Pearl Couscous With Creamy Feta and Chickpeas

I’m loving this dish. Couscous has long been a staple food in North Africa’s Maghreb but it has become popular around the world in recent years. I remember discovering it on a long-ago trip to startlingly-beautiful and exasperatingly-strident Morocco. Most of us here in the…

African, Grains, Middle Eastern, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

February 11, 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day: Apple Pie and Roses

Just in time for Valentine’s Day. Roses. These sweet little roses are made with apples, puff pastry, a wee bit of apricot jam and a smidge of creativity. Trust me. You can do this. Despite looking intricate, these apple roses are a cinch to make…

Apples, Desserts, Vegetarian

February 6, 2019

Oh My! Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You’ll want to treat yourself to this one! It’s decadently delicious.

While applesauce cake has been around in America since colonial times, it became especially popular during WWI. In fact, it was considered downright patriotic to eat applesauce cake during the war. By foregoing the use of scarce ingredients, bakers were praised for freeing up resources for soldiers and allies.

Ever resourceful, creative American cooks discovered that they could substitute applesauce for the fats and sugars in their baking without sacrificing either flavor or texture in their baked goods.

This recipe is an adaptation of a Julia Turshen recipe from the New York Times.

Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

For The Cake

2 C. all-purpose flour
1 T.ground cinnamon
1 T. ground ginger
1 1/2 t. kosher salt
2 t. baking soda
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used buttermilk)
1 1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade made in my Instant Pot)
1/2 C. canola or other neutral oil (I used grapeseed oil)
Chopped pecans

For The Frosting

1/2 C. unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 pound cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla paste or extract
6 C. powdered sugar
2 T. milk or cream

Instructions

For The Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare a 9-inch round cake pan by greasing it and putting a round of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl. To the flour mixture, add eggs, sugar, buttermilk, applesauce and oil. Whisk until all the ingredients are combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface of the batter.
Bake the cake for about 55 minutes at 350 degrees F. (Mine was baked at about 45 minutes, so you need to watch your cake carefully.) When it is done, the cake will be firm to the touch. You can further check for doneness by using a wooden toothpick or skewer inserted into the middle of the cake. The skewer should come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
Invert the cake onto your counter. Remove the parchment. Invert the cake again (onto your serving platter).
Frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting. Press the finely-chopped pecans around the edges of the cake.

For The Frosting

Cream the butter and the cream cheese together in a stand mixer. Add in the salt and vanilla. Gradually, add the powdered sugar to the mixture with the mixer set on a slow speed. Once you have the powdered sugar mixed into the butter/cream cheese mixture, turn your mixer on to high speed and whip for at least 7 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sids of the bowl. You can add the milk or cream one tablespoon at a time to thin the frosting if you need to.
Cook's Note: The cream cheeese frosting recipe makes far more frosting than you will need for this cake. Reserve the extra for another use.

https://bluecayenne.com/oh-my-applesauce-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting

Apples, Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian

February 1, 2019

Small Sorrows and Chocolate-Hazelnut Banana Bread

OK. It’s no polar vortex, but it is cold, dark and rainy here in SoCal—window-rattling thunder, too. My nerves are noticeably jangled. Sweet Juliet, with plaintive break-your-heart “Mom: Make it stop” eyes, is hiding among the folds of her favorite blanket. No question. We’re quite…

Breads, Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian

January 27, 2019

Orange Chocolate Cookies: That Little Black Cookie You Need in Your Repertoire

How do you define elegance? Audrey Hepburn? That exquisite little black dress at Nordstrom’s? Dinner at The French Laundry? Camilla Parker Bowles? (OK. Just kidding about that last one.) It may be time to revisit your definition and add this delightful cookie to…

Cookies, Desserts, Uncategorized, Vegetarian

January 24, 2019

Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Keller: Elevating Macaroni and Cheese to an Art Form

John F. Kennedy famously remarked that a White House dinner he held for Nobel Prize winners was “the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Ah, Jefferson.

