bacon cheddar quick bread

I've never had a desire to bake my own bread, but I guess that's the next step in my adoption of the "slow food" trend. When I saw this recipe for a bacon and cheddar quick bread in the October 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, it was time to bite the bullet. It only took a few minutes to put together, and made a great breakfast. This would be a great bread to throw together if you have house guests - impressive but very hands-off.

Grocery list: 5 slices bacon, 6 oz cheddar, 1/2 cup dried fruit (original recipe called for dried pears; I used dried cranberries), 1/3 cup walnuts, 1 T fresh sage (minced), 1 3/4 cup AP flour, 1 T baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup whole milk, 1/3 cup olive oil.



First, chop up 5 slices of bacon and crisp it in a pan, then drain over paper towels.



Mix your "wet" ingredients - whisk 3 eggs and the milk and olive oil together.



Stir your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, pepper) together in a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture into the flour, and stir just enough to combine (don't overwork the batter, it's good if it's chunky).



The recipe called for 1 cup grated cheddar plus 1/2 cup of 1/4 inch cubes of cheese. For color more than anything, I used yellow extra-sharp cheddar for the grated 1 cup of cheese, and then cubed some seaside extra sharp white cheddar to make the extra 1/2 cup. Fold the cheese, dried fruit, walnuts (toasted and chopped), sage, and bacon pieces into the dough.



Grease the sides and bottom of a one pound loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5"), and spoon the dough in. Bake at 350 degrees on the center oven rack, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. The recipe said 55 minutes (an exact number, which I interpreted as authoritative - should have checked it at 45-50 minutes, as it turned out a touch drier than I would have liked). Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the sides of the loaf from the pan with a knife, then invert on a rack and allow to cool to desired temperature.

leek tart with goat cheese

I really am loving Molly Wizenberg's (AKA Orangette) "Cooking Life" column in Bon Appetit. She is such an incredible food writer - she's so over the top with her descriptions (I can relate). Her column in the October 2008 issue was probably my favorite, featuring 2 recipes in 1, for leek confit and a leek and goat cheese tart. Based on her recommendation, I was putting leftover leek confit on everything for days (including scrambled eggs - who would have guessed?). The tart was perfect, even though I used fresh goat cheese instead of aged.

Grocery list: (for the leek confit) 1/2 stick butter, 4 large leeks; (for the crust) 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1.5 cups AP four, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 stick butter plus 1 T; (filling) 1/2 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 crumbled goat cheese (original recipe calls for aged goat cheese, such as Bucheron).



Make the crust by pulsing the flour and salt with butter (cold, and cut up into small cubes) in a food processor, until it has the consistency of coarse meal. Mix 4 T ice water with the cider vinegar in separate bowl, then add this slowly to the machine while it's running. The dough should start to make clumps (if not, add another T or 2 of ice water). Remove from the processor, shape into a ball, wrap with saran wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll it out on a floured surface, and transfer to a tart pan. As you can see, I only had a pie pan, so this technically was a leek pie...



Cover your crust with foil, and fill it with dried beans or rice (to weigh down the crust). Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes; remove the foil and weights and continue to bake until it's golden - another 20 minutes or so. Allow to cool while you work on the filling.



To make 2 cups of leek confit (you'll only need 1.5 cups for the tart - the leftovers are great with scrambled eggs!), chop the leeks in half lengthwise, then into 1/4 inch slices. Wash thoroughly. Put 1/2 stick of butter in a dutch oven and melt over medium-low heat. Add the leeks (about 5 cups washed and chopped), plus 2T water and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook on low, stirring every few minutes, for 25 minutes. Uncover and allow any excess water to cook out - about 3-5 more minutes of cooking time.



Whisk the egg + 1 yolk with the milk, cream, and a pinch of salt.



Spread 1/4 cup crumbled cheese over the bottom of the tart, then pour 1.5 cups of leek confit over. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cheese over the top, then pour the milk and egg mixture over top. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees. You'll know it's done when you shake the pan and the middle of the tart is jiggly but firm (not liquid-y) - yes, these are scientific terms. I also had a bit of crust around the rim that I worried would burn, so I covered the edges of the pan carefully with foil, like you do with an apple pie. It turned out great this way.

