spring brunch

Posted on April 12, 2012 by hilary924

did you have a good easter/passover/pagan spring celebration?

good. me too.

i ate too much, but it was glorious. i can't wait to show you the bunny cake. next week!

in the meantime. i offer you this delightful brunch menu.

first, start with mimosas. this might seem self-evident, but it bears repeating. start with mimosas. add a splash of st. germaine if you're feeling fancy.

we may have started on the mimosas BEFORE the photographing. mmmmm.

second, serve a strata or savory bread pudding that requires a night in the fridge to get good and settled. (is there a difference between a strata and a bread pudding? is is just all stuffing? gah.) why on earth would you want to wake up early to actually cook something? sanity requires that any party that begins before 3 pm on a sunday be as make-ahead as possible.

this dish is aptly named the "don't hold the anything" bread pudding. it was created for those among us who agonize over the sweet and savory options on the brunch menu. stuffed with sage, sausage and cream cheese, it is an eggy custardy delight of a savory bread pudding, with a sweet sugary crackly crust. let's get a close up.

douse it in some real maple syrup and you won't be able to stop yourself from seconds.

or thirds.

you did start with the mimosas after all.

third, don't forget the carbs. these blueberry beauties will hit the spot. never have i made muffins that so looked like the perfect crumb-laden berry-studded image in my brain.

plus? super yummy. brown butter. a tender crumb. sweet enough without being cloying. and lots, LOTS of exploding blueberry goodness. tis the season friends, tis the season.

i am a crazy lady and broke my own rule of baking the morning of to get these on the table because the somm was concerned there wasn't something sweet on the menu. (i mean, wha? challenge ACCEPTED.)

but my guess is that you can make the batter and stir the blueberries in the morning of, and have them in the oven in just a few minutes.

the scones? even easier. those can be premade, frozen and reheated with no one the wiser. squeeze a lemon into a bowl of powdered sugar, and you can even give them a quick sweet tart glaze.

i used this recipe because i wanted a nice, light scone to balance the richness of the bread pudding and (turns out) the sweetness of the muffins.

think of these as the dowager countess of scones. traditional in their flaky texture, they are not disguised slices of cake. the flavor is complex, but restrained. i added a strong hit of fresh and candied ginger for spice, and lemon zest for some tart. a little sugar for balance. but they will not send you into a food coma.

plus, you could probably eat them with white gloves. win!

four, end with fruit salad. this is a purely defensive move on my own part, as i need a bowl of something relatively safe and healthful to pick at while we stretch brunch out, sitting, chatting, sipping mimosas and holding onto every lazy, sunny spring sunday moment.

ahh.

plus, this is the last of citrus season. show off your bad-ass knife skills by supreming the heck out of a bunch of oranges (ooo! maybe i'll post a how-to for this). i've been on a cara cara kick for their beautiful pink color, but the humble naval oranges lately have been delightfully, drippingly sweet and seductive.

add berries, a squeeze of lemon juice, maybe some mint and sugar. a splash of grand marnier if you're looking to step it up a notch. done.

and yes, that was totally a somm sighting. he stuck around even though things got pretty real in the condo: we were visited by munchkins.

you'll be happy to know manchego survived the encounter. that poor cat has no idea what's in his future.

Spring Brunch Link Love

Don't Hold the Anything Breakfast Bread Pudding from Food52: I've made this recipe twice now and it is pretty-much no fail. The recipe calls for maple sugar on top, but turbinado sugar worked really well for me.

Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins from Shutterbean: This is also from the Joy the Baker cookbook, which is on my wish list. Just putting that out there, internet gift fairies.

Ginger Lemon Scones from Smitten Kitchen: I may never be able to produce my own recipes because I seem to have a complete adversion to measuring anything. But I think I added a few tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger and a few tablespoons of chopped crystallized ginger. And the zest of a lemon. It worked out.

twd: baking with julia: white loaves

Posted on February 7, 2012 by hilary924

today is the start of a fun new project for me: tuesdays with dorie. i'm one of more than 300 food bloggers who are going to bake their way through a cookbook: baking with julia by dorie greenspan.

i've been wanting to up my baking game, and this is goign to be a great way to try recipes i never would have picked out myself – sweet and savory.

enter this lovely white loaf.

despite my brief flirtation with challah, i've been in a serious monogamous relationship with jim lahey's no knead bread for the past year or so. it truly is everything i want in a bread. crisp, chewy crust. a french bread-like crumb, but dense and moist.

i was worried this white load would turn out too much like sandwich bread – soft, soft, soft. but it's more like the farmer's loaves ate my year abroad in england, sitting at the table in the student flat's shared kitchen, hoovering down slice after slice with nutella or honey or jam.

yes, yes i did gain 15 pounds that year. this would be why i ended up chucking most of this loaf in the freezer. save me from myself. amen.

the jim lahey bread is still my go to – including for a friend's cheese tasting party this weekend. it's just so easy to make.

but these loaves have a nice crust on them, a firm dense crumb. they were nearly as easy to put together (although you need either a very serious kitchenaid mixer or arms of steel for the kneading). the bread was tasty straight up, excellent toasted, and maybe even better a day or two later as french toast when the crust starts getting a bit stale.

