Comida Mexicana!

This meal was a fabulous success. These refried beans and stuffed peppers, both of which were improvised, are now standards for me, and i will never again make a key lime pie sans tequila.

Menu:

White sangria

Tostadas with guac, lettuce, salsa, crema & cilantro

Pintos refritos

Chipotle chicken with cheese grits & mole

Grits, corn, & black bean stuffed peppers w/ mole

Margarita pie

Way-better-than-canned pintos refritos

1 smallish onion, diced
2-5 cloves garlic (depending on size and taste), minced
1 small jalapeno, minced (don't use the rib and seeds if you don't want much heat)
1 medium tomato, diced
2 tsp ground cumin, plus more to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans pinto beans, drained

heat up a few tablespoons of oil or butter in a smallish pot and sautee the onions until soft. Add the minced garlic and jalapeno and saute for another minute or two, until slightly browned. Add the tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper and saute another minute to cook the tomatoes a bit. Add in all of the beans and cook, stirring constantly and mashing them against the side of the pot as they start to break down. Add some vegetable broth or water if they get dry. If you want them more smooth, you can use a potato masher or even put them in the food processor. Adjust the seasoning and enjoy.

Stuffed peppers with grits, corn, and black beans in mole

1 can black beans, drained
1 medium onion, diced
5 ears of corn, with kernels sliced off (if its winter you can use frozen corn)
cumin, salt, and pepper to taste

~2 cups cooked grits (follow bag instructions)
~1/4 cup cream
~2 tbs butter
~1/2 cup grated cheddar
salt and pepper to taste

~6 bell peppers of any color, cored and halved
~3 cups mole (see here)
~1/2 cup grated cheddar

Preheat your oven to 400. Start your grits cooking according to instructions. Meanwhile, prep the vegetables. heat up some oil in a big pan and saute your onions until soft. Add in the corn and black beans in a proportion that is pleasing to you. Add seasoning to taste, then cook until the onions have browned a bit.

When the grits are done, stir in the cream, butter, and cheddar, and season to taste.

Prep the peppers and then stuff each one with a layer of grits and then a layer of vegetables. line them up in a baking dish with a little bit of mole in the bottom. fill in the edges between the pepper with more mole (add some water to it if you need to to fill it - the sauce will re-thicken as it cooks). top the peppers with the rest of the mole and bake until soft, about 1/2 hour.

Margarita Pie (Key Lime + Tequila)

1 bag of graham crackers (one of the two that come in a box)
~1 stick butter
pinch of salt

10 egg yolks
2 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
a shit ton of key limes (or a moderate number of normal limes)
~1/2 c tequila

Note for the filing: this makes double what most recipes reccomend, but I always find I need more to fill up my pie pan. This will probably give you a little bit of extra filling to make mini-pies.

preheat to 375. Make your graham cracker crust by smashing up the crackers (I prefer to do it by hand and not use a food processor so that they don't completely disintegrate and stay crunchy). Melt the butter and stir it in a little at a time (plus the salt), until the mixture is wet enough to be pressed together firmly but not soggy. Press the crust evenly over the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Bake for just 5-10 minutes until it has a tiny bit more color.

Mix your yolks and sweetened condensed milk in a big bowl, then start zesting and squeezing like a madman. I reccomend using all of the zest from every lime you juice for optimal green color and citrusy smell. Once you've added about 1 cup of lime juice, start tasting the filling frequently until you reach the right level of limeiness - but don't wimp out early. Then start adding tequila a litle bit at a time until the taste is noticeable but not overpowering.

Pour the filling in the crust and pop that dude in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes and then cool in the fridge for a VERY LONG TIME, I'm serious like at least 3 hours or it's going to fall apart. Top with some vanilla whipped cream and enjoy!

Carrot (Cup)Cake(s)

Carrot (Cup)Cake(s)

1 pound carrots, shredded (should be ~4 packed cups)

2 cups minus 2 tbs all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbs cocoa powder

4 e eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 packed cup dark brown sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

some walnuts, chopped and toasted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 muffin tins with liners or a two cake pans with parchment.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa.

Beat the eggs. Add the vanilla, sugars, and oil, and mix. Add the dry ingredients and mix only until combined. Stir in the carrots, and (optional) nuts.

Divide the batter into whatever pans you are using. Bake ~40 minutes for cake pans and ~15 minutes for cupcakes, until a skewer comes out clean and the tops are springy. Remove and cool a little in the pan before transfering to a cooling rack.

Ice with:

Cream Cheese Icing

16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Beat everything together until no longer lumpy, adding sugar as you go until you get the right level of sweetness and firmness.

Sweet & Sour Braised Red Cabbage

Winter staple for me, prepared essentially the same way I make brussels sprouts. Perfect with mashed potatoes or noodles.

Sweet and Sour Braised Cabbage

1 medium onion, sliced into ribbons
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced into ribbons
~1 tbs lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
~2 tbs grainy mustard
~1 tbs brown sugar
salt and (lots of) pepper to taste

Heat up a little bit of oil in a big, deep pan and saute the onions until somewhat softened. Toss in your cabbage and immediately sprinkle with lemon juice or vinegar to preserve the color, and salt it a little to help it wilt. Saute for a few minutes until everything takes on a little more color. Then stir in the mustard plus about 1/2 cup water, cover, and turn down the heat. Simmer/steam for about 5 minutes, then remove the top and let any remaining water evaporate. Add a bit more oil, plus the sugar, and turn the heat back up. Taste and add more acid/mustard/sugar/salt and pepper to taste. keep stir-frying until the cabbage is soft and everything is starting to caramelize.

Breakfast Dinner: Eggs Florentine-ish, Blue Cheese French Toast w/ Pears

Eggs Florentine-ish
Makes 4 servings

4 egg yolks
~1 tbs lemon juice
~1/2 cup butter
~2 tbs mustard
pinch cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, minced
few big handfuls baby spinach
salt and pepper to taste

~4 eggs

2 English muffins (recipe here), halved

Make your hollandaise-ish sauce by whisking the yolks and lemon juice together until they get very voluminous. heat in a double boiler (1 pot over another pot of boiling water) and start whisking. stir in your mustard and then slowly drizzle in the butter, whisking constantly, letting it cook and thicken. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Turn off the heat but leave over the water to keep warm,stirring every few minutes while you prep the other components.

