Recipes: Cooking With Jules

Welcome to cooking with Jules!  I cook a lot, although not every day. I get my recipes from a variety of sources--magazines, blogs, newspapers--and I will always give credit where credit is due. If it's something I invented myself, I will indicate that as well.

I thought there might be some interest in recipes so instead of just posting recipes as I have in the past, I've decided to create this whole new page simply for recipes. If you have something you want to share, e-mail me and I'll put it up, giving full credit including a link to your blog or page.

Buon Apetito!

Ligurian Lemon Cake

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more, room temperature, for pan
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons, very finely chopped
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, (about 1/2 lemon)
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (personally I thought the olive oil was too heavy. I'm going to go with canola or vegetable oil next time)
• 1 pint fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Make the lemon cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.with rack in center. Butter a 10-inch round cake or springform pan, dust with flour, and tap out any excess.
2. In a large bowl, sift flour and baking powder; set aside.
3. Place sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer; rub the ingredients together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy, and has absorbed as much of the zest as possible. Return bowl to mixer.
4. Using the whisk attachment, beat in eggs on medium high until the mixture is pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
5. With the mixer on lowest speed, beat in milk. Add reserved flour mixture; beat until incorporated. Add lemon juice, melted butter, and olive oil; beat until blended.
6. Pour about one third of the batter into the prepared pan; there should be just enough batter to form a thin, even layer. Arrange the raspberries on top of the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the raspberries, and use a rubber spatula to gently spread batter so that it runs down between the berries and just covers them (you’ll have a very thin top layer of batter).
7. Bake cake until it’s golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan, and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 33 minutes.
8. Remove the cake from the oven, and immediately unmold it onto a wire rack. Invert cake so it is right side up, and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, the cake is ready to serve or to decorate with meringue.
9. Make the meringue:  I hate meringue.
   

From MarthaStewart.com

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Penne with Tomato-Sausage Ragu

Holy mother of all things delicious, this is fabulous. I've made it three times in the last six weeks. It's from Cooking Pleasures Magazine, January 2009.  I've been getting this magazine since 2002, and all the recipe's I've ever made from its pages were always really good. Aside from their Pumpkin Cake from 2003, this is my favorite recipe from the magazine.  It looks complicated, but it's really not. And reasonably priced. It keeps really well in the refrigerator and may even taste better after being stored overnight and then microwaved on top of some pasta.

I've made a few minor changes from the recipe, but I'll indicate that in orange text. Ready? Here we go. The best dinner you'll ever have at home. Invite all your friends. They'll kiss your feet.

Bowtie Pasta with Tomato-Sausage Ragu

1 tablespoon olive oil
10 oz. Italian sausage (if links, remove casings. I think next time I'll add more meat. If you like spicy, use that. Otherwise use sweet. I like it "hot.")
2 medium carrots, grated
1 medium onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup red wine or low sodium chicken broth (Go with the wine.)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz bow tie pasta (it catches the sauce better than penne. And I make lot's--the whole bag; it keeps for days).
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1 ½  tablespoons water (much thicker sauce)

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until hot. Cook sausage 6 minutes or until browned, stirring to break it into moderate-sized chunks. Add carrot, onion, and crushed red pepper; cook and stir 5 minutes or until onion is softened.

2. Stir in garlic, cook 30 seconds. Stir in wine, simmer 1 minute. Add tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium, simmer 10 minutes or until sauce is thickened and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionaly. Stir in cream, simmer 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, top with sauce.

Accept kudos all around. Take a bow.

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Dishes like this only narrow the already thin line between sex and food--this baked lemon pasta is orgasmic, truly. I got it from Ree Drummond's blog, www.thepioneerwoman.com and it is soooooo good. Even my finicky husband liked it. Make this for guests otherwise you'll eat it all yourself. :-)

Baked Lemon Pasta

1 pound thin spaghetti
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.
When butter is melted, add minced garlic.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.
Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)
When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.
Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.
Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.

