Author Archive
Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach: My #WokWednesdays Debut
As a longtime fan of author and teacher Grace Young’s extraordinary cookbooks , I was delighted when my friend and fellow-blogger Matt Lardie decided to create #WokWednesdays (Click this link for the scoop, and sign up if you’d like to join us!) , a cook-along project whereby fellow fans of Grace’s lastest book could gather in a virtual kitchen to cook our way through Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories.
First recipe is a simple, vivid-green dish, Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach, a lovely example of the genre called ‘clear stir-fry’/ching chau. No cornstarch, no mixing up of seasoning sauces, no meat, no hoopla: just the essence of one good green vegetable, brought from raw to wonderfully minimally cooked in a miniscule amount of time. Lots of spinach (a true wokful) cooks on down in a New York minute, into a pleasing, satisfying small mountain of good food, perfect accompaniment for boiled shrimp, grilled chicken, an omelet, or a pleasing soup, and for traditional meals, a generous serving of rice.
Fresh raw spinach, filling up my gigantic stainless steel bowl
Simplest seasonings at the ready….
My wok was filled to the brim with spinach leaves.
‘
To see posts by my fellow #WokWednesday bloggers and cooks,
click HERE.
For this keeper-recipe, check out our hero-host, Matt Lardie’s, excellent Green Eats Blog, where he includes that very recipe.
Never too late to cook this great dish. Make it part of your basic weeknight supper rotation. Keep it in mind for parties as well, as it quickly wins friends and disappears. (I’m posting in a poky manner this time, as anyone who has looked at the calendar since Wednesday will duly note. But there’s a Better Late Than Never clause here, so I feel relieved and welcome. You should, too.
A List of #WokWednesdays Blogposts for Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach
Whom did I forget?
Tell me in my comments section and I’ll update this list:
http://livelaughloveandfire.blogspot.com/2012/05/wokwednesday-stir-fryed-garlic-spinach.html
https://myculinarymission.blogspot.com
http://thedoubletroublekitchen.com/2012/05/16/ww-garlic-spinach/
http://whatthreefoods.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/15/
http://sarah.thepuddle.com/?p=96
http://gcharlson.blogspot.com/.
http://paperattics.blogspot.com/
http://motherwouldknow.com/journal/wok-education-stir-fried-garlic-spinach.html
http://countrysidefoodrides.blogspot.com/p/wok-wednesdays.html
http://mamashomemade.wordpress.com/
http://creativekidneycooking.blogspot.com/
http://thefoodcrawl.blogspot.com/2012/05/wok-wednesdays.html
http://eatingmywords-jwl.blogspot.com/2012/05/stir-fried-kale.html
http://musingsofbev.blogspot.com/2012/05/wok-wed-stir-fried-spinach.html
Hope to meet up with all these bloggers and many more of you
for next week’s
WokWednesday challenge!
#Let’sLunch! Sandra Gutierrez’s Chili-Cheese Biscuits with Avocado Butter
When I heard that #LetsLunch ‘s May theme would be cross-cultural culinary creations, I beamed with delight, knowing exactly where to look. My dear friend Sandra Gutierrez’s excellent and powerful new cookbook compares and contrasts Southern and Latin American cuisines. With her deep roots in North Carolina as well as in Latin America, and her body of work as a food writer, editor, and cooking teacher, she brings insight, knowledge, and fantastically-good recipes to her book, The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes That Bring Together the Bold and Beloved Flavors of Latin America and the American South. I love these biscuits with Sandra’s plush, gorgeous avocado butter, which has a burst of oregano and sparkles with fresh lime juice. Since ’too much’ doesn’t apply when considering options for enjoying treats like this one, I set out a little chunky tomato salsa for color, contrast and delightfulness. (Sandra’s book offers her recipe for pico de gallo, a fine go-to fresh tomato relish perfect for the up-coming tomato season. For a brunch spread, I plan to cut this dough into smaller two-bite biscuits and fill each one with either country ham or pimento cheese, making a snazzy little meat/meatless hand-held item. I found the poblano chili pepper as well as the ancho chili powder in my local Food Lion supermarket, and loved the color and sizzle it added to these biscuits. When I was posting the photo of this excellent book’s cover, I realized that what you see here is the beautiful Sandra in her North Carolina kitchen, cutting out a batch of these very biscuits! You’ll love the photo of this recipe in her book, and I love knowing that Sandra styled and photographed all the recipes. It’s a fascinating read, a cultural and culinary resource, and an abundance of marvellous which illuminate what Latin cuisine is, what its key ingredients are and how to use them, and how to cook great food. Sandra’s reputation as a fantastic cooking teacher is well deserved, and her voice transfers beautifully to the pages of this book. For #Let’sLunch and for cooking pleasures at the intersection of Southern sensibilities and vibrant Latin American flavors, spend some time with Sandra Gutierrez at The New Southern-Latino Table.
Sandra Gutierrez’s Chile-Cheese Biscuits with Avocado Butter
From The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together the Bold and Beloved Flavors of Latin America and the American South. Copyright © 2011 by Sandra A. Gutierrez. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press. www.uncpress.unc.edu
“Moist and light, these new-Southern morsels deliver just the right combination of spice and comforting goodness. Self-rising flour is made from Southern soft wheat flour to which baking powder and salt have been added; it has less protein and gluten than all-purpose flour. The addition of just a little bit of fat and liquid yields fluffy, tender biscuits. Poblano chiles add a mild heat. Queso seco is a Mexican dry-aged cheese that tastes similar to Parmesan; you can find it in most grocery stores. I learned to make biscuits from my Southern friends, who taught me to handle the dough with respect and loving hands. Serve these mildly spiced biscuits with this creamy avocado spread that melts in the mouth.
For the biscuits
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup grated queso seco (use Parmesan cheese in a bind)
- 1 teaspoon ancho (or pasilla) chile powder
- ¼ cup chilled lard, bacon fat, or shortening
- 1 poblano chile, roasted, peeled, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped
- 1–1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
For the avocado butter
- 2 Hass avocados
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch dried Mexican oregano (optional)
Preheat the oven to 475°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cheese, and chile powder. Using a pastry blender (or two knives), cut the lard into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Stir in the chiles. Gradually add the buttermilk, mixing the dough with a wooden spoon or your hands just until it holds together (you may not need all of the buttermilk). Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently a couple of times. Pat it into an 8-inch circle (about ½ inch thick). Using a well-floured 2 ⅛-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 12 biscuits (you’ll need to gather up the dough and pat it down again lightly after the first biscuits are cut to get all 12). Place the biscuits, with sides touching, in a 10-inch springform or cake pan. With your knuckle, make a small indentation in the center of each biscuit; brush the tops of the biscuits with the cream. Bake for 18–22 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
To make the avocado butter:
Halve and pit the avocados; scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a medium bowl and mash into a smooth paste. Add the lime juice, salt, pepper, and oregano (if using) and stir until combined.
