Cheddar Biscuits

I intended to post this recipe after Sunday Night Dinner in November, but alas, I have only just emerged from the grip of procrastination.

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (gluten-free flour also worked fine)

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 stick unsalted butter

1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

2/3 c. milk, preferably 2%

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Thoroughly combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut butter into pieces and work into flour mixture with fingers until dough resembles coarse meal. Stir in cheese.

Make a well in center of flour mixture, pour in milk, and stir just until dough comes together. Do not overmix or the oven gnomes will exchange your biscuits for biscuit-sized rocks. Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface and knead gently 10 to 12 times. Pat dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuits using a 2" circle cutter (I used an inverted glass; you could also just cut the big square of dough into biscuit-sized squares, if you wanted). Do not twist cutter. Transfer biscuits to a lightly-buttered baking sheet and bake in center of oven until brown, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot.

I added about 1/4 c. chopped fresh dill to this mixture. I think chives would also go well. Also, I realize 1/2 tsp. cayenne doesn't seem like enough to spice up that much dough, but the biscuits were much spicier than I anticipated.

Alex's Gluten-Free Brownies

These were incredible and she left me the recipe, so I'm taking the liberty of posting it here:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup dark chocolate (chunks or chips)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Melt butter and cocoa powder in a bowl in the microwave. Add brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix thoroughly. Mix in cornstarch and salt. Add dark chocolate and stir. Pour into a well-greased 8x8 pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a fork comes out clean.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Streusel

These cupcakes caused my English professor to stop in the middle of a sentence to say "Oh my God." They're that good. I used Cortland apples from the farmer's market, but any crisp, slightly tart variety would be just as good. I recommend slicing the apples by hand rather than grating them, since they tend to disintegrate and produce far too much juice when grated.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 cups coarsely shredded apples, such as Macintosh (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Streusel Topping:

6 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 cup coconut

2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; mix in apples. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until just combined.

Topping:

Stir together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter with pastry blender, two knives, or fingers. Mix in coconut.

Divide batter among lined cups, filling halfway; sprinkle generously with streusel topping and bake until tops are springy to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tins; transfer to a wire rack; let cool. completely.

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Very moist bread with a nice, subtly sweet pumpkin-apple flavor. Makes 2 9x5" loaves.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2-3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 c light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 cup apple butter
1 (15 oz) can 100% pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup apple cider or water (I used water, apple cider would probably taste great!)
2 cups diced apples (~1/2" cubes)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, spices, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, eggs, apple butter, pumpkin, and water. Mix until just combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat until just combined. Make sure not to overmix or the batter will become tough.
5.Gently fold the apples into the batter.
6. Pour into two well-greased 9x5" loaf pans.
7. Bake for about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Let the loaves sit for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove them from the pan and let them cool completely.

Notes:
-You can use pumpkin pie spice in place of the spices; instead of all the different spices, just add 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice and 1 tsp cinnamon.
-You can also make this into 6 mini-loaves, or 1 large loaf and 3 mini-loaves. Bake mini-loaves at the same temperature for about 40-45 minutes.

Vegetarian Goulash

Easy, tasty, loaded with starch and protein, and very little measuring required!

Preparation/cook time: 45 minutes; serves 6-ish

Ingredients:

• 4-ish servings of spiral pasta
• Half a package of vegetarian "ground beef" (Quorn, Morning Star, etc.)
• One large can of stewed tomatoes
• One can of corn (or half a package of frozen corn)
• Half a jar of tomato sauce
• Two fistfuls of grated cheese
• Sliced green olives (the more the better)

Preparation:

• Boil the pasta until it's slightly al dente; drain well
• Mix pasta, "ground beef," tomatoes, corn, olives and cheese in a large casserole dish
• Add pasta sauce until everything is sufficiently gooey, but not so much the casserole is floating in it
• Sprinkle with more grated cheese, if desired
• Bake 30 minutes on 350℉

Variations:

• Substituting Italian olive salad for the plain green olives is pretty fantastic.
• If you know something about cooking (or are just feeling adventurous) you can experiment with adding herbs and spices - it's tasty on its own, but it was particularly good when I added "Pasta Sprinkle" (sweet basil, Turkish oregano, thyme and garlic).
• Note: you can make this with gluten-free pasta, but it can't be simultaneously gluten-free and vegetarian - most meat substitutes use some form of gluten to hold it together, so you have to use real meat for the gluten-free variety.

