Recipes

March – Tender Almond Cake
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March – Tender Almond Cake

I should explain that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Do I hear gasps out there? I know, it’s not a popular viewpoint.

Salt is another matter, I’ve yet to meet a crisp chip of any kind that I don’t immediately adore. But sugar, not so much. My first blog post was in late September of 2014 and, since that date, there have been exactly 5 recipes for desserts.

Working backward, the last one was in May of 2022: Overnight Croissant French Toast Bake with Coffee Rum Sauce

In May 2021: Sweet and Salty Cream Cheese Tart

In June 2015: Lavender Nut Cake

In December 2014: Raspberry streusel bars

And in November 2014 my mother’s secret recipe: Pot of Chocolate

Here is number 6, Tender Almond Cake. It’s not too sweet, both dairy and gluten-free. The recipe came from Salvatore Messina at the NY Times. It’s a keeper, good for dessert with some fresh fruit. But it’s also wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning or as an afternoon snack.

My pictures do not do it justice. If I wasn’t leaving for New Zealand in a few days I would make it again just for the pictures…it will have to wait until I get back. I wanted to get this recipe into your hands.

Almond Cake

Almond Cake

The recipe is similar to an Italian almond cake. However, he adapted it from a recipe for torta de Santiago the traditional almond cake from Galicia, Spain, using less sugar, no cinnamon, and more orange zest.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter (or butter substitute) for greasing the pan
  • 8 oz/227 grams of blanched almonds
  • 6 large eggs, separated
  • 1-1/4 cups/250 grams of granulated sugar
  • 1 orange, zested
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • Confectioners sugar for dusting

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.
  2. Pulse the almonds a few times in a food processor, then grind them, until they become a coarse meal. This will take 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the ground almonds, zests, and almond extract until incorporated. Transfer the mixture to another large bowl and thoroughly wipe and clean the bowl of the stand mixer.
  4. In the clean dry bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks on medium-high, for 1 to 2 minutes. Incorporate the whites into the egg yolk-sugar-almond mixture until no white streaks remain. Spread into the prepared pan.
  5. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes clean.
  6. Cool on a rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it, then transfer it to a serving platter. Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.
Tender Almond Cake

Tender Almond Cake

Tender Almond Cake

Tender Almond Cake

February – Rotisserie-Style Roast Chicken
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February – Rotisserie-Style Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is one of my signature dishes. I routinely roast a chicken once a week and I am always looking for new flavors or new ways to roast it. This recipe came from the book Rick Stein’s Secret France, 120 delicious new recipes for real French home cooking. The interesting thing about the recipe is that the chicken is cooked at a low temperature for a long time, 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

It’s a rainy cold day out outside and I can already smell the aroma of the house during that 2-2 1/2 hour cook time. I need that homey scent on such a dreary weekend day.

The chicken gets a classic preparation with lemon and garlic inside the cavity. Rub it with the flavored butter before popping it into the oven on the middle shelf. It’s the roasting at a low temperature that is new to me. I had a package of multi-colored carrots from Trader Joe’s to put into the bottom of the roasting pan and cook in the juices.

Ingredients:

  • I air-chilled, organic and free-range chicken (if possible) – it does make a difference (lucky you if you can get an heirloom one) See Note #1.
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 whole head of garlic, cut in half horizontally (it doesn’t need to be peeled)
  • chunked potatoes or carrots or another root vegetable to put in the bottom of the roasting pan

Spiced rub for the chicken:

  • 3 tablespoons of softened butter
  • 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
  • pinch of red pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of herbs de Provence or another favorite herb (thyme is always good)
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C
  2. Dry the chicken with paper towels and put the two lemon halves and half of the whole head of garlic inside.
  3. Mix the spices and herbs with the butter. Rub the seasoned butter all over the bird.
  4. Place the vegetables and the other garlic half (cut side down) in the bottom of the roasting pan. Place the chicken, breast down, on top. Drizzle with olive oil. See Note #2. Place the roasting pan on the middle shelf of the oven.
  5. After 1 hour turn the chicken breast side up and baste it with the pan juices.
  6. After another hour has passed, baste it again.
  7. Roast a total of 2-1/2 hours for a chicken of about 3-1/2 pounds in weight. See Note #1. My chicken was just over 4 1/2 pounds, it was done in 2-1/2 hours.
  8. If you would like additional browning (which I did), remove it from the oven (take out the vegetables) and raise the temperature to 450 degrees F. Put the chicken back in for 10 minutes to bronze the skin.

