Why did my cake fall?

I received a question about a cake falling. Assuming the cake is a basic butter cake (not angel food), the primary reasons for cakes to fall are:

1. Too much shortening, sugar, or leavening. So be sure you measure accurately! (In this case, it is also possible that the recipe itself was untested and incorrect).

2. Too many egg whites (probably only happens when a cake recipe calls for different amounts of egg white and yolk, for example 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites. Depending on the size of the eggs, your cake can end up with too much egg white).

3. Too slow an oven. Make sure your oven has been preheated for a few minutes, and make sure your oven is accurate. An in-0ven thermometer is a good idea. Also, if your recipe says 350 for regular pans and 325 for dark pans, follow those directions.

4. Probably the most common culprit: the cake is underbaked. There are several tests for checking a cake's doneness and I believe in using them all:

a. Insert a pick into the center of the cake. It should come out clean.

b. Check to see that the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.

c. Finally, press it lightly with your finger--it should spring back. If the indentation remains, even if the other tests indicate the cake is done, give it a few more minutes until a light press with your finger springs back.

To my dear friend Melanie, I hope these answers helped!

Feta cheese - best ways to store it (and serve it)

Here is an answer to a question I received about storing feta cheese. The best feta comes already in the perfect storage solution and that is brine. The cheese should be completely submerged and should last about 3 months (not like it ever does in my house though!). If you need to make more brine solution, it's simply water and salt. I use a heaping tablespoon per cup of water. I don't recommend buying already crumbled feta cheese, unless you can't find anything else and you plan to use it quickly. It's inferior in taste and doesn't last as long. I'm not even sure if domestic feta that comes crumbled is made with goat's milk....go for the real thing.

Add feta cheese to all sorts of things besides the obvious salads. Try it in an omelette, tossed into pasta dishes, marinated vegetables, crumbled over roasted asparagus, mixed in with mashed potatoes, and so forth. It's salty, so play around with it to see if you need to adjust the salt in your recipe.

If you aren't eating it quickly enough and you are afraid it will spoil, my suggestion is to fry what you have left...and then of course, go buy some more!

Fried cheese is a fantastic appetizer. Cut feta cheese into slabs about 1/2 inch thick. Coat with flour, shaking off excess. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add feta and cook undistrubed 3-4 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Carefully turn over and cook 3-4 minutes on the other side or until crisp. Remove from skillet and serve with a sprinkle of chopped oregano and lemon juice, or better yet, with an olive relish of kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, parsley, oregano, and pine nuts! Some good crusty bread alongside wouldn't hurt here either...

Italian Harvest Dinner

Here is my dinner menu from last night:

Italian sausage and chicken thighs baked on a bed of red grapes and rosemary (sounds weird, but trust me, it works)

Baked polenta with fontina and Parmesan cheese

Marinated antipasto salad (mushrooms, artichoke hearts, roasted bell pepper, cherry-size fresh mozzarella balls, olives)

Panzanella (tuscan bread salad)

OK, so the only "leftover" in the meal was the bread in the panzanella. It's a good recipe to add to your repertoire for those times when you have stale leftover bread. To me, a good bread salad epitomizes everything that's great about imaginative cooking--it's alchemy really. Lead into gold....

Roasting Bell Peppers at Home

Don't bother with buying roasted peppers in a jar. They are overpriced and probably peeled by machine. If they are peeled by human hands, those humans typically do a lousy job!

Red bell peppers were on sale today at my grocery store for 79 cents each. They were large, with thick-walled flesh, perfect for roasting. It's so easy:

Wash peppers and remove label if there is one. Place them directly on the rack in the upper third of a preheated 475 degree oven. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until they are blistery and blackened in places. With tongs, remove them and immediately place them in a large ziploc bag. Seal the bag and let them "sweat" until they are cool enough to handle.

Once they've cooled, the skins will slip right off, as will the stem and seeds. Pull away any membrane on the inside just as you would with a fresh pepper. Resist the urge to rinse them! It's unnecessary.

These are wonderful in salads, soups, stews, as garnishes, in sauces, and of course, on their own, perhaps with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Mock Chilaquiles

Sunday morning and everyone is hungry. I have about a cup of leftover grilled chicken and chicken pulled off the bones of a couple of chicken breasts that I had simmered for stock. I've also got about a cup of decent stock from same. I have six corn tortillas, a jar of salsa, and some Monterey Jack cheese.

