Boursin & Potato Frittata

I was in a blue mood. I was tired and overworked, and wishing my bank statement looked a little cheerier. My stomach and my paychecks are not friends. It is not easy mediating between the two. So I did want any food enthusiast should do when they can't spend $50 on dinner for one. Go to Trader Joes! I purchased a 5.2 oz wheel of boursin cheese for $3.49, easily half the price than at any other local grocery store. A fresh bunch of scallions for $1.49. A beautiful spanish wine for $5.99. With the odds and ends in my near empty fridge, I made this frittata, lifting my mood without breaking my budget.



I used this opportunity to use my new scanpan, 8" frying pan. I'm not friendly with non stick cookware, but acquired one for free. I am trying to be open minded as the scanpans are made with green technology, and are able to be used over high heat and in the oven up to 500 degrees, including the broiler. First, the thing in not round. I don't know if the photograph shows it as evidently as it is in person, but it has two distinct flat edges, at 6 and 9 o'clock there. This is peculiar.

I used this epicurious.com recipe, one that was certainly good, but more of a base than a perfect recipe. Seeing as I was using an 8" pan instead of the called for 10", I adjusted my ingredients. I probably was too conservative with the boursin- when I make this again, I will be more generous with this cheese. The recipe is a little deceptive with calling for "crumbling the cheese" instead of getting the cheese spread in small enough pieces with clumping all over your fingers. The shredded potatoes gave a nice texture, but I will most certainly use something else next time. I think mushrooms would lend lovely to this.

I had a pleasant enough result, and feel encouraged. Now that I have a useful enough pan, I will make more frittatas, and hopefully soon, find a more foolproof recipe, maybe one of my own.

Pistachio Cake

I have found another cake recipe to add to the tried and true box. This moist pistachio cake was light enough to work as a tea cake or something to serve at a brunch, but with a light improvised glaze was still dense enough and had enough sensational flavors to work as a birthday present for a coworker. Serve warm, or at room temperature. The original recipe says it complements whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, but this was devoured as is. Other than the glaze, the recipe is followed exactly from epicurious.com.

Pistachio Cake

3/4 cup (4 oz) unsalted shelled pistachios (not fun or easy to do after about ten pistachios. Hard not to snack on too)
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (2-3 oranges)

Preheat oven to 350°Fahrenheit. Butter an 8" round metal pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Butter paper, then dust pan with flour, knocking out excess.

Using food processor, pulse pistachios until finely ground, about 40 seconds. (Do not overprocess, or mixture will become paste.) Add flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt and pulse to combine.

In small bowl, combine milk and vanilla.

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pistachio and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with pistachio mixture and beating after each addition just until combined. Add orange zest and beat just until combined.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, then run knife around cake to loosen and invert onto rack. Remove paper and cool to warm or room temperature. Serve as is, with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or drizzle with a simple glaze while still warm.

Simple Glaze

1/3 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp water
Orange zest

Mix three ingredients until well combined, adding more powdered sugar to thicken and more water to thin, until desired consistency.

Put crushed pistachios over warm cake, and drizzle with glaze.

The original recipe calls for a 9" pan, I went with an 8" pan because my 8" are of a higher quality (they are aluminum my 9" are non stick whatever). I would continue to use an 8" as the thickness the cake came out as. I was concerned the glaze would make the cake mushy, but it was added at the right time and sat at the right time and was devoured at the right time before this could happen. Be conservative with the glaze.

I abhor my food processors. I have two. They are worthless. They both worked fine for a few months, and then failed. They still work mediocre enough for me to not throw them out, but more and more I find I use either my hand held emulsifier blender, or oddly enough, my veggie chop. This wind up toy cost me less than 20 bucks and I love it. I have used it on tough vegetables like parsnips and rutabagas, and I was able to grind pistachios to a fine grind using it. It may look like a ridiculous gadget, but it works, and I don't have to lug out a heavy food processor that will not give me consistent results.

The cake had a wonderful texture, it was denser than I expected, but it didn't sit heavy. The cardamom and orange zest really deepened the flavor, marrying well with the pistachio.

Brussels Sprouts with White Beans

With what spare time I do have, I love to idly browse through on of the many great groccery stores in my local area. I live on a tight budget, so I make a couple of rounds around the produce and around the meat counter and pick a few good fresh ingredients, hopefully at a good price. This dish had a wonderful taste and texture, and was made with all prep work in under a half an hour and still hit under $10.
I have a new child, my basil colored La Cocette Staub. I'm absolutely smitten with it. It is very attractive and very heavy. Because of the heat distribution, you can boil water over medium heat, which I used to steam the sprouts. For the brussels, I bought one of those mesh bags, not the kind you can sometimes find still on a vine or branch. I tossed the bag so I could be way off on the amount of brussels, but I'm going to guess one pound.

