Gingerbread Cake

I've  had a copy of Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen (1998) by Maria Bruscino Sanchez for a few years but haven't made anything from it.  I love gingersnaps (ginger in any form, actually) and decided on her Gingerbread Cake with cream cheese frosting and gingersnap crumbs.

I made it in four layers and made the mistake of not putting enough frosting between the layers. Most of it is on the outside, I guess.  It will still be good with a cup of coffee or tea.  Or milk.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper.  Spray with baking spray.

12 T. butter melted
1 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs

Now, here I found that I don't have ground ginger in our Marion kitchen.  I can't quite believe it but I didn't want to use apple pie or pumpkin pie spice in place of the spices.  So I used about 1/4 cup of Australian Crystallized Ginger Puree (Williams - Sonoma) and added that to 3/4 cup of molasses (the end of the bottle). Now, W-S doesn't seem to make the ginger puree anymore (it's made with ginger and cane sugar) but I've got 3/4 of a jar left. There are plenty of recipes on the Internet and some products from The Ginger People.  But I digress because you can use the ground ginger and full cup of molasses that is called for.

So, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, molasses, brown sugar, buttermilk, and eggs. (Here I beat in the pureed ginger.)  I also added 1/4 candied ginger chips (The Ginger People).

Add these dry ingredients:

3 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 tsp. ground ginger (missing!), 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg.  Mix until blended. Batter will be slightly lumpy.  Don't overmix.  Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans.  Bake 20-35 min. (depending on how many pans) or until a tester comes out with fine crumbs. Remove from pans and cool on rack.

Frost with cream cheese frosting (16 T. butter, 3 c. confectioner's sugar, 8 oz. cream cheese whipped together) and gingersnap crumbs.

Sweet Potato and Onion

2 T. olive oil
2 lb. sweet potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-1/2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
1-1/4 unsweetened orange juice
1 c. low-fat plain yogurt
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper
Garnishes: fresh cilantro sprigs and orange rind

Heat oil and large skillet and add sweet potatoes, carrot, onion, and garlic.  Saute over low heat, stirring until soft.  Pour in the broth and orange juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes and carrot are tender.  Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree.  Return to pan.  Stir in yogurt and chopped cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in warm bowls with garnishes of cilantro and orange rind.

Bell Pepper and Chili Soup

I've had the book 1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World for a few years.  I love looking at the photographs - one recipe to a page in a large-page format.  I haven't used it much because we aren't really vegetarians. Last weekend, I decided to try to use this cookbook more and if I make 2 soups per week, this book will afford me at least a year of soups.

Here's the next on page 14:

You can also serve this cold with 1/3 cup of plain yogurt

1/2 pound of red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 green chili, chopped
1-1/4 cups strained tomatoes
2-1/2 cups vegetable (or chicken stock)
2 T chopped basil
basil sprigs

Place red bell peppers in a large pan with the onion, garlic, and chili.  Add strained tomatoes and broth.  Boil, stirring well.  Simmer and continue to cook the vegetables for 20 min.  Drain, reserving the liquid and vegetables separately.  Using the back of a spoon, press the vegetables through a strainer or process with a food processor or blender.  Return this puree to a pan with the cooking liquid.  Add basil and heat.  Garnish with basil sprigs.

Exotic Mushroom Soup

I've had the book 1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World for a few years.  I love looking at the photographs - one recipe to a page in a large-page format.  I haven't used it much because we aren't really vegetarians. Last weekend, I decided to try to use this cookbook more and if I make 2 soups per week, this book will afford me at least a year of soups.

Here's the next:
Exotic Mushroom Soup (page 13)

2 T olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 lb mixed mushrooms* (cut the large mushrooms, hydrate any dried)

1-1/4 c milk

3-3/4 c hot vegetable broth

8 slices French baguette

3 T butter, melted

2 garlic cloves

¾ c grated finely Swiss cheese

Salt and pepper

*Oyster, Shitake, Lobster, Portobella, etc.

Heat the oil and toss in chopped onion.  Cook until wilted add mushrooms, stirring quickly to coat them in oil.  Add milk and heat slowly.  At this point, leaving them to sit and meld flavors is a good idea.  Bring back to high heat, add broth and bring to a boil, cover.  

