Big Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake

rhubarb recipe #2

rhubarb filling: 1/2 lb rhubarb, trimmed

1/4 cup sugar

2 tspns cornstarch

1/2 tspn ground ginger

for the crumbs: 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn ground ginger

1/8 tspn salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup bread flour (or cake or regular)

for the cake: 1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt

1 large egg

l large egg yolk

2 tspns vanilla extract

1 cup flour (again, I used a mixture of whole wheat and regular)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/4 tspn salt

6 tblspns softened unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

Preheat oven to 325 F, grease 8 inch square or round pan.

Slice rhubarb into 1/2 inch thick pieces, toss with sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Set aside. 

To make crumbs whisk together the sugars and spices and then add melted butter until smooth. Then add flour with a wooden spoon. It will look and feel like solid dough. Leave pressed into bottom of bowl and set aside.

To make the cake, mix yogurt, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix the dry ingredients separately and slowly add butter and wet mixture to the dry alternately. Scoop out half the batter and set aside. 

Scrape the rest of the batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter and dollop set aside batter over the top. It does not have to be even. 

 Break crumb mixture into 1/2 to 3/4 inch size crumbs. Sprinkle over cake and bake 45-55 minutes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, improved

3 1/2 cups rhubarb, in 1/2 inch thick slices

3 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup tapioca

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk to blend with 1 teaspoon water

2 frozen pie crusts

Preheat oven to 400F

Stir rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon juice, salt, and tapioca in a large bowl and mound into your bottom pie crust. Dot with butter.

Cover and pinch the two crusts together. Brush with egg glaze and bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven to 350F and bake another 25-30 minutes.

 

This was seriously the best pie i've ever made. The tapioca gave the filling its nice gel texture and the egg wash crisped and shined the crust to the point of looking made from scratch.

Rhubarb Tart

I impulsively bought rhubarb last weekend at Rouses simply because I saw it in the produce section. It is something you don't often encounter or get to eat living in New Orleans, but because of my mother I can thankfully say I know the deliciousness that is strawberry-rhubarb pie.

With the red stalk at my fingertips I perused rhubarb recipes in my google reader and narrowed it down to four that I was interested in trying: a rhubarb tart, a rhubarb coffee cake, rhubarb streusel muffins, and of course the aforementioned pie.

So far I have been able to make two of them and the first was the rhubarb tart. Mine did not come out quite as elegant looking as the recipe I based this off of, but I think the overall taste of the tart came out nicely. I really enjoyed the crust, but I think the filling could have been handled a bit differently. 

For the crust:

1 cup almonds

1 cup bread flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

9 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of a small orange (or clementine)

For the filling:

4 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 rhubarb stalks

2 tablespoons raw sugar

Combine almonds, flours, and baking powder in a food processor until ground. Add cold butter chunks while pulsing. Add the remaining crust ingredients until dough begins to form. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. (Yes, it will be crumbly.)

Remove dough and preheat oven to 425 F. Press dough into bottom of you pan making the bottom crust thicker than the sides. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and sugar and sprinkle over bottom of the crust. Slice rhubarb lengthwise into quarters and trim to appropriate size for your pan. Line pan and sprinkle with the sugar. I also added some leftover sliced strawberries to the tart.

Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 10-12 minutes.

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 whole large cucumber, diced

4 large, ripe, tomatoes, diced

1 whole zucchini, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

dash of salt and pepper to taste

3 cups tomato juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup vinegar (I used Balsamic because that's what I had)

2 tablespoons sugar

hot sauce to taste

 finely chop and dice your vegetables

 Combine half of the vegetables with all of the garlic, 2 cups of the tomato juice, the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and hot sauce in a food processor and blend.

 Pour into large bowl (or container) and add remaining half of vegetables and tomato juice. Season further to taste. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

 Enjoy with a slice of homemade bread! The recipe I adapted from added gourmet garnishes like sour cream, avocado, and cilantro, but as I am participating in the eat local challenge, I abstained. This time. This gazpacho is perfect for this summer heat.

Caramelized Onion Quiche

I don't know how I wasted so many years not understanding what quiche was. It has only been in the last year or so that I tasted and fell in love with it. (and FYI, Tartine on Perrier St has the best quiche in the city if you're looking.)

I decided it was time to try making a quiche of my own and found a caramelized onion quiche recipe that looked easy enough.

Here's what you need:


1 frozen pie crust (next i'm going to work on making my own crusts, but for my first quiche i went the easy frozen way)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 large red onions (I used 1 because that's all I had)
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 Cup milk
1/2 Cup heavy cream
3 large eggs (I used 4 small)
fresh rosemary
6 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 and 1/2 cups) -- when I swung over to Robert's to grab some gruyere, all they had was an applewood smoked version, so I used it. Couldn't have worked out better.

