Pumpkin Pound Cake

This was my favorite dessert for this year's T-Day holiday. Not only was it delicious the day I made it, it was just as tasty the next day and the next. What can I say. I love pound cake. I had a hard time spreading the sugar glaze and it seemed as though the glaze could handle a lot more liquid than what the recipe originally called for.

Pumpkin Pound Cake with a Sugar Glaze

Cake Ingredients:

3 3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 c organic pumpkin pureé
3/4 c whole milk
6 large eggs
1 1/2 c organic granulated sugar
1 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and dust with flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, spice, baking powder and baking soda.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add an egg, one at a time and beat until combined.

3. Alternate flour and milk while mixing into the egg/butter/sugar mixture until everything is combined.

4. Spoon into a prepared Bundt pan and bake for an hour. If a toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

Sugar Glaze Ingredients:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3+ tbsp whole milk

Put glaze ingredients into a bowl and whisk together with enough milk until it is thin enough to pour on top of cake. 

Pumpkin Roll with Candied Ginger

This is another dessert I made for Thanksgiving. It's also really easy to do if you're pressed on time. Party guests will enjoy the presentation of this one. Use a wet knife to cut this into 3/4" slices. Pumpkin and cream cheese go well together, candied ginger brings the element of heat and warm spice to the filling. While I only put a handful of chopped candied ginger in, I think the filling can accommodate much more...maybe up to a half cup of candied ginger? Guests who tried this only remembered the ginger after having been told there was candied ginger in the filling.

Pumpkin Roll with Candied Ginger

Cake Ingredients

3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 c canned organic pumpkin pureé
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp kosher salt or sea salt
1/2 c organic granulated sugar (can add up to 1 cup if you like sweeter cake)

Chocolate-covered Toffee

This recipe came together much easier than I thought it would. It's best if this is shared with a group of people rather than noshing on it yourself. It is a sugar, fat, and calorie-dense food item that I plated as one of the appetizers for this year's Stragglers Thanksgiving. The calorie penalty shouldn't be too bad split among 20+ guests. 

There are two stages to this. First, make the toffee. The second stage involves melting dark, semisweet or milk chocolate chips on the toffee while it is still hot. Better start with your chocolate chips at room temperature. 

Chocolate Covered Toffee

Ingredients

1 c unsalted butter, cut into chunks (melts faster)
1 c organic granulated sugar
1/4 c filtered water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Butter a 13" x 9" glass baking dish and set aside. This is so that the toffee comes out smoothly.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and bring the butter, sugar, water, and salt to a rolling boil. This should take just under 10 minutes to bring the mixture to a boil. Stir occasionally. When the thermometer reads 300 degrees F, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Total cooking time is roughly 18-20 minutes.

3. Pour the hot toffee into the prepared pan. Tilt the sides of the pan to evenly distribute the toffee. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and let this sit for about 5 minutes so that the chips melt from the residual heat. Using an off-set spatula, spread the chocolate over the toffee.

When the toffee cools, it'll set. You can hasten its cooling but setting the entire pan in the fridge to cool. To remove, invert the pan onto a cutting board or parchment paper-lined cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut into bite-sized pieces.

Lentil Sausage Soup

This is my first time cooking with green lentils. I originally bought a bag of lentils (12 grams of protein per serving) as an ingredient to make protein powder for a smoothie; but alas, the weather turned really cold and I haven't been in the mood to make it. Despite their small size, I am still baffled by how long these cook to become tender. Since the green ones usually are sold whole, I wonder if they're easy to grow. Apparently you can also sprout them indoors for fresh sprouts.

Serves 1.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c water
1 tsp Organic Better than Bouillon (beef flavor)
1/4 c whole green lentils
1 sausage, any variety, cut into pieces

Directions

Bring everything to a boil, then simmer partly covered over low heat for 25 minutes. Lentils should be done. Give it a stir every so often so the lentils don't burn.

Serve hot.

[update] Wow, this is really salty. Maybe no almost-instant bouillon next time, just a good hearty broth.

Daikon Soup

My folks make this soup the traditional way...with a pork bone broth. Traditionally, it is cooked with other earthy ingredients such as shitake mushrooms, some fresh ginger, and maybe a carrot or two for color. The broth itself should be clear, if you're using a meat broth. This version did not come out looking all that clear since I used store bought vegetable broth. 

Ingredients

1 large daikon radish, peeled and cut into chunks
1 quart vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 organic carrots, chopped into 1" pieces
4 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
1 tsp kosher salt

Directions

1. Bring ingredients to a boil, including the reserved mushroom dashi and exclude the carrots. 

2. Simmer on low for an hour or until the radish is fork-tender. Add carrots to the last 15 minutes of cook time.

3. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Quick Pickled Daikon Radish

I picked up a daikon radish at the market today. What you're looking for in this particular radish is that it is fat, white, and has really smooth skin with few roots. This is a water-dense vegetable, so keep that in mind with the prep steps. I used a large hole grater to grate the radish; but you can also cut the radish into matchstick sized pieces. I opted for the former because it took less time. I also drained and squeezed out as much of the water from the grated radish before adding it to a pickling brine.

This makes 1 pint of pickled radish.

