Under a Red Roof

Hello Cupcake

July 7, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Remembering by Colleen | 2 comments

When I was in high school and college, I worked at an Italian family restaurant. It was very homey, decorated for every holiday, and served really good food. It was red sauce galore, pizza, great steaks, pepperoni on the salad, and one of the best sandwiches in the world – The Sausage Special. Made on garlic bread with green chiles and just a touch of that sauce, it made me ever so happy. Whenever I visit my parents, a visit must be made to indulge.

It was the eighties, and there was lots of drama at the restaurant, not to mention make-up, big hair, big clothes, and personalities to match, save one. The sister of the owner, Aunt Liz, was a hostess on one of the shifts I worked. I loved her. She was soft spoken and kind, beautiful without a stitch of make up, had great style, close cropped hair, and made this awesome strawberry cake. She brought it in a 13×9 pan with a metal lid that slid across the top, like the lip gloss that I loved. To be honest, the cake could have been pretty average, and I may still have liked it, just for the sake of the container. I am that kind of person. But, it wasn’t just the tin, the cake was gorgeous and delicious. So strawberry! So summer!

I got the recipe from her but never made it, but it has been on my mind lately. The memories of it have been clearer. So yesterday, when I got an awesome deal on organic strawberries (three pounds for two dollars!) I made these cupcakes in homage to her. They aren’t Aunt Liz’s recipe – hers were the frozen in syrup kind – but boy oh boy are they delicious and cute as a button. We shared them with the neighbors, but mum’s the word if you want to eat them all yourself. You just might.

Adapted from 1 Mix, 100 Muffins, by Susanna Tee

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons sunflower or other mild oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup strawberries, hulled

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease or line a 12 cup muffin pan. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt, in a large bowl. Puree the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and strawberries (I used a large measuring cup and my trusty hand blender). Pour over the dry ingredients, and stir gently until just combined. Do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until well risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for five minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Strawberry Frosting

1/4 cup strawberries, hulled

4 tablespoons butter, slightly softened

1/4 cup shortening

pinch salt

1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Puree the strawberries (again, the hand blender in a measuring cup – or mash with a fork), set aside. Beat together the butter, shortening, and salt, until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, beat until combined. Add the strawberry puree and mix just until blended. You may need the extra 1/2 cup of powdered sugar here, if the frosting is too wet.

Frost your cooled cupcakes and top with strawberry halves, if you like.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Strong Opinions

June 21, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Learning, Remembering by Colleen | 1 comment

Two bits of deliciousness for you this morning, pizza and cake. I read an article on pizza in one of the fancy food magazines. It was rather long and somewhat interesting and highlighted a small town back east that has two very famous pizza joints that have been there a terribly long time. I guess there is quite an either/or dichotomy going on. You aren’t, apparently, allowed to like the pizza at both places. I have to say that I abhor (strong word, I know) rules like this. I don’t like being told whether or not I should have certain feelings. This is not up to other people. It is up to me. Anyway, as I was reading, I had this rather cinematic a-ha moment. She and Him was playing in the background and I swear Zooey Deschanel hit a high note when I read this sentence: Let the pizza dough rise for twenty-four hours.

I don’t know how many of you make your own thin crust pizza and wondered why it just isn’t as good as those places in the article, or for the hubster and I, Lombardi’s in Manhattan, and Grimaldi’s at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. I am savvy in the kitchen, but ever since taking a bite of that gooey, chewy deliciousness on an idyllic summer day, I was pretty stumped. The crust never tasted as good as theirs, never had that wonderful texture. Then that sentence jumped off the page, and I had it. The secret wasn’t in the yeast or the flour or the water. It was all about time. Give it time. So, the day before you want your pizza, make your favorite dough. Punch it down the next morning and let it rise again, until the oven is smoking hot (we put ours at 500) and your ingredients are ready. Then wait for the magic moment when you slide that bad boy out of the oven and you take your first bite. Heaven.

