Lemon Mascarpone Torte Sometimes you really just need it to be easy

My readers will notice I did not post much in June.  Thats because June turned out to be the craziest month of all time for me with a teaching schedule that went completely haywire, with multiple school districts with different calendars letting their students out at varying times, which affects me because suddenly half of my students want morning lessons.  Add to that summer students, my kids STILL in school, and church VBS and my stress levels go through the roof.  There were many moments when I felt like the world was reeling around me so quickly that I couldnt keep anything in place and intact.

All the while all of this craziness was going on, I still kept on riding my bike as much as possible.  Its a way for me to keep my stress levels under control because on my bike, you just cant help but smile.  I cant help but smile.  I wear the goofiest helmet of all time and it makes me happy and it makes me laugh.  (Should you want to emulate my incredible fashion sense, buy it here.)

Every once in a while, one of my friends will look at me as we are in the middle of an intense conversation and say something like, "I cant take you seriously when your head looks like a watermelon."  Then Ill take it off.  But while Im on my bike, moving around my neighborhood, back and forth between school and home, my helmet stays on my head.

Unfortunately I cant do Costco shopping on my bike, so I usually run home, leave my bike and then hop into the car.  During my most intense time in June, I discovered I need something at Costco, so as it is my habit, I dumped my bike and excess equipment at school and went  to Costco.  I parked, flashed my membership card, and with my mind on figuring out and calculating how quickly I could finish what I need to do at Costco, I barely noticed the people giving me funny looks. As I ran towards the fruit section, I happened to pass a mirror section, which I quickly moved past, when I caught a flash of green on my head in the reflection.

Green as in my watermelon helmet.  Green as in the watermelon helmet that I DROVE to Costco with, got out of the car with, and ran around half of Costco with.  I sheepishly began laughing at myself, removed the helmet and shook my head at my own nuttiness.  Was I that intensely insane that I couldnt remember to take off a helmet?  Evidently yes.  My life had reached a fever pitch that made things so crazy that a watermelon helmet in the middle of Costco could completely happen.

Im always grateful for the month of July because life slows down for me.  No more lunches to pack, students flit in and out of my life on vacation and then back off vacation, and a general slowing of the mayhem that is motherhood.  And during the slowdown I find myself feeling lazy and wanting simply to do less and do things simply.  It also gets warmer so its less compelling to be in the kitchen.  I decided to go ahead and try and do a no bake cheesecake recipe, drawing inspiration from a bunch of different sources, but mostly this one.   

The result?  Summer easy yummy fun.  The main commitment is time to chill and set it, which clocks in at around 8 hours, or overnight (or up to 3 days ahead of time) but the end result is totally worth it, and its easy!  No ovens to turn on and nothing complicated to do except layer, and you can probably even do it with a bike helmet on, should you feel so compelled. 

Lemon Mascarpone Torte
Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients
2 cups (16 oz mascarpone cheese)
?  cup heavy cream
?  cup prepared lemon curd
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Kosher salt
About 15 whole graham crackers
Blueberries, for serving

Method
Line a 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing 4 inches of overhang.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone with the heavy cream at medium speed until smooth and just firm; do not overbeat. Fold in the lemon curd, lemon zest and a pinch of salt.

Spread a 1/4-inch-thick layer of the lemon cream on the bottom of the pan.  (I used a broken off piece of graham cracker to do this - YUM!)  Arrange a single layer of graham crackers on top, breaking them to fit.  For a prettier edge, break the crackers a little bit short of the edge so that the outside will be cream and not a layer of graham, essentially leaving a border around the edge of your pan.   Repeat the layering with the remaining lemon cream and crackers, finishing with a final layer of cream.

Cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Uncover and invert the cheesecake onto a platter. Remove the plastic wrap. Serve with blueberries.

Printable recipe

Cutting into yumminess.

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Easy Chicken Vindaloo When bad music comes home

There are two piano songs that I truly cannot stand - one is "The Entertainer" and the second is "Fur Elise."  I grew up hearing these songs butchered repeatedly; they were the two songs most often played when someone mentioned that they played the piano and they were the songs that you played when you saw a piano and felt like tickling the ivories for a bit.

I remember at one point, my wonderful and completely white-haired piano teacher told me that I would never play Fur Elise.  She thought the song had become cliche (sorry Beethoven) and that the song was too often played poorly.  At the time when she told me this, I thought she was basically trying to come up with a nice way to tell me that I wasnt good enough to play the piece and it wasnt until much later I realized how true her words were; people love to play "Fur Elise."

At the beginning of the summer, Daughter #1 got "The Entertainer" and I looked the piano teacher right in the eye and said, "Youre trying to kill me, right?"  She laughed and just said that it would be a fun song for Daughter #1 to play.  Fun for her.  Torture for me.  The plinking sounds of the piano keys bouncing around threatened to put a hole in my head, and it appeared that this song was going to be once again strangled, sent to an early death by Daughter #1.  I barely survived the two weeks of practice and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she moved on.

This afternoon, after Daughters piano lessons, I heard Daughter #1 picking out the notes of "Fur Elise."

"Please top playing that.  Its not your song."

"It is mom!  Teacher Megan gave it to me!"

"What?  NO!  Show me!"  and she proceeded to show me her assignment sheet which clearly had written on it, "Fur Elise."  Inwardly I groaned and just walked away from the piano to the strains of the song which so much haunted my youth.  Daughter played the song happily, deciphering unfamiliar notes and rhythms and began making sense of the music, however torturous it was to me.

But in the same way Daughter #1 has to sort of destroy this song in order to learn how to play it, I do that in the kitchen as I try and figure out the best way to make certain dishes.  I make a mess of the ingredients, misfire a series of steps, and can make a complete hash out of something before it tastes good.  I dont doubt Daughters ability to play the song well with enough practice (whether I can handle hearing all the practice is another story altogether) and the end result may be something she enjoys, whether it tortures me or not.  This vindaloo dish which I adapted from Ted Allens cookbook In My Kitchen is probably at best, an amateur of a traditional vindaloo but I tweaked things and improvised to make the flavors as easy as possible for me to achieve.  Instead of toasting and grinding whole spices, I went with powdered spices and I also added a ton of vegetables so I could enjoy just a one pot meal.  The end result was something super delicious, probably not close to an original vindaloo, but all the same, worth making and eating.  Ill think of Fur Elise as Ill eat it, and perhaps the mix of vindaloo and painful song will come together into some strange, unexpected harmony.

Maybe.

Easy Chicken Vindaloo with Peas and Cauliflower
Adapted from Ted Allen’s In My Kitchen
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons cardamom powder
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (reduce to 1 teaspoon if you want to reduce heat)
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 garlic cloves
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper
2 to 2 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs left whole
14.5 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
2 medium yellow onions, quartered
10 oz bag frozen peas
12 oz cauliflower florets

Method
In a mini food processor, or in a mortar and pestle, process together, cumin powder, coriander powder, cardamom powder, red pepper flakes, turmeric powder, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and lemon juice and 2 teaspoons salt.  Process together until a uniform paste is made.  Smear and massage paste into boneless skinless chicken thighs.  Refrigerate and set aside for about 30 minutes.  (can be left for 4 hours)

Puree tomatoes and onions in mini prep processor or food processor.

In a heavy pan over medium high, heat oil.  Add chicken and sear on all sides about 6 minutes.  Add tomato onion mixture, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 ½ cups water and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer covered, for 45 minutes.

Add peas and cauliflower and check seasonings.  Add salt and pepper if necessary.  Chicken should be tender and falling apart.

Serve with basmati rice and raita.

Raita
(makes about 5 cups - you can halve this recipe)
32 ounce container of whole milk yogurt
1 cup finely chopped tomato
1 cup finely chopped cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients and serve immediately or refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days.


Printable recipe

This is Ted Allens fantastic cookbook.  If I ever get to write one, Id like it to look like this.  An eclectic mix of recipes from different ethnic influences and a photograph to accompany almost every single recipe.  (A great dessert section as well.)

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