Cranberry Pumpkin Cake

It's still feed a cold, feed a fever time, and since I'm planning the Thanksgiving meal right now, I thought I'd see how an old standby would make it as a cake. I've done a variation on this as a pumpkin bread for years but thought it might make it as a cake.  It did!  There is just no such thing as too many desserts on Thanksgiving, no matter what Victor says as I pull out ingredients for yet another pie, tart, torte, or whatever...

I made this in a tube pan but I think it would also work as a layer cake - with maybe a maple cream cheese icing.  Maybe with chopped or crushed walnuts on top.  If I make it for Thanksgiving it will definitely be as shown, though.

I also like using fresh cranberries in this.  They add a nice tartness that the dried berries lack.  Besides, they're pretty. I also used my roasted pumpkin puree instead of canned but one can of good pumpkin will work.

Cranberry Pumpkin Cake

  • 2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 bag fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a tube pan.

Mix pumpkin, sugar, water, eggs, and oil. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices being careful not to overmix. Stir in cranberries and pour batter into pan, spreading evenly.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and completely cool on rack. Top with powdered sugar.

It's definitely a keeper!

 


Italian Sausage, Lentils, and Fennel

I really like fennel but it's just not something I think about very often.  I was at the store today, reaching for some parsley, when there it was.  Impulse buy.  I didn't know what I was doing with it, but I knew it was going to incorporate Italian sausage - it was already in the 'fridge at home. A quick search of an old Bon Appetit led me to a concept with lentils.  Lentils are another thing I absolutely love and while I used up the last of my lentils du puy the other day making soup, I did have some black beluga lentils.  A recipe was born!

It's a really simple recipe and without the sausage makes a great vegetarian dish.  I could see some big chunks of roasted squash on top - it would look great and taste even better.

So go for it - have some fun.

Italian Sausage, Lentils, and Fennel

  • 1 cup lentils du puy or black beluga lentils
  • 4 cups water
  • pinch salt
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
  • splash red wine
  • 3 tbsp Italian parsley
  • 1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
  • S&P to taste
  • Italian sausage

Cook lentils in salted water until cooked through but not mushy - 15 to 20 minutes depending upon type.

While lentils cook, cut fennel bulb into 1/4-inch dice. Cook onion, carrot, fennel bulb, fennel seeds, and garlic until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add a splash of red wine and cook down.

Grill sausages.

Drain cooked lentils and stir into vegetables with enough cooking water to moisten and heat through. Stir in parsley, S&P to taste, and vinegar.

Serve lentils topped with sausage.

Quick, easy, and lots of flavor.

And it looks great in one of those hand-painted bowls you bring back from Italy.


Chicken with Cranberry Chipotle Sauce

Fresh cranberries are now available.  I'm psyched.  I just love those tart little things.  They go with everything and you can do so much with them.

I've been making off-the-wall cranberry sauces forever.  Raspberry, maple, cherry, apple... the possibilities really are endless.  Tonight I decided to take it spicy.  I made it with chipotle powder because somehow I ran out of chipotles in adobo, but you can use any chipotles you like in any amount you like.  I like heat so I used a goodly amount.  Your mileage may vary.

Cranberry Chipotle Sauce

  • 1 12 oz bag cranberries
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
  • 2 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp cumin

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop and sauce thickens - 6 to 8 minutes.
Serve cold or at room temperature.

I served it warm over a grilled chicken breast, with sauteed brussels sprouts and rice.  It was just smokey-hot enough.  It would go great on a turkey sandwich!

Somewhere I have a recipe for a molded grappa cranberry sauce.  Since we brought some grappa back from Italy, methinks I'm going to have to find it and make it for Thanksgiving!  17 days away!


Soup and Sandwich

The community cold from work is getting worse - not better.  We both now have it and it is definitely no fun.  But we believe in the old adage feed a cold - so we are. Pumpkin Butternut Squash Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Just what the patient ordered.

I got to pull out more of the frozen pumpkin puree and diced up about half of a butternut squash.  And lots of spice.  I used a quart of chicken broth but you could easily substitute vegetable broth or even water.

Pumpkin Butternut Squash Soup

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1 qt chicken (or other) broth
  • 2 cups butternut squash, cubed
  • 1 can white beans
  • 1/2 tsp boonie pepper (or cayenne)
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
  • S&P
  • sour cream

Saute onion until translucent.  Add garlic and cook a minute.  Add pumpkin and broth and bring to a boil.

Add cubed butternut squash, beans, and spices.  Reduce heat  and simmer until squash is tender.

Stir in parsley and taste for seasoning and add S&P, as desired.  ladle into bowls and top with sour cream.

Boonie pepper comes from Guam and it's an excellent flavor-enhancer and heat source!  We got our from Marie's nephew, Jay.  We use it sparingly because it does pack a wallop, but our supply is dwindling.  I'll have to work out a trade for Christmas...

In the meantime, it's going to be a weekend of no-brainer television and lots of naps.

After dessert.


Chicken Olé

I was eating a handful of tortilla chips after work, today - leftover hurricane provisions - when I decided I wanted Mexican food for dinner tonight.  Or, rather, my gringo version of Mexican food.  It's been a few lifetimes ago since I was last actually in Mexico and no self-respecting Mexican would lay claim to the things I throw together, but I do love the flavors.  While my concoctions may be unorthodox, they're usually fun and flavorful.

Tonight's concept started out as a chicken breast that I floured, egg-dipped, and then coated in a combination of panko bread crumbs and cornmeal.  Fairly unorthodox.  I sauteed a chopped bell pepper and a bit of jalapeño pepper and then added it to some pinto beans and a jar of tomatillo salsa - salsa verde.  It went into a casserole, the browned chicken breasts went on top, and it all went into a 350° oven for 30 minutes.

I then took it out, added the sliced tomatoes and pepper jack cheese, and put it back into the oven for another 20 minutes.

It was ooey-gooey good!  My mom would make dishes like this when we were kids.  Vaguely ethnic in a white bread sort of way.  It was great because when I finally did have authentic ethnic meals, there was just enough familiarity for me to accept them and not be afraid to try things and experiment with even more exotic flavors.

Yum.

I really do like simple, one-dish meals.  I love when the weather turns colder and soups, stews, and casseroles come back out.

My only problem is I usually can't make a one-pot meal without dirtying a dozen pots.

I shouldn't complain. It is an art-form, after all.  But it is a bit ironic...


Breakfast For Dinner

At some point in the early afternoon I decided I wanted breakfast for dinner.  I figured Victor would love the idea as much as me - and I was correct.  Bacon, eggs over easy, fried potatoes, and toast.  It doesn't get much better.

I had cooked many an egg - the donut shop and Uncle Sam's Yacht Club provided more training than one individual deserves - but both of them were eggs on griddles.  It wasn't until 1976 at The Old Post Office in Carnelian Bay that I actually flipped an egg in a pan.  And the fact that I did it first time surprised me to no end.  It seems I was a natural.  I flipped a lot of three-egg orders at the Old PO and when I left there and went to The Hyatt Lake Tahoe, I worked for a chef  named Peter Koenig who pretty much demanded that every egg be perfect every time.  Actually, he wanted everything to be perfect every time. He had very exacting standards and was tough when necessary but was also one of the nicest guys around. I learned a lot from him about presentation. Hell.  I learned a lot from him, period.  He was a great teacher, and excellent chef, and a really great guy.

It's fun to trace some of my neurosis back to their source.  The mechanics of egg-flipping were learned at the Old PO, but the art of egg flipping was definitely from Peter.  The art of exhibition cooking started at The Red Chimney in Stonestown in probably early 1975.  I cooked lunches in the dining room in my own little cooking station flirting shamelessly with with the blue-haired little old ladies drinking their manhattans and very dry martinis.  But while flirting and cooking, my station always had to look perfect. Everything lined up, everything neat, everything in its place, labels and logos facing front. Impeccably clean uniform. Cleaning rags precisely folded.  And that was because my food was going to be judged by my stage and no matter how great my performance was, the food was never going to be great coming from an unkempt stage.

The necessity of facing all bills in the same direction and in proper order starts with Neils Hoeck who owned the donut shop.  That was how it was done, period.  It forced one to look at every bill and make sure they were correct.  Other jobs I had that had cash-handling reinforced it.  When bartending at The Riviera, money was always face up, noses to the right.  When I was finally responsible for cash and cashiers, it's how I had my cashiers handle their money.  And I continue it to this day.

There's more, of course, but I'll save them for another day and time.  Right now I'm just flashing back on that very first pan of eggs I flipped.

I still don't know how in the hell I did it.