Ok food blogger what are you going to do with all this?

I would like to say that I have a recipe for this, I did my best to keep track of everything, but this was more of a refrigerator cleaning journey again.  It started a couple of weeks ago I was at my favorite produce store again, the vine on tomatoes were on sale, how could I resist the vine on guys they look so inviting fresh and ready to use for... dammit that's right I am the only person at my house that will eat fresh tomatoes.  Ok, here is a plan, set them on the counter until I figure out what to do with them... 4 days......  6 days....  Ok there was nothing left to do but Marinara Sauce now.  Ingredients:

10 old vine on Tomatoes peeled and seeded

2 TBS Olive Oil

1 Carrot coarsely chopped

1 rib Celery coarsely chopped

3 cloves Garlic chopped

2 Shallots chopped

1/2 Red Bell Pepper chopped

6-7 Leaves wilted leftover Basil

  ( I know this is starting to sound great now)

Big Pinch of dried Oregano

1 can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1/4 cup dried Mushrooms

some red wine (whatever I didn't drink)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by peeling and seeding the tomatoes to do that easily drop them 2 or 3 at a time into boiling water for about 30 seconds then pull them out and the peel comes right off.  The seeds can be a little bitter so I try to get most of them out, cut the tomatoes in half and scrape them into the garbage.  Set the meat of the tomatoes aside.

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and add the Carrot, Celery. Shallot and Garlic and cook until softened maybe 15-20 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients.  Cover and cook for a couple of hours while you are doing other stuff, stirring occasionally.  when you think it is done blend it up I used one of my favorite tools the immersion blender puree it all down.  Taste it and see what you need, a little sugar? vinegar?  I don't know you decide.  Finish up the seasonings and you are ready.

As I continue to clean up all blogging leftovers I found a about cup of shrimp in the freezer.  This was going to turn out Ok after all.  I minced some garlic, another 2 cloves (never had too much garlic) and sauteed that with the shrimp, then added spaghetti and enough sauce to toss it all in. 

Black Forest Crepe

The Black Forest Crepe at the Landmark Cafe... Mine never look this good

This weekend I took Miss Lu and Mr. Man to visit Grandma, the trip was more about having fun than food but you know me I am going to talk about food anyway. I was doing my best to be a good hubby and give Kris a couple of days to herself and some time to do some stuff around that house that we can't ever get done because we actually enjoy hanging out with the kiddos more than we enjoy having a Better Homes and Garden's style home.

Miss Lu and Mrs. A hangin' at the Landmark

Miss Lu and I did manage to take a side trip with my good friend Mrs. A. we went to the Landmark Cafe in Galesburg IL for ice cream. The Landmark holds a lot of memories for me, I worked there for a while after I was fired by Satan's older sister, (she taught him every thing he knows). I was the F & B Manager at a small retirement community and was miserable every day that I went there, so the Dark Witch letting me go wasn't the worst thing that I had ever had happen... I rolled with it and went to work at this small Cafe and Crepere that kind of seems out of place in Galesburg. I started there as a waiter working mostly lunches and brunch/lunch on weekends. I really wanted a break from being a manager for a while.

Of course that plan hardly ever works for me, the manager there, Phil, took me under his wing for some reason it seemed that he saw something in me that others (like the Dark Witch) didn't. After I had worked there for a couple of months there was a kitchen fire.

Oh crap... that will kill a waiter's job quick, but like I said Phil seemed to have taken a liking to me so he asked me to help out with the clean-up and restoration of the place. I was a quick study to plumbing, electric work, refinishing wood and antiques “whatever, I got ya' covered.” After a few weeks of that the Chef at his other restaurant the "Jumping Bean" quit and Phil asked me if I would take on the Chef Manager position there, how the hell did that happen? I got nothin'… either I was so good at refinishing the restaurant equipment that my boss was impressed by my enthusiasm and work ethic or so bad at it that he feared I would destroy his baby. Whatever it was this is the point that food, cooking, and all things culinary went from being part of my job to being something more...

