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Recipes

baking therapy: chocolate cake with ricotta filling

Even after making the linguini with ricotta dish earlier in the week and eating it for lunch the next day with extra ricotta, we still had quite a bit of cheese left over. With the leftovers,  I wanted to make a recipe that would respect the effort I’d put into making the cheese from scratch and not overpower its milky flavor.  Well, the King Arthur Bread Flour Company was on my side! Their weekly email featured a recipe for a chocolate cake with a ricotta filling based on a traditional Italian Easter dessert; I drew inspiration from that recipe for this cake.

Chocolate Cake with Fresh Ricotta Filling

For the cake

I used the same Ina Garten recipe that I used for Jordan’s birthday. The secret ingredient in this cake is 1 cup of fresh coffee, which intensifies the chocolate flavor and makes a very moist cake.

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cup flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8 inch round pans.

Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir to combine. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl. With the mixer on low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Add the coffee. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Cool before frosting.

For the filling
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Mix the cheese, sugar and vanilla until combined. Once the cakes have cooled, spread a thick layer of cheese between the layers and serve. After serving, refrigerate any leftover cake well-wrapped in plastic wrap.

-Emily

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Recipes

chocolate sandwiches

I made these chocolate sandwiches for dessert on girls’ night. They are absolutely delicious and super easy to make. Imagine a french toast-pain au chocolat hybrid. We served them with fresh strawberries because it’s spring!

Chocolate Sandwiches
1 egg
2 T milk
1/2 t vanilla
1 nice chocolate bar, broken into large pieces
2 slices challah, brioche or sandwich bread per sandwich

Whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla. Dunk the bread in the egg mixture. Make sandwiches with the bread and chocolate.  Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Cook the sandwiches, 5 minutes per side, until golden brown and the chocolate has melted. Serve immediately.

Like most dishes with few ingredients, the quality of the chocolate and bread really make this dessert. Use a chocolate you like to eat on its own. However, because you dunk the bread in the egg mixture, you could certainly use bread that is a few days old.

-Emily

 

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Recipes

steak salad with mango dressing

Last week for girls’ night we inaugurated Robin’s grill – a pretty momentous occasion in the life a grill, at least from my experience. Robin had been talking about making a grill purchase for over a month and finally the weather was nice enough to merit it. We decided to make a steak salad. Robin strong-armed grilling the meat and I made the salad and the dressing.

For the steak
1 lb flank steak
Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper the steak. Marinate the steak for about 15 minutes in some balsamic vingar. Heat your brand spankin’ new grill to high. Cook the steak 8 – 10 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature is 130 degrees for medium rare. Rest for about 10 minutes and slice against the grain.

For the salad
1/2 jicama, cut into batons
1 bell pepper, diced
mixed greens

Mango Dressing
1 mango, peeled and seeded
1 t red wine vinegar
1 t rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper

Puree the mango in a food processor. Add the vinegars and mix. In a slow stream, add the oil until the dressing has emulsified. You may need less or more oil depending on your mango’s juiciness. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with salad just before serving. Top with the steak.

While we overcooked our steak slightly, the grill’s maiden voyage was a success! (We need a bit more practice to master the grill’s temperature range). This salad is easy, quick and tasty. To be honest, I think I could skip the mango dressing. My mango was pretty mild and did not impart nearly enough tropical flavor into the dish for the amount of work it is to get the flesh off those suckers. Maybe if I knew how to pick a good mango, I’d try it again. I think next time we are going to make a strawberry-champange vinegar dressing!

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

our csa from eatwell farms

As we described a couple of months ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our boxes of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes like linguini with leeks and fresh ricotta and strawberry lemonade sorbet. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we received: oregano, navel oranges, lemons, dandelion greens, chard, green garlic, leeks, pink lady apples, carrots, savoy cabbage, and sweet potatoes.

If you are interested in joining a CSA, visit LocalHarvest.org to find one in your area.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

tortilla soup

The first time that I can remember having tortilla soup was at Chili’s. Yes, the chain restaurant home to blue margaritas, hot wings and molten chocolate cake. It was called chicken enchilada soup and I thought it was good. When planning our meals on Sunday morning, I decided to improve upon my chicken enchilada soup memories. As it turns out, tortilla soup/chicken enchilada soup is pretty darn easy to make and my soup blew that one from Chili’s out of the water. Big surprise, right?

Tortilla Soup
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart vegetable stock
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
2 chipotles in adobo sauce (This is the secret ingredient that adds a smokey, spicy quality to the soup. You can find it in the ethnic section of any grocery store. These chipotles are very spicy. A little goes a long way.)
2 chicken legs and thighs
1 can black beans, rinsed
salt, pepper, olive oil
For garnish: cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crisped tortilla strips or chips, green onion

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken legs and thighs.

In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, saute the diced onion and garlic over medium heat in a little olive oil until it starts to become translucent. Push the onions to the sides of the pan and add the chicken. Brown each side of the meat. Add the vegetable stock, diced tomatoes and two chipotles. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until the chicken has cooked through.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Remove the chipotles and discard. Puree the soup. You’re welcome to leave the chillis in the soup, but I found the broth was spicy enough without pureeing the chillis. Put the soup back on to simmer. Shred the chicken. About 10 minutes before serving, add the chicken and black beans to the soup.

Serve with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crumbled chips and green onion. We also enjoyed some roasted purple cauliflower.