Roast Carrots

Note #1: If your chicken is over 3.5 pounds in weight you may need to roast it longer. If smaller it might be done sooner. Test by seeing if you can move a leg freely or check with an instant-read thermometer. The internal temperature should be 165 degrees F at the thickest part of the thigh.

Note #2: I don’t tie the chicken or truss it. The thighs take the longest time to cook, if the legs are tied together, close to the body, it increases the chance that the breast will overcook before the thighs are done.

Roast Chicken

The smells filling the house were amazing. I wish I could have bottled it up and included it in this post.

February – Cauli-Rice ‘Risotto’ Pilaf
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February – Cauli-Rice ‘Risotto’ Pilaf

Cauliflower 'risotto'

Cauliflower ‘risotto’

I seem to be hooked on a theme this last week. This time is a carb-friendly, keto-friendly version of risotto. Again you can’t really call it risotto, maybe it’s more like cauliflower cheese. Anyway you call it, it’s creamy, cheesy, and delicious.

Cauli-Rice Risotto

Cauli-Rice Risotto

I added a couple of handfuls of chopped baby spinach to up the nutrition and add some color.

I don’t really have a recipe as such for this, but here goes the general idea. I used a one pound package of fresh pre-riced cauliflower. I like the pre-riced ones because they have a high percentage of stem. That means that the ‘kernels’ both hold their shape and are firmer, more like an actual grain of rice.

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz package of pre-riced cauliflower.
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 5.2 oz package of boursin with garlic and fine herbs (or 5 oz of cream cheese with garlic and herbs)
  • 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
  • 2 large handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • salt and pepper as needed

Method:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet (one that allows you to spread out the cauliflower) over medium high heat.
  2. Add the cauliflower and spread it out in a single layer if possible. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until the bottom starts to brown, then stir. You want it to start to crisp a bit.
  3. Add the cream cheese and stir until it melts, adding the heavy cream to thin things out if necessary.
  4. Stir in the spinach, letting it just wilt a bit before you take it off the stove
  5. Taste for salt and add freshly ground pepper.
  6. Immediately transfer to a warm serving dish.

Really, that’s it.

Cauliflower ‘risotto’

I haven’t tried this with frozen riced cauliflower. I imagine it would be softer to begin with and you may need to increase the heat in step 2 to get browning.

Last Dr’s appointment my blood pressure was a little too high so I have been cutting back on salt. To my surprise I have found that food doesn’t need to be salted as much as my usual habit. So, taste for salt first. The cheese, especially if you use boursin, is already salted.

I served this with a big selection of roasted vegetables. After roasting to a charred brown, the vegetables were drizzled with toasted pumpkin seed oil and sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds. We didn’t miss the meat.

Cauliflower risotto with roasted vegetables

Cauliflower risotto with roasted vegetables

Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Vegetables

February – Brown Rice ‘Risotto’ with Mushrooms in the Instant Pot
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February – Brown Rice ‘Risotto’ with Mushrooms in the Instant Pot

Can you make a risotto with brown rice? Can you make it in the electric pressure cooker? And, if you do use brown rice and cook it in a pressure cooker, can you call it risotto? Those are all valid questions. I can answer numbers one and two. Yes, you can make a delicious risotto-like dish with brown rice. And yes, you can do it in the electric pressure cooker. As to the question of ‘is it really a risotto’, the answer is more complicated. If to you a risotto is arborio rice, hand-stirred over a hot stove dish with slow additions of broth, the answer is no. But, if you are after a healthy and creamy brown rice dish made hands-off in an electric pressure cooker, the answer is yes. It is risotto-like. I think I can legitimately call it that.

