Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake AND Scalloped Tomatoes

Barefoot Bloggers is relaxing a bit over the summer, and that's excellent news for me. I was on vacation when the June picks were announced and the relaxed schedule made it possible for me to make both selections. The two picks this month are sour cream coffee cake (selected by Gwenn of Cooking in Pajamas) and scalloped tomatoes (selected by Josie of Pink Parsley).

I've had a go-to coffee cake recipe for, oh, over 20 years now. In fact, I posted it here. I had no expectation that this one would unseat it from it's favored position, but was I ever wrong. It has streusel (which I doubled based on the feedback on the Food Network site) and to quote one of my tasters "This is everything a coffee cake is supposed to be...buttery, fluffy, just perfect." I can't recommend this recipe highly enough. It's easy and delicious, an unbeatable combination in my book. Please make it soon! You can find the recipe here.

I had trouble imagining the second selection for the month, scalloped tomatoes. I was making some Indian dishes with Kayte, one of my Twitter buddies, and I had pulled some naan out of the freezer to serve with soup. If you know me at all, you know I'm lazy, so I had left a piece of naan out overnight. Rather than throwing it away, I tore it into chunks and used it in place of the boule that the recipe calls for. I didn't saute it in olive oil, preferring to let the juices from the tomatoes soften and flavor the naan. Baked for 15 minutes, this came out bubbly and fragrant from the garlic. It was delicious and truly a wonderful way to use leftover bread.

If you'd like the recipe the way Ina intended, you'll find it here.

My thanks to Gwenn and Jody for picking two real winners. We really enjoyed both of these picks.

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

If you're like me, making a big meal on the weekend that reheats well helps you go into a busy week breathing easier. This lasagna makes an impressive main dish for company or a comforting creamy, cheesy dish for you and the hubs to eat in front of the fireplace in winter or on the patio in summer.

I first made this dish years ago when my boss, his wife and daughter came to dinner. I asked if anyone had food allergies or aversions, and he said they were able to eat anything (except his teenage daughter, who only ate pasta with butter and cheese). I didn't learn until we were eating the salad that his wife was lactose intolerant, which he hadn't mentioned because he thought it was all in her head. This lasagna, with its béchamel and cheese, just wouldn't do for her. I pulled some tomato basil soup from the freezer, steamed some asparagus and served it all with grissini. I bring this up because while this was all going on, I had no worries about dinner for the rest of my guests. This lasagna was in the oven, bubbling away and making the house smell terrific.

While this is yummy made with fresh pasta, I usually make it with dried, boiling the noodles for 6-7 minutes and letting them soak up the béchamel and mushroom juices. Speaking of the mushrooms, I usually mix portobello and cremini. When preparing portobello mushrooms, I  scrape the gills off before sautéing them. It's mostly an aesthetic preference.

If you wanted to, you could assemble this one evening and bake it the next, making it an even easier party dish.

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here.

Maple Oatmeal Scones

Scones have a reputation for being difficult to make like so many ethereal things that are really easy. The secret, just like pie crust, is not to handle them too much.

Like all Ina Garten recipes, this one makes a ton. I usually bake off half of them and freeze the rest. They're almost better when baked from the freezer.

Maple Oatmeal Scones (adapted from Ina Garten)

Printable recipe

For the scones:

3 1/2 cups/490 grams all-purpose flour

1 cup/140 grams whole wheat flour

1 cup/160 grams quick-cooking steel cut oats

2 tablespoons/30 grams baking powder

2 tablespoons/30 grams sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 cup/120 grams buttermilk, cold

1/2 cup/175 grams maple syrup (preferably Grade B)

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of milk or cream (for egg wash) (optional)

For the glaze:

1 1/4 cups/143 grams powdered sugar

1/2 cup/175 grams maple syrup (preferably Grade B)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt.

In a small mixing bowl or 2-cup measure, combine the buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs and beat with a fork to thoroughly combine.