He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States and a devotee of macaroni and cheese.

Macaroni and cheese?

Jefferson was a foodie.

Macaroni and cheese was proudly introduced to America at his table at Monticello. Jefferson had discovered the dish during his five-year sojourn in Paris. There, he fell in love with French food and was so besotted with macaroni and cheese in particular that, when he returned to America, he was sure to bring back a recipe –along with a macaroni pasta extruder (America’s first!). Thereafter, he enthusiastically served macaroni and cheese at Monticello and at state dinners during his Presidency.

To be sure, you can get macaroni and cheese in various forms these days. It doesn’t have to be a gourmet dish.

You can get it deep-fried at fairs (ugh!) and sometimes wrapped in pastry (interesting!) and vended from food carts on the streets of urban America. Then, of course, you can make your own from those ubiquitous boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese found on every shelf in every market in every city and town in America–a standby for harassed moms and broke college students. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, by the way, has been around since the American Depression when it was advertised as feeding 4 people for 19 cents. Wow!

Jefferson, I think, would be appalled. For him, macaroni and cheese was an epicurean delight to be enjoyed in elegant surroundings– not some fried food on a stick.

Like Jefferson, I appreciate the elegance and subtleties of macaroni and cheese and it is a favorite dish on my table. In fact, one of the first dishes I learned to cook was macaroni and cheese. It was right out of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook (page 112, 1962 edition). I just looked it up to find the page number and found that I had underlined the recipe in bright orange. Made me laugh. The recipe is about as plain-Jane as macaroni and cheese recipes can be but it was delicious and I was a young cook when I used that orange marker.

Recently, during a late-night online recipe crawl, I came across a macaroni and cheese recipe that held the promise of upping my macaroni and cheese game. Tantalizingly, the recipe was one shared by Thomas Keller from his renowned Napa restaurant, Bouchon Bistro, where the dish is served as a part of the restaurant’s annual Thanksgiving dinner for veterans and their families. Keller’s recipe, published in Saveur Magazine, called for substituting some sophisticated cheese– Comte, fontina or Gruyere–for the traditional cheddar. His recipe also has you slow cooking a clove-studded onion in the sauce that is poured over the macaroni. Wow, again!

Here is my adaptation of Keller’s recipe.

Macaroni and Gruyere Cheese

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

1 pound elbow macaroni
Kosher salt and freshly ground white paper to taste
12 T. unsalted butter
1 C.flour
1 medium yellow onion (1/2 minced, 1/2 whole)
6 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
8 C. whole milk
1 lb. Gruyere (grated) (I used Gruyere and a tiny bit of aged cheddar)
1 T. freshly-grated nutmeg
1/4 C. bread crumbs or cubes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Boil macaroni in a large pan of salted boiling water until it is al dente.This should take about 8 minutes. Drain macaroni and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 2 T. butter, set aside.
Add the remaining butter to a large pan and melt over medium heat. Saute the minced onion in the butter until it is golden. This should take 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes. Stick the cloves into the onion half and add to the pan along with the two bay leaves. Whisk milk into the flour/butter mixture and bring to a boil. Once the milk begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened. This should take 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat once it has thickened and strain it through a fine-mesh sieve over the macaroni. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese, the nutmeg, and the salt and pepper.
Transfer macaroni and cheese to a large baking dish (9 inch by 13 inch). Top with remaining cheese and the bread cubes.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.The bread cubes should be golden brown and the macaroni and cheese mixture should be bubbly when your dish is done.
Remove macaroni and cheese from the oven and let it sit on your counter for a few minutes before serving. This will allow the dish to solidity a bit.
This recipe serves 8 to 10 persons. it can easily be halved .