Lizzie's scone recipe

The recipe you've all been waiting for (because I thought I'd lost it again and was embarassed to call my mom AGAIN and ask her to read it to me over the phone for like the fourth time in the last year... and against the likelihood of my losing the stupid little piece of paper YET AGAIN):

3 cups flour

1 pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup butter, room temperature if you're smart

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup dried fruit bits*

1 egg

3/4 cup milk**

stir together flour, salt, and baking powder to combine (with a fork or whisk). cut in the butter and pinch it into the dry ingredients as you would into a pie crust: DO NOT OVER-MIX! pinch together until flaky/crumbly. stir in the sugar and fruit (or whatever else you'd like to add in). whisk the egg and milk together in a measuring cup, then add them to the dough. rest in the fridge, covered in saran wrap, 30-60 minutes. divide into little balls 1.5-2 inches in diameter, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

*have successfully used dried cherries, cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, crystallized ginger, chopped or roasted nuts, candied orange peel... mix it up!

**to add a more subtle flavor to the scones, add an extract to the milk, or warm it in a saucepan just until bubbles form, add a flavoring (fresh or dried rosemary, crushed fresh ginger, loose or bag tea leaves, mint leaves, whatever), and let it sit until cool.

Falafel

Important Note: This recipe is a scaled-down (by half) version of one that feeds about 30 people (which is what I used for the Sunday Night Dinner). By default, this should feed about 15, and so do the math to figure out how much of what things you need for the given size. Mostly, it’s helpful to note that chickpeas get surprisingly large over night, and so when you purchase the dried chickpeas, bear in mind that they will probably feed more than you think. Furthermore, this recipe does not include the recipe for Tahini sauce, which is traditionally used as a topping.

Also, the spices listed here can be messed around with. When I last made falafel it was not as herby as I would have liked, and so these are measures in accordance with more Lebanese tastes. If you like your falafel to taste like nothing, then feel free to toy with spice amounts – particularly cinnamon and coriander, which give it most of its deep flavor.

Ingredients

½ kg dried chickpeas
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 head garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
2 eggs
Lots of olive oil (for frying)

Other Ingredients – To the Taste

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground, dried coriander

Instructions

Soak chickpeas in water overnight for 24 hours, making sure the pot is plenty big to accommodate the beans as they grow. Drain well. Get a large container and mix chickpeas, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, chopped onions and spices. Use a food process to grind it to a relatively fine texture (stop every now and then to make sure the blade doesn’t get stuck too long) – don’t worry if it doesn’t seem to hold together quite yet. When this is done and all of the processed mix is in a container, mix eggs into it (to better bind it together). Mash it all together until it is consistent, then begin forming into balls and then slightly flatten them until they are around 2 inches in diameter (no more!). Try to make sure they are well-packed so they don’t fall apart when you plop them into the oil to fry.

Heat oil in a deep pan over high heat, then fry until browned, adding in the same number of patties each time. Lay to rest on a cooling rack covered with paper towels to de-oil them somewhat and let them cool.

Serve with tahini sauce with some form of pita-like bread, with cucumbers, tomatoes and olives.

Kotlets

This is the Iranian food that I've made a couple of the times at the house.  They are the oval-shaped fried pieces of deliciousness.  Recipe as follows:

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1.5 lb potatoes, yellow, yukon
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp pepper
Oil (olive preferred)
Flour

Instructions

Peel the potatoes, cut into quarters, and boil then in a pot in which you can mash them until they are soft enough that a knife sticks through them easily.  Drain them and mash them (with a ricer, if you have one available - it makes it much easier) until they are very well mashed - you don't want any big chunks, and as few little chunks as possible.

Mix the ground beef, eggs, salt, turmeric, and pepper together in a separate bowl until uniform.  Add the now-mashed potatoes, and mix all together until everything is of one consistency.

