Sunday-- August 30, 2009
This was the day JJ came home -cause for celebration! Since it was a welcome home dinner, not just any food fare would do. After thinking about the kind of foods he would have been eating for the past week, though I was no expert in German food, I imagined meat and potatoes made up the heavier side of the balance scale. So, I couldn't think of any meal that would speak the words "Welcome home, we love you " louder than a good pasta. Add a bechamel sauce and the words would be accompanied with a warm hug. There was a Chicken Lasagne recipe in one of my cookbooks I had passed on occasion that looked tasty. I decided to give it a wirl, even though I have to admit I harbored some doubts that chicken and lasagne were meant to co-exist. But it called for a pound of leeks in the sauce, which sounded exotic, and chicken stock was the base liguid which I also thought unique. While I stared into my favorite pot (a dream for sauces by the way)and watched the ground chicken transform into unapealing balls of white meat, I began to question whether some meats should ever be ground. And as we poured the unusually watery sauce across the layers of lasagne noodles it looked borderline "gross"rather than "exotic," and I couldn't help but wonder if I had made a grave mistake. Thankfully, doubt was replaced with gratitude for having ignored it so that I could enjoy every bite of one of my favorite lasagnes ever. Which is saying something because lasagne is taken very seriously in our household. As I reflect on the meal I still wonder sometimes if the chicken in it brought much to the table (quite literally) and I think I would like to try the recipe again with a different kind of meat. The leeks were definitely the star of the show and without them this one might have ended up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yet all's well that ends well and it definitely ended well.
Unfortunately dessert didn't share the same fate. We, or rather I, decided we would make Struesel Carmel Apple Cheesecake. This was a recipe from my good friend Wendy who must have the heart of a French cook because all of her recipes call for 1 or 2 sticks of butter- yum! I do love her recipes and was excited to make this one because I still had fond memories of eating it at her house nearly a year ago.
I am not sure what prompted me to let Isabel shoulder the responsibility of this more complex recipe from her previous conquests, except that she truly had become fairly reliable in the kitchen. With a crust, cheesecake filling, and the struesal topping, it required a lot of steps and cutting in. She started out with the zelousness of a budding chef as she used the pastry blender to cut in the butter. In fact she was reminding me how she wanted to be a chef and a writer. Coming to the accurate conclusion they weren't mutually exclusive, she thought maybe she could write cook books. However, after a few minutes of cutting in, I heard her say with an exhasperated sigh, "this is hard work." It was then she noticed the word blender in the recipe and asked "what's the difference between this blender and an electric one? Can't I just use the electric one?" She was definitely my daughter, I always disliked cutting in too. At the time I forgot I usually cheat and use electric beaters, so instead I helped her finish.
Mistake # 1: choosing a recipe beyond her stamina.
Mistake # 2: Talking on the phone with my mother-n-law while helping Isabel wih dessert and cooking dinner. That was taking multi-tasking beyond my capabilities.
As I was talking, I glanced at the bowl of the cheesecake mixture and noticed spices piled in there. Remembering the cinnamon and nutmeg went in the struesal part I reminded her about reading the recipe carefully. Still on the phone, I told her "oh well" and that it shouldn't matter much--she should just mix it in now that it was in there. Had I not been distracted with my conversation I probably would have processed the fact that something was off in that mixture, but alas I did not, which made
Mistake # 3- not double checking her measurements.
And even worse,
Mistake #4 not tasting it.
Unaware that I was racking up mistakes right and left, we baked it. Out of the oven we let it cool and released it from the pan--It looked beautiful even despite the discolored filling. Because JJ's flight didn't arrive until 8 pm and we had to eat dinner without him, we decided to wait on dessert until he came home. After a happy reunion we all gathered around with wide eyes and eagerly cut into the cheesecake. As I took my first bite my mouth watered with glorious anticipation and was instead met with great disapointment. Something was very wrong. All of the sudden the memory of that bowl resurfaced in my mind as I asked (much too late) "Isabel how much nutemeg did you put in?" "2 tablespoons" she replied. Yes, you read that right, TABELSPOONS! Any cooks reading this knows what a colossal mistake that was. I told her with an exassperated tone, "honey, teaspoons not tablespoons." I asked her what happened, didn't she read the recipe? Poor thing , she shrugged and said she thought she did.
Mistake #5 doubting my daughter.
It was bad, even the kids didn't get past the first bite either. The butter and sugar content weren't enough to mask the mistake even for them. I felt so bad for Isabel, all her hard work ruined because I didn't pay attention.
I was reflecting on the experience the next day and the thought occured to me that 2 teaspoons of Nutmeg seemed like a lot to call for. I pulled out the recipe to acertain exactly how she got from whatever it called for to the astronomical 2 tablespoons. I immediately realized what happened. The ingrediants list wrote the sugar as 1/2 cup plus 2T 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon. The 1/2 cup sugar was for the filling and the 2T mixed with the apples. Down in the paragraph of directions it stated to add the 2T sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. The 2T modifying only the sugar. Isabel being inexperienced in cooking and grammer, thought the 2T applied to all three and put in 2T each of the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. An experienced chef would have understood why the 2T were mentioned only for the sugar and would have looked for the measurment of cinnamon and nutmeg in the ingrediants list, knowing there isn't a recipe on earth that would call for 2 TABLESPOONS of nutmeg! AaaH poor Isabel. I had some apoligizing to do. Sometime we'll try the recipe again so she can experience how good it tastes, and when we do, I will remember to stay off the phone!
Isabel cutting in the butter for the crust. A tiresome chore.
(I love the flour mustache sign of a true chef)
Had I not been distracted on the phone I would have clearly realized this is not merely 3/4 tsp worth of cinnamon and nutmeg
The carrots were drumsticks this time.
Leek: na green onion on steroids
Everyone helped layer the Lasagne.
Ready for the Oven!
The kids Decorated the walls with welcome home signs.
Elayna- so happy to have daddy back!
This is what she had to say to him
Yeah ! JJ's home and enjoying the Lasagne we saved him.It got enthusiastic thumbs up!
Look at them!Such excitement on their faces in anticipation of this wonderful treat ending up in the bottom of their stomachs. Too bad it ended up in the bottom of the garbage disposal.
