Citrus Chiffon Cake

Recently I was watching an episode of MasterChef New Zealand online--I have never even been there, but I enjoy cooking shows from all over the world. Anyways, they had a sponge cake challenge, a tricky combination of whipped egg whites folded into an egg yolk batter, cooked up high and fluffy. This is not a super common cake in the United States, where I tend to see more butter cakes with whole eggs used. My sister invited me to a family dinner and I decided I would try my hand at a version of this sponge cake. I found a lovely recipe for a chiffon cake--with lemon and orange zest for only about 215 calories a piece.  The chiffon cake is a sponge cake with huge whipped egg whites, usually made in a tube pan like n angel food cake. I do not have such a pan--but I do have a silicone bundt mold.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c cake flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c cold water
1/2 c vegetable oil
5 large eggs and 2 extra egg whites
1 tbs orange zest
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

First step is to separate the eggs--doing this when the eggs are cold is best, but the eggs need to be room temperature to mix up the batter. So do this well in advance of cooking. I saved the two extra yolks for another application. While those came to room temperature, I zested the lemon and orange--I used Meyer lemons because I really like the sweeter taste, and WalMart has bags of them for 2$. Then I juiced them--it actually took 1 1/2 of each to get the amount of juice I needed.

Once the eggs were room temperature I whisked together the dry ingredients, including most of the sugar. I didn't read that clearly and had to take some out. 1 cup of sugar added at this point, with a half cup reserved for the egg whites. The juice, egg yolks, zest and oil are supposed to be added at this point. Originally I had forgotten the oil and not put the extra water in (the recipe says to sub the 1/2 cup juice for the 3/4 c water) and it had looked super dry. So I added 1/4 c cold water, and then finally the oil when I remembered--glad I remembered before it was too late! I whipped it until it was nice and smooth.

The next step is the trickiest. I actually borrowed a bowl for it--my one glass bowl was in the fridge with bread dough in it. I made sure the beaters and bowl were clean and residue free. The room temperature egg whites and the cream of tartar went into the metal bowl and were beat until soft peaks form. I really thought I'd over beaten them, but added the sugar and kept beating until stiff peaks formed and it was glossy with the sugar dissolved.  A third of the egg whites are added to the yolk batter and folded ever so gently to combine. Then the rest is slowly folded in with a rubber spatula, being careful not to deflate the eggs.

The batter is poured into a bundt pan that was carefully cleaned of residue. It was a lot of batter for the pan, so I put some in cupcake molds as well. The pans bake in a preheated 325 degree oven. The cupcakes baked for 30 minutes, and the cake for about an hour and 15. I did put a tent of tinfoil over the top in the last half hour as it had started to get dark. I had baked them on a sheet pan as I wasn't sure of the stability of the silicone bundt on the rack, which I think resulted in a lighter cook on one side and darker on the other.

The cupcakes came out and cooled upside down. The silicone pan made it very tricky to balance the cake upside down. While the cake stuck nicely to the pan, the silicone tried to slip down the bottle and listed to one side or the other. I did rig up some cookbooks to hold it upright so I didn't have to stand and hold it.

A bit of the cake didn't come out of the mold right, but it was mostly in one piece. I made some raspberry-lemon and blueberry-lemon sauce to serve with it and some lemon or mango sorbet.

The Verdict: This is a delicious light and fluffy cake that isn't too sweet, with a hint of the tart lemon and orange. The texture was so airy, moist, but not too fragile. The sauce really helps the cake, adding that contrast of flavors and textures. Next time I try a chiffon cake I will use a different cake pan, but I do think I will try this again. My family said it was yummy and moist and cleared their plates.

Tunisian Tuna Bricks

I made this quick meal from a cookbook we just got in at the library, Comfort Pie. Since I'm in charge of that area I look at all the books that come in, and was surprised to find a recipe in this locally published book that used harissa. As the title of the book suggests, there is not a lot of healthy cooking contained in the pages, and this recipe is no exception. A fried pastry was not something I was willing to take up, and I couldn't find any brick pastry, but regular pyhllo dough baked in the oven worked as well.

