Nutella Frosting

This year for my birthday, I did not make anything special with the cake...just yellow cake with "funfetti" (stir in jimmies to any light colored cake batter for a festive flecking of color). The frosting, on the other hand, was a luxurious tasting Nutella butter cream! It was very easy to make and "poshed up" the cake quite nicely. I'm sorry, there are no photos of my cake, but for the record, it just looks like fluffy chocolate frosting. I'm going to give you a small amount based on how much stuff you need, per stick of butter. But you'll probably be better off with 1.5x  as much as this recipe makes for a two layer 9-inch cake.  This frosting is good for those, like myself, who don't like frosting that is too sweet.

Nutella Butter Cream

 1 stick  (1/2 cup) softened, unsalted butter

1/2 cup Nutella

1 tsp dutch process cocoa

Whip the butter in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer. When it is smooth add the Nutella, and cocoa. Whip until thoroughly combined, and frost your cake! This is so easy, it's almost not a recipe! 

Turning 25...it's kind of like that. (Except Rebecca Black is NOT invited.)

Thanksgiving Steamed Cod

 This year, for Thanksgiving I parted with tradition and had a very pared down meal. Instead of cooking a turkey and entirely too many side dishes, Brad and I had a light dinner that centered around cod!  I used ingredients that echoed the flavors of my mom's turkey recipe, and it turned out great. Hey, if cod was good enough for the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, it's good enough for my table, too! It was, as my Grandma Kathie said, "Very New England." I have to tell you, this recipe is so quick and easy, it could work for a week night dinner!

Thanksgiving Steamed Cod

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 an onion 

1/2 an orange

1 sprig of fresh sage 

4 individual sized cod fillets (adds up to about 1.5 lbs)

salt and pepper

1/4 cup white wine or light broth

When splitting the onion to make the 1/2 onion called for in the ingtredients, cut from pole to pole, not around the equator. Slice the half onion thinly into arches, chopping again, from pole to pole. Cut the 1/2 orange into 1/4-inch slices, reserving the smaller discs and the "nub" to squeeze juice over the fillets later. 

In a large frying pan, heat your oil on medium heat. Add the onions. Sprinkle a little salt over them to encourage them to throw their juice to add to the liquid for steaming. Next layer the oranges and the sage on top of the onions. This is all going to make a nice flavorful bed of steam for the fish. Generously salt and pepper your fish  fillets before placing them on top of the bed of produce. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes. By 2 minutes, it should look like your onions are making some progress. Pour the wine (or broth- something light like chicken broth or fish stock) over the fish. Return the lid and steam for 5 minutes more. You'll know the fish is done if it is flaky. Be careful not to over cook it, or it will be rubbery and dry. 

I did not eat the onions or oranges...but I don't see why you couldn't pull the oranges and sage out, and continue to cook the onions down into a nice relish or something like that, if you have the time.

Come and Get It! --Chicken Pot Pie

 I came up with the filling after fiddling with a cream of mushroom soup recipe my Aunt Lorraine sent me.
Just some words of advice before you start:  It is of the utmost importance to have all your chopping and measuring done before you start cooking. It really makes things a lot easier. Also, when I say to add the broth slowly while stirring constantly for the gravy, I mean it. If you just dump the broth in all willy-nilly without stirring, you will end up with clumps of flour floating in chicken broth. Actually, adding the broth is a great task for a junior assistant. If you don't have one on hand (like me) it is possible to do it on your own, but be warned that if you don't ever make gravy with an assistant the long and glorious tradition of beautiful gravy may end with you. I don't think it's possible to learn the art of gravy making without first assisting one who has mastered it. I'll do my best to explain it here, but I encourage you to take advantage of any opportunity to experience the benefits of a mentor/disciple relationship presented to you, especially when it comes to making gravy.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1/ 2 inch cubes

1 potato, 1/4 inch cubes

1/2 medium onion, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup milk

1 cup frozen vegetables*

Salt & pepper to taste

 1 frozen pie crust, thawed


In a medium pot, over medium high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter. Add the chicken breast to the butter and brown the meat. Season the chicken with a bit of salt as it is cooking. It should take the chicken about 2 minutes to brown completely on the outside. It doesn't have to be  cooked all the way through, because you'll be cooking it further later. Taking care to leave behind the butter and juices of the chicken, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside.

Add the remaining 2 tbsp of butter to the pot and reduce the heat to medium low and add your onion and potato. Season with a little more salt (just to get the onion to throw its juices).  Cook and stir occasionally until, the onion is turning translucent and is soft, about 3 minutes. Then sprinkle your flour over the potatoes and onions and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.You're making a rue, so it will look sort of like a paste when you're ready to add the broth.  S l o w l y add the chicken broth to the mixture while stirring constantly, until the liquid thickens a little to what looks like a nice consistency for chicken pot pie. <-- I know that's vague, but you'll know it when you see it.

Add the chicken back to the pot, along with the frozen veggies. Then add the milk and put it over low heat until it comes to a simmer (NOT  a boil). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you want you can stop here and enjoy a lovely cream of chicken soup...

