Category: home cooking

l – limes

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love
luscious
limes

I think limes are lovely.  Ranging from the rich tart green Persian limes to knobby skinned kaffir limes from Thailand to yellow key limes.  Mostly the ones you find in the stores are Persians and are grown in Florida.  I find lime complex, interesting and refreshing.  In our house you can find limes in loads of different and diverse preparations. A few being Halloumi Cheese Salad with Lime Vinaigrette, Cuban Bistec de Palomilla, and of course, gin and tonics.  Tonight we are having Kaeng Kai which is a Thai Massaman curry with fresh lime juice squozen on top.

summer corn chowder

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there are a few things I want to tell you about this soup.

  • it has an incredible amount of prep.  If you have a rockin’ chef knife and love cutting veg this is for you.  Peppers, corn, tomatoes, onion, celery…
  • it was gleaned from a new favorite foodsite.  I don’t know how I had never heard of this site before.  It is run by foodies who are collecting peoples best recipes to publish in a cookbook.  Really.
  • it is really unusually good.  You saute the veg in bacon fat and their own juice before adding some milk and cream.  It has an unusual addition of allspice which I was thrilled to find I only had in whole spice so ‘had’ to crush with my mortar & pestle.

I will admit I didn’t read the recipe but bought the ingredients based on the photo in the blog.  My cooking sometimes begins with my eyes.

buttered noodles and parmesan

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hello everyone and welcome to my first post on the blog. This is brian, not kathy, if you haven’t figured that out. Don’t be fooled if a previous post or two was added by me, it wasn’t really me. Sometimes the lovely wife doesn’t realize I’m logged in when she makes a post.

Anyway, lets get back to the food. I know that is what everyone really wants to hear about.
Buttered Noodles and Parmesan, what is there to say. . . Well, for starters, this was my staple food, besides Chipotle, for many years. It was a quick meal after work, or before bed if I forgot to eat during the endless hours of World of Warcraft. Now days, I make it most any saturday that kathy has to work, like today. She is busy working a conference at Wycliffe Bible Translators, so I’m home all by myself. Well, walter is here, but since he can’t cook, I’m not going to count him. After a long morning of playing domestic man, vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes and making the bed, it was nice to sit down and enjoy a big bowl of noodles. Buttered noodles and parmesan is my comfort food.

Recipe

  • Noodles – whatever kind you want in whatever quantity you want. I used Barilla Piccolini Farfalle this time. Egg noodles are nice as well.
  • 1 tbsp butter.
  • Parmesan cheese – The real stuff or the dry stuff from the can.
  • Red pepper flakes to season
  • Italian parsley – Not needed, but it makes it look nutritious instead of a big beige loaf.
  1. Fill a pan with water. Liberally salt the water. Place on High heat and let come to a boil.
  2. Dump the pasta into the water. Cook until al-dente. (The time listed on the package works good for me)
  3. Drain the water, add butter and red pepper flakes and toss to coat.
  4. Plop into a bowl and cover with parmesan cheese and parsley.
  5. Take pictures of it.
  6. Eat!!

Hope everyone enjoyed my first post. Z

chocolate nutella cake

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my friend Jessica has been on a now running into years long hunt for a chocolate Guinness cake that she once had and treasures in her memory.    I would suppose the malty chocolate flavor of the Guinness runs toward enhancing the flavor that already sits within the chocolate, kind of like adding a tablespoon or so of brewed coffee into chocolate cake batter just makes it more ‘chocolatey.’
If I had a dream of chocolate cake I think it would be filled with Nutella.  Nutella is that hazelnut and chocolate spread prized in countries where they make and buy fresh bread and croissants daily and I could spoon it in my mouth directly from the jar like peanut butter.

I came upon this recipe by way of my blog reader and it is attributed originally to Nigella Lawson, which makes sense when you consider she is a proponent of lush big flavor.  It looks and tastes gorgeous.  Being naturally gluten free it is dense and sensuous and delivers a hit of decadence.  I would probably substitute brewed coffee for the rum on the next go.

Nutella Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
Adapted from Nigella Lawson Cake:
6 large eggs, separated
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce container Nutellla
1 tablespoon rum
1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and
cooled

Ganache:
4 ounces whole hazelnuts
1/2 cup half and half
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter a 9-inch cake pan. In a large bowl (preferably metal),
whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff. In another bowl, cream the butter and Nutella, then add
the rum, egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in melted chocolate.
Add a blob of beaten egg whites to the chocolate batter, and mix gently until well-combined. Fold in the remaining whites, one-third at a time, very gently but thoroughly. Pour into cake pan and bake for 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting tester, which should come out mostly clean; lightly pressing finger into top to check for a slight bouncing-back; and observing edges beginning to separate from pan. Let cool completely, in pan, on a rack.
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet, or toaster oven shaking them around frequently. Do it for about 4 minutes, or until they are lightly browned, then let cool completely. If hazelnuts came with skins on, put them in a towel after toasting and rub around; this will remove most of the skins.
Chop chocolate, and add to sauce pan with half and half and rum over medium-low heat. Once chocolate is melted and components are combined, whisk until mixture reaches desired thickness, then cool. Turn cake out onto your serving plate and pour cooled ganache over, spreading lightly to create a smooth, shiny surface, and apply hazelnuts all over.