BA’s Nutmeg and black pepper popovers

I love Bon Appetit magazine, so much so that I dedicated a whole category to it.

What’s even better is that I tear recipes and ideas out of each issue (a ritual that I adore) and store them in a manila folder. Then, on days when I am feeling adventurous and need inspiration, I open said manila folder and flip through the pages. The folder gets fuller with each passing month and it never fails to offer me exactly what I need.

Some have a crystal ball; I have a manila folder.

Last week, I was in the mood to bake something fun and quick, and these popovers were the perfect idea. What are popovers, you ask? Well, they are light, hollow bread rolls made with an egg, milk and flour base, and they’re a great substitute for bread during dinner.

Click HERE for the full recipe!

Notes: Make sure to use enough butter when greasing the muffin tin and remove popovers from tin as soon as they’re done baking – they tend to stick. Best if consumed immediately or at least on the same day. Also, I believe that the recipe would benefit from a tablespoon or two of sugar so the flavors would stand out more.

Where do you get your cooking inspiration?

I made focaccia! Sort of.

Oct15

Each of us has a little person inside our heads that is just desperate to do something but the big person on the outside refuses to do it, usually out of fear of failure. Sooner or later, there will come a time when one must say, “Enough is enough! I’m not going to be afraid anymore.” For me, that something is learning to bake bread and that time came a few weeks ago.

The process always managed to intimidate me; there’s the mixing, the kneading, the proofing and the baking, all of which are relatively easy to screw up. And since I’m more of a cook than a baker, just imagining myself doing it made me nervous.

For my first attempt, I wanted to make a focaccia as it is one of my favorite breads. I used the easiest recipe that I could find, one which not surprisingly came from Mango & Tomato via cookbook author Pat Sinclair. The recipe didn’t call for kneading, a stand mixer or a long proofing time, so it seemed easy enough. But here’s what happened: the directions said to press the dough into a 15×10″ pan and I guess my dough didn’t rise enough because there wasn’t enough of it for the pan. I stretched the dough into a thin disk, assuming the bread would rise while baking – but it didn’t! The bread ended up sticking to the pan even though I oiled it quite well and whatever I managed to scrape off was more like a cracker than focaccia. Of course I was super disappointed but consoled myself with the fact that this was my first attempt and the second time would probably be better.

The second time (photographed here) was better but the dough still didn’t seem to rise enough. The bread was good but not as chewy or airy as I’d hoped.

Would the bread connoisseurs out there please help me figure out where I went wrong? I checked the yeast package and it wasn’t expired. Could it be that the dough didn’t rise because the water I used wasn’t from the tap but had been previously boiled in a kettle? Or perhaps this is just a faulty recipe?

Are there any foods that you’re afraid of making?
Is there a bread recipe you’d like to recommend for my third attempt?

Buttermilk biscuits, ya’ll.

Feb23

If asked what I’d like to have for my last supper, I’d say fried chicken, mac & cheese, gravy and biscuits with no hesitation. This is the second biscuit recipe I’ve attempted and even though it’s awesome for consisting of only four ingredients, I’d be lying if I said I was entirely satisfied with the results. Anyone care to share their favorite recipe?

(Yield: 8)

Ingredients:

2 c self-rising flour (plus extra for dusting)

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 oz cold butter, cubed

1 c cold buttermilk

Procedure: Preheat oven to 400F. Place flour and soda into a food processor, set with the blade attachment. Pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until a coarse meal forms. Then, with the motor running, stream in buttermilk through chute. Once mixture comes together, turn mixture over onto floured surface. Knead a few times then flatten into 1″-thick disc (sprinkling with more flour if dough is too sticky). Then cut out rounds with biscuit cutter and place on baking sheet.

Or use a glass, upside-down, dipped in flour.

Bake for 15 min or until golden brown.

What would you have for your last supper?

Cheddar Cornbread

Sep2

To make this cheddar cornbread, I used Ina Garten’s recipe (yes, I omitted the dill).

Just what is it about American southern food that feels so wrong yet tastes so right? *drool*

Enjoy your long weekends, ya’ll.

Losing my muffin virginity.

Jan14

I, Sasha, have to admit that up until this week I did not own a muffin tin. I bought it with the intention of making cupcakes, a personal feat I have yet to get to, but I did make these corn muffins in it already. I searched Google for a recipe and decided to go with this one, Sour Cream Cornbread Muffins.

The hardest part about making these was measuring out the ingredients.

The muffins turned out delicious, chewy and a bit sweet, though a little dark in color – I think I left them in the oven too long.

My very first pumpkin!

Oct27

My only experiences with pumpkin until now have been the kasha (porridge) my mom used to make me when I was little and the carved ones I usually see on people’s porches this time of year. Now that pumpkin is in season, pumpkin recipes seem to be popping up all over the place, and today, I finally decided to give one a try…

…and now I’m in love! This is the recipe I used.

Although cutting into a raw pumpkin was intimidating, what with its size, hard texture and strange, stringy, gooey insides, I was determined to succeed. I heated the pumpkin in the microwave for 15 seconds before cutting it, which made the process a bit easier. I followed the recipe exactly, except I omitted the seeds and baked it in a springform pan as opposed to a loaf, which cut the cooking time to about 50 minutes.

This pumpkin bread turned out AMAZING! It’s dense, moist and tastes like autumn. The only things I would do differently next time is add less sugar and maybe some orange zest.

Whether you’re a pumpkin virgin like me, or just looking for a great recipe, definitely give this one a try : )

Going Bananas.

Mar29

It’s finally spring break!!! For the next week, I don’t have worry about 16^th century British literature or writing papers on postcolonial Algeria; and it feels great.

I had some ripe bananas on my hands yesterday and what’s a girl to do but make banana bread, right? One of my first posts was about banana bread actually (remember this?) This time I used a new recipe. I found it on the Food Network website.

This recipe is definitely the better of the two. The cake came out moist and of just the right density. It got huge stamps of approval from my mom and Sofya. CLICK HERE for the full recipe – I followed it exactly, but added walnuts.

Peanut Butter Bread with Nutella Swirls

Aug12

Time and time again I have written about my love for the combination of peanut butter and chocolate (here, here and here.) Here’s another recipe that shows what a lovely pair these two ingredients make.

I got the peanut butter bread recipe from FoodNetwork’s Paula Deen. I’ve made this treat once before but it seemed to lack something. It just doesn’t have enough “oomph” on its own. This morning, a light went off in my head upon seeing the leftover Nutella in the cupboard and this creation was born.

*The recipe says to bake this in a loaf pan, however, I used a Bundt pan. It works just as well and bakes about 15 min quicker.

Recipe (adapted):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk, whole
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 tbs Nutella spread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.Combine dry ingredients. Add milk and peanut butter. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Dollop Nutella, evenly spaced apart, over the top of the batter and swirl with a butter knife. Bake for approximately 50 minutes. Ta-da!