Motherly Munchies

Okay. . . I have started, and then deleted the writing this flog 4 times. I seem to get a little twitchy when Mother's or Father's Day comes along. I feel like don't have a lot of experience with the mom thing and therefore I shouldn't write about. (I am resisting the urge to start over again).

I have been fortunate to have two women show me the love of a mother, my grandmother Rose and my aunt Donna.

When I was a young boy and my parents were in the throes of their alcoholism, my Grandma would come to our house and cook for me and my two older sisters, clean the kitchen, change the sheets on my bed, and give us money to go buy "something special". She was so consistent, always there, a lighthouse. I have so many fond memories being in her kitchen helping snap green beans, make cookies, setting the table. My Grandma gave my kitchen a heart.

Donna gave me courage. Courage to try something new. Courage to travel to distant lands. Courage to try again if I fail. Every summer, from the age of eight, my aunt and uncle, Alvin, and I would travel the United States and Canada. About 5pm we stopped for the night during a trip through British Columbia, Canada. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the jagged granite mountains and the rushing rivers of ice-cold water. While I was exploring, flipping rocks to see what bugs were hiding beneath when I cam across a shard of granite about the same size as me. I loved it and wanted to keep it. I ran back to the motor home to get Donna to show her. She said "if you can get that thing back to the motor home you can keep it". It took a while but I did it! In fact, it is still with me. Donna instilled self-worth into me . . . the very thing that saved my life when it hung in the balance.

To honor the mothers (and demi-mothers) in our lives, Levi and I decided to have his parents and grandmother over for a Mother's Day dinner. Once they accepted I ran to the kitchen and scribbled thoughts for the food on the menu planner Levi gave to me this past Christmas.

This is what we came up with:

Prime Rib Roast

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Shallot oil

Scalloped Potatoes

Coconut Vanilla Cake

Prime Rib Roast with fresh Horseradish

4-5 lb Prime Rib Roast with plenty of fat

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

8 cloves garlic peeled

1/4 cup olive oil

2 T salt

2 T Pepper

2 cups beef stock

1 cup white wine (optional. Use

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup fresh grated horseradish - finely grated

3 T. mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

The night before cut 4 cloves of garlic in half. Poke 8 evenly spaced holes with a knife into the roast and stuff a piece of garlic into the hole. Cover the meat and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

Using a mace or small processor combine rosemary, remaining garlic, olive oil, 1 T. salt, and pepper. Blend until you have a smooth herb paste. Set aside.

The next day, remove the roast from fridge and uncover; let sit out at room temperature for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours (this is an important step to relax the meat fibers, it will make for a more tender juicy roast, the length of counter-time will depend on the size of your roast).

Preheat oven to 450

Use remaining salt to rub all over the roast. Place on roasting rack fat side up. Rub the herb paste all over the top of the roast.

Bake for 20 minutes in the 450 oven. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 1.5 hours or until the internal temperature is 130/rare - 140/medium rare - 145/medium. Take out oven and cover loosely with foil for 20 minutes.

While the roast is resting place the roasting pan on the stovetop. Over a medium heat add wine (or broth to emulsify all the good yummy bits. Then add 2 cups of beef stock. simmer for 5 minutes. At this point you have Au Jus. If you prefer gravy, mix water and flour in a bowl until there are no lumps. Then whisk it into the Au Jus. Stir until it thickens.

In another bowl mix the horseradish, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. I serve this in tiny bowl for each person but you can do what you like.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

4 cups fresh (not frozen) prepared brussel sprouts

1/4 Olive oil

1 half shallot

1 T salt

Pepper to taste

In a small pan heat olive oil over medium heat.

Peel and finely chop half a shallot (about 3 T). Cook the shallots in the olive oil until golden brown. set aside and let cool for a few minutes.

Prep sprouts by cutting off bottom stem an peeling of any loose or icky leaves. Slice in half. Rinse with water. Pat dry.

Place sprouts, cooled shallot olive oil and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Pour into a lightly oiled small casserole pan.

Bake 1 hour @ 350.

Scalloped Potatoes

I used this Scalloped Potatoes recipe from Food.com. I love it, and it is super easy!

Coconut Vanilla Cake

So here I tweaked this cake recipe. It's an awesome cake but I really wanted coconut!!!

Cake Batter

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups self rising flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, very soft

8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups toasted coconut

Coconut Custard

2 cups Milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup coconut

3 egg yolks

2 T. Cornstarch

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place 4 cups coconut on cookie sheet and bake until golden brown. You may want to mix it a couple of times during the baking to make it more even. Let cool.

To make custard:

bring milk, sugar and coconut to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes stirring a couple of times.

Remove from stove and let cool about 15 minutes.

Stain out coconut returning milk to pan.

Whisk in yolks and cornstarch.

Over medium heat bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly. If you boil too much it will scramble the yolks and you'll have to start over. Should be thick like gravy.

Pour custard into large metal bowl a let cool in the fridge.

For the cake:

grease and lightly flour three 9 inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine the flours and add in four parts, alternating with the milk and the vanilla extract, beating well after each addition.

Divide batter among the cake pans.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.

To make the icing:

place the butter in a large mixing bowl.

Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla.

Beat until smooth and creamy.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency (you may very well not need all of the sugar).

When cake has cooled, put cooled custard between the layers, then ice top and sides of cake.

Then take your yummy golden coconut and press it into the sides of the frosted cake with your hand.

With a pastry bag and a medium star tip pipe a scallop ribbon on the top edge of the cake.

Pour remaining custard on the top of the cake gently pushing it with a spoon to meet the scalloped ribbon.

Cover cake and place in fridge for one hour (I push bamboo skewers that I snap in half into the corners of the cake and one in the middle to keep the plasic wrap off the cake)

What a nice evening we had. The food was all very good and we were able to hand of ALL the leftover (except the cake) to Levi's Mom and Dad! Happy Mothers Day indeed!