Amazingly I have heard (but not tried) making a risotto with short-grain brown rice in the traditional hand-stirred method. You need to stir at least double the amount of time for the starch to develop. It sounds very tiring; but possible. Let me know if any of you try it.

As I wrote in my previous post, Brown Rice Risotto with Edamame Beans and Spinach, (also made in the pressure cooker) there are several recipes for baked rice out there, even baked brown rice. Ina Garten has an easy baked Parmesan “risotto” method which only requires a few minutes of stirring at the end. Her recipe is similar to America’s Test Kitchen’s baked brown rice. The blog Cookie + Kate combined the two in her recipe for baked brown rice risotto with mushrooms. Hey Nutrition Lady has a recipe for a brown rice risotto made in the InstantPot on her site. This dish is a combination of the recipes above. I wanted to combine the inherent nuttiness of brown rice with mushrooms and some healthy green spinach.

Because there is no evaporation in a pressure cooker, the quantity of stock has to be reduced. For each 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of stock should be used. And, the quality of the stock is crucial since the flavor is concentrated in the rice. Unsalted homemade chicken or vegetable is the best. I add 1/2 cup of white wine, cooked down until it is mostly evaporated once the onion and garlic are finished sautéing. The wine adds a depth of flavor to the dish when it’s concentrated but would taste harsh if it wasn’t cooked down almost completely. Trust your nose on this one.

For the mushroom ‘risotto’ I used both fresh and dried mushrooms. I presoaked the dried ones in hot water and used the mushroom stock as part of my liquid. It deepened and intensified the overall finished mushroom flavor.

You could easily convert this to a vegan version by using olive oil and a good quality or homemade vegetable stock.

I have bolded short-grain brown rice because I think it’s important. I am not sure this would work with basmati or another long-grain rice. Short grain is higher in starch.

Brown Rice ‘Risotto’

Ingredients:

6 small side dishes, 2-3 main

  • 1/2 cup of dried mushrooms, I used porcini (about 1/2 oz)
  • Boiling water to cover
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil plus 1 tablespoon of butter to saute the onions and garlic
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 chile de Arbol, crumbled
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
  • 1/2 cup of dry white wine
  • 1- 1/2 cups of short-grain brown rice
  • 3 cups of liquid – mushroom soaking water (strained) plus chicken or vegetable broth

Fresh mushrooms:

  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil or butter to saute the mushrooms
  • 2 cups of fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (about 6 oz)

To Finish:

  • 2 ounces of baby spinach, roughly chopped (or peas, or blanched asparagus tips, or…)
  • 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan
  • optional pat of butter stirred in at the end

Method:

  1. Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and add hot (I used just boiled) water to cover. Leave for at least 20 minutes. Once soft, cut off any hard bits and chop into pieces about 1/2 inch in size.
  2. Using the saute setting, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
  3. Add the onion and chile de Arbol. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions are turning golden brown then add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute.
  4. Add the rice and stir to combine, toasting the rice for about 1 minute.
  5. Add the wine and stir constantly until is mostly evaporated.
  6. Add the softened and chopped dried mushrooms.
  7. Hit cancel or stop to end the saute setting.
  8. Add the stock and mushroom soaking liquid, stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot to ensure there are no bits stuck to the bottom.
  9. Put on the lid and lock it in place, make sure the vent is set to sealing. Set it at high pressure for 24 minutes.
  10. When the cooking cycle is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 min, then quickly release.
  11. Remove the lid, add the second tablespoon of butter (if using) and stir for 1 – 2 minutes to create a creamy texture.
  12. Stir in the spinach, sautéed mushrooms, and parmesan.

If you are making this for company it will take about an hour total to cook, but most of it is hands off. You can saute the onion (or shallots) and garlic ahead of time. Same with the fresh mushrooms. Measure out all your ingredients. When you are ready, turn the machine back to saute and proceed with the recipe from step 4. The cooker will take about 15 minutes to reach full pressure once you turn that function on, then 24 minutes at high pressure, 15 minutes to release. It’s simply a matter of stirring and adding the spinach, fresh mushrooms and parmesan (plus an optional pat of butter) at the very end. Make sure you serve it in preheated bowls.