Put a fair bit of oil in a frying pan (at least a centimetre of oil, perhaps more - you are basically going to be deep frying these one side at a time) and turn the heat on.  Make smallish-flatish-ovals out of the potatoe-meat mixture.  You can vary the size as you like, but I usually make them somewhat smaller than my palm.  Play around with what you like.  You probably want them ~1.5 centimetres thick (although, that's just a rough estimate).  Bread with flour.  Place in the frying pan with the oil that has now heated up.  You can, and should, fill up the frying pan with these.  Watch the side that is in the oil; once one side is done, you will need to turn it over to fry the other side.  

It's hard for me to describe how to know when one side is done frying.  I know when they're done because I've seen my dad make them and have eaten them a lot and know how brown they should get, but that doesn't particularly help you.  The kotlets will get brown as they fry.  You want them pretty brown, but not charred.  If in doubt, cook a bit longer than you'd like - you'll soon find out if it's too cooked, as things will taste a bit charred, but they still taste pretty good, and you can easily adjust from there.

So yeah, fry on both sides, then take them out of the oil.  As you take kotlets out of the oil, add new ones in, so that you have approximately the same number in the pan and all times (so that the oil does not heat up too fast).  Add more oil as necessary.  When you take the kotelts out, let them sit on a cooling rack for a bit, or at least between some paper towels to get some of the oil off.  

Enjoy!

Jam Tea Cookies

So I don't have to make them up again next time...

3/4 c. butter (1.5 sticks)

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 tsp. baking soda

dash salt

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. cardamom, rounded

jam or jelly of your choice

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light yellow. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until homogeneous. Roll dough into tiny balls - perhaps 3/4 of an inch in diameter - and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until golden. Let cool and "glue" two cookies together with jam. Apricot and raspberry go well with the cardamom, but fig would probably be excellent too. Ooh, now there's an idea...

enchiladas

as eaten at the barbeque - one batch serves about 15 as a side, 5-6 as a meal

vegetable proto-glop:

1 yellow onion, food processor-ed all to hell

1 green pepper, also food processor-ed all to hell

3ish cloves garlic, chopped finely

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

saute onions, garlic, and peppers together until decently caramelized. season with salt, chili powder, and red pepper flakes to taste. add frozen corn, saute until uniform in temperature. set aside. a batch of proto-veggie glop usually makes more than you can use for a single batch of enchiladas - to make a double batch of enchiladas, use 2 small onions, 2 green peppers, 5 cloves of garlic, and just over 2 cups of frozen corn.

enchilada sauce:

1 small can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and cayenne pepper to taste

mix. use 8 oz. of water to rinse can, mix into sauce to thin (really, the thinner, the better). set aside.

assembly:

1 package (8) large tortillas, each cut in half

1 can (vegetarian) refried beans

1 batch proto-vegetable glop

8 or so oz. cheddar cheese, grated

1 batch enchilada sauce

cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish lightly with enchilada sauce. spread a tablespoon or so of refried beans on a half a tortilla, add a largeish spoonful of so of veggie glop, a sprinkling of cheese, and roll up into a tube. place in the baking dish seam-side down. repeat until all tortilla pieces have been used up. pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the pan, making sure to cover all enchiladas. sprinkle with cheese. bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and delicious.

serve hot, or cold for breakfast.

variations:

add some ground beef into the veggie glop instead of the corn.

chicken might be good, too.

Hummos!

This recipe actually comes from my aunt, via my mom. And given that my aunt is actually more Armenian than my mom, believe that this is legit. However, in my experience the hummos speaks for itself. ; ) Also, SO ridiculously easy.

Blend in blender in this order: (liquids should go in first)

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup juice from garbanzo beans can (or can use water )
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (drain and save liquid to use)
1/3 cup tahini paste--by recommendation of my mom, only use the jar types, not the kind that is in a can.
¼ tsp salt (or to taste)
1 clove garlic - minced

Blend together. If too thick, add a bit more juice from garbanzo
beans a little bit at a time – (don’t let it get too thin!)
May garnish with parsley &/or paprika
and if desired serve with olive oil sprinkled on top…

Serve with pita pocket bread or naan (or any amazing bread of your choice...Armenian string cheese is also a great thing to eat on the side with this, although where you get it in Vermont I have no idea. Try an international grocery store at home. )

white bean shit

disclaimer: i did not name this recipe. my mother did, and as she invented the recipe, the name stuck. it is much more delicious than it sounds.

serves: 8-10 as a side dish; would go really well with the chicken dish mluby posted recently.

