What most people I know think of when you use the generic term "cake" is technically a butter cake, typically eggs and butter or oil beaten together and the dry ingredients then added, as opposed to a chiffon cake, a lighter textured cake where the egg whites are whipped separately and folded into the batter. Pound cake is butter or chiffon cake's sweet, voluptuous cousin, with rich, velvety crumb, created from not just eggs and butter but LOTS of eggs and butter!
Originally named "pound cake" for the simplicity of its ingredients: pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour... it has long since been cut down to what we think of us "regular" cake size and customized in endless variations. This buttermilk and vanilla recipe is rich and. satisfying with straight-forward, simple ingredients that showcases what, to me, is almost a religiously divine combination: butter, flour, and sugar...and an oven. .
To fancy it up, add fresh strawberries or a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce. For me, I just cut a slice, pick it up, and don't bother dirtying a fork and plate.
Gene and I first had caviar at the Petrossian piano/martini bar inside the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. We'd walked by the little bistro several times and one day we just decided to stop in for a drink and a nosh. Neither of us had ever eaten caviar before so we decided to splurge and give this new-to-us delicacy a try. Delicious!
I think it was one of the first times we've ever tried something we didn't know how to eat that we simply asked the waitress to tell us what to do. That seems like a simple concept but it. was a learning experience for us in several ways. I don't know why I thought the waitress might be snooty, my own insecurity, I guess. As Auntie Miranda said, only a stupid server wouldn't make sure a patron had a great experience with new food or they'd be burning their own tip money up.
Since then we've been very loyal to Petrossian and splurge on caviar and fois gras every other New Year's Eve or so. We've been building up quite the tradition: a good pasta, home-made bread, and a fresh salad, followed by poker or other family games, and a midnight caviar, a good bottle of champagne, and/or dessert buffet with Auntie Miranda, James and Lynn, and Corbin and Jenn.
The Petrossian caviar is overnighted from New York inside cold packs. To serve, all you have to do is open the tin it comes in, place over crushed ice in a secondary bowl to keep it chilled, and dip it with a non-metallic (to avoid the metal giving the caviar a weird taste) spoon. Ours happens to be mother of pearl, ordered from Petrossian our first year. Caviar can be served on soft (our preference) or toasted baguette or regular bread toast points, blinis, or crackers of any kind. Toppings are a personal choice but common sides are chopped hard-boiled egg, sweet gherkins, dill gherkins, capers, minced red onion, scallions, or chives, kalamata olives, and creme fraiche--a type of sour cream with a higher fat content and less acidity.
We served this little mini buffet on a lazy Susan to keep us, lazy celebrators that we are, from having to pass everything around a million times. I made home-made baguette and bought two kinds of crackers: one light and crispy and the other more toothy and whole-grained. Along with the caviar, we also ordered a duck fois gras pate and a pheasant, fig, and cognac pate. Everybody tried many different combinations of toppings with the caviar but it seemed like the favorites were either simply the caviar on a thin slice of baguette or any of the breads topped with caviar, creme fraiche, capers, and chopped sweet gherkins. There is something about that combination that meets the magic taste combination of salty, sour, sweet, and savory. Mmmm... I'm already looking forward to next year even though this year has barely begun.
After painting bread for the 7th World Bread Day was so much fun I decided to play some more. Probably will even more--it's just too much fun! Poor Gene will have painted bread for dinner for the next...whenever i get tired of painting bread, I guess. Poor, Gene. Poor, poor Gene, getting home-made painted bread for dinner every night. It's a hard knock life, eh?
The recipe I used this time is my own basic large loaf (1 1/2 to 2 lbs) recipe that easily fills my Pullman Pan or my large Pampered Chef bread loaf crock, although in this instance and often, I simply formed it into a boule (big round loaf), painted it, and baked it without a form of any kind.
I'm down to the wire. After making two huge batches of Ghirardelli/French vanilla cocoa mix and pomegranate winter comfort tea and I-forget-how-many batches of chai-spiced pretzels and curried almonds and cashews....I'm almost out of goodies and there are still so many people I wanted to share with! Sigh. But since I have to work the next three nights, sleep during the days, and take the nieces and nephew's presents over to my sister's house Friday afternoon but wanted to take goodies there too... What's a girl to do? Improvise!
