Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Banana Bread

When the freezer rains bananas, I know it's time to make a banana bread. 

We buy bananas just about every week, eat most, but inevitably have one hanging around long enough to turn brown. I hate food waste, so I usually tuck the little fella into the freezer. There's got to be a dozen bananas in there right now, in every available crevice. Sometimes they throw themselves at me when I open the freezer door to grab an ice cube or ponder the evening's dinner possibilities. The other day, three different bananas suicided themselves, so I put them on the counter to thaw. 

When frozen bananas thaw, they become rather liquidy, which makes them perfect for smoothies. But also banana bread. Most recipes call for very ripe bananas which need to be mashed with a fork. Personally, I prefer using near-liquid banana. It doesn't need to be mashed, just stirred in, which produces sweet little pockets of soft fruit in the finished product. If you're a fan of a more homogenized texture, then by all means mash some never-frozen but overripe nanners for this recipe.

Oh yeah, the recipe. I usually put walnuts and chocolate chips in my banana bread, but I've been craving chocolate recently (I probably need more magnesium). I consulted the Google and found a chocolate chocolate banana bread recipe that was essentially Martha Stewart's non-chocolate recipe, with a couple of random tweaks. I happen to think Martha's recipe is the very best, so I consulted her web site and used her recipe, with two changes. Her recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of AP flour, but I wanted to make this gluten-free and add cocoa powder. Cocoa is fairly similar to flour in heft and texture, so I swapped out a half cup of flour for a half cup of cocoa. The rest of the flour was replaced by oat flour. You may use any gluten free flour you wish, but I strongly suggest adding 1/4 teaspoon of xantham gum per cup of gf flour. You may leave it out, but the gum makes a big difference in the texture of the bread. Honestly, I cannot tell that I didn't use regular flour. I'm not your mother, so do as you please, but don't come crying to me afterward. The one other thing I changed was to add more sour cream. A quarter cup is good, but a half cup is better. It makes the texture outrageously moist. (Greek yogurt works here, too.)

If you make this, let me know in the comments. I'm going to go cut myself another slice to go with my coffee.

GF Double Chocolate Banana Bread

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup oat flour

1/4 t xanthan gum

1 t baking soda

1/4 t kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, or dairy-free butter substitute, melted

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 t vanilla extract

3 super-ripe bananas, mashed if fresh, thawed if frozen

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 

Preheat oven to 350º.

Spray the inside of a 9 x 5 loaf pan with Pam or similar release spray. Borrow a tablespoon or so of the cocoa powder and sprinkle it over the Pam, shaking and banging the sides of the pan to make sure every surface is coated with both release spray and cocoa. Knock out any excess cocoa.

Combine the rest of the cocoa, oat flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt and stir well with a fork to distribute ingredients. If you're fussy, you could sift it, but I don't see the need to dirty a sieve or sifter.

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. If your bananas were frozen, you can basically pour them into the bowl, otherwise, scrape in the mashed bananas and give it a good stir.

Dump the dry ingredients into the wet and stir well. You don't want any streaks of flour. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. 

Scrape batter into baking pan and bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. You might have to try a few spots, in case you stab a melted chocolate chip.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to loosen bread, then turn over onto the rack. Put another rack on top and flip the bread over, so the top is...on top. Allow to cool completely before slicing. You can, of course, ignore this direction, but I can't guarantee the bread won't fall apart when you slice it.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Nando's Hot Sauces #sponsored

There is a Nando's Peri-Peri approximately 500 steps from my office, and I have been there for lunch and dinner many times over the last few years. For those who aren't fortunate enough to have a Nando's nearby, it's an Afro-Portuguese restaurant specializing in chicken seasoned with peri-peri chile sauce. Even their mildest dishes have a bit of heat, but I like that. So when Nando's contacted me to promote their commercially-available line of bottled sauces, I was more than willing.

Though I must say that I was a tad disappointed that my shipment didn't include my favorite lemon & herb, I happily cracked open the bottles of garlic and medium-hot Peri-Peri sauce and started using them on everything from eggs to chicken wings and oatmeal (yes, we eat savory oatmeal on occasion). Mr Minx particularly enjoys the garlic version. A friend who is more into ass-blistering heat appreciated the extra extra hot sauce. All of Nando's sauce varieties are tangy with lemon, are halal, kosher, and non-GMO, and contain no artificial stuff. Most of them are also sugar-free.

There's no requirement that hot sauce needs to be used straight from the bottle. When peaches were still available (they still sorta are, but I mean good peaches) I used it in a fruity sauce for chicken wings.

There's enough acid and heat in any of the Nando's sauces to cut the sweetness of fresh, ripe, peaches (nectarines, apricots, etc.) yet still retain the fruitiness. If, of course, you'd want your sauce to be on the sweet side, you can add a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup. Now, that would be fantastic slathered on chicken and waffles, eh?

No real recipe. Just skin and cut up a couple three ripe peaches, put in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water and cook over medium-low heat until the peaches are so soft that they fall apart. Add Nando's Peri-Peri sauce to taste, maybe some salt, brown sugar if you like. Whiz with a stick blender or put it in a food processor to get a smooth texture, then dollop on whatever you think needs peachy heat. Yum.

Nando's Peri-Peri sauces are available on Amazon.com.




* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Bob's Red Mill Pan-Baked Granola #sponsored

I have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with granola. I love the concept of it--nuggets of seasoned oats and dried fruits held together with a bit of sweetness and fat--but have found that commercial granolas were usually too sweet, processed-tasting, or just boring. So once in a while I make a pan of it at home, adding just the right amount of maple syrup or brown sugar and coconut oil and seasoning it to my liking (which usually involves cardamom).

