Marinated Olives

Photos to come cause I am making some again this weekend but thought I should share the recipe first...

Olive Marinade

1 (6-7 oz.) can black or green ripe pitted olives, drained

¼ C. Olive oil

2 Tbsp. Chopped fresh basil or oregano (I use basil)

2 Cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. Balsamic or white wine vinegar (I use Balsamic)

½ tsp. Hot red pepper flakes

¼ tsp. Salt

Combine all ingredients in a glad zipper storage bag, or in a gladware container.  Close, then shake to coat.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or up to one month. 

Serve at room temperature.

For best flavor, store leftover olives with brine.

***I like to mix the black and green olives together, so I use a can of both and double up on the rest of the recipe.

TWD Rewind - Semolina Bread & Best Brownies Ever

It was a good time to do some baking and a great time to do some catching up with Dorie! I ventured in to two recipes. Semolina Bread was the first. I had bought the semolina flour when the recipe was first suggested. It has sat in the pantry causing pangs of guilt every time I saw it there. I made the recipe but failed to take pictures or write down my thoughts on it. The bread was delicious - a really hearty bread that was simple as far as my skills proved. Tom loved it and finished it off for me. You will just have to take my word for it.
The second recipe I got to was "The Best Brownies Ever".   I have to say they were the best every brownies. Total chocolate fix. Chocolatey and gooey. So much so I had to get them out of the house pronto! I used a lot of bowls to make them but over all a simple recipe. I love doing recipes after everyone else because of all the tips and things to look for. There were so many good descriptions and thoughts in all of the different blogs that my brownies came out perfect. Thanks!!

TWD: Rustic Potato Loaves

I missed a whole month of baking but it was so worth it. I spent time with my daughter, her family and my new grandson Cody. He is so sweet. Isn't he delicious.

But back to baking. I love this bread, it is simple and made me feel so accomplished. I love that on the Tuesday with Dorie blog they do "things you need to know" questions and answers. I learn so much by checking it out before I attempt my own.

The trusty old kitchen aid was able to mash the potatoes and knead this dough to perfection. This bread also only needs two 20 - 30 minute rise times before it is popped in the oven. One of the other bakers talked about how it might be good with maybe onions or rosemary mixed in. Don't ask me twice on rosemary bread. The recipe makes two loaves so I was able to throw in some fresh rosemary into one. 

 I thought it was funny how my loaves look like they were made by two different people. I think the directions made more sense when I started to roll the second loaf.

 The bread was so tender with a really nice crust. Another great tip was to steam the oven by throwing ice cubes into the oven. Delicious.

I thought butter was good on this bread but when my daughter, Jenn showed up with apricot jam and point reyes blue cheese - heaven! We almost finished the whole loaf!!

The recipe can be found in Baking with Julia or on the web site of our host this month Simply Sweet http://www.dawnssimplesweets.blogspot.com 

TWD: Boga Negra

February is birthday month here. My birthday, Tom's birthday, Gramma Smith's birthday. What better way to celebrate then birthday dinner and a decadent chocolate cake!!
I gathered the supplies, lots of good chocolate. We went through the liquor cabinet for bourbon where we found lots of whiskey. We determined whiskey to be bourbon but named such as because of area or at least that is what we believe.
I have been watching The Chew and they had a great salmon dish on and I thought I would give that a try for dinner.  Dessert was a no-brainer Boca Negra and it would keep me up to date with TWD.
This recipe is the chocolate addicts worst nightmare (or dream). Just the smell of the chocolate as you chop it up is enough to send you over the edge.

 The whole cake was made in the food processor. Incredibly easy. The batter is so creamy and divine. I guess that is what you get with that much chocolate, 5 eggs and 2 sticks of butter. I wanted to dance it went so well. I buttered my 9" cake pan poured the batter in and then read the recipe again. OM!!! I forgot parchment paper on the butter of the pan....... It was beautiful and I was sure it was going to be a disaster coming out.

