Well, I can truly say the Christmas cookie baking has begun. I’ve started with a list of the cookies I want to make this year (there are some regulars, of course), but I always like to try something new too. I hunted through my cookbooks and eventually settled on this cookie found online.

And what a winner this one is! It’s from King Arthur Flour. I’ve mentioned it here before that they have a great blog, called Baking Banter. They have a big test kitchen, and numerous bakers who enjoy writing up their interesting baking journeys. These cookies are just one.

When you think of gingerbread cookies you might just think of the flat, hard variety you’d find for decorating gingerbread men. Or making gingerbread houses. These cookies are nothing like those. This is a thicker cookie – just full of spicy aromas – and also some chocolate (both cocoa and some mini-chocolate chips). They’re soft and tender cookies, although by tender I don’t mean like shortbread, either. No, these are soft. Not exactly cake-like, though. Not brownie-like. More like pumpkin cookies – moist but bursting with the spices that flavor this cookie (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves). You also notice the molasses (there’s a LOT of molasses in these). That’s what gives the dark-dark color, not the cocoa. Once the cookies are all mixed up, you add in the mini chocolate chips, then they’re rolled into balls (or scooped with a cookie scoop in 1-tablespoon sizes) and dipped into the pearl sugar, placed on parchment-lined baking sheets and baked 10-12 minutes.

Now, I have to mention . . . I was baking these cookies to take to a cookie exchange, so I decorated them according to the recipe. It calls for (Swedish) pearl sugar. I found it at my local grocery store. I’m not a fan of those kinds of toppings particularly – they distract me from the cookie flavor (when you crunch down on them). To me those crunchy sugar things are just a waste of calories – they don’t have any taste to speak of – they’re just sugar-sugar-sugar. The cookie has all you’ll need. But, they look cute with the topping.

The dough is very easy to mix up. You scoop a small tablespoon of dough into a round shape and dip just half of the cookie into the pearl sugar. If I did them with the topping again I would use fewer of the pearl sugar thingies – the ones that got close to the hot pan melted and don’t look very attractive. The others buried slightly into each cookie top looked fine.

There, above, you can see them rolled into balls (those are the raw cookies) and dipped, ready for baking. The cookies, once baked, need to cool a bit on the baking sheets, so I just went ahead and formed all the remaining dough into cookie shapes so it was easy to put in the next batch. Don’t put the cookies that close together on the baking sheet or they’d all melt into one another – this was just my “staging sheet.”

If you bake these without the pearl sugar, you might put clear sugar crystals on top – that would be better than the pearl shape, I think. But the cookies truly don’t need any embellishment. They are very dark colored – most people would mistake these for chocolate cookies, so I’d be sure to put a little sign out saying what they are. I’m going to make a sign when I go to the cookie exchange. In this group, each person brings 6 little bags of 6 cookies each, and you pick and choose to take home 6 bags from other people. Supposedly only one bag per person, so you can’t choose to take all 6 bags of spritz or divinity from someone else. So that’s why it would be good to have a sign on these since the look would lead most people to think they’re all chocolate.

What’s GOOD: loved the flavor of these. Very, very spicy indeed (not hot spicy, just warm pumpkin pie kind of spices). Or gingerbread – which of course, these ARE. They have a little tiny bit of the cake-like quality of gingerbread, but they’re definitely a cookie. Next time I won’t bother with the white pearl sugar, but that’s just me. Your kids will likely love dipping the balls into the topping. Just don’t let them overdo it.

What’s NOT: the only thing I’d do differently next time is do without the pearl sugar. Not because it made the cookies wrong or anything. I just don’t care for the crunch. Although, once baked the pearl sugar isn’t so crunchy.

printer-friendly CutePDF

Files: MasterCook 5+ or MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC)

Tweet

In 1987 this recipe (called Tahoe Brunch back then) was published in our neighborhood weekly newspaper. I clipped it out and prepared it numerous times over the years – often when we did a brunch on our sailboat because it can be prepared the day before, then baked the day-of. (We have a smallish oven on the boat, and I did have one pan that would fit in it.) A month or so ago I went to a Phillis Carey cooking class, and she prepared it too, with just a couple of modifications. It was then I realized that I’ve never posted this recipe here on my blog. That mistake is now fixed!