Serve the hot biscuits with avocado butter.
Makes 12 biscuits and 1 ½ cups avocado butter”
For more #LetsLunch festivities, check out these posts from my brilliant blogging buddies:
Cheryl’s Goan Pork Curry Tacos on A Tiger in the Kitchen
Lisa’s Jewish-Chinese Brisket on Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy’s Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango on A Cook and Her Books
Emma‘s Kimchi Bulgogi Nachos at Dreaming of Pots And Pans
Grace‘s Taiwanese Fried Chicken at HapaMama
Jill‘s Southern Pimento-Stuffed Knishes at Eating My Words
Joe‘s Grilled KimCheese Sandwich at Joe Yonan
Linda‘s Project Runway Pelau: Rice & Beans Trinidad-Style at Spicebox Travels
Lisa‘s Sunday Night Jewish-Chinese Brisket at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Rashda‘s Mango Cobbler at Hot Curries & Cold Beer
Renee‘s Asian-Spiced Quick Pickles at My Kitchen And I
Steff‘s Chicken Fried Steak at The Kitchen Trials
Vivian‘s Funky Fusion Linguini at Vivian Pei
….and check back for more additions: It’s not even nearly LUNCH-time yet…
“Ooh, Baby, Baby!” Dutch “Baby” Makes for Breakfast Bliss
I beamed when this recipe popped up in my inbox back in February, amongst the weekly bouquet of beautifully illustrated recipes served up via Leite’s Culinaria ‘s weekly updates. It’s a breakfast delight I used to make in the petite kitchen of my Greensboro, NC apartment, back when I was home from Peace Corps and teaching 7th grade English and social studies in my nearby hometown of High Point. The friend who shared that recipe called it “German pancake”. Given its simplicity and power to please, I can’t imagine how I ever it slip from my recipe repertoire.
But here it is, from a handsome cookbook, American Flavor, by Andrew Carmellini (Ecco, October 2011). You may have the ingredients (milk, eggs, flour, sugar, butter, and vanilla) on hand. While I cherish the basic butter/lemon juice/confectioners’ sugar rendition, people vote for maple syrup, jams and jellies, sauteed apples, and fresh fruit as worthy accompaniments. You whirl those basics into a velvety batter using a blender, making this simple enough to make before you even have your coffee or tea.
Oven ready. Cast iron skillet is ideal, but any big sturdy skillet should work.
Both the recipe and many of the recipe’s commenters on Leite’s Culinaria believe that making this the night before (or about 6 hours ahead) is crucial to avoiding “egginess” and achieving idea Dutch babyhood. For me, mixing up the batter right before baking not only worked decently, it pleased me much more than the rested version.
This baby got a good night's sleep. I mixed up the batter, went to bed. Next morning, I baked it, and it came out wonderfully. But I missed the lumpiness of my first two ready-set-GO! babies. But you know I love all these babies, every single one.
My freshly-mixed pancake poofed and puffed up in a kooky, cumulus-cloudy manner (see first two photos at the top of this post). My proper, recipe-adhering-to-which, made-ahead, well-rested pancake came out symmetrical and smooth (above and below these words). Being a fan of the kooky, and finding it lovely rather than eggy, I vote for the buzz-it-up-and-go version myself. The option of making it ahead simplifies the morning feast, so suit yourself. And what’s wrong with eggy? I personally for one consider egginess to be a plus!
Showtime! My favorite take on this pancake-house favorite is melted butter, lemon juice, and confectioners' sugar. But you may stay awake while your batter sleeps, dreaming up delicious possibilities for how you will finish this breakfast pleasure, come morning.
The overnight batter version, ready for the table.
This recipe serves two. Or maybe one. Or perhaps a well-mannered family of four with other items on the breakfast table.... Well, it all depends. You'll know what to do. And if you run out, just make another batch of batter. The oven will still be hot, and you will have everything on hand. And fear not; I promise to keep your secret, that you didn't wait six hours before baking. Really. My lemony, buttery, powdery lips are sealed.
You’ll find the recipe right HERE, on Leite’s Culinaria. Dutch or German, plain or fancy, lemon-ed or strawberry-ed, I think you will love this recipe, and enter it into your recipe rotation for sweet, slow morning food.
Son-In-Law Eggs for My First #LetsLunch
Son-In-Law Eggs for My First #LetsLunch
What a treat and an honor to join the #LetsLunch folks for the first time. Eggs symbolize beginnings, so I’m taking this theme a little bit personally, since I am lunching with you for the first time. I cooked us up a batch of Son-In-Law Eggs, a traditional Thai with-rice dish. It’s a party dish beloved throughout Thailand. During my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Northeastern Thailand, I encountered them at weddings, ordination ceremonies for young men becoming Buddhist monks, and other celebrations, whenever the accent was on special treats rather than everyday fare.
In my small upcountry town of Thatoom in Surin Province (on the Cambodian border between Korat and Ubol Rachathanii), duck eggs enjoyed most-favored-egg status, as they were more common, less expensive, and endowed with a rich, deep flavor and color appreciated by all. Recently I’ve seen duck eggs on sale at Whole Foods Market, and I look forward to using them for my next batch of Son-In-Law Eggs. Chicken eggs work wonderfully as well. Typically, Son-In-Law Eggs are served whole, drenched with an irresistible tamarind sauce, sweetened with palm sugar and sharpened with fish sauce. I also love them halved, served over a pool of sauce and sprinkled with some sauce and the tasty garnishes of crispy shallots, crispy garlic, and cilantro. To make them finger food, you could serve each half in lettuce cups, with garlic and shallots sprinkled over it and sauce on the side to be spooned on by each eater.
Nancie’s “Real Thai” Son-In-Law Eggs
Son-In-Law Eggs make a fine addition to an Asian-style rice-centered meal, as well as an alternative to deviled eggs for a picnic, potluck, or brunch feast. You can make the sauce in advance, covering and refrigerating it for a day or two, as long as you let it warm up gently and serve it at room temperature. The eggs look crispy, thanks to their deep-fried status, but in fact they come out chewy and multi-textured, perfect for delivering richness enrobed in the sweet-salty-tangy tamarind sauce.