Brussels Sprouts with White Beans

1 lb, or one bag, brussels sprouts
1 Tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves (to taste) smashed and chopped fine
4 oz. pancetta, diced
1 can anchovies, packed in oil, drained
1 can (15 oz) cannellini, drained

Trim the ends of the brussels sprouts, halve the larger ones. Place in a large bowl full of water to clean. Drain thoroughly. In a large pot, bring water reaching an inch to two inches to a boil, and add the cleaned brussels sprouts. Cover and let steam for about 3 minutes until they are a brighter green and have only slightly cooked. Remove from heat. If using the same pot, drain the water, or bring another pot to medium heat. Melt butter. Add the garlic, pancetta, and anchovia, using the back of a wooden spoon to break up and dissolve the anchovies with the garlic and bacon, as much as you can. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the brussels sprouts, cover, and cook for another 6-8 minutes, until brussels are tender. Add cannellini beans and cook, stirring, until heated through, another minute. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Red Velvet Cake

It feels good to give. I love the feeling of preparing food for others. A coworker had a milestone birthday coming around the corner, and I asked him to request a cake. He wanted a Red Velvet Cake, which was perfect since I hadn't ever made one, and I wanted to make one but couldn't bring myself to do it alone because I feel like its not in its proper season. Red Velvet Cakes are for Thanksgiving and Christmas buffets. But throw a few fresh summer berries and viola. Originally from this epicurious recipe, made with several tweaks.

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder, use a high quality such as Ghirardelli
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 whole little bottle of red food coloring
1 scant tsp distilled white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans. Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes, checking frequently. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Lb Powdered Sugar

Beat together with an electric mixer the cream cheese and butter. Beat in extract and slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is formed.

Assemble the cake: place one layer down on display surface, frost smooth top with frosting and add fresh raspberries and blueberries (whatever looks good at the store). Add second layer, press to adhere, and frost the rest.

Almond Cake

I love to bake, and this year I am going to learn to be a better baker. My problem is, I'm emotional. I find my sensitivity to be a positive thing in most situations, but not in the kitchen. Because baking is exact, it's a science. And things can go wrong, very wrong. A cake can stick to the pan, a souffle can collapse, and cookies will burn. My two retail jobs are both food related, and I like nothing more than bringing in baked goods in return for oohs and aahs.



I'm very happy with this almond cake. I've made it twice now, and both times I've made the cake I have varied from the recipe without making it as originally written, which is a general no-no for baking. The original recipe can be found here, from epicurious.com. The original cake is a layered cake with praline pieces and marscarpone frosting and a chocolate ganache. I have simplified the recipe to be more budget friendly for myself, and my efforts have still yielded a delicious result. You can easily use an electric mixer for this cake, and should when adding the almond paste as you will want more horsepower than your arm muscles can give you, but generally speaking I prefer to make batters by hand.

Almond Cake

1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 7-ounce packages almond paste, torn into very small pieces
7 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

to garnish,
chocolate glaze
slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour a bundt or a tube pan, tapping out excess. In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter with the brown sugar. Piece by piece, beat in almond paste. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until as smooth as you can manage to get the batter. Add the vanilla and mix well. Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt, and once all batter is in the pan tap the sides hard. Bake in the oven about 20-25 minutes, checking often as an overcooked cake or an undercooked cake can ruin your day.

Simple Chocolate Glaze

1 bar (usually around 3.5 to 4 oz) of good quality bittersweet chocolate
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp water

Over low heat, melt the chocolate bar and mix in the sugar. Mix in the water to get desired consistency and drizzle over cake while warm.

Work, Cook, Bake, Sleep

Introduction post. I'm creating this blog just to journal what I cook and what I bake, I think its fun. I've got hundreds of pictures saved on my computer of things I've cooked so I might as well bombard the internet with them.

I love to cook and I love to bake. I love food. I like learning about food, cooking food, eating food, all of it.

I'm in my early twenties and I feel like all I do is work. I work two retail jobs, and most of the time I work 7 days a week, anywhere from 50-65 hours. I love one of my jobs, it is a very fun and great place to be. I wish I wasn't living paycheck to paycheck. I missed when this whole growing up thing happened. I wish I had more money to spend on food, and more time to spend cooking and baking for the people I love. I'm a very lucky girl, though. Things could be worse, and I feel like I've always had a guardian angel watch over me. Other than food, I'm also obsessive about Lucy, who will conclude this post,