Heat a bit of butter in a wide pan and cook the garlic for just a minute. Toss in the spinach and cook until just wilted. Season and set aside.

Toast your English muffins and prep the eggs. Traditionally they're supposed to be poached, but that is above my cooking skill level, so I just fried them over easy in butter. Assemble your Florentines by stacking it all together and pouring the sauce over the top.


Blue cheese-stuffed french toast with pears
Makes 4 servings

~1/2 cup cream cheese or mascarpone
~2 tbs honey
~1/4 cup blue cheese

4 very thick slices of bread, preferably challah or a thick, sweet loaf bread like cinnamon swirl

2 large, ripe-but-not-mushy pears, peeled and sliced
~2 tbs butter
~1/4 cup water, pear juice, pear liqueur, brandy, or other liquid of your choice
~2 tbs brown sugar
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1 tsp vanilla

1 cup half-and-half
3 eggs
~1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the cheeses and honey, adjusting until you get a pleasing balance of pungency and sweetness. Carefully cut a wide slit into each slice of bread with a very sharp knife, making it as wide as possible without cutting any edges of the bread. Spread the filling into the middle section with a butter knife, being very careful not to tear the bread.

Prepare the pears by sauteing them in the butter for just a minute, stirring carefully so as not to break them. Stir in the liquid, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon and let simmer until the sauce is thickened. Set aside.

Mix the eggs, half and half, and cinnamon together in a wide pan. Soak both sides of each slice of bread in the mixture, then let it drain for a minute while you heat up some butter in a pan on medium. Let it cook until golden brown on both sides. Top with some pear slices and syrup - Add additional maple syrup if there's not enough to go around.

English Muffins

A perfect summer bread recipe because you don't have to turn on the oven. these are thicker and breadier than the kind you get in a store. Totally delicious. Like all English muffins, best toasted.

English Muffins
Makes 18

1 cup milk
2 tbs white sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm (not hot!) water
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups flour (bread is best)
1 tsp salt

Heat the milk and stir in the sugar to dissolve it. Cool until lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in the water in a large bowl. Stir in the milk and butter, then 3 cups of the flour, and stir until smooth. Knead in the rest of the flour until your dough is very smooth and elasticy. Put in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1.5 - 2.5 hours).

Punch the dough down LIGHTLY and cut it into ~18 pieces. GENTLY roll into rough flattened-ball shapes. Roll each ball in cornmeal or flour, cover them all with a cloth, and let rise another 1/2 hour or so.

Heat up a griddle (or two or three) on medium. Cook each muffin about ten minutes on each side, until browned. Cool and enjoy!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This turned out AWESOME and delicious and so pretty. Make some right now.

In other news: this will be the last of the terrible pictures because our camera has been restored to health!

Cinnamon Swirl Loaf Bread

Adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.com

1/2 cup milk

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 envelope instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water

few dashes cinnamon

2 eggs

~3 1/2 cups AP flour

1/4 cup sugar

5 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

2 teaspoons milk

Melt the butter and milk together and let cool to warm (don't put it in the fridge) while you do other stuff.

Mix the yeast, sugar, cinnamon and salt into the water to dissolve. Beat in the eggs, followed by the milk-butter mixture. Now add 3 cups of flour and mix to combine. Start mixing in more flour with your hands, starting with 1/4 cup and using up to 1 cup, until you reach a consistency that is tacky but not so sticky that your hands get all covered and you can't work with it. Once it's at the slightly-sticky stage, knead it for another 5-10 minutes until it is very smooth and elastic. rinse out and oil your mixing bowl and let the dough rise, covered, until doubled, about 2 hours (if you're making it in the winter and, like us, you're too broke to heat your apartment, put it in a very slightly warm oven for the first half hour to get it going.

Once your dough is double, push it down lightly and stretch it out on a floured surface. use your hands or a rolling pin to get it into a 18x8" rectangle. If it's not stretching easily, let it sit for 10 minutes to relax the gluten and then try again. When it's all stretched out, mix the cinnamon, sugar, and salt and sprinkle it all evenly over the rectangle. I suppose you could also add some raisins at this point but why would you want to ruin a perfectly good cinnamon bread like that? Now roll it all up, sleeping-bag style, making sure it's tight so your bread won't be all holey and fall apart in the toaster. press the seam to make sure it's tight. Oil a loaf pan and put the dough in it, pressing it a little so it touches all of the walls. Let it rise, covered, another ~1 1/2 hours until it is peaking up over the top of the pan - again, use a warm oven to get it going if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 350. when it's ready to go, brush the top of your bread with a mixture of the milk and egg and then pop it in. Bake about 40 minutes, or until very brown - if you wimp out and take it out too soon, the inside of the bread will be soggy. Samesies on slicing it too soon - let it cool on a rack for AN HOUR before you cut into it. Enjoy! I am not a big plain-bread eater and I think this bread is delicious on it's own. Even better toasted with butter... and it makes killer french toast.

Gabeday Desserts: Balsamic Strawberries & Tiramisu Cake

I totally made up this dessert and it was sooooo good. Ok well actually I'm sure at some point I've seen roasted balsamic strawberries onthe foodporn sites, and strawberry-basil drinks and stuff, so I had some help. But seriously this was amazing and so easy, make it right now. Of course yours won't be as beautiful if you don't have a basil plant from which to pluck the tiny baby leaves... so go get a basil plant. really there is no excuse for not having one (other than no windows).

Strawberries with Strawberry-Balsamic Jam, Whipped Cream, and Basil

1 box strawberries, halved
~1/4 c balsamic vinegar
~2 tbs sugar
~1/2 c frozen strawberries, defrosted and pureed/mashed (optional)
1 tsp strawberry extract (optional)
~ 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
tiny basil leaves or julienned grown-up leaves

I made a strawberry-balsamic jam, but you can also just make a sweet balsamic reduction. Combine balsamic vinegar, sugar, and optional frozen strawberries and/or strawberry extract in a pot. Simmer until thickened - pure balsamic should be maple syrup consistency, balsamic

and strawberries should be more like a loose jam. Both will firm up quite a bit in the fridge, which is where you should store them for at least an hour.
Make your whipped cream by beating the cream and vanilla together.

