the arugula files

Pumpkin Cheesecake by the Butter Queen

I don't have much of a sweet tooth.  I do, however, enjoy a good cheesecake.  This pumpkin cheesecake is a recipe from Paula Deen, the queen of butter (did you think I meant Julia?).  It tastes like a cheese cake-y pumpkin pie.  I honestly prefer the taste of this cheesecake, but I like the seasonal aspect of the pumpkin in Ms. Deen's version.  Okay, okay, the pumpkin was from a can. People don't really use fresh pumpkin in pumpkin pies, do they?

Cranberry Muffins and Message from Obvious Inc.

Every time I make muffins they get stuck in the muffin tin, no matter how much butter I grease the edges with. Recently I had an epiphany: I could use cupcake liners for my muffins.  That way they would just pop right out of the pan.  

Apple Pie with Almond-Brown Sugar Crumb

I have so many apples from apple picking, even though I didn't really pick any.  It's true, we drove to the orchard, walked around, then decided that the apples on the trees weren't so great, so we bought some from the orchard store instead.

For Sale at 14th and U Street Farmer's Market: Congo Bars

Remember when I said I was making candy apples for the spooktacular dc food blogger bake sale?  I lied.  Instead I made these.  Want one?  Come buy.  All proceeds benefit Martha's Table.  Details are here.

Peach Galette

This is my first galette and, let me tell ya, it's way easier than making a pie.  I skinned five medium size peaches, cut them each into eight pieces, added 5 tablespoons of granulated sugar, a dash of ginger, a dash of cinnamon, mixed them together, rolled out the pie dough, added the fruit mixture to the center, and folded the edges.  How's that for a recipe in one sentence? {p.s., place the galette on parchment paper and cook at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes (or until golden brown)}

I'm in love with the rustic look of this dessert.  I've decided that I love fruit desserts.  Forget about chocolate chip cookies, I want crumbles, buckles, and slumps.

I made it with the peaches we picked at Good Country Farms.  My only critique is that I think white peaches are too mild for pastry.  This tasted good, but more like apple pie than peaches. 

Plum Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar & Cardamom Streusel

 

As a kid I lived on Drakes Coffee Cakes. I ate them for breakfast, snacks, and, if I could get away with it, lunch.  It's been a while since I've had coffee cake, so when I came across this recipe while searching for a dinner dish, and saw that I had three plums sitting on my counter -- the exact number the recipe called for -- it seemed serendipitous. It's a great recipe: the cake came out perfectly moist and the cardamom and plums added an interesting twist.

Blueberry and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

I have to admit, I had never heard of crème fraîche until a few years ago when I saw a cheftestant using it on Top Chef.  Crème what?  I immediately looked it up online, using my number-one, trustworthy, foolproof, no-way-this-can-be-wrong source, wikipedia, and found it described as sour cream, but less sour, and thicker, with 28 percent milk fat.  Yes, please.

Cream and Sugar Bakery or Why I stopped Eating Canned Asparagus

My friend Elise is the chief baker and proprietor of Cream and Sugar Bakery in Portland, Maine.  I want to tell you a little bit about Cream and Sugar Bakery, but first I need to tell you a lot about Elise.  I first met Elise twelve years ago.  At that time, my diet consisted of chicken, frozen Ellio’s pizza, giant blueberry muffins from Costco, and Lean Cuisines sprinkled with “parmesan” from a green cylinder.  I was a boxed food aficionado who had no idea what real food tasted like.  It was really ugly.

Goat Cheesecake with a Ginger Snap Crust

My favorite dessert is cheesecake, no contest.  Creamy, light, and not too sweet, it's everything I want in dessert, if I want one at all.  My lack of a sweet tooth is odd considering that every day, all the way through middle school, I ate a ginormous, chocolate chip cookie, washed down with two chocolate milks.  I can still remember the warm, gooey chips seeping out as I broke off pieces of the cookie.  Those lunch ladies sure knew their stuff. 

Today I resist most desserts, mostly as a strategy to allocate more calories in the direction of something savory.  Cheesecake, though, is tough to say no to.

Most cheesecakes rely heavily on cream cheese.  Not this one.  Substituting goat cheese for some amount of cream cheese gives this cake a lighter, slightly tangy taste.

The crust?  Instead of graham crackers, which is traditionally used in cheesecakes, and what the original recipe called for, I used ginger snaps, which gave the cake a spicy, crunchy crust.  Why the substitution?  It wasn't because I'm a culinary genius; the store didn't have any graham crackers, well, except for Teddy Grahams. I wisely said no to those and settled for ginger snaps.  It was the best decision I made all week. 

Orange-Coriander Ice Cream and Rhubarb Pop-Tarts

Update:  The arugula files was awarded runner up in battle #2 of foodie fights.  Congratulations to the winner, Brake for Bread.  Make sure to check out BFB's entry: a pulled pork sandwich with rhubarb coriander sauce.  Hey you standing on the sidelines, sign up for the next foodiefight.

Food fight!  This week, I'm a blogtestant at foodiefights, the brainchild of Macheesmo and TFIMB.  The battle is between six bloggers who have to prepare one course using two secret ingredients.  Basically, it's Iron Chef for food bloggers.  You won't get to taste the food, but you can look at it, read the blog posts, and, if you want, lick your computer screen.  Oh,  and after you check out all of the dishes, you should vote for your fave dish (pick me, me, me!).  Scroll to the end for the "voting booth."  You can also visit the foodie fights website.

The secret ingredients for this battle?  Rhubarb and coriander.

When I found out I was selected to participate in this week's foodie fight, and that the ingredients were rhubarb and coriander, my work productivity level dropped to zero.  I couldn't think about anything except what to make: chutney, rhubarb gumbo, rhubarb sorbet, cheesecake with rhubarb and coriander compote... The obvious choices were chutney or pie.  Both are delicious, but I wanted to make something I've never made.   I  sent an email to my foodie friends for feedback, and was surprised by the response.  It went something like this, "Rhubarb? Bleh! " or "What the heck does coriander taste like?"

Really?  I looooove rhubarb.  Admittedly, it's tart, but let me introduce you to rhubarb's little helper: sugar. And, coriander?  Well, coriander taste like pepper with a citrus snap.

I really wanted to make a savory item, but I kept coming back to something sweet.  And I'm not sure if you noticed, but the internets has a GIANT sweet tooth.  And what the internets want, the internets get.

I present to you: orange-coriander ice cream and rhubarb pop-tarts.