Witchy Kitchen

Tag: lemon

  • Cake Rusk

    Cake Rusk

    Photobomb!

    Cake rusk (or as we call it in our house, rusk cake – I don’t know when this reversal happened) is the perfect dippable accompaniment to tea or coffee. It’s basically biscotti, a twice baked cake with a very light lemony flavor. We almost always have a store-bought pack at home sitting on top of the fridge (my two year old just learned its location and often points up there on the off chance that we are in the mood to give him one) but I thought I’d try my hand making them at home!

    Note: Recipe sort of in progress; I got this recipe from the famous Dalda Cookbook (Platinum Edition) and followed it pretty much exactly (substituting lemon zest for lemon essence, and I don’t really do food coloring), but the end result was still cakey, not crispy. Even after an extra 30 minutes at low temp in the oven, it wasn’t quite there yet, so I’m going to be playing around with temperatures to fix it.

    However, even if it wasn’t quite there, it was really delicious, like a toasted pound cake. My daughter especially loved it and keeps asking me to make it again, so I thought I would go ahead and share!

    Cake Rusk

    Adapted from The Dalda Cookbook, and will be tweaking a little more in the future. However, if you make this version you will not be disappointed, just expect more of a toasty cake than a biscotti

    • 2 cups AP flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 1 cup ghee
    • 6 eggs
    • zest of 1 small lemon

    Heat oven to 400° and prepare a 9×13 pan (I didn’t this time, but next time will probably use parchment paper so I can easily remove and slice the cake). Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

    Beat sugar and ghee until white and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in lemon essence. With a spatula, stir in flour mixture until just combined. Spread into a pan and bake for 15 minutes.

    At this point reduce the heat to 300° and bake another 15-20 minutes.

    Remove from the oven and cool completely. Transfer to a cutting board, and cut down the center lengthwise, then into 1 1/2 inch strips. Transfer to a baking sheet.

    This is the point where I’m going to play around with temperatures; the original recipe says to bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes, which I did. This achieves a nice golden crust, but the center is still cakey. I baked it at 300° for another 30 minute, which did crisp it up a little.

    Next time the plan is to reduce the ghee, then bake the second time at a low heat for a long time, and flip in between. Will report back!

  • Olive Oil Braised Veggies

    I am a prolific veggie roaster. After sweeping in from work, before I’ve even taken off my heels I’ve got the oven heated and chopped veggies with little more than olive oil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper on their way in. It’s hard to beat from a time standpoint, and there’s something to be said for keeping it simple and just letting your veggies do the talking.

    But to elevate my veggie game just a little bit, there’s this braising method – still refreshingly simple, just dressed up a little bit. There’s something so nice about the fresh cleanness of the veggies, gently cooked to maintain their shape and color, with the richness of the immensely flavorful olive oil. It makes for a pretty side dish, perfect to be mopped up with crusty bread, or even a light meal over rice or quinoa.

    It works for all kinds of vegetables, you just add them in the order of cooking time. I used baby red potatoes, carrots, and asparagus, but you can swap them out for whatever you like, just add the longer-cooking ones first. I love this combination of aromatics but you can play around with them as well depending on taste and what you have around in the kitchen.

    Olive Oil Braised Veggies

    • 1/2 cup olive oil
    • 1 lemon, cut into thin wedges (divided)
    • 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, cut into strips
    • 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
    • good pinch red chili flakes
    • sprig of rosemary
    • salt & pepper
    • 1 pound baby red potatoes (cut the larger ones in half)
    • 2-3 shallots, quartered
    • 2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into medium sized sticks
    • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed

    Heat olive oil on medium high. Add a quarter of the lemon wedges (save the rest for serving), and allow them to slightly brown. Add sundried tomatoes, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes and rosemary, and stir for just a minute. Lower heat to medium low and add the new potatoes, shallots, and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir to coat with the oil and cook for about 20 minutes. Add carrots, stir gently to coat, and cook covered for another 20 minutes. Check to see that veggies are fork-tender but not falling apart. Add asparagus, again stir gently to coat, and cook covered for 7-10 minutes until asparagus is just done.

    Remove from heat and serve with lemon wedges, a sprinkle of parsley or basil if you want, and either with crusty bread or over rice or quinoa. Make sure to get some of the yummy olive oil on top!

  • Crockpot Apple Butter

    Though apple butter originated in the Middle Ages as a way to preserve the fruit, and is traditionally eaten all over Europe and North America, in my mind it’s about as Southern as it gets. That’s probably because I grew up eating it at Cracker Barrel and at mountain apple festivals. Making it in the crockpot is less romantic than outdoors in the traditional huge copper pots, but isn’t all life a tradeoff between romance and convenience? This still manages to perfume your entire house while you sleep, making for apple dreams and a delicious autumn scent to wake up to.

