Take That Cancer! -or- Strawberry-Pomegranate Cake

Hal's school had a cake auction to benefit Relay for Life, a race that raises money for the American Cancer Society. Since it was heading into Easter weekend, we wanted to make a lovely springtime cake worthy of the Easter table. What I came up with is a rip on one of Sandra Lee's recipes. You know how I like to replace water with alcohol in my baking - well this was a similar idea. Make a regular strawberry cake according to directions, cutting oil down to 1/4 cup and replacing the water with one 11.3-oz can of strawberry nectar. I found this in my local Kroger's international section for $0.50. It would also have been great with pomegranate juice.

This is where I went in a bit of a different direction: between layers, I added pomegranate jam mixed with strawberries slurried in my food processor. It was probably about a cup of strawberries, and then I just mixed in the jam until it was thick enough to stay put on top of the cake. I think this added an extra layer of flavor, and brought down the sweetness just a touch.

With a thick layer of the mixture between cake layers, I mixed 1 container of whipped cream cheese frosting with half a container of strawberry frosting, and added two small shakes of ground cardamom - just enough to bring in that lovely floral scent and a hint of spice, again to calm the sweetness since there is SO much strawberry in the cake. Apply frosting generously. :)

I'm happy to say that the cake looked lovely in the auction, and sold for $50. What a sweet way to start the Easter weekend!

PS - I believe I have now corrected the issue with email followers being able to comment, if you care. :)

Grilled Greek Pizza

Spring came back to Atlanta today, so of course I wanted to use the grill tonight. Greek pizza, fired on the grill for a few minutes, was the perfect end to a lovely day.

1 refrigerated pizza crust
Olive Oil
1 Italian sausage
1/4 onion, sliced very thin
1 garlic clove, minced
Feta cheese crumbles
1/2 lemon, sliced very thin
Oregano to taste
Shredded mild cheddar (or mozzarella)

Brown the sausage, breaking into crumbles (easiest if you remove the casing first). Remove to a paper-towel lined plate once done, leaving the remaining fat in the pan. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook down until the onions are nicely carmelized. Scoop out and add to paper-towel lined plate. Add a bit of olive oil into the pan now if the fat has mostly gone - just enough to cover most of the bottom. Add the lemon slices, and fry until they just start to brown. Add these to the paper towel once done also.

To build the pizza: drizzle olive oil onto the crust and spread out very thinly. Start with less oil than you think you need - you can always add more, but you just want to make sure the crust is covered throughout, no more than that. Sprinkle the sausage on first, then spread out the onion/garlic mix. Cut the lemons into small chunks and sprinkle those on, then the chunks of Feta. Sprinkle a bit of oregano over the top (to taste - but you generally don't need much, it's a strong flavor). Since Feta doesn't melt, add some other shredded cheese to pull it together. I used mild cheddar, because I had it on hand, and the flavor worked really well with the fried lemon (which is not bitter anymore, but just the perfect slightly sour punch). Bake the pizza at 450 for about 10 minutes, then pull it out of the oven and slap it on the grill for another 5-7 minutes - this gives the crust an awesome charred flavor, perfect for enjoying on a lovely spring evening!

St. Patrick's Day - Not Just for Drinking!

I love celebrating holidays through food - and yes, that includes St. Patrick's Day. Irish food has never been as celebrated as Irish drink, but I think it should be. And boy, do I love Irish drink.

Irish cuisine is based on simplicity - the meats, fish and vegetables available on a small, rocky island. Today I'm celebrating the Irish with roasted herb-crusted lamb, colcannon (mashed potatoes with sauteed kale and Irish cheddar), and chocolate stout cupcakes with vanilla-Irish Cream frosting.

I bought a small rack of lamb ribs - 3 ribs each is enough for two people. I put 1/2 tsp each of dried sage, rosemary and thyme (sorry, no parsley) in a small bowl, with 1 tsp each of salt and fresh cracked pepper. To the herb mix, add 2 minced garlic cloves and just a bit of olive oil - just enough to make it a paste (probably about a Tbsp). I rubbed the paste onto both sides of the lamb, and roasted in a 325 degree oven for about half an hour - the temperature of the meat should be 160 for medium. The photo makes the meat look very red, but it was done perfectly.

