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Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

It felt like a long wait – in fact, it probably felt even longer to the hubs than it did to me – but after two weeks of unpacking and organizing frenzies, I finally had the energy to pull out my favorite stainless steel mixing bowl (it belonged to my mom before I talked her into giving it to me, it’s older than me and still gorgeous) and my best wooden spoon and dusted myself with a cloud of flour.  For my first messy baking in the new house, I decided to make muffins.  My parents were sleeping in the guest bedroom upstairs and I wanted them to wake up to delicious aromas wafting up from the kitchen.  (It didn’t hurt that I was up early enough to be dressed and ready for church with these muffins cooling on the countertop and a perfectly clean kitchen waiting for them when they got downstairs.  I love when I look like I have it all together!)

I wanted to do something a little creative, both to impress the parentals and also just because it had been weeks since I’d baked anything and I was itchy.  So I picked coffeecake muffins out of Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and did a little editing of my own.  The original recipe called for plums, but it’s obviously not plum season so I substituted frozen blueberries to great effect.  And, because I love the flavors of berries and almond together, I switched out the vanilla extract for almond extract.  You can certainly use vanilla, but the almond extract gave the muffins a wonderful, subtle almond flavor that worked very well with the blueberries.  Oh, and I also cheated a bit – instead of making my own cinnamon sugar, I used my cinnamon sugar blend from Penzey’s.  Martha would probably be mad at me, but whatevs.  I still felt like I was on top of my game (for once) and that’s what counts, right?

Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon almond extract (or sub vanilla)
3/4 cup milk
1 pint blueberries, washed
cinnamon sugar

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare a muffin tin with liners or by greasing it with a cooking spray that includes flour (such as PAM for Baking or Baker’s Joy).
  • Whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and sugar – in a large bowl.  Set aside.
  • In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, almond extract and milk.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a silicone spatula or rubber spoon.
  • Fill the muffin cups halfway with batter – you should have plenty of batter left over.  Drop several blueberries atop each pile of batter.  Spoon remaining batter over the blueberries – but don’t cover them completely!  The blueberries are so cute peeking out of the muffins!  Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon sugar.
  • Bake 18-20 minutes, until muffins are golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (or as clean as it can, since you’re dealing with cooked fruit here).  Cool on a wire rack for several minutes and serve warm.

Yield: Martha’s recipe says you get 10 muffins from this, but she must be using a bigger muffin tin than I am, because I got 12.

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

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Dip Into India

This dip is a winner, pure and simple.  Rich yet light, warmly spiced, and with a gorgeous sunny yellow color… now, who wouldn’t want to sink a pita chip into a bowl of this goodness?  I threw this together for hubby’s and my “farewell condo” party and it was a huge success with our dip-loving friends.  I particularly loved the bits of caramelized onion sprinkled throughout.  They speak to my veggie loving soul.  Dipping a pita chip into this curried cauliflower goodness really is like dipping into the flavors of India!

Enjoy!

Dip Into India

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced fine
1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup lowfat sour cream
dash nutmeg
dash cayenne pepper
dash freshly ground black pepper
cilantro (optional)

  • Fill a small saucepan with water, a few inches deep, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add cauliflower, reduce heat to simmer and cook, partially covered, until tender when pierced with a fork – about 10 minutes.
  • When cauliflower is tender, drain completely and transfer to a mixing bowl.  Using a fork, mash to your desired consistency – I like it a bit chunky, but you can go smoother if you want.  Who’s to stop you?
  • In a small saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and salt, and saute until tender and translucent.  When onion is cooked, add curry powder and sugar and toast until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  • Transfer onion and spice mixture to mixing bowl with mashed cauliflower.  Add yogurt, sour cream, nutmeg, cayenne and black pepper and stir to combine with a spatula.
  • If desired, mix in a tablespoon or two of chopped cilantro, and garnish with cilantro.

Source: Adapted from Delicious Dips

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Farmers Market Report: Falls Church

Although I am very excited that hubby and I have at last bought and moved into our “forever” house, there are definitely things I miss about our condo – other than the kitchen and my stainless steel appliances, that is.  One of my favorite things about our condo was its fantastic location – an easy trip into DC, and walking distance to parks, tennis courts, bike trails and the Falls Church Farmers Market.  Hubby and I made a ritual Saturday morning trip to this market to buy fresh veggies and fruits and take in the scene.  We didn’t go every week, but we went often enough that this market felt like an integral part of our condo experience.  I’m sure I’ll find another “home” farmers market soon, but in the meantime, I’m reminiscing over some shots from our last trip to the Falls Church market.

