Food, Photography and Bons Mots

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Orzo Puttanesca
December 21, 2021

Orzo Puttanesca

Need a substantial side dish for your holiday table? This Orzo Puttanesca might just be what you are looking for. This is a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love. This cookbook is available from your local bookstores and from Amazon. The…

Pasta, Vegetables, Vegetarian
It’s Cookie Season! Rosemary Apricot Oatmeal Cookies
December 19, 2021

It’s Cookie Season! Rosemary Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies are everywhere right now. People are gathering for festive neighborhood cookie exchanges and boxes of carefully-curated homemade cookies are being left on doorsteps around the world. There are a lot of cookie cookbooks available at bookstores now, too–The Great Minnesota Cookie Book, King Arthur…

Desserts, Vegetarian
The Cranberry Binge! Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake
November 30, 2021

The Cranberry Binge! Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake

 

I know. It’s ANOTHER cranberry recipe.

What can I say? I’m on a cranberry binge. It happens.  Maybe this binge is a latent expression of my angst over those many years when that wiggly cranberry-sauce-in-a-can graced our Thanksgiving table–you know, the one with the ridged can lines.

So, I needed yet another cranberry recipe.

I kept reading positive reviews on this recipe on a cooking board I read, bought the cookbook and gave this cake a try. The cookbook is The Vanilla Bean Baking Book by Sarah Kieffer. It is available at your local bookstore and on Amazon (here). Sarah Kiefer is also the author of the wonderful 100 Cookies cookbook.

Thought I would share my take on the recipe here on this last day of November as we head into the serious holiday season.

By the way (and strangely), this cake is way better on the third day after baking.  Like the rest of us, it improves with age.

Orange-Cranberry Bundt Cake

November 30, 2021
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Ingredients
  • For the Cake:
  • 3 C. all-purpose flour
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 3/4 t. salt
  • 3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 1/4 C. sugar
  • 1 T. grated orange zest
  • 5 large eggs at room temperature
  • 2 t. vanilla extract
  • 1 T. Grand Marnier
  • 1/4 C. orange juice
  • 1 T. lemon juice
  • 1/4 C. heavy cream
  • 2 heaping cups of cranberries (I used frozen)
  • Sugared Cranberries and Sugared Sage Leaves For Garnish
  • For The Glaze:
  • 1 1/2 C. confectioner's sugar
  • 2 to 4 T. whole milk (I used 3 T.)
  • 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
Directions
  • Step 1 To make the cake, prepare a bundt pan by greasing it generously. I used a canola oil spray. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and adjust rack in your oven to the middle position.
  • Step 2 Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  • Step 3 Put the butter into the bowl of your stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment. Beat the butter on medium speed until it is creamy. Add the sugar and orange zest and mix for another 2 or 3 minutes until the butter mixture is fluffy. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, mixing after each egg addition. Scrape down the sides of your mixer bowl.
  • Step 4 Add the vanilla extract and the Grand Marnier to your batter.
  • Step 5 Add one third of the flour mixture to the batter.
  • Step 6 Add the orange juice and lemon juice. Mix on low to combine.
  • Step 7 Add half the remaining flour and the heavy cream. Mix to combine.
  • Step 8 Add the remaining flour and mix until the dry ingredients are just combined. This is a thick and heavy batter!
  • Step 9 Fold the cranberries into the batter. I used frozen cranberries and just folded them into the batter.
  • Step 10 Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Place the bundt pan on a rack in the center of your oven and bake for 60 to 75 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick or wooden skewer comes out relatively clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.
  • Step 11 Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then carefully invert the cake on a serving plate. This is the step where you will thank yourself for greasing the bundt pan generously. 
  • Step 12 To make the Glaze:
  • Step 13 Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Add more milk, one tablespoon at a time, to get the consistency you want on the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let the cake sit for a while to dry the glaze. Decorate with sugared cranberries and sugared sage leaves. 
Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian
Holiday Oldies But Goodies: Cranberries!
November 21, 2021

Holiday Oldies But Goodies: Cranberries!

Wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving! Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. Here are a couple of Blue Cayenne’s most-requested holiday favorites: https://bluecayenne.com/two-holiday-favorites-from-blue-cayennes-archives-cranberry-relish-and-squash-apples-and-cranberries. You don’t want to miss these great recipes…again. Want to dive deeper…

Sauces, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake
November 20, 2021

Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake

This great little cake would look wonderful on your holiday buffet table. It is a Browned Butter Cranberry and Apple Cake. The browned butter is a genius addition to the cake. The whole cranberries in the cake give a surprise burst of tart flavor to…

Apples, Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian
Chillin’ With Chili And Beans
November 14, 2021

Chillin’ With Chili And Beans

I’m of the school of thought that hot spicy food makes you feel cooler. (Who doesn’t want to be cool?)

It is a hot November (!) day here in Southern California. Chili was calling my name.