OR

After you have chopped the veggies and meat but before you've added your butter to the pot, preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F). Place a 9-inch cake pan on a cookie sheet.  Put the soup in the cake pan (you think it won't all fit, but it does). Lay the pie crust over the soup and seal the edges. Put the pie (cookie sheet and all) into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden, brown and delicious.  The cookie sheet is imperative because the filling  that will be seeping out is capable of burning through an oven mitt...as evidenced by the one we just threw away.

Let the gravy stop boiling before serving, unless you want to risk pie explosion upon breaking the crust.

ENJOY!

*  I used a bag that came with a mix of peas, carrots, corn and green beans. I think it helped to have the small pieces rather than something large, like broccoli. 

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!

It was a gray and rainy day, so I retreated to the dry warmth of my kitchen to make use of the many, many apples my fiance and I picked last weekend to celebrate the beginning of Fall! In an effort to take advantage of my fresh, crisp, juicy bounty I neglected to eat my bananas before they were too mushy to be good for anything other than banana bread. So, inspired by the childhood song, I made apple-banana muffins. But I didn't want them to turn out a heavy, cliche of fall, so I added caraway to the spice profile of my muffins. It brings out the tartness of the apples among the sweetness of the bananas, the warmth of the  little bit of cinnamon and nuttiness of the whole wheat flour. I tested these muffins out on my classmates with great success, so I think it's an experimental recipe worthy of le blog!

Apple-Banana Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 -1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1 apple, peeled cored and diced into 1/2 inch chunks

2 very ripe bananas, smash/sliced with a fork

First a little prep work: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (f). Grease or line your muffin tins (this makes 12 muffins). Peel, core and dice your apple. Finally, combine the milk and vinegar, let it sit and curdle. <--sounds gross, but think of it as homemade buttermilk! 

While the milk is doing its thing, cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the "sour milk". In a smaller bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and caraway. Add the dry mix to the wet and stir to combine. Finally stir in the apples and bananas. 

Portion out batter among the 12 muffin tins, and bake until the muffins are golden and spring back when you poke them (about 25-30 minutes). 

If you used liners, you can carefully remove the muffins from the tin onto the cooling rack. If you did it old school, like me, wait about 5 minutes before GENTLY coaxing the muffins out of the pan. I usually turn the pan upside down with one hand and wiggle the edges of the top of the muffins with the other until they finally drop out.

Happy fall!

P.S. Don't have any cider vinegar? Use 1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt instead! 

Um...not much to say about this song except, "YES.YES. YES." 

Gooey Caramel Popcorn Bars

This recipe is  based on the Rice Krispies Treat method, so it's extremely easy and quick. It's great if you're going to a Halloween party, or you want to get in the kitchen with kids...or if you want a sweet, but it seems like to much to actually bake something. Since this was my first time making these I didn't put any extras in there, but after tasting them, I think these would do well with dried cranberries, chopped nuts, M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, pretzels, or if you want to get all gourmet, vanilla beans, cracked espresso beans, or bacon bits  to balance out the sweetness...the possibilities are endless.

Caramel Popcorn Bars

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1- 10 oz package of marshmallows (the big ones)

**This is a two person job, so recruit a friend!

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat.Place 3 kernels in the oil. When one of them pops you'll know the oil is hot enough to add the rest of the kernels. Shake the pot frequently to help distribute the heat, prevent burning, and once the corn starts popping, to get the un-popped kernels to the bottom of the pot. You'll know it's done when the popping slows down and the pot looks nearly full. Be careful not to burn it! When your popcorn is done dump the pot out into a large bowl and set it aside. 

Now would be a good time to line a shallow, small-ish baking pan (like a  9-inch cake pan) with aluminum foil. Grease VERY WELL with butter and set it aside. 

I just used a wadded up paper towel to get the kernel shells and popcorn bits out before creating my goo in the same pot -which was oiled from the popcorn and also is NON-STICK! 

I turned the heat to medium low and melted my butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly. Do this until the mixture bubbles and no longer looks separated. (By separated I mean, the sugar settles to look like sand in a pool of "butter water" if you stop stirring.) This should happen fairly quickly (in a minute or two). Then turn the heat to low and add your marshmallows, stirring constantly until it's mostly smooth. (A few marshmallow lumps never killed anyone...in fact they might enhance the dish!) 

Turn off the heat and have an assistant carefully scoop the popcorn out of the bowl and into the pot of goo. Try to shake out any un-popped kernels so nobody breaks a tooth!Carefully fold the popcorn into the goo as they scoop it in, so that the popcorn is coated but is not crushed and mashed. If you want to add extras, now is the time to do it. Once it's all incorporated dump the mass into your greased pan, and do your best to pack it down, but not crush it. I used another piece of greased foil to smash it down with my palms.

 Let it cool for about an hour before removing the foil lining from the pan. Set your brick of popcorn on a cutting board and carefully peel the foil away from the sides of the popcorn. Even if some of it sticks,it's okay. Just be patient and gently work the foil away. Use a greased knife or pizza cutter to cut into bars. They're pretty sweet, so I would say smaller is better. (Let's be honest, that's A LOT of sugar.) 