Some of the tents set up by the vendors… in the summer, there are twice, or maybe three times as many vendors.  The winter market just has a few tents, but the vendors who come every week to bring delicious salad greens, fruits, vegetables, breads, wines and prepared foods are some of the best the market has to offer even in its crowded days:

Lovely spring blooms.  This was just a couple of weeks before Easter, and I would have been tempted if I hadn’t known that these potted plants would have to take a ride in a moving truck a week later: 

Gorgeous apples, which we have all winter long – one of the great benefits of living in a temperate area:

I’m very proud of our northern Virginia wines.  They’re getting better every year!  Hubby and I love to ride out to Loudoun County, where some of our favorite wineries are located.  We take along a picnic and have a wonderful afternoon of tasting – something we try to do a few times a year.  But it was nice that North Gate would come to us, to our own local farmers market, every week too:

Here is just one example of many vendors who bring their delicious prepared foods – soups, dips, canned and pickled items and… yes, you read this right… hot fudge sauce:

And in case the market isn’t diverting enough on its own (as if!) we even had live music from a real Virginia… cowboy?  Rock ‘n roll!

I’ve checked out a number of farmers markets since beginning to really appreciate food.  I love the opportunity they provide, to interact with the people who grow our food.  And the veggies and fruits I go home with are always fresher and more flavorful than anything I can get at the supermarket.  While I’m always up for visiting a farmers market on my travels – like the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, my very first stop in San Francisco, or the Berkeley Springs Farmers Market in West Virginia, where I got a great local cooking pamphlet and lots of honey for the hubs – I’ll never cherish any market more than my home market.  And the Falls Church Farmers Market was a great one.

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Mediterranean Bean Dip

I made this dip on my last week in my condo, as a way to clean out my pantry a little bit (so I’d have fewer cans and jars to move, which is key) and also to have something to contribute at my last condo social event.  This white bean dip, flavored with bright lemon, sun-dried tomatoes and chives, is certainly delicious.  But I know better than to call it hummus.  After meeting Katie, I now understand that hummus is just that, hummus, and anything else is… well… something else.  It’s like Champagne, a little bit.  One of my pet peeves is when people refer to sparkling wine as “Champagne” when it’s not.  Hello, Champagne is from the Champagne region of France.  Anything else is sparkling wine.  And there’s nothing wrong with sparkling wine, as long as you don’t try to pretend it’s Champagne.  This is kind of like that.  This dip is not hummus.  So I’m going to be respectful and not try to pretend that it’s some kind of “White Bean Hummus with Sun-Dried Tomato and Chives.”  I’m going to call this what it is – a delicious, creamy, flavorful dip made with cannellini beans and sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil.  It calls to mind various Mediterranean flavors – the white beans and sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil suggesting Italy, with a little whiff of Greece from the tahini (I use a Greek brand).  Yum.  Not hummus… but delish.

Mediterranean Bean Dip

1 can white (cannellini) beans, drained and rinsed, liquor reserved
1/4 cup (approx.) extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons tahini
salt and pepper
3 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rough chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh (or freeze-dried) chives, plus more for garnish

  • Place beans, oil, lemon juice and tahini in the bowl of a blender and pulse to combine.  Add reserved bean liquor, a tablespoon at a time, until the dip reaches a smooth and creamy consistency.  (This is something you have to judge for yourself; I can’t tell you how much bean liquor it will take.  It totally depends on your blender and your beans.)
  • Take a quick taste and decide if the dip needs any more lemon or tahini for flavoring.  If so, add the ingredient a little at a time, tasting as you go along, to achieve the right flavor.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, then blend.
  • Blend in roughly chopped pieces of sun-dried tomato – but don’t over-blend!  You want the tomato to be evenly dispersed throughout the dip, with flecks of red visible and the rest of the dip a creamy, pale pink color. 
  • Remove dip to a bowl and stir in chives.  Scoop into serving bowl and top with additional chives, if desired.

Source: Covered In Flour, method from Good Things Catered

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to my lovely readers!  Being the granola-crunching hippie I am, I love Earth Day.  Although I try to live each day in a mindful and responsible way, always remembering that we have limited resources here on this planet, I look forward to Earth Day as a time to reaffirm my commitment to low-impact living.  Whether that’s by composting…

…drinking organic wines…

…or visiting farmers markets…

Each day presents an opportunity to treat our surroundings and ourselves with care and respect.  As a foodie, I am particularly interested in being mindful about what I cook and serve to my family.  I choose organic products wherever possible, especially when it comes to poultry, dairy, and fruits and vegetables on the “Dirty Dozen” list.  I also attempt to reduce my food-related carbon footprint by shopping at farmers markets and buying whole foods (meaning, foods that are as close as possible to their natural state, without lots of packaging and chemical additives). 

