Some Valentine's Love

 

Happy early Valentine's day... I haven't had much of a chance to cook anything this weekend, I've been buried in far less fun endeavors. Which is why it was so great when my dear friend Leyra showed up at my door with a box of her homemade cupcakes. I couldn't resist snapping a few shots before giving into temptation. Topping them off with Trader Joe's gummy hearts was pure genius. 

Here's hoping everyone gets all the love and sugar they deserve this week!

Food for the Winter Blues

CITRUSY OLIVE OIL CAKE

It's time for the winter doldrums again. Blah January- my least favorite month, February's generally not much better.. I'm counting the days until April as I do every year. In the meantime I'm trying to stay positive -and I think the right foods can help. For me, it's about finding a balance between the comforting carbs I crave and trying to eat more healthfully. This Citrusy Olive Oil Cake is actually a lot healthier than it tastes. The combination of blood orange, tangerine, and Meyer lemon juices and zest gives the cake a lovely perfume and taste. Plus, no butter, no oil- it's practically health food.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Zest 2 blood oranges, one tangerine, and one Meyer lemon and stir the zest into 1 cup of sugar in a medium-large bowl. After that, juice one of the blood oranges, the tangerine, and lemon in another bowl. Stir 1/2 cup of plain 2% greek yogurt into the juice and then whisk that into the sugar. Then add 3 beaten eggs, one tablespoon vanilla, and 2/3 cup of olive oil. In a separate bowl stir together 1+3/4 cup whole wheat white flour, 1+1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in a buttered cake pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

 

CARROT GINGER SOUP
This soup makes me so happy- it's actually healthy but that doesn't stop it from being totally delicious. The key to really developing the flavors is to roast the carrots and Ginger just until the ginger caramelizes, it adds a sweet and spicy dimension to the soup that makes it irresistible. I could eat a bowl of this bright orange soup every day, it's that good.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean 1lb carrots, then chop 3 tablespoons of fresh ginger, and one tablespoon fresh rosemary. Combine the ginger and rosemary in a small bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup of honey, salt and pepper, then toss with the carrots on a baking tray. Roast just till the ginger is caramelized, about 25 minutes. Remove the tray from oven and let cool. Once cool, puree the carrots in a food processor and then put them in a soup pot over medium heat. Immediately stir in 6 cups vegetable broth and 1/2 cup of milk. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

A Salad for My Sins

 

This week I am repenting my bread pudding sins and trying not to bake. I made it through the weekend, but struggled. Instead of creaming butter and measuring sugar, I viciously reamed half a bag of tangerines and assembled salads. I had some lovely Bosc pears that were have been perfect for baking, so I somewhat reluctantly roasted them instead and paired them with some prosciutto and raspberries. In the end, my virtuousness was actually pretty tasty, but I'm sill not sure how long it will last.

 

ROASTED PEAR, PROSCIUTTO, AND RASPBERRY SALAD

Makes 4 good sized salads

Take 2 bosc pears and cut in half vertically, scoop out the centers- a melon baller works best for this. Place them in an oven-safe dish and drizzle with just a tiny bit of melted butter and roast for about 25 minutes in a 425 degree oven. In the meantime, divide one bag of salad greens amongst 4 plates and top each with a handful of raspberries and thin strips of proscuitto. When the pears are finished and cooled, slice them thinly and add them to the salad, top off with a handful of toasted almond slices and freshly ground pepper. Dress with a vinaigrette of chopped shallots, white wine vinegar and olive oil or whatever you like.

TANGERINE JUICE
Tangerines- I love them, but I can't stand the seeds- so I used up half a big bag of them making just one glass of juice. It's not the type of thing I would normally post about, but I found it kind of incredible just how many tangerines were needed. I kept squeezing and reaming and appreciated the resulting pile of carnage enough to get the camera out. Perhaps looking at this will give you a vitamin C boost.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Usually today would be a dessert-free day, but since we were too full of champagne and cheese to get around to making, let alone eating dessert last night, I'm having it today. 

