Cranberry-Almond Crostata

I can hardly describe what a relief it is to finally feel an oh-so-slight chill in the air when you live in Fort Lauderdale. We’ve been regularly having temperatures above 80 degrees, but yesterday that hint of coolness finally crept into the air. Of course, Mike and I still went to the beach on Sunday morning. It was nice enough to lay out in a bathing suit, but I did have my legs covered with a towel for most of the time.

The first weekend of November was a very appropriate time to get our first “cool snap”--it was the weekend when we set back the clocks bringing on shorter, darker days, AND it was the weekend I started rolling out the holiday recipes. There are so many wonderful things to cook and bake during the much-too-short holiday season, so I spread it out over a bunch of little feasts. Since we are going to spend Thanksgiving with the O’Hara side of Mike’s family in Connecticut (a fabulously fun T-Day tradition), I took this weekend to make some Thanksgiving favorites in my own kitchen, and try out a few new recipes from my many food magazines.

I almost never follow a recipe exactly, so when I do, it had better be perfect. Okay, I made a couple hardly-worth-mentioning tweaks to this Cranberry Crostata from November’s Gourmet and still it was flawless. Really just a cross between a pie and a tart, this dessert has incredibly vibrant flavor from the fresh cranberry filling and richness from the almond pastry, but none of it is too sweet or flabby to enjoy after a big holiday meal. I highly recommend it for a Thanksgiving dessert or an anytime holiday treat--it kind of reminds me of a big Linzer cookie now that I think about it!

Here are my tweaks: I used whole wheat pastry flour in place of all-purpose. It’s a natural with the nutty crust, both for flavor and color. The recipe calls for 10 ounces of fresh cranberries, but as you may know, the standard bag of Ocean Spray cranberries in your neighborhood supermarket is 14 ounces. We picked out the smashed or dubious-looking berries, and used all that remained with no problems whatsoever. The dough is very soft and tender and doesn’t depend on being chilled during mixing. Follow Gourmet’s directions for rolling it out between parchment paper, and don’t worry about piecing it together in the pan. My lattice strips broke apart during transfer, but this didn’t matter much in the end. I also used turbinado sugar instead of granulated for sprinkling because I like the crunch. Click here for the recipe on Gourmet's website. What holiday recipes have you already tried?

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In case your cranberry appetite is never sated, here are some more mouth-watering cranberry desserts from blogs I love:

Cranberry Linzer Tart on Orangette
Maury Rubin's Cranberry, Caramel and Almond Tart on The Wednesday Chef
Cranberry-Orange Cookies (with pistachios!) on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Cinnamon Cranberry Rice Pudding on The Perfect Pantry
Cranberry-Raisin Pie on David Lebovitz
Cranberry Ribbon Cake on Coconut and Lime
Apple-Cranberry Pie on Simply Recipes
Cranberry Banana Bread on Chocolate & Zucchini

Technorati Tags: recipes, thanksgiving, tart, cranberry, almond

Corn and Shrimp Pizza with the Best Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe

Recently, we got a pepperoni pizza from Papa John's for dinner. Mike was craving it, and we never order pizza. Our dial-for-dinner days ended when I bought a food processor and figured out how easy it was to make my own crust. Since then, I've just about perfected the recipe, experimented with all sorts of toppings and never looked back.

There's nothing wrong with good old fast food pizza, and I will admit that Papa John's was much better than I thought it would be--I love when thin slices of pepperoni get a little charred around the edges. With the weekly coupons we receive in the mail, I don't think we will let years go by this time before calling the Papa again.

So, has all the time and effort I have spent making my own pizzas been a waste? No way! Here's the thing: the pizza I make and the Papa John's takeout-or-delivery version are two totally different foods--apples and oranges. Papa John's satisfies a craving for nostalgia, taking me back to eating pizza and drinking soda (a special treat!) on Friday nights when I was a kid, or in college on the way home from a bar. My homemade pizza on the other hand represents the way I like to eat now: nutritious, fresh, topped with the flavors and ingredients that I love. You just can't get a pie topped with arugula, figs or sauteed shrimp from the Papa.

The recipe here is one of the favorites that we seem to go back to when we want something different. It is perfect in summer when corn is flavorful and crisp right off the cob and cherry tomatoes are sweet and inexpensive. This is my standard crust recipe, but I often substitute different flours depending on what I have. All-purpose flour will work and so will whole wheat pastry. You could do this with only white flour, but all whole wheat would probably be a little too intense and heavy.

As often as I make pizza, I've only written about it once on the blog. This fig, caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza is one of my favorite meals (the dough recipe in the fig post is essentially the same, but I have simplified and streamlined the directions in the updated version below). Make it now when fresh figs are in season.

One more note on homemade pizza: it sounds a little daunting to proof yeast and measure flour yourself, especially now that you can buy pizza dough in many grocery stores. I promise that once you do this two or three times, it will be the simplest baking you can imagine. It becomes second nature--something you'll start to fit into your day like taking out the trash or defrosting a chicken. You can do it the night before or if you are at home during the day, make the dough at lunch time and let it do its rising while you go about the rest of your life. Active prep time for this dough is 10 to 15 minutes, including cleanup. Even if you're on a first name basis with the pizza delivery kid, I'm betting you will get addicted to your own homemade creations after a couple of go-rounds.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
This recipe makes enough for two pizzas, each one serving 2 to 4 people, depending on how hungry you are and what else you’ve got going. The dough is thin with a chewy, slightly crisp texture. I love that I can make dough once and freeze half so that my next pizza is as effortless as defrosting the dough. My method for measuring flour by volume is to fluff it up, then lightly spoon it into measuring cups without packing it down or shaking the cup causing it to settle. I always eyeball the oil and honey measurements. This recipe could also be made by hand or in a stand mixer.

1 1⁄4 c. warm water
1 tblsp. granulated sugar
1 package dry yeast
2 c. whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour)
1 1⁄2 c. bread flour (I like King Arthur Bread Flour)
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for coating the bowl
1 tblsp. honey

Pour the water into a bowl, add the sugar, then gently stir in the yeast. Let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes or until the yeast forms a foamy layer on the surface of the water. Meanwhile, add the flours, and salt to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse to combine. Add the olive oil, honey and yeast mixture. Process until the dough comes together, forming a ball. This should only take about one minute. If your ingredients get stuck, you may need to open the lid and move them around a bit so they can come together properly. Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and lay a kitchen towel on top. Let it sit in warm, non-drafty place until the dough doubles in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board and knead for 1 to 2 minutes. Divide the dough into two equal balls. Let the two balls of dough rise for the second time on the cutting board, covered with a kitchen towel, for an hour and a half. Knead each piece 2 or 3 times, then proceed with the pizza. At this point, you can also refrigerate the dough in a Ziploc bag to use within 24 hours, or freeze it to use within 3 months.