Arrange the strawberries on a dish. Smear each one with a bit of balsamic reduction (you canuse more if it's balsamic-strawberry jam cause it will be less intense) and top with a scoop of whipped cream and a bit of basil. Enjoy!

Gabeday Dinner: Butternut Ravioli & Gnocchi Verdi al Gorgonzola

7-Yolk Pasta Dough

1 3/4 cups AP or 00 flour
1 tsp salt
6 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon milk

Mix your flour and salt and place them in a mound on cutting board or large bowl (bowl will make the mixing easier, but then you'll have to transfer it to a board to knead, so you'll have 2 dishes to do instead of one). Make a hole in the center and drop the yolks, egg, olive oil, and milk into it. Start mixing with your fingers, gradually incorporating the flour (watch a youtube video if you've never made pasta before). Once it's all come together, scrape the extra dough off your board and flour it, or if you were using a bowl, transfer to a well-floured board. Now knead the hell out of your dough. Like forever. Until your hands feel like they're going to fall off. You want it to be perfectly smooth and shiny like a boiled egg, and it should spring back when you press on it. You cannot overknead. Think you are done? Knead some more. Then wrap your pasta dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a while before using to firm it up.

Roll out your dough on a well-floured board until very thin and cut it into whatever shapes you prefer. If you're making ravioli, use a can to make circles or cut it into squares (save the scraps for a next-day meal). Put a little dollop of filling in the center of a circle, rub the edges of the circle with water, and press another circle on top of it, using your fingers or a fork to press the edges shut. You'll probably make a lot of ugly, leaky ravioli before you get the hang of it (it took me at least 3 tries to make pretty ravioli).

Boil your pasta or ravioli very briefly (unless you've let it sit out for a while and it's gotten hard, in which case it will take more time). Once it floats to the surface, it's pretty much done - but test a piece to make sure. Dress and enjoy!

Butternut-Goat Cheese Ravioli Filling

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, diced
~3 oz soft goat cheese
salt & pepper

heat your oven up to 450, put your squash on a tray with some olive oil, and roast until soft. Meanwhile saute your onions in some butter until caramelized (omit the onions if you don't have a blender or food processor). Mix the vegies with the goat cheese and mash or puree until smooth. Season to taste.

If you have leftover filling after making your ravioli, mix it with a few tablespoons of melted butter and use it as a sauce on your leftover pasta scraps.

Gabeday Dinner: Risotto, Arancini, & Tomato-Basil Dressing

Gabe has been putting in requests for more risotto since I made the zucchini version about a year ago, and I've been wanting to try to make arancini for a long time as well. You're going to be spending a long time over a pot of hot oil if you want to make your entire risotto batch into arancini, so I recommend cooking it for dinner one night and using the leftovers for arancini the next day. I added peas and asparagus to my non-arancini risotto and fed it to a gluten-free friend in place of the birthday pastas. The invented dressing here was also highly successful, and lots of people asked for the recipe, which didn't exist at the time... so here it is!

Basic Awesome Risotto

2 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

1-2 medium onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

5-6 cups liquid*

~1/4 cup mascarpone (or ~1/4 c cream cheese or ~2 tbs butter)

Parmesan cheese to taste

Optional stir-ins of your choice: steamed asparagus, defrosted peas, sauteed mushrooms or spinach, etc.

*at least 4 cups of your liquid should be vegetable broth or chicken broth if you want it to taste good. if you have some on hand, using about 1 cup of white wine is also delicious. the rest can be water.

Put all of your liquid in a big pot on the stove and heat it up to very hot, but not boiling.

Heat up your butter and oil together in a non-stick pot. add the onion and some salt and pepper and saute until translucent. Add the garlic and cook another minute or so. Add the rice and saute until golden and toasty-smelling (not brown).

Start adding your liquid to the rice one big ladelful at a time. Stir it in (make sure you scrape the bottom of the pot for stuck rice), and then wait for it to absorb. then add another ladelful. repeat and repeat. when you're most of the way through your liquid, start checking the rice for doneness. it should be soft, but not disintegrated into a big pile of mush. When it's done stop adding liquid and take it off the heat.

Stir in mascarpone, creamcheese, or butter to your desired consistency. Add in parmesan to taste (don't go crazy and make it taste exclusively like parmesan, as some crappier versions do). Adjust the salt and pepper. Stir in whatever (pre-cooked) vegetables you desire, and enjoy!

Arancini

~1 cup leftover risotto

2 eggs

flour

breadcrumbs

lots of oil for frying

Beat one of the eggs into your leftover risotto. Put the second egg into a bowl and beat lightly. Put a few tbs of flour on a plate and the breadcrumbs on a second plate. Heat up your oil until a piece of bread or dough dropped into into float to the surface fairly quickly and gets dark brown in about 1-2 minutes. Roll the risotto into balls about 1" in diameter, roll in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, and drop into the oil and fry. You want to make sure they're spending sufficient time in the oil to heat up the center - they should be dark on the outside. Blot on papertowel and serve with tomato sauce or in a salad with a dressing like the one that follows!

Tomato-Basil Dressing

1 small onion, diced

1 package cherry tomatoes

~1/4 cup red wine vinegar

~1/2 cup olive oil

a big handful of basil

salt & pepper to taste

Heat up a bit of oil in a pan and saute your onions until they're translucent. Toss in the cherry tomatoes and saute until they start to break down, pressing them with your mixing spoon to hurry the job. Keep cooking until everything is a little bit caramelized. Transfer to a food processor or blender, add some red wine vinegar, and mix until smooth. Now add the basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper and blend again. Taste and adjust - mine was really thick with the original amount of vinegar and oil I used, so I kept adding more and I'm not sure what the final amounts were. It's also going to taste more like tomato sauce as long as it's warm, so adjust the levels of everything again after it's been refrigerated for a while. Serve on a substantial salad (e.g. with mozzarella hunks or arancini).

