comfort food – Kate's Garden Kitchen

Pound Cake

October 25, 2021katejerome2020gmail.comLeave a comment

I know that we’re all watching what we eat – calories, fat, etc. But every once in a while we need some comfort food that throws restrictions out the window. I love pound cake.

I’m not a huge dessert eater, but this is one of my favorites. And the best part is that it is easy to make, easy to take to a dinner party or potluck, and infinitely variable in flavors. My mother gave me her recipe and I’ve enjoyed years of playing with riffs on the recipe. You will find this basic recipe in almost every church cookbook and on countless sites on the web. The best part is that with different flavorings you can make it your own.

The cake is moist and delicious just as it is, but here are some recommendations for additions:

Add one tablespoon of lemon, orange or lime zest and glaze with citrus juice mixed with confectioners sugar.
Add one half cup toasted ground pecans
Add one half cup mashed banana
Add one half cup chocolate chips
Add ½ cup blueberries and 1 T. lemon zest
Add ¼ cup chopped candied ginger
Add ¼ cup chopped dates
Add ½ c. dried cherries or cranberries (great with orange zest)
Drizzle with any kind of jelly or jam thinned with a bit of water and melted
Drizzle with chocolate syrup
Top with a scoop of coffee ice cream

Pound cake

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 x 4 loaf pan.

Beat softened butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and salt. Turn the mixer to slower speed and gradually add flour, beating until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. If the cake starts to brown too much, cover with foil. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, remove from the pan and then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Roasted or grilled vegetables with pasta or grain

September 15, 2021katejerome2020gmail.com3 Comments

Something happens when you roast or grill vegetables. Even though we don’t think of vegetables as being sweet, they do have sugars and when roasted, these sugars caramelize and take them from delicious to divine. It’s easy to do, fairly quick, and can provide a myriad of tastes to eat alone or add to other dishes.

Combining them with creamy pasta is my go-to when I have dribs and drabs of vegetables coming in from the garden. It seems every time I go out to the garden, I come in with a basket of small zucchini, an eggplant, a pepper or two. This is a great way to use them together.

Just about any sturdy vegetable can easily be roasted to make an entirely different taste than when fresh. Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, beets and even garlic. Once they are roasted, chop and add to a pasta of your choice, season with parmesan or other cheese.

To roast, preheat oven to 375. Drizzle a broiler or jelly roll pan with olive oil. Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and herbs of choice. Spread out on pan and roast until tender when pierced with a fork. Carrots, beets and parsnips will take a little longer than summer squash or broccoli so plan accordingly, adding the softer vegetables mid-way through roasting. Or roast seperately.

Roasted Broccoli and Carrots with Grain or Pasta

1 c. broccoli florets
½ pkg. baby carrots
3 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
½ small onion, sliced
½ c. cooked farro, quinoa, rice, bulgur or millet. Or pasta.
1 t. balsamic vinegar
¼ c. parmesan cheese
¼ c. toasted pecans, pepitas or sunflower seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. In a sided roasting pan (broiler pan works well), add the carrots and drizzle with 1 t. olive oil. Roast until a fork inserts with ease, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, salt generously and put aside in a bowl. Add broccoli to pan, drizzle with 1 T. olive oil and roast until crisp-tender, about 30 minutes. Salt and add to carrots.

Add the last tablespoon olive oil to a saute pan and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Coarsely chop the vegetables and put in a large bowl. Add the onions, garlic and grain or pasta to the vegetables, sprinkle with the balsamic vinegar and parmesan. Top with nuts or seeds and serve warm or at room temperature. Use your imagination to add other ingredients like pine nuts, roasted peppers, sauteed mushrooms, etc.

                                                                            ©Kate Jerome 2019

Kalecannon

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020katejerome2020gmail.comLeave a comment

This time of year cabbage and kale are plentiful and nutritious. It’s also time to think about getting those transplants ready for the garden. The cold weather doesn’t bother these hearty (and hardy) plants.

All members of the cole family are troubled by cabbage moths, so be ready when your transplants go out to cover them with row covers or be vigilant about treating with Bt, a bacterium specific to butterfly and moth larvae (available at most garden centers).

Now to the best part – eating!

Whether Chinese cabbage such as bok choi or napa, round head red or green cabbage, Winterbor, red Russian or laciniato kale, they all can make a wonderful riff on the traditional Irish colcannon.

This true comfort food is simply made with mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale. It sounds unusual, but I’ll guarantee that there’s something magical about the combination of earthy potatoes and sweet cabbage or kale.

Start with mashed potatoes

And as great as it is just as the Irish make it, there are so many other things you can add to it to make it even more delicious. You simply make mashed potatoes as you always have (add cream cheese when mashing for more richness).

Choose your vegetables

Then saute vegetables of your choice – kale, swiss chard, chinese cabbage, traditional cabbage, eggplant, zucchini, broccoli – with some onion and a bit of garlic until slightly tender.

Mix with the mashed potatoes and bake. It makes a perfect side dish to any main course, and is a delicious vegetarian entree all by itself.

Feel free to add and subtract as your palate desires. You can substitute half the potatoes with parsnips, add carrots or peppers. You can also top the dish with cheddar, gouda or parmesan cheese for a different flavor. If you like, top the dish with bread crumbs or panko before baking.

Kalecannon

Serve six as a side or four as a main dish

4 medium russet potatoes (about two and a half pounds), peeled and cut into chunks. You can use reds or yellow potatoes for a different flavor

2 T. salt (sounds like a lot, but you are salting the water which will give the potatoes just enough saltiness

4 T. butter or 2 T. butter and 2 T. cream cheese

Approximately 1 c. milk or cream

3 c. chopped kale, cabbage, chard, or other leafy green

3 green onions or one small leek, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

½ c. chopped sweet red pepper or mix in a little hot pepper if you like

In a medium -sized saucepan, put the potato chunks and cover with cold water by an inch. Add salt and bring to a boil. potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until a fork easily pierces the potatoes, about 15-20 minutes. Drain well.

Saute vegetables

Preheat the oven to 425. Melt the butter in a saute pan and add the greens. Saute about three minutes. Add the onions or leeks and any other vegetables and cook another minute. Set aside.

Mash and bake

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or mixer, using enough milk or cream to make them creamy but not runny. Combine with the vegetables and salt and pepper to taste. Smooth into an oiled casserole dish and add cheese and/or breadcrumbs if using. Bake about 30 minutes until the mixture is bubbly. Let stand ten minutes and enjoy!