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Root Vegetable Potage

Hot soup on a cold day!

  • 6 cups flavorful chicken or vegetable stock (preferably homemade)
  • 4 medium size potatoes (I like yukon gold) peeled and quartered
  • carrots cleaned, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 1 medium turnip cleaned, peeled and cut into quarters
  • 2 parsnips peeled cleaned and chopped into large chunks
  • 1 large onion quartered
  • 2 large cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • good size handful of mint chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil to cook garlic and mint
  • sour cream for topping soup
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Coat bottom of large pot with a little olive oil heat on med/high and add diced onions. Cook until onions are soft. Add the stock, now add the potatoes, carrots, turnip, and parsnip. Cook on med/high until vegetables are very soft. Remove from heat and puree either using your immersion blender or food processor. Add the butter and optional heavy cream. Adjust seasoning to taste.

In small fry pan on medium heat add the olive oil, now add the garlic and cook until its just starting to brown, add the chopped mint and cook on low heat for a minute or two, you don’t want the garlic burned but it should be crisp kind of like a garlic chip. Ladle some soup into a bowl, add a dollop of sour cream and spoon some of the garlic and mint over the sour cream.

ALTERNATE METHOD; Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees, line a sheet pan with parchment or aluminum foil, lay the cut carrots, parsnips and turnips drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes. They will just start to brown. Remove from oven and add as in step 1 along with the raw potatoes.

Baking Bread

Right out of the Oven

Baking bread at least to me can be intimidating, I was hesitant for a while, afraid of failure I guess. My good friend and excellent baker from Food52 put my mind at ease. She is a chef, culinary instructor and now has a blog right here on wordpress. This recipe comes together easily, the instructions are so easy to follow even for a novice bread maker like myself. The result is amazing. This loaf has a thin crispy crust and tender soft inside. Takes me back to when I lived in Italy and used to get my bread every morning from this lovely little bakery in Naples. Don’t be intimidated by bread, the feeling of satisfaction is tremendous when you produce a beautiful loaf and the proof is in the tasting. Delicious!! You can find her blog at:

thesolitarycook.wordpress.com  and here is a link to the recipe from food52 http://www.food52.com/recipes/15517_italian_style_boule

Tender Yellow Cake

After years of searching I have found the most wonderful recipe for yellow cake. My Mother developed this recipe many years ago, combining several recipes. It’s light, moist and absolutely delicious. I grew up in upstate New York and there was a bakery that had the most amazing cakes and it was my Mothers quest to replicate their yellow cake. She took a recipe from she thinks Better Homes and Gardens magazine, added her own touches and this is the finished product. I hope you enjoy, I submitted this recipe to food52 where it has been made and re-made by literally hundreds of great cooks. The picture is courtesy of Food52.

The Best Yellow Cake Ever!

  • 3 large eggs separated and at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar divided
  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup + 1 tbs vegetable oil (I use canola)
  • 1 cup whole milk (1 or 2% work also)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Line your pans with a parchment round, butter the bottom of the pan, lay the parchment then butter again on bottom and sides and then flour the pans.

Beat egg whites until frothy then add 1/2 cup of the sugar (reserving the rest) a tablespoon at a time until egg whites are stiff and glossy

Sift flour, remaining 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt into large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. If using a stand mixer use the paddle attachment.I actually prefer to use my hand held mixer for this recipe. Add the oil, the milk, the egg yolk and the vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, mixture will be quite thick. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans dividing evenly, bake for 30-35 minutes. Cake will be golden brown. Be careful not to overbake start checking the cake at 30 minutes. Cake tester will come out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto cooling rack remove parchment and cool completely before frosting.

Mixed Citrus Curd

Mixed Citrus Curd

Recipe:

Makes 2 cups

1 each orange, tangerine,clementine, lemon (I used a navel orange and honey tangerine)

1 heaping tbs zest from the fruits

1/2 cup juice (mixed from each fruit)

6 extra large or large egg yolks

4 oz unsalted butter cut into pieces (1 stick)

1 1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp orange zest (added after its cooked)

Instructions

Zest the fruit and set aside a heaping tbs of mixed zest, juice the fruit mix together and set aside 1/2 cup. In mixing bowl add the egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat with hand held mixer until creamy and light. Whisk in the juice and zest and pour into sauce pan. Cook at medium low heat stirring constantly until the sugar has melted and it’s hot to the touch. Now add the butter on piece at a time stirring constantly until the butter is melted. Place thermometer in and continue cooking until it reaches a temperature of 175. Remove from heat.

Pour through a sieve into a bowl, add the 1 tsp orange zest stir to combine and cover with plastic that sits directly on top of the curd, allow to come to room temperature then refrigerate overnight.

 

Cooking and pugs!

You probably ask yourself what do pugs have to do with cooking, Well, nothing really but my pugs are always hanging out in the kitchen with me, actually its their favorite place to be while I am cooking, Scouring the floor for something that may drop and of course thats where they eat. I love to cook am active on several food related websites, I guess you could say its a passion of mine, my creative outlet. I hope to have this site up and running really soon, bear with me. This site is all about food, and soon I will be posting recipes. Thanks for your patience.