It seems that I don’t entertain for brunch anymore. I think it’s because every Sunday morning we’re busy attending morning services at our Presbyterian church, and to try to put on a brunch after that, when we don’t even get home from church until about 11 is just not feasible. Do people have Sunday brunches on Saturdays? I suppose I could – I just haven’t ever thought of it.

So this delicious recipe has been updated just a little bit – I reduced the amount of Italian sausage, tried to quantify the amount of bread called for, have given options for the cheddar or Provolone, and options for either parsley or basil. And gave you options for adding the mushrooms (I used to) or fresh tomatoes (Phillis’ recipe). I’m a bit staggered by the calorie count on this recipe – I may have never noticed it before.

What’s great about it is the fact that it’s made the day before, and over the years I’ve made this numerous times for Thanksgiving morning, Christmas morning, or New Years Day morning. It’s the Italian sausage in it that I like so much. Spicy sausage just gives this a wonderful flavor. Mix that with the cheese, and it’s kind of like pizza in a breakfast dish, I suppose.

It’s very easy to put together once you cook the Italian sausage and onions. Phillis’ recipe had you cube up the bread. My old recipe calls for buttering bread in slices. Either way works.

What’s GOOD: It’s the Italian sausage in it that I like the best, but then I’m a fan of the stuff. The recipe just has lots of flavors abounding in it from the mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes and the seasonings. Love that it can be made 24 hours before. Do bake in a glass or ceramic dish, not metal. You’ll hear lots of mmmm’s and sighs when you serve this.
What’s NOT: nothing really except that it’s rich and high in calories! But it’s a special occasion kind of dish.

printer-friendly CutePDF
Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC)

Tweet

Most evenings I don’t serve any carb with our meal. We just don’t need it. Not that we wouldn’t LIKE to have some, but we know it’s better for us if we don’t indulge in potatoes or rice or some other kind of starch. Even bread. So, this revision was borne of that wish – could we have my old favorite, cabbage patch stew that is usually served with a lovely fluffy mound of whipped potatoes on top?

If you click on the link above, you’ll go to my 2007 blog post about this – one of my all-time favorite family meals. It’s a soupy, stewy kind of dish that I originally got out of a little Betty Crocker cookbook that was given to me when I got married the 1st time in 1962. Looong time ago. It’s SO very easy to make – all in one pan except for the potatoes.

Back some years ago I made a Kalyn’s Kitchen recipe for a kind of cheesy cauliflower dish called Twice Baked Cauliflower that gives you the illusion you’re eating baked (mashed) potatoes with all the trimming like sour cream, bacon, chives, etc. Every time I make those, I think about our friend Lynn (and his wife Sue) who now live in Colorado. Lynn, you see, abhors cauliflower. I served those to him one night – didn’t even mention what it was – he ate it, loved it, and somewhere in the conversation I mentioned cauliflower. Lynn turned a bit blue. CAULIFLOWER? No. That couldn’t have been cauliflower. He simply doesn’t EAT cauliflower. But he did. Now whether he’s ever eaten it since, I don’t know. (Sue, you’ll have to tell me . . . she reads my blog.)

SO, all that said, I decided to lighten up my old favorite by making it with half ground turkey and half ground beef, and then to make the “mashed potatoes” with cauliflower. The only carbs in this dish come from the one can of kidney beans that are also part of the recipe (and whatever little amount of carbs exist in the other vegetables). The beans – I left those in – they’re more complex carbs. As for the cauliflower – just TRUST ME about this – you’ll hardly know you’re eating cauliflower. I’ve re-written the recipe completely below, including the cauliflower mixture. If you eat the cauliflower “mashed potatoes” straight, yes, you’ll probably notice they don’t quite taste like potatoes, but when it’s mixed with the herby, spicy stew mixture, you simply don’t know. It has almost the same texture as mashed potatoes.

