Bev Davis
Register-Herald Senior Editor
May 06, 2008 11:07 pm
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Looking for a way to honor your mom in a special way for Mother’s Day this year?
How about preparing a brunch for your mom and some of her friends?
A Waldorf salad with cranberries and pecans served in pastry cups provides a flavorful — and colorful — menu item. Combining tart fruits with walnuts provides a light meal choice versatile enough to be paired with chicken.
Sawsan Galal, a member of the adjunct faculty at The National Institute for Culinary Arts at Mountain State University, said this salad is best made ahead and refrigerated.
“The celery and radishes have a lot of crunch, and serving them cold makes this salad especially refreshing and filling,” Galal said. “Serving it in pastry cups provides that little extra special touch for a festive table setting and presentation.”
Add the watercress and pecans just before serving.
A quick, but tasty smoked salmon pizza can be used as an appetizer or a light entree.
“More people are looking for healthy choices today, and the salmon in this dish provides those important omega-3 acids that are good for us, but the other ingredients give it lots of flavor. There’s no reason we can’t have healthy meals that look good and taste good as well.”
Cater to Mom’s sweet tooth with some “Molten” flourless chocolate cupcakes. There is a trick to making them look as good as they taste, Galal said.
“You want to add the chocolate chunks while the cakes are still hot from the oven. If you don’t the crust will form and damage the presentation.”
Mayonnaise adds moisture to this recipe. It can be omitted, but doing so compromises the taste, Galal said.
“The mayonnaise really makes a difference. I wouldn’t leave it out unless I really had to,” she said.
Here are the recipes she has adapted from the epicurious.com site.
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
6 Granny Smith apples (about 2-1/2 pounds), unpeeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1-1/2 cups chopped celery
1-1/2 cups chopped radishes
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 cups watercress leaves or arugula
1-1/2 cups pecans, toasted chopped
1 box puff pastry shells, baked as directed on box.
Mix mayonnaise, lemon peel and fresh lemon juice in medium bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
Toss apples, celery, radishes, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Add lemon mayonnaise and toss to coat. This can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate.
Fold in arugula or watercress and pecans just before serving.
Remove cap from pastry shell and fill with salad. You may want to add cooked chicken to the salad mix.
Makes 8 servings.
One 12-inch prepared thin crust pizza shell
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons fresh dill leaves, chopped or snipped
1/3 pound smoked salmon, thinly sliced
Toppings:
1/4 English cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Crisp pizza crust 5 minutes on perforated pizza pan or on oven rack.
While pizza crust is in oven, mix sour cream with lemon juice and dill in a small bowl.
Remove pizza shell from oven and let stand until cool to the touch.
On cool. Crisp pizza shell, spread the sour cream-dill sauce in an even layer. Evenly distribute sliced smoked salmon, working all the way to the edges.
Top pizza with sliced cucumber, red onion and capers.
To serve, cut pizza in half. Cut each half into halves again. Turn the pan 1/4 turn and slice into quarters, making 16 cuts. You should wind up with 24 pieces.
Makes eight 3-piece servings.
Vegetable spray for greasing liners
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and spay liners with vegetable spray.
Shave 5 ounces of chocolate and put into a bowl. Cut the remaining 3 ounces of chocolate into roughly 1-2/-inch pieces. Set aside.
Combine the butter and cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When the cream mixture comes to a simmer, pour it over the shaved chocolate and stir gently to melt the chocolate.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, mayonnaise, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt just until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and gently mix just until combined. Mixing too much will prevent the eggs from rising in the oven.
Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into each mold. It should come about three-fourths of the way to the top.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Do not over bake.
Immediately while hot, add a chunk of the remaining chocolate in the center of each, by gently pushing it through the top of the cupcake in the center.
Cool the pan on a rack for 10 minutes and then unmold cupcakes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
— E-mail:
bdavis@register-herald.com
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
A Waldorf salad with cranberries and pecans takes on a festive touch when served in a hollowed-out pastry shell. The colorful salad provides lots of crunch with its celery, radishes, walnuts and watercress plus being a healthy, flavorful meal. Register-Herald Photographer