Ingredients:
1 can tuna in water
2-3 tsp harrisa
eggs
red onion
red bell pepper
lemon
corriander
cumin
salt and pepper
cilantro
Phyllo dough sheets


The tuna is drained and mixed with the harissa paste, cumin, coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. I chopped half a red pepper and about a fourth of a good sized red onion and the good parts left from a sad looking bunch of cilantro I found in the back of the fridge. This went into the tuna mixture. The recipe called for more onion, cilantro, and pepper to be made into a salad, but I didn't have much cilantro. I added some lemon juice to the tuna for flavor.

 Part of the tuna is portioned onto two sheets of phyllo dough and a well made in the center and an egg yolk with a little of the white is placed in the center of the tuna. Then the top of the phyllo is wrapped around and folded up and sealed with water. I sprayed the top with some cooking spray and placed the packets in an oven that had been preheated to 375 degrees.

 I cooked it for about 10 minutes and check it, and then let it cook for about 5 minutes more. It probably could have gone a few minutes more, but I was hungry!

The Verdict: There was a nice balance of flavors and textures with the spice from the harissa, the fatty egg yolk, the crunchy phyllo exterior. It was not as light as some of the things I cook, but it was very satisfying and the phyllo actually was the perfect amount of "bread" to tuna salad. I was worried about how the egg would work in it, but I love a runny egg yolk, and this made a nice sauce for the tuna. I re-heated the second one in a sauce pan that was really hot--it got the phyllo extra crispy and was just as good. I still have some of the tuna left, so I plan on making a few more later!

Many Mini Quiches

Making Quiche, Julia's way!

So even though the cheesecake cupcakes turned out delicious, my older sister vetoed all of my cooking ideas for our bridal shower except one. Mini quiches! I already had fillo shells that I'd bought intending to make something for work, so I wanted to use them up to free space in my freezer. Plus they are best for occasions where they are served right away, instead of needing to be made in advance.

I am using a method explained in a nifty Julia Child cookbook I bought--Julia Child's Kitchen Wisdom. The book has some specific recipes for quiche, but it also has the ratios for making your own recipes. Really, that is my style--a general guideline that lets me innovate!

Ingredients: 

fillo shells
Eggs
Half and Half, Milk, light cream
salt and pepper, nutmeg
spinach
mushrooms
garlic
green onion
red bell pepper
sharp cheddar cheese

So Julia explains that the ratio for the custard of liquid to egg--whether milk, cream, or half and half--is determined by cracking the eggs in a measuring cup and adding liquid to get to the right amount. So for one egg you add up to the half cup measure for two eggs you fill up to the one cup measure. My liquid measuring cup only goes up to one cup, so I did 2 eggs twice. I'm not sure how much mixture I'll need for the amount of shells I have, but I figured better more mix than less.

The book has a list of different filling options, but helpfully lists other possibilities as well as encouraging experimentation. For a 9 inch pie it says one cup of filling--that is a 3 egg mixture. So that is the amount of filling I aimed for.

I first put a head of garlic in the oven to roast, along with a red pepper. Then I sauteed the white part of some green onions and a few mushrooms--both diced really fine. While that was cooking, I defrosted some frozen chopped spinach, and drained it really well before adding it to the mushrooms and onions once they'd both softened, sauteing it all together with a good dose of salt and pepper. Since this is going into pretty small shells I chopped the mix really fine after it had cooled a bit. Once the garlic and pepper had roasted, I chopped four cloves of the garlic and half of the pepper and added that to the spinach and mushrooms mixture. After that had cooled completely, I added it to the egg custard and whisked it well.

Since I was making these for a party, I made the filling the night before and cooked them at my sister's house right before the party started. I did make two before to test the seasoning and decide what kind of cheese to use. In one I added some feta and cheddar and the other just the sharp cheddar, but the feta didn't really stand out to me, so I didn't add it in the final batch. 

