{Tap tap}...Is this thing on?

It’s been so long since I’ve showed my face here that I’ve almost forgotten how this works. I guess that’s ok since I doubt anyone even checks for new posts anymore (except my friend Susannah, who reminds me she is still a loyal reader whenever I see her).  I’d try to explain away my year long (gulp) absence but there is not much to say—young child + full time job+ trying to maintain some semblance of personal /free time (ha!)= little time for cooking period, let alone anything worth writing about. That said, I did enjoy this old blog of mine back in its heyday so thought I’d dip a toe back in the water and see what happens. Posts may be scattered and may not always involve cooking really amazing things (hey, remember when I did this??) but, you know, baby steps.

So without further ado…..Susannah, this one’s for you!

Three day weekends are the best. And I actually spent this one doing some cooking. First up—Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp Bars. I’m not posting the recipe since I followed it pretty much to the letter.  Definitely worth the (minimal) effort—delicious and does not make me feel too guilty for indulging, which is great since I had to buy A TON of rhubarb from the one grocery store I could find that sold it—so we may be eating a lot of these bars over the next week or so.

Next, a Memorial Day bbq “feast.” We were lucky enough to enjoy delicious cookout fare (e.g., burgers, sausages, grilled veggies,etc.) at a friend’s house on Saturday but I still felt the need to cook up something barbeque-y to celebrate the start of summer. I did a little BBQ chicken in the oven using a combo of a Smitten Kitchen’s dryrub oven barbeque chicken and another blogger’s baked chicken recipe (which we are also big fans of here). It turned out well. Although it definitely did not have any kind of crispiness to the skin (if that is something that is important to you). I don’t really go for chicken skin in general (one reason I am not a big fan of fried chicken) so this was fine with me. Moist, flavorful and pretty smoky for not coming within spitting distance of a grill. I served it with corn on the cob and this potato salad.

  

Hope you too spent some quality time with good friends, family and food this weekend. See you back here again...(dare I say) soon??!?

 Gratuitous photo of child-- nothing to do with the rest of the post!

BBQ Chicken (Minus the Grill)

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Hellobee

Ingredients:

3 TBL brown sugar

2 TBL smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cumin

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (any bone-in/skin-on chicken will do)

BBQ sauce of your choosing

1. Make the dry rub by mixing together the first 6 ingredients. This is enough for two recipes if you are using 4 chicken thighs so I poured half into a small bowl and put the rest in an airtight container for another use.

2. Preheat the oven to 350. Place chicken in a baking dish. Rub the chicken—under the skin and on-top of the skin—with the spice mixture. Be generous!

3. Pour a little water in the bottom of the baking dish—up to ½ inch or so. This time, I just put enough in to make sure the bottom was wet. Cover with aluminum foil.

4. Bake for about 50 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove foil and pour a TBL or so of BBQ sauce onto each chicken thigh. Up the oven temperature to 400 degrees—put the chicken back in for 10 minutes or so until the BBQ sauce gets a little caramelized. Serve with additional BBQ on the side (if desired).

Spring Quiche

Spring is in the air—finally! Despite the lack of snow (I guess Aimee’s official “first snow” pic will have to wait until next year), winter seemed to linger later than usual this year. But the temperatures finally seem to be rising (for good this time?) and I am ready for spring produce. One great way to use it is in a quiche. Quiche is a great weeknight meal, it doesn’t take that long to put together (particularly if you use a pre-made dough for the crust) and it always seems fresh. It is also open to endless flavor possibilities. Just mix in some sautéed veggies and a little cheese and you are good to go. I like to get it ready and stick it in the oven right before I start Aimee’s bedtime routine so it is ready to go once she is down for the night. Easy and delicious (and if you happen to use a tart pan, pretty to look at too!).

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche

Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 prepared pie dough (Trader Joe’s has the best but any frozen/refrigerated pie dough will work)

1 bag of baby spinach

½ yellow or white onion, diced

1 whole roasted red pepper, cut into strips

½ cup of shredded cheese (I am partial to swiss or gruyere)

4 eggs

1/3 cup half and half

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 425. Press pie dough into 9-inch tart pan (or pie plate). Sautee onion in 2 TBL olive oil until translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Add in spinach, tossing until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. Meanwhile beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in half and half and eggs until well mixed.

3. Spread onion/spinach mixture onto bottom of the dough. Top with roasted red peppers and cheese. Pour egg mixture evenly over the top.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Ratatouille Tart

Wow-- my resolve to post every day this week didn't last long, did it?! I really need to find some motivation to do something other than watch HGTV when I get home from (what is usually a long day of) work.

