A Loaf of Richmond

A Loaf of Richmond: February 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Basil Pesto

I LOVE BASIL PESTO!!!


I have been making my own pesto for many years now and I'm still shocked to meet people who don't know how to make this easy recipe.

I highly recommend buying a small vegetable chopper, it's about $10 to $20 depending on the brand but it's been my valuable tool in the kitchen for many years. 



The cheap ones last long if you take care not to overheat the motor by not chopping more than 10 seconds or just pulse the chopper.

Now on to yumminess...



Ingredients:

1-2 handfuls of basil leaves
1 large clove of garlic 
1/4 to 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese 
1/8 to 2/8 cup of pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 to 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt according to taste

 Instructions 


1. Wash and dry basil leaves, remove stalk
2. Place all ingredients in chopper starting 
with the minimum amount
3. Chop for about 10 seconds and pulse for another 10 seconds
4. Let the tiny chopper motor cool down 
(about 5-10 seconds)
5. Keep adding more of each ingredient according to taste and
Add more olive oil if the mixture is dry.
6. Repeat until all ingredients are blended well

Tip: Basil Pesto is according to taste and preferred texture, it's also about "layering" ingredients, adding a little at a time to the chopped basil leaves until desired taste and texture is achieved.



     


  
Pesto is versatile.
Cold or hot, on toast or crackers, over pasta, add to soups, tofu, vegetables, pesto mayonnaise for sandwiches, and even top over broiled or baked meat.


I love Basil Pesto ♥ 

Enjoy!



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 I will only do this again when I have a whisk and zester.  Proper tools any baker should have which I realized while making these muffins.  It was still a successful feat but a sore wrist afterwards since I had to make do with a fork, a wooden spoon, and a knife/peeler to beat egg whites "till they have soft peaks" and to zest two lemons.

The last time I felt exhausted over a recipe was when I was challenged by co-workers to make Paula Deen's Coconut Cake and I vowed then that I would just stick to cooking!

One can't stay away that long from love

*sappy!* 
 



The recipe called for buttermilk and since I had none, I made my own by using a Homemade Buttermilk Recipe by Emeril Lagasse


4 1/2 tsp lemon juice and 1 cup milk, set side for 15 mins


after 15 mins


(click me!)

Butter . Sugar . Eggs . Flour . Baking Powder . Baking Soda . Poppy Seeds . Lemon Zest . Salt . Buttermilk . Lemon Juice . Vanilla


cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy

I found that scraping the lemon zest with a knife was more effective than the peeler.




The best advice on making these muffins is from a recipe review by pinkro from the same website I found this muffin recipe in.  I suggest scanning the reviews for helpful and valuable tips for baking.

"Keep in mind that muffin batter needs to be mixed very, very little, so the dry ingredients are just moist"

*Egg whites, soft peaks* I need a wire whisk!

folding egg whites in the batter carefully
"Try mixing the baking powder with lemon juice before adding it to the batter, it will foam a lot, and that's exactly what it's supposed to do."
baking powder + lemon juice = science experiment (that's what it feels like!)



 
"As one of my friends says, baking is a completely different beast compared to regular cooking. It's a bunch of chemical reactions, so you have to be careful with the amounts, the mixing, and the temperatures. Nothing like that in soup or steak"
Making these muffins was exhausting since I had to make everything from scratch and with "primitive" tools, lol. 
My wrist won't let me forget
I took them out 10 minutes too early so the top sank, I had to put them back in but by then it was too late. 
 Nevertheless, these muffins were delicious.





 



Friday, February 8, 2013

Twice Baked Potato

 I think it's very cool to have someone who knows how to cook. I've ran out of lunch ideas so Andrew stepped in and said he'll make twice baked potatoes.
What?!?
I didn't know this was an easy recipe since I've only had twice baked potatoes once or twice and it was at a party.
I got excited and asked him to teach me!
Ingredients:
 Bacon
Parsley
Cheddar Cheese
Tomatoes
Potatoes
     
Cut and fry bacon on low to medium heat until crispy.  
While bacon is in the pan,chop parsley, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. Crumble the bacon and mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
 
 
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
this is the picture of the oven at 350 degrees...lol.

  Microwave Potatoes until tender.  Be careful taking them out of the microwave! Carefully cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, see picture below. Andrew had to put them back in the microwave since the middle part of the potato was hard to scoop out. 


  
Use a kitchen towel to hold the potato (skin side) hollow out the potato by scooping out the yellow part careful not to break the potato skin.  
  
Mash/Mix the scooped out potatoes into the bacon, parsley, cheese, and tomato evenly.

 
I was very hungry at this time and restlessly stomping around the kitchen so he put me to work by asking me to put a pat of butter in the scooped out potatoes. 
Whew... talk about having to work for my meal!
 

  
  
Transfer hollowed out potatoes to an oven proof dish. Spoon the mixture into the potatoes and bake for 30 minutes.


Serve hot and enjoy!




Monday, February 4, 2013

Jewish Apple Cake

We stumbled on a small neighborhood grocery store called Randolph Market while exploring Hopewell, VA and they sold an amazing Jewish Apple Cake.



 Hopewell is a bit of a drive and I haven't seen any Apple Cake for sale in the grocery stores I frequent in Richmond so when the craving hit, I just had to bake it.




 I borrowed a tube pan since my Goodwill trip for one was unsuccessful but I found an unused muffin pan for $3.00

Literally my cheap thrill of the day!
 



 I followed a Jewish Apple Cake recipe I found online. I think it's great that people share recipes. My pet peeve is when others don't give due credit and even go as far as calling a "borrowed" recipe their own! 

*grumble-grumble*

Anyway, my tips for baking this yummy treat are shared below.


 
I baked this cake two days in a row, one for brunch with friends/family and the other cake was   not for sharing :-P
 
I ran out of oil when I made the first 
Apple Cake and used butter instead.  
 It was more dense than the second cake 
but it was still good.

 




Tips: Mix in the cinnamon and sugar with the apples so each piece of apple is coated with cinn-sugar once it's in the cake.   

I also chopped some apples coated in cinn-sugar and mixed it in with the batter instead of layering it on the cake.   

Search youtube on how to properly grease and flour the baking pan if you don't know how.




I suggest reading through the reviews on the recipe website for helpful tips/suggestions from other bakers.  






Happy Baking!


 

 
















Saturday, February 2, 2013

Sinigang (Beef in Sour Soup)

A classic Filipino recipe, great for cold nights. 

Ingredients:
Beef for Stews
Soup Bone
Sinigang Flavor Mix 
(available in asian stores)
Water
Bok Choy (cut bite size)
Radish (quartered /sliced thinly)
Tomato (quartered)
Onion (chopped)
Garlic (chopped)

Instructions:

1. Chop/Slice/Quarter Vegetables. For Bok Choy, trim about 1 inch off the end/joint and discard.


2. Follow amount of water per Sinigang Flavor Mix instructions, add Tomato, Garlic, Onions, Soup Bone and Beef, bring to a boil then simmer until tender. Beef should easily be pierced with a fork


3.   Pour Packet of Sinigang Flavor Mix and stir.  Bring to a boil then Simmer.  Put the Bok Choy and Radish, cover and continue to simmer for 10 minutes



Best served with Rice.  I served this with raw radish which is in no way traditional and not my preference but it's a soup you can basically try anything with. You can also use tamarind powder if you don't want to use sinigang flavor mix.  Enjoy!