Strawberry Dream Cake

I get a magazine every other month called Cook's Country.  It's usually centered on recipes that represent the season, and there's always a few desserts I can't wait to try.  The June/July 2011 issue had several winning recipes and when I had a craving for strawberry shortcake, I thought-- why not try the strawberry cake in the magazine for an upcoming June birthday at work? As many know, fruit generally isn't popular with half of my household.  If the strawberry is blended with juice, yogurt and a banana? Maybe it's considered palatable, but fresh sliced strawberries over angel food cake with some whipped cream? Pretty sure I'd have to finish it all myself. 


Lynn Clark's strawberry cake hit the mark.  It was light and moist, had a lovely crumb and packed  serious strawberry flavor. The accompanying strawberry cream cheese frosting made more than enough, and I used the leftovers on toast for a quick dessert at home.  A little labor intensive, but perfect for something fun and outside the realm plain old chocolate or vanilla cake.


My co-worker took a slice home. Her daughter really liked it and requested it for her birthday.  I was stoked! So the Friday night before her party, I made the cakes and then frosted and decorated them that morning.  I adapted the recipe for a 1/4 sheet double layer cake, but the recipe below is for two round 9-inch pans.  I have a kitchen scale, so I weighed rather than measured the strawberries,  sugar, and flour-- amounts for both are included. Since I had a smidge of extra batter, I made two little mini cakes in ramekins so Nate could enjoy strawberries in a more pleasing package and I could taste the fruits of my labor.


Strawberry Dream Cake
From Cook's Country, no. 39, June/July 2011
Recipe by Lynn Clark


Tools: the usual suspects: measuring cups & spoons, spatula, whisk; 2 9-inch cake pans; a fine mesh strainer; one or two large bowls; parchment paper; 1 medium microwave safe bowl; plastic wrap; small saucepan; paper towels; knife & cutting board.


Ingredients:
For the cake-- 2 cups of frozen whole strawberries (10 oz), 3/4 cup whole milk at room temperature, 6 large egg whites at room temperature, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 2 1/4 cups cake flour (9oz), 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4oz), 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 12 tbsp unsalted softened butter cut into 12 pieces





For the frosting-- 10 tablespoons of softened, unsalted butter, 2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar (9 oz), 12 ounces of softened cream cheese cut into 12 peices, pinch of salt, 1 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced (8oz), left-over strawberry solids from the cake





Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and crank it to 350.  Grease and line the cake pans with parchment, then grease the parchment. Flour lightly.


Transfer the strawberries to a bowl. Make sure the bowl is large enough to accomodate the strawberries by about half, and that it can take being heated. Otherwise, you could end up with something like this:





Set the microwave to 75% power and microwave for 3-5 minutes until the strawberries release their juices.





Press the strawberries through a strainer, over a small saucepan.  It's gonna take some muscle to press all the liquid out of the strawberries. You'll end up with a lot of strawberry juice and a pulpy mash of strawberry flesh. Set the pulp aside and turn the heat on the stovetop up to medium.  Bring to a boil, and cook - stirring occasionally - until the liquid becomes syrupy and reduced to about 1/4 cup.  This is going to take roughly 7 minutes.


 


Whisk the strawberry syrup into the milk until combined, let stand for a few minutes to cool.  Whisk in the egg whites and vanilla and set aside.





In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with a paddle (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on low.  Add the butter, one peice at a time and mix until you've got pea sized butter and the rest of the dry looks like coarse meal.





Add half the milk mixture, increasing the speed to medium high, and beat until it's light and fluffy.  This will take about a minute or so, and then decrease the speed, add the remaining milk mixture and beat for roughly 30 seconds to incorporate.  Turn off the electrics, and give the batter a final few stirs by hand.





Divide the batter equally into your prepared pans, and bake until a toothpick comes out nice and clean- about 23 minutes.  Rotate the pans halfway through baking (YES, THIS IS IMPORTANT. DO IT.)


Remove from the oven, and cool cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove, gently, discard parchment and cool completely.





Once it's cooled, you can get onto the frosting.


Remember those strawberry solids?  Well, they're going to come in handy now.  Gather your ingredients for the frosting.


I like to use a grapefruit spoon to hull my strawberries.  Hull and slice the berries and lay out on paper towels, patting dry.  Mix the butter and sugar together on low speed until combined, about thirty seconds. Then increase the speed to medium high and beat until fluffy.





One at a time, add the pieces of cream cheese and beat until incorporated, about a minute.  Make sure it's smooth, and then add the reserved strawberry solids.





