Pasta with Tuna (Pennoni al Tonno)

Date I made this recipe: November 15, 2009

The Metropolitan Opera Cookbook – Foreword by Placido Domingo, Edited by Jules Bond
Published by: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
© 1988 – ISBN: 1-55670-039-3

Recipe: Pennoni al Tonno (Pasta with Tuna)
Well folks, yesterday I spent an entirely delightful day (of my own volition) listening to opera hopefuls vie for a spot in the Metropolitan Opera. You heard me, the Metropolitan Opera.

Some people would consider giving up an entire Saturday to sit and listen to people screech their way through a song in another language to be akin to death…or worse. Not me. Although I am not a big fan of the opera, I don’t hate it, either, and being an audience member during these tryouts is a lot of fun - far better, to be sure, than actually trying out.

Now you might wonder if I motored to the Big Apple to take in these auditions but the beautiful thing is that I didn’t need to. For the past 57 years, the Metropolitan Opera has held regional tryouts in St. Paul and for a good 15 of those years at least, my friend, Tall (real name, Carol) and I have been part of the audience cheering (never jeering) the hopefuls on to greatness.

Although I am a singer, I moved away from classical training to jazz early on and while I think jazz singers can do classical pieces, I don’t think classically-trained singers can do jazz, at least not to my ear. Don’t get me wrong, many have tried but with apologies to those classical singers who have (and there have been many), it just ain’t a happenin’. You either feel the rhythm of jazz or you don’t. Either you are Ella Fitzgerald or you’re not. I don’t make these rules.

But boy oh boy, when classical singers actually play inside their own sandbox, the results are phenomenal as we hear year after year after year. Every year in the regional audition round, 20 or so singers try to outsing each other for the chance to move on to the district auditions, also held in St. Paul in February and then the winners of that competition go to New York for the one, big chance to try to get into the Met in any which way they can. (Suffice it to say, most probably start in the chorus since we can’t all be Renee Fleming, now can we?)

So, there we were, all front and center (and I mean that) and one by one the singers came out and gave it their best shot. This year’s field was pretty darned good with only one soprano cracking a note and with many of the tenors sounding like young Pavarotti’s.

But folks, while I believe my analysis of the singers, having studied their techniques, is usually pretty decent, I would be lying if I told you that I was there for the singing alone. Because this is an opportunity for me and Tall to become hosts of our own little “What Not To Wear to An Opera Audition.” As I am fond of saying to anyone who will listen - “If you want to be a diva (or divo, if there is such a thing for me -- not to be confused with Devo, a popular ‘80’s band), you must dress like a diva.” So while other audience members are busy writing notes all over their programs about the contestants and their vocal abilities, I write fashion statements, to wit:

Contestant 1 – male tenor – nice suit but what is with the silver, glitzy tie? Day or nighttime, dude, you decide!
Contestant 2 – male bass- the guy I call “Mr. GQ” is back again this year. Three-piece suit is sharp but just like last year we need to see some shirt sleeves peeking out of the jacket. (This seems to be a problem for most men this year).
Contestant 3 – female mezzo soprano – “I’m thinking best dressed!” This outfit was fantastic—a 60’s-looking chiffon cocktail dress with long beads and fun shoes. Wish her voice would have lived up to the outfit—nice, but weak.
Contestant 4 – male bass-baritone – “Where’s the tie?” One does not go to an opera audition looking as though one rolled out of bed thinking “Hey, I know. I’ll just throw on a shirt and a suit and go to try out for the Met.” Maybe in other cities, buster, but not here.
Contestant 5 – female soprano – “Ummmm….no.” The dress was a de-zas-ter. Very formal on top, very casual on the bottom. She also broke the cardinal rule of color continuity and instead opted for a silver top, a burgundy middle and an even darker skirt in what looked like brown – shudder! The woman definitely needs a Tim Gunn (“Make it work”) in her life.
Contest 6 – male bass – “Again with missing tie? Didn’t your mothers teach you anything?” This outfit was a mess – gray pinstripe suit, missing tie, checkered shirt and…ohmygod – are those brown shoes?!!
Contestants 7 and 8 – Acceptable but boring. Wearing black is usually okay but not if one blends with the piano.
Contestant 9 – female soprano - That lace dress looks like something out of a Mad Men episode – matronly and totally from the 60’s. This is the year 2009, dear. Try to keep up.

And on and on we went. More shirts with no ties, more gray suits with brown shoes and so on and so forth. And then we came to the day’s over-all fashion victim winner and the runner up – Miss “Big Nooooo” and Miss “What the hell were you thinking?!”

The runner-up, Miss “What the hell were you thinking?!” was very attractive but her selection of accessories for her satiny bridesmaid dress (I’m thinking J Crew bridal) ruined the look. She had on silver hoop earrings that didn’t match the look of the dress, a necklace that also didn’t match the look and a watch. Yes, a watch. Because….she needed to count the minutes until the audition was over? As the registrar of my law school used to say (quite often, I might add): “People, people, people” (followed by some admonishment such as “turn in your papers by 5 p.m. and I mean it!”) A watch with a bridesmaid dress is tacky and that is all there is to it.

