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April 11, 2011

Cheese & Onion Swirls

I think I bookmarked these rolls to make when I first saw them on the King Arthur Flour website. Nothing appeals to me so much as cheese and onions combined into roll form. And I already had some of the specialty items required, namely the Pizza Seasoning and Vermont cheese powder. I also had almost a full container of minced onions leftover from topping bagels. So I set out to make some swirls.

Both the filling and the dough were pretty easy to make. I rolled out the dough, spread in the filling, and rolled it into a log, similar to making cinnamon rolls. Then I cut the dough into 12 pieces with a pizza wheel. The rolls initially looked kind of deformed, but they filled out after the second rise.

Then I topped them with a little bit of mozzarella cheese and baked them.

These turned out very attractive and tasty. They were almost too strongly flavored for me, and I didn’t even use all of the minced onions. But that being said, I did eat a bunch of them, usually with a bowl of soup to accompany them, but sometimes just as a snack all by themselves.

Cheese & Onion Swirls

From King Arthur Flour

Yield: 12 rolls

Filling
1/3 c (2 oz) dried minced onions
1/3 c (2-5/8 oz) hot water
1 tbsp Pizza Seasoning
1/2 c (2-1/4 oz) Vermont cheese powder
1 tbsp (1/2 oz) soft butter

Dough
1 large egg
3/4 c (6 oz) warm water
2 tsp instant yeast
3 tbsp (1 1/2 oz) soft butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 c (12 3/4 oz) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 c (1 oz) Baker’s Special Dry Milk
2 to 3 tablespoons shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

Directions
To make the filling: Soak the minced onions in 1/3 cup hot water while making the dough. Stir in the Pizza Seasoning, cheese powder, and butter just before you’re ready to shape the dough.

To make the dough: Whisk together the egg and warm water.

Add the yeast, butter, salt, flour, and dry milk. Stir to combine, then knead the dough until it’s smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or dough doubler, turning to coat all sides; cover it with lightly greased plastic wrap or a lid, and let the dough rise until it’s doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface or silicone rolling mat.

Pat, then roll the dough into an 18″ x 10″ rectangle.

Spread with the onion mixture, leaving 1″ free of filling along the long edge farthest from you.

Starting with the long edge closest to you, roll the dough into a log, pinching the seam closed.

Cut the log into 12 slices.

Place the rolls on a greased pizza pan or baking sheet, leaving about 1″ between them. Cover and allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until puffy. Sprinkle with additional cheese, if desired. Towards the
end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the rolls for 22 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Filed under: Bread

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April 6, 2011

Baked Ravioli

This recipe is adapted from one that I got off the internet so long ago I didn’t even make a note of where it came from. I tried to Google it and nothing came up.

This dish is fairly quick and definitely delicious, but it is not exactly low in calories. I comfort myself by saying that it is at least not as bad as the deep-fried, toasted ravioli recipes that are similar. Please feel free to use this excuse as well.

Baked Ravioli

1 package (25 ounces) frozen cheese ravioli
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1 cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
Jarred or homemade marinara sauce

Heat oven to 400º. Lightly spray a 13×9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Cook ravioli as directed on package; drain well. Toss ravioli with melted butter in prepared dish. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and
pepper; toss with ravioli.

Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until ravioli is hot and mixture is
golden brown. Serve with warmed marinara sauce on the side.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Filed under: Quick Vegetarian Dinners

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April 4, 2011

Butter Rum Pound Cake

So I don’t usually go looking for desserts in Cooking Light magazine.

Nothing against the magazine, which I do like quite a lot for other kinds of recipes. But I don’t want my desserts lightened. From looking at the recipe, though, I didn’t think it was noticeably “lighter” than any standard pound cake recipe. And I did like the idea of adding rum to a pound cake. So I tried this recipe, and after tasting it, I can verify that it definitely doesn’t taste like a light recipe.

I didn’t have Captain Morgan, so I used the rest of my Bacardi rum, which barely gave me enough for the cake. For the glaze, I used coconut rum, and I added a lot more than 1-1/2 tablespoons, which was not enough to thin it out to get it to the consistency I wanted. This actually turned out nice, since there is not a whole lot of rum flavor in the cake. The extra rum in the glaze added a good flavor to it.

We kept this cake in the refrigerator, which extended its life span to about a week, and carved off thin slices whenever we wanted some. So I think we ended up with many more servings than 12. You could also keep it at room temperature for about three days, and you could freeze it for up to six months, according to the source I looked this information up in, which I don’t remember now. If I were going to freeze it, I would probably do so unglazed, and then top it with the glaze after defrosting.

Butter Rum Pound Cake

Adapted from Cooking Light

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Cake:
Cooking spray
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c (6.4 oz) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c (7 oz) granulated sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 oz) spiced rum (such as Captain Morgan’s) or other rum

Glaze:
1 c (4 oz) powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons spiced rum (such as Captain Morgan’s)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, coat an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tablespoons flour.

Lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. [I weighed the flour, as always.] Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk until blended.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and 1/2 cup rum alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Run a knife around edges of pan; remove cake from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and rum, stirring until smooth. Drizzle glaze over the cake.

Filed under: Save Room for Dessert

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March 31, 2011

Pasta e Fagioli

This soup is not very photogenic, but it is delicious, quick, and inexpensive. I combined a few different recipes to make it, since I have a very strict idea about what to put in pasta e fagioli: pasta. E fagioli. And then seasonings. Some of the recipes I saw added all different kinds of vegetables, and I have nothing against vegetables. I like lots of veggies in minestrone and other vegetable soups. But I think that pasta e fagioli should be as simple as possible. This also has the added bonus of making it a pantry meal.

One of the recipes I found while researching pasta e fagioli made it like a pasta dish. They cooked the pasta separately, and made the rest of the ingredients a tomato and bean sauce that was served on top the pasta. I thought that was an interesting take, but in the end I decided to stick with a soup presentation.

I left this soup on the stove for about 20 minutes and it got nice and thick, which is the way I wanted it. I cooked the pasta in the soup to make it thicker, but you could also cook the pasta separately and add it in at the end.

Pasta e Fagioli

Serves 4-6.

2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 15 oz cans cannellini beans
1 15 oz can tomato sauce, no salt (if you use salted, just add less salt later on)
2 c No-Chicken or vegetable broth
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1 c dry pasta (I used the traditional ditalini)

Rinse and drain the cannellini beans. Add half of them to a blender with 1 cup water and puree until smooth. Keep the other half whole.

Heat olive oil in a 4 qt soup or sauce pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and fry for about minute, until fragrant but not brown. Add tomato sauce, pureed beans, broth, and whole beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add salt and Italian seasoning, taste, and correct seasoning.

Add the pasta and cook partially covered for 10-15 minutes, until the pasta is tender. If you would like the soup thicker, leave it uncovered and simmer for longer. If it gets too dry, add water.

Filed under: Quick Vegetarian Dinners

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March 29, 2011

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Yes, the muffin obsession continues! I originally planned to make lemon poppy seed muffins before the chocolate muffins, but I was hindered by not having either lemons or sour cream. It is kind of hard to make lemon poppy seed muffins without lemons. I did have the poppy seeds! But still.

These were just as easy and delicious as the other Dorie Greenspan recipes I have made recently. I didn’t bother to make the icing because I didn’t want them too sweet, and they still had plenty of lemon flavor. They stayed moist and delicious until we ate them all, but that really doesn’t prove much since we ate them pretty quickly.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
12 muffins

2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T poppy seeds

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 T fresh lemon juice

To Make the Muffins:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To Make the Icing:
Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 T of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.

Filed under: Breakfast

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