Martinis!

For anyone who loves gin as much as I do, It is surprising to me even, that I had not ever had a martini before I made these ones for the project.

 

When my friend Paul asked what he could bring to dinner, I asked him to bring some fun olives, because I knew we would be having martinis with dinner. And fun olives he did bring! Ones stuffed with almonds, and ones stuffed with sundried tomato, and some kind of orange zest.

  

I mixed them in a large mason jar with a lid, (because I am Classy, and don't have a bar set) and poured them into wine glasses (see again re: classy)  and we each chose an olive to plop into our drink. I used my basic budget gin (New Amsterdam, in case you're wondering- I read an article somewhere... Real Simple? Somewhere online? That named it as one of the best gin bargains, and I have to say, it's pretty good)

 

I don't know where this drink has been my whole drinking life!  the gin really shines through, and the salty-briny of the olives offsets it nicely.

 

A definite win!

Chocolate Dump-It Cake- 2002

A link to the recipe in the NYT website is here

I have, up to this point, not been much of a cake-baker (this will change, shortly, as there are a ton of cake recipes in the book)  I tend to stick to cupcakes, because of the portability factor, and, to be honest, the cuteness factor. (who doesn't love a cupcake?) 

But! The book calls, and when it was my sister's birthday, and she requested chocolate cake,  I landed on this one, which, in the headnote says is a great birthday cake.  This, I can confirm.  It was easy to put together, melting the chocolate in a saucepan, stirring the ingredients together,  sifting the dry ingredients, and then pouring the batter into the pan.  I put it in the oven for the allotted time, and then didn't have any problems getting it out of the pan when it had cooled a little.

Putting together the frosting is super quick and easy-  you melt chocolate in a double boiler, and add sour cream. stir, and frost cake. The result is slightly tangy, chocolatey frosting.

I cut it in half,  to make two layers, frosted it, and served it as Birthday Dinner Dessert for my sister. This cake is an awesome, chocolatey cake- not too dark, with a lighter tasting frosting. It's a good go -to chocolate cake to have in your arsenal. So make it! It doesn't have to be for a  birthday, it can just be because you want cake!

And Happy Birthday, Jack!  It only took me a month after your birthday to get the post up.

Shrimp and Artichoke Casserole

Because I've been so lame at posting, some of these dishes were cooked awhile ago, and I"m just writing aboutt them now. 

For Glee Tuesday (My weekly tradition of dinner and tv with friends) I've been using that as an excuse to work on project dinners. My friend Julie is doing South Beach, so I was looking through to find recipes that are not super carb heavy, and I landed on this one.  (I have also wanted to make it for awhile)  It has lots of things that I love: artichokes, shrimp.mushrooms- YUM.

You begin by making a delicious bechamel, that covers shrimp, artichokes, and sauteed mushrooms, you top with parmesan cheese, and paprika (Amanda Hesser suggests using smoked paprika, which I HEARTILY CONCUR- it takes the dish to the next level)  and bake it in the oven.

I served it over wilted spinach, which I wouuld do again in a heartbeat- it was even better than serving it over pasta, or rice, I think- the spinach was the perfect compliment to the dish.  If it didn't involve artery clogging heavy cream, I would definitely make this all the time. Alas, it will have to be relegated to special occasions, which will give me even more to look forward to.

Lemon Drops

Before this, the lemon drops that I was acquainted with came in a shot glass that was rimmed in sugar, and could MESS YOU UP. if you had too many of them.  ( I am now of the age where taking shots- of anything- is far less appealing than it once was) but these are a wholly different kind of lemon drop.

I was putting together Christmas baskets for some of my family members, and they are a combination of sweet:  shortbread cookies, crunchies, vanilla sugar,  and salty: Homemade chipolte salt. and both: compost cookies. I wanted to add something else, something different, that I hadn't made before, and I landed on Lemon drops.  I was initially wary of this recipe, because it involves things setting up and gelling (and we all remember how excellent I am with things like that)  but I love lemon flavored things, and so soldiered on.

you begin by bringing sugar and water to a boil,  and then adding gelatin that has bloomed in water, and bringing that to a boil, and then adding in lemon juice and (the recipe calls for orange zest, but I subbed out that for lemon zest, because that is what I had on hand) after the hour, they weren't quite set up, so i stuck the container into the fridge, sent some good thoughts out into the universe, and hoped that they would set up completely. 