They keep for about two days, in an airtight container, with layers of greased foil between stacks of bars,  before the popcorn gets unbearably stale.

TIP: clean your dishes right away, with hot water. The hot water helps the goo melt and makes it easier to clean up.

The latest in grad student pasta innovation!

 For dinner tonight I made this quick pasta dish ( I feel like I've done a lot of those lately...what can I say? I'm a grad student. It's quick, it's cheap, what do you want from me?) inspired by a baked ziti recipe I saw a few years ago on the Williams-Sonoma website. The original recipe made a sauce from scratch and had whole Kalamtaa olives in it. I highly recommend  you make that dish too, but if you're in a hurry this is what you want. I also found that my friends weren't too keen on being slapped with a full bite of olive in the middle of their pasta, even though the olives did wonderful things for the flavor of the sauce. So, I chopped them up and changed their role in this dish from a featured ingredient to something in the background, like a vegetarian anchovy.

  The whole time I was putting this together, all I could think was, "If I was a mom, I would totally add this to my regular rotation." So, any parents out there reading, if  you try this let me know how it goes.  Inquiring non-parent minds want to know!  Even if you don't have kids, this one is definitely worth making.

Eggplant Pasta Surprise

1 package of short pasta (I used radiatore)

1 medium eggplant

1 lb italian sausage (I used sweet, but spicy works too)

10 pitted kalamta olives

26 oz jar of your favorite tomato-basil-garlic sauce

optional- 1 /4 cup mozzarella cut into 1/4 inch cubes to melt into the dish at the end

Put on your big ol' pot of water to boil for the pasta.

 While you're waiting for the boil,  cut your egg plant into 1/2 inch cubes ( I see no harm in cutting them smaller if your kids are REALLY opposed to mystery veggies) and saute them over medium heat in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Once they start getting translucent and the flesh is going from white to green to brown add your sausage to the pan. If you bought links (like I did), remove the casing before adding the sausage to the eggplant. Once the meat is cooked, drain the fat/excess eggplant liquid and return the pan to the heat. Time for the olives. I'm pretty specific with the olive measurement because those little buggers are intense! You don't want to add too many. Rinse the olives and finely chop them. Add them to the eggplant and meat. Cover it all with the sauce and carefully incorporate all the ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer while the pasta cooks. 

When the pasta is done drain the noodles and return them to the big ol' pot. Add the mozzarella to the noodles at this time if you're using it. CAREFULLY pour your sauce over the noodles and mix it all up. Dig in! 

I feel like this dish is deliciously odd...much like this song! 

End of the World Fiery Chicken Fajitas

Apparently the world is going to end soon. We have experienced an earthquake AND are about to endure a tropical storm in Boston within the same week! In an effort to empty our fridge of perishables, Brad and I made these chicken fajitas for dinner last night. I call them Fiery Fajitas after the red and orange peppers, and slight heat on the chicken. I think this recipe would work well with marinated beef or portabello slices too. Just putting that out there. But if you use the beef don't slice it until after it's cooked and rested. Otherwise it will be dry...and that would be the end of the world!

Chicken Fajitas

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp chili paste (you can add more if you like it spicier)

zest and juice of one lime

1 tsp cumin

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

either 1/2 tsp dried cilantro or chopped cilantro to taste

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 bell peppers (we used orange and red, but you can use any color you have/like)

1/2 large onion or 1 small onion

Tortillas

Make the marinade in a small bowl. Combine the garlic, chili paste, lime zest and juice, cumin, soy sauce, brown sugar and cilantro. Set that aside. Cut the chicken into half inch slices across the breast. In a zip top bag or even a medium container with a lid, combine the marinade and chicken. Let it sit in the fridge for anywhere between 30 minutes and a day.

When you're ready to cook, slice your bell peppers into strips from top to bottom. (You knew to cut around the stem to get the seeds out, and to cut off that white membrane on some of the ribs inside the pepper, right? Good.) Cut the onion in from top to bottom and then slice each half so the slices look like rainbows. Separate the layers of the onions a little so you have "onion strips". Put a little olive oil in a large frying pan and warm it over medium heat. Saute the onions with a pinch of salt (so they throw their juice and make this great glaze for the veggies) until they are just softening and turning translucent. (Here's the part where Brad helped! Hooray!) Add the peppers and really turn up the heat. Stir them frequently but not constantly so you get good caramelization on the onions and a little browning/char on the peppers. The cooking on high heat should take no more than five minutes, or so. Set the veggies aside and cover them with foil to keep them warm.

Return your pan to the heat and cook the marinated chicken on high heat until it is cooked through. It shouldn't take too long for it to be cooked through. Maybe 10 minutes, max.

You can either mix the cooked meat with the cooked veggies, or you can set them in separate containers and set out a buffet of toppings like they do at Chili's with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, or whatever. We just had sour cream.

Make sure your tortillas are warm and pliable, pile on the fillings and chow down! :o)

Also, I recommend this song while preparing the dish. Somehow it just amplifies the vibrancy of the flavors, colors and smells!

Hopefully you won't be cooking this amid natural disaster, like we are. But if you are, I recommend listening to this: