Butter Rum Pound Cake

From Cooking Light:


Butter, a classic ingredient in pound cake, contributes to the flavor and tender texture of this dense, rich dessert. Slices of leftover cake are good toasted and garnished with fresh fruit.

Yield
12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Ingredients
Cake:
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup spiced rum (such as Captain Morgan's)

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons spiced rum (such as Captain Morgan's)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, coat an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tablespoons flour.
Lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk until blended.
Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and 1/2 cup rum alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Run a knife around edges of pan; remove cake from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons rum, stirring until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cake.

RESULTS: I was a bit distracted when I was making this the other night because "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" was on TV, and I put in 1/2 lb of butter instead of 1/2 c. For those of you keeping score, that's twice as much. I didn't realize I had put too much in until I was lying in bed, calculating the tablespoons of butter per serving of my nice golden brown (and delicious) pound cake cooking on the counter, thinking to myself, how on earth was that in Cooking Light? And then I realized. Sigh! Chris figured that probably brought the butter content up to about what a normal pound cake is. So much for being healthy.

That said, a few of the reviewers online were disappointed that they could neither taste the butter nor the rum. I had no trouble with tasting the butter. I was a little worried about the rum because the recipe called for spiced rum and all we had was dark rum, but I thought it came through, albeit mostly in the icing. So, I can't speak for the actual recipe tasting good, but the pound cake I made tasted REALLY good.

Alton Brown's Turbo Hummus

Ingredients
2 to 3 cloves garlic
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and liquid reserved
2 to 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
A handful fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
Pinch kosher salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions
Chop the garlic finely in a food processor. Add the beans and 1/2 of the reserved liquid and process finely or to desired consistency. Add the peanut butter, parsley, lemon zest and juice, black pepper, and salt. Process until it forms a paste. Drizzle in the olive oil and process until it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.

Results:
I tried this recipe out because lately I've been consuming a large amount of store-bought hummus, and decided it would save money if I did it myself. The recipe is especially appealing because it replaces the very elusive tahini with peanut butter, and who doesn't have peanut butter in their cabinet? Actually, the only ingredient I didn't already have was a lemon and fresh parsley, so the total cost for this was: $1.50.

Anyway the results: first off, because I don't have a food processor, I used a stick blender (my favorite kitchen appliance next to Mr. Coffee). Well, it did the job, but not without occasionally sending globs of hummus flying around the kitchen, and I never could reach the "consistency of mayonnaise." Also, I used a large handful of the parsley because I figure I have smaller hands then my man Alton. Don't do that. The hummus is good, but is a very unappealing pea-green color. Finally, some comments have suggested using 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 sesame oil to make it taste more like tahini (which is paste make from sesame seeds). It also doesn't taste like store-bought hummus in the way that cookies from the store and cookies from the stove taste differently. They both taste good, but different. It would be interesting to see what the difference tahini would make. All-in-all, it was very quick, easy, and good, but I don't think this recipe would satisfy someone looking for an authentic-tasting hummus.

Things I did today at work:

Went to a staff meeting, proofread, some website work, worked on a profile of a new prof, talked on the phone with the (unsuccessful) 2007 presidential candidate of South Korea. You know. The usual.

He called ME by the way, and this wasn't just some Joe-blow-Nadar guy, he would be the John Kerry of South Korea, a candidate for a major party. He's coming to give a talk next month. I sort of halfway but not really scolded him over email because he hasn't been writing me back, so instead he calls me. Yeesh, embarrasing. A few weeks ago, I also sort of email-scolded the secretary of one of the university's vice presidents because he backed out of an event I had invited him to months beforehand (I didn't really scold her, I just wanted to make sure there hadn't been a mixup and that we were talking about the same date), and to clarify and apologize for reneging the VP himself called me to explain, with his charming British accent. That was embarrasing too. I never imagined I had such a forceful email voice! If only my vocal voice could learn from my email voice...

