Roasted Cauliflower (Cooks Illustrated, Jan/Feb 07, pg 20) 8
This dish was so...simply delicious! It’s a snap to pull together and can complement just about any main dish. Preheat the oven to something like 450*. Yes! That hot! Coat wedges of cauliflower in olive oil and if you like a dash of heat, add some chili powder. Bake, turning once to prevent burning on the sheet. And serve! I made one of the recommended side sauces: curry yogurt sauce and really enjoyed it. I’ll be making this dish again - probably as a main coarse with some rice.
This dish was so...simply delicious! It’s a snap to pull together and can complement just about any main dish. Preheat the oven to something like 450*. Yes! That hot! Coat wedges of cauliflower in olive oil and if you like a dash of heat, add some chili powder. Bake, turning once to prevent burning on the sheet. And serve! I made one of the recommended side sauces: curry yogurt sauce and really enjoyed it. I’ll be making this dish again - probably as a main coarse with some rice.
Indian Style Vegetable Curry (Cooks Illustrated, May/June 07, pg 15) 8
Oh. My. Goodness. LOVED THIS! This dish was super good and fairly simple to assemble. I highly recommend mise en place as it comes together much like a Chinese stir-fry. The veggies were cauliflower, potatoes, onion, peas, garlic, ginger, garam masala, and curry powder. I did cut back on my curry powder as I have "hot" and the recipe called for "sweet". It makes an nice thick, saucy dish that is perfect over basmati rice (which I flavored with some saffron). One warning - it does make a potful. I think this would freeze well so a batch could be made ahead of time and individual servings frozen for later meals.
New York Style Crumb Cake (Cooks Illustrated, May/June 07, pg 23) 7
I made this for Secretaries Day for the office and I think it was well received. I had to drop it off then head down to our downtown office so I didn’t get to hang around and watch peoples reactions. Amanda e-mailed me later and said she thought it was really good. This was easy to make: you start with the crumb topping by mixing melted butter, cinnamon, flour and sugar then set that aside to solidify. Then make the cake itself. It doesn’t make a lot (like fill up the pan a lot), which surprised me, but it bakes up really nice and when the crumb topping is added it makes a beautiful coffee-cake style cake. One note - I only had a glass 8x8 pan, and the cake did over bake somewhat. Next time I would put it in a metal pan.
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (KAF Bakers Companion - Culinary in the Desert Blog) 8
Again, this was for Secretaries Day. What attracted me to this recipe was it’s use of whole wheat flour, otherwise it was a pretty basic banana chocolate chip muffin recipe. This made twelve, nicely moist and lightly crumbly muffins. I did get one phone call from a co-worker (yes, he actually called!) to thank me for the treats and relay that he liked the muffins. That was nice. I’ll be making these again.
3 comments:
Glad your recipes worked out. I had a happy experience recently, too.
I made a Shepherd's Pie out of the Rachael Ray magazine you gave me, and it's quite good. This is a recipe I'll make again. I can't stand Rachael Ray's TV persona, with her EVOO and stoup, but this was a pleasant surprise.
Though, let me add--I find it very odd in the magazine that you are repeatedly instructed to cook things with extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO, as she jocularly calls it). For instance, there were a couple of recipes that said to preheat a pan with EVOO before cooking bacon. WTF? Bacon doesn't need added fat, it's got plenty.
And EVOO is fairly expensive and has a fairly low smoke point and isn't usually the best choice for cooking. Use canola or vegetable or a cheaper olive oil (but not for bacon), and save the expensive stuff for places where it will really shine. That's what better cooks than Rachael Ray usually say. And so say I. So there.
I suspect that she always recommends the same sort of oil in an attempt to simplify things, but one reason people hold her in contempt is for trying to dumb things down. And cooking bacon in olive oil is pretty dumb.
I will also admit that I was pleasantly surprised with her magazine. I'm not wild about her cooking or daytime TV shows or her cookbooks, but the magazine was just sort of fun and I've found a handfull of good recipes.
Ah, yes, the whole "EVOO" thing. One way to get the folks on the CLBB riled up is to start using RR'isms.
I totally agree with your comments on cooking with extra virgin olive oil. I'll use regular olive oil, canola or peanut oil for sauteing things and save the extra virgin for salad dressings or topping off soups. But to use it for frying bacon?!? :0
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