5 pounds of chocolate cupcakes

I found this recipe in the most unlikely of places - by talking to a startup software executive at a conference. I immediately like people when it's apparent they have a love of food that rivals mine, and this woman was awesome. She had just moved back from Spain, and instead of talking about what I imagine most business people would (glad to be back to burgers or family or familiarity?), she talked about the olive oil, the bread, the markets, learning first the spanish words for basil and garlic... Wow. And then she tells me about this cake, her go-to, never-fails-to-disappoint cake made with "at least 5 pounds of chocolate" (her words). I prod a little deeper, and it turns out the recipe she uses comes from Orangette - the lovely blog I read on a daily basis - posted over 4 years ago. She sent me the recipe, which I immediately set to making. The only problem was my own impatience - not waiting for the cupcakes to cool enough before removing them = not nearly as photogenic as Orangette's, but by far the most delicious chocolate cake I've ever tried. Find someone who's birthday is near, or any other excuse possible, and make this cake. You can find the Orangette original here.

Grocery list: (cake) 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, 1.5 cups brewed coffee, 3 c sugar, 2.5 c A/P flour, 1.5 c unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3 eggs, 3/4 c canola oil, 1.5 cups buttermilk (shaken), 3/4 tsp vanilla extract; (ganache frosting) 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate, 1 c heavy cream, 2T sugar, 2T light corn syrup, 1/2 stick unsalted butter.



To make the cake, chop the 3 oz of chocolate and pour hot coffee over it, and allow it to set for a while to melt. Grease or line 36 cupcake tins, or grease/flour 2 10-inch cake pans.



Next, work on your dry ingredients: sift the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.



In an even bigger bowl, beat the eggs for 5 minutes with a hand mixer (or 3 mins w/a stand mixer) until they are thickened.



Then, slowly add in the oil, vanilla, buttermilk, and the coffee-chocolate mixture, beating until smooth.



Now, if you've got a stand mixer with one of those nifty attachments that keeps flour from poofing up into the air, good for you. I had to MacGiver it - I draped some towels over the top of the hand-mixer & bowl, and carefully dumped in the dry ingredients while beating on medium speed. I'm still finding chocolate powder in some crevices in the dining nook, so I'm just warning you here...



Then, pour your batter into the pans. This was an impressive sight wasn't it? Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes for cupcakes (or 50-55 for larger cakes). I think it helps to rotate the cupcake pans halfway through - meaning, move the pan from the bottom rack up to the top and vice versa. Otherwise the bottom cakes will cook way faster. Use a toothpick to tell when they're done.



While they're baking, make the ganache. Heat the heavy cream, sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until just boiling.



Chop the chocolate (or cheat, and use chips - but they were really really nice chips from WF so I think Orangette would approve) and stir into the cream, then remove from heat.



Cut the butter into pieces and stir into the melted chocolate mixture. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool - it will keep thickening as it cools. Whenever it's at frosting consistency, you can spread it on the cakes. Make sure you remove the cakes to a wire pan and allow them to cool to completely room temperature. I rushed the first few cupcakes, and literally poured the frosting over them instead of waiting, that's how excited I was about the cupcakes. You might want to enlist some moral support during this part, if you don't want to risk ruining the presentation in the heat of the moment...

Orangette, I agree with you - this was "the most deeply-flavored, moist-yet-fluffy chocolate cake [I've] ever tried."

peach & blackberry cobbler

This isn't my Gramma's recipe, but I still think she'd approve of this well-researched version from The New Best Recipe cookbook. The biscuit topping is made with yogurt, which I've never tried before. This gives it a chewy texture, less crumbly and, well, biscuit-y, than I'm used to. I love mixing in a handful of blackberries to keep the peaches from being too sweet.

Grocery list: (filling) 2.5 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1 T fresh lemon juice. If you're going to use blackberries, you don't need quite as many peaches - I used 5-6 peaches and a quart of berries. (biscuit topping) 1 cup AP flour, 3 T + 1 tsp sugar, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 5 T cold unsalted butter (cubed), 1/3 c plain whole milk yogurt.



Start by prepping the peaches and berries and transferring to a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and let stand 30 minutes, stirring several times.