i went a bit crazy with the photo shoot. i'm sparing you the process shots of dough magnificently rising to the ceiling, taking over my kitchen like the pillsbury dough boy. there's just something so satisfying about a bowl of dough rising like a muffin in the bowl, isn't there?

manchego got in on the action. you know he likes to be in the mix. also, he's a camera whore.

pensive kitten contemplates the wonder and joy that is freshly baked bread.

kitten decides bread is overrated as it is not roasted chicken, turns to magical january tulips.

although, maybe not so magical given this spring-like winter which has duped the daffodils to poke their sunny yellow heads out months early. lovely, but wrong, wrong, wrong.

good thing there's nothing like a slice of toast with orange marmalade to bring you back to the proper season.

for the recipe, or to check out all the other great posts, visit tuesdays with dorie.

trick or treat

Posted on October 31, 2011 by hilary924

it got spooktastic in manchego’s kitchen this weekend. we ate a lot of sugar. we got into the spirit of halloween.

perhaps some of us got a bit too into the spirit.

this is the danger of hosting the halloween party. cobwebs and spooky creatures everywhere.

shrunken heads in the cider.

also, eyeballs.

and swamp creatures. adorable swamp creatures.

have you heard of cake pops? i hesitate to send you to this site, because, well, bakerella’s look legit. let’s all just remember mine were made with love, ok? and with some able assistance, not just from Duncan and Betty, but from one very sexy pumpkin.

yes, that is a cake pop landscape i crafted out of tin foil. yes, i do enjoy using my glue gun at halloween.

but, let’s get serious here for a second. i have some snacks for you that aren’t wearing halloween costumes. they’re yummy just as is.

both snacks play off of the salty-sweet combo that you know i’m obsessed with.

this snack mix i made with pretzels, malted milk powder and jazzed up for halloween with candy corn and chopped up snickers – peanut butter and regular. it was insanely, amazingly good. it was also ridiculously un-photogenic. so please just trust me. it is super easy to make. just be sure you have friends coming over – maybe for a marathon viewing of seven and riggins? – so you don’t put yourself in a food coma.

this peanut butter caramel popcorn is just as good – and slightly less likely to give you a toothache.

it has that chewy goodness of caramel corn, but the peanut butter softens it and makes it much less likely to stick in your teeth. plus, it’s just plain addictive.

winning!

Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn

Adapted from Cooking Light

1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted if you’re feeling fancy
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter – I used chunky and liked it
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 & 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. If you have one with sides – like a jellyroll pan – that is better cause you’re going to be tossing the corn around. But I made a batch on a flat sheet and I was careful and it was ok.

Pop your popcorn! You can do it on the stove with oil, or you can air pop it 1/4 cup at a time in a brown paper lunch bag. Just put the kernels in the bag, fold it over a few times and then microwave for 2-3 minutes. Magic!

Toast your almonds if you feel like it. Toss them with the popcorn in the biggest bowl you’ve got.

On the stove, mix your sugar, corn syrup, butter and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and stir for about 3 minutes. It’ll get foamy and kind of look like you’re making toffee, but we aren’t getting that fancy here. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and mix it in.

Here, I gave the super hot caramel mix a minute to cool down because I was afraid it would melt the popcorn.

Then, have your OCD self pour the caramel over the popcorn and toss/stir it so that all the kernels get some coating.

Spread out on your cookie sheet(s). Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt. Bake for an hour, and every 15-20 minutes, pull the sheet(s) out and mix up the popcorn so it toasts evenly and doesn’t just turn into a giant slab of caramel popcorn.

Crumble into a bowl, and try not to eat it all in one sitting.

hurricane food

Posted on August 29, 2011 by hilary924

did you hear? the storm of the century hit the east coast this weekend.

well, sort of. it wasn’t that bad where we live. just rainy. windy. i still managed to go on an 8-mile run saturday, and sun-bathe at the pool on sunday, so i’m feeling unimpressed.

but some of us got a little spooked.

i tried telling rio that you hide in the bathroom for tornadoes not hurricanes, but she’s crazy stubborn. and a scaredy cat.

good thing we didn’t lose power. i had cooking to do.

pizza with candied cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, capers and pesto.

pairs well with an entire bottle of prosecco as you’re listening to the hurricane-force wind and rain and praying that your husband, on an airplane in the middle of said wind and rain, makes it to california safely.

the candied cherry tomatoes, courtesy of the splendid table, have been a real champ. i made a bunch and have been throwing them on salads, sandwiches, crostini with goat cheese.

but i also made this:

that’s smitten kitchen’s southwestern pulled brisket. it was good on jim lahey’s no knead bread with cheddar.

it was also good in a tortilla, with pepper jack and watermelon rind pickles (recipe coming soon!).

spicy. manchego approved. take that “hurricane” irene.

Manchego's Kitchen

it's his kitchen. i just cook here.

Category Archives: Cats

spring brunch

twd: baking with julia: white loaves

trick or treat

hurricane food