If I had a question about Mexican food my boss would find me a cookbook to learn from (some of them still on my bedside table almost 20 years later). If I wasn’t familiar with a cut of meat Phil would send me to the Packinghouse (a steakhouse down the street) to learn to cut beef. "Bryan just figure out what you need to run your restaurant better." Sometimes after we closed for the night at 11:00 I would pull stuff and start preparing food for the next day’s special, just in case there was a disaster. I spent mornings reading culinary books and magazines and evenings trying to pull the stuff off. Mostly things worked well, some things, didn’t Southwest Meatloaf stuffed with Roasted Poblanos come to mind.

Anyway I get nostalgic about this restaurant because that was the time that I went from a mind set of “I am a food service manager that could as easily manage a toy store or tire shop.” To the annoying nerdy foodie guy I am today.

Ok sometimes I talk too much… Recipe:

Like I said Mrs. A Miss Lu and I were going out for ice cream. Just ice cream in a cup for Miss Lu Mrs. A and I needed the Black Forest Crepe.  The Black Forest Crepe  is a legend it is a decadent beast... Haagan Daz Ice Cream wrapped in a chocolate crepe topped with cherries, whipped cream and sliced almonds.

I am not sure that I could copy the Landmark's recipe for Chocolate Crepes if I wanted to (it has been almost 20 years) but here is one from Epicurious.com

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup milk

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Mix all ingredients together in a blender then set aside for an hour (or refrigerate  overnight) when it is time to cook lightly spray a large pan with pan spray and put about 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan  roll the pan around so the batter spreads evenly and return to heat for about a minute.  Flip and cook other side for a few seconds then remove from heat and set aside.

When it comes time to impress your friends take one crepe set two scoops of ice cream in it (one chocolate and one vanilla if you are me) and wrap burrito style.  put a couple of dollops of cherry pie filling on a plate and garnish with whipped cream and sliced almonds.

Holy Crap! What a weekend

Tomato Dill Chicken

Kris, Miss Lu, Mr. Man and I went to a museum today then I was going to put together a dish that has been on the drawing board for a couple of weeks.  When we got home I found water pouring from the back of the toilet....  Well that changes everything,  Kris and Miss Lu had an appointment to keep, so Mr. Man and I took the trip to Home Depot then tried to do some plumbing repairs.

If you are starting to think... well don't worry there is no chance that this is about to become a home improvement blog... food is about the only thing I do well, so lets move on OK? The repair was easy enough, but there were still a lot of bad words involved.   I had to go with an easier dish than I was planning, which was OK this one one fits my springy disposition better
 anyway.

The ingredients:

3 Chicken Beasts

1/4 Cup Olive oil

1 TBS Dill Weed

1 Shallots Peeled and Chopped

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 TBS Rice Vinegar

3 Roma Tomatoes diced up

Put Chicken breasts in a freezer bag and pound them flat with a meat hammer (best part of any meal) and set aside.  Wisk the rest of the ingredients together in a glass bowl then spoon some of the liquid out and use it for a marinate for the flattened Chicken Breasts.  I let them hang out on the counter while I  got the side dishes ready (about half an hour) Cheasy Potatoes for Kris and the kiddos Lemon Dill Rice for me.

Throw the chicken on the grill, remember you pounded them flat so they cook in about half the time and can dry out quickly, serve with the Tomato Dill Relish.  This is a really nice dish, it really tasted like all the good stuff from Spring/Summer.

Quick note, Mr. Man, Miss Lu and I are taking a short trip to visit Grandma.  I will check in when I can but won't really be around much for a few days.

Popovers

I am not sure how I got on this baking jag that I have been on, normally I am against all things pastry.  Pastry involves measuring, following rules and the like, really I am expected to check the temperature of water to activate yeast.  I can't throw ingredients all willy nilly into a pan and call it dinner?  I just don't get it... add to that anything baked is usually expected to play second fiddle to what ever else you have going on for that meal.  For some reason (I think maybe the crazy never ending winter that we have going here in Chicagoland has me cooking things that warm the kitchen). 

Anyway, I have been fascinated by Popovers for years but this Steakhouse classic has always been just out of my reach, I have never been able to get the light air filled roll to work for me.  They have always been a disaster when I've made them always flat, usually a gooey mess in a hot muffin tin.  On Saturday I was watching Food Network while I was baking my Cinnamon Rolls and someone (I have no idea who, or I would give credit) was talking about popovers.  She explained that the process was as important as the ingredients, those are:

2 Eggs (room temperature)

1 cup Milk (room temperature)

1 cup Flour

3 TBS melted Butter

pinch of Salt

Now here is the process this is the part that I had never done before:

First turn the oven on to 400 to preheat.  Melt the butter then brush it into a muffin tin, put that into the oven to preheat, you want it nice and hot.  While that is heating up put all of the ingredients into a blender and mix on low speed for a bit.  Take the hot muffin tin out of the oven and fill the cups about 1/4 or the way full and put back into the hot oven.