Toast bread on both sides.  Spoon butter mixed with garlic over the toast.  Place the toast in bottom of a tureen or separate bowls.  Spoon over the hot soup and top with Swiss cheese.

A Year of Vegetarian Soups

I've had the book 1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World for a few years.  I love looking at the photographs - one recipe to a page in a large-page format.  I haven't used it much because we aren't really vegetarians. Last weekend, I decided to try to use this cookbook more and if I make 2 soups per week, this book will afford me at least a year of soups.

There are over 100 soups listed in the beginning pages of this huge book and I started with the Asparagus Soup last weekend.  It was good and I admit you don't need a recipe - I've made something like it for years now.  But here it is:

Asparagus Soup

At least one bunch of asparagus, preferable some tiny tips

3 cups vegetable broth

¼ cup butter

1 onion

3 T. flour

¼ cup chopped cilantro

1 T lemon juice

2 cups milk

4-6 T heavy or light cream

Salt and pepper

Cut off at least a handful of the tips, perhaps all (1-1/2 to 2 inch cuts).  Cut the rest of the asparagus into the same lengths but only place the stalks in 2 cups of simmering vegetable broth.  Simmer for about 10 minutes and let stand so that the flavors meld.  You can do this in advance.  

Saute 1 onion, chopped, in 1/4 c. butter until wilted and near golden.  Add 3 T. flour or Wondra and cook until slightly browned.  Strain the broth from the asparagus right into the onion/flour and thicken.  Add 1 T. lemon juice and 2 cups milk and heavy cream.  Do not boil.  Add salt and pepper and 1/4 c. cilantro.

Garnish with tips, extra cilantro and sour cream.

Next recipe: Exotic Mushroom Soup

Avocado, Chicken & Walnut Salad

Avocado, Chicken & Walnut Salad

I need to give credit to Kayotic Kitchen - a great cooking blog for the inspiration and basic recipe.

4 avocados
14 oz cooked chicken meat (or grilled)
5 to 6 tbsp mayonnaise
2/3 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed 
6 spring onions with some of the green tops
1/4 cup cilantro leaves 
A few Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts (+ a few for garnish)

Sprigs of cilantro for garnish
1 lime or some lime juice, fresh-squeezed (not bottled)

Directions:

Dice the chicken. (I sauteed sliced breasts in olive oil, salt and pepper and have also used roasted chicken.)

Finely chop or mince the spring onions and add them to the chicken.

Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic and mayonnaise. 

Squeeze in a tbsp lime juice and add the cilantro, finely chopped. Stir well.

Finely chop the walnuts and add them to the salad.

Peel the avocados, slice them in half and remove the pit and outer skin. Squeeze the remaining lime juice all over the avocados to keep them from turning brown if desired.

Fill the avocado halves generously with the chicken salad. Garnish with a few walnut pieces and finish them with cilantro sprigs. Place them on a bed of pea shoots.  Serve with focaccia slices or melba toasts. 

Eating in Circles

Gerry chuckled when I told him that I bought a Paderno spiralizer this week.  I thought it would be a great way to start eating more veggies again.  And it is.  He claims he chuckled because he could only imagine what fun it would be but I know he chuckled because he couldn't imagine what we would do with this new gadget!  Ha. He's eating his chuckles now.

Here's our yummy Saturday night (mostly healthy) dinner:

Squash Pasta:
Spiralize one medium zucchini and one medium summer squash using the small blade.  Toss with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper and let sit before cooking.  Spray a skillet or saute pan with olive oil cooking spray. Cook quickly, stirring for a few minutes.  Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Curly Fries:
Spiralize using the larger blade.  These shrink up when baked. I tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and some Victoria Taylor's Smoky Paprika Chipotle for extra spice. I baked them at 450 degrees on the top rack.  See the link above for Karolina's Kitchen instructions.

Haddock:
We encrusted the haddock with coconut-citrus panko bread crumbs (from Fresh Catch in N. Attleboro, MA) and baked it in the hot oven for 15 minutes on a lower rack than the fries, but at the same time.

I quickly sauteed one cup of pea shoots with 1 clove crushed fresh garlic and 1 T. of Honey Ginger White Balsamic (from Leroux Kitchen) and placed these on top of the haddock before serving on heated plates.

We shared a flight of four red wines because we love reds.  Whites would be great, though, in the summer.

