Honey Vanilla Pound Cake

Must apologize for the neglect around here. I've spent most of the past couple of weeks engaged in yet another rewrite of the novel's first two chapters, following the latest set of crits, and for some reason it was a much more taxing project than normal. I have also been feeling under the weather, and haven't had a lot of energy left over for cooking; it's been a time of "tried and true and easy" recipes in our household.

Also, there's a strike going on at our local grocery store. Fun times.

Last weekend, however, I made a determined bid to return to my kitchen. I made two kinds of muffins, sandwich bread, meatballs, and a pound cake, in addition to calzones for dinner. It is the pound cake I will address here, since it was a new recipe.

Despite its pedigree (Cook's Illustrated by way of Ina Garten--which may explain the unusually finicky directions) I found this okay, but just that; it's not going to dethrone Rose Levy Berenbaum's as my go-to. Perhaps I just don't like the taste of honey all that much. The crust turned out a tiny bit sticky, too, which I found more off-putting than I would expect. A week later, some of it is still hanging around my kitchen, which is not the sign of a major success.

I suspect that this would pair well with fruit, once that's available, and would certainly be willing to give it another try to find out, but I won't be in any big rush.

1/2 lb unsalted butter at cool room temperature
1 1/4 c sugar
4 extra-large eggs, room temperature
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 c sifted cake flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of an 8x4 loaf pan, line with parchment paper, grease again and flour. 
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light. Put the eggs, honey, vanilla, and lemon zest in a measuring cup but do not combine.
3. With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg mixture one at a time, scraping down the bowl and allowing each egg to become incorporated before adding the next one. 
4. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. With the mixer on low speed, add it slowly and mix until just combined. Finish mixing with a rubber spatula and pour into the prepared pan.
5. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, turn out onto a baking rack, and cool completely.

Barefoot Contessa Seafood Gratin

For this week's "cook from a book" goal recipe, I turned once again to the Barefoot Contessa and somehow landed on this as something that would be different from my usual cooking, and somewhat fun to make. I was planning to work from home that day, so I would have the extra time to fuss in the kitchen.

I suspect that for most people, this is one of those "use every pot you own" type recipes--I certainly used most of mine, along with an army of prep bowls. The result, however, was probably the best thing I have made in months. This was, to my mind, restaurant-quality stuff. Maybe not the French Laundry, but a decent restaurant.

I made a fair number of changes. I don't like shrimp, and for only two of us 1 1/2 lbs would have been way too much anyway, so I used bay scallops and cod.  I wasn't about to go looking for fresh tarragon in January; instead, I sprinkled some herbes de Provence among the bread crumbs. And I don't own any gratin dishes, so I used a relatively small baking dish.

It was amazing. I took a picture, which I will add to this post at some point.

The only other thing I want to mention is that this is really, really, really rich. So if you're making it for a dinner party or something, make sure dessert is on the light side!


1 cup seafood stock or clam juice
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons good white wine, such as Chablis, divided
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
8 ounces raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half crosswise
8 ounces raw halibut, cut into1-inch chunks
8 ounces cooked lobster meat, cut into 1-inch chunks
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 cups julienned leeks, white and light green parts (2 large)
1 1/2 cups julienned carrots (3 carrots)
1 cup panko (Japanese dried bread crumbs)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place 4 individual gratin dishes on sheet pans. (If recipe is doubled serve it in a 14 by 9 1/4-inch oval gratin dish.)
2. Combine the stock, cream, 1/2 cup of the wine, the tomato puree, and saffron in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and add the shrimp. After 3 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the shrimp to a bowl. Add the halibut to the stock for 3 minutes, until just cooked through, and remove to the same bowl. Add the cooked lobster to the bowl.
3. Continue to cook the sauce until reduced by half, about 12 minutes. Mash 1 tablespoon of the butter together with the flour. Whisk the butter mixture into the sauce along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
4. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saute pan. Add the leeks and carrots and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of wine, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Set aside.
5. Combine the panko, Parmesan, parsley, tarragon, and garlic. Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and mix it into the crumbs until they're moistened.
6. Divide the seafood among the 4 gratin dishes. Strew the vegetables on top of each dish. Pour the sauce equally over the seafood and vegetables and spoon the crumbs evenly on top. Bake for 20 minutes, until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve hot.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

First truly stand-out recipe of the new year, these were amazingly good, and not much trouble at all to make. I am going to have to keep an eye out for excuses to have them again. Although everyone I asked for advice suggested salad, I served them with mugs of Roasted Butternut Squash Soup -- it's January, I wanted a fairly substantial mid-day meal, and just could not face the thought of serving something cold.

