Cherry Almond Scones

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Alisa

Dear goodness, I love a good scone. Some people think they are too dry or would prefer a muffin, instead. Cake is cake so there’s really no comparing it with a muffin. Scones are meant to be enjoyed warm, with a sliver of cold butter and a hot cup of coffee or tea. How very English. Their merit of being on the verge of dry is that they pair well with butter and a warm drink. And like their fluffy muffin-cousins, the varieties are endless. I love a savory scone with cheddar and onion just as much as a sweet variety. These particular scones have a magical pairing – almond and cherries! I bought some hippie soap this weekend with that combination and I didn’t intend to buy soap if I hadn’t smelled it, but there it was, cherry almond soap, screaming, “I’M SO COMFORTING! INHALE ME WHILE YOU DRIVE HOME!” And so I did. And it was a really great car ride.

When I received my copy of King Arthur Flour magazine, one of the first scone mixes inside was cherry almond. I knew I had to make these on my own, instead of waiting on a mix to arrive on my doorstep. So, I looked up the nearest recipe online and adapted it to be more almondy (there really is never enough almond-flavored things in the world) and got to baking! They turned out soft on the inside and crispy on the outside – perfect! I want to make them again, soon, and figure out a way to make them a little more cherry, too. Perhaps a swirl of homemade cherry preserves in the dough! They’re really great as is, though – just don’t forget the (real) butter!

Happy Beginning of the Week!

Cherry Almond Scones*
makes 8-10 scones, depending on the cut

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into pea size pieces
1 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup milk with a tsp of vanilla and a tsp of almond extract mixed in!

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add in the butter and rub with your fingers into the dry ingredients until a coarse meal forms. Add in the cherries and almonds. Add the milk and extracts and combine it into the butter flour mixture.

Form the dough into a 1-inch thick disk and cut it into 8 rounds with a biscuit cutter (You can really cut them however you like.) Transfer the scones to a greased cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.

*Adapted from Anne Burrell

Citrus Cured Salmon

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Alisa

It’s Monday – time to scale back. Drink more water, take a walk after dinner. Eat lighter, eat simpler. Undo what might have been done over the weekend of eating out with friends, drinks with co-workers or quick meals eaten on the run out of paper bags. I am currently in a very scaled-back mindset. This blog obviously has the most popularity when I post sugar and flour concoctions (don’t worry, there’s plenty in the queue) but for this week, I’m going to write about simple, clean, mindfully healthy recipes that are also incredibly fulfilling and delicious.

Over the weekend I dipped into Michael Ruhlman’s cookbook, “Ruhlman’s Twenty” and tackled the citrus cured salmon. This is not the type of recipe that calls my name. I love cured salmon in the form of lox, but this type of do-it-from-scratch recipe is a direct influence of my husband. He has made me see the joy in cooking for cooking’s sake. Not just eating the food, but enjoying the process. I can honestly say I thought he was crazy when I first heard him say, “I don’t even need to eat what I made, as long as I taste it and see that it came out well, I can move on.” I used to think this was ridiculous because I used to be a quantity over quality type eater. I used to think more was more. More mediocre food is better than less high-quality food. This is a mindset of an over-eater. As Matt taught me the joy of the process of cooking, I began to see what he meant. Just tasting that something you spent hours making came out well is beginning to be enough of a pay-off for me. And when you don’t eat as much, you have more to share. Which puts you in the middle of what food should be: communal.

I know what you’re thinking: this stuff is pretty easy to buy in the store. However, I never want to buy it because how old is that fish, anyway? And where did it come from? All these questions are answered simply if you just do it yourself. So, we bought a pound of salmon from the fresh fish counter, I grated lots and lots of zest and dumped kosher salt on it. 24 hours later – perfectly cured salmon with a HUGE citrus flavor. Amazing with cream cheese and capers and diced shallots on top of Matt’s homemade, toasted bread. This is eating simply and without regret!

Happy Zesty Monday.

Citrus Cured Salmon*

1.5 lb salmon filet
1 tsp orange zest
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lime zest
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar

In a small bowl, combine the salt and sugar and stir to distribute the sugar throughout the salt. In another bowl, combine the citrus zests. (Buy a Microplane.)

Lay a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to extend beyond the length of the salmon. Spread a third of the salt mixture in the center of the foil to serve as a bed for the salmon. Place the salmon skin-side down on the salt. Distribute the zest evenly across the salmon. Pour the remaining salt mixture over the salmon. It should be covered. Fold the foil up to contain the salt. Place another sheet of foil over the salmon and crimp the sheets together firmly. The idea is to have a tight package in which the salt mixture is in contact with all surfaces of the salmon.

Set the foil package on a baking sheet. Set another baking sheet or dish on top of the salmon and weight it down with a brick or a few cans from your pantry. This will help press the water out of the salmon as it cures. Refrigerate the salmon for 24 hours.

Unwrap the salmon and remove it from the cure, discarding the foil and the cure. Rinse the salmon and pat dry with paper towels. To remove the skin, place the salmon skin-side down on a cutting board. Holding a sharp, thin, flexible knife at about a 30-degree angle, cut between the flesh and the skin. When you can get a grip on the skin, pull it back and forth against the knife to separate it from the flesh. Set the salmon on a rack or on paper towels on a tray and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, to allow the salt concentration to equalize and to dry the salmon out further. Wrap the salmon in parchment and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Serve sliced extremely thin on crackers, bagels, or with scrambled eggs for a hearty breakfast – the options are up to your tastes!

*adapted from Rhulman’s book in that we could only find 1.5lb filets of salmon and his recipe called for 2-3lbs.

Cinnamon Oatmeal and Yogurt Pancakes

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Alisa

I don’t believe in labeling food as “healthy” or “not healthy.” I believe in good habits and bad habits. I think it’s a bad habit to eat lots of refined sugar and processed junk that lives in a box on a shelf on a daily basis. I think it’s a good habit to enjoy a totally sugar-laden cupcake once or twice a month and really enjoy the cuss out of it. I think it’s a bad habit to eat fast food multiple times a week. I think it’s a good habit to enjoy an amazing cheeseburger and fries on a weekend and have no regrets! I think it’s a bad habit to let kids snack between meals on junk like salty fish shaped crackers and candy posing as “fruit.” I think it’s a good habit to let your kids know what snack food is and that it is to be eaten once in a while and not every day and certainly not in place of a meal. Good habits and bad habits – to heck with worrying about good foods and bad foods or worrying that I’m bad for having refined flour and sugar in the house. If you really believe in the adage of “everything in moderation” you won’t run from these ingredients. You’ll just put them in their time and place.

Because of the awesome blog by Dina Rose that I read on a regular basis, I am coming more and more into the understanding of focusing on conquering habits instead of worrying about the nutrition of each individual meal I cook. I’ve developed a few habits I’m proud of and I’m working on changing the habits I’m not so proud to admit. A bad habit I’m working on is eliminating my “adult right” to snacking throughout the day. I have been bad about this in the past. A piece of chocolate here, a cracker and cheese or seven there…I don’t want Olive to grow up snacking between meals and having her around has really shed light on my bad habits for randomly and mindlessly eating. I’ve been tackling that problem this week and it’s getting easier and easier to wait till the next meal – just like I expect her to learn.

A good habit I really love is cooking a bit more indulgently on the weekends. This Saturday it was just us girls as Matt was somewhere in the Colorado wilderness hiking and eating freeze dried gravy. I love not camping. So for breakfast, before Olive woke up, I looked up a recipe for yogurt pancakes and modified the one I found to have cinnamon, oatmeal and a splash of sweetened milk I had in the fridge from the tres leches cakes I made a couple weeks ago. It was the best stack of pancakes I’ve ever made. They were wonderful. These pancakes are by no means “healthy” in that you should eat them all the time, but they are filled with good ingredients and that just adds a bonus to getting to dig into a stack of pancakes on a weekend. I topped them with banana slices and a bit of my favorite syrup – dark amber agave nectar (tastes like caramel) – and they were awesome. And filling. I threw the leftovers in the toaster this morning before church and they were magical all over again. Three cheers for refined flour weekends and learning good habits!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes
made about 8, 3 inch pancakes

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
2 tbs melted butter
2 tbs milk or heavy cream or evaporated milk (I had leftover tres leches concoction in my fridge)

Heat a griddle or a non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. Combine all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Then, in a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and whip up the eggs in the mixture until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and blend with a fork until fully incorporated. Spray the skillet with spray oil with each batch of pancakes and cook till browned on both edges, 2-3 minutes per side.

Serve with sliced bananas or peanut butter and syrup – whatever makes you happy!

