Dave’s Fresh Pasta

Pasta gets a bad rap. Maybe we should blame Mr. Atkins for villanizing carbohydrates? Or perhaps the blame lies with all those school cafeterias for flooding the market with bland versions of spaghetti and meatball. The overabundance of pasta has turned many of us off to the dish entirely. After all, how many of you dreaded the dinner doldrums of “Pasta Night” growing up? In the end, pasta’s affordability and non-threatening cooking instructions proved to be its undoing. Which is unfortunate, because pasta can be truly delicious and original.

Case in point—Dave’s Fresh Pasta. After my sweet potato gnocchi in St. Louis, I decided to finally hop on the DFP bandwagon. This shop sells day-fresh pasta and ravioli along with plenty of homemade sauces. The flavors of pasta and types of ravioli fillings range from the traditional (egg pasta and spinach ravioli) to the unique (squid ink spaghetti and Butternut Squash ravioli). Along they way there are pasta flavors like Lemon Basil, Saffron, and Chipotle. The homemade sauces are equally eclectic. With 5 different kinds of basil and a myriad of red and cream sauces, the number of “pasta-bilities” is endless.

I imagine Charlie Bucket’s experience in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory was quite similar to my trip to Dave’s Fresh. While there wasn’t a river of red wine or a tribe of orange-skinned midgets singing as they pressed paninis and cut pasta, the vastness of the store and options proved astounding. There were gourmet cheeses and chocolates and wines galore. And the samples! The free samples! Screw Sam’s Club—if you want free samples, go to DFP. A big basket of bread, flanked by cheeses and oils a plenty, was just begging to be sampled. Between the daps of avocado oil to the homemade tzatziki sauce, I took my fair share of free food. I could’ve spent hours gazing at the shelves of food, but in the end I decided on the chicken sausage and fennel ravioli with the arrabiata sauce.

The only bit of advice I can give is that you should separate the ravioli prior to cooking. The prescribed cooking instructions directions told me to drop the ravioli in and stir to separate. This didn’t work. I ended up splitting some of them open in my feeble efforts to detach them. The ravioli itself was decent, but the sauce was incredible. If you’re looking to pair your pasta with a spicy red sauce, this is the one to get.

So don’t give up on starches! Go eat pasta! Show all those low-carb sissies what’s what.

Kickass Cupcakes Happy Hour

Ugh. I’m ready for a vacation. Between my Econometrics class and the precipitation of biblical proportions, I’ve had a pretty rough time getting back into the swing of things here at school. But there’s one thing that will always pick me up: cupcakes. Mick Jagger had it all wrong in “Mother’s Little Helpers.” Who needs happy pills when you’ve got cupcakes?
Well, Kickass Cupcakes offered up three free cupcakes Monday night. This “cupcake happy hour” occurs once a month from 5pm-7pm. It’s best to get there on the earlier side. Trust me, the last thing you want is to show up at 6:30 on an empty stomach and leave empty handed.

There’s something to be said about these tiny cupcakes. Their diminutive size lets you guiltlessly gorge on more than one, unlike their bigger alternatives. And they are so adorable. Whether it’s dogs or ipods or cupcakes, one thing is clear—it’s all about small. Miniature cupcakes are especially prone to dryness, but all three offerings were nice and moist. The three flavors tonight were each a little different. Below are my descriptions and thoughts.

First up, we have the Somerville Sensation, which consists of a Espresso cupcake with a marshmallow fluff center and chocolate Nutella Fluff frosting topped with Taza Chocolate cocoa nibs. The crunchy nibs were a nice touch, as was the fluff center. This cupcake was unique in its liquid accompaniment. This pairing marked the first time that “happy hour” actually included real liquor—in this case a small amount of some liqueur. Personally, I felt it added little to the taste of the cupcake, but I appreciated the gesture nonetheless. The legality of the whole situation is a little iffy, but I’m not complaining. Compared to the drive-thru Margarita stand in St. Louis, this is pretty legit.

