Every Auntie deserves a niece like my "Lexi Girl". She'll probably shriek at my choice of her Facebook Profile pictures, but I like this shot. I love her eyes. The camera loves her. She's first cousin to my Only Child. Alexis is three months older than my 21 year old son, and she's also an Only Child. While she inherited her parent's good looks (her dad, being my brother), "Lexi" inherited my love of food. That girl will eat just about anything she is offered! Now that she's all grown up, I don't get to see her often enough, though she lives 1/2 hour away from me. She's having a hard day, today, since her beloved kitty just passed away.
Alexis loves her Oma's German food as much as the rest of us do. Anytime she's headed to my home for a family dinner, she always requests Cherve Cream Cheese Spread. I'm happy to oblige her, because she's my "surrogate daughter". We're two peas in a pod, when it comes to enjoying good food.
She's sad, which made me think of comfort food...which reminded me of one of her favorite dishes. I made this a while ago, and forgot to post it. So, Alexis, this is for you!
Alexis and my son, Brian, spent a lot of time at Oma's when they were little. Mutti would made the best "Booster Noodles", the grand kids would always say. I could not quite figure out what they meant by that, until Alexis recently solved the mystery. These were the familiar cheesy noodles my mother made her own kids (Your Truly and her two older brothers) , when we were little. Oma insisted that Alexis learn how to cook, just like she did with me. In order to reach Oma's stove, Alexis had to stand on a booster chair-- hence "Booster Noodles" were created. This dish is my "go to" when I want a fast dinner. It remains a favorite dish for my own family-- husband and son:
Staples in my new refrigerator are always a variety of cheeses and Canadian Style Bacon. I love the Four-Cheese from Trader Joe's. Any kind of cheese will do!
There's no recipe-- just ingredients... sliced ham, cooked elbow macaroni, diced onion and cheese.
I like to caramelize the onion in a little olive oil and butter. Then, add the ham. Mix it up and add shredded cheese-- in this case, a lot!
We grown our own parsley, so I like to add it for color. 20 minutes later... dinner is ready!
It's all about the cheese... this is German comfort food. I can't attest to this being an authentic Bavarian dish. It's from a Genuine Bavarian mom and Oma. It's comfort food. It disappears fast. We love it. I love you, Alexis! I wish I could bring you a bowl of this, and give you a "Bussi", like Oma used to.
I really need to start scanning baby pictures. These kids were born before digital cameras-- in the late 80's. It's amazing how fast they grow up-- the grand kids don't need a "Booster Chair" any longer! It's time for you two grown up kids to make this yourselves--now that I've shown you and my blogger friends how.
When I first discovered The Pioneer Woman Cook's blog-- around October 2008, I was hooked. Little did I know that a couple of months later, I would start my own food blog. I think what I found so intriguing about Ree's style of photographing step-by-step photos, is that she makes things look downright irresistible. At least, that's the effect that Ree Drummond has on me. (She's also funny and talented.) For that reason, when P-Dub posted "Grandma Iny's Prune Cake", I didn't crinkle my nose and dismiss the idea that this cake could possible be one of her Top Five favorites. Instead, I looked at her photo and read the ingredients:
Allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. It spells F-A-L-L. It also spells M-U-S-T M-A-K-E. Months went by, and I forgot all about this recipe. I was organizing my piles of printed recipes and I found a faded copy of this recipe that I had printed months ago-- I paused, and decided that today was the day. I was going to make this right now!
Ah, yes, the Old Prune. Poor thing. Why is it that prunes make us think of-- well, old people? We immediately think that these are eaten by old folks, who need to stay, um... well, they don't want to be. Never mind. I had flashbacks to my childhood, when my mother (who was probably younger than I am at this time in my life) kept a bottle of prune juice in the fridge. One day, I was thirsty. Really thirsty. So I drank a big glass of prune juice. It was sweet! I liked it. Unfortunately, that night, my mother had to deal with the effects on an eight year old girl who drank almost an entire bottle of prune juice. Ugh. But, now, I guess I'm right up there with my mom. OK, I admit it. I buy prunes. I like prunes. Am I old? It depends whom you ask. But let's get on with it-- what's in this cake? Ordinary ingredients, pretty much pantry staples. Sugar. Canola Oil. Eggs. Vanilla. Buttermilk. Yes, I always keep Buttermilk on hand. I love it's thick, tangy flavor in mashed potatoes, or pancakes, or muffins. It lasts a long while, actually. Otherwise, you can do the lemon juice and milk trick. But it still doesn't match real Buttermilk.
Obviously, you need Prunes. I cup of them, which is about 18 prunes. I added water and softened them in the microwave, then drained them.
Mashing hot and softened prunes is sticky business. But, that's what ya gotta do. Set them aside. Preheat the oven to 300F. No, not 350F. 300F. It's not a mistake.
The dry ingredients are whisked together and are ready to meet the wet stuff. You don't need to use a cake mixer, which I soon realized. That's because you mix the sugar and oil, then add the eggs . Simple. Quick.
