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I always forget how much I enjoy making cake from scratch until I make cake from scratch. We were having a birthday in the family, and I was in charge of making a cake. The request had been for marble- so I hunted and flipped through cookbooks looking for a really good recipe for a marble type of cake. I found one in Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I should have known that Dorie would come through on a cake for me, but it wasn’t until I actually slid my fork into a slice that I remembered just how wonderful homemade cake is. I have made many a homemade cake over the years, but in the last few months, my cake-bakery has been little to none. In fact, for Zander’s birthday, he requested cake flavors from a mix, so I let him choose mixes and just used that. And of course, I regretted the boxy flavor later on, but it was what he wanted.
But as I took the first bite of Mocha-Walnut Marble Bundt Cake I regretted all the cakes I’ve made recently from a box. Those boxed versions can’t hold a candle to how delicious a homemade cake is. I especially love the texture of homemade cake. It’s much more dense than boxed cake- yet still moist (if done right) and so packed full of flavor.
This particular cake did something a little different. At first, I discarded the idea of a walnut cake- It sounded homey to me- but not quite what I was looking for, but when I further read the recipe and saw that the walnuts were actually ground up, I was intrigued. Walnut flavor without large chunks of nut just begging to get caught in your teeth? It had promise, and I decided I had found my marble cake. When I started to make my shopping list, I realized that I had almost everything on hand- except walnuts and chocolate. Well, for the walnuts, I remembered the whole nuts we had floating around and determined that I would have more than enough if I took the time to crack my own nuts. And for the chocolate, I went back and forth on whether it would be worth a trip for just 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. I determined that it wasn’t and settled on using 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.
The batter came together very easily. I used my hand mixer and it wasn’t long before I was pouring the white batter into my pan, followed by the chocolate batter. I baked it for 65 minutes, but I’ll suggest to you that if you make this cake- check it around 62 minutes or so. I think it was just a slight touch overbaked, and so I would check it just a minute or two early next time. In the end, I also opted for a homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. The frosting was good, but I think next time I will use a fudge glaze instead. There will most definitely be a next time. The mocha and the walnut played together so wonderfully- I would take a bite of the walnut cake and then a bite of the mocha cake. So tasty, so easy, and once again I am reminded of the delight of homemade cake.
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup coffee
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk, room temperature
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 to 10 inch bundt pan, dust inside with flour, and tap out the excess.
Whisk flour, ground walnuts, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Combine 2 tablespoons butter, chocolate, coffee, and espresso powder in a metal bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water and stir until melted and combined. Remove from heat.
Combine remaining 2 sticks of butter and sugar in a stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment on medium speed for about 3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add in vanilla extract.
Add in flour mixture and milk in five alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on low speed after each addition just until combined.
Scrape just under half of the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and fold gently to combine.
Pour the vanilla batter into the bottom of the bundt pan. Pour the chocolate batter on top. Use a knife to lightly marble the batter.
Bake for 65-70 minutes until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes before un-molding.
I knew this recipe was going to be quick to make, but really didn’t realize just how quick it was going to be. The other day I pulled down my copy of A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen, thinking that it had been a while since Jack Bishop made a guest appearance on my dinner plate. I’ve had fairly good success with this book, and eagerly turned to the winter section where I found recipe after recipe that just sounded good to me. I bookmarked a few of them at first glance and then went back to look closer at the ones where I had all the ingredients on hand- of which, happily, there are a few.
This one called for a noodle that I don’t always have on hand, but this time I did. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour and can be found in the Asian section of a grocery store. They are brown in color and fairly short as far as a noodle goes. If you couldn’t find Soba noodles, you could get away with just about any kind of noodle- as long as it is a bit toothsome- I would hesitate to use plain old pasta, but in a pinch, maybe linguine could fill in. Soba Noodles with Chard and Raisins piqued my interest right away because it features one of my all-time favorite vegetables- Swiss Chard. I have a few packages in the freezer yet from last year’s garden, and any opportunity to pull on out and load up on delicious greens is welcome in my book. The recipe is very straightforward- and my noodles cooked in just 3 minutes, so if you can boil a pot of water quickly, you too can make this dish in just ten minutes time. **Of course, I also used pre-blanched and frozen chard, so if you are using fresh chard, it may take you as much as 15 minutes to account for the wilting.
