So I did. Results? It was really, really good. There are some things I will do differently next time, but all in all this is awesome. One thing I will do differently is to make homemade whiskey sour base instead of buying it. I know!  I bought the mixer because I was experimenting, if you have a good whiskey sour base recipe use that. The ratio is 1/3 cup Bourbon to 2/3 cup mixer. I tried it 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup and it was a little weak. There are also two ways to add the bourbon. You can add it raw if you aren’t worried that a few molecules of alcohol will get through the heat of the oven, or you can simmer it for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol. If you simmer be sure to cool it before using.

Please note that there were only two eggs when I took this picture…the hens were lazy. Because the liquid used is not milk I added an extra measure of butter for the fat. This made the cake absolutely moist and tender. Be sure to cool it the recommended time because it will fall apart if it is too warm.

Once the cake was done I soaked it in a simmered whiskey sour syrup. This was really good, IF you like Whiskey Sours. It probably isn’t something you are going to want to take to the church picnic, or have on a weekly basis but if you are looking for unique you may have found it here.

Whiskey Sour Bundt Cake

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup whiskey sour (1/3 cup bourbon to 2/3 cup mixer)
• zest from one lemon
• 1 cup coarsely chopped maraschino cherries

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray or butter and flour a nonstick bundt pan
2. sift dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside
3. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add vanilla and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each
5. Add flour and whiskey sour mix alternately, beating well after each addition
6. Add zest and cherries, fold in
7. Spoon into a bundt pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until done
8. Allow to cool on counter for 10 minutes  and then remove from pan
9. Prick the hot cake with a fork and pour the syrup over the top
10. Dust with confectioners sugar

serves 12-16

Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup whiskey sour

Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat

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Post from: Baking Delights

Bourbon is, to me, a winter ingredient. I say ingredient because I don’t drink hardly at all..and rarely hard liquor. Strawberries are spring and summer…the two should not mix….except…

Except this worked. I was amazed. The flavors just all blended into a mass of incredible. This went way beyond homey, comfort food and into the realms of kitchen nirvana. The tartness of the rhubarb and the tangy sweetness of strawberries turned into velvety marriage of flavors when the smooth, sweet bourbon sauce mixes in. I added some thickened, sweetened cream as well.

I loved this. It is perfect for last of the season berries and rhubarb here in the south, or a great way to use the fruit you have frozen. Did I mention is was super easy?

Try to get good, fresh rhubarb with a nice rosy color. There isn’t that much difference in taste but the eye appeal is better!

Don’t slice the rhubarb too thin. It will cook down too much and lose it’s character. Rhubarb without character is a terrible, terrible thing.

Always sweeten according to taste, no matter how much sugar the recipe calls for. Keep the filling tart with this though. You want to have a nice contrast to the sweet topping and sauce.

The crisp topping is made with brown butter. This gives an added complexity and depth of flavor.

These are some of the ingredients! Vanilla will be needed as well to just heighten the flavors a notch.

Can’t you almost smell it?

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Hot Buttered Bourbon Sauce

Topping

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup  light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• Generous pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and browned, and allowed to cool to abotu 110F.

Filling

• 5 cups sliced rhubarb
• 2 cups halved strawberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• About 4-5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• Sweetened whipped cream, beat until just thickened

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 13×9 inch casserole and set aside.
2. Mix berries, rhubarb, and flour and allow to sit for about 15 minutes.
3. Pour into the casserole.
4. Mix the topping ingredients with fingers until crumbly.
5. Sprinkle thickly over the crisp. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, or until juices thicken and topping browns.
6. Just before crisp is ready to come from the oven put the bourbon and sugar in a heavy pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes until thickened and reduced.
7. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time.
8. Add vanilla and blend. Taste to adjust flavors.
9. Serve the hot bourbon sauce over the warm crisp with a spoonful of the cream

serves about 8-10

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This combination of pumpkin, coconut milk and spicy smoked peppers is a rich and warming first course, or light lunch dish. It is silky and smooth with the sweetness of pumpkin and coconut offset by a smoky spicy finish. I added just a squeeze of lime before serving to brighten the whole thing and bring the flavors together. Just a sprinkle of Vietnamese cinnamon added a nice touch at the table.