The grand canyon's plateau point

I just posted this because it's raining outside, and there's really nothing else to do! :)

Beth

I changed the label section in the sidebar to be a word cloud. It might not work if you're not running Java, or it just might not work (I'm still an HTML novice and had to copy and paste from someone else), so if not let me know and I can change it back. I also fiddled with font colors and sizes. Good times.

Goooo 'Skins!

EDIT: I forgot to say, I wanted to try out the word cloud to see what the visual relationship between Harper and all things cooking was. I'm a little shocked, actually, to see that I've had very few Harper posts, and even less than cleaning. Also surprising is that I've had more posts on vegetables than dessert. Must work on that.

Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan and Fried Sage Leaves

To continue with the soup theme, from Epicurious.com:

Fried sage leaves make a crispy garnish. Try them also crumbled on mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables.

Servings: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 2 3/4-pound butternut squash, halved, peeled, seeded, chopped (about 5 cups)
5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
24 fresh sage leaves

Directions:
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion; cover and cook until soft, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Add chopped sage; stir 1 minute. Add squash and broth. Increase heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly. Puree soup in batches in blender until smooth (or use immersion blender). Return soup to pot. Mix in cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate.)
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and sauté until brown and toasted, about 2 minutes. Bring soup to simmer. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with fried sage leaves.


RESULTS: Very tasty! You may need less than 5 cups of broth, I would start with 4. Or, you can use all five and then boil some off to thicken. I threw in some toasted almonds that I had leftover from the barley soup with the sage in the frying pan, and I used the parmesan more of a garnish than mixed in. Either way, it's a good soup. Can you make a bad soup with butternut squash? I don't know...

Thai Chicken-Coconut Soup

Katie, I see your chicken barley soup, and raise you....Thai Chicken-Coconut Soup!
(from Epicurious.com)

They said it makes 4 servings, but I would estimate 5-6

Rice noodles (the recipe never actually says how much, but eyeball it and you can't go wrong)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1–2 red Thai (or jalapeño) peppers, seeded and finely chopped (plus slices for garnish)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon (or lime) juice
4 tablespoons Thai fish sauce, divided
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced (3 cups)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 ounces each), cut into 2 1/2-inch-long by 1/4-inch-wide strips
1 cup light coconut milk
2 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (plus sprigs for garnish)

Place noodles in a bowl; add enough warm water to cover and let sit until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain. Combine broth, pepper, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, lime zest, lemon juice and 3 tablespoon fish sauce in a large pot. Season with salt. Bring to a simmer, add noodles and cook 3 minutes more. Using tongs, transfer noodles to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add mushrooms to broth; season with salt, if desired; simmer 3 minutes more. Add chicken and coconut milk and simmer, stirring, until chicken is just cooked, about 3 minutes. Stir in spinach until it begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Add chopped cilantro and season with remaining 1 tablespoon fish sauce. Using tongs, divide noodles among 4 bowls. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with sprigs of cilantro and slices of pepper.

Results:

I'm eating the results right now, and it is heavenly. Much like the other soup I did (Lemon Chicken Soup), this combines salty, citrusy, and creamy flavors. This one just has a little bit of a kick behind it with the ginger and hot peppers. This recipe is a little more labor-intensive then the others I usually use, expecially with the hokey-pokey, in-and-out of the pot with the noodles (necessary b/c rice noodles are fragile and will break up in the hot soup if left in for too long), but start-to-finish was still under 1& 1/2 hour. My changes: I ended up not finding anything but canned green chiles, instead of whole peppers, and I used the entire 4 oz can in this soup. Other variations: I used 2 cups of coconut milk (1 can) instead of 1 cup, and decreased the chicken broth by 1 cup. I also used low-sodium chicken broth. Between that and the fish sauce, I did not need to add any additional salt. I did add, however, additional ginger because you can never have enough ginger in my book. Finally, I saved 1 of the 2 cups of coconut milk until the very end because then you have a fresher taste to the milk.

