Fruit + buttermilk (or cream) cake

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Gourmet, June 2009

Original recipe can be found here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#2FlFSP/smittenkitchen.com/2009/05/raspberry-buttermilk-cake//

Makes one thin 9-inch cake.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk or cream
1 cup fresh raspberries or whatever fruit you like.

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (pie pan works well also).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter (see Note) raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

Alt: add custard top. See new post.

Char Sui Pork

Ever wonder how they make the roast pork that goes into the roast pork steamed buns in Chinatown? This is it! (without the horrific Red 40 - what you thought roast pork naturally comes bright red?!)

Char Sui Pork

2-3 boneless pork ribs (about 1 foot long each) or large piece pork butt
1/3 cup brown sugar or 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2-1tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 head garlic peeled, coarsely chopped
5-6 slices ginger, chopped coarsely
dash of salt
1/4 tsp white pepper

In a mixing bowl: mix pork ribs, brown sugar, soy sauce, five spice powder, garlic, ginger, salt, white pepper. Marinate at least 24 hours (overnight). Give it a good mix half way through (or before you go to bed - sugar tends to settle). When cooking, remove from garlic, ginger (will not need it).

Heat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with tinfoil. In large skillet, heat 2-3 tbs vegetable oil on medium-high to high. Sear marinated pork, each side 2-3 minutes or until browned. Transfer to baking sheet. Pop in oven, cook approx 45 min depending on thickness or until internal temp of pork is 170F.

Serve: slice 1/4 in. pieces. Serve hot, cold, put in roast pork buns (entry on that later).

Sugar Cookies Recipes times two, with varieties

Adapted from two allrecipes.com submissions (I improved them).

Ingredients (makes 60 cookies)

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened (3 sticks butter)
  
• 3 cups white sugar or 2 cups white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• optional: (for lightly spiced cookies) 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger
• optional: (for lemony cookies), replace vanilla extract with lemon extract, add zest of 1 lemon
  
• optional: (for gingery cookies) add 1/2 cup chopped crystalized ginger to mix before refrigeration
  
• optional: (for almondy cookies) add almond extract instead of vanilla extract
  

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Original recipe can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx
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This next recipe is better as it doesn't require refrigeration:

Ingredients: (makes 48 cookies)
2 3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter softened (2 sticks butter)
1.5-2 cups sugar
1 egg (or 2 depending on how eggy you want it - can add just additional egg white so it's not so dry)
2 tsp vanilla extract
optional varieties (see above)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Note: I am particularly fond of the gingery and lemony variants. For ease of baking, you can use parchment paper on the cookie sheets. It also simplifies clean-up.

Original recipe can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Let me know how they turn out!

Home sweet home and Sausage soup

We've finally moved into our new house. I love home ownership. I love the fact that I have a little backyard with a garden. I love the fact that I don't share a wall with anyone else and I will never have to hear the saga of Joe, Joe Jr, and Jo (anne) ever again. (They were our neighbors some odd doors down from our old place who are going through a divorce and thanks to their nightly arguments in home and on street, I now know more about their personal lives than I'd like).

I live in a lovely little neighborhood with trees, more grass than I've seen in the last 10 years, within four minutes walking distance to the main surgical hospital and within 10 minutes of the main clinic.

I have raspberry bushes in the backyard. My neighbors to the right of us have lilac bushes. There is a large maple tree in the backyard.

I have to say, once settled, it's rather nice. Moving was a nightmare. Driving across the country in a U-haul for three days and nights is definitely not fun. The truck drivers started to blend into each other after the fourth stop, although they definitely made it difficult to distinguish themselves by pretty much having the same attire (plaid shirt, cap, jeans). One of the rest-stops had the most beautiful ladies' room I've ever been in, though, and it was wonderfully clean.

Nothing tastes better than a greasy burger when you're on the road.

On another note, I saw entirely too much roadkill on the road, in varying degrees of decomp. *shudder* Poor little rodents. Never saw it coming.

I have two weeks before I start work. In that time I will: read the ATLS manual, refresh myself on antibiotic usage and ICU information, plant tomatoes, dig a ditch in backyard, make frozen dinners from scratch, and go to Ikea for odds and ends. It's an exciting time.

The first meal we had in our new house was sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes. A good German meal. Mmm. I made this a few days later:

Sausage soup

4-5 potatoes, peeled, diced
4-5 carrots, peeled, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 large Italian sausages diced
3 chicken bouillon cubes + 2 liters water or 2 liters chicken broth
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs veg. oil
salt to taste.

In large pot, heat oil on medium high. Add garlic, onion, sausages. Saute until sausages browned or onions clear (5 min). Add potatoes, carrots, chicken broth, oregano, cayenne. Bring soup to boil. Cover, turn soup to medium-low. Cook for 30-45 min until potatoes tender. Serve hot with rolls + butter.