Tag: Fudge Pie

Testing The Essential Wok Cookbook

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Last week we tested and tasted recipes from the Essential Wok Cookbook by  Naomi Imatome-Yun.   Shrimp Fried Rice, Kung Pao Chicken and Wok Seared Broccoli. I learned that buying a bottle of Chinese cooking wine and Szechuan peppercorns are worth the very small investment. The recipes were easy to follow and offered substitutions for special ingredients like balsamic for Chinese black vinegar. We were happy with all the dishes. Kung Pao is one of my favorites and I was so happy to be able to make it at home. Maybe next time I’ll try it with Shrimp and mushrooms.  A few simple tricks surprised me, like orange juice in the broccoli.

Chocolate Fudge Pie

This is totally unrelated to the Wok Cook Book but still worth mentioning. I’ve tried this before and I think I may have cooked it too long in the past. This time, I took out the pie right at 30 minutes while still soft at the center and it was perfect. Once cooled and set, the chocolate was a perfectly melty- without falling apart. The recipe comes from Tricia’s Fantastic Fudge Pie. Definitely, add the chocolate chips that the recipe says are optional.

We also made Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry jam, buttered egg noodles and green beans. No pictures. Totally forgot. The meatballs were held together by bread crumbs made from the ends of the bread used for  homeless shelter Sandwiches last week. The sauted and softened onions give the meatballs a gentle sweetness. The sourcream in the otherwise simple gravy adds tang and body. Here is the Swedish Meatball recipe. I have a whole bunch of bread crumbs left. Ideas?

Wishing you all a delicious week ahead,

Hungryphil

Squashed Strawberry Cake and Baked Fudge Pie

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Published recipes are tested and idealized concepts executed with skill. The application of such perfection are, shall we say sometimes, less than perfect. Most always, still delicious, most always, opportunities for learning and creative adjustment. In the spirit of sharing the tasty and the ugly, just thought I’d report on my weekend baking experiments. I tried two recipes from recent issues of Southern Living Magazine. As I have previously admitted, I am incapable of following recipes. It might be symptomatic of my general aversion to authority and direction. So…. when I say I’m reporting on executing recipes, I mean, I’m confessing how I subverted or mutated the recipes, for better or worse. At any rate, I eat the evidence. Don’t judge me.

The first recipe was from the Community Cookbook section of the magazine for Fudge Pie. For the most part I followed the recipe. I was so proud of myself until I realized that I was supposed to mix in the pecans (and not merely scatter them on top like a pecan pie). No worries, the pecans got toasty and the pie was just as delicious (I imagine). Will I mix the pecans in next time? I don’t know.

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The second recipe was far more ambitious. It was the Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake on the cover of last month’s issue. Mine does NOT look like the cover. My analysis of the visual discrepancy identifies three deviations from the recipe:

First, I did not use the 9 inch pan as directed. The 8 inch pan yielded a taller cake. A situation which would not be so bad except that the cake would not fit in my covered cake container. So, yes, I squished the cake (a bit) for the lid to fit. I’m not sure how detrimental this deviation will be at dessert time. I may have to pretend its a rustic strawberry shortcake or maybe I can dump it in a trifle bowl. Some creative adjustment may be required.

Second, when I squished the caked down, the delicious strawberry jam (yes! the recipe called for me to MAKE the strawberry jam) leaked out. Again, a situation, I’m guessing the magazine recipe did not call for. Instead of delicately sitting between the cake layers like a glossy red sweet and fruity buffer, the “jelly” behaved more like an oozing red sauce bleeding out of the white and red speckled cloud. Hmmmm. Was I supposed to boil the “jam” liquid more? Fear not, this is just another moment of creative rescue. I’ve decided to serve the left over red strawberry lemon syrup…yes…”syrup” not “jam”  as a drizzle over each serving of cake (spooned or sliced, as the first condition dictates).

Third, I did not add the red food coloring in the frosting. The cake looks good anyway. Just not like the image on the magazine cover. As you can somewhat see below (I’m afraid to take off the lid for a picture!), reality on the right and ideality on the left. I would eat both. But, my very own tasty ugly reality that I brought into being is what I have sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be devoured. Can’t I make my cake, have my cake and eat it too? Yay to glorious imperfect making and …….eating. Happy cooking and eating everyone!

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