Tamarind Sauce
1/3 cup tamarind liquid (see recipe*)
1/4 cup palm sugar or brown sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons water
Garnish:
Fresh cilantro leaves
Coarsely ground dried red chili flakes
Eggs
6 eggs, hard-cooked and shelled
6 small shallots, thinly sliced crosswise and separated into rings (1/3 cup)
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise (1/4 cup)
Vegetable oil for frying in wok or small deep saucepan (3 to 4 cups)
To make the sauce, combine the tamarind liquid, palm sugar, fish sauce, and water in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a lively boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to maintain an active simmer, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce is smooth and about as thick as maple syrup. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
To make the eggs, pour the oil in a wok or deep heavy skillet to a depth of 3 inches. Heat over medium to medium-high heat, until a bit of shallot floats and sizzles wildly at once, (a temperature of 350 to 375 degrees F). If the eggs are wet, pat them dry with a paper towel. Line a medium bowl with paper towels and place it by the stove.
Gently slide 3 of the eggs down the side of the wok or pan, or lower them into the hot oil with a slotted spoon. Using a spatula or slotted spoon, move them gently around to keep them from resting on the bottom. Turn and cook until the eggs are golden brown on all sides, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside in the paper-towel-lined bowl. Repeat with remaining eggs.
To fry the shallots and garlic, let the hot oil return to good frying temperature. A bit of shallot should float and sizzle wildly at once. Have 2 paper towel-lined plates by the stove, along with a slotted spoon or a fine mesh strainer for getting the garnishes out quickly. Scatter the shallots over the hot oil in the wok, and quickly and gently turn them to help them separate and cook quickly and evenly. They will brown quickly. As soon as they are nicely but lightly browned, quickly scoop them out and onto one of the papertowel-lined plates. Now scatter in the garlic and let it quickly cook in the same way, gently pushing clusters apart. Scoop out the garlic onto the other paper-towel lined plates. Then transfer each garnish to another papertowel to absorb more oil. Scatter on a clean platter and set aside to cool and dry.
To serve Son-In-Law Eggs
Carefully halve the eggs lengthwise, using a sharp or serrated knife. Pour the sauce onto a deep plate or a shallow bowl or a small platter, big enough to hold all the eggs. (Keep some aside if you like, to add at serving time.) Arrange the egg halves yolk-side up on the sauced plate. Sprinkle eggs with the fried shallots and garlic, and cilantro leaves and chilies if you are using them. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Traditionally these are served with rice and other dishes as part of a meal).
Serves 6 to 8
*Tamarind Liquid
1/4 cup tamarind pulp (makahm biak/wet tamarind, sold in blocks)
1/2 cup warm water
Place the tamarind pulp in a small bowl and add the warm water. Soak for 20 to 30 minutes, poking and mashing occasionally to break up the sticky lump and dissolve the luscious pulp.
Pour the tamarind pulp and water through a fine-mesh strainer, and use a spoon to mash the pulp against the strainer, extracting as much of the thick liquid/sauce as you can. Scrape off the bottom of the strainer to get every drop of the thick puree which will accumulate there. Discard the remaining pulp, fibers, and seeds. Thin a bit with water until the liquid is the consistency of heavy cream or split pea soup. Use as directed in recipes, or cover and refrigerate for a day or two. (
Makes about 1/2 cup
These recipes come from Real Thai: The Best of Thailand’s Regional Cooking by Nancie McDermott, Chronicle Books 1992. Copyright: Nancie McDermott All rights reserved.
#LETSLUNCH is a movable, expandable, irresistible virtual feast!
Visit these excellent bloggers for eggs extraordinaire. And check back; more egg dishes to come…
– Ana‘s Breakfast Pizza at In Foodie Fashion
– Charissa‘s Gluten-Free Leek, Ham & Pecorino Souffles at Zest Bakery
– Denise‘s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us
– Eleanor‘s Medley of Eggs at Wok Star
– Emma‘s Eggs In A Hole at Dreaming of Pots & Pans
– Felicia‘s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker
– Grace‘s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama
– Joe‘s Kim-Chi Deviled Eggs at Joe Yonan
– Karen‘s Molecular Gastronomy “Eggs” at GeoFooding
– Leigh‘s Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls at Leigh Nannini
– Linda‘s Home-made Cadbury Eggs (Maple Chocolate Eggs) at Free Range Cookies
– Linda‘s Taiwanese Tomato Eggs at Spicebox Travels
– Lisa‘s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club
– Lucy‘s Old-Fashioned Boiled Dressing (& Chicken Salad) at A Cook And Her Books
– Nancie‘s Son-In-Law Eggs at Nancie McDermott
– Rashda‘s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at Hot Curries And Cold Beer
– Rebecca‘s Mini Meringue Buttons at Grongar Blog
– Vivian‘s Oeuf Chaud Froid at Vivian Pei
Chef Stephanie Tyson’s Sweet Potato Biscuits from “Well, Shut My Mouth!”
Chef Stephanie Tyson's Sweet Potato Biscuits with butter and honey: heavenly fare, morning, noon, and night.
I love biscuits, and sweet potatoes, and cooks, and stories, so how could I not fall in love with Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook“? Written by Stephanie L. Tyson, chef of Winston-Salem’s celebrated “Sweet Potatoes Restaurant“, the book is a treasury of inviting recipes, with culinary chops and inspiration flowing from the author’s deep Southern roots. When the book was published early in the fall of 2011, NPR’s Andrea Seabrook interviewed Chef Tyson and co-owner Vivian Joiner for this feature on “All Things Considered.
Sweet Potatoes Restaurant (website HERE) opened in 2004, and quickly became a destination and anchor of Winston-Salem’s Downtown Arts District. Co-owner Vivian Joyner, a Washington, DC native, keeps the front of the house a warm, welcoming place for regulars and newcomers alike. Born and raised in Winston-Salem, Chef Tyson’s cookbook provides recipes for an abundance of satisfying dishes like these: Sweet Potato, Corn, and Country Ham Risotto; Green Tomato, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo; Quick and Easy Hoppin’ John Soup; Bluffton, South Carolina-Style Red Rice; and Miss Ora’s Best Fried Chicken in the Entire World.
Visit Sweet Potatoes Restaurant’s Facebook Page right HERE.