When Bob's Red Mill contacted me with an offer to send me flavors of their new Pan-Baked Granola, I agreed. In general, I really like their products and when given the choice between brands of this or that, I tend to choose Bob's Red Mill. I figured the granola was probably quite good, but still perhaps not what I was looking for in a breakfast cereal.

Damn, I was wrong. This pan-baked granola is GREAT. At least to my palate; as with everything, YMMV. It comes in four flavors: Maple Sea Salt; Coconut Spice; Lemon Blueberry; and Cranberry Almond. It's made just the way I would make it, in small batches, using maple syrup, brown sugar, and coconut oil, and the flavor combos are right up my alley. My favorites are the Lemon Blueberry (lemon flavor granola! It works!) and the Coconut Spice (I love all things coconut). I enjoyed eating the granola the traditional way, as a breakfast cereal with milk, but also sprinkled on yogurt and eaten straight from the bag. Ok, which is maybe the most "traditional" way of consuming granola.

Though we ate it before I could experiment further, I'm thinking this pan-baked granola would make a nice streusel-style topping for muffins or as an addition to an apple crisp. I'm going to re-stock my pantry and do some granola-based winter baking pretty soon. 

Thanks, Bob, for hooking me up with my new favorite cereal! 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Avocado Leaf Tea

I drink a lot of tea, particularly during the cooler months. Once I've had my morning cup of coffee, I switch to a milder beverage, preferably one with less caffeine. Too much of that stuff not only makes me jittery, but also gives me heart palpitations. Rooibos is my go-to, and while I really enjoy it, sometimes I am looking for a different flavor profile.

Then I discovered tea made from avocado leaves. I know! Though avocado toast doesn't thrill me, I do find the beverage made by steeping the leaves of the avocado tree rather exciting. For one thing, it's actually quite delicious--smooth, and non-tannic--and naturally caffeine-free, which is a huge plus. And it is purported to have all sorts of health benefits. Avocado leaves contain flavonoids, polyphenols, terpenes, and serotonin, substances which have been known to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke, help kidney function, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, elevate mood, promote alertness and memory retention, reduce stress, and aid in forming healthy sleep patterns. All the things.

I realize I'm making a cup of tea sound like a miracle cure, but there is strong scientific evidence that tea made from the leaves of Persea americana Mill can control blood pressure and help reduce the formation of kidney stones. Avocado Leaf Tea (the brand name, so easy to remember) has information on their web site, along with links to health studies that corroborate this.

I brought home a few samples of Avocado Leaf Tea from the Fancy Food Show last year. It was summer and I don't drink as much tea then so put them away and forgot about it. When I stumbled upon the bags recently and made a pot, I realized how much I liked the stuff. So I ordered both the natural and lemon flavors (flavored with lemongrass and honeybush, a relative of rooibos) which have become my brew of choice recently. And they don't have me bouncing off the walls, like my recent experience with a couple of pots of Earl Grey.

If you're looking for a healthful tea beverage, I recommend you try Avocado Leaf Tea. The folks who own the company are really nice too, and I like to support and promote nice people who make good things.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Flashback Friday - Meatless Monday Tomato Tart

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 29, 2011.

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Recently, my brother donated to us a box full of ripe tomatoes and jalapenos given to him by a coworker. Yum! I love tomatoes, but this gift was more than we could eat in the short time we had before the fruits would go bad. I knew I'd have to make several things rather quickly; the first one to come to mind was a tomato tart.

I had both puff pastry in the freezer and conventional pie crust in the fridge. Heck, I even had a box of fillo in the freezer, but I oped to use the puff because it seemed simplest. I topped it with layers of shredded cheese and caramelized onions before the gloriously-red tomatoes went on, and then sprinkled it all with some of the abundant rosemary from our garden.

The best thing about baking at 400F (especially when it's hot outside) is that the heat releases food's incredible aromas. Almost immediately, my house smelled of onions and rosemary, a fragrance that lingered enticingly for several hours, long after we cleared the dinner dishes. And the flavors? Amazing. The tomatoes were sweet to begin with, and time in the oven only served to concentrate the sugars. The bed of onion added a bit of savoriness, as did the cheese. Overall, a gorgeous thing to do with an overabundance of produce.

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Tart

About 3 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
1 cup onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
salt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

Cut the tomatoes into about 1/4" thick slices, sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt and place them on paper towel-lined plates with another towel on top. Allow to rest for about half an hour to absorb excess water. In the meantime...

...in a large skillet over medium heat, cook onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt until they are very soft and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Roll pastry out about a half inch larger on all sides and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Leaving a 3/4" inch border on all edges, first sprinkle cheese on pastry, then top with an even layer of cooled, caramelized onions. Finally, arrange tomato slices over onions, overlapping very slightly. Scatter rosemary over all.

Bake in preheated 400F oven for 4 minutes until pastry is golden brown and the tomatoes have started to shrivel quite a bit.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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ShopRite Panettone

Have you ever tried Panettone? It's an Italian brioche-like enriched bread usually studded with dried fruit and nuts and traditionally served around Christmas and the new year. It's great sliced and eaten with a cup of tea, or used as a bread component in things like French toast or a grilled cheese sandwich. I love Panettone and usually buy a small one around the holidays, so when I was contacted by ShopRite and offered a sample of the panettone from their new ShopRite Trading Company line of premium artisanal foods inspired by world cuisines, I of course said yes.

Though I have to admit I'm not a fan of raisins, and the panettone from ShopRite Trading Company was loaded with the little buggers, I still enjoyed it. The raisins were so soft and juicy, and the bread was pillowy and light, with that special citrus/vanilla flavor that panettones usually have.

A big slice of the bread made a great, filling, French toast breakfast on the day after Christmas, when carbs were appreciated.

Even better was the moist bread pudding we made with the second half of the loaf. It was originally intended as party food, but both Mr Minx and I were too sick to leave the house to attend said party. I felt bad for the folks that made it to the party, because they missed out! I modified a recipe I found on the 'net and have to say that it turned out very well.