Anyway.... a couple of weeks ago I made a ratatouille tart for dinner using a simple yet elegant recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Ratatouille is french dish typically made with eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes (among other things). Smitten Kitchen's recipe deconstructs the ingredients and makes it into a sort of fancy pizza;  puff pastry (instead of the regular flour and yeast based dough) is topped with tomato puree (or sauce) and then thinly sliced vegetables with a healthy sprinkling of herbs and cheese at the end.

In general the meal is pretty easy to put together--once you've got the vegetables thinly sliced that is. Fortunately for me, on the day I made this for dinner Jason was home from work early and got things started by prepping the vegetables (using his favorite kitchen tool-- the mandoline). Once I got home all I had to do was put everything together and pop it in the oven.

All in all, a healthy, delicious and surprisingly elegant summer meal.

Ratatouille Tart
From Smitten Kitchen (recipe cut in half but other than that made as outlined on SK's website)


Ingredients:
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge overnight
1/2 small eggplant
1/2 zuchinni
1/2 yellow squash
1 red pepper
1/4-1/3 cup of pureed tomato or tomato sauce
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Dried or fresh thyme
Crumbled goat cheese


1. Heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place puff pastry on the parchment paper and prick pastry all over with a fork.
2. Spread tomato sauce (in desired quantity) evenly over the pastry, leaving a one-inch border around the edges.
3. Slice vegetables thinly using a sharp knife or mandoline. Arrange slightly overlapped slices of vegetables in rows over the tomato sauce, alternating vegetables as you go.
4. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Top with fresh or dried herbs (all to taste).
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and veggies look soft. Sprinkle with goat cheese and cut into squares. Serve with a mixed green salad and enjoy.

 

Miscellanious

I can't tell you all how happy I am that it is the weekend! It was a long and tiring week and next week is shaping up to be even worse. But I'm choosing to focus on the positive:

Exhibit 1: Strawberry Summer Cake from Smitten Kitchen (I made the recipe as is so I thought I should just pass along SK's link). I made it for book club this week and oh my goodness was it good. I think it might have been even better the second day. I'm planning on trying it with other summer fruit-- blueberries and/or blackberries are next on my list. Whatever fruit you use-- you should make it this weekend.

Exhibit 2: Our house is even more house-like

We go in for our pre-drywall meeting this week which means we are about 60 days away from being homeowners!

Helloooooo Summer

Although Summer doesn't officially start for several more weeks, the unofficial start of Summer--Memorial Day weekend-- is upon us. And we're starting things off right. First up-- iced coffee. Jason cold-brewed our first batch Friday night which means we will be having delicious iced coffee all weekend long.

Last night we took things up another notch with a very summery meal-- seared tuna with mango slaw. The mango slaw comes from SmittenKitchen and, like most recipes I get from her, is definitely a keeper. Thinly sliced mango, red pepper, cabbage and red onion tossed with a lime-rice vinegar dressing and topped with mint and toasted cashews. Um, could it get any more delicious than that?

Finally, to top it all off-- our pool opened yesterday. Nothing says summer like reading by the pool!

Mango Slaw
Adapted (barely) from SmittenKitchen

Ingredients:
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
1 medium head of Napa cabbage, halved and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 limes, juiced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 TBL olive oil
1/4 tsp chili paste
Salt
1/4 cup thinly sliced mint
1/3 cup toasted cashews, coarsely chopped

1. Toss mango, cabbage, red pepper, and red onion in a large bowl. Whisk lime juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, chili paste, and salt to taste in a separate bowl and pour over slaw.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for one hour.
3. Before serving, mix in mint and cashews.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

Over the last year or so I've come across a number of recipes for sesame noodles. These recipes have long enticed me with their fresh vegetables, ease of preparation and their slightly spicy, slightly sweet but always peanut-y (thanks to a good dose of peanut butter) dressing. Have I mentioned how much I like peanut butter before? No? Well, I do. As Mr. Gump would say, I like it a lot.

(No, seriously. I really like peanut butter. So much that I rarely keep a jar of the stuff in the house because I will inevitably eat it (by the spoonful) in a matter of a couple of days. So much that Spring is my favorite time of year-- primarily because it means that Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs are back on sale at the grocery store. Do I need to say more? I thought not.)

So finally this week I decided to just give one of the many recipes out there a try. I decided to go with Smitten Kitchen's recipe because....well, honestly, there wasn't much of a rationale. I happened to be pursuing her site this weekend and came upon it for the umpteenth time and decided to go for it.