Stephanie Tyson’s Sweet Potato Biscuits
biscuits came out beautifully for me the very first time I made them. This is not because I am a biscuit queen; not even close. I have no head-start on this essential signature Southern baked good, despite my place of birth (Piedmont North Carolina) and my many years working the oven. If I can make them, you can too. They look beautiful, and they are marvelously good; and as chef/author Stephanie Tyson puts it: “…just Southern, plain and simple”. Cook’s note: The dough is quite soft and moist. I found using a generous hand with the additional flour used for gently kneading, shaping, and cutting out the biscuits made them easy to handle. They were still tender and not tough.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening, chilled
1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Cut in the shortening and butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk and mashed sweet potato. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until combined. The dough will be very wet. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface. Knead the dough until it starts to come together. Roll the dough to about 1/2 –inch thickness. Cut the dough with a 2-inch biscuit cutter and place in a parchment-lined baking pan. For biscuits with soft sides, place the biscuits close together, almost touching. Otherwise, place them 2 inches apart. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown. Brush with the melted butter.
From Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook, by Stephanie L. Tyson, John F. Blair Publishing Co., 2011. Order a copy for your kitchen right HERE or HERE , or ask for it at your favorite indie bookshop!
The Newlywed Cookbook: Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake for the Sweetest Man
When my friend Sarah Copeland, author of the wonderful blog Edible Living, told me that she was writing a cookbook, I made room on my kitchen shelf right away. Sarah’s many readers and fans know that her food and spirit are one and the same: generous, vibrant, and inviting, and I welcomed the opportunity to bring Sarah’s words and ideas ‘into my kitchen’. Then I found out that her book is The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas & Modern Recipes for Cooking With & For Each Other , and I paused. Newlyweds? Well. With 26 wedding anniversaries behind me and another coming this summer, my bride-days are a distant memory (True, a few of my readers out there are still awaiting that thank-you note for long-cherished wedding presents I’ve been fixing to write; but that doesn’t mean I’m still a bride). But of course I do need this book, and love it, too. Sarah’s concept is a welcoming one; this book is celebration of cooking for love, and with love, and all the “oldie-weds” like me fit right in just fine.
Cooking for and with my husband has been both pleasure and pastime for us since we first met. That has never changed, even as we welcomed children to our little family, went from apartment to house, and moved around, from New York City to Southern California and eventually to North Carolina, my home state, where we’ve lived for the past twelve years. Sarah’s book not only offers up an abundance of recipes for multiple occasions and plain-to-fancy menus — it’s a guide to truly cooking with love: considering where our food comes from, how it’s grown, and what I can do in my kitchen, garden, and food community, to treat Mother Earth right.
When Sarah invited me to join her circle of food bloggers celebrating her lovely book with a Valentine’s Blog Tour, I was thrilled; and when she let me make her Better Than Boxed Chocolate Cake, I felt like I’d gotten the peachiest dish of all. Cakes are my favorite, chocolate is an essential food group at our house, and I knew my sweetheart would adore it, no problem.
For an illustrated play-by-play of the cake I baked using Sarah’s recipe, scroll down past Sarah’s recipe, and you can follow along.*
You will love this book: Not only is it an abundance of fine recipes, it contains Sarah’s you-can-do-this advice on gardening, menus for celebrations, and gorgeous photographs that inspire and delight me beyond words. This Valentine’s Day celebration includes a glorious gift from Sarah Copeland and Chronicle Books to you, dear readers: A copy of The Newlyweds Cookbook for me to share. I’ll be giving away a copy of Sarah’s book to one of you trusty readers out there, and soon. If you’d like to win the book, simply leave me a comment between now and 11:59 p.m. on February 15. I’ll draw a winner from you commenters on February 16th, and get a copy of this marvelous book out to you in the mail, so you can put extra love in your kitchen, too. Meanwhile, Happy Valentine’s Day, and lots of love to you and yours.
{not just for birthdays} This cake is completely delicious, and not the least formal, which I’ve learned, from the staunchly loyal, old-fashioned cake lovers in my family, is a very good thing.It is filled with the love of my mother whose chocolate cake was never, ever remiss at a birthday or milestone even if it meant staying up past midnight while the rest of us slept. Her chocolate cake has flown miles and ridden over mountains in the backseat of a car to make it to our most special meals or occasions just in time, and it even made it on the menu at our wedding. And it’s kept my dad never far from her side for over forty years.
For the ones you love, you won’t mind putting in the extra effort to make them a cake from scratch, especially when it’s almost as easy as cake from a box. This one is based on ingredients from your pantry and comes together all in one bowl. And when you taste its luscious textures, you may just swear off your old mix for good. The rich, silky, buttery chocolate icing is what really takes this over the top and makes it just the thing to make your chocolate cake legendary.
The Newlywed Cookbook‘s Better-Than-Boxed Chocolate Cake
Makes one 9-inch/23-cm layer cake; serves 8
Cake
3 cups/ 385 g all-purpose/plain flour
2 2/3 cups/530 g granulated sugar
1 cup/100 g cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 3/4 cups/420 ml warm water
1 cup/ 240 ml vegetable or grapeseed oil
4 tbsp/ 55 g melted butter, plus more for the pans
5 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting
1 1/2 cups/340 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tbsp/45 ml agave nectar or honey
1/2 cup/50 g confectioners’/icing sugar
1 1/4 cup/120 g cocoa powder
1/4 cup/60 ml warm water
1/4 cup/60 ml cold heavy/double cream
Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180˚C/gas 4. Lightly butter two 9-inch/23-cm round cake pan/tins. Line with parchment/baking paper. Butter the parchment/baking paper. Dust the inside of both pans with cocoa powder and knock against the side of the counter to settle a thin dusting of cocoa inside the pans; discard any extra cocoa.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add 1 cup/240 ml of the warm water, the oil, and melted butter and mix on medium speed until combined. Stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions to incorporate and aerate the batter, which gives the cake a more even crumb. Add the remaining 3/4 cup/180 ml warm water and vanilla and beat until smooth and aerated, about 2 minutes. The batter will look loose and watery, about the consistency of heavy cream or hot fudge.
Divide evenly between the prepared pans and tap lightly on the counter to smooth the top. Bake until the cakes are evenly domed and spring back lightly when touched, about 40 minutes. Test the cakes with a toothpick inserted into the centers; if it comes out clean your cakes are done.
Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack until they are just warm to the touch, about 15 minutes. The cakes will pull away from the sides of the pans slightly as they cool. Flip the pans to unmold the cakes onto a rack to cool completely, 1 hour.
