Lilikoi Cheesecake Trifle

Ok, I've said it before, I'm no baker. I don't like to have to strictly follow a recipe. I like to cook simple things that don't take hours & hours with lots of steps. If you're like me, this recipe is NOT for you. BUT, if you feel like tackling something time consuming, messy, and really, REALLY good, this is just the thing!

I had to pry this recipe from my sister's reluctant claws. This is her go-to secret recipe dessert to impress a crowd. The difference is, she makes it in a rectangular cake pan, and I made it in two smaller trifle dishes. I did this mostly because I knew I would need to get rid of a lot of it, lest I eat the whole thing.

I think the key to the freshness of this dessert is in using fresh lilikoi, also called passion fruit. Fresh lilikoi is really hard to find in stores because it ripens really fast and doesn't keep long. The reason I decided to take on this crazy thing is because I stumbled upon (literally) some lilikoi on a hiking trail a couple of weeks ago and brought one home so that I could plant the seeds and grow my own vine. Then I remembered my sister's recipe and decided to go back to the trail the next weekend to hunt for more. I ended up stuffing my shorts pockets with about 20 of the lime sized fruits and schlepping them out of the forest.

If you don't happen to have a jungle nearby to forage in, and no fresh lilikoi are in sight, I'm sure you could substitute canned or frozen juice.

There are basically three steps for the three different layers. Here's what you need:

1/2 box yellow cake mix

1 1/4 C. sugar

1 package unflavored gelatin

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese

3 Tbs. cornstarch

1/4 C. vegatable oil

4 eggs

1 C. passionfruit (lilikoi) juice

2 C. water

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 350.

For the bottom layer:

Combine cake mix, 1/2 C. water, 1/4 C. oil and 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk (reserve egg white). Mix with an electric mixer for about two minutes. Pour into pans. I used two 4 inch ovenproof glass bowls. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Set aside and allow to cool.

For the middle layer:

In a saucepan, combine 1/2 C. sugar, unflavored gelatin, 1/2 C. passionfruit juice, 1/2 C. water, and 2 egg yolks (reserve whites) over med-high heat and stir constantly until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile take reserved egg whites and put into a very clean, very dry bowl, (if you happen to be so pro-ish to have a copper bowl, this is supposed to be perfect). This clean bowl thing is key because this is one of those crazy scientific steps that makes me wonder why in the world I am baking. Also, a side note here: I'm sure you all have a mixer. I'm sure you didn't attempt to make bread dough with yours and blow it up. Because that would just be crazy. And if you did happen to do such a foolish thing, do not attempt to use a food processor, it won't work. And really, trying to do it by hand is just futile, although it will give you a good deltoid workout. Trust me on this one, just call your mom and have her bring hers over and save yourself the headache, I'm just saying...

Alright, so even my baking-guru sister struggles with this stiffly beaten egg white requirement. So I did a little google-ing and found that room temp whites work better, add a pinch of salt in the beginning and then a pinch of cream of tartar halfway through and a pinch of sugar at the end for success. Finally, it worked.

So once your egg whites are beaten into submission, in a separate bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/4 sugar. Then add cooled passionfruit mixture. Next, gently fold in egg whites, spread over cakes and refrigerate.

For the top layer:

Grab your saucepan again and combine remaining 1/2 C. juice, 1/2 C. sugar, 3 Tbs. cornstarch and 1 C. water. Cook over med-high heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Allow to cool and then spread over top layer of cakes.

The longer it can stay refrigerated, the better it will set. If you go with the trifle option, just know that it's going to look it's prettiest before you serve it. Once you dig in, well, it will look a little... rustic.

Now pour a glass of wine, put your feet up and relax, after toiling through this recipe, you've earned it! Enjoy...

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

I didn't think Swigs and Grinds would be a place to find a movie review, but then yesterday I took my daughters to see Columbia Pictures' and Sony Pictures Animation's "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs". I didn't realize I was going to be in for such a treat!

This is the story of Flint Lockwood, who's been trying to become an inventor since he was a kid. He had his share of not-so-successful inventions over the years, like spray on shoes, hair un-balder and a monkey thought translator. But it wasn't until he invented a machine that makes your dream food fall from the sky, that he changed his whole town.

