Blueberry Mascarpone Turnovers

On Saturday morning, I decided to try this recipe from Giada: Blueberry and mascarpone turnovers. My life will never, ever be the same. The comment next to the date on this recipe says simply "ridiculous".

First, you mix together mascarpone cheese, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice and add some blueberries. Then, you cut circles out of a piecrust. I cheated and used ready made piecrust, complements of Pillsbury.

To each circle, you add the filling, brush beaten egg around the edges and seal with a fork.

Then, you heat some oil to about 375 (this was as close as I could manage). and deep fry each turnover for 1-2 minutes.

Then, you let the turnovers drain on paper towels and sprinkle sugar on top. Arranage them nicely on a stolen IU plate that appeared among your wedding gifts (?!) and enjoy. The filling is beautifully balanced and the crust turns out flaky and delicious. Keith wants me to make them every day.

This is the one thing that I have noticed so far about the Giada recipes. The flavors are all so well balanced. I thought I cooked well before, but I can tell that I still have a lot to learn.

The Babysitter

By the way, I think I should give some props where props are due. The only way that I was able to make fish stew on a weeknight (I made it on Tuesday (?)) was because of the babysitter.

We read in our poodle handbook (from the breeder) that one chew toy that is good for puppies is pig ears. So, being the new puppy parents that we are, we went out and bought what the book said (unfortunately, we couldn't find any lamb lung..) and thusly discovered the most impressive trick in the book. Now we call these her babysitters, because she will sit and chew on these pig ears for hours and only stop when she needs to potty. So not only does she stay out of trouble, but she also gives you a very clear sign of when she needs to be taken outside.

Oh, and apparently black poodles get green eye, not red eye in photos. Who knew?

Ligurian Fish Stew

Due to several life circumstances, involving a little terror of a puppy, a sick husband, and a trip to Costa Rica, I never got around to making those apricot cookies. Instead, my first attempt at a Giada recipe was to make her Ligurian Fish Stew. Now, for those of you who know me, you will know that fish stew would be probably last on my list of things that I would ever want to make. I have never been much of a fish fan because it's, well, so fishy. And spreading that fishiness around in a stew? No thank you. But Evie e-mailed and told me that she was making this recipe and I should too. So I figured, might as well get it over with.

The stew started out pretty tame- potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, olive oil. But from there you add white wine, crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes, white fish (I used orange roughy). Now I have never cooked with wine before and I always thought that I HATED wine in things. Just hated it. But, just like all strong, baseless convictions, this one fell apart. The wine added just the right.. something.. to balance out the fishy-ness. And the red pepper flakes made it spicy. Under the date that I wrote in the margin of the cookbook, I also added this little note: Changed my opinion of fish stew!

So, fish stew, you have my official apology. I am sorry I hated you for so long.

Giada at Home

Final decision- Giada at Home. It's her newest cookbook. Evie has decided to cook with me through the cookbook and Jen had mentioned it, but I haven't heard anything recently. (Jen?) It will be a little crazy and nontraditional, because we're all very busy this summer. For this week, though, we will be making Apricot and Nut Cookies with Amaretto Icing. I will try to post pictures before I leave for Costa Rica.

New puppy

We finally got our puppy that we have been talking about for a few years now. We ended up with a black toy poodle and she is ADORABLE. She is actually a really good puppy. She has already been potty trained to go on newspaper, so we'll just need to transition her to going outside. She plays by herself really well. She wants to chew on everything, but is pretty good about being redirected to chewing on her toys.

The only problem is that she is so dark that it's hard to take pictures of her. Sometimes, when she is lying down, I can't tell where her head is because she is just a ball of fuzz. I was ready to give her back after a night of whining, but after today I guess I'll keep her. She just follows me around and then plops down on my foot whenever I stop and then stays there until I move next. We'll see what I think tomorrow morning..