As to Miss “Big Nooooo,” she hands down won the award for Worst Dressed Diva by wearing a black top that was way too small for her ample chest, with a matching skirt and a…it pains me to say this…glittery silver scarf/belt/”what the hell is that?” tied around her hips. Good golly, Miss Molly! A person garners our vote for this award when Tall and I turn to each other and on cue say “No.” That’s it, that’s all it takes to win that awards and by the way, she didn’t even need to open her mouth to capture that crown. We are so fair it is ridiculous.

But despite that fact that the two fashion victims landed on my version of “Mr. Blackwell’s Worst Dressed List,” they landed on the opera judge’s Best Singer List along with a tenor who just blew the roof off the dump. I am still singing his final number. Now, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t ding him ever so slightly for the boring tie he wore. The color was appropriate (yellow to compliment a brown suit) but I would have liked to have seen a splash or two of color, perhaps a little red like the red in the tomato sauce from today’s recipe.

Today’s recipe, Pennoni al Tonno (pasta with tuna) is from The Metropolitan Opera Cookbook. (Patience is a virtue when it comes to reading this blog, no?) I love that I just happened to have this book on hand for today’s tryouts. This recipe is one of Luciano Pavarotti’s submissions and gee, while the man could sing like nobody’s beeswax, this recipe came close to being a culinary Big No. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that good, either. In fact, for the first time ever since I started this blog, Andy and I ate our portions and never said a word about the recipe, good, bad or indifferent.

I think this recipe could have been better had we left out the anchovies or used slightly less than called for (or even used anchovy paste) and we probably could have waited for the pasta to cool a bit more before adding the cheese since all it did was create a gloppy mess in the pan. (“But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”)

So to recap: the singing at the tryouts were great (well, except for the two fashion-victim finalists whose voices we did not like), the fashion boo-boos were minimal compared to previous years and Pavarotti may have been a great opera singer but he needed some work on the culinary side. I think I’ll get going on my “What Not To Eat After An Opera Audition” notes straight away! (And Clinton and Stacey of TLC’s What Not To Wear call me!)

Pennoni al Tonno (Pasta with Tuna) – Serves 6
2 tablespoons corn oil (or olive oil)
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3 (6 1/2 – ounce) cans imported tuna (Italian or Spanish), packed in oil
1 (2-ounce) can anchovies, cut small
½ (6-ounce) can tomato paste (Note: using tomato paste in a tube is far easier)
1 (12-ounce) can tomato juice
Garlic salt to taste
1 ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound pennoni or other pasta, cooked until al dente (Note: pennoni is very similar to penne and that is what I used)

In a saucepan, heat oil and sauté onion until transparent. Add then tuna and anchovies, and stir for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, tomato juice, and garlic salt. Stir well and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sauce to cooked pasta, mix well, and sprinkle on grated cheese. Serve immediately.

Pork chops kassel (German pork chops)

Date I made this recipe: November 8, 2009

Recipes of All Nations -[Recipes] Compiled & Edited by Countess Morphy
Published by: Wm. H. Wise & Company
© 1935
Recipe: Pork chops kassel (Kasseler Rippespeer) – p. 380

I recently read an article in the New York Times comparing the world’s reaction to 9/11, the day when planes hit the World Trade towers, and 11/9, the day the Berlin Wall fell, allowing East Germans to stream back into West Germany to be reunited with friends and family. (By the way, this year marks the 20th anniversary of that event—hard to believe). Whereas 9/11 had us gathered in our collective grief, 11/9 was the cause for much rejoicing. It was hard to conceive of planes hitting the trade towers but in some ways, it is harder still to contemplate how a group of people from the same country were separated by a wall dissecting the city of Berlin for almost 30 years.

When I was growing up, reports of people trying to escape from East Germany into West Germany abounded. Try to picture making a run for the Minnesota-Wisconsin border only to be felled by bullets – it’s beyond weird. Harriet Tubman and her (slave)Underground Railroad was the precursor to a vast underground movement to get people out of the east and back into the west. Several thousand people tried to escape; several hundred died in the attempt.

I also grew up watching the former East Germany (known then as GDR) spit out thousands of hulked athletes who used to blow the roof off the dump in the Olympics. I especially remember images of the East German women’s swim team – those women were built like…(well, you know) – but man, could they swim…and do gymnastics and every other sport under the sum. It’s hard to believe that once upon a time, the US got its butt kicked in sports but the GDR was nothing if not a powerhouse. After the wall fell, so did the old east’s athletic prowess. Sometimes, change is a good thing all around.

So in honor of the day that the wall fell down and East and West Germany started the road to reunification, I decided to cook a German meal and kids, it wasn’t easy. I don’t exactly have a keen interest in German food and so my selection was limited to one cookbook and only one cookbook and the recipes left a little to be desired. Need I tell you, reader, that I passed on making the eel soup? (Say it with me now: “Ewwwwwww”). If only eel season hadn’t just ended….

After a few hems and haws over what was left in the book (not much), I decided on making this pork chop recipe and it turned out to be a (surprise) hit. You can’t go wrong with making pork since it’s practically the national dish of Germany and it was easy and fast. (Since you know how much I obsess about the weather in this blog, this weekend was absolutely divine – temps in the 60’s and so who wanted to be inside cooking?).

