Zucchini Casserole - more delicious than it sounds!

I know this isn't a dessert, but it goes in the oven and it's my favorite meal ever.

At the height of zucchini season here in Ithaca, coworkers bring in bounty from their gardens.

I used said squash in this casserole, and I got to cook it on the grill since mine acts like an oven. Win-win. Local food, not heating up the kitchen with the real oven. Woe is the baker in summer.

This casserole is very simple to make, and you most likely have all the ingredients lying around the house, save the zucchini. You can change the recipe to add meat, try different thickeners, spices, or you could change out zucchini for another vegetable if you want. But just look how beautiful it is, all sliced up...

The carrots, too!

Okay enough pictures of vegetables for a while. Here's the recipe!

Zucchini Casserole

2 extra large zucchini, or 4-5 less gigantic zucchini, sliced very thin

1 large white onion, chopped

3-4 carrots, peeled

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

8 oz sour cream or creme fraiche

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (could also use cream of mushroom, but I never have)

stuffing mix or breadcrumbs

butter

salt

white ground pepper

other spices optional (ground mustard, basil, red pepper flakes etc)

Preheat the oven to 350F (or start your grill that acts like an oven: Holland Grill). Prepare the baking dish by melting some butter and mixing it with the breadcrumbs/stuffing mix. You need just enough of this mixture to coat the bottom of your oven safe casserole dish and top of your casserole.

Add the sliced zucchini and chopped onion to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer/lightly boil for five minutes.

While simmering, prepare the carrots and garlic. Once the peel to the carrot is gone you could just keep peeling and peel until there's no more carrot left, which is what I did. Or you could use a microplane and grate the carrots. Or you could chop them up. It depends on what you want your carrot experience to be here, just make sure they are in smallish pieces.

Drain the boiled zucchini and onion very thoroughly. Return to the pan and add the carrots, garlic, spices, soup, sour cream and mix until everything is coated and incorporated. Pour into the prepared casserole dish and cover with the remainder of the stuffing and butter mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven (or grill) for 30 minutes with a lid on (if you don't have a lid use tin foil). Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes to crisp up the top.

Happy Baking!

-Sarah

Something Chocolatey

Hello! Sorry it's been a while. Things have been busy in Ithaca, what with the fourth of July, running a 5K, and moving out of my house. But I have been baking! So fear not, you will have in your hands by the end of this post, a delicious recipe for "something chocolatey." And it is definitely chocolatey. And delicious. And it's totally okay to eat as dinner. I ran a 5K, it's allowed.

Dinner!

Okay. So this post is about a recipe I'll call "The Triple Threat." It's a chocolate cookie, with chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. Also known as "Yes, Please." The cookie itself is dense without being heavy and is chock full of flavor. I've found it's fun to experiment with different cocoas and different cocoa ratios. This time I used a fifty:fifty mix of a medium cocoa and a dark cocoa. The result was a dark chocolate cookie, but not enough to make you think that it's too dark. I think that if I had used all dark cocoa it might have been a little on the bitter side, so I lucked out there.

All the dries. Note the two different cocoa colors! Pretty!

The kind of chips you use is totally up to you. I used semi sweet and white chocolate, but using peanut butter and milk chocolate would be just as scrumptious. I think the white chips added a bit of sweetness that cut down on any astringency that may have started to build up from the cocoas. You could also use chocolate chunks. That's always fun since when the cookies are still warm from the oven it's a bigger chunk of hot gooey goodness. A mix of chips and chunks would be even better since then you're not sure what you're going to get! Experiment, go crazy, the more chips the better! My only recommendation is to not have so many chips that you don't overpower the dough with chips since then you'll just get burnt chocolate and not so baked cookies. The most chips per batch I would do is fifty:fifty cookie:chips.

And now for the recipe!

Recipe: The Triple Threat

1 cup butter, softened (microwave for 10 seconds or beat with a rolling pin!)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups semi sweet chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy in a separate bowl

Stir the dries into the wet ingredients until well blended. Mix in chips. Drop on cookie sheets by rounded teaspoonfuls.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Happy baking!

-Sarah

Strawberry Rhubarb Ricotta Stuffed French Toast (easier to make than it is to say!)

