Recipe Review from 4/26/2021

A handful of new recipes last week including one dessert. Overall meal plan was super simple and in hindsight, a bit heavy to the grilled cheese. Mind, these are your standard American Cheese grilled cheese. I added a schmear of pesto; used a variety of cheese such as smoked provolone, cheddar, Gouda, and Swiss; and added some very thinly sliced apple because, yum! Yeah, not your standard grilled cheese.

Madeline Island 2020

The Meal Plan:
Sat (L) grilled cheese (S) pasty
Sun (L) grilled cheese (S) poached cod
Mon (yoga/bookgroup)- grilled cheese
Tues - egg and avocado sandwiches
Wed (yoga) - leftover cod
Thurs - leftover egg and avocado
Fri - mujaddara grilled cheese

Lunches - Italian Pasta Salad, fruit

The Best Angel Food Cake (Cooks Illustrated)
I have to say, this wasn't "The Best Angel Food Cake". It was...okay. I read through the comments on the website and learned - don't weigh the ingredients, buzz the sugar in a food processor for about 30 seconds, don't under beat the eggs, and do a tablespoon of sugar at a time when adding the flour to the beaten egg white mix and the cake might not collapse.

My observation on the final assembly instruction, add flour/sugar mix to beaten egg mixture using the whisk on low. Don't "fold" it in. It doesn't incorporate right and takes too long and I can see the whites starting to deflate. I had problems with odd little lumps throughout the batter and cooked cake because I couldn't incorporate properly without deflating the whole darn thing.

Overall taste was good, outside crumb was good, it baked beautifully in the oven and, yeah, collapsed after removing from pan (I did cool inverted for three hours). Undecided if I would use this recipe again. Seems there is too much modifying going on.

Photo from CooksIllustrated.com

Serves 10

1 cup sifted cake flour (3 ounces)
1 ½ cups sifted granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
12 large egg whites (1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon almond extract

Sift the cake flour and the granulated sugar to eliminate any lumps and ensure the lightest possible texture.

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Have ready an ungreased large tube pan (9-inch diameter, 16-cup capacity), preferably with a removable bottom. If the pan bottom is not removable, line it with parchment or wax paper.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour with 3/4 cup sugar. Place remaining 3/4 cup sugar in another small bowl next to the mixer.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, or with a handheld mixer, beat egg whites at low speed until just broken up and beginning to froth. Add cream of tartar and salt and beat at medium speed until whites form very soft, billowy mounds. With the mixer still at medium speed, beat in 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all sugar is added and whites are shiny and form soft peaks. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and almond extract and beat until just blended.

Place flour-sugar mixture in a sifter set over waxed paper. Sift flour-sugar mixture over egg whites about 3 tablespoons at a time, and gently fold it in, using a large rubber spatula. With wisk on low, gently incorporate. Sift any flour-sugar mixture that falls onto the paper back into the bowl with the whites.

Gently scrape batter into pan, smooth the top, and give pan a couple of raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles.

Bake until the cake is golden brown and the top springs back when pressed firmly, 50 to 60 minutes.

If cake pan has prongs around the rim for elevating the cake, invert pan onto them. If not, invert pan over the neck of a bottle or funnel so that air can circulate all around it. Let the cake cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.

To unmold, run a knife around edges, being careful not to separate the golden crust from the cake. Slide cake out of pan and cut the same way around removable bottom to release, or peel off parchment or wax paper, if used.

Place the cake, bottom-side up, on a platter. Cut slices by sawing gently with a serrated knife. Serve the cake the day it is made.


Egg Salad and Avocado Toasts (Eating Well, April 2021) vegetarian
Easy. Refreshing. Perfect for a fast weeknight supper (assuming the eggs are made ahead of time or cooked in an instant pot), will be perfect for a hot summer evening and dinner out on the porch.

I admit I forgot to buy an extra bell pepper for this, so I subbed celery for that added sweetness and crunch. I also used a locally made hot spicy mustard instead of whole-grain. Definitely some versitility here. I WILL be making this again. Recommended!

Made enough for 2 meals for 2, plus an additional meal for 1.

Photo from EatingWell.com

Serves 4

6 hard-boiled large eggs, peeled
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
2 teaspoons hot sauce
½ cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
½ cup finely chopped celery, leaves reserved for garnish
4 slices whole-wheat bread, toasted
1 clove garlic, cut in half (skipped)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
Fresh parsley for garnish

Mash eggs in a large bowl with a fork or potato masher. Stir in mayonnaise, capers, dill, lemon juice, mustard and hot sauce. Pat bell pepper and celery dry and stir into the egg mixture.

Rub one side of each toast with garlic, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with pepper. Divide avocado among the toasts and top with the egg salad. Garnish with celery leaves and parsley, if desired.


Poached Fish (Mosquito Supperclub Coookbook)
I had to return the cookbook to the library before I could type out the recipe for review. Personally, I thought this was some of the best poached fish I had done. It was a pretty simple recipe that packed a lot of flavor. I did use frozen cod, and will admit it wasn't the best quality. And no, "fresh" seafood doesn't happen here in the middle of the continent. Hm, this might be good with fresh whitefish. Hm.

From memory, recipe was comprised of fish stock (chicken stock in my case),Bay leaves, peppercorns, cayenne pepper (yes!), and maybe some creole seasoning? The ingredients are combined in a dutch oven or fish poacher if you have one. The stock is brought to barely a simmer (140*) and the fish added. Cooking times will depend up on the size of the fillets and type of fish.

I did serve this over rice with some peas along side. Quite good.

As for the cookbook - I'm on the fence about getting it. Lots of excellent recipes from Louisiana and the Bayou, gorgeous photos, well written directions that used both measured amounts and weighed amounts, but there was a whole middle section on seafood that, as I noted above, I can't get here. At all. So...still thinking on this.