Thanksgiving Roundup

We've been too many weeks without delicious. Or at least delicious that we've bothered to document.

So I propose a Thanksgiving round-up of extra-delicious holiday fare!

I'll start with two recipes of mostly-my-own-devising.

I outdid myself this Thanksgiving. Okay, so I've still never made an entire Thanksgiving dinner myself, but I'm getting there. And that turkey would have been less tasty if I hadn't pointed out that herbs and spices are good things to use on it. Herbs, spices, and butter. Lots of butter. (According to my sources, it doesn't actually soak into the flesh that much, so fear not. Though what are you doing being shy about butter on Thanksgiving anyway.)

Delicious number 1:

I love stuffing. My family does not. This was a problem for many years. It was hard enough to talk them into putting stuffing on the table at all, let alone taking the time and effort to make it from anything but Stovetop. (Or Trader Joe's, also made on the stovetop.)

This year I took matters into my own hands. I made cornbread stuffing from scratch. I contemplated using Trader Joe's cornbread mix, which is delicious beyond all reason and frankly better than most from-scratch cornbreads I've had, but I decided from scratch meant from scratch, the whole hog (so to speak).

Also, making your own stuffing means you are free to leave those icky celery bits out. Um. Unless you actually like celery. I sure don't.

I pretty much threw stuff in as suited me. I had the kielbasa and the cornbread, but when I was mixing it together I realized it was basically crumbly cornbread with teeny bits of sausage and onion thrown in, and it didn't yet feel like its own dish. So I chopped up an apple and threw that in at the very last minute.

Results were stupendous. My stuffing-hating family demolished it. My dreams of leftovers were dashed. Next time I'm gonna need a bigger pan.

Michelle's Magical Cornbread Stuffing

serves one if you really love stuffing. If you only moderately love it, serves about 6.

(adapted from...I don't even remember where. Eating Well?)

The first step in making cornbread stuffing is to make the cornbread. Ideally, you want to do this a day in advance.

For the cornbread:

1 1/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal

3/4 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup buttermilk (or about 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar plus enough milk to fill a measuring cup to 1 1/4 cups)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg

3/4 to 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan.

Sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg, the melted butter, and the buttermilk. Fold in the dry ingredients a little at a time. Add the corn kernels and stir to combine. Do not overmix. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes.

For the stuffing:

1 pan prepared cornbread, cubed

6 to 8 oz turkey kielbasa (though chicken and apple sausage would work really well here as well)

2 small onions, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pepper

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1 2/3 cup chicken broth (more or less as needed)

1 apple, diced (skin on is fine)

Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Slice the kielbasa or sausage and brown in a skillet together with the onion. You don't need to add oil here. The fat from the sausage is enough. Cook until onion is soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and herbs. Add in the cornbread and apple and toss. Pour 1 cup of broth over the mixture, and add additional broth as necessary until mixture is sufficiently moistened.

Cover pan with foil and bake 25 minutes. Hide the pan from your friends and loved ones and eat it by yourself.

Delicious number 2:

Next up: mashed sweet potatoes! Mashed sweet potatoes have totally taken over regular mashed potatoes in our house. I have some regrets about this, much as I love sweet potatoes. Sometimes, you just need regular potatoes. I don't understand what we're supposed to do with all that gravy without delicious starchy buttery potatoes to pour it over. Still, mashed sweet potatoes are a food of the gods.

I looked everywhere for a good recipe for mashed sweet potatoes, but none of the recipes I saw seemed right. They all called for butter and cream or milk, and lots of sugar. This seems ridiculous to me. Sweet potatoes are indeed sweet. Sweet enough on their own, and heavenly enough without the need to add butter. And yet I didn't quite want to serve them plain. Maybe a smidge of sweetener, not a lot, something that would add a special flavor. Like...maple syrup? Yes please. But not much else. I wanted the sweet-potatoeyness to shine through.

So I made up my own damn recipe.

Michelle's Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes

serves very few, if you like sweet potatoes...but we'll say 6

6 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed

1/4 cup maple syrup (approximately)

1/4 cup milk (approximately)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork and roast in the oven for about an hour, until tender.

Peel the skins (they should come right off, but try not to burn your fingers. Or be sensible and let them cool first). Toss flesh into a pot and mash. Add the maple syrup and milk, but don't go overboard. You want just a hint of maple here, and just enough milk to help thin the mixture out and give it a good consistency. Add the cinnamon. Maybe a pinch of salt, too, if you're feeling adventurous.

Serve. If you have the willpower, save some and make sweet potato biscuits with the leftovers. (Make biscuits, but only use 2 tablespoons of butter and sub the rest for 3/4 cup mashed sweet potato. Bake.)

The Perfect Fresh Tomato Sandwich

I always crave tomatoes when late August and early September rolls around. That's when the tomatoes in my mom's garden are at their peak. Every year, for as long as I can remember, her tomato vines take over our fence in the summer in a riot of exuberant green tendrils. The tomatoes line up on our kitchen counter, one by one, in ever-increasing numbers until it seems impossible that one family of four could ever finish them all.

Unless they love tomatoes as much as my mom does.

That yearly tomato crop has made a life-long tomato snob out of me, I'm afraid. I don't like to eat tomatoes out of season, and I hardly ever reach for them at the store. Before I even knew the meaning of "fresh," "local," or "in season," I knew the taste of a grocery store tomato never compared to what we had at home in August. The pinkish, almost dry store-bought tomatoes fell so far short they were hardly worth touching.

