Moroccan on a Saturday Night

Tonight I made North African Meatballs with Cous Cous.  This was an extremely tasty dish.  The sauce is tomato based with white wine, onions, and garlic.  The meatballs are super flavorful, full of ginger, cinnamon, cilantro, cumin, and more!  Served with cous cous with dates, this made for a filling delicious meal.

I made a couple of modifications to the recipe - It actually calls for olives in the sauce, and I omitted them.  I really hate olives, so more than likely I significantly altered the taste of the meal. It was still great.  Biscuit wanted less cinnamon, as he's not a big fan of cinnamon with meat (I love it in dishes like this), but still said that he would add this to our regular meal rotation. 

If you're interested in trying this it can be found here: North African Meatballs with Cous Cous.  One thing I'd recommend if you're making this on a work night is to cook the meatballs in the oven, instead of doing them in batches in a skillet.  I know the taste is a little bit better because they were browned in a skillet, but you can save a *lot* of time by oven cooking.  Sometimes we have to make small sacrifices to make life easier!

I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for something different!

Boston Cream Pie

 

I had a craving for Boston Cream Pie this weekend, and figured since I'd never made one before, I'd give it a shot.  I didn't want to do the cheater way - using vanilla pudding and chocolate icing.  I wanted the real deal with scratch made custard and ganache.

I've always been fearless in the kitchen.  When I was little, my mom used to let me do cooking experiments, letting mix any ingredients I wanted into a big mixing bowl to see what would come out. I'm pretty sure a lot of it was paste, but it began my lifelong love of cooking.

Note that I say cooking, not baking.  They are two vastly different things in my opinion.  I'm a great cook, I've get to find many recipes even slightly daunting.  However, baking, that's a different story.  I'm not the best baker on the planet.  Cookies don't always turn out, I'm not great at making a cake pretty.  That being said, I figured how hard could boston cream pie really be?

I've never actually made home made custard. It didn't look so different than making Bechemel, however, I learned a little bit about timing with this experiment.  I've never been good at "stir contstantly".  I like to multi-task in the kitchen, and have been known to leave a roux or white sauce unattended for quick moments.  Unfortunately, with my custard I didn't realize a mere moment could matter and almost ruined the entire batch by walking away long enough to take my cake from the oven.  Fortunately with a little extra work, I was able to save the custard, but it was definitely a humbling experience.  I guess I don't know everything there is to know about cooking!

In any case, all three elements of this cake came together well.  My saved custard was delicious, and so much better than any vanilla pudding substitute.  I used Ghiridelli chocolate in the Ganache and I swear it makes a huge difference.  The cake was delicious as well.

If you'd like to try the recipe I used, you will find it here:  Boston Cream Pie.  The only alterations I made to the recipe were to use two 9 inch cakes instead of slicing one cake in half (recommendation of several of the reviews) and adding a splash of almond extract to the cake batter.

Decadent.  I will definitely be sharing this one with friends!

Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce

I've been out of town for about a week, so I thought I should spoil Biscuit on my first cooking night since I've been home.  I found this recipe for Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce.  I've never cooked with Mascarpone before, and it really made for a rich meal.  This is no doubt an artery clogger, but I think I found a great recipe for company.  Very fast and easy to make.  I used baby portabellas instead of cremeni mushrooms, as my Kroger is a little bit limited in selection.  For company I'd definitely get some fresh parsley to add to the pasta, but for just Biscuit and I, I didn't bother.  Biscuit came back for seconds, and said he loved this, but agreed it's just too fattening for regular rotation.  Heavenly meal, but I'll probably have to watch what I eat the next few days to make up for it!