Emergency Chocolate Cake

Adapted from: Cooks Illustrated March/April 2009

You may substitute 1 cup (8 oz) of hot coffee for the instant coffee and hot water.

½ cup (2 oz) Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped fine

1 heaping tsp instant coffee

1 cup (8 oz) boiling water

1 ½ cups (7 ½ oz) AP flour

1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp table salt

⅔ cup (3 ⅝ oz) mayonnaise

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.
2. Mix the cocoa powder, chocolate, and instant coffee. Add the boiling water and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to mix evenly.
4. Add the mayonnaise, egg, and vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture. Whisk until smooth.
5. Combine the flour mixture and the chocolate mixture.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 8” square baking dish.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with only a few crumbs.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 1-2 hours. Serve dusted with confectioner’s sugar or whipped cream.

Multigrain Muffins

1 cup (5 ½ - 6 oz) multigrain hot cereal mix

1 ½ cups (12 oz) water

1 cup (5 oz) AP flour

4 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp pie spice

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup (1 ¾ oz) brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tb demerara or turbinado sugar (for topping)

1. Mix the multigrain cereal mix with 1 ½ cups boiling water and let sit for one hour to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 425℉.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pie spice.
4. Beat the egg and mix with the oil and sugar. Add to cereal.
5. Pour the cereal mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and top with the turbinado sugar.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins.

OK, let's take a step back

Obviously, my previous idea of providing simple, fast, tasty, and relatively healthy recipes every week didn't work. I'm just not that much of a writer, nor do I work well on a schedule. On the other hand, I still have a bunch of recipes that I like and am happy to share. So I will keep this, as a repository and a place to share new ones. Happy 2019!

CSA Week 1

Bunches of radishes, spinach, kale, and red mustard greens, a head of bok choy, a cucumber, and a few stalks of rhubarb. A little less than I was expecting, but it's early in the season.

Sorry for the lack of posting

When I started a few weeks ago, I'd hoped to post at least twice a week - an opinion on Tuesday, and a recipe on Friday. Opinions are harder to write than I thought. I'll keep the recipes flowing as long as I can, though. Hopefully I'll feel more motivated when I start getting food from the CSA in a few weeks.

Italian Wedding Soup

This soup is nice for when you don't have much time to cook or shop. Everything here is from the pantry or freezer. And it only needs one pot! I use dehydrated onions and garlic to save time, but you can use fresh (or powdered) as appropriate. The spinach goes in at the last minute to avoid overcooking it.

Italian Wedding Soup

• 1 48-oz can chicken broth
• 2 tb dehydrated minced onions (1 medium onion equivalent)
• 1/2 tsp dehydrated minced garlic (2 cloves equivalent)
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tb Italian seasoning
• 1/2 box (6-8 oz) of small pasta (ditalini, elbows, small shells, etc)
• 16-20 small frozen meatballs
• 1 16-oz package frozen chopped spinach

1. Bring chicken broth to boil. Add onions, garlic, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and pasta. Set timer as directed for pasta.
2. Prepare frozen meatballs as directed in microwave (usually ~5 minutes). Drain if necessary and add to soup pot.
3. Prepare spinach as directed in microwave. When pasta is done cooking, add spinach to soup. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

"Sicilian" Tuna Sauce

I don't know how authentic this is, hence the air quotes. It's derived from the recipe for, "Sicilian Tuna Steaks" in the Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook. There are some similarities to a puttanesca sauce but it's less salty. I usually serve it with a medium pasta such as gemelli, but it should work with almost any shape.

"Sicilian" Tuna Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 14-oz can tomato sauce
• 2 5-oz cans tuna, drained
• 1 14-oz cans sliced olives, drained
• 1 tsp dried marjoram

1. Heat the oil until shimmering, then sauté the garlic until golden and fragrant (1-2 minutes).
2. Add the tomatoes, tuna, olives, and marjoram. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened. Toss with the pasta and serve.

Makes ~4 servings.