Make it ahead of time and reheat it for the most flavor. I saw the prototype for this recipe on epicurious, but I wasn’t completely happy with the way the flavors sounded together. I like my version!

Make sure the coconut milk "thumps" when shaken.

Cut the pumpkin into wedges and remove seeds. This will make it easy to peel.

Peel the pumpkin.

Cut the pumpkin into chunks

Rub leaves between fingers to check for freshness.

This sounds a lot more involved than it is. You CAN do this…and trust me, you WANT to.   Adjust the spiciness to your own liking. Thai chilis are HOT…chipotle a little less, and poblanos pretty mild. I would suggest starting with the chipotle and then moving to a Thai if you want it spicier.

Spicy Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh pumpkin
• 2 cups canned or fresh coconut milk
• 2 cups  chicken broth
• 1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• 1/2 dried Thai chili, or 1 chipotle in adobo, or to taste
• 2 tbs organic coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoons Thai fish sauce, or to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lime

1. Peel the pumpkin and clean off any seeds.
2. Cut into cubes. You should have 4 1/2 to 5 cups cubed pumpkin.
3. Place the coconut milk, broth, pumpkin cubes, cilantro leaves, garlic, ginger, and chilis in a large pot and bring to a boil.
4. Add the salt and simmer over medium heat until the pumpkin is tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Stir in the fish sauce, liquid smoke, and coconut oil and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Spoon, a little at a time, into a blender and blend until smooth.
7. Set aside for flavors to blend about an hour
8. Reheat
9. Check seasoning and adjust.
10. Just before serving squeeze in the lime, ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cinnamon.

About 8 first course servings or 4-6 luncheon size servings

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I cheated on this dish, admittedly. I had Marc go out and pick up cheese ravioli rather than making it myself. The recipe would work well with tortellini,stuffed shells, or any filled pasta.

I finished it with a bit of freshly grated Parmagiana  Reggiano. The flavors were spectacular: earthy portobellos, sweet apple, succulent chicken sausage, and mild onion gave way to tender pasta and creamy ricotta. I am still having trouble swallowing solids but I tried my best with this, I promise!

It was just that good. Serve it with a baguette or try this Rosemary Cracked Pepper bread. Add an endive salad with maybe a cranberry balsamic vinaigrette, and an apple tart for dessert. If you are going to have wine make it something fruity and round to balance the full flavors of this dish.

This is quick. Less than thirty minutes from start to finish and seriously delicious.

Ravioli Normandy

• 2 lbs of ravioli
• 1 lb of organic chicken and apple sausage, sliced
• 3 cups portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup of apple cider
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the ravioli until done. drain, toss in a little butter and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
3. Add the sausage, the onion, and the mushrooms. Saute, stirring often until mushrooms and onion are very tender.
4. Pour in the apple cider and simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is reduced by about half.
5. Add the remaining butter.
6. Spoon over the hot ravioli and toss to coat.
7. Garnish with grated cheese and serve hot.

Serves 6-8

Post from: Baking Delights

O.k..so it took me nearly all night but I did some baking. In fact this recipe is out of my cookbook….sort of. I found out something interesting tonight. I can’t even follow my OWN recipes verbatim.

Since I am doing pictures at night the color is a little off, sorry.  Someday I will have a nifty light box.

These are a very rich, sweet bar. You ARE going to want coffee or milk or tea… Be sure to let them cook before cutting (I didn’t) and eating (didn’t) because they WILL crumble. If you want thicker coconut cherry white chocolate bars just use a 9 x9 inch pan.

These would be great for a tea, not so great for a lunch box, and do not try to ship them! IF there are any leftover, which is doubtful, wrap them and put them in the fridge.

