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Friday, January 31, 2025

ChezCindy: Baked Sweet Potato with Coddled Egg & Pesto

 


Baked potatoes become extraordinary when an egg is coddled inside the potato jacket, baked to completion and topped with pesto.  This decadent dish takes a bit of planning and a tiny bit of finesse but is impressive to serve to guests.  

Start by baking sweet potatoes on a sheet tray until they are nearly done baking.  Remove from the oven, then split open the potato adding a raw egg to the open potato jacket.  Finish baking the potato, cooking the egg inside the potato jacket.  I like to finish the dish by adding basil pesto for a great contrast of color and flavor.



Baked Sweet Potato with Coddled Egg & Pesto

4 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons basil pesto
salt & pepper to season the potatoes and eggs

Preheat the oven to 425.  Scrub the potatoes and pierce in several places with a fork or knife.  Line a sheet tray with foil, lightly spray the foil with cooking oil.  Place the potatoes onto the tray, spacing them apart for even cooking.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until nearly done.  Remove from the oven.  Using a sharp knife, cut the potatoes down the center, pinching the ends of the potatoes to push open the slit to expose the inside flesh.  Add a pinch of salt to the potato flesh and 1/2 tablespoon of butter.  

Crack 1 egg into a small bowl.  Carefully transfer the egg to the open potato placing the egg directly onto the exposed potato flesh.  Season lightly the egg with salt and pepper.  Repeat with the remaining potatoes.  Return the sheet tray to the hot oven to continue cooking the potato and cooking the egg, about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven, topping each egg and potato with a tablespoon of pesto.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  

Recipe for Basil Pesto can be found here in this previous post.




Tuesday, January 14, 2025

ChezCindy: Earl Grey Tea Cake with Mascarpone Cream

 


This delicious cake uses Earl Grey tea leaves as an ingredient in the cake batter and the mascarpone cream topping.  Earl Grey is a fragrant black tea flavored with bergamot oranges.  Bergamot oranges are grown in Southern Italy with the juice being used in making candy, liqueurs, and pastries.  The essential oil extracted from the rind is used to flavor black tea, thus creating Earl Grey.  I did not realize this beloved English tea has roots in Italy.  

The cake is topped with soft peaks of whipped mascarpone cream, and the cake has bits of chopped chocolate in every bite.  To finish the cake, I like to garnish with additional chocolate curls over the peaks of cream.  Wonderful with your favorite cup of tea, or maybe an espresso.  


Frosting Ingredients
3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
2 teaspoons loose Earl Grey tea
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup mascarpone cream cheese, room temperature

Cake Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon loose Earl Grey tea
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons fresh grated orange zest, from 1 orange
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate, such as Ghirardelli 

Additional chocolate for topping the finished cake 


For the Frosting:  In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a simmer over medium heat.  Remove from the heat, stir in the tea and let stand for 30-40 minutes.  Strain the tea using a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, discarding the tea leaves.  Chill the tea-cream for about an hour, or overnight.  

For the Cake:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Use additional butter to grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, tea, baking powder, and salt, whisking together.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar mixing until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add in the orange zest, mix to combine.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  With the mixer off, add in the flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined.  Mix in the milk to combine.  Use a rubber spatula to fold in the chopped chocolate.  Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan.  Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.  Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan to cool on the rack.

Finish the frosting:  Add the remaining 1/4 cup of heavy cream, the powdered sugar, and the tea cream to a clean mixing bowl.  With an electric mixer, whisk until medium peaks form.  Add the mascarpone cheese and whisk until stiff peaks form.  Transfer the frosting to the cake, smoothing and swirling to cover the top of the cake.    

Top the frosted cake with chocolate curls shaved from the additional chocolate.  Store the cake, and leftovers, in the fridge, letting the cake come to room temperature before serving.  




Sunday, January 5, 2025

ChezCindy: Broccoli, Cabbage & Kale Chopped Salad

 


This is not a standard bag salad from the grocery store.  I was actually looking at the availability of bagged salads at the store, but not one of them had the ingredients I wanted.  So, I decided to make my own.  This chopped salad includes many of my favorite cruciferous vegetables.  I have broccoli stems and tiny florets, chopped kale, green and red cabbage, and pomegranate seeds.  The colors were so vibrant, I had to take a picture.  

If you decide to make your own, it is super easy and doesn't take a lot of time to bring it together.  Use what you have in your fridge and add to it one or two vegetables sought out specifically for your chopped salad.  Copycat one that you like that you normally buy as premade.  With no preservatives added to your homemade mix, it will store nicely in an air-tight glass snap-top container in the refrigerator.  The mix of undressed vegetables will stay fresh for at least 5 days.  If you get tired of eating it as a raw salad, sauté the remainder of it in a skillet as a side dish for dinner.  Or make this lovely galette as I did in a previous post, savory vegetable and mozzarella galette


Broccoli, Cabbage & Kale Salad
3 cups of chopped broccoli stems and florets
2 cups chopped green cabbage
2 cups chopped red cabbage
2 cups chopped kale leaves
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Toss to combine.  Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator.