Archive for September, 2011
How’s that for use of yummy cake adjectives?
I met three young girls a couple Saturday mornings ago, at Sidewalk Citizen Bakery (you must really go one Saturday morning at around 10:30 am) and I wrote their names down, in case I forgot. And then I did, and I’ve spent the past half hour going through the mountain of papers on my desk, and I can’t find it, and I so wanted to say hi! But girls, you know who you are, if you were at Aviv’s two Saturdays ago and you made raspberry buttermilk cake for the first day of school.
I’ve been thinking of raspberry buttermilk cake since they reminded me of it. Well, not the whole time, but almost.
And I never did manage to get raspberries. But I did get a flat of blueberries – bloobs, as W calls them – and I managed to rescue enough from him to freeze for future muffins and to make a cake.
Rather than mix them into the batter or scatter them on top, which is what I’d normally do, W requested an upside down cake, which was delicious even though blueberries are a bit fragile to hold their own on the bottom of an upside down cake. It did turn into a soft maple-y goo, so if you don’t mind scraping the ones that stick on the bottom of the pan (it’s OK, they’re nice and soft, not at all sticky or hard to retrieve) and replacing them on top of your cake, you should make this. Otherwise just do the batter, scatter the berries overtop and bake.
How could you resist something so appealingly purple, that says I love you in a totally not-Barney sort of a way? Thanks for the reminder girls!
Maple Blueberry Upside Down Buttermilk Cake
Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1-2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Cake:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or thin plain yogurt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan and put the brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in it – put it into the oven as it preheats and then stir with a fork until smooth and scatter with the berries.
In a largish bowl, beat the butter and sugar for a few minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
By hand or with the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, mixing each time just until combined. Spread the batter over the blueberries the pan, smoothing the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack or plate, or eat warm, straight from the pan.
September 18 2011 | cake | 20 Comments »
Now, it could have been the appetite I worked up at the gym, intensified by then not nibbling at all between the time I got home and managed to get dinner on the table. (Which was, to be honest, only about 20 minutes.) But this was really good. And easy. A bag of slaw would have streamlined it even further, but at this moment we have no fewer than 4 full-sized cabbages hogging a good quarter of our fridge space, begging to be used. This week’s theme just may be slaw. (More possibilities than colcannon.)
This particular slaw is sweet and gingery, with no oil. (You could add some, if you like.) The original requested red jalapenos, which I don’t expect many to have on hand (nor make a special trip for), and because the comments unanimously reported it to be too hot, I, being of wimpy palate, demoted the jalapenos to a pinch of dried red pepper flakes. Easy, sufficient, and it made removing my contacts later this evening that much less painful.
This is a keeper. If I was the sort to plan a dinner rotation, with pork chops on Mondays and chicken on Thursdays and pizza on Fridays, this might just snag the Tuesday spot.
Grilled Asian Steak with Sweet Ginger Slaw
adapted from Bon Appétit, June 2008
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger, divided
2 garlic cloves, crushed or sliced
1 1 1/2 lb flat iron or flank steak
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
pinch red pepper flakes
4-5 cups thinly sliced cabbage (or half a bag of prepared coleslaw)
a few green onions, chopped
Stir together the soy sauce, canola oil, sesame oil, half the ginger and garlic in a zip-lock bag or bowl; add the steaks and turn to coat. Let them sit for at least half an hour, or refrigerate overnight.
In a small saucepan, whisk together the rice vinegar and sugar and bring to a simmer; add the ginger and red pepper flakes and remove from heat. In a medium bowl, toss together the cabbage and green onions. Drizzle the warm vinegar mixture overtop and toss to coat.
Preheat your grill and grill the steaks to your desired doneness – 4-5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing thinly against the grain and serving atop (or alongside) the slaw. Serves 4.
September 16 2011 | beef and on the grill | 10 Comments »
I really really don’t want you to miss this two-minute mug brownie. It’s better than any mug cake I’ve had – most of which call for egg, which tends to make such a small quantity of cake spongey. This brownie is dense and fudgey, and made with canola oil, so between the healthy fats and dark cocoa, you could even call it heart-healthy. And what’s better for your heart than curling up on the couch with a warm brownie for one? (Or two, if we’re really talking heart health here…)
I posted more how-to photos and the recipe over at the Family Kitchen!