Spread 3/4 cup of frosting over the top of one cake round. Press sliced strawberries in a thin layer over the frosting and top with more frosting.


 
(sorry for the bad photos, wrong settings and unsteady hands!)


Add the second cake round, spread remaining frosting evenly and decorate or garnish with the remaining strawberry slices.  Serve at room temperature.





The birthday girl:







OMG YUM.

Lemon-Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette -- Mexican week rules!

Easy, quick, delicious, fresh, yes?

Tools: Food processor or immersion blender. Hell, a regular blender will likely work. Cutting board, knife, measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (roughly 6 limes); 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (3 medium lemons); 1 tsp each lemon and lime zest; 1 clove of chopped garlic; 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped and stemmed; 1 tbsp + 1 tsp white vinegar; 1/4 small sweet onion, diced; 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 tsp sugar; pinch coriander & pinch cumin; salt and pepper to taste



Add the juice, zest, garlic, vinegar, and onion to the food processor or combine in a small bowl if using an immersion (stick) blender.  Let sit for about 3 minutes.



Pulse to combine.  Add cilantro and process.  Add olive oil slowly through the feed tube.  (If using an immersion blender, add in stages, combining fully after each addition.)  Add coriander, cumin, sugar. Pulse to distribute.  Taste, and add salt and pepper as desired.

Transfer to a container and let the flavors meld in the refrigerator for at least a half hour before serving.





Toss with romaine, diced radishes, pico de gallo & carrots and top with avocado & jack cheese or cotija.

with tequila refried beans, enchilda & spanish rice

Burrito night with salad

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries

Every once in awhile you come across a recipe missing something crucial. This one was missing the temperature for the oven. Kiiiiiiiinda critical.  Thank goodness Nate managed to find someone else's online- though, when in doubt, 350 is always a good rule of thumb as far as I'm concerned.

This recipe came from Cuisine at Home, the June 2010 issue.

Anyway, the first time I tried this I really liked it but I felt like the cake part of the pudding cake was still a little denser than I fancy it.  I subbed in one semi-heaping tablespoon of cake flour for one of the AP the second time and though the texture was perfect, the lemon flavor was almost too sour. Next time I'll taste the lemon juice and depending on how sour it is, I might add a 1 teaspoon of sugar per pucker.  Or, I'll just use Meyer lemons and skip the puckering all together!

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Fresh Blueberries


Tools: 4 ramekins, one large baking dish, a tea kettle or pot for water, a hand-mixer, a spatula, a large bowl, a medium bowl

Ingredients: 2 eggs, separated; zest from 2-3 small or medium lemons; juice from 2-3 small to medium lemons; 3/4 cup sugar; 5 tbsp AP flour, 2 tsp unsalted, softened butter; 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries & powdered sugar for dusting



Move the oven rack to the center, pre-heat to 350 and put the kettle on with water to boil.  If you don't have a kettle, a pot will do just fine.

Beat the egg yolks, zest, sugar, butter, and lemon juice in a large bowl on medium speed until well incorporated.



Whisk together the flour and salt in a small bowl and add alternately with the milk to yolk mixture, beating well each time.

 



Take the egg whites in a medium bowl and beat them until you get stiff peaks.





Fold into the lemon batter until incorporated. It's okay if a few lumps of egg white remain-- they'll brown nicely in the oven.



Drop some blueberries (to taste) into the ramekins-- I use four 6-oz ramekins.



Put the ramekins in a suitably accomodating baking dish, and divide the batter among the ramekins.



Pour the boiling water into the baking dish until it's about halfway up the ramekins.  Immediately place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes until the top begins to crack slightly and become golden.



If you want a really carmelized flavor, for the last 30 seconds put the ramekins under the broiler until the tops start to get slightly browned.  Keep an eye out because this happens quickly. No walking away!



Remove from oven, and take the ramekins out of the baking dish and let them cool on a baking rack.  Wait at least ten minutes before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar and stuff it in your mouth. Slowly.

Dinner Menu: 07.17-07.30.2011

New Go-to: Grilled Pizza 07.03 & 07.10.2011

Tried this out one weekend and liked it so much we switched the kabobs for the pizza!

Makes a great dish for company, and also just to try out different things.  I made the dough in the morning and then we selected all of the toppings.  Especially good was when we brushed the crust with the garlic-olive oil and again across the final pizza right before cutting.

Combos included jalepeno, sweet white corn, cilantro and lime; sausage with red pepper, onion and mushroom; salami with green pepper & onion; zuchinni, squash, jalepeno & mushroom... You can pretty much do this with anything your tastebuds fancy.