Besides the chocolate really needed to be used up. 

So here's to starting 2012 off right- with a chocolate whisky bread pudding.

CHOCOLATE WHISKY BREAD PUDDING:

Serves 2, but can be doubled

Preheat the oven to 350

Slice half of a day old baguette into half-inch slices, and then slice them again lengthwise.

Then combine 3/4 cup 2% milk with 3/4 cup half and half in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 3/4 cup sugar and stir until it dissolves- cook until this comes to a boil, then remove from heat immediately and stir in 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts into the mixture. 

Beat one egg and 1 tsp vanilla in a separate bowl, once they are combined, slowly add them to the milk mixture. Once that's combined, add the bread to soak in the mixture for about 10 minutes before transferring to a small, oven-safe casserole dish. Arrange the bread in the dish, sprinkle with demerra sugar and a couple tablespoons of whisky. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool.

Happy Holidays!

 

I know it's been a while since my last post, but there's much more to come in the new year.  

In the meantime, here are some of the yummy macarons I've been making for gifts.

Warm wishes for a lovely holiday season to all, and for a happy, prosperous 2012.

x

Candied Orange & Blackberry Yogurt Parfait

For whatever reason, I really wanted to make candied oranges. Really, they're the easiest thing in the world, but I felt like if I were going to make them, I'd also have to bake a cake because they are essentially a garnish. But, I didn't want to bake a cake, rather, I didn't want to have a cake in my house that I would eat too much of. So, I made them anyway and came up with a much better use. I chopped some up and ate them for breakfast with some blackberries, almonds, honey and greek yogurt. It was divine- now I can't wait for tomorrow's breakfast!

CANDIED ORANGE SLICES

Cut 3 oranges into slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Put 3 cups water and 1 cup sugar in a medium pot, stir them together and bring to a boil. Add the oranges and cook over medium heat- turn them occasionally until the liquid becomes a thin and syrupy and the slices are translucent. This takes about 20 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the syrup becomes thick and the slices are tender, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Then transfer the orange slices to parchment paper to cool.

Caramelized Fig & Pecan Custard Pie

 

I recently discovered the awesomeness of caramelized figs- so easy, and so tasty. I know they're great by themselves, but found they're even better when plopped on a bed of custard, surrounded by candied pecans, and finished off with a buttery whole wheat crust. 

There are a lot of steps to this recipe, but they're all easy, it just takes a little time.

CARAMELIZED FIG AND PECAN CUSTARD PIE

PIE CRUST: Put 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup white flour + 1 tsp salt in a mixer, Blend together quickly and add 1 stick butter chopped into small pieces + 3-4 tbsps ice water, and run mixer on medium high speed until dough is formed. Shape dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Once dough is chilled, roll out and fit into a buttered pie plate. bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, until edges are browned and crust is cooked all the way through. Let cool.

CARAMELIZED FIGS: Cut 8-10 figs in half vertically, coat liberally with sugar and cook face down in a frying pan for 3 minutes over high heat until sugar caramelizes. Flip over, cook for one more minute. Remove from the pan and let cool.

CANDIED PECANS: This is the easy (ie. lazy) way I have always made them- you need to move quickly and stir frequently though.  Stick a big gob of butter, 1/3 of a stick or so, 1/2 cup sugar, a pinch of sea salt and some cinnamon in a non-stick pan over medium high heat.  Stir them together and once they're all mixed up add 1 cup pecans into the pan. Now, stir, stir stir for a couple of minutes until the mixture starts to brown, and the sugar starts to caramelize. Turn off the heat immediately. Put on a plate they're not going to stick to and plop in the freezer for about 5 minutes until just cool- not frozen.

CUSTARD: You can make your own, but I have a big canister of Bird's english custard and that's what I made mine from. Just make sure to have 1 cup and to chill it once you've made or accquired it.

Once everything is cool, spread the custard on the pie and then top with the figs and pecans. yum.