Gabe's Birthday Dinner: Menu

greens w/ mozzarella, peas, asparagus, arancini, and tomato-basil dressing

ciabatta w/ olive oil

butternut-goat cheese ravioli w/ brown butter and hazelnuts

gnocchi verdi w/ gorgonzola cream

strawberries w/ balsamic, cream, & basil

tiramisu cake

pina colada & mango daiquiri jello shots

Fall Party Dinner: Pumpkin Soup, Latkes, and Applesauce and Apple Pie

Last weekend we went apple-picking with a bunch of friends and oh my gosh, the apples were so much better than you can get in the store. Our favorites were the macintosh. we made about 1/4 of them into applesauce, another 1/4 into apple pie, used a few in a salad and a few in the soup, and then covered the rest in caramel. We also got a few little pumpkins, which I spent an absurd amount of time hollowing out to make ugly little soup bowls for some simple yet delicious improvised pumpkin soup. Gabe said the soup was his new favorite soup and the applesauce was the best he ever tasted. These latkes were also the best I have ever made. The only low point in the meal I would say was the pie, which was great, but not the best it could be - we overmixed the crust and made it a bit tough, and there was a bit too much cardamom in the filling and not enough salt in the topping. Don't repeat our mistakes!

Pumpkin-Apple Soup

2-3 smallish pumpkins, peeled and cube

~3 medium apples, cubed

~1 medium onion, chopped

~1 cloves garlic, minced

~1 thumb-sized piece ginger, minced

Cinnamon and curry powder

vegetable broth

a bit of half and half, yogurt, or cream

Heat your oven up to 450. Put the pumpkin cubes on a baking sheet with some olive oil and roast until soft. Meanwhile, heat some butter in a pot and saute your onions with a pinch of brown sugar on medium until they get translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, salt and pepper, and a bit of curry powder and cinnamon to taste (I went low on the spice to not overpower the mild pumpkin taste), and keep cooking until the onions are browned. Once the squash is ready, toss it in, plus a few cups of vegetable broth. Puree it all together, add more broth if necessary, and adjust the seasoning. Stir in your cream or yogurt to taste, and enjoy! I served it with some cinnamon-maple yogurt and lots of toasted bread.

The Best Latkes

each of the following ingredients are per person. one baking potato will feed one person as a main course fo sho, and make probably too much for a side... but there's really no such thing as too many latkes.

1 baking potato, grated

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup flour

1 egg

tsp salt

pepper to taste

Lots of oil to fry

Mix your grated potato and onion in either a cloth (cheese cloth or old t-shirt) or a colander. Press/squeeze as hard as you can to get out all of the water. If you have time, let it sit for a half hour or more and then squeeze it again.

Once you are satisfied with the dryness of your potatoes, add in the flour, egg, salt, and pepper.

Heat up a good amount of oil in a pan - you want the latkes to be well lubricated but not submerged (a few tbs should do it). Drop small hunks of dough into the pan and press them flat. Fry on both sides until brown and crispy, then transfer to a paper towel to blot off the oil. After that you can keep them in a warm oven while you cook the rest. Serve with ketchup, sour cream, and/or delicious homemade applesauce. Enjoy!

Applesauce

3-4 lbs excellent quality apples, partially peeled and diced*
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup+ brown sugar
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
cinnamon to taste (cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. also welcome, but don't kill the apple taste with too much spice.)

*if you have a food processor, go ahead and leave some/all of the peel on. i think it adds a nice bitter tartness and it's easier. but if you're going to mash 'em by hand, take off all of the peels.

Put all of the ingredients in a pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes until all of the apples are soft but not disintegrated. Puree in a food processor/blender or mash with a potato masher or fork. Adjust the salt, sugar, lemon, and cinnamon. You can eat it right then, but I'm pretty sure applesauce is like soup and gets better if you refrigerate it and then reheat it.

This will make about 2 cups.

Collard Onion, & Black Bean Enchiladas w/ Tomatillo Salsa

soooo good. these enchiladas were a lot prettier than the ones we made last time - our skills are improving! also totally delicious. i've never used tomatillos before and i was pretty scared of them - they're all sticky and weird and look like eggplants on the inside and taste kind of like grapes - but it turns out they make awesome salsa! they have this great fruity acidity that makes it so you don't have to add any extra lime juice or vinegar to the salsa. very cool.

Collard Onion, & Black Bean Enchiladas w/ Tomatillo Salsa

~10 pretty small tomatillos, washed and cored

2 big cloves garlic

1 - 2 jalapenos, to taste

handful of cilantro leaves (optional or replace with parsley if you're cilantrophobic)

~ 1 cup crema or sour cream

1 bunch collards (or swiss chard), sliced into thin enchilada-length ribbons

2 medium onion, sliced into enchilada-length strips

~1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin

~1 cup cooked black beans (dried have better texture than canned and are cheaper)

~8 tortillas

~1 cup shredded cheese

Make the salsa: puree the tomatillos, garlic, and jalapenos (you can chop by hand if you have no pureeing tool but it's gonna be a whole lot of work. you want everything as finely chopped as possible). Adjust the flavor - it might need a bit of sugar, acid, or more heat - but don't add salt cause there will be a lot in the vegies and cheese. put it in a pot and simmer it until it gets pretty darn thick. stir in the sour cream or crema.

preheat to 375.

Sautee the vegies: heat up some oil on medium-high and saute your onions until they get translucent. add the collards, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook until everything is soft and the collards have lost most of their bitterness. Add the black beans and cook another minute or so until the onions are getting deliciously browned.

pour a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of a deep baking dish (a brownie pan works well). cut all of your tortillas in half. Dip each half tortilla in the warm sauce to soften it up, shake off the excess, and then place a bit of vegetable mixture and a bit of cheese near one end and roll it up tight like a sleeping bag (don't fold the edges in like a burrito). aim to have at least a little bit of cheese left at the end. place them all neatly lined up in the dish. when you're done, pour the rest of the sauce over the top and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese over that.

bake the whole for about 20 minutes, then put it under the broiler until the cheese on top gets bubbly and brown. let it cool a little and enjoy!

what do we eat the other 20 days?

so we only blog like 10 posts on a good month. what do we eat the rest of the time?

