Kyle Minor

January 6, 2006

The Power of Pizza

It's true. I've been in a rather bad mood for the last few days. Post-holiday depression? Workaday malaise? A bad piece of fish? Who knows. But I have been rather a bitch. Sorry!

Today, though, I found something that really dug me, at least temporarily, out of the depths. Anyone who knows me won't be shocked to hear that it was lunch that did it.

Hayes Valley has been an up-and-coming neighborhood as long as I've lived in San Francisco, but the opening of Octavia Boulevard has sealed the deal. Now the restaurants and shops that were there seem to be doing a brisk business even when it's not concert season (the Opera House and Symphony Hall are very nearby), and new spots are opening up faster than Elton John musicals.

One of these new spots is where I found myself for lunch today. Patxi's (say "PAH-cheese") Chicago Pizza is in the spot where Powell's Place used to serve up delicious and authentic Soul Food with a... well, not exactly a smile. Anyhow, Powell's has moved up to the Western Addition, and their old spot got a nice modern renovation and is now home to Patxi's. I'm happy to report that exposed brick still looks cool! Their menu tells me there is another Patxi's (the original?) in Palo Alto on Emerson just off University. Not to sound TOtally elitist, but that's actually a good sign. OK, that did sound elitist.

They sell pizza by the pie or slice, Chicago Style deep dish or thin crust. Now I am usually a thin crust guy, but I hated to miss out on pizza that was obviously their specialty. And hey... I was hungry, and could take any leftovers home with me, and besides... I was depressed! One 10-inch ('serves two' says the menu) full-on deep dish for me with pepperoni (natch), spinach and Kalamata olives. Salty-licious! The staff is eager to please in that "we're a new restaurant, so tell your pals how great we are" kind of way, but that didn't detract.

It did take a while to make (about a half-hour, just as they said it would), so I had a small garden salad to prime the pump. When the pizza finally showed up, it was a marvelous sight to behold. The sides were, like, 6 inches high and it was piled full of cheese, rich tomato sauce and my chosen ingredients. I flung aside the Everyday Food I had been reading and dove in face first.

To put it mildly, this pizza was incredible. I suppose I should make the inevitable comparison to Zachary's, but I'd hate to say one is better. If anything Patxi's deep dish is just a little more... refined than Zachary's, and that may be the stylish environment talking. Whatever -- they're both great, but I don't have to cross over or under a major body of water to get Patxi's. Advantage: Patxi's!

I am hardly ever one to get pizza leftovers wrapped up to go, since no pizza slice is fully safe with me in proximity, but this pizza pwned me. I did manage to finish four elephantine pieces and there are two more are on deck for my next downward mood swing. I'm expecting one any minute now.

Posted by kyle at 3:54 PM | Comments (3)

December 22, 2005

The Goose is Getting Fa... er, Big Boned

My kitchen and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. I enjoy cooking in general and baking in particular. I now have what I think is a pretty kick-ass kitchen, subscriptions to both Everyday Food and Cooks Illustrated, as well as a hefty collection of cookbooks. I get the monthly e-newsletters from King Arthur Flour. Friends and co-workers share their favorites and ones they've always wanted to try. I leaf through relatives' recipe boxes. I clip recipes -- even the craptastic ones from inside the Stouffers Creamed Chipped Beef boxes. It's a sickness, really.

So when it came to this year's holidays, I decided I was going to do some serious damage in the aforementioned kick-ass kitchen. First came Thanksgiving, which I'm going to save for a later post (embarrassing that Nicole managed to blog about our most excellent feast before I did), so that leaves us with the Granddaddy of them all:

Christopher and I have thrown an annual Christmas party (yes, Bill O'Reilly... it IS a Christmas party. Happy now? I didn't think so.), but one that we've lived in San Francisco. We are seriously into Christmas. The food, the music, the decorations, the food, the merriment, the decorations, the food, the... well, you see where I'm going. We typically invite many many wonderful folks, who often in turn bring many many wonderful folks, so the party gets pretty large, and that suits us just fine.

Back in the day, I used to get laid off for the entire month of December, which meant I had plenty of time to devote to party prep, so the food and plans have gotten more and more elaborate over the years. I actually had to take an unpaid week at work this year, so I took the whole week before the party off -- and I baked. I hope I don't get a bunch of stoner-hits from Google from that last sentence.

I'm not the kind of cook who can pull things together off the cuff. I need a schedule. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it does have to be there. Otherwise, I won't accomplish anything. Cookie baking started in the early part of the week and continued throughout. I finished the last of them on Friday. All savory dishes were done the day before or the day of the party. The schedule worked out so well, that I even had time to throw together an extra item I wasn't planning on. Also, I watched almost all of season 2 of Once And Again, and totally bawled at the end of the last disc. I ask you: am I gay or what?

So... now for the main event. Here's what was on the menu (recipes continue below):

SAVORY
Baked Brie
Chevre with Rosemary-Infused Olive Oil
Puff Pastry Rolls:
• Salami, Whole Grain Mustard, & Parmesan
• Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato, & Mozzarella
• Ground Lamb, Dijon Mustard & Feta
Spinach Bread
Tomato-Pistachio Spread
Hot Artichoke Dip
Cheeses & Crackers
Sliced Baguettes
Crudités, Hummus and Eggplant Spread

SWEET
Christmas Cut-Out Cookies with 'Buttercream' Icing
All Butter Cut-Out Cookies with Royal Icing
Chocolate Peppermint Swirl
Key Lime Sparklers
Profiteroles with Easy Mousse
Coconut Cookies
Chocolate Sherry Balls
Molasses Cookies
Sticky Toffee Pudding

TO DRINK
Champagne Punch
Pitchers of Cocktails:
• Margaritas
• Cosmopolitans
• Mojitos
Various other hard liquors for mixing
OJ, Cranberry, and Grapefruit Juices
Wine (Red, White and Sparkling)
Beer
Coke, Diet, 7-Up, Ginger Ale, Tonic
Sparkling Water
Coffee (with Baileys)

Obviously with all that, plus many guests arriving with festive treats of their own devising (including Hebrew Bazooka bubble gum), a good, if rather filling, time was had by all. Our floors gained no new stiletto marks this year, and despite an off-the-hook phone (and I don't mean that in the "Wow, that phone is Off The Hook, Bra!" way), and an errant votive that decided to take a flying leap spreading molten destruction in it's wake (Sorry Eric, Carol, Pam and Cricket!), we really had no party fouls or foul-ups. To see official Holiday Photographer Bill Delaney's pictures from the event, click here. Thanks again Bill!

Crank up that iTunes Smart Playlist with 20+ hours of Christmas party music. I'll say it: Best. Christmas. Ever.

BAKED BRIE

This is the simplest dish ever. Thaw out the frozen puff pastry (usually very easy to find), roll it out to a bigger size, toss the cheese on there fold it all up, egg wash, bake and BAM. You're fancy. I usually "top" the brie wheel with whatever extra something I happen to have, just for that little extra surprise when it finally gets cut into. I cannot stress how impressed people are when you manage the simple feat of wrapping and baking cheese. They especially love it when you use a cookie cutter or something to cut a pattern out of the excess dough to put on top. Fancy fancy fancy.

1 sheet frozen puff-pastry, pre-packaged
flour for dusting
1 (8 oz.) wheel of Brie
1 egg yolk lightly beaten with a Tablespoon of water
¼ or so dried cranberries (optional)

Defrost puff pastry sheet to room temperature, 15-20 minutes. Partway through, check to see if it is flexible enough, and unfold to defrost the whole way.

Pre-heat oven to 400º.

Lightly flour a work surface (I often use parchment or waxed paper taped down to the counter) and roll out the pastry just a little, to ensure smoothness. Pick a spot in the center of the pastry and lay down the cranberries (or whatever topping you use, if you use one).

Place brie wheel atop cranberries in the center. Lightly score a circular shape around the brie, allowing space all the way around that will encase the brie entirely; about 3-4 inches. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the circle of dough out, and set the rest aside.

Fold the circle of dough up and all around the brie. Seal where necessary with a touch of the egg wash. Carefully invert onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, so that the folded side is down. Use a cookie cutter to cut a design out of the excess dough and place it on the dough, or just cut out pieces to decorate the top in your own way. Brush lightly with egg wash, avoiding getting too much on the baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to stand at least 30 minutes before serving.

This may be assembled up to two days before the party and refrigerated (covered) until time to bake. Add egg wash just before putting into oven, not before.

If you prefer, you can "top" the cheese with fresh parsley or other herbs, minced garlic, buttered and spiced pecans or walnuts, toasted slivered almonds, apricot jam, or whatever you think sounds good.

CHEVRE WITH ROSEMARY-INFUSED OLIVE OIL

This has been a favorite of ours since our pal Elaine shared the idea with us several years ago. It's yummy, easy, and can be made well ahead of time. In fact, it should definitely be made at least the night before the party, so all the flavors have time to really combine. We usually use a log of chevre, but you could use whatever form you find, I'm sure.

1 roll (about 6 oz) of fresh goat cheese (chevre) at room temperature
2-3 Tablespoons rosemary-infused olive oil (recipe follows)
2-4 garlic gloves, finely minced
about 1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
2-4 sprigs fresh rosemary for garnish
Fresh ground pepper to taste (optional)

Lay rosemary sprigs in a shallow container with an airtight lid. Spread minced garlic on a medium plate. Unwrap cheese and roll in garlic. Place cheese on rosemary sprigs. Drizzle with infused olive oil. Sprinkle with minced rosemary and add pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving with crackers or bread.

