Wow.
Who knew that Red Velvet Cake would create such a paroxysm of childhood longing from so many people? And who knew that Gastronomie has so many readers who either grew up in, or spent summers in, or otherwise have some emotional attachment to the South?
Well, as promised to several of you, I've done some hunting, and have confirmed that the recipe for Bubble Room's Red Velvet Cake, as originally published in the Fort Myers Junior League Cookbook, is accurate.
So without further ado...
As many of you probably know, en papillote refers to a method of cooking, where the ingredients are wrapped up in a pouch and baked. Cooking fish this way practically guarantees a moist finished product, and allows all of the ingredients to infuse the fish, imparting an incredibly fresh taste.
It's also a wonderful mid-week dish because, from start to finish, it takes well under an hour.
I've caught a nasty bug. Don't know how it happened, really... don't much care, either. Just want to feel, you know, better.
Usually, when I feel this way, I want the simplest of foods. Toast, for example, slathered with butter and drunk with hot tea. Maybe a cup of tomato soup.
Ideally, of course, I'd make myself a big pot of Ash-e Resht-e, but who has that kind of energy? On the other hand, a pot of matzo ball soup is perfectly simple, delicious, and easy-peasy with a box of Manischewitz matzo meal in the cupboard.
So, tell me, what is your ideal get-well food?
I first heard about The Occasional Gourmet via KQED's Bay Area Bites. So, when I ran into Kathy Fitzhenry at the Grand-Lake Farmer's Market last week, I knew I had to pick up a few of her spices. I ended up bringing home packets of Pimente d'Espelette and Berber Spice.
I'll write about the pepper another day, but suffice it to say that it is an incredibly aromatic, rich, sweet pepper that packs a fair bit of smoky & complex heat. I really wanted to do something with the Berber blend, but all I had in the house was a pork roast. I got creative, and came up with an absolutely delicious meal with some really unusual and complex Moroccan-inspired flavors. Next time, I'm making this with lamb, and giving the rub a little longer to work.
My selection of fruits/veggies to roast was driven by (a) what I had in the fridge, (b) a craving for Moroccan preserved lemons and (c) an abundance of Meyer lemons on the counter. You have to love really strong flavors to like this, and the dish was a bit on the strong side for C's tastes. But I really enjoyed it, and I hope you will, too.
A couple of months ago, at a lunch at Citizen Cake with Sam, I had my first taste of farro. It got me thinking about "alternative" grains, and the uses for them.
So, when I saw a bag of Israeli couscous at Ratto's last month, I had to pick it up. I spend some time mulling over uses for the stuff, and last week, with two big bunches of asparagus in the fridge, I came up with this simple, delicious and utterly Springtime "risotto".
This month's theme for Is My Blog Burning, hosted by Foodgoat, is Orange-colored Food.
Some might argue that a stew wouldn't qualify as "orange". I disagree. My Beef & Lamb Stew laden with vegetables, lentils and sherry & red wine vinegars was clearly orangey on Day 1, and by Day 2, it was distinctly orange, and not red.
After dinner, I was looking for a sweet bite to eat, and ended up making a 2nd dish: Spicy Mango, Avocado & Orange Fruit Salad. An orange double-whammy, of sorts, you see.
The stew was rich and incredibly delicious, but not particularly heavy, so it was perfect for a rainy spring weekend. As with almost all stews, it tasted better on day two.
The salad was really simple - 1 mango & 1 avocado, diced, plus one orange, supremed. Seasoned simply with a teaspoon of cayenne, the juice from half a lime and a light drizzle of my precious Minus 8 Vinegar. Delicious. Fresh. I would love this for breakfast with some strained Greek yogurt.
Continue reading "IMBB #14: Orange you glad for orange food?" »
You know there is something seriously awry when you won't bake cakes for your husband, but your dog's birthday sends you into a whirlwind of baking activity.
Yesterday was my Stella-Bella's birthday (that's her up there - she's a French Bulldog, and no, she was not hit in the face with a frying pan or run headfirst into a wall!)
Anyway, I found a base recipe I liked, then doctored it dramatically with stuff my guys really love. Frosted it with a banana-cream cheese frosting (tinted pink, of course!), and I had a near-riot on my hands.
Amazingly, this recipe tasted really good - kind of like a very dense, lightly sweet banana-honey-peanut butter scone. I will, in fact, be making this again for the humans in smaller scone-size cakes.
Growing up, I didn't have much of a "thing" for mangos. In fact, I didn't have much interest in any of the so-called "Exotic Fruits" - papaya, guava, persimmons... the fascination eluded me.
Somewhere along the line, I came to love mangos, though I hated how stringy they can be and how much work there is for such little edible meat.
So when our CSA sent us a few Ataulfo mangos in our box last month, I wasn't particularly thrilled. That sad little mango sat on the kitchen counter, day after day, until one afternoon I came home and said, "Enough!".
I took out my paring knife, and sunk it into the skin of the mango, surprised at how deep it went. As I cut the meat away from the pit, I was in awe of the smooth, buttery texture, and the amount of meat there actually was.
I decided it was time for my favorite "un-recipe recipe" - I got out the cayenne pepper, and cut open a lime. I dusted the mango lightly with the pepper, and squeezed on some lime. As I took my first bite, I marveled at how there were no strings - no fibrous texture to mar my love affair with this spicy, sweet, juicy fruit.
Soon, I was gnawing inelegantly on the pit of the mango... I couldn't get enough of this Ataulfo. Where had it been all my life?
The next night, C was out of town, so I made myself a salad... a beautiful spring salad, and marveled once again at the bounty of nature, and how lucky I am to live in a place where I can get produce like this, delivered to my front door.
Boy, I didn't think today's visual quiz was such a toughie, but until I posted the 2nd photograph, no one even had a guess!
Amy was the first to get very, very close (guessing "dried beets"), followed by Samantha, Carla & jcs. Christine & Jen both guessed some variant of cooked beets, though I was looking for the words "chips" or "dried" in the answers.
Basically, I have too many beets in my fridge right how, so I'm looking for ways to use them up.
Drawing on a few recipes from Epicurious and elsewhere, I fashioned these lovely Curried Beet Chips with Curry Sour Cream Dip. They were a hit at the wine tasting on Sunday. My only change would be to possibly brush the beets with a bit of oil before baking (if you want a bit of gloss on the finished beet chips). You could certainly deep fry these, but I think they'd be too heavy for the accompanying dip.
*Photograph courtesy of M. Wong
Last week, C & I were both outrageously stressed from work, and neither of us wanted to cook. Usually, that means its either a pasta night or a pizza night (we love the Italian ones from Trader Joe's), but we were both needing some protein, and all I really had in the fridge was some chicken (neither of which of us is a fan of, unless it's roasted chicken, and clearly, that wasn't happening).
After rooting around some more in the freezer, I found a bag of frozen baby peas, and I knew that somewhere, I'd had seen a recipe for chicken & peas with pasta, so I set about recreating it.
It turned out to be a really wonderful and incredibly easy dish to prepare, and will become a staple for these types of dinners.
Continue reading "Penne with chicken & peas in cream sauce" »
