Almond Cake

22 01 2011

One of my resolutions is to be a perimeter shopper, someone who avoids the interior aisles full of boxes and cans in favor of the fruits, vegetables, dairy, bread and meat on the outside of the store. For years my family has been moving in that direction, and in truth we buy very little processed food as it is. But until this year there have been exceptions, such as cereal, frozen breakfast burritos and the organic mac and cheese my kids eat with a sitter when my husband and I go out.

And since honesty is the best policy, I’ll ‘fess up to one more. Brownie mix.

How many times have I turned to those boxes when I needed a quick, sure-to-please dessert? Too many to count. But last week when I was expecting a houseful of folks for a nighttime meeting, I had no box to turn to. So I did what my grandmother would have done and pulled out a cookbook. I flipped through, looking for something quick and easy, not to mention something that could be made with basic pantry ingredients as I didn’t have time to run to the store. What I found was this delicate almond cake, which is hardly more complicated than what comes from a box but is infinitely more special because it clearly is not.

Almond Cake

scant 1 cup white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 T almond extract
1/4 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch cake pan, then line with wax paper and grease paper, too. Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add melted butter, egg and almond extract and mix well. Pour into pan, sprinkle almonds on top and bake about 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.


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Cooking Tip: Degreasing Chicken Stock

19 01 2011

I used to buy canned chicken broth with nary a thought. Then a friend made some black bean soup with homemade stock and I realized how much better my own soups would be if I chucked the cans. (I also became increasingly concerned about the chemicals in the lining of the cans, but that’s another story.) So for a few years now I’ve been freezing my own stock to use when I want to make soup.

But over the holidays I used up my stash of frozen stock, so last week when I made chicken soup I had to start from scratch. What I’d forgotten, however, was the little problem of de-greasing it. The best way to do this is to make it one day and let it cool overnight in the fridge. The fat will congeal on the top in a yellowish, Crisco-like layer (yummy, I know). Then it can be quickly and easily lifted off for a soup that tastes better and is healthier for your heart.

What to do if you run out of time and don’t have hours to let the soup cool in the fridge? As my kids and I learned last week, a snow drift works fine, too. We put the stock pot (uncovered) in the snow on our patio, moving its position as the snow around it melted. In about 30 minutes, the fat had risen and could be skimmed off the top!


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Chicken Calzones

16 01 2011

We all have those weeks when dinner means takeout and the kids are scrounging through the laundry looking for a shirt that’s (close to) clean. When those weeks are over — that is, when you have 15 minutes to spare — it pays to do some meal planning. Because when it comes to weeknight dinners, a little planning pays off.

You can do yourself an even bigger favor if you designate a few overlapping ingredients. For example, last week I used a whole organic chicken for homemade chicken noodle soup. A few days later, I used the leftover shredded chicken in whole wheat calzones. Broccoli also did double duty. One night we ate it as a simple side dish. I cooked extra, saving what we didn’t eat for these calzones.

I love this recipe because it packs a nutritional punch, not just from the protein in the chicken and the whole grains in the dough, but from the stealth addition of chopped, cooked broccoli. If your kids are vegetable averse, they’ll probably not even notice it given the yummy cover of parmesan and pesto. The recipe makes four large calzones, but you could easily shape six or eight smaller ones and save the leftovers for lunch.

Chicken Calzones
Adapted from a recipe in The Sunset Cookbook

1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (see below)
1 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
½ cup pesto
1 cup cooked chopped broccoli
1 cup shredded, cooked chicken
¼ cup parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Dough
¼ ounce active dry yeast
½ tsp sugar
2 T olive oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt

Mix yeast, sugar and 1/3 cup warm water in a bowl and let sit until bubbly. Add another 1/3 cup warm water, oil, flour and salt and mix well. Knead on a floured surface for several minutes until dough is smooth, adding drops of water if necessary. Place in an oiled bowl and cover while you prepare the remaining ingredients (30 minutes is ideal, but don’t worry if it’s less).

Divide dough into four pieces. Press into 6-inch rounds. Mix remaining ingredients. Spoon onto bottom half of circle, leaving a half-inch border. Fold top half over and pinch edges together. Brush with olive oil and place on oiled cookie sheet. Bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes.


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Casseroles: The Anti-Holiday Meal

9 01 2011

Normally there’s a letdown after the holidays, but this year I’m relieved to return to normal life, if only for simplicity in the kitchen. When you count all the meal planning, shopping and cooking I did from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I think I logged enough hours to earn a reprieve until March!

To celebrate these days of no expectations (i.e., no formal occasions in need of fancy fare!), I sought comfort in a surprising place — a casserole. Even the word makes me laugh. But the dish, a classic one-pot meal, is quick to assemble, simple, and satisfying, and that’s nothing to laugh at. With a few tweaks from the way my grandmother wrote it decades ago, the recipe holds its own on any family’s table.

P.S. If you’re part of a farm share and were able to freeze green peppers and tomatoes last season or if you have cellared carrots or potatoes, this is a great way to use them up. Remember that peppers are on the dirty dozen list so buy organic.

Seven-Layer Dinner
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 cups diced potatoes
3/4 cup wild or brown rice
3 cups thinly sliced carrots
2-4 green peppers, diced
28 ounces diced tomatoes
3/4 cup water or low-sodium broth
Dried oregano

Preheat oven to 300. Brown the beef and onion in a Dutch oven, then salt well and add pepper to taste. Remove the beef and wipe out excess fat. Layer potatoes, rice, 1 1/2 cups carrots, half the green peppers, half the beef and half the tomatoes. Sprinkle with dried oregano and salt and pepper, then add remaining carrots, peppers, beef and tomatoes. Sprinkle with more oregano, salt and pepper, then pour 3/4 cup water or broth over the pot. Bake covered for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Serve with parmesan, if desired.


Pull out your Dutch oven for this simple and hearty one-pot meal


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