Though we didn’t follow our pizza with dessert – we were too full of cheese for that, I am following my thoughts on it with this delicious upside down cake. There is a restaurant in town, which shall remain nameless, that actually has the gall to put instant butterscotch pudding as the brown sugar and butter layer. Words cannot describe the horror of my first bite. This is not cake; it is a travesty. This recipe is the real deal, and, to be honest, it is probably easier and cheaper than buying that instant stuff, seriously. You can make it with pineapple, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, or apples. It’s really hard to go wrong.

Fruity Upside Down Cake

adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, 75th Anniversary Edition

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

Enough fruit to cover the bottom of the pan – I used two sliced nectarines and three maraschino cherries

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, grated with the small holes of a cheese grater

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Melt two tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan. Add the water and stir until combined. Pour into an ungreased 8″ square pan. Carefully arrange your fruit in a pretty pattern over the syrup.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add the milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir until combined. Spoon the batter over the fruit in the prepared pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for five minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, and invert onto a plate. This is best served warm.

Enjoy!

p.s.

When I called the hubster down to have some cake, he said, “Wow! That’s pretty. Did you take a picture?” This coming from the guy who likes to tease, “Um can I eat, or do I have to wait for the camera?”

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Peposo and Heat

June 7, 2010 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | 2 comments

I just finished reading the book Heat by Bill Buford. It chronicles the time he spent learning everything about cooking from Mario Batali’s kitchen at Babbo to learning the art of pasta making and butchering (more than that – an appreciation for quality meat) in Italy. It is a pretty good, and not surprisingly, rather hedonistic read. These people don’t just make food, they eat it in mass quantities and wash it down with plenty of wine! Though there aren’t any actual recipes included, there are descriptions of them. The following is my best approximation of one. Five ingredients, phenomenal flavor.

You may also be pausing a moment, thinking stew? Really? In June? Well, non-Portlanders, the weather has been wet, very wet, even for us, and something that simmers in the oven all day is really not out of line but quite appropriate.

Peposo

1 1/2 pounds stew meat – mine was diced, but you could easily buy one shank and shred it at the end.

1/2 bottle Chianti

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper – or more, if you like

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

Combine ingredients in a covered oven proof pot. Place in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200 and continue cooking for another 10-12 hours. The final product will be melt in your mouth tender and ever so yummy.

Serve with crusty white bread, generously spread with butter, a glass of the remaining bit of wine, and the company of a good friend.

Enjoy!

Tags: Books, Cooking and Baking, Recipes

A Whole Day of Eating

May 25, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Drinking, Eating by Colleen | 4 comments

I’ve got a slew of recipes to tantalize your taste buds today. Plus, apparently, a little alliteration. Silly me. I also have a whopper of a headache, a slight fever, an earache, and swollen tonsils, so if this wanders off into the territory of the bizarre, don’t be surprised. I am not myself.

First off, oatmeal (sorry Sarah – I think you’ll like the rest!), but, though it may look it, it is no ordinary oatmeal. No sirree, this is something special brought on by hunger, of course, a lack of bacon, an ugly banana, and a need for protein.

Ginger Banana Oatmeal

oatmeal

water

salt

powdered ginger

banana(s)

egg(s)

milk

Start making the oatmeal – add some salt and ginger, to your taste. While that is going, puree a banana (I used my hand blender in a large measuring cup), add an egg (more if you’re making it for more than two people), and some milk. Make it as thick or thin as you like. Just make sure you mix it thoroughly. Once the oatmeal is finished, add about one third of it to the banana mixture, and, again, mix thoroughly. Then add this to the original pot of oatmeal, and stir, stir, stir. If your banana was as ugly and sweet as ours was, you won’t need much sweetener, if any. This is sooo good, like a breakfast pudding, but loaded with fiber. A happy start to the day.

Now it is lunch time and spring time! Perfect for asparagus, and mushrooms, and exclamation points!

