Chocolate-Espresso Bundt Cake

When Lauren was growing up, I made Chocolate Bundt Cake so many times I wore out my Bundt pan!  Many years ago, I found another very moist, bundt cake recipe that tastes even better than my olde one. Here it is...an adaptation of Sue Hart's recipe in the WOW Ministries Cookbook from Santa Cruz Bible Church (1988?). You can make it with Kahlua, with rum or with a dark roast or espresso coffee--your choice!

Ingredients:

3/4 C butter
1 2/3 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
3/4 C sour cream
1/4 C espresso, strong coffee, Kahlua, or rum
2 C flour
2/3 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
3/4 c buttermilk or sour milk
2 C chocolate chips --divided
2 T corn syrup
4T additional butter

Note: It always frustrates me when buttermilk is an ingredient in a recipe. I mean, what do you do with it other than bake? No one drinks it. And there's usually so much left over! Then I found out you can freeze it, in ice-cube trays or in Tupperware thingies, until you need it for another baking project! What a relief!

Directions:

Generously grease (shortening is best) and flour a 9 or 12 cup Bundt pan. Especially get the shortening inside the angles of the pan. Set aside. Cream butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend in sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Blend in sour cream, vanilla and your choice of Kahlua, rum, espresso or strong coffee. Stir baking soda into a measuring cup with 3/4 C buttermilk in it. Combine flour, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl with a whisk. Add alternatively with buttermilk to creamed mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Fold in 1 C chocolate chips, reserving the second cup for glaze. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out absolutely clean. If you don't have a "tester" use a piece of uncooked spaghetti.

Chocolate Glaze: Heat 1 C chocolate chips, 4 T butter and 2 T corn syrup in a 1 qt. saucepan over low heat, until the chocolate is melted. Cool slightly and drizzle over the top of the cooled cake. It should drip down the sides of the cake in the nooks and crannies too.

Butter Rum Glaze: (an alternative to the Chocolate Glaze) 
Melt 1/4 C butter in small saucepan. Stir in 2 T water and 1/2 C sugar. Boil 3 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Hooray! It's Sole Cabernet!

This delightful recipe was devised by Jo Anne Woodward--an award-winning actress who was in films in the 1950's through the 70's. She later became known as much for her healthy cooking almost as much as she was known for being a great actress. In those days, healthy cooks and vegetarians didn't mind using a little butter in their recipes. The result: a quick and elegant tasting way to serve fish. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. Sole or Snapper or any white fish

3/4 C cabernet

large pinches of dill, salt, pepper

4 egg yolks (this means the yellow part only)

1/4 t salt

2 T white vinegar (white rice wine vinegar is best)

2 T fresh lemon

1/8 t cayenne pepper

3/4 C butter

Directions:

Place 1 1/2 lbs. sole or Snapper in a 9X12" buttered baking dish. Pour 3/4 C Cabernet overall. Sprinkle with pinches of dill, salt and pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for 7-10 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, make blender hollandaise...

Directions for Easy Blender Hollandaise:

Whirl in a blender 4 egg yolks, 1/4 t. salt, 2 T white vinegar, 2 T fresh lemon, 1/8 t cayenne pepper. Set blender aside with mixture while you proceed. Melt 3/4 C butter until it sizzles but is not brown. After 5 seconds add to the blender mixture in a steady stream, still blending. Voila! Easy Blender Hollandaise! Simply spoon some on top of the cooked fish--very easy, very good!

Note: You can use this blender Hollandaise for Eggs Benedict too. So much easier for a group!

Rosemary Roast Lamb

Sunday dinner. In some places they still have it. The idea of family all in one place at one time, loving each other and eating great warm plates of home-cooked bliss. Mmmmmmm.

Does your family like meat and potatoes? They will give this a huge thumbs up. Why? Garlic and meat juices with rosemary infuse new potatoes, green beans and tomatoes to make a lamb dish that is buttery and yet tastes fresh at the same time. You instinctively know it's good and good for you. --Adapted from "The Healthy Gourmet's Guide to Light Eating"

Ingredients:

1 leg of lamb (6-7 lbs) trimmed of all fat and oven-ready
2 cloves garlic, cut into 3 slivers each
1 t olive oil
2 t dried rosemary (or more)
1 t salt (I use about 2 t)
1 -1/2 t black pepper
1 lb new potatoes, washed and peeled thru the middle (see picture)
1 lb fresh green beans
1 C chicken broth (full salt is best, but use low-sodium if you like)
2 1/2 C sliced white or yellow onions
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes, drained
1/2--1 t garlic powder (your taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a sharp knife, make 6 small incisions in the thickest part of the meat and insert garlic slivers. My friend Denise Aspinal, who is half Italian, taught me to do this when I was 22. I've been doing it on all roasts of any kind ever since. I am impatient, so it is hard for me. Is anybody else out there impatient? Just be glad I'm not a surgeon...