1 package puff pastry, defrosted
Olive oil
4 c thinly sliced yellow onions
3 large cloves garlic, cut into thin slivers
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp dry white wine
2 tsp minced fresh thyme
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan
4 oz garlic-and-herb goat cheese
1 large tomato, cut into 1/4-inch slices
3 Tbsp julienned basil leaves
2 oz Parmesan, shaved with a vegetable peeler

1. Unfold a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out to an 11x11 inch square. Using a six-inch saucer or other object as a guide, cut 2 circles from the sheet of pastry, discarding the excess. Repeat with the second pastry sheet to make 4 circles. Place the circles on 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until read to use. (NOTE: This sort of instruction cracks me up. How big of a refrigerator do you think I have?!)
2. Preheat the oven to 425F.
3. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic. Saute 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are limp and there is almost no moisture remaining in the skillet. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, wine, and thyme, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. Remove from heat.
4. Using a sharp paring knife, score a 1/4 inch border around each pastry circle. Prick the pastry inside the score lines with a fork and sprinkle with a Tbsp of grated Parmesan, staying inside the scored border.
5. Place 1/4 of the onion mixture on each circle. Crumble 1 oz of the goat cheese atop the onions. Place a slice of tomato in the center of each tart. Brush the tomato lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with basil, salt, and pepper. Scatter 4 or 5 shards of Parmesan on each tart.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot or warm.

Serves 4 deliciously. 

I don't know why she always insists on fresh herbs. Dried thyme works perfectly well in this. I did get fresh basil, but in Massachusetts, in winter, it's pretty sorry-looking stuff, though the smell was a wistful reminder of summer. For the tomato I used those cherry tomatoes on the vine, which are picked at something resembling ripe, and piled four or five slices on each tart. Heavens, I am starting to sound like a food snob.

I need to get back into the picture-taking and -uploading habit.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Curry Condiments

This was an excellent if not particularly memorable vegetable soup. She must have some sort of secret, however, because the one in her picture is a vibrant reddish color, and mine always turns out to be sort of muddy. Possibly the type of curry powder she uses is more red than mine? Some of my onions got quite black in the course of roasted, too, which may have been more caramel than intended. Possibly my different method of preparation is to blame -- since I don't have a food mill, I put the vegetables into the broth and used my immersion blender to whirl it all up.

Regardless of its looks, the soup tasted great, and you can hardly beat it for easy preparation. I made this to serve with her Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts on a cold, cold January day when we had lunch guests. I did not do the condiments. I hate coconut, and banana on a soup is too weird for me.

She has taken to specifying "good" in her ingredients lists, as in "good olive oil" and "good curry powder." I'm ignoring that in my transcriptions because, well... duh. What, are you going to use bad ingredients?

3-4 lb butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 yellow onions
2 MacIntosh apples, peeled and cored
3 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-4 c chicken stock
1/2 tsp curry powder
For serving: Scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and sliced diagonally; flaked sweetened coconut, lightly toasted; roasted salted cashews, toasted and chopped; diced banana

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Cut the squash, onions, and apples into 1-inch cubes. Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Divide between two sheet pans and spread into a single layer. Roast for 35-45 minutes, until very tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill fitted with a medium blade.
4. Place the vegetables in a large pot and add enough stock to make a thick soup. Add curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Serve hot with condiments.

Serves 4-6

Two Side Dishes from "Back to Basics"

I must say that the first week of January has been a good one for the goals. It usually is, of course. I found plentiful opportunity to use this cookbook; it really is just a matter of planning. I quite like the Barefoot Contessa, in case you hadn't guessed. I have a couple more from her coming up, but I didn't want to put all of them into one huge post.