Colcannon is a little bit of work, but worth it. You need about 2 lbs of potatoes - I used baby dutch yellows, cut in half, so they would cook quickly. Add the potatoes to a large pot of boiling water, then add about a Tbsp of salt. While they are cooking, grate some cheese if you want it (about half a pound is good) and saute your kale - trim the thick parts of the ribs off and rough-chop the leaves until you have about a cup. Put this in a pan with a splash of chicken stock, beer, water - anything liquid really. Just cook it down enough to wilt the kale without burning it (this takes away the natural bitterness). Once the potatoes are fork tender, drain them and add 2 Tbsp butter and a cup of any of the following: cream, milk or sour cream. Today I used about half a cup of light cream (had it in the fridge), and filled in the rest with reduced fat sour cream. Use more liquid if you like your mashed potatoes creamier. Mash it all together, then mix in the wilted kale (and cheese if using).

For the Stout Cupcakes: I made regular chocolate cake mix, replacing the required water with Guinness. Then I added 1.5 oz (one shot) of Irish Cream liqueur to a tub of regular vanilla frosting. I think this would have been even better with a buttercream or cream cheese frosting, but I already had a tub of vanilla I needed to use. As it was, it was great. I like to put the frosting into a zip-loc bag, cut the corner, and pipe the frosting on so I can pile it up better. Green sprinkles on top, of course.

To round your St. Patrick's Day meal, you should include some Irish whiskey of course. Choose your favorite - Paddy's, Jameson, Tullamore Dew, whatever you like. Drink it neat, or add a couple of ice cubes and swirl. Just whatever you do, stay away from that Bushmills stuff - it's Protestant whiskey.

Grill Time! Peach-Barbecue Pork

Daylight Savings Time started today...so I thought it was a perfect night to grill. Since it was also a Cobb Symphony weekend, I was playing a concert most of the afternoon. So, I made up a new marinade and left the pork loin to get flavor-licious while I was gone. I called Hal on the way home, and he threw it on the grill. By the time I got home, we had an awesome meal, all ready to go.

It was the easiest marinade I've done in a while! Only 3 ingredients: barbecue sauce (whatever you have), peach nectar (I bought a single can for $1 in the international section at Kroger), and hot sauce (whatever you have). If you feel like making homemade barbecue sauce to have on hand, I highly recommend the Neely's version. It's great on ribs.

I just mixed the 3 to taste, and make enough to cover the pork loin in a zipper bag (don't forget to take the tough membrane off the pork first). Cook the pork to 160 degrees - remember pork can still be pink inside if it's the right temperature. The meat went really well with instant mashed potatoes (flavored with dried rosemary) and some fruit. I finally felt like summer was on the way!

KILLER Shepherd's Pie

After a lovely peek at spring last weekend, today was colder, wet and nasty again. So what's for dinner? Shepherd's pie of course. It's warm and comfy, and very easy. Today I used a mixture of ground beef and ground pork since that's what I had. I've also used lamb (traditional). Notes: fattier meats will need to be drained, less flavorful meats (like the lamb) work better if you increase the garlic or black pepper. My Shepherd's Pie is full of awesomeness because I know a secret. (psst - here's the secret: you make the gravy with beer instead of water. you're welcome.) You will need:

ground meat - about a pound
onion - about half of a large one, chopped
garlic - about 4 cloves, chopped
mushrooms - about half a pound
brown gravy mix packets - 2 of the 0.87 oz size
beer - 2 bottles (an ale or dark lager works best)
frozen peas and/or carrots
salt and freshly ground pepper
shredded cheddar cheese (if you want) - about 2 handfuls
chopped fresh parsley if you happen to have some
instant mashed potatoes

Here's how easy this is: open one of the beers, and drink it while you're cooking. Preheat oven to 375. Brown the ground meat with the garlic, onions and mushrooms in the pan. While this is cooking, make the instant mashed potatoes and set aside. Once the meat is done, add the gravy packets and the other beer (1.5 cups, or a full 12-oz bottle), then the frozen peas/carrots. Simmer for a few minutes until the gravy is thickened and well mixed. Add salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste, then the few handfuls of cheese if you want (no need to melt, they'll do that in the oven). Pour the mixture into a baking dish - I find an 8x8 works fine. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, then sprinkle on the parsley if you have it. Bake for 15 minutes. And THAT IS IT.

Valentine's Day

Hal and I celebrated our 10th V-Day this year. I can't believe it's been 10 years since we celebrated by meeting at a Macaroni Grill restaurant halfway between Athens and Hiram, where the two of us were living. Boy, I don't miss the long-distance relationship. Instead, I still love every minute of being married and sharing my life and home with Hal. I like to think of Valentine's Day as a good excuse to make sure to slow down and spend time together, even on a weeknight. I like to make a nice dinner, and just hang out with my husby - my awesome Valentine.