What’s GOOD: This is a very healthy meal – especially if you use all turkey or use less. Or no turkey, of course. The combination of veggies just works. What can I say. And the mashed potatoes cauliflower put it into the comfort food category. Make a double batch and freeze the left overs (freeze the cauliflower separately – come to think of it – I’ve never frozen pureed cauliflower so don’t know absolutely how that would be once defrosted – let me know) – that’s what I do.
What’s NOT: absolutely nothing. I love this stuff.

printer-friendly CutePDF
Files: MasterCook 5+ or MasterCook 14 (click link to save in MC – 14 includes photo)

Tweet

You know how adding buttermilk in any baked good makes it super tender? This recipe does it in spades, as they say, to make the softest, most tender scone I may have ever tasted. And then you add in the gingerbread flavors. Delicious is all I can say.

Understand . . . this is not gingerbread. It’s nothing whatsoever like cake gingerbread. It’s the gingerbread (spice) flavors that give it the delish flavor but in a soft, tender flaky scone.

My favorite scone that I’ve been making for decades, Buttermilk Scones, is similar, but the proportions in the ingredients are different than these. How, exactly, the chemistry works in baking continues to baffle me. Sometimes I go to Harold McGee’s book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Usually I find the answer there to most of my cooking questions about why and how. And I sometimes refer to that baking chemistry book, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman, with all of the proportions students learn in culinary school. I don’t remember them, period. When I have a question, though, I often dig out that book too, to see if it has any answers. Scones aren’t covered in that book, however. Only biscuits, and these just aren’t “biscuits.”

Nevertheless, buttermilk is a tenderizer in bread and pastries. Of and by itself I don’t think it has much super-tenderizing powers, but combined with flour and fat, it must develop the tenderness. I’ve never found that using the dried buttermilk powder works as well. I’ve never tried a side by side trial, but something happens, not good I mean, when they dry buttermilk.

Technically, what we buy at our grocery stores ISN’T buttermilk. It’s a cultured buttermilk. Real buttermilk is a by-product of real cream when the butterfat liquids run off in the process of making butter. I haven’t a clue how to find real honest-to-goodness buttermilk. I believe I’ve looked at Whole Foods, thinking surely they’d have it, but they didn’t when I visited the store some months ago. If you’re a farmer or near dairy farmers, perhaps you can buy it directly. I’d love to try it in baking. I remember trying buttermilk when I was a child, on my grandfather’s farm. He didn’t have dairy cattle, but his brother did, on adjoining land. I didn’t love drinking it, as my grandfather did, but it was definitely more tasty. More tangy for sure, but that’s about all I recall.

But, for purposes of providing tenderness to baked goods, store-bought buttermilk suffices. Our normal buttermilk starts with skim milk, actually, then they culture it somehow and it ends up being a low-fat product and has the consistency of real buttermilk. The little tiny globules in store-bought buttermilk is produced – it’s not natural to the product. It is what it is, and we’re mostly stuck with it. If you want to know whether your buttermilk is or isn’t real, look for the word cultured. That’s the manufactured (fake) stuff. If it says pure buttermilk, give it a try. Taste it too.

Now, back to these scones. They’re mixed together much like any other scone mixture, so I won’t belabor that process. The batter does contain eggs – that’s not always in scones – they tenderize baked things also. The only thing Phillis Carey said about this recipe is that it’s imperative you not add any more flour than necessary – more flour = dry and less tender. You’ll develop a rhythm once you make these yourselves. Just know the batter is very wet and you want to keep it that way as much as possible. Your hands will get kind of raggedy from the sticky dough, but that’s okay!

You don’t have to make the marmalade butter, but it’s so easy to do, and would add an especially nice touch if you’re making these for guests, particularly. Just mix butter, marmalade and a pinch of salt if you use unsalted butter. Let it sit for awhile so the flavors meld a bit. Otherwise, serve with butter and whatever jam you have on hand.

