The Bread is in the Baking

I came home from work today and I was craving something sweet, but being low on money I could only use supplies I had in my kitchen and the only oil I have in my kitchen right now is olive oil. I'd seen some cake recipes floating around the interwebs with olive oil in them instead of vegetable oil or butter and was interested in giving one of them a whirl.
This one was the only one that fit my parameters exactly and it came out really great (so great, I'm pretty sure I've eaten half of the cake by myself...). This cake is dense and silky with wonderful flavor and the glaze really helps bring out more of the flavor.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake
3/4 cup olive oil (don't feel the need to use really fancy olive oil, I got mine from Trader Joes)
1 large lemon
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 egg yolks
4 egg whites
3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch springform, or 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and then dust with flour.

Grate the lemon zest from the lemon and mix together with the flour in a medium bowl. Juice the lemon.

Quickly beat together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar for about 3 minutes and then slowly beat in the olive oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add the flour mixture and fold in gently with a wooden spoon or spatula.

  Using a mixer, beat 4 egg whites high speed with the whisk attachment until foamy. Continue to beat on high, slowly adding 1/4 cup of sugar until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter until just combined. Pour into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar 1 tablespoon of the fresh lemon juice. Add more lemon juice if necessary to get the desired consistency and pour over the cooled cake. 

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The semester is over and I'm in Seattle for a week until I can move into the sublet I've got set up till the end of June and then I've got a month of sofa surfing to worry about.
But while I'm here I figured I'd try and make up a bit for the lack of posts in the last couple of months (and in the next month and half to come). So I found this amazingly easy recipe on (you guessed it) foodgawker. I added lemon zest to this recipe, but I'm thinking about adding ground almonds to the crust in the next batch. What do you think?

If you decide to make this for a party I suggest you double or triple the recipe.

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I saw this recipe on foodgawker and I got really really excited. I immediately sent it to a close friend and went out and bought all the ingredients (which isn't a lot). These are really great. I realized that the best fries are about the thickness of your finger, because then you get the lovely crunchiness of fries on the outside and the juicy mushroom taste on the inside. Last night Eddie, Sophie and I made them as a side with spinach, goat cheese lamb burgers. Who says college students can't eat in style?

This recipe is pretty much identical to the one found here, but instead of using vegetable oil, we used olive oil. It's better for you and the flavor is great.

Portobello Mushroom Fries

2 Large Portobello Mushrooms - brush washed, sliced into even strips
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
About a cup of Wondra flour

First lay the sliced mushrooms on a parchment covered pan and sprinkle with salt to release moisture. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes. Pour the Wondra into a flat bowl and roll each mushroom slice around in the flour. Then in a deep saucepan (or deep fryer), heat about 3-4 inches of oil. Test the oil by dropping in pieces of the mushroom stem (cause they're still tasty, but not as attractive as fries). If the oil starts to sizzle, you're in business. Carefully drop a few mushroom slices at a time into the hot oil. Fry for a minute or two, just til golden. Remove with tongs or slots spoon and drain on a paper towel, serve immediately.

Total Time: About 15 minutes

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Coring the jalapenos can be a bit of trouble. Using a small knife works really well and don't worry about cutting the sides of the pepper, it doesn't create much of a problem. 
Spoon the cream cheese into the jalapeno and then shove a stick of pepper jack into each jalapeno. Dip the stuffed jalapeno first into milk and then into the flour. Wait for several minutes for the flour dry out slightly. Then, dip it into the milk again and now into the crushed panko. You can repeat the milk & panko step twice to get a nice thicker panko crust. Wait for the coat to dry out slightly between the steps. In a medium pan, heat the oil to 365F and deep fry the jalapeno for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.

Total Time: 20 minutes  
(Picture taken by Eddie Barksdale)

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I had a really low key New Years this year. I got home from a family vacation the same day and I was really tired, so I just had a couple of girlfriends over. I still wanted to make something of course, it being New Years and all. Since I was tired, I wanted to make something simple, yet tasty, so I signed on to the trusty FoodGawker, looked up appetizers and these little tasty treats showed up.
First off, these are really easy to make. Feel free to use whatever your favorite sharp cheese is (I just used a sharp cheddar this time, but I'll probably try a different cheese next time). There's very few ingredients and you can add more or less of the flavors. At first I was a little bit wary of using Cayenne pepper, but it really adds a depth to the flavor of the puffs.
These can be either made as an appetizer or paired with a soup or salad (my mom thinks they would go very well with the Lentil Soup.

I did very little to change this recipe, I used scallions instead of chives and decided on an actual measurement of cayenne pepper, rather than a "large pinch," so it's easier to replicate the recipe.

