All About Recipes Cake

Cake recipes from my mom's 70th birthday

2015-03-16T21:34:00.003-07:00

As promised, I will deliver you today to dessert table my mom recipes. The cakes have proved popular, so I think you have tasted good. They are all recipes that can be made fast times simply, without much effort, but with much effect :)

Cake recipes

Tiramisu Biskuitrolle

dough

4 eggs

125 g sugar

1 sachet of vanilla sugar

50 g cornstarch

75 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

cream

200 g cream

250 g mascarpone

75 g sugar

1 cold espresso

3 tablespoons Amaretto flavor powder Cappucino-

Decoration

4-5 strawberries

Ladyfingers or Amarettini

dark cocoa

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. The eggs with the sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy. Mix the flour with the cornflour and the baking powder and the Eicreme seven, then undergo with a whisk. Spread on a baking sheet a piece of parchment paper and spread the dough out until golden brown about 10 minutes in the oven, take out and on a cloth that is sprinkled with sugar tip and gently peel away the parchment paper immediately. Roll the dough baked biscuit from the long side in the kitchen towel and let cool. Now the kitchen towel carefully roll hreausnehmen the biscuit. The whip cream for the cream stiff, the mascarpone with the sugar and stir until smooth Cappucino- powder, stir the cream into the mascarpone 1/2 loose, set aside the rest of the cream. Spread the mascarpone cream on the sponge cake and drizzle the espresso it. Now roll the sponge roll. Spread the rest of the cream over the sponge roll, sprinkle cocoa in a colander about halve strawberries to decorate the Amarettini and the strawberries on the jelly-roll.

Cake Recipes

Crumb Cake

dough

500 g flour

100 g sugar

300 ml of milk

100 g melted butter

1 cube of yeast

1 pinch of salt

crumble mixture

400 g flour

250 g sugar

250 g butter

Heat a little of the milk lukewarm, let the yeast work with a little sugar in 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients in a food processor with the yeast mixture knead to a smooth dough, cover and let rise for about an hour. For the streusel ingredients as long zerkneten in a bowl by hand until crumble is formed of. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. A Backplech grease with margarine and spread the dough on it and then distribute the Streuselmasse on the dough. Bake in oven, take out and cooled cut into smaller pieces for about 30 minutes.

Cupcakes, birthday cakes

Mini apple Gugels

dough

250 g flour

150 g sugar

125 g margarine

2 eggs

1 sachet of vanilla sugar

1 cup milk or buttermilk

2 small grated apples

icing sugar

The ingredients all mix together in a bowl and pour into a silicone mini Cowl form (Ikea) and bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees for about 20- 25 minutes. If the small Gugels have cooled sprinkle with a little powdered sugar.

Chocolate cake for cake motif

Chocolate cake for cake motif

dough

250 g soft butter

170 g sugar

1 vanilla sugar

200 g flour

1 packet of baking powder

3 heaped tablespoons baking cocoa

4 eggs

1 pinch of salt

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

cream

80 g butter, softened

150 g icing sugar

250 g cream cheese

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons limoncello

yellow food coloring

The butter with the sugar and vanilla sugar mix, stir the eggs one, mix the flour with the baking powder, cocoa and salt alternately with the yogurt and stir in the milk.

Bake in preheated oven in a baking frame at 175 degrees bake for about 40 minutes.

For the cream stir the butter with the icing sugar and creamy mix in the remaining ingredients. Divide the cake is done in three equal parts, twice cut each piece to give the lowest part cream, the next part of it, put cake, spread cream until such time as the whole cake pieces and cream are used up.

I wish you much fun to bake

PERFECT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2015-03-06T01:48:00.000-08:00

There seems to be two main variations of cream cheese frosting. One is more cheesy than sweet and the other is way more sweet than cheesy. Personally, I don't care for either.

Today's recipe is a magical blend of both styles of cream cheese frosting. It is VERY smooth and VERY creamy, it has the flavor of a GREAT cheesecake but it definitely has some sweetness too....it's just perfect, AND it pipes well !!

(2) 8 ounce packages full fat cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup UNSALTED butter (room temperature)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and the UNSALTED butter together with electric mixer (on high) until smooth and creamy.

Add the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar,(add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth between each addition.

Scrape down interior of the bowl and give it one last mix...that's it!!

This is the perfect frosting for that red velvet cake you've been wanting to make.

ENJOY !!!

EASY ANGEL FOOD CUPCAKES

2015-03-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

Slight variations of this easy angel food cupcake recipe are all over the Internet, but look no further, todays post is DELICIOUS!!!

Even my picky-picky husband ate several of these this afternoon and he is NOT known to be big on snacking (so that is quite the thumbs up at our house).

The cupcake is super moist, ultra light and fluffy and definitely going (immediately) into my "make again soon" recipe box.

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons caster sugar(divided)(see note below)
1/2 cup CAKE FLOUR (no substitutions)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites (at room temperature) (see note below)
2 1/2 tablespoons warm water (not hot)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350° and put paper cupcake liners in your cupcake pan (makes 18).

Sift together 1/2 cup castor sugar (reserve the rest) + 1/2 cup cake flour + salt and set this mixture aside. (*Make sure you use only 1/2 cup of the castor sugar in this step)

With electric mixer and a large bowl (I use my stand mixer), beat the egg whites, warm water, vanilla, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the reserved caster sugar. Beat until its very foamy, then while the mixer is still going, sprinkle in the reserved final two tablespoons of caster sugar and beat on high till stiff peaks form. If you are using a hand mixer, this can take as long as 5 minutes, but I had stiff peaks in only 2-3 minutes with my stand mixer.

After egg white mixture reaches stiff peaks, turn mixer off and use a spatula to GENTLY FOLD IN the cake flour mixture (about 1/3 of it at a time).

Divide the batter (it will look like meringue) evenly between 18 cupcake papers. Stack the batter high above the top of the cupcake papers.

Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or till top is light golden. Remove from oven and cool in the pan. When they are completely cool to the touch when you hold your hand against the underside of the cupcake pan.....then you can frost or top with whipped cream and berries.

NOTE: If you do not have caster sugar(which is fine sugar but NOT powdered sugar) you can make it by putting it in the food processor for about 15 seconds. Just make sure you measure it AFTER it comes out of the food processor.

NOTE: To get "room temperature eggs", I put mine in a bowl and then cover them with (almost) hot tap water and let them sit for 15 minutes.

NOTE: Make sure you stack the batter in a well rounded mound above the top of the cupcake paper. When you first take them out of the oven, they will look tall, but they collapse as they cool so that the final cupcake is even with the top of the cupcake paper.

ENJOY !!!

SARAH LEE POUND CAKE CLONE

2015-02-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many times I've tried one of those clone recipes and later thought..."close, but no cigar". But this time, I've hit the mother lode.

Not only is this cake made from standard pantry staples, but it is rich, buttery and it has a very fine and velvety crumb, just like a Sarah Lee pound cake. I can think of a million great uses for this quick and easy cake, but I doubt it will last that long around here. I'm definitely going to be putting one of these beauties in the freezer for unexpected guests.

8 ounces butter at room temperature (no substitutions)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 2/3 cups CAKE FLOUR (important, no substitutes)
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe calls for an 8 1/2" loaf pan. If you are using Pyrex, preheat your oven to 325°. If you are using a metal pan, preheat the oven to 350°. Spray the pan with cooking spray, then line it with parchment paper (or foil) and spray again.

Cream the butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on high speed for a full FIVE MINUTES.

Add one of the eggs and a couple spoons of the flour and beat another TWO MINUTES.

Add the 2nd egg and half of the remaining flour and beat another TWO MINUTES.

Add the sour cream and the rest of the flour and the extracts, and beat another TWO MINUTES.

Spread the batter into the greased parchment paper lined loaf pan and bake 65 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean.

Cool in the pan (on a rack) for 20 minutes before you take it out of the pan. Wrap the HOT pound cake snugly in plastic wrap and cool completely.

NOTES: It is important to use cake flour. With all of the mixing in this recipe, all purpose flour or bread flour wouldn't give you a very good cake.

Catering to Charleston

2015-02-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

On this cold and gloomy day the mind wanders to the warn, ocean blown streets of Charleston and the gentility that comes to mind. Frances Hamby was the premiere caterer in Charleston, South Carolina. Hamby Catering is still the cater to call for everything from bridge luncheons to elegant weddings.

Since Hamby catered most Charleston events, it has been said that more than one dowager existed almost exclusively on Hamby's food. The menus are so ubiquitous that walking into an event, most women can tell which catering plan the hostess had opted to order.

Fran Hamby began in the "business" when she catered her daughter's wedding reception. It was so successful that the elite of Charleston began to call Mrs. Hamby wherever they needed a party. The rest, as they say, is history.

After years of being "The" caterer to Charleston, Mrs. Hamby collected her recipes in Catering to Charleston. The book is filled with recipes and tips for successful events. It is interspersed with poems and recollections from Elizabeth Bullock Godfrey, a close friend and lifelong Charlestonian. Both food and history fall off the pages and while it is true that most every kitchen in Charleston has a copy of Catering to Charleston most people in Charleston simply call up Hamby.

Sadly, we are not in Charleston. If there is a quintessential Hamby recipe, it might just be the shrimp paste. We admit that the term "shrimp paste" seems a tad unappealing, but it is quite magical. While the recipe suggests serving with crackers, it is the essential ingredient in shrimp sandwiches. A thin layer on very white bread that has been denuded of any speck of crust and cut into a three bite serving. Dowagers aside, this is a diet we would be happy to live on.

Mrs. Patrick's Shrimp Paste

1 pound medium sized shrimp, cooked, peeled, and deveined
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1/4 teaspoon minced onions
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise or more to bind mixture
Assorted mild crackers

In a food processor, coarsely chop shrimp. Combine together shrimp, salt, celery seeds, onions, juice and Tabasco. Add mayonnaise and store until mixture holds together. Cover and refrigerate. Serve with mild crackers.

Ah to be in Charleston.

Cakes and Ale

2015-02-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today's cookbook is a bit more on the essay side the the actual cooking side. Cakes and Ale by Edward Spencer is a varied collection of recollections, meals, menus and haphazard recipes collected and published in 1897. Spencer has an amazing turn of phrase and one cannot ope this book to any page without being thoroughly delighted at the banter.

Wholesome British food is usually sufficient for the ordinary British appetite, without such surroundings as marble pillars.

(But marble pillars are soooo nice.)

Let your sideboard -- it is assumed you have a sideboard -- sigh and lament its hard lot under its weight of cold joints, game and pies.

(Well, of course we have a sideboard!)

Clam Chowder is an acquired one, nor will stewed tortoise ever rank with thick turtle in British estimation.

(We are willing to acquire a taste for clam chowder if we could just get someone to make it for us.)

Spencer goes on and on...

Here is his recipe for a hot-pot, a casserole of epic proportion.

Lancashire Hot-Pot

Place a layer of mutton cutlets, with most of the fat and tails trimmed off, at the bottom of a deep earthenware stewpan. Then a layer of chopped sheep's kidneys, an onion cut in thin slices, half a dozen oysters, and some sliced potatoes. Sprinkle over a little salt and pepper and a teaspoonful of curry powder. Then start again with the cutlets, and keep adding layers of the different ingredients until the dish be full. Whole potatoes atop of all, and pour in the oyster liquor and some good gravy. Mare gravy just before the dish is served.

Not too fierce and oven, just fierce enough to brown the top potatoes.

I long for a cookbook that calls for a "fierce" oven!

Clearly, one won't be doing a lot of cooking from Cakes and Ale, but it is a glorious read. Troll the Internet and a digital copy may be found.

