Julia's Lemon Loaf Cake

Mmm... Lemon cake. Yep, the people that I work with get spoiled!
I used half & half instead of heavy cream - no heavy cream at the grocery store either. The Kroger in Martinsville is still closed. Because of flooding.
I love the flavor of lemons - honestly I was about to make homemade lemonade instead (of course with vodka), but it was someone's birthday at work, so I had to go for the cake instead. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature.

When you start - don't crack the eggs right over the bowl like I did. I had to dig out a shell and egg shells are pretty frustrating to dig out. Do what Ina does - break into a different bowl first, then pour into your main mixing bowl. I learned my lesson.
Fold the melted, cooled butter in nicely. It takes a little work - but I love the butter in the end! Fold smoothly, it makes a difference!
Blake, of Blake Makes! mailed out Amano chocolate - I was lucky enough to get some, so of course, I had to make some frosting!
When you pull the cake out of the oven, make sure it cools evenly - then after cooled, cut all the browned edges off to make it look nice. And lovely. And beautiful for the people at work.
Yep, I know, my plate's too big but I don't really care! It's yummy!

Lemon Loaf Cake

From Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

Pinch of salt

Grated zest of 3 lemons (make lemonade for yourself with these)

1 3/4 cup cake flour (use Pillsbury, it's made in Minnesota)

1/2 teaspon baking powder

1/2 cup heavy cream (I used half & half)

5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled to room temperature

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees farenheit. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan and dust with flour, shaking out the excess.

Working in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt for just a moment until foamy and smoothly blended. Whisk in the grated zest.

Spoon the flour and baking powder into a sifter and sift about a third into the foamy egg mixture. Whisk the flour into the eggs - no need to beat. Sift the flour in two more additions and whisk only until incorporated. Whisk the heavy cream into the mixture. Switch to a spatula and gently, but quickly fold in the butter.

Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan - it will level itself out - bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until the center of the cake crowns and cracks and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake to a cooling rack to rest for 10 minutes before unmolding. Serve cool or wait a day.

McTatty's Frosting:

Melt chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in microwave. Drizzle over cake to finish.

Enjoy!

PSH

Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta, Pesto & Peas

Mmmm... this was great! The only thing - I'm not a mayo lover, so I substituted ricotta cheese. This is from Ina Garten's Recipe from the Barefoot Blogger's group. This was easy - but beware, it makes enough food for about 8 people! Or more! I'll be bringing this to work for the next potluck - it'd be good hot or cold or room temp. Just beware of the mayo (I subbed ricotta).
You'll need lemon juice of course. Living in a county that is a federal disaster area right now is hard to find fresh produce. Seriously - there've been no deliveries to the grocery stores in the area since last week, so there's been slim pickins'.
Tonight it's Pinot Grigio. 3 Blind Moose is pretty cheap. Not too bad - better than beer tonight! Plus I'm only cooking for one - so I'm only making approximately half of what the recipe calls for, mainly because I can't eat a pound of pasta on my own.

Defrost and then drain your frozen spinach while the pasta cooks. Easy enough.

Open the pesto and dump into your food processor. Or just make pesto yourself. I wasn't in the mood to make any more dishes dirty. There's even more recipes on the inside lid of the Buitoni packaging. Hmmm...
How I drain spinach: Defrost in the microwave, then get a big bunch of towels, wrap up in your hands and squeeze thoroughly. No green dishtowels!
My incredibly messy countertop. Eh, it's small what the heck am I supposed to do? You want to dump the lemon juice, pesto and spinach into the food processor. Pulse a few times and then add either your mayo or your sub for it. Process a few times more.
My favorite picture to take - lemons or limes squeezed & zested!
The end product! Voila!

Pasta, Pesto & Peas

From Ina Garten

3/4 pound fusilli pasta

3/4 pound bow tie pasta

1/4 cup good olive oil

1 1/2 cups pesto, packaged or see recipe below

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 1/4 cups good mayonnaise

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted

1/3 cup pignolis (pine nuts)

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook the fusilli and bow ties separately in a large pot of boiling salted water for 10 to 12 minutes until each pasta is al dente. Drain and toss into a bowl with the olive oil. Cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree. Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, pignolis, salt, and pepper. Mix well, season to taste, and serve at room temperature.

