Gingerbread Destiny

It's a rare afternoon when I find myself flipping casually through a cookbook, randomly stop on a recipe, think it sounds good, and realize I have all its ingredients on hand. (It's that last one that usually trips me up.) So when I ran across Laurel's recipe for gingerbread and realized I could make it without a trip to the store, and my daughters were both napping, well,  I took it as a sign.

Imagination time!
Imagine this mildly disappointing picture of gingerbread is actually delicious-looking.

Gingerbread   from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1/3 cup soft or melted butter
1 cup dark molasses (or 2/3 cup blackstrap & 1/3 cup honey) [I used the combo]
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or orange juice [I "made" buttermilk by adding vinegar to whole milk]

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raisins
(1 Tbls orange zest) (optional) [I left this out]
(1/2 tsp dry mustard) (optional) [I used this. I figured, weird, but why not?]

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix butter and molasses. Beat in egg and add buttermilk or orange juice.
Sift together the dry ingredients and combine everything together.
Turn into a greased 9"x 9" square pan. Bake 40 mins.

Results of stars aligning:  We LOVED this! Soooo good. It had absolute perfect texture (think: that perfect mid-point between cake and brownie). The flavor was rich and could have been too much but for the brilliant sweet bursts of raisiny fabulousness that caught your tastebuds by surprise with each bite. Honestly, really, really good. 

Only one small point of contention:  I wouldn't actually call this Gingerbread. I'd call it Molasses Cake. And maybe it's just because I've never had "real" gingerbread prior to baking this? But I didn't taste the ginger, I tasted molasses. And raisins. Totally delicious, but not very gingery. Or bread-like. 

So there you have it. Followed my destiny and made an amazing ginger/molasses bread/cake. Awesome. You should make it too. Go check your shelves. 

Going Banana(s) Bread

Whoops! Wrote this post in September but forgot to hit "Publish."
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My imaginary self cooks best alone in a peaceful, sunny kitchen. She measures spices and stirs sauces in a meditative and tranquil state.  One chef in the kitchen, humming a happy tune, baking making magic with flour and whisk.

Reality thus far has been that I start several new-to-me dishes all at once, quickly fall behind my timetable, realize I'll never make the scheduled dinner time without assistance, and I have to ask my husband in to help me finish the meal.

So I'm used to help in the kitchen, but it's usually a last minute, For goodness' sake, HELP ME! kind of help.

This past week I had a whole new-to-me kind of kitchen assistant, one of the small child variety. I had the incredible desire to make banana bread (several rapidly softening--dare we say oozing on a food blog?--bananas on the counter can be quite inspiring). My toddler was in need of an indoor amusement (weather went from 80s to 50s overnight). We picked the recipe from Joy of Cooking and started to stir.

Who will help me bake the bread? She will!!

Success! The banana bread itself was fine. Normal. Fine. But the time spent measuring, stirring, pouring, scraping? Fabulous. One of the most enjoyable times I've spent with my daughter in recent months. She loved it. I loved it. Guess we've found a recipe for mother/daughter success.

Banana Bread
from Joy of Cooking

Have all ingredients at room temperature, 68-70 F
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 (6 cup) loaf pan.

Whisk together

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

In a large bowl, beat on high speed until lightened in color and texture, 2 to 3 minutes:

• 5 1/3 Tbls unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup sugar

Beat in the four mixture until blended and the consistency of brown sugar. Gradually beat in:

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Fold in just until combined:

• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans [I omitted these. Why ruin baked goods with nuts?]

Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 mins. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

An Eggcellent Baked Dish

Are you getting tired of my puns? Too bad! I have fun with them. Never stopping!!

For my daughter's birthday party a few weeks ago I experimented on our guests and tried out several new recipes (including the cake itself) but only one was from a cookbook and can thus be mentioned here. It was super easy (especially since I had someone else prepare the cauliflower and onions for me the night before) and delicious. You should make this for your next brunch. Yes, you.

Cauliflower Cheese Puff
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe 

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups cauliflower florets
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 ounces garlic and herb goat cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly spray a 9"x13" pan with nonstick spray, then add the butter.
3. Place the pan in the preheated oven for a minute; let the butter coat the bottom.
4. Set aside.
5. Heat a skillet on medium. Add the olive oil.
6. Add the onions, saute` for 5 minutes, then stir in the salt and the cauliflower.
7. Saute` over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just tender.
8. Transfer this mixture to the prepared pan.
9. While the cauliflower is cooking, combine the eggs, milk, flour, and cheese in a blender.
10. Whip into a smooth batter and pour it over the cauliflower mixture in the pan.
11. Bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until puffed and golden.
12. Serve hot or warm, cut into squares.

New-To-Me Cookbooks

I splurged recently and bought three cookbooks. Saint Vincent's has thankfully regained their sanity and returned to marking books as $1.00 (remember the outrageous $4 they'd charged for a time? I still fume at the memory) and so three books cost me less than a visit to Starbucks. I came away with:

• Classic Scandinavian Cooking by Nika Hazelton
• The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith
• A World of Menus and Recipes by Gertrude Crum

I've finished reading the Scandinavian book and have decided that this Christmas Eve Eve (Dec 23) will have a Swedish theme. Super excited about that. Will likely go off cookbook and use some of my grandmother's recipes. But no lutfisk. Oh, you thought it was "lutefisk"? Mmmm, sorry, that would be Norwegian, my friends. We Swedes don't need that "e." Why not? Perhaps just to be irritating. Because I think the Swedish have a feud with the Norwegians. Or vice versa. Or both. I don't really get it... I pretty much consider everyone from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark to be the same peoples. (Note:  I am now likely banned from all of Scandinavia.)