This year, I am hoping to go one step further by starting to grow some of my own vegetables and herbs.  Now that I finally have a house with a big yard, I am starting to plan a vegetable garden.  I’m going to start small, with just some containers of tomatoes, herbs and maybe beans on my back deck.  It’s been a long time since I gardened – in fact, I haven’t had a garden since I was a kid.  So I’m basically starting from scratch and learning everything all over again.  Any tips for me?  What vegetables would be the easiest for a novice gardener to grow?  What should I avoid?  If you garden, what’s one thing you wish you knew starting out?

So Happy Earth Day, indeed!  I hope you’ll join me in taking some time today to reflect on the state of the planet we all share, and making a commitment to live better and more mindfully every day of the year, not just on April 22nd.

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Old and New

Now that I’ve spilled the beans about my move… and actually gone through with the move… I thought I’d share a few pictures of my old condo kitchen – which I miss SO much – and the kitchen in my new house, which is lovely in its own right (although the condo will always hold a special place in my heart).  As you can see, it was a bit crazy for awhile. Between consummating our sale on Wednesday and moving on the immediately following Saturday, hubby and I were pretty much overwhelmed.  We’re feeling better now.

The condo kitchen on either the night before or the morning of our move… I alternated between packing boxes and lovingly petting my stainless steel appliances, which I loved and which I really, really miss:

The kitchen in the new house, looking tragic with my stuff everywhere and a knee-high pile of newsprint:

The main cooking area after I had cleaned it vigorously and organized it compulsively, looking a lot better:

And finally, a view from the eat-in area, of my tidy and uncluttered kitchen.  Loving, loving, loving:

Of course, being the kitchen-obsessed baker I am, I had to unpack the kitchen first.  The rest of the house still has a long way to go.  We’ll get there eventually, but it’s a long road ahead.  And I’m not planning to keep the kitchen exactly like this.  I have some very specific ideas (yes, I’m a “Monica”, had you not already guessed?) and I’ll definitely be making some changes and adjustments – big and small – to make the kitchen more my style.  But in the meantime, I’m back to happily mixing up batter and tossing salads.  I’ll always miss my condo kitchen, but I’m sure I’ll grow to love this kitchen just as much – maybe more – as I put my own stamp on the decor and crank out some tasty dishes.  Which, of course, I’ll be sure to share with you.

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Baked Halibut and Mushrooms

This is one of the easiest weeknight dinners I have ever made, and one of the tastiest.  I try to put seafood on the table about once or twice a week, because hubby and I love it and it’s generally very good for you.  But it can be hard to think of creative ways to cook fish without breading it, and it’s tricky to get it to cook through without drying out.  One thing that I love to do is to bake fish with veggies on top of it.  The veggies keep the fish moist and impart a little of their flavor, and for all the health and flavor benefits they bring, these recipes couldn’t be easier.

Baked Halibut and Mushrooms

2 halibut fillets (or any firm white fish)
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper (or truffle pepper, optional)
1 package mushrooms, sliced (cremini are nice, but button will work too)
fresh thyme leaves (optional)

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • In a small baking dish, drizzle olive oil over the fish and season with salt and pepper (or truffle pepper – mmmmm).  Cover with mushrooms and drizzle a bit more olive oil over the mushrooms.
  • Bake 25-30 minutes, until fish is firm and mushrooms are done.
  • Serve with mushrooms still atop fillets.  If desired, sprinkle fresh thyme over cooked fillets.

Yield: Serves 2.

Source: Covered In Flour.

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Lemon Chicken Soup

Ahhhh, leftovers.  Who here loves leftovers?  I’ll say that I do, but when I think of leftovers, I’m usually thinking of Thanksgiving leftovers.  Or those fantastic days when we had risotto the night before and there’s just enough left for my lunch the next day.  But what about those odds and ends that knock around the fridge?  Or vegetables that are starting to look a leetle long in the tooth?  Or – Heaven help me – that last quarter-box of spaghetti that seems doomed to sit in the pantry together?  Considered separately, these things are all unpleasant challenges that I’ll never overcome, food that is probably destined to ultimately go to waste.

