Mashed Potatoes

So, it turns out mashed potatoes are pretty easy to make, and they can have wildly varying amounts of dairy products in them. Who knew? My only mistake with these was boiling the potatoes way too early and not having a easy way to keep them warm until dinner time. Oh, and you can warm up a bowl by leaving it full of hot water for a few minutes.

-dsb

Brie Kisses

Brie Kisses to have with drinks
Makes 32 kisses.

• 1/2 to 2/3 pound brie cheese (wedges are fine)
• 1 (17.3-ounce) box frozen puff pastry
• Hot pepper jelly – red in colour

Cut the brie into 1/2-inch squares (leave the rind on if you like). Place on a dinner plate and put the cheese in the freezer while you thaw the puff pastry for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Unfold the thawed pastry, press together seams and roll lightly with a rolling pin to smooth it out. Cut each sheet into fourths, then cut each fourth in half. Cut the halves in half to make 16 squares per sheet.

Lightly spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Fit a piece of dough into each cup, pushing into the cup but leaving the edges sticking up. Place a dab of pepper jelly in each cup, then top with a piece of cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Serve warm. (Can be prepared ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake, or you can bake them and rewarm about 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven before serving.).

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My changes:

• Used Cranberry Jalepeno jelly from this nice lady in Austin named Joy.
• Didn't use mini-muffin pans, instead used a regular baking sheet. This required folding the four corners of each square up and pressing them together lightly. There was a little leakage, but worked well (and is easier than cleaning a mini-muffin pan).

Other suggestions from guests:

• Use more than 1/2 inch squares of cheese -- about double seemed right.

Pavlova All Over

Unlike everyone else, I don't check my email at 10pm so I was pretty much last to choose a recipe: Pavlova or vino. Considering it's the cooking club and not the buying and opening wine club, I chose the Pavlova. I had visions of bells causing Russian dogs to salivate over exotic, sugary Turkish pastries, but a bit of research revealed that Pavlova is actually an Australian or New Zealandian/New Zealandish dessert. The exotic name comes from Anna Pavlova a Russian Ballet dancer which it is named in honor of.

I researched a variety of different Pavlova recipes to compare and contrast. The recipe I was provided seemed to be missing the key ingredient of white vinegar, so I switched to this recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html which had the added benefit of giving explicit longhand step-by-step directions. Pavlova is essentially a giant cake-sized meringue. Its girth causes the inside to remain moist, giving the interior an almost marhmallow like texture while the exterior maintains the crisp but melty texture of meringues. Chefs pile fruit and lightly sweetened whipped cream on Pavlova to break up the almost monotonous sweetness. For our meal, I added strawberries, kiwis, golden kiwis, a sweeter yellow colored kiwi, and blackberries.

Most eaters in the cooking club noticed a distinct gray line along the bottom of the Pavlova but were too polite to say anything. The gray line was graphite from my number 2 mechanical pencil which was used to draw a seven inch circle on the parchment paper. Pavlova is free standing -- it bakes on a cookie sheet with the beaten eggs giving the dessert structure to hold shape. The pencil line was meant to keep the cake somewhat compact. Lesson learned. Next time I'll use lead based paint instead of a pencil. Or I'll draw the circle on the other side of the paper.

Overall Pavlov was a delightful end of the meal, made by its fabulous texture and the nouveau spark of golden kiwis, which none of us had tried before.

Cook my Valentine

Thanks to Olivia for hosting the first cooking club.

Here was the menu:

• Brie Kisses -- Rick
• Salad Caprese -- Steph
• Lamb with Red Peppers and Rioja (Entre') - Olivia
• Green Beans with Shallots -- Karen
• Fluffy Mashed Potatoes -- Bailey
• Pavlova -- Alex
• Wine -- Lott