One of the man's two favorite desserts is coconut cake. I must have tried a dozen different recipes on the quest for the perfect coconut cake. When a friend of mine told me this was the one I was skeptical. First of all, anyone who knows me knows that I WILL NOT use boxed cake mixes, Cool Whip from the freezer, etc. If it's got chemicals in it I am not a fan. I have had to eat my words a few times on this one as this is truly the best coconut cake. Very moist, flavorful and almost best of all is that you MUST make it at least three days ahead of time (two days doesn't cut it, I'm just sayin')....The perfect company dessert....So foot in mouth, here it is....
18 1/2 oz package butter flavored cake mix (Ewwwww)
2 cups sugar (I usually cut this by at least 1/2 cup)
16 oz sour cream
12 oz frozen coconut thawed
1 1/2 cups frozen Cool Whip (Double Ewwww)
Prepare cake mix according to package directions making 2 8 inch layers. When cooled split both layers. Combine sugar, sour cream and coconut, blending well. Chill. Reserve 1 cup sour cream mixture for frosting. Spread remainder between cake layers. Combine rest of sour cream mix with whipped topping. Spread on top and sides of cake. Refrigerate 3 days before serving. You MUST let it sit in the refrigerator for three days or you will be sorry....It's worth the wait!
Bon appetit, and don't tell anyone what they are eating.....It's better that way....
I made these for the holidays and they were awesome! Not super sweet and they were really good the crispier they were. Excellent with a cup of hot tea. I always try to find a new cookie recipe for the Christmas cookie exchange and this one was a winner! Bon appetit!!!!!!
ps - the salt sprinkled on top gave it that awesome final touch... Also, I drizzled a little bit of dark chocolate on top.
Recipe #8 this year was a lovely Thai cod dish. Not really a soup, but rather a perfect piece of cod served in a Thai coconut sauce. Super yummy and amazingly easy. A perfect week night dinner for busy folks. Loved it! Bon appetit!
1 T canola oil
1 leek, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
Salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T grated ginger
1 cup water
2 carrots, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks, 2" long
1 10" stalk of lemon grass, tough outer leaves removed and bruised with back of knife
4 each 4-6 oz skinless cod fillets, 1-1 1/2" thick (may substitute haddock or halibut)
1/3 cup canned coconut milk
1 T lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
1 t fish sauce
2 T dry roasted peanuts
2 T fresh cilantro leaves
1 serrano chile, stemmed and sliced thin
1. Heat oil in 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add leak and 1/2 t salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 4-6 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook uncovered until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Stir in water, carrots and lemon grass and bring to simmer. Pat cod dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Nestle fish into skillet and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until fish flakes apart when gently prodded with paring knife and registers 140 degrees, 8-12 minutes.
3. Carefully transfer fish to individual shallow bowls. Discard lemon grass. Using slotted spoon, divide leeks and carrots evenly among bowls. Off heat, whisk coconut milk, lime juice, and fish sauce into broth and season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle broth over fish. Sprinkle with peanuts, cilantro, and chile. Serve with lime wedges.
I LOVE cabbage when it is braised just right and this recipe (#12 this year) was an attempt to use up what we had on hand. The cabbage cooked up nicely and paired with the ginger was a huge hit. Amazingly, the salmon was uber moist. I am going to assume it was the cooking method....(let's say so anyway). We will definitely make this again. Bon appetit.
Not a huge fan of Moscow Mules, but while in Memphis I had to try the Whiskey Mule at the Peabody as my affinity for bourbon was calling.....Recipe #4 this year is the closest I can find to that yummy concoction. Note that I added about 1/4 of a fresh squeezed orange to give it a bit more brightness. Perfection! AND don't forget it must be served super cold in a copper cup!!!!!
Ingredients
2ouncesirish whiskey
6ouncesginger beeror more!
juice of half a limeabout 1 ounce
lime slicesoptional, for garnish
mint sprig (optionalfor garnish
ice
Instructions
Fill a copper mug (or other glass) with ice. Pour in whiskey and lime juice, top with ginger beer. Stir to mix, garnish with lime slices and mint sprig.
Notes
*Ginger beer is to taste. If you like more of a whiskey taste, add less ginger beer. If you like a sweeter drink, add more! I usually just top the glass off with ginger beer.
So here we go....2020 brings on new ideas and new challenges...Bring out the wine (or the champagne, as the case may be), invite over a bunch of friends and pull out all the stops. I don't make resolutions, but I am committed to making 120 new recipes in the new year. Not all of them will make the blog as this is only a site for me to record the ones I really liked in order to have an archive. Happy New Year and bon appetit.
First three recipes of the new year would, of course, come from my favorite chef of the moment, Yotam Ottolenghi, from his NOPI cookbook. All were delicious and super easy, but the shrimp recipe and the ricotta fritters would definitely be on my list for a rerun...
