Mascarpone Mousse

Our second dessert this month is described as being “light as foam”, living up to the definition of a mousse.  This one is made with unflavored gelatin, heavy cream, honey, whipped egg whites and mascarpone…creating a “clean flavor” which is great to use with a variety of pairings.  Since it is the middle of summer and I live in California, I went with the sugared strawberries!

This one faked out a couple of my tasters…from the looks of it, they thought it was going to taste like a pastry cream, which it did not.  My husband and son were both surprised how much it tasted like cheesecake…I am guessing the strong mascarpone flavor coming through. 🙂  They liked it…I think they just took a moment to change their expectation. They both loved the “light as foam” texture and thought the strawberries were a great addition.  The other half of my tasters, loved it…right away haha..no need to change expectations, sending me texts about how yummy and refreshing it was on a hot summer night.

A good one, enjoyed by all!

Happy Baking!

Shrimp Tacos

These were fun..and oh so good!  Seriously, we have loved every one of the recipes we have made so far from the Everyday Dorie cookbook!  Both my husband and son said I could make these any time I would like…that they were delicious!  With responses like that each time it makes you so excited for the next one to try.

These were not hard, but did include some chopping and prep.  What we found so interesting, because hey…we live in Southern California and eat tacos all the time, these were unique.

• We all loved the simple avocado mash rather than a traditional guacamole.  You wouldn’t think it would be that different but we all commented that we liked the avocado with salt and jalapeño.
• We all loved the salsa…I think it really played well against the heat of some of the other ingredients.  I have never made a salsa with red onion, pineapple, peach, tomato, bell pepper, and jalapeño but I certainly will be again…even to use with other tacos or dishes.  We all really loved it!
• We all loved the chipotle cream as well.  I definitely could use more chipotle next time.  I made two different ones in case it was too hot but even the one I thought would be hot, was not, so next time I will go for more color and flavor.
• We all agreed…we love shrimp but easily we could substitute the protein in these tacos with anything and it would still be fantastic.  It was the “fixin’s” that made these tacos stand out.

Dorie tells us to “lay out all the ingredients and let everyone construct their own perfect taco” and honestly with these ingredients it is guaranteed you will have a perfect taco.  These were outstanding.

Roasted Rhubarb with Bitters

Some of you might remember I made this already as an “optional” add-in with the Springtime Cookies and Curd.  It was used with strawberries and a grapefruit and lemon curd that was so amazing!

We all loved that combination and I still had the bitters and grenadine that I had bought for that rhubarb recipe, so I could easily make it again.  This time I used some of the leftover brioche bread that was used in our last recipe.  I simple toasted the brioche, cut it into cubes and then layered the curd, rhubarb, and strawberries.

It was very good…I think the rhubarb plays nicely against the curd and strawberries but was probably better with the crunch of those Double-Butter Double-Baked Petit Beurre Cookies we used in the first recipe. :). That combination recipe was fantastic…but if you remember, tedious and time consuming haha!