We certainly have been blogging a lot about rhubarb recently, haven’t we?  Well, that is because it is delicious.  In a previous post, I describe how to make a rhubarb (or strawberry rhubarb) compote and discuss some non-baking uses for it.  The other day I found myself with leftover compote and stale ciabatta and decided French toast was on the menu for brunch. 

I have never really enjoyed French toast…to me it always tastes like someone stuck a bland, thin egg on a piece of sandwich bread, fried it, and then covered it with cinnamon and sugar.  Yuck.  The flavors never felt right to me, nor did the consistency of the bread (soggy).  But this recipe features strawberry rhubarb compote as the sweetener, a nice firm ciabatta as the base, and a creamy sweet cheese filling…I think I found a winner. 

When rhubarb goes out of season, I am going to experiment with other fruit compotes which should also work beautifully.  Until then, I think you could substitute fruit preserves for the compote without any ill effects if you are short on time.

Without further adieu, here is my:

Strawberry Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast Recipe (serves 2 [2 stuffed toasts per person])

The Filling:

¼ cup ricotta cheese

¼ cup softened cream cheese

2 tbsp. strawberry rhubarb compote

The Egg Wash:

1 egg

2 tbsp. milk or heavy cream

1 tbsp. strawberry rhubarb compote

Other:

8 slices of slightly stale ciabatta or French bread (about ½ inch thick)

Mix ingredients for filling together in one bowl, egg wash ingredients in another.  Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling on half of the ciabatta slices, and top with the other slices.  Dip each stuffed “sandwich” in egg wash and cook in a buttered skillet, flipping once, until golden brown on each side.

Top with additional strawberry rhubarb compote, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and/or ice cream and serve!

Enjoy,

Brittany

Vegetable Pie!

A vegetable... in a pie? Yummy. Brittany explained how versatile and easy to use (and make) a rhubarb compote is, and the vegetable itself can be used in all sorts of baked goods. Crumble, bars, ice cream, cookies I'm sure, and of course, pie.

First piece!

Making pies was always little intimidating for me when it said I had to make my own crust, but it's really just flour, fat, salt, sugar and water all combined together and rolled into two crusts.

Every rhubarb pie I've had before this one has been mixed with some other f

orm of fruit. Raspberries or strawberries, most recently. Now I think the only reason I would add strawberries or raspberries to a rhubarb pie is if they're lying around about to go bad (which would hardly ever happen).

The recipe can be altered to whatever you have around the house, but I think it's wonderful as is. Don't be intimidated because you have to make the crust, while it's the longest part of the process, you can eat the excess (who doesn't love crisco and flour mixed together?).

Happy baking!
-Sarah

Recipe: Rhubarb-Only Pie
Crust (can be used for any pie):
2 cups flour (I used half all purpose, half whole wheat) plus some for rolling

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco) use more if there's a lot of extra flour in the bowl (I maybe used 1 1/2 more Tbl)
6 Tbl (more or less, I used 4 Tbl) ice cold water: before measuring ingredients put a few ice cubes in a glass of cold water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Measure and mix the flour (don't shake the measuring cup), salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the Crisco and use either a pastry cutter or a knife and fork to combine the Crisco into the dry ingredients. Continue cutting until all or most of the dry ingredients are combined to the Crisco and the pieces are all the same size. While moving the mix around with a fork, add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to come together. If you think it's ready, try to pull pieces apart. If it crumbles, it's too dry. Don't go too far with the water, but over doing it is better than a crumbly dough.

Ready for water!

After adding 4 Tbl water: not too crumbly, not too gooey.

Make two balls of dough, one larger than the other. Flour your work surface and your rolling pin, and flatten the larger ball of dough and flour that as well. Roll out the dough until it's 1-2 inches bigger than the pie pan, flouring the bottom and the top as needed. Carefully roll the crust onto the rolling pin and place in the pie pan, pushing down into the bottom and filling any holes with excess crust from the edges. Put this in the fridge or freezer with the other ball of dough while you prepare the filling!

Ready to be put in the base of the pie pan. (I was in a hurry, try to be more careful than I)

But it still turned out alright!