With the mixer speed on low, add the cold diced butter to the dry ingredients and blend until the butter pieces are pea-sized and the mixture looks like wet sand. Stop the mixer occasionally to check the size of the butter pieces and don't be tempted to turn the speed higher. with the mixer on low speed, add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. The dough will be sticky.

Turn the dough out on a well floured surface and pat it into a roundish shape. The dough will have pea-sized lumps of butter. Flour a rolling pin and lightly roll it until it's approximately 3/4" - 1" high for regular scones. I like my regular scones to be thicker and my minis to be thinner (1/2" - 3/4"), but that's totally up to you.

Flour a cutter (I use 2 1/2" for regular scones and 1 1/2" for minis) and cut out the scones by pushing the cutter straight through the dough without twisting and put the scones on the baking sheet. Brush with the egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes (for regular scones) or 15-20 minutes for minis (depending on how thick they are). Scones are done when the tops are crisp and the insides are done. Let scones cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before glazing.

To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla in a small bowl and combine well, making sure there are no lumps. Drizzle cooled scones with maple glaze and serve.

Pecan Squares for National Pecan Day

I finally did it.

I made a recipe that was enough to feed the hungry masses in the office, no doubling or tripling the recipe required.

The recipe for these pecan squares comes to us from Ina Garten. The recipe relies on honey and citrus zest for flavor, which give them floral notes that are different from traditional pecan pie. The ingredients are a bit daunting (2 1/4 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of pecans, almost 4 cups of sugar) and this recipe will be costly, but the results are delicious. Be sure to line the pan with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil, making sure you extend it over the sides by an inch or two. This will help you avoid a mess in your oven and make it easier to get them out of the pan. Since these are made in a sheet pan, I was able to use a favorite trick, using a rolling pin and plastic wrap to roll out the (very sticky) dough for the base. The rolling pin evenly flattens the crust and gives a nice lip along the sides:

You can find the recipe here. I dipped them in melted chocolate as Ina did. If you'd like to do that, I melted 1/2 pound of 60% bittersweet chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water. When it was melted, I took the bowl off the heat and stirred in 1/2 cup of heavy cream.

I plan to play around with the recipe a bit to mix up the flavor and come up with a version that makes fewer squares (I cut them much smaller than Ina recommends and got 60 bars--she suggests 20!).

Barefoot Bloggers - Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Our first Barefoot Bloggers recipe this month is Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies. I'm not a fan of raisins, nor of oatmeal raisin cookies. But I made them anyway. I kinda had to.

They were my pick.

Excuse me? You don't like raisins or oatmeal raisin cookies and you picked an oatmeal raisin cookie??

I know, I know. I had every intention of picking a savory recipe when my turn came. Like many of us, I belong to several baking groups and need recipes that can also double as dinner. But when I saw Ina Garten make these the other day, I couldn't wait to try them. Mine didn't turn out as lovely as hers, but who cares when they taste amazing? I toyed with replacing the raisins with dried cranberries but found an extra bag of raisins in my pantry. I used Vietnamese cinnamon and the flavor was fantastic. Honestly, the cookie dough was almost better than the baked cookie! And yes, they were good enough that I've overcome my dislike of raisins. Now THAT'S a great cookie.

Tips:

1. If you love cinnamon, don't be afraid to increase it a little.
2. I toasted my nuts, chopped them and them combined them (separating any raisins that were stuck together) in a large bowl with the raisins and oatmeal. I find this distributes the mix ins better.
3. If you wanted to reduce the raisins and add chocolate chips it would probably be pretty yummy.
4. I made some cookies flattened as Ina instructs and some unflattened, and thought the flattened ones were not chewy enough. If you prefer a thin, crisp cookie, flattened is the way to go. If you like chewy, don't flatten. They will flatten out some but will be chewier.
5. If you're going for chewy, pull the cookies out when the edge seems set but the middles are still a bit soft. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Cookies
Printable Recipe

Makes 30-35 cookies

1 1/2 cups pecans
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the pecans on a sheet pan and bake for 5 minutes, until crisp. Set aside to cool. Chop very coarsely.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together into a medium bowl. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the oats, raisins, and pecans and mix just until combined.

