Measuring, Baking, Substituting and Improvising Part I

People have asked me whether I measure when I cook. While I rarely do when making most entrees or salads -- that's when I do a lot of improvising -- I think baking requires precision. For example, if you don't level your measuring cup when you are measuring out flour (I use a knife handle), you could easily be 25% off -- a difference that's meaningful in terms of texture as well as taste. On the other hand, I do think that life's too short to sift flour; I reduce the amount by about 20% if a recipe calls for sifted flour. And contrary to popular belief, sifting doesn't really blend ingredients well; for that I use a balloon whisk.

Leavening does demand proper proportions, and a recipe can taste salty or bitter if you use too much baking soda or powder. In fact, too much baking powder can make a cake fall! So do it right: 1 tsp baking powder (measured, leveled) per cup of flour. If your recipe is acidic (citrus, brown sugar, yogurt, buttermilk, etc) you need to substitute baking soda for some of the powder. But NB that 1 tsp baking powder is equal in leavening power to only 1/4 tsp baking soda! So a standard muffin recipe that calls for 2 c flour would have 2 tsp baking powder, but 1 tsp baking powder plus 1/4 tsp. soda if you're using buttermilk instead of milk. If you really want to understand why, read pages 73-4 of Shirley Corriher's Cookwise, a book worth owning.

Banana Bread

I got tired of seeing little baggies of bananas everywhere I looked in my freezer. We like to keep fresh bananas in the house all the time, but sometimes they ripen too fast. And J is picky -- they have to be firm. Even though I frequently use the softer ones in smoothies, I end up with extras, so I peel & freeze them. But it always seems like they accrue faster than I can use them. This recipe was an experiment that we considered successful, so I'll make it again. It reduces the calories by cutting out some of the dairy fat, and it uses way more bananas than any recipe I've seen, requiring a lot less sugar. Substitute cinnamon if you don't like cardamom. Note: this is not a banana cake. People who want cake should use a sweeter, buttery recipe.

Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350°F. Flour and butter a 5" x 9" loaf pan or a mini-bundt pan.

• 2/3 c whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 c unbleached white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 tsp cardamom

Mix these ingredients in a large bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, beat up the following, mixing thoroughly before adding the next ingredient:

• 2 T butter (unsalted)
• 3 T canola oil
• 1/3 c dark brown sugar, packed
• 5-6 defrosted bananas (they will be very soft, so no need to mash first)
• 6 oz (small package) nonfat Greek yogurt (or kefir, other plain yogurt or buttermilk)
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet, beating on low, then increase to medium for a couple of minutes. Finally, add the last two ingredients and mix just enough to distribute:

• 1 c coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts
• 1/2 c dried cranberries (if they need rejuvenating, add 1 t water or rum and microwave for 30 seconds, then let sit)

Pour into pan. It will be thick. Cook for 30 minutes in mini-bundt or 55 minutes in loaf pan, or until tester comes out clean. Cool at least 5 minutes in pan, then turn upside down and cool on racks. Loaf makes about 8-10 slices; the 6 mini-bundts can each be shared by two people.

Date-Nut Bread

I had a package of baking dates that had been in the pantry at least a year. J mentioned that she loved date-nut bread from her childhood, so I decided to give it a try. Found a recipe online, but I ended up changing it pretty significantly (increased dates, decreased sugar, added an egg white and substituted oil for some butter). She enjoyed it. It's pretty sweet, and definitely works well spread with some neufchatel (reduced fat cream cheese) either at room temperature or slightly heated. You can slice it horizontally or in wedges, but not as thin as you would bread.

Makes 6 mini bundt cakes, which is at least 12 servings.

• 11 oz pitted dates (1 package, about 1.5 cups)
• ¾ c boiling water
• 1.5 c all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 T butter
• 3 T oil
• ¾ c light brown sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg white
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• juice from one lemon
• 1 c coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter & flour a mini-bundt cake pan.

Combine the boiling water and dates in bowl and let cool, at least 15 minutes.

Mix flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a small bowl. In bowl of mixer, beat butter, add oil and continue to beat. Add sugar, then eggs, lemon juice and peel. Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternatively with eh date mixture in 2 additions. Stir in nuts. Transfer to prepared pan.

Bake bread until tester comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pan for a few minutes, then invert onto cooling rack. Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Keeps several days.

Quick & glorious shrimp and side salads

J was so in love with this dinner, she insisted that I blog about it. I resisted because there's no mystery here, except for great ingredients and attention to cooking. I have to give credit to Weavers Way for the fresh and juicy shrimp, and to the garlic-infused olive oil. I crushed a few cloves of garlic and soak in a small measuring cup with 1/4 c olive oil. Stir and let it sit for awhile (hours if possible), then discard the garlic. Do this to get great garlic flavor without burned bits of garlic in the dish. Use any leftovers in salad dressing.

• 0.7 lbs shrimp (around 15), peeled to the tail and deveined.
• olive oil to coat bottom of pan
• 1 tsp hot paprika (or maybe cumin for variety)
• a few wedges of lemon
• some wine

I used a cast iron pan. Get it very hot before adding oil, then make sure the oil is hot before adding shrimp. Lay shrimp in a single layer. Add fresh black pepper and paprika. When shrimps start to show a little gold and release from the pan, turn them over, add more pepper and paprika. Don't overcook! Plate the shrimp and add a little salt. Toss wine and a squeeze of lemon into the pan, scape any bits off the bottom. Let it foam up and reduce. Pour over shrimp, add more lemon if you want. This shrimp is so good, you don't even need the sauce.