The Frugal Gourmet's book is interesting, but, be forewarned, has a revolting-sounding recipe where the main ingredient is pork blood. I only note this because after reading that recipe before bed I had an actual nightmare about being unjustly accused of shoplifting pork blood from a small market and being chased down and killed by the ethnic grocers mafia. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Nightmarish blood recipe aside (and crossed out with dark marker) I'm thinking we can use a lot of the recipes to do some sort of geography/history lesson with our daughters while we enjoy dishes from different countries.

And Gertrude Crum's book? Well, Gertie (may I call you Gertie?), I find the idea of full menus so very appealing that I will continue to read your cookbook even though I find it annoyingly overly-specific about which wine to serve with the meals.  But I'm not sure I'll ever actually make one of your menus. I'm just not feeling the inspiration, I don't know why. I should. I mean, you have your cookbook arranged not only by full meals but also by season. I should be all over that. But instead I'm, like, "meh." Perhaps I'm intimidated by all the wine talk. Perhaps I need a little more wine in my life. Perhaps I like to  whine. It's a mystery that is unlikely to be solved.

Ackwards-bay Ai-chay*

We're in full "What do you serve for a three-year-old's birthday party?" mode. Since the party is scheduled for 10am, I thought to look through Mollie Katzen's breakfast bonanza Sunlight Cafe for brunch-ish ideas friendly to both child and parent. I hope to have some well-fed guests next weekend! And I was inspired to make this beverage for an afternoon snack. It's called "backward" because usually for chai you add milk to spiced tea and this is spiced milk mixed into black tea. Mmmm, very satisfying and so much less expensive than a trip to Starbuck's.

     Backward Chai
     from Sunlight Cafe by Mollie Katzen

     1 cup milk
     2 cinnamon sticks
     [2 tsp fennel seeds] (I didn't have any. Omitted w/out worry)
     16 cardamom pods
     8 whole cloves
     1/8 tsp ground coriander
     1 1/2 cups hot black tea, brewed very strong
     Honey
     Ground cinnamon

• Pour the milk into a saucepan and add all the spices except the honey and ground cinnamon. Place over medium heat.
• Just before the milk reaches the boiling point, turn the heat down and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. 
• Strain the milk mixture into the black tea. 
• Stir in honey to taste. Pour into mugs. Sprinkle each with cinnamon and serve hot.

     Serves 2-3

*Because ig-pay atin-Lay is fun and I only just remembered that.

Anda and Aloo Curry

I had a goal to find a new recipe that would (1) feed four adults and a child, (2) use inexpensive ingredients, and (3) not be pasta.  I specifically thought to look in my Indian cookbook because I'd remembered most of the recipes served 12 (hello leftovers!) and a lot of the dishes had rice bases (rice being something we can afford in abundance). As it was I decided on a recipe that was potato rather than rice based. Luckily my pocketbook is as much a fan of potatoes as of rice. Plus, it was delicious.

     Anda and Aloo Curry (Egg & Potato Curry)

        from The Spice Box by Manju Shivraj Singh

• 4 Tbls oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 medium onions, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 4 fresh tomatoes, chopped (or 1 Tbls tomato puree)
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• salt to taste
• 1 cup yogurt (or 1 cup hot water)
• 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped
• 6 boiled potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• juice of 1 lemon
• fresh mint leaves, chopped, for garnish

     Heat oil in a wok or saucepan. Add cumin seeds and fry 1 minute. Add the onions and garlic and fry till golden. 

     Add 1/2 cup hot water, tomatoes, spices and salt. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. 

     Add 1 cup of yogurt or hot water, then the eggs and potatoes. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.

     Turn off the heat. Add garam masala and lemon juice. Stir. Garnish with mint leaves.

     

     Serves:  12

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A few comments~

I grated the onions in the food processor (the ONLY way. My goodness. Cannot imagine grating them by hand!) and then dumped them into the wok. What I wish I'd done was drain the onion juice after grating. As it was, without draining it was extremely soupy and there was no golden action. I had to pour out the boiling hot onion water before the onions could have a chance to brown. Not safe. So don't be like me. Drain the onion juice after grating.

We enjoyed this dish the night I made it, but a great unexpected perk was that it made great leftovers. Served cold it's transformed from Anda & Aloo Curry to Curried Potato Salad. I think it'd be a tasty addition to a picnic (cook and eat 1/2 the recipe as a hot meal the night before, pack the remainder to share with friends the next day).

When You Fancy a Simple Dessert

It's a lovely idea:  fruit as dessert. It's fancy because the fruit is exotic and attractive. It's simple because, hello, cut up some fruit and voila! All in all, this recipe's a winner.

from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: 

Inside-Out Mango

• 1 ripe mango
• 1 lime

Slice the mango and turn each side inside out (if you don't know what I mean, see this video at 1:30). 

Squeeze the lime over the mango. 

Serve with spoons.

This would be especially good after a spicy meal.