Coconut Cherry White Chocolate Bars

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix the 1 cup of flour and  confectioners sugar. Mix in the butter until the dough is crumbly.
3. Press firmly in a buttered 13x 9 inch pan. Layer will be thin.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until firm and golden.
5. Mix the 1/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
6. Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture, coconut, cherries, and white chocolate chips.
7. Pour over the crust.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until firm.
9. COOL COMPLETELY before cutting.

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Post from: Baking Delights

I was making pancakes the other morning and I wanted something different for syrup. While I wish I could always serve my family real, organic maple syrup I just can’t. We go through almost a quart of syrup at breakfast and that kind of cash racks up. So, I make homemade syrup using a little organic maple syrup and organic maple flavoring for flavor.

But sometimes I want something a little different. I was thinking of a fruit syrup.

See, we used to go to the Jersey shore every summer. There were two things we always did…Ate at this little pancake place that had a bazillion flavors of syrup and stop at this place that had trampolines stretched over pits in the sand so I could jump.

See, fruit syrup is special to me but I don’t like the chemical taste!

So, I pulled out some Celestial Seasoning’s Cherry Berry Tea. I steeped three bags in 2 cups water for 4 minutes. Then I Brought the water to a boil and added a pinch of salt and 4 cups sugar.

It is a lot of sugar but the formula for syrup is two cups water to 4 cups sugar. Ya gotta do it. Stir until the sugar dissolves and then boil for one minute. Remove from heat, stir in a tablespoon or so of lemon or lime juice and let cool a little.

You can use any tea you like. Think about peach ginger or blueberry white! Yum! Once you have the basic formula down you can use anything you like.. juice, coffee, anything !

The best part of wakin’ up…

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The salsa is so unique, I think. It is sweet, spicy, warm with cilantro, and cool with the honeydew. Perfect for the Dog Days of August!

The colors were refreshing, too. Green, light green, purple…

This is a cinch to put together, guaranteed to impress everyone and is perfect for dipping homemade tortilla chips into OR Serving over fish, chicken, or shellfish. I think if you were going to do pork you would probably want to replace the honeydew with canteloupe, which is my next experiment.

This is seriously good. Try it. Erin (my oldest daughter) and I had to make it twice. We test tasted the first batch until it was almost gone.

Honeydew Salsa

• 2 cups  diced peeled honeydew
• 3/4 cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/8 cup chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• Grated zest from one lime
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 serrano (hot) or jalapeno (medium) chopped

Combine all ingredients and allow the flavors to blend for 30 minutes.

Makes about 3 cups… depending on how many times you taste it to adjust the seasonings.

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It was a landslide. Then I just needed to figure out how I wanted to do it. I wanted a delicate coffee flavor that revealed itself in layers, chocolate but just a hint..and a little cinnamon. I would have loved to put orange peel in it but didn’t have any.

Looking through all the cake recipes I have from all of my vintage and new cookbooks PLUS the family recipes hand written on scraps of aging paper I was overwhelmed with the variety. And none of them had liquid added, and I wanted to use coffee not coffee powder. Finally I found Dorie Greenspan’s Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes in the Baking From My Home to Yours book…it had many of the components that I was looking for so I decided to base the formula for the cake off of that one.

Smart move.

The cakes (for yes, there were two) came out fragrant and moist, with a tender even crumb.  They smelled like coffee, but the coffee flavor was not overpowering. It was just what I was looking for. I sprinkled one with grated chocolate and covered one in a thin bittersweet ganache. Both were good..just depends on what you are in the mood for.

Although we had ours plain I would suggest a scoop of coffee ice cream over the top of a slice, followed by some hot fudge.

Also, as I said, I would add the grated zest from 1/2 a large orange. I didn’t have one but I will get one next time.

Cappuccino Pound Cake

• 2 2/3 cup all purpose (organic) flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2  cups sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 large eggs
• 1/3 cup strong espresso
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 lb unsalted Plugra, or regular butter (Plugra will make this richer), melted and cooled

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans
3. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together
4. Whisk sugar and eggs until light.
5. Mix in vanilla (and orange peel if using)
6. Beat in the espresso and the cream
7. Add the flour mixture gently
8. Fold in the melted butter
9. Pour into the pans and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it tests done

Meanwhile….