Rub meat with oil. I mean really massage it. Cook with love. Sprinkle with rosemary, 1/2 t salt, and 1 t pepper; press seasonings into the meat. Put meat in a large roasting pan (the biggest you have) and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Don't eat it now, you're not done cooking yet!

Surround meat with potatoes and green beans, making two little piles of each. Pour chicken broth over vegies and sprinkle with onions, tomatoes, remaining salt, remaining pepper and garlic powder. I like garlic, so I use at least 1 t. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for an additional 1 hour and 10 minutes. Meat will be medium rare to medium, and internal temperature will register 150 degrees on a meat thermometer. Don't overcook! The meat police will come and get you!

Carve and arrange meat on a platter surrounded with vegetables.

Twice-Baked Patooties

The other night, I served dinner at my church to about 25 people. There was a late comer to the group that said she'd had dinner. But when my hubby said there were "still some twice-baked potatoes " she hurried in to get one. I know people who don't like chocolate, but I don't know anybody who doesn't like twice-baked potatoes.

This is your basic twice-baked recipe, except I substituted green chilis for bacon. Gayle's Bakery (in Capitola) does theirs this way. It's different, tasty, and very economical. But you can certainly forget the chili's and add a teaspoon of crumbled bacon per potato if you prefer! YUM! Be sure and always use the sharpest cheddar you can find, though. Sharp cheddar makes it beddar! Oh, and you can multiply the ingredients up to a bazillion if you're cooking for large parties.

Ingredients:

3 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed
1 T butter
2 T sour cream
2 medium minced garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1/2 t Lawry's seasoning salt
1 large pinch pepper
1 1/2 C sharp cheddar--divided into 1 C and 1/2 C
1/2 to 1 t minced green chilis (no seeds) OR use Hormel's Real Bacon Bits

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and bake in oven for about 1 hour or until they are baked through. Do Not Undercook. Remember, you're going to need to mash these babies!

Take the patooties out of the oven. Let them cool for about 1 hour or overnight. Slice them in half, lengthwise, on a clean work surface. Scoop out the potato with a spoon, and put white stuff in a small mixing bowl. Leave a little of the white stuff on the peel, the idea is to keep the peel sturdy and intact. No holes. Like a little boat. Set 'boats" aside.

Mash potato in bowl with 1 T butter, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 t Lawry's, and a large pinch pepper. Don not mash into a creamy texture, leave some lumps in there! Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing just until combine. Put potato mixture back into potato skins with a spoon. Then, put a good heaping tablespoon of the remaining cheddar cheese on top of each 'boat". Place in a greased baking pan and bake in the oven until cheese is melted and potato is hot --around 30 minutes.

Christie's Coleslaw

Gayles Bakery & Rosticceria in Capitola is one of the best places for food on earth, let alone Santa Cruz County. It is so good; it should be bronzed!

When we went to Gayles as a family, Lauren always got twice-baked potatoes, Alan always got pastries (usually Schnecken) and I always, ALWAYS got "Christie's Coleslaw". No, this isn't your mama's coleslaw. This has cilantro and fresh ginger root. Holy Asian-American Fusion, Batman!

This recipe was from Gayle's official website...

Ingredients:

1 small head cabbage (1 1/2 lbs.) red or green or a mixture of both, shredded.
6 carrots, cut into curls with a peeler (I just shredded 'em)
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (1/2 C)
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and coarsely chopped (1 C, loosely packed)

Dressing:

1/2 C low-fat mayonnaise (Best Foods works well)
2 T grated fresh ginger root
2 T grated onion (I didn't use this--there's a lot of onion in the salad, and I didn't want to cry)
1/3 C sugar, or 2 T honey
1/2 C rice vinegar
1/2 to 1 t salt (to taste--I tripled the recipe and only needed 2 t)
1 t pepper

Topping:

1/4 C candied ginger, finely chopped (optional--I don't think Gayle's uses this anymore)
1/4 C peanuts, chopped (I used salted ones)

Combine the vegetables and cilantro in a large bowl. Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl until well mixed. Dress the slaw with the dressing so that it is well coated. Place the coleslaw in a serving dish and top with chopped peanuts.