1 white or yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 zucchini, cut into smallish chunks
1 (16 ounce?) can chunked-up tomatoes
1 (same size) can white beans
1 lb. orzo, most of the way cooked and drained
2 c. chicken or beef bullion/stock

saute onion and garlic in olive oil with herbs until translucent. add zucchini chunks and cook on medium heat until tender, stirring occasionally. add tomatoes (with liquid) and beans (drained, rinsed, drained), and then add the orzo and bullion. stir and cover. simmer 10 minutes or so, add salt and pepper to taste. if orzo is not sufficiently tender, add more stock or just water. serve with grated parmesan if desired.

pico de gallo (salsa)

serves: single batch for family dinner consumption, double batch for parties

1/2 (red) onion, food-processed all to hell
1 jalapeno, treated in much the same way
2 cloves garlic, same
(1 ripe mango, chopped into bits)
4 or so good ripe tomatoes, chopped into bits also
a handful of roughly chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
kosher salt to taste, at least 1/2 teaspoon

chop and combine all ingredients, adding cilantro last. best prepared at least 2 hours but no more than 6 hours before serving - lets the flavors combine, but longer than that and the tomatoes get funky.

good as a dip for chips or as a sauce for burrito/fajita-type meals.

Granola Bars...

...but certainly not the health-food kind.  As devoured at Sunday Night Dinner.

Ingredients:

1 c. unsalted butter

1 3/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp cinnamon (I usually also add nutmeg)

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. granola with all large bits (id est, walnut halves) removed

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.  Pour in granola and stir; if using an electric mixer, it might be a good idea to switch to a wooden spoon.  Add cranberries and white chocolate chips (although you could also use raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch, etc).  Spread evenly in the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking pan.  Lick the spatula and the bowl thoroughly to avoid wasting any delicious calories.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges victorious, by which I mean clean.  Let cool.  Cut into bars while warm.

Baked Mac & Cheese

As seen at Sunday night dinner!

1 lb of pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 tsp salt
2 tsp mustard
2 cups grated cheddar
Ground pepper to taste

- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Bring water to boil and cook the pasta.
- Heat oil over low to medium heat and stir in flour with a whisk. Add in the milk, continuing to stir until the lumps dissolve.
- Remove sauce from heat and stir in the salt, pepper, mustard, and cheese.
- Put the pasta in a casserole dish, mix in the sauce, and bake for about 20 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings. Multiply ingredients as needed for more.

(note: feel no pressure to actually bake, as it will still be delicious if you don't)

rice porridge

serves 5-6 (in small portions)

1 1/2 cups dry brown rice
3 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract - optional
3/4 cup milk or rice milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vanilla sugar or regular kind

boil water, add rice, extract, and olive oil, cook covered until water is almost all absorbed, stirring periodically.

add milk and sugars, and stir continuously over low heat until the whole business has roughly the texture of oatmeal.  

top with honey, garnish with dried fruit if desired.  om nom nom!

oreo truffles/chocolate balls of doom

ingredients:

• one standard package of oreo cookies (not double-stuff, for our purposes we don't care about the frosting)
• one 8-ounce package of cream cheese
• about a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, or whatever other kind of chocolate suits your taste
• (optional) if you're feeling fancy, white chocolate for drizzling

instructions:

1. crush the oreos. a food processor is best; a blender works fine; if you are guerilla-cooking in a dorm room, a plastic bag and something heavy will do.
2. mix the crushed oreos and the cream cheese. you have you use your hands, otherwise it just doesn't work. you should end up with a thick paste somewhere between the consistency of dough and modeling clay. (tasty, right?)
3. mold the paste into marble-sized balls. this takes forever. you will end up with a lot of them. these are your truffle fillings.
   