Filling:
4 1/2 cups of rhubarb (I washed and sliced mine into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup + 1 Tbl granulated sugar
4 Tbl flour (I used all-purpose)
1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg or combination thereof (optional)

Put the rhubarb in a large bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. (Yes... that's it!)

Yummy rhubarb, waiting for sugar and flour.

Baking:
1 - 2 Tbl butter (in small pieces)

I think this looks delicious.

Place the filling in the pie pan with the butter all over the top. Roll out the second ball of dough in the same way as above. Carefully place on top of the pie and scrunch the top and the bottom crusts together all the way around the edges. (As you can see from my pie, I did not do this carefully. Ah, well. That's the fun of baking. Too bad I already ate the excess crust from the bottom.) Make sure to put vents in the top using a sharp knife so the steam can escape.

All set for the oven!

Then put the pie in the oven for 15 minutes. After that reduce the temperature to 350ish (my oven is wacky) degrees for another 20-30 minutes. Or until you can see pink bubbles coming up the vents (mine took another 24 minutes).

ultra-versatile Rhubarb Compote

No matter where you go, it seems that rhubarb is the first thing to appear at local markets in the spring.  Rhubarb is one of the few perennial vegetables grown in the US…the other that I can think of is asparagus.  Rhubarb grows as stalks from a central plant coming out of the ground.  Once the plants germinate, they are typically around for good.  The plants growing on our farm have been around for who knows how long.  My parents did not plant them, and have lived there for 30 years.  Though the rhubarb leaves are toxic, the stems are tart and juicy.  Don’t be intimidated by rhubarb or feel like you have to be a baker to use it.  One of the best and most versatile ways to use rhubarb is to make a compote, and there is no baking involved. 

We’ll continue to use the word “compote” since it makes us sound like culinary geniuses, but let’s remember that a compote is just stewed fruit.  What can you do with a rhubarb compote?  Loads of things.  I know, because I made some and then used it five different ways over the course of a week.  Several mornings I spooned it on top of plain yogurt and had it for breakfast.  It added a delicious sweetness and turned the yogurt pretty pink.  Similarly, I used it as an add-in to my bowl of oatmeal on other mornings.  Serve the compote warm over vanilla ice cream, and you’ll have an easy and delicious ice cream sundae.  Today I stirred about a tablespoon of the compote into unsweetened lemonade, and pulsed it in the blender with some ice for a frosty frozen beverage.

Delicious and refreshing strawberry-rhubarb iced lemonade!

Finally, I used the compote along with some leftover ricotta and ciabatta bread that I had on hand to make AMAZING Strawberry Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast.  Wow.  

Until today, I didn’t even like French toast.  I have always considered it the ugly duckling of the breakfast trio, always preferring pancakes and waffles.  Not anymore.  Anyway, my point is that once you have this compote on hand, you will certainly make good use of it.

Before and after about 5 minutes of simmering...almost there!

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote (You can make this compote with rhubarb alone, or with strawberries if you have them on hand.)

4 cups rhubarb (and strawberries)

½ cup sugar

¼ cup water (or orange juice)

Combine ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat.  Simmer the compote for ~10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the rhubarb softens and the mixture becomes thick and syrupy.

Serve warm over ice cream, or refrigerate for any number of uses!

Enjoy,

Brittany

making Perfect Pizza Dough at home!

I love making pizza at home and I do it all the time.  It is cheap, easy, and satisfying.  If you have some yeast, flour, honey, and olive oil on hand a perfect pizza crust is only an hour away.  Great for last minute dinner parties, group parties (everyone bring a topping), or just a feel-good meal for yourself.

Last night was one for cleaning out the fridge.  I found some arugula pesto, a 2lb. bag of miniature sweet peppers, and an abundance of cheese (mozzarella, feta, goat, and parmesan).  All signs pointed to pizza, so I whipped up a batch of dough.  I adore this recipe because there is nothing to measure (you’ll find that I detest measuring).  In the recipe below I have included measurements, but once you make this dough once you will probably never have to measure while making it again. 