I woke up in the morning, and lo! They were gummy! and awesome!  I turned the square of candy out onto a cutting board, grabbed my pizza cutter and ruler, and cut out squares of candy. I rolled them in sugar- and Ta-da! I had gummy candy!

When I went to buy the gelatin, I bought four boxes, because the recipe calls for "four packets of gelatin", and having never used gelatin, I thought that would be good. Four packets are in EACH box of gelatin, so I think will take this unexpected windfall and play around with different jellied candies. (My mom got me rosewater for Christmas- that would be interesting, in a Turkish delight kind of way) Ribena for blackcurrant flavored things, peppermint extract for mint candies!  My imagination is running wild.

Teddie's Apple Cake- 1976

Note: I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've still been cooking! Expect more entries soon, as my life gets a little less crazy.  For now, here's Teddie's Apple Cake.

At my workplace, we have a Holiday party every year, to which different departments are assigned different things to make. This year, my department got dessert, so I busted out the cookbook, and landed on something that I thought would be relatively easy and quick to make on a work night. I gathered my ingredients, mixed them, and set the cake to bake, and it made my apartment smell fantastic on a snowy night last week.

For some reason, I thought that Apple Cake would taste much more virtuous than this one does. In my head, it was kind of in the vein of banana bread, or a muffin, or something equivalent to that.  I seek to dispel any of those notions with this cake.  It is sweet, and nutty, and much more cake like than I expected.  The apples and raisins do a great job of keeping the cake moist, and the outside edge of the cake crackles a little with the sugar in the batter that caramelizes as it bakes in the tube pan. 

The headnote in the recipe suggests serving this with ice cream, which would not be out of place for sure, but as I was eating it I definitely could see it slathered with cream cheese frosting as well.  A great cake to add to my quickly growing arsenal of delicious cakes that I bake.  (Plus! I was asked for the recipe twice, which is always a good sign)

Lora Brody's Bête Noire (Intense Chocolate Cake) - 1983

So I was having a little bit of a problem. The book was so big, that I was feeling overwhelmed. With over a thousand recipes, and just one me, I was just kind of blindly landing on recipes in the book, and cooking them. Which works, but doesn't have very much direction. There were also recipes that I would come upon that I would think: "I should make that for my sister! Or that one for my cousin! or that one my mom!" 


So I got a pack of small post its, and went to town on the book.  The pink, orange and yellow recipes were ones that I thought "hey, that looks good!" when flipping through the chapter.  The green are ones that I want to make for others (with their name written on it, so I remember). 


All of this leads to Lora Brody's Bête Noire. When I read the recipe, my hand immediately reached for the green post-its, so I could write my friend Lisa's name on it.  She loves all, deep, intense chocolate desserts- Molten chocolate cakes, dark chocolate mousse, If it is dark, and chocolatey, and awesome, she's there.  I knew I had to make it for her. 

Chocolate cake with My friend Bryan's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

So we were all getting together to watch Steel Magnolias, and Katie and Lisa were making pizzas. (Oh, MAN Lisa's pizzas are great)  I thought it would be a good opportunity to make this cake (and also flat and chewy chocolate chip cookies, which I'll be writing about later). 

When you look at this recipe, it can seem intimidating. It involves a candy thermometer,  and cooking sugar, and whipping lots of eggs. Do not be afraid! It is not as hard as it seems.  You cook sugar and water until it reaches 220 degrees. Then you mix in chopped chocolate (a combo of unsweetened and semisweet) and stir until the chocolate is melted. (The recipe says that it might seize here, but that's okay, mine did not seize though, so woo!)  after that, you mix in butter, slowly, until all the butter is melted.  It is at this point, when I began to hum in the kitchen (I always seem to be humming to myself when a recipe is going well)  I went over to my trusty stand mixer, and began to whisk the eggs, (and some more sugar) until they had tripled in size. I slowly added the chocolate mixture to the eggs, and then took it out  of the mixer and stirred it by hand until it was all incorporated. 

I put it into a parchment lined, buttered cake pan, that was set in my cast iron skillet, poured boiling water around it, and baked it for a half hour. 