The recipe follows, if you're interested in turning your leftover panetonne into a nice dessert. (Or breakfast, if you're so inclined.)

Panettone Bread Pudding (inspired by David Lebovitz, who was inspired by Rolando Beremendi)

1/2 cup of dried fruit (other than raisins) of your choice. I used diced apricots, cranberries, and tart cherries
1/4 cup bourbon or rum
Half a ShopRite Trading Company Panettone, cut into cubes (about 4 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Put the dried fruit in a saucepan with the bourbon and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once the booze starts bubbling, put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat. The fruit should soak up the alcohol in a few minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Put the panettone cubes on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until lightly browned on all sides, about 20 minutes. Alternatively, if you have a toaster oven, don't cube the bread but cut it crosswise into large slices and toast them one at a time until lightly browned.

Melt the butter in a 8" square baking pan on the stovetop and add the brown sugar. Stir the sugar until it's moistened with the butter and spread it along the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Put half the toasted panettone in the pan on top of the brown sugar mixture. Add half the bourbon-soaked dried fruit. Repeat layers.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt together in a bowl until well combined and pour over the panettone. Press down to make sure all of the bread cubes are covered with custard.

Place the pan into a water bath. I used a larger baking pan and filled it with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the panettone pan. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the pudding feels set but not dry. Remove from the water bath and cool on a rack for at least half a hour.

Run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the pudding. Put a serving plate upside down over the pan, then invert them both together. Remove the baking pan. The pudding should have a glistening sauce of caramel on top, like an upside down cake, minus the fruit. If any sauce remains in the baking pan, spoon it over the pudding.

Cut into squares to serve. It's nice with a scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, or even a glug of unwhipped heavy cream.

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Gingerbread Linzer Tart

I made the original variation on this tart (with chocolate cookies and raspberry jam) 20+ years ago. I have no idea where I got the recipe, but every once in a while I pull it out and make it for dessert. It's pretty simple, and the results are delicious. Last year, I decided to tinker with the flavoring a bit. Rather than chocolate cookies and cocoa powder, I opted to use gingerbread cookies and spices. I almost made a cranberry curd for the filling, but I was stressed out and feeling lazy, so I used a jar of Polaner seedless blackberry All-Fruit. Everyone seemed to like the variation, so I thought I'd share it with you here.

A baking note: The butter tends to ooze out of the bottom of the pan, so it's a good idea to bake this on a foil-lined baking sheet. If you use a tart pan or baking dish without a removable bottom, you won't have this issue, but it will also be a little harder to cut into wedges and serve.

Gingerbread Linzer Tart

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 1/3 cups gingerbread cookie crumbs (I used Pepperidge Farm Ginger Family cookies)
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 whole egg
1 jar Polaner All-Fruit seedless blackberry jam, or your favorite blackberry jam
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Place ground almonds, cookie crumbs, flour, sugar, ginger, and cloves into a large bowl and mix well. Distribute the butter over the mixture and add the egg. Work the dough with your fingertips, rubbing in the butter and making a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Pat about 3/4 of the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the a 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Spread the jam thickly over the crust but not quite to the edges. Roll pieces of the remaining dough into strips and arrange on jam in a lattice pattern. Sprinkle on the chopped almonds.

Bake for 35 minutes. Let the pastry cool completely in the pan.

Carefully remove the sides of the pan. The crust is fairly sturdy, so this shouldn't be a problem. You can use a knife to coax the bottom off the tart, but I usually just leave it there. Place the tart on a serving plate and cut into wedges.

Serves 12.



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Flashback Friday - Cantaloupe Gazpacho

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 16, 2013.
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There's nothing like a cold bowl of gazpacho to cool one off on a hot summer day. Ok, maybe an air conditioner does a pretty good job, too, but you can't eat an air conditioner. :)

We had a couple of pretty large cantaloupes on hand and they were ripe. I figured we could eat one as-is, and do something, wasn't quite sure, with the other one. We also had a wilting red bell pepper in the fridge AND a cucumber, so I thought that was a sign to make gazpacho.

I checked the Interwebs for gazpacho recipes and most of them included tomatoes but excluded peppers. Bah - I'd just make up my own.

Cantaloupe Gazpacho

1 red bell pepper
1 medium cantaloupe
1 cucumber
slice or two of bread, crusts removed (optional)
sherry vinegar
champagne vinegar
pinch coriander
toasted pumpkin seeds
mint leaves
black walnut oil

Roast the bell pepper over a gas flame or under a broiler until charred in spots. Put in a paper bag or in a covered bowl and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, remove as much skin as possible, stem and deseed the pepper and cut it into pieces.

Cut the cantaloupe in half and remove the seeds. Scoop out the flesh into the container of a blender. Add the red pepper pieces. Peel the cucumber, cut it into chunks, and stuff it into the blender with the other stuff.

Puree the fruit and vegetables. If it seems too watery, add some of the bread, broken into small pieces before pureeing, until the consistency is acceptable.

The soup will be sweet, so add as much or as little vinegar as you think it needs. I put in a tablespoon of both sherry and champagne vinegars, but you can use one or the other. I also added a pinch of ground coriander, but that's entirely up to you. If you prefer cumin, go for it.

Serve the soup well-chilled. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, mint if you have it, and either a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, or black walnut oil. I like Hammons, which adds a whole new and interesting earthiness and is available at Nuts.com.



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Sour Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream

I love cherries, especially the tart kind, but my birch pollen sensitivity causes me to have a mild allergic reaction when I eat these fruits raw. I can work around this issue by cooking the offending element, which includes pretty much all stone fruits. Happily, popping peaches, apricots, etc., in the microwave for a minute or so seems to kill whatever it is that my body thinks is an allergen. I can also eat dried, frozen, or canned stone fruits, so I don't really feel at all deprived.