ROSEMARY-INFUSED OLIVE OIL

You can buy this stuff plenty easily, but it's almost never cheap. I found this simple recipe on the rather dubious RecipeSource.com, but it seemed to work for me just fine. The microwaving seems to serve two purposes: it speeds up the infusion process (which, without cooking can really take weeks), and it also kills bacteria in the ingredients so you can keep and use the excess for a few days after. Beware, though... the botulism bacteria loves garlic! It's a little on the spicy side thanks to the red pepper flakes, but I think you could leave those out with no harm to the final product. I also think other herbs would work in this recipe as well.

½ cup olive oil
1 longish strip of lemon peel
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients and microwave on high for 1 minute, 15 seconds. Let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.

PUFF PASTRY ROLLS

Recently, Christopher and I were having dinner with an colleague of his from work named Kay. Soon the subject of our Christmas bash came up, and she asked what we were serving. At that point, we were planning on doing another fabulous tray of tasties from the most excellent La Mediterranee like we did last year. Kay, though, presented me with an idea I couldn't pass up. It was easy, cheap, and we'd already have some of the ingredients: filled Puff Pastry rolls.

Kay's first suggestion was to roll out the puff pastry dough to a nice sized rectangle and top it first with Dijon mustard, and then a layer of salami, finished with a sprinkling of fresh parmigiano. Salivating, I decided I'd do it right then and there. I figured I'd get two packages of the frozen puff pastry, which each have two sheets in them. I'd use one for the Brie, and have three more.

The salami one would be the first. At dinner that night we came up with an idea for #2: pesto, chopped sun-dried tomatoes and shredded part-skim mozzarella (aka Pizza Cheese). Not too long after that, Christopher and I were having an impromptu lunch at the delicious new French place on Valencia, Garcon (which took the home of the late lamented Alma). Garcon was 'fantastique' to say the least, as was the Merguez lamb sausage sandwich on a baguette with Dijon mustard that I gobbled up. Right then and there, I knew what I'd put in that third pastry: lamb. I decided on grainy mustard for the salami one so I could use the Dijon on the lamb.

Remember earlier when I said how easy is usually is to find puff pastry sheets? Well, it seems many local merchants have been having, and I quote, "trouble with [their] supplier" lately, and so all of a sudden it became rather rare. We finally did track some down. I've since discovered that work-friend and fellow cook Beverlee has a way around this problem: she takes the puff pastry shells, which are pre-scored to puff up into little bowls when baked, thaws them out and rolls them out again, just like a normal dough. Wish I'd thought of that!

SALAMI & PARMESAN PUFF PASTRY ROLLS
1 sheet frozen puff-pastry, pre-packaged
flour for dusting
¼ cup or so of whole-grain mustard
½ cup or so of shredded fresh parmesan cheese
½ pound or so of hard salami, sliced thinly
1 egg yolk lightly beaten with a Tablespoon of water

Defrost puff pastry sheet to room temperature, 15-20 minutes. Partway through, check to see if it is flexible enough, and unfold to defrost the whole way.

Pre-heat oven to 400º.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry in the same rectangle it comes in until it is about half again as big as it was. You want the dough thinner, but not so thin that it rips or can't hold together.

With a sharp knife or a pizza wheel, rim away the rough edges until you have a rectangle. Leaving about a 2 inch border to the edge of the dough, spread the mustard evenly on the pastry. Sprinkle the cheese over the mustard. Lay the salami down over the cheese and mustard in a single layer. It's OK of the edges overlap a little.

Starting at one of the short ends of the rectangle, gently and quickly roll the pastry and toppings in a tight roll. Once you reach the end border, brush a little of the egg wash and then finish rolling. Pinch together ends and fold them under the roll and seal with a little more egg wash.

Place the roll on a lined baking sheet, seam side down. Lightly brush with egg wash. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let stand another 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving. You can assemble the roll the day before the party and refrigerate, covered. If you do, do not apply the egg wash to the roll until just before you bake it.

Other variations include:

LAMB & FETA PUFF PASTRY ROLLS
¼ cup or so of Dijon mustard
1 lb of ground lamb, cooked with hot paprika, oregano, and a little red pepper flake; cooled and undrained
½ cup or so crumbled feta cheese

SUN-DRIED TOMATO & PESTO PUFF PASTRY ROLLS
¼ cup or so of prepared pesto sauce
3/4 cup or so roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes (the pre-chopped kind sold in jars in oil are fine)
½ cup or so shredded part-skim mozzarella

SPINACH BREAD

This was my first experience in working with a yeast bread, and it turned out fine, though I think it would have been a little better served with dinner than as a party finger food. It was super bready, and rather garlicky, so if you like that stuff, you'd like this. It certainly got eaten at the party!

I was a little hesitant when the aforementioned Kay (who gave me the idea for the puff pastry rolls) told me you start this bread with something called 'Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix,' but then I figured it's just pre-measured flour and stuff, so it's probably just fine. I mean, I don't turn up my nose at Bisquick, right? Why should I eschew this fine mix, which had it's own package of Red Star Quick Yeast included. All that said, I'm sure the magic of the mix could be easily duplicated with the contents of most bakers' pantries.

The funniest part of this dish was the amount of spinach we ordered to fix it. Somehow, when we filled out the Safeway.com delivery, we ordered a 2 lb. bag of fresh spinach. This bag was nearly as big as Rhode Island. We are still trying to make a dent in it, and it's nearly three weeks after we got it. Look for spinach cookies in your stocking from me this year. They are very high in fiber and oh so festive.

1 box 'Hot Roll Mix'
1 cup warm water
1 egg
flour for dusting
2 cups fresh spinach
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil for brushing
Fleur de Sel (or another coarse salt) for sprinkling

Prepare dough according to package directions. Before preparing it for it's final rising stage, work the dough into a long, flattish tube. Sprinkle first with garlic, then a little Fleur de Sel, and then press spinach into it, folding the dough over itself so the dough is covered. Form dough into a ring and sit out for final rise. Bake according to package directions.

Once out of the oven, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Fleur de Sel. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

TOMATO-PISTACHIO SPREAD

This was easily Christopher's favorite thing I made, and it was an afterthought. I had finished and cleaned up from one of the baking projects, and was waiting for C'pher to be ready to run an errand with me. I knew I had about 45 minutes to make something and clean up, and I happened to turn to a dog-eared page in the fabulous Everyday Food and discovered a Tomato-Almond spread I had wanted to try. I looked at the ingredient list and I had everything... except Almonds. Undaunted, I pulled down the bag of Trader Joe's Roasted Pistachio Nutmeats (no shell means no work!), gathered the rest and got that food processor to blazing. A half-hour later and I had a very very tasty, slightly sweet and nutty spread that went great with crackers and baguette alike.

The recipe calls for you to toast blanched almonds, but my pistachios were already roasted, so I skipped that step. Also, the pistachios were unsalted (Christopher must have been crazy or something), and so I added twice the amount of salt than the recipe called for -- hey, I like salt. I think if you used a salted nut, you could cut back. Use your judgment. Salt is easy to add, even after the fact, but notoriously hard to remove short of a full-scale evaporation of all the other ingredients. Since that powerful a sun-lamp will likely be busy down at Tropical Tanz & Nail Salon, just add a little at a time to taste.

3/4 cup roasted unsalted pistachio nutmeats
1 (14 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 Tablespoon paprika (hot if you have it, though sweet is OK too)
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons coarse salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flake
¼ cup olive oil

Drain the can of tomatoes, and squeeze each one to remove the seeds. Add tomatoes to a food processor along with the all remaining ingredients except the olive oil. Process until nuts are finely ground and mixture is well combined. With the processor motor running, add the olive oil in a slow stream until a paste forms. Refrigerate overnight and up to one week. Try this recipe with roasted blanched almonds or another favorite salty nut. Makes ca. 1½ cups.

HOT ARTICHOKE DIP

If our Christmas Party menu is our paean to indulgent gastronomic excess, then Hot Artichoke Dip is white-trash jewel in the crown. Containing the better part of a jar of mayonnaise ('lite' works OK, too, though) and the only kind of parmesan cheese (yes, the canned kind) available in the rural Midwest for years, our version of this unbelievably delicious dish, which we got from Christopher's Aunt Kathy, has been kicked up the spiciness index, as is our wont. It just seems right.

Now, a warning: the amounts here are for a DOUBLE RECIPE. We very rarely make less than two batches. We recommend two medium-sized casserole dishes. I suppose you could bake this all in one large dish, but the deepness of the dip is one of the best things about it. Under NO circumstances should you throw away any leftovers after the party -- you will be sorry! It is yummy for days afterward and heats up well. Also, it never hurts to have a defibrillator on hand for any possible cardiac events.

2 (15 oz) cans of artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
2 cups mayonnaise (light mayo is fine)
1 cup grated parmesan (the canned kind is more 'authentic,' but fresh is good, too)
1 (16 oz) bag shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon hot paprika

Pre-heat oven to 350º F. Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a large bowl, reserving 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and ½ teaspoon paprika. Distribute into two ungreased medium-sized oven-safe casserole dishes, and top with remaining mozzarella and paprika. Bake until bubby and heated through; about 30 minutes. Allow to set 5 minutes to cool slightly. Serve with strong crackers or sliced baguettes. Dip may be mixed, assembled and chilled up to a day ahead of time. Bring to room temperature before baking.