stuff that fails

e.g. recent attempt at vegetarian onion soup that was more like boring onion gloop with delicious cheese-bread on top

stuff that is a close variant on something we've posted before

e.g. cous-cous with vegetables and tahini sauce, vegetable curry with different vegetables, tomato soup made slightly differently

stuff that is too mundane to need a recipe for

e.g. omelettes, burritos, baked potatoes, pasta w/ various additions, stir fries, constant breads w/ hummus or cheese

Pad Thai w/ Tofu & Vegetables

In terms of flavor, this turned out better than the restaurant version! Less overwhelmingly sweet, and with a really good depth of flavor despite the relatively simple flavorings. The only problem was the texture - we made the mistake of using extra-firm tofu and these really thick spaghetti-shaped rice noodles, which i undercooked slightly... resulting in pad thai that took a LOT of chewing. next time i'll use firm tofu and invest in some of the thin, flat rice noodles that you're supposed to use. When you make this you can omit the vegies and sub in shrimps or chickens for the tofus if you want (i assume you can marinate meat in the same liquid as you marinate tofu? i have no idea how meat works.)

Pad Thai w/ Tofu & Vegetables

1 block firm tofu, drained and cubed

8 oz flat rice noodles

~1/2 cup soy sauce

~1/4 cup dark brown sugar

juice of 1 - 2 limes (to taste)

2 big garlic cloves, minced

1 squirt sriracha

~ 5 scallions

~2 large eggs

~1 cup vegies of your choice - i used broccoli and carrots, cabbage would be good too

a bunch of cilantro

1/2 c peanuts, crushed up

Dry the tofu using this super cool, no-pressing method: put all of your cubes in a single layer in a non-stick pan and put it on medium heat. press em a little to sizzle out all of the water. flip em when they're golden and do the same on the other side. Mix the soy sauce, sugar, lime juice, garlic, and sriracha (a food processor makes this very easy), put the tofu in a plastic bag or bowl, and cover with the sauce. Soak for about an hour.

Either soak or boil your rice noodles until they're mostly done but not soft.

Heat up a little bit of butter in a big, deep pan or wok. mince the white parts of your scallions and toss them in. once they get fragrant, turn the heat down a bit and add your eggs. scramble them with the scallions until no longer liquid but still soft. scrape em out of the pan and add a bit of oil, turning the heat back up. toss in your veggies, stir-fry until soft, and move them out of the plan. add a bit more oil in necessary. drain the tofu cubes - save the sauce! - and fry them until crispy. take them out. now toss in your noodles, plus the sauce and 1/2 of the peanuts, and cook until the noodles absorb some of the sauce and are soft. add the eggs, tofu, and vegies back in and cook another minute.

Garnish with the green parts of the scallions, extra peanuts, and the cilantro. Enjoy!

Vagina Cupcakes, Penis Butterscotch Blondies

Butterscotch blondies

1 cup of butter, melted

2 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar

2 egg, lightly beaten

2 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 cup of all-purpose flour

2/3 cup of butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a brownie dish with baking parchment and butter it.

Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together. Stir in the butterscotch chips.

Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares (or penises) and serve.

Corn and Vegetable Chowder

Raspberry Brown Butter Tart

7 tbs unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tbs AP flour
Pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Pinch salt
1/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 6 oz containers fresh raspberries


Preheat to 375°F. Melt the butter and mix it with the sugar and vanilla. Mix in the flour and salt. Press the dough evenly onto the sides and bottoms of a lined, buttered spring-form pan. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool while you work on the filling.

Whisk the sugar, eggs, and salt together. Mix in the flour and vanilla.

Brown the butter by cooking it on medium heat, stirring often, until it starts to darken. be careful to scrape up the milk solids from the bottom of the pan as you stir. when it is brown and nutty-smelling remove it from the heat immediately to prevent burning. Gradually add it to the sugar-egg mixture, whisking constantly to keep the eggs from cooking.

Arrange raspberries in concentric circles in the crust. Carefully pour the filling over berries. Bake until the filling is puffed and golden, about 40 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Samosa

Ciabatta

Daikon Cakes

Banh Mi

banh mi is the king of sandwiches in my book. what i learned from trying to make it at home is that it is easy to make something similar and delicious, hard to capture the exact dimensions of awesome that you'd get in a store-bought version. The components we used were: 5 minutes a day bread, crispy tofu, carrot-daikon pickle, sriracha-lemon mayo, and cilantro. i think what ours was lacking was the lightness and coolness. 5-minutes a day bread always comes out pretty dense and moist, good but very different from the totally airy, fluffly, thin-crackly-crust french bread usually used in banh mi. we also could have used more fresh, cold vegetable, maybe some added cucumbers or even lettuce, or just put the carrots and daikon in there unpickled.

for the tofu: cut up a block of tofu into slices of your liking. wrap them in lots of paper towel and press em under something heavy for an hour. mix/puree together some soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and minced ginger and garlic, then soak the tofu in it for an hour, rotating the pieces if they're not all submerged. shake off the liquid, heat up a pan, and fry them on both sides (little to no oil necessary) until crispy, pressing a bit to get the moisture out.

for the pickle: cut an equal volume of daikon and carrots into matchsticks. salt them in a bowl and then press them with paper towels a few times throughout a half hour to get the moisture out. then doise them in vinegar and stir in some sugar. they should be sufficiently pickly in an hour, and will keep in the fridge (titled covered) for a week.

for the mayo: stir some lemon juice and sriracha into mayo, to your liking.

Ian's Birthday Dinner

Antipasti

Pain a L’ancienne
olive tapenade; herbed olive oil

Insalata di Mozzarella
arugula salad, basil oil

Primi

Gorgonzola Dolce con Pere
pear-balsamic reduction

Melanzane Fritte
spicy tomato sauce, pignoli

Secundi

Ravioli di
with lemon butter broth

Conchiglie con Cardofi
marinaras

Dolci

Carmelized Apricot
almond cream, amaretti

Chocolate-Raspberry Birthday Cake

Moroccan Chickpea-Sweet Potato Stew

Ed.: totally forgot one very important ingredient (apple) and one optional but delicious ingredient (curry powder) when I posted this. mistakes corrected below.

