Lemon olive oil cake

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Olive oil makes cakes moist and savory and altogether delicious in a very different way from butter. I’ve tried so many combinations of olive oil cakes and lemon pound cakes. This one is a winner every single time. It is a Melissa Clark recipe and the taste/effort ratio is off the charts.

Heat oven to 350 F and prep a 1 lb loaf pan (8 inch) with your anti-stick prep of choice (butter/flour, PAM baking spray, parchment)

Get dry ingredients ready and mix them around with a fork : 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Get wet ingredients and combine with a whisk till sugar is dissolved- 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp lemon (or lime) zest, 3 tablespoons lemon (or lime) juice, 1 tablespoon poppy seeds, 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1/2 tsp vinegar) and 3/4 cup olive oil (the fruitier the better) with 3 large eggs

Mix the wet and dry ingredients till they just come together- don’t overmix! An occasional lump is fine. Pour in prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or so. Let your whole house smell of cake and deliciousness. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan

Make a glaze with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and 1.5 tbsp lemon (or lime) juice. Poke holes with a skewer in the cake and pour glaze on top. You should let it cool before eating but this cake is impossible to resist.

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Spring Asparagus Pasta with capers and lemon

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The best pasta primavera I’ve ever had was in a small Italian restaurant (whose name I’ve forgotten) in the upper east side in NYC. The pasta was fresh, the sauce was brothy, lemony and creamy and the vegetables were delicious. It was a memorable meal. This recipe is in homage to that pasta and to all the tiny Italian restaurants in New York.

Boil water- steam or boil asparagus broken into 2 inch chunks for 2 minutes . Cook pasta in the same water. For the sauce- add 1-2 tbsp of butter, add some chopped garlic and 1-2 tbsp of capers till the garlic just starts browning. Add a cup of vegetable broth and cook for about 5 minutes till it is reduced by half. Add asparagus, a splash or two of heavy cream and 1-2 tsp of lemon juice. Toss pasta with sauce and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese

Layered rice bake or rice casserole without the mushiness

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In India- we like our rice to be loose and fluffly (except in khichdi and in kheer). I do like the concept of rice casseroles but the mushiness of the rice and the egg didn’t work for me. This modification of flavoring and layering the rice similar to a biryani and skipping the egg works well for my family. The bottom layer gets a little crispy and the cheese and the flavors permeate the whole dish. This is another no-recipe recipe and prep time is less than 10 minutes (rice in rice cooker, the potatoes boil while  you make the sauce) – use whatever sauce you wish, enchilada sauce goes beaurifully with this too or butter chicken gravy. Use whichever vegetables you have available or even beans.

Layer in a large baking dish

  1. Cooked rice (from 1 cup uncooked rice) with some olive oil or ghee or butter and salt.
  2. Vegetables – I used boiled potatoes, green beans and corn
  3. Sauce- I used my version of a vegetarian gravy- Brown 1 medium red onion with 1-2 tbsp of butter. Add 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add 1 tbsp of flour and brown slightly for 1-2 minutes. While whisking, add 1 cup of vegetable stock. Boil for 2-5 minutes till thickened. Season with salt and pepper and any other flavors (I used dried Italian seasoning and 1 tsp of dried mustard). Add a few tbsp of heavy cream- taste for seasoning again.
  4. Cheese and panko bread crumbs layer (moistened with olive oil and salt and pepper)

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes covered with foil and then without foil for 5 minutes to crisp the top

Masala Bread with curry leaves and turmeric

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Flavor in Indian cooking comes from the tadka, when oil is infused with dried spices. This oil carries the flavor to the vegetables, dals, rice. This masala bread uses the same technique. The flavor really comes through and the bread is a lovely bright yellow. This is delicious with regular tomato soup and in a grilled cheese sandwich.  I’ve modified my favorite bread recipe (Olive oil dough) in my favorite baking book- the New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. If you want to understand bread, I’d suggest you start with this book. Here is how I made this bread.

This is enough for two 1 lb loaves approximately.

Step 1: heat 2 tbsp of olive oil or regular oil- add 1 tsp of mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter, then add 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, a pinch of asafetida and 1 tbsp of chopped kadipatta leaves (curry leaves). This is the tadka that will flavor the bread- let it cool

Step 2: make your no-knead dough. Mix wet ingredients (oil, 1 1/3 cup of lukewarm water, 1/2 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tbsp of kosher salt and 1/2 tbsp of instant yeast) to 3 cups of bread flour (if you use all purpose- it comes to 31/4). I use a danish whisk- the idea is to make sure all the flour is moistened, do not knead- this will be a shaggy dough.