ALL-BUTTER CUT OUT COOKIES WITH ROYAL ICING

Regular watchers of this space may already know the joys of my absolute all-time favorite cookie recipe ever, the traditional Christmas Cut-Out Cookie with Buttercream Icing. The dough is a dream to work with (you would be too if you were full of Crisco*), only slightly sweet and very forgiving when either over- or under-baked (though given the choice, do under-bake them). Kudos to Emily for providing the forbidden silver dragees for this year's batch!

There's only one problem with these excellent treats: they aren't so very pretty. Oh, sure, they look very homey and rustic, and that's a great thing at Christmas. But years of looking at delicate and intricately decorated cut-out cookies left me wanting to try A) an all-butter cut-out cookie recipe, and 2) a batch of royal icing. Royal Icing, for those who don't know, is a relatively simple concoction of raw whipped egg whites and confectioners' sugar that goes on pretty smoothly and can, when used properly, create that gorgeous unbroken, smooth layer of icing you see in the magazines. Between my constant companion Everyday Food, and Martha Stewart Living magazine, I found both cookie and icing recipes (respectively) with no problem.

Here is what I discovered:
• Butter cookies, while delicious, are rather brittle unless they are rolled out very thickly (and are brittle even then), and don't taste a whole lot different than the tins of spritz butter cookies you can buy at any grocery store.
• Royal icing does make a prettier cookie with icing that is far less apt to get ruined, but the taste is just not up to the 'country buttercream' icing that I usually use.

All that said, the cookies came out fine and were a hit. I think if I ever got my hands on a cookie press, I might try this dough to make some spritz cookies of my own. As for Royal Icing, I think it might be fine for using on cookies made primarily as decorations, but for eating, I'm all about the classics.

* I am now only slightly regretting this phrasing.

3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
½ teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place flour, sugar, butter, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; process until mixture is the texture of coarse meal. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla; with motor running, add to food processor. Process just until a dough forms.

Divide dough in half; form into two 1/2-inch-thick disks. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. On a piece of floured waxed paper, roll one disk to a thickness of 3/16 inch; chill. Repeat with remaining dough. Flouring cutters as you go (to prevent sticking), cut dough into desired shapes; carefully transfer to baking sheets. Re-chill rolled-out dough if difficult to work with.

If decorating before baking, brush with egg wash (1 large egg white beaten w/ 2 teaspoons water), then sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles. Bake until edges are firm (not brown), 15 to 20 minutes for 3-inch cookies. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets; cool completely on a wire rack. Store finished cookies in an airtight container, up to 2 weeks. Makes about 30 cookies.

This dough can also be rolled into a log shape, chilled overnight, sliced and baked. It can also be used in a cookie press to make spritz cookies.

ROYAL ICING

The recipe I found called for some lemon juice, and I think that may have been part of what I didn't like so much. Not that it wasn't a good taste... it wasn't what I was hoping for in this case.

2 large egg whites
4 cups sifted confectioners'' sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Beat the room-temperature whites in a large bowl until stiff but not dry. Add sugar and a little of the lemon juice, beat for 1 minute more. Add more lemon juice to thin icing if it is too thick, and more sugar if it is too thin. Add food coloring if desired. Fill piping bag with small tip to decorate cookies.

CHOCOLATE-MINT SWIRL COOKIES

I first made these really good-looking cookies last year when I got the recipe from the Food Network's '12 Days of Cookies' newsletter. For whatever reason, I decided to omit the mint extract in the recipe, and while they looked great, they really didn't taste like anything special for something that required a fair amount of extra effort.

This year I upped the ante: instead of your standard cocoa powder, I used some dark Dutch-process stuff (Valrhona to be exact... yes, it is worth it!), I added a little red food coloring to the 'vanilla' dough for a holiday flair, and the mint extract was in in in. The result was a great looking cookie that had a delicious Peppermint Pattie-type flavor.

Don't be daunted by the two-dough layering and rolling up process. It's a lot easier than it sounds, and once the rolled logs have chilled, the slice-n-bake aspect of these cookies just couldn't be easier. One should note, however, that you'll have to be able to get a cookie sheet (or something) full of flat, rolled-out, wax paper wrapped dough into your fridge for a couple of hours. My fridge has a great spot for this, but if I had tried it in my old fridge, I'm sure I would have had to do a bit of prep beforehand.

'Vanilla' Dough:
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
¼ teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg
1 to 1¼ teaspoons mint extract
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Dough:
1¼ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon fine salt
1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks) room temperature
1 large egg
1½ cups all-purpose flour

For the 'vanilla' dough:
Mix the two sugars and the salt together in a medium bowl. In another small bowl, whisk the egg and mint extract and set aside. With a hand held mixer beat the butter until smooth in a large bowl. While mixing, gradually add the sugar mixture, and continue beating until lightly colored and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg mixture (and food coloring, if using) and beat until smooth. Gradually add the flour, mixing slowly until blended.

Turn the dough out of the bowl, divide in half. Place the halves between two pieces of lightly floured parchment or waxed paper. Roll into a 10 by 12 by ¼ inch rectangle. Slide the sheets of dough/parchment sheets onto a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, about two hours or overnight.

For the chocolate dough:
Whisk the sugar, cocoa, salt in a medium bowl. With a hand held mixer beat the butter until smooth in a large bowl. While mixing, add the cocoa mixture, and continue beating until lightly colored and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Gradually add the flour, mixing slowly until blended.

Turn the dough out of the bowl, divide in half. Place the halves between two pieces of lightly floured parchment or waxed paper. Roll into a 10 by 12 by ¼ inch rectangle. Slide the sheets of dough/parchment sheets onto a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, about two hours or overnight.

To assemble the doughs into swirls:
Put one of the chocolate doughs on the workspace and remove the top sheet of parchment. Brush dough lightly with cold water. Place a sheet of vanilla dough on the workspace, and remove top sheet of paper. Using the bottom piece of the paper to lift the dough, place the vanilla dough on top of the chocolate dough. Take care to line up the edges of the two doughs and trim as needed. Lightly press to smooth and seal the doughs together. Remove the top piece of paper. Brush the surface of the dough lightly with cold water. Position the sandwiched doughs with the long edge facing you. Using the edge of the paper as a guide, roll the doughs into a tight cylinder, about 2 inches wide. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight. Repeat with remaining two sheets of dough.

To bake the cookies:
Preheat to 325º F. Slice the dough crosswise into ¼ inch thick cookies. Lay about ½ inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until just golden - not too dark you'll lose the definition of the spiral, about 14 to 16 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

KEY LIME SPARKLERS

This is another little gem that arrived in my e-mail box, this time from the wonderful King Arthur Flour e-newsletter. They actually sell a kit for making these little delights, which would likely save you the trouble of finding sour salt (citric acid), lime juice and key lime juice, but once you try them you'll want to make them again.

They are nicely tart with the great taste of Key limes, the Meyer lemon of the lime diaspora. The 'sparkler' part of the name comes from using edible glitter, which, while not necessary, does add a certain something, especially if you see them in the daylight. I changed some of the original recipe proportions to get a more pronounced lime flavor, and added a little green food coloring, since without it (or green edible glitter) they look just like Italian Wedding cookies, which, while delicious, are no Key Lime Sparklers.

One last note: make these small. The batch I made for the party got a little too big, and a little too dry in baking. Stick to the 1 inch rule.

Cookies
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons Key Lime Juice
1/8 teaspoon lime oil
1/8 teaspoon sour salt (citric acid)*
1 large egg 2½ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Coating
1/8 teaspoon sour salt (citric acid*)
1 cup glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons white edible glitter (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
*Sour salt (citric acid) is what gives the cookies their sour bite—if you want less tang, use just a pinch.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and baking powder till well blended. Beat in the lime juice, lime oil, sour salt (citric acid), and the egg. Blend in the flour thoroughly.

Roll the dough into 1" balls, and place them on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake the cookies in the top third of a preheated 350°F oven for 14 to 16 minutes, until the cookies are browned on the bottom. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan for about 2 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Mix together the sugar coating ingredients in a pan or bag. Gently shake and roll the still slightly warm cookies in the sugar till coated. Allow the cookies to cool completely, then repeat, coating again with the sugar. (If you're freezing the cookies, you may choose to recoat the cookies in sugar once they've been removed from the freezer, before serving.) Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

PROFITEROLES (WITH EASY MOUSSE)

Yet another Everyday Food find, when I saw the recipe for the profiteroles (aka 'cream puffs') I just knew I had to try it. You actually make the dough in a pot on the stove, so that sounded cool. Yes, I am easily impressed.

In the magazine, they had them filled with the more traditional ice cream, frozen, and drizzled with hot fudge sauce just before serving. I knew that wouldn't work for me, but I couldn't think of a substitute until the illustrious Kay (she of the Puff Pastry Rolls and Spinach Bread) suggested an 'easy mousse' recipe that seemed a no-brainer: instant pudding with half of the cold milk replaced with heavy cream. It would give the right taste and would be stable at room temperature! Eureka!

I also made these a bit too large. The dough is very very sticky, but do try to keep the amount of dough in each lump down to a heaping Tablespoon. They look very fancy when they're done, and aren't sweet (no sugar) which naturally makes them perfect for filling with something sweet. If you wait to fill these until closer to the party, do NOT store them sealed in plastic or they will lose their nice light, slightly bready quality and will go a bit chewy on you. Bleah.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for baking sheets
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

1 Tablespoon confectioners' sugar (for sprinkling, optional)

Make the dough: Preheat oven to 425°, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter two large rimmed baking sheets.