Honeycomb Cake

Update:  I made this again and baked it in two batches - just barely covering the outline of the combs with batter.  It's not quite enough batter and I will try it again increasing the recipe by 1/3.  It's less cake and more glaze this way and delicious warm from the oven.  I also added 1 tsp. Savory Spice Shop Honey Powder in Princeton to the flour mixture.   Bake for much less time - until pick comes out clean but perhaps 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

This is a variation of the Honey Bee Cake I posted last summer.

Ciara and Pat gave me a great honeycomb cake pan for Christmas 2013 and I have wanted an excuse to use it. Today is our 3rd Annual Volunteer Appreciation Tea at the library.

I varied the Honey Bee Cake, using cake flour and sour cream. Make sure you start with ingredients at room temperature.

Mix together, separately:
3 cups cake flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat 1-1/2 c. sugar and 1 cup butter until light and fluffy.  Add 4 eggs, one at a time until blended.  Mix in 1 cup sour cream and the flour mixture until well blended and then beat on high for two minutes.

This will be a thick batter.  Spoon into a well-greased and floured honeycomb pan. (I use baking spray).

Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes until a wooden pick comes out clean or covered in crumbs but not batter. The cake rises out of the pan. (Be sure you use a 325 degree oven - I made the mistake of starting too hot and the cake is somewhat crispy).

While the cake is baking, melt 1/4 c. butter, 1/2 cup honey and 3/4 cup brown sugar until just simmering. Keep warm.

When the cake comes out of the oven, pierce the bottom many times with a wooden pick.  Pour half of the syrup on the cake and let cool 10 minutes.  Turn out of the pan and brush (very lightly) with the syrup and let it run down the sides of the cake.

Increased by 1/3:

Mix together, separately:
4 cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/3 tsp. baking soda
3/8 tsp. salt

2 c. sugar
1-1/3 cup butter
5 large eggs
1-1/3 cup sour cream

Hash and Slow Poached Eggs

We had a pretty hilarious time cooking breakfast this past wintry weekend.  Julie and Tim were visiting and Colin loves hash. Tim was making red flannel hash and hash browns when we realized that the stove top was just too full to poach a dozen eggs, too. So ... I came up with the great idea to poach them in the oven. Everyone agreed with me. That is, until is wasn't working!

In any event, all's well that ended well.  We realized that it CAN be done - and here's how. Bring water to a boil in another pot or teakettle and pour it into the hot pan from a 450 degree oven.   Make sure your dutch oven or large shallow pan has only about an inch of water in it. (We tried siphoning off water with spoons and cups.  Not so great.  Also, the egg whites were destroyed in the process.) Spoon in the whole eggs and cover.  Place in the hot oven until the whites are cooked and the yolks are the way you like them.  Not so bad.

This, is not how we did it.  But they ended up fine anyway.  We ended up taking so much time with the slow-poaching oven process that the hash was done.  We moved the (non-stovetop) pan to the stovetop and slowly covered the eggs with boiling water.

For the hash, take a variety of loads of vegetables (old, new, wilted - whatever's in your frig): parsnips, beets, carrots, onion, shallot, scallions, lots of potatoes, celery, celery root, fennel. I'm sure you can think of more!  Root veggies are great.  We haven't used spinach or tomato yet.  I'd use sweet potatoes although Tim doesn't.  In any event, place them one by one in a food processor and either grate or process into small chunks about 1/4".  You'll probably need to empty the food processor a few times. Then process ham or chorizo or whatever you'd like for a meat.

Place some olive oil and fresh garlic in two large frying pans or dutch ovens on the stovetop on high heat. Turn down heat and add in fresh and dried herbs and salt and pepper.We cook down a huge bowl (4 qts or more) of these veggies and meat in large saute or frying pans on the stovetop until it's all blended and cooked.  Top with your poached or fried eggs. And serve with raisin bread toast!

Triple Celery Soup

Adam Ried, who contributes to the Cooking section of the Boston Globe Magazine each Sunday, lured us in to this delightful recipe for Triple Celery Soup.  He writes in Culinate.com:

"This recipe is my adaptation of Patricia Well’s Soupe aux Deux Céleris from Bistro Cooking.
If you prefer a smooth soup with no crunchy bits, sweat all the celery along with the leeks.
For a winter-holiday meal, I garnish each serving with crème fraîche, salmon roe, and chopped chives. Most other times, I opt for a sprinkling of chopped pale green celery leaves, which are lovely on the pale green soup. A bit of chopped parsley does the trick nicely, too."

