All posts filed under: Food Musings

portobello mushroom with pesto and couscous

Pesto-Goat Cheese Portobello Mushrooms

Published by Kathy Hunt

What to do with all the basil that you grew in containers on your patio or fire escape or in your garden? The obvious choice is make pesto. But, then what do you do with all that pesto? If you’re someone who loves the earthy flavor of mushrooms, you might just drizzle it over baked portobello mushrooms. That brings me to this short entry and luscious, tender, and juicy offering, Pesto-Goat Cheese Portobello Mushrooms. So, grab a big bowl, collect an even bigger bunch of basil, and get ready for an extraordinary, pesto-dressed meal. Pesto-Goat Cheese Portobello Mushrooms Serves 2 Ingredients: for the pesto: 2 cups packed basil leaves, washed and dried ¼ cup blanched almonds 3 cloves garlic 1 to 2 ounces Pecorino Romano ½ teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper ½ cup extra virgin olive oil for the mushrooms: 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing baking dish 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon granulated garlic ¼ teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 portobello mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed 2 …

pearl couscous salad

Cucumber, Zucchini, Basil & Couscous Salad

Published by Kathy Hunt

We’ve hit that point in the season where, whether you have a garden or not, produce has begun to pile up in your kitchen. Everyone you know wants to share some zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and more. If the prospect of cucumber-infused drinks and zucchini bread has lost its appeal, try something a bit different. Add your summer surplus, along with fresh herbs, to a big bowl of pearl or Israeli couscous. You’ll be happy that you did. Go big with pearl couscous Invented in Israel as a substitute for rice in the 1950s, pearl or Israeli couscous possesses a chewy texture and uniformly round shape. Unlike traditional couscous, it is toasted rather than dried. As a result, it has a slightly nutty flavor. Its larger shape and complex taste make it an excellent addition to stuffing, stews and salads. A few words on raw zucchini Although people usually cook zucchini before consuming it, you can eat this summer squash in its raw form. Keep in mind that the smaller the zucchini, the fresher and milder …

Orange-Bittersweet Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Published by Kathy Hunt

I make cakes from scratch. I make ice cream from scratch. Yet, until this summer, I’d never made an ice cream cake. That all changed when I had a Saturday afternoon to kill, an excess of oranges, heavy cream and bittersweet chocolate in my kitchen, and the bowl of an ice cream maker taking up valuable space in my freezer. Perfect time to try my hand at an Orange-Bittersweet Chocolate ice cream cake. Origins of icebox desserts People have enjoyed some version of an ice cream cake since at least the 19th century. It was during this period that iceboxes became more commonplace. Filled with blocks of ice, these wooden cabinets were used to store perishable foods. Along with extending freshness and preventing spoilage, iceboxes inspired an array of frozen desserts, including a precursor to the ice cream cake, the bombe. This Victorian era treat featured a fruity custard encased in layers of ice cream and, occasionally, cookies or cake. Frozen in a spherical mold, the bombe was sliced and served with a sweet sauce. …

baked polenta with eggs

Polenta and Eggs with Spring Onions

Published by Kathy Hunt

Polenta tends to get a bad rap. People say it takes too much effort and too long to make. I disagree. Stirring up a batch of polenta is as easy as putting ingredients into a saucepan, bringing them to a boil and stirring them together. How hard is that? The tricks to smooth, creamy polenta are to stir often and watch your saucepan. Don’t walk away from the bubbling pot and expect to come back 20 minutes later to the perfect dish. (That holds true for many foods.) More than likely, you’ll return to find a scorched mess. A quick refresher on polenta A staple of Northern Italian cuisine, polenta has been consumed since Roman times. Made from cornmeal, it is reminiscent of hominy grits in its texture and consistency. While grits are made from ground white corn, oats or rice, polenta is comprised of coarsely ground yellow corn. Hence the yellow color of the dish. To cook polenta, you need a heavy bottomed pan, water or stock, ground cornmeal, a touch of cream and …

rhubarb cake

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Published by Kathy Hunt

Rhubarb and I have a troubled past. I was in college when I first saw it in stalk form and thought that it was celery gone bad. Then I tried this vegetable in a slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie. The strawberry part of the pie was tasty, but, once I took a bite of a stringy and hard pinkish-green chunk of rhubarb, I was repulsed. Rhubarb fail number one. Fast forward several years and I’m in Southeastern Pennsylvania, with neighbors who grow a variety of uncommon produce. One late spring evening my next-door-neighbor Frank drops off a grocery bag filled with jagged stalks of what appear to be pink celery. Ah, yes. My old nemesis. After instructing me to wash and chop the rhubarb before putting it in a casserole with some water and baking it until soft, he sets off. I do exactly as instructed and create a mouth-puckering sour, mushy dish that even our dog won’t touch. What Frank failed to mention was that I should have added a liberal amount of sugar to …