First, I diced the chicken to make it go a little further. Then I poured about a cup of medium chunky salsa into a bowl and thinned it with about 3/4 cup of the chicken stock. I put 1/4 cup or so of this mixture into the bottom of my Deep Covered Baker. Next, I dipped 3 of the corn tortillas into the salsa mixture and then put them in the bottom of the baker. I sprinkled about half the chicken over this and then topped it with about 3/4 cup of shredded Jack cheese. Then I repeated the layers, starting with the tortillas. I ended by pouring the remaining salsa mixture over the whole thing and topped it off with another 3/4 cup or so of Jack cheese.

I put the baker in the microwave and zapped it on high for 11 minutes. I let it sit for about 10 minutes to firm up a bit. It was great with a dollop of sour cream on top!

So with just 5 ingredients, I ended up with a great brunch dish. We had some fresh cantaloupe as well, and not surprisingly--NO LEFTOVERS.

Crostini

The idea of crostini is simple--toasted rounds of good bread (baguettes, ciabatta, something with some chew) that have been rubbed with garlic and brushed with olive oil , topped with whatever you like. I like something creamy--cream cheese mixed with feta or chevre and some fresh herbs. It's a nice foil for the crunch of the toasted bread.

You can leave it at that--or you can really have some fun.

Yesterday, I had a single bacon-wrapped filet-mignon in the freezer. (The kind that come in little two packs and are actually not all that expensive). I coated both sides of the steak with a peppercorn and garlic rub and then pan fried it in a little butter and olive oil until it was medium rare. I let it cool slightly and then cut it in half. I think thinly siced each half against the grain. I laid a strip of beef atop the cheese mixture, topped that with a slice of roasted tomato and a few chopped chives. That one steak made enough appetizers for 5 people (two crostini each), and they were delicious!

Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you can't splurge on small things. Pair a budget meal with an extravagant appetizer and you can still feel luxurious.

Besides, what was I going to do with a single steak?

Fresh fruit rustic tart

Here's a great thing to do with fruit you have in the fridge that is ripe and ready to eat, but no one wants to eat it. I had two nectarines, a few leftover cherries that had been sweetened and thickened with a bit of cornstarch and a dash of almond extract, and some plums. I peeled and diced the nectarines, diced the plums (left the peel on), and reheated the cherries to smooth out their sauce. I combined all the fruit and tasted it for sweetness. It didn't need any more sugar as the fruit was ripe and the cherries had already been sweetened.

I used a buttery dough that included 1/4 cup cornmeal to a cup of flour, to give it some stability. Simply roll out your favorite pie dough to a large circle, say 12-14 inches in diameter, onto a round baking stone (or cookie sheet if you don't have a stone). Pour the fruit mixture into the middle of the dough and spread it to within about 2 inches of the edge. With a large off-set spatula, lift the edge of the dough and fold it over the fruit. It will pleat naturally. This is a rustic tart, so perfection isn't the goal here. Brush the dough lightly with water and sprinkle with a teaspoon or so of sugar. Dot the exposed fruit with a few small bits of butter (less than a teaspoon, total).

Bake for 30-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly.

These are best eaten warm, the day they are baked, but are OK the next day. A little vanilla ice cream is never a bad idea!

Almost any fruits can be handled this way, although beware of strawberries--they are a bit too watery when cooked. A few can be added to other berry mixtures. Apples and pears are nice too.

This tart actually has a name: in French these are called galettes. Bon apetit!

NOTE: If all this dough business is just too much bother for you, the fruit mixture on its own is lovely, warmed slightly in the microwave and topped with vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Spice "families"

Certain spices just go well together. I think of them as families. When I think Italian, I think garlic, basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary.....Greek I think garlic, oregano, lemon....France, particularly southern France, I think thyme, tarragon, basil, parsley..... Spain I think of garlic, saffron, and more garlic!

Traveling to other parts of the world: Indian cuisine makes me think garlic and ginger, cumin, cardamom, coriander, and curry. Chinese makes me think of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sherry. In middle Eastern cuisines, you'll find interesting combinations of savory spices mixed with spices that we might more traditionally think of as sweet--cumin and cinnamon and garlic, for example.