The chard was wilted in a pan of hot oil, and then hot red pepper flakes and garlic were added for a quick saute. Another minute or so later, I added in my raisins and chopped olives, and then once the Soba noodles were cooked and drained, I added those as well. My sole omission to the recipe was for the pine nuts called for. I didn’t have any, and figured I could use walnuts or toasted almonds instead. As it is, I forgot about the nuts completely- but the recipe didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects from it. I made this dish for myself for a quick lunch- and quick it was. In no time at all I was sitting down to a delicious bowl of Soba Noodles with Chard and Raisins. I just loved the combination of flavors here- sweet, earthy, spicy, briny, salty all in one. I did think that a pinch of lemon zest at the end would have added an even greater layer of flavor, and I also thought that I ended up using too many olives. When it says 6 olives- use 6 olives, not the random handful I tossed in. It just got to be too much brine towards the end for me.
Otherwise, at ten minutes or less for a satisfying lunch for a veg-head, this one is a keeper. Oh! About that oil… I am listing the 1/4 cup called for in the cookbook- but golly if that isn’t a lot of oil! I ended up using about 2 teaspoons in a non-stick pot- and I halved the recipe for just myself. So use what you like, but don’t feel like you need to use the whole 1/4 cup of oil.
Soba Noodles with Chard and Raisins
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or use less)
1 1/4 pound chard, stems cut into 1/2-inch dice, leaves washed, shaken dry and coarsely chopped
4 medium cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt
12 ounces Soba noodles
1/4 cup dark raisins
6 large green olives, pitted and chopped
Directions:
Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot for cooking the noodles.
Toast the nuts in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally to turn the nuts, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a small plate. Add the oil and chard stems to the empty pot. Cook until the stems have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant- about 1 minute. Add the damp chard leaves and salt to taste, cover, and cook until wilted, about 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and noodles to the boiling water and cook until al dente. (Follow package directions!) Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain the noodles. Rinse the noodles under warm water to remove excess starch.
Add the raisins, olives, and soba noodles to the pot with the chard. Toss over low heat, adding cooking water as necessary to moisten the noodles, until the noodles are warmed, about 1 minute. Add the toasted nuts and toss. Serve immediately.
Serves 4 as a main course.
It’s avocado season. And every year, about this time, as the football news is reaching it’s peak, it is confirmed in my mind that the NFL knew what it was doing when it scheduled the big game for this time of the year. I just know they picked January and February because the avocados are at their best, and big football games must be accompanied by avocados in all their splendor. Mainly, for me, that is a big ole bowl of guacamole, but sometimes I give that humble avocado a bit of a twist. Specifically, in this case, I made more of an Avocado Cream, which is a fabulous way to make an avocado multi-purpose. You can use this stuff as a dip (which I did this time) or it makes an amazing sandwich spread- or I’ve even heard of it being used as the binder for potato salad.
Easy and quick, this is my favorite thing to do when it’s just me and one perfectly ready avocado. If you don’t have green salsa you can use red salsa, but then your color will be affected, and the pretty green cream will actually look kind of murky and grey. Everything can be adjusted to taste, of course, and if you are a cilantro hater, leave it out. This very easily multiplies for a crowd- and if you press plastic wrap tight to the surface of this dip, the quantity of lime juice actually keeps this one green for a day or two.
Avocado Cream
1 avocado, seed removed
juice of 1/2 a lime
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons salsa verde
cilantro to taste
pinch of salt and pepper
Directions:
Place the avocado flesh in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together. Use Avocado Cream as a dipper for chips, vegetables, or a spread on your favorite smoked turkey sandwich.
So Legos really saved me this year.