By the way, my favorite local radio station, The Current (89.3 FM) played Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” in honor of the anniversary. That station is just way too cool.

Pork Chops Kassel– serving size not indicated. Note that the recipe doesn’t give specific measurements so this is my best attempt
4 pork chops (to serve 2 people)
1 apple, finely chopped
1 cup prunes, finely chopped
Butter and lots of it!
A splash of brandy (my suggestion and totally optional!)
2 eggs, separated
About 1 cup breadcrumbs

The cookbook says “There are different ways of preparing this dish, but this recipe has been chosen as being more typically German than the others.”

Chop the apples and prunes and sautee with about 3 tablespoons of butter (eyeball it) until they are cooked soft. Add a little lemon peel and/or a splash of brandy.

Flatten the pork chops so you can lay one on top of the other. I purchased two very thick boneless pork loin chops and split them in half with a very sharp knife. Spoon the apple/prune mixture into the middle.

Using a pastry brush, apply the egg yolk to the pork chops. Dip one side into the bread crumbs, then apply the yolk to the other, coat and place in a hot skilled into which you’ve loaded say…3-4 tablespoons of butter! Fry in the butter until done, about 5-10 minutes or so (check as you go).

The author suggests serving sauerkraut with this dish but my husband put his foot down and said if I made (i.e. opened a can or jar and heated) sauerkraut, I’d be eating it alone so I pulled some potatoes and onions from my pantry…and butter…and set about making fried potatoes. I have to admit that I’ve never fried a potato before (yes, I know, how did I make it this far?) but this was easy. I recommend partially cooking the potatoes (I did mine in the microwave for about 12 minutes) as well as the onions (I sliced them then microwaved them for about 4 minutes) before adding them to the fry pan to reduce cooking time. And voila, you have a perfect German meal!

Pizza Meatloaf, Scalloped Potatoes, Boston Baked Beans

Date I made these recipes: October 25, 2009

Cooks for a Cause – Benefiting the Twin Cities Race For The Cure® Susan G. Komen Foundation
Published by: Favorite Recipes Press
© 2001
Recipe: Pizza Meat Loaf – submitted by Dan Terhaar – AM 1500 KSTP – p. 73

Rain, Hail and Baked Beans – a New England Seasonal Cook Book With Favorite Recipes from New England Inns by Duncan MacDonald and Robb Sagendorph
Published by: Ives Washburn, Inc.
© 1958
Recipe: Boston Baked Beans – p. 26

Food Network Kitchens Cookbook by the Food Network Kitchens
Published by: Meredith Press
ISBN: 069621854-2
Recipe: Scalloped Potatoes with Gruyere – p. 204

So some of you might be wondering what I was thinking pairing Pizza Meat Loaf with Scalloped Potatoes with Gruyere cheese (a cheese made in Switzerland) with Boston Baked Beans but reader, there was a method to my madness.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and my mother was a twenty-three-year survivor of breast cancer before she died from a massive stroke. I purchased the Cooks for a Cause book at one of my favorite thrift stores and voila! I had my recipe.

October is also my birthday month and my mom used to make my favorite meal every birthday: meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and baked beans (with angel food cake for dessert).

Now, we were not pizza meatloaf people, my mom making the simple meatloaf recipe probably from the back of a Quaker Oats container, nor did we have access to Gruyere cheese. In fact, there was absolutely no cheese involved in mom’s scalloped potatoes whatsoever. As to the baked beans, well, my mom “doctored up” (her words) some Campbell’s Pork and Beans with mustard, ketchup and a bit of brown sugar. And danged if they weren’t good!

These recipes were all a hit and oddly enough, the flavors didn’t clash as I feared they might. The eight-hour cooking time on the beans may seem long but they came out with the texture of canned beans only better. I like things that I can put in the oven and ignore for hours on end.

By the way Twin Cities’ residents, I would be remiss if I didn’t put in a plug for one of my favorite places to get used cookbooks (such as the Cooks for a Cause cookbook), Value Village. Value Village Thrift stores are run by Arc Greater Twin Cities, an organization that provides advocacy and support for individuals with developmental and mental difficulties and their families. Value Village is currently in Richfield, MN, Brooklyn Center, MN and New Hope, MN with a fourth store just weeks away from opening at 1650 White Bear Avenue in St. Paul. I have been volunteering for Arc for over 22 years and am chairing the grand opening of the new St. Paul store. Their stores are fun places to find everything under the sun—clothes, beddings, household items and books. I think the cookbook cost me a mere $1.00. The best thing about that cookbook is that all recipes were submitted by local TV and radio personnel who work(ed) for KSTP studios. Not only was the recipe good but it benefited two good causes - can’t beat that!

Please note that you must soak the beans overnight before preparing the bean recipe. I cooked the beans for 6 1/2 hours before cranking up the heat from 250 to 350 and then threw in the meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. I cooked the beans for ½ hour at 350, then pulled them out of the oven, and after the other stuff was cooling, put the beans in for another 1½ hour at 250. They were perfect!