Pesto:

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts)

3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 cloves)

5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups good olive oil

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

Notes: Air is the enemy of pesto. For freezing, pack it in containers with a film of oil or plastic wrap directly on top with the air pressed out.

To clean basil, remove the leaves, swirl them in a bowl of water, and then spin them very dry in a salad spinner. Store them in a closed plastic bag with a slightly damp paper towel. As long as the leaves are dry they will stay green for several days.

Yield: 4 cups

Enjoy!

PSH

10 More Confessions - for Nichole

1. I hate mayo. Egg whites & oil just don't sound good together.

2. Slow internet connections annoy me.

3. I kill indoor plants, but in an outside garden I can grow anything.

4. Black licorice, anise, etc... makes me puke. Not sure why, but it always has.

5. I have a secret addiction to The Sims (well, not so secret anymore).

6. I've been doing Logic puzzles lately and I love them, but not when I've been drinking.

7. I've been an AT&T cell phone customer for over 5 years. Love 'em. Free phones are fabulous!

8. I accessorize on the weekends. But I wear red shoes only to work.

9. Cooking is a passion. So is baking, but I don't always have the patience.

10. I don't watch movies more than once. Unless it's on t.v.

11. Random humor is hilarious to me. Like the hot sauce in the picture. Don't know why, but hot sauce always makes me laugh.

PSH

7 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Ha! That's all I have to say...

PSH

Lightening & Flash Flooding

Brings me back to childhood. I remember, I must've been 15. The whole entire city of Bloomington, Minnesota got hit by something. A tornado, straight line winds, I don't know. But I remember we were without power for 4 days. And, stupid me & my mom, we drove to the East side of Bloomington looking for ice! They didn't have any ice either!
In any case I was at work, just got out of a meeting, had to bring a paper to the CFO on the third floor.

A huge crash.

Lightening.

And then the fire alarms started going off.

Being the fabulous assistant that I am, I'm all worried about getting the dang piece of paper to Pete (and don't worry Nicole, I'll take care of you tomorrow!). So I bring the paper to the third floor and watch everyone rush from their desk to go down to the first floor.

Whatever. I'm pretty easy-going. For pete's sake, it's just a storm! Nope, we were struck by lightening and I got to hang out with Nicole & Nichole in the lobby. It smelled bad - like smoke & sulfer. Gross.

Then the streets were flooded getting home, normally 7 minutes, took me 35! Here's some pics of after the water went down on Kirkwood. Normally I'd say enjoy, but I can't help looking at the cars in wonder - I hope they have comprehensive on their car insurance, the poor people.


The fire department is to the left. Yes, they flooded too. The post office is on the right.
Mr. Logan Davis talking on his cell phone. His car is the red one. I offered to take photos for insurance.

PSH

Citrus Fish with Bell Pepper Couscous

So while I was cooking the power went out. Thank goodness for gas stoves. At first I was like, crap, how the heck am I going to cook my fish thoroughly? Then I realized I had a gas stove. Go figure, I'm a blond. In the pic above, I'm not sure if you can see the steam rising from the ground or not - it was 90 degrees and after it rained, well, it's not even 70.
Secret ingredient: Tabasco. It makes your fish not smell like fish. Seriously.

You can use any kind of fish, they had a special on salmon, so that's what I got. Really you should use halibut, but I'm not picky in Indiana. In Minnesota, yes, I'm picky. So gather your ingredients, but don't forget salt & pepper.
Juice & jest your lemons & limes into a small dish (just large enough for your fish, tonight I cook for me only.)

Some people drink wine whilst they cook. I drink Beer.
Limes are hard to juice every once in awhile. Take your frustrations out on it, the lime will comes to its senses sooner or later.
Mmm... limes....
Then add the fresh thyme to the bowl, about 2 tbsp. Add approximately 2 tbsp olive oil to the mixture and then toss in the fish. Let marinate about 15 minutes.
Chop your cucumber. Trim around all the sides like above. One can't cut and photograph at the same time you know.