Zander really wanted the R2-D2 cake- and I thought about trying, I really did. But I’m just not that confident in my cake making skills to pull that off. I was thinking and thinking of what I could do for a cake when I decided I would cheat and go the route of using toys to decorate the cake. Over the years, I’ve found this to be a spectacular idea, because not only does it make the cake look fun- but then the child gets the toys afterwards for playing with.
My original idea for a lego Star Wars cake was to use loaf pan size bricks of cake and make a tower of legos, and then decorate it with some of the lego people. Well, when I started looking for the legos, I found that most places had the Star Wars Legos from the Hoth battle on The Empire Strikes Back. This was very fortuitous for me- because Hoth means snow. And all I really needed was some white frosting to be my snow, and I was in business.
The cake itself is nothing special- Zander wanted to pick out some mixes this year, so I let him do that and I really got by easy this year. The difficult task of Lego assembly was easily tackled by Andy. Zander loves his cake- and that’s what really matters.
He’s especially excited to have Han Solo on his Tauntaun, and while we’re all aware that the Empire clearly outnumbers the rebels on the cake- we figure the rebellion has the edge with that tower.
Well, after a few days of warm, balmy wintry weather- followed by rain- winter has returned, and it is ever COLD! Yesterday was one of those windy days where the wind just went right through the living room- making us desperately wish that we’d covered the windows with plastic this year. A day like that called for some homemade bread and a pot of soup.
This soup came to my attention because I literally had everything on hand for it at that moment. I had cooked up a package of dried chickpeas this week, and after freezing a few for another time, I set about looking for different ways to use the second half of the little legumes. The first night we roasted some chickpeas- and those will get a post all on their own soon, because they were tasty little buggers! I could have snacked on them like popcorn…
Anyway, back to the soup. What I really liked about this soup was the fact that half of the chickpeas were pureed with stock- so if children just eat the brothy part of the soup (as mine are known to do) they are still getting the fantastic health benefits of the chickpeas. I did make a few minor changes to the soup. The first was that I forgot the Swiss chard. Of all things, I was excited to be able to use some from the freezer and of course, I forgot to add it at all. I bet it would have been delicious in the soup- but I’ll have to find that out next time. The other big change to the soup was that I was rummaging through the freezer looking for my rosemary when I found two links of sausage. I was so excited- because I was certain they were Italian sausage, and a marriage of Italian sausage and chickpeas is a perfect match! After my vegetables were softened in the first step of the recipe, I added in the Italian sausage- removed from it’s casing and crumbled in. Once the sausage was pretty much cooked through, then I proceeded with the recipe, adding in the liquid and remaining ingredients.
My final change was with the rosemary. I found my frozen rosemary and decided that I didn’t want chopped bits of rosemary needles in my soup. I much prefer to toss in a few sprigs and cook the flavor out before removing the rosemary, so I threw two huge sprigs in the soup and then removed them later on. The end result was delicious! It turned out my sausage was a little on the spicy side, so the kids didn’t eat too much of it- but Andy really liked it, and it made for fantastic leftovers for lunch today.
6 cups drained and rinsed canned chickpeas (three 19-ounce cans)
3 cups chicken broth or homemade stock, plus more if needed
3 tablespoons olive oil (I actually used closer to 1 tablespoon)
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh
1 bay leaf
Pinch dried crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup canned tomatoes in thick puree (I used 1 cup stewed tomatoes)
1/2 cup tubetti or small macaroni (breaking up spaghetti worked really well)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound Swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Directions:
Puree half of the chickpeas with 1 1/2 cups of broth in a blender or food processor. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over moderately low heat. Add the carrot, celery, onion, garlic and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups broth, the pureed mixture, whole chickpeas, bay leaf, red-pepper flakes, tomatoes, pasta and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered for 10 minutes.
Add the Swiss chard to the pot. Simmer until the chard is tender and the pasta is done, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the black pepper. If the soup thickens too much on standing, add a little more broth or water.
Serves 6.
Six years old- and no signs of slowing down yet. Gosh, I love this little man.
