Happy Easter & Blood Orange Cake

Don't be alarmed, I know I've been gone for a while but I am going to try to post more this year. I let life and work get me bogged down to the point that I didn't think I had time for this. Turns out, I really missed it. And what better time to start anew than Easter!

A few things to bring some of you up to date. Sophie is all done with her cancer treatments and has a clean bill of health! Work has been crazy. Budget cuts dominate our lives in the library system and for four branches we get the added bonus of going through major renovations. The renovation at my library is nearly complete. We hope to be moved back and re-opened in a few months.

And, of course, my post today also involves food. A trip to Costco a few weeks ago and an impulse buy of a bag of blood oranges. We brought them home, tucked them away in the fridge and forgot about them! Thankfully they were still good so I scoured the internet and my cookbooks for some recipes. I decided on two, Blood Orange Cake and Blood Orange Bars. Jim got the final pick and chose the cake.

I tweaked the recipe a bit and have my revision below. It was fairly easy to make and a taste of the various parts left me optimistic that when assembled they would be great. The cake in the pictures is a mini cake made with left over batter. Using an 8-inch cake pan was too small so I upped it to a 9-inch pan in the recipe below. And since the mini cake was thicker than the bigger one, I cut it into thirds.
*UPDATE*
We had left over syrup and frosting so I bought a pound cake, sliced it, added syrup and frosting and it was fabulous! We liked it better than the cake in the recipe.

Blood Orange Cake (adapted from Cooking Light)
Cake:
Cooking spray
4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

Filling:
1 (16-ounce) carton sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
5 cups blood orange sections (about 5 blood oranges)

Syrup:
1 cup blood orange juice (about 4-6 blood oranges)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Garnish:
Mint sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare cake, coat an 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray; line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray.

Combine eggs, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and salt in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed 2 minutes. Gradually add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, beating until egg mixture is thick and pale (about 3 minutes). Gently fold flour into egg mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare filling, Spoon sour cream into a large bowl. Add honey and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to yogurt, stirring well with a whisk.

Combine cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of the cream mixture into yogurt mixture; gently fold in remaining cream mixture. Cover and chill 15 minutes.

Arrange blood orange sections in a single layer on several layers of paper towels, and let stand 5 minutes. Reserve half of the sections; roughly chop remaining sections. Cover and chill.

To prepare syrup, combine juice and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat; simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat; cool.

Split cake in half horizontally using a serrated knife; place bottom layer, cut side up, on a plate. Brush with 2 tablespoons syrup. Spread with half of yogurt mixture, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Sprinkle chopped blood orange. Repeat with the top layer. Garnish with remaining orange segments and mint (if using). Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serves 12.

Rice Pudding

So I get a call at work on Thursday from my dad to say he found a dirt cheap flight to DC from Knoxville and wanted to fly up. Sure! His favorite thing to do up here is go to Irish pubs with us and drink Smithwick's which he can't get back home. He first tasted Smithwick's on one of his many trips to Ireland so a few years ago when he found out that the DC area would be getting this beloved beer he's been flying up to once or twice a year to see us and get his fill of his favorite Irish beer.

We also take him out for dinner and have found a place he really likes, Ray's the Steaks. And what's not to like about Ray's? I also get to have fun in the kitchen fixing a dish or two of his favorite foods. This time I fixed rice pudding. I found a recipe on the Saveur website. This one took Rice pudding to a new level by taking the cooked pudding and putting it in a baking dish with caramelized sugar in the bottom then baking it. But when I tasted the rice pudding as it cooled, I thought it tasted good enough to stop right there. Maybe next time, I'll go the next step but for now, we'll just enjoy this as it is.

Rice Pudding (adapted from Saveur)
1/8 cup dark rum
3 cups half and half
1/2 cup arborio rice (I used a generous 1/2 cup)
3/4 cup plus 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, separated

Combine milk, rice, 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice absorbs all the liquid (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
(This is where I stopped the recipe)

Pour 1/2 cup sugar into a skillet (shake so the sugar spreads evenly), and place over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until sugar begins to melt, about 2 minutes, then stir with a wooden spoon until golden and just beginning to foam, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully pour into an 8" baking dish. Working quickly, before caramel sets, tilt to coat the bottom and sides of the baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 375. Stir egg yolks and rum into the rice. Beat egg whites until foamy. Slowly add 1/2 tbsp. sugar, beat until soft peaks form and fold into the rice mixture. Transfer to the caramelized pan, set pan in a shallow pan of water and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a platter. Serve.