As a lover of food, this is a fascinating thought! The animation is amazing, especially as the falling food keeps getting bigger and bigger. And the characters are so great. And of course, this movie has to deal with issues of gluttony, greed, self-confidence, and loooovve! Just like in real life - mine anyway!

So if you want to go on food-overload without eating a thing, if you need to remember the benefits of optimism or the dangers of too much of a good thing, this movie will feed it all to you.

We laughed our heads off and stayed to sing along with the theme song and dance in the isles on the way out, because in the words of Flint Lockwood, "We've got diem to carpe!"

Secret Ingredient

This is my new secret ingredient. I like a little spice in my life! I've known about the regular and green tabasco forever, but recently the "chipotle" has made it onto my radar.

This little bottle is filled with smokey, spicy goodness. I use it in pasta sauce, on eggs, on meat etc..etc... It really works on whatever needs a little umpf.

You really must try! But shhh it's a secret.

Seven Deadly Zins

Here's another of my faves in the Zin department. I first tried this one at a wine tasting and of course, loved the name. This one comes from my home state, California. Lodi, no less. The Michael David Winery uses seven different vinyard's old vine zinfandels to come up with this blend, therefore giving it it's catchy name as well.

This is a smooth, big wine with words on the label that I can actually understand. Like "greed, pride, lust and gluttony", now those are great wine words, no?

This wine has even won some awards, including California's "Best of the Best Zinfandels". This little winner usually goes for around $15 bucks. I almost cheered when I saw it on the shelves at Costco, for a little over $13!

Give it a try, you're gonna love it!

Fresh Pasta

So it was Saturday, after two photo shoots in the morning, a quick hike on the bike trails, then a beer on the couch, I was seriously questioning my plan to make fresh pasta for dinner. Having pizza delivered for the second night in a row seemed like a reasonable option. But no.

I dragged out Martha's recipe, which is simply flour and eggs. Not so daunting, I thought. Plus I've seen the gurus on the Food Network do it a hundred times and it always seems pretty simple.

I mounded my 2 cups of flour into a nice little volcano and made the crater that would (hopefully) hold the 4 eggs. Of course, MY volcano started to erupt the eggs down the side of the flour hillside as I did a mad dash to gracefully whisk in the eggs with a fork and gradually work in the flour while attempting to keep the whole thing from flowing onto the floor. It was a wee bit less graceful than I had seen demonstrated by the pros, but I did wrestle it into a ball of dough.

Ok. A deep breath I took and moved my dough to a clean, floured section of the kitchen counter and began to knead. For TEN minutes. I figured this would count as my workout for the day. Indeed. But then it was done and now it was time to cover it with a bowl and let it relax on the counter for an hour and a half.

Which was ok, because it gave me time to drive around the neighborhood like a stalker, searching for a wireless signal, since mine was on the fritz for the second day! But that's another story.

So the alarm went off and I headed back to my little labor of love on the counter and followed Martha's instructions to divide the dough into four pieces and "vigorously roll out until almost transparent". Then I needed to fold each piece into 3rds and cut to desired width. I opted for papardelli sized noodles, about 1/4 inch wide. It worked! They looked like pasta!!

The cool thing about fresh pasta is that it cooks in about 2 seconds, ok 2-3 minutes, but still. I made a creamy tomato sauce with a bit of spinach and some meatballs that gave me more trouble than the pasta. But it really was so good. Sadly, I was out of parmesan cheese, and despite two trips to the store that day, it remained the missing ingredient. However, two of us ate every last bit of the gigantic platter I produced.

So the moral of the story is: the workout, the floury mess, and the total trashing of the kitchen was all worth it. I make it sound like a bit of hell, but it was fun really. I dare you to give it a try. You will feel and taste all of the love that you pour into constructing your very own noodles.

Craaazzzy Chocolate Cake

Alright, here it is... Ladies, the next time you have one of those chocolate attacks, you are sooo gonna thank me for this one. Actually, we have Martha to thank, this came from the Martha Stewart "Annual Recipes 2002" cookbook. And for my friend Christine and my mom who celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of days, this one's for you!