Keeping these "families" in mind can help you decide what to do with leftovers. This evening I made a quick "red" pasta sauce that I'm putting over ricotta-stuffed shells and baking. The sauce has sauteed onion and garlic, sauteed tomato paste, red wine, two cans of diced tomatoes, and Italian seasoning. (Note--no meat). I also had about a cup of sauce leftover from a beef stew. The meat was gone, but the remaining sauce I knew would blend right into my red sauce and give it a bit more depth. The original stew had beef, onions, carrots, beef stock, red wine, bay leaf, thyme, and a touch of tomato paste. Knowing that all of those herbs are found in Mediterranean cuisines, and that both had tomato, I was confident that it would work and it does. Although it still technically has no meat, it has more character and tastes like it could have been simmering for hours instead of less than 30 minutes. (It helps that the original stew did indeed simmer for hours!)

Will I ever repeat this particular sauce exactly? Probably not exactly, but I have that smug satisfaction I always get when I've hidden a leftover into something "new" and my family will never be the wiser! Sometimes it's the little things...

Leftovers aren't just for dinner...

Don't toss those small amounts of leftovers. You'd be amazed at what tastes good tucked into an omelette! Or if omelettes are beyond your skill level, just mixed up with scrambled eggs. Some cuisines have even taken this idea and legitimized it as a recognized dish: think of Chinese Egg Foo Young, or the Mexican Migas.

Experiement and have fun. If you hit upon a really tasty combination, write it down and share it with me!

Life cycle of a leftover....

Leftovers in my house tend to have a similar pedigree. A "starter" meal will typically have three items--a main dish/meat, a starch or grain, and a vegetable. (Although I love the idea of four things; read Nora Ephron's "I Feel Bad About My Neck" for a great chapter on that fourth thing at a dinner party....).

If I'm lucky enough to have leftovers, there is a good chance that these three things will come together easily as a stew.

If I'm lucky enough to have some leftover stew, depending on the flavors, I might be able to add broth or diced tomatoes, maybe some canned beans, and turn it into a soup. Notice that at this point, I'm probably adding things to stretch my leftovers, rather than adding the leftovers to something else. The difference may seem subtle...

If I'm lucky enough to have soup leftover, I might add a small cooked pasta, (like orzo or ditalini) for a side dish.

If I'm lucky enough to have any of the pasta side dish leftover--it's probably going to be my lunch the next day! Pass the cheese, please....

My daughter made her first white sauce

Every cook needs to know how to make a basic white sauce, and my 14 year old daughter just made her first. It turned out beautiful--smooth, with just a little sheen. She added grated sharp cheddar cheese and turned it into a velvety-smooth cheese sauce. Here's the basic recipe--

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat

add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk until blended (this is a roux)

all at once, add 1 cup of milk that has been heated nearly to a boil.

Immediately begin whisking until all the butter-flour mixture and milk are combined

Continue whisking until sauce begins to boil, at which time it will thicken. Cook an additional 4-5 minutes to cook the raw flour taste away.

This makes a medium white sauce. Notice the butter and flour are equal portions. If you want a thinner white sauce, say for a cream soup, decrease the butter and flour to 1 1/2 tablespoons. For a thicker sauce, which is what you would use to bind ground meats for croquettes (see earlier post) increase the butter and flour to 3-4 tablespoons each.

The trick to a smooth sauce is heating the milk before it goes in, and whisking vigorously.

Note: the flour loses it's thickening power the longer it cooks. You can achieve a completely different taste and color by using a slightly higher ratio of fat to flour, and cooking the roux until it takes on a golden color, and then adding the milk. In this case, you'll need more fat/flour to thicken the same amount of liquid, but you won't need to cook it as long to get rid of the raw flour taste.

You can also alter the fat you use--oil, bacon drippings, butter....they will all behave the same way.

Various doughs you want to master

Some of the most helpful things to know how to make when dealing with leftovers are doughs--pie dough, biscuit dough, bread doughs, etc.

- pie dough: make mini tarts with pie dough (a shaper and a good mini muffin pan are must-haves) and then use finely chopped leftover vegetables and meats, egg, milk, seasonings, and cheese and you have mini quiches. Under-bake slightly and these freeze well too--don't thaw them out; just add 5 minutes or so to the bake time.