When I found that Oregon Fruit Products sold red tart cherries in jars, packed only in tart cherry juice, I was elated. Tart cherries are available for such a short time in the summer, and sometimes I miss that window. Jarred cherries, however, are around all the time, so I can have them whenever I want. I've always been a fan of Oregon's products. I'm pretty sure that the very first blackberries I ever ate came from a can. Now there's usually a can of berries in the pantry for those times I have a need for instant fruit and am too lazy to walk to the grocery store (which is often).

Oregon Fruit Products was kind enough to send me a few jars of their tart cherries to try. Now what to do with them besides eating them directly from the jar? Pies and tarts seem the obvious choice, but why not ice cream? When I was a kid, one of my favorite ice creams was a certain name brand's cherry vanilla, back in the good old days when they advertised that their ice creams had no artificial ingredients. It had a strong vanilla flavor, punctuated by sweet fruit. My cherry vanilla ice cream is completely different than theirs. Not only is it made with ingredients that are more likely to be found in a home pantry than a chemical lab, the cherry flavor is the star. I wanted to taste the vanilla too, which is why the recipe calls for a whole tablespoon of extract. If you feel that's too much, by all means cut back. You just won't taste it as much.

The Oregon Red Tart Cherries are quite tart, as they are packed with no added sweetener, so I warmed them up with a bit of sugar before adding them to the ice cream. The tart cherry juice left over went directly into my gullet. Did you know that antioxidant-rich tart cherry juice is helpful in fighting inflammation and pain for people with osteoarthritis?

Tart Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

For the cherries:
1 13-ounce jar of Oregon Red Tart Cherries, well drained (drink the juice!)
1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the ice cream:
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

To make the cherries: Cut the drained cherries into quarters and place them and the sugar in a sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar begins to bubble, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and refrigerate until completely cold.

To make the ice cream: Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool. Refrigerate until completely cold.

To finish: Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Once ice cream is mostly done, add the cherry mixture a little at a time until it is completely incorporated.

Scoop ice cream into a lidded container. Press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Chocolate Strawberry Naked Cake

Sometimes I am too ambitious for my own good. I've never been much of a baker, excepting the occasional tray of brownies and cookies at Christmastime. There's also the annual cake for Mr Minx's birthday, but that's usually a simple chocolate bundt. This year, I wanted to do something fancier. I was desperate to make a "naked cake," a cake with exposed layers, popularized by Christina Tosi at NY's Milk Bar. I've seen a lot of them on Instagram, and they look so cool. Also, they didn't seem all that difficult to make. Frosting the sides of the cake always seemed like the most fidgety part, and making a cake naked eliminates that whole messy ordeal.

My idea was to use the same super moist recipe that I use for the bundt cake, with the addition of roasted strawberries, and a simple stabilized whipped cream frosting. It would be like a strawberry shortcake, only not short and with the added goodness of chocolate.

I didn't want to attempt to cut round cake layers in half horizontally, pretty sure that would be a disaster. Instead, I made several flat rectangular cakes in a jelly roll pan and cut them into rounds. That ended up looking a bit sloppy. Perhaps my knife wasn't sharp enough, or the cake recipe I used was too moist. In any case, the somewhat jagged layers got stacked between pieces of waxed paper and spent the night in a cake carrier until I was able to assemble it the next day. It would have been too much to try to get it all done on Saturday morning before our annual afternoon birthday crab feast guest arrived.

The roasted strawberry idea I got from a foodie newsletter. The recipe in the newsletter was actually for oven-dried berries, but I liked the idea of cooking strawberries in the oven until they got soft and gave up a lot of liquid. Some of that liquid became a subtle flavoring for the whipped cream frosting that I stabilized with gelatin so it would last longer and not weep all over the cake.

I had used up all the strawberries in the roasting process but wanted to top the cake with something besides whipped cream. Birthday candles were out of the question (as was singing "Happy Birthday"), but I remembered we had a bag of Crunchies freeze-dried strawberries that the company sent me to taste after the Fancy Food Show. I had been nibbling them on their own, but felt they would be the perfect garnish for this cake and a good counterpoint to the squishy roasted berries between the layers. They stood up like sweet stalagmites, adding height as well as color and flavor. They softened a bit as the cake stood, but they never sagged, and I kinda liked the third strawberry texture in the mix.

Crunchies are non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and halal and contain no added sugar or artificial flavors. They are just freeze-dried fruit, pure and simple. I also love the Crunchies mango snacks and am contemplating making a similar cake, with yellow cake and mango filling, so I can use them as a garnish, too. That is, if we don't just eat it all straight out of the bag. :)

For someone who didn't really know what she was doing, I did a pretty decent job. Though the cake isn't the most beautiful thing in the world, it tasted so so good. ::::patting self on back:::::

Chocolate Strawberry Layer Cake

For the roasted strawberries:
2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved, quartered if large
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons liqueur of your choice (I used Kahlua)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

For the frosting:
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatine
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish:
Crunchies freeze-dried strawberries

To make the strawberries: Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the strawberries with the sugar, then with the vanilla. (Don't put the vanilla on the sugar to cut corners; it will just make the sugar clump up and make it hard to toss with the strawberries. No, I did not learn that through experience.) Spread in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until strawbs are soft and there's lots of yummy juice on the baking sheet. Allow to cool at room temperature before scraping into a covered container and refrigerating until completely cooled.

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a layer of parchment in a jelly-roll pan and grease it lightly with butter.

Combine the butter, cocoa, salt, and 1 cup of tap water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook only until butter is melted and mixture is completely combined. Stir in the liqueur.

Place the flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large bowl. Pour in the chocolate butter mixture in 2 or three batches, stirring between each to combine. Beat the eggs with the sour cream and vanilla and stir into the flour mixture. Whisk until fully incorporated.