Combine butter, 1 cup water, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until butter melts. Reduce heat to medium.

Add flour; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, 30 seconds to 1 minute. The dough is of the right consistency when it pulls away from the sides of the pan and looks like dry mashed potatoes. Remove from heat; cool 1 minute.

With an electric handheld mixer, beat in eggs, a little bit at a time, until completely incorporated (dough should look shiny and be soft enough to slowly fall off a spoon).

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto baking sheets (you should have 24 to 28), about 2 inches apart. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush puffs with egg wash (do not let it drip on sheets).

Bake, rotating sheets between racks halfway through, until puffed and brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven; turn oven off.

With a toothpick, poke a hole in each puff. Return to oven (still off) for 10 minutes (this helps puffs dry out).

EASY MOUSSE

I debated between chocolate and vanilla for these things, but chocolate won out.

1 small box chocolate instant pudding mix
1 cup cold milk
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream

Combine pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with an electric beater. Beat in whipping cream until fluffy.

Put 'mousse' into a pastry bag fitted with a medium sized tip, one just big enough to fit inside the holes in the tops of the puffs. Slowly squeeze the bag to fill each puff with mousse until it is full. Place puffs on tray or bowl and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

COCONUT BUTTER COOKIES

Have I mentioned lately how great Everyday Food is? Well it is. This cross between a macaroon and a chewy butter cookie is from there. I made them last year and loved them. Don't let them bake too long and don't heap the coconut on; it'll only burn. These hold up very well over time and still tasted great when I had one yesterday... a full two weeks after they were baked!

1 (14 oz) package sweetened shredded coconut (just over 5 cups)
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Set aside 2 loosely packed cups of coconut on a plate. Place remaining coconut in a food processor along with sugar, salt, and baking powder; process until finely ground. Add butter, and process until no lumps remain. Add egg and vanilla; process just until smooth. Add flour; pulse until a crumbly dough begins to form, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed (do not overmix).

Forming 5 or 6 at a time, scoop level Tablespoons of dough, and place in reserved coconut. Roll into balls, lightly coating with coconut.

Arrange balls, about 2 inches apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden, 15-18 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 1-2 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

CHOCOLATE SHERRY BALLS (aka SWEDISH CAKES)

These truffle-like delights were a specialty of Christopher's beloved grandma, and they show up every year on our cookie plates. Since there is absolutely no baking involved, they're particularly easy to make, though a little messy -- especially if you use the recommended mixing utensils: your hands. They're also often the first cookies to be made since they are stored in the freezer.

We used some of that famous Valrhona cocoa powder (it uses a lot!), and you could really taste the difference, so I'm recommending here the use of Dutched cocoa powder, though it seems to have fallen out of favor lately. Not sure why. Also remember that anytime you cook with alcohol (especially in this case, since the cookies aren't baked), be sure it's alcohol of a quality you would want to drink. You don't have to like Sherry, but even a non-discriminating palate can tell a crappy salt-nightmare Sherry from a decent one. For what it's worth, we used a pretty cheap brand, Christian Brothers, and it was fine.

3 cups oatmeal (not instant)
12 Tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
¾ cup sugar
3/8 lb. (1½ sticks) butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tablespoons strong coffee, cooled
Dry Sherry to taste (we probably used just over a ¼ cup or so)
¾ cup confectioners' sugar in a clean paper bag

In a large bowl, whisk together oats, cocoa and sugar. Stir in butter, vanilla and coffee. Mix with clean hands until well combined. Add Sherry.

Making 8-10 at a time, roll dough into 1" balls. Place in paper bag with sugar. Shake the bag to coat the balls. Remove them and place in a plastic bag in the freezer to firm up; at least 1 hour. Store in freezer and serve cold when possible.

CHEWY MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES

My mother used to make the greatest molasses cookies in the whole wide world. Years ago, I got a copy of her recipe, but it's lost in the bowels of my recipe clippings collection (resolution for 2006... finally get that bulging envelope cleaned out and, dare I say it, organized), so when I saw this recipe in (guess where) Everyday Food, I thought I'd give it a go.

They were certainly good tasting, but spread a little bit more than I was hoping. I wanted something a bit thicker. Though this is a rare occurrence, and I have no evidence to support this, I may (and I stress 'may') have mis-measured the flour in this recipe, which might account for why my cookies were especially flat, sugary and didn't crackle at all. Hey, I get at least one dud per Christmas, pally.

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups sugar
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place ½ cup sugar; set aside.

Beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms.

Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.

Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, 3 to 4 days. Makes about 3 dozen.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Ah... the piece de resistance of our annual party. This was a recipe Christopher picked up while living in Aberdeen, Scotland. The original recipe calls for treacle, which is really just an old term for dark molasses, though I believe that real Scottish treacle has special properties that make it unique. Someday we're going to try it... if we ever run out of the little jar of dark molasses we bought a few years ago!

Here is what he said about it in the commentary of a cookbook he contributed to back in Pittsburgh:

"This dessert, rich enough to make you pleasantly sick, hails from northeast Scotland, courtesy of 'ma Blootoon quine,' Mrs. Ann Cromarty.

We always serve this late-on in the party. Bowls with a dense little square covered in a rich, warm sauce and topped with chilled heavy cream puts some people off, but there are always those guests more than willing to soak up the extras. This cake also freezes beautifully, and can easily be baked, frozen and mailed to a distant friend with the recipe (and maybe some of the ingredients) for the sauce.

Cake:
1 (8 oz.) package chopped dates
1 cup water
1¼ cups (about 6 oz.) dark brown sugar
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup self rising flour (recipe follows)
1 teaspoon baking soda
A healthy dribble of dark molasses

Sauce:
1½ cups (about 7 oz.) dark brown sugar
2¼ cups (1½ sticks) butter
1 half-pint carton of heavy whipping cream, plus more for serving.

To make the cake: Pre-heat oven to 350° F. In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, boil dates with water until mushy. Lower heat to medium and add brown sugar and butter. Cook until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes.

Stir in eggs, flour, baking soda and molasses.. Pour into an ungreased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out of the center clean. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate, hold plate and pan together and shake until cake comes loose.

To make the sauce: Combine all ingredients over medium-low in a medium saucepan until melted. Do not let mixture come to a boil.

To serve: Slice cake and drizzle warm sauce over the top. Serve with vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, or simply drizzle with a little more cold unwhipped heavy cream. Serves 8-10, or more if your pieces are small (it's very rich).

SELF-RISING FLOUR

Weather you buy or make this stuff, don't leave it sitting around longer than 4-6 months, as baking powder starts to lose some of it's kick in time.

1 cup sifted cake flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ tsp. salt

Sift all items together well, and use in place of store-bought self rising flour.

KYLE'S FAMOUS HOLIDAY CHAMPAGNE PUNCH

OK. Confession time. I hardly invented this drink, though it now bears my name. When I learned it from a guy I saw back in the day, it was named after him. I have been making it annually now, though for well over ten years, and I feel I've sufficiently added to the life of the recipe as well as the ingredients, so I'm not entirely ashamed of calling it my own.

To serve this at one of our first SF Christmas bashes, I got myself an ugly but functional pressed-glass punchbowl from Bed Bath and Beyond. It worked out fine for a long long time. Our dear friend Ms. Julie one year got us a gorgeous glass bowl, very simply designed with high sides and with our initials etched around the rim. We use it as often as we can and have learned to love punch and the making of it.

Do yourself a favor, though and get an ice-ring mold. For a few years I managed to use a shallow bowl with a plastic jar in placed in the center to make the rings, but it's just not the same. If you absolutely refuse to do a ring, simply dump half a bag of frozen strawberries in and maybe a few good-looking ice cubes and that'll do the trick.

Also, try not to waste the Dom Perignon on this punch, even if it is Christmas. It should be good enough champers to drink, but get something on the cheap end. Under NO circumstances should you use Cooks. That stuff isn't even fit to clean your drains with.

1 (16 oz.) bag frozen whole strawberries
1½ cups of strawberry juice
1 small (12 oz.) can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 small (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate
½ of a can (6 oz of a 12 oz. can) frozen limeade concentrate
2 2-liter bottles of 7-Up, chilled if possible
1 bottle sparkling wine, chilled if possible
Rum (dark or light) or vodka to taste

Place about half of the strawberries in an ice ring mold. Mix strawberry juice with ½ cup water and pour over strawberries until the liquid level is about halfway up the berries. Place in freezer until liquid is rigid; about 45 minutes. Any of the original 1½ cups of strawberry juice that remains and water. Re-freeze. If any room remains in the top of the ring, cover with more water and re-freeze.

Remove ring from the mold by dipping the ring into a shallow basin with very hot water that comes at least halfway up the side of the ring. Use a fork to try to "push" the ring around in the mold until it comes loose. Invert ring over basin and place ring into a plastic freezer bag and store in freezer until you're ready to assemble the punch.

When assembling the punch, place the orange juice, lemonade and limeade concentrates in the punch bowl and mix to combine. Add 7-Up and sparkling wine and stir, breaking up melting pieces of juice concentrates. Float ice-ring in the bowl and add rum to taste.

The juice concentrates may be combined in a container beforehand to ease last-minute assembly. This is especially helpful if you're planning on multiple batches.

==

Merry Christmas to all cooks and eaters, and remember those going hungry as we are not. God bless us every one!