mushroom galette

Mixed Mushroom Galette

Published by Kathy Hunt

The galette gets its name from the French term “galet,” a flat, weathered pebble. Thanks to its imperfectly round, flush shape and touch of graininess, the moniker “galette” has stuck. Yet, there is nothing rock hard or bland about this rustic tart. It is instead a quick and delicious baked good, one perfect for dinner or dessert. Versatile tart How versatile is a galette? You can stuff it with savory ingredients, including meats, cheeses, herbs, vegetables and/or nuts and serve it as an appetizer or main course. Prefer the sweeter side of baking? You can fill it with fresh fruit, preserves or chocolate and offer it as dessert. You can also make galette des rois, a king or Twelfth Night Cake. Originally, this galette contained only flour, sugar, butter, and eggs and a bean hidden inside. If you’re feeling really decadent, take your sweet galette, top it with plain Greek yogurt and serve it at breakfast. Versatile indeed! Make it with mushrooms Because I’m a sucker for mushrooms, I tend to fill the dough of …

seafoam meringue iced banana cake

Seafoam Frosted Banana Cake

Published by Kathy Hunt

Seafoam Frosted banana cake showcases that shiny, fluffy frosting known as —yep, you guessed it—seafoam. Made from brown sugar and egg whites, the icing is, more or less, a meringue that you slather over a cake. Unlike the traditional meringues for pavlovas and pies, this one is boiled instead of baked. Because it generally cooks for seven minutes, seafoam is sometimes referred to as “seven minute frosting.” Frosting or candy? If the name seafoam sounds familiar, but you don’t remember it as an icing, you might be thinking of a candy that bears the same name. A type of divinity candy, it differs from seafoam frosting in that it is boiled until it reaches hard-ball stage on a candy thermometer. Rock hard and riddled with air bubbles, the finished sweet may be coated in chocolate or eaten as is. The origin of the candy’s and icing’s name is unknown. Make your own double boiler To make the seafoam icing, you will need a double boiler. Don’t own this cookware? Don’t worry. You can easily cobble …

potato tagine

Potato, Preserved Lemon & Picholine Tagine

Published by Kathy Hunt

With travel on the back burner indefinitely and my wanderlust still intact, the number of international flavors and recipes coming from my kitchen has soared. If I can’t poke around a souk, bazaar or mercado, at least I can cook as though I’ve been shopping in one. That’s how Potato, Preserved Lemon and Picholine Tagine came to be. Featuring North African ingredients and cooked in a tagine from Essaouira, this dish evokes warm days spent wandering the labyrinthine, cobbled lanes of ancient medinas and dining on aromatic couscous, basteeya and, of course, tagines. How tagines work My favorite and most useful souvenir from Morocco is a terra cotta tagine. An engineering wonder, it consists of two parts: a circular, shallow pan and the large, conical-topped cover that fits inside the base. The cone shape allows condensation to cascade back down to the casserole, creating a rich, reduced sauce. The lid has a small knob on the top, providing cooks with something to grasp when removing the cover to check on the bubbling contents within. How …

cookbooks 2020

In 2020 Give the Gift of Cookbooks

Published by Kathy Hunt

Most of us have done a lot more cooking and baking in 2020. I know that I have and not just because I’ve been testing recipes for my cookbook Luscious/Tender/Juicy (Countryman, 2021). More time at home has meant more time spent in the kitchen, working through some fascinating food titles. Among the books in which I’ve found comfort and inspiration are two baking and two vegetable-focused cookbooks, a celebration of contemporary Black cooking, food narratives with recipes for fall, winter and Christmas, a restaurant history, and the foods and traditions of one of my favorite cities, Copenhagen. If you have cooks, bakers and/or readers on your holiday shopping list, the following titles will delight them. Arranged in alphabetical order, they comprise this holiday season’s cookbook review. 2020 Cookbook Review Copenhagen Food – Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille, 2018) In Copenhagen Food Trine Hahnemann takes readers on a culinary tour of Copenhagen, her home of 40+ years. Each chapter highlights a different neighborhood and its specialties. With stories and photos of the city, famed restaurants, public markets and …

sweet potato pudding

Sweet Potato Pudding

Published by Kathy Hunt

Every time I bake a soft, honeyed sweet potato, I think, “Boy, I don’t eat enough of these!” As the name indicates, this root vegetable possesses a pleasing sweet flavor, one that goes well with a variety of foods and preparations. It also has a deep orange hue that enlivens any dinner or dessert plate. Its gorgeous color comes from the large amount of beta carotene that it contains. An antioxidant, beta carotene converts into Vitamin A. Pretty, delicious and nutritious! Selecting the right root In the U.S. we use the terms “sweet potato” and “yam” interchangeably. They are not the same vegetable. They aren’t even from the same plant family. Although they both come from Southern America and are root vegetables, yams have a woodier, more root-like appearance. Their skins range from off-white to dark brown. Their slightly mealy flesh runs from off-white to pink. Unlike sweet potatoes, they must be cooked before eaten. If you’re not shopping at a specialty/international market and you spot a mound of potatoes labeled “yams,” chances are you’re …