Using a small ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop 2-inch mounds of dough onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with a damp hand. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a baking rack and cool completely.

Barefoot Bloggers - Caesar Club Sandwich

Karen of Shortbread selected this Ina Garten recipe for Barefoot Bloggers, and initially it gave me flashbacks to my ciabatta fail last summer. So I resolved to make focaccia to serve this sandwich on so as to avoid another ciabatta disappointment.

In making the focaccia, I realized that the process for making ciabatta is remarkably similar, and it gave me the confidence to try ciabatta again. And I did, and told the story here. Conquering this delicious loaf was so satisfying.

It also put me behind on making this sandwich, but it was worth waiting for! I pan sauteed my chicken breasts and finished them in the oven, letting them sit for 10 minutes before slicing. The dressing was a snap to make in the food processor, and we liked it so much that I drizzled a little extra on the arugula.

It was soooo yummy! I'll be making this one again...and you should to. You can find the recipe here.

Barefoot Bloggers - Coconut Cupcakes

Why, Ina? Why? I really didn't want to fall in love with another one of your recipes that involves unwrapping multiple sticks of butter, blocks of cream cheese or measures sugar by the pound. But like my first flirtation with dark chocolate, there is no going back now that I've tried your luscious coconut cupcakes.

This one will be short as it's late and I'm trying to get this one posted on time. These were easy to put together (other than the pain of unwrapping six sticks of butter), and as I mentioned, they were deee-licious. Ina says this recipe makes 18-20 cupcakes. I don't know what kind of muffin tins she's using but I got 24 regular cupcakes and 24 minis. And I had a lot of leftover frosting.

If you'd like to make these delightful cupcakes, you can find the recipe here. Many thanks to Jamie from Jamie's Green Kitchen for hosting Barefoot Bloggers this week.

Barefoot Bloggers - Creme Brulee

Ack! This Barefoot Bloggers post is so late I'm barely posting it in the correct MONTH!

Ina' s creme brulee was picked by Suzie at Munch+Nibble. I have a creme brulee recipe I've been making since, well, a long time ago. It came from an old (not then) Jim Dodge cookbook and it was perfect every time. So I was pretty skeptical I would like this one because, well, it's not the one I usually make. It uses whole eggs, and I was conflicted about whole eggs in a custard.

I decided to make 1/4 of the recipe, since M. was traveling. Since Ina's recipe calls for using 8 ounce ramekins and I use 4 ounce, I figured I'd still have plenty to enjoy.

The recipe was super easy. I used vanilla bean paste instead of extract because I love the vanilla speckles. I ate one of them slightly warm and it was delicious. The others were enjoyed chilled, and I do mean enjoyed. I was glad I didn't have to share this one!

If you'd like the recipe, you can find it here.

Barefoot Bloggers - White Pizza with Arugula

I heart pizza. A lot. I could eat it every day, twice a day, and never get tired of it. But I have never made it at home. Until now. It took Andrea of Nummy Kitchen to pick Ina Garten's White Pizza with Arugula for this week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe for me to realize that pizza, like most everything, is better when you make it yourself. I bought a pizza stone for my Bread Baker's Apprentice baking, so I baked our pizzas directly on the stone. It made the crust nice and crisp.

Ina's crust is super easy. I substituted about 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour, and it gave the dough a wonderful flavor and texture. Ina calls for fontina, fresh mozzarella and goat cheese, but I skipped the fontina. Even though we love garlic, I left it out of the oil this time as we were going out for the evening.

This pizza was incredible. It was good with the arugula salad, but I could be just as happy leaving it off.

Give this one a try, you won't be disappointed! You'll find the recipe here.

******PLEASE NOTE: Lethally Delicious is on hiatus for the month of Ramadan. While I have a couple of posts that I completed in advance (like this one), I will be staying away from active blogging. If you leave me a comment, I will try to stop by and visit you. I'll be back around Sept. 20th, reenergized and ready to make bigger and better messes in the kitchen. Peace.