This is the hard part for me, put the pan into the oven and let it cook for 30 minutes.  Do Not open the oven to peek, poke, fuss, or worry like I always do.  When they are done open the oven and pop these guys out the should look like savory little souffles.  When they are done right they don't weigh anything at all and taste wonderful.

Cinnamon Rolls

I was sitting at lunch on Wednesday with some of my co-workers, I was getting off work early that day and saying that I was going to go out and play with the kiddos at the park once I got home... it was70 degrees, sunny just a light breeze, absolutely beautiful out.  Then Scott, the killjoy starts with, "better enjoy it now before the snow comes this weekend."
"Shut up!"
"Really" he keeps on, "we are supposed to get a snow and rain all weekend"
"Would you please stop talking?!?" I reiterated.
 He just wouldn't stop.

What I am saying is today didn't come as a complete surprise for me, but I didn't expect THIS on the first day of spring!  Come on 4 inches!  how is that possible?

Knowing I needed a comforting breakfast I got the first step of this going last night. Since the entire process takes about 3 hours I couldn't leave it all until today.  Really it was easy to do the ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup Sugar
2 tsp dry Active Yeast
1 TBS Butter melted
1 tsp Salt
3 1/2 cups Flour

for later
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks of Butter (softened)
2 TBS Cinnamon

Take the warm water (105 - 115 degrees) and add 1/4 cup sugar then the two teaspoons of yeast.  Let it activate (get all foamy and funny looking) about 5-6 minutes.  To that add the butter and salt then the flour one cup at a time, stirring as you go.  You have to figure out how much of that last 1/2 cup will need go in, you want the dough to be firm but not dry.  Once you have this ready cover it in plastic wrap and put your dough in a warm place for an hour or so to rise.  I know I will lose some street cred here but I watched Desperate Housewives while the dough went through it's first rise.  Once Susan, Bree and Gabby got themselves out of trouble I put the covered dough in the fridge for the night and went to bed.  Oh, also I pulled two sticks of butter and set them on the counter to temper until morning.

Most days I get up... Ok that isn't exactly the right way to say it... most days my alarm goes off (the first time) at 4:15 am so today when I slept in until 6:30 I rolled out of bed thinking of the luxury of weekends, I got up, took the dough out of the fridge and made my coffee.  This is where it gets cool, mix the two sticks of butter, two Tablespoons of Cinnamon and the remaining 1 1/2 cup sugar together until well blended.   Roll the dough out into a 15 by 10 inch rectangle and spread the cinnamon sugar butter goo all over it like you see below.   Some of us like walnuts at our house some are revolted by them.  Miss Lu was kind enough to sprinkle chopped nuts on about 1/3 of our dough.

Now it is time to roll it up, take the long side and roll it around the gooey butter cinnamon stuff.  Once it is rolled up into a log cut it into 12 equalish pieces and put them into a 9 x 12 inch baking pan that has been well buttered.  If you decide that you like nuts sprinkle them along as much of the pan as you like.  When all the rolls are in there cover and set aside for about 1/2 an hour while you pre heat the oven to 325.  Once the half hour is up pop these guys into the oven... these took about 45 minutes to cook once I pulled them out the requests for frosting started coming in so I mads some real quick with (as if the rolls them selves weren't bad enough) powdered sugar, heavy cream and butter.  Yeah I am feeling a little fat now, thanks for asking.

Oh here they are when they came out of the oven, they should be lightly browned on top.  Take the pan and flop it over onto the serving platter that you are going to use.  Frosting is optional, but to be honest I am glad I was talked into it.

So was it any good?   Take the word of my harshest critic... here is Miss Lu's plate.