Pizza Meat Loaf (serves 20 so you’ve gotta know I cut this recipe in half!)
3 ½ pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork or pork sausage
1 (16-ounce) can pizza sauce
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups rolled oats
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped onion
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup ketchup (for the topping)

Combine the ground beef, ground pork, pizza sauce, tomato sauce, oats, eggs, onion, salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. Form into a flat lofa in a 10x14-inch baking pan. Spread the ketchup over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ¼ hours. Drain any accumulated juices and let stand for 20 minutes before serving. Note: I cooked it for about 1.75 hours and then let it sit for 20 minutes as the center still needed cooking.

Scalloped potatoes with gruyere – 4 to 6 servings
1 large clove garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ¼ pounds Yellow Finn or other waxy potatoes (about 6), peeled (Note: I weighed my potatoes and definitely had more than 6; if you have a kitchen scale, you might want to use it for this recipe)
2 cups half-and-half
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 2 ounces)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Rub the garlic all over the inside of an 8x8x2-inch casserole dish. Mince what is left of the garlic cloves. Smear some of the butter all over the inside of the dish.

Using a mandoline or vegetable slicer (or heck, just a plain, old kitchen knife), slice the potatoes about 1/8 inch thick and put them in a large saucepan with the mined garlic, remaining butter, the half-and-half, thyme, salt, pepper to taste and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture has thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and shake the pan to distribute the potatoes evenly. Bake, uncovered, occasionally spooning some of the liquid over the top, until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 50 minutes (more like 75). Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake until brown and bubbly, about 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let the casserole cool 10 minutes before serving.

Author’s note: Boiling the potatoes in the cooking liquid before layering them in a baking dish is the key to superior scalloped potatoes. As the half-and-half heats, it draws the starch from the potatoes and turns into a satiny sauce. To lighten up this classic (Ann’s note: why?!), use the same technique with chicken broth.

Boston Baked Beans – serves 8
1 quart pea beans (I used navy)
½ pound salt pork
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dry mustard
Boiling water

Wash and pick over the beans. Soak OVERNIGHT in cold water. In the morning, drain, cover beans with fresh water, and simmer until skins break (about an hour). Put beans into bean pot or other casserole. Score pork and press into beans, filling pot until three-fourths full. Add sugar, molasses, salt and mustard. Cover with boiling water. Cover and bake 8 hours without stirring in slow oven (250). Keep the beans almost covered but not swimming in water. Remove the cover during the last half hour of baking.

By the way, my husband, who usually tolerates my attempts at baked beans, was all over this recipe. He said if all baked beans tasted like this, he could grow to like them!

Chocolate Sponge Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Date I made this recipe: October 18, 2009

Cake Love – How to Bake Cakes from Scratch by Warren Brown
Published by: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
ISBN: 978-1-58479-662-6
Recipe: Chocolate Sponge Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting – p. 128-129 (cake) and 154-155 (frosting)

Time flies when you’re having fun.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I decided to make my own birthday cake and was going to do it the next day but then I got derailed and so didn’t make it until a week later. Such is life. Let me just say that the saying “another year older and deeper in debt” has never been more true; my law school student loans are ridiculously high, such that I’m pretty sure that I will die before I pay them off. Lest you think I’m kidding, I’m now scheduled for payoff when I’m 74. Hahahaha…..

So speaking of law school, Warren Brown, author of today’s featured cookbook, had the right idea. Warren was a D.C. lawyer before returning to his first love, cooking. He founded a bakery called Cake Love and went on to have a show on the Food Network (that I loved, by the way) called Sugar Rush. I left business to go into law and have nada to show for it. Would that I had Warren’s expertise in baking or even cooking because then I might have been “a contenda” (just like Marlon Brando in the movie, On the Waterfront).

Anyway, when Warren came out with a book, I just had to have it and when I saw the picture of the chocolate sponge cake with buttercream frosting, I did indeed experience Cake Love.

Except, folks, I am not at all a cake kind of gal. But I am most definitely all about the frosting. (And in my world, you either like cake or you like the frosting but I almost never hear of anyone who likes both.) To me, the cake is just to conduit to the frosting and my, how I love the frosting. I am always the person who eats the corner piece with the most frosting…but when I say “eat” the corner piece, I really mean that I eat the frosting off the piece and leave the cake behind. My husband and I have a deal where I eat the top of the cake and he does cleanup on aisle 12 and it works beautifully.

As far as cakes go, this one was pretty good and I had several comments from tasters that it was more like a European cake than an American one…in other words, this cake was dense. Warren commented that sponge cake is often dry but I thought it was fine…what I ate of it, of course!

But oh, reader, the frosting, the frosting! It was positively divine and there was enough left over for me to nibble at for days to come. I have been known to eat frosting right out of a can and this is no exception. My only question is: does frosting freeze?!!

Take it from me, you will LOVE this CAKE.

Chocolate Sponge Cake – yields two 9-inch-round cakes
Cake Ingredients
Foam
8 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 cup (8 ounces) extra-fine granulated sugar. Note: Most bakers weigh their ingredients rather than measure them by cups, tablespoons, etc. and I followed suit. But be warned that eight ounces of sugar weighed is way more than 1 cup measured. I was worried that the cake would be too sweet but it was fine.