Espresso Syrup

• 1/4 cup strong espresso
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Bring to a boil, stirring and boil for one minute.
2. Cool

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool for five minutes. Remove from pans and poke holes in the cakes with a meat fork. Put back in pans and pour the syrup evenly over the cakes. Allow the cakes to soak up the syrup before removing from pans.

Garnish with chocolate shavings or bittersweet chocolate ganache.
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Summer is hot here. We don’t use air conditioning, haven’t for the several years we have lived in this house. Frankly, it is too expensive, but I also like the idea of flowing with the seasons..experiencing them rather than manipulating them. I know..I am so weird.

Nothing is worse than cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen and serving it in a hot dining room. That is why God made salad.

Check it out.

Who isn’t going to eat that? Colorful, cool, with a variety of flavors and textures, Chopped Salad is an awesome meal to set on the table when it is too hot to cook. I always make the tortilla chips homemade, you can by them and crumble them if you like, but if it doesn’t taste as good don’t blame me.

The only secret is trying to get most of the ingredients chopped to the same size so the flavor/texture stays balanced.

Serve this with some ice cold melon or mango, or a fresh fruit sorbet and you are good to  go.

Chopped Salad

• 1 package organic baby herb salad
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1 can black olives, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 2 jalapenos chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes chopped (I did not have any the day I made it for this image)
• 1 avocado, chopped (optional)
• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 lb diced Monterey Jack cheese cubed (pepper Jack is awesome)
• 2 cups tortilla chips, tortillas cut into squares before frying
• Recipe Chipotle Vinaigrette

Mix all ingredients together and serve immediately. It looks better if you plate each salad individually and add the chips last but you can serve it family style in a big bowl.  Yes it is that easy! Serves 8

Chipotle Vinaigrette

• 4 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 4 tbs lime juice
• 1 tbs dijon mustard
• 1-2 tablespoons strong honey (this is always best raw and local!)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce (canned, you can find it in the ethnic section of your market)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbs fresh cilantro, minced
• kosher salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together, check seasonings and allow to stand for 30 minutes before using. Makes about 3/4 cup.

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I wanted to get this recipe up in time for you to consider it for Fourth of July though.  I know, I know, you always have the same potato salad and it is tradition…well yeah! Me too, but you have to try this because it is addictive. Have I ever lied to you? I am telling you that this potato salad is absolutely my favorite now, and although I grew up on the traditional Midwestern style potato salad with a tiny touch of mustard, boiled egg, and celery, THIS blows my Mom’s potato salad out of the water. Sorry Mom.

Unlike classic potato salad this shouldn’t sit around very long. The hot peppers tend to get hotter as they sit… so what seems to be mild at 10 a.m. is spicy at 4 p.m. and three-alarm by day 2, if it lasts that long. The warm flavors of the Southwest are highlighted and this is perfect with the classic burgers and hot dogs, or a brisket.

I used organic red skinned potatoes for this but next time I plan on using a combination of organic heirloom potatoes; for color an flavor. The thin skinned potatoes are important to use in this recipe for their flavor, texture, and color.

I saw a recipe in Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook and decided that I wanted to try it…but as usual I could not follow directions and had to go off on my own tangent. I think you will agree that it is an awesome tangent.

You might want to cut back on the spicy peppers. The chipotles will be the hottest and the poblanos the mildest. The potato and mayo tone down the spice but still….

Southwestern Potato Salad

• 4 lbs heirloom, thin skinned potatoes, cut and boiled until tender but not mushy
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, roasted until soft
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 Poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2-3 canned chipotle peppers in mole, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• 2 cups Hellmans (yes, Hellmans) or homemade mayo
• 2 tbs Guldens brown mustard
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon agave, turbinado, or local honey
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin (I used a tablespoon)

Mix the mayo, mustard, agave, cumin, and lime juice. Squeeze in the soft insides of the roasted garlic and mix well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, and chopped garlic until well mixed.

Pour the mayo mixture over all and blend gently. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 8

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