Pantry Challenge: Strawberry Short(cut) Cake

So last night G and I "celebrated" our engage-a-versary with some flank steak, boxed mashed potatoes and a salad.

I hadn't gone 'real' grocery shopping in a while, since G was away on business. I must say, I LOVE the challenge of putting things together out of nothing more than what we have on hand. Sometimes disparate ingredients and improvisation results in the most satisfying product.

All we had was the frozen flank steak (which I thawed) and marinated with a little garlic and soy. G threw it on the grill for 3.5 minutes a side. Medium-rare. Easy. Then the boxed mashed potatoes--I've been eating these for dinners because my stomach has been quite upset lately...and I've been lazy. (That's not good improvisation, but boxed mashed is actually quite good!) The salad was just a bunch of green leaf lettuce that I had previously purchased earlier in the week for my plan to eat BLTs every night.( I only made it twice: once for lunch and once for dinner.) There was an over-ripe avocado and tomato that had to be eaten as well. So I made a honey mustard dressing for avocado and tomato (with green leaf lettuce) salad. And done! Simple, flavorful, easy, and resourceful! We love trying to use up everything and to not waste.

But the best part was when G, after sitting back, thoroughly satisfied with the deliciously pedestrian meal, asked, "Is there dessert?" Haha. He has a serious sweet tooth.

There were a bunch of unfrosted cupcakes that I baked (then froze) from the leftover batter from Michelle's engagement cake. We also had a bunch of frozen berries (previously fresh strawberries and blueberries that we saved for smoothies) and some vanilla ice cream from a dinner party we threw the other week.

♥ Let the cupcakes thaw for a couple minutes
♥ Put about two cups of the berries in a pot with equal parts water and sugar (1 cup each)
♥ Let it stew for about 20 minutes
♥ Uwrap the cupcake, place it in a bowl with a scoop of ice cream
♥ Ladle the sauce over it...

et voila! Strawberry Short(cut) Cake!

So from herein, I'm going to document these simple, voila, improvised dishes...which I'll call my pantry challenge!

I also challenge YOU to try to use what you already have in your fridge and pantry before you go out and buy ingredients for your next meal. It'll save you time, money, and teaches you to be creative. It's thoroughly satisfying! Email (roganista@gmail.com) me or comment on what you've done.

Mandarin Orange Cake with Pineapple Cream

This cake is such a big cheat. It's made with boxed cake mix, Cool Whip and boxed pudding. As you know, I don't bake, so this was right up my alley. And the results were fantastic. Everyone from the party wants the recipe. So, if you're feeling a little Sandra Lee ("semi-homemade"--that is an awful show, by the way) then this is the recipe for you.

This is my MIL's recipe that she adapted from Southern Living:

Mandarin Orange Cake

1 pkg yellow cake mix without pudding

1 [11 oz] can mandarin oranges, undrained

4 eggs

½ cup oil

1 [15 oz] can crushed pineapple drained

1 [9oz] carton frozen whipped cream, thawed

1 small pkg vanilla instant pudding

Combine cake mix, oranges, eggs and oil.  Beat 2 minutes at high speed of electric mixer.  Reduce speed to low, beat 1 minute.

Pour batter into 3 greased and floured cake pans (three 9" rounds).  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Cool in pans, remove, cool completely.  [I froze them for several days so they would be easier to frost and frosted them the day we ate them.]

Combine 3 remaining ingredients, beat 2 minutes at medium speed, let stand 5 minutes or until mixture reaches spreading consistency.  I actually refrigerated the frosting

so it would not be so runny.  Spread mixture between layers and on top and sides of cake.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving.  Store in refrigerator.

Michelle & Graham's Engagment Brunch

We woke up really early (like 6:30 am) Sunday morning to do the remaining prep work for Michelle and Graham's brunch. It was worth it. Everything turned out well and the happy couple was ecstatic. They were also pleasantly surprised by the slight nod to Spain (Michelle studied in Spain for a year, and also brought along her friends visiting from Galicia).

 Remember the potted hydrangea?

The happy couple

Michelle's friends from Galicia (they did the authenticity test on the tortilla española I made and it turned out positive)

 

G was in charge of beverages

G's very own ice tea (he made a concentrate the night before and prepared the serving that morning)

We served cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and orange juice

 

Many, including Michelle, had a Mimosa; isn't her ring gorgeous?

 

Former roommates: Chris, Andrew, and Graham (the man of the hour)

Lindsay and Lily (Andrew and Chris' significant others, respectively)

The table (we borrowed a lot of stuff from G's parents)

 

Michelle's brother and mother

Michelle's family: brother, David; mom; nephew; and long(est)-time friend, Tracy

 

Tortilla española: There's a funny story behind the  making of this, and it includes half of it landing in the sink

 

Chorizo frittata (oven baked eggs are so much easier than their pan fried counterparts)

 

The gang digging in--it really brings me great pride and pleasure to know that people enjoy my cooking (G helped a tremendous amount, btw--all the clean up and dirty work he took care of without complaint and of his own initiative).

 

Speaking of which, he also grilled the asparagus that morning (served with hollandaise)

 

The night before, I stayed up late making traditional and buckwheat crêpes (served with honey syrup and lemons)

 

Dried chorizo and "almost" jamon (aka prosciutto--can't get Iberico ham around here--but our Spanish friends remarked that it was very close)

 

Potato wedges (whipped cream for the fruit salad)

 

The fruit salad--I actually went through the effort of cutting everything up myself (because the fruit salad at the grocery is never as fresh tasting)

 

And finally...the CAKE! It's G's mom's mandarin orange and pineapple cream recipe (and it was so easy). I made the cake and froze the three layers the night before and made the frosting and finished it the morning of. Recipe in the next post.