Cut your bell pepper the same way. Aren't the insides kinda pretty? I only used 3/4 of a bell pepper because I had 1/4 of it in a salad yesterday.
I wish I had a yard to grow bell peppers. Oh, well.
Chop them - but not too small. You want good size chunks in your couscous. Chop 4 green onions too. Then put into pretty dishes. Or not. Actually, next time I won't. Now heat up a medium size sauce pan on the stove, add 2 tbsp olive oil and heat over medium. As soon as the oil smokes throw the green onions and bell pepper into the pan. Cook for 4 minutes.
Don't add the cucumber yet. Add 1 1/4 cup chicken broth, heat to boiling.

As soon as it boils, turn off the heat, add 1 cup couscous and your cucumber. Cover and let sit while the fish cooks.
Put your fish into a medium skillet - over medium heat. You can add olive oil if you want to, but remember its been marinating in it, so you don't really need too much more. Saute skin side down first for 3 minutes.

I'm messy, I'll have much cleaning up to do.
Ta da! Not anymore! My mother-in-law bought us one of these things from Ikea, works wonders when you're a messy cook like me.

During the last three minutes of your fish cooking, grab a fork and fluff your couscous. I ate some of it out of the pan. When the husband's away... the wifey will play... in the kitchen that is...

This is adapted from Rachael Ray's May 2008 magazine. Yum!

Citrus Fish with Bell Pepper Couscous

3 tbsp evoo

1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (didn't have, didn't use)

Juice & peel of one lemon and one lime

Segments of orange, chopped plus the grated peel (eh, don't like oranges, didn't use)

1 tbsp tabasco sauce

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

4 pieces mahi-mahi, halibut or roughy

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups couscous

1. In a shallow dish combine 2 tbsp evoo, parsley, lemon juice, orange juice, lime juice & peels, hot sauce and thyme. Season with salt & pepper. Add the fish and marinate for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat a grill pan to medium. In a medium sauce pan add 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and scallions ( I also used cucumbers) season with salt & pepper and cooked until softened, 3 - 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the couscous, turn off the heat, cover to keep warm.

3. Grill the fish until cooked through, 3 - 4 minutes on each side.

4. Fluff the couscous, add the orange sections and mix.

Enjoy!

PSH

Cinnamon Squares - Cake or Quickbread???

Above: 7:30 am, Monday morning

Another one of Dorie Greenspan's Recipes from her book, Baking From My Home To Yours.

It was alright - I mean, who could go wrong with chocolate and cinnamon? But I've had other cinnamon bread/cake recipes where there's the cinnamon and sugar mixed in with cream cheese with a cream cheese frosting - and oh, those are SO good. So this is a bit different. I brought it to work for a thank you gift and it was gone by noon.

My suggestions:

Mix the sugar filling with cream cheese or 1/3 fat cream cheese. Mix with hand mixer until blended thoroughly. Then use as directed.

Cinnamon Squares

For the cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tbsp plus 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp instand espresso powder
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick plus 2 tbsp butter, unsalted, melted & cooled
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped or Mini chips

Frosting:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 1/2 tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or Pam (I used Pam with flour, and that stuff makes a difference!). Line the bottom with parchment paper (I skipped, no point when you're using Pam and don't have money to buy parchment paper anyway, right?).

To make the cake:

Stir 2 tbsp of sugar, 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and the espresso together in small bowl (this is where I recommend combining the cream cheese).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, salt and remaining cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and gently whisk until you have a homogeneous batter. Now, fold in the butter with a light touch just until absorbed. The butter will make it all shiny and fabulous.

Scrap half the batter into the 8 inch pan and smooth on top. Sprinkle the chocolate over the batter, then dust with the cinnamon & sugar mixture. Cover with the rest of the batter and smooth the top again.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (I recommend 38 minutes exactly in my gas oven) or until the cake is puffed and pulls away from the sides. Cool to room temperature.

For the frosting:

Make while cake is ALMOST all cooled. Melt the chocolate and butter together. Combine until shiny and frost cake. Cut into 9 squares. I actually let people cut their own cake squares. It worked well at work.




Above: After work at 5:15. I was hoping for at least one corner left. Oh well.
PSH