Here's the tricky part. Depending on the size of your pan, ladle in enough batter to cover the parchment entirely and be no more than 1/2 inch deep. Bake for enough time that the cake springs back when you touch it. I used a 9" x 13" jelly roll pan, which made three cakes with the amount of batter specified, each baking from 13-15 minutes (the first cake took longer and the last cake took less time). An 12" x 17" pan or thereabouts would probably take 18-20 minutes, so start checking at the 16 or 17 minute mark. Just looking at it should tell you if the middle is wet or cooked through. Once your cake or cakes are baked, allow them to cool in the pan for a few minutes. Loosen the edge of the cake with a knife and turn out onto a rack to cool completely. You should peel off the parchment while the cake is still warm.

Once the cakes are cool you can cut them. If you want to make it really easy on yourself, cut each cake in half and make a square layer cake. (Next time, that's what I'm doing!) But if you want a round cake, use a 7" or 8" round template as a guide. Place each cooled cake on a cutting board large enough to hold them, or right on your counter or table if that's easiest. Using the template and a sharp knife, cut your circles. Lift them away with a large spatula and put them on parchment or waxed paper until you're finished cutting. The scraps can be eaten as a cook's treat, or put them in a plastic bag and freeze them for when you're having a cake craving.

To make the frosting: Remove 3-4 tablespoons of the strawberry roasting liquid to a bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the liquid and allow to rest for several minutes until set. If your strawberries didn't give off much liquid for some reason (perhaps because you ate it as you scraped it off the pan), use a few tablespoons of water instead.

Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl, if you're using a hand mixer) and beat for a minute or so. Put the gelatin in the microwave for about 10 seconds to liquify (it might take 15 seconds). Stir well so there are no clumps of gelatin, and with the mixer running on a fairly low speed, v e r y slowly drizzle it into the cream, beating all the time. Once incorporated, turn the mixer speed up and beat until medium peaks form. Don't overbeat, or you'll have butter. Scrape the cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, or the tip of your choice.

To assemble the cake: Place a round of cake onto a cardboard cake round or on an aluminum-foil covered springform or tart pan bottom of appropriate size. Eyeball the strawberries. Do the pieces seem too big? Then chop them up a bit. Maybe you should just chop them up a bit anyway. Spread an even layer of strawberry pieces + some of the cooking liquid on the cake. Pipe on a layer of the cream, then top with another cake layer. Add another layer of cream, then another layer of cake. Top this third layer of cake with more strawberries and more cream. (You won't use all the strawberries. Eat them with ice cream or with a spoon.) Add the fourth layer of cake and pipe the frosting decoratively on top. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Garnish with freeze dried strawberry pieces before serving.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Crafted Cocktails

I love a good cocktail, and fortunately for me, there are some restaurants in Baltimore with really good cocktail programs. But I don't always want to go out to drink. Sometimes I just want to pour myself some good booze and sip it in the privacy of my own home while watching the Orioles blow another game (nobody needs to see me cry in public). Although I like to think I'm a pretty good cook with some understanding of ingredients and flavors, that doesn't carry over to my cocktail-making abilities. They're pretty sad, so I appreciate all the assistance I can get in the form of bottled pre-mixed cocktail helpers.

I like the products from Crafted Cocktails--they're all-natural, sweetened with agave syrup (which we use all the time), and come in flavors like spicy watermelon and jalapeno pineapple. They also offer shrubs, which are old-fashioned sweet vinegar syrups that can be used in a cocktail or mixed with sparkling water to make a refreshing soda-type beverage. I was excited when the company was willing to send me bottles of the Moonlight Spicy Watermelon Mix, the Lanai Jalapeño Pineapple Mix, and both the blackberry and ginger shrubs. The ginger shrub is actually still unopened--Crafted Cocktail products come in really generously-proportioned bottles that need to be refrigerated after opening, so I am savoring them one at a time while conserving fridge space. I think the ginger flavor will be a great asset for cocktails closer to the holidays, so expect more posts to come toward the end of the year.

Right now, I'd like to share three cocktail recipes with you using the products I have tried. More can be found at http://www.craftedcocktails.net/recipes.html.

Blackberry Bramble

Blackberries
1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz agave syrup
1/2 ounce Crafted Cocktails Blackberry Shrub
Ginger beer

Muddle 6 blackberries with the gin, lemon, and agave until they have broken and released their juices. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and add the shrub. Top off with a splash of ginger beer. Garnish with blackberries and lemon.

Jalapeño Pineapple Margarita

1 part blanco tequila
3 parts Lanai Jalapeño Pineapple Mix
Lime wedge or sliced jalapeno

Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with lime and or jalapeno.

La Jefa

1 part blanco tequila
3 parts Moonlight Spicy Watermelon Mix
Squeeze of fresh lime

Pour into a margarita glass with salted rim. Garnish with fresh lime wedge and sliced jalapeno

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Persimmon Muffins

I bought a persimmon at the Asian market several weeks ago. Mid-November. It was hard and hard and hard then had a smallish softish spot and then all of a sudden...squishy. I scraped the pulp out of the skin and almost ate it as is, but decided it would be better utilized in a dessert of some sort. Since it was already a puree and all. But what kind of dessert? I had a box of cream cheese without a plan in the fridge, but didn't want to fuss with a crust. And perhaps the creamy cheese would completely muffle the fruit's sweet flavor. Instead, I opted to make muffins.

I figured a modified apple muffin would work, and Martha Stewart's version with oats seemed ideal. It didn't require buttermilk or yogurt or any other stuff I didn't already have on hand. I swapped out the apple for persimmon, and the 1/2 cup milk for 1/4 cup of light cream (you can use half and half or milk), upped the cinnamon and sugar, and added nutmeg, vanilla, and walnuts. The result is hearty, yet delicately flavored and not too sweet. A perfect breakfast treat, IMHO.