Pâte à Choux
1 cup (250ml) water
6 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/3 cup scallions or chives finely-mince
1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces, 180g) finely grated sharp cheese like Gruyère or sharp chedder

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Heat the water, butter, salt, and cayenne in a saucepan until the butter is melted, don’t let it simmer or boil because you will lose too much water. Pour in the flour all at once and stir vigorously until the mixture pulls away from the sides into a smooth ball.
Remove from heat and let rest two minutes.
Transfer the dough to a bowl or a standing mixer and beat in the eggs one at a time. The batter will first appear lumpy, but after a minute or so, it will smooth out and become glossy. Add all the chives and about 75% of the cheese and stir until well-mixed. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag or plastic bag with the corner cut out (that’s what I use).  Pipe the dough into mounds, evenly-spaced apart about the size of a rounded tablespoon (this size is suggested, but you can make them larger or smaller, the bigger you make them, the more air will be trapped inside the pastry). Top each puff with a bit of the remaining cheese.

At this point, you could refrigerate the dough on the sheet for several hours before baking.  You could also freeze the dough on the sheet and then transfer the frozen mounds to a ziplock bag to store for up to three months.

About half an hour before you want to serve these.  Pop them into a hot oven at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes (12 if you are baking from frozen), then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  These are best served warm,  but they still taste good at room temperature.

Total Time:  About 1 hour

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I got the idea for this recipe off Foodgawker, but I didn't really follow the recipe. I just scanned it and then did my own thing. Pretty much, you can take all of your left overs and stuff them into these small oval shaped tasty treats.


What is a croquette you might ask? A croquette or croquetas is a small ovular shaped fried or baked dumpling. They are usually made of mashed potatoes, and/or meat and vegetable, and bread crumbs, egg, onion, spices and herbs. These croquettes will be made out of all your left over Thanksgiving goodies!


Baked Thanksgiving Croquettes
Finely diced turkey
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Gravy
Sauted finely chopped onions and garlic
Pepper and salt to taste
Fine bread crumbs

Since you never know how much leftovers you're going to have the recipe is based in ratios. You want the amount of turkey to mashed potatoes (1:1) half the amount of stuffing to turkey/mashed potatoes (1/2:1) and enough gravy to hold the ingredients together in an oval shape.
Preheat the oven to 450° F.


Mix all the ingredients (except the bread crumbs) together in a bowl until evenly mixed. Then begin to form the ingredients into egg shapes and toss them in a bowl of bread crumbs. Place the now breaded croquettes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 15 minutes and they're done!


Tastes great with cranberry sauce!


Total Time: About an hour

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I bought a bunch of apples with the intention to snack on them, which is what I have been doing, but since there's only one of me and I only eat a few every couple of days, I'm not eating them fast enough. I stumbled on this recipe on Food Gawker, which is a WONDERFUL recipe site. I love it. Anyhow, I thought "Perfect!" and then realized I didn't have any cinnamon (I live in the dorms, okay?) but I did have pumpkin spice, so I used that instead and it came out great.

The recipe is a bit messy, but if you're careful it's really not much worse than anything else you'll make. I've cut some of the rising and proofing times down and cut some ingredients I didn't care for or have (orange zest, cinnamon, dark rum) and I chose not to make a glaze (it's sweet and sticky enough as it is), but if you want to see the real recipe it is here.

 Apple Spice Bread

Ingredients for the Dough:
1/2 Cup (4oz) Water, lukewarm
1/4 Cup Runny Honey

1 1/2 Tbs Dry Active Yeast
7 Tbs Vegetable Oil
2 Large Eggs
17oz. All-purpose Flour (about 4 cups, but it's best to weigh it)
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for the Apple Filling:
2 Medium/large Apples, cored and diced in 3/4" chunks
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Sugar

Mix the warm (not hot) water with the honey and yeast. Then add the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Mix and then knead them, using a mixer with a bread hook, or by hand, until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough (about 8-10 minutes).

Put the dough in a oiled bowl and let it rise, covered, for 1 1/2 hours or until it's puffy and nearly doubled in size. Lightly grease/butter a 9inch springform pan or cake pan (I suggest you use a springform pan, they work really well).

Toss the apple chunks with the sugar, pumpkin spice.

Gently deflate the dough, transfer it to a lightly greased work surface, and flatte n it into a rough rectangle, about 8 x 10 inches.

Spread half the apple chunks in the center of the dough.

Fold a short edge of the dough over the apple in order to cover it, patting firmly to seal the apples and spread the dough a bit. Spread the remaining apple atop the folded-over dough. Cover the apples with the other side of the dough, again patting firmly (Basically, you've folded the dough like a letter, enclosing the apples inside.). Take a long knife and cut the apple-filled dough into 16 pieces. Cut in half, then each half in halves, etc. (This is the messy part)

Lay the dough chunks into the pan (Crowd them so that they all fit in a single tight layer and just tuck fallen apple pieces in among the dough pieces, or simply spread them on top.).

Cover the bread gently with lightly greased plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise for about 1 hour until it has almost doubled in height. Twenty minutes before the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 325° F. Place the bread in the lower third of the oven. Bake it for 45 minutes, or until the top is at least light golden brown all over and has no white spots.

Remove the bread from the oven, and after 5 minutes loosen the edges and carefully transfer it to a rack.

Total Time: About 3 1/2 hours

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