Judy's Citrus-Garlic Chicken

This chicken is simple and good, and it's much healthier for you than the fried kind made by The Colonel! I asked Judy Golnick, my husband's sister to send us a couple of her best recipes--and I'm so grateful she sent this! It's quick and easy and is a good way to use up extra oranges you may have left-over from those big bags they sell at Trader-Joe's. If you only have lemons, you can substitute them for the limes, but the limes make this really special. I added a sauce (that is optional for calorie-counters) just in case you want a little more orange. The original delicious marinade is by Clare Robinson of Food Network.Com.

Ingredients:

4-5 large bone-in, skin on the chicken, about 3 lbs (I used boneless, skinless becuz I had 'em)
Juice of 1 large navel orange, or two small navel oranges.
Zested skin from 1/2 large whole navel orange or one small navel orange. (zest or grate off only the orange part--the white part is bitter)
2 limes, one zested, both juiced
1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and smashed
1 t salt, plus more for seasoning
freshly cracked black pepper (regular pepper works fine, too)

Directions:

Put the chicken in a large bowl. Put orange and lime zests and fruit juice in a small mixing bowl. Whisk in the olive oil, garlic, 1 t salt, and a generous grind of pepper. Pour the marinade over the chicken and marinate 20-30 minutes, but now more that 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees OR heat up your BBQ grill. Put chicken on a rack on a baking sheet, or just in a baking pan. Drizzle a small spoonful of marinade on each piece of chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake until the juices run clear when the chicken is stabbed with a knife. Fear not! The chicken will not retaliate! Use a couple of very thin slices of orange (see picture) to dress it up and serve to nearest people with mouths open.

If you are using a BBQ grill, spray or brush any parts of the chicken that are without skin with cooking oil (or it will stick). Then season with salt and pepper. I use boneless skinless chicken and find grilling is good because the black stripes on it make it prettier than just a naked white blob. Where was I? Oh yes, grill chicken until juices run clear (see above). Drizzle an extra spoonful of marinade on top of each breast, put thin orange slices on it, and serve.

Optional Orange Sauce:

I often grill the heck out of boneless skinless chicken, so it's important to me to have a nice sauce I can make just in case it turns out too dry. So, here's what I came up with...

Make a roux with 2 T butter melted in a saucepan (on medium heat)and mixed with 2 T flour. Stir until it bubbles and no longer tastes like raw flour. About 3-5 minutes. Add 1 cup fresh sqoozed orange juice, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Stir until thick and yellow. Spoon over plated chicken, decorate with thin orange slices, and serve. YUM!

Lynne's Cherry-Oat Scones

I have 3 good scone recipes, but this is my favorite...It's whole-wheat nutty in flavor--with the added surprise of dried cherries. Sweet and rich, these are oh so good with coffee or tea in the morning.
This recipe comes from Lynn Ingram. She she managed to "bake 'em and bring 'em" to Bible Study one morning. And knocked our sox off. There we were, women in bare feet, munching happily away...

Note: You need to freeze these for at least two hours in advance of cooking. So, I would suggest making these the night before you cook them.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
2 C flour
3/4 C sugar (I cut the sugar down to 1/2 C--I tend to like things less sweet--like shortbread)
3/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 t baking powder
2 1/2 C oats
1 C dried sour cherries, roughly chopped (you can also use cherry-flavored dried cranberries)
10 oz. chilled butter, cut into pieces
2/3 C buttermilk
Topping; 1 T heavy cream,
1 T extra fine sugar ( I used regular sugar mixed with 1/8 t cinnamon)

Directions:

In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine all the dry ingredients with cherries. Add butter and mix on medium speed until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk. Mix until combined--taking care to mix as little as possible until you get a slightly wet, crumbly dough that will juuuust barely hold together if you pat it into a biscuit shape. If it will not hold together, you can always add a bit more buttermilk to the mixture.

Turn out the dough on to a clean work surface (I used my counter, and put a 20" piece of foil then a long piece of plastic wrap on top of the foil for my work surface). With hands, quickly pat mixture into a 16" X 3 1/2" rectangle that is 1 1/2 inches high (or thereabouts). Score rectangle into ten triangles. Lift up the edges of the plastic wrap and foil and fold them over at the top, covering and enveloping the scone dough. Transfer "packet" to freezer for at least 2 hours (keeps in freezer for a month or more).

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from freezer. Place scones 2" apart on baking sheet. Brush with cream and sprinkle on sugar or cinnamon-sugar. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.