The second cupcake, a Chocolate cupcake with a chocolate beer ganache filling and a sam adams cream stout frosting was fittingly titled the Sammy. This was my favorite. The Sam Adams stout frosting was amazing and complemented the cupcake well. The ganache filling and stout frosting weren’t particularly sweet, so they constrasted well with the chocolate cake and the small drizzling of caramel on top.

The third flavor was a raspberry cosmopolitan which was made up of a vanilla cake with a raspberry center and cosmopolitan frosting. I’m never a big fan of fruity sweets like this, because more often than not they taste artificial. The raspberry filling was too sugary for my liking. The lime zest pearched atop the frosting was a nice touch, but beyond that I found this cupcake lacking, especially compared to the other two. In all honesty, I’ve yet to come across a fruity cupcake I’ve enjoyed. If I want fruit, I’ll order a blueberry muffin.

The trip was nice and helped me forget about the stresses of my economics major for a while. As much as I “love” hypothesis testing and multi-variable linear regression, it just can’t compare to this.

Giant Hostess Cupcake

Ah, slushy old Medford, how I’ve missed you! The Tufts campus seems slightly more formidable than before; the previously walkable cement pathways have been with slushy canals. Now, walking from building to building takes a certain degree of skill and blind courage. These deadly slush-puddles hearken back to the mine-laced paths of Vietnam that I read about in all those Tim O’Brien books. With weather like this, I think I’d take the Vietcong over a merciless Mother Nature.

Unfortunately it takes me days to get adjusted to my dorm bed, which is good news for all of you. With a week of sleepless nights ahead of me, I have all the time in the world to flog.

Growing up, I never really got the chance to indulge in mass-produced sweets. Sure, my mom would make me pancakes and muffins for breakfast, but she’d die before feeding me those saccharine cereals like Lucky Charms and Cocoa Krispies. When it came to packing me lunches for school, she would opt for homemade cookies or blood oranges rather than those Hostess or Little Debbie confections. Whatever the case, I’ve always enjoyed Hostess Cupcakes. The moist chocolate cake with the crème filling is so perfectly matched that it almost seems mundane. In an age when the average candy bar has twenty million things going on (pretzel wrapped in special dark chocolate nougat encased with caramel and milk chocolate), there’s something to be said for Hostess’s minimal design.

Here was my chance to remake the forbidden fruit of my childhood. But since I had grown up, it was only fitting that the cupcake did too. So I supersized it. The cake is eye-catching with those distinctive swirls and alters the chocolate-cake formula just enough to surprise all your dinner guests. It’s deliciously retro, with one bite transporting you back to a time when people were blissfully unaware of trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup.

Below you’ll find the assembly steps, and below those you’ll see the recipes. This idea is courtesy of Deb over at Smitten Kitchen

Step one, take your favorite chocolate cake recipe (like the absurdly easy and supremely delicious one-bowl Hershey Chocolate Cake)
*NOTE: If you’re using this cake recipe (and you should), then double the recipe and use two 9 inch pans

Step two. Once cakes have fully cooled, halve one cake horizontally. This should leave you with three cake layers—one full size, and two halved layers. I used unflavored dental floss to slice my cake.

Step three. Cut a four or five inch circle out of the center of the full-sized cake. Hold onto it for snacking, since you won’t be using it for the cake.

Step four. Carefully place one of the thin cake layers on whatever dish you plan on serving the cake. Then carefully line the doughnut shaped cake layer on top of that one.

Step five. Fill the cake layer with the marshmallow frosting (see below for recipe), making sure to leave about a half cup behind for decoration.

Step Six. Carefully place the other half-sized layer on top of the cake. At this point you can frost the cake with the chocolate ganache (again, see below)

Step Seven. Using a pastry bag (or the ol’ fashioned circumsized sandwich baggie trick), finish off the cake with that distinctive white squiggle. If you want to be historically accurate (I would’ve said anal, but that’s a word that should never appear in a cake recipe—ever), make sure to have seven full loops.