BBA - Cinnamon Rolls

When there are just the two of you and you want to make a recipe for cinnamon rolls, do you:

a). Make the recipe as written, figuring it's never hard to give away cinnamon rolls;

b). Do many calculations and halve, third, quarter or cut the recipe so it yields two rolls; or

c). Double the recipe.

You're rational, so you probably do a. or b. I'm not rational, so I do c.

There is a method to my madness. Taking six leftover cinnamon rolls into work could cause a riot in an office of 60+ people. So I often double to reduce the number of injuries from people running to the break room.

The less hydrated batch

This time, I was glad I did because doubling presented an opportunity to see how two batches of dough behaved with different levels of hydration. My KitchenAid can't handle a double batch of bread dough so I made two separate batches, and in hindsight the first one wasn't adequately hydrated. I added too much milk to the second batch and it was stickier until I mixed in a little extra flour when switching to the dough hook. It was a beautiful dough and doubled more quickly, with a silkier feel and headier aroma. The less hydrated batch did double, and they both rolled out fine, but the silkier texture of the hydrated batch made that one a breeze.

After mangling the rolled up dough with various knives while trying to slice off the rolls, I stuck the whole thing in the fridge to firm up some and that made it a snap to slice the rolls.

Since I started on these rolls at 8 PM on a Sunday night, I retarded both batches, one in the freezer and one in the fridge. The next day, I had a furlough day, so I thought I would celebrate by making cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Now I love being furloughed!

The few that I made for us (M. actually took a vacation day so we could spend my furlough day together...isn't he sweet?) I didn't make with fondant, and I liked them the best (not that I tasted one that I iced the next day, but I think they might be too sweet with the fondant). I was pinching myself, I just couldn't believe that I, the yeast phobe, had made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Strangely, when I baked up the rest to take to work the next day, they were well received but not as well as Ina Garten's sticky buns. Those suckers cause a stampede. But these, these, with their notes of lemon and smokiness from the cinnamon, are perfectly balanced. Not too sweet, not too buttery, but heady with the yeasty dough and spicy cinnamon. Perfect.

******PLEASE NOTE: Lethally Delicious is on hiatus for the month of Ramadan. While I have a couple of posts that I completed in advance (like this one), I will be taking a break from active blogging. If you leave me a comment, I will try to stop by and visit you. I'll be back around Sept. 20th, reenergized and ready to make bigger and better messes in the kitchen. Peace.

Barefoot Bloggers - Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Brace yourselves, taste buds. We have liftoff.

This is one of the best Ina Garten recipes that I've tried. I know I've said that before, but they're all so good. Not this one.

It's great. Absolutely delicious, fresh and bursting with flavor. Laziness made me serve it as a hot pasta dish. I cut out the salt, used less olive oil, and added the basil, garlic and parmesan cheese to the food processor to become part of the sauce. Adding the basil to the sauce made the sauce a funny color, but it was easy and the flavor was fabulous. I put the chopped olives, tomatoes and mozzarella in the bottom of a medium bowl and put the hot pasta and sauce on top, mixing the ingredients together. The pasta melted the fresh mozzarella slightly. Oh baby, was it good. It's in the rotation, perfect for quick summer meals.

I have Cat at Delta Whiskey to thank for this amazing pick. If you'd like the recipe, be sure to check out Cat's blog. Or you can get it on the Food Network site here.

CEiMB - Vegetable Cheese Stratta and Barefoot Bloggers make Ina Garten's Gazpacho

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly selection is Vegetable Cheese Stratta, selected by Jenn of A Mid-Life Culinary Adventure (gee, that's what I feel like I'm having!)

This one was such a pleasure to make and eat. It had loads of veggies (a great use of my CSA goodies) and was very flexible (I didn't have an onion, so I substituted scallions; I felt like adding spinach, so I did). It was a great make-ahead, and I ate it for lunch rather than for breakfast. It would even be great for dinner. Since I'm still on my own this week, I made 1/8th of the recipe so I wouldn't have to eat it for 8 meals.

I added some crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick and I used the last of an olive oil rosemary bread. It wasn't whole grain, but it worked well with the flavors, and it was what I had on hand.