Another option, especially if you are making the dough before bed or in the morning before work is to let it rise for the second time in the refrigerator, well-covered, for at least 8 hours, after which you can knead it for a few seconds, transfer it to a Ziploc bag, and keep it for use that day or freeze it. Always bring the dough to room temperature before rolling it out.

To make the pizza: Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of cornmeal on a large rectangle of parchment paper. Flatten one ball of dough into a disk, place in the center of the parchment paper and roll it out with a flour-coated rolling pin to form a large oval, about 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkle more cornmeal around the border of the dough, if desired. Cover with your toppings to within 1/2 to 1 inch of the edge. Use the parchment to lift the pizza and place the parchment directly onto the pizza stone in the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through (the bottom of the dough should just barely take on some color). Transfer pizza to a cutting board, discarding parchment. Let it rest for 5 minutes, cut and serve.

Shrimp and Corn Pizza
Note: special equipment that I use for cooking homemade pizza is parchment paper and a pizza stone. The directions for rolling out the pizza are repeated here so that both recipes may be used independently.

1/2 tbs. olive oil
1/2 lb. medium or large shrimp, shelled and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tbs. coarsely ground cornmeal for dough (optional)
1 cup grated fresh mozzarella cheese
fresh corn kernels, cut from 1 to 2 ears
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (just under 1 pint)
1 red bell pepper, cut into very thin strips
6 scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepper and cook until opaque, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes total. Transfer the shrimp to a cutting board and chop into 2 or 3 pieces each.

Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of cornmeal on a large rectangle of parchment paper. Flatten one ball of dough into a disk, place in the center of the parchment paper and roll it out with a flour-coated rolling pin to form a large oval, about 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkle more cornmeal around the border of the dough, if desired.

Top the dough with the cheese, corn, tomatoes, shrimp, bell peppers and scallions. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper to suit your taste. Use the parchment to lift the pizza and place the parchment directly onto the pizza stone in the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through (the bottom of the dough should just barely take on some color). Transfer pizza to a cutting board, discarding parchment. Let it rest for 5 minutes, cut and serve.




Technorati Tags: recipes, pizza, shrimp, corn

Memphis Barbecue Sauce (for the perfect pulled pork sandwich)

This is what I cooked on the 4th of July: slow-roasted pulled pork with Memphis-style barbecue sauce. Piled onto fluffy cornbread with (healthy) collard greens on the side, this is Southern food heaven.

As I ate, I thought about how surprising it is that things have come this. There is not a lot of food out there I don't like, but Southern food is probably the last thing I ever expected to fall for. I grew up in Los Angeles, then moved to Boston-- I'm a city girl all the way. But I am glad living in Florida led me to try Southern cooking. So much of it is easy to prepare healthfully.

This barbecue sauce, for example, comes from the July issue of Cooking Light magazine. They also include methods to prepare smoked meat and roasts from the various parts of the southern U.S. Lacking a grill and a smoker, we just made the seasoning and basting liquid in this recipe for Memphis Pork and roasted it at 275 degrees for 4 hours. The meat becomes moist and tender, but the star is the sauce--it is a little tangy, a little sweet, and not too thick or too thin. Try it, and you will never reach for store-bought barbecue sauce again.


Memphis Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light magazine. Here is the original recipe. I rewrote it here with a few notes for convenience.

Makes about 2 cups.

1 c. ketchup
3/4 c. white vinegar
2 tbs. light brown sugar
1 tbs. onion powder
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs. mustard (I used Koop's spicy brown mustard)
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove and serve warm over shredded pork. May be made in advance and reheated. Keeps for several days in the refrigerator.


Technorati Tags: recipes, southern, Main Course

Brik, or the greatest fried egg ever!

I think I went through most of the past decade avoiding fried foods, with the exception of the occasional french fry. Then I discovered New England fried clams and things went downhill from there. But, wait, fried food, done right, isn’t that big of a deal. It’s just another way to cook things, and when Mike and I do it on occasion, it is usually a lot of fun. On top of that, the results can be a revelation.

We’ve fried donuts and egg rolls; even squash blossoms. When I saw the recipe for Brik, a wonton-like Tunisian turnover, in the May issue of Gourmet, I knew I had met the fried food of my dreams. It seemed to defy logic: a raw egg cracked into a little nest of tuna and parsley, wrapped in egg roll dough and fried to a golden crisp, yet keeping the yolk soft and silky within to create a rich, yellow dipping sauce that would ooze out when the brik was cracked with a fork. Too wonderful to be possible, right? Of course, we had to give it a shot.

Gourmet came through with this one, people. The recipe worked perfectly, and the promise of a soft, runny yolk was fulfilled. I have never eaten anything, much less fried anything, quite like this. As exotic as it sounds, it employs everyday ingredients, and requires a simple skillet for the quick shallow fry. We did watch our oil temperature carefully using a deep-fat thermometer, but this was really easy to do, especially with two cooks.



Just a couple slight changes to the recipe: The egg roll wrappers they sell in our grocery store are 6 x 6, not 8 inches, as the recipe calls for. The 6-inch wrappers were too small to fold over to form a triangle, so we just used 2 wrappers, one on top of the other to form a “pillow” with the egg and tuna nest in the middle. We did not brush the wrappers with oil because we forgot and then it didn’t seem necessary. We fried one brik at a time and pretty much ate as we went. They do keep beautifully for a few minutes in a low oven, however, if you need to fry a bunch and then serve.

These were so much fun, especially if you love a great, runny egg. Here is the link to the recipe, and if you have the magazine, there’s a lot of pictures in there too.

Just a quick note: Mike and I are leaving on Saturday to travel to Seattle to see his family, then on to Tokyo, Singapore where his aunt and uncle live, then Thailand and Vietnam. We'll be gone for over three weeks, but I'm going to blog as we go...I don't know what to expect, but it should be an amazing time; and I absolutely cannot wait for the food!