The recipe and subsequent dish met all my expectations-- lots of fresh veggies, easy to make, and definitely peanut-y. I liked it, but I didn't love it. In some ways, it was almost TOO peanut-y. I liked the first few bites a lot....but then it just got old. It was too one note. Perhaps it would make a better side dish than an entree. Or maybe adding some protein (some chicken, for example) might help balance the flavors a little bit.Or maybe dialing down the peanut butter would help it out a bit.

Did I just say that?

Peanut Sesame Noodles
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (or less....)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
1 TBL fresh ground ginger (you could also substitute fresh chopped ginger here)
2 TBL rice vinegar
1 1/2 TBL sesame oil
1 TBL honey
1 teaspoon garlic chili paste
3/4 lb dried soba noodles (linguine or spaghetti will work if you can't find soba)
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
3 TBL sesame seeds, toasted

1. Make the dressing by whisking first eight ingredients (through chili paste) in a bowl. You can also throw it all in a blender if you want. Set aside.
2. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain in a colander and rinse well under cold water (it prevents the pasta from sticking together).
3. Add pasta, scallions, bell peppers, cucumber to dressing. Toss to combine. Top with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Menu Monday

My fingers are crossed that this week will actually allow me to spend some quality time in the kitchen. Assuming all goes as planned, here's what's on tap:

Monday: Chicken Salad with Pineapple Lime Dressing (new recipe from this month's Everyday Food)
Tuesday: Leftover Vegetarian Bean Chili (which I made for dinner last night)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with Lemon and Olive Oil (new recipe from SmittenKitchen)
Thursday: Baked Sweet Potatoes and Salad

Check back later this week!

Sunday (and Monday) Dinner: Goulash Edition

When trying to decide what to make for dinner on Sunday night (usually the one night of the week that I have the time/inclination to make more difficult and/or more time consuming meals) I knew exactly what kind of dish I wanted: something warm, hearty, and comforting. But I was tired of my usual repertoire of soups so I went in search of something new that would beat the winter chill. Fortunately one of my go-to food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, had just the thing: Goulash. Goulash is a Hungarian soup/stew consisting of meat, vegetables, and spices--the most important of which is paprika. Smitten suggested making into more of a stew and serving it over potatoes, egg noodles, or even gnocchi.  I decided to go with the egg noodles.

Now I can't say for sure just how authentic this recipe is, but it was good. Lots of different flavors coming together in a wonderful stick-to-your ribs dish perfect for a cold January day. Or days. It makes a lot--I halved SK's recipe and it still made enough for two days of meals (and we did not skimp on the serving size either). But that was just fine with me-- unlike most leftovers, this was one dish that was even better the second time around.

Goulash
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
3 slices bacon, chopped
1.5 boneless chuck, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (you can else buy pre-cubed stew meat)
1 TBL vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 TBL Hungarian sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
3 TBL flour
2 TBL red wine vinegar
2 TBL tomato paste
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water or beer (more if you want it to have a thinner, soup-like consistency)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 red bell pepper, chopped fine
Egg noodles, cooked according to package directions (optional)

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, cook bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. In remaining fat, brown chuck in small batches over high heat, transferring as browned with slotted spoon to bowl.
2. Reduce heat to moderate and add vegetable oil. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden.
3. Stir paprika, caraway seeds, and flour and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Whisk in vinegar and tomato paste and cook for another minute.
4. Stir in broth, water/beer, salt, bell pepper, back and chuck. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer soup, covered, stirring occasionally about 60 minutes. Serve with egg noodles.

A Sweet Way to End a Sour Week

Last week was one heck of a week, y'all.

One heck of a really sucky week.

I spent most of it at work. And when I was home I was either sleeping or putting together meals that did not require much effort--tried and true favorites I can do in my sleep (chicken picatta, homemade pizza, fish tacos, and thai beef salad). And thank goodness I didn't try to tackle anything more difficult-- because pretty much everything that could go wrong last week, did, in fact, go wrong.

Even yesterday as I made Smitten Kitchen's Gingerbread-Apple Upside Down Cake, which I've made before to great success, I had problems. First the middle of the cake fell, then I had a hard time getting it out of the pan. And since I made this cake to take to my friend Lauren's house last night, I was a bit upset by its hideous appearance. Fortunately it still tasted great so I was able to salvage it by pre-slicing the non-fallen/fractured pieces.


Now I don't want you all to think this is too hard to do-- last time I made it, I had zero problems. So give it a try if you are looking for a sweet (but not overly sweet) seasonal treat. Let's hope this week is a little easier (and more conducive to blogging!)

Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
4 TBL plus 1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (I used a springform pan). Melt 4 TBL butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over low heat, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt. Remove from heat and pour into bottom of your cake/springform pan. Layer the apple slices in overlapping, concentric circles on top of the sauce until the bottom of the pan is covered.

2. Cream the sugar and stick of butter together until light and fluffy. In a medium bow, whisk the egg, buttermilk, honey, and molasses together. Set aside. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.

3. Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the butter mixture, adding the next once the last has been incorporated.Pour/spoon the batter into the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Note: if you are using a springform pan, be sure to place it on another baking sheet to catching any leaking caramel.) Let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a platter.

Summer Berry Birthday Cake

Jason’s parents came over last night to celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday.  I had, of course, volunteered to make a birthday cake and spent the previous weeks trying to come up with the perfect thing to mark the occasion. (One the things I enjoy most about cooking is that it allows me to create something—to take a recipe or idea and bring it to life—that I can then share with other people.  It’s seeing someone else take pleasure in something that I made that is really the most satisfying part of cooking for me. )

My original idea was to make a chiffon layer cake with fruit filling and vanilla frosting. In the past, Jason’s mother had mentioned how much she liked summer fruit and I thought this would be a nice, light seasonal treat.  I planned to use the chiffon cake recipe that I used for Jason’s Tiramisu cake (minus the espresso) but was on the hunt for a good vanilla frosting recipe.  Most of what I found was in the buttercream family which just seemed too heavy/sweet for the light summer dessert I had in mind. Cue Smitten Kitchen and her recipe for Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake. Rather than frosting the cake, she uses whipped cream as part of the filling and for the frosting. She also flavors the cake with lemon zest and the idea of summer berries +lemony cake + whipped cream fit with my vision perfectly.

As Jason’s mom blew out the candles she said she couldn’t remember the last time someone had made her a birthday cake.  Light, airy, and not overly sweet, it turned out to be the perfect gift.

Summer Berry Shortcake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
¼ cup vegetable oil
6 large eggs (or 5 extra large), separated
2 teaspoons plus 1 TBL vanilla
 1 medium lemon
6 TBL cold water
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1 ½ cups plus 1 TBL granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 container each of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries (strawberries thinly sliced and raspberries cut in half)
2 cups heavy cream
6 TBL powdered sugar

Make the cake layers:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper (I used pre-cut 9 inch parchment rounds I bought at Sur La Table which were awesome!) and lightly spray with cooking spray.
2.In a large bowl combine flour, 1 ¼ cup sugar, baking powder and salt until well mixed.
3.In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, water, oil, zest from the entire lemon, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth and well combined.
4.In another large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks are formed. Add ¼ cup sugar and beat on high until the peaks are stiff but not too dry.
5.Use a rubber spatula to fold ¼ of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites just until the whites are no longer visible. You want to be very careful not to deflate the egg whites otherwise the cake will not be as light and airy.
6.Divide the batter as evenly as possible among the three cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. You may want to rotate the pans half way through to ensure they all cook evenly.
7.Cool cakes on a cooling rack for at least an hour. When completely cool, run a knife around the edges and flip out onto a plate.

Make the filling:
1.While the cakes are cooling, combine ¾ of the berries in a large bowl with 1 TBL sugar and juice from the lemon. Cover and let sit at room temperature. Reserve remaining berries for garnish.
2.Right before you are ready to assemble, beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar and 1 TBL vanilla in a clean mixing bowl until it holds stiff peaks.

Assemble the cake:
Place first cake layer on a cake stand or plate. Top with ½ of the macerated berries. Then spread 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of the cakes, being careful not to go over the edge of the cake. Place next layer on top of that and gently press down. Repeat the process. When you place the final cake layer on top, carefully spread the remaining whipped cream. Top with reserved (non-macerated) berries. I choose to pile them in the center of the cake but you could also arrange them in a pattern if you’d like.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

How Bad Could That Be?!

By now you know that my love for Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa) is rivaled only by my affection for Smitten Kitchen. So when I saw SK had taken Ina’s recipe for Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons for a spin, I knew I had to give it a go myself.  Basically it’s a warm panzanella salad—bread, loads of fresh tomatoes, garlic, and basil. A very seasonal dish, indeed. I decided to add some spinach to the mix to add a little more green to otherwise carb-heavy dish.

While the recipe isn’t difficult to prepare it does take a little more time than some of my other weeknight dinners. Fortunately, the timing worked out well tonight since Jason had to work a little late. In the end, I really liked it….as a side dish. I think for it to be really satisfying entrée, I’d add some other veggie (zucchini or eggplant) or top with a poached egg (per SK’s suggestion). But I would definitely encourage you all give it a try. Bread, tomatoes, basil, and garlic…in the words of Ina “how bad could that be”?!

Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons and Spinach
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
3 TBL olive oil
2-3 cups of bread cubes, SK recommends a French boule; I used a rosemary olive oil loaf—you just want to look for a chewy, artisanal type of bread that will stand up to the juicy tomatoes.
2 lbs of tomatoes (I used roma), diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBL sugar
2 teaspoons Kosher salt (less if you use table salt)
1 teaspoon ground pepper
3/4 of bag of baby spinach
½ cup thinly sliced basil leaves
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.Preheat the oven to 350. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add bread cubes and stir so they are all coated with oil. Cook, tossing frequently, until toasty on all sides, about 5 minutes.
2.Combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, and spinach in a large bowl. When bread is toasted add mixture to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes more.  Remove from heat and stir in basil. Pour into a shallow (6-8 cup) baking dish and sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 35-40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm. I served mixed greens alongside with it.

Summer Berry Pie

The first thing that I thought off when we got home from the farmers market yesterday (and I realized that we bought more berries than we could realistically eat in the few days before some of the more delicate ones—ahem, raspberries—would start to go bad) was pie. One of the best things about summer is the ability to make wonderful, fresh fruit pies.  While a lot of you might associate the holidays, and especially Thanksgiving, with pie to me nothing says summer like homemade pie. Maybe that is because I like fruit pies more than pumpkin and pecan (the traditional fall pies) or maybe because I make blueberry pie every June as part of my Father’s Day gift to my dad. Regardless, my thoughts were consumed with pie as soon as we walked in the door.

 Look at how gorgeous these berries are!

I’ve made many pies before but never my own pie dough. Shocking, I know. Usually I opt for the Pillsbury dough that you find in the refrigerated section of the grocery store—the one that you just unroll and drop in a pie plate. Pie dough has always seemed a bit intimidating to me for some reason—maybe it’s the need for cutting the butter into the flour or the fact that I have limited counter space on which to roll out the dough. But using the premade stuff with those glorious berries seemed wrong somehow. Like I’d being doing them a great disservice by using it. So I decided to suck it up and try my hand at homemade crust.

Fortunately, my old friend Smitten Kitchen had a number of great step-by-step tutorials on making pie crust that made it all seem a bit more doable.  Since I followed her instructions to a “t” I won’t go into the step-by-step here. You can find her all-butter pie dough recipe here and her tips for rolling and crimping here. I will, however, offer a few suggestions/things I learned in my initial attempt at making pie crust from scratch:

1. Make sure you don’t leave your butter in too big of pieces. I thought I had achieved “tiny peas” as SK recommended but as I was rolling it out it looked like some pieces were a little big. As a result, when I pulled the pie out of the oven it seemed like some of the butter had melted/oozed out of the crust more than it probably should have. (Still tasted and looked good though—but the pie plate was a bit greasy feeling).
2. It is really important that you shape the dough into real discs before chilling it. It is much more difficult to get a true round during the rolling process if you are starting with an oblong.
3. SK’s rolling tips of “roll, lift, turn, repeat” really do make it so much easier to get a good, even circle (assuming you did number 2 correctly)
4. Definitely flour the heck out of your rolling surface and your rolling pin. Make sure to re-flour the rolling pin every so often.

 Don't those look like "tiny peas" to you??

Notice how not round these discs are.

In terms of the pie filling, I ended up using another one of SK’s recipes as a general guide for my Summer Berry Pie.  All in all the pie (crust and filling) turned out phenomenally. Given the juiciness of the berries I probably could have added a bit more cornstarch to the filling but even though it ran a bit, it still tasted incredibly good. Really. Words cannot accurately describe how good this pie is—all thanks to some exceptional fresh and local berries.

Summer Berry Pie
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 recipe of SK’s All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough
1 ½ cups fresh raspberries, rinsed
1 ½ cups fresh blackberries, rinsed
1 ½ cups fresh strawberries, rinsed and quartered
4 TBL cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Juice of half a lemon
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

