new ideas...for me, anyway

Hi friends.  Wanted to share with you all some food things this week that may be old news to some of you, but they were a revelation to me.

1) add feta to rice pilaf to spruce it up (my friend Kristi, aka my roommate, taught me this the other night and it's so easy and delicious.  I don't know why I've never done it before.  She used a quick cooking rice pilaf mix and it was DELISH.)

2) along the rice train, add feta (or blue cheese or goat cheese...mmm!) to hot orzo with some fresh herbs for ANOTHER way to dress up orzo/rice.  The best part?  You don't have to re-heat it the next day because orzo is great cold.  Add a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil for a little boost for next-day leftovers.

3) nutella hot chocolate.  yes. I'm serious.  I have had 2 previous attempts at making hot chocolate here at the Mayo/Kurzen household (some of our best friends are staying with us for a couple months) and both attempts were not well received by the others.  So, I read on Pinterest (Naturally.  Can I have an independent thought anymore?) about stirring a big tablespoon of nutella into hot milk to make this delightful creation and DELIGHTFUL IT WAS.  oh my goodness it was sensational.  And easy. And better than any powder mix you can buy.

Ok, I'm sure most of you have been adding cheese to rice and thought to stir nutella into hot milk for a long time now, but for me, these were just incredible new bits of food knowledge.  Hope you try these things if you haven't before!

Olive Oil Cake with Blueberries and Mascarpone

This recipe is for those of you (kate) who do not like super sweet desserts.  It is perfectly light, moist, and delicious without being overpoweringly sweet.  Forgive me for not having a picture of the final product with the blueberry sauce and mascarpone (which, by the way, is a garnish- don't go out and buy mascarpone if you don't already have it).  This would be a perfectly lovely dessert to serve if you have served something rich and heavy for dinner but still want to have a little something.  Also, you could substitute the blueberries for your berry of choice.  This recipe is Anne Burrell's.......boy do I love her.  Oh, last thought: don't let this cake scare you because you think it will taste like olive oil....it doesn't.



Serves 6

For the cake:

• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
• 5 large eggs separated, plus 2 additional whites
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 meyer lemon, zested (I used an orange and a regular lemon to achieve the sweet 'meyer' lemon flavor)
• 1/2 cup sweet sherry
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch salt

For the topping:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 pint mascarpone

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper, and brush the sides with oil. (you have to cut the parchment paper to fit the circular shape of the springform pan- if you're not sure what a spring form is, it's the same kind of pan you use to bake cheesecakes)

separate your egg yolks and whites

 In the bowl of your mixer, combine egg YOLKS, the sugar, and the lemon zest (move the whites very far away so you forget about them and don't confuse them with your yolks- I've done it before)

'zest' is the skin off of the orange/lemon.  If you don't have a zester, you can use the small side of the grater (not the smallest because the zest will just get stuck)

Beat your egg yolks, sugar, and zest on medium until they have turned very pale and become thick and have doubled in size- like so:

ok you can't tell they've doubled, but I had been beating them for upwards of 8 minutes at this point.  It did the job.

ok now measure out your 3/4 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup sherry:

PS, if you've never worked with sherry before, this is what it looks like (you can find it with cooking wines with the oils and vinegars):

Now that you have your oil and sherry measured, turn your mixer on low and slowly pour in your oil and sherry.  Once it is combined, stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, mix until combine (but don't over mix!)

here's what your batter will look like

now, time for those eggs whites!  they MUST be room temperature in order to form the stiff peaks. So, in another bowl, beat your egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks, like so:

you see how they are getting thick and foamy?

when you can take a utensil and remove some of the egg whites without the egg whites remaining attached to the rest of the egg whites, your peaks are stiff (think of it like when mozzarella cheese stays attached to your fork and plate when you're eating pasta- you DON'T want that affect with egg whites.  They must be stiff and firm.  You pickin up what I'm puttin down?)

Now that you've beaten your egg whites, you're going to fold them (in 1/3 increments) into the batter. 

ok here's the first third.  'Folding' basically means that you are going to incorporate the egg whites from the bottom up, if you will.  So, put your spatula in the middle of that egg white mixture to break it up, then, as if you are in you're high school color guard with a ribbon in your hand, guide that egg white mixture to the bottom of the pan to coat it with batter, then in a circular motion, bring it back up (Ok, this probably isn't making any sense.  Melissa and C-Anne, if you're reading this and want to learn how to make this cake, you might need to just YouTube how to fold). Moving on.  I'm confusing myself.

