I debated for a while on what to call these little rubies, because I wanted to be clear that this was something a little different than the old "strawberries and sugar" deal, but I also didn't want to scare anyone away. If you're feeling adventurous please read on...
I have two cook books that pair strawberries with black pepper. I thought it sounded so crazy that it just might work! So I decided to sacrifice a pint in the name of experimentation. I went with something simple rather than making a whole dessert or ice cream flavor, as recommended in the previously mentioned books. I marinated them and put them on some vanilla ice cream. If you are bored with the usual strawberries and cream, this is definitely the cure! It highlights the punchy brightness of the strawberries at the beginning, and has a nice kick at the end. It almost creates a sensation of effervescence. If you're not feeling quite so adventurous, I think the strawberry/orange combination is quite nice on its own.
Marinated Strawberries
1 pint fresh strawberries
the juice and finely grated zest of one orange
1-2 tsp sugar (to taste, really)
The tiniest pinch of black pepper (also to taste)
Rinse the strawberries, cut of the tops and cut the strawberries into bite sized pieces. Combine in a small bowl with the juice, zest, sugar and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
I ate them on top of ice cream, but I imagine they would be beautiful chopped into a chunky relish and placed on top of some crackers with a swipe of cream cheese. Upon tasting them I have also become obsessed with the idea of putting them on top of a tres leches cake. Please somebody, help me be in a situation where it is necessary to do that.
I have no other explanation for this song selection other than, "this seems appropriate".
It's not that I haven't been cooking and baking. It's just that I've been in a hurry to eat, so I don't take photos, and then I think I can't write a post about what I've just cooked. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting, and I'm sorry that this post has no photos. So I'm making it up to you today by posting two recipes at once.
The first recipe is for some muffins I baked for the research team I have recently joined. I have baked them a couple of times as jumbo muffins for the farmer's market, but I made them as regular sized muffins (my tiny kitchen/oven in Boston is not equipped for jumbo muffins) and the recipe translated quite well! I did try to add white chocolate chips to some of the muffins, but the chips stuck to my pan and broke the muffins in half. So, if you do plan on adding them, I suggest you use cupcake liners, simply sprinkle them on top of the batter before baking, or drizzle melted chocolate once the muffins are baked. Anyway, they certainly don't NEED the chips, but they could benefit from them. Also, this time I skipped the macadamia nuts, but I have included them before and they sure were tasty!
Aloha Muffins
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup mashed banana
1- 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)
shredded coconut for sprinkling on top
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f). Grease muffin tin (makes 18 muffins). In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar, with a hand mixer on medium speed for about a minute and a half. Add the eggs and blend on medium speed for another minute. Next add the yogurt, bananas, and pineapple until thoroughly combined. In a smaller bowl combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Pour the dry mixture into the wet and be sure to combine well. Try to get every bit of the wet mixture from the bottom of the bowl, otherwise you'll end up with a couple of really dry muffins and a couple of muffin tins full of melted butter and sugar. Add in the macadamia nuts.
Scoop out 2 generous tablespoons of batter per muffin. Sprinkle the coconut on top of the batter. Put the muffins in the oven and lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are nice and golden. The coconut will become a little golden as well. Of course the true test will be the clean toothpick test.
If you've greased them enough it will be possible to flip out the muffins immediately on to the cooling rack. If they're a little stubborn, wait for them to cool a bit to steam themselves out of the tin and to be less delicate as you gently encourage them out of the tin.
"And now for something completely different..."
I guess I COULD take a photo of our leftover baked ziti...but it's not as pretty once it's been partially eaten and refrigerated. Anyway, last night we had a baked ziti that I pretty much winged. Have you ever noticed that when you get baked ziti from an Italian restaurant it is very simple. No extra veggies or sausage or Tuscan smoked mystery sauces. So, inspired by that simplicity....and my own laziness I came up this huge casserole of pasta and luckily enough it turned out to be delicious!
Baked Ziti
1-1lb box of rigatoni
1-26 oz jar of your favorite marinara sauce
1- 15 oz container ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f). Cook rigatoni according to the instructions on the box for al dente pasta. Spread 1/4 of the jar of marinara sauce in an even layer on the bottom of a large casserole dish. In a medium sized bowl combine the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Drain the noodles and return them to their pot. Add the cheese mixture and gently stir to evenly distribute among the noodles. Pour the cheese/noodles into the casserole dish and spread into an even layer. Pour the rest of the marinara sauce on top of the noodles and spread into an even layer. Finally sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan on top of the whole thing. Cover with foil if you want gooey cheese and bake for 20 minutes. If you the cheese to brown, remove the foil after the first 10 minutes.
Also, since I've been listening to nothing but this band since I saw them over Memorial Day weekend, here is yet another fantastic tune from Friendly Fires!
