Woullet Bakery's Princess Torte

My birthday treat, purchased with one of the groupon-style deals, was the Princess Torte from Woullet Bakery. I first tried this amazing dessert this fall in an internship and fell in love instantly. I honestly think it is the best dessert I've ever had in my life. It's worth every penny and is a great way to mark a special event!

 Straight from the website: "Raspberry and Bavarian Cream layered with genoise (egg-rich golden cake) and wrapped in pastel marzipan." There are sliced almonds around the outside for a salty kick and the beautiful frosting rose is edible and actually tasty. Overall? Soooooo good.

Pesto Turkey Meatloaf

This was a delicious, healthier take on meatloaf. Last summer I took advantage of cheap, fragrant basil at the farmer's market to make a substantial amount of pesto. We've been chipping away at our frozen stock with pizzas and pastas, but needed to change it up. I took some liberties with the recipe and wished that I had adhered to the baking instructions calling for a roasting pan instead of a loaf pan.  It still worked, just ended up pretty juicy.

Pesto Turkey Meatloaf
adapted from Kayln's Kitchen and Culinate


2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb lean ground turkey
1/4 cup basil pesto
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/4 cup marinara sauce
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a roasting pan with draining slits (or 9x5 loaf pan, if you don't mind the juice) with olive oil.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté 7-8 minutes till slightly brown. Add the garlic, lower heat and sauté 2 minutes.

Combine turkey, onion, garlic, pesto, parmesan cheese, salt, and breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl.

Form mixture into a loaf and set on roasting pan or into your loaf pan.

 Look at that yummy pesto!

Bake for 40 minutes. In the meantime, mix balsamic vinegar and marinara sauce. Brush sauce over meatloaf until fully covered. Bake another 5 minutes until cooked through, 160 degrees. (It takes awhile, the original blog says one hour and twenty minutes until done.) 

 Our final results weren't pretty, it didn't hold together in slices at all, but it was quite tasty.  If it was called "Crumbled Turkey with Pesto," I'd have nailed it.  Crumbled or sliced, it's pretty fantastic with  baked potatoes on the side.

Corn Chowder

Cook's Illustrated is the best. No really- I've never been let down by one of their recipes. I haven't even had a mediocre recipe from them.  Here's one of my favorites.  There's plenty of steps and lots of work, but it was totally worth it. Even with grocery store corn on the cob trucked in from who knows where. I can't imagine how wonderful this would be with fresh Minnesota sweet corn!

Lighter Corn Chowder
from Cook's Illustrated magazine, July August 2011


8 ears corn, husked
3 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped finely
4 slices bacon, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 tsp minced fresh thyme *we actually had this and it was SO good in the final soup*
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup flour
5 cups water
3/4 pound red potatoes, cut into 1/2 pieces
1 cup half-and-half
Sugar
3 Tbsp fresh basil *didn't have this, didn't add it and it still worked*


Remove the corn kernels from the cobs and set aside. (A chef's knife works alright if you stand the cob up in a large bowl to catch the flying kernels. Otherwise OXO makes a great corn kernel stripper that we've invested in and love. It's much quicker, less messy, and seems safer in my opinion. This toy is featured in this recipe write up in the magazine.)

KEEP THE EMPTY COBS! This is the cool part. Using the back, dull side of a butter knife, scrape down the empty cobs over/into a medium bowl. You'll end up with about 2 cups of pulp.  Strain out the pulp pieces using a kitchen towel or cheesecloth and set aside the resulting corn juice.

Now, all the other stuff. We cooked the bacon slices separately, so we could remove the grease and have even "lighter" chowder.

Cook the onion, thyme, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large pot. (Add bacon if you didn't cook separately beforehand, otherwise add after flour below.) Stir frequently and cook about 8 minutes or until onion is softened and sides are beginning to brown. Add flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes.

While continuing to stir constantly, slowly add water and bring to a boil. Add the corn kernels and red potatoes. Return mixture to a simmer and cook 15-18 minutes over medium heat until potatoes have softened.

Process mixture in a blender or using an immersion blender. (Another fun toy that means you don't have to wait for the soup to cool fully or clean out a fully dirty food processor/blender!)

Add half-and-half and return blended chowder to a simmer. Remove the chowder from heat and add that odd corn juice you strained earlier. Add any remaining salt or pepper the soup needs, add sugar if you feel it needs it. Serve with basil garnish, if desired.

I think the odd, magic corn juice is really what sent the chowder to the favorites list. This was a hearty, filling soup that actually tasted like corn, not nondescript cafeteria soup. We're stuck in a continuous heat wave this summer, so when our local corn is ready, we may tried a chilled Corn Chowder. I'll keep you posted.

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

I'm always on the look out for great blueberry recipes. Blueberries aren't my favorite berry, but they are great fun to pick out in the woods!  Here's a great, if a little labor intensive, recipe for a desert-like blueberry bread.  Lemon-Blueberry Cake may be a more apt title!

