Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

Ramadan Round Up

Ramadan is halfway over, but there’s still time to make some of my favorite recipes for this time of year! Going clockwise from the top left:

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Dates, Almonds and Mint – we consume a lot of dates during Ramadan. This recipe uses up any extra dates you may have in a salad you can feel good about eating at the end of a long fast!

Meyer Lemon Strawberry Lemonade – I know sugar is the devil. I know. But you have to try this lemonade. It is light years beyond any bottled strawberry lemonade you can find. Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman.

Basil Smoothie – a surprising staple in many homes I’ve introduced this smoothie to. Basil, yogurt, sugar and ice makes for an unexpectedly refreshing drink.

Tandoori Chicken – an easy, make ahead dish. When you’re fasting, you’re low on energy. So the less time you have to spend on your feet in the kitchen, the better. These chicken legs get a quick marinade of yogurt and spices. Then about 45 minutes before eating, pop them in a hot oven. That is all.

Mint Limeade – aka virgin mojitos. The refreshing flavors of lime and mint make this the perfect compliment to your break-fast meal.

Haleem – a protein packed Ramadan must. It’s one stop, one pot iftar. Stewed meat, grains and lentils combine to make the most filling, comforting dish possible. Can probably make this in your slow cooker as well.

Fruit Chaat – refreshing and easy. Simply combine your favorite fruits – try to ensure varying textures and levels of sweetness. Try apples, grapes, kiwis. Or pineapple, cantelope, raspberries. Or mango, blueberry, nectarine. Leave the yogurt/chaat masala dressing on the side, or mixed in, for a variation of your favorite fruit salad.

Banana Date Nut Bread – another healthy way to use up dates. The potassium from the bananas and dates combined with the fiber from the whole wheat make this bread great to have on hand when you’re short on time for your pre-dawn meal. Can bump up the fiber content with flax seeds, chia seeds, etc.

Aloo Chop (Fried Mashed Potato Balls) – not the healthiest thing on the list, but a comfort food must for many of us South Asians. Mashed potato balls stuffed with bits of hard boiled egg, breaded and fried. Yum!

My Go-To Suhoor (Sehri)

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When you were a kid did you have curry for suhoor?

Let me take a few steps back here. Ramadan Kareem everyone! The blessed time of year when Muslims around the world abstain from food & drink (yes, even water) from dawn til dusk. Not just a physical fast, Muslims (healthy, adult) are to abstain from sex, violence and cursing. Particularly trying for those at northern latitudes where the days are long (16+ hours for us in NY), we need to make the most of our pre-dawn and fast-breaking meals. That means nutritious food that will keep our bodies busy breaking down complex carbs and proteins. Just as important: staying hydrated!

So if you’re South Asian, you probably had white rice along with veggies and some hearty curries for your pre-dawn meal (suhoor/sehri). And they probably left you feeling awesome, especially after your post-fajr nap.

Not. They always left me feeling queasy and hungry after a few hours. Don’t get me wrong, hunger pangs are going to strike regardless. It wouldn’t be a fast without the experience of hunger – to humble us, to remind us of our blessings, to connect us to those less fortunate, and to remind us constantly that we are doing it for the sake of God. But in eating whole foods, super foods, foods that are full of complex carbs and hunger abating protein, we can put our best food forward while going about our day to day jobs in non-Muslim countries. Otherwise, it can be challenging, functioning on reduced and disjointed sleep (late night prayers + a meal in the middle of the night) with a lower blood sugar throughout the day making your mental processing faculties a bit foggy.

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So here I present my go-to spread for suhoor: overnight oats with fruit and nuts, two hard boiled eggs, toast with peanut butter, banana and chia seeds, coconut water, and water. I may not have all of these items every day, depending on how much time I have on my hands, but the overnight oats and hard boiled eggs are a must. I prepare the oats around the same time that I’m making iftar so it has a good 8 hours to soak in the fridge. When you read the recipe below, you might be turned off to the fact that it’s made with water instead of milk. But if you’ve ever struggled with downing oatmeal because the gummy texture turned you off, you must try it with water. Of course you are free to make it with almond, soy, rice, hemp or coconut milk instead.