4. put the fillings in the freezer while you melt the chocolate chips (it makes dipping easier).
5. dip the fillings in the melted chocolate and place them on wax paper. i've found that rolling them between two spoons is the most efficient method.
6. chill in the refrigerator (not the freezer, it gives them freezerburn) until the chocolate hardens.
7. if so desired, melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the top.
8. store in the fridge until serving.
   

makes about two large platefuls.
prep time: 90 minutes, ish.
cautions: they're messy to make, they take a long time, and the smell of cream cheese mixed with chocolate is so sugary you will probably not want to eat any when you're done. but somebody has to make them, and everyone who eats them will very likely love you for it.

the "i'm in france where they don't believe in oreos or cream cheese" variant: substitute a more-or-less equivalent amount of any chocolate cookie you can find, the crumblier the better. substitute mascarpone for cream cheese. it makes the filling mushier and harder to handle, so freeze them longer before dipping. they don't taste the same, but they still taste pretty awesome.

Chicken Scallopini

Here's a main course I plan to make for you all in the fall, but if anyone wants to try it out before then, by all means get cooking! The pictured instructions pretty much cover everything, but you might want to include some vegetables and/or rice along with the chicken to make more of a balanced meal.

Scropino Dessert Drink

Origin: Little town named Sacile at the foot of the Italian Alps

Fundamentally, you make lemon sorbet (the recipe listed below works well) and mix it with milk (and if you aren't in the sub-free house and want the original drink, add a tiny-weeny bit of vodka). 2% or whole milk is best, to counteract the water in the sorbet. The sorbet mixes best right after being worked in the icecream maker, but if you have to freeze it first, then let it soften for a while and break it up briefly in a food processor or something. You really don't want the lemon juice to be coming out of the ice though, since that will curdle the milk - but you need small slightly soft pieces for best mixing. The drink consists of 1/2 to 2/3 sorbet and the rest milk. Pour in glass or serving container, and mix as well as possible.

It makes a light, refreshing drink, and if you get a suitable balance of milk to sorbet (taste-test a small amount first to determine proportions), it's usually pretty well liked. Serving size is very flexible and depends on the amount of sorbet you have.

Kelsey's Meyer Lemon Sorbet

Makes about 1 1/2 pints.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 heaping tablespoon grated Meyer lemon zest (they actually do write "heaping," so make sure that it heaps)
1 1/2 cups meyer lemon juice (from about 12 Meyer lemons) OR the juice from about 10 regular lemons, chilled

Directions:
In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear, about 1 minute.

Remove the syrup from the heat, add the lemon zest, and set aside to steep for about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 2-3 hours.

Add the lemon juice to the syrup and stir to combine. Pour into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the sorbet to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze the sorbet until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Notes: If you do not have Meyer lemons, replace the Meyer lemon juice and zest with regular lemon juice and zest (you will need 5 or 6 large lemons). Because ordinary lemons are tarter than Meyer, you will most likely need to increase the sugar by 3-4 tablespoons.

alison's favorite lemon curd

serves: quite a few, as a spread on pastries. eaten with spoons... well, we won't talk about that. one batch is generally sufficient, unless it's for a gathering of unfathomable size.

juice of 3 large lemons
3/4 c sugar
3 large eggs
zest of 3 large lemons
2-3 T butter

ZEST THE LEMONS BEFORE YOU SQUEEZE THEM. seriously. zesting spent lemon halves is a gigantic pain in the a$$. you want 1/3-1/2 cup of lemon juice, though a bit more won't hurt. lemon juice and zest (at least a tablespoon, but use as much as you can get) should both be fresh from real lemons - none of this bottled juice nonsense.

whisk together lemon juice, eggs, and sugar in a large glass or metal bowl. set the bowl up over a pot to make a double boiler. turn the heat on high and whisk constantly. you'll see a foam start to form - keep going. whisk like a crazy person, or you'll end up with lemon scrambled eggs, but make sure to cook until the mixture is moderately thick (as in, coats your whisk).

remove bowl from pot/heat. whisk in lemon zest, cut in butter, whisk until uniform. let mixture sit at room temperature until set, or refrigerate for up to a week. nummy on scones, bagels, matzah, toast, as a filling in donuts... or hey, on a spoon.