RECIPE NOTES: After making and serving this cake, I think that it would be easier to probably just fill the middle with the marshmallow frosting. That way everyone gets a uniform amount of the filling. If you want the appearance of a the Hostess cupcake when you halve the cake, you’re gonna have to do it the long way. Everyone who ate the cake loved it but said that they wanted more filling, so if you decide to make the cake, you might consider putting a dollop of the frosting on each person’s plate.

OTHER NOTE: Remember that discarded center part of the cake layer from step three? You can totally go all Russian Nested Doll (or Matryoshka doll) with this leftover and make a hostess cupcake with it. Just go through the same steps as before. It’s a tad bigger than a normal hostess cupcake but it’s manageable.

Hershey Chocolate Cake, doubled for your convenience

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cup sugars
8 eggs, at room temperature
22 ounces of hershey chocolate syrup (the contents of two 16oz cans or measured out from one of the BIG bottles)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing all the while. Then add chocolate syrup and vanilla.

Add the flour and mix until just barely combined.  Don’t overbeat, or the cake will toughen.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for around 45 minutes, or until just set in the middle (test by placing a toothpick in the center, if it comes out with a few crumbs, it’s done). Let it cool thoroughly in the pan.

Crème Filling—Seven Minute Frosting

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a double boiler (simply a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water) and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy. This should take around 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Use frosting the day it is made.

Ganache Frosting

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

Place cream sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil under medium-low heat, whisking constantly. Once the sugar has dissolved, add chocolate and whisk until the chocolate has melt. Once they’ve fully blended, add butter and whisk until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and let it cool (stirring it occasionally) until it is spreadable. If you want to hasten the cooling process, just pop it in the refridgerator.

Bacon Ice Cream

If Morgan Freeman were a food, he’d be bacon. Allow me to explain. Morgan Freeman is virtually never in a bad movie. If you see Freeman’s name on a movie poster, odds are that his presence increases your critical perception of the film. He doesn’t necessarily have the starring role, but his presence legitimizes a film and gives it some credibility.

The same can be said for bacon. While bacon can be eaten on its own, more often it accompanies the main dish, upgrading it in some way. For example, think of all the foods you wrap in bacon: scallops, pork tenderloins, the infamous bacon behemoth. Then there are those ubiquitous bacon bits used to make salads more appealing to the carnivorous American diet. And what breakfast wouldn’t be improved with a little bacon? Just like the casting of Mr. Freeman, the utilization of bacon can turn the unremarkable into the unforgettable.

In case I didn’t make it clear in the first paragraph, I love bacon. I love it at breakfast with my eggs; I love it at lunch in my Quizno’s Subs; I love it at dinner wrapped around my main course or hors d’oeuvre. And after tonight, I can safely say I love in on my dessert.

After tasting my college-friend’s bacon peanut brittle, I browsed the web for other desserts involving bacon. The combination seemed at once totally farfetched and delicious. The salty and smoky and sweet combination was uniquely tasty.  That’s when I came across David Lebovitz’s recipe. I knew that I would enjoy it but was fairly positive that most of my dinner guests would write it off before giving it a try. More for me, right?

Mr. Lebovitz’s recipe was easy to follow and made for a delicious ice cream. I used Maple Bacon, which added another layer to the ice cream. He recommended candying the bacon in the oven with brown sugar, which I can safely is an olfactory wet dream./tour de force I placed the bacon on a cooling rack, which was on top of a baking sheet. That way the fat would drip off of the bacon and collect on the sheet below.

The ice cream itself was pretty easy to make, typical custard fare. Just remember to temper the yolks by gradually adding the hot cream mixture to the eggs. A sudden increase in temperature would cause the eggs to cook, so keep it nice and slow.