By the by,
For those interesting in pairing this soup with a wine, might I suggest a brighter white wine, such as Yellow Tail's Pinot Grigio. It's strong enough to stand up for itself, but accents the ginger and citrus without overpowering just beautifully.

Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup

From All Recipes

Prep Time: 35 Minutes Cook Time: 35 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes Yields: 12 servings

"Hearty and flavorful, this chicken and barley soup is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter's night."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup slivered almonds 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 cup chopped celery 4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup chopped carrots

5 cups diced red potatoes 3 cups chopped cooked chicken 2 1/2 quarts chicken broth 1 cup quick-cooking barley 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spread slivered almonds evenly over a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven until golden brown and fragrant. (about 5 min)
2.	Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Cook onions, celery, mushrooms, and garlic in oil until onions are tender.
3.	Stir in carrots, potatoes, chicken, and broth. Bring to a boil, then stir in barley. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
4.	Remove from heat, and stir in butter, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

RESULTS: Don't skip the almonds, they're a really nice touch. Just be careful about burning them; I'd set the timer for 5 minutes and then keep checking them. Obviously, I learned this the hard way. All in all, a really comforting soup, and I think you could switch out vegetables, if you have to get rid of some others. Also, if you don't have quick barley, as I didn't, I just simmered the barley in the chicken broth for 45 minutes or so before adding it to the soup. Enjoy!

Swiss Chard with Parmesan

I've always been attracted to the bright lights swiss chard (pronounced CHard, like CHoo CHoo train, but I can't seem to break my habit of pronouncing it SHard) at the farmer's market, and I always get it, but it's a bit of a challenge. I want to just cook it like spinach, but the stems are tough and bitter, and the leaves are also not as wilty. I found this recipe in my Spoon cookbook:

SERVES 4

2.5 lbs Swiss Chard
scant 1/2 cup milk
3 Tbls butter
generous 1 cup Parm cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper

Separate the chard leaves from the stems using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. (Set the leaves aside to make soup.) Cut the stems into 2-inch pieces and cook in lightly salted boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until tender, then drain well. Heat the milk to just below simmering point, then remoive the pan from the heat. Melt the butter in a pan, add the chard steams and cook over high heat, stirring frequenty, for a a few minutes. Pour in the hot milk, lower the heat to medium and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a warm serving dish.

RESULTS: The Spoon is all about the warm serving dish, by the way.

I really liked this. The stems did lose all their color, and I think I boiled them too long because they got a little mushy, but they also lost their bitterness. I even sauted the stems in mostly olive oil with just a little butter for flavor, and I used very very little parmesan, and it was still great.

Also, I didn't have any soup in mind for the leaves, so I just chopped them up and added after I was done sauteing the stems, right before adding the milk (which I doubled or tripled). They wilted nicely. More time-intensive and more clean up than just sauteing like spinach, but I'm tired of spinach.

This week I got beet greens. We'll see how those taste!

Buckeyes

Makes about 30

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. vegetable shortening

1. Put sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt into a mixing bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon. Roll peanut butter mixture into 1" balls and transfer to a wax paper–lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Freeze until firm, 15–20 minutes.

2. Melt chocolate and shortening in a small heatproof bowl set over a small pot of simmering water, stirring often. Remove pot and bowl together from heat.

3. Working with about 6 peanut butter balls at a time, insert a toothpick into the center of a ball and dip about three-quarters of the ball into the melted chocolate, leaving about a I" circle of peanut butter visible at the top. Twirl toothpick between your finger and thumb to swirl off excess chocolate, then transfer to another wax paper–lined cookie sheet, chocolate side down. Slide out toothpick and repeat dipping process with remaining peanut butter balls and chocolate, reheating chocolate if necessary.

4. Freeze buckeyes until firm. Smooth out toothpick holes left in peanut butter. Buckeyes will keep well sealed in cool place for up to 1 week and up to 2 weeks in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

RESULTS: How can you go wrong? It's nice when I can make something to help Chris connect to his Ohio roots, even though he's not an OSU fan, and it's a bonus when that thing is the Greatest Flavor Combination Of All Time.