1. Prebake pie crust for about 15 minutes.
2. Cook onions and salt for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Reduce and cook for 40 minutes until well browned. Add vinegar and cook another 10 minutes.
3. Place pan on baking sheet. Sprinkle half the cheese, then the onions, and the remaining cheese over crust.
4. Whisk eggs, milk, and cream. Season to taste. Pour over the cheese and onions.
5. Bake until just set in the center. From 35 minutes up to an hour. Cool 10-15 minutes before slicing. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Mint chocolate chip ice cream has been one of my favorite flavors since I was a child. With my mint plants growing in full force right now, I figured what better than to use fresh mint in my next ice cream recipe. This recipe is on par with the coffee ice cream I made in terms of its time commitment, but it is not difficult. Just follow the directions.

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh mint leaves (no stems), rinsed, drained, and packed
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks
6oz chocolate chips

Combine mint leaves, milk, and 1 cup of the cream in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Allow to warm until just steaming (do not boil!), remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Repeat and let steep 15 more minutes.


While mint is infusing, prepare remaining heavy cream over ice bath. Pour 1 cup cream into medium bowl placed over separate bowl with lots of ice in it. Place mesh strainer on top of bowls and set aside.


Once milk/cream mixture has steeped for its total 45 minutes, strain through mesh sieve into a new bowl, pressing on leaves with spatula to get the most liquid from them. Discard mint leaves. Return mixture to sauce pan adding sugar and salt. Heat until just steaming again, allowing sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat.

Whisk the egg yolks in medium bowl. Slowly pour milk/cream mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly to warm eggs without cooking them. Scrape warm egg mixture back into saucepan.


Return sauce pan to medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon. This can take 10 minutes.


Finally, pour custard through strainer over the cream ice bath to stop the cooking.

Chill mixture at least 4 hours in refrigerator and then freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Once the ice cream is formed, add the chocolate chips and freeze over night to harden.

I cannot tell you how excited I was about this ice cream. It sounded good and smelled delicious...and then I tasted it. In hindsight I realized that I had actually used spearmint as opposed to peppermint leaves. It definitely creates a different flavor. I wouldn't say that it's bad, just a little strange. I took the ice cream to work and people like it, so I think it is personal opinion.

I know one thing, though. I will be purchasing a peppermint plant and trying this recipe again.

Makes 1 quart
*this ice cream is a white mint chip unless you add a drop or so of food coloring to make it green

St. James Cheese Company

This saturday, like most weekends here in the big easy, was bursting with festivity. The monthly Freret Street Festival was going on as well as la Fête Française. I was interested in going to both, but after parking and then walking to Magazine and General Taylor for the French celebration I quickly lost my steam. It was a beautiful day, but quite hot and sunny. Food and beverage had to be purchased with tickets instead of straight up cash, which is annoying, and there was no shaded area to hang out. Of course, I burn rather easily, so we opted to eat lunch somewhere instead of going the festival route.
The final decision was St. James Cheese Company. This cute little joint is on Prytania and is a restaurant I had been meaning to check out for awhile. I lived in Wisconsin for 7 years. I love cheese.

I bounced back and forth between wanting a couple different sandwiches before finally deciding to try a special: Jalapeno Mac N Cheese (I have already forgotten the key cheese ingredient, like an amateur food blogger.)



The mac n cheese was delicious. Probably on par with my favorite mac n cheese of all time--Noodles & Company. It had a zap's potato chip crumble on the top and was creamy with a natural tasting spiciness. It was a nice size, though still a tad heavy for summer.



Cory got the Smokey Blue sandwich, with a smokey blue cheese (duh), roast beef, lettuce, tomato, and Worcestershire mayo on a multi grain bread. I sampled a few bites despite my fear of mayo and it was very flavorful.


Everyone was drinking wine and eating cheese; it was great. I also loved the little paintings of cheese that adorned the walls. Mm, just writing this post has made me hungry for another visit.

St. James Cheese Company
5004 Prytania St
New Orleans, LA

Banana Blossom Thai Café

I am definitely a fan of Thai food, enjoying it more than Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Having the opportunity to live in Chicago--land of cheap, abundant, and delicious Thai food--has spoiled me. New Orleans Thai is much in the lacking, so any time a new Thai restaurant opens up in the city, I am eager to try it.
Even if it means driving to the West Bank.

Banana Blossom was also introduced to me by Gay. We both immediately enjoyed the name and perused the menu online. The website had me thinking it was a semi fancy restaurant and the food all sounded very good, but its location in Gretna, LA kept me at bay. I waited until Gay tried the place first before I went.

So off Cory and I went this afternoon for a west bank adventure.

I have to say that the place was not what I expected. Located in a shopping center off Belle Chasse Highway, it was not exactly an upscale restaurant, but I still had high hopes. I started with a thai iced tea and ordered some crispy veggie egg-rolls. Strike one against the place was that they were "sold out" of the appetizer. For my entrée I opted for a standard chicken pad thai, though now I wish I had tried something different like a fried rice or curry dish.



My thai iced tea was good, but I've had better. And same goes to the pad thai. I think Bangkok Thai, Chill Out Café, and La Thai all have tastier pad thais. The one at Banana Blossom also had too much egg for my liking. Don't get me wrong, the food was not bad by any means, I just don't see myself going back there again. I was slightly disappointed. If I'm going to drive to the west bank, I'll be heading to pho tau bay.

Banana Blossom Thai Café
2112 Belle Chasse Hwy, suite 10
Gretna, LA 70056