You’ll have to wait for cake pictures, I’m afraid. The cake will be for Saturday’s party, today we feasted on birthday pancakes for breakfast and will take some snickerdoodles with us to church tonight. Right now him and Abigail are enjoying a day off of school and playing with all his birthday presents. He is a very happy six-year old this morning, and told us that he definitely feels different today. 
Now that we’re almost finished up with January, and the diets to rid all the excess calories from the holidays, we can march into February with sweets back on the radar. After all, with the Super Bowl coming up in a few weeks, we can throw caution to the wind once more and indulge in some delicious game-day fare. As you’re going through recipes, looking for the perfect dishes to make for your guests, might I suggest this really easy pan of Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars.
If you’re anything like me, I suspect you also have a can or two of pumpkin still hiding away in the pantry. With the rumored pumpkin shortage, when there was pumpkin to be found- multiple cans made their way into my shopping cart. Other than pie, bread and muffins, I have to say that pumpkin cheesecake ranks right up there as a “Great Thing To Make With Pumpkin. And this one really couldn’t be easier to do.
This also makes ahead beautifully. We nibbled off the pan of bars for a good five days or so. Make it ahead with confidence and store it in the fridge. Pecans make a fantastic substitution for the walnuts if you prefer them.
Crust:
3/4 cup walnuts
1 package graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, melted
Filling:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Directions:
In a food processor, combine the walnuts and crackers. Pulse until crackers are crushed and nuts are finely chopped. Pour into a small bowl and add the sugar and spices; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 pan.
For filling, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Add pumpkin and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into crust and spread evenly. Sprinkle the top with walnuts and remaining cinnamon.
Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until center is set. Cool on a wire rack for 1-1/2 hours. Store in the refrigerator.
Tonight was a breakfast-for-dinner night. We had leftover sloppy joes from Monday on the menu, but that really didn’t appeal to me, and as the day crept on, pancakes were sounding more and more like a good idea to me. As the dinner hour crept closer, I hopped onto the computer here to get my recipe for Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes, knowing that the oats needed time to soak up the milk. I started copying down the recipe when I paused, and reflected that the last time I made these, Zander really didn’t like them. I thought about going ahead with them anyway, but decided in the end to go with plain old pancakes.
Except it’s been a while since I made plain old pancakes with a recipe. For the last several years we’ve had this never-ending supply of Krusteaz pancake mix that we made pancakes with. However, a few months ago, we actually ran out of mix, and I haven’t picked anymore up. I mean really, here I am championing homemade cooking and all its goodness, and I can’t be bothered to make pancakes from scratch? It doesn’t get any easier than homemade pancakes! I went off to Allrecipes in search of a recipe for plain old pancakes.
I am forever in debt to Allrecipes, because the pancake recipe I found is nothing short of spectacular! These pancakes cooked up hugely fluffy and light and moist! Moist! They have a lovely light flavor, and while we had strawberries and syrup to top our golden cakes with, they are delicious straight out of hand! We had dinner over four hours ago and I’m still munching on these delectable golden brown pillows of pancake goodness.
You know how you go out for breakfast to a diner, and you order pancakes, and then as you eat them you almost cry about how good they are. And you wonder aloud to all your dining companions why it is that you cannot make pancakes as good as the ones you’re eating. They’re pancakes for crying out loud! Why on earth does their perfection elude us?
Those days are over- trust me when I say that when you make these pancakes, you will make everyone at your table happy. Unless of course there is a dining companion who doesn’t like pancakes…
Don’t be weirded out by the vinegar. All we’re doing with it is making our regular milk sour milk. Buttermilk could be substituted, I suspect- then use 1 3/4 cups of buttermilk instead of the milk and vinegar. The vanilla is totally optional- but it really makes these pancakes tasty on their own. Also, I have to add that for once, I listen to my inner Alton Brown who says don’t over-mix this batter! When you add the moist ingredients to the dry, a chemical reaction will take place, making the batter itself light, fluffy and full of air bubbles. Do not be tempted to stir it down and smooth it out. Give the mixture two or three stirs to combine, and then walk away. You will be rewarded for this, I promise. When you scoop the batter onto your griddle- use a light hand as well so you don’t press the air out then either. Air is your friend.