Technorati Tags: recipes, appetizers, eggs, fried food, Main Course

Phyllo Triangles with Lamb, Onions and Pine Nuts and a Request for Travel Info

This post may be about Middle Eastern food, but right now I've got bangers & mash, crumpets and pints of Caffrey's on my mind because tomorrow Mike and I are going on a much-anticipated trip to London, followed by a few days in Amsterdam. I went to school in London for a year during college, and I love the city. Mike has never been, so I'll get to show him all my favorite places. We have both been to Europe separately, but this is our first time together. I can't wait, and I'm about to go start packing! If anyone has any good restaurant suggestions for us, or anything else for that matter, please leave a comment! I won't be able to post next week, but come back on April 30th and I'll post pictures from the trip. Now on to the tasty...

For a long time, I was scared of working with phyllo dough. Then, determined to develop my own recipe for spanakopita, I channeled a Greek goddess or two, and took the plunge. By the time I finished, I had a very good spinach pie, and I was laughing at my own hesitation to cook with phyllo.

There’s nothing to it whatsoever! I had made pizza dough and yeast breads, but I was afraid of a cooking with dough that was already done for me? It didn’t make any sense, but was rather a case of fearing the new. Now that I’m over it, I can’t get enough of phyllo dough. If you love appetizers and small plates, phyllo can be your best friend.

These simple little lamb triangles are one of my favorite phyllo creations so far. You just cook up the ground lamb with a chopped onion, add spices and pine nuts, and fold the filling into a piece of phyllo, brushing with melted butter as you go. I find that I never need as much butter as most phyllo recipes call for. You don’t need to cover the dough with pools of it, just enough to lightly coat. You will still get golden, crispy, buttery phyllo.

According to Claudia Roden, this simple filling is a classic Arab preparation. The combination of lamb and Middle Eastern spices is a favorite of mine. The recipe sounds good on paper, but the real thing is so beautifully spiced and flaky that you will want to make them again and again.

Update: Not 10 minutes after posting, it has been brought to my attention that I failed to give due credit to the person who performed the horrible, mind-numbing, tedious task of making all the phyllo triangles himself. My wonderful, culinarily gifted husband did a top-notch job...how one man can have so many talents, I'll never know.

Don't worry if the dough gets a little raggedy; you won't notice once it's baked.

Seal up the edge with a little dab of butter.

Phyllo Triangles with Lamb, Onions and Pine Nuts
Adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

If you do not like lamb or can’t find it, this will work just as well with beef or even ground turkey; although for me, the unique flavor of lamb is one of the best things about this dish. Defrost the phyllo dough in its wrapper and always keep it covered with a kitchen towel once it is unwrapped to prevent it from drying out.

Makes about 20

3-4 tbs. melted butter
8 oz. ground lamb
½ tbs. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 ¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
2 tbs. pine nuts, lightly toasted
10 sheets phyllo dough, defrosted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat two baking sheets with melted butter using a pastry brush. Heat a skillet to medium-high and add the ground lamb. Cook, breaking meat up with a spoon as you go, until lamb is no longer pink. If your lamb is on the fatty side, turn the meat out onto a plate layered with paper towels to drain and pour any fat out of the skillet. Add the oil to the skillet and lower heat to medium. Add the onions and cook until soft and lightly browned. Return the lamb to the skillet and season with salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice. Stir in the toasted pine nuts and remove from heat.

Place the phyllo sheets on a work surface and cut them in half lengthwise. Keep all the phyllo covered with a kitchen towel so it doesn’t dry out while you make the triangles. Take one strip of phyllo and lightly coat it with melted butter using a pastry brush. Place about one tablespoon of the lamb filling on one end of the strip, about 1 inch from the edge. Fold the end of the dough over the filling, then continue folding the dough over itself in triangle shapes. Seal up the end with a dab of butter, brush a little butter over the top of the triangle and place on one of the baking sheets. Repeat to use up the rest of the filling. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Technorati Tags: recipes, lamb, phyllo, appetizers, Middle Eastern

Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Olives and Cumin Vinaigrette

It is easy to forget that the carrot can be a stand-alone vegetable. So often it is just part of the "holy trinity," along with onions and celery, in a soup base; a colorful salad add-in; or a member of the crudite platter, whose presence there, or on any veggie tray, is taken for granted.

I reminded myself how well carrots perform as the main attraction when I made this salad. Easter put carrots in my head. I wasn't up for a rich, indulgent carrot cake, but I needed a hearty side dish, so I thought of this recipe. It is from Once Upon a Tart, a book I have mentioned a lot on this blog (like here & here), always glowingly. The recipe is one of many that I flagged with post-its.

I think chickpeas have to be my favorite bean, and I love olives. I like carrots, but like most people, I wouldn't say I "love" this particular vegetable. I may have to change that assessment now, because I love this salad. It's addictive and, as I discovered a few days after making it, highly adaptable. Toss in chicken, shrimp, avocado--whatever sounds good. Just don't take the spotlight away from the carrots, and you'll be floating.

I wasn't sure what I would turn up when I searched food blogs for "carrots," but I was not disappointed!

Ginger and cumin are perfect flavors for roasted carrots on La Tartine Gourmande.

Moroccan-Style Carrots with pine nuts on Morsels & Musings lends the vegetable to one of my favorite cuisines.

Play with texture in this Shaved Carrot and Fennel Salad from Erin's Kitchen.

Chez Megane does a classic pairing of Roast Carrots and Parsnips with Thyme (if you haven't roasted parsnips, try it; they are even sweeter than carrots!)

And just for fun, take a look at this post from Meathenge and discover the World Carrot Museum!

Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Black Olives and Cumin-Paprika Vinaigrette
Adapted from Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau
I did not change any of the ingredients in this salad, just played with the proportions a bit. I wanted it to be a carrot salad with chickpeas, instead of vice versa, and I cut the amount of cumin in the dressing from a whopping two tablespoons down to one. This salad was gone in a flash, so double the recipe if you want some leftovers. I liked it so much that I made it again a few days later, using poached chicken instead of chickpeas and scattering avocado over the top—very delicious.

Makes 2 generous servings

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2/3 c. kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and shredded in a food processor or coarsely grated
½ c. chopped fresh cilantro
4-5 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped

Vinaigrette:
1 medium garlic clove, minced
zest of ½ lemon and juice of the whole lemon
1 tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp. Hungarian paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
black pepper, to taste
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, olives, carrots, cilantro and scallions. To make the vinaigrette, combine all the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake until emulsified. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. You may not need all the dressing, depending on your taste. Check the seasoning and serve or refrigerate for a few hours and let salad come back to room temperature before serving.