My mom seems to love tomatoes, plain, fresh, and whole, more than any other food. I've seen her eat them raw like an apple, sitting at the counter with a tomato in one hand and a shaker of salt in the other. Sure, you can use fresh tomatoes for your sauces, your pasta dishes, your chicken shawarmas, but in my opinion, the freshest tomatoes are best enjoyed simply, uncooked, and with minimal additions.

Even in salads or on top of burgers I've had a life-long habit of picking the tomato out and enjoying it separately, unmarred by the intrusion of too many other flavors.

My absolute favorite use for fresh tomatoes-- and a dish I only ever seem to crave this time of year-- is a tomato sandwich. This is how my family has always gotten through our bounty of tomatoes.

I've described this sandwich to all my friends and acquaintances, and everyone seems perplexed by it, as if this tradition barely exists outside our family. I know we aren't the only ones to make tomato sandwiches this way, but this wonderful minimalist recipe ought to be better-known.

My mouth has been watering for a fresh tomato sandwich all month. Now, as we know, I'm a big fan of getting my food as discounted as possible. But that isn't the way to go for this sandwich. Now that I don't live at home and have no tomato plants of my own, I headed to the farmer's market for a pound of fresh, ripe heirloom tomatoes. I suggest you do the same.

All this sandwich takes is one juicy tomato, fresh from your garden or the local farmer's market, neatly sliced with a sharp knife...

Then add 2 slices of toasted bread, and a little mayonnaise. (Trust me on the mayonnaise. I'm an avowed mayo-hater, and this is one of my two exceptions.)

You'll probably want three or four tomato slices per sandwich, depending on the size of your bread slices and how thickly you sliced the tomatoes. I recommend not trying to cut this in half or you'll have tomatoes falling out all over the place. Eat immediately, and lap up any stray juices and seeds from the plate when you're done.

For extra deliciousness, eat the rest of the tomato slices too. A sliced tomato doesn't keep long, so you might as well.

Fresh Tomato Sandwiches

Ingredients

2 slices hearty whole-wheat bread

1 tomato, fresh from your garden or the local farmer's market, sliced lengthwise

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Directions

1. Toast the bread in a toaster or toaster oven. Lightly toasted is best. You want it to be just a little bit crisp, but retaining a little flexibility for easier chewing.

2. Slice the tomato lengthwise. Try to slice evenly.

3. When bread is toasted, spread the mayonnaise over once slice of bread. Get a thick, even coat. You might want to use a little more mayonnaise than you think you need. It's there to absorb some of your tomato juices and turn the sandwich into a delicious pink mess of...um...deliciousness.

4. Lay the tomato slices on top of the mayonnaise layer, and top with the remaining slice of bread.

Boozy Sauteed Chicken

Roommates, roommates, roommates. Can't live with them, can't live...well, you could live without them, but you might not be able to pay your share of the rent anymore. Drat.

I love my roommates, as it happens-- all four of them, five if we count the kitten-- but once in a while I could wish for my own kitchen. My plans to make a delicious boozy chicken, perhaps with a side of the daringly high-fat French-Canadian classic, poutine, were halted last night by one of my will-remain-nameless-roommates' sporadic cook-fests that produces wild amounts of food and a porportionate amount of mess. The kitchen was a war zone, strew with abandoned eggplant slices, bell pepper cores, onion skins, and encrusted pans, colanders, knives...oh, and beer cans. There wasn't a scrap of counter space left for me.

Feelings were mended by said roommate offering me a scoop of pasta and a slice of feta and sundried tomato flatbread that was as big as my head. But damn, was I still itching to make that chicken.

And even though the kitchen is still a war zone, with one small length of counter cleared in the interval, I made my chicken tonight anyway. And it was delicious. And I even cleaned up after myself when I was done.

This chicken is incredibly easy to make and infinitely adaptable. Chicken and a few glugs of dry white wine are all you need to produce tender, savory meat that will leave you licking your fingers for every last scrap of sauce.

Boozy Sauteed Chicken

recipe adapted from food loves writing

Serves one, but easy to scale up.

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast, flattened a little or cut into tenders
1 clove garlic, minced
a few glugs dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a small nonstick skillet. When hot, add in the chicken and garlic. Cook chicken on medium heat, 2-3 minutes, until browned on both sides.

Add just enough wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Chicken will sizzle beautifully. Add salt and pepper and mix into wine-sauce.

Continue cooking and turning chicken to cook on all sides, about 8-10 minutes. Press down on chicken gently to ensure even cooking. Check thoroughly for pinkness while cooking. Add more wine as necessary, scraping up any burned bits from the bottom of the pan. The chicken will brown and the smell of the wine will waft upwards to tantalize you while you stir.

When chicken is cooked all the way through, remove from heat and serve with a side of vegetables and perhaps a slice or two of baguette. Not to mention the rest of that wine.

Last-Minute Vegan Fruit Tart

Ever wandered, drooling, past a bakery window and wished that you could have a tart of your very own? A tart to cherish, to love, to pile high with freshly sliced fruit? Well, now you can!