Recently, I’ve been topping it with the raspberry compote from my Eton Mess. I don’t want to say it’s divine or anything in case that’s sacrilege – but it’s really really really good.

Combine the complex carbs from the oats with the protein and good fats from the eggs – you are good to go. The potassium from the coconut water and bananas (or dates!) well keep you running. The chia seeds provide a nutritional boost as well given they’re packed with Omega-3s, fiber, and protein. Sometimes I just munch on them as is. They have a wonderful crunchy/chewy texture.

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Here are my tips for hard boiling eggs:

  • Bring a generous amount of water to boil.
  • THEN add the eggs.
  • Set the timer for 8 minutes eggsactly (had to).
  • When the timer is up, drain the water. Let cool. Don’t peel them ahead of time as they’ll dry out.
  • Just before eating, crack them on a surface and roll around. You’ll find these eggs are the easiest to peel.

And here’s my go to recipe for overnight oats (from Quaker):

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup water (or enough to cover the oats)
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh fruit or fruit compote
  • 1 tbsp chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 2 tbsp yogurt (optional)

Directions

  1. In a mason jar, or recycled jam jar, combine oats, water and salt. Close the lid and give it a shake. Let it sit in the fridge overnight (6-8 hours).
  2. To serve, top with fruit, nuts and yogurt, if using. Enjoy immediately. And be generous with the fruit! One of the perks of summertime fasts are the glorious fruits available, particularly at your local farmers market.

Eton Mess

 

Eton Mess aka Eat-A-Mess. Named for the school where it was first served – Eton College, presumably in the mess hall. For some reason I am surprised when people aren’t familiar with this dessert. I mean, didn’t everyone watch the episode of Barefoot Contessa when Ina Garten cooked a charity luncheon for Alec Baldwin and the lady from Law and Order?? I mean, she made Alec buy her groceries from a farm stand. CLASSIC INA.

I made this dessert for the first time this week, for a small party I catered for Sukoon Active – a modest athletic wear company. They had their Kickstarter Launch Party and I was there serving up mocktails and small bites. Catering is a lot of work, but so much fun!

Traditionally made with strawberries, Ina adds a twist by making a raspberry compote. I didn’t think I was a fan of raspberry desserts until I tried this. Wow – it is so delicious I sometimes steal a spoonful of the stuff when nobody’s looking. I omitted the Framboise (raspberry liqueur) from the original recipe, and it still came out great. The tartness from the lemon juice, the flavor of the raspberries, and the sweetness of the sugar all play the most amazing balancing act. Add that to whipped cream and crushed meringues, and it’s essentially a play on my pavlova. Nothing beats the textures and flavors of the three ingredients combined. It was definitely a hit at the party!

I copped out when making this dessert a second time. I used the whipped cream from a can because I ran out of heavy cream. Don’t judge!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten.

Ingredients

  • 4 6oz. packages of raspberries
  • 1 cup plus 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup crushed meringues (available at Trader Joe’s and sometimes by the deli section of my local grocery)

Directions

  1. Combine 2 packages raspberries, 1 cup sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Crush the berries lightly with a fork and cook over medium high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Turn off the heat and add the remaining two packages raspberries. Fold into the mixture gently then refrigerate until very cold.
  2. In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a handheld mixture, beat cream with 3 tbsp sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
  3. To crush the meringues, place them in a large ziploc bag and close tightly. Bang them with a rolling pin or something similar until you get small pieces.
  4. Layer about 1 tablespoon of the whipped cream, 1 tbsp raspberry compote and 1 tsp crushed meringues in a dessert cup or glass. Top off with whipped cream and enjoy immediately.

Tropical Green Smoothie

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I just realized that it’s been 2 years since I lost the baby weight. I realize it because I’m slowly putting the weight back on (oh no!).

It’s hard being smaller than your natural dress size! I look at all the women in my family, and post childbirth, we are all at least a size 8 and pear shaped.