1.Gently combine berries, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Set aside.
2.Roll out half of chilled dough (use the larger one if you divided them unevenly)on a well-floured work surface so that you have a 12-13 inch round. Gently transfer rolled out dough into a 9 inch pie plate. Trim so you have a ½ inch overhang.
3.Using a slotted spoon, transfer berry mixture into the pie shell-try to leave as much of the liquid that has collected as possible (otherwise your crust will be soggy).
4.Roll out remaining chilled dough so that you have a 12 inch round. Gently drape over top of pie. Trim so that you have a 1 inch overhang. Fold the overhang (from both top and bottom crust) under to seal the crust. Crimp decoratively.
5.Cut slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.
6.Bake on a cookie/baking sheet at 400 for 20-25 minutes (the baking sheet is key so you don’t end up with boiled over fruit juice/melted butter burning on the bottom of your oven). Make sure the oven rack is positioned in the center of the oven so you don’t brown the top too fast. Lower heat to 350 and continue to bake for another  25-30 minutes until fruit is bubbly and crust is golden brown. If the edges start to get too brown before the pie is done, you can cover them with aluminum foil to prevent burning. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you’d like.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

There is some big news in our household that I thought I should share with those of you out there still reading my little blog…I got a new job! After 3+ years of working from home, I will be back in the real world come July. I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to try something new (I have been in my current job—my first out of grad school-- for the last six years) and because this is a big step up for me in terms of roles/responsibilities, salary, benefits, EVERYTHING.  The only downside to my new role is that it may require a move. I am going to be working for the federal government (!) and while you might think that would equal DC, the agency I am going to be working for is actually headquartered outside Baltimore. As of now, I will be in the DC office until September at least, but after that is a big question mark. Chances are I will have to be in the main office which means that Jason and I will move –probably to the Maryland suburbs of DC since neither one of us are all that anxious to leave our friends and everything we know in the DC area behind. But working in the DC office has not been taken off the table YET so I’m cautiously optimistic. Regardless of where we end up, there will be a lot of changes ahead as we might finally get to the point where we can BUY A HOUSE! So for those of you who may be a little tired of the food-focused posts and are waiting for more newlywed adventures/life posts—stay tuned…you may be in for more than you bargained for soon!

In the meantime, one of the biggest things on Jason’s mind regarding my job change is what this will mean for his daily dinners. Obviously, it has been much easier for me to whip up a nice meal every night (and have dinner on the table soon after Jason gets home from work) with me working from home.  While I am sure that some adjustments may have to be made once I start commuting, I am still planning on maintaining my role as resident cook—I enjoy cooking too much to let it slide. But I realize that some things may change—we may rely on takeout more often than we do now, I may do more prep work on the weekends, or we may eat more leftovers. There is also a little thing called a Crockpot which can be a great way to have a hot meal as soon as you walk in the door with minimal effort. A meal like the one I made for dinner tonight—Smitten Kitchen’s Southwestern Pulled Brisket (how’s that for a segue?!)

I have been eyeing this recipe for quite some time and decided that this week was the week I was going to give it a try. Jason and I are big brisket fans (I much prefer barbequed brisket to pulled pork when given the choice) and this seemed so easy, I knew I had to give it a try. And easy it was. You start by searing the brisket in a pan and then sautéing sliced onion, smashed garlic, and a variety of smoky spices until soft and fragrant. Add some apple cider vinegar, a couple of chipotles, canned tomatoes, and molasses and you got an incredibly flavorful liquid in which to cook your meat. Set the Crockpot on low and let it sit for 8-10 hours and you end up with brisket so tender it literally falls apart. I decided to follow SK’s lead and strain and reduce the sauce until it had thickened slightly and the flavors had concentrated. But you could just as easily leave it as is, making dinner all the more simple. I served the brisket with cole slaw which was a nice cool foil to the smoky-spiciness of the meat. This makes quite a bit—enough for us to have sandwiches for dinner tomorrow night too.

With dinners like this, I don’t think Jason has too much to worry about!

The brisket as it embarks on its journey to deliciousness

 

 A little over 9 hours later, it has arrived!

 

 

Southwestern Pulled Brisket
Adapted (Just barely) from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 3lb beef brisket
2 TBL vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 TBL chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 ½ cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juices
1-2 chipotles en adobo (I used two and ended up with a pretty spicy brisket—if you are not a big spice fan, you may want to cut back to one)
2 bay leaves
¼ cup molasses

1.Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Season brisket generously with salt and pepper. Add the meat and cook until browned on both sides (about 5 minutes per side). Transfer meat to a slow cooker. Return skillet to heat.
2.Add garlic, onion, chili powder, cumin, and coriander to drippings in the skillet and stir until beginning to soften and fragrant about 1 minute. Add vinegar and boil until it’s almost gone, scrapping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in water and pour mixture over brisket.
3.Crush the tomatoes (either breaking them apart with a fork or your fingers) and add to the slow cooker along with their juices. Add chipotles, bay leaves, and molasses. Cover the cooker and set on low. Cook until it pulls apart easily with a fork, 8-10 hours (I did about 9-9.5 hours).
4.Remove the brisket to a dish, pulled it with two forks and cover with aluminum foil.  Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan (discard the leftover vegetables) and simmer until reduced by half. Check for seasonings and pour over pulled brisket. (You could also skip this step and pull the brisket it original cooking liquid—just make sure to remove the two bay leaves.)