What’s GOOD: if you’re a lover of fall, gingerbread or pumpkin pie spices, you’ll love these scones. They’re super tender from the buttermilk and from very little handling. You’ll really enjoy these. I just about guarantee it. If you have left overs, wrap them in foil and freeze for another day.
What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of.

printer-friendly CutePDF
MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file

Tweet

What’s the nomenclature – this is an adult beverage dessert? Made with Amaretto in the pudding part and more in the whipped cream topping. There’s not THAT much liqueur in this – 1/3 cup total, spread over 8-10 servings, so that’s about 1 1/2 teaspoons or so per person. Maybe too much for young children since this dessert isn’t cooked, so it’s the straight stuff . . . keep that in mind.

When the first bite of this hit my tongue, well, I sighed in contentment. At the cooking class with Phillis Carey where I learned how to make this, the classroom was in total silence as we all mmmm’d or sighed. Phillis has devised lots of tiramisu variations. She just loves the dessert in general, so she keeps coming up with new methods of making it. The orange one she made a few months ago was off the charts. And now this one with pumpkin. Wow.

Start making this several hours ahead because it needs to rest – so the liqueur soaks into the ladyfingers. It’s still the raw liqueur used, but once it sits with the pastry it seems to mellow some. First you must make a simple syrup (1 cup sugar + 1 cup water, the standard measurements). You do have to buy (well, find first, then buy) the soft ladyfingers. This time of year (as I write this, it’s Fall) they’re harder to find – if you find them (usually near the fresh fruit, such as strawberries, in the produce section) buy extra and stick those in the freezer so you have them when you need them. Since I had this I’ve looked in 2 stores and haven’t found them. I’ll keep looking.

USING DRIED ITALIAN LADYFINGERS: Phillis said you could make this with the hard Italian ladyfingers – in that case I recommend you add 1 1/2 cups of water to the simple syrup and Amaretto mixture – you’ll need a whole lot more liquid to make this work. The proportion for that came from my favorite tiramisu recipe where Cook’s Illustrated devised the amount of coffee needed to dip the dried ladyfingers (you need a total of 2 1/2 cups liquid to soak dried ladyfingers).  If you want to make your own soft ladyfingers, I found a recipe at the Food Network.

Layer the soft ladyfingers in a 9×13 pan and brush them with the Amaretto syrup. You’ll make a big bowl full of the pumpkin mixture – it’s sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar and Mascarpone cheese, and a whole bunch of heavy cream whipped up. Then you add in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices. Half of it is layered on top of the bottom layer of ladyfingers, then another layer of ladyfingers, the balance of the Amaretto syrup is brushed on, then finally you add the last of the pumpkin cream mixture. That’s covered and refrigerated for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours. Then just before serving, whip yet more whipped cream with the Amaretto syrup and that gets spread on the top along with the crushed up Amaretti cookies. You’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven, especially if you love pumpkin.

What’s GOOD: The pumpkin, the cream, the Amaretto. Oh gosh. Everything. The fact that you can make this 24 hours ahead is also very nice.

What’s NOT: should I mention it’s decadent? Certainly over the top with heavy cream, but we’re not counting, right ;- )

printer-friendly CutePDF

MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file

Tweet

An altogether different (for me anyway) way to use left over turkey. And it will likely become a favorite. Made especially easy because I was able to use our Thanksgiving turkey meat, and left over mashed potatoes too, which were taking up space in my refrigerator.

Not knowing anything about the history of the French word Parmentier, I looked it up online, only to find that, in culinary terms it means a potato on top, almost like a shepherd’s pie, or a cottage pie. The dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist, nutritionist, and inventor who, in the late 18th century, was instrumental in the promotion of the potato as an edible crop. So, that’s why (per wikipedia). The hachis part means chopped meat.