After having this for lunch the next day, I regretted making 1/8th of the recipe. It was fantastic! So cheesy and flavorful from the garlic and nutmeg. This one is going into the rotation.

*******

Meryl of My Bit of Earth chose this week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe and it was perfect timing, as summer officially began in the northern hemisphere and many Barefoot Bloggers live in parts of the US and Canada that are already sweltering. We're finally heating up in northern California, so this was still a great option to use summer's bounty.

Thankfully, this one didn't dirty a kitchen full of dishes, just the food processor, a measuring cup and a large bowl. I used some of my Nudo olive oil (which I learned about thanks to Nancy), but I reduced the vinegar and olive oil by half. The only ingredient that came from my CSA was the red onion, although later I realized I could have added diced yellow squash and it would have been perfect. I used orange peppers because that was what I had, and I added a diced small avocado. I ate the first bowl after I made it, and it was good and fresh, but needed more salt (I used low sodium vegetable juice, so I wasn't surprised). I'm thinking about adding hot sauce or cilantro, or maybe both. Ina says this is better after it sits for a few hours, so I'm really looking forward to enjoying it after it cures.

Many thanks to Meryl for a great pick! If you'd like to join us as we cook and blog our way through Ina's cookbooks (and why wouldn't you, her recipes are easy and great!), check out how to join here.

Barefoot Bloggers - Cranberry Orange Pecan Scones

I don't usually participate in the Barefoot Bloggers bonus recipes. After doing Tuesdays with Dorie, Craving Ellie in My Belly (both weekly) and Barefoot Bloggers (twice a month), I generally want to focus on recipes I want to make from other bloggers. But when Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef picked the bonus recipe for this month, I had to do it. See, I love scones but I've never made them, and I knew Ina's recipe had to be easy enough for a scone-making newbie like me.

I've seen Ina make scones on the show a couple of times (maybe it's the same episode and I've watched it more than once!), and that was good because some of the lessons she taught made this an easy recipe. Some of the Food Network feedback said the scones were too salty, and some said they needed more orange zest or extract, and some said more sugar. I thought the salt level was fine, but I agree they could have been a little sweeter and had more orange flavor. Perhaps if I had used Dorie Greenspan's technique of rubbing the zest with the sugar before adding it to the bowl, it would have brought out more of the orange flavor.

Ina's technique of letting your mixer do the work was wonderful. I was extra careful not to over mix the dough. I wanted to add pecans for some crunch, and I mixed them together with the dried cranberries in the empty cranberry bag, before adding the flour and shaking it up. In hindsight, my dried cranberries were a little too dried, and I should have rehydrated them (which you can do by putting them in a steamer basket over boiling water).

When I turned this out to shape the dough and cut it out, it was very shaggy, which I expected. I rolled it only to get it to the 3/4" thickness, and floured a 2" biscuit cutter before cutting each scone. I baked off a few immediately (the dough was absolutely incredible!), then put a few in the freezer for another day, and the rest went into the refrigerator to bake and take to work.

My 2" guys baked for about 20 minutes, and I think that was a bit too long. Since they were smaller than the 3" Ina recommends, you may want to check them at 18 minutes. Even so, they were fluffy, tender and delicious, in short, nothing like the "scones" you can get at national chain coffee houses.

Next time (and there will be a lot of next times) I will up the orange zest, use Dorie's zest/sugar rubbing technique, increase the pecans, decrease the dried cranberries (or use fresh!) and add slightly more sugar. But before I make these again, I want to see if I can replicate (and improve) the lemon curd scone served at my favorite coffee house. With Ina's tender scone as a base, you can go in many directions with this recipe. Check it out here or here. And my thanks go out to Em for choosing this wonderful recipe. Now I know how to bake scones!

Ina Garten's Curried Couscous, Ellie Krieger's Double Chocolate Pudding Pie AND My 100th Post!

Talk about a mega post!

This week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe is Ina's Curried Couscous, selected by Ellyn of Recipe Collector & Tester. We love couscous and I'm always trying to think of new ways to make it exciting. Trust Ina to come up with a tasty twist on this go-to side dish.