Make the frosting: Before you begin, check to make sure the butter is room temperature, just soft enough to press easily with your finger. Beat together the butter, agave, confectioners’/icing sugar, cocoa powder, and warm water with a stand mixer until light and creamy and evenly combined, about 2 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides and make sure all the butter is fully combined. Add the cool cream and beat on medium-high until fluffy and creamy.
When the cakes are completely cooled, slice off the dome from one of the layers with a serrated knife so that you can stack the layers easily. Lay the trimmed cake layer on a cake stand or serving platter, trimmed-side up. Tear four sheets of parchment/baking paper or wax/greaseproof paper into long strips and tuck under the edges of the cake around all the sides {this will help to keep your serving platter clean as you frost}. Scoop about one-third of the frosting onto the top of the cake. Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cake and around the sides. Cover with the second cake layer, domed-side up, and press down slightly to flatten. Look down at the cake and slide the top cake layer until it lines up perfectly with the bottom layer. Add another one-third of the frosting to the top and spread evenly over the top. Spread the remaining one-third of the icing around the sides of the cake to create a smooth, even layer.
Make careless swirls of icing all over the top of the cake using the back of a large spoon. Serve immediately or store in a cool place until ready to serve.
If you plan to make ahead and refrigerate, note that the icing will set up in the fridge and will sweat slightly when it comes out. Remove from the fridge about 1 hour before serving to restore the frosting to its luscious, creamy state.
P.S. If you want a deep, dark chocolate flavor, use Dutch-process cocoa. For an old-fashioned-quality cake, use natural cocoa.”
This recipe comes from The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas & Modern Recipes for Cooking With & For Each Other by Sarah Copeland. (Chronicle Books) Copyright: 2012. All rights reserved.
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*Here’s my Better Than Boxed Chocolate Cake. I loved making it, and will do so again. It’s a wonderful cake, perfect for Valentine’s Day, but too good to save for just one day a year. Let me know if you make it, and also let me know what particular cakes make the celebration calendar around your house.
Sarah uses butter to prepare her cakepans and that's my favorite, too. I use waxed paper rather than parchment
Dry ingredients ready for combining in the mixing bowl. No melting of chocolate here, since cocoa is the chocolate-flavor source for this user-friendly cake. Sarah notes that you can use either type of cocoa, regular or Dutch-processs. I had some from my favorite spice-purveyor, Penzey's, on hand, but my go-to cocoa is the brown box from the grocery store, because that's what you-know-who used, and she made the most wonderful cakes, pies, biscuits, and so on. Sometimes the type of cocoa makes a difference, but not for this cake.
Whisking all the dry ingredients together works just fine, but I like to do things in the lowest-tech way I can, and here, a fork worked just fine. Not quite done here: with chunks of flour and cocoa still visible, there's a little more mixing to do. A sifter would work if you have that old-school item on hand (I of course do and love its sound); but it's also a pleasure to use your hands, as we do around here for making biscuits and piecrust. A sensual touch for those of you baking with someone special...With the dry ingredients ready, I lined up melted butter, canola oil, and lukewarm water. You use about half the water at this step, and add the remainder later in the process. Sarah notes that this cake is easily made in a stand-mixer, so rest assured you can go that route as well.
The batter starts out thick, plush, more dough than batter; reminded me of brownies at this stage. Using my trusty hand mixer, it took a good session of mixing and scraping and mixing again, in order to bring things together at this stage.
....into a silken liquid batter, on the thin side as cake batters go, but velvety; as Sarah notes, "...about the consistency of heavy cream or hot fudge." Don't you love that clear, coaching voice, offering guidance so that even new bakers can stay on track and make a great cake.
Into the oven went the batter-filled cake pans, and after a good long session at 350 degrees F., out came two glorious chocolate-heaven cake layers. Sarah let me know they would dome up, even in these deep cake pans (which my sweet husband gave me for Christmas close to 20 years ago <3 ; he knew this gift would keep on giving back!. Given the generous nature of this cake batter, i may divide it into three 8-inch layers, or save out enough batter to make a few cupcakes; or two ramekins for a little romantic dessert course on the side.
After a 15-minute cool-down, I loosened the layers and turned them out easily, just as Sarah suggested. Handling them was easy; they were tender but sturdy enough to turn by hand.
Slicing off the domed top allows for the bottom layer to rest flat on the serving plate. it also provides an extraordinarily delicious snack, or perhaps one should say, a preview, of the coming attraction. A serrated knife such as a bread knife with a long blade is ideal for this job. An sharp knife will work, and speed isn't necessary; just go slowly and know that if you need to revise and reslice, that's fine too.
Note that I went back for a second round of dome-deletion on my cake. More to enjoy in advance for us, and this side goes top-down on the serving plate, so not to worry if it's a multistep process. You'll see that I neglected to take Sarah's advice and tap my batter-filled cake pans on the countertop before putting them into the oven. That step (which she TOLD me to do and I SHOULD have remembered myself) deflates air bubbles which love to hide in the batter. But not to worry; the overall cake is completely delicious, airbubbles and all, so on I went.
At this point, I realized that my timing could have been much better, since that handsome man was placing his suitcase and briefcase by the door. Lucky for me, this Better Than Boxed Cake comes with a glorious icing which couldn't be simpler to prepare. Softened butter, some honey, confectioner's sugar and cocoa, a little warm water and a generous splash of heavy cream and voila: chocolate icing worthy of the finest gateau. I adore Sarah's directions for icing the cake: "Make careless swirls of icing all over the top of the cake using a large spoon." Since I was racing to present my sweetheart with his cake rather than text him a cell-phone photo of it at the airport, I went for coverage and the smooth, buttoned-down look. Swirls are special, but smooth worked just fine and got the job done speedy-quick, in the words of Junie B. Jones.
Here is what our friends in the 'reality' television business call "The Reveal", and as you will see, this cake was a delightful surprise. I presented him with two big slices in a to-go pack, for consumption in his hotel room along with room service's finest red wine or cold milk. Because this cake is wonderful rich and luscious, it will be perfectly lovely tonight when he gets home on the late side. I could probably have left it out and covered, but due to its popularity with our beloved progeny, I thought it best to wrap up a nice big slab and freeze it in an unlabled package, under the peaches, brunswick stew, and country sausage. Next time, I may ask him to make this cake for me. WIth my help, of course.
Keep it sweet, now....
Why I Love Paula Deen
Paula Deen's Thanksgiving, photographed by Alan Richardson for Ladies' Home Journal
I’ve been stewing about the scorn heaped on Paula Deen this week, after her announcement that she has Type 2 diabetes, and that she is working as spokesperson for a particular drug that treats the disease. The response of some within the food business has been scorn, indignation, a gleeful satisfaction. “Serves her right!” it seems, for foisting butter and fried chicken and doughnut-creations on an unsuspecting public all these years. A lot of it is just plain mean.
Her sins according to detractors include keeping her medical condition private, eating herself into a case of Type 2 diabetes, cooking naughty fatty foods on TV, and failing to prevent the obesity crisis that just showed up in America about fifteen minutes ago, thanks to Ms. Deen’s bad behavior alone. How dare she keep her personal medical condition private? How could she praise cheese grits and proffer fried chicken, knowing that America depends on her and her alone to teach us how to lead healthy lives? Has anyone watching her not already figured out that doughnuts are fattening? I think people watch her because she is happy, and generous of spirit, and she has a good time in the kitchen. Cooking shows aren’t culinary school and they are not educational television. They are entertainment, diversion, on the Food Network, not the Health Network, and we have programs like hers them because companies want to advertise their wares, which are often nutritionless-food items, whether Ms. Deen is the host or not. We don’t robotically go cook and eat what she shows us, anymore than we go suit up in helmet and shoulder pads and tackle our friends after watching Monday night football.
I love Paula Deen. She has created an amazing career in the food world, starting from scratch and creating monumental business success on her own despite more challenges than I have ever faced. She went through a divorce, becoming a single mother of two boys; she overcame agoraphobia, turned her home cooking into a income source, and built up an amazing family business on her own. She is Southern, she’s a grandmother, she’s a home cook who made her place in the food world. She loves food and cooking and she loves her family and friends. I think people watch her because she makes them feel good; she entertains them; she radiates “Yes!” and “Come on in!” and “Let’s have a good time with people we love!”
If her show were called “Paula Deen’s Nutrition Kitchen”, I would expect her to deliver health messages and cook in a healthful way. But she’s on the Food Network, and she earned her place in the world of wildly successful food stars by being herself, communicating with people through cooking the food she wants to cook the way she likes to cook it. What amazes me is the notion that Paula Deen should have been delivering messages about healthful eating all along, instead of celebrating fried foods, butter, and cheesey treats; that she alone, amongst the food-celebrity pantheon, is obligated to promote healthy nutritious food habits since she has our attention on the subject of food. Really? Should “Top Chef” and “Chopped” censor their ingredients so that the competing chefs can present healthful choices to us out here in TV land? Should Guy Fieri seek out healthy diners, drive-ins, and dives, instead of taking us into those dens of iniquity, those naughty joints that serve up hashbrowns, chili dogs and milkshakes? Should Anthony Bourdain check the sanitation ratings of every places he visits, so we don’t learn to risk our health and get germs? And Cake Boss? All those cakes, frosted and filled, sugar eggs and butter; and not even one salad, ever!
I don’t know what Ms. Deen eats, how much she eats, what time, how often, or where. I don’t know why she has gotten diabetes, and neither does anybody else. I know that health and illness in this world do not reflect “Fair”. I don’t know why I have not gotten diabetes. I eat rich, fattening foods and too much of them; I pay for a gym I haven’t been using, and I carry around pounds that are doing my joints no favors and taxing my heart. Meanwhile, my dear friend contracted Type 2 diabetes several years ago, even though he has always taken much better care of his health in terms of eating, weight, and activity than I have.
I do not love the fact that she is endorsing a medication, but then I don’t love the fact that medicines are advertised on television and promoted to doctors the way they are. That is how we do it here in the USA, and there’s no secret here. It’s a business relationship up front, and people can consider that fact as they evaluate her position on the drug.
I can’t imagine why she as an entertainer should disclose her medical condition to the public. Given the hostile response from so many, I can see why most of us tend to keep these things private. I can see not liking her, her style or her food. What bothers me is blaming her personally for the immense health problem of obesity that has been “on our plates” for many years and for many reasons. She alone amongst all the food-stars is accountable, bad and wrong. Even worse is the attitude that contracting diabetes is somehow a punishment she deserves. That’s not right.
I think what Paula Deen has been promoting for so many years is the pleasure of cooking and eating. She encourages people to cook, have fun, and make time to be at the table with people who matter to you. You don’t have to be Southern to know that that is good medicine; it’s especially good for the heart.
Nancie’s Good Gifts List for 2011
Good Gifts for Good Causes
Gifts and presents meant so much to me growing up in a Santa Clause-centered household. Giving, I learned early on, was more blessed than receiving, but truth be told, I never took that one to heart until I became a parent more than two decades ago. My Santa-list development involved much thought and longing. Bicycles, games and toys stayed at the top, with dolls, doll houses, books and an Easy-Bake Oven in rotation over the span of ages 3-to-12. A pony and a puppy made the list a few times, but when stuffed (that was our way of saying “plush”, children) versions of said creatures showed up, I got the message, and focused in on the realm of the possible. We knew to list many items, so that Santa had some leeway; these were options, not demands, and whatever was under the tree (unwrapped — Santa didn’t wrap gifts on our route) I recall as being gloriously enough. My family still asks me for lists, as I do of them, and moans when it skews toward kitchen gadgets (it is not my fault that I wear out oven thermometers and lose candy thermometers and cookie sheets when taking my cooking “show” on the road) and books. I already have, at this point in life, everything I need and plenty of things to give away ( as soon as I edit and get them to a donation place). So do many of my dear ones who share the blessing of having lived through many decades of holiday seasons.
This year of 2011 is winding to its end, and the tax-deductible gift-giving deadline is upon us. I’m making my list for donations, and perhaps you are doing so, too. In case you could use some inspiration, or are open to the power of suggestion, I’ve gathered a few candidates for your generosity which are dear to me. I like to support groups that I know about because of some personal connection, a version of acting locally as in “Think globally; Act locally!” Some are here in Piedmont North Carolina, and others are located far away but are near to my heart because I have come across them on my way through this good life I get to enjoy each day. This is to get you thinking — give to these folks if you wish; or think about what moves your heart, mind, and spirit and consider ending the year with donations in those directions. And if you’d like to share your own favorite groups and causes, let me know in the comments section. I am always delighted to know who is doing good things in the world, and how I can support them; this list can’t ever get too long. Happy New Year to you and all your dear ones!