Soft-Scrambled Eggs

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Alisa

Everyone wants to be known for something. We all strive to be important in some way and to matter to more than just ourselves. Some of us get little snippets of fame from the jobs we do or the opinions we have or maybe from how cute our red-headed children happen to be. Most of this attention is fleeting – it can last a day, an online minute or maybe as much as a year before the new wears off. A good friend once put it so well, regarding our need for others’ acceptance: “You’re only as good as your last performance.” This is a shockingly true statement that I would venture most of us, at one time or another in our lives, have felt.

Over the last year, I’ve worked through the book, The Divine Conspiracy. It has flipped my world upside down. Or maybe, finally, right-side up. I’d recommend it to anyone searching for something they can’t quite put their finger on. One of the main points early on in the book is that we have this need to matter and to be unique and special because we were specifically designed to be that way. We were designed by an infinitely unique and powerful creator who made us to be just like Him. So, it’s not bad to strive to be noticed. It’s just futile to strive for the approval of our peers – of anyone but the One who created us to be His unique treasures in the first place. And as we all know, most of our days are spent in search of approval, recognition or acceptance from people online. People we never see and from a strange sea of online crowds who are simply going about their day trying to be noticed, too. It’s futile. At times, I want to unplug from it all and just be important to my family and my very small circle of friends with whom I physically see on a regular basis. It would be so much simpler to be special and to matter to just 20 people instead of trying to impress 200.

How on earth is this post going to be about scrambled eggs?! Well, through my first year as a new mother, I really picked up the baton of cooking for my family. I have embraced it with the foreknowledge that the recipes I cook now will be the stories and the comfort food Olive talks about when she’s in college, missing home cooked meals. This is how I have come to matter (in my eyes) to my world. I cook. I provide food for Matt and Olive and occasionally friends and when I am lucky, family as well. I usually cook new things, new recipes, Pinterest inspirations, but there are a few dishes that I can make whether I’m sleepy or not, paying attention to measurements or holding a kid on my hip. Soft scrambled eggs is one of these recipes. They are actually more of a skill than you might think. But with a little extra effort and attention, these eggs will blow your mind. We’ve all had the over-cooked rubbery eggs on breakfast buffets the world over. These, by contrast, are super creamy, soft, flavorful (not sulfury) and are mind-blowing on top of a piece of buttered toast. It’s the ultimate comfort breakfast food. I have had people remark about these eggs like, “What on earth did you put in these?! Cheese? Cream?” Nope. Salt and Pepper! And a tablespoon of butter. That’s it.

I’ll be really detailed in the recipe so that you, too, can learn to do these right. They just require a little more whisking and a little less heat than you’re probably used to. I hope they become part of your weekly recipe repertoire and I hope that you really enjoy at least one recipe you make on a regular basis. It could be chocolate chip cookies or banana pancakes or even a simple roasted chicken. But if you find something that you enjoy doing and you do it enough times to do it well, you will be an instant local-celebrity in the eyes of the people sitting around your table. And that, for me, is becoming more than enough. It’s good to matter to at least a few people in this life and I can think of no more worthwhile group of people than family.

Soft Scrambled Eggs
4 eggs serves two people

4 large eggs
about a teaspoon of kosher salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 tbs of unsalted butter. If you use a butter substitute, I can’t help you

First, get your butter in a medium saucepan (like a good pan for soup) and turn on the heat to 3 or 4. Seems low, but this is one of the tricks. My stove’s lucky number is 4. Yours might be hotter so adjust as you see fit.

While the butter is melting, crack the eggs into a big measuring cup and season with the salt and pepper like this:

Then, whisk whisk whisk until they are forming bubbles. Like this:

By this point, your butter should nearly be on its way to getting frothy in the hot pan. Pour in your eggs and start whisking. I use a flat whisk (you can kinda see it in the pic) and it’s so excellent for getting into the edges of the pan. Whisk almost constantly, occasionally lifting the pan away from the heat and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan, fully incorporating the eggs as they cook so that you maintain a very small curd, like cottage cheese sized bits of egg. Continue doing this; on the heat, off the heat, on the heat, off the heat, until your eggs are nearly looking done, and more on the side of creamy, but no traces of whites remain. Your eggs will look underdone to you if you’ve never done this method before. But trust me, if the whites are all gone and you have a super creamy consistency, you are ready to eat. Get the eggs out of the pan immediately into a bowl and serve at once. This morning I put some leftover pesto, which became my own green eggs and ham and it was a breakfast fit for a king. Or a toddler. 🙂

The pesto WILL be a future blog post. It’s the best I’ve ever had and it came from an Italian grandmother so you know it has to be legit.