Although I hesitate to commit so definitely, I am pretty sure this is the best food ever. All of the ingredients are cheap; it is extremely simple to make; you can make a ton at once and the leftovers get better the longer they spend in the fridge; is equally good in all seasons; it is extremely healthy (wide variety of veggies, high protein, no oil); and it is absolutely delicious. Every time I make this, I ask myself why I don't make it every week.

Moroccan Chickpea-Sweet Potato Stew

28 oz can tomatoes (diced, or if they're whole, squish em in your hands)
~2 cups (1 standard can) vegetable broth
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight OR 1 can cooked chickpeas
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1-3 jalapenos, minced
3 sweet potatoes, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 large apple, minced (or crushed in the food processor)
~1 tbs cinnamon
~1/2 tbs cumin
~1 tbs curry powder
~1 tbs honey
salt and pepper to taste
~2 cups baby spinach
~1 cup coconut milk (1/2 a standard can)


If you're using dried chickpeas:
Heat up your tomatoes (with all the can liquids) and vegetable broth, plus the minced garlic and chilis, in a big pot. Put the chickpeas in first, cover, and boil on medium-high until they're tender. Then turn the heat down a bit and add everything except the coconut milk. If the veggies aren't covered, add a bit more broth or water (they can be half-submerged). Cover and boil everything until the veggies are tender. Stir in the spinach until it wilts. Add the coconut milk and adjust the seasoning. Puree some portion of the soup to your liking - I like about 1/2 pureed.

If you're using canned chickpeas:
Heat up your tomatoes (with all the can liquids) and vegetable broth, plus the minced garlic and chilis, in a big pot. Add everything except the coconut milk. If the veggies aren't covered, add a bit more broth or water (they can be half-submerged). Cover and boil everything until the veggies are tender. Stir in the spinach until it wilts. Add the coconut milk and adjust the seasoning. Puree some portion of the soup to your liking - I like about 1/2 pureed.

Enjoy!

Thai Green Curry

Interlude

Beauty and deliciousness from Chinatown:

and a wonderfully useful site

Crispy Polenta Cakes w/ Cabbage and Beans

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Do not make our mistake and cook this in the summer. From the cabbage to the white beans to the dark beer to the caraway, this is wholly a cold winter night comfort food. I would also recommend a few tweaks on the original to make it better, suggested below.

Crispy Polenta Cakes with Cabage and Beans


1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
few tbs cup apple cider vinegar OR lemon juice
~3 cups leftover polenta
~6 oz dark ale
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp+ mustard
2 tbs butter
1 cup cooked white beans

heat a bit of olive oil in a large pan and toss in your onion and cabbage. Add a pinch of sugar, a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir-fry until they both get soft and browned to your liking.

We made our sauce just by pouring the ingredients over the cabbage, but I would recommend food-processing your if possible, or grinding the caraway before adding it. The large caraway seeds in our sauce were a little bit unpleasant. Either way, you want to end up with a sauce of the beer, caraway, mustard to taste, and salt and pepper to taste, reduced a bit and poured over the cabbage and onion. Stir in the beans.

Heat some oil in another pan. I made the mistake of trying to make a cake out of very soft polenta and ending up with a terrible half-fried gloppy mess sticking to my pan. So make sure your polenta is cooked very firm, and if it's not, stir in flour until it gets there. if your pan isn't perfect, you're going to need a good amount of oil and lots of careful attention to keep the cakes from sticking and breaking... but you will be rewarded with awesome crispiness. put a lump of the polenta into the oil, flatten it with your spatula, and then immediately push it from it's initial landing point to prevent sticking. keep moving it around as it cooks and flip when it's brown. put a few cakes on top of the cabbage and enjoy!

Polenta w/ Charred Vegetables

This is awesome comfort food, good for a cool, rainy summer day. Healthy too, if you use part-skim ricotta and no butter, and maintain a high vegetable-to-polenta balance.

The tomato oil was just to be fancy - you could replace it with some jarred tomato sauce, or add tomatoes to the vegetables, or go sans-tomato (I would recomend drizzling with a bit of balsamic in this case to increase the sweetness and acidity).




Ricotta Polenta with Charred Vegetables and Tomato Oil

2 cups corn meal
~6 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1 cup ricotta
- 2 tbs butter (optional)
~2 cups mixed vegetables, chopped (we used zucchini, broccoli, red pepper, and onion)
1/2 lemon or lime
2 big, ripe, tasty summer tomatoes, or two handfuls mini-tomatoes, chopped
~ 1/4 c olive oil

Make the polenta by stirring together the water, cornmeal, and garlic in a big pot. Boil on medium until it gets soft and smooth, stirring pretty often to keep it from clumping, and adding water if it gets hard to stir. Once it's done, stir in the ricotta and optional butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.

While the polenta cooks, whiz the tomatoes in a food processor with the olive oil. If you don;t have the necessary equipment for this step, replace the tomato oil with some tomato sauce, or cook the tomatoes along with the other vegetables.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a big pan on medium-high. If you're using broccoli or other slow-cooking vegetables (e.g. carrots, potatoes) steam them in the microwave for a minute or two until they're half-cooked. Toss all of the vegetables in the oil, then let them cook without stirring so that they get charred on one side. Stir and flip them, and then wait a few minutes again. Repeat until they're nicely browned on all sides and cooked through. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon/lime juice to taste.

Pour some tomato oil onto your place, add a lump of polenta, and pour the vegetables over top. Enjoy!

Vegetable Dumplings (& spring rolls & peanut sauce)

Sweet, Sour, Spicy, Salty Vegetable Dumplings

2 cups flour

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

~ 2 cups vegetables of your choice, finely sliced/diced (we used zucchini, carrot, onion, red pepper, and cabbage)

3 cloves garlic, minced

small-mouse-size hunk of ginger, minced

1/2 jalapeno, minced

1/2 block tofu (optional)

rice wine vinegar to taste

sugar to taste

soy sauce to taste

Mix the flour, salt and water with your hands, adding a bit more water until it comes together in a stiff dough (do not let it get soft and sticky). Knead until very smooth, then cover with a damp towel and set aside.