I served this alongside various prepared salads from WW co-op that I doctored up:

• Lentil salad: I added chopped scallions and served it on top of lightly dressed radicchio
• Steamed green beans (cooled), chopped tomato and crumbled feta with basil in a vinaigrette
• Beet salad: for J only (I hate beets), I did nothing to it

Accidental Soup

It cooled down suddenly and we felt like soup. Plus, I couldn't think what else to make. I pretty much just used what was in the fridge, as canned tomatoes and chickpeas had been used in a curry the night before. This turned out great. Serves two as the main dish, 4 as first course.

• 1/2 vidalia onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 stalks celery
• 2 cubes vegetable bouillon (unsalted)
• 1 small zucchini, sliced thin or halved and sliced
• 1-2 cups diced tomatoes (canned)
• 1/2 can/cup chickpeas, rinsed
• 1/2 c Israeli couscous (pasta)
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 t cumin
• 6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
• large handful baby arugula
• 2 T grated parmesan or romano cheese
• 1 seeded mini-baguette, sliced at an angle about 1/2 inch thick (about 8 slices)
• 1/4 c good olive oil, divided

Saute onion in olive oil. When soft, add garlic and celery and cook a couple more minutes. Then add at least 2 cups water and the veggie bouillon cubes. When cubes are dissolved, add tomato, mushrooms, chickpeas, cumin, salt, pepper, couscous and zucchini. Cook at least 10 minutes, adding water when necessary. While the soup is cooking, crush 2-3 cloves garlic in a small bowl and swish around with olive oil. Brush oil on bread slices and bake at 450°F in toaster oven. Watch carefully.

When the zucchini is soft and couscous is al dente, add basil and arugula and cook another minute or two. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle parmesan or romano. Serve bowls on dinner plates and transfer toasts to plates.

J's likes and dislikes

This is just a list to help me remember:

LIKES

• Flax cereal
• Steak: strip, sirloin (but can be tough), filet mignon
• Chicken: marinated with an acid, coated and sauteed
• cold milk, chocolate milk
• sandwiches: roast turkey, provolone, romaine, pepper spread or peppadews, balsamic vinegar or something to moisten & perk up
• artichoke hearts from jar or can
• pork loin, esp in garlic/mustard & breadcrumb/parmesan/herb
• mango salsa
• kidney beans

DISLIKES

• club steak
• boring chicken
• chutney on turkey and cheese sandwiches (tired of it)
• fresh artichokes -- too hard to eat
• cold fruit, berries
• whole wheat couscous

Blueberry Pancakes and Three Hummingbirds!

Last night a ten-year-old friend came for a sleepover. After we got rid of his mom and her partner, we made two great pizzas (will post on pizza another time) and salad for dinner. This morning we got up, played video games and lazily headed down for breakfast, famished. H requested pancakes, but we were out of maple syrup. We did have a pint of fresh New Jersey blueberries, though. Personally, I find blueberry pancakes a bit disappointing: the pancake is a little soggy right around the blueberries, and the berries are liquified and have no texture (they also stick to the griddle). With this recipe I solved that problem and the lack of syrup as well.

Pancakes (makes 4 servings)

• 1 2/3 c unbleached white flour
• 1/3 c buckwheat flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 2 T sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 c milk (2% this time) add another 1-2 T if you like them flatter
• 1/4 c rapeseed oil or mix of oil and melted butter
• 2 whole eggs

Syrup

• 1 pint blueberries
• 2 t lemon or to taste

Heat griddle to 350°F.

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients in smaller bowl and add all at once to dry ingredients. Mix, but don't overbeat -- it will have small lumps (I use a heatproof softly cupped spatula).

Spread a small amount of butter or oil on the griddle, wait a minute for it to get hot, then add batter with a ladle. Turn when the bubbles stop filling in (this recipe makes them pretty thick, you may not get many bubbles. Check the bottoms).

Wash the blueberries. In a small saucepan on med-low, add about 1/3 of them with a small amount of water, just to keep them from burning. Add lemon juice. You can also add a little honey or jam. Just before serving, add the rest of the blueberries,. They will warm up a little but keep their shape, taste and consistency. Turn off burner.

While we were eating on the back porch, we had the usual morning display of birds fighting for turns at the nyger seed feeder -- baby house sparrows, goldfinches and downy woodpeckers. Jeanne cleaned out the birdbath (a new addition: large shallow bowl on 2' stump, with a large rock inside) and the catbirds came to it immediately. Then we got a surprise: three hummingbirds at once in our small (20' by 20') yard. One got into a tiff with another and drove it off. It happened too fast to see if any were male (We had a male in early summer but at this time of year we normally have only females and juveniles). This is the first time we've been sure that there were three different hummers. Since I first planted native monarda (red bee balm) in the late '90s, it's been spreading throughout the mostly shady back part of the yard and has made it a magnet for hummingbirds. In my first ten years here I almost never saw hummingbirds; now it's pretty much guaranteed if you wait five or ten minutes. J's theory is that our yard is a territorial borderline. Or possibly, the third just strayed or is getting ready to migrate? We'll keep an eye out to see if there's a male around. Sorry girls, they're just so much prettier with that ruby red throat.