Beef Bourguignon and Le Succes (sort of)

For our weekly Tuesday night Ladies’ Supper, I tried my hand at two new skills.  Beef stew and meringue.  One turned out well, the latter not too good.  This is odd because it's usually the opposite for me!  Dessert always turns out well!

There was a recipe for Beef Bourguignon in a recent issue of Everyday Food magazine so I thought I’d try my hand at beef stew.  This is a dish that I do not usually love, but my husband has been craving.  It turned out very tasty and was surprising simple to make.  The meat was SO tender and juicy.  We don’t eat much beef so this was definitely a treat. 

When I saw that this week’s recipe was for a meringue-based cake, I was a bit worried.  I’ve never made a meringue and I only have a hand-held mixer.  But, I figured I’d give it a try.

Foamy:









Soft Peaks:







Firm Peaks??:




After adding the almond/sugar mixture, the "batter" was completely deflated.  I'm not sure if I measured incorrectly, did not beat long enough or what my mistake was.  I tried to mix (I used a whisk) as minimally as possibly.  I also added the almond mixture in four batches.

I didn't want to make the Tea Ganache because I didn't think the cake was going to turn out correctly.  So, I just put some hot cream on top of a bag of chocolate chips and stirred.  The cake turned out sort of cookie-like.  I spread some ganache on top and we ate the "cake" layers like cookies.  They were okay.  Edible, for sure.  Better luck next time I try a meringue!

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Cake

 

Wow.  This cake is all about the lemon.  I actually ended up with only about 1.7 oz of lemon juice so I added the equivalent ratio of sugar and I am really glad I didn't have the entire amount of lemon syrup.  I had a few girls over for dinner (I made Lois's Cuban Picadillo - yum) and this cake came out of the oven while we ate.  So, we ate it warm.  And it was Lemon-y.  

I am not a big fan of lemon, but my husband is and poor guy never gets to eat lemon cake.  He absolutely loved it.  The girls said they liked it, but it was a bit too strong.  This is an understatement.  

I brought it to work the next day and had a small piece.  The next day the flavors had mellowed and my criticism was the texture with the seeds.  The picadillo was also much better the next day! 

All in all, this was not my favorite cake.  It had mixed reviews.  Some glowing, some not so good, depending on the degree of lemon-lover.

That's it for me tonight! 

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