When it came time to try it, everyone (except for the vegetarians) took the smallest possible amount. They described it as “different, but in a good way” and “surprisingly delectable.” I have no idea what I would serve with this ice cream, but I would definitely make it again.

Bacon Ice Cream (adapted from David Lebovitz)

Ingredients For the Candied Bacon
Six Strips of Bacon
About ½ cup of brown sugar

Ingredients for the Ice Cream
5 egg yolks
3 tablespoons of salted sugar (if you only have unsalted, just throw in a pinch of salt)
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 ¾ cups of half and half
2 teaspoons of dark rum or whisky (After much taste-testing and deliberation, I decided on a nice scotch whisky)
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Making the candied bacon

1.)Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.) Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Then place a cooling rack on a baking sheet.

3.)Evenly slab the six pieces of bacon on rack, and coat each piece with about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar.

4.) Cook bacon for about fifteen minutes, until golden brown and crisp. The sugar should have caramelized on top of the bacon by this point.

5.) Once bacon has cooled, finely chop the slices into bacon bits. Store in refrigerator.

NOTE: It’s good to make extra, because you’ll find yourself snacking on the bacon throughout the custard-making process.

Making the ice cream
1.) Place 1 ¼ cups of half and half in a large bowl , and place this bowl in an ice bath (a larger bowl filled with ice).

2.) In a medium sized bowl, stir together egg yolks until they are fully blended.

3.) In a 2 or 3 quart saucepan, melt butter under moderately heat. Then add brown sugar, maple syrup, and remaining half and half and stir until smooth.

4.) Gradually whisk this mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks. If you notice any brown sugar pebbles, feel free to pick them out.

5.) Once blended, pour the contents of this bowl back into the saucepan. Under moderately low heat stir the contents of the saucepan until the custard is thick enough coat the back of a spoon and stay in place even when you draw a line with your finger through the middle of that film of custard. When doing this step, make sure to constantly scrape the saucepan with a heatproof spatula, that way you don’t end up with cooked eggs on the bottom of the pan.

6.) Once sufficiently thickened, the custard should be poured into the large bowl. At this point you should add the cinnamon, vanilla, and liquor. Stir the contents until cool. At this point, you should churn the ice cream. Add the candied bacon about five minutes before the churning process ends.

“Mini Chocolate Burgers”

I had my first—well, my first dozen—macrons in May and was instantly smitten with their taste and cute little design. Since that fateful encounter, I’ve toyed with the idea of making them, but their fragile nature proved too intimidating—until now. My mom’s book group is reading My Life in France (at my suggestion) and I thought that this Parisian cookie would the perfect little snack.

Before we go any further, I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page. We’re talking about macarons, not macaroons. The french cousin to the Macaroon, Macarons can have a variety of fillings and can be identified by their domed tops and tutu-esque ruffled circumference, known as the “foot.”

I decided to use David Lebovitz’s recipe for the French Chocolate Macarons, despite his claim that chocolate macarons are the most difficult ones to make. Go big or go home, that’s what I always say.The recipe called for powdered almonds, but there were none to be had in my local grocery store. I could’ve gone to a specialty shop, but collegiate laziness reared its ugly head—forcing me to buy sliced almonds (Diamond sells blanched, sliced almonds). I pulverized them in the food processor for a good minute. Then I added the powdered sugar and the cocoa, blended them for a good thirty seconds. When it came time to add this mixture to the meringue, I carefully sifted it for good measure.

As for the meringue, there’s a fair bit of debate about how long to age the egg whites before whipping them. Some people leave the whites out for a couple of hours while others swear that a full 24 hours is needed. I just left them in a covered bowl for four hours before whipping them. The main point is that the whites have to be at room temperature to achieve their maximum loft. After folding in the chocolate mixture, I just piped them out using a small plastic sandwich baggie. Yea, I could’ve used a pastry bag, but I didn’t have one. This works just as well and is way cheaper. Just snip off a quarter inch of the tip and you’ll be in business.