I changed up the recipe somewhat, substituting whole wheat couscous, nixxing the red onion (figuring the spring onions have enough onion flavor), substituting cilantro for parsley (sorry cilantro haters!) and slivered almonds for sliced. I also tossed in a can of drained and rinsed garbanzo beans for some added protein and called it dinner! What can I say, I was going to make tandoori chicken to serve along side but that requires taking the chicken out of the freezer. Maybe next time!

This was soooo tasty and it made (in typical Ina fashion) a ton of couscous. We'll be eating it for a while, and I'll have plenty of chances to dress it up with different proteins and make it seem new. It had a great curry flavor without being overbearing, and the almonds and carrot gave it a nice crunch. Definitely another great recipe from Ina. Thanks, Ellyn for a wonderful pick!


For Craving Ellie in My Belly, we made Double Chocolate Pudding Pie, selected by Tessa of Handle the Heat. This recipe was so easy, I made it at 6 AM before work, with time left over for 20 minutes of cardio (I MUST counteract all of these!) and a shower before leaving for work. Hearts make me happy, so I used these mini tart pans I got while we were in Paris. I also wanted to break in my new mini pie pan, and two of the heart shaped ramekins I bought about 10 years ago at Williams-Sonoma and have never used. Truly. I made Ellie's graham cracker crust almost as written (no water, extra tablespoon of butter and one additional graham cracker sheet). I didn't mess with the filling, using 70% bittersweet for the chocolate. I did follow one Food Network reviewer's suggestion to sprinkle the gelatin over cold water rather than hot, and I didn't have any clumping at all. It took ten minutes of constant whisking before the chocolate mixture thickened. Once it did, I actually LISTENED to the voice in my head that said to use a ladle to fill the various tins, ramekins, molds, etc. No spills to clean up, though we won't talk about what happened to the traces clinging to the side of the pan.

This was delicious! The crust wasn't as sturdy as my usual butter-laden graham cracker crust, but this was outrageously chocolaty and the perfect portion size. Truth be told, I preferred the ones I made sans crust, as the graham cracker crust interfered with my enjoyment of the chocolate pudding. If you prefer a less assertive chocolate flavor, you could substitute milk chocolate and the flavor would mellow out.

And finally, this is my 100th post. I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and can't get my head around it. When I started this blog last fall, it was to be a part of Tuesdays with Dorie. I've since joined Craving Ellie in My Belly and Barefoot Bloggers, and have gotten more out of blogging than I could have ever imagined. I love to cook, and I love to share my cooking, and this is just another way to share. Most of all, I love visiting your blogs to see what YOU'RE cooking, to be inspired by you, to learn from you, and to share in your story. You have elevated my cooking by your words and your sharing, and I am a better cook and baker because of you. Thank you.

Barefoot Bloggers - Outrageous Brownies and Tuna Salad (a catch up post!)

This week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe was Ina's Outrageous Brownies, selected by Eva of I'm Boring (which she definitely isn't!). They could be outrageous because you start with a pound of butter, add over two pounds of chocolate, a small amount of flour for the amount of butter and chocolate, a half dozen EXTRA LARGE eggs, some walnuts and other ingredients, and bake them in a half sheet pan. I've never in my life made brownies in a sheet pan, but I've never owned a successful catering business, been a policy wonk in the White House, driven a BMW (now a Mercedes) or been married to someone who was a Dean at Yale. Maybe baking brownies in a sheet pan is something one does after achieving these other things in life. Me, I work for a not-for-profit affiliated with a university, am a CPA, drive a Prius, and am joined at the hip with a romantic yet pragmatic electrical engineer. So my brownies are baked in 9 x 13 or 8 x 8 pans. Until I made these.

It's always a joy to make a recipe where one needn't worry about how to utilize the remaining sticks of butter. This recipe dispatches with the whole pound right off the bat, so I don't have to worry about them going bad in my refrigerator. Nor will I be tempted to spread some on toast or make grilled cheese. My hips thank you, Ina!