This year, I made sea scallops, dusted with flour and seared in a garlic-infused olive oil that my mom gave me (Sweetwater Growers in Canton, GA is also a good source...and they ship easily). For sides, I made individual potato gratins from a Melissa d'Arabian recipe, and prosciutto-wrapped plums stuffed with Gorgonzola. I intended to use figs or baby pears, neither of which I could find, so I thought I'd try plums since they are a good size too. I put them in the oven for about 5 minutes to crisp up the prosciutto and melt the cheese - yum! I think the key is not to use TOO much Gorgonzola, and maybe next time I'll add a drizzle of honey. The potato gratins, which involve layering potato slices, scallions and shredded swiss in the cups of a muffin tin, then drizzling with lite cream and baking, I must say were a bit of a disappointment. The cream sort of congealed a bit, and the flavor was just a little bland.

To make up for that, I made Molten Spiced Chocolate Cabernet Cakes that I found in a McCormick ad a while back. These were terribly easy, and very delicious. We each finished about half of one, since they were so dense, but they were really lovely! I was glad the liquid center and cakey outside worked so well. Give these a shot - it only takes a few minutes to make up the batter, which can be done ahead, and about 15 minutes to bake. I cut out a paper heart, put it on top, and dusted powdered sugar all over before removing the heart. They were as cute as they were yummy.

I hope you too had a Valentine's Day filled with love and good food, whether with family, friends, or the man you've loved dearly for the last 10 years.

The 3-Meat Super Bowl

Hal and I like to have a Super Bowl party every year - it prevents us from needing a designated driver. We love the big game, and the big food that comes with it. This year, a small plate of carrots and ranch dip was the only healthy option available. I decided to skip fruit/veggies, and go straight for the all-meat fiesta. It's only once a year, right?

So which three meats? Chicken, pork and beef. I made a beef vindaloo I saw on Aarti Party, another of Aarti Sequeira's recipes from her blog- Sriracha Pomegranate Chicken Wings, and an Asian-style honey barbecue pork that I made up. Yes, I'm obsessed with Aarti these days. I've made several of her recipes now, and they've all been fantastic. She's amazing.

The beef vindaloo was about medium-spicy the way I made it (just like her recipe, only I used a sweet onion instead of red). I cooked it on the stove, then transferred to a crock pot. I took the serrano pepper out of the crock once it came to the right spice level for me.

I changed up the chicken a bit more - for starters, I didn't make wings. I made the sauce just like the recipe, using her idea of cooking down pomegranate juice since I didn't find the molasses. Then I used the rub (made with ground cardamom instead of pods - I can't find those anywhere) on some regular chopped up chunks of chicken breast. Once again, I let it cook on the stove after the chicken sat in the rub for a while, and kept warm in a crock pot. Yes, I have two.

I had to borrow the third (thanks Lindsay!). In that one, I put the Asian pork I made. For that, I chopped up a pork tenderloin and cooked it up in a mixture of equal parts hoisin sauce and plum sauce with generous drizzles of soy sauce and honey - I just played with those until I was happy. I didn't want it too sweet. This took about 20 minutes total, including chopping the pork.

The whole meat-topia took about 1.5 hours to create, which I didn't think was bad at all considering the amount of food and things like curry made from scratch. Woot!

There were also 3 great dips. We had my homemade guacamole (original recipe courtesy of my sister Kristin's Cuban sister-in-law), a corn and cheese dip I learned from my sister Shannon, and a killer salsa dip my friend Amanda brought. My guac is just avocado, finely chopped onion and garlic, lots of cilantro and fresh lime juice. The Cuban secret is that you don't mix it - you cut through it with a knife repeatedly until it is well mixed and you still have some great chunks of avocado. It only takes a minute, and it's totally worth it.

Here is the magic corn and cheese dip: 14 oz of fiesta corn (with the peppers in it), 1.75 cups of good lite mayo (trust me, the store-brand stuff makes it weird), 2 cups shredded colby jack, half cup shredded parmesan, and 2 heaping Tbsp finely chopped jalapeno. Stir all of that together, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. That's it. And you can save the world with that dip.

There were also brownies, chips, the poor, out-of-place carrots, a mini-keg of Newcastle and a lovely bucket of sangria. Okay it wasn't actually in a bucket. I feel horribly full again just thinking about all of this. Maybe that's why it took me a week to write about it - I had to let my tummy heal a bit. Or maybe I just didn't want to admit that football season is actually over. Sigh...see you next year, meat-topia.