CONGRATS, GRAHAM AND MICHELLE!

In search of a flat, raw-centered cookie

 The other weekend, we went to an open-house and the realtor had the best chocolate chip cookies sitting out. They were crispy-edged, gooey-centered (a bit raw I think). So I came home and made some. They weren't as good. I even looked up "soft chocolate chip cookie" recipes. I'm not a baker, as you know, so there's probably some key technique that I'm missing. They turned out delicious, but were chunky and thick, and more cake-like rather than thin and chewy. Anyone know what I did wrong? I think they turned out as the recipe called for, but I'm looking for that flat cookie with the almost-raw center. Any suggestions?

Anyhoo, here's the recipe. Let me know if you guys have any thoughts on tweaks for this!  

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.	Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2.	Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3.	In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4.	Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Olive Oil Cake

I made  olive oil cake this weekend. We had a bunch of fresh pineapple from my mom, and it had to be eaten.  I pureed it and made a sauce and baked* the cake as a delivery system for the pineapple. It turned out dense with a slight crust, more like a scone or torte than a cake. It wasn't too sweet, and went really well with the pineapple.

The cake recipe called for  3/4 cup of good olive oil--that's a lot of oil (good or bad)! And while the recipe required baking in special ramekins and the use of lemon zest, I improvised with a tart and cake pan and grapefruit.

*As you may know, I do NOT bake (save for macarons).

This recipe was easy enough that a caveman I could do it.

 

{Click recipe to print}

For the pineapple sauce...

Puree three cups of fresh pineapple, adding 1/4 cup of orange juice in blender. Put puree mixture in a sauce pan with 1/3 cup of water and 1/2 a cup of brown sugar and brought the whole thing to a boil. The cake is reminiscent of a scone, so the moisture and sweetness of the sauce really adds to it!

Love is braised meat

We ate our weight in braised meat this weekend. Friday night we met G's family at Corduroy where we celebrated belated birthdays for the ladies.  I LOVE Corduroy. It's our occasion place, and where we had our proposal dinner.

Birthday Friday

I had the braised pork belly, G had the beef cheeks.

Art Saturday

Saturday we went to David and Laurie's (our gallerist friends) to pick up the Lou Reed piece and have dinner with them.

Little did we know, Laurie had been slow cooking beef short ribs since the night before. Served with pureed parsnips, it was amazing. She's such a good cook! We got on the subject of eating meat, and our hosts recalled the year that they stopped eating it. They said they aged quite a bit, got grey hair, his eyebrows turned white, and they experienced hair loss. Their friend, a doctor, told them that there are trace elements in meat that cannot be gotten anywhere else, so they returned to eating and got their pigment and hair back. Interesting, non?

Valentine's Sunday

Sunday, Valentine's evening, G made beef Bourguignon, authentically I might add, starting it the night before and marinating it with aromatic vegetables, bouquet garni, and an entire bottle of wine.

It was delicious. The recipe even called for heart-shaped croutons. Haha!  He gave me a tongue-in-cheek-"never"-cliche box of chocolates and a single red rose. I won this episode of the Bachelor!

I made a card for G.

Presidents Monday

Then today, President's day, we had Augustin (who's French) over to eat the leftover stew. He said it tasted great and authentic (I think). This time I served it with boiled potatoes. We also had last night's bread pudding that I made from the bread scraps of the crouton hearts.

MUST.GO.TO.GYM.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!

Winter Vegetable Shhooup (Soup)

Again with the snow. We're supposed to get 10 MORE inches this evening. Offices were closed for the second time this week.  There's only one thing left to do: make soup.

I love the ideas guy who thought of packaging leftover bits of vegetable together. It's brilliant because you don't have to think too much about what to get and it's the perfect amount. In this pack was parsnip, onion, turnip, celery, carrot, a leek, a bit of parsley and fresh dill. That's all you need!  I just added potatoes, some kale and seasonings. It's really hearty--even your carnivore friends will like it.

*******

Winter Vegetable Soup

(YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE EXACT. IT'S SOUP)
 
3      tablespoons    Vegetable or Oil
1      medium        Carrot 

1      medium        Parsnip

1      small         Turnip
3      medium        Potatoes 

2                    Ribs Celery -- Coarsely Chopped
1      medium        Onion -- Coarsely Chopped
1      small         Leek -- Coarsely Chopped
2                    Cloves Garlic -- Crushed
1      teaspoon      Dried Thyme Leaves -- Crumbled

1      small bunch   Fresh herbs (parsley, dill, etc.)
5      cups          Chicken Broth
6      ounces        Fresh Kale -- Chopped

2      dashes        Worcesteshire or Soy Sauce

1      tablespoon    Seasoning salt or mixture of equal 

parts paprika and celery salt  
                     Salt And Pepper To Taste
 
Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium 

heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, leeks, herbs, 

and thyme.  Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly 

softened, 5 minutes. Add potatoes and seasoning; stir 

to coat.  Stir in broth, 2 cups water.  Cover and bring 

to boil. Reduce heat to medium low; simmer covered, 1 

hour. Stir in kale, Worcesteshire (and salt and pepper 

to taste); simmer covered 10 minutes. 

Mr. Benz Comes to Washington

Swiss friend, Marcus Benz, (from G's Beijing days) stopped by for dinner on his way through Washington on business the other night. We thought we'd give him a traditional American meal (which we don't typically eat ourselves, but whatever) of pot roast, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts. In return, he brought us a winter snowstorm and sweets (Swiss pralines and his wife's cd of her music).

 

As I'm sure you're already familiar with how to make pot roast, I'll provide you with the more interesting roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and maple syrup recipe (via Catherine Smart at Boston Globe):

{Click recipe to print}