Orange Olive Oil Cake

Good News!

The quality of the food photography on this blog is likely to improve. As some of you may know, Andrew went to photography school and has quite the eye! I finally decided that he should be recruited for the blog. He loves to eat, cook and take photos, so why not combine the three? We have been studying different techniques and hopefully will have great results!

On a different note, I made this cake last weekend for his parents who are recovering from a bug (not the Swine flu, don't worry!). I was inspired by the blueberry crumb cake I made a few weeks ago, in which I substituted olive oil for some of the butter.

After doing a quick search, I found this recipe for Orange Olive Oil cake. It is from more than burnt toast, but is an Anna Olson recipe. Be sure to check out her post, she has some great info on Ms. Olson and the cake. Apparently someone at work is paying her to make this because they loved it so much!

Wow, was this cake yummy! The orange flavor was on the subtle side, but worked perfectly. Because of the olive oil, the cake was very moist. You may notice that on the picture below it looks almost uncooked in the middle, but that is just from the olive oil sinking a little. I think I may have stirred it too long. Anyway, I will be sure to make more baked goods with EVOO in the future.

Olive oil is healthy right? How can you go wrong?

I am also bringing this cake to a virtual bakesale. Lauren, from I'll Eat You is holding a virtual bakesale in honor of her one year blogiversary. Way to go Lauren! She is raising money through firstgiving to donate to the World Food Program. What a great cause? Check out the site and give a little if you can :)

Orange Olive Oil Cake

2 eggs
1 -1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup 2 %milk
zest of 2 oranges or tangerines
1 cup + 2 T all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
dash salt
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 °F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add olive oil, milk and orange zest and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to olive oil batter and stir just until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely, then turn out onto a plate and dust with powdered sugar.

Everything Tastes Better Grilled

A few years ago, Bobby Flay grilled pizza on an episode of Boy Meets Grill. It looked absolutely delicious and I knew that it was something that I had to make. After all, what doesn't taste better grilled? My first attempt at this pizza challenge came shortly after, when I was living at home with my parents. It was pretty good, but I recall having some troubles with the dough...either way, when Andrew and I were headed out to the local farmer's market on Saturday morning, I suggested that we get some ingredients to grill pizza. As usual he was game and we stocked up on some goodies. We both got chorizo sausage (there is a place at the market that makes seriously the best chorizo I have ever eaten) and I got a portabello, ricotta and basil. Andrew got some yellow peppers, sheep's milk feta and a red onion.

A word of advice, have all the ingredients prepped before you start. I forgot how quickly the dough cooked and snapped a little teensy bit in my frenzy.

Andrew!?! Stop snacking and help me with the pizza!!!!

I later realized I could just turn off the grill and get stuff ready....turn off grill??? Novel idea!

Because I was lazy, we got some pre-made pizza dough at Wegman's which worked fine. If you oil the dough before you put it on the grill, it doesn't stick at all.

This is a really fun meal to make and pretty impressive if I do say so.

I didn't write the entire recipe from the episode, just listed the ingredients we had on hand. You can find Bobby's method here.

Grilled Pizza
Pre-made pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Feta cheese
Ricotta cheese
Yellow peppers, sliced
Portabello mushroom, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Chorizo sausage, grilled and sliced

Keep an eye on your dough to make sure it doesn't get too singed...I had a small accident, but it still tasted great!

Confessions of a Foodie

This morning, as I was lying in bed, I thought of exactly what I wanted to write about today. Unfortunately, as I did not write it down...I don't exactly remember. Oh well, here goes nothing...

If I could I would wear a t-shirt and jeans every day (which I do pretty well at), I hate shoes and own significantly less pairs than my fiance, I don't have that great a sense of interior design. Although I order a snooty drink at Starbucks (Grande, non-fat, 130 degree Latte) I am one of the least snooty people I know. I hate shopping for clothing or shoes, but could spend hours walking around Williams-Sonoma or Crate & Barrel. When I get their catalogs in the mail, I bring them to the bedroom and read them like a good book. This is what my love of food has done to me. My kitchen is loaded (and will be more so after our wedding) with goodies - a phat KitchenAid mixer, Brevelle Juicer, Le Crueset tea pot and much more. You know what - I use them all. My kitchen is my domain.

But I digress, the reason for this rambling intro is that last night we had some friends over. I decided to make a recipe out of the Williams-Sonoma catalog. Chipotle Chicken Paninis. The recipe called for their new Spicy Chipotle Rub which we promptly went and purchased. Wow, am I glad we did, the stuff is amazing!!! Seriously, get some.