I’m 5’1 and for the longest time after my second kid, I was stuck at 129 pounds. Inspired by my Barnard classmate, Asiya Khaki, photographer and beach body coach, I decided to get in shape. I started doing 25 minute interval training workouts with FitnessBlender. I cut out sugar almost entirely. Subbed quinoa for rice in pretty much every meal.

I lost 17 pounds. It was amazing. My core looked better in my late twenties than it ever did as a teenager.

And then Ramadan came, and I couldn’t really stick to my 3 small meals plus 2 snacks a day anymore. And the tons of water to curb my sugar cravings. So things got out of whack.

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I’ve put 5 pounds back on since hitting my lowest (112). I still keep up with the exercise at least twice a week (trying to make it 3 times a week). But I’ve gotten back to some bad habits. Late night work = late night snacks. Busy schedules means less time to make my quinoa salad. More often than not I’m finishing up the kids pasta for lunch. And dinner.

And though I am eating carbs again, I still try to keep up with the nutrition. I buy a big bag of avocados early on in the week. I try to ensure everyone’s got a serving of vegetables at every meal, and fruits at their disposal any time of the day.

In short, this smoothie is not for you if you are looking to lose weight. If you are looking for a nutritious, tasty drink to sub for a meal, definitely give this a try!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup loosely packed mixed baby greens
  • 1/2 cup fresh fruit like pineapple, mango, banana
  • 1/4 cup greek yogurt, full fat
  • 3/4 to 1 cup pineapple or orange juice

Directions

  1. Add the greens, fruit, yogurt and 3/4 cup of the juice to the blender. If it doesn’t start to come together, add the extra 1/4 cup of juice. Enjoy immediately.

Citrus Quinoa Salad With Dates, Almonds, and Mint

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Ramadan is coming up! I figured I should add a few more Ramadan friendly recipes to the blog, for those of us who are looking to depart a bit from the usual fried foods iftars. During these long summer days when we’re denying ourselves food and liquid for 15 hours straight, we need to treat our bodies well! This is a dish you can feel good about eating, that’s not going to make you crash before the long night of ibadah (prayers) you have lined up.

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This recipe is based on one from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. I know a quinoa salad is not the first thing you think of when you consider French cuisine, but she’s filled her cookbook with things she makes for her family, without strictly adhering to a particular cuisine. In our hyperconnected world, it’s kind of impossible to resist influences from other regions. She’s got a Moroccan Tagine and carrot salad, small plates from her American upbringing, French pastries and traditional stews from her current residence. And she’s kind of an authority when it comes to food so I trust her with my quinoa!

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I’ve taken a lot of liberties with her recipe though. First was to change the prep method for the quinoa. For some reason the package directions always tell you to cook it covered over low heat for about 15 minutes. That always gave me soggy quinoa. My way gives perfectly cooked and fluffy quinoa every time. Second, I nixed the ginger powder for cinnamon since I hate ginger and thought cinnamon would compliment the citrus. Third, I increased the fruit to nut ratio for my sugar loving palette. She suggests using any kind of dried fruits, nuts and herbs. I combined the dried fruits, nuts and herbs I thought would work best (dates, almonds and mint). You could also do raisins, pine nut and parsley. Or apricot, walnut and cilantro. It’s a vibrant, tasty way to prepare your quinoa that uses up the plethora of dates we often have lying around during Ramadan.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups quinoa
  • 1 cup medjool dates, pitted and diced small (about 7 dates)
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
  • salt and pepper
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (recommended: Trader Joe’s California Estate EVOO)

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to boil. Add quinoa and lower the heat to medium low. Cook for 12 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. After the 12 min are up, turn off the heat and put the lid on. Let steam for 3 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Set aside.
  2. Toast the almonds on a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When the nuts are light brown and fragrant, take off the heat and let cool.
  3. Chop the mint and combine with the dates and nuts in a large bowl.
  4. Make the vinaigrette: combine the orange juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and olive oil in a jar. Put the lid on and shake vigorously.
  5. Add the quinoa and vinaigrette to the large bowl. Combine everything and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper as needed.