Either my oven’s on steroids or the cooking time is way off. My macarons were overcooked by at least five minutes. Next time I’ll put them in for 10 minutes and see what happens. Besides that, they turned out beautifully, complete with that distinctive little foot.

Since I made this first batch for a bunch of peers, I decided to go with chocolate ganache rather than the prescribed prune filling. My baking cohort, Jess, thought that the macarons looked exactly like “little chocolate burgers.” Which got me thinking, maybe White Castle should start offering macarons. After all, McDonalds has its signature McFlurries, and Wendy’s sells Shakes—shouldn’t White Castle get in the dessert game? A variety of Macarons would make the perfect companion to a crave case of those mini burgers, affectionately known as sliders. I’ll be sure to get in touch with the suits over there and let you guys know what ends up happening. Until then, bon appétit!

Chocolate Macrons (adapted from David Lebovitz)

Makes about twenty cookies
Macaron Batter
1 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup blanched sliced almonds
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature (set them out in a covered bowl for three or four hours hours)
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
Chocolate Filling
2/3 cup heavy cream
1.5 teaspoons light corn syrup
3 ounces of semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (chocolate chips are great time saver)
2/3 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

Pulverize the almonds in a food processor for a good minute with the pulse setting. Then add powdered sugar and cocoa and process for another thirty seconds.
Beat the egg whites with a mixer until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until whites hold stiff peaks, about 2 minutes.

Sift in the dry ingredients, carefully folding them in with a flexible rubber spatula. Once the mixture in uniform in color and smooth in texture, then place it into a pastry bag or a little sandwich bag. David makes a great disaster-saving suggestion: stand your bag in a tall glass if you’re alone. I used a small bowl and it worked perfectly. With only two hands, we bakers can do only so much…
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch apart. I found that making a swirled shape helped me keep perfect circles when piping out the batter.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten them, then bake them for 10 minutes. Once they’ve fully cooled, detach from baking sheet.
To make the chocolate filling:
Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using.
Assembly
Spread a bit of batter on the inside of the macarons then sandwich them together. (You can pipe the filling it, but I prefer to spread it by hand; it’s more fun, I think.)
I also tend to overfill them so you may or may not use all the filling.
Let them stand at least one day before serving, to meld the flavors.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze. If you freeze them, defrost them in the unopened container, to avoid condensation which will make the macarons soggy.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ah, Gnocchi: the Italy’s answer to dumplings. Literally meaning “lumps,” Gnocchi has existed as a traditional pasta dish since the days of the Roman Empire; however, the potato-base of today’s gnocchi has only existed since the 16th century. But enough with the history lesson, let’s just dive in.

As a kid, I enjoyed gnocchi, as it was a nice respite from all the inexorable servings of spaghetti. This recipe seemed to be a perfect alternative to standard pasta fare. My previous attempt with homemade pasta left a bad taste in my mouth, but that might have to do with the fact that I don’t have a pasta-maker. But gnocchi doesn’t require any special tools—just a fork and a child-like sense of wonder (if you haven’t seen “Youth in Revolt,” then you’re missing out).
Making gnocchi is a lot like playing with play dough, except that this dough tastes good. My inner child giggled with delight as I rolled out long, serpentine bits of the dough. Cooking suddenly felt like kindergarten arts and crafts.
I used the food processor to properly blend the potato and the ricotta. And the ricotta I bought barely even drained over the course of the two hours. But maybe that was just my brand, I dunno.

