LIFESTYLE – Page 3 – Peach and the Willow

My Favorite Pound Cake (Dressed up for Easter!)

March 3, 2016January 26, 20245 Comments

When you grow up in the South as I did, you find that pound cake is in a food group all to itself. You’ve had pound cake with strawberries and cream, pound cake with peaches and cream, with blackberries and cream, just whipped cream or your favorite ice cream. You’ve had dry pound cake, melt in your mouth pound cake, TOO buttery pound cake (yes…there is such a thing), too dense pound cake, toasted pound cake, week old pound cake and on and on! Pound cake is not seasonal for southerners, although we oftentimes pair it with fruits of the season as mentioned before. And it always shows up on the Easter buffet…right along with the deviled eggs and potato salad seasoned with bacon fat. My table will be no exception…but this year My Favorite Pound Cake will be getting “dressed up” in Easter finery with a flowery adornment of halo mandarins…an Easter Bonnet, if you will!

Reminiscent of the pineapple rings on a pineapple upside-down cake, the slices of fresh mandarin orange give this cake a sort of old world charm. It’s rustic but beautiful…with the look of sunny spring flowers. And the taste??!!! A nectarous cake that is super moist and laced with a hint of citrusy sweet bitterness that comes across as very…hmmm…the best way I can describe it is sophisticated and clean. Not too fussy…not overdone…not trying too hard cake. Just simple and delicious. And the look of the cake is stunning. Halo mandarins are in season until April so including this particular pound cake for Easter should be no problem! If for some reason you don’t like halos, just don’t include them in the recipe. This pound cake is delish either way.

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake — **A Cake as Pretty as an Easter Bonnet**

The recipe for My Favorite Pound Cake is adapted from a Southern Living recipe published in 2006. However, I have tweaked it over the years using tricks of the trade handed down by friends and relatives who are GREAT pound cake bakers (Shannon Lollie and Connie Melzer to drop a couple names). It is fail proof and amazing!!!

SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE

1 1/2 cups butter, softened (hint…throw in a dollop more)
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour ( I use organic and unbleached)
1/2 tsp. salt (I add a pinch more)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
(If making the mandarin orange version, include a couple Tbsp. of Cointreau Liqueur if you have it on hand)

If making the Halo Mandarin Version of cake…start by slicing halos in four thin slices and assembling at bottom and side of greased and parchment lined tube pan. You will use from 8 – 10 halos. See picture for assembly tips. If you are making “My Favorite Pound Cake” without fruit…forego step one.
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears.
Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture (this is important). Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in extracts. Pour into a greased 12-cup tube pan. I also line the bottom and part of side with parchment to assure that the cake will come out clean.
Bake at 325 Degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Pound Cake in Bundt Pan — **MY FAVORITE POUND CAKE** **fresh from the oven!**

Should you want a nice whipped cream to accompany the Mandarin Orange version…this one would be perfect!

WHIPPED CREAM

Makes about 2 cups (Prep: 5 Min.)

1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. orange Liqueur

Beat whipping cream at low speed with an electric mixer until foamy; increase speed to medium-high, and gradually add powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form. Stir in Liqueur.

Mandarin Orange Pound Cake Slice — **Buttery…Moist…Crunchy on the Bottom…Fruity on the Top**

Fig and Walnut Crackers…The Perfect Cracker (Really!)

February 23, 2016January 26, 20243 Comments

I am arriving upon the seven year anniversary of my perfect cracker discovery. It happened on a girlfriend trip to Chicago in ’09 where one of the four girlfriends was living at the time. I arrived, sick as a dog, dosed up on God knows what and a steroid pack (great house guest, huh?) ready to hit Chi-town and have an adventure with my besties! There was no way I was going to miss a long weekend full of laughter, museums, speakeasy’s, shopping, wine, food and friends. Oh! And the perfect cracker! But I hadn’t discovered that yet…

As we strategized the next few days around Nancy’s dining room table, glasses of red wine in hand and enough crazy chatter to require a translator, Nancy served to us what would become my cheese board cracker obsession from that moment on. I can still hear her announcing to us like it was yesterday, “I found these fantastic little fig crackers at Whole Foods and can’t get enough of them!” The crackers were indeed the perfect vessel for the Cambozola Cheese and Fig Preserves that sat happily upon them. They were nutty and rustic; sweet and savory. I may have been doped up on antihistamines and the like, but my girlfriends and I savored every delicious bite of a new found food crush. We went on several culinary explorations that weekend, but besides my always beautiful friends, it was the cracker that left the lasting impression.

