 1/4 inch thick–about 16 slices)
3/4 C. olive oil
8 ounces feta cheese (crumbled)
1/2 C. pine nuts
1/3 C. raisins (soaked in hot water for 10 minutes until plump, then drained)
1/4 C. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. bread crumbs
1 garlic clove (peeled and minced)
Finely grated zest of one lemon
1  t. dried mint
2 T. chopped Italian parsley leaves
1 large egg (beaten)
Freshly-ground black pepper
2  C. drained canned crushed tomatoes
10 ounces fresh mozzarella in 1/4 inch slices

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Generously brush eggplant slices (on both sides)  with olive oil. Cook eggplant slices in a ridged cast-iron skillet until they are soft and show the char of the pan’s grill pattern. Drain grilled eggplant slices on paper towels and cool.

Combine feta cheese, pine nuts, raisins, olive oil, breadcrumbs, minced garlic, lemon zest, dried mint and Italian parsley leaves in a large bowl. Add freshly-ground black pepper to taste. Beat a large egg and add it to the cheese mixture.

Spread one end of each eggplant slice with a generous tablespoon of the cheese mixture. Roll slices and arrange eggplant rolls in a 9 -by-13-inch baking dish.

Pour crushed tomatoes over the eggplant rolls. Top with mozzarella slices and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake (uncovered) for 35 minutes at 375 degrees F. . The sauce over the eggplant rolls should be bubbling and the cheese slices should have melted when the dish is ready. Remove from oven and let dish cool for 5-10 minutes.

Here is the link to the original recipe from which this recipe was adapted:

Involtini