Recipe (the long version, short version at bottom of post): I start by rinsing a medium stainless-steel mixing bowl in hot water.  The metal holds heat (or cold) for quite awhile and by warming it up you’ll find that you have happier yeast (and quicker rise times).  Add about 1 cup of warm to hot water to the bowl…the water should be warm enough that the yeast will be active but not hot enough to kill them.  Add a packet of yeast, a dollop (1 tbsp.) of olive oil, a squirt (2 tsp.) of honey, and a pinch of salt to the water.  Stir briefly to combine with a fork and let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes.  

Above: It's alive!!!!  Happy yeast, primed and ready to go!

Once the mixture is foaming, add 2 cups of flour and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.  At this point I add in a spice blend if I choose to use one.  There is nothing wrong with plain pizza dough, but last night I decided to take advantage of the fresh oregano and thyme I received from my weekly CSA, along with some garlic and crushed red pepper, to make herbed dough.  The resulting smell that came out of the oven was reward enough to sell me on using herbs more often!  

Above: Spice blend.  Clockwise from top: thyme, garlic, crushed red pepper, and oregano.

Add the remainder of the flour about 1/3 cup (or handful) at a time…I find that the total amount of flour I use varies a bit with the type of flour I use.  Knead the dough with your hands for about 5 minutes.  You’ll know you’ve reached the right consistency when your dough is smooth, elastic, and just a tiny bit tacky on your hands.  Warm another stainless steel bowl and pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom.  Plop your ball of dough into the bowl and roll it until both the bowl and the dough are thinly coated.  Cover the bowl with a warm damp cloth or greased cling wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour, or until the dough has roughly doubled.  What to do in this hour of wait time?  Walk the dog, drink a glass of wine, and prepare your pizza toppings! 

                                                        Before                                                             After

Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425F.  Stretch the dough with your hands or roll it with a rolling pin into whatever size and shape you desire.  I usually make 4 personal sized pizzas or one cookie-sheet sized pizza.  Place the rolled out dough on a greased cookie sheet and smother it with toppings.  Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes or until the bottom is nicely browned.  This crust is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just as pizza dough is meant to be.

Last night I made 2 small pizzas and froze the other half of the dough.  One pizza had an arugula pesto sauce and was topped with thinly sliced onions, sundried tomatoes, chive blossoms, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and fresh ground pepper.  The other was sauced lightly with olive oil and then covered with thinly sliced mini peppers, roma tomatoes, chopped oregano, feta, mozzarella, and black pepper.

Ahhh the smell that wafted out of the oven as the pizzas baked!  Sheeba (my dog) wandered in and out of the kitchen as if she was wondering what masterpiece was hiding in the oven!  The pizzas came out beautifully, all of the flavors and colors melding together just as I had hoped.  The herbed dough was a great change from the norm and made me feel like I had turned my balcony into a gourmet bistro!
 

I hope you enjoy this pizza dough recipe and use it to construct something delicious!  Leave a comment and let me know how it turns out!

Brittany

A note on using leftovers in pizza construction:

Usually, my pizzas are a vessel for using up soon to be expired leftovers and produce.  Don’t be afraid to experiment with your pizzas!  Some delicious combinations have come out of this kitchen on “clean out the fridge” day.  Here are some of the more unlikely champions:

Leftover pork pizza

Sauce: light spreading of BBQ sauce

Toppings: leftover pulled pork, cilantro, cheddar cheese

Leftover chicken pizza:

Sauce: I used cilantro pesto, but olive oil and garlic would also work

Toppings: cubed cooked chicken breast, cranberries, mozzarella, fresh ground pepper

Bruised apple pizza: (thanks, Mariah!)

Sauce: olive oil and microplaned garlic

Toppings: thinly sliced apple (fuji, braeburn, and gala all work well), gorgonzola cheese, sprinkle of mozzarella across the top

Perfect Pizza Dough (the short version)

Ingredients:

1 cup warm-hot water

2 1/4 tsp. (or 1 packet) active dry yeast

1 tsp. salt (or less, depending on saltiness of toppings)

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. honey

2 2/3 – 3 cups flour (I use whole wheat)

Spice Blend (optional):

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp. fresh thyme

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Mix first 5 ingredients in a warm bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast is active.  Add flour (gradually toward the end) and spice blend and knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.  After rise is complete, stretch or roll out dough into size and shape of interest.  Place dough on a greased cookie sheet, cover with toppings, and bake for ~15 minutes at 425F.