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt "Cake" Loaf
adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen blog


1 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp four, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt *we used vanilla, non-fat Greek yogurt*
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries *we used over 2 cups and it wasn't overwhelming*


Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon Glaze: (Yes, it is different from the lemon syrup for this recipe. Are you getting the Cake vibe yet?)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x5 loaf pan and dust with flour (be sure to shake it around to distribute evenly and then tap out any leftovers in the pan).

Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and oil with a wire whisk. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until well blended.

In separate bowl, carefully mix blueberries with 1 Tbsp flour (we used more flour as we used more berries). Very carefully, to avoid breaking the skin on the berries, fold coated berries into the cake- I mean loaf- batter.

Pour all batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 50-55 minutes. The ole toothpick coming out clean is the way to be sure the loaf is done. The cooked loaf should rest in the pan for 10 minutes before moving to it's syrup and glazing station (a wire rack on top of a baking sheet with edges to catch the drippings).

Prepare the syrup and glaze by juicing the 2 lemons used for zest. For the syrup, take 1/3 cup of the juice, add sugar, and heat in saucepan over medium heat for 3 minutes after the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.  Poke holes in the top and sides of the cooked, cooling loaf. Brush the loaf with syrup repeatedly, letting it soak in after each application. I think I did this 5 times. Let the loaf cool completely (or else the glaze just runs right off!)

Prepare the glaze by mixing powdered sugar and 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice until the glaze is stiff but pourable-- the thicker the better, though. Pour the glaze over the loaf, encouraging puddles on the top of the loaf and juicy drips down the sides.  The original recipe calls for this to happen once...but I wasn't about the let the leftover glaze go down the sink.

 It's *almost* too sweet for breakfast!  Very lemony and very sweet-- the blueberries and cake/loaf seemed almost an afterthought. That said, it was delicious and would be a pretty pick for any morning potlucks or as a dessert on a summer night. I think it might even go well with ice cream...

Halal Street Chicken

Late-night recipe searching on the web yields some pretty delicious results. I have a feeling our version turned out less greasy than the original street food version of this Halal Chicken recipe-- but ours was incredibly flavorful and a nice break from mac and cheese or ramen.

Halal Street Chicken
adapted from Serious Eats Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice with White Sauce


Chicken:
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh oregano *or dried oregano...or Italian Seasoning for those watching the budget*
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped *we always add more garlic*
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper (roughly 1/2 tsp of each)
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced or sliced
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Rice:
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp tumeric *can and will die almost anything yellow, be careful which dishes you use and always clean up spills right away!*
1/4 ground cumin
1 1/2 cups long-grain Basmati rice
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
Salt and Pepper (roughly 1/2 of each)

Sauce:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley *same story as for Oregano above*


Serving Condiments:
shredded iceberg lettuce
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
pita bread (optional)
hot sauce (optional- but who doesn't like hot sauce!)

Very first thing, you'll need to marinate the chicken. Slice or dice chicken, whatever you prefer. Blend the lemon juice, oregano, coriander, garlic, and olive oil. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Pour marinade into freezer gallon-sized ziplock bag and add the raw chicken pieces. Marinade for 1-4 hours in the fridge.

I opted for getting the condiments and sauce ready first-- hoping some of the dried herbs in the yogurt mixture would release more flavor with more time.

Spoon the marinated chicken from the ziplock bag into a medium-high heat skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook until lightly browned on all sides and no pink is visible when a larger piece is cut in half. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add turmeric and cumin to melted butter and cook for 1 minute. Lightly toast the rice in the spiced butter by stirring frequently for about 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and any salt and pepper you desire. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let rest 15 minutes. Stir cooked rice with a fork.

That's it!  Now it's all about assembling. I'm of the mindset that each person should assemble their own dinner using the proportions that they'd prefer. Aside from eating out, I'm never a fan of having my plate prepared for me.

Enjoy, it's delicious!

(As a side note for those watching their waistlines, this could be served with much more lettuce and less rice/chicken as a salad. There was plenty of flavor with the rice/chicken/sauce to go around with much more lettuce and tomatoes.)

SuperBowl Spread

I'm a sucker for junk food-- especially when life is stressful or uncertain as it has often been in the past couple of years. Given the nature of the food served at SuperBowl parties, it's easy to see why it's my favorite food holiday!  Here are some peaks at our spread for the 2012 SuperBowl...

We have chips, guacamole, chili cheese dip, hummus and veggies, and my husband's own Buffalo Chicken Meatballs. All amazing!

Almost 8 months later...

Well, much has happened since a last post. Due to a busy graduate school schedule and then to a much needed break following graduation, the blog has been neglected. No more.

Although the blog has been boring for the last half year or so, thankfully, life has not been. Some of my favorite dabbling adventures have been captured and can still be shared (albeit much delayed).