RMJcar's eatings: September 2015

Double Remix (Gluten Free)

Recipes are great. You can modify a few parts, add a few extra ingredients, and boom; you have a new dish. Read the rest of this blog post for two recipe remixes that happen to be gluten free.

Pavlova

I made crack pie (next blog entry) which requires 9 egg yolks, so I had a lot of leftover egg whites. I also leftover cream from the crack pie. What better way to use those ingredients than with pavlova? My first blog post covered making lemon meringue cake. If you take the meringue and bake it low and slow, cover it with whipped cream and fruit, you get pavlova.

See the original blog post here: http://rmjcarseatings.blogspot.com/2015/01/lemon-meringue-cake.html
See the modified recipe here: http://www.marthastewart.com/332803/pavlova

I used a slightly modified recipe to make the meringue for the pavlova. The differences include:

Superfine sugar instead of regular at a slightly different ratio to egg white
Addition of cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla instead of lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit instead of cooking the meringue on the stove.

The modified recipe goes over all the specifics. The meringue will evolve the same way as the meringue did in the lemon meringue cake blog entry.

For the pavlova, lets start from finished meringue.

1. Trace an 8 inch circle on parchment paper. I used an 8 inch cake round as the stencil. Put the parchment paper on a sheet pan with the pencil side down. Put a little bit of meringue on each corner of the parchment paper so that the parchment paper sticks to the pan.

It is important to make sure the the pan is wide enough so that there is room for the pavlova to spread a little bit as it cooks.

2. Spread and level the meringue mixture within the confines of the 8 inch circle.
Don't use all of it.

Disclaimer: I had a friend help me with the remaining parts of the pavlova. Thank you YY!

3. Carefully sculpt the remaining meringue on top and form what looks like a bird's nest. You want to make sure there is a well to put the whipped cream in.

4. Put the the meringue in the oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the oven and let the meringue come down to temperature in the oven without opening the oven door.

5. Whip about 1.5 cups of cream, plop the whipped cream into the well and add some fruit. YY did a great job decorating. We made two.

Go ahead, take a giant slice. You will be surprised how light this dessert it. Then again, it is mostly air!

Mac and Cheese Oatmeal

Remember the fluffified oatmeal recipe? I wanted to make a savory version of it. Why not a mac and cheese inspired version?

See the original blog entry here: http://rmjcarseatings.blogspot.com/2015/05/fluffified-oatmeal.html

Follow the original blog entry from the beginning to when you add the egg whites.

1. Add in your cheese. I added about a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and 1/4 of a cup of mozzarella. If I had some Cheddar on hand, I would of used that instead of mozzarella. Mix in all the cheese.

2. Mix in garlic powder, salt, pepper, nutmeg (do not skip, it adds an amazing flavor), and a bit of turmeric for color.

Delicious!

Dip Duo

What is better than one delicious dip recipe? Two! Here are two great potluck dip recipes that will make you the talk of the town.

Eggplant Dip with Yogurt

You can find the original recipe here: http://food52.com/recipes/18763-eggplant-dip-with-yogurt-borani-e-bademjan

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Places two large eggplants on a foil lined sheet pan. Prick each of the eggplants with a fork several times. Once the oven is preheated, place the eggplant in the oven for about 45 minutes until the eggplants have blackened. Rotate the eggplants several time to make sure they roast evenly.

3. When the eggplants have cooled for a bit, place one eggplant at a time in a colander in the sink and peel the skin which should come off easily.

4. Let all the liquids drain away from the eggplants then put the remaining flesh in a container. Use a fork to shred the flesh into smaller pieces. Seal and place the container into the refrigerator and let it cool completely.

5. Add in 1 cup of Greek yogurt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix well with a fork.

6. Mix in one clove of chopped garlic (I used a dollop of pre-minced garlic since it is less intense), the juice from half a lemon, two tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley, and two tablespoons of freshly chopped mint.

Kale & Artichoke Dip

You can find the original recipe here: http://www.lemoinefamilykitchen.com/2015/08/skinny-kale-artichoke-dip/

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and set 4 ounces of reduced fat cream cheese
out so it softens up.

2. Combine the cream cheese and 10.6 ounces of greek yogurt in a large bowl.