Persimmon Walnut Oat Muffins (adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup cream
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cup AP flour
1 cup quick oats
1 large very ripe persimmon, skin removed and chopped into a fine saucy pulp
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or 2 6-cup tins), or line with cupcake liners.

Put the butter in a large glass bowl and pop it in the microwave for a minute or so at high heat to melt. Let cool for a bit before stirring in the sugar and vanilla and beating in the eggs, cream, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the flour and oats, mixing just until blended. Stir in the persimmon pulp and walnuts.

Scoop batter evenly into the prepared tin or tins. Place on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake for 20 minutes, turning tin 180° halfway through baking.

Remove from tins and allow to cool on a rack. Eat warm with butter or at room temperature.



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Flashback Friday - Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

Sometimes a good restaurant meal inspires good home-cooking. Perhaps not replicating the entire meal, but just one course. Or borrowing the flavors from the appetizer or dessert to create a completely different dish, as in these crisp turnovers filled with a combination of pears and figs and jazzed up with bourbon caramel sauce.

--Kathy

This post was originally published on January 17, 2012.
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Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

We spent a couple of the last remaining hours of 2011 having a lovely dinner at B&O American Brasserie. Among the five courses we consumed were two that really inspired me to try a variation at home, one of which was a brown butter pear cake paired with figs and bacon.

The cake itself was just a rather plain yellow cake; the pear actually appeared to be within the jam-like accompaniment of caramelized dried figs sprinkled with bits of bacon. I thought the fig/pear/caramel combination was delicious and made a mental note to try it at home, with or without the bacon.

After a bit of thinking, I decided figsnpears would work nicely as a filling for tartlets, hand pies, or turnovers. Because I was already making a fairly complicated dinner the same night, I decided to forego the bacon, although it would have been a tasty addition.

Commercial puff pastry is always a breeze to use - just thaw, fill, and bake. The puffy little pies were terrific hot out of the oven and drizzled with a bit of the caramel sauce, but equally as good at room temperature with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream and more caramel.

Pear and Fig Turnovers with Bourbon Caramel

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
8 dried figs, quartered, stems removed
1 cup water
2 medium pears, skinned and diced
1 tablespoon butter
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1 egg, beaten

In a small saucepan, bring figs and water to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes, or until figs are tender, adding more water as necessary. Remove from heat and drain figs. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium sauté pan. Add pears and cook over medium heat until tender. Add 2 tablespoons of the bourbon caramel sauce, stir in reserved figs, and cook an additional five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Unfold one puff pastry sheet and use a rolling pin to flatten the seams and stretch the dough out a bit. Cut dough into six squares. Place a tablespoon of fig and pear filling in the center of each square (if some of the squares are rectangles, stretch the dough accordingly). Fold dough to form a triangle and seal edges with the tines of a fork. Place pies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush each with the beaten egg. Repeat with second pastry sheet.

Bake for 18 minutes. Serve with little ramekins of caramel sauce for dipping.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon

Place sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high and bring sugar mixture to a boil. Cook without stirring until the syrup turns a medium amber and starts to smoke (but is not burning!). Remove pan from heat and add butter and cream. Stir in bourbon and vanilla. Pour into a clean glass pint jar and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Reheat caramel by placing a couple of spoonfuls into a microwave-safe ramekin and microwaving for 5-second increments until caramel is hot and bubbly. Remove carefully, as it will be very hot.

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Rosy Rice Pudding

At the Summer Fancy Food Show last year, I noticed a mini-trend (a teeny tiny-trend, actually) of things flavored with rosewater or roses. Yeah, roses as in the flower. It's a popular flavoring in the Middle East and India, but maybe not so much in the western world. Roses taste the way they smell, so I suppose if you're not a fan of rose aromas, your palate might not appreciate their flavor, either. I like it myself, but a little goes a long way.

I purchased some rose water in an Indian market a few years back, and it was so weak as to be unnoticeable. I never ventured back to see if I could find another brand and then forgot about it until the SFFS reminded me.

One company on my list of booths to hit at this year's show was Nielsen-Massey, perhaps best known for their vanilla extracts and pastes. However, I didn't have time to actually pay them a visit, so the nice people at N-M sent me some sample bottles of a few of their various non-vanilla extracts--pure coffee, orange blossom, and rose water. I immediately opened each bottle and took a sniff. Yup - coffee, orange blossom, and rose scents were pretty strong! Couldn't wait to use them.

This time of year, post SFFS, I really wish I could stay home full-time and cook (and eat). I have so many fun things to play with, but they usually have to wait for the weekend until I find a bit of free time. I decided that the rose water games would come first, and I would make a rose water-flavored rice pudding for the 4th of July. Why? because my samples arrived on the 2nd of July, that's why.

Nielsen-Massey included a recipe for rice pudding, but it was the fussy kind with raw rice that requires a bit more time (and stirring) than I had to offer. We already had some leftover cooked rice in the fridge, and I wanted to use that. So I did. When the rice is precooked, it takes less than 30 minutes to prep and cook. Prep basically equals measuring stuff directly into a pot. Once the rice absorbs all the yummy cream and sugar, just stir in the flavorings, let cool a bit, then eat.

I decided since roses are red, and my pudding would be served on the 4th, that blueberries would be an appropriate accompaniment. Red, white, and blueberry!

If you're going to use rose petals as garnish, make sure they are grown without the use of pesticides or herbicides. Do not eat flowers from a florist! It's best if they are grown in your own yard, and they should smell pretty. If they don't have much fragrance (like most of the old, not-well-cared-for roses in my neighborhood), they won't taste like much, either. You don't have to ingest them, of course - use petals as garnish, then pick them off before eating. The Nielsen-Massey rose water will supply plenty of flavoring.