I just have two notes. It's easier to roll the peanut butter into balls if you sort of squeeze it in your hand for a little bit to warm it up a little; otherwise it gets a little crumbly. Also, I guess I make my balls too small or something, but I've made this twice so far and ran out of chocolate both times, so I would make sure you have a whole 12 oz bag of chocolate chips on hand, just in case you need to melt more.

White Bean and Kale Stew

From Cooking Light:

"Steeping a savory cheese rind in a soup's broth infuses cheesy, salty accents throughout. Cooking your own beans is simple if you've planned ahead, though you can rinse and drain canned ones for a higher-sodium result. Serve with salt-free crackers or toasted baguette slices."

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients
* 1 pound dried Great Northern beans
* 2 applewood-smoked bacon slices
* 2 cups chopped onion (2 medium)
* 6 garlic cloves, minced
* 6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 2 cups water
* 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
* 1 bunch kale, stemmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
* 1 (2-ounce) piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation
1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large bowl. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours. Drain.

2. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan; crumble. Add onion to drippings in pan; cook 6 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds.

3. Add beans, broth, 2 cups water, thyme, rosemary, and kale to pan; bring to a boil. Add rind to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are tender. Remove from heat; discard rind. Stir in juice.Garnish each serving with about 3/4 teaspoon bacon. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 11/2 cups soup).

RESULTS: I would like to know what kind of parmigiano-reggiano cheese these people are buying that they have rinds? Maybe I'm buying the wrong sort of cheese. Anyway, this stew was okay. The lemon juice is a nice touch, I didn't think I'd like it, but it was good. The thing is, I didn't do the bacon thing. I've never really noticed that such a small amount of bacon makes that much of a difference with a dish that makes this much food. Plus, I sort of object to having to buy a whole large package of an ingredient that I would never use otherwise (applewood-smoked bacon? whaa?) just to use as an accent flavor. Otherwise, I think calling this a "stew" might be stretching it, it was a little too thin to be a stew. Much more of a soup.

I've got a big thing coming up on Friday at work that's not going well at all (it's a dinner that not nearly enough people have RSVPed and not nearly enough work has been done on it because the main faculty envisioners are either really busy or disinterested, and it's up to me and my bosses to try to pull this thing together without either the ability or the authority to make judgement calls on what's being done) but has also consumed about 95% of my work time. This makes me wake up at 3:30 with a to-do list running through my head. So, instead of focusing on that, I thought I'd complain about Kroger.

Our Kroger has redesigned its entire space. It bought out the shop next to it and "expanded", although other than adding a bulk food aisle (more of a half aisle, really), I haven't found any additions so far. But, they're still working on it. Which is awful because they have to keep shifting around the inventory as they replace the floors. All the floors. Very slowly. So, yesterday the office supplies, cosmetics, international foods, and giant bottles of cheap vodka were all in the same aisle. People were wandering aimlessly looking for baking soda (in neither of the baking aisles or any of the scattered spice aisles) and vinegar. Vinegar was always hard to track down at this Kroger, but now you need a PI and a bloodhound.

I'm a list shopper, the joys of which I learned from Mom. I make a list in the order that the items are in at the store. I also tend not to deviate from that list unless something catches my eye, so I can just skip huge portions of the store (previously, the cookies and crackers, cereal and candy, baby food, greeting cards, and makeup were all in adjacent aisles, none of which I usually buy). This is really only possible if the order of food in the store stays the same. Our Giant at home, as far as I know, has not changed the order of its aisles in my lifetime. I could still walk in and go directly to the vinegar. Even Chris is irritated by the shifting around at Kroger, and he's more of a peruser. Now, not only are the aisles all jumbled, but the store itself is completely reversed. It's a sad, sad state of affairs.