The dough takes awhile to rise but comes together quickly.  Combine a cup of warm water (between 105 and 115 degrees) with a tablespoon of sugar and 2.25 tsp active dry yeast.  Let it proof for five minutes.  (If it doesn't bubble and double the yeast is dead or not active. Start over.)  Meanwhile, mix 1 cup cake flour with 2.25 cups all purpose and a tablespoon of kosher salt.  Once the proof is ready, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and pour into flour mixture.  Knead with the dough hook for 10 minutes.  Turn it out, knead into a ball, and turn into an oiled bowl or other receptacle.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature in a place that isn't drafty, until it's doubled.  It's gonna be about two hours.  Then, punch it down gently, divide it into four even balls and pinch the bottoms close.  I like to lay it out on a cookie sheet on wax paper and cover it with plastic wrap.  Let it rise another hour.

We use a charcoal grill.

When you're ready to go, roll the dough out to about a 10-12 inch circle on a lightly floured surface.  Take it with your toppings, and put it over the grill for about 5 minutes over direct heat, until the bottom starts to crust. pull it off, flip it over and brush the grilled part with olive oil.  Add pizza sauce (make a ton by roasting 4 pounds of romas, two onions and five garlic cloves in a 350 oven for 30 minutes), cheese and toppings and put slightly off the heat, cover with lid, open vent and cook until crust browns & cheese melts. Brush with olive oil, cut, devour.

Sauce makings


PIZZA ON THE GRILL, FIRST GO ROUND

Pizza on the grill, round two: toppings (and yummy drinks!)

 

Fellow Pizza Creators: Tom & Sarah

And Now, for Something Completely Different

So far with this blog I've stuck to recipes, some musings, and photos. But it's Sunday, the day before Independence Day... so... I'm trying something new.  Let freedom ring.


I am a planner. I can't get around it. I plan out of neccesity and habit.  Sometimes I'm spontaneous, but if we're being honest, I'm a fan of the plan.  There's always a little wiggle room in plans-- at least, in mine-- but a plan gives you a net, and an outline, and a direction.  Plans give you accomplishable goals.  These are all things I like.  


Hence, the bi-weekly dinner menu.


I found myself at the grocery store, often wont for something to buy.  I'd see something on sale and purchase it and bring it home and gaze at it in my fridge with a glaze to my eye and then eventually throw it away.  Meat, cheese, veggies, fruit... you name it, I trashed it.  Tired of this constant battle of throwing what was once perfectly good food away, I started making  a dinner menu.  


This is helpful in multiple ways-- one, I get to try out new recipes and ensure I have everything I need. I can allot time for different dinners based on other events I've planned through out the week.  Nate knows what he's cooking on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  My grocery list is succinct, I spend less time browsing and less money on things I throw away.  


So, I give you the dinner plans for the first half of July.  I'll try and blog one or two of these in small snippets-- pictures from the cell phone instead of the fancy camera-- and usually just the end results.  I'll still throw in the recipes and the photos on the biggies, or the ones I like to go back to time and time again.  


One thing about putting your dinner menu out there: people can see how boring (or adventurous) you are... and now the secret is out: I love chicken.  

Escapees have taken residence in my mom and dad's backyard.

But without further adieu, here it is, in all it's... it-ness.

As I write this, I've got the tomato-onion-garlic-red pepper flake-salt-olive oil-merlot mix going for my pizza sauce (also to be tossed with pasta on Wednesday) in the oven, pizza dough rising, and a mandolin longing to slice mushrooms.  We've never grilled pizza before so this will be quite the experiment!  

Oven-Roasted Butterflied Chicken with Tarragon-Mustard Sauce

I adapted this recipe from the Best Recipe, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated.


Um, so...


The marketplace on the east coast must be a lot different, and even different from thirteen years ago.


I remember the first time I walked into a Giant Supermarket-- yes, it was enormous.  Everyone wore red jackets or smocks and the bag boys still walked you to your car. But honestly?  I don't really remember the *groceries* being all that different- it wasn't like the name referred to the amount of cereal I took home.  So why does every "Best Recipe" recipe call for a three-pound roasting chicken!?


I guess in California, we like our birds a little bigger.


I mostly shop at Lucky's and Safeway; they tend to stock larger chickens.  I always dig, because even between the two of us it takes four or so days to eat a whole chicken.  The smallest I've ever been able to find is a 4lbr, so I adusted this recipe to fit a 4.27lb chicken.  I usually adjust 5 minutes up per pound when roasting a whole chicken and 3 minutes up per pound if I were to butterfly-roast.