Sautee all of your veggies on high heat with some salt and pepper - if they're all cut about the same size, you can just throw em all in at once. After a few minutes add a bit of sugar plus the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Cook until everything is pretty soft, then turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar and soy sauce a little at a time until it tastes good to you. Add more sugar if it needs it.

Flatten your dough block a bit into a rectangle, then cut it into strips. cut each strip into bouncy-ball size hunks (you'll get a feel for the right size as you go). Roll each hunk out into a rough circle, thin but not so much that it tears - the edges should be thinner than the middle. Plop some filling in the middle, fold it in half, and seal the edges - you can pleat 'em all fancy if you want, look at some pictures to figure it out.

to steam em, put a bit of oil or a cabbage leaf down in the bottom of a big pan, arrange them in it, add about 1/2 cup of water, cover, and steam on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until they're all the way soft. If you want to fry them at this point, let the water evaporate from the pan and add a few tablespoons of oil to the pan, lifting the dumplings to get it underneath. Fry until golden on the bottom, blot on some paper towels, and enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie is one of those extroadinarily easy recipes that end up convincing everyone you are a master chef because it is so delicious. Really anything is an improvement over the creepy pastel gelatinous substance you get if you order key lime pie in a crappy diner, but the secret to a really good homemade version is not to skimp on the lime juice and zest. plus an overly buttery, not-too-sweet graham cracker crust.

Key Lime Pie

2 packages graham crackers (usually 1/2 box)
6+ tbs unsalted butter
sugar to taste (a few tablespoons should do)
salt to taste

5 egg yolks, whisked together
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (it's good to an extra on hand)
lots and lots of limes, key or otherwise

vanilla whipped cream (heavy cream + vanilla + whisk)

Preheat 375. Crush your graham crackers - start by pounding on the bag with your fists, try a rolling pin/stomping, just be careful not to rip open the bag and create a crumb explosion. dump em into a bowl and crush any remaining large chunks with your fingers. alternately you can whiz them in a food processor, but i like the rougher texture when you do it by hand. add the sugar and salt to taste. melt the butter and pour it over the crumbs, and mix it in with your fingers. add more if it's not wet enough to hold together, but not so much that it gets soggy. press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of a spring form pan or pie dish. Bake for 5 - 10 minutes, until it starts to color but before it gets real brown.

Pour your sweetened condensed milk into a bowl and start juicing/zesting those limes. If you're using key limes, I'd say zest about 1/2 of the limes; if you're using regular, zest all of them. The zest makes the pie deliciously fragrant and beautifully green, but if you add a TON it might start to get bitter. Taste the filling after each lime and keep going until it tastes perfect. Don't be shy, no one likes a boring pie. If you go too far, crack open another can of condensed milk and add a little at a time until it balances out. If you want a higher filling to crust ratio, go ahead and use 2 full cans of condensed milk plus however many limes it takes. when the taste is good, beat in those egg yolks, then pour the filling over the crust. Bake another 10 - 20 minutes, depending on how much filling you've got. When the pie is ready, it should be firm on the edges and still a bit jiggly in the middle. refrigerate for a LONG TIME, like AT LEAST TWO HOURS. It's really hard to resist eating it early but if you try it will ooze out all over your plate which is just depressing after all of that work. serve with vanilla whipped cream. enjoy!

Salad w/ Lentil Patties and Lime-Yogurt Dressing

Salad with Spicy Lentil Patties and Lime-Yogurt Dressing

1 jalapeno, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 cup black lentils
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
cumin to taste

juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup yogur

lettuce
really awesome tomatoes, diced
onions, sliced thin (optional)
handul cilantro, chopped (optional)

Pressure-cook your lentils with an equal amount of water until pretty soft (or follow the directions on the bag). Set aside.

Heat up some oil in a big pan and sauté the jalapeno, garlic, and onion until soft. Add to the lentils and mix in the egg, breadcrumbs, cumin, and salt & pepper to taste.

Reheat the oil. Drop lumps of the dough into it, then use a spatula to press them into discs. Cook on medium-high until each side is brown and crispy.

Whisk together the yogurt and lime juice. Fill a bowl with lettuce & tomatos & onions, put the warm patties on top, and top with lime dressing & cilantro. Enjoy!

Roasted Squash w/ Arugula & Goat Cheese

This was soooo good - Salty, sour, sweet, and creamy, without being too unhealthy. One of those things I could eat every day. There is this farmers market nearby with the best arugula we have ever tasted and i just want to put it in everything. Make this recipe while it is still the right season for it.

Roasted Squash with Arugula and Goat Cheese

2 acorn squash, cut in half and gutted

2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint (add any other herbs you've got lying around, the more the better)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

bunch baby arugula, chopped
8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the over to 400. Brush the squash halves with olive out and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, until very soft.

Whisk or puree together the herbs, vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Fill each squash half with goat cheese and arugula, then top with vinaigrette. Scrape the squash flesh into the salad and mix everything together as you eat. Enjoy!

Burnt carrot & goat cheese salad

Burnt Carrot & Goat Cheese Salad

2 tbs red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup EVOO

8 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into sticks
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 bunch arugula, chopped
6 oz goat cheese, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Whisk together the vinegar and olive oil, plus salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the carrots in oil, salt, and pepper, then place in a single layer on a hot pan and cook without turning until they char on the bottom. turn them over and cook the other side until they are al dente.

Combine the parsley and arugula and toss with half the vinaigrette. Place the carrots on top.

Reheat the pan on very high and add a few tbs of oil. Add the slices of goat cheese. As soon as the cheese blackens on the bottom, remove the slices with a spatula and invert onto the carrots. drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Vegetable enchiladas w/ green sauce

I totally made up this recipe with zero Mexican cooking experience, and it was great! So I am super proud of it. All of the sauce proportions are estimated - do it to taste.

Vegetable Enchiladas with Green Sauce

~ 2 cups assorted vegetables, cut into thin sticks (we used carrots, red peppers, onions, and broccoli)
Black or kidney beans
Cumin

small bunch cilantro
some parsley if you've got it
~1 tightly packed cup spinach
2 jalapenos (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
juice of 1 lime
2 big cloves garlic
pinch sugar
~ 1 1/2 cups crema (see previous recipe)

1 package tortillas (don't bother making your own, they're only going to get soaked in sauce)
Monterey Jack (or any other) cheese

Sautee your vegetables on high to get a little bit of char on them. Don't let them get soft - they're going to go in the oven after this. Halfway through, add some salt, pepper, and cumin to taste, plus the beans.