Posted by kyle at 12:34 PM | Comments (1)

November 17, 2005

Baking... but not really.

So I like to bake things. Sometimes these things involve relatively complicated mixes and measures, and sometimes you just dump it all in there and throw that shit into the oven. Sometimes you pick up a Pepperidge Farms frozen job and eat it all in one sitting while watching "When Harry Met Sally." Sometimes.

Anyone who bakes regularly (or maybe anyone whose baked anything ever) knows this, but the people who get to share the bounty of your kitchen aren't that much more impressed when you've made a cake from scratch than when you've made something that came in a box, pan included. That's why I don't mind making the occasional "I baked, but not really" treat. Ideally, you will have used a few actual ingredients (eggs, butter, cocoa), and added them to some pre-fab product (cake mix, powdered instant coffee, a bag of 50 unwrapped Kraft caramels) so you can feel like "Hey! I really made this!" Bonus points if the recipe in question is baked all in one pan and requires no more effort in the end than cutting it into bars or sprinkling it with a little confectioners' sugar.

So when Emily shared the following recipe from a book she was reading, I felt like I had to give it a try. A bit of web-research (and by that I mean one Google-search and clicking on one page-worth of results) yielded a couple of alternate recipes for these brownies, some of which were from scratch, but I like this one because it's base is cake-mix, and we all know how much I love cake mix.

Why the author of the book would ever suggest using skim evaporated milk or milk chocolate chips in this recipe is beyond me (semi-sweet are the only chips to use, in my book at least), but she was writing about dealing with breakups, so I suppose in that situation, any chocolate is good chocolate.

I tried the recipe to the letter the first time I made these last weekend, but they were lacking a certain something, so I altered it a bit, but it remains essentially the same: one of those much-too-sweet one-pan indulgences that Americans are so fond of. I often like my desserts with a little more subtlety (at restaurants, I usually choose the fruit tart over the Chocolate Kamikaze Death Spiral Fudge Torte), but who'd really serve this as a dessert? They're for making and taking to work, so you can say... "Hey everybody! I baked... but not really!"

CRACK BROWNIES *

These are a little goopy at room temperature, but that's OK by me. For less goop, refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes before serving.

50 light (colored) caramels (about one 14 oz bag of the Kraft variety)
1/3 cup + an additional 1/3 cup unsweetened evaporated milk
1 package dark chocolate (like Chocolate Fudge or something) cake mix
¾ cup melted butter, plus some solid butter for the pan
2 cups (one 12 oz. bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
flour for dusting the pan

Preheat oven to 350º Grease and flour the bottom and sides of a 9x13 in. baking dish (even if it's non-stick). Set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine unwrapped caramels and first 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together cake mix, melted butter, and additional 1/3 cup of evaporated milk until combined. Divide doughy results in half, and, with your hands, lightly press half the dough into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until cake starts to puff up a bit but isn't totally done.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top of the cake, avoiding the edges. Pour melted caramel mixture evenly over the chips, again avoiding the pan edges. Crumble clumps of the remaining cake dough across the top of the caramel.

Return the pan to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes and then cut into squares.

In the interest of full disclosure, here are the changes I made from the original recipe:
• She called for skim evaporated milk, and I used the full fat version. Unsweetened, of course.
• She called for German Chocolate cake mix, and I used a dark chocolate mix.
• She called for milk chocolate chips, and I used semi-sweet.

*contains no actual Crack. You won't miss it.

Posted by kyle at 2:13 PM | Comments (4)

October 26, 2005

Feed the Board, Tuppence a Bag

News flash: Christopher is just starting a two-year stint as Secretary of our HOA Board. There are only 24 units in our building, and with very very few exceptions, everyone in our building is extremely cool and are great neighbors, so this isn't one of those horror stories. Instead, this is a dinner party story.

The three new board members planned to gather last night to go over some 'housekeeping' type items, and C'pher offered chez nous as the meeting spot. I had the night off, and so offered to make dinner for the four of us. Once I regained my composure realizing that Sarah (our building's new First Lady) wouldn't be able to join us (busy peeing in hot tubs, I guess), I realized this was an opportunity to do a whole dinner from start to finish. If this isn't your idea of fun, maybe you should just go finish watching the latest episode of Elimidate or something and leave us in peace.

We had some massive chicken breasts from the store, so I pulled a handful of issues of the fabulous Everyday Food to which everyone should be subscribing), found about 8 chicken recipes I thought I could manage, and C'pher narrowed them down to three. From those I chose Chicken with Poblano Cream Sauce, and then set about making a menu around it. Here's what we had:

• Sesame and Roquefort Biscuits (served with wine and olives)
• Butternut Squash, Feta and Arugala Salad
• Chicken with Poblano Cream Sauce
• Perfect White Rice with Cilantro
• Sautéed Spinach
• Darn Good Chocolate Cake with Sweetened Whipped Cream

I knew I wanted to attempt Leigh's biscuits, so that was a given as a pre-meal snack. They were as easy as Leigh predicted, and Rebecca is now enjoying her winnings (and sharing them with everyone here at work).

Since the sauce for the chicken was supposed to be spicy, I figured the white rice they showed in the magazine was probably a wise side. The picture showed some kind of green herb mixed in with the rice. I initially assumed it was parsley, but figured it must be cilantro, since it was a Mexican-esque recipe. I knew I'd have to reserve some rice sans cilantro since C'pher hates it, but what the hey... he's worth it.

The rice and cilantro was a delicious combo, and strikes me as a great way to stop yourself from adding 'bad-for-you' things like butter or soy sauce to flavor up an otherwise bland dish. The chicken, simply cooked in a skillet, was just fine, but the sauce was a liiiiitle bit of a disappointment. It tasted quite good, but it was not nearly as spicy as I had hoped, even after I added some extra chili powder. It was fine though; I was just hoping for more heat.

When I got the pepper at Safeway, things weren't clearly labeled, and since I don't really know poblano peppers on sight, I was afraid I had gotten the wrong kind. Here is what the pepper I got looked like:

I am pretty sure it was a poblano (also known as an ancho chile when it is dried), and was a little let down when I read on-line that it's not known much for it hotness factor. Maybe I should have sought out a darker one, but what do I know? I grew up in West Virginia where garlic powder is more prevalent than actual garlic.

This being October, butternut squash is in season like mad, and I love the taste of arugala, so the salad seemed a great starter. Spinach thrown in a skillet with olive oil and garlic is a favorite and easy side of mine, and I thought it would stand up well to the strong taste of the chile and cilantro. It did!

I've made Darn Good Chocolate Cake so many times now I thought I couldn't do anything new with it, but I actually used full-sized chocolate chips instead of the mini ones I was accustomed to (remember not to tap the pan too hard or they really will sink to the bottom), and I took the cake out a bit sooner than usual.

These two variations made a much moister cake with big studs of melted chocolate. I whipped the remaining heavy cream I had with a bit of vanilla-scented sugar and it made a fantastic topping. I sometimes think that if I gave up every other responsibility in my relationship with Christopher and just made him chocolate cake (no icing) once a week, he'd still be happy to have me.

Despite all my noise and butting in on their conversation from the kitchen, our new Board seemed to actually get some work done. I think our building is in great hands; they're all members of the Clean Plate Club!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, FETA AND ARUGALA SALAD

1 medium-sized butternut squash, seeds removed, peeled, and cut into ¾ inch cubes
2 Teaspoons olive oil
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 small bunch (5 oz.) torn arugala

Pre-heat oven to 425º. In a roasting pan or shallow dish, combine squash with olive oil; season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast until fork-tender, 35-45 minutes.

Transfer squash to a bowl; gently toss with feta and arugala. Top with a bit more olive oil if desired.

CHICKEN WITH POBLANO CREAM SAUCE

1 poblano chile
2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil (I used olive)
½ of a small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Roast poblano chile over a gas burner or under the broiler until charred all over. Wrap in paper towel (or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap; steam 5 minutes. Rub off skin; remove seeds and ribs. Chop coarsely.

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a small saucepan over medium heat; add chopped onion and garlic. Cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add chile and heavy cream and turn off heat. Stir to combine.

Pour in blender and puree. Add water if too thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Return sauce to pan and keep warm.

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 1 Tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken until golden and juices run clear, 4-5 minutes per side. Slice and serve with sauce.

PERFECT WHITE RICE (WITH CILANTRO)

1¾ cups water
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup unconverted (not 'instant') white rice
1/3 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped (optional)

Bring water and salt to a rapid boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in rice, return mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Cover, and cook without lifting lid to prevent steam from escaping until rice is done, 15 - 20 minutes (check toward end of cooking time). The rice should be studded with steam holes when done.

Let stand, covered, 5 - 10 minutes, then fluff rice with a fork. Stir in chopped cilantro and serve. (Pesto sauce, black beans and sliced scallions, butter and grated Parmesan cheese, and rice vinegar and toasted sesame seeds are also good mix-ins.)

SAUTÉED SPINACH

I sometimes mince two cloves garlic and after warming it in the oil for a few moments, let it cook along with the spinach. Sometimes the garlic bits can get a bit browned, but I like the taste.

2 lbs. spinach
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
the juice of ½ lemon
Remove the spinach stems. Fill a large basin with water and wash the spinach. Repeat 2 or 3 times, then drain.
In a large skillet with a lid, heat half the oil over medium heat, add the garlic and stir until it begins to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Remove the garlic and discard.
Add the spinach in batches, flipping and stirring with tongs to wilt, before adding more. When all the spinach has been added, raise the heat to high, season with salt and pepper, and cook, covered, for 3 minutes.
Drain the spinach in a colander. Return spinach to the skillet to heat through. Sprinkle lemon juice over the spinach and serve.