Stroopwafels – Your New Coffee Lid

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Alisa

My friend, Libby, and I first saw stroopwafel cookies at an outdoor market in the center of Haarlem, Holland. We were having an “off” day from our Let’s Start Talking mission trip and decided to explore the town’s morning market. I think it must have been the very first time in my life that I explored and ventured off so far away from home and with zero adult supervision. We were technically adults as sophomores in college (are you done laughing, yet?) – I say “technically” because someone trusted us to go across the globe to teach English to non-native speakers, but in all other manners of speaking, we were babies.

While walking the streets of Haarlem (or trying our best to ride our bikes without getting killed after not being on a bike since the 90s) we discovered so many things we didn’t know existed. Crazy street performers that came alive at the sound of a coin dropping into their hats, a sweet, old lady flipping tiny pancakes over with a spear in her honeycomb-style pan (ebilskivers), and probably the best of all – the Stroopwafel (pronounced “strope”) – two waffle cookies sandwiched together with soft caramel. We smelled them from down the street – the air was cloaked in butterscotch. We followed our noses to a little stand in the center of the street where a man was making salad-plate-sized waffles, pressing them with a hand-held grid patterned iron, and spreading each waffle with a thick caramel sauce before sandwiching them together and handing them to us, gooey and oozing out the sides. They were warm, soft and crispy around the edges and we took one bite and with wide eyes, didn’t say another word until we were done eating. It was one of those magical food memories that has cemented that time and space in my brain, forever. A part of my heart will always be with my friend, Libby, on the streets of Haarlem, eating stroopwafels and wondering how we got so lucky. Eleven years later in our toddler-run worlds of rushing around and enjoying quick cups of coffee in the wee hours of the morning, I like to go back to that place where nothing else in the world existed except our adventure.

When we got back from Holland, we started to see reproductions of these cookies in grocery stores. A poor man’s stroopwafel, but better than nothing. I don’t think most people know that you’re supposed to place the cookie on top of your coffee after you pour it, so that the room temp caramel softens with the heat and when bitten into, oozes out just a bit. The ones we got in the market were obviously over-sized to sell to American tourists, but the true size is a perfect fit for the top of a coffee mug.

I wanted to make my own for years, but had never attempted it till last weekend. I found a basic stroopwafel recipe online and had some leftover butterscotch sauce in the fridge and it worked perfectly. I recommend making the butterscotch because I think that salty note is just amazing with the sweetness of the cookie. I also doubled the cinnamon the original recipe called for and was quite happy with the results. If you’re not in the mood to make your own caramel or butterscotch, I thought the other night, while I was supposed to be sleeping, that those sheets of caramel sold in grocery stores for caramel apples would work perfectly because they’re already flattened out! You really need a pizzelle iron to make these and if you don’t have one, I would suspect that you could be pretty successful if you have a handheld bacon press and just pressed them out on a griddle. They don’t take long to cook at high heat (about one minute) and you have to split them in half before they cool down, so get ready to suck it up and act like a woman (I didn’t miss-type). As I will say over and over again on this blog: nothing in this life worth having comes easy.

And homemade stroopwafels are definitely worth having. Libby, my dear – can’t wait to have coffee with you, again in a couple weeks. Of course, you’re always there, in my head, during my morning cup. Always.

Stroopwafels*
makes about 15-20

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water

For the filling:
Confession: I honestly don’t remember how I made the caramel/butterscotch in my fridge. It was a few weeks old and I’d gone on vacation since then, so I honestly don’t remember. It was mighty fine, though. I will share this link with you, though, because I’ve made this exact recipe many times and it’s pretty fail-proof. You don’t be disappointed and it only takes about 15 minutes. Or buy caramel apple sheets from the store. But this will taste better.

Preheat pizzelle iron, or griddle, if you don’t have a pizzelle, and heat up the bacon press if you’re using that.
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
Cut the butter into the flour either by hand (I did this whole recipe by hand and got a bit of muscle build from doing what Kitchen-Aid does 10x better but hey, I’m stubborn.) Mix in the sugar, cinnamon, eggs and yeast mixture. Mix well (use your mixer with a paddle attachment unless you, too, want to build your muscles) and set aside to rise for 30 to 60 minutes. It might not double or even rise very much, but as long as you had it in a semi-warm place for that hour, it’ll be fine. Mine didn’t rise much. Roll dough into 15ish small balls (about a ping pong ball size), squeeze each ball into the preheated pizzelle iron and bake for about 30 seconds to a minute. Cut the wafels in two and spread with the filling. Eat immediately or let it it come to room temp and enjoy them as lids to hot coffee.