Cut pie dough into larger rounds, 4-5 inches in diameter. Make a filling of leftover meats, sauteed onions, garlic, and peppers, a handful of raisins, seasonings (I'm thinking cumin and a pinch of cinnamon). Shredded cheese if you like. Use about 2 tablespoons filling per dough round, fold over and crimp to seal. But on a baking sheet or stone and bake in a 400 degree oven until beautifully brown. You can brush them with a little egg wash if you like. These are great empanadas and no one will know they started with leftovers.

- biscuit dough: this is quick dough to use to turn all kinds of leftovers into "pot pies." Particularly if your leftovers include a sauce. For example, if you have virtually any kind of leftover stew, you can turn it into a pot pie. Vary its original ingredients by adding other vegetables, or something unexpected, like olives or dried fruit. Put the mixture into a baking dish and drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top and bake in a 425 degree oven until the mixture is bubbly and the biscuit topping is golden brown (about 20 minutes usually does it).

Bread doughs can take all kinds of interesting add-ins from sun-dried tomatoes and olives to cheeses, nuts, finely chopped meats, dried fruits, herbs. Play around with flavors and textures that seem to go together. (Or even flavors that don't seem to go together but surprisingly do!)

Muffins (not exactly a "dough" but in the same family as biscuits) are a great way to sneak more veggies into your diet, especially carrots or zucchini/yellow squash. Don't always think "sweet" when you think "muffin." A savory muffin with shredded zucchini, some cheese, and fresh or dried herbs, is the perfect companion to a bowl of hearty soup.

Once you've mastered basic doughs--and they really are easy once you get the hang of them, and are certainly better for you than the ready-made in the refrigerator/freezer case of the grocery store--you have a whole new world of options for using your leftovers literally at your fingertips.

Pork Tenderloins

I'm making a few pork tenderloins today, in the microwave. Yes, you read that correctly--in the microwave. They only take about 9 minutes to cook. I have a special Deep Covered Baker I use to cook these.

Here are some important tips:

1. First, it is essential to remove the "silver skin" that runs down one side of the tenderloin. Since tenderloins are usually sold in packages of two, why not do this right away, when you get home from the store and then freeze them wrapped separately. Nice not to have to mess with it later. Odds are if you've decided to make something for dinner that only takes nine minutes, you're already pressed for time.

2. Brush the tenderloin lightly with oil and generously sprinkle with a good rub. I like a Jamaican Jerk Rub or a good BBQ rub.

3. Use a meat thermometer! Overcooked pork is dry and tough because it's actually quite lean. After 9 minutes, check the temperature. It should register 150 degrees F. Put the cover back on and let it "rest" for 10 minutes. The temperature will increase to 160 during this rest period, which is "medium" for pork. If you prefer your pork with a tinge of pink, then pull it out at 145 degrees. I think medium has the best texture and flavor.

Note: Our grandmothers and maybe even mothers probably cooked the bejeezus out of pork for fear of a parasite called trichonosis. We now know that it is killed when pork is cooked to just 144 degrees F, as well as when it has been frozen for at least 20 days at 5 degrees F. These days it's also much less likely that the parasite is even present.

(I verified those safe temps through wikipedia).

Croquettes

You may never have heard of or had a croquette before. I first encountered them in Spain.

A croquette is simply a mixture of finely chopped meat, seafood, cheese, or vegetables (or any combination), combined with enough white sauce to bind it, that is then shaped, rolled in fine bread crumbs and either baked or fried. Croquettes can be made quite small, say the size of your thumb and served as appetizers. Or they can be made larger and served as an entree. Traditionally, they are usually cone shaped, although I find them easier to manage if they are about the size of a crab cake. They can be the centerpiece of a composed salad (see earlier post). They're delicious plain, but are happy to share the plate with a sauce.

I particularly like to make croquettes when I've run out of different things to do with large amounts of leftover meat like ham and turkey.

One tool that is essential for making good croquettes is something that will finely chop or grind your ingredients. My KitchenAid has a grinder attachment which is perfect for grinding ham, chicken, etc. A good food chopper or processor works well too. The idea is that the mixture be fairly smooth.