Jason's Birthday Fiesta: Saving the Best for Last

Tiramisu is one of my all-time favorite desserts. I distinctly remember the first time I ate it—in Sorrento, Italy, in the restaurant of a small hotel where I stayed when I went on a school-sponsored Easter Break trip to Italy and Greece when I was 16. I don’t remember much about the rest of the meal there, but I do remember the tiramisu—rich and creamy with the hints of chocolate and coffee. I was hooked and that combination of flavors has been a real favorite ever since.  Jason is also a lover of the chocolate and coffee flavor combo---I think I may have officially made him mine with my espresso brownies early on in our dating life—so it was only a matter time until he fell in love with tiramisu as well.

Not long after discovering Smitten Kitchen, I came across her recipe for Tiramisu Cake and knew that I had to try it at some point. Cut to Jason’s birthday last year when I first tried the recipe in cupcake form. At the time we were still engaged and living separately and I thought it would be easier to give him some cupcakes to take home than try and package up half of a two-layer cake.  To say that he liked the cupcakes would be an understatement. The recipe was good but I still wanted to try the full cake form and so when I had a little celebratory dinner for my friend Lauren’s engagement this winter, I decided to give it a shot. While it didn’t disappoint, it wasn’t exactly how I wanted it. Both in cake and cupcake form, I found the cake layer to be a bit dry. And to me, there is nothing worse than dry cake. Jason didn’t seem to notice, however, and when it came time to select his birthday dinner he chose that as his birthday cake.

But I decided to try something a little different. After spending sometime looking for tips for ensuring a moist cake, I ended up back on Smitten Kitchen’s website reading through the Tiramisu Cake post comments to see if I could come up with a solution to my dry cake problem. Several other people had mentioned that it seemed a little dense and wondered if they had overbeaten the batter.  Seemed plausible.  I also thought about making additional espresso syrup to better soak the cakes in (we’ll get to that later).  Somehow I ended up browsing through the rest of Smitten Kitchen’s celebration cakes and found what I had been looking for—a recipe for Espresso Chiffon Cake. Chiffon cakes are very light and airy thanks to whipped egg whites being folded into the batter. It seemed perfect to me—Tiramisu Cake made with the espresso chiffon as a base instead of the original white sponge cake. My brilliant idea was validated when I scrolled through the comments to find Smitten Kitchen herself mentioned she wanted to give this very combo a try sometime.

The result was WONDERFUL! I definitely like the texture of this cake much better than the last. Jason also agreed that it was a winning combination ….and what he would be expecting on his birthday until the day he dies. So I guess I will have plenty of time to continue to perfect!

A word of warning—while this cake is absolutely delicious it is not a quick and easy recipe (as you can see from the very long recipe that follows). I think I spent at least 2 hours in the kitchen Tuesday night making this cake (although that included the time needed for the cakes to cool). It has many parts—cake layers (three of them if you use the espresso chiffon cake), espresso syrup, a filling, and a frosting. But the effort is well worth it, believe you me.

Tiramisu Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen—basically I took parts of two recipes and put them together. You can find the original versions of both here and here.

Ingredients:

For the cake layers:
¼ cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
6 eggs, whites and yolks separated
6 TBL of freshly brewed espresso or hydrated espresso powder* (I went with the latter- although the original recipe says doing might be too bitter, I did not have that issue)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon (only thing I would change next time is to decrease this to ¼ teaspoon—I found it to be a bit much)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
* to make, I took about three TBL of espresso powder and added ¼-1/2 cup boiling water

For the espresso extract:
2 TBL espresso powder
2 TBL boiling water

For the espresso syrup:
½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBL coffee-flavored liqueur or brandy (I used the former)

For the filling and frosting:
2 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 TBL coffee-flavored liqueur or brandy
2 cups cold heavy cream
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Cocoa powder or chocolate-covered espresso beans for decoration (optional)

To make the cake layers:
1.Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of three 8- or 9- inch round cake pans with parchment or waxed paper but do not grease.
2.In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, espresso and vanilla. Whisk lightly to blend. In a large bowl stir together flour, 1 cup of the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
3.Whip egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium-low until frothy. Raise the miser speed to medium-high and slowly add remaining sugar. Continue to beat until soft peaks—DO NOT WHIP UNTIL STIFF PEAKS as cake will shrink excessively during cooling.
4.Add egg yolk mixture to dry ingredient and fold together just enough to combine. Add ¼ of egg whites and fold them in until just combines. Lightly fold the remaining egg whites just until no streaks remain. Divide evenly among the pans.
5.Bake for about 18 minutes or until a cake tester/wooden toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the pans. When cooled, run a butter knife around the edge of the pan to release the cakes. Invert onto wire racks and remove the paper liners.