2. King Prawns with Pernod, Tarragon and Feta - delicious, but I couldn't get prawns this time of year so I substituted jumbo Mexican blue shrimp and the flavor of the marinated shrimp and spicy feta tamed with the lovely flavor of the tarragon and the Pernod really made it special. https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/king-prawns-with-pernod-tarragon-and-feta/
3. Ricotta Fritters with Blackberry Sauce and Chocolate Soil - I must say that I don't typically eat much dessert. I am more the savory girl. BUT Yotam has made me rethink my theology on that. The combinations he presents are so very layered and interesting. Rarely very sweet, I find the desserts to be the most interesting part of the meal sometimes....And the techniques he proposes can translate into many new interesting combinations. I love the "chocolate soil" in this recipe and I will definitely be using that in other capacities. I also enjoyed making fritters, a truly southern kind of thing, but one I don't usually make.
Ricotta fritters with blackberry sauce and chocolate soil
Yotam Ottolenghi’s ricotta fritters with blackberry sauce and chocolate soil. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin
These are a really impressive way to round off a meal, and have the added advantage that much of the preparation can be done well in advance. The “soil”, the sauce, the star anise sugar and the batter can all be made well in advance – two days for the batter and sauce; much longer for the soil and sugar – so you’ll just need to fry and bake the fritters on the day. You’ll have some soil left over, but it keeps for a week in a sealed container and is a treat to sprinkle on ice-cream and milkshakes. Serves six.
For the chocolate soil 45g plain flour ½ tsp cornflour 40g caster sugar 30g cocoa powder 40g unsalted butter, melted Coarse sea salt
For the ricotta fritters 20g icing sugar 100g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder 500g firm ricotta Finely grated zest of 2 large oranges Seeds of 1 vanilla pod 2 eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk 450ml sunflower oil, for frying
For the blackberry sauce 50g caster sugar 700g fresh (or frozen) blackberries 120ml sloe gin (or 90ml regular gin)
For the star anise sugar 2 whole star anise, finely ground (or 2 tsp ground star anise) 70g caster sugar
First make the chocolate soil. Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan)/gas mark 3. Put the flour, cornflour, sugar, cocoa powder and half a teaspoon of salt. Mix, then slowly pour in the melted butter. Using first a wooden spoon and then the tips of your fingers, mix until it’s a crumble-like texture, then spread out on a parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until it’s the consistency of a crumbly cookie. Remove from the oven and set aside – if the mix has clumped together, you’ll be able to break it up once it has cooled and set.
For the fritters, sift the icing sugar, flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the ricotta, orange zest, vanilla seeds and a quarter-teaspoon of salt and mix to combine. Put the eggs and extra yolk in a separate bowl and whisk until pale and trebled in volume (about three minutes using an electric whisk). Fold into the ricotta mix and refrigerate for at least four hours, to firm up. The batter will keep like this, covered, for up to two days.
Put the sugar for the sauce in a small saucepan with two tablespoons of water, bring to a boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve, then set aside to cool. Put 500g blackberries in a blender and blitz to a puree. Pass though a fine sieve to strain out the seeds, then pour into a bowl. Pour over the sugar syrup and gin, mix to combine and refrigerate for at least an hour: it needs to be very cold.
Put the star anise in a medium bowl, stir in the sugar and set aside.
Just before you want to serve, heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/gas mark 7. Pour enough sunflower oil into a medium saucepan to come about 3cm up the sides and place on a medium-high heat. Once hot, use two dessertspoons to shape the ricotta mix into rough balls weighing about 50g: use one spoon to scoop the mixture up and the other to scrape it off into the hot oil. Fry in batches of four, so as not to overcrowd the pan, for three to four minutes, turning constantly so they go golden-brown all over.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the fritters to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain while you cook the remaining batter. Transfer the cooked fritters to a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for eight minutes, until cooked through. Remove from the oven and, while they’re still hot, roll in the star anise sugar to coat.
To serve, divide the blackberry sauce between six shallow bowls. Place two hot fritters on top of the sauce, sprinkle over a teaspoon of chocolate soil and garnish with the reserved blackberries. Serve at once.
The author of this dish notes that roasting the cauliflower transforms it fom a bland, oddly textured food into a rich, buttery, nutty meal. I concur. High in fiber, as well as B complex and C vitamins this vege soup is antioxidant and anti-inflamatory. Garlic and cauliflower supposedly detoxify the liver, which works great with my passion for wine. Super easy to make! The hubs made it for me and I was in heaven. Great meal for busy weeknights. Super clean eating, but filling. Low carb. Great served with a side salad. Bon appetit!
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets and stem, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 T olive oil, divided
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped chives
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the cauliflower, onion and garlic with 2 T of olive oil. Spread the veges evenly on a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes while the cauliflower is golden brown. Remove from oven.
Place the roasted veges in a large saucepan. Add the broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer gently covered for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is quite tender.
This recipe calls for you to blend it in a food processer until it is a smooth puree. I disagree and advised the husband to blend half of it and mix it back into the pan which was perfect b/c you still have some chunks of onion and cauliflower. Add the other 2 T of olive oil and stir in the heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the chives.