Rosewater Rice Pudding

2.5 cups cooked short grain rice
1.5 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Nielsen Massey vanilla paste
1/4 teaspoon Nielsen Massey rose water
Fresh blueberries
Food grade rose petals (optional)

Combine the rice, milk, cream, sugar, and butter in a saucepot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Remove pudding from the heat and stir in the vanilla paste and rose water.

Eat warm, at room temperature, or chilled, garnished with blueberries and optional rose petals.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Spiced Peach Cake

Today is my brother's birthday, so I thought it would be appropriate to post a cake recipe. Happy birthday, Dave!

Peach season is almost over, unfortunately, and I have been loving all the sweet juicy ones we are getting from either the farmer's market or in our weekly Washington's Green Grocer delivery. I am sadly allergic to raw peaches, but if I cook them a little bit, they give me no problems (same with plums, cherries, nectarines). Ordinarily, I chop up a peach or two and put them in a microwave-safe bowl, nuke for 2 minutes, and let them cool before shoveling them in. This time, I had several more very ripe peaches than I could comfortably eat in one day. Mr Minx is not a fan of crisps or cobblers, so I decided to make a cake.

Half my life ago, I worked at Gordon's Booksellers at the Rotunda with a bunch of terrific people, many of whom are still among my closest and dearest friends. One year, we had a staff Christmas party at my house. Everyone who worked at the store was invited; we also invited one of our favorite customers. Jay worked next door at Maryland Casualty, but he dropped into the bookstore every morning to buy a newspaper and shoot the shit. He was fun and we figured he was as much a part of the Gordon's experience as any of the rest of us.

The party was pot luck, and Jay brought a loaf cake studded with peaches. Because the peaches had been canned in syrup, each piece was in a juicy little pocket of cake. I loved the texture variation, and asked him for the recipe. He complied, I put it away for safe keeping, and never used it. So this cake, while not the same as Jay's, was made with him in mind.

Spiced Peach Cake

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 pound peaches, peeled and sliced

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a standard bundt cake pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Add the flour mixture, beating only until combined. Stir in the walnuts by hand.

Put about a third of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Cover with a layer of the peaches. Repeat batter and peach layers, ending with batter.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Because of the peaches, there may be pockets of moisture here and there, so try the toothpick in several areas. Don't overbake!



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Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze

Since the Fancy Food Show, we've been getting lots of tasty products to review. One of my favorites is Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze. Part cereal, part smoothie, completely delicious, Munk Pack is a great snack to throw in your bag and take with you to eat at work or on the road.

There are three flavors: raspberry coconut, blueberry acai flax, and apple quinoa cinnamon. My favorite is the raspberry coconut, which definitely tastes of raspberry, but also has banana and apple in it. (All three flavors have apple, the Blueberry Acai Flax has banana, too.) It's hard to describe the texture of the stuff....it's not thick and gloppy like oatmeal, nor is it runny like applesauce, but perhaps somewhere in between. Mostly smooth, with bits of grain. And bits of coconut in the raspberry flavor. It's really quite tasty, and at 100 calories or less, a lot better for you than a candy bar (but, I understand, not chocolate).

Munk Pack products hit all the right buzzwords du jour: gluten-free, non-gmo, kosher, vegan. The products have no added sugar, 3-4g of fiber, and are packed in a BPA-free pouch that lets you squeeze every drop of goodness right into your gullet.

You can purchase Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeezes at Eddies on Charles Street and on Roland Ave and at Wegman's. Or at Amazon, which of course has everything.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Strawberry Shortbread

I love butter. I have always sneered at the thought that butter is bad for me and never even entertained using anything else for baking. Certainly it is the only thing to use for slathering on bread and rolls and bagels and corn on the cob and etc., etc., etc. But I have never been a butter snob. Honestly. Even when I was a kid, and my grandmother insisted on using big blocks of butter purchased from Castle Farms in the Broadway Market. Sure, the butter was a bit tastier than the pale sticks of commercial butter my mother purchased at the supermarket, but I didn't think it was that big a deal. I know--heresy.

For much of my life, standard supermarket butter was the butter of choice. Eventually, European gourmet butters came to be available, at Whole Foods and Weis Market. But I always felt those butters were too...funky. If I accidentally got some of it on my fingers, I was stuck with the smell all day long. Thank goodness I don't have facial hair, otherwise eating gourmet-buttered corn on the cob would be a real trial (so I didn't eat it).

And then I found Finlandia Butter. Made from the milk of hormone-free Finnish cows, this rich butter is creamy and fresh-tasting. It's perfect for both cooking and topping freshly baked bread and corn on the cob. And its safe for those who have facial hair (and I still maintain I have none).

Finlandia was kind enough to send me samples of both their salted and unsalted versions, and I happily got to work creating recipes that showcased their butter's creamy goodness. What better way to show off the flavor of butter than shortbread? With only three essential ingredients--sugar, flour, and butter--there's nothing to get in the way of enjoying that luscious dairy.

Curd, too, is a buttery product. At least, that's the way I prefer my curd (some are more eggy). But I feel that I've made lemon curd so many times and needed to try something new. Pureed strawberries make a lovely pink curd, and the fruit is just acidy enough to tame the richness of butter. This recipe makes quite a bit of curd, about 2 pints, so you can enjoy it on scones or toast or by the spoonful (my favorite way).

I used 4" springform pans to make the shortbread, but you can use tartlet shells if you have them (reducing baking time accordingly if the shells are smaller) or press the dough into a single 8" tart pan with removable bottom. Heck, the dough is pretty sturdy, so you can even hand form it into large cookies with a slight rim to contain the curd.

Top with whipped cream and a mint leaf garnish, or enjoy as is. Either way, these buttery tartlets are sure to please.