I had been excited because there were leftover pancakes tonight. I thought they might make a good breakfast for tomorrow. Except that here it is, late at night, and I’m still munching on them. Guess I’ll have to find something else for breakfast.
Easy Fluffy Pancakes
1 1/2 cups milk
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Cooking spray for cooking pancakes
Directions:
Combine the milk and the vinegar. Stir, and set aside for five minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk togetherto fully incorporate.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat your eggs, and then add in the sour milk, melted butter and the vanilla if using. Whisk until fully blended.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir just a few times to mix the two together. Use a light hand, and don’t stir down all the air bubbles- these are good- they’ll make the pancakes light and fluffy. Set the mixture aside for 20-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare your griddle or cast iron pan by heating to 350ºF. Spray the surface with cooking spray. Using a gentle hand, scoop out the batter onto your griddle- using approximately 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. (Don’t be tempted to stir the batter before scooping it out- just go ahead and scoop your pancakes out- it will seem way too thick, but trust me, it works.) Cook until bubbles start to appear on the surface, and then gently flip the pancakes and cook the second side for another minute or two. Remove to a plate and keep warm until serving.
Of course, I say that with sarcasm, because I remedied the situation by being a good mom. But still… The other day I looked at Zander’s chosen attire for the day. Most of his pants, once again, are quickly treading into the grey area of almost being high waters. How does this boy do that? I swear to you, he got a whole bunch of new pants just before Christmas. Below his pants were his shoes- looking really beat up. I made a mental note that this boy needs new shoes.
So last night, we drop Abigail at dance and head to the store to pick up some rolls for sloppy joes and some shoes for Zander. I pick up his shoe he just took off and saw that it was a size 12. Okay, I pick up a size 13 off the rack. Then I proceed to nearly mangle his foot beyond recognition trying to get it into the size 13. Into the size 1 it went- they fit beautifully. Sigh. Six month old shoes were two sizes too small. I wonder at what point he outgrew them, but it could have been two pants sizes ago- which was just a few months ago as well.
No wonder it seems like this boy is always eating! He turns six next week…maybe he’ll slow down for a spell?
Oh, and by the way… my son has requested an R2-D2 cake. Anyone remember my disasterous Star Wars cake from Abigail’s last birthday? Help…
Ever have one of those days? You have to do a meal plan so that you can do a grocery shopping plan. But you put it off and put it off, and then it’s nearly time to get ready to head out the door and you’re STILL staring at a blank sheet of paper.
*Sigh*
I know I’d totally regret just going to the store without a plan. First, I would spend too much. Secondly, I would miss things. SO first I spend too much by randomly walking the store, and then later in the week when I go to assemble ingredients for a meal, I find a few things missing so I spend even more money filling in the blanks.
And yet, I still stare at the blank page.
Or… Why Haven’t I Tried This Before!
Last night I took the rare opportunity of having a husband away to have a friend over for dinner. It was a great opportunity to just have some girl talk, catch up a bit, and enjoy a dinner together. My friend is a world traveler, and has spent several years living in South Africa, so when I asked what she was in the mood for, and her reply was “anything but chicken livers” I knew that I could dig into the recipe box and pull out my recipes for Indian. It has been a while since I’ve been in the mood to make or eat Indian, but once it came to me, I couldn’t wait for it.
Funny sidestory. I haven’t made Indian (as in, food from India) in a while because I could swear, the last time I made it Andy made a comment about having had enough Indian for a while. So I backed off on it for a bit. Well, he heard that I was making some Butter Chicken last night and was seriously in mourning because he wouldn’t be home for it! No worries, today I’ll take some of the leftovers and freeze them for him for lunch one day next week.
Back to dinner. I planned out my menu- which had to include Butter Chicken (although I did think more than twice about the Kofte), and decided that I would make a Lentil Dal for my side. I had yogurt and cucumbers to make a Raita, and I had some homemade Cranberry Chutney on hand. This was all good, and had me very excited for dinner. But it was missing something. It was missing a few slices of Naan- the popular flatbread that usually accompanies all these dishes. This was not something that I could just pick up at my little local grocer. It had to be picked up at the bigger grocery stores a bit of a drive away, and I really didn’t want to go out just to pick up some flat bread. I determined that I was going to make some.