VARIATIONS:
pomegranate lemon curd - replace lemon juice with pomegranate juice, continue as per instructions, using lemon zest
other citrus curd - grapefruits, tangerines, blood oranges, and limes all work very well with this recipe.

lizzie sauce!

the ubiquitous spicy tomato sauce that you've all come to know and love!

serves: uh... a lot if you're using it as pasta sauce, though it also works as pizza sauce or tomato soup. if you're doing tomato soup for sunday night dinner, i'd do double or even triple this recipe. as pasta sauce, you can make 1-2 batches, and then freeze it in reasonably-sized blocks.

ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
3-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
(1 med.-sized onion, grated - optional)
2-3 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
(1 tablespoon dried rosemary - optional)
(a few anise seeds, crushed - optional)
1 teaspoon or so cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
**heat the olive oil, add the garlic (and onion, if you're using it), saute until caramelized. do not burn or brown!! add the spices, simmer for just a minute til it starts to smell delicious.

1 very large can Pastene's Kitchen Ready ground tomato
1 equally large can Contadina tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste (garlic or herb flavor, if you like)
**add liquid tomato products, then paste, stir to combine. use water to rinse cans, then add water to sauce. make it slightly waterier than you want it, so that you can let it simmer longer.

1/2 cup (or slightly more) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
**add, stir, let heat until flavors combine. TASTE. add salt if needed, or cayenne pepper. if you've added too much sugar, you can counteract it with a tiny bit of white vinegar. keep adding basil and oregano til it tastes right.

IF MAKING PASTA SAUCE: eat. you're ready to go.

IF MAKING PIZZA SAUCE: substitute tinned or fresh diced tomatoes for the tomato paste.

IF MAKING TOMATO SOUP: add 1 tablespoon or so of dill. garnish with cheez-its (garlic parmesan kind!), or eat with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ragu (Italian meat sauce)

Origin: little old lady in Ferrara, Italy ... hence the really vague amounts.
Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients:

A small amount of grated carrot
Some sliced up onion
Olive oil
Ground beef or mix of ground beef and ground pork (around 300 grams for this serving size)
Tomato pulp of appropriate density for sauce
White wine or milk (very small amount)
Salt to taste
Seasonings like oregano or basil to taste


Directions:

1. Cut up onion and carrot finely. The traditional flavor doesn't have very strong onion taste, but you can add it to taste. For a large batch (ie: Sunday Night Dinner), 2 small onions and 8 carrots is reasonable.
2. Cook meat pretty thoroughly (might take around 5 minutes for the original small size batch, would be longer for enough sauce for a large group to eat) in a frying pan, or for a multiplied batch, in the pot in which you will want to cook the sauce.
3. When the meat is well cooked, remove it from the pan/pot and drain out some of the oily juice.
4. Heat up on low-medium heat a small amount of olive oil (around 2 tablespoons for the small serving size, more obviously for a large group), and sautee the onion and carrot
5. Add tomato pulp to the sautee, then add half of a small glass of white wine and/or milk and mix in thoroughly.
6. Add the meat back to the sauce, as well as salt, and any green seasonings desired like basil or oregano, all to taste.
7. Cook on a low flame until the liquid is almost gone. You want it be more like meat coated in sauce rather than floating in it. You'll know when it's done (according to Ferrarese style) not only when there is little liquid left, but when you can see a slight sheen of the oil on the meat. Add a little bit more oil or cold butter so it doesn't become too dry. When mixed thoroughly, it is ready to serve.

When made for Sunday Night Dinner, we used about 5 pounds of ground beef, 2 onions, ~8 carrots and 3 large cans of tomato.

"Gourmet" Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Equipment: Oven, cake pan, mixing utensils

Ingredients:
-Chocolate Cake mix
-Raspberry Jam

Instructions:
-Bake the cake according to the instructions.
-Use raspberry jam instead of frosting.
-Eat and marvel at how delicious it is compared to plain chocolate cake.

Happy Eating!
(This is my last dessert entry ever, promise.)

Stir-Fried Random

Ethnic origin: hacker culture/East Asia
Difficulty: Elementary
Serves: 2 refined ladies, or 1 Viking
Price: Cheap (<$1/person)

This is quite simple to make when you're on your own and don't have a lot of cash lying around. In theory, this is best made in a wok, but a frying pan works perfectly well. If you're at your parents' house, or have a lot of food lying around for some other reason, you can use whatever's in the fridge and needs to be eaten. Essentially, throw it in a frying pan, cook it 'till it's done, then eat it!