September 16 2011 | Family Kitchen | 9 Comments »
This one’s for you, Suchalab (from yesterday’s comments). Everyone should know how to make a ‘fridge pickle. (Also? They’re not just for cucumbers anymore. Think onions! Think carrots! Think beets! Think beans! Think fennel!)
These are the pickles I brought to David on the show on Tuesday. I made them quickly, slicing up a lone cuke that arrived in my CSA box, and covering it with a quick brine of rice vinegar, sugar, salt and pickling spices – something I picked up in the bulk spice section, but looks like mustard seed, coriander and bay leaves? With other bits in it?
As I wrote in Swerve a couple weeks ago, there are a few factors that keep would-be pickle enthusiasts from pursuing this particular craft: the time commitment of putting up dozens of enormous jars of baby cukes, and then those dozens of jars, filled with dill pickles or the like, occupying a good chunk of valuable real estate in the pantry. As with jam, there’s no reason a batch of pickles should require bushels of veggies, dozens of canning jars, proper processing equipment plus an entire afternoon spent in their service. Quick pickles come together quickly and in small batches – a single jar in the fridge is all you need, right? When you think of a refrigerator pickle as simply brined or marinated veggies, they don’t seem quite so intimidating.
Quick Refrigerator Pickles
Measurements here are pretty lax – really just go for enough brine to cover whatever it is you want to pickle. Add more sugar for sweeter pickles.
1 cup rice or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar (or more, if you like sweeter pickles)
1 Tbsp. coarse salt
1 garlic clove, smashed (optional)
2 tsp. pickling spice or mustard seed (or a sprig of fresh dill)
2 small cucumbers (or 4 mini ones), sliced on a slight diagonal
In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and pickling spice to a simmer. Pour over the cucumber slices in a small bowl or jar. Cool, then refrigerate. Let them hang out for at least a day or two before you eat them.
September 14 2011 | preserves | 8 Comments »
Last week, someone tweeted me a link to Pam Anderson’s Cassoulet-Style Italian Sausages and White Beans from her new book Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers over at The Merry Gourmet. It was brilliant, really – and today, as it hovered around ten degrees with grey skies and a constant threat of drizzle, it seemed like the most perfect fall (sorry, it’s true) meal in a dish. It took approximately sixty seconds to assemble, and warmed the house as it roasted over about an hour. I love that – the smell of dinner cooking between school and dinnertime – especially when it’s something that goes really well with a glass of red. And extra-especially when it’s something good for us and exceptionally tasty – the juices all getting together to create a sticky mess of beans and soft tomatoes. This will become a staple around here this fall and winter.
A classic cassoulet is a big production in France, and isn’t typically the sort of thing you’d make for dinner on an average worknight. But this changes everything. All you do is tip a pint or two of cherry tomatoes into a roasting or casserole dish, toss in a few smashed, peeled cloves of garlic, lay as many sausages as you have people to feed (or a few more) over them, tuck in a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary, and drizzle some balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the lot. (The original calls for chopped onion too – go for it if you want.)
Pop it into a 425°F oven for a half hour to an hour – once the tomatoes start to split and release their juices and the sausages turn golden take it out and stir in a rinsed, drained can of white kidney beans (or 2 cups of beans you’ve simmered yourself).
My sister came in the door and proclaimed DOES IT EVER SMELL GOOD IN HERE! And it really did. And it tasted good. And it was fast (and yet slow – the best of both worlds, really), cheap, well-received by the masses. Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.
Quick Cassoulet
Ingredients:
1-2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
4-6 fresh sweet or hot Italian sausages
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary
1 19 oz (540 mL) can white kidney, navy or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Directions:
Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 425°F.
Scatter the tomatoes over the bottom of a baking dish. Add the garlic, lay the sausages overtop, and drizzle it all with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Toss in a few sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
When the tomatoes have split and the sausages are golden, remove the dish from the oven and stir in the beans. Return to the oven for 20 minutes or so, until the beans are cooked through and the sausages are even more golden. Serve hot, with crusty bread and butter.
September 13 2011 | one dish | 26 Comments »
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