This recipe is adapted from a cookbook titled Ama, A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen by Josef Centeno and Betty Hallock. Bar-Ama is a cantina in Los Angeles, but the chef/owner, Josef Centeno, grew up in San Antonio, Texas. The restaurant is a tribute to his great grandmother, Gabina Cervantes Martinez.  She fought in the Mexican Revolution alongside her husband, Eulijio Martinez, survived a train bombing and, finding herself temporarily alone, sustained herself selling tacos at a train station in central Mexico.  Post-revolution, she and her husband settled in the United States. Hers was quite a story. So, too, apparently was her food.

Here is an adaptation of Centeno’s Chili recipe from the book.

Chili and Beans

November 14, 2021
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Ingredients
  • 2 large poblano chiles
  • 2 t. cumin seeds
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 1/2 large onions (chopped)
  • 2 large garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 1 serrano chile (stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped)
  • 1/4 C. chili powder
  • 1 T. dried Mexican oregano
  • 1 fresh bay leaf (or 2 dried)
  • 3 C. San Marzano tomatoes (crushed)
  • 2 C. vegetable broth
  • 2 t. fine sea salt
  • Freshly-ground black pepper
  • 4 C.cooked beans (I used Rancho Gordo Marcella beans)
  • 1 12-ounce package of plant-based Impossible Burger (optional)
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 2 C. cheddar cheese for garnish (grated)
  • 1 C. sour cream (for garnish)
  • Sliced green onions for garnish
  • Sliced black olives for garnish
  • Cubed avocado for garnish
  • Chopped cilantro for garnish
Directions
  • Step 1 Roast fresh poblano chiles over an open flame or in your oven under the broiler, turning frequently, until the poblano skins turn black. Remove from the heat and place poblanos in a brown paper bag. Seal the bag and let the poblanos steam for about 10 minutes. Remove the chiles from the bag, peel, seed, and devein. Chop finely. Set aside.
  • Step 2 Toast the cumin seeds in a hot skillet until they are fragrant. Grind the seeds to a powder using either a mortar and pestle or a clean coffee grinder. Set aside.
  • Step 3 Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. (I used my Dutch oven.) Add the onions, garlic, roasted poblano chiles, serrano chile, chili powder, oregano, bay leaves and toasted cumin powder. Stir the mixture and cook until the onions are softened and translucent. This will take about 5 minutes over a medium-high heat.
  • Step 4 Add the crushed tomatoes, stock, salt and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes.
  • Step 5 Add the cooked beans, Impossible Burger (if using), and cilantro and cook for 10 more minutes.
  • Step 6 Serve with the garnishes of your choice.
  • Step 7 Cook’s Note: I found this chili to be much more flavorful on day two and three.
  • Step 8 Cook’s Note #2:  I added a 12-ounce package of plant-baed Impossible Burger to the chili when I added the beans. I crumbled the “burger” and sauteed it in a little olive oil before I added it to the dish.

 

Centeno’s cookbook, Ama, is available from your local bookstore or can be purchased from Amazon here.

Beans, Chili, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Vegetarian
‘Tis The Season: Banana-Pumpkin Bread
November 7, 2021

‘Tis The Season: Banana-Pumpkin Bread

OK. We missed it. February 23 was National Banana Bread Day. Bummer. Here’s a way to make up for our banana gaffe–combine bananas with your seasonal pumpkin bread. (National Pumpkin Bread Day was October 30. We missed that one, too.) First commercially imported to the…

Bananas, Breakfast Dishes, Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian
Woo-hoo! We’re Six. Join us for a Halvah Blondie.
October 30, 2021

Woo-hoo! We’re Six. Join us for a Halvah Blondie.

  Six. Years. Old. Who could even imagine it? Won’t you join us for a piece of Salted Halvah Blondie to celebrate Blue Cayenne’s sixth birthday? The birthday cake recipe is  from Claire Saffitz’ Dessert Person cookbook and it is sweet and savory and very…

Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian
Oldies But Goodies: Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs
October 27, 2021

Oldies But Goodies: Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs

Every month Blue Cayenne features one post from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. Here is a great breakfast recipe: Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs.

You don’t want to miss this great recipe…again.

Want to dive deeper into our recipe archive? Just click one of the categories at the top of this page or use the category search drop down menu on the right side of this page.

And…here is a link to Blue Cayenne’s main page: Blue Cayenne.  If you are in the mood to cook (or eat!), we hope you will take a moment to look at the many excellent recipes we have to offer.

Breakfast Dishes, Eggs, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Stuffed Eggplant in Curry And Coconut Dal
October 23, 2021

Stuffed Eggplant in Curry And Coconut Dal

I’ve written about Yotam Ottolenghi here before. He is one of my favorite cookbook authors and his newer vegetable cookbook Flavor, written with Ixta Belfrfage, has quickly earned a prominent place on my cookbook shelves. Ottolenghi has written a number of best-selling cookbooks. Flavor is…

Eggplant, lentils, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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