Fresh Corn Griddle-Cakes

A simple salad to accompany the corn cakes

Returning from a night away, I wanted a simple meal, so I threw a pork shoulder in the oven with some roughly chopped veggies and a can of beer and let it cook away for the rest of the day. Then, I complicated things by not just cooking up the fresh ears of corn but deciding to make corn cakes instead - the good news: they were tasty. 

To make corn cakes: Shuck and shave off the kernels of 3 ears of corn. Saute half of an onion, diced, in a little bit of butter until translucent and then add in the corn. Cook for a few minutes until just barely tender. Set aside. Combine 1 cup cornmeal, 1/2 cup flour, 1 tbsp honey, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder and a crack of pepper.  In a separate bowl whisk together 1 1/4 cup of buttermilk and two eggs. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined. Fold in the corn mixture and one fairly finely chopped jalapeno. Batter done! Drop the batter by the teaspoonful into a hot pan coated with a smidge of butter. Fry until crisped and golden. Goes well with pork, avocado, salad and a beer. 

Included are a few shots of the lovely beach cottage we stayed in in Santa Barbara.

Irish Soda Bread & City Vistas

I may not have posted this in time for St. Paddy's Day, but I definitely made it and ate it in time for the holiday. 

 I love continually exploring the city in which I live. Last weekend we had some pretty, if a bit cool, weather so I trundled across the bridge to Fort Baker and took some photos as I strolled. 

I also love a good carrier for warm butter and jam so endeavored to make my first loaf of soda bread. I kind of merged two different recipes to make this, in an effort to use up a variety of ingredients that I have laying around (bread flour, currants, golden raisins). The bread was easy and tasty and I'm not usually one to say this, but it was almost nice when it got a little stale because it meant that I could slice it and toast it and bring it back to life with some butter and a nice dollop of homemade apricot preserves - mmmm.

 To make: Preheat the oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment. Pour a cup of boiling water of 1 cup of raisins and/or currants, let sit. Combine 4 cups bread flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a medium bowl. Cut in 1/2 stick chilled butter.In a separate bowl beat together 1 3/4 cups buttermilk, 1 large egg, and the zest of 1 orange. Slowly add the wet mixture into the dry, stirring until combined. Dough will be wet/sticky. Drain the currants and then add them into the dough. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead a few times. Shape into a round, place on the prepared baking sheet and cut a plus sign into the top of the dough. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown and has a hollow sound to it. Best eaten with lots of butter. P.S. I would have loved to put caraway seeds in this but I didn't have any and Trader Joe's doesn't carry them. . . and that's where my industriousness petered out.

 For Ina Garten's version of this recipe click here.

 

Breakfast Time - Cheddar Bacon Biscuits

I don't think this really makes it an excuse to call this breakfast, but football was on and I was in the mood for some sort of unhealthy 'game food' - so . . . carpe diem. Not only did I make bacon cheddar biscuits, but I ate mine with an egg on top of it. It was delicious. I plan on making something equally unhealthy and tasty for Super Bowl Sunday - thus emerges my love of football.

I adapted my recipe from Alton Brown's plain Southern Biscuit recipe. The biscuits were fluffy and buttery - perfect for eating as soon as they exited the oven.

Pancakes for Breakfast

I am not usually one for breakfasts, but every now and again, on a lazy Sunday I get the undeniable urge for a big breakfast. On this particular Sunday, I decided that I NEEDED pancakes. Being out of practice of making pancakes I forgot how easy it is. I used up what was left of my sour cream and made these delicious, not-too-sugary pancakes (which I then smothered in maple syrup to fulfill my sugar needs). 

This recipe is courtesy of Gourmet Magazine and can be found here.

A Spring-y Break Conclusion - Cinnamon Bun Bites

I will preface this by saying this was definitely not my most successful recipe to date - that being said I made it for Easter, I spent a lot of time on it, I don't have a refrigerator right now, it came out quite pretty, I over-baked it, and I don't want to talk about it. 

This recipe had all the right ingredients to be delicious - namely loads of butter and sugar, unfortunately I left it in the oven a wee bit too long (and/or over -worked the dough) and it came out a bit dry BUT I believe that with a few tweaks and some finesse it would be delicious, so I am reproducing it here so if you want to try it you can let me know if you are more successful than I.

A ridiculous amount of butter.

please mentally remove the 'e' from smooth

And Good Pesach!