Make the sauce by pureeing the jalapenos, cilantro, parsley, spinach, lime juice, garlic, sugar, and salt and pepper - add some water or vegetable broth if it needs it to get smooth. Adjust all of the amounts to taste. Stir in the crema and adjust the flavor again.

Preheat to 350. To assemble: Pour a bit of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Soak your tortillas in water for a minute before using them in order to soften them up. Lay some vegetable mixture near one side of the tortilla and then roll it up tight like a sleeping bag and place it in the dish. Repeat with all of them - my tortilla package fit perfectly into my dish - if yours doesn't, fill in the corners with tin foil. Pour the rest of the sauce over the tortilla rolls. Shred your cheese over the top to cover in a thin layer. Bake for about 20 - 30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly. Serve with awesome tomatoes drizzled with olive oil.

Crema

A few weeks ago we ate out at this super awesome Mexican joint and for the first time ever I tasted the most delicious sour cream in the world. I did some research and found out this was crema, which is made in a slightly different process than sour cream and produces a creamier, gooier, fresher-tasting result. We made an enormous batch and ate it on our tacos for days, then used the leftovers to make a kick-ass enchilada sauce. It would also be awesome in all sorts of fruity desert applications. A warning that this is essentially heavy cream, only heavier, so proceed with caution, ye who fears artery clogs.

Crema

2 c heavy cream

1/4 c buttermilk

Bring your heavy cream up to room temperature in a tupperware. Stir in the buttermilk. Let it sit, covered, overnight at 70 degrees+ - in the dead heat of summer, the counter will do; other times of year, warm up your oven slightly, then turn it off, and keep the tupperware in there sitting on a damp cloth with the door shut. In the morning give it a stir and move it to the fridge and let it thicken for a few hours before eating. I found that it continues to thicken as long as you keep it.

Buttermilk Honey Bread

So after three months of not updating because our camera is broken, we've decided to start posting again. It's a convenient way to keep track of new good recipes that we want to make again, and we can go back and add in photos the next time we make it. Following this post are a few delicious things we've tried for the first time this summer, minus enticing photos. Trust us that they are awesome anyway.

The following is a nice, soft, sweet bread that is less crumbly than your standard loaf bread so it makes good sandwiches. We didn't have a loaf pan, so we baked it free form with some fancy maneuvering to make it not flatten out.. if you have a pan, I suggest using it.

Buttermilk Honey Bread

3/8 cup warm water
1/2 tbs instant yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 cups buttermilk, warmed up a bit (not hot or you'll kill the yeast)
1 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 1/2 tbs honey
1/2 tbs salt
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour

Stir together the water, yeast, sugar, buttermilk, butter, honey, salt. Add 2 cups of the flour and mix it in with your hands until it's homogenous. Then slowly mix in the rest of the flour. Knead the dough for a really long time, adding more flour whenever it gets sticky. It should be very smooth and pass the windowpane test when it's ready (i.e. be able to be stretched enough to see light through it without ripping). Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat, and cover the bowl with a clean towel. Let rise at room temperature until doubled, about an hour or a bit more.

Punch down your dough gently, form it into a ball by stretching its surface and tucking it under (if you don't know how to do this, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZAGc2xyqg&feature=related. Make sure you pinch the bottom edges together tightly so they don't come loose. Set it on the counter, cover it with a towel, and let it rise for another 45 minutes. If you're planning on baking it free-form, it helps at this stage to surround it with objects pressing against its sides (we used tinfoil and tea boxes) to keep it contained in a small area so that it doesn't flatten out. If you're using a pan, don't worry about it.

Preheat to 375. Grease your loaf pan if you're using one. If not, put a bit of parchment on a baking stone or baking sheet. Put your boule in your pan of choice and bake 45 minutes, or until very brown (don't underbake it our it will be soggy inside). Let it cool COMPLETELY before slicing (or it will be soggy).

Oatmeal Apricot Spice Cake

So for gift day this year, Gabe's mom gave him a package of glaceed apricots. think of a dried apricot. now imagine taking a syringe full of sugar syrup and injecting it directly into the dried apricot until it fills to the point of bursting. now dump that apricot in a bucket of sugar syrup and let it sit for several weeks. needless to say, these things are so rich that eating just one makes you feel nauseous. so, to use them up before gabe ate the whole thing in one sitting and proceeded to vomit all over our recently-cleaned apartment, i decided to make cake. yes, despite all the sugar and cream cheese frosting, a whole big slice of this cake is less rich than a single glaceed apricot.

this cake is pretty dense and hearty, definitely a winter cake, but very good. if you slightly reduced the sugar and left off the frosting, it would make a great breakfast or lunch snack. the original recipe called for just cinnamon and nutmeg, but we added lots of cardamom to make it chai-ful and delicious. we decorated it with walnuts and slices of the apricots. if you're making it without the frosting, i would add some chopped apricots right into the batter.

Oatmeal Apricot Spice Cake

Adapted from dyln.com

1 & 1/4 cup dark beer
1 cup regular rolled oats

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated white sugar (reduce to 1/2 cup if you want a less sweet cake)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs grated lemon zest (we used grapefruit)

1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cardamom to taste

1/2 cup chopped dried (or glaceed) apricots, mixed with flour to prevent sticking
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine (optional - for decoration or to fold into the batter)

Mix together the oats and beer and let them soak for at least 1/2 hour, preferable a whole hour.

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a spring-form pan by greasing it and lining it with some parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars, and then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and zest. Mix the dry ingredients. Add them to the sugar-butter alternately oatmeal, starting and ending with dry. Fold in the apricots and optionally the walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan and bake about 40 minutes, or until firm in the middle.

For cream cheese frosting: beat together softened cream cheese and sugar of your choice (brown would be nice with this cake), adding sugar gradually until you get it as sweet as you'd like. Flavor with vanilla or whatever else you've got - we used amaretto, lemon zest would be nice too to make the cake more summery.