And please, whatever you do, don’t eat these alone. I think I shared these with about 5 different people. That’s the key to happiness, I’ve found 🙂

*adapted from Diana’s Desserts

Cooking on the Road

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Alisa

They made up their minds, and they started packing.
They left before the sun came up that day.
An exit to eternal summer slacking,
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?

I think we might be crazy. But we’ve made up our minds to drive from here to Seattle in an RV with some really good friends, good music, and good food. We’re bringing the coffee maker, some good quality beans and our guitars, so I think we may survive. 🙂 We have friends who live in Seattle, and so we decided to make the trip part of the vacation. In preparation for a few days on the road, I decided to get to baking. No one likes to decide what to have for breakfast, so I took it upon myself to make it a no-brainer. I consulted Annie’s Eats, of course, because that woman knows how to prepare for anything. She has a wonderful selection of baked goods on her blog, and when I grow up, I want to be just like her. (I may be older but that’s not the issue, here.)

I chose from her blog, the peanut butter banana oatmeal muffins,(they looked so great but I refrained from taste-testing) the chocolate cherry muffins and the bacon and cheddar scones. We were forced to taste-test the chocolate muffins because they looked too chocolately for their own good and so what else were we going to do? Leave it to chance?! They can hardly be called muffins, in my opinion. They are nearly flourless chocolate cakes, but just enough flour to make them decadent brownies. In fact, next time I want to make brownies, I’m using this recipe. So they might be more for snack time instead of breakfast.

Chocolate Cherry Muffins*
(I doubled the recipe and it turned out great)

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup dried cherries, chopped if desired

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350º F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups or grease wells.

In a small heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Set the bowl over but not touching simmering water in a small saucepan and melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until smooth and blended. Let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar and vanilla until light in color and doubled in volume. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and then the flour mixture just until combined. Stir in the dried cherries. Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the prepared pan and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 25-30 minutes.

Makes 7-8 muffins.

*didn’t adapt this at all from Annie’s Eats, except for doubling it and using half dark chocolate, half milk because that’s what I had on hand!

The scones I prepared up until baking and just froze them raw. Then, I will put them in that tiny RV oven and add a few minutes on to baking time and we will have an amazing breakfast heading down the road! I can’t wait for our adventure and I can’t wait for all the amazing food we will try and the sites we’ll see and the memories we will make. And with any luck, we’ll all still like each other when we get home. 🙂 I’ll be sure and take lots of REAL, non-iPhone pictures and have a few posts about our gastronomical adventures when I return.

Bacon Cheddar Scones*
makes 8-10

For the scones:
3 cups bread flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1-2 tsp. ground black pepper (depending on your preference)
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1½ cups grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped or crumbled into small pieces
1 cup buttermilk (plus up to ½ cup extra, if needed)

For the egg wash:
1 large egg
2 tbsp. water

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper; mix briefly to combine. Add the cubes of butter and mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are about the size of small peas. (Alternatively, this can be done in a regular mixing bowl, using a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.) Add in the grated cheese and mix just until incorporated.

Mix in the green onions, bacon, and 1 cup of the buttermilk into the flour-butter mixture. Stir by hand just until all the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough is too dry to come together, mix in the remaining buttermilk a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough can be formed into a ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and pat the dough into an 8-inch disk. Cut with a 3″ biscuit cutter into 12 circles, place on a greased cookie sheet, wrap in plastic and freeze till ready to eat. Before baking, remove from freezer, brush with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

*slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Dark Chocolate Chip-Pecan Pancakes

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Alisa

I opened up this recipe this week with the intention of pinning it to my Pinterest recipe board. Then I went to my recipe board and discovered that I’d pinned this exact recipe four times over the last 2 years. My subconscious must really want these pancakes. I decided, no more pining for a pin! I made these bad boys this morning for breakfast, right when the clouds rolled in and it started raining. We enjoyed the rest of our coffee on the front porch while watching the rain and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the perfect way to spend the morning.