When I returned home and headed to the market to find my cracker obsession, what I found was sticker shock!!!! Granted, I’m not a “cheap” person by any means but wowzer!…Lesley Stowe’s Raincoast Crisps think very highly of themselves! No wonder I love them…they’re crazy EXPENSIVE!!! The crackers came in a teeny tiny little package and sported a price tag of about 8 bucks for twenty or so crackers! Every time I would purchase them (and believe me, I’ve purchased them over and over for my cheese boards for years now), I would think to myself, “surely I can make these at home!”

It was last year that a magical thing happened. I bought a wonderful cookbook by blogger turned cookbook writer, Izy Hossack. The book, and subsequently the blog, is entitled Top with Cinnamon and both are wonderful. Check them out here. Anyhoo…I was reading through her beautiful book and there they were!!!…Fig & Walnut Parmesan Crackers!!!! Izy had unlocked the secret to my cracker obsession!!! I vowed to make them the next week to find out if they stacked up to my “perfect cracker.” Suffice it to say, about eight months later I got around to making the recipe and BOOM! There it was! A beautiful, rustic, sweet and savory cracker that I could make at home for a ton less money than the ones I was buying at the market!…plus they are homemade!…plus they are healthy…plus they are delicious!!! So many wins!

In my home, these Fig and Walnut Crackers must be invited to every cheeseboard party!!! My favorite combination is the way Nancy served them…with a bit of Cambozola Cheese, a beautiful cow’s milk cheese that is a combination of a French triple cream and an Italian gorgonzola, and topped with fig preserves. Even if you’re not a gorgonzola fan, the triple cream and the sweet preserve will soften the saltiness that the gorgonzola can deliver, so I hope you’ll try it. It is heaven in a bite! I also love my perfect cracker served with just a plain triple cream brie as in my photos. Or with my Rosemary Goat Cheese that I will post in an upcoming blog (friends always beg for the recipe). Garnished with a slice of plum and voila! Cheese Board perfection.

The following is my adaptation of Izy’s recipe. Great news!!?? The recipe is SIMPLE to make! I dropped the parmesan from Izy’s original name since I couldn’t plainly detect it’s taste influence. I also plan to tweak the recipe a bit more and introduce fresh rosemary to my next batch!

FIG AND WALNUT CRACKERS

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup parmesan, finely grated
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp honey
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried figs, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease two loaf tins with butter. In a large bowl, stir together the first 6 ingredients. Add 12 1/2 fl oz water and the honey and stir until well combined. Stir in the walnuts, pumpkin seeds and dried figs. Divide the batter between the loaf tins and bake for 40 – 50 minutes, until the edges have started to shrink away from the tins and the loaves are dark on top. Leave to cool on a wired rack and then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at least 3 – 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Unwrap and thinly slice the frozen loaves into roughly 1/8 in. thick slices. Allow them to thaw a little then place the slices on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Watch the crackers very carefully during this stage as you may want to bake a bit longer if you desire a crunchy cracker. The crackers will crisp as they cool…but I found that I had to increase my bake time from the original recipe because I don’t like a “chewy” cracker. Needs a definite “crunch”! You can store them in an airtight container for up to a week. Recipe adapted from Top with Cinnamon; Izy Hossack

Fig and Walnut Cracker

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do and serve it soon! Remember to savor life every day!…regardless if a cheese board is involved or not! Love on your family extra hard and let your friends know you cherish and adore them! Cheers everyone!!

Chicago Trip — Girlfriends in Chicago…Nancy, Robyn, Me and Teri

Weeknight Glazed Salmon and a “Killer” Rice Salad

February 15, 2016January 26, 20243 Comments

I remember the moment I started seriously paying attention to salmon and adding it to my diet. No…it wasn’t because I heard it was loaded with Omega-3s and super charged proteins that fight off disease and increase brain power. It was because I read that salmon was a serious part of J Lo’s beauty regimen (listen to Jenny From the Block here..oh yeah!) and how she achieved flawless, glowy skin (sigh). Yep…vanity got the best of me! And every time I would eat salmon I thought, “Bam! Take that epidermis! Bam! Take that pesky crow’s feet! Take that plain ol’ yucky wrinkles!” Hmmm…I eat plenty of Salmon but alas, the skin is, shall we say, “doing it’s thang” and father time stops for no one, not even salmon. But I digress…

I now eat Salmon, not for it’s beauty attributes, but because it’s just down right delicious and am thankful that something I love to eat so much is so stinkin’ good for me! Another bonus…my son and hubs love it more than I!…so it’s a simple and tasty “go-to” menu for a weeknight supper. In fact, I created this recipe last week while perusing my frig and cupboards for what I had on hand (this is pretty much the way I roll, cooking wise). The first thing I spied was a lone butternut squash…and what was to follow turned into Glazed Salmon with Brown Rice Salad of Roasted Butternut Squash, Kale and Pecans. Guys…this Salmon dish is ridiculously good and your family will not realize that they are eating Super Food Champions. Salmon? Kale? Wholesome grains? What’s even better? My twelve year old son gobbled it up!!!! Score!

Winter will soon be over and we’ll be enjoying more grilled meets and salads with juicy, vine-ripe tomatoes, so enjoy the winter vegetables like this Butternut Squash and be glad they’re still readily available. And the next day…when you have some salad leftovers and you want to eat them for lunch…add some edamame to the dish and you’ll be even happier!

GORGEOUS INGREDIENTS

You’ll start by making the dressing which also doubles as the salmon marinade. I use this simple dressing for a ton of applications and therefore I keep it around a great deal. It’s a sweet dressing that rocks out this salmon and gives it a beautiful, sweet, brown glaze. Also works well with ribs, pork tenderloin and chicken…

Sweet and Sour Dressing

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbs soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients. I personally like to shake it in a bottle. This will yield about 2 cups dressing, so you’ll have some left over for other applications.

Glazed Salmon with Brown Rice Salad of Butternut Squash, Kale and Pecans

2 – 4 Salmon Filets (1 – 2 lbs)

1 cup uncooked Brown Rice (cook according to package)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Butternut Squash; cut into 1″ dice

1/2 cup sweet onion; diced

1 clove garlic; minced

4 – 5 large Kale leaves; remove ribs and coarsely chop

1/2 cup pecans; chopped

1/2 cup cranberries; chopped

2 stalks celery; chopped

2 Tbs Butter

Marinade Salmon in about 1/2 cup Sweet and Sour Dressing while preparing the salad
Prepare brown rice according to package and cool
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add Butternut Squash, Onion and Garlic. Mix together with a dousing of EVOO (2 -3 Tbs) and remember…do not overcrowd the veggies or you will steam instead of roast them
Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes
Meanwhile, saute’ the chopped kale and olive oil in a hot saute’ pan for about one minute. Salt and pepper Kale to taste. The Kale will break down fast and you want to maintain the beautiful green color. Set aside to cool.
When the roasted Butternut Squash, Onion and Garlic have cooked for thirty minutes, add the pecans and cranberries to the baking sheet and toss slightly. Cook for 5 – 7 minutes longer, being careful to watch the cranberries as you do not want them to char. Set aside to cool slightly.
Prepare frying pan with 2 Tbs butter and place on medium high heat. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, place salmon filets in hot pan, pouring marinade into the pan with the salmon. Salt and pepper.
Watch your salmon for doneness…about two minutes per side for a gorgeous salmon that is not overcooked but velvety soft in the middle and brown on the outside. Continue to baste with marinade from the pan as you cook. Place into a 175 degree oven (if frying pan is oven safe), to keep warm while you combine salad
In a large bowl, combine rice, roasted vegetables, nuts and fruit and chopped celery.
Dress with Sweet and Sour Dressing to taste…start with about 1/4 cup…toss…taste…salt and pepper if needed…

“Killer Salad”

My mouth waters just looking at this “killer salad!” The crunch of the pecans and celery, the sweetness of the squash and cranberries and the slight salty bitterness of the kale make this a delectable salad…and the color is SO pretty! Feel free to interchange the rice with quinoa or wild rice…any grain, really. I serve it room temperature, alongside fish, pork and chicken. Would pack well for a picnic or potluck! Serve the Glazed Salmon over a bed of the rice salad.

GLAZED SALMON WITH BROWN RICE SALAD OF BUTTERNUT SQUASH, KALE AND PECANS

Bon Appetite!!!!

And please tell me what you think of this dish! I love your feedback!!! xo