Archive for July, 2005
Not only are berries in season, but they are on sale at the market! How could I resist coming home with lots of fresh blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.
I accidentally stumbled upon this recipe on Epicurious and knew it was meant to be.
The prep took a bit of work, since the berries must be pureed and strained to remove any seeds. I considered trying to purchase berry juice, but they all included banana and, frankly, a banana margarita does not sound appealing to me. The result was outstanding: extra smooth and very fruity. I used equal parts blackberries and raspberries, but you could tip the scales either way as long as the proportions stay the same. The only problem I had with the original recipe was that it didn’t tell me how much puree I would need to make the drinks. I noted how much to look for below. I rimmed the glasses with salt. Sugar could be used instead, but I personally think salt is the way to go.
Serve these at a bbq. You only need these drinks, a bowl of salsa and some chips to start a great party.
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Pound cakes have been around for a long time and began with one pound each of flour, butter, sugar and eggs, hence the name. A cake made from the original recipe is going to be plain, dense and a little on the dry side. It was a definite improvement over more primitive cakes when it was first developed, but I have never heard anyone request a plain, dense, dry cake and the original recipe has fallen out of favor a bit.
Modern pound cake is lighter, but still very dense and quite moist. Its simplicity makes it a popular target for flavors like vanilla, almond and lemon, though some people will prefer the subtlety of just the butter and egg. Vanilla is probably my top choice, although I do like to vary the flavors when I make the cake so I don’t get bored by having the same thing over and over. In another change from the early recipe, sour cream is now a popular addition to pound cake because it adds a slightly tangy richness and a lot of moisture to the cake.
In this recipe, I reduced the number of whole eggs and increased the number of whites, both for health and to whiten the color of the final cake. This particular cake is very moist and vanilla-y. It is wonderfully dense with a tight crumb, without being heavy at all.
Pound cake, because if its simplicity, is commonly used as a vehicle for fresh fruits and whipped cream. Instead of relegating it to a sideline dish, I usually like to make it the star and serve it plain or with only a light glaze. Covered, it keeps for several days.
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In a bit of a twist this week, the recipe I’ve made came from Good Eats, Alton Brown‘s TV show, instead of a cookbook.
In every episode of Good Eats, AB picks an ingredient or a cooking method and explains and investigates it in depth. He will cover great recipes and great techniques, even including which gadgets to use and why. He will also include lots of historical and scientific information related to the topic at hand. All this is done with a sense of fun in an entertaining production that takes food television why beyond the average cooking show. I’m a big fan. If the show is aired in your area, check it out.
Some time ago, I caught an episode about Tofu where Alton Brown made a chocolate tofu pie. I was led to believe that this episode would rerun this week, but it did not and thus I was unable to refresh my memory of the show. Fortunately, Traditional chocolate pies often contain lots of cream and several eggs. They taste great, but waistband-friendly, they are not. It’s a very simple pie that is much healthier than your typical chocolate pie because tofu takes the place of cream and eggs.
My only complaint with the recipe is that it calls for “a block” of silken tofu. I have several blocks of tofu in my fridge which varied in size from 6-14 ounces. I used a 12 ounce block. I had to scrape down my food processor several times while making the filling because nothing would look worse than a chunk of pale white in a slice of dense cholate pie.
Perhaps I should have titled this post “How to trick your friends into eating tofu” because my tasters (and coworkers) loved this pie. It was dense. It was creamy. It was chocolatey. It was great! I though detected a subtle soy taste, but that could have been my imagination as no one else appeared to notice anything. I did use a store bought chocolate graham cracker crust for this recipe rather than making one. I think a graham cracker crust provides a nice textural contrast for the filling as well as adding sweetness to the dish.
I prefer to call this Chocolate Silk Pie, versus the original title of Moo-less Chocolate Pie, both because it describes the pie to the people you serve it to and because it’s a cute reference to the silken tofu in the filling.
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Good things come from liquor stores. Besides the liquor, I mean.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, LCBO, regulates the sale of alcoholic beverages in Ontario, Canada. Here in California, unlike many other places, all you need is a permit to sell liquor and you can purchase it just about any time at the market or corner store. But corner store does not have a wonderful publication put out several times a year by the LCBO. A very good (Canadian) friend of mine first turned me on to Food&Drink, which is filled with amazing photographs, wonderful recipes and very useful drink pairing suggestions. This is far and away the best marketing plan they could have devised, in my estimation. If I picked out a recipe, I would be likely to purchase whatever they recommended to accompany it. And how else would I know what pairs well with these cookies?
The answer is more cookies.
These Spiced Up Ginger Cookies are really good. Certainly the best in recent memory, if not the best chewy ginger cookies I’ve ever had. They have a lot of spice. They have nice crispy edges when they’re freshly baked. They use oil instead of butter so they remain very chewy, even after a few days!
I’m reprinting the recipe here. I added a pinch of salt and rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. The rolling could certainly be omitted, but I love the way it looks.
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One of the best uses for fresh tomatoes is pasta sauce. This is particularly true when you have a jungle-like “garden” of tomato plants threatening to take over your yard. Pick the tomatoes, wash them, toss them in salads, sandwiches, soups and anything else you can think of. The problem is that these plants produce a lot of tomatoes. Recipes that use multiple tomatoes are suddenly highly appealing to me.
Pasta is a great, easy dinner. Pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes is only marginally more involved that using jarred sauce. Including prep time, it takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. While your sauce cooks, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt and cook your pasta. The pasta should be done around the same time as your sauce. Everything is homemade and perfect for a weeknight dinner.
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