Mexican Chicken Noodle Soup

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The first thing I do when someone sneezes in the house, is submerge a chicken in a pot of boiling water to make chicken stock for soup. That’s a normal, knee-jerk reaction, right?

Ok, perhaps I exaggerate. But there’s just something about the thought of clear, warming chicken noodle soup that makes me feel like it will banish all the ickiness of a cold away. And while the classic has a special place, this tomato paste and spice spiked version will carry you over from your sick days to your top o’ the mornin’, heel clickin’ days. Because for some reason, the weather is still dipping below freezing here in NYC in the middle of spring and the kids have caught strep throat while the hubby and I work our way through the common cold. Un-believable.

Back to the soup. It was the perfect dish for my crusty-bread obsessed husband to dip his baguette into. It was the only thing my preschool aged son has ever declared his love for, apart from trains and well, me. And it was one of the few items I did not have to struggle to finish from the fridge as a leftover.

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If I make my own chicken stock, I usually boil away chicken with veggies (onion, garlic, carrot, celery), aromatics (parsley, dill, thyme, bay leaf) and seasoning (salt, whole peppercorns). However, unlike most, I take the chicken out about an hour into the process, strip the meat off the bones, and re-submerge the carcass. That way the bones continue to flavor the stock for about 2 more hours and I don’t have to waste the meat. Does that make me crazy?

If you are using store bought stock, it comes together SO fast. When I don’t have homemade on hand (which is quite often) I use Saffron Road Halal Artisan Chicken Stock. Awesome flavor and deep golden color. You can tell it’s not just one of those salt water in a box chicken stocks. And if you want to make this vegetarian, use vegetable stock and chickpeas in lieu of the chicken. The tomato paste and spices are magical in how they liven up pretty much anything.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
  • 2 carrots, diced small
  • 2 celery stalks, diced small
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp each of cumin, coriander and paprika
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt plus more to taste
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
  • 14 oz crushed tomatoes (if you have a 15 oz can that’s fine)
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup shredded chicken
  • 1/4 lb spaghetti or noodle of choice
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Saute for 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and spices (cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and pepper). Cook for 2 minutes more, allowing the vegetables to get more tender and the spices to toast up a bit.
  2. Add the tomatoes, broth, chicken and pasta. Cook for 9 to 10 minutes, depending on the package directions of your pasta.
  3. Add the cilantro and taste for seasoning.

My Go-To Bolognese

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One of my first cookbooks ever was Giada De Laurentiis’s “Everyday Italian“. From it, I made my first pesto, marinara sauce, bolognese, vegetable bolognese, her fabulous balsamic roasted chicken, and many other Italian classics. For that reason, it will hold a special place in my bookshelf. One thing I noticed though, was that many of the tomato based sauces required celery, onion, and carrots as the base. While I always have onion on hand, the times I bought celery and carrot for those specific recipes, it was a pain to try to finish them off. I’m not a big celery-snacker. I might make a salad out of the celery and carrot (though I much prefer carrot and mushroom salad). So while I appreciate the flavors attributed to the classic mirepoix (sweet onion, sweet earthy carrots, licoricey celery), I needed one that suited my family’s needs and my grocery habits.

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Enter My Go-To Bolognese. Olive oil. Onion. Garlic. Beef. Tomato. Seasonings. Almost all of these things I have on hand – I don’t even bother with the fresh herbs. Dried oregano. Basil already in the canned tomato. Done. Deal.

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I amp up the flavor with crushed red pepper flakes. I add tomato sauce along with the crushed tomatoes – something I picked up from watching Pioneer Woman. It adds moisture and flavor to the sauce. And the best part is…

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It gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. The first day you taste it, you’re like yeah, it’s good. But the second day you taste it and you’re like wow where did this meaty flavor come from?! And because my family is relatively small (both kids under 6), I can get away with freezing half and thawing it out later in the week when I’m knee deep in frosting for a cake order! One of the few things I don’t mind eating out of the freezer.