Technorati Tags: recipes, sides, vegetarian, salads, carrots Course

Fresh Corn Souffles, with Variations

I have written about soufflés before on this blog. My absolute favorite is a blue cheese version that has become a staple for special occasions. If you are looking for a light dessert, whip up this low-calorie banana soufflé. Without a doubt, they are one of my favorite things to make. I love the versatility they offer and the ability to turn any ingredient into a little miracle with a simple technique.

This fresh corn version follows my template for vegetable soufflés. I chose corn to go along with Mole Steaks for a Mexican-themed meal. The sweetness of fresh corn pairs naturally with the light, buttery soufflé. Cotija cheese adds just enough salty tang, but you could use any cheese that sounds appealing to you.

Here are some other ideas for vegetable soufflés using this recipe. The only thing you need to change is the cheese and the veggie for a completely new flavor. Corn is ready to add to your soufflé as is, but you’ll have to finely chop larger vegetables like broccoli.

• Cooked broccoli and sharp cheddar or Parmesan (I made these as a side dish for Christmas dinner)

• Sauteed mushrooms and fontina

• Sauteed spinach and feta (squeeze out as much water as possible from the spinach)

You really can use your imagination. If you haven’t already, it is time to master this incredible dish. For tons of brilliant ideas and inspiration, browse through all the gorgeous soufflés from this past food blogging event.

Fresh Corn Soufflés

Makes 4 (6 oz.) soufflés

Butter, for coating soufflé dishes
Breadcrumbs, for coating soufflé dishes
3 tbs. unsalted butter
4-5 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped
3 tbs. all-purpose flour
1 c. milk
¼ tsp. salt
ground pepper, to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
4 large eggs, separated
3 tbs. queso cotija, feta or Monterey jack cheese
1/3 c. fresh yellow corn, cut from the cob
¼ tsp. cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 4 (6 oz.) ramekins with butter and coat with bread crumbs, shaking out excess. Taste the corn. If it is sweet and tender, use it as is. If it tastes a little under ripe, microwave in a bowl with about a tablespoon of water for one minute. Drain and proceed with recipe. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the scallions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until very soft. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly. Add the milk and cook until slightly thickened, whisking continuously. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. Quickly stir in a spoonful of the milk mixture to temper the egg yolks (so they won’t scramble when added to the hot mixture). Add the yolks to the milk mixture (do not return to stovetop), stirring to incorporate. Stir in the cheese and corn. Set this aside and beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold about one third of the whites into the soufflé batter. You want to still see some white streaks, and maintain the volume of the egg whites, so fold gently and briefly. Fold the remaining egg whites into the batter in two more additions.

Evenly divide the soufflé batter among the prepared ramekins and place on a baking sheet or roasting pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are tall, golden and just set in the center. Serve right away.

Technorati Tags: recipes, sides, souffle, vegetables

Mole Sauce for Steak or Chicken and Lime-Honey Vinaigrette

I know I have written about how much I think Gourmet magazine stands out among the mountain of food magazines that overtake my mailbox every month. Lately, however, more of the recipes I actually cook have come out of Food & Wine magazine. The finger-lickin’ tasty Fried Chicken and Biscuits came from the February issue, and I hit the jackpot again in the March issue with an Mole Sauce that used a simple poblano salsa as its base.

Like many complex and iconic dishes, mole sauce inspires feeling of fascination and reverence in me. Maybe even more so, since it is the kind of dish I may never duplicate authentically unless I move to Puebla and become friendly with the cooks there who carry the secrets of mole-making around in their DNA. Having said that, I think the mole I made with the Food & Wine recipe as a guide definitely does justice to the genuine article.

This sauce is smoky from poblanos, spicy from dried chipotle peppers, nutty from toasted sesame seeds, and rich from chocolate, raisins and cinnamon. Complex doesn’t even begin to describe it; all the sweet flavors are perfectly balanced by the chiles and vegetables. Pureeing makes the consistency creamy and opaque, but it is not at all thick or heavy. All of this means that you could feast on this mole sauce for hours because your taste buds will never get tired of sampling the subtle shades of flavor.

The same article also inspired one of the best salad dressings I’ve made in a while: a simple lime-honey vinaigrette that is refreshingly sweet and zingy. I poured it over a salad of sweet baby lettuces (not the spicy greens we usually prefer, like arugula) from a Dole salad mix, tossed it with chopped tomatoes, a few slivers of red onion and fresh orange sections along with the juices that accumulated when I cut up the orange.

By the way, we served the mole sauce over dry-aged sirloin steaks, seared in a skillet over high heat then transferred to the oven to finish cooking. Any good steak would be wonderful; just let the mole be the star of the show. Two nights later, we roasted whole chicken breasts and topped them with the leftover mole. This was also fantastic. This may be the closest I ever get to authentic mole sauce, and I couldn’t be happier about it!

Mole Sauce for Steak or Chicken
Adapted from Food & Wine magazine

The original salsa recipe calls for ancho chiles which are dried poblanos. I could not find them, so I used fresh poblanos with amazing results. The recipe for the Poblano Salsa base yields 5 cups of salsa, but you only need one cup to make the mole. I prepared the whole salsa recipe and used some of the leftovers to make an enchilada sauce by mixing about 1 cup of salsa with a can of plain tomato sauce. I froze the rest in 1 cup portions for future use. You could also use the salsa as a dip or a topping for grilled fish or chicken. Two dried chipotle chiles with most seeds should yield a very hot salsa Adjust the amount of chiles and seeds to suit you, but don’t eliminate them completely; they add a unique sweet-smoky flavor.


Poblano Salsa:
8 poblano chiles, stemmed seeded and roughly chopped
1 to 2 dried chipotle chile peppers, stemmed and some seeds discarded, depending on your desired heat level (see recipe headnote)
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 white onion, chopped
1 tbs. light brown sugar
1 tbs. canola oil
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. (approx.) freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs. cider vineger

In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the vinegar. Bring to a boil and cook for two minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover and let stand form 10 minutes. Working in batches, roughly puree the salsa in a blender. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vinegar and set aside.