Ree points out that you don't want to over mix the batter-- so I realized that this is similar to making pancake batter. After adding the buttermilk and vanilla, I removed the batter bowl and manually mixed the batter, until it just combined.
It's time to fold in the mashed prunes. Don't laugh. Prunes are good! I promise. Pour it into a buttered baking pan (I used a 9x13). Bake this for 35 minutes, the recipe says. I set my timer for 30 minutes. It's how I make sure to not over bake cakes. I don't like dry cakes. It's good insurance. While the cake is baking, it's important to get the icing ingredients ready. Hide your bathroom scale. Calm your pancreas down. We're going on a sugar trip.
White sugar, buttermilk, corn syrup, vanilla and 1/2 stick of butter. Heaven. I'm 15 minutes from the cake being ready... you need to start the icing.
The easy part is dumping all the ingredients together, then bringing them to a boil. The directions say that you don't want to get the icing to caramelize too much. Hmmm... I decided to use a candy thermometer. This was off to a rolling boil, and I was guessing/gauging what the right color should be. Ding! The cake is ready to come out of the oven...
At 30 minutes, the cake was "done". It didn't jiggle and the toothpick came out clean. The directions say to immediately pour the frosting over the cake. Do you see a potential problem? No? Look at the color...
On the lower left photo, I saw watery butter and the color was to light. This didn't seem right. Guess what? I poured the frosting right back into the pot-- I was in 9-1-1 mode.
Take Two. I returned the pot on high, and waited a minute or tow. It's now a darker color, and reached 220F on the thermometer. You're welcome. Now see how the icing was thicker? So, I lost some of it-- and it soaked into the cake. I wasn't too upset.
If you like sticky, gooey-- come to Mama! The smell is amazing! It's evil. It's Pioneer Woman.
The icing is starting to cool-- and harden. My pulse rate it going up. Ree says to serve it warm. I don't want to argue with that.
The cake is oh-so-tender, and warm...and the fragrance of the spices. It's intoxicating, I tell you!
It's a tough job, but in the interesting of my blogger family, I must tell you if it tastes good. Ready? OMG! P-Dub did it again. I think these are her "other" cinnamon rolls-- which I think is her admitted signature recipe. It reminds me of Sticky Toffee Pudding. This so easy to make. 15 minutes of prep-- 35-ish minutes of baking. This is perfect to serve as a brunch type treat. This is going to my office tomorrow. I cannot let this pan of goodness stay in my house. It will corrupt me. I will want to eat it all.
Are you ready to give prunes another chance? This is not for old people. This is for people who love the flavor of spice, all wrapped in warm and moist goodness. By the way, Ree says this cake does NOT have that, um, "effect" on you that prune juice will. It's a good thing, otherwise I'd relive my childhood experience. Ree has a sweet story on how she got this recipe. You can read it here:
I am linking this recipe to my sister blog, Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. I started this blog as a place where fellow fans of Ree Drummond. PW's blog is so hugely popular, that my comments feel like they are lost among the thousands. Come join us, as we are an intimate family of foodies who cannot resist her recipes. You don't have to ask to join. Just send me a recipe from PW's cookbook or blog. That's it! The next roundup will post tomorrow, Monday morning. I post on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month.
Enjoy! It's good to indulge in desserts, once in a while! This one is a keeper,
I love Italian food. My love of Italian food goes beyond pizza and spaghetti. I have a longing to learn how to cook Italian food from the different regions of Italy. I recently discovered Lida's cooking show on my local PBS cable channel. I like her format of sharing recipes from Italy, which are intermingled with beautiful videos of her visiting the region from where her recipe originates. I was intrigued by her episode on Sardinia, and then I watched her making a very simple pasta with two of her grandchildren! Lidia explained each step so well, that she made it look so simple--so I decided I was going to make this delicious looking dish. Unfortunately, I don't have any of her cookbooks (which is going to change), and this recipe was not posted on her website. The sausage tomato sauce is very similar to how I make marinara sauce, so that was easy to "wing" on my own. As for the pasta-- I had to rewind her show (I love DVR), pausing and trying to see the measurements on camera. I ended up guessing at the amount of water she used to make this very simple semolina flour "gnocchi". Let me show you:
The key ingredients to make both recipes are whole Roma tomatoes (Lidia says that canned are just as good). I used California grown San Marzano-Style tomatoes which are truly flavorful. Yes, I had Saffron. I buy it at Trader Joe's for a reasonable price (because it's a small amount). The saffron is to give a pretty golden color to the pasta. The sauce is super easy to make:
Prep work goes pretty quickly-- minced onion, sliced fresh garlic, sausage, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes. It kills me to buy basil, but it's too cold to grow it in my garden. The whole tomatoes were pulsed in a food processor, but not pureed. Now, to prepare the sausage...
I paid about $5.50 a pound for sausage from my local meat market; I removed it from the casing. I liked Lidia's tip that adding a little white wine prevents the sausage from cooking in lumps. So, that's what I did-- gently working the wine into the sausage. There, all the prep is done.
Olive oil is heated, in a Dutch Oven, and the onions are sauteed until tender-- just a couple minutes. I added 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. You can add less, or none at all. Lidia says she likes it, so I trusted her... Push some of the cooked onion aside, and add a little more olive oil.