Needless to say it came out in one piece. It did take running a knife around the the edge and tapping but it came out!. In one piece! It looks like it would be dense but it is really creamy and loads of chocolate. The mouth feel is incredible.  The topping is a white chocolate, cream with bourbon (or whiskey).  It really set off the dark chocolate. The topping seemed more like stiff butter in its texture so I don't know if the consistency was right but the taste was really good. Since we have had almost springlike weather here my mint is sprouting and I thought it would be funny to imitate the picture from the book. I forgot to get the forks placed on the plate....close but not a good copy.

 This is an incredible quick chocolate fix that you could make to impress dinner guests. For our birthday presents we got these great bracelets that track your movement & intake from Thomas, Molly, Jamie and Shawn. It is just what we need to know how hard we have to work to work this dessert off!

 By the way the salmon was delicious too! Long slow cooking topped with pesto and avocado salad makes for a light delicious treat.

Thanks to Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden. You can find the recipe there if you do not have Baking with Julia.

The salmon recipe can be found at:
 http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Slow-Roasted-Salmon-Michael-Symon

Cake Pops

This is for Kathy since we couldn't get together to make these. They are a little time consuming but when needed...weddings and fundraisers come in real handy when something special is needed.

Looks simple enough.

All you need for the inside of the cake pops are basic cake mixes and a tub of cream cheese frosting. I like the cream cheese because it adds a good flavor.

Bake the cake according to the directions. Let cool completely. I like to cut the cake into squares and crumble it by rubbing together. Its important to crumble without just mashing it together. Pull out any hard edges.

 Once finally crumbled mix in 3/4's or more of the frosting. It takes a lot of mixing. You want it to stick together and hold its shape.

Once mixed wrap and chill.

This is what the funfetti cake mix looked like before headed for a chillin. I have been known to leave them in this state for a couple days. Just so I can have them ready for when I can devote time to the rest of the making.

After a good chilling start rolling little balls. I use an ice cream scoop so they are uniform.

When all the balls are rolled send for another chilling

 I use candy mold trays for the bottom of the cake pops. They look like the bottom of cupcakes.

Here is a tray full! One box usually gets me 40 balls.

Use the melting chocolates - I find them at JoAnns. Melt the chocolate according to the instructions on the package. Different colors seem to have different consistencies. Yellow is not fun to work with but white and chocolate I find the best.  I fill the trays maybe to half full. You want the chocolate to come completely up the sides without spilling over the top when you put the ball into the chocolate. It is important on the sides because you will be holding on to that when dipping the top. Once in the trays you must chill it again. When the chocolate is solid it will let you pop it out of the trays pretty easily.

Now for the top of the cupcake.  Here is the top going into the chocolate.  Swirl it and let the excess chocolate drip off.  Be sure to make sure the top and bottom (the ball) is completely covered. If it isn't the cake will ooze out of any gaps or cracks. Once it is dipped this is when you can use sprinkles and/or M & M's.

At this point you are done chilling. I then slip them in to candy bags and ribbon. This past weekend we sold them at the Sweet Heart Luncheon for Down Syndrome

The Queen of Cake Pops can be found on this blog Bakerella

this entry specifically http://www.bakerella.com/cupcake-bites-made-easy/

TWD: French Apple Tart

I had kind of made up my mind that I wasn't going to make this recipe for whatever reason. Then today I started reading the posts. I read on one how someone had found it really educational in that they tried several different techniques and it was very good. I then decided I should try it. I did not have a tart pan or apples so off to the store to make purchases before I could get started.
The nice thing about baking in a group is that if you wait till the last minute you can see how it went for everyone else. Like the crust doesn't look all the way cooked on the bottom on the first bake. Two (and I should of paid closer attention too) that it took a while from start to finish. But give it a go I did.

 Things I learned...I need more pie weights then I have. The crust shrinks and my tart pan was 10" which meant my crust didn't have much of an edge. The recipe for the crust is great - light and crisp.