As is often the case, I volunteered to provide dessert for a social occasion without actually knowing what I’d make. Or if I had the necessary ingredients. Or even the time. This tart is the result of an hour of frantic online recipe browsing, leafing through cookbooks, and running around Harris Teeter like a madwoman, and another hour of stirring, accidentally powdering all nearby surfaces with confectioners’ sugar, slicing fruit quickly rather than safely, and pouring hot jam. But it’s worth it for all the envious looks you’ll receive from your roommate, passers-by on the street, and even the normally surly DC bus driver who isn’t supposed to let you on with open dishes of food but makes an exception because it looks so scrumptious. Most of this recipe is taken from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Last Minute Vegan Fruit Tart

SHORTBREAD CRUST:

• 1/2 cup (112g) non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (25g) confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp ice water

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease the pie pan with canola oil or nondairy butter. I used this 9″ tart pan, but any similarly sized pie dish or square casserole dish will do. Use tartlet pans or even a muffin pan if you want to make cute little tartlets.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. (If you have an electric mixer, use it. If not, a spoon, employed vigorously for several minutes, is also sufficient. My mixture was creamy–rather than fluffy–and still turned out fine.)

Add the flour a third at a time and beat until the dough just comes together. If your dough, like mine, doesn’t just “come together”, stir in ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough begins to form a loose ball. It’s okay if it’s still a little crumbly.

Press the mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Bake time will vary depending on your oven. Mine took about 35 minutes, so start out with 20 and check every 5-10 minutes after that. Remove from the oven and place somewhere to cool.

–

PASTRY CREAM (CUSTARD):

• 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp (16g) all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp (32g) cornstarch
• 1/4 cup (60mL) water
• 1 1/3 cups (315mL) nondairy milk (I used rice milk, but soy milk is obviously fine, too)
• 2 tsp vanilla or lemon extract (I used vanilla)

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and water on high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. (Again, I just used a fork for about 4 minutes, adding the ingredients one at a time.) Set aside.

In a saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer. Pour about 1/3 cup (80mL) of the hot milk into the sugar mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. This doesn’t have to be precise; just make sure the sugar mixture is a little liquid-y. Pour this sugar-milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Return to the stove and heat over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. This is important! Don’t stop whisking for anything, not even zombies or kittens! It will begin to thicken immediately. (They’re not kidding. It only takes about a minute or two, if that, for the cream to thicken sufficiently.)

Scrape the bottom and sides of the pan as you whisk. Cook until it begins to bubble, then whisk as vigorously as you can for 30 seconds, and remove from heat. (Mine never bubbled. If yours doesn’t either, just remove from heat when it seems about as thick as your average chocolate pudding.) Stir in the vanilla/lemon extract.

If your pie crust is baked and ready, go ahead and pour the cream into the crust, smoothing it flat with a rubber spatula or large spoon. It doesn’t have to be perfect, since the fruit will be covering it anyway. If your crust isn’t ready yet, you can store the pastry cream (covered) in the fridge for up to 3 days.

–

TOPPING:

• 3-4 tbsp (80g) jelly, jam or preserves (I used apricot jam. Peach is also good.)
• 2 1/2 cups fruit, sliced (I used about 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, 1 kiwi, 7 blackberries, and a handful of blueberries)

Arrange your sliced fruit on top of the tart. Even if you’re the worst pastry decorator in the history of the world, there’s no way this will look anything but delicious.

Heat the jelly in a small saucepan, whisking constantly. Once it’s hot, strain into a small bowl, mug, or measuring cup, leaving behind seeds or anything else solid. It should be liquid enough to pour. If it’s too thick, just reheat with a little water added.

Using a pastry brush (or a small spoon, in a pinch), brush the heated jelly over the top of the fruit. Everything should be covered with a thickish layer, but not overwhelmed. It should look moist, shiny, and wonderful. NOTE: it may be difficult to stop yourself from devouring the tart right then and there. (Another argument for tartlets.)

Serves 8, supposedly. It served three of us, with about 1/6 left over.

For an equally delicious, non-vegan version of this recipe, simply use real butter and milk.

Cross-posted at www.serenae.com.

Farmer's Market Cantaloupe Sorbet

At the beginning of last week, I found myself with half of a delicious cantaloupe. Now, that may not seem like much of a problem to you. Eating cantaloupe is a pretty enjoyable activity, after all. But it just so happens that there's one thing even better than than fresh cantaloupe on a sweltering summer day: icy cantaloupe sorbet!

When I scoured the internet for recipes, my limitations became immediately apparent. No ice cream maker, no corn syrup, not even an electric OR hand mixer. I mixed and matched, mostly following this recipe. So here it is,

Nearly-Unaided-by-Newfangled-Machinery Farmer's Market Cantaloupe Sorbet

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cantaloupe, in 1-1.5 inch pieces (watermelon or honeydew can be easily substituted)
• 1-2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
  

Combine sugar and water in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil. Transfer to a deepish (at least 2 inches) casserole dish and chill until cold, about 2 hours. (I used a tupperware container with a lid and stuck it in the freezer for a half hour.)

MEANWHILE, puree cantaloupe in blender until smooth. This takes about 10 seconds, then another 10 to make sure it's actually smooth and get over your disbelief that yes, it really was that easy. Stir in the lemon/lime juice. (I squeezed half a lemon into the mixture, but you may want to add more if your cantaloupe is especially sweet. I also read a few recipes that called for a splash of vodka or gin, for texture rather than flavor.)

Pour into the sugar syrup in dish/container and stir until well blended. Freeze until almost firm, stirring every half hour or so, at least 3 hours or overnight (if you freeze it overnight, it will become a SOLID frozen block and will need to set it out on the counter to soften again).