Alrighty, once your egg whites are fully incorporated in, pour the batter into your prepared spring form pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  I thought mine looked a touch brown on top, but it ended up being perfectly fine.  Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then remove the pan's sides and let it cool completely.  Now let's get to this magnificently delicious blueberry topping (which, I might add, can be used as pancake syrup or you could use raspberries instead to use in a chocolate cake...oh the options!)

Topping:

Combine the blueberries, lemon (or orange) zest, sugar, cinnamon stick, and water in a saucepan.  Bring this mixture to a medium simmer and let it cook/reduce/thicken up (all that good stuff) for 20-30 minutes.  If you're blueberries aren't bursting naturally, you can use a masher or a fork to do the job.  remove the cinnamon stick and let it cool.   I would have pics of this if I had been thinking clearly that day, but since I wasn't and I don't have pics, you'll have to take my word that THIS.SAUCE.IS.DE.LIC.OUS. legit.  SO yum.  

This is where it would be phenomenal to have a picture of the finished product, but again, I was a slacker, so picture this: a piece of moist, golden, light and airy cake sliced, topped with a ladle full of that sweet, yet not- too-rich blueberry compote and all balanced out with the creaminess of a dollop of mascarpone cheese.  Now doesn't that sound heavenly?  Especially when you are craving a little morsel of goodness but don't need a rich chocolate cake to satisfy that sweet tooth?  Thought so. 

Roasted Brussel Sprouts: Fear Not!

People. Have we talked about this?

Sometimes I forget what I share with you and what I just think about sharing with you.

Brussel spouts. I know you think you hate them. Apparently it's like the cool thing to hate brussel sprouts or something. Stop it. Stop it now.

When December roles around I go into seasonal vegetable depression. During the fall I freak out and obsess over autumn vegetables. From September to November I make squash soups and pumpkin breads and root vegetable purees. Following the Thanksgiving cooking frenzy full of such things, though, I come down with a terrible case of flavor fatigue. In times like this I can't stand to look at one more dad-gum acorn squash. No more! I can't eat any more squash! I miss the fresh, bright flavors of spring and summer. My body tells me that it has had its fill of beta-carotene and demands something GREEN.

Enter the pariah brussel spout. It's green, it's in season during the winter, and it has a unique flavor that offers some solace from all the worn out fall veggies. Alex Guarnaschelli (Food Network star and hopeful Iron Chef-to-be) says that if you have had a brussel sprout and hated it, then you had a brussel spout that was cooked incorrectly. When boiled, these little morsels of delight come out bitter, ugly, and, well, not so delightful.

But when roasted, they become crunchy, flavorful, and some-what sweet with a rich, meaty texture.

Making them is as easy as pie, too. (By the way...where did that saying come from? Pie is NOT easy.)

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and trim your brussel spouts. Cut them in half. Put them on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. (Add shallots and garlic if you're feeling fancy). Roast the little babies for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. When they are just on the brink of being burned, but aren't quite burned yet... they are done.

Save yourself from a sad winter existence and re-try the brussel sprout. Just because it has a bad rap doesn't mean that it actually tastes bad...just that some people are bad cooks.

Mango Dal

Once upon a time I loved Indian food.

Once upon a time my husband hated Indian food.

Once upon a time I cried about this.... literally. Because I'm emotional. And because I wanted to cook it. And because I was imagining a future life in which I would never be able to cook Indian food for my husband.

Once upon a time I married a sweet, self-sacrificing boy who begged me to cook Indian food so I would stop crying.

Once upon a time I made "mango dal". You can find the recipe here. It was delicious and we both loved it. And it was healthy. And it as super fun to make. And I may have sauteed a pound of big beautiful shrimp to accompany the mango dal in order to thank the sweet, self-sacrificing boy for being sweet and self-sacrificing.

Once upon a time, a few weeks later, the boy requested mango dal for dinner.

Once upon a time I stopped crying and proclaimed victory.