Posted by kyle at 2:50 PM | Comments (3)

October 24, 2005

Taking a bite of a biscuit; The record jumps on a scratch

On Friday, C'pher and I had a lovely and stomach-stuffing evening of eats and drinks at Leigh and Rick's place. The weather outside was typical San Francisco foggy bluster, but inside we sat by the fire (a real one!), drank fabulous wine (one particularly delicious bottle was provided by Robin, whom all agree is delicious herself), and ate a simple and scrumptious dinner of pork roast, smashed potatoes and fresh steamed green beans. "Cozy" doesn't quite describe it.

The dinner itself was preceded by a most excellent snack of marinated olives, fresh cherry tomatoes, and the best little biscuits I ever did see. I am not usually a fan of cheeses in the "Blue" family, but the Roquefort in these was purt near perfect. They were so excellent, in fact, that I insisted Leigh share the recipe, and thus she has.

My bounty is yours, so blitz, roll, chill, bake and serve with a nice strong red. Bonus points if it's a freezing cold Friday night.

===

SESAME AND ROQUEFORT BISCUITS

• Dough log can be chilled up to 2 days.
• Biscuits keep in an airtight container 1 week.
• Leigh adds that these freeze nicely as well.

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 lb chilled Roquefort cheese such as Le Vieux Berger, Société, or Le Papillon, crumbled (1 cup)
1/3 cup sesame seeds (2 oz)

Pulse flour and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle cheese into mixture and pulse a few times to incorporate. Transfer mixture to a work surface (it will be crumbly) and knead briefly to distribute ingredients (do not overwork), then press together to form a dough and roll into a 7-inch log (about 2 inches in diameter). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Put oven rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a large baking sheet.

Put sesame seeds on a plate. Cut dough into scant 1/4-inch-thick slices with a thin sharp knife, then gently press both sides of each biscuit in sesame seeds to coat and arrange 1/2 inch apart on baking sheet.
Bake until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool biscuits on baking sheet on a rack 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer with a spatula to rack to cool completely.

Gourmet
December 2004

PS: Whomever first posts a comment with the source of this post's title will get their own fresh baked little batch of these lovelies. Vive la free food!

Posted by kyle at 12:19 PM | Comments (8)

October 19, 2005

California: The Persistent Vegetative State

I read a funny quote in an article today about taking food that is provided to the homeless here in San Francisco and, well... "kicking it up a notch," as they say.

The idea, from the Slow Food movement (which I think is a wonderful concept) is that it's the homeless folks who have the most to gain from producing and eating organically grown goodness.

The funny part came when I read this line:

"Overcoming the perception of elitism in people's minds around things like organic foods and farmers' markets" is one of the biggest challenges Slow Food faces in its effort to bring the world's breakfast, lunch and dinner back to basics, [Slow Food founder Carlo] Petrini said....

I know I know... not very funny. But consider the very first paragraph, describing the Slow Food movement benefit lunch Petrini was in town attending:

Several hundred people gathered at long tables next to a pristine Sonoma County vineyard on a recent Sunday to sample artisanal goat cheeses and local Sauvignon Blanc, and lunch on Mendocino-raised grass-fed beef burgers, homemade ketchup and native Gravenstein apple galettes, all for $90 a head.

See what I mean? Elitism can be funny!

Now pass me the Sauvingnon Blanc. I need something to wash down this artisinal cheese.

Posted by kyle at 12:11 PM

October 10, 2005

Absolutely NOT From Martha's Kitchen

I was cleaning out some old files on my work computer today, and I found a bunch of recipes that I typed out for a wedding gift for Jenny. Back when she and Harold got hitched in 2003, her Maid of Honor, Anne was preparing Jenny a very traditional bride's gift: a cookbook of favorite recipes gathered from friends that would be sure to please her man and keep him coming back (to the dinner table) for more.

The collection was named "Water, Bop, & Cheese" after a curious Korean-American delicacy that Jenny and Anne ate as girls. I'd make fun of it more, but I grew up on Velveeta, Iceberg lettuce, and mayo on white bread, so who am I to judge. (Side note: now I am craving Velveeta, Iceberg lettuce, and mayo on white bread in the worst possible way.)

The book ended up a pretty varied collection and Jenny really liked it. What follows are the contributions of some of my favorite staple recipes, including:
· Darn Good Chocolate Cake
· Cottage Pie
· Escalloped Tomatoes
· and my never-fail, world famous, once-a-year Christmas Cut-Out Cookie recipe.

These recipes are hardly sophisticated, culled mostly from down-homey type cookbooks, but are truly some of my favorites. Most of all, they are delicious -- a guaranteed hit with guests on all ends of the gourmand spectrum.

DARN GOOD CHOCOLATE CAKE

This is one of my favorites from that classic, The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. Top it with a chocolate glaze or a nice white butter cream if you make it a layer cake, but do yourself a favor and sift the cake mix. It really helps.

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil's food or dark chocolate-fudge cake mix
1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ to 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350º F. Generously grease a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water, and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. (The toothpick test doesn't work with this cake.) Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Invert it onto the rack to cool completely, 20 minutes or more. (If the cake doesn't readily release from the pan, run a knife lightly around the edge of the cake.

COTTAGE PIE

This main dish recipe is the one that I first used to wow people with once I finished college, though now I haven’t made it in years. It’s from a cookbook sold in the campus bookstore put together by a sorority. This one is from Lynne Watson Dore, Alpha Gamma Delta class of 1977. It’s called “Shepherd’s Pie” in the cookbook, but since it uses ground beef instead of lamb, I think it’s more correctly termed "Cottage Pie." Feel free to try ground lamb, though. That sounds like a great idea.

2 lbs. potatoes, cut into chunks and mostly peeled
1 1b. ground beef
8 oz. Italian sausage (I use the hottest I can find)
1 16 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms (any variety)
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons vinegar (white is fine)
1 cup frozen peas
½ teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
freshly ground pepper to taste
¾ cups milk
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature

Peel and cut potatoes into chunks (some peel left on is OK) and put in a pot of water with potatoes covered to boil.

Meanwhile, Put beef and sausage in a skillet. Cook, breaking up beef, over medium-high heat until the meat loses some of it’s pink color and releases juices.

Add tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and vinegar. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes a bit, about 10 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350º F.

Stir in peas, basil, ½ t salt, oregano, and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes more, and remove from heat.

The potatoes are probably done by now, so drain them and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Mix in milk, cheese, butter, the other ½ t salt and pepper to taste. Beat until smooth.

Spoon meat mixture into a shallow 2 quart casserole dish. Spoon potato mixture on top and spread evenly to the edge. Bake until golden on top and bubbling, 45 to 50 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

ESCALLOPED TOMATOES

Here is a reaaaaaally old recipe. It’s from The Williamsburg Art of Cookery, or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion: Being a Collection of upwards of Five Hundred of the most Ancient & Approv’d Recipes in Virginia Cookery. I got this book in (guess where?) Colonial Williamsburg back in the day, and have managed to adapt one or two of the recipes despite all those cool long S’s that look like F’s and the arcane language.

Cooking out-of-season tomatoes is a way of enjoying them even when they're not right off the vine in your granny's garden, so this recipe works all year 'round. I have used many kinds of bread, but a couple of think slices of whole grain brown bread seem to work best. I always add chopped rosemary to the tomatoes in this dish. Serving it with fresh sprigs is usually a pleaser, too. I interpret the phrase 'slow oven' to mean 325º F. This dish doubles, travels, and re-heats well, so it's great for a Thanksgiving potluck, and folks love hearing about it's Colonial roots. How very American!

Mix two and one half Cups of Tomatoes, two Slices of Bread broken in Pieces, one half cup of finely chopped Celery, one Tablespoon of finely minced Onion, one Teaspoon of Salt, one fourth Teaspoon of black Pepper and three Tablespoons of Sugar. Pour into buttered deep Baking dish and cover well with small Pieces of Butter. Bake in a slow oven at least an Hour, stirring occasionally at first.

CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

This is the recipe that I use to make my Christmas Cookies every year… I have tried others and THESE ARE THE BEST. Even the recipe my Mom uses isn’t as good. It’s true! It’s from Thelma’s Country Clatter Cookbook by Thelma Pifer Gibson, who had a regular cooking column in a small town newspaper near where I used to live. All this is a little ironic, as my Mom's name is also Thelma. Eek.

Where she tells you to use a greased cookie sheet, I usually just use parchment paper. Also, the icing recipe I use is from another of Thelma’s recipes with a smaller count of cookies, so I have increased the amounts for you by 2.5 times like I always do. That will give you plenty of icing to play with.

1 cup vegetable shortening (not butter flavor)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
4 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups All Purpose flour, plus some for dusting
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place shortening, sugars and eggs in a large bowl and beat until creamy.

Add water, salt soda, flour, and vanilla and mix well.

Chill the dough for at least 1 hour or let it set overnight, wrapped well in plastic.

Pre-heat oven to 350º F. Pull off a good handful of dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes each, less if you roll them thinly. Chill sections dough in fridge when you are not rolling them out.

Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes per batch and cool first on the cookie sheet, then on a cooling rack. Makes 7 - 8 dozen cookies.