Dublin Coddle

For several reasons, not the least of which was my goofy work schedule, we decided to have our St. Patrick's Day dinner a day early. Kris and I had already decided that Corned Beef and Cabbage was out of the question because I am the only human living at my house that likes Pickled Meat. Although the idea of someone not liking meat that has been soaked in a salt bath for weeks then cooked with cabbage for most of a day is bizarre to me. I took those specifications under advisement and decided to do a meal not so well known for the green holiday. Dublin Coddle was on the menu for our house actually the entire menu was Dublin Coddle, Irish Soda Bread and Braised Cabbage.



To get it out of the way I will say that I have made Soda Bread several times in my adult life and this was the first one that was even mildly palatable, actually I thought it was pretty good. I will blog about it in a day or two, but remember that as this post unfolds. Today's post is about the Dublin Coddle the best short description is Sausage Stew. I hadn't tried this dish until a couple of years ago when a friend of mine made it... Oh my GOD it was good! one of those comfort foods that you have never tasted (like Ham Gravy) when you eat it... it just seems like you always should have been eating it, it makes you feel all warm inside and fills you up.


The first challenge here was getting my hands on some Bangers, or Irish Sausages, I Figured that, since I live in the suburbs of Chicago that I could get my hands on some Irish Sausages pretty easily... not at all the case. First I searched my usual haunts, dried anchovies, live octopus, quail, rabbit liver pate… all easy to come by, Irish Sausage, impossible. Well almost so, one of the guys I work with picked them up from a specialty butcher on the North side of Chicago for me.


The Ingredients:
5 Bangers (about a pound)
¾ pound Ham
4 Potatoes peeled and sliced
1 Onion sliced thick
2 Carrots
3 cups Chicken Stock
1 Guinness Drought
Chopped Parsley

How it is done:
First heat the oven to 325 then cut the Sausages into thirds and dice the ham into about ¾ inch cubes and put them in a hot Dutch Oven style iron skillet. Small authenticity alert here… none of the recipes that I read (and I read a lot of them) called for this step, but I just had to put a little sear on the meat, you do what you think is best. Once those are seared add the rest of then ingredients (the liquid will fill up the pan until it reaches the top of the potatoes and carrots) then put into the oven for about an hour and a half. After this came out I pulled about cup and a half of the juices out to cook my cabbage in (plus a bunch of butter) I put that on the stove and cooked covered for about 10 minutes then served.


How was it? Well, I love this dish, warm and comforting the potatoes were flakey the carrots tender I really like the mild flavor and texture of the bangers and the juices are wonderful, rich and silky. All that being said… when I was dishing up Miss. Lu was playing waitress (she likes to do that) and brought Mr. Man his plate then brought Kris hers. While she was in the kitchen and we were getting her plate and mine ready (mine is always last because of the pictures). I heard Kris call from the other room, “Miss Lu, don’t eat the bread!” Then it sort of went down hill from there.


Ok hadn’t gone over as well as I had thought, Mr. Man and I liked it fine, he loved the potatoes, I liked the entire meal. However those are the opinions of someone who loves food of all kinds and a 4 year old so take them for what they are.

But it is good… really

Umami... made up word or rich lost secret flavor profile

It was Tuesday this week, I was off work and on a nerdy food mission.  Mr. Man and I were on a quest to find Umami when we were thrown out of the Asian grocery store.  Ok that doesn't make much sense yet...  A few months go I saw a commercial for Kikoman soy sauce when they were bandying the word Umami around.  I kind of figured it was a word they made up as a marketing tool.    A few weeks later I was watching "The Next Iron Chef" (I really did like that show) Alton Brown was setting up the compitition to bring "Umami" to the dishes they were preparing using the collection of Kikoman sauces that were available.  Not that food network is above paid advertising, but I started to look into what Umami was all about.

The best way describe the 5th flavor but a bit more illusive than I thought.  Sweet, Sour, Salty and Bitter we all know, Umami in all my poking around is something like "Earthy" or "Full bodied" anyway... I get email updates from Epicurious.com regularly I received an article about a company that is selling something they call Umami paste "Flavor No.5" or something.  The discussions that followed were a lot of people saying giving their opinions of what they thought Umami actually was.  Some of the flavors that came up, Mushrooms, Parmesan Cheese, Seaweed, Worcestershire Sauce, dried Fish... The list goes on, does any of this make sense to you?  I was lost.  One comment suggested making your own Umami Seasoning using a mixture of:

Dried Nori (seaweed)