Transfer cantaloupe mixture to large bowl. Using electric mixer a fork, beat until fluffy. If you go with the fork method it's going to be a little lumpy, so don't FREAK OUT. Get it as fluffy as you can, but don't worry if it's not perfect. This sorbet is delicious in any shape. Return to freezer and freeze until firm (do not stir), at least 3 hours or overnight. Cover and keep frozen. Again, if you've used a fork rather than an electric mixer, you'll want to give it a chance to thaw a little before serving, unless you enjoy chipping away at rock-hard sorbet.

Serves 6 / 1 ravenous person with a sweet tooth / 1 normal person for a week / a gaggle of sticky-faced children

Cross-posted at www.serenae.com.

Sanity Preserving Roasted Garbanzo Beans

I can sometimes get myself in over my head when I think, "Oh, I can do that, no problem!" Sometimes I even have a healthy amount of doubt, outweighed by an unhealthy amount of optimism and think, "It'll be a good experience!"

For my food writing class, we were given a choice for our last assignment. We could either do a formal research paper, or we could undertake a serious food challenge. Since I didn't want to do anything stupid like eat a mountain of pancakes or suffer through scotch bonnet fritters, I went for altering my diet for a week. The biggest change I could think of for someone like me who can go accidentally vegetarian for days or live off of carbs indefinitely would be to take up Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. Just a week so I could write about it, nothing more.

Well, I was right. I could do it, and it was a good experience. It reminded me that I had some bad dietary habits and helped me break them. But it also reminded me that if I'm not completely satisfied at meals, I need to snack between them unless I wanted to drive myself crazy. I'm not too much of a raw veggie person, so I finally got to try out a recipe I'd been wanting to try for roasted garbanzo beans.

Trust me, if you're picking up Phase 1, or even just trying to snack healthier, you'll be thankful for these sanity preserving roasted garbanzo beans.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (approximately)
  
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp kosher salt (to taste)

Procedure:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet (preferably with a rim) with parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy cleanup.

2. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Use a salad spinner or pat dry with paper towels to ensure the beans are completely dry.

3. In a medium sized bowl, add the beans, oil, and all spices except the salt. Toss together. Don't be afraid to use your hands, a little olive oil is good for them anyway.

4. Spread in a single layer on the covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with the salt to taste, more if you like a salty snack, less if you're not a fan.

5. Bake for approximately 50 minutes. Your oven and bean-doneness-preferences may vary. I like mine slightly dried and crispy on the outside, but still with some moisture on the inside.

That's it. There's no excuse to go hungry on a diet when a snack like this is so easy to make. I know it helped me last as long as I did so I could get my story.

Hint: Vary the spice blend. Like spicier? Make a purely pepper blend. Italian snacks in mind? Try an Italian blend and top it with some tasty parmesan cheese (low fat if you're Phase 1ing it). Really, the flavors you can use on these are only limited by your spice cabinet.

Hint: Double the recipe if you're satisfied with your spice blend. No use waiting around for your next snack fix when you can just as easily make twice as much.

Hint: These can (and at least a few should be) eaten fresh out of the oven, at room temperature, or even cold. I kept some on the counter and some in the fridge, both in air tight containers. Keep them in the containers when not fresh out of the oven or being eaten, otherwise they'll go kind of soft. Still tasty, just soft.

Hint: Put these on things. I was eating a ton of salad that week and was thankful for the kick of flavor these provided in my lunch. But these go amazingly in just about anything regular garbanzo beans go in, whether you're on a diet or not.

Boyfriend-worthy First Date Chocolate Cake

When a fellow Weekly Delicious blogger posted a Girlfriend Cake, I thought to myself, what about those of us who don't care for girlfriends? Think of the boyfriends, won't somebody please think of the boyfriends?!

This is a chocolate cake with a history. A few months ago, when trying to woo my boy just after his birthday and on our first date, I made a cake. You may be thinking, "Who the hell brings a cake to a first date?" Well, that's just me. As it turned out, it was damn lucky I brought a cake, since we were confined to a cafe for several hours due to the Snowmageddon and got to munch on it for a while.

Unconventional? Yes. But this cake has a 100% success rate for securing a boyfriend, and has been refined over repeated batches, so don't argue with it.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 4 ounces of unsweetened baker's chocolate
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 and 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (warmed to room temperature) cut into pieces
  
• 2/3 cup milk (whole is best)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 chocolate pudding cup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• 1 and 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• About 1 pound dark chocolate (your favorite chocolate will work just fine too, and chocolate chips are very easy)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two, 9 inch cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Lightly dust the parchment paper and sides of the pan with flour. Easy tip: Obey Alton Brown for easily cutting a piece of parchment paper for your pan.

2. In a double boiler (i.e. glass bowl on top of a pot filled with water over heat), melt the unsweetened chocolate with the water and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir periodically while you do the other steps.

3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Mix in the butter a few pieces at a time. If you have an electric mixer, now would be the time to use it. Next best thing I've used has been a pastry cutter. You can get away with a spoon or a rubber scraper it you're thorough enough, or a whisk if it's sturdy enough.

5. Gradually introduce the sugar. Once that's in, add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, then the chocolate mixture you had in the double boiler.