I read the recipe over at Susan Herrmann Loomis’ blog, On Rue Tatin. If you don’t know about her, you should. She’s an American, but went to live in France a long time ago now, wrote a book about her culinary experiences (very cute) including meeting her husband (I see that she doesn’t mention her husband on her About page, so perhaps she’s divorced now . . . don’t know . . . but she does have a couple of children). She lives in Normandy in the little town of Louviers, gives English-speaking cooking classes regularly if you’re interested and has written about 12 cookbooks.

My version of this – from the picture above – is a much more wet casserole – not exactly soupy, but certainly it oozed all over the plate. My mashed potatoes were very soft to begin with. But that made no difference to the flavor.

One of the things that stood out in my mind as I was reading Susan’s blog, was her little quip that “ . . . . sprinkling Gruyere cheese on almost everything that goes in the oven is a French custom. . .”  Having visited the Gruyere cheese factory (a very small place considering the volume of cheese sold ‘round the world with its name on it – hence I always buy the imported, the “real” Gruyere), and since I had a chunk of the cheese in my refrigerator already, it was a no-brainer I’d make this.

It took about 10 minutes to create the casserole: first I sautéed the onion (Susan used a red onion, I used a yellow) in a bit of oil and butter. While that cooked briefly I shredded the turkey meat and shredded the Gruyere. Into the casserole dish went the mostly cooked onion with a tiny sprinkling of cheese (I was remembering Susan’s comment about the cheese). I sprinkled the top with a little bit of salt, pepper and a light dusting of powdered bay leaf. Then I added all the turkey meat, with another light sprinkling of cheese. I drizzled the cream on top of that and added the little bit of turkey gravy (her recipe has you add stock – I used the gravy because I had a bunch in the refrigerator and never seem to know what to do with it except in reheated left over Thanksgiving dinner). Then using my hands to mush and squish the cold mashed potatoes, I gently placed the potatoes on top and tried to cover it barely and completely. I wanted a solid potato covering, but I didn’t want it to be thick, so I gently pushed and shoved the potatoes so it would be a solid slate of them. If you have youngsters to feed, you’ll likely want a much deeper potato layer, which is fine! The bulk of the grated cheese goes on top of the potatoes. Make sure the casserole is deep enough that the potatoes aren’t heaped above the edge or you’ll have a bit of bubbling overflow. Fortunately I put the casserole on another pan so the drips didn’t burn up in the oven!

We had pan-roasted Brussels sprouts with this, but any green veg would be fine, or even a salad. You could – I’m sure – use some left over veg inside this dish (like peas or broccoli) but I wanted to make it as true to Susan’s recipe as I could. I did make a few changes, but I hope they did nothing but enhance the flavors rather than detract from them!

One little caveat: I used the best-est turkey chunks (both breast and dark meat) from our kosher bird, which was super-moist and tender; I used the left over mashed potatoes which contained cream cheese, so they were rich-rich already. I used ample cheese (maybe more than Susan did – I didn’t weigh it – she used 2 ounces for a larger casserole, I think). I did use heavy cream, although I just added it into the meat section (not used in the potatoes as she did). Just know that it’s rich in fat grams.  Oh, I’d make it again in a second! But then, shepherd’s pie, which is so very similar to this, is also a particular favorite flavor-taste for me.

What’s GOOD: oh gosh, was this ever fantastic. For me – it’s all about the CHEESE. It absolutely “makes” this dish, in my opinion. Gruyere has such a unique flavor – it’s not a straight eating kind of cheese (at least not to me) but has a kind of sharp, yet deep nutty quality to it. I use some Gruyere or Emmental in my cheese fondue  recipe because it’s just the best combo for flavor. Anyway, the flavor in this dish is over-the-top delicious! This is going to go onto my list of Carolyn’s favs, and will be added to my usual Thanksgiving roundup under the section of left overs.
What’s NOT: not a single, solitary thing. It IS rich. Decadent, I suppose. A splurge in the calorie department.

printer-friendly CutePDF
Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook14 (click to open in MC)

Tweet

Oh my goodness gracious. Do just those those words give you a clue about how absolutely divine this brunch dish could be? It’s an absolute must-make if you’re into Benedict eggs in general, and if you like avocado and bacon.