Mole Sauce (Makes about 1 ½ cups; 6 servings):
1 tbs. sesame seeds
1 c. poblano salsa
½ c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 oz. chopped sweet chocolate (I used half milk and half semisweet)
2 tbs. dark raisins
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan over low heat, toast the sesame seeds until golden. Add the poblano salsa, chicken broth, chocolate, raisins, cinnamon and nutmegs. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the chocolate is melted, about 4 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if desired. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Reheat in the microwave and serve over grilled or roasted steak or chicken. Keeps in the refrigerator for 4 days.

Lime-Honey Vinaigrette
Serves 4

2 tbs. honey
3 tbs. fresh lime juice
2 tbs. canola oil
2 to 3 drops red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake well until emulsified.



Technorati Tags: recipes, beef, salad, chicken, Main Course

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Today, I want you to talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: coffee cake—discuss.

Finished? Good. Here’s my take: I wouldn’t bother with most coffee cakes. Give me a scone, a muffin, even a doughnut over coffee cake any day. My husband likes coffee cake and orders it occasionally at Starbucks. I never had the urge to make it myself until about two years ago. We had just moved into our condo, and a neighbor brought us a lovely, homemade, mini coffee cake. That was a good cake; nothing fancy, just moist, plain cake with a sugary crumb on top.

I was in no rush to duplicate the neighbor’s cake, but the seed was planted. In a baking mood, I batted around ideas yesterday to Mike. Rhubarb pudding cake? Italian Cream Cake? No dice. When I threw out coffee cake, Mike’s eyes lit up and the discussion was over.

I knew we wanted a plain, very moist cake with sour cream, topped with some kind of streusel or crumb. This is just the kind of recipe I knew I would find in my King Arthur Baker’s Companion book. The sweet recipes in this book can be a little heavy and rich, but they always turn out perfectly.

This cake may be even better than the neighbor’s. The batter is very thick, not pourable like a regular sheet cake. When baked, however, it is not too heavy, just incredibly moist and a little tangy due to the sour cream. I slightly cut the amount of flour and sugar in the crumb topping, and still had more than enough for a very sweet, crumbly cake. I also make this cake at night for breakfast today, and I think it does benefit from having ample time to cool and sit. So, it is the perfect sweet breakfast treat to make in advance. Easter brunch, perhaps?

So, now I am on the coffee cake bandwagon. Due to the intense sugar rush, I may not eat it as often as my beloved scones, but it is definitely a nice addition to my repertoire of breakfast treats.



Bloggers love coffee cake; there way too many great ones out there...

Alpineberry's Mini Cherry Walnut Streusel Coffee Cakes have a lovely pink tint.

Seriously Good's Apple-Ricotta Coffee Cake must be as good as it looks since it uses ricotta, an ingredient that's always in my fridge for spreading on toast.

Go take a gander at the gorgeous Apricot-Almond Coffee Cake at Cream Puffs in Venice.

The Dried Cranberry Coffee Cake from Tartelette is quick and simple and uses a secret ingredient--homemade eggnog!

In the archives of Baking Sheet (now Baking Bites) I found another old-fashioned sour cream coffee cake

I wish I had some fresh blueberries to make this Coffee Cake from Chocolate & Zucchini.

This apple coffee cake from Simply Recipes is easy and looks wonderful.

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
I changed this recipe by using half whole wheat pastry flour in both the crumb and the cake. It works perfectly and is undetectable to the untrained eye. Use only all-purpose flour if you want. I suspect it would also be good with only whole wheat pastry flour. I would not use regular whole wheat flour which would change the flavor, texture and color too much for this tender, sweet cake.

Makes two 9-inch rounds or one 9 x 13-inch cake

Crumb Topping:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. granulated sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
14 tbs. unsalted butter (7 ounces)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ tsp. almond extract

Cake:
8 tbs. (4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. sour cream (I used lowfat)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-inch round pans or one 9 x13 pan.

Make the crumb: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Melt the butter in the microwave and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Pour the butter over the flour mixture and stir to combine until the flour is uniformly moistened and you have a sandy, moist crumb. Set aside.

Make the cake batter: In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and sour cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the sour cream mixture and beat on low to medium or stir with a large spoon until evenly combined.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan(s). Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the batter with your fingers, covering the batter completely. Bake for 20-25 minutes for 9-inch rounds or 30-35 minutes for a 9 x 13 pan. Cake is done when a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean and the sides are light gold and slightly pulling away from the edge of the pan. Cool cakes in their pan(s) on a wire rack.



Technorati Tags: recipes, desserts, breakfasts, cakes

Crispy Fried Chicken

In my last post, I promised you easy fried chicken to go with those biscuits, along with a few reasons why you can eat these Southern comfort foods without raising your jeans size.

Take my advice, and you will never again have to have guilty fantasies about yourself and a bucket of Extra Tasty Crispy:

• Marinate overnight in buttermilk—it makes the chicken so tender that you won’t feel horribly deprived if you don’t eat all the skin

• Use canola oil—so if you do end up eating more of the fabulously crispy skin than you planned, at least it will be cooked in heart-healthy fat

• Use tasty chicken pieces—go ahead and fry legs and thighs; the extra moisture and flavor makes them more satisfying than breasts, and they cook quickly

• Do greens on the side—this meal becomes a lot more nutritious if you serve simple greens (I did turnip; kale and collard are good too) sautéed in olive oil, lemon and garlic

• Make your own biscuits—They’ve only got 4 ingredients, not counting salt, so it’s too easy not to whip these up yourself; because you’ll use the best ingredients, they will be worth every buttery bite

Crispy Fried Chicken Leg and Thighs
Adapted from Food & Wine magazine and Tyler Florence for Food Network
Plan on marinating the chicken for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Serves 4

8-10 pieces of chicken (any combo of legs and thighs)
3-4 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt, or to taste
2 tsp. ground black pepper, or to taste
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
1-2 tsp. Hungarian smoked paprika
½ tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 ½ quarts canola oil

Place the chicken pieces in a large heavy-duty Ziploc bag and pour in 3-4 cups buttermilk. Seal up the bag, swish the chicken around and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours. Flip the bag over a few times during marinating period so all the chicken has a chance to soak.

In another large Ziploc bag, combine the flour, salt, pepper cumin, paprika and cayenne. Add 3 or 4 pieces of chicken, seal and shake. Shake off any clumps of flour then press the chicken pieces so the remaining flour adheres well. Set chicken on a wire rack and repeat with remaining pieces.