Let the record show, I'm not a huge baker. Baking is a little too scientific for me. You can't do too much improv with most baking recipes

. I AM a big chocolate fan, however - so for this I will don my lab jacket and concoct this beauty.

For the Cake:

1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted

2 C. flour

1 1/2 C. sugar

3/4 C. cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 egg, room temp

1 egg white. room temp

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/3 C. strong, hot coffee

Preheat oven to 325. Butter & flour two 8in. cake pans.

Mix everything (EXCEPT coffee) in a mixer on low till combined.

Slowly add coffee, mix till smooth then pour into pans. Bake 25-30 mins, till toothpick comes out clean.

For the Ganache (frosting): here's my disclaimer; I found a way to ad lib this one because the recipe in the book was for about 5x the amount here. SO, my measurements aren't real measurements, I wing it. But I tried to come up with a rough guess here.

1 package semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/3 C. heavy cream

3 Tbs. butter

2 Tbs. sour cream

In a heat proof bowl, set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and the cream. Stir stir stir...

Remove from heat and add butter & sour cream.

Allow to cool.

If you want a fluffy frosting you can use an electric mixer to whip it. I broke my mixer, plus I like it without, so I just go with it as is.

The rest is obvious... smear some ganache in between cake layers and then pile the rest on finished cake.

If you want to get crazy, put some heavy whipping cream in a mixer with some sugar and mix until you have whipped cream. Pour into a bowl and fold in some fresh raspberries. Dollup some of this on your slice and behold!

Quote of the Day:

"Birthdays are good for you: the more you have, the longer you live." ~Anonymous

Oh-Yeah Orzo

Am I the only one who's forgotten about orzo? Remember that sneaky little pasta that likes to impersonate rice? A couple of lifetimes ago when I was in art school, I worked at the Real Food Deli in San Francisco. We served up some pretty amazing stuff from huge platters and bowls in that deli counter. I quickly became addicted to this great orzo & feta salad.

Once I started to cook, this dish made a comeback with me. But then, like I often do, I overdosed on the recipe and haven't returned for years. Until one day while perusing the pasta isle, craving something new to do with the same old noodles, I saw it. "Oh yeah, Orzo!"

In Italian, 'Orzo' means barley, however it is made with good ol' semolina. So it is neither rice nor barley, twalk amongst ya' selves. Because it is such a tiny pasta, it seems best as a side dish or even used in soups.

Last night I made some killer chicken sandwiches and went with the old standby orzo recipe as the accompaniment. Boil up some orzo, then drain & allow to cool. I chopped some sundried tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh herbs, then tossed in the cheese and some green peas and mixed it all together. And just like that, an old favorite made a comeback.

If you too have forgotten about this little pasta that could, you really should go for it again!

Mojito Mojo

How's your mojo? Are you feelin' it? Are you refreshed? Chilled? Relaxed? If you answered "no" to any of the above, then here & now I offer you a prescription: A mojito. This drink seems to be the "it" drink of late, right?

I had never had one until a couple of years ago when the Cubans moved in next door to my photography studio. In fact, I think most of Honolulu was not hip to the beverage, but what do I know...

What I know is that Jesus, (pronounced hay-suus, but I prefer to pronounce as geez-us, cause it's more fun to say you had a mojito with jesus...) anyway, Jesus Puerto brought Cuba not only to Honolulu, but to my very doorstep with his second Soul de Cuba Cafe.

In the following years, both these Cubans and their mojito have become dear friends of mine. I have consumed my share, photographed it up close & personal, and have even written about it.

The thing about the Soul de Cuba mojito is the handmade mixes they use. Another instrument I was introduced to by the Cubans was the "muddler", a small, sawed-off rolling pin of sorts, used to mush ingredients together for cocktails. It makes ALL the difference!

Another secret of the mojito is "simple syrup". You know about this? It takes two seconds to make and is the little secret ingredient in many a cocktail. (Bring one cup of water to boil and add one cup of sugar, bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for a couple of minutes, then let cool).