 I also learned that I am not good at making apple rosettes but it still looked okay.

 Does it get any better then vanilla bean ice cream with hot apple tart. A celebration of a good day at work and this made it feel like a party.

This is just a picture of how good this crust recipe is. I feel much more capable of making a crust with this recipe. The recipe can be found at our hosts website if you don't have the book. Thanks for hosting Laws of the Kitchen.

TWD: Pizza With Onion Confit

Today I decided to actually bake on Tuesday. We are making pizza. I have never actually made pizza dough and this recipe makes it very simple. The dough recipe is from Steve Sullivan of Acme Bread company so it had to be good.
This is the sponge. That was new to me. It gets the dough started. I found out that my oven has a proof setting so even though it was very cold I could pop it in the oven for the first rise at a steady 85 degrees.

 While the dough was rising I got to work on the onion confit. Real simple slice 2-1/2 pounds of onion and have a good cry. Then let it cook down on the stove for 1-1/2 hours. While this was cooking I also used up 2 lbs of broccoli making a broccoli soup to go with the pizza.

Everything was mixed and I had done the second rise. I wasn't going to bake the pizza till dinner so I wrapped the dough in saran wrap and popped it in the frig. When Tom got home and was looking for something to eat he yelled that my dough was leaking. I thought the dough had risen completely but in the frig it had grown more. The dough balls looked like sausages. This dough feels wonderful too.

 I took a tip from another TWD baker and put the pizza rounds on parchment paper. I had a pizza stone but after the kitchen remodel it cannot be found.  I may have overloaded on the confit but it was very good. I would use the sweet onions next time.

 I get a box of produce delivered weekly and weekly it is my goal to eat all the vegetables. This pizza was the perfect showcase for the last butternut squash. The goat cheese, butternut squash and the onion confit were delicious.

 I started with a sponge and ended with a glass of wine. Except for the mountain of dishes it was a successful bake. I will use this pizza recipe again.

If you are interested in the recipe you can find it in "Baking with Julia" or on our host's blog The Boy Can Bake.

Farm Fresh

I have been getting a box of produce from Farm Fresh to You. I am really enjoying it but I keep getting fennel. They sent along recipes and this one is a hit! Its great with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Roasted Carrot, Fennel & Apple Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 lb carrots (cleaned and cut into 1" pieces)

2 med. apples (peeled, cored and cut into 16 wedges)

1 sm/med fennel bulb (white part only, cut into wedges)

Olive oil

1 clove garlic (finely minced)

1 tablespoon ginger (grated)

kosher salt

3-1/2 cups chicken stock

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

2. Place carrots, apples and fennel onto baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Make sure to coat pieces evenly with oil. Bake in oven for 45 - 60 minutes. Carrots should be still somewhat firm, but apple and fennel will be soft.

3. Remove carrots, apple and fennel from oven and put into large saucepan (include the oil from the pan as well). Add garlic and ginger and large pinch of kosher salt to saucepan. Pour chicken stock over vegetables. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Transfer contents of saucepan to blender, in batches and puree until smooth. (Be careful blending hot liquids.) Add more chicken stock to thin out soup to desired consistency.

     (I just use an immersion blender and blend it all in the pot)

5. Ladle into bowls and garnish with dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, walnuts, croutons or any combinations of these.

Serves 4

TWD: Gingerbread Baby Cakes

It looks like all started well. I haven't been able to join in TWD for a while because of weddings so I was looking forward to jumping back in. I had all the ingredients and had even read helpful hints.

The batter looked good and smelled great. I was looking forward to the smell filling the house while it baked. I knew I did not have a baby cakes pan but the recipe said you  could use a 10" cake pan. I thought I had one. I filled the pan with batter and even thought to myself "wow, that pan is full".

Here is the epic FAIL!! The pan was full - too full. Almost over half way through I noticed the smoke. I looked in the oven and it was lava streaming down the pan. I took a spatula and scrapped the bottom of the oven. Thinking it couldn't rise anymore.