Meanwhile, pour the oil into a large, heavy saucepan. Using a frying thermometer, heat the oil to between 350 and 360 degrees. Add 3 or 4 chicken pieces and fry, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes total. The temperature of the oil will drop when you add the chicken, so keep an eye on the thermometer and adjust the heat so the temperature stays between 325 and 350 while frying. When the chicken is done it will be well-browned, but if you aren’t sure, take one piece out and cut into it. You won’t be able to put it back into the oil if it isn’t cooked through, but you can finish it in the oven, if necessary. This is better than having a whole batch of undercooked chicken.

Use tongs to take the cooked pieces out of the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces. Serve immediately or later, at room temperature.

Technorati Tags: recipes, poultry, Main Course

Buttery Buttermilk Biscuits

This post is all about why you’ll never go to Kentucky Fried Chicken again. If you are reading this blog, there is a good chance you’re not a big KFC fan, but that’s not important. I know my readers love delicious homemade food, from the healthy to the indulgent, so read on because I want you to have both!

You might contend that fried chicken and biscuits falls into the indulgent category, but it doesn’t have to be the antithesis of healthy eating. We made this classic southern meal for the very first time, and it was so good without being particularly difficult, that we plan on doing it again very soon.

I suggested to Mike that we try our hand at this meal because I really wanted an excuse to make homemade buttermilk biscuits. Being a quick bread, they are not very different from one of my favorite obsessions, the scone. The recipe in a recent issue of Food & Wine was incredibly simple, with only four ingredients. I made one small change and mixed the dough with my fingers instead of a pastry blender or other tool.

I recently read in Cook’s Illustrated that this method would help create a biscuit with more flaky layers because the butter would get pinched and flattened by your fingers instead of getting turned into coarse crumbs by a pastry blender or food processor. Since hand mixing is the easiest way to go, and my biscuits had plenty of flaky layers, I definitely recommend it. Keeping the dough cold (so the butter stays solid prior to baking) and using a sharp biscuit cutter that will not smash together the layers you have created, are also important steps.

In a very distant childhood food memory, I recall the KFC buttermilk biscuit being the best part of the meal, but my homemade version beats the memory hands down. They are even better than the Pillsbury biscuits that come in the paper can that pops open. I’ve written up the biscuit recipe today, and I will give you the fried chicken in my Wednesday post, along with some tips to make this meal just healthy enough to have it whenever you get nostalgic for dinner in a bucket, only tastier.

There are quite a few Buttermilk Biscuit lovers in the blogosphere; here are a few recipes:
Accidental Hedonist's Buttermilk Biscuits

The Buttermilk Biscuits on Baking Sheet rise gorgeously high

Orangette’s Buttermilk Biscuits are made with Southern Flour (I don't know what it is, but I think I'd like it)

Mile High Biscuits from Meathenge look especially tasty modeled by Southern Biscuit Barbie


Buttery Buttermilk Biscuits
Adapted from Food & Wine magazine and Natalie Chanin
With so few ingredients, each one should be the best, so use a good quality unsalted butter that you really like. I used Plugra European style that you can find in most supermarkets. Kerrygold Irish butter and Organic Valley butter are two other brands that are delicious and widely available.

Makes 8

2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter
¾ c. buttermilk

Prep the butter up to several hours ahead. With a floured knife, cut it into ¼ to ½ inch cubes. Spread the cubes out on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Whisk together the flour baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter, fold into the flour and combine, using your fingers to break up the chunks of butter into slightly flattened bits. At this point, the dough will still be very powdery and should not come together. Add the buttermilk and stir gently with a wooden spoon just until all the flour is dampened. If you still have a lot of excess flour, add a few more drops of buttermilk until you have a barely cohesive, shaggy mass of dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat the dough together with floured hands. Flatten into a thick disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to ½ inch thick. Use a floured metal 2 ½ to 3 inch biscuit cutter to stamp out as many biscuits as you can, dipping the cutter into some flour with each biscuit. Place biscuits on the baking sheet. Collect the dough scraps, quickly re-roll and finishing stamping out biscuits. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until risen and lightly browned. Serve immediately with butter.


Technorati Tags: recipes, sides, breads

Stuffed Shells Florentine with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I rarely cook simple Italian-American food. Tomato sauce doesn’t thrill me (though it’s a great way to get your lycopene!), and the lack of green things in a dish of even the best baked penne leaves me cold. I love pasta dishes that are heavy on vegetables like swiss chard, mushrooms and caramelized onions, or legumes like chickpeas. My favorite pastas involve no red sauce at all, like spaghetti alla carbonara (possibly with arugula tossed in) or my favorite, pasta puttanesca. My lasagna’s got to have at least one vegetable in it, and whole wheat noodles are almost always my first choice.

My way isn’t necessarily better; it’s just my preference. And if you load your spaghetti down with veggies, it feels like you’re eating twice as much. Everything I’ve just written should be sufficient evidence to show that these Stuffed Shells Florentine are quite an about-face for me. Thank goodness I’m not too set in my ways. Making and eating them was an absolute pleasure.

The Roasted Red Pepper Sauce follows the usual method for making marina sauce, but the freshly roasted peppers and a few anchovy fillets give the red sauce an unexpected twist and an extra layer of flavor. Assembling stuffed shells is not too fussy a proposition for relaxing weekend cooking. Of course, I had to get a green vegetable in there somewhere, and the spinach stuffing only serves to make these more delicious and visually alluring (if you aren’t a spinach lover, you might disagree).

If you have one of those days when you don’t know what to cook, or nothing sounds good to you, try going out of your comfort zone. Stuffed shells are hardly an exotic food, but I rarely make that kind of dish in my own kitchen. What kinds of things do you rarely make?

Stuffed Shells Florentine
I glanced over a couple recipes for guidance, then put this together myself.

Serves 4 (this recipe is easy to double)

Salt and pepper, to taste
About half a pound large shell pasta (you will need 16 good shells)
1 tbs. olive oil
¼ c. finely chopped onion or shallot
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1 ¼ c. ricotta cheese
pinch of nutmeg
1 egg white
¼ c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for garnish
1 to 1 ½ c. Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (or your red sauce of choice)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt and cook shells according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion or shallot and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds to one minute. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper and cook until all the leaves are soft and wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, nutmeg, egg white and Parmigiano. Season with pepper and bit of salt (the cheese already provides some salt). Stir in the spinach mixture.