These pancakes are intense, rich, but not too sweet. I accidentally left out the melted butter from the batter (believe me that I would never do that intentionally) and they turned out just fine! Matt had pancake syrup on his and I had creme fraiche sweetened with a bit of honey on mine and I will proudly say that my way was the best. But his way photographed better 🙂 Whatever you decide to put on top of these pancakes, be it whipped cream, syrup, powdered sugar, yogurt, it’s going to be the right decision. The baby girl loved them, too and called them “panpays”, which was nearly the cutest thing I’d heard all week.

Enjoy your weekend! Hope you find time to make these desert-like pancakes at some point!

Chocolate Pecan Pancakes*
makes about 10 pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 large egg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
4 tablespoons vegetable oilPreheat oven to 225 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla; pour over flour mixture, whisking to combine. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans; let batter stand until slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until a water droplet sizzles; swirl to coat bottom of pan with oil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Spoon four small mounds (1 heaping tablespoon each) of batter into skillet. Cook until bubbles appear in center, 3 to 4 minutes. With a thin spatula, flip pancakes; continue cooking until set, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer to a baking sheet; cover loosely with foil; place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining oil and batter in three more batches (adjust heat as necessary to avoid overbrowning).

Stack ’em up and enjoy, topped with anything you’d like!

*recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Cheesy Grits with Olive Pesto and a Soft-Boiled Egg

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Alisa

Grits, Polenta, Cornmeal – whatever you call it and however you prepare it, it can take on many forms and flavors. To us, slow-cooked grits is about as comfy as comfort food gets. When done right, grits can be amazing. Too often, people associate grits with the translucent, gel-like, flavorless substance they encounter at cheap breakfast houses the world over. I often say that if you don’t like a particular food, you might have just had a bad version. I was this way with grits, apple pie, turnips, pork chops, just to name a few. When I had a GOOD bowl of cheesy, smooth grits, I was hooked. When I had an apple pie that was distinctly apple and had a good, buttery crust and wasn’t watery, I understood the appeal. Sometimes you just have to give a dish a few tries before putting it in the “dislike” category.

This recipe for grits is one of my favorites, so far. This basic, creamy grit recipe stays the same – just the toppings change. This makes it one of the easiest weeknight meals to prepare because the grits cook for about an hour, which you inadvertently stir while you’re doing other things. Then, when it’s time for dinner, you just spoon out helpings, add toppings of choice, and dig in. I honestly think that it’s a healthy meal, too, because the grits are cooked with chicken stock and you don’t even have to add cheese for amazing depth of flavor, if you use good grits. I use Lamb’s stone ground grits, (you can find these at United) and they are amazing. Just a little seasoning and they are perfect. So, the indulgence level is up to you with this beautiful, blank canvas!

I found a recipe for an olive pesto on this beautiful blog, and with the poached egg, she had me sold. Only, I didn’t poach mine, I did a pretty fool-proof method of soft boiling the eggs, letting them cool, and then carefully peeling them. Not so fresh eggs work best with this method. I will post my own pesto recipe on this blog, soon, as I’ve made it quite frequently and it’s one of those things, like guacamole, that you should just know how to do and do well. And by “well” I mean, keep it pure and simple!

Cheesy Grits with Olive Pesto and a Soft Boiled Egg*

For the Polenta:
2 cups stone ground grits (do NOT use instant grits)
8 cups water/chicken stock (I did half and half)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, or any other hard cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Get the water and/or chicken stock boiling on the stove. Gradually whisk in the grits, careful to break up all the clumps. Lower the water to a simmer and stir, occasionally, for about an hour. You can test to see if they need more cooking by tasting a bit for crunchiness. Shouldn’t be too crunchy – think of it like cooking rice. Stir in the cheese till it melts and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Cover and set the burner on low and get on with your toppings.

For the Pesto:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup green olives, coarsely chopped
1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh oregano or marjoram (I discovered they are wickedly similar)
1/4 cup fresh thyme, coarsely chopped

Put all this stuff in a blender, food processor, or tall cup with an immersion blender and pulse till chunky and well combined.

For the Eggs:
1 egg per person, room temp (To make them room temp quickly, simply put them in lukewarm water for about 10 minutes)
a big ol’ pot of water
tablespoon of white vinegar
salt

Get a big pot boiling with water and salt it and add the vinegar. Carefully lower the eggs into the boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and let them sit in lukewarm water till cool enough to handle. Veeeerrrrrry carefully peel the eggs and set aside.

Assemble!

Spoon grits into each bowl (they may need to be stirred a bit from sitting there. They form a skin, but it’s okay, it stirs back up just great) and top with a poached egg, a spoon of pesto and extra pepper.