Dried Mushrooms

Dried Anchovies

Parmesan Cheese

Sea Salt

to that I added Worcestershire Sauce

I started by trying to grind some dried Chilean Mushrooms in my mini chopper, no luck there, who knew that the steel blades would have no effect on the little fungi?  So I got out the hardest working appliance in my house, the coffee grinder and took them down fast.  I put these guys and the rest of the ingredient, sans salt, into the chopper and mixed them thoroughly. No there are no measurements here I am a pioneer breaking new ground (read "have no idea what I am doing") however the Worcestershire made it all into a mushy paste, so I put all of this into the oven for a few minutes to dry it all out then added salt and there I had it 1/2 cup of Umami dry rub (I hoped anyway).

I rubbed this generously on some Salmon drizzled with Sesame Oil and hoped that I was ready to go.  After the salmon sat on the counter for a few minutes I threw it onto the grill.  I served this with Radicchio that I grilled.

Here you go Umami Salmon on a bed of Grilled Radicchio.  How was it?  Really to describe it I would have to use words like "earthy" and "full bodied" The stuff in the rub seems like a mess that only the Mad Hatter could come up with but it really worked together well.

The question that is more in mind I am sure is "Why did Bryan and Mr. Man get thrown out of the Asian Grocery store?"  Nowhere near as exciting as it sounds, the Asian grocery store was actually the fourth place on our list.  We went to several Stores before we stopped there but none of them had dried seaweed or anchovies.  We went to this place I picked up Seaweed, Dried Anchovies and some Chopsticks.  When we got to the checkout the total came to $5.74 and I handed the checker my credit card.

"I sorry, we only take cash if purchase is under fifteen dollar"

"Seriously," I replied "I don't want to go somewhere else"  Yeah that is when the poor little guy lost it.  I just picked him up and left.  I guess we weren't so much "kicked out" as "run out like Frankenstein's monster."

Lemon Basil Gnocchi

The grocery store that I usually shop at usually has ten pound bags of russet potatoes for $1.29 when I was there last week they also had 5 pound bags of reds for $ .79 so we were making potatoes every which way in our house. One of them Gnocchi, this is something I have never tried before turns out it was way easier than I expected.  Because I am nuts I added a whole mess of stuff to it on my first try.  Actually it turned out well,  there are a lot of steps, but really this was easy.

Ingredients

2 large potatoes (enough to make about 2 cups when smashed)

1 cup flour

1 egg

Juice from 1 lemon

1 TBS chopped fresh basil

Salt (a good sprinkle)

Start by cutting the potatoes into quarters and boiling them until done (about 20-25 minutes, but you knew that).  Set them aside until they are cool enough to handle once they are coolish get them ready to mash. I did one russet and one large red potato I peeled the russet and left the skin on the other, I like red potatoes with the skin on.  After I peeled/trimmed the potatoes I mashed them pretty coarsely with a fork then put them into a large bowl.  Then add most of a cup of flour, egg, lemon juice and basil, mix this all up and kneed it until you have a doughy mass, add more flour if you need to it should roll out pretty easily and hold that round shape.

Once you have your doughy potato snake thingies cut them every 3/4 inch or so.  Take the nuggets roll in a little bit of flour then smoosh them lightly on a fork.  Why?  everything I found said it is to hold sauce in place, I don't know it that is so, but it looks more traditional... just do it.

Take these guys and drop them into boiling water, when they go in they sink to the bottom, about 3-4 minutes after they float to the top take the Gnocchi out with a slotted spoon and set aside.  I tossed mine in pesto sauce and served with some chicken.  These really turned out great!  They were light but filling, the texture was great, the flavor was nice, a little different but comforting.  I tossed them with Pesto sauce and served it with chicken.

Potato Crusted Salmon

I got this idea in my head a few weeks a go and have been trying to get the recipe right... this time I got it.  Potato crusted Salmon just seems right, it is filling and comforting at the same time it is a little different.  There are a few steps to this dish but it is worth it.  Really, this one is a nice touch when you want to show off a little.  I used a lot of suggestions from the Food Network website to get this dish, this is what worked best for me.