Coat the bottom of an 8x8 or similar size baking dish with a thin layer of sauce. Fill 16 shells with the ricotta mixture and nestle them into the baking dish. Spoon an ample amount of sauce over the top of the shells. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle some Parmigiano over the top and bake uncovered for 5 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted (I skipped the extra cheese, but still baked it uncovered for 5 minutes). Let the shells rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Adapted from 50 Great Pasta Sauces by Pamela Sheldon Johns
If you want to make this sauce vegetarian, leave out the anchovies.

Makes about 3 cups

2 large red bell peppers
2 tbs. olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
5 anchovy fillets from a jar or can
2 c. chicken broth
1-28 oz. can whole tomatoes (use a brand imported from Italy, if possible)
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley

Roast the bell peppers under your broiler or directly on the burner of a gas stovetop until skins are completely black. Cool, then peel off the skins. Remove the stems and seeds, chop the peppers and set aside until you are ready to make the sauce. This may be done up to one day ahead.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook until lightly browned, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Add the anchovies and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and their juice, the chopped roasted peppers, and the parsley. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes.

Use a hand blender to puree the sauce, or do it in batches in a blender. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if desired. The sauce may be made and refrigerated up to 3 days ahead.

Technorati Tags: recipes, Italian, Main Course, vegetarian

One-Skillet Lemon Chicken with Red Potatoes

Isn’t it rewarding to execute the proverbial “one-pot meal?” Protein, starch and vegetables all nestled cozily in a single cooking vessel should make anyone sigh with relief on a busy night, yet I never make it a point to cook one-pot meals. Maybe the stigma of crock pot cooking and the idea of haphazardly tossing an "all but the kitchen sink"-style array of ingredients into a large vat deterred me (disclaimer: I do own a crock pot, and admit that it has its own unique set of benefits). I am happy to say that this succulent, moist chicken that creates its own rich, lemony sauce as it roasts, reintroduced me to the very delicious possibilities of one-pot meals.

In all honesty, I am still raving about how wonderful this lemon chicken is and fighting Mike over the leftovers. The method used to create the bright, luscious lemon sauce is ingenious. I wish I could take the credit, but I got this recipe out of one of my Cooking Light cookbooks. I slightly increased the scant amount of olive oil they called for and added extra kalamata olives and grape tomatoes (why on earth would they restrict me to 10 grape tomatoes in their original recipe?!).

To create this fantastic lemon sauce, all you do is line a large oven-proof skillet with lemon slices. Then you toss the chicken in a lemon-rosemary-garlic vinaigrette and layer it on top; toss the red potato wedges in the same vinaigrette and tuck them in around the chicken; and finally sprinkle the olives and tomatoes over all. After baking totally unattended for about 55 minutes, you have a complete meal bathed in the luscious sauce mentioned above. The use of boneless, skinless chicken thighs helps create the rich sauce and is guaranteed to be moist. On a night when I thought I would just be throwing together something simple and unchallenging, this one-pot dinner was an incredibly tasty surprise.

Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken with Red Potatoes
Adapted from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook

Serves 4

1 to 2 large lemons, sliced
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tbs. lemon juice
¾ tsp. coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
5-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 ½ lb. small red potatoes, cut into 1-inch wedges
½ pint cherry or grape tomatoes
12-16 kalamata olives, pitted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In your largest oven-proof skillet, arrange lemon slices in a single layer along the bottom. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice, salt and pepper, garlic and rosemary. Toss the chicken pieces in the vinaigrette and arrange in a single layer over the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the bowl and toss in the remaining vinaigrette. Place potatoes in the skillet over and around the chicken and pour in any excess vinaigrette. Sprinkle the tomatoes and olives over the potatoes. Transfer the skillet to the center of the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through. Divide the chicken and vegetables between serving plates and spoon the lemon sauce over. The cooked lemon slices may be eaten as well.

Technorati Tags: recipes, healthy, chicken, Main Course

Honey Cornmeal Scones

Sometimes I think breakfast pastries make me even happier than dessert. After all, I can consider them an actual meal even though they tend to be mostly simple carbs. Then I eat a proper dessert like a chocolate mousse tart or really good tiramisu and know that no muffin or scone could ever match its creamy decadence.

Happily, I don’t have to choose between these two loves, although I try not to indulge in a sweet breakfast and a fabulous dessert on the same day (always moderation!). My favorite kind of baked breakfast item is the scone. The scone is a much maligned and misunderstood food, and I can understand why. Many, especially the big, American coffeehouse-style scones, are way too sweet and have a tendency to leave you with a leaden feeling in your stomach and butter oozing out of your pores. They are good for a few bites, but regret inevitably follows.

I generally like all kinds of scones from the light and dry English style to the dense, substantial types, loaded with fruit, nuts, oats and anything else that strikes your fancy. One thing I have discovered is that shocking amounts of butter and sugar are not required to make a good, moist scone.

I adapted the recipe for these honey-cornmeal lovelies from Once Upon a Tart, a cookbook from two New York City bakery owners who clearly have jumped on the heavy American scone bandwagon. There are over a dozen enticing scone recipes all loaded down with butter and sugar. I love butter (click here and scroll down for butter-related rant). I believe in its power, but this was too much. The original version of this scone has 16 tablespoons and I reduced it to 10. I cut the brown sugar from ½ cup to ¼ cup. I also replaced two cups of the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour, and I swear, you would never know it.

The point of all this tinkering was not to make a healthier scone or a low-calorie scone; but, in my opinion, a better scone. I think I succeeded. Cutting the sugar allows the flavor of the honey to come forward, and the scone is still pleasingly sweet, like a denser version of cornbread covered in honey butter. As long as you use the right technique—mixing cold cubes of butter into the flour mixture just until it looks like coarse crumbs and quickly folding in the liquid until just combined—there is plenty of butter to give the scones ample moisture and richness. They may never measure up to your favorite dessert, but these scones make breakfast a treat.

Honey Cornmeal Scones
Adapted from Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

Makes 12 scones

2 large eggs
1 c. buttermilk
½ c. honey
1 scant tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 ½ c. yellow cornmeal (medium ground if you like a little crunch; fine ground if you don’t)
1 tbs. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ c. packed light brown sugar
10 tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and chilled for at least 20 minutes before using
1 egg, beat with 1 tsp. water, for glazing (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the 2 eggs, buttermilk, honey and vanilla together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Add the cold, cubed butter and mix it in with your fingers to create a very loose, sandy consistency. You want to smoosh and break up the butter cubes slightly with your fingers, as long as you don’t cause them to melt into the dough.