These were actually quite quick to throw together at the party--I sprayed two cookie sheets with cooking spray, laid out the shells, put a pinch of cheese in each, and then using a liquid measuring cup poured a little of the mixture in each shell. They go in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes and can be served warm or room temperature. I finished them off with a shake of salt over the top to give a nice finishing touch.

Add caption

The Verdict: The tray was empty at the end of the party and there were none left half eaten, so I suspect that people liked them. My older sister said that she liked the filling, and my younger sister said I was creative (I'm not sure if that is a complement!) I thought the combination of flavors was just right--the sweet garlic and pepper, the sharp cheese, the mushrooms, onions, and fresh spinach, and the crunchy shells added a nice texture. I've never made quiche before, and this was a pretty successful first attempt! I like the idea of trying different fillings and flavors, and it was a nice party dish!

Chipolte Cauliflower Tots

I love cauliflower, and so I'm always trying to find new ways to cook it and sneak it in dishes. So when I found this recipe on skinnytaste for Cauliflower Tots I wanted to give them a whirl. I've made some really good zucchini pancakes, so I'd love to have another recipe like that. I played with the recipe a little--to change the flavor profile a bit, since I wanted to serve them with the picadillio from the same blog.

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower
1 large egg and 1 egg white
1/2 cup onion
3 tbsp minced cilantro
1 diced chipolte pepper in adobo
1/2 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt, pepper cumin, chili powder, garlic powder to taste
cooking spray

 I ended up using the squash later that evening--but it appears in pretty much all of my pictures, even though it isn't in any of the recipes.

First the cauliflower needs to be cooked--I put it in my steamer basket with a little water, but my basket or pan was too small and it didn't cook evenly. So I nuked it for two minutes until it was tender and then drained it and dried it with paper towels. I also let it cool for a while. It needs to be chopped pretty fine--which is a lot of chopping so after trying for a little, I tossed it in my blender and let it do the hard work. This is the messiest part of the whole process, the rest of the batter came together pretty quickly.

Basically everything gets dumped in a bowl and mixed together. I made this a while before I needed to cook them, and refrigerated it. It didn't have any problems sticking together.

The original recipe called for shaping it into spoonful sized tots, but I thought cakes would be better for how I wanted to serve it. This is a bad idea--don't do it. I did two pans, one with tots and one with patties. I put them both in the oven at 400, but when I went to flip them half way they wouldn't come off of the pan. So I thought I'd pan fry the bigger ones, but I couldn't get them to cook through before they burned on the outside and then they stuck to the pan. The problem is that my stove does very low and infernally hot and burn your house down hot, no medium or medium high or medium low. This is probably user error. The tots, for all I couldn't flip them, turned out great!

The Verdict: The tots turned out crunchy on the outside, soft and cheesey inside, with just the perfect smokey and spicy bite--and were a perfect pair to my picadillio with squash. Unfortunately the patties were underdone, so I reheated them over the meat and veggies and ate it like a shepherd's pie. The flavors really worked for that--so I may make something similar intentionally. This recipe requires some work, but is worth playing around with to get another great way to eat cauliflower!

Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding?

My Grandma, I wish I'd understood her more.

 After I brought in the mystery cupcakes to work, I decided I needed to bring in some savory treats, since right now half of the staff have sworn off sugar. So when I found a recipe for "Rosemary Popovers, with Lemon Butter" in the Weight Watcher's 2005 annual recipe book, I was intrigued--a savory roll that didn't have baking soda or powder or yeast. Sounds easy enough, and I have most of the ingredients already, but I wasn't sure what a popover was supposed to be like. So I hit up the internet--and it turns out I do know the popover--as Yorkshire Pudding!

My grandmother was born and raised in Yorkshire before WWII and used to cook us Toad in the Hole, Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding, and once even liver and onions! Sadly, none of her recipes have been passed down to me--she said the secret to Yorkshire Pudding was something that couldn't be taught, and couldn't be captured in a recipe. The secret was the scorched and seasoned pan, crusty and black with years of puddings and roasts. I'm not sure what happened to her pans--she passed away several years ago. But instead of trying to capture that Yorkshire spirit, I'm going to attempt some popovers!