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And the cinnamon! It’s my not-so-secret-anymore ingredient. Ever since I made Ina’s Pastitsio, I fell in love with the flavor combination. It makes you go “hmm what is that?!” – in the best possible way.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 15oz can tomato sauce

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, warm olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and ground beef. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and the meat is no longer pink. Add the seasonings: garlic, oregano, salt, both peppers, cinnamon, sugar and bay leaf. Stir until fragrant – 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. When the sauce comes to a boil, lower the heat to low and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 to 45 minutes.
  2. Taste for seasoning and serve with pasta of choice and a grating of fresh parmesan.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

IMG_9692Swiss meringue buttercream is a cake decorator’s dream. If you’ve ever tried to get a really smooth looking cake from a traditional American buttercream, you’ve probably noticed it’s very very difficult to do so. Mainly because of air bubbles. American buttercream relies on the aerating of butter and sugar to achieve the desired volume and consistency. So between the air bubbles and stickiness from the sugar, it’s hard to get it super smooth!
IMG_5774Swiss meringue buttercream, however, is light years beyond in terms of texture. There is a bit of a learning curve the first couple of times you make it, but once you have it down right, it is so smooth, tints so well, it really takes your cakes from home style to bakery quality.

To start, you combine egg whites and sugar, and heat it over a double boiler until it’s hot to the touch (160 degrees on a candy thermometer to get the egg whites to a safe temperature). You whisk the whole time, until the mixture reaches a milky appearance. Once that’s done, you move on over to a stand mixer where you beat beat beat the egg whites until you get a beautiful, glossy meringue.

When the meringue is thick, glossy and ROOM TEMPERATURE, add the room temperature butter, one pad at a time. At this point, it might look like a gloopy mess, but stick with it and keep beating until the buttercream comes together. It should look like stiff whipped cream at this point.

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Add the vanilla, then melted and cooled chocolate. This is one of the few points of departure from my beloved Ina Garten. She has a recipe for chocolate swiss meringue buttercream but there’s SO much liquid in it (vanilla, kahlua, rum, more chocolate), that it broke when I tried to make it. I’m sure it tastes wonderful, but mine does too, while still holding up to piping =)Use a spatula to wipe down the sides and bottom to ensure all the chocolate and buttercream are fully incorporated. Final step is to try to not eat it all out of the bowl. It is delicious and the added sugar from the chocolate makes it the perfect sweetness – whereas plain vanilla buttercreams are barely sweet. Enjoy!!

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Recipe adapted from smitten kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 26 tbsp (3 sticks plus 2 tbsp) unsalted room temperature butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 lb plus 8 oz* semi sweet chocolate, chopped small**

Directions

  1. Melt chocolate in the microwave in a heat proof, non metal bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring in between intervals, OR over a double boiler (in a bowl set over simmering water, ensuring the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl). Set aside to cool.
  2. Whisk together the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer. Place over double boiler, ensuring the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Keep whisking until the sugar is dissolved AND the water is hot to the touch (if you dip your finger in, should be too uncomfortable to keep there). Or you can insert a candy thermometer and whisk until the temperature registers 160 degrees F. Then remove from double boiler, wipe the water that has condensed on the bottom of the bowl and place in the stand mixer. Insert the whisk attachment and set the speed on medium to whip up the egg whites.
  3. When the egg whites have thickened, and the temperature has cooled to room temperature, add the butter, one pad at a time (1-2 tbsps) until all the butter is incorporated. The mixture might look soupy at this point. Turn the mixer on high and keep whisking until thick. This can take 3 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your batch. Reduce the speed to low and add vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix until thoroughly combined.***

*One pound plus 4 oz of chocolate makes a luscious, chocolately buttercream. If I need to pipe something like ruffles, I would leave it at 1 pound chocolate. If I’m just filling/frosting, I would go the full 1lb 4 oz.
**I wouldn’t recommend using chocolate chips in lieu of chopped baking chocolate or chocolate bars. The waxy coating or whatever is on them keeps them from blending in uniformly with the buttercream.