*adapted from thekitchn.com

Blackberry Jam Tart – I get pie with a little help from my friends…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Alisa

This tart was made because I bought three packages of fresh blackberries at 99 cents a pack (usually $3) and after we had some for a snack, I realized they would probably mold by the next day, and I would have wasted them. So, looking up blackberry recipes on Martha Stewart Living online, I found a wonderful recipe that calls for a cornmeal crust, a jar of jam and some blackberries. Perfect. And I JUST happened to have the most perfect jar of blackberry jam in my pantry, made by my friends in Seattle, who have an entire acre, basically, of wild blackberry bushes beside their house. I think jams and preserves are one of those treats that should be enjoyed in season. It’s so much more satisfying to get a jar from the literal fruits of someone’s labor, than to just go pick up any ol’ flavor you want at the grocery store. I think eating this way is another way of naturally limiting one’s sugar intake. My friend, Brynn’s dad, makes this blackberry hybrid batch of jam each spring/early summer, and sometimes, there’s no fruit and we’re all sad, and sometimes there’s an abundance and I get one, coveted jar. This stuff is the most amazing jam I’ve ever eaten. So we wait, excitedly, all year for it. Tell me that’s not better for the soul than having exactly the flavor you want, any time of the year? Cook seasonally, bake seasonally, and natural moderation will follow.

My cousin, Kathleen, and her daughter, Hannah, stopped by earlier this week to pick up the disc from a senior session I did for Hannah. Hannah’s boyfriend was with them, too, and when I asked if they’d like a piece of the berry tart I’d just made that afternoon, this precious boy’s eyes lit up and he just said, “uhhhh.” All it takes is one in your group to say “yes” for you to feel comfortable to take a piece, as well! They all stayed and ate and chatted and kept Matt and me company as we started prep for our dinner. I was in my little piece of heaven. Just wish it happened more often. I don’t always have a piece of pie or tart or cookies, but I ALWAYS have coffee. Always. So stop by any time. You might get pie, if you’re lucky!

Blackberry Jam Tart*

For the crust: (I didn’t have enough butter, so I just halved the recipe. It makes two crusts, anyway, so it worked out! I’ll post the full, two-crust recipe. This recipe also uses a food processor, which is easier, but you don’t burn as many calories and you have a food processor to clean up. Sometimes I’d rather pull a muscle than have to clean gadgets)

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Place the flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add the butter and cut with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add a few tablespoons of water and continue cutting it into the mixture until the dough holds together when pressed between your fingers. Knead it inside the bowl about 10 times until it all holds together in a ball. Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap and press into a nice disc. Refrigerate for at least one hour, up to one day before using.

For the Tart:

AP flour, for surface rolling
half a jar (about one cup) of blackberry jam
12 ounces fresh blackberries (about 3 cups)
1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the crust into an 11 inch round (about 1/4 inch thick) on a floured surface. Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. Trim the edges to come 1 inch up the sides using a paring knife. Use the trimmings to patch up any thin areas or holes in the crust bottom. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prick the tart shell all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Immediately spread jam into the tart shell, top with blackberries, sprinkle with almonds and bake for 10 minutes more. Serve warm.

*adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Grown-Up Sticky Buns

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Alisa

I decided to tackle a Pinterest recipe yesterday. It had been sitting there on my Recipes board, looking amazing, yet going unmade and uneaten. (Also known as every pin on Pinterest)

The Butterscotch Spiral Coffee Cake was intriguing and beautiful and I loved how the original baker created one gigantic cinnamon roll effect. I loved it so much that I didn’t do it that way. I knew without a doubt, that mine would not look the same, I’d cut it wrong, placing it wrong, and get frustrated and end up drinking the whiskey instead of adding it to the caramel sauce. So I decided I’d make a crowded pan of cinnamon rolls, call them sticky buns, and be happy!

I had a really great time making this recipe. Matt is usually the one who bakes, but when I do, I really enjoy kneading the dough, working with it to form it into something pretty. I love clearing off a huge space on our counter to roll out the dough. Makes me think of my mom making biscuits. There’s something so wonderful about baking that instantly connects you to bakers from centuries past, who had flour on their bellies from leaning against the counter too far, and a happy heart from their necessary taste-testing.