We decided to grill the sandwiches outside and used ciabatta, not sandwich bread, but other than that, followed the recipe pretty closely. These things were AMAZING. I went to bed thinking about them and woke up thinking about how I wish we had more...I also submitted this recipe to Magazine Mondays over at Cream Puffs in Venice, because although not technically a food magazine, I think it counts because it ended up in the "will make someday" category. The image above is what their version looks like and what made me drool enough to want to make them. Below is our creation:

Lily wanted one too...

To go along with the sandwiches, we had a simple caprese salad and I made a Blueberry Crumb Cake from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. The cake was equally awesome. Put it this way - four people housed an entire cake in one sitting...maybe I shouldn't admit that - eh, whatever. The only change I made for the cake was substitute 3 tablespoons of olive oil for 3 of butter. This resulted in a moist, slightly healthier cake. I think in the future I'd up the blueberry amount also.

Either way, an evening of excellent food and good company - we even got to play dominoes!

Chipotle Chicken Sandwich
inspired by Williams-Sonoma recipe

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each about 8 oz., tenders
removed and breasts butterflied

8 tsp. spicy chipotle rub

1 loaf ciabatta, cut into quarters and sliced

Olive oil for brushing

8 tsp. mayonnaise

8 oz. Pepper jack cheese, cut into slices

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

Rub each chicken breast on both sides with 2 tsp. chipotle rub. Grill for about 5 minutes on each side, until done. Transfer to a plate. Construct sandwich with mayo, cheese, avocado and chicken breast. Put sandwiches back on grill for a few minutes, until slightly toasted. Serves 4.

Comfort Food from Childhood - Potato Puffs

Growing up, whenever we had any leftover mashed potatoes my mom would make potato puffs the next day. I'm not sure if there was ever an official recipe or it was just something she threw together....either way I was always very excited when she made them. Who doesn't love fried potato products??? Not this girl. Trust me, once you make these once, they will become a staple. They are very easy, not too time consuming and make excellent leftovers. I just had two cold for a little snack :)

These little bundles of potatoey goodness are my mom's version of a potato pancake. As it is the Passover season, I thought it would be a fitting solute to my quasi-Jewish heritage to cook them. Andrew and I made roasted-red pepper mashed potatoes (yum!) the other night and I purposefully made extra with these in mind. I didn't get my mom's recipe prior to cooking them, I just went by feel. As a consequence, they aren't as fluffy as hers were. Still delicious though! Below is the actual recipe, but these can't really be messed up....

Potato Puffs
per one cup of mashed potatoes

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup of milk
a dash of salt and pepper
oil to fry (I suggest EVOO)

Whisk all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. In the meantime, heat about 1/2 inch of oil on medium high. When the oil is ready, drop in dollops of the mixture. When the edges start looking cooked through flip them. The end result should be nice and golden brown.

The frying process should be done by feel, much like a pancake.

Greek Shrimp with Lemon and Feta

After the temperature remains consistently over 40 degrees, the word barbecue clicks on in my head. Any day that is slightly warmer and sunnier (over 50 usually) and that is all I can think about. I know that to some of you barbecue has one definition - ribs, pulled pork, etc. To me it means lighting up the grill.

Luckily for me, I met a man who also loves to grill, so when I call him at work and say, "you know, its hot and sunny, do you want to BBQ tonight?" I know the answer. So far this year we have unearthed our grill umpteen times from its super stylish green tarp covering. Last weekend we were planning our weekly dinners and decided to do some kabobs on Tuesday (the weather forecast looked favorable). Andrew has a book that he bought from Weis of all places (a local grocery store) entitled, "Kabobs - 52 Easy Recipes for Year Round Grilling." We have made several of these already and all have been super tasty. The page we settled on was - Greek Shrimp with Lemon and Feta. Sign me up!

Tuesday turned out to be gorgeous, so I played hooky from school to give this meal and the man the attention they deserve. Plus, who wants to be learning about planning law when it is 65 and sunny, come on!

They turned out great. We used scallops along with the shrimp and served them over Kashi Seven Grain Pilaf mixed with some spinach and leftover marinade.

Greek Shrimp and Scallops with Lemon and Feta
serves 4

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 pound large shrimp
1/2 pound sea scallops
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup feta, crumbled
1 lemon, cut into wedges

For marinade: Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, rosemary, 1 teaspoon salt and red pepper flakes into a bowl. Mix well. Add the shrimp and scallops and stir together so that all the seafood is covered with marinade. (You could also use a big Ziploc bag) Refrigerate for at least 2-4 hours.

Thread the scallops and shrimp on skewers (we have metal) and grill until firm - about 2 minutes per side. The shrimp will be pink and the scallops firmer. Be careful with the scallops, they are fragile, but if you are gentle with them, it will all work out fine.

Serve over the pilaf with the lemon wedges. Sprinkle feta over top.

Enjoy! Happy Grilling Season!!!