ICING FOR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

I use the gel-type food coloring because it doesn't thin the icing out too much.

5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened
5-6 tablespoons milk (whole milk is best)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
food coloring

Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and beat until fluffy. Separate into smaller dishes and add food coloring. Use to decorate cool Christmas cookies. The icing will dry nicely in an hour or so.

Posted by kyle at 12:26 PM

September 26, 2005

Brunch with Zuzu

Our dear ol' pals Christine and Gary were back in town this week with the almost-two-year-old Zuzu in tow. She's still cute, still bald, and so are Christine and Gary, respectively.

Click here to see the pictures we took at two consecutive Sunday afternoon munchfests, first at Radhi's place in Noe Valley, and then at ours just yesterday. Looking at the photos, you might think we do nothing but eat and sit around, and you'd be right.

And speaking of eating, C'pher and I bussed out Brunch for Le Gang, and it was a pretty good one. On the menu was:

· Crumb Coffeecake
· Leonard's Dish
· Kicky Corn Muffins
· Mini-BLTs with Oven Bacon
· Tomato Pie
· Fruit Salad
· Green Salad
· Creme Brulee French Toast
· Sparkling Cherry-LIme Punch
· Coffee/Tea/OJ/Mimosas/Champers

We had more than enough for the assembled crowd, which seems sickeningly ideal to me. Elsewhere on this blog, you can find the dirt on the ever-popular Creme Brulee French Toast (which came out at the end, like dessert), but keep reading to find out more about the other dishes, and see their recipes.

CRUMB COFFEECAKE

This recipe is from one of my favorite gifts from the past year The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. This was the first thing anyone at the party cut into and it was a 100% hit. I made it in my favorite, the tube pan, and for the last few minutes of bake time, I added some slivered almonds. Even before I added a little dusting of Confectioners' sugar, this thing looked like it came from a professional bakery. The crumb was tasty with just a touch of almond flavor, but the cake was fucking incredible. I'm going to make the same batter again, and maybe make Dirt Bombs out of it... you know those little French cinnamon donut-esque cupcakes that are slathered in melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar? Yeah. Those.
This recipe will make two 8-inch round coffeecakes, or fill a 9x13-inch pan, or a 9- or 10-inch tube pan.

Crumb
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose (AP) flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Cake
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
2 cups unbleached AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salk
1 teaspoon baking powder
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Pre heat the oven to 350° F. Grease the preferred pan(s).

To make the crumb: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, wisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Melt the butter in the microwave or small saucepan and add the extracts to it. Pour the butter into the flour mixture and mix until all the butter is absorbed and you ahve a uniformly moistened crumb mixture. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

To make the batter: In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat between additions. Scrape down the mixing bowl, then beat in the vanilla and sour cream. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together. Add to the butter/sour cream mixture, mixing until evenly combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan(s). Crumble the crumb mixture over the top, until the batter is completely covered. Bake for 20-25 minutes for 8-inch rounds, 30-35 minutes for a 9x13-inch pan, or 35-40 minutes for a 9- or 10-inch tube pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack; dust the top Confectioners' sugar, if desired.

LEONARD'S DISH aka 'The Recipe'

This is your typical egg-and-sausage-and-bread dish that every family has their own version of. This one happens to belong to Chirstopher's dad, Leonard, aka Boobie. We love dishes like this since you do all of the work the night before and just pop the sucker into the oven the next morning and voila.

We made ours with Chorizo instead of Italian sausage, added some cumin and fresh ground pepper in addition to the dry mustard, and served it with some diced raw white onion and cilantro on the side; the recipe lends itself well to adaptation. We also used mostly egg beaters, which work fine in this dish. Doubling this recipe works very well in a 9x13 pan. The chorizo, once out of its casing, really cooked up to a mush, so that was less than ideal, but the resulting taste was still pretty good. This stuff is GREAT re-heated the next day, so save your leftovers. Yum!

1 pound browned bulk sausage, drained
2 slices sandwich bread, pulled apart
6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Have ungreased medium-sized baking dish ready.

Brown the sausage in a skillet and drain away excess fat. Set aside to cool. Tear bread into bite-sized irregular bits and scatter in the bottom of the baking dish. Beat eggs with milk, salt, and dry mustard. Scatter sausage evenly over the bottom of the dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Pour egg mixture over the whole thing and top with the remaining cheese.

Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350° F. Bake for 45 minutes until bubbly. Serve immediately.

KICKY CORN MUFFINS

Another gem from The Baker's Companion (where they are known as Corn Muffins with a Kick), I made these as a likely companion to Leonard's Dish, but I think I may have overmixed them, because they came out a little tough. I hardly ever have luck with muffins, though, so I need some practice. These have a nice piquant bite thanks to the jalapenos and cayenne, so if they were mixed right, they might not be so bad. I like savory corn muffins, so I haven't given up yet -- the cookbook recommends these as a side for chili.

1 cup milk
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup minced scallions
3 Tablespoons jalapeno peppers, minced
1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

Preheat the oven to 425° F and heavily grease 12 muffin cups.

In a small bowl, pour the milk over the cornmeal and set the mixture aside to soak while you assemble the dry ingredients.

In a medium-sized bowl, wisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Beat the eggs and add them to the cornmeal mixture with the oil. Add the cornmeal and milk to the dry ingredients, stirring until just blended; don't beat this batter or your muffins will be tough. Fold in the scallions, jalapeno peppers, and 3/4 cup of the grated pepperjack cheese. Spoon the batter into the pan, filling each muffin cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the remaining cheese atop the muffins, and bake them for 18-22 minutes, until they're golden brown.

OVEN BACON

This an idea I originally saw in Everyday Food, one of the best cooking magazines around. With some advice from my pal Jason from work, who is a food stylist and great cook himself, I doctored it up with fresh Thyme, which turns out to be an amazing addition to Bacon, whether it's regular or Lemon Thyme. We have some growing in the herb garden in our building's courtyard. Hurrah, fresh herbs!

We had some good lettuce, tomatoes, bread and mayo out so our guests could make their own BLTs. It was a hit, and very tasty. A brunch without bacon is like a day without sunshine!

1 1/4 pounds thick-sliced bacon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1-2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425° F. Lay bacon out in a single layer on a cooling rack set over a rimmed baking sheet lined in foil. Sprinkle liberally with thyme, pepper, and brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes, and carefully drain off fat drippings if you can, then bake for an additional 6-7 minutes, until bacon is crisp. If using more than one pan, be sure to rotate the pans halfway through the baking time.

TOMATO PIE

I first made Tomato Pie for a gathering with all our new neighbors, and it was easy and delicious. The hardest part is getting the pie baked, but protecting the pie-crust edges from getting too overdone. There is nothing worse than burnt pastry. I think those pie crust edge protector thingies that I've seen would really help, but I don't have one myself... yet.

The recipe says you can serve this hot or at room temp, but I'd let it sit. The hot version is too runny and falls apart. I actually also altered some of the cooking times in this recipe from its original form as found on the Food Network's website, and the new times seem to make much more sense. No offense to Sara Moulton, but pre-baking a crust for 20 minutes, even on the lowest rack of the oven, is just asking for trouble.

1 (9-inch) frozen pie shell, thawed
3 large tomatoes, about 1 1/2 pounds, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Kosher salt, for sprinkling
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Additional kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line the shell with foil and fill with pie weights, dried beans, or rice. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the weights and foil. Return to the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes more or until light golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Turn up the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and drain in a colander for 10 to 15 minutes. Spread the mustard over the bottom of the shell and sprinkle the cheese over it. Arrange the tomatoes over the cheese in one overlapping layer. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the tomatoes are very soft, 35 to 40 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together the parsley, thyme, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste to blend. Sprinkle the pie with this mixture while hot and spread out gently with the back of a spoon. Serve the pie hot or at room temperature.

SPARKLING CHERRY-LIME PUNCH

Christine is pregnant again... this time with twin boys (whom she and Gary have naturally pledged to name Chrisopher and Kyle), so we wanted to have something special and non-alcoholic. Thanks to Ms. Julie, we also have a gorgeous customized punchbowl, and so I sought out a good punch recipe.

I was fixated on cherry, and experimented with a few ingredients without much success. A word to the wise: using cherry gelatin as the base for punch just makes the punch taste like cheap red pop. I finally hit upon the idea of Cherry 7-Up, which had exactly the taste I was hoping for. Light, sweet without being artificial tasting, and most importantly, cherry. I decided I couldn't just fill up the punchbowl with 7-Up, so I made an ice-ring with an addative that would lend more flavor, and added some limeade for an underlying citrus punch. Pardon the pun.

This stuff was DELICOUS, especially when cold because of the ice ring, and refreshing. C'pher said it made a great mimosa with champagne, too, so feel free to booze it up as long as your'e not pregnant with my namesake. I'm thinking chambord wouldn't be a bad additive.

Ice Ring
1 medium bottle unsweetened 100% cherry juice
about 30 or so frozen or fresh pitted cherries

Punch
1 2-liter bottle Cherry 7-Up, chilled
1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1 lime for garnish

Place several cherries in an ice-ring mold and fill part-way with cherry juice, freeze. Once cherries are held in place, top with more cherry juice until ring is full. Ring may be removed from the mold and saved in a plastic bag in the freezer until it is needed. Take frozen limeade can, and store it in the fridge to thaw.

Assemble the punch: place ice ring in punch bowl, and pour Cherry 7-Up over it. Pour in thawed limeade concentrate and stir. Taste, and add more limeade if necessary. Garnish with thin slices of lime.