Dry Ingredients
8 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour (1/12 cups + 3 tablespoons)
1 ounce (1/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla power (note: I found this locally at Byerly’s grocery store)

Liquid ingredients
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter
Whiskey, 2 tablespoons (optional)

Frosting ingredients
Yolk mixture
6 large egg yolks
2 ounces (1/4 cup) extra-fine granulated sugar
2 tablespoons potato starch
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Milk Mixture
2 cups whole milk
12 ounces (1 ½ cups) extra-fine granulated sugar

Flavorings and Butter
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons chocolate-covered cocoa nibs (optional)

To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 (conventional) or 335 (convection). Set the rack in the middle of the oven.

Set out the ingredients and equipment. Crack the eggs and yolks into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment and set aside. Measure the sugar into a bowl and set aside. Sift the flour directly into a bowl on a scale for accurate measuring. (Oops…it always helps to follow the instructions. I didn’t sift and everything was fine). Measure the other dry ingredients into a separate mixing bowl, add the flour and whisk for 10 seconds to blend. Set aside. (Note: I weighed all the flour and sugar dry ingredients as well as the cocoa and confectioner’s sugar but didn’t weight the teaspoon items such as salt and baking powder).

Measure the liquid ingredients into a separate bowl, w2hisk to combine and set aside.

Add the sugar to the eggs and yolks and whip on high speed until a thick ribbon is formed, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium for about 30 seconds to stabilize the foam. Stop the mixer and remove the bowl.

Using a large spoon, gently sprinkle a third of the dry ingredients evenly over the top of the foam and folk in with a rubber spatula. Repeat in two more additions until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. This step should take a total of about 30 seconds.

Slowly fold in the liquid ingredients until combined. (Note: I had a tough time combining all the ingredients and so what I did was to mix in a little of the combined ingredients with the dry pockets at the bottom of my mixing bowl so that they were the same consistency - more or less – as the rest of the batter. When cooking, though, each pan formed a squishy little center where the remixed ingredients settled. Just keep an eye on the time and test for doneness at more frequent intervals and you’ll be fine.)

Prepare the pans; line the bottom of each pan with parchments but do not spray the sides.

Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans by depositing the batter into three separate areas of each pan and smoothing it out with the rubber spatula or an offset spatula. (Note: yeah, right! No offense, Warren, but come on, how on earth do you manage to get three separate areas in a 9-inch pan? I kind of plopped and eyeballed and it was fine).

Baking time is 20 minutes for those folks who live at sea level and 34 minutes for those who live in high-altitude areas.

Once the top of the cakes appear smooth, dry, don’t dent when touched, and are even in color, test for doneness by inserting a bamboo skewer in the center of a cake. When the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done. Remove the pans from the oven and place on a heat-resistant surface or wire rack.

Cool to room temperature, 25 to 30 minutes, before removing from pans. Use a small offset spatula to loosen each cake from the rim of the pan (or just use a dinner knife like I did—works great!). Place a cardboard cake circle or plate over the pan and invert. Remove the parchment from the bottom. Assemble immediately or wrap cakes tightly in plastic and store.

Cake storage: store an unfrosted cake under a cake dome at room temperature, or wrapped in plastic in the fridge, for up to 1 week. If frosted, store under a cake dome for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week. To store unfrosted cake longer, label, date, and store the plastic wrapped cake in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

To make the buttercream:
Set out the ingredients and equipment.

Separate the yolks into a large bowl. Add the 2 ounces sugar, potato starch, and cocoa powder and set aside. Place a damp kitchen towel under the bowl to prevent it from sliding.

Measure the milk mixture ingredients into a 2-quart heavy bottomed saucepan and set aside.

Measure the flavorings into two separate bowls and set aside.

Bring the milk mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it reaches a boil, slowly pour the milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking slowly in small circles at first and ending with broader strokes until fully combined. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

Return the saucepan to the stove and heat over medium heat, whisking constantly but not rapidly, for about 4 minutes (3 minutes at high altitude). The key is to keep the pastry cream moving so it won’t scorch the bottom of the saucepan.

When you begin to see lava bubbles-large, slowly forming bubbles that burp steam- reduce the heat to the lowest setting and whisk briskly for 1 minute to pasteurize the pastry cream. Note: 1 minute is not enough as my mixture was still pretty soupy. Keep going until it starts to look like a frosting instead of a syrup.

Pour the pastry cream into the bowl of the standing mixture fitted with the wire whip attachment. Whip the pastry cream on high speed until it’s cooled to room temperature, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time followed by the cocoa nibs and vanilla extract. Whip on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

So okay, we’ve made the cake and the frosting and now it’s time for assembly. Warren would have you slice the two cake rounds into halves but I say “screw that.” And let me just say that frosting this thing was a nightmare. So I frosted as best I could and after cleaning up the ridiculous mess that the buttercream created, tossed the entire thing in the fridge without so much as tasting one bit. The day after I made the cake, I took half of it to work where it was gobbled up in a heartbeat. So sure, one could follow the rules but one could also go rogue and the results are the same: one damned good cake!