SMALL is Beautiful:
Here are some small groups out there everyday, doing wonderful work that I love:
Friends of Thailand: Peace Corps Volunteer Project Sponsorship
My Peace Corps service in Thailand ended decades ago, but the Peace Corps’ presence in the kingdom of Thailand is still going strong. I’m a proud happy member of Friends of Thailand, an organization of former Peace Corps volunteers who served in Thailand as well as anyone who supports the mission of FOT, which is to celebrate and support Thailand and the Thai people. The FOT website will educate you as to FOT’s past and present work, mission and activities. One particular good thing is the opportunity to support current Peace Corps Volunteers living and working in Thailand today. You need not be a member of FOT to donate to this good work. My good friend Carolyn Nickels-Cox works hard to keep this group going and growing and the opportunity to put a small amount of money to work in support of Thai people and PCV’s is a real gift. Donation checks to the FoT Project Fund need to be made out to Friends of Thailand, with reference to the Project Fund on the memo line, and mailed to:
Friends of Thailand
c/o Carolyn Nickels-Cox
1418 Striped Bass Street, Unit D
San Francisco, CA 94130
You can also donate online at the website of Friends of Thailand.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation
This organization is based in Hillsborough, NC, and works in multiple and creative ways to find and support musicians whose life’s work benefited (and in many many cases still benefits) the world, but whose compensation for that work was not what it should have been, given the world they lived and made music in. Read all about their work at their website; they have an excellent track record and a powerful positive attitude about what can be done to right old wrongs and support artists in every possible way. Living national treasures are out there and I love what MMRF does to find them and lift them up and celebrate their work past and present.
Music Maker Relief Foundation
PO Box 1358
Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-643-2456
Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association
Shea Yeleen is a business and a non-profit, created by a former Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Mali and came home wanting to help women in rural West African communities to benefit from their traditions of work in the production of shea butter. You can support Shea Yeleen both buy donating to the work of the non-profit as well as by being a customer. Shea Yeleen sells natural body-care products and it’s a win-win for you and them when we purchase their excellent fair-trade products. I found out about Shea Yeleen at the Peace Corps 50th Anniversary programs at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this past summer, and loved meeting women from Ghana who had come to Washington DC to share their work and their business with festival visitors. You can donate and shop online, or contact them here:
Shea Yeleen International, Inc.
280 Madison Avenue
Suite 912
New York, New York 10016 Tel: 212-386-5576
Spoken Revolutions
Based in Chapel Hill, NC, Spoken Revolutions is an amazing program created by my good friends Kevin and Suepinda, who are the founders of Spoken Rev’s parent organization, CHC PACT: Chapel Hill-Carrboro Parents Advocating for Children Together. I’m a member and have watched with awe and gratitude as they have worked with teachers, parents and administration within our local school system to make our schools great places where every child can learn, grow and succeed. This cycling program sent a group of local high school students on an 1800 mile bike-tour of the longest route of the Underground Railroad in the summer of 2011. Read all about it on their website and blog, and consider donating to support their work. Donations go through The ReCYCLEry NC, another fine organization dedicated to getting kids on bikes and getting them riding. They have a big celebration of last year’s trip coming up in January, and their cycle adventure for summer 2012 is in the planning stages. I am proud to be friends with Kevin and Suepinda, and delighted to be supporting their amazing work and the young people to whom they are so creatively dedicated.
The Tasting Cultures Foundation
The Tasting Cultures Foundation
250 West 90th Street #8D
NY, NY 10024
My friend Sarah Khan created the Tasting Cultures Foundation and here is a bite of what she says about TCF: “The Tasting Cultures Foundation collaborates with artists, educators, community groups, scientists, chefs and culinary experts, farmers, and environmental advocates to create dynamic educational materials and multimedia events that explore the rich variety of global foodways and the manner in which these cultural practices influence our lives; our communities; and our local, regional, and global ecosystems.” I met her when TCF presented an extraordinary and moving performance by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi as the Sunday morning program for the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in 2010. Sarah is a genius and a force-field of energy for art, music, community, cooking, nutrition, humor, justice and fun; she writes, produces, explores, and works in her professional fields of public health, plant science, nutrition, and ethnobotany. Explore the TCF website and see what she has cooking. You will love supporting her ever-evolving and meaningful work.
And BIG is Beautiful, Too!
These are some of my favorite big-time organizations. I like to highlight groups like the ones above, ones without a big name and reach. It’s a privilege to support the work of bigger groups who have the power to make a difference on a larger scale. Here are my favorites, big groups with big hearts and big impacts.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
My father grew up on East 53rd Street in New York City, and always spoke with warmth of good times at the Kips Bay Boys Club. Both he and my younger sister Susanne worked hard for the Boys and Girls Club of High Point, NC for many years. They loved being part of the Boys and Girls Club programs. Sports, arts, leadership, tutoring, community: Boys and Girls Clubs have a hundred years behind them and a 21st century attitude, all around the country.
Having taught school for a number of years, and having many friends and family members “in the business”, I know personally how much teachers do for the world, for kids, and for free. We overwork them, underpay them, and yet there they are, showing up every day to educate and inspire youngsters. I never knew a teacher who didn’t reach into her own pocket on behalf of her students. Donors Choose allows you to back them up; to find classroom teachers who request specific financial support on projects they’ve dreamed up for their students. You can browse by city or state or region; academic subjects or arts or sports; technical equipment, classroom-sized sets of books, a particular grade level — . I’ve loved doing this and I’ve loved receiving messages from the teachers and students when the project is complete.
I love the Southern Foodways Alliance and I can’t shake the vain feeling that it was created just for me; like they read my mind and dream up projects and activities that I would have designed myself if I had had just a little more time on my hands. Turns out there are many many people out there who feel the same way, who love and cherish the food, cooking, culture, history and traditions of the Southern table, and adore SFA for serving it and serving it up for all of us. I’ve been a member for years, and not only does SFA do fine work in documenting and preserving foodways, they host delicious, fun, educational events. Their oral history work, led by Amy Evans Streeter, is a gift to the world, one that grows better by the year.
Based in Montgomery, Alabama, SPLC provides everyday superhero-service against the forces of evil, with a tireless, dedicated, brilliant, energetic team determined to fight hatred and bigotry and get justice for people who have been wronged. As they put it on the website: “The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, we work toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.” They are not afraid, they fight hard and well, and they win. They also work to educate, inspire and create community with positive, proactive work, particularly in schools.