Pan-Roasted Root Vegetables

This was good, and plenty easy, but my veggies never browned the way they're supposed to. Next time I'll try leaving them at a higher temperature for a while. Of course, you can use whatever veggies you like (I've never even heard of white turnips). Serves 4

4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 white turnip, unpeeled and 1-inch diced
2 carrots, 1-inch diced
2 small parsnips, peeled and 1-inch diced
1/2 celery root, peeled and 1-inch diced
8 Brussels sprouts, halved if large
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 celery ribs, 1-inch diced

1. Melt the butter in a large saute pan that has a tight-fitting lid.
2. Add the turnip, carrots, parsnips, celery root, Brussels sprouts, thyme, salt, and pepper, and toss with the butter. Cover the pan cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Add the celery and stir. Cover the pan again and cook another 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add a few Tbsp of water if dry. Serve hot.
   

Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli
I forgot to put the olive oil on. The results were somewhat crispy. Worth trying again. Normally I just steam the stuff, so this was a big change for us. Serves 6

4-5 pounds broccoli
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
7 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1/3 c grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp julienned fresh basil

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Cut the broccoli florets from the stalks, leaving an inch or two of stalk. Cut the larger florets in half. You should have about 8 cups total.
3. Place the florets on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Toss with the garlic and drizzle with 5 Tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 
4. Roast 20-25 minutes until crisp-tender and slightly browned. 
5. Remove from the over and immediately toss with 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, pine nuts, Parmesan, and basil. Serve hot.
   

If I select one cookbook a week to work from, I will not get halfway through the collection by the end of the year.

Italian Wedding Soup

First new recipe of the new year! One week in and I have kept at least one goal, that of making at least one new recipe a week, and using a cookbook for it. This week's cookbook is Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. I selected this soup with some hope that the children would like it, as they have been known to go for some similar efforts on occasion, but no dice this time. It's an excellent soup, though, one I would not hesitate to make again. The leftovers were fantastic. I wasn't sure what shape of pasta to use, but I quite unexpectedly found some organic whole wheat acini de pepe at our supermarket and they worked very well. I don't usually like whole wheat pasta, I find the flavor sometimes over-assertive, but for this use and in such a small size, it didn't bother me at all. I thought the dill would be weird, but it actually added a great, fresh flavor (I did have to use dried).

Meatballs
3/4 lb ground chicken
1/2 lb chicken sausage, casing removed
2/3 c white bread crumbs
2 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 c minced yellow onion
1 c 1/4-inch diced carrots
3/4 c 1/4-inch diced celery
10 c chicken stock
1/2 c dry white wine
1 c small pasta such as tubettini or pastini
1/4 c minced fresh dill
12 oz baby spinach, washed and trimmed

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Place all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl and combine gently. Form into 1 to 1 1/4-inch ball on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (NOTE: Do not skip the parchment. These critters stuck even to my nonstick pan where it wasn't covered.) Should have about 40 meatballs.
3. Bake 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
4. Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes. 
5. Add the stock and wine and bring to a boil. 
6. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook until tender. 
7. Add the dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute.
8. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach and cook just until wilted.

Serve with additional Parmesan if you like.

Much as I liked this, I did have a few tiny quibbles with the recipe. I am glad that Ina has discovered the effortless joy of baked meatballs, but while the mixture of ground chicken and chicken sausage tasted fine, the mix of ground chicken and sausage resulted in a somewhat visually off-putting two-tone effect. The amounts indicated left me with some hard-to-use remnants. Even though I used "hot" sausage, I thought the meatballs could have been spicier--I might add some red pepper flakes or something next time to take them up a bit. The baby spinach, while readily available and easy to use, did not seem to have a sturdy enough flavor for this soup. I might try kale next time.

Overall, though, this is a good soup to have in your repertoire at this time of year. 

Christmas Day Menu

For some reason, Christmas and I never quite connected this year. Not that anything went badly, I just never quite got caught up to where I thought I should be. Spending too much time and mental energy on other projects, I guess, and left too much for the last minute. Still, the food turned out pretty well, just less ambitious than I had hoped to be. Maybe next year I'll get myself more together.