We absolutely loved this soup and were glad to get to know the wonderful root, celeriac. The recipe is Ried's from Culinate:

Ingredients

Soup

	3	Tbsp. butter
	8	large celery ribs, finely chopped (about 4 cups), 1½ cups reserved
	1	large leek (about 10 ounces), trimmed, white and light green parts cleaned and chopped
	1½	tsp. celery seed
	1	tsp. minced fresh thyme
	1	large bay leaf
	~	Salt and pepper
	1	large or 2 medium-small celery roots (about 1½ pounds), peeled and chopped
	1	qt. low-sodium chicken broth
	1	tsp. fresh lemon juice

Garnishes

~

Crème fraîche, salmon roe, and chopped chives, or 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley and/or celery leaves

Steps

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat and heat until the foaming subsides. Add 2½ cups of the chopped celery ribs, leeks, celery seed, thyme, bay leaf, and 1½ teaspoons salt. Stir to coat, cover, reduce the heat to low, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the leeks and celery have released their juices, about 10 minutes. Add the celery root, broth, and 1 quart of water, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the celery root is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.
2. Purée the mixture in a blender (or with an immersion blender) working carefully and in batches, if necessary, until smooth. Return the puréed mixture to the pot, if necessary, add the reserved 1½ cups of chopped celery, and heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the celery is just tender and the soup is heated through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt, if necessary, and pepper to taste. Serve at once, garnishing each portion as desired.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

It's a snow day today and I'm thinking that I'll use up some cheese in the freezer and frig and make macaroni and cheese.  Of course, the best homemade mac 'n cheese requires homemade pasta.

I've been in a 'pasta quandary' for the past few years because my favorite pasta machine's motor gave out.  I bought it way back in the late 80s when we had moved back to Massachusetts and I remember buying it at the Macy's in Framingham with money that my stepfather, Papa Gino, gave us for Christmas.  It was the Pasta Express by CTC (Creative Technologies) and this was taken over by TAKKA.  In any event, I found the TAKKA version on eBay ("used by my mother once and in perfect condition") to replace some of the inserts for the macaroni and ziti dies.  These two machines served me well until the TAKKA motor froze a year ago.

I went looking for a perfect replacement so that we could have one in both of our kitchens.  It seems they just don't sell a machine like the CTC that is reasonably priced.  I found a Farberware one on eBay but was hugely disappointed and abandoned it to the cellar (soon-to-be swap shop).

I finally gave in to the high pricing and I asked for the Viante Pasta Maker sold by Williams-Sonoma for Christmas. What a disaster.  After two of the plastic dies broke in the middle of extrusion, I gave up and Gerry returned it.  We stopped by the Williams-Sonoma outlet in Westbrook, CT on our way home from New Jersey and bought the KitchenAid pasta attachment.

I had been skeptical - daughter Beth told me it was a snap to use but I had been reluctant to go through the dough-making process in the KitchenAid mixer.  It seemed like a messy chore.  Of course, Beth was right and it wasn't messy or difficult.  After attaching the pasta maker, I learned that you must drop in grape-sized bits of dough for the extrusion to work. I'm not thrilled with the lack of die choices (there are only six) and I can't make angel hair, fettucini, etc.  The macaroni die worked great, though, and we had a great pasta fagioli that night.

So, here's my age-old recipe for the cheese sauce.  It's 1T of Wondra flour for each 1T of butter.

Place 8T of butter in a 4-quart pot or saucepan. When it has melted, gently mix in 8T Wondra or all-purpose flour.  Let that bubble but not burn.  Slowly add in about 2 cups milk and stir until it is thickened.  If it is too thick, stir in more milk. Add four cups of cheese - one kind or a combination of many. I've added in ricotta, goat, brie, asiago, smoked gouda and any combination of leftover cheeses. Make sure you add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix cheese sauce with slightly cooked (al dente) macaroni. You'll need one batch of homemade pasta, depending on your cheesiness taste.

Bake in 350 degree oven for about a half an hour until the cheese bubbles up on the side and the center is hot.