Good gravy, this was ridiculously easy to make. So easy, I tell you! So let me share what I did.
The first step was to take 2/3 cup of lukewarm milk, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of yeast and combine them. I mixed them up and then walked away for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes had passed, I returned to my bowl and added 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt.
All this mixed together easily, and then I turned it out onto a floured counter and kneaded it for 5 minutes. It was a bit sticky- but I tried really hard to not add too much flour. After five minutes, the dough went into a greased bowl to rise for 1 1/2 hours. Timer set, I walked away.
When the timer went off, I dumped the dough back out onto my barely floured counter and began kneading again. I kneaded for another five minutes.
Then, I took my ball of dough and cut it into six pieces. I set them on the floured counter, covered them with plastic wrap (loosely) and walked away for another 10 minutes.
MEANWHILE, I preheated the oven to 500ºF and set my flat pizza stone in the oven. I also took some whole Indian spices and toasted them in a skillet. After toasting, I ground them with some sea salt- I planned to use this to sprinkle the Naan with. I also took 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter and melted it in the microwave.
*Note about the vegetable oil and butter. Traditionally, Indian food would be made with Ghee- or clarified butter. I decided not to clarify my butter, and instead used oil in the dough and melted butter for the baking process. By all means, use the ghee if you have some or want to make it.
With my oven hot and ready, I took one dough ball at a time and rolled them out.
Once rolled, I picked up the dough and held it over my open hand. I brushed the surface of the dough with the melted butter, and then gave it a sprinkle of my toasted spices. This went butter side down onto my baking stone in the oven. It started to sizzle right away. I quickly buttered the top side and sprinkled with my spices.
I closed the oven and rolled out and prepped my second dough, and got that on the stone next to the first. The surface of the first one was looking dry and cooked already, so I flipped it over and was greeted with a beautiful golden brown sight.
I shut the oven again and went to roll out the third dough. By the time that one was ready, my first dough piece was golden on both sides and ready to come out. Total, the Naan baked for maybe 4 minutes per piece. Right away, I knew I made a grave error. I only made one batch of dough. 
This Naan is absolutely delicious. You certainly don’t need to use the spices if you don’t want, and honestly, this is so easy, and requires so little ingredients, I can also see utilizing this for many things! The naan was sturdy enough, that with a little modification, I think this would make for an excellent mini pizza crust for lunches or something.
Of course, torn into pieces and used to soak up some amazing butter chicken juices and lentil dal is about my favorite thing in the world to eat. Zander ate almost half the Naan by himself last night, so you know I’ll be making it again.
2/3 cup lukewarm milk (water can be substituted)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons ghee (I used vegetable oil)
2 Tablespoons plain yogurt
3 Tablespoons ghee or melted butter
2 teaspoons ground Indian spices
Directions:
Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Mix together and then set aside for ten minutes.
Add the flour, salt, ghee (or oil) and yogurt and combine to form a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Add as little flour as possible.
Place the dough into a bowl which has been lightly greased. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto the floured surface and knead for another five minutes- again, adding as little flour as possible. Divide the dough into six pieces. Cover with plastic and let rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 500ºF and place a baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven to heat as well. (Alternately, these can also be cooked stove top on a hot griddle or cast iron pan.)
Roll out one doughball at a time. Brush with melted butter (or ghee) and sprinkle with spices, if using. Place butter side down on the baking sheet. Working quickly, brush the top of the dough with more butter and sprinkle with spices. Close the oven and begin work on the next doughball.
The naan is cooked when it has golden brown freckles on both sides. This should only take about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a cooling rack to cool before serving. Repeat the process with the remaining doughballs.
