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.

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. 

Two Day Brown Butter Madelines- 2001

I have been doing more frowning in the kitchen,  When a recipe is not the way I imagined it would turn out in my mind's eye (mind's mouth? that sounds weird)  I tend to furrow my brow and think about it. Is it something I did wrong?  Was the room too hot/ batter not rested enough/did my butter not brown all the way?  I am frowning now, even as I am writing this.  Another problem with some recipes is that I've never had them before.  With, say the Corn chowder- I know what I like with Corn Chowder, and I can pinpoint X and Y.  With something like Madelines, which I've never had...  it's harder to put my finger on the problem. Or in fact, if it is a problem at all.

I think part of the issue is I was expecting it to be more like a cookie.  But it's not a cookie, so much- it's much more cake-like.  I also thought that the flavor of the lemon would be much more pronounced.  Tasting them right out of the oven, they seemed kind of bland.  Good with tea, though.  I was bringing the leftovers to work, and I thought that they needed a flavor bump, so i made a lemon glaze (with lemon, confectioner's sugar and lemon zest, and dipped the tops in that, and allowed them to dry overnight with the glaze.  That seems to fix the flavor issue- they've got a lot more flavor now-  But I worry. is it just because I don't appreciate muted and toned down flavors? hmm.  Something to think about.

My co-workers seemed to like them though, which is always a good thing.

The best part of the experience though, was using the Madeline pans.  I scored them at a garage sale for $1 each- easily my most awesome garage sale score.  I hadn't ever used them before this, and I had definitely been meaning to.

Coming up this week:  Butternut Squash Cider Soup, Roasted Cauliflower, Perfect Batch of Rice, Baked Mushrooms



Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon Risotto - 2003

Look at the title. Those five words are so awesome. Wait, look at the title again. Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon. Plus Risotto, which I love.  There is a link to the recipe here.

I was making this dinner for Glee Tuesday, which my friend Julie (and Paul, but he was busy this evening) come over and we watch Glee and eat dinner, drink wine and hang out.  They are going to be Project participants for a long while, so I wanted to start with one that I knew Julie would like.

I swapped out butternut squash for the pumpkin, because even though pumpkins are available this time of year, I prefer butternut in savory applications.  The recipe said I could!  You start by roasting the butternut squash in the oven, for 40 minutes, until soft,  and then laying pieces of bacon over them, sprinkled with chestnuts, and sage. You then cook the whole thing until the bacon is crisp, and take them out of the oven.

Then you start making the risotto- which is a fairly standard risotto recipe- and I am pretty familiar with making risotto, it's one of my favorite things. when the risotto is done, you stir in half of the finely chopped squash in, then bigger chunks of the squash, and on each serving you put diced bacon, sage and chestnuts.

It was really, really good.  The finely chopped squash melts into the risotto, which turns it to a bright orange yellow color. I was worried that the bacon would overpower the dish- but it didn't- it just lent a nice saltiness to the whole mix.  The chestnuts were so excellent. I've never cooked with them before- and they were almost meaty in texture.  Definitely one to make again.

Carmelized Brown Butter Rice Krispies- 2007

I love Rice Krispie treats, as do many members of my family. In fact, I've even made a whole triple layer "cake" out of Rice Krispie Treats for my sister for her birthday.   I've made a similar recipe from Smitten Kitchen earlier this year, which was also really good.  It also involved less butter than this recipe. This recipe? It is buttery heaven. 

This recipe is amazing. It takes the standard, bake sale Rice Krispie treat, and it knocks it out of the ballpark. It knocks it from Camden Yards ten minutes away, to my apartment.  I gave half of the batch to my sister to take home, and took the other half to work, where my co-workers demolished them in a matter of minutes.  This recipe is easy too- it only takes a couple extra minutes than regular Rice Krispie treats.  I think i could have even taken the butter a little bit browner, but I was impatient and wanted to get them done to get the rest of dinner on the table (I made these on the same night as the Beet Tzaziki and Chicken Fricassee)

Beet Tzaziki- 2006

I love beets. It's not a surprise that this is one of the first recipes that I picked out of the cookbook, because it combines many things that I love: dill, greek yogurt, garlic.  The dip comes together pretty easily- The recipe instructs you to boil the beets or roast them, but I took the shortcut of the pre-packaged steamed beets from Trader Joe's because they are A) tasty and B) always in my fridge. I think the next time I make it though, I might cook the beets myself, because I think, in this dish, it would be okay if the beets were a little bit undercooked- with a bit of a crunch. With regular tzaziki, the cucumber is usually a little bit crisp, giving a foil to the creamy yogurt.  That wasn't so much the case here with the beets. 

It is really tasty. The beets give the dip a sweetness that is offset by the garlic and dill, and the lemon brightens it up.  My sister said that it would make a good spread for a sandwich, and I bet that she's right. (plus, imagine the look on your co-worker's faces when you pull out your hot pink sandwich!)