6. Mix in 1/3 of the flour, followed by half of the milk. Mix completely. Then another 1/3 of the flour, followed by the second half of the milk as well as the pudding cup. Mix completely again, then add in the remaining flour and, you guessed it, mix completely once more.

7. Divide the cake batter between the two cake pans and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the cakes begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Let cakes cool for at least 10 minutes. Gently cut the risen dome of one of the cakes to make sure you have a level surface to place the second cake on. By "cut," I actually mean saw off with a serrated knife, otherwise you'll squish or crumble the cake. If you don't want crumbs in your frosting, you can try and gently turn the cake upside-down and gently let the crumbs fall out. GENTLY. Continue to let the cakes cool.

9. In a small pot, combine the butter, cream, and corn syrup and whisk together over medium heat until the contents come to a light simmer.

10. Add in the chocolate and stir together until smooth.

11. Shift the mixture to a large, shallow bowl. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes, then whisk. Back in the freezer for 15 minutes and whisk again. Fifteen more minutes in the freezer and whisk again. Each time the frosting should get lighter and thicker (such as the texture of frosting should be). Depending on how cold your freezer was or how warm the mixture when you first put it in, you may need another freezer/whisk cycle.

12. Take about 1/3 of the frosting and spread over the top of the cake you leveled, making an even layer on the inside. Top with the other cake, then frost the outside evenly.

If nothing else, you'll never go back to store-bought frosting again. And if this cake is a complete success, you'll have a very successful first date.

Girlfriend-worthy Birthday Cake with Strawberries and Cream

What better time to showcase your culinary abilities than an extra-special occasion like a loved one's birthday?

This past month I celebrated my girlfriend's birthday with her for the very first time. Obviously, this was my chance to show off. But I was nervous. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things. Everything had to be just right. The girlfriend is a rather fantastic cook herself (her strawberry shortcakes with fresh whipped cream played a key role in the winning of my affections). And she had requested something vague yet specific: a cake that was dense, rather than light and airy, and one that would have whipped cream and strawberries on top.

No problem, I told her, and went off to Google any number of variations on "dense cake recipe," followed by browsing all my favorite food blogs for trusted cake recipes, followed by browsing articles on food science to determine what made cakes dense so I could ensure I got the proper result.

It was a tricky process. Most cakes garnished with cream and fruit were very light and very airy, like angel food cake, or close to it. Chocolate cake recipes were often dense, but definitely not what she had asked for.

Finally I found the one. The recipe fit the requirements but also intrigued me: it called for no butter or shortening at all, yet it promised to produce a moist and tender and cakey cake. The secret is in the heavy cream: the fat of the cream replaces the fat of the butter that most cakes rely on for texture and flavor.

This cake came out exactly right. It was everything I had hoped for and more-- and the ingredients and instructions were refreshingly straightforward.

The cream in the cake also makes it an ideal base for topping with whipped cream and strawberries. The girlfriend and I slathered the whipped cream all over it to beautiful effect, and we savored the moist, rich results (no pictures were taken before we devoured it).

Girlfriend-worthy Cream Cake
via Food Loves Writing

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until thick and bright yellow; then add sugar and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Beat alternately with the cream into the egg mixture, a little at a time. Batter will be very thick.

Spread batter into the two cake pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Loosen cakes by running a spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pans, tap the pans sharply once, and let cool.

Whipped cream and strawberries:
3 cups whipped cream
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
2 T white sugar
strawberries, or other berries or fruit, sliced, at room temperature

Do not make the whipped cream until just before the cakes are done and cooled completely. Otherwise, your whipped cream will turn right back into cream. (Stick the cakes in the fridge for a while if you're impatient or short on time.) While the cakes are baking, put a metal mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer to chill it. The cream will whip faster that way.

Set out some strawberries (or other berries if you so desire) so they'll be at room temperature and more flavorful. Biting into cold strawberries is less fun for everyone.

When ready to make the whipped cream, pour heavy cream (we used a pint and a half, or 3 cups, but we like whipped cream in copious amounts) and extract into the pre-chilled bowl and beat with electric mixer. (Whipping cream by hand is possible, but not advisable unless you really like taking half an hour to make it.) When cream thickens, add some white sugar (2 to 3 tablespoons) and continue to beat at high speed until thick and whippy. (You'll know.) Take the cakes, invert them, and frost/assemble the layers, arranging the strawberries on top of the whipped cream.

(I've seen complicated instructions on how to trim layer cakes so they have a straight edge, but here you really don't need to bother. The whipped cream will fill out any uneven parts very nicely.)

Campus-Friendly Charoset (Alchohol Removed)

I'm not Jewish. Not in the least. So, what's a boy like me doing, making charoset?

I may not be Jewish, but I've been compared to a Jewish mother, fixing enough food to feed three families and trying to make sure everyone eats. For my film club, we were screening The Secrets (Ha-Sodot), so in order to have an appropriate snack, I decided to prepare some traditional Jewish food. As if I planned it this way, the movie fell during the week of Passover, so I figured something from the seder meal would be best. Lo and behold, charoset made the list.

But, problem! I can't serve anything with alcohol in it to an on campus club. So, this recipe calls for an alcohol-removed solution that ends up tasting fantastic. I don't even really like either apples or walnuts and I couldn't get enough of this.

NOTE: This may or may not be strictly kosher. I wasn't up to buying a Jewish wine, but I do end up boiling it. Depending on which set of rules are used, boiling the wine may make it acceptable, it may not be enough. When in doubt, alter the recipe to suit your needs.