Delicious and Easy PEAR PIE

After coming home from our long road trip, I was itching to do some cooking and baking. I had a couple of frozen pie crusts, and a couple of cans of pears that were just begging to be made into something. I scoured the Internets until I found this recipe on All Recipes. My modifications are in red.

It was fabulous. So easy, and just the thing, homemade pie, after settling in to our new home.

• 2 frozen pie crusts—I like Pillsbury’s
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• 2 cans (or more) peeled and sliced pears
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except pie crust and lemon juice in mixing bowl.
2. Let frozen pie crusts come to room temperature until pliable.
3. Arrange pears in layers dump sliced pears into a 9 inch pastry lined pan, sprinkling sugar mixture over each layer. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll out remaining dough; cut slits for escape of steam. Moisten rim of bottom crust. Place top crust over filling. Fold edge under bottom crust, pressing to seal. Flute edge.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.
   

Eat, enjoy! It really sings with vanilla ice cream, though.

Quick and Easy Spanish Rice

• 1 cup rice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth (or hot water with 2 bouillon cubes)
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can chopped tomatoes 

In a heated pan, place olive oil. Add uncooked rice to oil over medium-high heat, stir until puffy and opaque. Sprinkle in garlic salt, pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes; stir. Add onion and bell pepper, stir until limp; add in chicken broth and can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Stir and enjoy! Delicious! This one I actually developed myself.

Chilequiles

I had a boyfriend years ago whose parents were from Mexico, and claimed to be Mescalero Apache. He looked it, that's for sure, even if it wasn't true. But he taught me how to make this delicious one pan dish, and it's become comfort food to me over the years.

Ingredients.

4 corn tortillas

1 tbsp olive oil

garlic salt to taste

black pepper to taste

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika, sweet or hot

red pepper flakes, to taste

4 oz chorizo, beef or pork, or Soyrizo, either is excellent

green beans, frozen or canned, a handful (3/4 cup?)

1 egg

In a skillet or wok, heat olive oil in pre-heated pan (to prevent sticking later); when hot, add corn tortillas, which have been torn into bite-sized pieces. Let sit in oil while you sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and paprika; stir it around until tortilla pieces are coated. Turn down flame to med-low, and let tortillas get crispy.

When crispy (I like them a little black and scorched) add chorizo, breaking into small pieces and stiring around. If your tortillas are not crispy enough, the chorizo may make them a bit limp. Cook them until they are crispy before adding chorizo.

Add green beans, stir; crack egg over top and stir.  Make sure the egg is cooked, then stir for good measure.

May served with or without grated cheese, and refried beans. It's a balanced meal that can hold you for yours--proteins, carbs, and a vegetable. For breakfast!  And delicious.

Thanks, O. Your food legacy lives on!

Claoufti Batter

My new favorite dessert! It's got fresh fruit and high protein (from eggs) and it's eggy goodness just reminds me of a fresh-from-the-oven popover: Chewy, crunchy, and delicious. I got this from awaytogarden.com, the author of which is a former garden editor at Martha Stewart Living. It's SO easy. Perfect for a last-minute or quick and easy dessert! Good with iced cream or whipped cream. Fabulous and little guilt!

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 milk (I use 1% and it's fine)

1/4 heavy cream

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

In a blender, combine the ingredients, and blend on high for 1 minute, scraping the sides once midway.

Into a 9-inch cake pan or a fluted porcelain tart dish (I recommend this) that has been buttered first and dusted with 1 tbsp sugar. (I recommend PAM or Baker's Joy instead.)

Pour the batter into the pan. Arrange fruit on top. I used raspberries, one pint, and I just scattered them around. Although this dish is wonderful with berries of any kind, it can be used with nearly any fruit:  peaches, plums, pears, apples (sliced thin, maybe with a dash of cinnamon). 

Bake at 350 until the top puffs and starts to turn golden-brown, about 45-60 minutes.

It's wonderful, tasty, and so easy!!

(The bolding is Typepad's doing, not mine. I can't get it turned off, either.)