Chicken Tikka and Cheesecake

I decided to clean out the freezer today. Among the frozen stash were several packs of ground beef (good for a quick burger or mapo tofu), some frozen strawberries (margatira time!), 2 half used bags of edamame and lots of chicken.

After reorganizing most of the stuff, I pulled some of the chicken out to use for dinner. And as luck would have it, we had two small containers of plain yogurt in the fridge. I looked through a few recipes I had on hand and found one for Chicken Tikka.

I had all the ingredients so dinner was planned. It was so easy to put together and I'm sure we'll make it again. The flavors were bright and well balanced and the chicken stayed juicy and tender. Next time I will make up some kind of yogurt sauce or spicy sauce to dip it in.

For dessert, cheese cake with fresh blueberry sauce.

Chicken Tikka

¾ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
2 cups whole-milk yogurt
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (1½”) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon black pepper ¼ teaspoon cayenne
5 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

Purée all ingredients except chicken in a blender until spices are well ground.

Put chicken in a large bowl, or divide between 2 large sealable plastic bags, and add yogurt mixture, stirring or turning to coat. Marinate chicken, covered and chilled (turning occasionally if using bags), at least 4 hours. (You can marinate the chicken for up to 24 hours if you like)

You can skewer the chicken and grill it or use an iron skillet grill pan to cook the pieces individually. Heat turning over once, until browned in spots and just cooked through, 9 to 12 minutes total.

I think I shall call him ...... "Mini Me"

Every year at the library we have "Volunteer Recognition" which is our way of gathering all our volunteers together to let them know just how much we appreciate what they do. This year we are holding this event in November and tying it in with the Thanksgiving holiday but calling it "Giving Thanks to our Volunteers."

Staff usually sign up to bring various homemade goodies. It adds a more personal touch to the affair. I looked at the sign up sheet and noticed that most of the staff were planning to make savory dishes so I opted for dessert. Cheesecake to be exact. On the sign up sheet I wrote, "Cheesecake, flavor to be determined." Now all I had to do was determine what kind......oh there are so many I could choose from.....traditional NY Style, chocolate, chocolate chip, key lime, pumpkin, pina colada, etc. But then it hit me.....Red Velvet. Yes, I would make a Red Velvet Cheesecake.

Last December, Southern Living magazine had a recipe for this cheesecake. I told my sister about it and she made it. Ever since, she's been asking me if I made yet. I hadn't until now. Go ahead sis, ask me.....go ahead.....
The recipe called for a 9-inch springform pan but all I had were 8-inch ones and mini ones. I used one of my 8-inch pans and decided to put the extra into one of the mini pans. This way I had a little cheesecake for Biscuit Boy and me. I have rarely had any leftovers when I bring a cheesecake to work which greatly disappoints Biscuit Boy but now I had a solution.


And how did it taste.....delicious. We ate half of the mini cheesecake and have the other half waiting for dessert tonight......mmmmm

Here is the recipe:

Red Velvet Cheesecake

1½ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup butter, melted
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whole buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
2 (1 oz.) bottles red food coloring
1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Garnish: fresh mint sprigs

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 1 tbsp. granulated sugar; press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Beat 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese and 1½ cups granulated sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute. Add eggs and next 6 ingredients, mixing on low speed just until fully combined. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake at 325° for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300°, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until center is firm. Run knife along outer edge of cheesecake. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Beat 1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese and ¼ cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth. Spread evenly over top of cheesecake. Remove sides of springform pan. Garnish, if desired.

Paper Chef #6 Entry

Ricotta Cheesecake with white chocolate and strawberries in a graham cracker-marzipan crust

Yes, that's a mouthful of a recipe title, a very delicious mouthful. Thanks to Biscuit Boy for taking the photo's and being the official taster.

This was actually not my first idea for a recipe. The first idea I had was for a Napoleon filled with an almond paste-ricotta filling and slices of strawberries with white chocolate drizzled across the top. But I am a better cheesecake maker than pastry chef so I made my second recipe idea. A picture of a slice of the cake follows this posting.

Here's the recipe:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (7 oz.) tube of almond paste, grated
6 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tbsp. sugar
2 (15 oz.) containers of ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 strawberry jam

Garnish: white chocolate dipped strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

To make the crust: combine the first four ingredients together in a bowl, making sure the almond paste is well blended with the graham cracker crumbs. Pour into the springform pan and press on the bottom and up the sides. Set aside.

To make the filling:
In a mixer, combine the ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. Beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, jiggle it to smooth it out. Drop spoonfuls of the jam around the top. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, swirl the jam around to marblize. Place in the oven and bake for 50-6- minutes or until the center is slightly firm to the touch. Cool completely.

Serve with white chocolate dipped strawberries.