Classic Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Bleck. This coffee cake was tough and tasteless. I'm wondering if there's a problem with reducing some of these recipes for the home kitchen, because someone else had a problem with the brownies. I won't be making this again. Even my kids (who beg to lick the beaters every time I bake) hated the batter. It wasn't sweet and it had the consistency of pizza dough -- tough and stretchy.

The bottom half of the cake is edible if you include the crunchy stuff in the middle, but look close at the picture and you'll see that the top half of the cake is dense and doughy. Yuck.

I'm cheating - Moosewood's Cauliflower-Cheese Soup

Okay, I know this is cheating going back in time to our last cookbook, but I had dog-eared several soup recipes from our previous pick, the New Moosewood Cookbook, and this recipe is one of them. Now that we have some gorgeous cauliflower in our garden, I decided the time was right to give this one a try. Plus, I felt like Molly and I had a bad divorce, so I wanted to try to make amends.

Well, we're on good terms again. This is a fabulous soup. I used John's "cheese cauliflower" which is new in our garden this year. It's golden yellow (but it doesn't taste like cheese, in case you were wondering). I wish I had taken a photo of the cauliflower before I made it into soup; it was that beautiful. I thought the recipe's proportions of everything were right on. Delicious! I'll make this again and again.

p.s. Instead of a blender or food processor, I used an immersion blender and blended it in the Dutch oven that I used to start the soup, then steamed the remaining florets in the microwave, so there was very little clean-up.

Devil's Food Cake with Satin Chocolate Frosting

Even with following the instructions for not using an electric mixer, this cake came together easily and quickly. I think, though, next time I'll risk using the mixer on "stir" to see if it really turns out as a "heavier, tougher cake."



The frosting involved quite a few steps, but it proved well worth it; it may even be better than the cake itself. Before putting the mixture in the fridge, it was quite thin, and it looked like it would never stay on a cake. As promised, though, it firmed up in about 40 minutes and smoothed on the cake perfectly. The recipe calls for using Valrhona or Callebaut, but at 1 1/4 pounds of chocolate, I thought I'd try with Nestle chocolate chips this go-around. Maybe it would taste better with a higher caliber chocolate, but I can't imagine it tasting much more delectable than it did.

If you're a chocolate fan, I recommend giving this combination a try.

Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake with Mocha Latte Frosting

I made this cake for my mom's birthday. She loves coffee, so it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a try. There were lots of steps and bowls required for the recipe, but I think it just seemed more complicated than it was because I was making it in my mom's kitchen instead of my own. Also, once I'd started mixing everything, I realized that we didn't have any canola oil, so I substituted olive oil. I was a bit worried that it might add a funny flavor to the cake, but it turned out fine.

The frosting was too sweet for my taste, but everyone else loved it. I do have to say it smoothed onto the cake like magic and looked pretty good with out much effort. The picture of this cake in the cookbook has chocolate curlicues all over it, but that looked a bit ambitious to me. The cake did, however, seem to need something, so I made some chocolate shavings to sprinkle on the top.

This cake tasted great the day I made it, and even better the second day for breakfast. My parents report that, "It tastes better every day, which seems crazy since it was so good the first day we had it!"

Herb-Grilled Salmon with Fresh Tomato-Orange Chutney

(This review was jointly written by Krispi and her daughter Sarah Joy, who is visiting with her family from Costa Rica.)

We bought some amazing fresh sockeye salmon this week in town. For this recipe we used a whole fish (about 5 lb) instead of the 3 lb side of salmon they suggest. We had two big sides to deal with on the grill. I got to practice with the turning, etc on one and then do it "for real" on the other one!

First of all, the potato trick to keep the salmon from sticking to the grill really worked! The grill turned white from the potato starch which was kind of cool looking. That didn't entirely keep it from sticking, but it was better than any other fish grilling experience we've had! For the fish part of the recipe we made minor adjustments such as using more fresh basil leaves and dried rather than fresh dill (because we didn't have the fresh).

For the chutney we roasted 1 pint of halved cherry tomatoes, plus 2 more medium on-the-vine tomatoes. We aren't huge fans of ginger or jalapeno, so we reduced those measurements (from 2 T grated ginger to scant 1 T grated ginger and from 1 jalapeno to 1/3 jalapeno). We didn't have cracked peppercorns, so left those out.

Sadly, we felt that both the flavor and texture of the chutney were particularly unpleasant. Way, way too much zest and tough tomato skins. To get rid of the texture problem we blended it all and served it with second helpings of salmon. However, it still wasn't very good. We've added two medium tomatoes, some more fresh squeezed orange juice and blended it again; hopefully it will mellow and taste better with the leftover salmon tomorrow.

If we were to make the chutney again (we probably won't) we would adjust the recipe as follows:

from 1 pint cherry tomatoes to 1.5 pints cherry tomatoes (yellow and red, if possible)

from zest of 2 oranges to zest of 1/2 orange

from juice of 2 oranges to juice of 1 orange

from juice of 1 lemon to juice of 1/2 lemon

Blend!!! (This is a key step, but makes it more of a saucey topping than a chunky chutney.)

Overall, we found that there's enough orange flavor in the actual grilled salmon, so it's better to let the tomato take center stage in the chutney (or sauce, as the case may be).

We'll probably go back to using the salsa we've been using for years with grilled salmon but we'll repeat the grilling techniques and orange juice and herbs from this recipe.

The Salsa Recipe we love with Salmon:

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup extra-virgen olive oil

1/3 cup shallots

1 T grated lemon peel

1 3/4 t ground cumin

1 medium English hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, diced

1 12 ounce basket small cherry tomatoes, each quartered

1 large yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup drained capers (if these are big they can be halved or quartered)

2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk the first 5 ingredients in small bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine 1/2 cup marinate with the second 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, season salsa with salt and pepper, let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.

You can use the rest of the marinade for the fish 10 minutes before grilling.

(from Bon Appetit, July 1999)

Sauteed Chicken Breasts w/ Artichokes, Lemons & Capers and Risotto Cakes w/ Roasted Tomatoes & Pesto

(How's that for a long title?)

Loved, loved, loved the chicken breasts. Easy, beautiful, and oh so good.

The Risotto Cakes were fun to make -- a little time-consuming, but not so much that I wouldn't make them again. There is a strong Parmesan flavor, which I liked. I am looking for gluten free recipes for a friend, and this fit the bill. I would serve these cakes as a gluten-free entree for sure - they're filling and very pretty.

The Oven-Roasted Tomatoes were easy, too, and a nice way to add color to the risotto cakes. I wasn't sure if the tomatoes were supposed to be seeded (recipe says to "core and cut in half") but I did remove the seeds and think that was the way to go.

I did not make the pesto because I had a jar of pesto in the frig made by a friend who grows all his own veggies and herbs, so I used that and can't attest to the pesto recipe. I likely wouldn't have made it anyway, since I don't care for arugula, although the side note says that young arugula has a delicate flavor. I guess I've always had old arugula because it's too "hot" for me.

Blueberriest Muffins

I made these muffins this morning. They were quick and easy, but the jury is out on whether they will replace our old standby recipe. After reading Krispi's review, I decided to reduce the lemon juice to 2 tsp. and the zest to 1/2 tsp., which is a significant reduction over what the recipe calls for: the juice and zest of an entire lemon. The lemon wasn't noticeable, which is how I like it when it comes to blueberry muffins or blueberry pie.

I used my Pampered Chef hand-powered chopper to chop the berries. I like the chopped berries a lot - they certainly make the muffins moist and I think it's an improvement over the usual recipe that calls for just whole berries. Like Krispi, I too was worried that chopping some of the berries would turn it into a bluey gooey mess, but that didn't happen at all. Whether I use this recipe or not, in the future I think I will always chop some of the berries.

Classic Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are okay, but nothing to rave about. I thought they were a bit anemic. I should have doubled the cinnamon and nutmeg. Even my son said, "Mom, these aren't your best oatmeal cookies." Oh well, they'll get eaten. When it comes to cookies, we aren't that picky.

Baked Potato Casserole Topped with Crispy Onion Rings

This is one yummy casserole. It's pretty easy to make and also can be prepared ahead of time, which is what I did. You just pop it in the oven and it's ready in 30 minutes. A lot of times, I have time in the morning to cook, but because of activities the kids are in, no time to cook after 3 pm, so I like dishes that can be made ahead and that don't take an hour to bake.

The crispy onion rings are a bit of a pain to make (I hate cleaning up after deep frying), but pretty good. If I were in a hurry, I would either use those canned ones from the grocery store, or substitute chopped fresh chives after baking, which would also add some color.

You can use either baked potatoes or boiled. To save on time, I boiled mine, but I chopped them into 1" cubes before cooking them, rather than after, and I left the skins on so they'd taste more like baked potatoes.

I will say I was cursing Sara Foster earlier today when I realized that the 4 potatoes called for in the recipe were not nearly enough for this dish. Either there's a typo (did she mean 4 lbs of potatoes?) or the rest of the ingredients are way off (2 cups of half & half poured over 4 measly potatoes = potato soup): when I put what was supposed to be the first layer of potatoes in the 13x9 dish, it didn't even cover the bottom of the dish, so I dumped all the potatoes in (both layers worth) and it still didn't cover the bottom of the dish. I ended up cooking another batch of potatoes, which was really annoying. In the end, I used 9 medium russet potatoes, or about 3 lbs.

After I thought about it, I should have realized that there was no way that 4 potatoes could serve 8-10 people, even as a side dish. That's less than half a potato per person. Unless they grow some monster 1-lb potatoes in North Carolina, there's a typo in this recipe. Fortunately, it turned out so darn yummy that there are no hard feelings, Sara.

Buttermilk Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Cream

I have made this cake many, many times, and I love it. The finished cake always looks spectacular, and it tastes delicious. Be warned, however, that it does not look spectacular when you transport it -- assembled in all four layers of lusciousness -- to South Beach.

I recognize what an ambitious idea it was to imagine that I could really get it there in all of its grandeur. But it was my dear friend Kimi's birthday, and I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She was here visiting all the way from California, so there you go. I have brought the cake layers, strawberries, and cream to friends' houses several times in the past to assemble, but I didn't really see how I could put it together at South Beach without getting sand in it. How bad could it really be, I thought? Well, we didn't even make it out of Friday Harbor Labs before the top layers slid off into my lap. Messy, messy. As I type, I am regretting that we did not get even a single photo of this cake wreck. At the time, I just couldn't imagine recording it. I looked through the pictures from the night thinking someone else might have had the good sense to recognize that I'd be able to laugh about it later, but no luck. The only picture I could find that included cake was of Kimi attempting to beat the wind to blowing out the candle on the piece I had to slice and save for her before the whole cake was gone.

On a positive note, it still tasted great. I used a combination of Sharalyn's duck and chicken eggs, which added height and resulted in a super-moist cake (at least I'm attributing it to the eggs; it was way more moist than it's ever been before). Also, some kids decided to try and improve things by adding blueberries that someone else had brought. They made it look so patriotic that I realized that this would be a great Fourth of July cake. So, maybe we'll have it next Fourth of July. At home!