This dish does take a bit of time to make. I won’t kid you about that part – you need to roast the bacon in the oven with the brown sugar/chipotle topping. It isn’t difficult, but just a bit tedious and time consuming. But remember, this is an extra-special brunch dish. Maybe you can enlist the help of someone else to help you with part of it? The English muffins need to be toasted at the last minute, although I suppose you could do it half an hour ahead and then reheat them in the oven briefly. Just don’t let them get hard or dried out! The tomatoes are easy enough to get sliced ahead of time. The Hollandaise is easy enough to make – hopefully  you’ve made it before so you know how the drill goes with that. The difference here is that the mashed avocado goes into the Hollandaise sauce at the last minute. You can very gently and quickly reheat the mixture before serving, but the sauce has to be made at the last minute.

And then there’s the eggs, of course. If you haven’t ever made poached eggs, maybe you should practice once or twice. They’re not difficult, really, although some people do have trouble with the egg white spreading everywhere, so it wouldn’t hurt to try it for a time or two. I learned at a cooking class some years ago about putting the egg into a Pyrex glass cup and gently lowering the cup and egg into the simmering water and tipping it out with your fingers holding the opposite edge. Very simple. The egg stayed together without wisps of white spidering in all directions.

Have everything all warm and then pile it all together – English muffin, tomato slice, bacon, egg and avocado Hollandaise on top. And some cilantro sprinkled on the top if you remember! Then dig in. You won’t believe how good this is. Thanks to Phillis Carey for this recipe.

What’s GOOD: everything single, solitary mouthful is good and if you weigh effort against taste, taste will win, but it takes some effort to put it all together. Worth it, though.
What’s NOT: really nothing except for the time required to make it all. Not a good brunch dish if you’re in a hurry!

printer-friendly CutePDF
MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file

Tweet

So, is it a bread or a cake? It has the tenderness of a cake, but it’s baked in a bread pan and it’s sliced like a quick bread, but truly, it could be either.

Being a fan of ginger anyway, when I saw this recipe at Marie Raynor’s recipe blog, The English Kitchen, I knew I’d need to make it. Only trouble was, the recipe called for “stem ginger in syrup.” Hmmm. I knew what it was (fresh ginger in a thick sugar syrup), but was fairly certain I’ve never seen it here in the U.S. I did find it online at amazon.com – Stem Ginger in Syrup, but since it’s a heavy jarred product, I didn’t want to pay the hefty shipping. Stem ginger is just ginger that’s been sliced or cubed and cooked in a thick syrup until it’s tender.

What to do? Well, make your own, silly! It couldn’t be that hard, right? It wasn’t. So, I’m including 2 recipes below – one for the cake/bread and one for the ginger in syrup. If you happen to live in a part of the world where you can buy stem ginger in syrup, go for it. Otherwise, buy a big bunch of fresh ginger and make it yourself a day or so ahead.

So first, the ginger: buy very fresh ginger – or go to a market where you think you’ll get younger ginger (some Asian markets actually sell a very young white ginger) peel it, cut into small chunks, combine it with a simple syrup and cook for awhile (about 45 minutes I’d say). Taste the ginger to make sure it’s soft enough. When I did, after about 30 minutes, it definitely was not softened enough, so I cooked it more than an hour, I think. And the syrup reduced down quite a bit too. After cooling in the pan, I poured it into a glass jar and let it rest in the refrigerator.