If you want to whip up a mojito at home, here's what you do:

Pour some simple syrup into a rocks glass.
Add 1/2 a lime cut into quarters and about 5 fresh mint leaves.
Take your handy dandy muddler and bash them together a bit.
Fill the glass with ice and add a shot of white rum and top with club soda, seltzer or lemon-lime soda.

Pour back and forth into a cocktail shaker till combined. Garnish with a sprig of mint and soon you will have your mojo back! I'm talking about the refreshing, chillin', relaxing mojo that comes from the mojito. And if you don't feel like making it yourself and you happen to be in our neighborhood on Oahu, have one of the Cubans serve one up for you! You can find them at www.souldecuba.com

Harissa

During my recent Moroccan cooking extravaganza, I discovered harissa, a volcanic hot, herb-y chili paste. This has become my new secret ingredient. Make a batch of this stuff, throw it in a jar and keep it in the fridge. I use this in marinades, sauces, pastas, on meat and sometimes a pinch between the cheek & gum.

So as usual, I had a recipe from The Food of Morocco cookbook, but I, of course improvised...

The recipe calls for 4 1/2 oz. dried chilies (who knows how much that is? I don't measure in ounces!) chopped and soaked in boiling water for an hour.

I also added one habenero chili, some spicy, sweet peppers that I had from the deli, and some pickled jalepenos.

The recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. dried mint, I used a handful of fresh.

Also 1 Tbsp. ground coriander, I used a handful of fresh parsley.

1 Tbs. ground cumin, which I actually had.

1 tsp. ground caraway seeds, I skipped this altogether.

10 chopped garlic cloves

1/2 C. olive oil

Throw it all in the food processor and give it a whirl till combined. If you like spicy, you're gonna love this. The mint gives it that Moroccan twist and a little mystery taste in the finished dish. Let me know if you like it!

Mollydooker

Alright, for my first real two cents in the wine department, I've gotta talk Mollydooker. This is a great Australian winery and the Aussies have been making me crazy with their big, giant reds. Plus, they have an obvious edge with their quirky names and labels. I recently discovered that Mollydooker means a "left hander" to those down under.

The first Mollydooker wine I tried was The Boxer. This wine was recently rated wine of the week by Wine Spectator Magazine. This bottle will cost you about $25 clams, which is about as much as I want to spend on a bottle of wine, which makes it not my everyday wine, but a bit of a splurge. But it's so worth it.

By the way, I don't ever taste those things that it says on the label or in magazines, like "lightly floral, minerally, apple-inflected, stony, lemony, nutty, lime scented, peachy, herb-scented" - all adjectives used in September's Food & Wine.

Or how about Saveur using such descriptions as: "lanolin, honey, salted nuts, chalk, wax, or white flowers", on the nose - meaning this is what the wine gurus SMELL. Chalk?? What the? Or how about something "sweet and unctuous", "waxy white fruit in the mouth", "oily with tart stone-fruit flavors", "an intriguing green pea note", "an austerity that borders on the severe". ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!! I don't know what these mean! But for real, these were all in the "Tasting Notes" on one page in an old issue of Saveur. This makes me crazy! Do you see why I go for the good label?

So back to The Boxer. Does it have a good label? Check. And then for MY buzz words: Big, flavorful, good. I don't want to be drinking anything that tastes or smells like green peas, lanolin, or God forbid CHALK. I want the wine maker to have a sense of humor, to be an artist and to make killer wine. That's all I need to know. And I can tell two of those three things just by looking at the label.

Mollydooker makes several bottles in the $25 range like Blue Eyed Boy, and Two Left Feet. But let me just say, that if you ever happen upon a bottle of Carnival of Love, and have an extra 90 bucks in your pocket, please, please buy this wine. It's amazing. They also have a $25 bottle called Sip it Forward, which the proceeds from this wine support and educate children in Cambodia. That is pretty cool.

You can find out a lot more about these guys at www.mollydookerwines.com. Plus, check out their tip on shaking the wine to release it's flavor. Who Knew??

Quote of the Day:

"Wine is bottled poetry".

~Robert Louis Stevenson