It isn’t a particularly beautiful dish, being mostly brown. The spinach helps. If you have some fried shallots you can sprinkle them on at the end for some textural interest, or some chopped parsley.

Brown Rice 'Risotto'

Brown Rice ‘Risotto’

It’s been ages since I joined the virtual blogging part over at Fiesta Friday hosted by Angie. It’s Fiesta Friday #470 and I think they will enjoy this time saving and healthy dish. Come on over to find posts on decorating, cooking and crafts. And consider adding your own post.

January – Brown Rice Risotto with Edamame Beans and Spinach
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January – Brown Rice Risotto with Edamame Beans and Spinach

Can you make a risotto with brown rice? It was a challenge I set out to investigate. There are several recipes for baked rice out there, even baked brown rice. Ina Garten has an easy baked Parmesan “risotto” method which only requires a few minutes of stirring at the end. Her recipe is similar to America’s Test Kitchen’s baked brown rice. The blog Cookie + Kate combined the two in her recipe for baked brown rice risotto with mushrooms. That sounded delicious and I wanted to go one step further (faster?) and cook it in the electric pressure cooker. Over Christmas, a friend’s daughter made a more traditional risotto with arborio rice in the Instant Pot, it was creamy and everything you want a risotto to be. So here goes…

My inspiration came from a recipe in Suzanne Goin’s book Sunday Suppers at Lucques for shell bean risotto. Fresh shell beans weren’t available but frozen edamame beans are in most grocery stores. Her recipe also has a healthy dose of greens with the addition of chopped spinach.

Because you don’t get any evaporation in a pressure cooker, the quantity of stock has to be reduced. For each 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of stock should be used. And the quality of the stock is crucial since it gets concentrated in the rice, unsalted homemade is best. When added, the wine should be cooked until it mostly evaporates, otherwise the flavor will be too strong. Trust your nose on this one.

It would be easy to convert this to vegan by using only olive oil and a good quality or homemade vegetable stock.

Ingredients:

6 small side dishes, 2-3 main

  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (divided)
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons of thyme leaves, fresh (if using dried 1/2 teaspoon)
  • 1 chile de Arbol, crumbled
  • 1/2 cup of dry white wine
  • 1- 1/2 cups of short-grain brown rice
  • 3 cups of broth – I used chicken stock but vegetable would make it vegetarian
  • 1 cup of cooked edamame beans
  • 2 ounces of baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of flat-leaf parsley, chopped for garnish

Method:

  1. Using the saute setting, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
  2. Add the onion, thyme, and chile de Arbol. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions are turning golden brown.
  3. Add the rice and stir to combine, toasting the rice for about 1 minute.
  4. Add the wine and stir constantly until is mostly evaporated.
  5. Hit cancel or stop to end the saute setting.
  6. Add the stock and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot to ensure there are no bits stuck to the bottom.
  7. Put on the lid and lock it in place, make sure the vent is set to sealing. Set it to high pressure for 24 minutes.
  8. When the cooking cycle is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 min, then quickly release.
  9. Remove the lid, add the second tablespoon of butter and stir for 1 – 2 minutes to create a creamy texture.
  10. Stir in the beans, spinach, and parsley.

I served this with an oven-roasted boneless chicken thigh, a recipe to be posted. The risotto was supposed to serve 6 as a side dish. Don’t believe it, there were no seconds to be had. I would say 4 as a generous side dish, maybe 2 for a main dish with some leftovers. It all depends on the appetite and enthusiasm of your eaters.

Unfortunately, it was gobbled up before I had an opportunity to take any photos of the risotto itself.

It turned out creamy and delicious. Who could have guessed? The brown rice added a nutty fullness to the flavor. I think it would be even more delicious with mushrooms. A combination of dried (use the soaking liquid as part of the broth) and fresh (saute them and add them at the end) would be memorable. Stay tuned for next time.