Cupcakes for the kid

It was a dark and stormy night...
Not really.  It was just a kind of a gray and rainy day.  Boredom was setting in.  Rain plus boredom equals a dangerous combination for a kiddo on the cusp of turning three.
So I asked him what he wanted to do:
Why, make cupcakes of course!
What flavor?
Chocolate!
What kind of frosting?
Banilla. Which translated into grown-up means vanilla.
And so we made simple chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting.  The cupcakes were super chocolately (if a bit dry--sorry Martha!), and the vanilla buttercream was so simple and scrumptious.  I do believe I could've just eaten the bowl of frosting and been perfectly happy.
I have the cutest little sous chef in town.

Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha Stewart Living

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter) softened at room temperature
3 large eggs (room temperature is good for the eggs, too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract--I always just splash it in until I think it's enough
1/2 cup of sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until beautifully light and fluffy. Let the kid have a taste.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each to make sure they are incorporated.  Beat in vanilla.  Explain to the kid at least 10 times that he cannot taste it anymore because of the raw eggs.  With the mixer on low speed, let the kid pour in flour in batches, alternating with the sour cream.

Pour the batter into cups filling about 3/4 full.  I let the kiddo help by using spoons to fill the muffin cups.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Enjoy the chocolately aroma filling the house.

After the cupcakes have cooled, make the frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting by Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Using the wire whisk attachment of a standing mixer whip the butter on medium-high speed for five minutes.  Stop to scrape the bowl once or twice.  The butter will be fluffy and pale yellow.

Reduce speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar.  Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mix until blended.  Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about two more minutes.

Now you are ready to frost.  Or eat directly from bowl.

Brown Eyed Baker says you can store the frosting in the fridge, just before using let it come to room temperature and give it a quick whip.

Flour Power

Sometimes you experiment in the kitchen and you get results like this.  So of course I thought, maybe I can tweak it a little bit and make it even better.  And then sometimes you get this:

Apparently I didn't adjust the dry ingredients enough to make up for the extra liquid I added.
Oh well, you live and learn! Flat and crispy and still pretty tasty, just not quite shortbread.  Turns out the results are pretty yummy crumbled up on vanilla ice cream. So not all was lost.
Guess it's back to the books!

Rum Tum Tiddy

Say it with me: Rum Tum Tiddy!
Say what?
I know.  I had NO IDEA what it was either.
Is it a drink?  Kind of sounds like Hot Toddy.
But no.
Is it a musical?  The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat!
Nope.
Any guesses?
Okay, a quick google search will land you in a sea of condensed tomato soup, cheese and bread.  And basically that's what it is.
I hollered to my Mother-in-Law, "Have you ever heard of something called, Rum Tum Tiddy?"  To which she answered, "Of course!  It's an old Southern dish!"
Of course.
I stumbled across the recipe in Martha Hall Foose's new cookbook, A Southerly Course.  Haven't heard of her?  She is the amazingly talented chef behind, well, a lot of different things (click on her name!), but two really amazing cookbooks focused on southern food and traditions.  I first became acquainted with Miss Martha a few years ago on a visit to Nashville when my MIL introduced me to Miss Martha's first cookbook, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.  It was love at first sight.  Basically I want to make everything in that book!  There is a list being whittled down...
I digress.
In A Southerly Course the very first recipe is for Rum Tum Tiddy.  Which is basically tomato soup and cheese over toast.  Which sounds perfectly delightful to me, but Miss Martha takes it to the next level.  She combines the classic ingredients in a totally new way, bakes it all up in the oven, cuts it up into cocktail sized nibbles and tops each piece with Parmesan cheese and some pickled okra.
Sounds good, right?
Lemme tell ya, it was the perfect light supper for a steamy summer night.
The recipe calls for fresh breadcrumbs, and I found out that there is something quite satisfying about making your own breadcrumbs!  The recipe calls for a 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese, and then it also calls for 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onion.  Since I already had the grater out, I just went ahead and grated the onion too (how Rachel Ray of me!).
Okay, lets get started.

Rum Tum Tiddy (just very slightly adapted from A Southerly Course)

1 large egg beaten
A few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (or a little more) of sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped pecan pieces
1 cup soft bread crumbs (just throw 3 pieces of white bread into a food processor, et voilà)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pickled okra sliced into rounds 


Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8 inch square baking dish.  I used a 7x9 inch Pyrex dish my MIL had because it was blue and white and super cute, and that worked just fine.