If, on the other hand, your fridge is empty, you'll want to pick up the following: ramen (not the cup kind, the rectangular kind, normally used for soup); vegetables (frozen mixed works well, as they're already cut up); and some protein (eggs and/or meat - ground beef works well, but you can use anything small enough to stir-fry).

The following makes one Cap'n-sized serving, equivalent to about two cereal bowls. It's pretty solid food, so most o' you landlubbers will get two lunches out of it. Those of you who have mastered the ancient art of multiplication can feed as many people as necessary simply buy buying and cooking more ingredients.

Equipment: Frying pan or wok, of a size appropriate to the amount of food you're making
Instrument suitable for stir-frying, such as a wooden spoon or cooking spatula

Ingredients:
1 Package Ramen
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Frozen Vegetables
(Optional Seasoning:)
1 Cube Boullion (beef or chicken - preferably matching the ramen)
Powdered garlic, onion, and/or chili to taste
Soy sauce
Parmesan Cheese

If your ramen came with a seasoning packet, put it aside. Put the ramen in just enough water to cover it. Undercook, then drain (in a microwave, about 3 minutes should do it; you can also do it right in the frying pan if you're feeling bold.) The idea is to have the noodles be flexible but chewy, as they'll be cooked more later. Set the noodles aside for now.
If eggs make you nervous, crack them into a small bowl, then use a fork to mix well in advance.
Pour the oil in the frying pan. Crumble the boullion and mix it in, or, if you insist on perfectly even seasoning, dissolve it in a small amount of hot water, then add it to the oil.
Over medium-to-low heat (just enough to keep up a nice sizzle), perform the following steps:
If you're using meat, fry it most of the way now.
If you're using frozen vegetables, break into small chunks and put them in now.
Start stir-frying the ramen. Just keep it from burning until you see it get a little softer and start to change color. If it starts to dry out, add more oil or soy sauce.
If you're using room-temperature vegetables, stir them in now.
Add dry seasonings (except parmesan cheese). This is where the packet of ramen seasoning comes in handy - if you're not in a fully stocked kitchen, it's all you really need.
Just before everything looks to be done, clear a small space in your frying pan, lower the heat a bit and add the eggs. Scramble and break up into tiny chunks, then mix the eggs with the rest of it.
Remove from heat. Serve and add soy sauce/cheese to taste.


This is something that, I find, tastes pretty good even if you don't use what you'd call quality ingredients, so, it's pretty economical. Also, the 1 cup of veggies is a guess - I never actually "measure" per se, so much as keep adding things until the proportions look like something I would want to eat. But, the 2-eggs-to-1-package-of-ramen thing works pretty well.
Keep in mind that frozen veggies have a bit of water in them, which helps keep things even; if you're using dry, fresh vegetables you'll probably want to add more liquid periodically, even more so than may already be necessary. Also, the assumption here is that you're using peas, corn, and/or chopped mixed frozen vegetables; if you want to use broccoli, or some such, it may require more cooking (i.e. put it in earlier.)

Let me know if anyone actually tries this, and what variations you use. I myself found out the hard way that pearl onions, while potentially delicious, can induce a feeling of SUDDEN LARGE UNCOOKED VEGETABLE if you just throw them in along with everything else.

Happy Eating!

Welcome to the Xenia Cookbook!

Dear Xenians and Friends of Xenia:

The purpose of this blog is to record and share the recipes known and loved by our community of friends, whether they were made at Sunday Night Dinner, or as baking experiments, or just something that you feel everyone will enjoy and that should be added to the Cookbook for the sake of posterity. The cooks and bakers at the house are asked to share their recipes and cooking tips often enough that someone recently suggested this blog as a way to conveniently do just that. Hopefully, it will work well enough that any future Sunday Night Dinner cooks at a loss for something to prepare will have this as a resource to fall back on.

When posting, please title the post with the name of the food, and include the full recipe and expected serving count. Also, please tag recipes with labels like "main course", "desert", "salad", etc. and anything else you think might be relevant (ie: the ethnic origin of the food) for easy searching. Thanks! Pictures of your food would also always be welcome!