The Browned Butter Sage sauce paired with this gnocchi was tasty, but there was definitely far too much of it. You could easily cut the amount of butter from 2 sticks to 1 ½ and be fine. It does require a fair share of salt and pepper.
As for the gnocchi itself? Well, I think it turned out alright. The problem is that no one in my family really eats gnocchi, so I had nothing to compare it to. My mom doesn’t like gnocchi and wasn’t sure if the consistency was right, and my Dad was of no help either. They both said it was the most flavorful gnocchi they had eaten, but that doesn’t mean much from people gnocchi-player-haters.
If you’re looking for a new way to spice up pasta night, or want a different sort of side dish (this is so rich that I think that it would work better as a side or an appetizer), or want to reconnect to your inner seven-year-old, then make some of this gnocchi.

Recipe (adapted from Bon Appétit, December 2005)

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage
Makes 10 servings (as a side or an appetizer—six or seven pieces a person)

Depending on how thick your ricotta cheese is, drain the ricotta in a sieve for two hours before starting the recipe.

Ingredients
2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork
12 ounces fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve 2 hours
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons (for gnocchi) plus 1 ½ tablespoons salt (for boiling water)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups (about) all purpose flour
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
5 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Preparation

1.)    Microwave on high until tender, about 5 minutes per side.
2.)    Cut in half and let cool. Scrape sweet potato flesh into large bowl and mash. Add ricotta cheese; blend well (I blended the two in a food processor to fully blend it).
3.)    Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg; mash to blend. Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.
4.)    Turn dough out onto floured surface; divide into 6 equal pieces. Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky. Cut each rope into 20 pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet.
5.)    Bring large pot of water to boil; add 1 ½ tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
6.)    Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes.
7.)    Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Put stove stop on simmer. Season sage butter generously with salt and pepper.
8.)    Add gnocchi to pan and sauté until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes. Divide gnocchi and sauce among shallow bowls. Garnish with sage leaves.

Beer + Chocolate = Cake

Remember my last post? Of course you do! After all, you check my blog religiously, right? Anways, I wrote about how adding vermouth to gravy took the dish to a whole different level. They say that alcohol makes everything better. While I’m not entirely sure who “they” are, I’m gonna have to agree. At least when it comes to cooking. Whether it’s the theatrics of flambéing a dish or for the purposes of sorbet making, alcohol is an important part of every kitchen. And not just hard liquor like rum or Vodka. I’ve found that stout beer has a magical effect on chocolaty baked goods. Chocolate and Guinness stout beer go together like peanut butter and jelly. Frankly, I don’t like the taste of stout on its own, but when combined with chocolate, it’s truly delightful.

So onto the main course: Chocolate Stout Cake. I’ve made a lot of chocolate cakes in my day, but this one takes the… no, I’m not gonna make that joke. But the cake is really good. I get bored with those super sweet chocolate cakes; this one has an intense bittersweet chocolate flavor. The cake is moist and stays moist for days.

The fudgy ganache frosting is good, but one of these days I might replace it with a fluffy buttercream. The ganache has that same bittersweet chocolate flavor as well, and for some people that’s just too much.

Something to consider about this recipe—it’s huge. It fills three 8-inch cake pans. I’ll often make a dozen mini cupcakes and one (13×9) sheet cake. You could always make all three cake layers and freeze one for later. Cakes do freeze well, but you can’t freeze a frosted cake.

Chocolate Stout Cake (adapted from Barrington Brewery via Bon Appetit, September 2002)

Ingredients for the Cake

2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Ingredients for the Ganache

2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips, and that worked fine)

Directions for the cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans and then line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper. Bring 2 cups stout and the 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in a large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Make sure not to overbeat at any point, as overbeating leads to a tougher cake. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. (If you’re doing cupcakes, keep in mind that they take less time, maybe all of 20 minutes) Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

Directions for ganache

Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Putting it all together

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.

Thanksgiving Dinner, observed

My most recent Thanksgiving dinner proved mildly disappointing. The hosts—a couple of my parents’ college friends—took an untraditional route by serving Swordfish and Brussell Sprouts. Don’t get me wrong—I love swordfish—but Thanksgiving is Turkey Day, not Fish Day. Call me sentimental if you want, but a Thanksgiving dinner without dishes like sweet potato or stuffing or cranberry sauce just seems wrong.

