Under a Red Roof

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

Zippy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup or Sauce

May 4, 2010 in Cooking + Baking by Colleen | 1 comment

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble! Sorry, it was SO called for here.

Hi there! I’ve got another quick recipe for you, and it is quite delicious. I initially made it as a pasta sauce, but then, as I was reheating it one day, realized it would be equally good as a soup. Two for one!

Red Pepper and Tomato Sauce or Soup

1 large or 2 small red bell peppers (I’ve never used orange or yellow, but I think they’d work)

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, peeled

1 pint jar of peeled tomatoes or a 14 oz can (whole or diced, with the juice)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if you don’t like spicy)

salt, to taste

Roast the bell pepper(s) over an open flame (I do it over a stove burner) or under the broiler, until nice and black. Place in a bowl with a lid or a brown paper sack to cool. Once cool enough to handle, peel off as much of the skin as you can, then remove the seeds and stem, compost or discard. Place the garlic in the jar of a blender; let it whirl around on high until it is nicely diced. Don’t worry if there is a chunk left. Add the peeled bell pepper, the tomatoes, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt. Whirl until smooth. Correct the seasoning, if necessary, and place in a sauce pan and heat until hot for the soup. If you’ll be using it as a sauce, let it reduce a bit, as you’ll want it thicker, at least I do. Like I said, zippy. This makes about 24 ounces, enough for two big bowls of soup or pasta but would double nicely.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Zippy Chocolate Cake with Cherry Sauce

March 29, 2010 in Being, Cooking + Baking, Eating, Learning, Thinking by Colleen | 3 comments

Another, equally satisfying title to this post could be Yum, or Perfection. Indeedy. Chocolate and Cherries are hard to beat. Something else that is hard to beat is sensibility. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know how I wrestle with sugar, or, at least, how I have wrestled with it. I am bad, weak, unhealthy, (insert other appropriate adjective), for eating the stuff. I spent a lot of time on it, A LOT. Many hours that, no doubt, added up to days of my life fretting about my consumption of sugar and how I really needed to let it go and be a better, stronger person. Heavens to mergatroid was it ever taxing, and to what end? Did I ever actually stop eating sugar? Not for any extended period of time. Did I ever feel better about myself for being my own persona non grata every time I consumed it? Certainly not. It was just ugly self-flagellation.

So now, in hopes of being kinder and gentler to my whole self, not just the parts that I’ve idealized, I’m going to eat it and do my darndest not to criticize or second guess myself for it. If I so desire, I’m going to bake a cake, have a slice, and REALLY enjoy it (well, if it tastes good – I do have standards). I don’t want to halfway enjoy it while simultaneously beating myself up for not being strong enough to say no or whatever. I am laughing at myself as I type this! How silly and schizophrenic I have been. Life is meant to be enjoyed.

So, to the cake. I call it zippy because it comes together very quickly and the sauce cooks while the cake bakes, so you can eat it warm from the oven. I love that – impatience and deliciousness in one go. I can’t remember where I first saw a recipe like this, maybe the Moosewood Cookbook? It is vegan, moist, and delicious. And, since this is the kind of gal I have become, I used whole wheat flour in place of some of the all purpose. If I can make it a little healthier while still being utterly yummy, I’m going for it.

Zippy Chocolate Cake

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar (So sorry! I left this out the first time.)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup cold water or coffee

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8″ square pan. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients. Mix wet and dry together quickly until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you use the whole wheat flour, this may take longer. It’s okay.

Serve plain or with fruit sauce (raspberry, peach, blueberry, strawberry, or plum would be good, too!). I used my recipe included with pancakes, here. It is also good frosted or sprinkled with powdered sugar, and eaten out of hand.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

Bathed in Citrus

February 17, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | 1 comment

I’ve got two gems in the eating department for you today. The cabbage, dressed rather simply in a lemon-parmesan-garlic bit of heaven (adapted from the lovely Molly Wizenberg book A Homemade Life – link to her Orangette blog under YUMMY) and scallops with an orange sherry reduction, conceived by moi under a red roofed kitchen. Both are quite delicious.

First, the cabbage, because it can sit while you make the scallops. I am a recent convert to cabbage, probably within the last two years. I’m not really sure why. I have no ill memories of it as a child. To be more precise, I have no memories of it at all as a child. Maybe I don’t come from cabbage people. Alas, this has changed. I love it in slaw of all varieties, steamed with apples, and raw (especially good with Thai Som Tum salad). The hubster is a pretty big fan, too.