Since I made the ginger a few weeks ago it was just sitting in the refrigerator, and in that time the ginger began to crystallize, so I had little sugar crystals all over the ginger pieces. It didn’t make any difference since it was going to be baked anyway. I minced up the ginger into very fine little pieces and cut up the prunes too (not quite so small – each prune about 5 pieces)

The recipe also calls for muscovado sugar. I did find some of that, but the day I was going to bake this cake, I took it out and discovered that the sugar was as hard as a rock. The suggestion on the box was to place it in a bowl and cover it overnight with a very damp towel, and by morning it would be soft. I didn’t have time to do that, so I just substituted dark brown sugar. The recipe also calls for a common British ingredient – golden syrup. There, in Britain, you’d buy Lyle’s brand, and I’ve purchased it here at some specialty stores. If you don’t have it, use dark corn syrup instead.

The bread/cake is quite simple to mix up – like most batters. The prunes and ginger (with some of the syrup clinging to the pieces) were added in at the last and gently stirred to combine. The recipe suggested using parchment in the pan, but I have one of those wonderful new ridged pans that just doesn’t seem to need that kind of coaching. The top of the bread (right out of the oven) is brushed with the ginger syrup and sprinkled with turbinado/raw sugar. The bread came out of the pan perfectly – after I’d let it rest for about an hour. I did try to slice it within a couple of hours, and decided that was a bad idea – the cake was just too tender at that point. Once it sat overnight wrapped in plastic wrap, it sliced beautifully and I served it to my DH’s men’s bible study guys.

What’s GOOD: gee, the interesting taste – the little tiny nibs of crystallized ginger are barely noticeable (you can see one sticking up in the cut slice above) but the ginger flavor is just right. The prunes add lovely color and rich flavor. Altogether delicious. And yes, I’d make it again. The recipe makes just one medium sized height loaf and you’ll find that it’ll disappear fast. Because the cake is so tender, you’ll need to cut larger slices than in a quick bread kind. And make it the day before you need it as it needs the overnight resting time. Marie says this isn’t the prettiest of cakes, but I wasn’t put off by its appearance at all. The center sunk a bit, so when I brushed on the syrup on top some of it pooled in the crease – so it made the very center a little wet with syrup. The recipe is a keeper.
What’s NOT: nothing other than the nuisance of having to make your own stem ginger in syrup. I have enough to make another loaf, though, which will be nice.

Cake printer-friendly CutePDF
Cake Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open file in MC – 14 includes photo)

Ginger only printer-friendly CutePDF
Ginger only files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click to open & add to MC – 14 includes photo)

Tweet

Pork Tenderloin is such a versatile meat and is also very quick and easy to prepare. We needed to eat dinner by 6pm (to leave to go to a concert) and I started dinner at 5 and everything was done at exactly 6:00. This version is quite simple and very tasty.

This time I searched at Eat Your Books to find a pork tenderloin recipe that would be (1) easy; and (2) quick. Success on both counts. I have Barbara Kafka’s book that’s all about roasting any kind of meat. It’s one I refer to whenever I’m doing some hunk of meat, so when her book popped up on the list, I looked at the ingredients needed – oh good – I had them all. If you’re at all tentative about the process of roasting, you might consider having her book in your repertoire: Roasting: A Simple Art.

This recipe required no more than combining a simple rub that went on first, then I gently rubbed olive oil into the meat as well. The spices are Moroccan in culture – hence the Tangiers in the title, but the spices are available everywhere. Nothing all that exotic – the recipe called for salt, cinnamon and cardamom. I added some turmeric and smoked pepper. Into a roasting pan it went, into a hot oven and in 20 minutes flat it was out of the oven and cooked perfectly. I tented the meat with foil and while the meat rested, I made a very simple sauce from the few pan drippings, adding some white wine and stock, and lastly adding in just a little bit of butter. So very easy. We’re trying to eat less and less red meat (although pork tenderloin is really, really lean to begin with), so this one tenderloin actually provided enough for us for 3 dinners. I sliced the meat thinly and widely diagonal, so we had the illusion of eating big pieces of meat, but it really wasn’t. Each serving had just a tiny bit of the sauce drizzled on top.

