Olive Oil Cake with Orange, Honey and Thyme

Update! After Christmas 2013, we had about 1-3/4 cup of wonderful pulp that I stored in a glass jar for a few week before baking three batches of Olive Oil Orange Cake. I made several batches in individual rose-shaped Bundts (they really look pretty and are great dessert sizes), and in several sizes of loaf pans. I found the timing for baking them very specific - the small Bundts only take about 18 minutes.

I used Leroux kitchen Blood Orange Extra Virgin olive oil and it was absolutely yummy. I also upped the pulp to a very generous 1/2 cup.

Original post: I scoured the web and searched high and low for a recipe that would make use of orange pulp from the 25 oranges we squeezed for our juice on Christmas morning. I was frustrated because there really wasn't much out there and several recipes that looked promising told me to boil a few oranges for two hours before pulverizing them in a food processor. This wouldn't really work because our oranges were already juiced. I did come across a promising one that I revised. I love honey, of course, and used a blend of three jars that were nearly used up.  I make my own fresh yogurt so had some on hand.  From the bowl of orange pulp I used enough of fresh juice and pulp to approximate one orange - about 4 T. wet pulp and 1 T. juice. I used the fresh zest of one orange. *Next year we'll have our own yogurt, honey AND olive oil because Rob and Beth gave us our own olive tree in Italy!

I made this again and increased the orange pulp.  You can beat the original five ingredients with an immersion blender.

Beat 3 large eggs until fluffy and add:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup yogurt and
1/2 cup pulp (plus the juice and zest from 1 orange (revised from original post)
Blend together and then mix in:
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees - convection bake at 325 degrees. Pour into a pan - I used a 6-cake mini-bundt pan. Let cool 20 minutes, then remove to a plate. Glaze with a honey-orange glaze with orange zest or bottled orange peel and a tiny sprig of fresh thyme and fresh whipped, sweetened cream. Trader Joe's has a super-pasteurized whipping cream that stays out of the frig and on the shelf until you need it.

Grilled Cornish Game Hens and Beer Bread Make the Holidays Tasty

I can't believe it's been over two months since I've posted on our blog.

We've spent quite a bit of time since October celebrating the birth of our granddaughter, Phoebe Harper Rabbitt. That's certainly the main reason we haven't had the energy or time to have much fun in the kitchen. That doesn't mean we haven't been cooking and having guests in Norwood - but our Marion weekends have been few and far between this fall. I decorated the library with over 6 trees for Christmas, we had overnight guests, a goodbye dinner for a good friend, and a wonderful Christmas party in Marion to attend.

And so, we will have spent a wonderfully long and overdue vacation (December 20 - January 1) at 7 Wildflower Lane with family and friends but we've relied on our favorites like Spinach Salad, Ricotta Bread, Seafood Chowder, Kentucky Bourbon Cake and Pumpkin Cake - with some homemade macaroni and cheese and Gerry's lasagne (with ground bison - delicious!) to get us by for lunches and extra dinners.

Our Christmas dinner entree for 9 of us was Cornish Game Hens - stuffed with cranberries, brown sugar, diced apples, garlic and rosemary and then grilled for 45 minutes outside in the backyard. Yummy and lots left over for hen salad - a bit of chopped celery, lemon sea salt, tarragon flakes, pepper and mayonnaise - served in Boston Bibb lettuce leaves.

At the end of the week, looking for a different bread  to make (with no bread flour or ricotta cheese in the house!), I made a beer bread that was delicious. A friend of a friend posted a link on Facebook and I was inspired.

Ingredients:
3 cups organic all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
12 ounces beer (I used Smithwick's)

Mix the dry ingredients with the cheese. Add the beer and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Brush with a glaze of egg and water. Slathered in our Wildflower Lane honey butter, the bread was yummy served warm.

Jumbo Shrimp with Peppers in Herbed Oil

Jumbo Shrimp in Herbed Oil (from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook)

Place 2 pounds shelled and deveined shrimp in pan with boiling mixture of 1 c. dry white wine,  1 tsp. mustard seeds, ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, 2 bay leaves and 1 lemon half.  Cook until pink.  Remove from liquid and place shrimp on ice.