Drain the peaches and berries in a colander over a bowl. Whisk 1/4 cup of drained juice w/cornstarch, lemon juice, and pinch of salt. Toss the peaches and berries with the juice mixture and pour into 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bake about 10 minutes at 425 degrees (till peaches bubble at the edges).



While the filling is baking, make the topping by first pulsing the flour, 3 T of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor. Add butter cubes and pulse until it has the consistency of coarse meal.



Pour into a bowl and stir in yogurt with a spatula just until it holds together (careful not to overmix). Even though the recipe called for plain whole milk yogurt, I had some vanilla I needed to get rid of and didn't have any problems.



Pull the peaches out of the oven, break the dough into 6 equal sized mounds, and place evenly apart over the filling so they aren't touching each other. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp sugar, then bake at 425 degrees until topping is brown, 16-18 minutes.



Cool the cobbler on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, until it's just warm.

mario's chicken parmesan

I never eat chicken parmesan, never order it, never crave it. I think when I was younger, the only times I would run into it would be at some Olive Garden type of place, where "chicken parm" is just a vehicle for grease and low-quality cheese. But when I saw this picture in Bon Appetit of Mario Batali's family meal, I started to rethink chicken parmesan. I'm so glad I did. It's still super indulgent, as it's cheese + fried chicken no matter how you spin it, but absolutely worth the splurge.

Grocery list: (marinara) olive oil, 2 small chopped onions, 4 minced garlic cloves, 1 grated carrot, 3T chopped fresh thyme, 2 28-oz cans whole italian (roma) tomatoes; (chicken), boneless chicken breasts, breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, AP flour, olive oil, fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan, parsley.



Making your own marinara at home is incredibly easy - it just takes an hour to simmer. If you don't have time to do that (I make a double batch on a weekend afternoon and store it in the freezer), you could substitute a jar of your favorite basic sauce. Mario's recipe calls for sauteing the onions and garlic in olive oil over med-high heat for 10 minutes, then adding the carrot and thyme. After cooking for another 5 minutes, add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.



I've never tried this before, but using a potato masher to mash the tomatoes was a lot easier and faster than crushing them one at a time by hand (normally I grab them out of the can, crush over the pot, repeat). A word of warning - use your pot lid like a shield to prevent any tomatoes from bursting all over your shirt (ahem). Once the pot is bubbling, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the sauce thickens - about an hour.



Stir a couple of times during the hour; remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.



The chicken is actually very easy. You start by pounding out the chicken breasts in between plastic wrap. In hindsight, I will take the WF butcher up on his offer to pound these for me - what a pain. Did you know WF offers to do this for free, you don't have to pay extra for the pre-cut cutlets? Anyway, when you have your think cutlets, dip them in flour, then dip them in a beaten egg, then coat in egg whites. I don't list amounts here, because you can simply keep adding flour to a plate, and breadcrumbs to another one, as needed, so you don't waste any. I used 2 eggs (beaten) for the full 1.5 pounds of chicken, just for reference.



Heat 2 T oil in a big nonstick pan over med-high heat, and fry the chicken pieces in batches. Only cook them for about 2 minutes per side - you want them to brown, but not cook all the way through, since they will continue cooking in the oven. Transfer the chicken pieces to a platter. Add more oil to the pan and keep frying your chicken pieces in batches till done.



Next, preheat the oven to 350. Coat the bottom of your baking dish (a large pyrex or 9x13 glass pan works well) with 2 cups of the tomato sauce. Layer half the chicken pieces. Top with shredded mozzarella - I used slices because I was feeling lazy - then sprinkle grated parmesan. Layer more sauce and chicken, then finish with the cheeses.



Bake until cheese melts and bubbles, about 20 minutes. I also broiled mine for 2-3 minutes at the end, so the cheese on top was golden, but the original doesn't mention that. To serve, chop some fresh parsley (and oregano - AKA marjoram - if you have it) to sprinkle on top. I also made a batch of fresh pasta to mix with the remaining marinara to go along with it, the americanized side dish for chicken parm (that's one thing to thank olive garden for). This really wasn't that difficult, and would be even faster if you use the shortcuts on the sauce and chicken cutlets.

cream cheese brownies

Another weekend, another request for homemade dessert... A finally got his hands on my copy of "The New Best Recipe" (from Cook's Illustrated), and started reading the dessert section. As an engineer, he was impressed with the thorough, scientific approach, which was all he needed to be convinced that their brownie recipes must be the best in the world. I had all the ingredients on hand, so we were digging in to hot gooey layered brownies about an hour later.