To make the extract:
Stir espresso and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside. (Note if you use the hydrated espresso for the cake layers, you will have enough to skip this step)

To make the syrup:
Stir water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and 1 TBL of espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy. Set aside.

To make the filling and frosting:
Note: do not do this until you are ready to assemble the cake!
Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk until just blended and smooth (It helps if you let the mascarpone come to room temperature before making). Whisk heavy cream (with an electric mixer if you have one) until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir ¼ of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Fold the rest of the whipped cream in lightly.

To assemble the cake:
1.Line some counter space with parchment or waxed paper and carefully place each cake layer on the paper. Soak each cake layer with the espresso syrup. You can use a pastry brush or spoon—I recommend pouring it carefully over the top and then spooning it around to make sure the entire layer is covered. I’d actually recommend doing this BEFORE you make the filling/frosting.
2.Place strips of waxed paper or parchment paper around your cake plate. Place the bottom cake layer on the plate (the strips will help keep the plate clean during the icing process—trust me, it’s important). Smooth about 1 cup of the mascarpone cream over the layer and sprinkle half of the chocolate chips across the top. Top with the second layer of cake and do the same.  Add the top layer.
3.Whisk the remaining 1-2 TBL of espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone cream (depending how coffee-y you like). Note: I actually forgot to do this part this time and it still tastes awesome so you can skip if you want to.
4.Smooth the frosting around sides and top of the cake. It’s good to start with a light layer (also called a crumb coat), and then go back over the entire thing with the remaining icing. I clearly haven’t mastered the art of icing (I chalk part of it up to icing at 10:30 at night) but just remember that whatever it looks like, it will taste good.
5.Decorate with espresso beans if you want to or you can dust the entire top with cocoa powder (Smitten Kitchen used a template to make a star shape on the top of hers)—whatever floats your boat.
6.Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight in order for the flavors to meld.

Happy Almost Friday

Hooray for Thursday! Sorry for being MIA yesterday—it ended up being one of those days where I was inexplicably tired and needed to go to bed at 9:30pm. You know those days where you think you are just going to rest your eyes for a few minutes and the next thing you know it’s 11pm and you have to force yourself to get up and actually take out your contacts (which have by this time become glued to your eyes) and brush your teeth. That’s what it was like. So between that and the fact that Jason and I decided to treat ourselves to a mid-week dinner out (where we engaged in one of our favorite past times—eavesdropping on other people’s dinner conversations), last night’s blog post fell by the wayside.

But today I am back and ready to share with you a new recipe I tried out for dinner tonight. Jason and I both love asparagus and since we are quickly approaching the end of asparagus season (sniff sniff) I’ve been trying to come up with various ways to eat it every week. Tonight I decided to try out Smitten Kitchen’s Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta. Not only does it include asparagus (which we love), but it also includes a healthy dose of goat cheese (which we also love…as you can probably guess from the fact that we actually made our own a few months back).  The one thing that had me worried about this recipe is that it is one of those pasta recipes that don’t really have a sauce—instead it suggests adding some of the pasta cooking water to the dish to help the other ingredients (in this case the goat cheese, lemon zest, tarragon and olive oil) coat the pasta. I’ve never had particularly good luck with this approach but it was an otherwise appealing recipe so I decided to give it a shot.

The result? Who needs a "sauce" when you have melty goat cheese. Y-U-M. The goat cheese coated the pasta like a dream. And I really liked the hint of lemon with both the cheese and the asparagus. Only thing I might do next time is add some additional tarragon or some fresh parsley for a little more green, herbiness (yes, I know that's not a real word). Overall, a great SUPER EASY dish.

Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
8 ounces penne pasta (we used whole grain because it’s what we had)
1 pound of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
2 TBL olive oil
1 TBL grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 4-ounce log fresh goat cheese
Fresh lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)
Salt and pepper

1.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until it is almost done (with 2-3 minutes cooking time left). Add asparagus and cook until pasta is al dente and asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Reserve one cup of pasta water and drain the pasta and asparagus together.
2.Meanwhile combine olive oil, lemon peel, tarragon in a large bowl. Break goat cheese into the mixture and add host pasta and asparagus. Toss until combined, adding enough pasta water to make it smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice and serve.