Vicky Learns to Cook

 Cape Gooseberries are not gooseberries at all.  In fact they are roundish with a husk, but thats the only thing that is similar to them.  Gooseberries are green and purple in color, with zebra stripes and they look like a grapes weird cousin with a tail. To me, they taste like a natural version of a sweet tart, but more on the tart side.  Cape gooseberries are yellow with a cape (thus the name) which is a husk around them, similar to a tomatillo. The fruit tastes like a very sweet grape tomato mixed with a mango. It's strange at first but very addictive.  Cape Gooseberry Gooseberries The scone, made with cream, and mixed with lemon make a perfect accompaniment to the cape gooseberry, very complex and sweet and almost floral.  This was not in my plan, to buy cape gooseberries (or as you may know them "ground cherries") but when I saw them, my first thought was Gooseberries! I love those guys! Then I realized what I really had, I pinged my friend Jen who tried to introduce

 Quick check in: made potato rolls yesterday.  And to answer your questions:  Yes they use mashed potatoes The reason they need potatoes is it makes them more moist Yes you can use mashed potatoes with butter and milk Yes you can also use just potatoes that are mashed yes they take a long time (1 hour of proofing, 1 hour of final proofing) Yes they are worth it! They couldve used more salt, but they were near perfect.  Really good with butter and honey  And yes they are nearly gone already.  Bread is much loved in this family.  --Vicky

 This week's quick breads were Orange and Lemon walnut breads:  Lemon Walnut Bread Orange Walnut Bread Another fun fact about the cookbook is that sometimes the recipe is made for the BIG machines. This means instead of a quick bread about a pound or so, we end up with 5 pounds of quick bread.  This means I need to put my training to use again and figure out what a 1 pound loaf might be. Because I wanted to try both lemon and orange, I made both at the same time, so I cut the recipe by 5 and then doubled it.  This is the math. Seems like I got it right since it turned out okay. But I couldve gone with 2 pounders.  No baking job can be done without a mess, sadly.  This one was fairly spectacular, actually.  In order to make pastry flour, I mixed cake flour and all purpose (1:1) . My technique left a bit to be desired ,however. I put them both in a bowl and put the lid on, then shook it.  the mess! The breads turned out well, however. So its all good. Next week, we get into rolls.  S

The Ugly Apple Dumpling Ugly Apple Dumpling finished  This one should be easy.  All it calls for is puff pastry, which I decided to buy, not make, raisins, apples, cinnamon sugar, and egg wash.  The problem is, trying to get the dumpling to look pretty.  I only had enough pastry for 3 of them, so I gave the extra apple to the boy. I'm fairly certain he didnt explode when he ate something good for him, so that's a plus.  Laid out pastry dough Adding cinnamon sugar and raisins to the center I folded it a few times, sort of like pleats in a dress.  As you can see it kinda looks ... weird.  I was to cut out a circle and put it on top to make it look decorative, but didnt have enough pastry for that. So I stuck a raisin on top. This will likely burn, you know, but it holds the pleats together.  yep I was right, the raisin burned and the edges were a bit singed.  Baked apple dumlings I gotta admit tho, they turned out to be pretty darn good. I'd even say it turned into a swan, mu

 And we're off to the races! Day one of trying recipes in the cookbook has begun.  This is the dish I made, and here is how I got there:  Almond tart with strawberries Last night/early this morning I completed my first two recipes - a pastry called Pate Brisee, which is like saying "broken pastry" because it crumbles easily. Then I made an Almond filling, also in the book to go inside. Thus creating an almond tart. Part of having a culinary class, or a culinary class text book is that they DON'T tell you how hot or how long to bake it. I know, it's crazy right? This is because, I am assured, that these components can be used for multiple dishes and you would not want 20 recipes slightly modified for different fillings and pastries.  The other issue is that depending on the oven you have these will multiply by at least 5 different types of oven (home, deck, convection, etc).  And then you are taught methods and formulas so you can modify sizes of tarts or the amoun