Crab Cakes

I made these with cheap-o canned crab...
..Mixed with some diced red pepper, scallions, Old Bay Seasoning, salt, pepper, bread crumbs and eggs.
The chutney is a mixture of corn, sauteed onions, red bell peppers, chili powder, cumin and cilantro... serve with chipotle mayo with lime and cilantro.

Rosemary Blackberry Scones

Again with the scone recipe in America's Test Kitchen's Baking Illustrated...
I typically use this one... after a recent trip to Harvest restaurant in Harvard Square, I came up with the idea of using rosemary and blackberry. Harvest was serving a peach raspberry rosemary shortcake for dessert during restaurant week... I thought the rosemary and raspberry went well together and I decided to make these scones. Why blackberry and not raspberry? Well, I happened to have blackberries in the fridge...but you should would try these with raspberries too!






Ingredients:

2 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting counter top
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp sugar, plus more for dusting tops of scones
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 c. blackberries
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 c. heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, rosemary, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. 4. Toss blackberries with about 2 tsp flour and stir them in.
5. With a spatula, stir in heavy cream until evenly combined.
6. Dust counter top with flour and gently knead dough into a 1" thick disc. Cut as you would a pie, into 8 evenly sized wedges and place on baking sheet.
7. Dust the tops with additional sugar and bake for 15 mins.

Catching Wild Yeast for Sourdough

I tried catching wild yeast for Sourdough...

Step 1: Crush some green grapes and put them in cheesecloth:


Step 2: Make a sachet our of it by bundling and tying with string, and submerge it in a mixture of about 1 c. flour and 1/2 c. water (it should be like pancake batter):




Step 3. Let it sit 12-24 hrs. It will foam and smell sort of like beer. Mine actually did foam, but I didn't get a picture of it because I forgot!!

Step 4. Stir and keep in the refrigerator, use as you would any sourdough starter in a bread recipe.

This is what happens when you leave it out too long:



It began to smell pretty bad... was probably plenty of bacteria in it...lysteria, MRSA and who knows what else, total disaster ;)

Deep Fried Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Here are the blossoms... Kate painstakingly filling them (next time we will use a pastry bag)... and the finished product!

Squash Blossoms, stuffed with cheese and deep fried-

This was a team effort inspired by a recent trip to Salvation Cafe in Newport, RI. They were serving up a salad on special that featured a stuffed fried squash blossom in mesculun greens.
We used summer squash blossoms but you can use zucchini blossoms as well.
Also, for the filling, Kate made homemade ricotta using Ricki's Cheese Making Kit and milk from Shaw Farm in Dracut, MA...

Here's the recipe we used:

Battered Squash Blossoms
(With or Without Stuffing)

The Batter:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fat-free chilled milk, beer or water

Cheese-Mushroom Stuffing:
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 tablespoon mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tablespoons fresh basil or parsley, minced
16 large squash blossoms, washed
Canola oil for frying

1. Prepare the batter first. Sift together dry ingredients, then whisk in milk, beer or cold water until smooth. Cover and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Leftover batter can be stored for up to two days. If it is too thick after refrigeration, add a few drops of water to return to original consistency.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing. In a bowl combine the ricotta cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, mushrooms and basil. Open the blossoms and spoon about one 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture into the center of each. Avoid overfilling the blossoms. Twist the top of each blossom together to close. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3. Pour the oil into a skillet to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat over high heat until a small cube of bread dropped into the oil turns golden brown within seconds.

4. Briefly dip each stuffed blossom into the batter, then carefully slip into the hot oil. Cook until golden on all sides, about three minutes total cooking time. Add only as many blossoms at a time as will fit comfortably in the skillet. Transfer with a slotted utensil to paper towels to drain briefly.

5. Sprinkle with salt, if desired and serve immediately.

NOTE: In place of the cheese-mushroom stuffing, try another of your favorite bread or meat stuffings.

Source: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension

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You only need Half of the batter that this recipe calls for. I used water, but I think beer would taste the best!!!

Chocolate Cake made with Guinness Beer...

Legend has it this recipe is from a restaurant in Great Barrington, MA.

Chocolate Stout Cake
2 cups stout (Guinness)

2 cups unsalted Butter (4 sticks)

1 1/2 cups unsweetened Dutch coco powder...(preferably Dutch-process..Droste)

4 cups flour

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing

4 cups whipping cream

2 pound bittersweet chocolate or semi sweet chopped

For cake: Preheat oven to 350*F. Butter three 8 inch round cake pans with 2 inch sides. Line the pans with parchment paper, butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to a simmer in a large heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Add coco powder and whisk until smooth. Cool slightly. This is very important...cool or the hot/warm mixture will start to cook the flour mixture.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl. Add stout coco mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and briefly beat slowly. Using rubber spatula fold mixture until well combined. Divide batter evenly into cake pans. Bake until tester comes out clean about 35 minutes. Cool on racks for 10 minutes...turn cakes out on racks and cool completely.

For icing: Bring cream to simmer in heavy sauce pan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently about 2 hours. Make sure to whisk this in the refrigerator.

Place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over cake. Refrigerate for a few minutes between each layer.. Top with second layer, spread 2/3 icing on cake. Top with final layer and spread remaining icing on cake. Refrigerate to set icing. You will have a bit of the frosting left....enjoy..but it is important to really spread the frosting on the layers and of course on top and sides..really lay it on..also DO NOT USE A STOUT BEER IN A CAN WITH A WIDGET. It ends up way too frothy and will overflow in oven...a real mess!!!

Lychee and Vanilla Ice Cream...

Sorry no photos... my digital camera is on the fritz!

Kudos to Kate for this discovery...

1/3 c brandy
3 Tbsp honey
1 15 oz can lychee fruit, or, (for obvious reasons) 10 fresh lychees
Vanilla Bean ice cream

yields about 4 servings.


1. Peel lychee, cut in halves and get rid of the pits. (if using canned lychee, drain syrup, saving all but 1-2Tbsp, can add it to the sauce).
2. Place fruit, syrup, honey and brandy in saucepan over medium heat.
3. Cook until brandy is reduced and slightly thickened.
4. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Port Reduction

Tawny Port pairs well with chocolate...and strawberries...this is the cake recipe from the Moosewood cookbook that I mentioned previously.

For the Cake:
1 1/2 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c brewed coffee or water (I used brewed instant decaf coffee, cooled to room temp and it worked very well)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp white vinegar


For the Strawberry Port reduction:

8 oz strawberries plus a few extra for decorating
1/2 c Tawny Port
4 Tbsp sugar



For the Chocolate Ganache:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate or 4 oz semisweet plus 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 c vanilla soymilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
Grease an 8x8 inch pan. In an electric mixer, combine oil, water or coffee, and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients. When blended smoothly together, add vinegar, mix quickly.
The mixture should have pale swirls, indicating the baking soda is reacting with the vinegar.
Immediately pour into baking pan and bake for 25-30 mins, or until set (toothpick should come out clean to very slightly moist on the bottom). Allow to cool 10 - 15 mins. Turn out onto a wire cooling rack, allow to cool 10 more mins, cut into 2 pieces horizontally to make 2 layers. If it falls apart don't stress, it's going to be covered in chocolate ganache in the end.

To make the strawberry port reduction, mix together the strawberries, sugar and port in a medium saucepan. Cook at medium high heat until the alcohol is cooked off and the consistency is syrupy.

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Stir in the warm soy milk and vanilla, stir until smooth.

Spoon the strawberry mixture on top of one of the layers, then place the other layer on top. Finish by frosting it with the chocolate ganache and top with strawberries.