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and gently combine just until all the flour is moistened (if you over mix, you will get tough dough).

Use a half-cup size measuring cup to scoop the dough out onto the cookie sheet into 12 free-form scones. Use a pastry brush to dab the scones with the glaze. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on baking sheets for a couple of minutes, then move to wire racks to finish cooling.

More scones to try from other bloggers:
Scottish Scones from Orangette--I tried this recipe myself, and they make a delicious simple scone, not too heavy or light, with minimal butter and sugar.
Yogurt Scones from Chocolate and Zucchini--I've never used yogurt before; must give these a try!
Sweet Potato & Vidalia Onion Scones from Tartelette--Now I can eat scones for lunch and dinner too!
Lemon Poppy Seed Scones from The Wednesday Chef
Meyer Lemon Scones from Baking Sheet--Another way to use my favorite lemons!

Technorati Tags: recipes, breakfast, scones,

Exotic Rack of Lamb with Spiced Quinoa

What do you consider exotic? I wonder if the more I cook and eat, the fewer things will be able to fit in that category. I think of hard to find ingredients as exotic, so that would include things like kaffir lime leaves, zucchini blossoms and wild game. Dishes from other cultures that I’ve never tried certainly are exotic, if not always appetizing (fried grasshoppers, anyone?).

In my mind, the word exotic conjures up a stereotypical image of a sultan’s tent with bright fabrics flowing from overhead, music involving a sitar and the scent of warm, aromatic spices wafting through the air. That is what I had in mind when I made up the spice mix for my rack of lamb. I did not adhere to the culinary traditions of any particular culture, but included all my favorite exotic spices to create a vaguely Turkish blend, resonant with the bitter vanilla tang of cardamom, the smokiness of cumin, the wintry spice of cloves and the heat of pepper. I toasted most of the spices whole and ground them in a mortar. The result was an intensely sweet, smoky and spicy crust all over the edges of the meat due to a quick sear followed by roasting to a gorgeously rare interior.

The only thing that could go with the lamb was an equally exotic quinoa dish that took on a more Moroccan bent with its spicing of intense Vietnamese cinnamon and good, sweet paprika. This recipe came from a Passover menu in the latest issue of Bon Appetit. I love using currants in grain dishes like this or the couscous I made here.

The inspiration for this exotically spiced meal was our wedding anniversary. The actual date was Monday, but it has gotten a bit drawn out over several days of celebration. We went out for a romantic dinner on Saturday, but we also wanted to cook something special at home since that is one of our favorite ways to spend time together both now and before we were married one year ago. Even though I use my “exotic” spices as often as anything else in my pantry, they still transport me out of our Florida condo and into that mysterious sultan’s tent. That great bottle of Zinfandel, lush with blackberry, may have had something to do with it too.

Exotic Rack of Lamb
I like to grind whole spices because you get the most intense, fresh flavor this way. If you want to substitute any of the whole spices in the recipe for ground, go right ahead. If you don’t have one of the spices, leave it out. These quantities are just a guideline, so alter them to suit your tastes or your pantry’s inventory.

Serves 2

8 green cardamom pods
1 tsp. cumin seeds
½ tsp. whole coriander
½ tsp. anise seeds
¼ tsp. red chile flakes
5 whole allspice berries
½ tsp. black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 frenched rack of lamb (8 rib chops)
coarse salt to taste
1 tbs. olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Add the first 8 ingredients to a dry skillet (not nonstick) on medium heat and toast until very aromatic, 2-4 minutes. Add the spices to a mortar or spice grinder, remove the cardamom seeds from their pods, discarding the pods, and grind the spices. Stir in the cinnamon.

Lightly score the fat side of the rack of lamb my making “X’s” with a paring knife. Rub the spice mixture all over the lamb, covering it thoroughly. You may have some leftover. Season all over with salt.

Heat the oil in a large oven-proof skillet over high heat. Sear the lamb, fat side down, until browned. Turn with tongs and sear on all sides, about 6 minutes total. Transfer the skillet to the center of the oven and roast for 12 to 15 minutes for rare to medium-rare meat. The meat should still feel somewhat soft when pressed with tongs. Let it rest in the skillet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board and cut into individual chops. Serve immediately over the quinoa.

Spiced Quinoa with Carrots, Zucchini and Currants
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 3

2 c. low sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. quinoa
¼ c. dried currants
1 tbs. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 zucchini, diced
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. sweet paprika

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the quinoa and currants, return to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until quinoa is tender.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and continue cooking until the vegetables are soft and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat until quinoa is done.

Put the vegetables over medium-low heat and add the cooked quinoa to the skillet along with the cinnamon and paprika. Toss to combine and cook for 2-4 minutes to toast the quinoa and bring out the flavor of the spices. Remove from heat, drizzle lightly with olive oil and serve.

Technorati Tags: recipes, lamb, quinoa, Main Course

Mini Corn Cakes with Guacamole

We often find ourselves cooking up tapas or nibbles or afternoon snacks on the weekend. In fact, it is one of my favorite ways to relax. The routine is usually as follows: Go to the gym; eat a late breakfast (for me) or early lunch (for Mike); run errands; hang out with a cocktail and a bite to eat; then go on to whatever we’re doing for the night.

This past weekend took on a similar pattern, except it was even better because we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary on Saturday (the real date is today, but Saturday is a better time for celebrations than Monday). To tide us over until dinner at a romantic Italian restaurant by the water, we made these easy corn cakes. To me, they are an all-American version of blinis, and you can do just about anything with them to create a light appetizer.

If you want to top them with crème fraiche and salmon roe, I think it would be just as appropriate as my southwestern guacamole version. I would also try them with chutney or any variety of fresh or prepared salsa. They would even make a nice crostini for grilled shrimp.

Here are some other variations on corn cakes that I found in the food blogosphere:

Corn Cakes from The Domestic Goddess
Mini Corn Cakes with Avocado and Lime Salsa from The Passionate Cook
Unfried Corn Fritters from Something in Season
Bill Granger's Corn Fritters from The Wednesday Chef
Corn Fritters (made with polenta!) from Fresh Approach Cooking

Mini Corn Cakes with Guacamole
Adapted from this recipe from Foodandwine.com
These corn cakes can be made with either finely ground corn meal or medium ground, if you like a little more crunch. The very coarsely gr