Turkey-less and dejected, my family and I decided that we would have a real Thanksgiving dinner when we got back to St. Louis. I’d like to share with you a couple of the recipes that stood out to me during our feast. Each of these dishes changed only slightly, and yet they all seemed wholly different. In many cases, the revamp was the result of a simple, one ingredient addition, but it made all the difference in the world.

First, we had what I think was the most delicious gravy, ever. The gravy is made in the roasting pan for the turkey, so it gets to absorb all those juices that got caked on to the bottom of the pan. The key was the recipe’s call for a half cup of dry vermouth, which added great depth and flavor. I found myself taking more turkey for the sole purpose of ingesting more gravy.

The "Orange Bowl"

The sweet potatoes were phenomenal as well. What made them stand out was their presentation. By serving the sweet potato in hollowed out orange halves, you end up with a beautiful dish that keeps the potatoes nice and citrusy.

Cranberries, not just good for craisins

Also, the cranberry sauce got a nice upgrade with pomegranate seeds. They added a natural sweetness and a great crunch. I used half a pom, and kept the other half for myself… don’t tell anyone.

I guess there are two lessons to be learned here. First, meet your guests expectations. For example, if you’re known for your amazing hamburgers and you host the annual fourth of July party, don’t serve Jambalaya. The second lesson is that there is always a easy and simple way to upgrade even the most institutionalized dishes. Just because something is a common dish doesn’t mean that the recipe is set in stone.

Gravy (makes about two cups) Adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook
The pan used to roast the turkey (keep all the juice in the pan, you’re gonna be using it)
½ cup flour
½ cup vermouth
1 ½ cups of Turkey Stock (you could prepare it yourself using the giblets or just use chicken broth, which is definitely easier)
Fine Sea Salt (I just used kosher salt)
Ground Pepper

1.) Pour drippings from the roasting pan after roasting the turkey into a liquid measuring cup. The fat will rise to surface and separate from the turkey juices.
2.) Separate the fat from the drippings. Keep the drippings in the measuring cup, but place the fat in another container, reserving a ¼ cup of the fat for the roux.
3.) Place that quarter cup of reserved fat in the roasting pan.
4.) Place the pan over two burners and turn the heat to medium.
5.) Stir in the flour and cook, stirring the roux constantly for about 3 minutes.
6.) Add the vermouth and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom.
7.) Add enough stock to the drippings to make 2 full cups and add this to the pan.
8.) Cook, stirring frequently until the gravy thickens. This took me about 8 minutes, but all stovetops are different.
9.) If needed, add more stock to thin out the gravy. Add the pepper and salt to taste. Serve immediately.

Sweet Potatoes (serves eight) (adapted from Barefoot Contessa: Parties!)

5 large sweet potatoes
4 large oranges
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
¾ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1.) Halve 4 oranges and juice them, reserving a ½ cup for the potatoes.
2.) Bake potatoes for about an hour until very soft and tender (check with a knife)
3.) When ready, take potatoes out of the oven and scoop out the insides (you can wait for them to cool), placing them in a bowl
4.) Add the OJ, cream, butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinammon, salt, and pepper. Using an electric mixer, beat the potatoes until this is all combined.
5.) Place potato mixture into the hollowed-out orange halves. Dot with marshmallows if you want. Then place in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until heated through.

I had more potato than orange bowls, just FYI.