Add 3 T chopped fresh basil, 3 T chopped fresh dill, 1 T chopped fresh rosemary, 1 T chopped fresh tarragon, 1 T chopped fresh thyme to 1/2 cup best quality olive oil.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Divide.

Slice red, yellow, orange peppers into thin slices and marinade in half the herbed oil.  Marinade the shrimp in the other half of herbed oil.  

Place the peppers and shrimp on a bed of greens and serve.

Hummus bi Tahini

Hummus bi Tahini (from The Silver Palate Cookbook)

4 cups (about 2-1/2 cans garbanzo beans), drained

½ cup tahini (sesame paste)

1/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup olive oil

Juice of 1-2 lemons

4 or more garlic cloves

1-1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cuminseed

Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the chick peas, tahini, water, olive oil and juice of one lemon in a food processor until smooth. Add garlic, salt,  cumin and pepper to taste and process.  Correct seasonings if necessary.  Refrigerate.

I've heard that a secret ingredient is to add a few tablespoons of yogurt when creaming.

Fall Brunch on Wildflower Lane

We had our Marion-Wildflower Lane neighbors for brunch on a late September weekend and what a delightful time it was.

Mimosas and Bloody Marys

Greens with Strawberries, Mandarin Oranges and Almonds with Poppyseed Dressing

Artichoke-Ham and Goat Cheese Strata

Mushroom-Scallion-Goat Cheese Tart

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Glaze

Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Don't be intimidated with the steps in this recipe.  It is a delicious fall cake - we had it for brunch but it would be good for breakfast, tea or after dinner.

Filling: Toast ¾ cup finely chopped pecans in 350 degree oven in a single layer in shallow pan for 6-8 minutes. Stir halfway through and then cool 15 minutes when done.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Toss 1-1/2 cups of peeled and diced apples with 2 T melted butter.  Add ½ cup of finely chopped dried cranberries.  Add cooled pecans, ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar and 3 T flour.  Set aside.

Cake:

Beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup butter until light and fluffy.  Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended and add 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin and 1 T vanilla. Stir until blended.

Stir together 3 cups flour and 2 tsp. baking powder, 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice and ½ tsp. baking soda.

Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet and beat on low speed until just blended.

Spoon half this batter into a bundt pan greased and floured.  Spoon the filling onto the batter but scrape it away from the edges (about ½ inch). Spoon the remaining batter on top and even off. Bake 325 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake (not filling) comes out clean.  Cook in pan on a wire rack 15 min. and then remove from the pan to cool on a wire rack about two hours.

Maple Glaze:

Bring ½ cup of pure maple syrup, 2 T butter, 1 T. milk to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 cup powdered sugar and stir for 3-5 minutes until thickened.  Pour over cake and sprinkle on sugared pecans and pepitas.

Sugared Pecans and Pepitas

Stir together 1 cup pecan halves and ½  roasted, salted shelled pepitas and 2 T. butter and spread in a single layer in a shallow baking pan.  Bake 12-15 minutes until toasted.  Toss with 2 T. sugar.

Hearty Turkey, Farro and Greens Soup

With my late nights I don't contribute much to weeknight dinners, so I decided to take the guerrilla crock pot approach and Sunday I stocked up on some hearty soup ingredients at Trader Joe's. Voila! A hearty soup.

A loaf of fresh bread and salad is perfect with it. Top the soup with shaved Parmesan cheese if desired.

Place these in a crockpot:
1 bag (16 oz.) Trader Joe's Flame Broiled Turkey Meatballs, fully cooked (frozen)
1/8-1/4 bag Trader Joe's 16 oz. Sliced Leeks (frozen)
1 32 oz. Trader Joe's Organic Free Range Chicken Broth plus 2 cups water
8 oz. Trader Joe's Farro or large earthy grains, rice or beans (even freshly chunked potatoes)
A couple sprigs of fresh herbs (oregano, thyme, marjoram, etc.)
1/4 bag Trader Joe's Southern Greens Blend (collard, spinach, turnip, mustard)
1/4 bag Trader Joe's Kale
Cover with freshly grated salt and pepper to taste/

Cook on low 6-8 hours. Add another 2-4 cups broth and warm before serving.