Also essential is knowing how to make a white sauce. You could probably get away with using a jarred sauce (like Alfredo), although I've never tried it because white sauce is so easy to make.

Look for a future post with a complete croquette recipe (hopefully later today).

Composed Salads

Composed salads are simply arranged rather than tossed. Think of the classic Cobb Salad. Composed salads are also a great way to use leftovers. I like to take field greens or torn Romaine lettuce (and I like to tear them into small pieces...bite-sized means you shouldn't need to cut it), and toss them with a small amount of a good vinaigrette. This is the canvas for the salad. Onto this canvas you can put just about anything you'd like, arranged artfully:

* leftover grilled meats, thinly sliced

* leftover vegetables (if they had butter on them originally, you can rinse this off with warm water and then rinse again in cold to freshen the vegetables)

* canned beans of any type you like, rinsed

* canned tuna

* shredded carrots

* tomato wedges

* hard-cooked egg halves or wedges

* leftover potatoes - dice them into smaller pieces and toss them in the same vinaigrette you used with your greens

* picked beets or other pickled vegetables you like

* any kind of cheese, although my favorites are chevre or feta

Dress the whole thing up with goodies you probably have in your fridge: olives, capers, roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, etc.

Some lightly toasted pine nuts will take it right over the top!

For dressings to drizzle onto the salad, you can stick with the vinaigrette you're already using. If my composed salads contain meat, I like to make a dressing with mayonnaise that I've thinned with some of the vinaigrette, and spoon a bit of that over the meat, plus have more at the table to pass.

Composed salads look great on your prettiest plates and can be made up ahead of time and kept refrigerated until time for dinner. Add some good crusty bread and a glass of wine-- dinner is served, and you've cleaned out your refrigerator.

A clarification on cooking with wine

I know in my last post, I mentioned keeping dry vermouth on hand to use when recipes call for dry white wine and that you wouldn't be tempted to drink it. This is my only exception to the rule never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink. In fact, cooking with the same wine you plan to drink with the dish is virtually fool-proof! Avoid so-called "cooking wines." They're inferior and usually have additives like salt.

A note of caution on using leftover ingredients: you may create something that is truly sublime and you won't be able to exactly reproduce it! I made Chicken a la King for dinner (I still have lots of leftovers) and had about a half cup of a mustard cream sauce left over from a pork tenderloin, which I added. It made the dish a little richer but it also gave it more depth and complexity. The original sauce was cream, Dijon mustard, dry white wine (probably vermouth because it's what would have been open) and of course, the fond in the pan from the pork). A hit for sure, but alas, one that might not be repeated.

(Tip: always keep a bottle of dry vermouth in your pantry. It's a great stand-in any time you have a recipe that calls for dry white wine. It's cheap, doesn't require refrigeration and you won't be the least tempted to drink it!)

Here are seven things to do with small amounts of leftover cooked vegetables:

1. Omelettes

2. Frittatas

3. Soups

4. Stews

5. Quiches

6. Quesadillas

7. Composed salads

Try not to overcook vegetables--generally add them toward the end just so they are heated through. With omelettes and frittatas, however, saute your leftover vegetables first, along with an aromatic (onion, garlic, or the like) if the leftover vegetable doesn't already include one or more. Then add eggs and cook until set to your liking.

Composed salads are becoming fast favorites in our household, and can be made with just about anything you have on hand. More on composed salads later!

I'm getting the hang of this blog. I've changed the setting so that anyone with a google account can comment....we'll see how that goes! My apologies if you tried to post and couldn't.

My first post

I've decided to write a cookbook that specifically focuses on using leftovers. Not just reheating leftovers, but using them to create something new, tasty, and unrecognizable to leftover-haters. For years, friends and family have urged me to write this cookbook, so this blog will be my start.

For lunch today, I had about 2 cups of leftover spaghetti Carbonara, a few spears of leftover roasted asparagus, a quarter cup of leftover green beens, some peppers and onions (that were actually leftover from fajitas!). I diced all the vegetables, reheated them in a large stir-fry skillet. I also had half a chicken breast that had been pounded and sauteed, so I diced that as well. With a little cream and the pasta, this became a Pasta Primavera for 3 people, with ingredients that otherwise (in a week or two) would have found their way into the garbage.