Birthday Dinner

We will now travel back, through the sands of time, to a Saturday afternoon in early February. This was intended to be posted soon after the event occurred, but due to a change in my workload and then moving, time was not on my side. So now, I present to you: Mom and Dad's Birthday Meal.

Mom and Dad did not give me anything specific requests, so I was left to my own imagination and ideas to come up with dinner for them. Their only request was for the dessert item, which I will "premiere" below. The previous year, I made Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil, which was perhaps one of the best dishes of 2007. Seriously, it is filling while still being light, and it cooks pretty quick. Coming from a lemon-loving family, I believe I upped the lemon quotient, but it was by no means overwhelming. And the arugula played perfectly with the dish, although spinach would be great too. Since last year I had done seafood, this year I opted for beef.
Short Ribs with Tagliatelle was my recipe of choice. Why? Because it looked fancy and like it may challenge me a little culinarily. I was right on the former, incorrect on the latter. However, since I was the one cooking, I ran into some issues.

Issue #1: I could not find tagliatelle. HEB disappointed me! So, I went with linguine (or was it fettuccine?) instead. Whichever is the wider of the two.

Issue #2: I needed a bigger pot. Or at least one with a greater surface area on the bottom. All my ribs would not fit, so the browning of them was a little less than what I desired. But it still tasted good, so I guess it did not matter in the end.

Issue #3: I cannot read directions. More precisely, I cannot accurately recall directions I read a minute ago. That is how double the amount of beef broth was added to the sauce than was called for. Which, in turn, was why I had to try and strain some of it out with a little tiny sieve. It was not cool.

In the end, the sauce ended up a little too soupy, in my opinion, but it was still mighty tasty. And, if you read the recipe already, you may have noticed an "odd" ingredient. Yes, you actually do shave bittersweet chocolate on the pasta dish and, yes, it does add a little something to it.

Would I make this again (correctly)? Absolutely. Will it be any time soon? No way. It takes an entire afternoon to make; lots of add this and simmer an hour, do this and simmer another hour... It was a great dish for a special occasion, which is the kind of dish it will forever remain.

Dessert! Even if the dinner bombed, I knew I had dessert in the bag. Tassie Cups with Lemon Curd Filling. It is a family favorite (see above for lemon love) and it is something of a special occasion dish. Takes a little time and energy to make and whisk and "create."

The dough is pretty simple. And, use a food processor if you got it. I made this once before without the food processor and it paled in comparison to the dough this time. It came together better and more uniformly.

Dough before being "cupped" and baked:


Dough having now baked and become platforms for curd:

The dough makes more than 23 mini cups, but I made two larger cups in ramekins for Mom and Dad.

Onto the lemon curd. You can buy this pre-made at the grocery store, but rarely does it look, well, healthy. The color is a pale, almost white shade, like a more albino cousin to Vaseline. Lovely picture, isn't it?

The processed zest and sugar. I think I could eat this as it is right now...


The juice of three lemons. These were the juiciest lemons I have ever seen. Last time I made this, I think I used five or seven lemons, so if you make this, always buy extra lemons!


I have now placed the mixture on a double boiler and commenced the long session of whisking. No need to exercise your arms the day you make this, just replace with whisking.

I know, the curd looks rather lumpy and unappetizing in the above photo. This is about 4:55 minutes into whisking. At 5 minutes, this is how it looks (yes it is really that quick a change):


Unfortunately, unlike the directions say, this does not suddenly become thick. It takes about 15-25 more minutes (best I can recall) to get it thicker. So keep on stirring!

And now, for some finished products. First, a jar of lemon curd. This is dangerous to have around, but is mighty tasty. A spoonful after dinner is the perfect dessert and/or palate cleanser.


And now, the piece d' resistance - tassie cups with lemon curd! And, the added bonus of a vegetable, as Paula Deen would say (sprig of mint).

The cup is not sweet, a little salty, which ups the sweetness of the curd. And of course, the puckeringly good lemon curd, with little bits of zest. So deliciously tart. And that was mom and dad's birthday dinner!