Now, add the garlic slices and shove that aside. Add the sausage, and cook until no longer pink.
The tomatoes are added, a little more salt and fresh basil. I didn't chop the basil, because I will remove it before serving the sauce. Cooked fresh basil turns dark, which isn't very pretty. Cover and simmer on low-- mine simmered for about 1 1/2 hours. Time to make the pasta. I'm not sure which is politically correct-- Ciccione/gnocchi/dumplings. To make this pasta, you need Semolina Flour. I paid a little over $4.00 for this bag.
I had no idea what the water to flour ratio was, but I guess two parts flour to one part water..
I divided the water ratio. To the hot water, I added a pinch of saffron, stirring it with a spoon to release the yellow color. If you don't buy saffron, I am guessing you could use Tumeric. The purpose behind using saffron is to give the pasta a deep golden color. Skip it, if you'd like. I added 4 cups flour to the food processor. With the processor turned out, I slowly added 1 1/2 cups water and then 1/2 cup of saffron water. The lower right photo shows a saffron thread going into the food processor.
I must've guess the water ratio right, because the dough came together, and I turned off the food processor. On a lightly floured surface, the dough is kneaded a few times, then shaped into a disk. I wrapped it with plastic wrap, then placed it into the refrigerator for an hour-- which helps the gluten to relax. The pasta sauce was simmering away, and smelling very good!
I could feel the difference in the dough, an hour later. It definitely felt more pliable. Divide the dough into six pieces-- then ask for help. My husband did a great job-- each piece was divided into three pieces, again. Then he rolled it and cut them into small pieces. You want to sprinkle flour before cutting each piece.
My job was to roll each piece of dough. I used the back of a hard cheese microplane. Using my thumb, the dough easily rolled. Success! You can use your index finger-- but I learned a couple of thing. 1) don't make the pieces too large, because the pasta will double when it cooks. 2) you want flour on each piece-- otherwise it can stick to the grater.
Kids can definitely get it on the fun with making this. Craig sped up the process of doing this to 45 minutes, total.
I placed the pasta on a clean towel, over a baking sheet and started a pot of water to boiling.
Mimicking Lidia, I pulled the corners of the towel and lifted the pasta over a colander, then gently poured the pasta in-- removing the towel. Shaking the colander, the excess flour fell onto the baking sheet.
I never forget to add salt to pasta water! I added the pasta, which began to float to the top. I guessed at cooking these for about 10 minutes.... I tested one, and it felt like it was properly cooked.
I wasn't sure about the pasta to tomato sauce ratio, so I removed HALF of the tomato sauce. A "spider" is one of my "must have" kitchen tools. I carefully lifted the pasta with the spider from the water, and into the tomato sauce. I decided to add the rest of the tomato sauce-- feel confident the ratios would be perfect.
Oh, yum! I could taste some heat from the red pepper flakes...
The kitchen smelled like Italy! The sauce seemed a bit thin-- but maybe it's because I'm used to a marinara sauce that is made with crushed tomatoes.
Freshly grated cheese is a "must".
You can garnish with fresh basil, if you desire to. We did.
Our verdict: We loved this! The whole tomato sauce was thinner, but it had great flavor from the fresh basil and red pepper flakes. We liked the subtle heat of the spice. The texture of the pasta was slightly chewy-- like a dumpling. There is a difference with fresh pasta, and I want to learn more! This dish tasted fresh and healthy-- you could reduce the fat by using turkey sausage. This recipe got "five stars" from my husband. He doesn't do that very often. I wonder, is it because he helped make the pasta? He says he loved the flavor of it. It tasted excellent the next day.
I am officially a fan of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich. A fellow blogger, whom I follow, Ciao Chow Linda, posted an interesting interview about this successful chef. I have to thank Linda for inspiring me to follow Lidia's recipes a lot closer. I am definitely going to buy her newest cookbook. You an also follow Lidia on Facebook.
I am linking this post, as my first contribution to, Presto Pasta Nights. Next week's Friday roundup is being hosted by "Italian Mama Chef". I kept meaning to contribute more of my dishes, but now that I'm on a pasta roll-- well, I hope to contribute even more.
I'm seriously toying with buying a pasta maker. Any recommendations?
I miss being able to post more than 1-2 times a week, and I miss not having as much time to visit my blogger friends-- and discovering new blogs. Thank you, for hanging in there with me. I so appreciate your comments, and I look forward to sharing more recipes from my kitchen.
Every Auntie deserves a niece like my "Lexi Girl". She'll probably shriek at my choice of her Facebook Profile pictures, but I like this shot. I love her eyes. The camera loves her. She's first cousin to my Only Child. Alexis is three months older than my 21 year old son, and she's also an Only Child. While she inherited her parent's good looks (her dad, being my brother), "Lexi" inherited my love of food. That girl will eat just about anything she is offered! Now that she's all grown up, I don't get to see her often enough, though she lives 1/2 hour away from me. She's having a hard day, today, since her beloved kitty just passed away. 