• For brunch, an old standby: Ina Garten's Challah French Toast
• Blackberry-Mustard Glazed Ham - easy and very good, though the sauce thickened a bit more than I would have liked it to
• Roasted root vegetables, also to Ina's recipe
• Potato and Portobello Mushroom Gratin - this was all right, but might be improved by a touch of cream

To go with, my mother-in-law's orange rolls and a lime Jell-O mold. For dessert, the Nutmeg Cheesecake I made last year.There seems to be an error in my transcript of the recipe -- salt is mentioned in the crust but not how much. I put in 1/4 tsp and that seemed to be fine. I will have to see if I can find the original magazine and fix it, but that bookcase is behind the tree right now.

And that's that! New Years Eve we will probably keep simple, as people with young children tend to do.

Happy Father's Day

Sorry for the loss of momentum here again--I've actually been working on writing, of all things, and might blog about that later. It seems that I can only keep two creative endeavors going at the same time without losing all headway elsewhere. Perhaps I need to schedule myself more.

But anyway, back to the food. Father's Day is one of those occasions when we lean on sexual stereotyping. The menu has to include meat, cooked in as primitive a fashion as possible. Since I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, this ended up being our menu:

• Ginger-Soy Grilled Steak. On the rare occasions I make steak, I love this recipe. It is ludicrously simple and very good.
• Ina Garten's French Potato Salad. My store had fingerlings, so I used those instead of the "new" potatoes, which are never new and that day looked particularly pathetic. I have abandoned her perverse-seeming instruction to cut up the potatoes after cooking them; it always seems to shred the skins, never mind what it does to my fingers!
• A green salad with dried cranberries and goat cheese
• Chocolate cake I've blogged before, with a simple and very sweet frosting from Martha.

It was a quiet day. Dave and his dad went off to the Higgins Armory for the afternoon, his mom played with the kids, and I watched some Torchwood.

Yet Another Lemon Cake

Honestly, you would think I lived on the things. Which I don't. But at some point in the recent past (seriously, I am losing track of the weeks here... vacations do that), I had some free time and the baking bug. I wanted to bring something along on the visit to my mother, and she really, really likes lemon--she asked for the recipe for this after trying it. So that's a major vote in favor, I'd say.

I do love making loaf cakes. They're easy to make, easy to carry around, and so, so tasty. This one is good even if you don't have enough lemons to make the soaking glaze, which I didn't.

make 2 eight-inch loaves

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 c sugar, divided
4 large or extra-large eggs, room temp
1/3 c grated lemon zest (6-8 large lemons)
3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking sada
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 buttermilk, room temp
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 c confectioners sugar, sifted
3 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease, flour, and line the bottom of two 8x4-inch loaf pans with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and 2 cups of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the lemon juice, the buttermilk, and the vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a rack set over a tray. Spoon the lemon syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes.

French Toast

I think (hope?) I am learning, as so many other cooks before me have, that getting the simple things right really is important. It doesn't get any simpler than French toast, so small changes in approach make the difference between insipid and inspired.

We had a D&D game scheduled for Saturday, and since I actually had a loaf of challah bread in the freezer I knew French toast would be on the menu. I had a recipe for an overnight version filed away, but instead of hunting for it I found one that I thought was similar enough online: Overnight French Toast. Friday night, after the kids were in bed, I pulled it out and thought Hm, this doesn't look quite like the one I thought I had. Oh, well, I'll just sort of munge this together with what I remember from the other one.... So I put the bread in a 9x13 pan, overlapped because there was no other way to fit it, and put it in the fridge overnight, and baked it in the morning (for much longer than this recipe says to, and I didn't flip them because they would have fallen apart...).

And the result was fine, nothing to complain about really. Maybe a touch underdone, but that's not exactly a tragedy.

Except it could have been much better, and I was bothered by my own laziness. I don't make French toast very often, since I very seldom have suitable bread for it around (might sound odd, but I mostly make sandwich bread these days, and very rarely make challah, which does work best). Which means that I blew a chance to make it really well.

Next time I will try to remember this, and use one of the two recipes that do turn out really, really, really well. One of those being Ina Garten's--also to be found in Barefoot Contessa Family Style, and the other being Cooking Light's French Toast Souffle.

Note to self: Accept no half-brained late-night muddling. Do it right.