Step 3: Rest at room temperature till the dough rises and falls- this took much longer than the routine 2 hours – my first rise took 4 hours or so

Step 4: Refrigerate for at least 2 days – this is important for the sourdough flavor to develop. The dough can be used within the next 10 days or so

Step 5: Baking day!! Remove half of the dough and shape. Shaping is critical and should be done gently. I baked one loaf in a loaf pan and one free form boule. Both are shaped differently. For the loaf- grease a 1 lb loaf pan (8 inch), remove half the dough on a floured surface- flatten into a rectangle with 8 inch length and then tightly roll and seal seam. For the boule, flatten slightly and then pinch each end to the center to form a tight ball- roll it slightly. The dough should be covered with a thin film of flour and the top should be smooth.

Step 5: final rise- room temperature for 1-2 hours till the dough is well proofed- when you poke it with a floured finger- if the indentation comes up slowly but not completely- it is well proofed. If it comes straight back- you need more proofing, if it stays deep- it is over proofed and likely a loss- still tasty most of the time.

Step 6: Bake in a 450 F oven with steam. I use a dutch oven or a cloche to do this covered for 15 minutes and then remove the cover for the last 10 minutes. Cool the bread for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Chocolate Dump it Cake

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When your lovely neighbor brings you 10lbs of flour from Costco and leaves it on your porch – you bake a chocolate cake.

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe modified from Amanda Hesser’s NYT recipe. This cake does not need a mixer- just a wooden spoon. The frosting is outstanding. Feel free to use milk chocolate or add some sugar to the frosting if it is too intense for you.

The recipe just has 3 steps. Well 4 if you count- preheat oven to 375 F as a step. Step 1: Heat 1 stick of butter (8 tbsp), 2 cups of sugar, 1tsp of salt, 4 oz of unsweetened chocolate and 1 cup of coffee or water in a pan till the butter is just melted. Cool to room temperature-ish.  Step 2: Add 1 cup of milk, 1 tsp of vinegar, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk till smooth. Step 3: Add to dry ingredients (2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder) and mix till all the flour is incorporated. Once it comes together- stop, overmixing will make this cake tough.

Butter and flour a bundt pan and cook for 35 minutes. Cool for 10 and invert. For the frosting, melt about 3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, add 3/4 cup of sour cream (or greek yogurt). I slice the cake in half and fill it and smear the rest on topics .

 

 

Cannellini beans and pasta with miso and fennel

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This is a time for luxurious and delicious food. This one is comforting and the sauce comes while the pasta boils. I do like fennel with white beans, the flavor combination works well with the butter and cream. This is a no recipe recipe. Boil water, cook pasta. While that’s going on – make sauce. In 2-3 tbsp of butter, add a tsp of fennel seeds and 1-2 tbsp of chopped garlic and a tsp or so of crushed red pepper flakes. After a few minutes- add a rinsed can of cannellini beans. Cook till the beans brown slightly, add about a 1/4 cup of heavy cream, half a tsp of miso and half a tsp of vegetable base (I use better than bouillon). Add pasta and Parmesan. Enjoy

Quarantine pesto : arugula and peanuts

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Pesto is a delicious and extremely quarantine friendly sauce – no basil? But you have that arugula from 2 weeks ago- half of it is just fine, oh here is some parsley too. No pine nuts? Well- I found a jar of cocktail peanuts. No pecorino? That pre-grated Parmesan will work. It’s the sharpness of the garlic with copious amounts of olive oil that is the main flavor of this sauce- anything green and anything nutty and anything cheesy will work

In a food processor – add 4 cups of greens (I added 3 cups arugula and 1 cup parsley), add 1/2-3/4 cup nuts (I used cocktail peanuts), 2-5 cloves of garlic (I like the spice of raw garlic) . Whiz till smooth. Add a cupful or so of grated Parmesan and a half cup or so of good olive oil and salt. Taste and use

I plan to toss this pesto with some pasta for dinner and roasted potatoes for crunch and perhaps some fried up veggie dogs for protein

The best rajma

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Rajma is every North Indian’s favorite comfort food- so tinkering with the recipe is akin to sacrilege. This one is very good though and is probably worth the criticism from all the Indian nanis.

Rick Martinez’s pupusa recipe for BA (which is also on this blog) starts with charring onions till they are almost black and then purée-ing them with pinto beans. This rajma recipe starts the same way. It’s the butter and the charred onion together that gives this 10 minute rajma recipe it’s deep deep flavor. This is a no-recipe recipe.

You have to use pressure cooked (I use my Cuisinart) red kidney beans for this one. The liquid is essential. You also have to pre-soak the beans – you can get the beans soft without soaking in the pressure cooker but they don’t taste anywhere as good.

Heat 2 tbsp of butter- add 1 tsp of cumin seeds and 1 small diced onion on high heat with some salt and red pepper flakes. Stir frequently till onion is charred in places (takes about 5 minutes). Add 2-4 cloves of garlic(minced) and 1 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir for 30 sec or so. Add rajma with liquid. Add 1 tsp of cumin powder and 1 tsp of coriander powder. Boil for 2-3 minutes and taste for salt. Serve on rice!