I got my stuff together, and got into my car to drive to my friends' house. The cake smelled so delicious, that I was seriously tempted to rummage around and find a fork and dig in right there on the highway.  I should have put it in the trunk. 

Just before it was time to serve the cake, I stuck it into a 200 degree oven for ten minutes to warm it up, and served it along with my friend Bryan's awesome strawberry cheesecake ice cream (he also had blueberry).  The cake was amazing. Not too dense, but truly chocolatey, and dark.  The recipe said serves 6 to 8, and I cut it into eight pieces,  and even then, the slices were a little too big. The cake is so rich, that it would have easily been enough with half of the size slice I had. (not that that stopped me from eating most of it) 

So good. 

If you want to impress the chocolate lover in your life- make this, right now. 

James Beard's Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic- 1997

I love things that are braised, and Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic certainly fits the bill for warm, comforting, braised dishes.  

You start by separating out 40 cloves of garlic, slicing celery thin, and layering it in the bottom of a dutch oven, then you add celery, parsley,garlic, and then chicken, until the pot is full and you're out of chicken.  Then, you pour over some vermouth, and set in the oven, while it cooks and becomes tender, and melds together, and creates a garlicky, but mellow sauce.  This was part of my Thanksgiving weekend dinner party, and was served with plenty of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

It was quite wonderful, and something that I would definitely make again.

Yette's Garden Platter 1969

When I was having the dinner party Thanksgiving weekend,  I was just going to have the chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, some good crusty french bread, and for my dad, the steamed green beans ( my dad thinks that any dinner without a green vegetable is incomplete).  I was all set to go, when a (very welcome but) unexpected vegetarian was thrown into the mix. (side note: unexpected vegetarian is a great name for a band)  I wanted something that would be hearty and filling, and as I was leafing through the vegetable chapter, I kept seeing things that looked tasty, but that were also made with meat. (Brussels sprouts with Bacon, you are calling to me! I will be making you soon!)

I also wanted something that was main-dish-y so that my vegetarian guest didn't feel like she got the short shrift. I happened upon Yette's Vegetable platter, and I'm glad I did. potatoes, topped with zucchini, and a tomato herb mixture, and then baked in the oven until browned on the top. (I omitted the onions, because the guest did also not eat onions). This, I think is an excellent vegetarian main, that I will be making again. I am going to make it again (with onions) because I bet that will make it even better.  I also think next time I will use smaller potatoes (these were fairly large white potatoes) maybe some small red skin potatoes... excellent.

Salted and Deviled Almonds- 1987

I am a fan of easy party snacks that you can have out to nibble when you are having a drink before dinner.  I mean, who isn't?  People who don't like snacks? I don't want to know these people.  Anyway.... These are extremely quick and easy almonds- you melt some butter, toss the almonds in, and then when they are nice and toasted, sprinkle with salt and cayenne. ( I mixed my salt and cayenne together, because I was afraid of the pepper clumping and becoming overwhelming)  I was kind of expecting these to be super hot, which I was okay with, but they did not turn out that way! Just enough heat that hits you at the end. 

Hot Cheese Olives- 2003

C

Hot Olives is one of those dishes that sound... a little wrong. It brings to mind... I don't quite know.  I like olives that are warm in things, like puttanesca sauce, but I think the phrase hot olives just sounds strange. Disregarding the oddness of the name, this is one excellent appetizer. (plus, it's easy!)

You make a dough of butter, cheese flour, an egg, and a little cayenne,  let it sit, and then wrap the small, spanish olives in the cheesy dough.  At this point you can let them sit in the fridge, for up to a day. When you're ready to make them, you pop them in a hot oven, and 15 minutes later, you have an excellent hot appetizer. 

I served these at the beginning of a dinner party that I had over Thanksgiving weekend with my cousins, along with Deviled Almonds and Rum Punch.  Everybody enjoyed them!   Even my cousin who doesn't like olives thought they were okay. My dad really liked them too, and the next day kept asking me what else you could put the dough on, because it's so good.  It's cheesy, and has a nice hit of cayenne, and I agree, it would go well with a lot of different things. I'm going to figure out what would go best. (besides olives, of course)

Lots of holiday parties are coming up! You should add this to your repertoire.