    Things to eat apple butter on include: biscuits, French toast, bagels, latkes, pumpkin bread, pork chops, almond butter sandwiches, oatmeal, turkey and brie sandwiches, pancakes, yogurt, salad dressing, bbq sauce, sausage, pound cake, panfried salmon, sweet potato fries, ice cream, fingers, spoons.

    Crockpot Apple Butter

    • 5 large mixed apples
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1/4 cup brown sugar
    • 1/2 a cinnamon stick
    • seeds from 1 green cardamom pod
    • a couple slivers of fresh ginger
    • juice from half a lemon
    • 1 cup apple cider or apple juice

    Core apples and chop into large chunks. Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook covered and bubbly on high for 1 hour (you will need to babysit it during this time and stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn.

    Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered slightly, for 8-10 hours until dark brown and thick. Remove the cinnamon stick and blend half in the blender if you want to keep some chunks (make sure to get the ginger in there), or blend the whole thing to make it smooth (my preference).

    Return to crock pot and cook on high one more hour, stirring once in awhile to make sure it’s not burning. Cool.

    If you’re into canning, you can double or triple this recipe for pretty holiday gifts and homemade apple butter all year round!

  • Devilish Eggs

    Devilish Eggs

    I’m still a Southern girl…of course I have a deviled egg plate.

    For deviled eggs, most use a sprinkle of paprika or aleppo pepper as a garnish, but the hedonistic and excessive use it by the spoonful. Since the flavors are otherwise subtle, the aleppo pepper shines – or smolders.

    A couple gathered tips: Virginia Willis’s deviled eggs in Bon Appetit, Y’all contain her French secret ingredient: butter. I never miss an opportunity to hide butter in things, and it really does take these to the next level (of hell! muhahaha). Also, for easy-to-peel eggs, use eggs that have been in the fridge a week or so. Much recommended – mine were super fresh since we go through eggs like chickens were going extinct, so they were annoying hard to peel.

    Edit: I have a new hard boiled egg technique, which I saw on The Kitchn (replacing my previous method of just boiling them to hell). It works perfectly (as I instagrammed in my excitement).

    Devilish Eggs

    (recipe can be doubled)

    • 6 eggs
    • 1 scant tablespoon aleppo pepper (or an equal amount using 3 parts paprika to 1 part cayenne)
    • generous pinch or two cayenne
    • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
    • 1 tbsp butter, softened
    • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • coasre salt and fresh cracked pepper
    • green onions, chives, or other herbs for garnish

    Hard boil eggs. Technique of perfection: put in a pot and cover with an inch of cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then remove from heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove to a bowl and cover with cold water for a couple of minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, peel.

    Slice in half and remove yolks to a medium bowl. Smash yolks as smooth as you can get them. (Alternately you can use a food processor and mix with the other ingredients).

    In a dry pan, lightly toast spices to wake them up a bit. Add to yolks, plus mayonnaise, butter and salt and pepper to taste. Combine thoroughly.

    Spoon mixture back into eggs (piping is lame), garnish with greenery.

  • Money Penne

    The pesto has lots of symbolic prosperity ingredients: basil for prosperity, almonds for money, leafy greens for bills and sweet corn for coins. It’s super healthy, and the sweet corn, which is deliciously in season, makes it the perfect easy end-of-summer recipe that’s a little more interesting than your average pesto. You can easily make this vegan by leaving out the parmesan altogether or subbing in some nutritional yeast.

    Money Penne

    1 ear sweet corn
    1/2 lb whole wheat penne pasta
    1 large clove garlic, chopped
    1/4 cup almonds
    zest of 1 lemon
    2 large leaves kale, destemmed and roughly chopped
    packed 1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped
    juice of 1/2 lemon
    2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast
    salt & pepper
    1/4 cup olive oil

    Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil. Drop in corn and cook (only 2-3 minutes) and remove. In the same pot, cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

    When the corn is cool, chop off the kernals and reserve.

    Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine garlic, almonds and lemon zest. Add kale, basil, lemon juice, parmesan, half of the corn, and salt and pepper to taste. Combine well (you may have to scrape the sides a couple of times), then drizzle in olive oil with the food processor running. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

    Return the drained pasta to the pot and combine with pesto and the rest of the corn. Serve with a little grated parmesan on top.

    Plus the name is cute, yes? 😉