This blog's not called "A Fridge Full of Food...and nothing to eat" for naught. I grew up at my mother's side in the kitchen and she was the Queen of pulling something good to eat out of her....cupboards! I had some Wilton candy chips, a few dark chocolate chips, and a bag of leftover caramel chips (from Halloween for caramel apples). Gene found a box of 'Nilla wafers in the back of the pantry and ran to the store for a few packages of sandwich cookies.
My cousin, Colleen's new recipe for the holidays is this toffee recipe. When I asked if I could blog it and said "It looks aMAzing!" She replied "It IS amazing! I heard about it a few years ago, and for some reason I got an itch to make it for this family gathering. It's a pretty big hit!"
A few weeks ago I got really annoyed by the commercialism and non-stop bombardment of "Buy Buy Buy!" that constitutes the retail version of Christmas that I vowed on Facebook that I would only give small, home-made, heart-felt gifts. This cocoa mix is one of those gifts.
When I was a kid, we were very poor but our Mom was very creative in the kitchen and for the same price of a few packets of Swiss Miss Cocoa that we could inhale in under a half hour (five kids!) she could make gallons of home-made cocoa mix. This is one of my favorite memories from childhood winters-- endless comforting cups of cocoa.
It's a new day and, like everything else that was cheap when I was a kid, the "cheap" has wafted away in the wind BUT the beauty is that the warmth, the comfort, and the memories are still there. I've updated the recipe to be with a better quality cocoa, less fat and carbs, but it's still one of my favorite winter things.
Does anyone else remember Tang Tea mix that was very in vogue as a food gift about 20-25 years ago? Anyone else a little horrified by the amount of sugar that was in it? Okay, maybe that was just me. I've updated the tang tea recipe with sugar substitutes and added a "liquid vitamin" component that makes this hot winter tea even more comforting especially during cold and flu season. I need
I to make more. I've already gone through one of my containers of mix and haven't given to all my giftees yet. Oops!
A friend, Dianne, gave me some yummy nummies similar to this that got my little brain working overtime and my hands experimenting in the kitchen. I love iced chai tea in the summer but there is nothing better than those spices warmed in a cup for winter or baked onto pretzels for anytime.
The other night when I made this final rendition of the recipe I knew I had it when our friend, Corbin, ran by the house and he, Gene, and I ate handfuls and handfuls of these. They were definitely a winner so I sent home a bag of these, along with home-made cocoa mix, and other treats, with Corbin for his family.
Then I sealed up the rest so Gene and I wouldn't make ourselves sick on them! I'll be making these again and again: to give away, to serve as an appetizer, for weekend movie nights, etc. I used two different kinds of pretzels: the sourdough chubbies and the waffle pretzels. While the chubbies should win my heart from the name I just assigned them, the waffled ones are my fave because of all the yummy sugar and spices that get caught in the holes.
I made a pledge on Facebook that I would concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas this year by only giving small heart-felt gifts this year. Why Facebook? I was using the theory on myself that if I announced it to everyone I know then I would keep myself accountable to my pledge and NOT wimp out and suddenly go on a huge shopping spree out of last-minute desperation. Believe me, my friends live to give me hell so they were/are still watching me, ready to pounce, and that's what I love about them!
True to my word, I have knitted and sewed and crafted and now I've started cooking. I decided to take some old recipes that my mom made when I was a kid for food gifts and update them. I also picked out a couple of new recipes that intrigued me. The first of those is this bacon jam from the Martha Stewart web site. The web site says to spread it on bread as an appetizer. In my mind I could also see it served over cream cheese with crackers, or as a meat chutney to go top of ham or beef, maybe even as a filling for phyllo appetizers or baked on top of brie. It's an intriguing recipe. The combination of ingredients looked to produce something sweet and savory and wonderful, a unique gift, as well as an appetizer for our family Christmas get-together. I still believe that, but in this case, either the bacon or the crockpot decided to go all Stephen King on me and produced this malevolent mess.
Speaking of giving me hell, I'm just waiting for Auntie Miranda to speak up. I'm known for not being a Martha Stewart fan. In reality, I love her ideas, but something about her bugs the crap out of me when I watch her show. Shudder. It's the same thing that makes me turn the channel when Sandra Lee comes on. In theory, I like them both and their ideas, for different reasons of course, but watching them sets my teeth on edge. I don't know why, it's just a personal thing.
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