I didn't get why Food Network considers this recipe "difficult." Maybe they knew I'd be making them at the same time as my Tuesdays with Dorie Chipster-Topped Brownies. I briefly considered chopping chocolate for these, until I came to my senses and realized if chocolate chips were good enough for Ina with her up-market taste, they were certainly good enough for me and my Toyota-bean counter-non-profit-mad scientist life. So I pulled out my best chocolate chips (Ghirardelli) and forged on. Instead of instant coffee, I added the instant espresso powder, even though some commenters on Food Network said it was overpowering (we love chocolate and coffee, so it seemed like a no-brainer).

I wasn't up for buttering and flouring the pan, so I used my secret pal, Baker's Joy. I evenly spread the batter in the sheet pan and put it in the oven for 30 minutes, only realizing after 27 minutes that I was supposed to rap the pan on the oven rack at the halfway point. I didn't do that until 27 minutes in, so I'm blaming everything (including my hip size and falling real estate values in California) on my failure to rap on time. My brownies baked 33 minutes before they tested done. I let them cool on a rack before bypassing the refrigeration part and slicing into the corner. 

They were...OK. Seriously, these aren't going to lead to world peace (there's a cookie for that) or even a cure for cancer, though they are tasty and chocolaty. I found the espresso flavor to be too prominent, and the texture was meh, but again, I assume that's due to my delinquent rapping and lack of refrigeration. This fact alone did not prevent me from sampling a couple more small slices from the pan...I was trying to be sure, just for your sake. I have a brownie that I believe is more ethereal than these, one which I've never shared with you but will have to in the future.

Thanks, Eva, for a wonderful pick!

I also made Ina's Tuna Salad (selected by Kate of Warm Olives and Cool Cocktails) this week. This one was supposed to be posted while we were on vacation, and I'm just now getting around to making and writing about it. We loved the dressing (though next time I would cut back on the salt and add more wasabi). I grilled the fish instead of sautéing it). I was doing three other things at the same time, so I sort of overcooked the tuna. It wasn't rare at all. I served it over lettuce from last week's CSA. It was phenomenal, and I would definitely make it again. Especially since this one gives the cows a day off--no butter or cream required!

Barefoot Bloggers - Croque Monsieur, as Ina never imagined it

You know how sometimes you improvise a dish and it works well, or you go overboard and your mouth says "Huh?" when you eat it? I was definitely in danger of the latter this week with Kathy's (of All Food Considered) pick, Croque Monsieur, from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook. We don't eat ham, so that one was definitely out. No dijon mustard. White bread? Boring! So I went in a completely
different direction. Ina may sue, or I may be thrown out of Barefoot Bloggers, it's that different.

I started at Whole Foods, because I needed bread and cheese for the sandwich. I sometimes find Gruyere cheese to be too strongly flavored, so I decided I would mix Ementhaller and Gruyere. I happened upon a loaf of apple cinnamon bread and I just had to use it for the sandwich. Cheese and fruit are such a classic combination.

At home, I knew I had a package of sliced turkey breast and a jar of mustard, so I was all set. I grated the cheeses, warmed the milk, made the roux, added the milk and a bunch of the cheese and found it to result in a very odd mound of what I imagined was supposed to be a sauce. Hmm... Turns out I added too much of the cheese. Oops.

Since the oven took too long to warm up, I toasted the bread in the toaster, transfered it to the sheet pan, spread the bottom slice with sweet and spicy mustard, grabbed the package of turkey and only then noticed my sliced turkey breast was really pastrami. Yes, turkey pastrami.
It was too late to turn back. I had a mound of "sauce" in the pan, too many graters, dishes and pans already dirty and I was hungry, so there was no turning back. I assembled the sandwich and mounded the "sauce" on the top, precariously balancing the remaining grated cheese on the top, and popped it into the oven. After just two minutes, the mound of "sauce" became a dripping, oozy, cheesy coating of love on my sandwich, which I then browned under the broiler. I did regret not lining the sheet pan with parchment or a Silpat as the cheese laminated to the pan, but that's a problem for later. I dug into the sandwich with knife and fork, and was greeted with an explosion of flavors. The smokiness of the turkey pastrami and the nuttiness of the cheese was perfectly balanced with the sweetness of the apple cinnamon bread and the spicy sweet mustard. I can't imagine it could get better than this. Sometimes turning a recipe upside down is a mistake, but this time it was delicious.