Ingredients

1 pint Mason glass jar, cleaned
1/2 lb daikon radish, peeled and sliced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1/2 c rice vinegar

Directions

In the pint jar, add salt, sugar, and vinegar. Stir to dissolve salt and sugar. Add daikon radish and stir to combine. Cover with lid and refrigerate overnight before using.

Baked Chicken with Kimchi

This dish is quick, easy and requires just a little preparation. I use an oven safe stainless steel skillet for this. It does not reheat well by stovetop or oven; so keep that in mind when planning for leftovers. Depending on the saltiness of the kimchi, there is no need to salt this dish. At the same time, you could make oven baked rice to complement the chicken. I've been using chicken thighs and other cuts could be used instead, except for skinless chicken breast. It has a different cook time than bone-in chicken meat.  If you want to be extra creative, you can reserve the chicken bones from this recipe to make chicken stock later. Simply gather all the chicken bones and freeze them until needed.

I've had mixed results cooking with skinless/boneless chicken meat. If you are using skinless chicken, you may just want to stir-fry the chicken meat (cut into 1/2" pieces) with the kimchi instead of baking.

Ingredients

1 lb raw chicken parts, with skin and bone-in
1 c homemade kimchi

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. In a skillet, add kimchi to the bottom then arrange chicken in a single layer on top.

2. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer measures 160 degrees F in the thickest part of the chicken.

3. Remove from oven and serve hot.

Plate with oven baked rice or baked sweet potatoes (these also cook for the same amount of time at the same heat setting).

Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is a freeform cookie experiment. I didn't really start with a cookie base; if I did, it started this way.. Two sticks of butter plus one cup of brown sugar with two room temperature eggs. I wasn't aiming to make a sweet cookie. Hot out of the oven, these cookies disintegrate upon eating. While they look nice out in the tray, they are hard to remove without a spoon or flat spatula. I baked a dozen on a rimmed cookie sheet and another dozen in a muffin tin. It looks like, the muffin tin is the way to go for these cookies. They spread a little, but the muffin tin helps to keep the rounded shape. I think the amount of brown sugar is plenty for the sweetness. The more I play with the cookie crumbs on a plate, the more I think this would make an excellent streusel topping for some other dessert.

Makes 3 dozen.

Coconut raisin cookies. Looks normal?

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tbsp raw chia seeds (optional)
2 c old fashioned oatmeal, coarsely ground
1 c golden raisins
1/2 c sweetened (or unsweetened) grated coconut (optional)
1/2 c cake flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together, add eggs, then mix everything together in a large bowl.

2. Roll a tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and place each ball into the cavity of a muffin tin.

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Let cook on a rack.

Braised Bamboo Shoots

In a previous life, I might have been a panda because of my love of bamboo shoots. I love them braised, pickled, fried, and stewed. Fresh bamboo shoots are hard to come by in the Pacific Northwest. A few of the larger Asian grocery stores (Fubonn, Uwajimaya, etc.) carry it in vacuum-sealed packs. I use the canned winter bamboo shoots. They are more tender. The canned variety offers different cuts, some are flat and rectangular like miniature planks of wood, others are cut to matchstick size, and some manufacturers have the peeled shoot. Bamboo on its own is bland and nearly flavorless. But, it is very high in fiber and very, very low in calories. A cup of bamboo shoots has about 25 calories. It's a good side dish.

Ingredients

1 lb peeled winter bamboo shoots, cut into thin strips or matchsticks
3 tbsp soy sauce (or a combination of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce)
3 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp brown sugar, optional
3 scallions (green onions), cut into 1" pieces
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
peanut oil or olive oil, for frying

1/2 c dried shitake mushrooms (rehydrated, stemmed and quartered) or 1 c fresh shitake mushrooms, quartered --optional

Directions

0. In a small bowl, combine rice wine, soy sauce and sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar.

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan until it is hot. Add green onions and ginger. Stir fry until the oil is fragrant and the green onions turn a rich green color. Add bamboo shoots and soy/wine sauce. Stir until combined. Simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated entirely.

2. Remove from heat and finish with sesame oil (if using). Serve hot.

Kitchen Notes: Hacking the Coconut

The coconut can be a very formidable opponent in the kitchen. And, granted it has taken me much longer than all the YouTube videos combined that I've watched on how to open a brown coconut. I swear, I did whack it with a hammer and to no avail. Finally, tonight It opened with minimal effort.

There's a video that shows how to open a coconut in 30 seconds. Except the prep time is 12 hours! Needless to say, this was my first attempt. I put the coconut in the freezer for 12 hours, took it out, whacked it with the hammer and nothing happened.

Back into the fridge it went for thawing.

Then, I took a philips screwdriver and a hammer and pierced the coconut's eyes. Draining the coconut of its water yielded almost a cup of coconut water. I hear it has a lot of potassium and electrolytes.

After that, I used the Alton Brown method and preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, then baked the coconut for 15 minutes. The coconut isn't that hot out of the oven, but you'll still want to wear an oven mitt because of the chaff of the outer husk. Give the coconut a few good whacks with the hammer and the shell will start to crack and come off. Use a vegetable peeler to peel off the stubborn inner skin.

What you should have left is a whole coconut, minus the outer hard shell. At least I didn't have to pry the meat out of the shell with a paring knife and scrape off the inner brown skin.

A peeled coconut, ready for use