Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

In my mind, this cake is sort of a blank slate. The cornmeal gives it a little crunch but it is quite versatile. I drizzled a citrus icing on it this time around. I think there are many other things that you could do. You could macerate some berries in sugar and top the cake with them. I think some heated jam (orange, strawberry, or raspberry) drizzled over would be nice. I scoop of ice cream never hurt anyone. A dollop of whip cream never did either. I think you get the idea. Citrus Shortcake (Adapted from Cooking Light circa 2010) 3/4 c sugar 1/4 cup butter 2 eggs 1 T orange rind, grated 2T fresh OJ 1/2 t vanilla 1 c flour 2T cornmeal 3/4 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 2/3 c buttermilk Grease a 9" square pan set aside. Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes in a mixer.  Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl). Set aside. Add eggs one a time to butter mixture; beating well after ...

Old Me New Me I've come a long way with my drizzling - haven't I?? I finally figured out the secret - You need a squeeze bottle. Any old bottle will do. You can use an old squeeze bottle from mustard or ketchup - obviously cleaned out well. I, of course, had to go for the real deal chefy squeeze bottle. They really are very cool and useful. You drizzle the raspberry mixture into a circle - starting at the center (sorry no pics).  It reminds me of the old Spinart days* (yes I am old). Then take a toothpick and drag it through from the center outward and magic happens. Here's the recipe. *This is not exactly the Spinart I remember but it looks like fun.

Does he know you're making me do this? Happy Father's Day!

I very recently saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and said hey I have that book. Why didn't I notice that recipe? Then I looked at the Prune cookbook and saw the bookmark was only about 1/4 of the way through the book. I guess that's why I didn't see that recipe. It's not that I didn't like the book (so many people have had much to say about Gabrielle Hamilton both good and bad), I just have not gotten back to it and it sits amongst a few other goodies also. The one maddening thing  about the book is that there is no freaking index - what's up with that?? Anyway, I decided to give this a try since strawberry season is upon us, and I've been buying buttermilk a lot lately (what's up with that?). I remember having strawberry Quik when I was a kid. I would say that we had that less often than regular chocolate Quik. It was known as Quik back in the olden days not Nesquik as it is today. We only had the powdered kind not the newfangled liquid kind. So...

No - I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. I was away again to a few conferences. No interesting food there. Just regular conference food-bleh! I came home dying for some real food and some juice. We juice everyday and whenever we go away I get this craving for juice. Is it my body crying out for fresh fruit and vege or is it just in my head? Then we had a party to go to over the weekend so that was more unhealthy food. I'm not sure that you can consider pulled pork a healthy food but at least it is homemade. We've had a spate of pleasantly comfortable weather, and I decided to take advantage of it and make pulled pork. Beauty - eh? Pulled Pork 4 - 4 1/2lb pork shoulder* (bone removed and reserved for future use in sauce) 1T cumin 2T brown sugar 2T smokey paprika 1t chili powder 1t garlic powder olive oil Mix dry ingredients together and rub into meat (both sides). Sort of fold it back up, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hou...

First I have to say these look horrible but taste delicious. Part of the problem was that I believed the recipe and stuck with 12 cakes. As I was filling the cups, I thought this looks like an awful lot of batter, and guess what? I should have went with my instincts - when will I learn? This is a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi - a big guru in the food arena. I understand that he is known for his bold flavors, but I find it hard to understand how he could fail to include vanilla in these. Sorry I added it and it was spot on. But who am I to question genuis? Semolina-Lemon Syrup Cakes  Follow the recipe except add 1 tsp of vanilla and fill at least 14 cups of a standard cupcake tin - trust me. See - definitely needed to fill the cups less!! These were just so moist and lemony. I could've eaten the whole batch alone.