Wrong!!! It kept growing and spilling over. The smoke was intense but the down draft and open windows were working or so I thought. My weary working housemates came home to the smell of burning molasses instead of Christmas cheer. I tried to scrape more off the bottom and get it totally baked but finally had to give up when Jamie felt that all our clothes would start smelling too.

It wasn't pretty but the flavor was good. It was gooey gingerbread with ice cream for me. Tom thought it had great flavor. I am not making this again until I get the baby cake pan or as one other baker suggested use a bundt pan.
I feel like a learned a good lesson on this one...3/4's full rule. Fill no pan more then 3/4's full. I am humbled. Oh yeah, its also important to know how big a 10 inch pan really is.

Thanks to our host  Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. You can find the recipe on her blog.

Pumpkin Chipper Muffins

Okay so I didn't make all the way through the Tuesday with Dorie book. I got derailed with two weddings in a short amount of time. Hopefully I will catch up but for now I wanted to add a favorite muffin recipe.

Pumpkin Chipper Muffins

1-3/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 c.  sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl add cream the butter and sugar together. Blend in the eggs. Add dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased muffin tray ( I like them as mini muffins)
Bake at 325 - 350 degrees, 15 - 20 minutes.

TWD:Nectarine Upside-down Chiffon Cake

Life is getting really busy with the "final - final" wedding so labor day weekend we went labor-less. Our roommates were at their respective bachelorette & bachelor parties and we were home alone. A trip to the farmers market and I picked up some great nectarines. This TWD recipe was a nectarine upside down chiffon cake.

 I watched some of the Julia Child video which was really helpful. The nectarines were such a pretty color. The streusel was easy. Next was the chiffon cake which seemed daunting but went pretty easily. Whipping egg whites into white foam then folding in the cake batter creating a really light batter.

 The hardest part of this cake ended up being all the bowls. I was surprised how quickly it all went together. The nice part of baking along in a group is that so many of the experienced bakers leave helpful hints in the chatter section. I am sure many a mistake or blunder has been avoided by my reading all their tips.

 I also had to practice my cake pop making for the wedding. 210 cake pops is all I need to make and wrap. Just what we need around here more sweets to eat.

 The cake looked really good. It came out looking just like the picture until the middle sank down.

Monday night we all gathered back together for a barbecue which allowed me to get some help tasting and critiquing my cake. Cutting into the cake I could tell that I needed to do a better job of pouring equal amounts of batter around the streusal. The cake tasted delicious and was so tender. It will definitely be a keeper. In the Julia video they talked about it being a great breakfast treat. I thought it was a great dessert with a small scoop of ice cream. Everyone seemed to enjoy it also.

Thanks to our host Marlise ofThe Double Trouble Kitchen and Susan of The Little French Bakery for this Tuesday. The recipe can be found on their websites.

TWD: Berry Galatte

It seems like recipes are coming at me fast and furious. Again I find myself getting it all together on posting day.
I don't know what I was expecting with a galatte but I was thinking much bigger! The dough was really sticky and I was glad I had read another TWD post where they rolled it out on parchment paper. I struggle rolling a circle?!! It was only 11" across and my cup and a half of fruit was more like 2 and half. I got it into the oven but it got a leak so it baked in a pool of berry juice (not really like that is a bad thing). It looked pretty. It just looks like its not big enough to share. :-)

I tried the cheese and tomato galatte with the other half of the dough. I had some of Jenn's Lemoore tomatoes that she brought down for the rehearsal dinner. I had fresh basil from the yard. I am hoping to pass it off as dinner. It is hot here. Not like valley hot or midwest hot but hot for the bay area. I am thinking this is all the cooking I am going to be doing for today.

I had to include a picture of my tomato. I think I planted roma but it looks like a banana tomato.  The basil went to flower but I love all the bees. It makes my little herb garden look so productive and we have a neighbor with beehives. I imagine his honey with a hint of basil.