I have always wanted to make ossobuco. In fact, it’s on my short list of dishes that I hope to prepare sometime in my lifetime. Traditionally made with veal shanks, it’s just not something that one can make on a whim, because the average home cook simply doesn’t have access to veal shanks. Or veal anything for that matter. (At least in my neck of the woods.) I have long been enchanted by the idea of the long, slow braise, topped with a bright and vibrant gremolata just before serving. I have always known that the melting meat of ossobuco would be a fine accomplishment indeed.
Well. A few weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I found a ridiculous deal on turkey drumsticks. Despite the fact that we had plenty of turkey over the holidays- and I still have turkey to be cooked in the freezer, I picked some up. In the back of my mind I could see a recipe somewhere for an ossobuco made with turkey legs. I was not mistaken.
Friends, I have to tell you, it just doesn’t get much easier than this to make something so spectacular. Who would have thought that humble turkey drumsticks could turn into perfection in just a few hours. To make turkey ossobuco, first the turkey legs are dredged in flour and browned in oil. The recipe, originally from Gourmet, called for the whole turkey legs, thigh included. While I do have thighs in the freezer, I opted to just use the drumsticks. Once the drumsticks were browned, I used the same oil in the same pot to gently cook some chopped onion and some anchovy fillets. Yes, you read that right. Anchovies. Up to this date in time, I have never used an anchovy. While I know it is IN things that I buy all the time, I have plead my ignorance in knowing that these little fishies were floating around in my food. But let me tell you about anchovies. These tiny little fish pack a wallop of delicious umami flavor. I very finely chopped up five little fillets and added them with the onions. And what do you know? About 8 minutes later I had golden onions, and no trace of anchovy to be seen.
I added some sauvignon blanc and reduced that, followed by the tomatoes and chicken stock. In no time at all, that reduced down to a rather tasty sauce- needing only a few grinds of pepper. I poured the liquid over the drumsticks, tightly sealed them up with foil, and popped them into the oven. 2 1/2 hours later I had my finished drumsticks, and I’d already prepared some brown rice in anticipation of sopping up the sauce.
The gremolata was where I encountered my own problem with the recipe. Mainly, that the flash of yellow I had seen in my produce drawer in the fridge was actually a yellow apple- and not the lemon requisite for gremolata. Since the recipe called for orange zest as well, I used orange zest, parsley, and garlic. I’d taken a bit of dried lemon peel and soaked it to see if that would be an adequate substitute… um, that’s a definite no- that went down into the garbage disposal. My gremolata was missing the lemon element, and I suspect that if I’d had the lemon, this dish would have blown us away. As it was, it was terribly delicious, but I know it would have been better with a pop of lemon.
This was so good. The drumsticks literally melted off the bone- and you know all those extra little bone bits in a drumstick that are hard to eat around? Not a problem, because the meat simply fell off, leaving all that behind. The sauce was lip-smacking delicious, and I’m planning on using the remaining sauce and two legs tonight in a soup of sorts for dinner- I will report back how that works out. We will be making this again- Andy was eager to have some leftovers to have for dinner as well- and that’s always a sign of a great dish.
Turkey Ossobuco
5 1/2 to 6 pounds whole fresh turkey legs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 to 8 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 flat anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (16 fluid ounces)
1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving juice, and chopped
For gremolata:
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Pat turkey legs dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper, then dredge 1 leg in flour mixture, knocking off excess. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown leg, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes, and transfer to a large (17- by 12-inch) roasting pan. Meanwhile, dredge another leg. Continue to prepare, brown, and transfer legs in same manner, adding up to 4 tablespoons oil to skillet as needed.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to skillet, then add onion and anchovies and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until onion is golden and anchovies are dissolved, 7 to 8 minutes. Add wine and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes, then stir in broth and tomatoes with their juice.
Pour liquid over turkey legs and cover surface with a sheet of parchment paper, then tightly cover pan with foil. Transfer to oven and braise until meat is very tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Transfer legs to a cutting board and cut them into thigh and drumstick portions, then transfer to a deep platter. Skim off fat from sauce. If sauce measures more than 3 cups, boil until reduced. Season sauce with salt and pepper and pour over turkey.
Make gremolata:
Stir together garlic, parsley, and zests and sprinkle over turkey just before serving.
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