***Enough to frost, fill and decorate an 8 inch 2 layer cake. Enough to frost and fill a 9 in 2 layer cake.

Rainbow Cookie Cake

IMG_5430I just came back from the most amazing trip to Bora Bora…

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Not really. We’ve been hangin’ back here in NYC. Celebrating my daughter’s fifth birthday. Anxiously waiting for the first snow fall so our kids’ Frozen dream can become a reality.   IMG_5323

Adulthood. Family. Saving up for a down payment on a house. Elderly parents to think about. Student loans to pay off. Retirement. Kids’ college tuition.

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Alhamdulillah, though, right? These are good things to worry about. Every time that voice in my head wants to whine or complain that we’re not getting out as much, or  we haven’t met xyz goals yet, I always have to remind myself of what we DO have. It’s hard to compare intangible things such as peace and health to the tangible objects of house, boarding passes, the numbers of zeros in the bank account. But we have to. Because you can always look at people who have more and long for what they have. That road never leads to satisfaction. Like the folks who live in Russian mafia-ville in Queens (Jewel Ave). Every week there is a new mansion, more opulent than the one next door. More marble. More security cameras. You wonder what is check mate in that game?IMG_5428The cake is my go to yellow cake recipe ever since discovering it on The Food Blog to End All Food Blogs: Smitten Kitchen. Instead of an actual rainbow cookie cake recipe that incorporated almond paste in the batter, this is a light, fluffy, buttery yellow cake flavored with vanilla and almond. The rainbow cookie part comes in the filling, with almond between one of the layers and apricot jam in the other. It’s Beethoven’s fifth symphony of flavors. The tartness of the jam. The nuttiness of the almond. The chocolatey-ness of the frosting. All with the backdrop of the most glorious yellow cake.

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Cake recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Frosting recipe adapted from Hershey’s.

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 2 cups plus 1 tbsp cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken at room temperature
  • 2 drops green gel food coloring, plus more if necessary
  • 2 drops yellow gel food coloring (optional)
  • 2 drops red gel food coloring, plus more if necessary

For the filling and frosting

  • 1/2 cup almond filling
  • 1/2 cup apricot jam
  • 1 stick (4 oz. butter)
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • chocolate sprinkles for decorating (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottoms and sides of 3 (8 inch round) cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray. Sift cake flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl. Add salt and whisk to combine. Set aside
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer, cream butter on medium speed until aerated (about 1-2 minutes). Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes more). Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat until everything is well combined. With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture. When that’s incorporated, add 1/2 cup buttermilk. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture. When that’s incorporated, add the last 1/2 cup buttermilk, then the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix until combined, scraping down the bowl.
  3. Divide the batter between three bowls as evenly as you can (I used a kitchen scale to ensure even distribution). Leave one of them untinted, or tint with 2 drops yellow food color. Tint one of them green (drop 2 drops food color and mix with a spoon or spatula; the color will appear minty). Tint the final one red (the color will appear more salmon like than true red). Take care to use separate tools for each bowl so the colors don’t mix. Gently pour the batter into the three previously prepared cake pans, red in one, green in one and yellow in one. Smooth out the top and tap on the counter 2-3 times each to get rid of air bubbles.* Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes. The edges should start to pull away from the sides of the pan and the top should spring back when touched.
  4. Let cool.
  5. When ready to assemble, carefully invert the green layer on a cake board lined with saran wrap. Peel off the parchment paper and place second cake board on top. Invert again so the domed side is up. Using a serrated knife, carefully level the top of the green cake layer. Spread almond filling evenly, to the edges.
  6. Next, invert the yellow cake layer as before onto a saran lined cake board. Remove parchment from bottom and carefully place over the green layer. Try to line it up as closely as possible. Using a serrated knife, carefully trim the dome to level the cake. Spread apricot jam evenly, to the edges.
  7. Repeat with pink layer.
  8. Make chocolate frosting: melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When melted, turn off heat and add cocoa powder. Whisk until combined. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1/3 of the milk. Whisk together. Repeat with 1 more cup of powdered sugar, half of the remaining milk. Whisk. Add last cup of powdered sugar, rest of the milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until everything is well combined.
  9. Working quickly, place cake on cake turner. Pour about a cup of the frosting on top of the cake. Smooth with an offset spatula, pushing down the sides a bit. Apply one teaspoon of frosting at a time on the sides, starting from the top and working your way down.
  10. Once the sides are fully covered in frosting, apply handfuls of sprinkles to the sides, placing a plate below the turntable to catch excess sprinkles.