Well, I’ve already established that I hate to throw food away.  But what’s to be done about leftovers that look decidedly unappetizing?  Answer: throw them into a soup.  After interacting with new flavors, almost-spent dishes take on a different – better – character.  This soup, which I first saw featured on an episode of Giada at Home, is a sparkling take on leftovers that actually elevates humble chicken soup to “treat” status.  The fresh lemon juice brightens the flavors of leftover chicken breasts and slightly-limp carrots and turns this soup into a dish where, honestly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Lemon Chicken Soup

1 yellow onion, peeled and minced
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 carrots, peeled and sliced in rounds
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups water
2 leftover chicken breasts, large-diced
1 handful spaghetti or other long pasta, broken into thirds (at least)
juice of 2 lemons

  • Heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and season with salt and pepper.  Saute until translucent.  Add carrots and saute until carrots are beginning to soften and take on golden color.
  • Add stock and water and simmer 10 minutes.
  • Add diced chicken and spaghetti.  Bring to a boil for 8-10 minutes, until the spaghetti is cooked.  Add lemon juice.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until ready to serve.

You can experiment with different add-ins; this soup would be a great foil for anything you may have aging (slightly) in your fridge.  I frequently have half a pack of spinach left over by just before the expiration date, and I’m definitely planning to throw that in next time!

Source: Adapted from Giada at Home.

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Pretzel Turtles

One of my favorite places to visit in the DC area is Old Town Alexandria.  I first discovered Old Town as a 1L.  I really, really needed to get out of DC and away from law school for a few hours one day, so I rode the Metro down to King Street and walked up and down, checking out the shops, watching the boats cruise by on the Potomac, and enjoying some frozen custard.  I felt like I was on vacation.  Since then, I have jumped on the Metro (or more recently, into the car) many times when I needed a quick getaway for an afternoon.  It’s one of the most enjoyable ways to spend an afternoon, and hubby loves Old Town as much as I do.  Some time ago, as we wandered through some side streets, we happened upon The Sugar Cube, quite possibly the best confectionary EVER.  They sell a mix of old-timey retro treats and gourmet sweets.  Last time we stopped by, I bought a “turtle” style truffle made with crushed pretzels.  Salty and sweet, this goodie represented everything that I love about chocolate-covered pretzels in a compact, bite-sized package.  YUM!  I love experimenting with different kinds of candy, so I knew that this would have to be on the menu for my next party… and these little beauties went over famously, as chocolate always does with my friends.

Pretzel Turtles

2 cups crushed pretzels
1 package milk-chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 package dark-chocolate chips
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Maldon sea salt, for garnishing (optional)

  • In a double-boiler, melt the milk chocolate chips and cream together until they form a smooth mixture.  Stir in the crushed pretzels.
  • Lay out a sheet of parchment paper on a counter.  Using a teaspoon, portion out the truffles on the parchment paper and allow to dry.
  • Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate chips and corn syrup together until smooth.  Pour over the truffles to create a ganache-style topping.
  • If desired, sprinkle truffles with Maldon sea salt.  Allow truffles to dry before serving.

Source: Inspired by The Sugar Cube.

Yield: approximately 24 truffles.

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Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Cauda

I realized just how behind I am on posting – this move threw me all off, but I’m back now, I swear – when I saw that this dish, hubby’s and my Valentine’s Day entree, was still in draft form.  And that’s a shame.  I hate to think I’ve waited so long to share this with you all, because it’s wonderful.  Tilapia is one of my favorite – perhaps my all-time favorite – kinds of fish.  Although I do love tuna.  And halibut, and sole, and really good salmon.  Anywho.  This tilapia is wonderful, gently sauteed and coated with a bright, fresh-tasting sauce of citrus and herbs.  It was easy to make, too – bonus!  I’m definitely not going to wait for next Valentine’s Day to make this again.

Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Cauda

For the Bagna Cauda Sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 anchovy fillet, minced (yum!)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon chiffonaded fresh basil (or chives)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

For the Fish
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tilapia fillets
salt and pepper

  • To make the bagna cauda sauce, combine the oil, butter, and anchovy fillets in a nonstick saute or fry pan and warm until the anchovy melts.  Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Remove from heat and add the juice, herbs and zest.  Season to taste with salt and set aside.
  • Wipe out the fry pan with a paper towel and add additional olive oil.  Season the fish with salt and pepper and saute until just opaque and still tender – approximately 3 minutes per side.
  • Plate fish and dress with the bagna cauda sauce.
  • Optional – garnish with chives.

Yield: Serves 2.  I reduced the recipe, which originally served 6.  For the original proportions see…

Source: Adapted from Giada’s Family Dinners, by Giada de Laurentiis