What’s GOOD: how quick and easy it was to make. Including the sauce at the end. I got everything ready so when the meat came out of the oven everything was right there to whisk together the sauce on the stove top. I quick-like made a vegetable and a salad, and dinner was ready. Love it when that happens. Taste was nice – this isn’t an off-the-charts kind of dinner, but it was good for sure.
What’s NOT: nothing, really.

printer-friendly CutePDF
MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file

Tweet

It’s so nice to find a new recipe for broccoli. I like the veggie to begin with, but it’s especially helpful when you find some new way to make it that is particularly delicious.

Recently I was with a group of women friends and we were discussing eating more vegetarian dinners, and how we’re eating more vegetables. One gal said she had a cookbook that is just her favorite for veggies. Once she said the name someone else said oh yes, she had that one too. I’d never heard of it, so I went online then and there, as I was sitting in this friend’s home (from my iPhone) and ordered a used copy from amazon. Love that amazon ap! The book, by Susie Middleton, is Fast, Fresh & Green. The book has lots of lovely photos, and my cursory look through the book had me thinking I’d try several recipes soon.

Two nights later, with broccoli to fix, I leafed through and found this recipe. I had pancetta (I buy the 4-ounce plastic boxes of the chopped pancetta at Trader Joe’s and simply stick it in the freezer), garlic and fresh thyme. The recipe suggests slices of pancetta, but I thought the little minced pieces worked just fine.

This dish was so EASY! I cut off the woody stalks of the broccoli (or it’s fine to use the pre-packaged already cut florets), then cut the broccoli into 3-inch or so lengths with some of the florets on each one. I added oil to a large pan (larger than you might think you need – the broccoli needs contact with the bottom of the pan – it will cook faster if you use a really, really wide pan). First you add the pancetta and let it shrink up some (harder to tell with the minced pancetta), then over low heat you add the garlic halves and let them sizzle just a tiny bit to get golden. If they start to brown, the flame is too high – you’re just wanting to mellow the garlic, not burn it! Then you add the broccoli and fresh thyme sprigs and stir periodically to brown the broccoli. For 4 servings, I used a 10-inch deep sided pan (about 5” high) and it was difficult getting all that broccoli to brown so it took lots and lots of stirring to keep shifting the position of the broccoli. Next time I’ll use a much larger pan (well, a 12-inch). I have a new pan in my repertoire: a 12-inch nonstick by Swiss Diamond, pictured at left (photo from their website). It’s not available at Amazon (the 12-inch specifically). I ordered it from Great News, the cookware store in San Diego that I visit frequently. I just LOVE this new pan. I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned in recent weeks that I’m no longer buying anything from ScanPan because they (apparently) aren’t standing behind their warranty. Great News has stopped carrying the brand, period. They recommended the Swiss Diamond.  The difference between ScanPan and Swiss Diamond is that with the Swiss you do have to use nonstick utensils. With ScanPan you did not. Over several years I’d had to replace a ScanPan smaller frying pan because we just couldn’t get it clean. After a few weeks of use, no matter how much we scrubbed it (with nylon scrubbies) a buildup of fat or stuff would accumulate. Looked awful.

Anyway, next time I’ll use that 12-inch pan even for a smaller portion. The broccoli stems are “the problem,” if you can say there IS a problem. If you use much of the stem portion, do cut the stem in half rather than leaving it whole – it’ll never cook through. The recipe indicates the stems will still be slightly firm, and that’s fine – ours were just that – but if you don’t like anything firm, I suggest you slit the end of each cut stem (they’ll fan out and curl, but they’ll be cooked through).

What’s GOOD: how easy it was – all in one pan – even suitable for guests – the flavors are subtle, but the broccoli has a lovely bright taste. Altogether a good side; I’ll definitely make it again.
What’s NOT: you do have to keep stirring it now and then, but not constantly. You do not want the broccoli to burn, just brown. Getting the stems cooked through can be problematic, especially if you don’t like broccoli that has any crunch to it.

printer-friendly CutePDF
MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file

Tweet