*Note: if you use baking strips, the cake doesn’t dome as much and bakes evenly. I cheaped out and just cut a kitchen towel into strips, drenched them in water, and pinned them around the circumference of the cake pans. Worked like a dream. The cake layers in the pictures did not have to be leveled.

Potato Leek Soup with Rosemary Garlic Oil

IMG_5566I had a hankering for warm, comforting American dishes the other day. Creamy tomato soup. Potato leek soup. Corn chowder. Pan seared scallops. Flat bread dotted with goat cheese and herbs. Just things I wouldn’t usually make since there isn’t a huge appetite for these things in our household. Take exhibit A: potato leek soup. Despite my daughter’s proclamation that she LOVED THIS SOUP and my husband’s accolade, “this soup’s good, Jaan!”, they each had just one serving. Just one. So guess who else had ALL the remaining servings?IMG_5558Yours, truly, of course. When I was a work study (undergraduate doing an on-campus job) at Columbia Business School, I would go down to the cafeteria and scope out what I could afford. Back then, a small soup with crackers cost about $4.75. With tax, it came out to almost $6. Which was a lot for me to fork over for lunch. But a girl’s gotta eat. Neither the $3.50 muffin nor the $12 sandwiches weren’t good alternatives. IMG_5560

I looked at a bunch of different recipes before diving into this. I knew I wanted to caramelize the leeks a bit. I knew I didn’t have chicken stock on hand, and not even the full amount of vegetable stock needed for this amount. I knew despite all the different herbs I read people used, I wanted to use dry thyme (one of my favorite pantry items since it adds such a lovely aroma and flavor and I could sense my kids associating its scent with my cooking), and rosemary. Finally, I knew I didn’t want to have a big huge batch because something told me I’d be eating 90% of it. IMG_5562

So I halved the amounts I read in other recipes, I sautéed the veggies a bit longer, and I used a combo of vegetable stock and water. Depending on the type of vegetable stock you use, your color will vary. Mine was the low sodium one from Trader Joe’s. Made from carrots, tomatoes, among other vegetables. Thus imparting an orange hue to a normally off-white soup. IMG_5575 The type of vegetable stock you use will also affect the seasoning required, so make sure to add just enough salt and pepper until it’s really really tasty. IMG_5570I didn’t put rosemary in the soup directly. I thought the presentation and flavor would be more pronounced with an infused oil added at the very end. Take that, winter.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 leeks, dark ends trimmed
  • 4 Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 pound), diced into large chunks
  • 1/2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock*
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 tbsp creme fraiche (optional)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 sprig rosemary

Directions

  1. Slice ends off of leeks and slice down the middle lengthwise. Rinse well to get rid of the dirt in between all the layers. Thinly slice into about 1/4 strips. Heat oil in a large pot (stainless steel or enameled both work) over medium high heat. Add leeks and dried thyme. Sauté until leeks are softened (6 to 8 minutes). Add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Stir to coat all the vegetables in the seasonings. Add stock, water and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, put the lid on and cook for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
  2. Once the potatoes are tender, turn off heat and remove the bay leaf. Purée the mixture with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender. Put the pot with the puree back on medium heat. Add the cream and creme fraiche if using. Stir. When mixture comes to a boil, stir and taste for seasoning. Add more seasoning as required and remove from heat.
  3. Make the rosemary garlic oil: in a small saucepan, combine olive oil, garlic clove (smashed with the palm of your hand or side of a knife) and rosemary. Cook over low heat, allowing the garlic and rosemary to gently infuse the oil. Remove from heat when fragrant, about 5 minutes.
  4. Ladle the soup in a shallow bowl. Drizzle with a bit of oil and a dollop of more creme fraiche, if desired.

*Can use chicken stock. Can nix the water and use all stock instead. One and half cups was how much I had on hand, so that’s what I used.