Ingredients:

• 5 Fuji, Gala, or similarly tasting apples
• 1 1/4 cups of finely chopped walnut pieces
• 2 cups of port wine (or your choice of more kosher wines)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 5 teaspoons sugar
• Optional: lemon or lime juice
  

Procedure:

1. Put your wine in a small pot and bring up to a boil, letting it reduce by half (about 1 cup remaining).

2. Peel your apples. To keep them from browning, place the peeled apples in a bowl of water containing about a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice.

3.a. If you are working with a mandolin slicer: With a sharp knife, slice bands about a quarter of an inch thick all around the apple, not cutting all the way to the core. You should be making the cuts perpendicular to the core, so that it looks like a stack of apple slices held together by the core that you didn't cut through. With that done to all the apples, attach your thinnest julienning attachment onto the mandolin, and adjust the blade height to about a millimeter thick. Slice through all your apples, avoiding the core. Run a large chef's knife through the apple piles if you desire a finer cut. Remember to return each batch of cut apples to the lemon/lime water to keep them from browning up.

3.b. If you are working with a food processor: Core your apples and slice them to the size appropriate to fit in your machine. Pulse the apples until they resemble a minced texture, but don't make them into apple sauce.

3.c. If you don't have any fancy kitchen equipment: Find a friend. Block the door. Tell them they're helping you mince apples. Wait for them to stop trying to run away, then prepare to buckle down and mince all the apples as small as you can manage. About 1 millimeter all around should be small enough.

4. Pat down the cut apples with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. If you have a salad spinner, that'll also work.

5. Combine cut apples, walnuts, reduced wine, cinnamon, and sugar, adjusting the sugar and spice as you see fit.

And there you have it. Great by itself, on matzo, or on your choice of non-Passover foods. This recipe is actually surprisingly easy to do for such a delicious outcome. Well, I have a mandolin slicer, so if you're slicing by hand you might not agree with me on the "easy" part, but it's hard not to consider this tasty.

Side effect: Any space you cook or serve this in while it's still fresh will smell amazing.

Brown Sugar Carrot-Zucchini Bread

A fellow member of The Weekly Delicious, the wonderful Anna, shared a recipe with me recently that I had to try. It came from here at Food People Want originally, but merits its own post here due to my seeming inability to follow any recipe without making modifications. Hey, I have my preferences, and my spare ingredients that need using up.

The original recipe was for a carrot bread (okay, essentially carrot cake in a loaf pan without the frosting) with a little fresh ginger, lots of brown sugar, and orange zest. Mmm, tasty. But I didn't have quite enough carrots on hand, and I had some zucchini that needed using up, so I shredded in about half a medium zucchini along with the two carrots I had in the fridge. And I left out the white sugar, because I just won't use white if I can get away with using brown instead. And I subbed in some whole wheat flour because my mom does that for her fabulous-beyond-all-reason carrot cake, so I figured it couldn't hurt. And last, I used half applesauce, half oil instead of oil alone because I had just about a fourth of a cup of applesauce left in my fridge, and I was starting to worry I wouldn't use the rest before it went bad.

The recipe was a definite success. I brought it to my girlfriend's house hoping to impress her with my culinary prowess, and I think I did. We sliced it up for breakfast and it was lovely. We were especially impressed by how well it held together.

Make sure to include the orange zest, by the way. I could really taste it in each bite and it was...well, zesty.



Brown Sugar Carrot-Zucchini Bread
INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
* 1/4 cup canola oil
* 1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used bottled minced ginger)
* Grated zest of 1/2 orange
* 1 heaping cup shredded carrots and/or zucchini (this was two medium carrots and half a zucchini for me)

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat one 8 by 4" loaf pan with cooking spray or oil.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the brown sugar . Add the oil SLOWLY in a thin stream, beating constantly, until the batter has doubled in volume and oil is well-incorporated. Beat in the applesauce, vanilla, orange zest and ginger. Fold in the shredded carrots and zucchini. Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing well between additions.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 1 8 by 4" loaf

Espresso Brownies

Let me just start this by saying first and foremost that I consider myself a cook, not a baker. The irony in that is that lately I've been baking about as much as I've been cooking. Blue Velvet cupcakes for a movie showing for the film club I run, chocolate cake for a date, and now espresso brownies to satisfy a craving.

When figuring out exactly what you're craving, realize that sitting in the best coffee spot in the state might bias your tastebuds. You and your friends may have the conversation I had:

"Coffee cake."

"Mocha chip cookies."

"Espresso brownies."

"Latte flavored bacon."

"Wait wait wait, what was that second to last one? We should probably do that."

Ingredients:

• 2 heaping cups of dark chocolate chips (about 12-13 ounces)
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 Tablespoons finely ground coffee (Espresso grounds if you have them)
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
  
• 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

.5. Preheat oven to 350°F and get out some cupcake papers. (You can use an 8x8 pan if you really want.)

1. Set up a double boiler. If you don't have a formal one, put a small pot of water on to boil and place a larger glass or metal bowl on top so that you can fill it (think upside down hat). In the double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir until well mixed. This step can be done while doing the next step, so get good at multitasking.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sugar, ground coffee, and eggs. Mix them until it starts to thicken up and turn a lighter color, forming ribbons from the whisk when you pull it up. If you're like me and don't have a high speed mixer, this will be a pain. Just keep stirring vigorously and you'll get it. If you do have a high speed mixer, lucky you, just let it run for a minute or two.