Omelets in a Baggie and Oven Hash Brown Potatoes

Date I made these recipes: October 17, 2009

Make it Minnesotan! – Sesquicentennial Cookbook – 150 Years of Recipes and Stories from Minnesota Kitchens by the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Cookbook Committee, edited by Patricia Miller, Foreword by Sue Zelickson
Published by: Nodin Press
ISBN: 978-1-932472-74-5
Recipe: Omelet in a Baggie, submitted by Jean Badovinac, Itasca County – p. 42-43
(By the way, I previously published a recipe from the Minnesota Centennial Cookbook. My how time flies!)

Minnesota-North Dakota Division – The National Secretaries Association [International]
Published by: The committee from the Minnesota-North Dakota Division – The National Secretaries Association [International]
© 1977
Recipe: Oven Hash Brown Potatoes, submitted by Randi Weisser, Moorehead, MN, Red River Chapter – p. 74

Today was Ladies’ Lunch day. As I previously blogged, I get together on a bi-monthly basis (more or less) with two former co-workers for a Meet and Eat (and gossip and bitch) session. (Not to be confused with a Walk and Talk that I do with other friends). When we started, there were six of us but now we are down to just three (the best of the bunch in my humble opinion).

A few months ago, Vicki had us over to her old house (she since bought a new one) and then Arlene had us over to her new apartment and well, you can see that my number was quickly up! So when the next luncheon date rolled around, I offered up my home and then set out to find something fun to make. (But note that after this, we are back to eating out in restaurants and having someone else do the cooking for us).

The omelet recipe was actually scoped out by Anna, the woman sitting next to me at a cooking class at Cooks on Crocus Hill. (How do I love that store? Let me count the ways!). Whenever you take a cooking class, Cooks gives you a discount coupon for an item in the store and I chose this cookbook. When Anna was looking through it, she found the recipe for an omelet boiled in a baggie and I was off and running.

Since I’m a big fan of potatoes, I decided to look for a brunch-style potato dish to accompany the omelets and oddly enough, selected it from a cookbook that one of Vicki’s friends had given me. In true casserole fashion, it featured two cans of cream soup and a small container of sour cream. No calories in that, no sir!

So Vicki brought some bread and Arlene brought some yummy fruit salad and I provided the omelets and potatoes and we had a great time getting caught up on what we were doing and of course, rehashing the good old days. (Actually, some of the years that we worked together were most certainly not good but that just gives us fodder for discussion).

As to the preparation of these items, as per usual (is it me, or what?) everything took longer than the recipes called for. The omelets took about 9 minutes to cook completely (and even then, a minute in the microwave was in order) and I think I went at least another half an hour on the potatoes, if not an hour. Each time I checked, the potatoes were crunchy and that wasn’t a good thing.

But other than that, we had fun boiling our omelets in a bag and just generally stuffing ourselves with food. I don’t know what I would do without these gals. We worked together for 8 years and just had a whale of a time even when the walls were tumbling down all around us.

If you have your own Ladies’ Lunch Bunch, I’m sure they’ll like these recipes.

Omelet in a Baggie - 1 serving
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of your favorite cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon of chopped ham, cooked bacon, mushrooms or other filing ingredients (optional)
1 freezer zippered plastic bag (1 quart)(use heavy-duty freezer bag)
boiling water

Break eggs into a small mixing bowl. Using a wire whisk or a fork, lightly beat eggs. Add cheese and filling ingredient(s) and stir to combine. Carefully pour egg mixture into zippered. Seal bag then open seal about 1-inch and press to remove air from bag. Reseal firmly.

Fill a 2-quart saucepan about 2/3 full with water. Cover and place on heat; bring to a full boil. Place the filled zippered bag into boiling water. Boil egg mixture for 5 minutes (Note: more like 9-10 minutes). Using tongs, carefully remove the zippered bag from the water. Open the bag and roll the omelet onto a plate. When the omelet is done it slides easily out of the bag.

Oven Hash Brown Potatoes - no serving size given
1 large bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1 green pepper (I used red)
1 onion, diced
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 small carton cultured sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste. (Note: The instructions don't say but combine the ingredients first before salt and peppering!). Put in greased 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Bake, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours at 300. (Make that about 2 hours at 350 or until potatoes are done).

Easy Crockpot Lentil Soup

Date I made this recipe: October 4, 2009

Best of the Best – QVC Family Cookbook – Favorite Family Recipes from QVC Viewers, Guests, and Friends – edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley
Published by: Quail Ridge Press
ISBN: 1-893062-72-4
Recipe: Easy Crockpot Lentil Soup – p. 59 – Recipe submitted by Gail Bradshaw, Chesapeake, VA

My friend, Carol (also known as “Tall”) is a self-proclaimed “shopper-head.” This woman loves to shop, shop, shop until she drops. And not one to be snobby, she is a big fan of QVC, a cable TV home shopping network that is now online as well.

So when I found this QVC cookbook at a used bookstore in town, I had to have it. Actually, I probably should have given it to her but I have a recipe blog and she doesn’t so I win.

