Lavender Lemon Cake

Sponge Cake:

• 7 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tsp lavender extract (optional)

Frosting:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 1 tsp lavender extract (optional) or vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Other:

• 1 recipe of lavender lemon curd
• 6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) chopped toasted almonds

Cake: Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch spring-form and put parchment paper in the bottom. Put egg yolks in one bowl and egg whites in another. Add 1/2 cup sugar to each. Beat egg whites till stiff and yolks till thick and light. Fold whites into yolks. Sprinkle in 1 cup flour, melted butter, and extract trying not to deflate batter. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool. Slice into 3 layers. 

Frosting: Cream together butter and sugar and salt. Add in flavorings and beat till creamy. 

Place bottom later, top with 1/2 curd and some frosting (no more than 1/2 cup). Place second layer on top and repeat. top with 3rd layer. Frost whole cake with remaining icing (or reserve some for decoration). Cover sides with almonds. Optional (color some of the frosting and pipe a decorative layer over the border from almond to frosting. 

 This recipe is based off a Russian Apricot Torte, altered for a friend.  http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/russiandessertrecipes/r/apricottorte.htm

Quick radish pickle

• Equal parts red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. sugar per cup of vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• diced radishes and or cucumber.

Mix together enough liquid/sugar to just cover the vegetables. Add in veggies and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Serve up to 3 days later.

Thai chicken pizza

• pizza crust
• Sauce (mix together)
• Peanut butter
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• rice wine vinegar
• a sprinkle of the cilantro and green onion for toppings
• shredded chicken
• mozzarella or colby jack cheese
• green onion-chopped
• cilantro-chopped
• shredded carrot

Preheat oven to 400. Roll out your dough and place a thin coating of sauce over the dough. Sprinkle shredded chicken over than and cheese on top. Sprinkle half your carrot over the top. bake for 15-20 minutes or until crust is cooked. 

Top with fresh shredded carrot, cilantro, and green onion. 

Shrimp Scampi

• minced garlic
• butter
• white wine
• raw shrimp-peeled
• lemon

Start with the garlic and butter in a pan. Sautee until just starting to brown. Add in the white wine and reduce. Add in the shrimp and cook till just done through. Take off the heat and squeeze lemon juice in. 

Served over pasta with Parmesan, as a side, or just eat it like this. 

Strawberry shortcake

• sliced sugared strawberrys (let sit till they get juicy)
• sweet whipped cream
• Shortcake
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups cream
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix cake ingredients together and let bake at 400 in an 8x8 dish for about 20 minuted or until cooked though and slightly golden. 

Let cool

Slice whole cake in half by height then slice into squares (each square should have a top and bottom piece). layer cake, strawberry, cream, cake, strawberry cream. Serve and enjoy. 

Chicken "wing" drumsticks

• 1 large pkg. drumsticks or wings 
• 1 cup flour
• salt
• onion powder
• paprika
• season salt
• Oil

Mix together everything but the chicken and oil. Coat the chicken and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Make the sauces now. 

Pour enough oil in a pan or pot to fry the drumsticks without them sticking to the bottom. 

Fry the chicken till golden and cooked through. Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Coat in sauce of your choice.

The traditional hot sauce goes great with this tomatillo ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.

Traditional hot sauce:

•  minced garlic
• hot sauce
• dash of cumin
• apple cider vinegar
• stone ground mustard
• Butter

Soy ginger hot sauce:

• soy sauce
• minced garlic
• grated ginger
• mustard
• honey
• sherry
• Butter

Garlic parmesan sauce:

• minced garlic
• white wine
• chicken stock
• butter
• Parmesan

Simmer all ingredients except butter (and parm) until reduced to about half liquid. Then add in butter till melted and take off the heat. Add in Parmesan after it cools slightly for the garlic parm sauce. 

Gumbo

• half pound pork sausage
• 1 carrot-diced small
• 1 onion-diced small
• 2 sticks celery-diced small
• 1 bell pepper-diced small
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1/2 pound link dinner sausage cut into slices
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. creole seasonings (salt, black pepper, red pepper, chili powder, garlic)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. thyme

Start by browning half a pound of pork sausage. Remove the meat from the pan but leave the fat. Put in a large bowl to the side

Saute the onion, celery, carrot and peppers until soft in the fat. Add it to the bowl with the sausage. Put the chicken and sausage slices in the bowl too.

Melt the butter and add in the oil then  flour. Stir and cook the roux (flour butter mixture) until it turns brown. Most gumbo recipes say you want it a nice dark brown. this can take 20 minutes or more. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock so there are no flour lumps. 

Add back in the bowl with veggies and meat. Add in the spices. Simmer for about 2 hours. Serve over rice in a bowl.

Molten Lava Cakes

• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 4 oz. semi sweet chocolate
• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 total) of butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp orange extract

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until smooth. 

Add in the flour and sugar and start mixing in a mixer on low. add in the eggs and flavorings and mix till smooth. 

Grease 6 ramekins with butter. Split the batter evenly between the ramekins.

Bake at 425 degrees for 18 minutes. 

Run a knife around the edge of the ramekin and put a plate on top then invert it and take off the ramekin. 

Serve with ice cream.

Salmon Risotto

• 1 onion-diced
• 1 pepper-diced
• 1 tbs. butter plus some oil
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 bottle white wine
• 6 cups stock*
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup Parmesan
• 1 cup flaked salmon meat (cooked)

Cook the onion and pepper in the oil over medium heat till soft and starting to brown. 

Add in the butter and rice and a bit more oil- just coat the grains of rice. Sate until just before the grains brown then add in the wine slowly, stirring.

Cook at a gentle low simmer adding liquid in when the pan the liquid is almost gone. Stir often. After about half an hour and most of the liquid, your rice should be cooked. Use more or less liquid as necessary.

While there is still a little liquid left in the pan, add in the butter, Parmesan, and salmon and stir until incorporated. Serve immediately. 

*I made salmon stock using the bones and head of a salmon that I filleted for salmon steaks the day before. I put the bones and head in a pot with water, lemon, carrot, onion, and celery. Simmered for an hour, and then strained out all the liquid for stock. Then i picked through the bones and head and got about 1.5 cups of flaked meat.



 Here is a picture of a chicken and white wine risotto. Instead of salmon stock and meat I used chicken and I didn't put in the peppers.

Navajo Tacos

Dough:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• about 3/4 cup warm water
• oil and shortening for frying

Taco meat:

• ground beef
• tomato sauce
• diced onion
• taco seasonings
• cumin

Toppings:

• onion
• cilantro
• lettuce
• tomato

Start by making the dough. Mix the dry ingredients together then slowly add in the oil and water. Mix as little as possible but make sure there are no lumps. Let it sit for about 2 hours, greased on the outside so it doesn't dry out. 

Start prepping the taco meat by cooking up ground beef and onion then adding in the seasonings and tomato sauce and let it cook down a bit. 

Put shortening and oil in a pan to heat for frying. 

Pinch off a ball of dough that will fir in the palm of your hand. Slowly stretch it out to just smaller than the size of a dinner plate. Don't roll it out or squish it or you lose the air bubbles.

Fry quickly on either side till light brown. Drain off the oil on a paper towel and serve with the meat and toppings.