3. When satisfied with your mixings, stir in the chocolate from step #1.

4. Sift/slowly pour in a tiny bit at a time your flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until they're combined, but don't overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the cupcake papers about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up.

6. Place in the oven, checking after 15 minutes. I'm not going to give you a time set in stone, since everyone's ovens run differently. If it takes longer, just keep testing with a toothpick or sharp knife every few minutes. You'll want your testing tool to come out clean, if it isn't, back in the oven.

Notes:

1. I'm sorry, but I don't have a cooking time for if you were to attempt these in a traditional brownie pan. Try it for yourself and figure out which time works best for you and your oven.

2. You don't have to use star shaped cupcake molds. But I like them.

3. Alter them as you want. Chocolate chips, nuts, frosting, whatever you like.

4. Ideal serving accompaniments: A cup of coffee and a scoop of coffee ice cream.

Fennel and Onion Soup

I confess that every now and then I feel the need to completely make something up and try it out on my friends. More often than not, this happens when I'm trapped inside and running out of ingredients (like this week's meatball, onion, corn, and mashed potato pie. It turned out well, but not so much that I'll embarrass myself by posting it here.) I was grocery shopping with some friends a while back, and the fennel just jumped out at me as something I really wanted to cook again.

I've made a soup with fennel in it before, sure, but it was almost an afterthought in that case. I could barely taste it. If I was going to do another soup with fennel in it, fennel would be the star. People would ea and realize this what fennel actually tastes like.

So I figured out things I would want in a soup, relying heavily on what I hoped would be fairly good instincts from when I made french onion soup before. I have to say that it was an surprisingly good, after some on-the-fly improvisations.

Ingredients:

• 2 large, sweet onions
• 2 fennel bulbs
• 8 ounces of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 12 ounces of fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup of shredded or crumbled sharp white cheddar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of fine ground herbes de provence
• About 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 8 to 10 cups water (or stock)
  

Procedure:

1. Cut onions and fennel (just use the bulb, no need to mess with the stalks here) into half-moon slivers as thin as you can manage. If you have particularly thick fennel, now would be when you break out the mandolin slicer if you have one. Basically, the thinner your cuts, the softer and easier this will all cook down into the soup. No one wants to bite into a huge chunk of crunchy fennel in their soup.

2. In a large, wide pot, melt the butter over medium high heat. Nonstick is your friend here, but if you have wine on hand and want to deglaze the pan later, be my guest.

3. When the butter is melted, put in your onions, fennel, salt, and pepper. Stir regularly or as needed to prevent burning. Let them get caramelized to a medium brown. You'll be waiting around for at least 45 minutes to an hour, so find a chair or something.

4. When the onions and fennel are appropriately brown, add the garlic, mushrooms, and herbes de provence. Stir frequently until mushrooms have browned as well.

5. Add water to the pot and stir thoroughly, making sure to scrape the bottom and mix well. If you want even more flavor, feel free to use stock. Use less water for fewer servings with more veggies, more water for more servings with more broth.

6. When the soup has come back up to a simmer, add ginger to taste. You may use more than I suggested, maybe less. It's all about giving that last bit of balance and fullness to the soup, so you know how much you want. Just keep adding, mixing, tasting, and repeating as needed.

7. When the soup has achieved a zen state of balance, add the spinach. It will reduce in a split second. Cook this for only a minute or two, you want the spinach to remain fresh and green tasting.

8. Ladle into bowls and finish with a sprinkling of the white cheddar.

Notes:

1. Your soup may be a different color and have different sized pieces of fennel/onion than mine. I was running out of time for this preparation and had to rush.

2. Adjust water as needed. Make as much or as little as needed. This batch fed five people two servings with a few meals worth of leftovers.

3. If you have wine on hand, deglaze the pan before adding the water. Enough white wine to coat the bottom of the pot should do it, and will do wonders for the soup.

4. This soup has a surprising flavor. It can have quite a kick to it between the pepper, ginger, and licorice-y fennel.

5. Bread goes really well with this soup, as pictured. Spring for a baugette, you won't regret it.

6. Don't be afraid to mess with things in this. Add meat. Add other veggies. Use different herbs. Serve it in a bread bowl. Just have fun with it.

Now Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding

This post is a little overdue.

During the holiday season I tend to become sentimental and nostalgic, craving those old-timey white Christmases of yore. I like to read Dickens and picture roast goose, roasted chestnuts, sugar plums and of course, figgy pudding.

I'm all about bringing back old traditions of Christmases long ago. Why make a figgy pudding? Why NOT?

I made this recipe twice: once for a pre-Christmas party, once for New Year's Day. Let me tell you, there is no better way to impress your guests than to set a figgy pudding alight and watch it blaze with purple-blue flames.



This recipe has been modified and adapted to suit my sensibilities, tastes, and inclinations against absurdly time-consuming processes such as steaming. This recipe is for a baked pudding, though if you have the time and patience to steam it, be my guest.

Old and New Figgy Pudding
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1/2 cup molasses
* 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
* ½ tsp lemon or orange peel, grated (although if you can get candied orange peel, that would be even better)
* 2 cups mixed chopped dried fruit, including figs (other suggestions include dates, apricots, plums, and raisins)
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 tsp brandy, plus more for dousing
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 2½ cups all-purpose flour


In a large bowl, cream the butter.
Add the egg, molasses and honey. Beat thoroughly.
Now, add dried fruit, lemon peel, brandy, and buttermilk. Blend for one minute.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together, then stir them into the wet ingredients. Blend thoroughly.