I used my antique coffee grinder

to grind the cardamom pods because we have a spice grinder, but it’s forever known as Cumin Grinder because once you grind cumin seeds, congratulations, you now have an exclusive cumin grinder. If you grind anything else, it will have a faint whiff of cumin, or B.O. (also known as cumin). I don’t know why we eat a spice that smells like B.O. I’ll chalk it up to things that taste delicious but smell horrible. Like cheese. Oh, cheese, you stinky wonder…

The caramel sauce called for a teaspoon of whiskey. My first thought was, “that’s not enough – just one teaspoon?” but when I gave Matt a taste, wanting him to identify the mystery ingredient, it took him a half second to shout, “You put whiskey in the caramel?!” Yes, and not just any whiskey, but his Laphroaig 10 Year Smoke Bomb whiskey. (Not its official name) And even though there was only one teaspoon, it was obvious! I also added a generous sprinkling of kosher salt, because I feel strongly that when something calls for brown sugar, butter AND corn syrup, you’ve GOT to add a bit of salt. Everything sweet needs balance and caramel is definitely one of those things! I also forgot to add butterscotch chips, like she did, but they were still amazing. The dough has so much flavor, that you almost don’t need the extra sweetness. However, I think adding the chips would be a great addition.

My crowded cinnamon roll approach kinda worked and kinda didn’t. When they baked they BURST up out of the pan in a sprawling fashion. No fuss – I just smooshed them back down before inverting them on a plate.

If you want to do the gigantic cinnamon roll swirl like the super cool blogger/baker lady did, go for it! I know my weaknesses and copying a recipe word for word is one of them. If you make it look different, you won’t be sad when it does. (Make sense?)

These are AWESOME, by the way. Like Monkey Bread for grown-ups. Sweet, buttery, sticky and with a hint of smoke. Pretty amazing.

Grown-Up Sticky Buns*

For the Dough

2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cup AP flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup (2-ounces) unsalted butter

1/4 cup water

2 extra large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Butterscotch Glaze

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup (2-ounces) unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon Scotch whisky
1/2 tsp kosher salt

For the Cinnamon-Butter Filling

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons (1-ounce) unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup butterscotch chips, chopped (I forgot this step)

For the Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the milk and butter just until the butter melts. Add the water and set aside until warm (120º F-130º F), about 1 minute. Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after addition. Add the vanilla. Add 1/2 cup more flour and continue to mix on low speed until smooth, about 30-45 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons of additional flour and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, but slightly sticky. Sprinkle the work surface with flour, and knead the dough gently until it is smooth and no longer sticky, adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour if needed. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about an hour.

For the Butterscotch Glaze

Meanwhile, lightly coat a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the sugar, butter, and corn syrup and heat until the butter is completely melted. Sprinkle in the salt, stir to dissolve and taste test. Does it taste like butterscotch? Good! Not yet? Add more salt! Remove from the heat and stir in the whiskey. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tilt the pan to cover the bottom evenly; set aside.

For the Cinnamon-Butter Filling

In a small bowl, stir together the butter and cinnamon. Don’t forget to chop up the butterscotch chips that you went to the store, specifically to buy.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350º F. Gently de-gas the dough by pressing lightly. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle. Using a pastry brush, spread the cinnamon-butter evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the chopped chips. Roll the dough up, length-wise, and cut into 1″ rolls and place side by side. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the cake rise in a warm place until it is almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Bake the cake until the top is deep golden brown, about 35 minutes. Check after 20 minutes to make sure the top is not browning too fast. If so, cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes to prevent over browning. Transfer to a wire rack (remove the foil if used) and let cool for 10 minutes.

Gently tilt the pan and tap the side on a counter to release the sides of the cake. Invert a serving platter on top of the cake, then invert the pan and the plate. Leave the pan on the cake for 1 minute so the glaze transfers to the cake, then gently lift off the pan. Using a rubber spatula, scrape out any glaze remaining in the pan and spread it over the warm surface of the coffee cake. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature with a cup of coffee and a friend. This is an adult dessert – enjoy being one and let the kids marvel at the mystery 🙂

*recipe adapted from The Galley Gourmet

The Family Meal

we eat together

Category Archives: Breakfast

Cherry Almond Scones

Citrus Cured Salmon

Cinnamon Oatmeal and Yogurt Pancakes

Soft-Scrambled Eggs

Stroopwafels – Your New Coffee Lid

Cooking on the Road

Dark Chocolate Chip-Pecan Pancakes

Cheesy Grits with Olive Pesto and a Soft-Boiled Egg

Blackberry Jam Tart – I get pie with a little help from my friends…

Grown-Up Sticky Buns

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