Almond Bundt Cake III (I think, for this blog)

I used this recipe:
http://www.bubblews.com/news/914894-almond-bundt-cake-recipe

but I made my own almond paste, using this recipe:
http://candy.about.com/od/nutcandyrecipes/r/Easy-Almond-Paste.htm
(actually, I used 3/4 of that recipe - 12 oz out of a supposed 16). I used blanched slivered almonds from trader joes and I doubled the amount of almond extract it called for. It looks nice and smooth and not homemade at all. I let it process for a long long time.

For the cake itself - the recipe's unclear but I mixed the sugar with the almond paste first (I pretty much had to use my hands instead of hte mixer) and then added in the butter. It took some strength to get it done--I was glad for my heavy glass bowl, which stayed in place as I used to hands to corral the mixer. (Oh to have a KitchenAid!)

I was happy with how it turned out. Also this bundt cake was a little taller than some bundt cakes I've made (my pan has tall sides so cakes never fill it up entirely.  It says 10-15 cups on it.) 

not really a recipe at all - cost of black beans from scratch

I'm always curious how dried beans translate to cooked beans in quantity.

Last night I cooked 2 lbs of dried black beans (in the crockpot, which is the best way ever to do it because you don't have to watch it - also the texture is good) and came up with about 11 cups cooked. This included a little bit of liquid but it was mostly solid beans.

Canned black beans claim to be 3.5 servings of 1/2 cup each, which translates to 1 3/4 cups. So for $2.77 of dried beans, I got a bit over 6 cans' worth. So a bit less than 50 cents a "can." Not a huge bargain, probably, since you can generally find beans for $1 a can or maybe 89 cents, but:

a) doing this induces me to eat more beans because I have them around
b) my beans were organic, that's something
c) cans sometimes contain BPA; my beans do not
d) metal cans feel wasteful in general
e) you can probably find dried beans for less than the $1.39/lb that mine were.

Minestrone

I've made minestrone a bunch of times but was never incredibly happy with it. I had dinner at a friend's house a few weeks ago and they'd made a really great vegetarian minestrone from Moosewood. I'm actually not sure if this is the exact same recipe (there are so many different Moosewood cookbooks) but I was pretty happy with the way this came out. Putting green peppers in was a new thing for me, so that may have helped. Here's roughly what I did, which is a variation on what's listed in the link. (I made this last week so my memory's not perfect.)

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/italian/minestrone2-j.html

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 5 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 cup celery -- minced
• 1 cup carrot -- cubed
• 1 cup zucchini, cubed
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
• 1 potato, cubed
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 3 cups tomato puree (~42 oz canned tomatoes blended in Cuisinart)
• 3 1/2 cups water or less - to cover (use water from cooking garbanzos if possible)

Saute garlic and onions in oil until they are soft and translucent.
Add 1 tsp. salt, carrot, celery.
Mix well.
Add oregano, black pepper and basil.
Cover and cook over low heat 5-8 minutes.
Add green pepper, zucchini, stock, puree, and cooked beans.
Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Add tomatoes and remaining salt.
Keep at lowest heat until 10 minutes before you plan to serve. Add parsley for the last ~20 minutes of cooking.

Dal Makhani / Madras Lentils

I want to try my hand at Dal Makhani--I really like Trader Joe's Madras Lentils which seem to be a version of it. I have no idea if the TJ's stuff is authentic or not, but it's tasty. And I have some black lentils sitting around that I want to use up.

The TJ's stuff contains tomatoes, lentils (pretty sure they are black lentils--they are unlike any red or green or brown lentil I've used), kidney beans, onion, cream, salt, butter, oil, ginger, red chiles, and cumin.

I'm going to play around with this recipe (but without a pressure cooker since I don't have one.) Kasoori methi seems to be fenugreek, but I think I'll leave it out the first time.

pumpkin bread

From  http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2010/09/pumpkin-bread/ with modifications:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup water
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1  teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon allspice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, butter, water, sugars and vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, pumpkin spice and walnuts. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Keep pumpkin bread tightly wrapped in plastic wrap to retain freshness.

This time I substituted about 1 1/4 cups of oat flour (whole grain) for 1 1/2 cups of flour because I wanted to use up the oat flour.

Baking in 1 glass 9x5  and 1 glass 8x8 pan, greased with flour+butter spray.

Verdict: tasty, and it comes right out of the pan. Win. 

Cherry brown butter bars

I made these:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/06/cherry-brown-butter-bars-new-video-project/

OMG.

I think I cooked them for 35 minutes (after assembling), which was fine. I used 36 cherries, which seemed like a good amount. Not sure how many pounds it was, but I pitted 2.5-3 cups total and didn't use anywhere near all of them.

Done again, I might bake the base for slightly less time (15 minutes?) but it was fine as-is.

I don't think I modified the recipe at all.

Almond cake!

Last night I made this:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/almond-cake-recipe/

I made it in a 8.5x8.5 square pan. I'm convinced it would have been nicer in a round pan, but ya do what ya have to, right? I don't have a round pan right now.

Wouldn't this have been prettier if it were round?

It was good, but unfortunately I used salted butter instead of unsalted by accident, and I think the salt overwhelmed the almond taste a little bit. It wasn't bad, but almond's a delicate flavor and doesn't stand up to salt the way that chocolate or caramel does. I bet it'll be fabulous with the correct butter. And it's definitely a bit better after it's had some time to sit - it gets moister and the flavor matures somehow.

So I'll have to try again.

Also, n.b., Bob the food processor, whose work bowl is only about 7 cups or so, was a tight fit for this cake. I had to dump the batter into a separate bowl before adding the flour. Not surprising, really--poor Bob has always been on the small side, as much good food as I pour into him.


Text of recipe reproduced after the jump in case it ever goes away (because you bet I want to make this again):