Rustic Strawberry Shortbread Tarts

For curd:
1 lb strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks
2 large eggs + 3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons Finlandia unsalted butter, cut into small bits
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

For crusts:
8 tablespoons Finlandia salted butter, softened
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour

To assemble:
Strawberries

To make curd:  Puree the strawberries in a blender. Pour the puree into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. While the puree is warming, whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Add the puree to the egg mixture in a slow stream, whisking all the time. Return the puree to the pan and heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter a few pieces at a time, then stir in the orange juice and vanilla. Pour into a covered container and refrigerate until cold.

To make crusts: Stir butter and sugar together in a bowl. Mix in yolk. Add flour and stir until butter and flour are well combined and mixture is crumbly. Press dough into bottoms and a tiny bit of the way up sides of 4 4-inch springform pans. Freeze pans until dough is firm, 15 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake shells until crust turns lightly browned around the edges, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack before removing outer rings. Gently slide tart shells off of pan bottoms. Cool completely before filling.

To assemble tarts:  Hull strawberries. Cut each one into slices from bottom to top.

Fill baked crusts with strawberry curd. Top with sliced strawberries arranged in a fan pattern.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.


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Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

Spring has sprung, which means it's rhubarb season. And in the Casa de Minxeats, we do make a valiant attempt to eat as many fresh fruits and veggies as we can. Personally, I have no problem eating something completely vegetarian (or even vegan) for dinner, like a whole steamed cauliflower topped with nothing but salt, pepper, and butter, but you know Mr Minx likes to eat more substantially. Even if we're not doing our typical meat-and-potatoes meal, we're eating something closer to veggies and potatoes, or more likely, veggies and pasta (but I do like to sneak in some quinoa now and then). Sometimes I'll throw together a seasonal vegetarian appetizer, like roasted asparagus, as a starter for our meal, rather than eating veggies as merely a side dish.

I found this recipe for a lovely soup made with rhubarb and strawberries on the Eating Well web site. It's super simple to make, very slightly savory with the salt, basil, and pepper, and completely refreshing. While it's very spring-like, it would be a perfect summer recipe, too, especially as one can find frozen rhubarb these days (and some supermarkets carry it at the oddest times of year).

Speaking of rhubarb, the title of this post may remind those of you of a certain age about a particular Jan Brady rant ("It's always..."Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!'"), but it has another, very different, showbiz connotation. Because the word "rhubarb" doesn't have any recognizable phonemes, it was often used as crowd scene "conversation" in old films. Overlapping layers of the sounds of "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb," sounds more like actual chatter than having people just say something like, "blah, blah, blah," and certainly is a lot less effort than coming up with actual conversation.

Sometimes I wish I could do that in real life.

Chilled Strawberry Rhubarb Soup

4 cups 1/2-inch pieces rhubarb, fresh or frozen (about 8 stalks, if fresh)
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or mint, plus more for garnish
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Bring rhubarb and 3 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Cook until the rhubarb is very soft and broken down, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Put a couple inches of ice water in a large bowl and set the bowl with the rhubarb in it to help cool it quickly. (If you aren’t in a hurry, you can skip the ice-water bath.) Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until cool, at least 20 minutes.

Transfer the rhubarb to a blender. Add strawberries, sugar and salt; blend until smooth. Return to the bowl and stir in 1/3 cup basil (or mint). Serve sprinkled with more herbs and a generous grinding of pepper.



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Brunch at Wit and Wisdom

Mr Minx and I were recently invited to try Wit & Wisdom's revamped brunch buffet. Despite our usual lazy weekend mornings that involve eating breakfast in the vicinity of noon, we don't consider ourselves to be brunch people. Our experience at Wit & Wisdom might just change that.

The brunch buffet there is serious. Executive chef Zack Mills' offerings include everything from soup to nuts. (Almost literally--we didn't see any nuts.) There are plenty of familiar breakfast options like scrambled eggs, potatoes, Belgian waffles, buttermilk pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and omelettes. But there are also salads and soups, raw oysters, smoked salmon, poached shrimp, and more substantial items like pulled pork, roasted salmon, and teres major.

Raw oysters with mignonette, tuna tartare, lamb chop, pita, labne

Near the front of the line was a chef's choice table featuring flavors of the Middle East, including some lovely lamb chops that, despite resting under a heat lamp, were perfectly pink and juicy inside and nicely crusty on the outside. There was also hummus and labne with pitas, a spiced rice pilaf, and a pot of ful medames, an Egyptian fava bean stew.

Smoked salmon, shrimp, rice pilaf, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, bacon, tuna tartare

There's also a section of items for the kids--thoughtfully arranged on lower, child-height tables--with chicken fingers and fries, mac and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Bacon, eggs, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, roasted root vegetables, biscuit with sausage gravy

We had to try a little of everything. Well, almost everything, because two people couldn't do the expansive buffet justice. Everything we tried was quite good and served at the proper temperature. My favorites were the lamb chops (I was so tempted to make a pig of myself and eat two) and the roasted root vegetables.

Rice pudding and assorted Viennoiserie

The dessert table was hard to resist. Pastry chef Dyan Ng's tiny croissants and other sweet morsels are a perfect ending to the meal. Even if you pig out on savories, there's always room for a tiny cream puff or a couple of spoonfuls of rich rice pudding. Or both.

In addition to all of the various eats, Wit & Wisdom's brunch also features a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar and bottomless Mimosas. A full array of cocktails crafted by lead bartender Aaron Joseph are also available. (We chose to stick to more traditional breakfast beverages: coffee and freshly-squeezed orange juice.)

Wit & Wisdom's brunch is served on Sundays from 9am - 2pm. The cost is $49 for adults and $19 for children 12 and under. Yes, the price is steep, but you probably won't need to eat for the rest of the day....


* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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