Ingredients:
3 tbs butter softened
1 tsp orange or lemon zest
1 cup milk or milks substitute
1/2 cup egg substitute or 2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray



Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and get out the butter, milk, and eggs so they can get to room temperature. Put the pan in the oven to heat up for at least 5 minutes. Mix the butter and half of the lemon zest and set aside.

Once all of the ingredients are at room temperature put the milk, flour, egg, salt, and half of the zest in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. This is a lot like a crepe batter--very liquid. I went with orange zest, but these could be made with a huge variety of seasonings, sweet or savory. I let the batter rest for a little, about 5 minutes, though longer is better. In fact, like crepe batter, I bet the batter could be made in advanced and just whisked up and baked when needed.

I pulled the heated pan out of the oven, sprayed it with cooking spray, and divided the batter between the
pans. They went into the oven for 15 minutes, and then the oven was lowered to 350 for another 15 minutes. They came out of the oven toasty and popped up--though not really over the top. I think if I had used real eggs, and not the substitute, they may have popped more. I pulled them out of the pans to cool--I'd read online to poke a hole in the bottom to let the steam out, but most had holes in the bottom already!

The Verdict: These were eggy and addictive--I meant to try one hot out of the oven and then eat them with leftover chili for lunch. But before I knew it I'd inhaled 4 along with my bowl of chili. They have just a faint hint of orange, and could be savory or sweet. The recipe called for using the orange butter with them, but they were just as good without or dipped in chili. I can see how they would be better fresh, hot out of the oven, served along with something to dip or smother them. Next time I will make up a batch of the batter and make a few at a time as I need them, so I can have them fresh for lunch and dinner!

Breakfast Bowls

Since I changed my diet last year, I have tried to eat real breakfast foods in the morning. I know that nutritionally it doesn't matter what you eat when, and that cake in the morning is just as healthy as cake in the evening. But I think eating a proper meal in the morning gets things off on the right foot for the rest of the day. I rotate between cheerios and yogurt, cheerios and fruit and rice milk, and an egg mug of some sort with a multi grain thinwich.

During the summer, I ate a lot of fruit--strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries--in my cheerios, and I still get veggies in my egg bowls. Sometimes I use leftover veggies from the night before in my eggs in the morning, but lately it has been harder to get my fruit and veggies in my morning meal. I miss fresh berries, but I'm not willing to pay 6 dollars for a small thing of berries that will not last few mornings.

This morning I was out of bread and had nothing to eat my cheerios with, so I found another bowl meal and gave it a whirl. It is sort of a dish in between the eggs and cereal and should be easy to experiment with different variations. This recipe comes from the author of the Make Your Someday Today blog, though I couldn't find the recipe there--he posted it on the lose-it forum. So go read Trevor's blog, this isn't the first yummy thing I've made from him--his zucchini pancakes are a favorite of mine!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rolled oatmeal (not instant)
1/4 cup berries (any type, fresh or frozen0
1 tablespoon milk
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Cinnamon



Just like with an egg mug, you really need to start by spraying your soup bowl or mug with cooking spray. Otherwise it will stick and be hard to clean up later--unless you let your dog lick the bowl. Which never happens. Never. Like I let her do anything.

Mix together all the ingredients--you could also add peanut butter, or chocolate. I substitute honey for the brown sugar when my brown sugar was too hard.Once it is combined, it goes in the microwave for between 90 seconds to 2 minutes--or until it is set and not liquidy. I've found adding too many berries can make it more liquid, and if they break can give it a grey cast--but that is easily disguised with some whipped cream. You can eat it in the bowl, or turn it over on a plate and top it with goodies.

It comes out like a very soft pudding cake--less mushy than regular oatmeal, which I hate the texture off, and more like a proper breakfast. I think it would be good with some fresh fruit on the side as well!

The Verdict: A nice hearty breakfast that is lower in calorie, while still providing protein, whole grains, and some fruit as well. It really hits the spot--though I just calculated this as under 200 calories per serving, so I may increase the quantities so I'm fuller longer. This will be joining my other breakfast bowls in the morning rotation!