Columbus Foodie

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is supposed to be Pecan Honey Sticky Buns, but seeing that I already made sticky buns in the past month, and in doing so, realized that any recipe makes more than I can or should eat before they go stale, I decided to opt out for this week. But I didn’t want to flake out altogether, so I took the suggestion to find an alternate recipe in the Tuesdays with Dorie archive, and made that.

I decided on the Perfection Pound Cake, which I paired with some strawberries and whipped cream. It was easy enough to put together and bake, but I’ve got to be honest with you - this cake isn’t moist enough for my tastes. I’m one of those people who are a firm believer that they call it pound cake for a reason - because it has to have a pound of butter! This recipe called for only half that. It would be great with coffee, though. Too bad I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so this looks like one creation I’ll have to pass on to family or my husband’s co-workers.

Perfection Pound Cake
recipe courtesy Dorie Greenspan

2 cups all-purpose flour or 2-1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you’re working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated - don’t over mix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you’re using a 9×5 pan, you’ll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Man, am I mixed up this month or what? I’ve got a binder system for keeping track of blogging events, but I misfiled this one under the 27th instead of the 24th, so I’m a few days late posting my entry for this month’s Taste and Create, where I was paired up with ejm of Blog from OUR Kitchen and asked to recreate one of the recipes from her blog.

There were so many different recipes to choose from (many of which I printed out and plan to make sometime in the future), but ultimately I decided on her recipe for Arroz con Pollo. I’m no stranger to this dish, as I’ve made and blogged about it already here and here, and I absolutely love the recipe for it that I came up with. But I’ll be the first to admit that mine is a bit on the greasy side. And I like it that way. But I also like the style of Arroz con Pollo that is drier, where the rice grains separate and it’s a bit more subtle. I’ve been searching for a recipe for it for quite a while, and when I saw this one, I wanted to give it a try.

First things first - I’ve got to say that this recipe is visually stunning. I love the colors of all the veggies and how they stand out against the yellow background of the rice. It’s pretty to look at, which is more than I can say for my recipe. But not one to leave well enough alone, I did make a couple of changes to her recipe - I used boneless skinless thighs instead of bone-in, I used Goya Annatto Lard in place of the olive oil/annatto seeds, and to season it, I added a touch of ground cloves (which is one of the things I love about my recipe) and some garlic powder. We skipped out on the garnishes this time, but may use them next time around. It tasted amazing, and my husband and I fought over the leftovers. This one is getting made again real soon.

I’ve left her original recipe intact below.

Arroz con Pollo (South American Version)
recipe courtesy ejm

Olive oil
1 Tbsp achiote seeds (optional for colouring)
3 chicken thighs, skinned and chopped into pieces (bone in)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large red pepper, chopped
3 banana peppers, chopped
good shot of capers
1½ c. long grain rice
2¼ c. chicken broth
good shot olives (pimiento stuffed cocktail style)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper, to taste
frozen baby peas

Garnishes: fresh coriander (cilantro) and basil leaves, chopped
tostones (fried plantain)
baked sweet potato coins (optional)
pimientos (optional)

Put olive oil in small pan and add the achiote seeds (aka annatto, lipstick plant). Keep at medium heat until bubbles form, then remove from heat and let sit. Drain achiote seeds from oil (the oil should now be quite orange). Discard seeds. Place oil in large stockpot. Brown chicken pieces in hot oil (high) - this is done just to brown chicken NOT to cook it. Remove chicken from pot.

Add onions and garlic to pot. Saute until soft (watch that the garlic doesn’t burn).

Put peppers and capers in pot and stir to cover with oil. Add rice and swirl into the mixture. Let the rice cook about one minute.

Add chicken broth (stock recipe); make sure you scrape the pot. Put chicken pieces back in. Add olives and mix. Check for seasonings (NB: add salt and pepper at the end). Let the mixture cook on medium heat until the rice is done. Add peas just before serving. Garnish with cilantro, basil and tostones. Roasted sweet potatoes are good too if you can’t get plantain.

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Stop over and check out her blog - I end up bookmarking something from it nearly every month, and I’m sure you will too.

Wow, did this long weekend fly by in a flash or what? As I mentioned in my last post, we made a foodie field trip to Cincinnati to go to Jungle Jim’s, and Sunday was the start of what ended up being a 2 day feast of food and far too many libations. So what kind of spread did I end up putting out? Since it’s a very picture-intensive post, click on through to see.
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