This soup was awesome and will become part of the permanent repertoire. I love all of these flavors. Jordan and I ate it for two days straight! The broth is spicy and tomatoey, but still creamy and viscous.  Another bonus: the soup could easily be made vegetarian – just add an extra can of black beans.

-Emily

 

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Recipes

linguini with fresh ricotta, leeks and mushrooms

What do you do when you’ve got several cups of fresh, homemade ricotta? Make a delightful pasta! This dish is quick, delicious and reheats amazing well (for pasta, at least).

Linguini with Fresh Ricotta, Leeks and Mushrooms

2 leeks, sliced and rinsed of their grit
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (We used button mushrooms and shitakes)
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 T cream
salt and pepper
1/2 lb linguini or other dry pasta
a few generous dollops of fresh ricotta per serving

Preheat an over to 350 degrees. Put on a pot of water to boil.

Slice the mushrooms and arrange them into a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake the mushrooms until they are shriveled, about 15 minutes. This makes them extra flavorful.

Meanwhile, gently saute the leeks in the butter and oil over medium low heat. After the leeks are soft, add the cream. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Reduce the leek and cream mixture just slightly. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. After the pasta is al dente, add it to the sauce. Toss to coat. Plate the sauced pasta and top with a few generous dollops of ricotta. Not gorgeous, but delicious!

-Emily

Categories
Queso Chronicles Recipes

queso chronicles: homemade ricotta

You all might remember my trials and tribulations in the mozzarella realm. Well, after some deliberation, I decided my faint heart could not handle another mozzarella failure and that I should try to make an easier cheese. Ricotta is probably the easiest cheese to make (according to cheesemakers on the internet) and recently I found a new recipe on a great blog called I Made That. I followed her directions and ended up with a perfect ricotta. No tears or wasted milk!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

6 cups whole milk
2 cups cultured buttermilk
1 1/2 cups cream
1 T salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, heat until curds begin to form, stirring gently. After the curds form, turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. Put two layers of cheesecloth in a strainer. Strain cheese until it has reached your desired consistency. I let it sit for about an hour. Transfer cheese into a tupper and refrigerate. When you pull your cheese out the next day, there may be some residual whey. Just pour that off and continue eating and cooking with your delicious fresh cheese!

Making ricotta from scratch is not any cheaper than buying it at the grocery store, but it is much more flavorful. I’ve found that many store-bought ricottas taste like nothing and often have a grainy texture. The milk flavor is very prominent in this homemade cheese and the texture is smooth and creamy. Yum!

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

thanks liz!

I just wanted to quickly share the adorable art that Jordan’s awesome sis made for us …

She took pages from our blog and made these images from the text. The size of the word corresponds with the amount of times it appears. Wow!  Thanks Liz!

Ps. My pictures don’t even do these cuties justice! She even framed them all nice. I can’t wait to squeeze them onto the walls of our tiny apartment! Time to bust out the level!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

homemade sandwich bread

Jordan was on a bread kick for a while, making all kinds of delicious breads from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. Sadly, his bread baking has declined since he is super busy being an awesome student. I decided to pick up the torch when my friend Andrea recommended a fail-proof sandwich bread recipe that she’s been making for the past few weeks. I like fail-proof, especially when there is hours of rising time on the line.

This recipe is from Farmgirl Fare and it details the process and potential pitfalls of bread baking really well. I’d recomend you check out her post if you are new to the homemade bread world.

Farmhouse White, a classic sandwich bread by Farmgirl Fare

4 cups all-purpose flour (I used Whole Foods 365 brand)
1 1/2 T instant yeast (I used Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast)
2 T granulated or brown sugar
2 T melted butter
4 cups milk, warmed to 85 degrees
About 6 cups bread flour (I used King Arthur Bread Flour – King Arthur makes quality flours and I recommend them)
1 1/2 T salt

Mix together the all-purpose flour, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the mixture  and pour in the warm milk and melted butter. Mix well. Continue to stir vigorously slowing adding the bread flour one cup at a time, until you have added 3  – 4 cups and have a sticky, shaggy dough. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

Walk your whiny dog who can’t understand why you are putzing around in the kitchen when at this hour you should be walking her to the park.

Add the salt and 1 more cup of the bread flour. Stir as best you can. Add a bit more flour if the dough seems too sticky to knead. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead with floured hands for 8 – 10 minutes. Your arms will get very tired, but you will find an awesome slapping-dough-into-counter-rhythm that will allow you to confidently turn down the assistance of your much stronger boyfriend.

Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl and dust the top with flour. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for 60 – 75 minutes in a warm place. I used the oven with pans of boiling water inside technique developed when I made cinnamon rolls and it worked very well.

Grease 3 loaf pans (I used two glass pans and one metal pan without issue). Turn the dough onto a floured counter. Divide into 3 equal balls and pat into loaf-like shapes. Put the dough in the loaf pans and dust with flour. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for another 40 – 60 minutes. They are ready to go into the oven when you poke a floured finger into the dough and it springs back just a little.

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Bake the loaves for 35 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove the loaves from their pans immediately and allow to cool on a rack for 40 minutes. Store at room temperature in a bag or in the freezer wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

This bread is good. It has a great crumb and a mild taste. It makes great peanut butter sandwiches and awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. It contains just a few normal ingredients, not a ton of weird gums and preservatives like store-bought sandwich breads. Now that I have the classic recipe down, I am excited to try a few variations … maybe adding some whole grain flours or sourdough bread starter.

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

i am a lucky girl

because this handsome guy …

… takes the dog out at 7 am on Saturday morning and then makes me breakfast in bed.

-Emily