OLD FASHIONED CARAMEL FROSTING

2015-02-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

This is one of those great old classic recipes that gets passed down from generation to generation because it is just SO delicious. ~~It doesn't even need cake, I would be happy with a bowl of this frosting and a big spoon!!~~ This frosting would be GREAT on ANY cake!!

A true caramel flavor, not that imitation caramel kind.

1/2 cup butter (no substitutions)
1 cup dark brown sugar (packed tight)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Melt the butter over medium low heat in a saucepan that has a heavy bottom (this helps the frosting not to scorch).

Add the dark brown sugar and stir well. Bring it up to full boil (stirring all the time)

Add the heavy cream (it will bubble up a little, so make sure your saucepan is big enough). Return to a boil (stirring) and boil for 30 seconds (keep stirring), then remove from the heat.

Pour this hot mixture into a stand mixer and add the sugar, vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons milk (add sugar one cup at a time). Beat until well combined.

If the frosting seems a little thick, add the other 2 tablespoons of milk and beat well. (I always end up putting in all 4 tablespoons of milk for some reason).

This frosting is too creamy to use in a decorator bag, but it is perfect for sheet cakes, cupcakes, etc.

Keep in mind that this is a cooked frosting and it will "set up" after its completely cooled and be ALMOST fudgy in texture.

ENJOY !!!

GUILT FREE REFRIED BEANS

2015-02-10T00:49:00.000-08:00

First, let me say that I love traditional refried beans. I could eat them in or on anything. However, recently, I've been trying to eat a little healthier, so I've been experimenting with bean recipes, trying to create one that will not only be "guilt free", but one that will hit all of those coveted comfort-food bells in my head. A tall order, I know.

My first attempts were just plain bland. The next attempts were tasty but it was still missing that ~~butter, bacon, ham hock~~ something I couldn't put my finger on.

So I finally just took a wild fling and added a can of fire roasted tomatoes and upped the seasonings just a little, and BINGO, I am VERY satisfied with the outcome. Even picky-picky husband (without prompting, mind you) said, "these beans are really good". They are also made in the Crockpot, so it doesn't get much easier than that!!!

1 1/2 cups DRY pinto beans (no need to soak)
(1) 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
1 1/2 tomato can of water
(1) 4 ounce can mild green chili's
2 (scant) teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable (or corn) oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (important)

Saute the chopped onion in the vegetable oil until they are tender, then add the garlic and sauté for another minute.

Put the sautéed onion/garlic in the Crockpot, then add everything else and cook on low for 8 hours, or overnight, your house will smell heavenly the next morning.

Drain the cooked beans (save the liquid) and put them in a food processor. Pulse a few times (depending on how smooth you like your refried beans). If they seem a little dry, add some of the reserved bean liquid (I like mine a little on the "wet" side, so I add about half cup of the liquid).

Use in any recipe that requires refried beans. This recipe freezes very well.

NOTE: Don't freak out about there being tomatoes in this recipe. I know it isn't traditional, but you can barely tell they are there. They just add a nice FULL (low calorie flavor).

ENJOY !!!

My Beverly Hills Kitchen

2015-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Alex Hitz's book, My Beverly Hills Kitchen has that "old school" feel to it without being the least bit stuffy or dated. It has that Craig Claiborne, James Villas, and Lee Bailey feel about it and rightly so. Hitz has that erudite, well-travel, socially connected vibe about him, but whether in Paris, London, or Timbuktu, one can take the boy out of the South but one can never take the South out of the boy!

Seriously, who doesn't love a book featuring a big platter of fried chicken next to grand mama's silver? We would definitely party with this guy. And we would have a good time, too. The book is a perfect storm of Southern classics like shrimp and grits with some biscuits thrown in along side some very French cooking things like a hollandaise from Escoffier. Hitz likes to name drop, but rarely gives much detail other than he got this recipe from so and so or he ate this dish with at her house.

His Osso Buco is one such dish. He mentions that several years ago in LA. (Los Angeles and not Lower Alabama) EVERYONE served osso buco. He served it a dinner party, Betsy Bloomingdale served it and Prince and Princess Rupert Lowenstein served it at lunch. He is somehow connected to the Rolling Stones which gives us an extra name or tow to drop. And still, it is a fine recipe.

Osso Buco

3 pounds veal shanks with bones
1 teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
5 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons salted butter, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup sliced onions
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup diced celery
2¼ cups red wine
3½ cups chicken stock
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Gremolata (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Season both sides of the veal shanks with ½ teaspoon of the salt and ¼ teaspoon of the ground black pepper.

Place the flour in a medium mixing bowl and toss the seasoned shanks in the flour until they are coated. Shake off the excess flour and reserve the ribs.

In a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the oil. When the foaming has subsided, add the shanks to the skillet.

This is the most crucial step: Brown, and I mean brown, the shanks in the butter and oil on all sides until they are crusty, about 15-20 minutes. You may have to do this in batches. Do not crowd the pan, or you will steam the meat instead of browning it. Pay attention, as this is truly the most important part of this recipe. Transfer the browned shanks to a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish and let them cool.

Remove the burned oil and butter from the skillet, and let the skillet cool slightly.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in the skillet over low heat, but do not let the butter burn. The skillet will be very hot.

When the foaming has subsided, add both the sliced and chopped onions and sauté for about 2 minutes, until just slightly translucent, and then add the carrots and celery. Sauté for 10 to 12 minutes until the vegetables are just barely soft.

Transfer the cooked vegetables to the baking dish with the shanks, and then pour in the wine and stock. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and the thyme. Top the dish with a bay leaf in the middle.

Cover the baking dish tightly and bake it for 2½ hours.

Remove it from the oven, uncover it, and remove the bay leaf. Remove the meat and pour the liquid and vegetables into a heavy medium saucepan. Place the saucepan in the freezer for about 20 minutes and then skim off the excess fat. Reduce the oven heat to 300° F.

After you have skimmed the fat, place the saucepan on the stove over high heat and boil it until the sauce thickens, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the parsley.

Put the shanks back in the baking dish and pour half the thickened sauce over them. Cover the dish tightly and put it in the oven again for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the shanks and uncover them. They should be falling off the bone by now. Heat the rest of the sauce in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat.

Turn to oven to broil. Broil the shanks for 5 to 7 minutes, until they are caramelized, and then let them rest for about 5 minutes before serving. Top with gremolata, and pass the remaining sauce with the shanks.

NOTE These are infinitely better if all the steps through the baking are done the day before serving.

Gremolata

2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 garlic cloves, peeled
4 sprigs parsley
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process all the ingredients until a paste forms. Serve the Gremolata on top of the Osso Bucco.

Recently Hitz has been adding his recipes to the pages of House Beautiful, not to mention they ran a spread on his beautiful house. Do check him out.

EASY MOIST POUND CAKE

2015-02-06T00:40:00.000-08:00

This cake is not only easy to make, but it is super moist and flavorful. It is great just to snack on, or for shortcake or even petit fours. When its cooled, it cuts beautifully.

3/4 cup butter (room temperature)

6 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

5 eggs (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract (see note)

3 tablespoons milk

1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Spray a 9" x 5" x 2 3/4" loaf pan with cooking spray and then line the bottom only with parchment paper (waxed paper will work in a pinch) then spray the paper too..

In large bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, baking powder, milk and extracts until smooth.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. When the eggs are all in there, beat batter on high for 3 minutes.

Sift the flour, then add it (while the mixer is running on LOW) 1/4 cup at a time, beating only until the flour is well incorporated, but don't over mix.

Bake in prepared pan in pre-heated 350° oven for 70 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean. My electric oven takes 70 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and tip it out onto a cooling rack.

While the cake is still VERY hot, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and let it cool that way. This makes a huge difference in the moisture any cake will have. I do ALL of my cakes this way.

NOTE: The coconut extract gives this cake a wonderful flavor (you won't taste the coconut) but it really adds to the vanilla flavor. If you don't have coconut extract, use the required 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 more teaspoon of your favorite extract, like rum, or orange or almond.

Requiescat in Pace -- Colleen McCullough

2015-01-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

Colleen McCullough died on 29 January. She was Australia's best selling author, a neurophysiologist, and for us, a cookbook author. She was boisterous, witty, and more accomplished than most. So it was quite shocking and in profoundly bad taste that The Australian began her obituary, not with her remarkable gifts, but by stating she was "plain" and "overweight." Screw them!

Take a few moments to read our Famous Food Friday on Colleen McCullough from several years ago.

The Great British Breakfast

2015-01-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

There is a famous quote by Somerset Maugham about the British breakfast. He said, "If you eat well in England, you must eat breakfast three time a day." We are very fond of eating breakfast for dinner and while we do love pancakes at supper, the traditional British breakfast can top that. While the actual items on the plate vary, breakfast usually consists of the following:

fried eggs

sausage

black or/and white pudding

bacon

mushrooms

baked beans

potatoes

toast

tomato

A nice marmalade on the table for extra toast is a must. In fact, this edition of The Great British Breakfast was published in association with Frank Cooper, who most probably made the marmalade on the table.

Jan Read and Maite Manjon have written a good bit about wine, food and history, but in The Great British Breakfast they take a historical view of the English breakfast. If there was a prime period of breakfast, it was during the nineteenth century when country houses were flourishing. During the end of the century and into the very beginnings of the twentieth century, many cookbooks were published specifically for preparing breakfast. Some ideas for a proper breakfast for gentlemen included a menu of:

Kedgeree of Cod

Devilled Pheasant

Broiled Ham

Mutton Chops

Eggs aux Fine Herbs

While men might never pass on a breakfast option, women were much more particular and required a lighter fare such as:

Broiled Salmon

Roast Larks

Eggs

The Great British Breakfast is one of our favorite kinds of food books. It has a bit of history, a bit of story, and some recipes all mixed together. While the English loved a scone, a slightly different version existed in Scotland. While their potato scones featured boiled potatoes there was push for cooks to invest in a patented potato steamer. Steamed or boiled, potatoes are the key.

Potato Scones
1 lb (450g) potatoes, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1 oz (30g) butter or margarine
3-4 oz (80-110g) flour

Boil, drain and sieve the potatoes, Add the salt and butter and knead into a stiff dough with as much flour as it will absorb. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thick on a floured board, cut into triangles and prick with a fork. Bake on a hot greased griddle for about five minutes each side until browned.

A far cry from the usual breakfast of -- coffee!

OVEN POACHED EGGS !!

2015-01-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of mine, posted a video (from Foodstyle.com)about
poaching eggs in the oven and I was quite intrigued. Not only can poaching eggs, in the traditional method, ~~be a disaster~~ be challenging but you can only make 2-3 at a time!!

Here is what I found:

The video said to put about a tablespoon of water in each cup of a regular muffin pan, then crack an egg over the water and bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes.........well, that ALMOST worked.

I DID use the scant tablespoon of water, and I DID preheat my electric oven to 350°, but when I tried it using a standard cupcake (muffin) pan, the egg + water filled it to overflowing and took a full 20 minutes to cook, not 8 to 10.

On my second attempt, I had excellent luck using a jumbo size muffin pan (I think they call them Texas size?) and I gave it a light mist of vegetable spray, then put in the scant tablespoon of water and a large egg. I baked them at 350° for exactly 12 minutes (not 8 to 10)
and they lifted right out of the pan with a spoon.....YUM!!!

A PERFECTLY POACHED EGG !!

Whether you are making one or 30, this method (with my tweaks) really does work and it couldn't be easier!!

The difference in cooking time (between my oven and the Foodstyle video) COULD be that their oven simply runs hotter than mine or maybe they were using smaller eggs (?)With so many variables, I suggest you do a "test egg" to see how long it takes in your oven before you make a whole pan of these.

One other note: When your eggs are done to your liking, take them OUT OF THE PAN right away or they will continue to cook.

Don't you just want to

dunk your toast in this one?

ENJOY !!!

Food For The Greedy

2015-01-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

An oldie goldie on this snowy day. Not only is this book old, but it is a reprint of an even older version. Why Nancy Shaw chose to title this cookbook Food for the Greedy is beyond me. She states in her introduction:

The receipts which I have assembled in this small book are ones which I use regularly in my own home. I think that, at any rate, half of the receipts could not be met with elsewhere, as I have collected them for many years, from many people, in many lands.

They are indeed as strange mix of recipes culled from a lifetime of thinking about food. The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English posits that food writing or cookbooks, as one would think about them today, began in the 1920's. During this period, society ladies began to organize their recipes into collections and they often wrote columns in local papers. Cambridge is quick to point out that virtually none of these women could actually cook. This was a trend that continued through the 1930's when Food for the Greedy was originally published.

The very first recipe in the book is for a dish called Potassium Soup. This hardly sounds like a dish served for some greedy foodie. It also calls for canned okra. I can honestly say that I have never seen canned okra, but, in my defense, I rarely spend time in the canned vegetable isle of the grocery. I was so interested that I checked to see if there was still such a thing as canned okra. To my surprise, there is indeed canned okra and now I feel obliged to buy a can for my own edification, but I digress...

Potassium Soup

Cut up small: 3 carrots, 2 onions, 1 large head of celery, 1/2 can of okra and one kernel of garlic, and place them in 2 quarts of water. Boil for 17 minutes. Then add one handful of parsley and one green pepper, and boil again for 7 minutes. Add a large tin of tomatoes and boil up again. Strain through a sieve to the desired thickness.

American receipt, said to ensure longevity!

The "Okra" can be bought at good class grocers who stock less well known canned goods.

Well, it turns out that "Okra" can be bought at good class grocers who stock less well known canned goods or at Amazon. Clearly, with the help of Amazon we can all be greedy!

Death & Co

2015-01-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

Death & Co is how I have been feeling lately, but I won't bore you with the details. But I will try to start posting on a regular basis.

So Death & Co was a Christmas gift. Every year my friend, Ann, goes to my Amazon Wish List and buys me cookbooks. But in the last few years, she has also gone a bit rogue by choosing an extra book she pick on her own. This year, that book was Death & Co.

When I opened it, I told her that I was, indeed glad to get the book. It had sold out at many bookstores shortly before Christmas and was quite a find. Ann said proudly, "I know you like books about offal." Now here was a dilemma. Do I say but this is not a book about offal, it's a cocktail book? Do I ignore the comment? Does it matter?

Not really. While Ann loves to eat, she is not a big cook, so it really didn't matter. "It's a cocktail book," I said and Ann seemed pleased as she will drink cocktails but won't eat offal, so it was kind of a "win/win" for both of us.

Death & Co is the cocktail book from the bar of the same name. It has been that IT place to go in New York for grand chefs, hipster dudes, and other mere mortals. The reason that there is so much respect for this bar is because they know their stuff. David Kaplan, Alex Day, and Nick Fauchald have committed to paper the aesthetics of the bar.

In the old days of cocktails, a gin and tonic was a gin and tonic. Now days, there are hundreds of gins and more than a few different tonics. (As the owner of over 15 gins and and a handful of tonic options, let me just say how happy I am about the proliferation of independent spirits, but I digress....) Today's world is filled with craft spirits, each having its own taste and flavor. Add hundreds of new spirits to an equal number of new bitters and mixers and cocktails are exploding every where.

Death & Co like a good cocktail offers up a base of history, a bit of technique, a dash of science and mixes it together into a cocktail book that will stand the test of time. Yes, fifty years from now, your grandchildren will be thumbing your old copy of Death & Co in their first apartment in Brooklyn...or probably Hoboken, as Brooklyn is already too expensive for you to live there! The real question is how many of these specific "craft" spirits will still be here fifty years form now or even ten years from now?

My very favorite of all time gin, Veranda, had only a brief run over a decade ago in Vermont. It was before every other disgruntled business owner opened a distillery. It was before anyone ever mentioned craft spirits or cared that much about cocktails. Still, it was sublime. Then it was gone. What makes Death & Co such a comprehensive work, its detail to specific ingredients, might just be the death of the book in the future. So before we lose this wealth of glorious ingredients, get out there and have a drink. While you may not be able to afford Brooklyn, you may be able to still drink one.

Brooklyn

2 ounces Rittenhouse 100 Rye
3/4 ounce Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/4 ounce Amaro Ciociaro
1 teaspoon Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Stir all the ingredients over ice, then strain into a coupe. No garnish

PEANUT BUTTER ECLAIR CAKE

2015-01-23T17:02:00.000-08:00

The Éclair Cake idea has been around for years. It is a magical dessert that starts with pudding mix and graham crackers, and when it sits in the fridge overnight, something magical happens. The graham cracker layer "softens" and sort of turns into a "cake" layer (people are shocked when they find out its just graham crackers). The whole thing is delicious and I've made it a billion times. But todays post is a new and simple twist to the Éclair Cake: peanut butter!!

Yes, peanut butter is mixed into the pudding and it takes this simple dessert in a whole different direction. The next time I make this variation, I will use chocolate graham crackers (I only had regular ones this time)....you've gotta give this one a try.

(2) 3½ ounce instant vanilla pudding
1 cup creamy style peanut butter
8 ounce Cool Whip thawed
3 cups of milk
1 pound of graham crackers

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

6 tablespoons butter (melted)
6 tablespoons boiling water
6 tablespoons baking cocoa
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place a single layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9x13 dish (breaking to fit if necessary). With an electric mixer, beat the instant pudding, peanut butter with 3 cups milk until very smooth (about 2 minutes) then fold in the Cool Whip. Immediately pour half of this mixture over the 1st layer of graham crackers, spreading it out evenly.

Put another layer of graham crackers on top of the pudding and then another layer of pudding mixture. Top second layer of pudding with a final layer of graham crackers.

Cover the dish tightly, with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour before you frost it.

After an hour of chilling, whisk together the melted butter, boiling water, cocoa and vanilla until well blended. Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Immediately pour the frosting over the chilled pudding dessert and gently smooth it out.

Place dessert (uncovered) in fridge for an hour or so (until the frosting feels dry to the touch),then stretch plastic wrap over the pan(stretching it tightly so that it doesn't sag and touch the frosting)or just snap a lid onto the dish.

Refrigerate overnight (important).

NOTE: After this "cake" has been in the fridge, overnight, it is easy to cut into squares to serve because the graham crackers are soft.

REDUCED CALORIE SWEET & SOUR PORK

2015-01-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

We love sweet and sour pork and chicken (this recipe would work for either), but once you bread and DEEP FRY the meat, you are talking about A TON OF CALORIES. Well, this quick and easy little recipe does away with all of that breading AND all of that DEEP FRYING and it is STILL delicious !!!

MARINADE
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon sugar
3 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
black pepper to taste

Mix the above ingredients in a large bowl. Cut 1 1/2 pounds of pork (or chicken) tenderloin into bite size pieces and put in the marinade. Stir to coat all of the pieces, then let sit for 20 minutes.

SAUCE
1 cup chicken broth (not bullion,it's too salty)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 SLIGHTLY rounded teaspoons of corn starch
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pinch of black pepper

Cook all of the sauce ingredients together until it thickens, then turn the heat down to a VERY LOW SIMMER and let it barely bubble while you brown the meat.

In a large skillet (I use my electric fry pan), heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a tablespoon of butter until HOT (I turn my electric skillet all the way up). Add the marinated meat and spread it out so that none of the pieces are on top of each other. Let the meat brown (about 3-4 minutes?), then stir and put a lid on the pan so that everything gets cooked through (you want to get some nice brown crusty color on the edges of the pieces).

Once the meat is 99% done (keep lifting the lid to check for doneness), add the cooked sauce to the meat and keep stirring until everything is well coated. Reduce the heat and cook it all together for about 2 more minutes (watch carefully so the sauce doesn't burn).

Serve over hot rice. Couldn't be easier!!

Picky-picky husband is VERY SHY of spicy food, so 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne is just perfect for him. If you like extra heat, just add a little more cayenne when you cook the sauce.

ENJOY !!!

Happy, happy...

2015-01-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas, Holidays, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year, Birthday whatever else there is out there...

(Sorry in advance as no one cares about others illnesses but... )Woke up Christmas Eve morning with a bit of a cough. Escalated from there. Still a bit puny. How puny one might ask? Well pictured above is my Christmas haul of new cookbooks. (Thanks Ann, for checking the Wish List and to Catherine for a surprise.) I finally got around to looking at them today! Yes, today.

Needless to say, there will be much to write about in the coming year...

SWEET BACON-CHICKEN BUNDLES

2015-01-01T23:34:00.000-08:00

We discovered these delicious little bundles over the holidays. They are quick to fix and are absolutely perfect for potlucks, buffets, or a quick supper. They are totally addicting, so make lots of them!!

SWEET BACON-CHICKEN BUNDLES
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (we like thighs better)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
bacon (regular, not thick)

Preheat oven to 375° and bake the bacon for 10 minutes only. After 10 minutes, drain the bacon and set aside. You will need one half slice of bacon for each chicken bundle.

Cut the raw chicken into 1" cubes, then wrap half of (a partially cooked) slice of bacon around each cube of raw chicken, and secure it with a toothpick. Next, mix the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin and salt together and roll the bacon-chicken in this mixture. Make sure you get it into all the folds of the bacon.

Place the bundles on a baking screen or cooling rack that you've liberally sprayed with vegetable spray. Set the sprayed rack on a rimmed baking sheet that you have lined with foil (important for easier clean up). If you have any sugar left over, spoon a teaspoon or so on top of each bundle.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Delicious hot or room temperature. If you like a little heat along with your sweet, add some cayenne to the sugar mixture.

ENJOY !!!

MAKE BUTTER IN YOUR STAND MIXER

2014-12-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

Do you have a lot of heavy whipping cream leftover from the holidays like I do? If so, consider turning it into butter with your stand mixer. It only takes about 15 minutes tops, and the mixer does all the work.

This isn't something I would make on a regular basis, but it IS perfect for very special occasions (try mixing in your favorite herbs or spices). It is also a fun project you can do with your kids.

All it takes is some heavy whipping cream + salt, + a stand mixer + 15 minutes .... and "hocus-pocus", you will have butter!!

Start out with a quart of ICE COLD heavy whipping cream

Whip it, on medium high, in your stand mixer, using the wire whisk attachment. It will try and splatter a little, so I usually cover my whole mixer with a dish towel.

Whip until you get nice stiff peaks, like this (should take about 4-5 minutes.

Now this next step is where the "butter" starts to happen. Change from your whisk to your paddle attachment. Let the mixture beat for a few more minutes (at medium high speed,)and it will start to look a little more yellow and it will "loosen up" considerably. This is when you need to make a serious plastic wrap cover for the top of your bowl because it starts to splash.

The mixture will start to separate like this:

Don't freak out, this is what its supposed to look like. The buttermilk is starting to separate from the butter.

After it has whipped a little longer, the mixture will completely "break down" and separate, like this: (click on the photo to get a better look).

Although this liquid is called buttermilk, it is very thin and nothing like commercial buttermilk.

You are now done with the whipping stage (the whole process takes about 12-15 minutes) but there are a couple more steps:

Put the butter into a strainer, and drain off the liquid, It will look like this:

Rinse the "chunks" under VERY COLD running water (the water will not effect the butter as long as it is very cold). Squeeze the pieces together as you rinse the butter. You are basically trying to rinse out any little pockets of milk liquid.

Work 1/2 teaspoon table salt into the butter (or you can leave it unsalted). To do this step, I put the butter back in the stand mixer and beat it for a few seconds, so the salt would be evenly distributed.

Finally you have butter !!

A quart of heavy cream will make 10 ounces of delicious butter. It will keep in the fridge for about a week, or you can freeze it.

This sounds like a LOT of steps, but they are really

very simple and straight forward.

ENJOY !!!

Bourbon & Bacon

2014-12-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Do you really need me to say anything?

The Pastry Queen Christmas

2014-12-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas is upon us and we have yet to feature a Christmas cookbook, so allow us to rectify that oversight. Many years ago, we featured the Rebecca Rather's first cookbook, The Pastry Queen. She returned in 2007 with The Pastry Queen Christmas.

Rather owns the Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe in the land of Texas. Like much of Texas, everything is big. Her first cookbook, features on its cover, meringue tarts with meringue that towers over the actual tart. Because frankly, meringue should run about three or four times as high as the pie it is sitting on.

The book does try to skews toward Christmas, with recipes including peppermint, cranberries, pumpkin, spiced claret and the like, it is really a fine cold weather cookbook. Yes, Texas stays pretty warm, but go with us on this. It also leans toward the spirit of place, featuring such Tex/Mex faves as Frito pie, quesadillas, sopaipillas, and cowboy coffee. Combining two traditions offers up some fun ideas for holiday entertaining.

Every holiday season has its signature cake. That cake that gets baked only once a year. that cake that disappears in one sitting. That cake you crave all year long. For Rather it is a coconut cake. It is a long and somewhat involved recipe, but one that have heads turning. Like most of these cakes, Rather's comes from a recipe by her Great-Aunt Molly. Various cousins have changed the recipe a bit, but this is the one Rather is sticking with.

Christmas Coconut Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk (available canned in the Asian section of most grocery stores, or see Tip)
1/4 cup coconut cream (Coco Lopez)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 large egg whites at room temperature

Whipped Cream Filling

1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons coconut cream (Coco Lopez)
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut (optional, see Tip)

Frosting

2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups unsweetened flaked coconut for decorating

Preparation

Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and another in the top third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter three 9-inch cake pans, then line each with a parchment paper round. Butter the paper and dust the pans with flour; knock out the excess.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt to blend. In a small bowl, stir together the milk, coconut milk, and coconut cream until smooth. Add the flour mixture in 3 increments, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 increments, starting and ending with the flour mixture. After each addition, mix at low speed just to combine the ingredients. Stir in the vanilla.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter until evenly blended. Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Set two layers on the top rack and the third on the lower rack. Stagger the cake layers on the oven racks so no layer is directly under another. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Monitor the layers carefully for doneness; each one may be done at different times. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then unmold onto wire racks to cool completely.

To make the whipped cream filling:

Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the coconut cream and the fresh coconut, if using.

To make the frosting:

Whisk the egg whites, sugar, water, cream of tartar, and salt in a large stainless-steel bowl until thoroughly combined. Place the bowl over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of barely simmering water. Using a hand beater or handheld electric mixer, continue beating the egg white mixture for 4 minutes. Add the mini marshmallows in 2 increments while continuing to beat. Wait until the first batch of marshmallows has melted before adding the second. Continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes more, until stiff peaks form. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and continue beating until the frosting is thick enough to spread.
To assemble the cake:
Stack one cake layer on a serving plate and spread the top with half of the whipped cream filling. Repeat with a second layer. Stack the final cake layer on top of the first two and cover the cake’s top and sides with the frosting. Sprinkle the coconut on the top and sides of the cake.

Cover the cake loosely with plastic wrap and store for 1 day at room temperature or up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Tip:

It's challenging to press coconut into the sides of the cake. When pressing the coconut in, the icing invariably sticks to my fingers and mars the frosting's finish. I've discovered that throwing small handfuls of coconut toward the side of the cake makes it adhere quite well—a messy but effective technique for creating a gorgeous-looking cake.

Tip:

For those who want to follow Aunt Molly's original recipe, here are her directions for extracting coconut meat and liquid from a fresh coconut: "First buy a fresh coconut. To select the best one, shake it to listen for a lot of milk inside. Prepare the coconut by first making a hole or two in one end with a hammer and ice pick. Stand the coconut up over a small bowl or glass measuring cup to catch the milk as it drains out. Next, crack the hard outer shell with a hammer, then pry off the pieces. The inner white coconut meat can then be grated [with a handheld microplane grater]. Refrigerate both the milk and grated coconut until ready to use."

If you are looking for s showstopping Christmas recipe, this one will do it!

Never In The Kitchen...

2014-12-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

When Company Arrives

When we moved into those sexy, swinging Sixties, everyone wanted to party...and everyone wanted to be at the party. No one wanted to man the kitchen. With that in mind, a slew of cookbooks were published to make you a great hostess without spending time in the kitchen. Theresa Morse's Never In The Kitchen When Company Arrives is just one of those cookbooks.

Morse pulls no punches. This is not a cookbook that tells you to put on lipstick and order out. She has a strict game plan that is as viable today as it was in 1964.

It stands to reason that if your kitchen is a well-planned workshop rather than a booby-trap filled with pitfalls, your lot will be an easier one.

A reliable oven...sharp knives...are as vital to a hostess-cook as an oxygen mask to a diver.

"A place for everything and everything in its place."

Open shelves, in tiers along the wall, close to the work space, are better than tranquillizers.

A recipe box is to a cook what a Stillson wrench is to a plumber.

Don't be stingy with your recipes. Give them to anyone who asks for them.

The cocktail interval before dinner not only provides immediate, warming hospitality, but it enables the hostess-cook to serve the equivalent of a first course, which otherwise would be difficult to manage.

What to serve for that cocktail interval? How about...

Balls Tartare

1/2 pound top round or sirloin, minced twice
1/2 pound fresh sauerkraut
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
Chopped chives or parsley

Season the meat and form into 24 flat rounds. Drain the sauerkraut, chop very fine, and add caraway sees. Place 1/2 teaspoon of this mixture on each meat round and fold the meat over so that it entirely encloses the sauerkraut. Shape into small balls and roll in finely chopped chive or parsley. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Have a small glass filled with toothpicks on the platter.

What else is there to say? How about, "Make mine a double!" Happy cocktail interval.

THIN MINT CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2014-12-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

It is time to start planning your Christmas cookie list, isn't it? Today's cookie is truly a five star keeper!!

These festive cookies taste just like Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies(only better!!) and they only take TWO INGREDIENTS to make!!! People will think you've been working on them all day.

I drizzled some white chocolate
decoration on these, just for fun,

but it certainly isn't necessary. You
can use holiday sprinkles instead.

You will need some Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers and some Andes (creme de menthe) chocolates.....that's it!!

The chocolate wafers come in a 9 ounce package and I found the Andes Mints (those creamy little chocolate mints with the green center) in a 4.67 ounce package. There are 28 mints in the package and one package will do a dozen cookies (I found the mint packages for $1.60 here in Alaska, so hopefully you can find them even cheaper.

I unwrapped and then melted the chocolates in my microwave for about 30 seconds...stirred and then microwaved them for another 10 seconds (stir until the chocolate is smooth and shiny). Dip the chocolate wafers in the melted chocolate (both sides) and place on some parchment paper (or waxed paper).

Stick them in the fridge (I used the freezer) for about 5 minutes to "set" the chocolate......that's it!!

NOTE: If you are having trouble finding the Andes Mints, just use the Andes Mint baking chips (next to the chocolate chips) they will work just as well.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Prune

2014-12-02T10:56:00.000-08:00

We really wanted a cookbook from Gabrielle Hamilton, so when she signed a book deal, we were ecstatic. But then she published Blood, Bones, and Butter. Now that was a great book, but it was a memoir -- without recipes. So needless to say, we were bummed. When we found out her second book would, indeed, be a cookbook, Prune, it made our wish list, immediately.

When it arrived, it came out of the box pristine, encased in shrink wrap. That was a problem. you see, we couldn't bear to open it. It was so lovely, and new, and wrapped in shrink wrap. So it sat on the table for weeks until we could stand it no more and tore into it.

Since pink is our signature color, we loved it right away and we do love any book with that elastic band on the side to keep it closed. (Full disclosure, as much as we love those things, they almost always break, come loose, rip, or stretch out of shape, so really we should have kept the whole thing shrink wrapped!)

The book has all of Hamilton's "don't screw with me" style. The book is printed to look like it has been bounced around a kitchen for years. The pages are smudged, their are written notations, and portion conversion on what are supposed to look like torn post-its.

The recipes are written as though you are in the Prune kitchen and she is telling you how to do the dish. So it is chatty while being "chefy," as though you are part of "in" joke -- Prune is a restaurant book for a home cook, but we are pretending that you are one of us and here with us at Prune. Some people might not get the joke. But if you have read a lot of precious restaurant cookbook and thought to yourself, "What does this mean?" you will love this book.

The best way to illustrate this is to look at this recipe. It has been printed several places with directions that are rather straightforward and boring. But take a look at how Hamilton explains the dish.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2 1/2 ounces pancetta, in neat 1-inch cubes
4 ounces dried spaghetti, (dried weight)
1-2 egg yolks
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

Evenly scatter cubed raw pancetta into a cold large cast-iron skillet. Set over medium-low flame and render slowly, stirring occasionally until crisp and golden brown on all sides and sitting in significant amount of its own rendered fat, and cubes reduced in size by half.
Transfer to metal 1/6 pan, including fat, and leave in warm area of your station.

Cook spaghetti in a big stockpot of boiling salted water -- stir during cooking to be sure the strands are separated.

When pasta bends without snapping but is still significantly undercooked, drain immediately in a large colander and hose down thoroughly with cold water, running your hands through each strand and making sure you have stopped the cooking process. Pasta needs to be cool to the touch throughout. Drain very well; store in your reach-in.

For the pick up:

Drop para cooked pasta into boiling water. Move swiftly from here to finish--pasta only needs 90 seconds--2 minutes at most-- in the reheat.

In clean stainless bowl, put 2 yolks and a hearty spoonful of rendered pancetta and some of its fat.
Sprinkle black pepper over egg and fatty pancetta until light dusting obscures the yolks.
Pull hot pasta, drain briefly over pot, turn out onto the yolk/pancetta, letting some of the cooking water drip in, too.
Stir rapidly and vigorously to cook the yolks with the residual heat of the pasta and to coat each strand with egg and fat.
Season with salt and generous/liberal sprinkle of grated parm and continue stirring to evenly distribute cheese and salt.
Make neat spiral in center of pasta bowl as best you can when plating. Plate quickly.

Don't let this sit in the pass.

Given that this is already a bastardy version of real Spaghetti alla Carbonara, pulled together to accommodate the realities of busy brunch and the confines of a sauté station, please take care not to compromise the dish any further than we've already had to make it work in the restaurant setting.

Pay attention to the toothsome was of the pasta – don't get lost in your timing and let this just boil away in the pickup until it is flabby and bloated and disgusting.

Don't "creamy up" the yolk and parm with extra hot pasta water or extra cheese or by adding the cheese early so that it melts – sometimes I have been dismayed to see it go out looking like creamy white pasta Alfredo.

Ideally, we want the strands slick with yellow, eggy egg yolk and smoky, salty, uriney pancetta fat, with all the granules of sweet, nutty, grated parm clinging to the strands. You want to see the black pepper, taste the floralness of it, and feel the warm heat of it in the dish – but don't obliterate.

Ask yourself what other chef you know that would describe pancetta as "uriney." We do love Hamilton.