Clementine Cake

Clementines are a fruit that you only see in December and in 5 lb packages. I don’t think I’ve ever seen clementines at the grocery store in any other month or in any other amount. My mom grew up getting clementines in her Christmas stocking; however, Santa’s never been that kind to me.
A quick background—clementines are essentially seedless tangerines—tangerines being the little brother in the Orange family. Their sweetness, thin rind, manageable size, and lack of seeds make them ideal snacks and in my opinion superior to your average orange.
I came across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and was excited by the prospect of baking with Clementines. Since my grandma hadn’t figured out a dessert for Christmas Day, I figured this could be one of the offerings.
The cake uses the entirety of the Clementine, rind and all. Also noteworthy is the cake’s lack of butter or flour. I didn’t have a springform pan, so I improvised by lining a regular pan with parchment paper and then greasing the hell out of the bottom of it. I prayed for a Christmas miracle—that the cake would come out in one piece. For whatever reason, I ended up with more than enough batter to fill an 8 inch pan, so I made 12 cupcakes in addition to the cake.

For Ground Almonds that have considered suicide when the food processor is enuf.

If you make this recipe, make sure to grind the almonds as much as possible. My fear of over-processing the almonds to a paste left me with a coarser cake. Don’t make my mistake; you want finely ground almonds.
Other than that, the cake turned out all right. I found the cake to be tolerable at best, but some of my family members really enjoyed it. They said it was refreshing after scores of chocolate and lemon and yellow cakes. Personally, I think I’ll keep my cakes and my clementines separate but equal.

Clementine Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who got it from Nigella Lawson

5 clementines (a little less than 1 pound)
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 grams) sugar
2 1/3 cups (250 grams) ground almonds
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

1½ cups of Powdered sugar for glaze

Put the clementines in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to the boil, and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half. Place clementines in processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

Butter and line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. (If you don’t have a springform, use a regular pan and just line with buttered parchment paper—it worked fine that way for me)

Beat the eggs, and then add the sugar, almonds, and baking powder. Mix well, adding the clementines.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, when a skewer will come out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan on a rack. When the cake is cold, you can take it out of the pan and dust it with powdered sugar. Alternatively, you could make a glaze (powdered sugar and boiling water and a teensy bit of clementine juice) and drizzle it on top. Just sift sugar into a bowl and slowly add small amounts water (maybe a teaspoon or two at a time) until you get the right consistency. I did the glaze, and didn’t have a problem with that.

The cake was still moist when it was served three days later, so it holds up rather well. Just glaze it the day of.

P(r)esto!

Snow is overrated. As a kid you love it, but once you take school cancellations out of the equation, snow becomes a bit of a nuisance. So with nothing else to do, I decided to harvest Count Chocula, my basil plant, and make some pesto. With all the traveling I do over break, it just wasn’t feasible to take him with me. Seeing as I had spent all semester tending to his needs, I thought that this would make a perfect culinary capstone for the semester. So for my final dorm-cooking of the decade, I made pesto.

Note to self (and all other collegiate cooks), the cafeteria is a great place to get ingredients. I didn’t feel like buying some ingredients, so I just got them from the dining hall, Carmichael. The staff was more than willing to give me a teaspoon of white pepper from the kitchen. As for the walnuts… well, I took them from the salad bar. Technically, I don’t think that counts as stealing. At least that’s what I tell myself.
The recipe was a little too olive oily for my liking, so I’d just do it to taste if I were you. Test it after a half of a cup and add more bit by bit until you get the flavor you want. Other than that, the pesto was delish. We brought it to dinner and used it on the cafeteria pasta and pizza. Who wants a watery marinara when you’ve got fresh pesto? Our BYOP dinner couldn’t have gone any better. I used some of the leftovers for a turkey and cheese Panini. There are really no limits when it comes to pesto. Give it a go, see what you think.

Basic Pesto (Adapted From Colorado College Cookbook)
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup walnuts
1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 cups of loosely packed, fresh basil leaves
4 ounces Asiago Cheese, grated
2 ounces of Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 cup Olive Oil

In food processor, pulse first 6 ingredients until finely chopped.
Then add the two cheeses, and process until smooth.
While the machine running, gradually add the olive oil “in a slow steady stream.”
Once fully blended the pesto can be kept for up to one week in a sealed jar.