For other crazy innovators, I present Croque Monsieur (as adapted from Ina Garten).

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup hot milk
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch nutmeg
3 ounces Gruyere, grated (1 1/4 cups)
3 ounces Ementhaller, grated (1 1/4 cups)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
8 slices apple cinnamon (or cinnamon raisin) bread, crusts removed
Sweet & spicy mustard (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
4 ounces turkey pastrami

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter–flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened. Off the heat add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/4 cup of the Gruyere and Ementhaller mixture, and the Parmesan and set aside.

To toast the bread, place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake for 5 minutes. Turn each slice and bake for another 2 minutes, until toasted. Or you can use a toaster as I did.

Lightly brush half the toasted breads with mustard, add a slice of turkey pastrami to each, and sprinkle with half the remaining cheese. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops with the cheese sauce, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Serve hot.

Barefoot Bloggers - Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

Anne Strawberry picked this week's recipe, and although I already loved Anne and her lovely blog plenty, I have yet another reason to appreciate her. Tomato and goat cheese tarts rule!

Ina Garten is teaching me to appreciate frozen puff pastry. First it was these ridiculously easy sticky buns. Now, tomato and goat cheese tarts for dinner on a weeknight? I am so there.

This recipe calls for sauteing thinly sliced onions and garlic until caramelized, and layering the cooled onions with goat cheese, sliced tomatoes, shaved Parmesan, topped with a chiffonade of basil.

I almost let the voices in my head take over again, but I resisted. I stuck with Ina's recipe as written, except I added the basil after the tarts came out of the oven, and I cut them square rather than round so there wouldn't be any puff pastry waste. One sheet of puff pastry yielded four tarts, and it felt really decadent to eat two of them for dinner. They were very filling! And amazingly tasty. M., who eschews butter because of his cholesterol, didn't once ask how I prepared them. I think it was "don't ask, don't tell" night.

Next time (which could be tonight!), I plan to substitute sun dried tomatoes for the fresh, and mozzarella cheese for the goat cheese. Or maybe tapenade under the onions with capers and pine nuts. Or pesto under sun dried tomatoes with goat cheese and fresh basil. Or walnut oil with sauteed wild mushrooms and a garnish of arugula salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette. Or... Stop it, Leslie!

I may even shrink these delightful tarts to party size, serving them with any or all of the above toppings, making the perfect two or three bite appetizer. They have excellent do-ahead potential for impressing your guests with how seemingly effortless it is to pull an awesome hors d'oeuvre out of the oven and serve it to stunned guests. Heck, if I did that, I'd be stunned!

You'll find the recipe for this delicious and versatile tart in Back to Basics, or here, or on Anne's site. If you'd like to join us, we're having a blast cooking, baking and blogging our way through Ina Garten's recipes. You can find out how to join us here.

Barefoot Bloggers - Easy Sticky Buns

I'm in! And what a great recipe to start cooking along with the other Barefoot Bloggers! This talented group is cooking through the recipes of Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame.

These cinnamon rolls looked so ridiculously easy that I made them this morning before work. Yes, truly. If you want to induce rapture in your coworkers, bring in these cinnamon rolls. You start with frozen puff pastry and end with rolls that aren't soft and pillowy but delightfully crisp and chewy. I wish I had captured their stunning beauty when they came out of the oven, but I was trying really hard not to be more than a half hour late for work. I did get a quick photo with my phone before everyone devoured them.

My deepest thanks to Melissa at Made By Melissa for this wonderful pick! (Yes, that is the top of my Tupperware cereal bowl, I know, my styling is pathetic!) If you'd like the recipe, stop by and visit Melissa.