Butterflying a chicken didn't scare me as much as hacking one up to cook in individual peices, but it's not like it brought me any sort of calm. For one thing, I wasn't sure about the shearing-factor of my kitchen scissors, and I was a little worried about my ability to succesfully tuck the legs (this fear? wasn't unfounded!)  Ultimately, I really want to try this technique a few more times because I think I can get it down with some practice. Plus-- every chicken spine gets me closer to stock!


This recipe isn't fool-proof, but I did butterfly the chicken while talking on the phone with my younger brother about some heavy shit, so it's at least easy to follow while you're mighty distracted.


Oven-Roasted Butterflied Chicken with Tarragon Mustard Pan Sauce
Served with green beans w/ shallots from Not-Thanksgiving and roasted Yukon gold potatoes

Tools:

Large sautee pan; cutting board; kitchen shears; teaspoons; measuring cups; sharp knife; whisk; ladle; oven mitts; mallet with flat side; plastic wrap.

Ingredients:
Chicken & Sauce 
2.5 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon leaves; 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (1-3 medium cloves); salt, ground pepper; 1 tsp vegetable oil; 4-4.5 lb chicken; 1 cup stock or low-sodium canned chicken broth; 1 tbsp + 1 tsp Dijon mustard; 1 tbsp softened unsalted butter





Potatoes (not pictured)
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, eighthed; two turns olive oil; salt, pepper; 3/4 cup chicken stock; 1/2 cup white wine-- add olive oil to sautee pan, heat until wisps of smoke appear.  Add potatoes.  toss 'em around after about 5 minutes, add stock and cover. Heat oven to 375.  Let simmer for 5 minutes, add wine, sprinkly with salt and pepper, cover, simmer for another ten minutes.  Remove lid and put into the oven @ 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender and broth has thickened and reduced by at least half.


Butterflying a chicken is no joke, but it's not the hardest thing in the world, either.  Carving a roasted chicken is much tougher.  Butchering a chicken completely to fry is harder still.  It seems that butterflying takes a sharp set of kitchen shears and a little practice, so it's perfect for a novice like me.


First, rinse the chicken. Pat it dry with paper towels.    I like to set a dishtowel in a jellyroll pan, then put the cutting board on top of that-- but prepare your work surface however makes you comfortable.  Place the towel-dried chicken on the cutting board, with the tail facing you and the breast down.  Cut on down one side with the kitchen shears.  Turn so the neck faces you and cut along the other side.  Remove the backbone.  Save for stock- it you're inclined.





Flip the chicken upside down.  Use your palm and gently pressure the chicken into a flattened state.  Make a half-inch slit about an inch away from the tail end of the breast.  Tuck the legs into the slots to make sure they sit properly, then pull out the legs.





Mix the tarragon, garlic, salt and pepper together.





Stuff the garlic tarragon mixture underneath the chicken skin.  Spread evenly, or as evenly as possible.  Tuck the legs into the slots and cover with plastic wrap.  Use the smooth face of the mallet to even out the chicken.  Make sure your rack is in the center of the oven; heat it to 500.  Rub or brush the chicken with the vegetable oil.





Transfer the chicken to a large, ovenproof sautee pan and let stand at room temperature until oven comes up to temp-- 500, remember?  Yeah, it's hot. Careful!  The tucking will protect the breast, the skin will crip and the seasonings trapped beneath the fatty skin and the meat will have a chance to bloom.  Once the oven says, "I'm READY!" put the pan inside and forget about it for forty minutes.


Meanwhile, you can make those potatoes!





So, forty minutes later- or fortyeight, depending on the size of your chicken, pull it out of the oven.  Be careful, because that pan is H O T.  Make sure the breast is about 160 and the thights are at least 170.  If they aren't, throw the whole thing back in the oven for about 5 minutes and check. Repeat until it's to temp.


Transfer the chicken to a plate to rest.  Tent it with foil.  If you're lucky, the legs won't need a cut at all-- they're just gonna fall away from the bone. Yum!  If you do need a little assistance, use the kitchen shears to clip the skin and pull the bones gently until they are removed.





Spoon the chicken fat from the pan and then top the pan on the burner at medium high heat.  When the remnants of the chicken start to crackle, add the chicken stock and scrape up the yummy bits from the pan.  





Reduce the stock by half, whisk in the Dijon mustard and swirl in the butter. Serve over the chicken and potatoes, and if complementary, the veg.





Tremendously enjoyed by all (as in, me and the nate-man); served with fresh-baked wheat bread.


And now?  Time to enjoy a slice of carrot cake made by nate!