In a small glass softly beat one egg.  In a large bowl combine the Worcestershire sauce, cheddar cheese, pecans and bread crumbs. Add the egg and stir gently to combine.


In a medium skillet melt the 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add the onion and saute until just browned.  Add the tomato sauce and cook until incorporated.  Pour the onion and tomato sauce over the bread crumb mixture and stir to combine.  


Spoon the whole thing into the buttered dish and bake for 25 minutes, or until firm.  I baked mine for about 30 minutes and I probably could of let it stay in for another 5 minutes.  Every oven is different, so just keep checking it after 20 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut in 12 or 16 squares.  I then went ahead and cut a few in half to make triangles, just for looks.


Put the Parmesan on a plate and roll the squares (or triangles!) to coat.  Place a pickled okra round on each and secure with a toothpick.


Retire to the porch with libation of your choice and enjoy!

How do I love thee, tomato?

It is July in Tennessee, and that means tomatoes.
Lots of them!
Cherokee purple, Bradley, yellow, green, orange and every shade in between.  I love tomatoes.  Love them simply sliced with a sprinkle of salt.  Love them between two slices of fluffy oatmeal bread.  Love them in salad, love them in pie, love 'em fried.
Seriously, it's hard to mess up a tomato for me.
We had a nice round-up of Brandywine tomatoes from the Amish Farm stand down the road, and I had a tomato tart recipe that had been dog-eared for awhile.
And so with a few bowls of tomatoes ripening on the counter, I decided time was a-wastin'.
The recipe calls for both red and yellow tomatoes--we only had red, with small yellow grape tomatoes, and that turned out just lovely.  While we used Fontina cheese in this (and we had some kinda funky with a capital F fontina cheese), I think Gruyere would be a wonderful choice as well.  One more thought: to make the dough you process the corn, lemon juice and sour cream and then add it to the dry ingredients.  Next time I make this I'm going to make sure I have about a 1/2 or so cup of whole corn kernels to add to the batter as well, I think it would add a nice texture contrast...and it's yummy.

Rustic Tomato Tart (adapted from cooking light)

2 large red tomatoes
Handful of baby or grape yellow tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
Kernels from two ears of corn - Fresh!
Juice from half a lemon
3 heaping tablespoons sour cream
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup white cornmeal
1/4 cup cold cold cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cornmeal
Handful of fresh basil leaves, julienned
1/2 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons AP flour
Black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Set tomato slices onto double layer of paper towels.  Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp or so of salt.  Leave them while you make the dough.

Pour corn, lemon juice, and sour cream into food processor, process until smooth.
In a separate bowl whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, the 1/4 cup of cornmeal and 1/4 tsp of salt.  Add the butter pieces and combine with your fingers until you have something resembling a coarse meal.  Add in the corn mixture and stir just to combine.  Turn out onto a clean surface and knead a few times.

Place two slightly overlapping sheets of saran wrap onto counter.  Place dough on saran wrap.  Press dough out into roughly 6 inch circle.  Place two more sheets of  plastic onto dough and roll out into 14 inch circle.  Place dough into fridge for 10-15 minutes.  Use this time to clean up the kitchen!  Also, go ahead and blot the excess moisture from the tomatoes with paper towel.  Also, go ahead and grate up the cheese and slice the basil if you haven't done that already.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon  cornmeal on the baking sheet.  Now take the dough out of the fridge and place it on the baking sheet (I know you're not dummies, but take the plastic wrap off the dough before you put it on the baking sheet).

Sprinkle the cheese and basil on the dough, leaving about a 1 1/2 inch border.  Combine the 2 tablespoons of flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a little cup.  Sprinkle about half of the flour/salt mixture on top of the cheese.  Now arrange - artfully- half of the tomato slices on the cheese.  Sprinkle the rest of the flour on top of the tomatoes.  Now place the rest of the tomatoes on top of that.  Fold the edges of the dough toward the center--it's rustic, so don't worry about it being perfect, and it's not going to nearly cover all the tomatoes.

Place in over for about 35 minutes, until nicely browned.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Slice, and serve with a nice glass of Pinot Gris.