Unlike Carol, I have never warmed up to QVC but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a bargain. In fact, I was prompted to pull out this book yesterday after spending a bit of time emailing her (we have not yet progressed to Face Book postings) that I scored a jacket on sale at Chico’s. To me, scoring something on sale is a rare event but to her, it’s an everyday thing. The fact that she is 6 foot tall (thus, the nickname) and finds stuff at all, much less on sale, slays me but she does.

My mother also appreciated a sale, and my dad used to tease her to no end by yelling “Sale!” There’s a sale!” when we were in a department store. My mother had the opposite problem of Tall’s – small in stature but not quite petite. And yet, she too, came back with bags of clothes. Of course, like all women around the world she “never had a thing to wear!” (My mother’s second-favorite phrase, usually directed toward my dad was “Oh, you’re not going to wear THAT are you?” You know you are your mother’s daughter when you find yourself saying the same thing to your husband.).

But I digress…this recipe book was fun to leaf through because it had many photos of QVC employees in action (there is nothing like the “in action” photos that companies use in their communication material. My favorite has to be “poised with a pen.”). I went with today’s recipe because it allowed me to use up the cabbage I bought for my vegetable soup a couple of weeks ago and it involved a crockpot. I mean, what great invention is that – plug it in and leave it alone! I am all over that instruction. (If your sense of humor is like mine though, the fact that a crockpot recipe was deemed “Easy” made me laugh. Is there such a thing as a “Hard” or “Difficult” crockpot recipe?)

Easy Crockpot Lentil Soup – serving size not listed
1 package dried lentils
3 stalks celery
1 large onion
1 large potato
1 ½ cups prewashed, prepackaged cole slaw mix (cabbage and carrots). (As noted above, I used up some pregrated purple cabbage and then just added some carrots to it to come up with a cole slaw mix)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 1/2–ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10 ¾-ounce) can condensed chicken soup (any kind)
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
Water

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Wash dried lentils and place in crockpot. Wash and coarsely chop vegetables, then add to crockpot. Add cole slaw mix directly from the package.

Sprinkle all spices over ingredients in crockpot. Pour broth, soup, and tomatoes into crockpot; fill crockpot within one inch of top with water. Cook on high 2 hours. Then turn crockpot to LOW and cook at least 6 more hours.

Interesting variations: Vary the flavor of the canned soup (such as creamed soup, chicken and rice, chicken noodle, ramen noodle soup, etc.). Add additional vegetables (such as mushrooms, broccoli, squash or cauliflower). Vary the type of dried beans (such as split peas, blackeye peas, or navy beans.).

NOTE: Well, folks, either my crockpot is broken (doubt it but it is old) or the author underestimated the cooking time because after 8 hours of cooking, 2 on high and 6 on low, the lentils were still pretty firm. And so I put them on the stove in a regular soup pot and cooked them for about an hour more and they were still firm. Hmmm….lentils are usually pretty easy to cook so I don’t know what happened. The flavor was still good even if it took much longer to cook than I planned for!

Pork a l'Orange and Wonderfully Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Date I made these recipes: September 27, 2009

Tray Gourmet – Be Your Own Chef in the College Cafeteria by Larry Berger & Lynn Harris; Illustrated by Chris Kalb
Published by: Lake Isle Press, Inc.
ISBN: 0-9627403-2-2
Recipe: Pork a l’Orange – p. 109

The Wonder® Bread Cookbook – an inventive and unexpected recipe collection from Wonder®
Published by: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 13:978-1-58008-807-7
Recipe: Wonderfully Crunchy Chicken Casserole – p. 59

So yesterday morning I was laying in bed with my radio on, willing myself to get up to go to work when the song “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones started playing. Not exactly the inspiration I was looking for. And of course, the day turned out to be one where I should have been sedated because after I got out of bed, it was all downhill from there.

One should not, however, be sedated when driving and never more so than when driving through the University of Minnesota campus area when school is in session. I liken it to a banzai run where one girds the loins and prepares to take on the myriad of students converging on oncoming cars as if there was some special force field to protect them. Hint, "young students:" (I was going to say “hint, grasshopper” but that reference to the TV show, Kung Fu, will sail over heads) “You are not immortal.” Flinging oneself in front of my moving vehicle to catch the bus you see coming on the other side of the street is likely to result in injury as will a slow meander through cars lined up at a stop light. Because I can assure you, once the light turns green, my foot becomes a weapon, stomping on the gas pedal so as to propel myself home as quickly as possible.

My husband has had his own challenges in getting through what is known as Stadium Village but that’s because for a while there, he drove a university bus that connected the Minneapolis and the St. Paul campuses of the University. And yet he loved it, go figure. Me? I always consider myself lucky when I and the car arrive at home in one piece.

Now I mention all this stuff about “The U” as it is known here, because today’s menu was geared toward college students. Well, okay, maybe not the Wonder® Bread casserole but since Wonder® Bread was part of my youth (not that we ever had it, just that we coveted it as being something cool), it fits with the college culture. So let’s parse these recipes!