Pour batter into a large greased souffle dish. I would give more specific measurements, but I did this on the fly in unfamiliar kitchens both times, and just made my best guess at what would hold the batter. Err on the side of large for your baking dish. This pudding rises high.

Bake at 325 F for about one hour. Make sure it is baked all the way through. Don't just assume. You'll be sorry.

When ready to serve, douse it in brandy and set it on fire. For a more dramatic effect, turn out the lights beforehand. Don't worry about the flames; they should burn themselves out, but do have a lid on hand just in case. Enjoy, and bask in the awe of all your party guests.

Spice Cabinet

I've had a half dozen potential post ideas to make, but then I realize that fiarly often when I cook, I don't use exact enough measurements to allow these things to be recreated without me hovering over anyone trying to cook and tell them how much of this to put in and how long to cook that. And if I were to do all that for anyone making these recipes, it would be creepily invasive and too much of a demand on my time. So, to stall for another week, I'll talk about my go-to things in my spice cabinet.

I'm beyond lucky to have a new tea and spice store move in downtown in my university town. I could spend so much money in that place. But, since I am a college student and trying to be thrifty, I'm not about to go all out for my spices. I am, however, willing to seek quality spices for a good value if I know I'm going to be using them a lot. So, here's what gets used most in my kitchen:

1. Kosher Salt: Salt gets used in everything. Really. Just try and go into any functional kitchen and see if you can't find a pinch of salt. I use kosher salt for most of my cooking because I like the heft of it, for lack of a better word. I still have regular table salt for baking, brines, and table seasoning.

2. Coarse Black Pepper: Along with salt, pepper is one of those ubiquitous kitchen things that gets tossed in whenever you're seasoning something. It's good for just about anything that needs a bit of a bite, and has a home alongside the salt shaker on the table.

3. Garlic Powder: When you just need a hit of garlic flavor and don't want to bust out a clove and chop, just use a sprinkle.

4. Onion Powder: The same concept as garlic powder, this can add just the hint of onion to sauces, rubs, and savory sautés.

5. Bay Leaf: I used to not see the importance of this little leaf, I mean, what good is a something that you have to take out before you eat? But for broths and sauces, I haven't found a better way of adding a unique and earthy note of flavor that many people won't be able to place. If it's in something traditional, like a macaroni and cheese, people will wonder what your secret is for why yours is so deliciously different.

6. Allspice: This is another thing I didn't quite understand until a little while ago, but now this little berry is something I love to use with any meat and a variety of soups and sauces to give them a bit of a flavor kick. It's something like a cross between a peppercorn and a clove in flavor, and very versatile. I first used it in my Smoked Pork, Buccaneer Style from last year, and it's another one of those things that will give a mystery flavor to whatever you add it to.

7. Basil: This isn't just for Italian food any more. Branch out with some basil eggs for breakfast, or apply this herb to your Indian or Thai cooking. It's a distinctive herb, but try experimenting with it in unlikely places where you need another hit of flavor.

8. Poultry Seasoning: This is a bit of a cop out, since I also use thyme and rosemary fairly often by themselves, but this mix of several different traditionally savory herbs gets placed in a ton of my soups, gravies, sauces, meat seasonings, and a surprisingly large number pies and casseroles. I bet you haven't had a Thanksgiving dinner without at least a bit of poultry seasoning.

9. Cayenne Pepper: There's a ton of options for adding some heat to whatever you cook, but whenever I need to put some fire in my dish, I turn to cayenne pepper. Whether I'm working with a curry, chili, or cheese sauce, I love using this pepper. I have a really strong cayenne pepper, but even with regular cayenne pepper, be careful when handling it and keep it away from your eyes. Really, do be careful with it.

10. Cinnamon: I had to debate whether to put this one here or my honorable mention, but I think cinnamon deserves it. No, it's not just paired with sugar and sweet treats (though that's a good thing to do with it too). Cinnamon also thrives in a savory role, like when used in a rub with beef or in a slightly spicy sauce. Even in a traditionally sweet role, like a crust, cinnamon can complement a savory pie. When I ate at the oldest restaurant in Quebec, their meat pie had cinnamon in the crust that accented the filling so well you couldn't imagine it any other way.

Honorable Mention: Nutmeg: Another spice that tends to get type cast in the apple pie role, this too can find a place in your savory dishes. Sneak it into recipes with meats or sauces, though I tend to pair it with mushrooms whenever I cook with them.

An invaluable complement to these spices is a mortar and pestle. This allows me to buy whole spices and grind them up to smaller bits when I need them. It's really beyond helpful, especially when trying to release the flavor from the leafy herbs. If I'm doing anything where herbs/spices need to be ground in the same recipe that requires salt, I use the kosher salt as a sort of abrasive grit to help with grinding the spices in the mortar and pestle.

These are just a few of the things I use, and it's just an indication of what styles of food I cook most often. I also have curry powder, garam masala, cumin, herbes de provence, dill weed, and a slew of other things I use to make more specialty things. But while every spice cabinet is different and can act as a cook's fingerprint, sometimes you just need to know where to start when building up your first set.