Walk through an airport and you will see service members in uniform on their way to and from their places of work, which tend to be far away from home and putting them in harms’ way. The USO has a long history of taking care of a few of their needs in countless ways, here in the USA and wherever they are stationed around the world. They serve those who are serving, in more ways than I can count, and they do it well. Love backing them up.
Short and sweet, the YWCA’s website and logo say it all: “YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.” Since 1858 they have been doing extraordinary, powerful work in every aspect of women’s lives. Their 21st century work on behalf of women, girls, and families, is moving, focused, energetic, comprehensive, and smart.
Nancie’s Holiday Gift List: Cookbooks from the 2011 Bumper Crop
Here is my list of wonderful, marvelous, varied, worthy, fascinating, beautiful, interesting, practical, fanciful, thoughtful, moving, funny, poignant, truthful, inspiring, delicious, fine, and worthy cookbooks and food-centric books that are on my list for 2011. It’s a long, no, make that generous and thorough list. There is no short list. It is completely subjective and very personal, and if you know me well, you will know that many of these authors are my friends. Not all of them, but many of them. I love my work, which brings me into friendships with people who share my fascination and love of food, cooking, history, stories, and such. This is not a list of the Very Best — it’s a list of my favorites, and I know I left something out. I was going to comment on each one, but that would have made this the 90,000 word post (verbosity is my blessing and flaw), so I leave you to figure out why I like each one (different reasons), or more importantly, whether you might want to buy a given book for your own kitchen or as a gift for someone who would enjoy it and appreciate you. Please go to or order from an independent bookseller. They are angels straight from God, and it’s not easy in 2011 to make a living, even a Bob Cratchit-level living, from being a merchant of words, stories, pictures and ideas. I want them to prosper and stay open. If you need to find the lowest price, no harm done. But if you, like me, are lucky enough to have discretion in what you spend and where, consider being a patron of booksellers and authors (Full disclosure: I am one and surely my opinion is colored by that fact.) But here we are. You can find a bookstore near (-ish) to you, or find ways to order these books, by going to http://www.indiebound.org/ . Holiday greetings and happy winter wishes to you. And if I missed your favorite food-centric book this year, tell me all about it in commentland!
All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art
Molly Stevens
Ancient Grains for Modern Meals: Mediterranean Whole Grain Recipes
for Barley, Farro, Kamut, Polenta, Wheat Berries, and More
Maria Speck
Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company
Virginia Willis
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
by Gabrielle Hamilton
Big Vegan: More than 350 Recipes, No Meat, No Dairy, All Delicious
Robin Asbell
Cake Ladies: Celebrating a Southern Tradition
Jodi Rhoden
Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading
Janice Cole
Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes
Andrea Reusing
Cooking in Other Women’s Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865 – 1960
Rebecca Sharpless
Preserving, Bartering, and Eating Locally (All on Forty Dollars a Week)
Robin Mather
Paula Wolfert
French Classics: A 10-Minute Souffle, a Contemporary Bouillabaisse, a Lighter, Quicker Cassoulet –
250 Great Recipes Simplified for the Modern kitchen
Richard Grausman
Domenica Marchetti
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America
Jessica B. Harris
Julia M. Usher’s Ultimate Cookies
Julia M. Usher
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook From Scratch
Jennifer Reese
Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country
Suvir Saran
A Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food
Elizabeth S.D. Englehardt
The New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best
from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers’ Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes
Sheri Castle
The New Southern-Latino Table: Recipes that Bring Together
the Boldand Beloved Flavorsof Latin America and the American South
Sandra Gutierrez
Quick-Fix Southern: Homemade Hospitality in 30 Minutes or Less
Rebecca Lang
Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal
Sara Foster
A Southerly Course: Recipes and Tales from Close to Home
Martha Hall Foose
Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart
Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook
Edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge
A Spoonful of Promises: Stories and Recipes from a Well-Tempered Table
T. Susan Chang
Ramin Ganeshram
Sunday Roasts: A Year’s Worth of Mouthwatering Roasts,
from Old-Fashioned Pot Roasts to Glorious Turkeys, and Legs of Lamb
Betty Rosbottom
Supernatural Everyday: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
Heidi Swanson
Sweet Auburn Desserts: Recipes from Atlanta’s Little Bakery That Could
Sonya Jones
Tart Love: Sassy, Savory, and Sweet
Holly Herrick
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Baker
Jess Thompson
Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook
Stephanie L Tyson
You made it all the way to the end! How wonderful. May I wish you the very best as this year of 2011 winds down and the New Year of 2012 blooms open like a winter sunrise, slowly and filled with promise, hope, and if we are lucky, friendship and love. “God bless us every one!” as Tiny Tim hollered in his outside voice.
Holiday Breakfast Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Mother’s Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake, photographed by Becky Lugart-Stayner
This classic cake makes an excellent centerpiece for Christmas morning breakfast, which is when my mother always served it to our family prior to the gift-fest around the Christmas tree. She made it ahead of time and warmed it up gently in the oven, covered with foil. I do the same thing, but we go right to the Christmas tree and turn to orange juice, coffee, and this simple and wonderful cake as a breather. Country-style sausage patties, scrambled eggs, cream gravy, and biscuits follow, once every present has been opened, and all that holds us until a Christmas dinner much later in the day. I love this time of year, and I love going to my local grocery store and seeing a major section of the green metal shelves lining the baking aisle completely empty, except for a snowy dusting of flour. Clearly, people who don’t bake constantly turn to it and hooray for that! I hope this time of year pleases you, whether you decorate, bake, and watch favorite movies, or whether you travel, hibernate, or pass the time in simple ways.
Mother’s Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Cinnamon-Raisin Filling
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspooon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Heat the oven to 350 F, and grease and flour a 13-by-9-inch pan. To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Combine the raisins and pecans in another bowl and toss to mix them. Place the cinnamon mixture, the nut mixture, and the melted butter by the baking pan.
To make the coffeecake batter, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar, and beat with a mixer at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl, until they are pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.
Using a large spoon or a spatula, add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir only until the flour disappears. Add about a third of the milk and mix it in. Repeat two more times with the remaining flour and milk, stirring just enough each time to keep the batter smooth.
Spread half the batter evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter, followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the batter, and then carefully spread the remaining batter over the filling, using a spatula or a spoon to smooth the surface all the way to the edges of the pan. Repeat the process, using the remaining cinnamon mixture, butter, and nut mixture to cover the cake evenly.
Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes on wire racks or a folded kitchen towel, and then serve in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature.
This recipe comes from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations (Chronicle Books 2007), by Nancie McDermott. All rights reserved.