Posted by kyle at 4:52 PM | Comments (1)

August 24, 2005

Lemon, fresh

When I have an evening or afternoon at home, I love to bake. This habit is met with such delight by so many of my friends and co-workers that I almost never have to eat the whole thing myself. Not that I wouldn't, mind you.

So when life hands me lemons, yadda yadda yadda. Specifically this time, we're talking about that most fabulous of Northern California delicacies, Meyer Lemons. These little miracles are lemons, only better. Way way better. The taste is hard to describe, but trust me when I say that once you have them, all other lemons start to taste like dish detergent in comparison.

A gal at work brought in a bag of these lovelies the other day, and I snatched up a supply. See, my favorite thing to do thus far with Meyer Lemons is to bake them into a recipe I found in Everyday Food, Glazed Lemon Pound Cake.

A shout out to Everyday Food is appropriate here, as it really keeps things simple and delicious, my favorite kind of cooking and eating. Pick up this digest-sized magazine at your local grocery store and you won't be sorry. Every issue is a gem.

I cranked out two delicious, moist, dense-but-not-too-dense loaves of this cake in no time last night. It's a great feeling to get home, take out your eggs and butter to come to room temp, open the mail, change your clothes, turn on NPR, and start greasing pans. By the time it's time to make dinner, you'll have the cake out of the oven, and by the time dinner is done, you'll be able to drizzle them with the simple glaze and eat eat eat.

Take note, young'uns: stay out late dancing while you can. Some day you'll actually look forward to an evening in with a stand mixer and All Things Considered. I'm just saying.

Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Makes 2 loaves
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 3 hours

For best results, bring all the ingredients up to room temperature before getting started. When zesting and juicing lemons, grate the zest first, then squeeze out the juice. Meyer lemons work beautifully with this cake. Note: The batter can also be baked in a 12 cup buttered and floured nonstick Bundt or a tube pan; the cooking and cooling times are the same.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°, with rack in lowest position. Butter and flour two 4.5 x 8 inch (6-cup) loaf pans.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine buttermilk with lemon zest and juice. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

3. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each.

4. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture in two, beginning and ending with flour; beat just until smooth (do not overmix).

5. Divide batter evenly between pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes (tent with foil if browning too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out cakes onto a rack; cool completely before glazing.

Lemon Glaze
Covers 2 loaf cakes or one Bundt/tube pan cake

2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Place confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl or a liquid measuring cup (sugar may be sifted to get rid of lumps, but this isn't always necessary).
2. Stir in just 3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The glaze should be thick, but pourable. Add more sugar or more juice as necessary to achieve the desired consistency.
3. Set rack with cakes over a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Pour glaze over cakes, letting it run down the sides; let dry, about 30 minutes.

Posted by kyle at 3:15 PM

May 25, 2005

And there shall come... A SMOTHERING!

A week or so back, my faithful and tenacious aide-de-camp Jenny joined me on the latest adventure of Cake Club: the quest to create a Boston Cream Pie. This was ironic in two ways: first, since it is a cake that is clearly named "Pie," and B) the last Cake Club meeting produced a cheesecake, which is a cake in name only.

Because Jenny has enough cookbooks to reach from here to Tavern on the Green and back, she found one to try in The Joy of Cooking. It seemed simple enough, though the cake for the layers was to be made of "hot milk cake," which is something neither of us had tried before.

Nevertheless, we proceeded with our usual abandon (after eating two big-ass burritos), and ended up with something that, while it tasted good, really didn't taste great. The cake was a bit too eggy, and we clearly overdid it with the chocolate glaze. I guess we didn't have to use it all, but I think you'll agree when I say it's hard to resist once you start to drizzle. It's a slippery slope!

The best bit was most assuredly the custard in the middle, which turned out to be not so hard to make as we thought, though Jenny's arm got quite the workout whisking.

Once we're in the mood to repeat the experiment, I think we'll try the recipe I found in my new favorite cookbook, The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. Those mid-western types sure are kooky, but they know their way around an oven.

You can click here to see the pictures Jenny and Harold took of the events of the night. Yes, I have had a haircut since then.

Posted by kyle at 7:23 PM

March 17, 2005

Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

Have you ever had friends over for a party or a meal and ended up serving something so delicious that people were e-mailing you months after the fact to get the recipe? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Creme Brulee French Toast. This stuff is essentially one of those "make ahead" morning casserole things, which most really serious cooks eschew. Fortunately, I am not a serious cook.

It's not a whole lot like Creme Brulee (one of my all-time favorite desserts), but it IS a lot like baked French Toast doused a sauce of heavy cream with a layer of melty brown-sugar syrup on the bottom. I suppose you could cut out the middle man and just strap plastic bags of the stuff directly to your waistline, but we're in it for the love, aren't we?

I found this recipe on the exceedingly wonderful Food Network website, so visit there, pick an ingredient and watch the amazing list of recipes appear. I leave out the Grand Marnier, but you could replace it with Orange extract, or even orange or lemon zest. Here's how to make it, courtesy of Sara Moulton and her now-defunct Food TV show, Cooking Live:

CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

Prep Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 (8 to 9) inch round loaf Challah bread
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a small heavy saucepan melt butter with butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pour into a 13 by 9 by 2 - inch baking dish. Cut 6 (1-inch) thick slices from center portion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit. In a bowl whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bring bread to room temperature. Bake bread mixture, uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 35 to 40 minutes.

Posted by kyle at 10:56 PM | Comments (4)

March 9, 2005

Cheesecake Club

Last night, Jenny and I convened a long-awaited meeting of the Cake Club. I got a springform pan a while back, and because of that, I have wanted to make a cheesecake. Not just any cheesecake, either. I wanted to try Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cheesecake.

By far this was the easiest and cleanest Cake Club meeting yet. In fact, because the cheesecake had to chill (and not in the "I'm just chillin' outside the library between classes" way) for at least four hours, and because it was so easy to assemble and bake, we actually first made an "instant gratification" Chocolate Domingo Cake from Jenny's copy of The Cake Bible. That way we had a little cake to eat that night.

Anyway, back to the cheesecake. It was stupefyingly easy. Blitz up an entire box of graham crackers, melt a stick of butter (or two, like Jenny did), combine with a dash of cinnamon, tamp into the bottom and sides of the aforementioned springform pan and voila! A crust. Throw that shiznit into the fridge while you move on to the filling.

Take two 8 oz. blocks of cream cheese (at room temperature), and whip them into a smooth yet tasty frenzy in your handy Kitchen-Aid. Then slowly add a cup of sugar. Once that looks sufficiently delectable, drizzle in a pint of sour cream (that's a lot, yo), 3 eggs, the zest of one lemon, and a bit o' vanilla. And no, auto-correct, I do not want to change "yo" to "you."

Pour the filling into the prepared crust, wrap some foil around the bottom of the pan, set the whole thing in a bain-marie, and bake for an hour or so at 325. The result is smooth and impossibly creamy, and has a nice taste of lemon. Serve it alone or with some fresh or cooked fruit topping that you won't like as much as the cheesecake.

In other news, Tyler Florence, aside from being a cheesecake god, is still a total stud. Rrrooowwwl.

Posted by kyle at 10:46 PM

February 11, 2005

WTF is Cake Club?

I have long been interested in cooking in general... especially baking sweets like cookies. My favorite annual ritual is making Christmas cut-out cookies, especially since I've found the best recipe ever for them. What can I say? Some of us homos get the flower-arranging thing, some get the Liza thing, and some get the Circuit Party and over-developed chest thing. I got cookies.

I was visiting our pal Nank once, and she had a copy of The Cake Mix Doctor. It was full of recipes for taking plain old cakes and mixing in extra ingredients and making them less mix-like. It was also full of all sorts of great tidbits about baking, the history of cake mixes, stuff about what kinds of pans are best and why only people who wish to slowly poison their friends should ever use canned frosting.

This book was like an epiphany: I found myself compelled to bake! At the same time, my most excellent pal Jenny was determined to try a cake recipe she found. It was for something called Black Cake, and it was a laborious, months-long process involving chopping endless fruits and letting them steep in strong alcohol. Jenny invited me to participate in this grand experiement, and Cake Club was born!

In the end, the Black Cake was a horrifying, disaterous, inedible mess (Burnt Sugar Essence? I mean, we should have seen it coming). It was essentially a fruit cake, which everyone knows is the second-best thing to poison your friends with next to canned frosting.

As for Jenny and myself, I can only claim that we were blinded by art! The description of this cake in the book she had made it sound like biblical Manna that had been steeped in a vanilla bean burre blanc sauce, wrapped in a lucious flaky crust, baked at 325º for an hour, and served with sweetened creme fraiche. Frankly, though, it tasted like crap.

But we remained undaunted! We went on to meet and bake many subsequent cakes, some of which were also failures. However, the successful ones were so great that we keep plugging on, waistlines be damned.

Jenny has several posts about Cake Club on her blog, which she's been doing for a lot longer than I have. At some point, I will have to share a look at my custom-made Cake Club Neighborhoodie. It is my favorite article of clothing, and don't I feel so very "Mission" when I wear it.

Finally, we realize there are lots of other Cake Clubs, like this one, this one, and even this one. I doubt any of these clubs would have us, as our cakes are generally pretty ugly. Besides, we talk about Buffy, and something tells me those other CC folks wouldn't know Dawn from Dawn.

Posted by kyle at 4:36 PM | Comments (2)