For the brownie base: 2/3 c AP flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, 4 oz bitter or semisweet chocolate, 8T unsalted butter, 1 c sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 3 large eggs. For the cream cheese filling: 8 oz cream cheese (room temp), 1/4 c sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 egg yolk.



In a medium bowl, melt chocolate and butter (start with 1 minute on high, stir, and keep heating in 30 second increments till melted). Stir the mixture till it's smooth, then whisk in sugar and vanilla.



Let this cool for a couple of minutes, then whisk in eggs one at a time till smooth.



Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder, then set aside.



In a separate bowl, make the cream cheese filling. Whisk all ingredients together till blended.



To assemble the brownies, layer half of the chocolate base into bottom of 8x8 pan (greased). Drop spoonfuls of the cream cheese filling into the base, reserving half of it. Repeat by spreading remaining brownie base, then dropping spoonfuls of the remaining cream cheese filling.



Use a knife and drag blade through mix to swirl filling and base together. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes, then allow to cool.

brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (!!!)

Yes, these cupcakes are as good as the name suggests. Better yet, I'd wager you have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now. So maybe you should put down the laptop and just go see about making these right now, hmm?

Grocery (pantry) list: 6T butter, 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips + 3oz unsweetened chocolate [note - I just used semisweet only and they worked great], 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 cup AP flour, 1/3 cup walnuts (if you don't like nuts in brownies, skip them); for the frosting, 1 cup powdered sugar, 3/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 stick room temperature butter, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 4 tsp heavy cream.



To make the brownie cupcakes, heat the butter + 1/2 the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler until smooth. Mix in both the granulated and brown sugar, then whisk in both eggs, the vanilla, flour, walnuts, a pinch of salt, and the remaining chocolate chips. Divide into cupcake liners - should make 8-10 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.



Use a hand mixer to mix the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and cream together until very smooth. Keep in mind that the peanut butter will melt and get very messy if the cupcakes haven't cooled completely before you frost them (if you can wait that long...).

you don't have to skip dessert: strawberry shortcake

I like eating healthy, but I also don't like the idea of depriving myself of dessert. Not that I'm going to make chocolate kahlua cheesecake every night, but if I'm craving something sweet, I am going to have it. Sometimes that's a fun date to get a gelato, and sometimes that's making a healthier option at home. I picked up a pound of fresh strawberries from the farmers market earlier this week, so I knew I had the option to make a light and healthy dessert with that. In order to make the shortcake healthier, I decided to keep the ingredients exactly the same (yes, butter, cream, sugar), but just make smaller portions of the bread with a larger ratio of strawberries. It was perfect.

Grocery list: strawberries, lemon, sugar, flour, butter, whipping cream, milk, powdered sugar.

Start by washing, hulling and slicing the strawberries. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them, and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of sugar over top. Refrigerate for an hour or more, stirring occasionally, so the strawberries release their juices and make a nice syrup.



For the shortcakes, the recipe I followed (from Epicurious) calls for 2 cups flour, 1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, 1/8 tsp salt, plus 2 T sugar (in order to make 6 shortcakes). I went for half this recipe, to make 4 smaller shortcakes, but I'll let you make that call for yourself. Anyway, after sifting together the dry ingredients, cut the butter up into small pieces and add to the bowl. With your hands, mix until the texture is course (like cornmeal). Then, pour in 3/4 cup milk and mix just until it turns doughy - don't over-mix.



Drop the shortcakes into 6 round shapes on a greased baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops with heavy cream. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees, until the shortcakes are golden on top.



Transfer the shortcakes to a wire rack to cool. To make whipped cream, beat 3/4 cup whipping cream with 4 T powdered sugar with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes (this made plenty for 4 shortcakes, but if you made the full recipe you might want to make double the whipped cream). Slice the shortcakes in half, lay strawberries and their juices on top of the bottom half of the shortcakes, a dollop of whipped cream, then top with the other half. Garnish with more whipped cream and a whole strawberry if you like.

Next time I'll try one of the many variations on shortcake - possibly with Grand Marnier?