Ingredients for 2:

The Salmon

5-6 oz salmon Fillet skin removed

1 Large Red Potato shredded with the skin on,

1 Shallot Minced

1 clove Garlic minced

Salt and Pepper

1 TBS Flour

3/4 cup Heavy Cream

1 egg

Olive oil

The Sauce

Juice from 1 Lemon

3 TBS White Wine

3 TBS Heavy Cream

2 TBS Butter

Pinch Turmeric

Pinch Salt

Stick if Fresh Rosmary

Start with the Sauce, this couldn't be easier, mix everything together in a small sauce pan and put over low heat while you do everything else. Stir often taste a little more often, you are the one cooking you get some extra.   While the Sauce is going at a VERY low simmer shred the Potato add the Garlic, Shallot, Salt and Pepper and set aside.  In a small bowl mix the Heavy Cream and Egg, dredge the Salmon through the flour then the Egg Cream stuff then the Potatoes.  The Potato part is a little more like making a snowball than breading fish like you may be used to, pack it on then put onto a hot skillet with a little bit of Olive Oil.  This cooks over medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes on a side.

I served this on a bed of wilted spinach so while your fish is cooking put most of a bunch of cleaned and trimmed Spinach in a pan with Olive Oil and Garlic, you will want to cook this for about 2-3 minutes the leaves will be wilted, but still whole.

Madeleines

I have a dealer... there is a guy that comes by my work every few days, he is a quiet guy, he will see me and kind of lean in, pause for a moment while he looks both ways.  "Bryan, I got some new stuff in," he always speaks kind of quietly,  "this batch looks pretty good too."   "When you have a minute meet me over at my regular table."  My conversations with him started very surface and non-committal he told me about some of the jobs that he used to have, some of the things that he has done in his life, The kinds of things that he does now to keep his inventory up.  Then one day he asked if I wanted to try some...

Being adventurous I said "Sure, what da ya got?"  He said that he would drop buy the next day and show me, he had some unusual choices the first time, unusual enough to get me hooked...  the "Ginnie and Geneva Cook Book" based on a series of children's stories and "A food Lovers Companion" a strange collection of food related quotes, poetry, short stories and recipes written in the70s. 

Yes folks, I have a Cook Book Dealer.  He stops by often and brings me some of the stuff that he picks up at estate sales, yard sales and dumpsters, I don't know where he gets them all but know better than to ask.  It seems that his passion is keeping books of all kinds alive so he finds them and donates them to hospitals or leaves them in Doctor's waiting rooms, now I am on his list.  Sometimes the choices are downright bizarre once I picked up a copy of a cook book simply called "Vegetarian Cooking"  a book written half in Mandarin and Half in broken English.  This one has recipes that help you recreate Eel dishes using Mung Beans and Black Mushrooms just in case the idea of giving up Eel was the only thing keeping you from switching to a strict vegetarian diet.  Other times he has come across great finds, one of those was "Savoring Provence," really a coffee table book filled with pictures of rural France along with rustic menus and recipes but once the $36.00 cover price is out of the way (along with the fear of splattering eggs all over the pages) it is a good reference book.

I have had a pan for Madeleines in the back of my cupboard for years, at least the guy at the antique store that I bought it from said it would work.  Miss Lu and I decided to try those for the first time this weekend the recipe (well actually the picture on page 230) got our attention.

Madeleines:

Pre-heat oven to 375

5 TSP Unsalted Butter at room temperature

1/3 cup Powdered Sugar

2 tsp Brown Sugar

Pinch of Kosher Salt

1 TBL Honey

1/2 Cup plus 2 TBS Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 Eggs

Zest from one Orange

In a large bowl beat the butter and both sugars until smooth then add the salt and honey, beat until smooth.  In another bowl mix the Flour and Baking Powder.  Add the eggs one at a time to the butter sugar mixture then the Orange Zest.  Once those are fully incorperated start adding the flour and baking soda slowly and mix well.  Once the batter is mixed grease and flour a Madeleine pan then spoon the batter into the individual molds.   Bake for about 8-9 minutes until they start to brown a little at the edges then take out of the pan to cool and add a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

How were they? 

The reviews are mixed I liked them, they were sweet without being too much and very light.  Miss Lu said they were "funny," Kris thought the Orange rind was a bit much and Mr. Man ate four of the "little cakes" while he told us they weren't very good.   You can decide yourself.  Oh and the shape of this pan didn't work very well, so I guess I will look for a real Madeleine pan before I give this another try.