Red Cabbage Salad

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, diced fine or pressed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 small-medium head of red cabbage

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large serving bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Set aside. Remove any bruised leaves from the cabbage and cut in quarters. Remove the core from each quarter, and slice the remaining cabbage as thin as you can. Add to the serving bowl and toss with the dressing. Add the parmesan cheese and toss together.

Scallops and Orange Sherry Reduction

My apologies, in advance, as this recipe is much less precise than the previous one, but certainly worth a shot.

1 pound large sea scallops, patted dry

3 tablespoons butter, divided

salt

12 fennel seeds

juice of 1 orange, about 1/3 – 1/2 cup

1-2 tablespoons sherry (not cooking sherry)

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, once hot, add two tablespoons of butter. Allow to bubble briskly and gently add the scallops, one at a time, paying attention to where you started. I like to place them in a spiral around the pan. Don’t add them too quickly or they will start to steam and release too much juice – they won’t be pretty and golden in the end, either. Once you’ve placed your last scallop, sprinkle them lightly and evenly with salt before turning them over in the order you put them down. Once you’ve flipped your final scallop, remove them from the pan in the order you put them down and onto a plate.

Add the orange juice, sherry, remaining butter, and fennel seeds to the pan, being careful not to get burned by the steam created. Scrape any bits of scallop off the bottom, and allow to reduce until it is slightly thick and syrupy. Turn off the heat and strain the liquid into a bowl, squeezing out as much of the yumminess as possible with the back of a spoon. Return to the pan over medium heat. Add the scallops and heat until warmed through.

Serve with the cabbage, delighting in the bits of reduction that mingle with the cabbage.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes

A Switcheroo and Thirty Grams

February 11, 2010 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | Permalink

Hi there!

How are you today? Confused, perhaps? As in, where is the quotation that is usually posted here on Thursday? That Colleen is like clockwork with those. Well, I didn’t figure you wanted to be inundated with them, and therefore pulled a little switcheroo with my anniversary post on Tuesday. Nineteen years. Ms. Keller certainly got it right. I love finding just the right combination of someone else’s words and my photo, not that the right combination of my own words is exactly simple. Writing can be hard.

Tablecloths are easy, however. I am really loving this one. It is my latest find from the bins, and oh so adorable – how cute is that little lady next to my muffin? It’s cheery, too, like a lemon yellow, full of sun and smiles kind of day, which, by the way, is what we’ve had in great abundance in these parts these past few weeks. It has been wonderful and a bit odd, I must say. I cannot recall a sunnier winter in my eleven here in Stumptown.

Hmmm, I have no segue way for what comes next, drat. It’s tough going from writing about sunshine and cheer to um, fiber. My naturopath wants me to eat 30 grams a day. While I definitely appreciate the benefits of healthy bowel movements, lower cholesterol, lower risk of cancer, I have to say that, save for the not at all pleasant psyllium drink I have morning and evening, it is not so easy to get-r-done, and this is coming from someone who really strives for such things. I eat beans, a lotta beans, whole grain everything, fruits, veges, but still have a hard time reaching the magic number. Take these muffins, by my calculation, they’ve got three grams each, so I would need ten to get my recommended daily allowance, and while I really, really like them, that would just be too much. Not that it will keep me from trying to get to 30 by other means (Yams! Parsnips!), by golly, I will.

Just in case you’d like to try the muffins, here’s the recipe, and I hope you aren’t dissuaded by their healthfulness (that word is a mouthful) because they really are delicious, like carrot cake. I like carrot cake. Yum.

Carrot Muffins

2 beaten eggs

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat bran

1/2 cup sugar (actually, I used 3/8 cup sugar and 1/8 cup agave nectar, but don’t know how easy it is to find everywhere)

1/2 teaspoon ginger

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

3/8 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/8 olive and 1/4 sunflower)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped dates (I am a recent convert – slightly sweet and full of fiber!)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, agave (if using), carrots, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir until combined. Mix in walnuts, raisins, and dates. Pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This made 11 muffins, but I fill my cups pretty high, so you might get 12, or you might get less.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking and Baking, Decorating, Recipes