Minted

We have a bumper crop of mint over here.  I keep meaning to make mojito's, but by the time I get the kid off to bed these days, I'm ready for bed myself!  

So the hub was doing some yard work the other day, spreading pine straw all over the property: shirtless, sweaty... and boy did he look hot.  

Ahem.

Boy did he look parched.

So Jake and I decided to fix Daddy a little thirst quencher.  

We marched up to my Mother-in-Law's mint jungle and just started grabbing handfuls.  Now, she told me she has about four varieties of mint, but we just picked what was in front of us and sniffed.  

Seemed to work out okay for us.

We found a bag of lemons in the fridge and set to squeezing some mint lemonade for my other main squeeze.

This recipe couldn't be easier.  I seem to be on simple-syrup trend right now...

Minted Lemonade

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

A few handfuls of fresh mint, lightly crushed in your hands, Plus some extra for garnish

Cup or so of fresh lemon juice

Ice

Combine water and sugar in saucepan over medium heat.  Stir occasionally until sugar is dissolved.  Add a few handfuls of mint and take off the heat.

While the simple syrup is cooling, get to work squeezing those lemons.  My Mother-In-Law had a beautiful antique glass juicer.  I got a great hand workout--but feel free to use an electric juicer!

Grab a pitcher and pour in the lemon juice.  Add water and simple syrup to taste.  Throw in a few more mint sprigs and some ice.

Pour, enjoy, repeat.

Rumble and Ramble in Blackberry Bramble

My Mother-in-Law came home from a trip to Dyersburg the other day with a wonderful surprise.  A huge plastic bag FULL of blackberries.  They were still warm from sitting in the back of the truck where the farmer had been selling them.  And they were gorgeous!  Ranging from deep purple to almost black and all the way to a rosy pink. Summer was in that bag.

 We immediately thought of blackberry cobbler or blackberry jam.  Being more of an instant gratification person (and not wanting to drive in the car to get canning jars) I made the executive decision of blackberry cobbler.
We had friends coming over for a BBQ the next day, so I thought it would be the perfect dessert.
And it was.

The only complaint I had about this recipe, was that mine browned a bit too much...but that's an easy fix!  No one else seemed to mind.

Blackberry Cobbler #2 (adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

6 cups fresh blackberries

1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1-2 tablespoons sugar

juice from half of a lemon

zest from aforementioned lemon half

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup Crisco

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in bowl.  Stir until combined, and spread out in buttered baking dish.

Rinse out the bowl (this is my keeping-the-kitchen-clean trick so my MIL will continue to let me experiment in her kitchen).  Now pour in flour, salt, baking powder and 1-2 tablespoons sugar, depending on your taste. Stir with a whisk to combine. Plop in shortening and butter and combine with fingers until the whole lot resembles coarse cornmeal.  Measure 1/2 cup of milk and add egg to milk.  Whisk to combine.  Pour milk and egg into flour mixture and stir until just combined.  If it's a little dry just a bit more milk.  Batter should be smooth, and not too too sticky.

Take small clumps of dough and place them on top of the blackberries.  Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for as long as you can wait.  Serve in bowls with big scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy!

Rad Radish

Radishes are rad.
At least I think so.  Slightly peppery, delicious with a schmear of butter and salt, and a super satisfying crunch.  So when I stumbled upon this pickled radish recipe (say that three times fast), I knew I had to try it.  It was so easy to make, and enabled almost (they have to sit for at least 2 hours) instant gratification.  They really were lovely--the color was amazing.  The only thing I was missing was bit more brightness in the flavor, so maybe I need to add a splash more vinegar next time.
No matter, my father-in-law exclaimed, "These are the best radishes I ever put in my mouth!"

Proof is in the pickle.

Quick Radish Pickles
(adapted from Gourmet Magazine via The Wednesday Chef)

1 bunch Radishes, about 8 or 9, quartered
6 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (unseasoned)
4 tablespoons sugar

1 1-inch peeled piece of ginger, sliced into slivers

Place radishes in sieve and toss with a few tablespoon's of salt.  Allow to drain for 30 minutes.
In small saucepan combine rice wine vinegar and sugar.  Heat vinegar and sugar over medium  heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved.
Stir in ginger.
Put radishes in shallow bowl and pour vinegar mixture over.  Cover with saran wrap and and place in refrigerator until chilled.  Radishes can be chilled up to one day.
Enjoy!