My Day as a Food Network Star

Okay, well, I wasn't really a Food Network star for a day ... but it was time to conquer my resolution of testing out one recipe from each issue of Food & Wine this year. Too kick it up a notch, I decided to conquer two recipes from February's issue. I wanted to pick one that would stretch me, and then one that I figured the men in my life would definitely like. And, then to top off the day, D has been begging me to make a coconut cake that was in Food Network Magazine for the last two months. So, since a blizzard was brewing, I decided I might as well see how far I could push my culinary skills.

My first challenge: Ricotta Blintzes with Lingonberry Sauce. Unfortunately, lingonberry jam was not available at the grocery store, so I did have to adjust and K asked me to make dark cherry sauce instead. This recipe definitely taught me a lot when it came to learning how to make crepes. As any good chef, I did try the crepes before assembling the rest of the blintz, and i have to say, I may have found a perfect crepe recipe. They tasted great ... I did have to switch a couple of pans, because unfortunately, I discovered my crepe pan was chipping ... and I didn't want to scrape poison into my family's breakfast.  And finding the best pan in my arsenal took a couple of tries. I ended up using a small non-stick pan, so the crepes weren't as big as I wanted ... but I adjusted and made it work!

The ricotta filling was simple and sweet and the dark cherry sauce made me focus on making a reduction. I think I could have reduced the syrup a little more. The verdict from my men: delicious! I was glad that they liked this since last month's recipe was more for me. D was more of a fan of the crepe than the filling, but he's not a huge fan of ricotta to begin with.

Next up: Buttered Noodles with Toasted Sage. This was a simple recipe that was all about the flavors. And toasting fresh sage. That was fun, because I also experience my first time making brown butter (not sure if that was supposed to happen, but it ended up adding depth to the pasta.) My only issue was when I added the Parmesan ... it melted all weird and I spent the next few minutes stirring the pasta over heat to get it to melt so that it would spread evenly throughout the dish. Initially, it just clumped and attracted all the spices ... detracting from the dish in a big way. I can not believe the rave reviews this simple dish received. D said he loved it more than once. To get D to say that about a simple pasta dish ... never would have predicted such a reception. It was a nice treat to have pasta without marinara sauce, that I can say!

The piece de resistance of the day was definitely the coconut cake. When a recipe states that it will take you four hours to make ... you know this is not a recipe you make just for any reason. You make this for love. This four-layer masterpiece had me making custard, simple syrup, buttercream and toasted coconut. I was on my feet making sure that everything was mixed perfectly. It also was the first time I had to split cakes so that I could make four layers.

While making the cake was a lot of fun, I was getting more and more nervous on if it would turn out. I intentionally left out the rum, since we didn't have any and we're not huge fans of rum flavor to begin with. In the end ... it turned out like this: 

The flavors were great, but you definitely need to be a fan of coconut to like this cake, because it is infused with coconut throughout. But, if you want to impress someone and have half a day you can dedicate to making the cake ... I say ... go for it!