Nutrition

Calories

5410 cal

Fat

237 g

Carbs

547 g

Protein

280 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

https://bluecayenne.com/thomas-jefferson-and-thomas-keller-elevating-macaroni-and-cheese-to-an-art-form

Cheese, Food History, Pasta, Vegetarian

January 21, 2019

Like A Boss: Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy

Do Asian vegetables confuse you? Don’t know your bok choy from your choy sum? Neither do I, but when David Tanis, one of my favorite food writers, published this recipe for Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy in his New York Times column City Kitchen, I soon found…

Asian, Main Dishes, Mushrooms, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

January 16, 2019

Hated the Biscuits; Loved the Bread Pudding

I made biscuits the other day. It sounded like a good idea but I ended up hating them. B-o-r-i-n-g. Even a generous pat of Kerrygold butter couldn’t bring them to life. OK. I’ll admit that it may have been me. I am in my…

Breads, Breakfast Dishes, Desserts, Vegetables, Vegetarian

January 12, 2019

Smooth As Butter: Roasted Butternut Squash With Lentils and Stilton

How do you feel about butternut squash? No, really.

For those of you who might shy away from the squash, consider the following: It is a fruit; who doesn’t love fruit? It is a healthy food; who doesn’t want to eat healthy? It is inexpensive; who isn’t ~~cheap~~ thrifty? It’s not kale.

Dense and creamy, butternut squash is the product of a 1940s-era hybridization project by Charles Leggett of Stow, Massachusetts. He started with a gooseneck squash and the rest is history. The butternut got its name because, according to its early promoters, the interior flesh of the fruit is as smooth as butter and as sweet as a nut. Kinda corny but it works.

But…don’t you just hate to peel it?

While it’s true that butternut squash is hard to prep, it doesn’t have to be. Here is a link to an excellent piece from Eating Well Magazine that demystifies how to prepare the squash: Eating Well On Preparing Butternut Squash. Alternatively, you can poke holes in the raw squash’s skin and then microwave it for about five minutes to make it easier to peel. That’s what I do.

Here is a wonderful butternut squash recipe.

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Ottolenghi Simple. Israel-born and London-based, Ottolenghi is the author of a number of best-selling cookbooks including Plenty, Plenty More, Jerusalem and Sweet. Up until now, his recipes have been known for their inventiveness but also for their difficulty and for the long lists of hard-to-find ingredients. Ottolenghi Simple focuses on recipes that are quick to prepare, that involve short lists of ingredients and that can, in many cases, be made well in advance.

Roasted Butternut Squash With Lentils and Stilton

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (peeled and cut into wedges)
2 red onions (peeled and cut into wedges)
3 T. olive oil
1/2 C. fresh sage leaves
Salt and black pepper
3 C. cooked lentils (I used Beluga but the recipe called for Puy)
1 large lemon (zested to get 2 t. zest and juiced to get 2 t. juice)
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1/4 C. parsley leaves (roughly chopped)
14 C. mint leaves (roughly chopped)
1/2 C. tarragon leaves (roughly chopped)
Garnish with crumbled Stilton or gorgonzola cheese
Garnish with chopped parsley and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Prepare squash and onions and toss together with 2 T. olive oil, sage leaves, 3/4 t. salt and pepper in a large bowl. (I substituted a generous pinch of dried sage leaves.) Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the squash/onion mixture out on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast vegetables for 25 to 30 minutes or until the squash is tender and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and allow the mixture to cool.
If you are going to use dried lentils, rinse them and add them to a pan of water to cover. Bring the water to a boil. Once the water is at a boil, lower the stove temperature to medium and simmer the lentils until they are tender but not mushy. This will take around 20 minutes. Drain and set the lentils aside to cool slightly. Alternatively, you can buy prepared lentils at markets like Trader Joe's.
In a large bowl, mix the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, mint, tarragon and remaining 1 T. oil. (I didn't have fresh tarragon and omitted it.) Salt to taste. Add the cooked lentils to the bowl and mix. Add the squash/onion mixture to the lentils and stir gently.
Arrange the squash/lentil salad attractively on a serving plate. Sprinkle crumbled cheese over the salad and drizzle with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.