Grilled Asparagus, Mushroom, and Cheese Sandwiches

Sliced Bread

mayo

Greek yogurt

creamy horseradish

Dijon mustard

salt

pepper

bite sizes of asparagus (cooked however you like – mine was roasted with EVOO, salt, and pepper)

sliced mushrooms (sauteed in a little butter or EVOO)

Havarti Cheese, grated (I learned this from Sarah – it melts so nicely! I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before.)

Start heating up your pan over medium heat. I use a Le Creuset that covers two burners. It is the tops! Make the spread – I mix equal parts of mayo and yogurt (this makes it light and creamy), then add little bits of the rest until it tastes just right, being careful with the mustard and horseradish, unless you like to cry while eating. Save when they are tears of joy, I am not keen on this. Construct your sandwich, heat, and eat. It tastes great with potato chips and a crisp apple. Some sparkling apple juice or wine probably wouldn’t be bad either.

Tastes Like Sunshine Salad

One lovely Friday evening, we weren’t terribly hungry, and I had a small but beautiful assortment of produce in the fridge, but no lettuce or tomato, and stale heels of bread. It’s a sunshine salad!

Tear up stale bread into bite sized pieces. Toss in olive oil (not too much). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and crushed dried rosemary. Toast in the oven until golden brown. Allow to cool.

I roasted the orange bell pepper over the burner and put it in a brown bag to sweat. Meanwhile, I diced an avocado and sliced some radishes. Rub the skin off the bell pepper and dice. Arrange everything nicely on a plate, drizzle with vinegar (I like white balsamic), EVOO, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drink with the next recipe – we did, and it was marvelous.

We had half a bottle of red wine that had been sitting for a few days, not exactly good to drink on its own, so I made a zippy sangria-type beverage. I got out a pitcher and muddled frozen blueberries and raspberries (about 3/4 of a cup?) with a little frozen apple juice concentrate (a tablespoon?), then I added some Grand Marnier (splash!), brandy (splash!), the red wine, and a can of sparkling water. Man was it good!

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Classic Home Desserts

May 7, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Reading, Spotlighting by Colleen | 2 comments

This, my friends is a slice of terrific banana cake. I’ve adapted it from what I think is a pretty terrific book, Classic Home Desserts, by the late Richard Sax. My number one favorite in this department, and one that I’ve had since 1994, longer than any other, of any kind, I might add. As someone who is a great purger, this is saying a lot. This book, no doubt, will be with me until it is coming apart at the seams, all 688 glorious pages. It is full of great stories and historic recipes, not only a treasure to bake from but one to read, as well. I’ve made countless recipes from it, all went off without a hitch and tasted even better (two other examples are here and here). How is that for a product endorsement? Fortunately, the book is not out of print, but the latest edition, from 2000, is, in my opinion, prohibitively expensive, at least on Amazon ($45 used – $99 new, zoiks!), so, if you’d like to give it a try, head to Powell’s (I’ve seen used copies for $25), your local library, or cross your fingers that they print another edition.

Anyway, to the recipe. I’ve adapted it from his original, of course, for it is my way, but I honestly don’t think he (or you) will mind. An additional bit, part of my love for this cake stems from the fact that it is made in a Bundt style pan. Have I ever spoken of my love for the Bundt pan? Dessert is somehow elevated when it comes out of a pan shaped like that, truly.

Banana Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened or, if you are short on time, grate it fine with a cheese grater

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2)

1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously butter a 10″ tube or Bundt pan. Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until very light. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one; beat in the vanilla. Put mixer on the lowest speed and add half of the flour mixture, alternating with the banana. Add the remaining flour, alternating with the sour cream or yogurt, in batches. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Carefully unmold the cake and cool to room temperature. Eat plain, dust with powdered sugar, or frost. This is great with a caramel, vanilla, or chocolate frosting. I’ll bet it would be great with a cream cheese frosting, too. You can’t go wrong! Like the picture, it also tastes great with coffee.

Enjoy!

Tags: Books, Cooking and Baking, Reading, Recipes