I loved the title of the college cookbook, Tray Gourmet, but sadly didn’t like the recipe. I can see where the authors were going as the ingredients were definitely items that one would find in a campus cafeteria but the orange sauce lacked punch and was pretty watery. If a student had, say, brown sugar, I think it would have helped to thicken the sauce. And it goes without saying that Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) would totally rock this recipe but since the drinking age is 21 in most states, that’s a no-no; forget I said it!

As to the chicken casserole, the only thing I didn’t like, and it was minor, was the water chestnuts. I know they were there to add the “crunch” listed in the title, but I’m thinking that sautéed celery would have been a better choice and would have been perfect with the cream of celery soup. Please note that you need to refrigerate this dish overnight.

Tonight my husband and I walked through the campus area (soooo much better than driving!) and cracked up laughing when a group of guys in front of us started asking each other if they wanted to go get some “za” tomorrow-—as in “pizza.” My husband said “I’m glad to hear them still referring to pizza as “za” all these years later" just like he did when he was going there. And here we thought we were old!

Well okay, we are old…old enough to see the reflexes slowing down just an itty bitty bit and so to all you students out there, that person that you see yelling at you from my car and shaking a fist is me so please, be alert! You have many more dorm meals ahead of you and I have enough gray hair already! (Not that you’d ever notice…) In the meantime, I wanna be sedated…..

Pork a l’Orange – serves 2
1 orange
2 pats butter
3 soupspoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 pork chops or pork slices

Cut the orange in half. Section one half of the orange in a bowl. To section the orange, insert your knife between the orange and the pulp and pull through until you have gone all the way around. Turn the orange inside out and pull out the orange sections. Set the other half of the orange aside.

Put butter, orange juice, vinegar, and honey in bowl with sectioned orange. Microwave until butter melts, stir, and microwave again until hot. Spoon onto pork and microwave again to warm it up if you like. Garnish with rings of orange cut from the unused orange half.

Note: the recipe doesn’t say how to cook your pork so do it the way you like it and then top it with the orange mixture.

Wonderfully Crunchy Chicken Casserole – serves 9 to 12 (refrigerate overnight)
6 to 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
8 slices Wonder Bread
2 to 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained (Note: if you want to use water chestnuts, I would chop them into smaller pieces. If you want to skip them but still want a crunch, then I recommend celery that you can sautee with the mushrooms.
8 slices sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can cream of celery soup (10 ¾-ounce)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10 ¾-ounce)
1 ½ cups milk
½ teaspoon salt

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender; set aside.

Butter both sides of the bread. Arrange in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish, cutting to fit as necessary. Cover the bread with the mushrooms, chicken, water chestnuts and cheese.

Mix together the mayonnaise, eggs, celery and mushroom soups, milk, and salt; pour the mixture over the casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake for 1 ½ hours, or until set and golden brown.

Note: I didn’t know whether or not to leave the foil on and so baked it for about an hour with it on, then removed it and baked it the remaining ½ hour (or more, depending on your oven).

Vegetable Soup

Date I made this recipe: September 20, 2009

The Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook by Gertrude Berg and Myra Waldo
Published by: Pyramid Books
© 1955; Fifth printing, November 1965
Recipe: Vegetable Soup - p. 20

I never should have doubted Molly Goldberg.

I made this soup from her cookbook in “honor” of Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holy day usually referred to as the Jewish New Year. But since the weather was still warm I almost bagged the whole thing (soup on a hot day??) and that would have been A Bad Idea.

It would have been a bad idea because in looking at the ingredients, it pretty much called for fresh veggies and that is very summery…although I have to admit that I couldn’t get my hands on fresh lima beans and peas and so used frozen and warmed them up in the microwave for just a little bit.

Any who, this is a really good recipe although I almost ruined it by letting the Crisco get too hot in the pan. Perhaps I was channeling fried chicken instead of sautéed onions? Luckily, I caught the error of my ways (uh, the smoking oil was kind of a tip-off) and turned off the gas before I had myself an incident. After the pan cooled down, I tried again, this time with great results.

By the way, the author of this cookbook, Gertrude Berg, created and played the character of Molly Goldberg in a sitcom called The Goldbergs that ran on radio and TV from the 30’s to the mid-50’s. At the time that I purchased this cookbook (years ago) I had a vague recollection of the TV show since it ended a little bit before my time. But my dad often quoted what I gather was one of Molly’s famous lines - “Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Bloom” - when he was trying to get me or my mom to pay attention. I found all this out serving the internet - Google is a great thing!

Vegetable Soup (no serving size given)
4 tablespoons shortening
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 stalks celery
½ pound green peas, shelled (or use frozen)
¼ pound string beans, halved
¼ pound lima beans, shelled
7 cups water (I added 6 cups of water and 1 cup of chicken broth just for something different)
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
¼ pound fine noodles, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Melt the shortening in a saucepan. Add the onions and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the carrots, cabbage, celery, green peas, string beans, and lima beans. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the water, salt, pepper, sugar, tomatoes, and potatoes. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Add noodles and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes additional. (Note: I went about 45 minutes total. The veggies were just perfect—not too crispy but not too soggy, either).