Sundried Tomato Spread

Thug Kitchen

• ¼ cup of sundried tomatoes (don’t buy that shit that comes packed in oil. They are way more expensive. Find the kind that look like dried fruit. They will be near the olives or the canned tomatoes in the grocery store)
• 1 cup warm water
• ¼ cup chopped white or yellow onion
• 1 ½ cups or 1 15 ounce can of cannellini beans (any kind of white bean works, like navy or great northern beans. You just want a creamy kind of bean)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano

Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl and cover them with the warm water for 15 minutes.

While the tomatoes soak, cook the onions in a small pan with a little bit of olive oil until they begin to look brown and smell awesome, like 5-8 minutes. Take the tomatoes out of the water and chop them up into pieces but save the water they were soaking in; no need to waste shit. Chop up the garlic into little pieces. Put the beans, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, and 2 tablespoons of the water from the tomatoes in a food processor and chop that shit up real small. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend it all together until it starts to look creamy. Add more of the soaking water if it looks a little dry. It’s cool if there are still some bigger tomato bits hanging around, just call that shit “rustic”. Add more spices if you think it needs it and serve that fucker up.

This will last a week in the fridge if you are good at keeping delicious secrets from your roommates.

MXF

Sausage Gravy and Cheddar Biscuit Pot Pie

Saveur

SERVES 6-8

GRAVY:

• 12 oz. pork breakfast sausage
• ½ cup flour
• 3½ cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp. cayenne
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

BISCUITS:

• 3 cups flour, plus more for cutter
• 3½ tsp. baking powder
• 1½ tsp. kosher salt
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled, plus 2 tbsp. melted
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup finely chopped chives, plus more for garnish
• Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

MAKE THE GRAVY:
Heat a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; add sausage and cook, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add milk and cream, and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until gravy is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, cayenne, salt, and pepper; stir until combined and set aside.

MAKE THE BISCUITS:
Heat oven to 425°. Place flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, and whisk to combine. Add butter, and using your fingers, rub mixture together until pea-size crumbles form. Add buttermilk, cheese, and chives, and stir with a fork until just combined. Transfer to a floured work surface, and gently pat dough into a 6" x 4" rectangle about 1" thick. Dip a 2" round cutter into a bowl of flour, and cut out rounds of dough.  Press scraps together and repeat with remaining dough until you have about 15 rounds. Pour gravy into a 9" x 13" baking dish and place biscuits over the top. Brush biscuits with melted butter and bake until golden, 30-35 minutes. Turn oven to broil, sprinkle biscuits with remaining cheese, and broil until cheese is browned, 2-3 minutes. Garnish with chives and serve with hot sauce, if you like.

Goat Cheese and Strawberry Breakfast Tarts

Saveur

MAKES 6

2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. sugar
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 oz. goat cheese, softened
⅓ cup strawberry jam
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ cup finely chopped strawberries

Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter and continue to pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. With the motor running, add 6 tbsp. cold water and process until dough comes together, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Divide dough in half and form into disks; wrap disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 425°. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1 disk of dough into a 9" square. Cut into six 3" x 4½" rectangles; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread each rectangle with about 1 tbsp. goat cheese and top with 1 tbsp. jam, leaving a ½" border; set aside. Repeat rolling and cutting with remaining disk of dough and lightly prick dough with a fork. Brush edges of dough around cheese and jam with beaten egg and top with pricked dough rectangles. Using the tines of a fork, press edges to seal. Bake until puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer tarts to a baking sheet with a wire rack; let cool completely.

Whisk confectioners' sugar, strawberries and 2 tbsp. water until smooth. Drizzle over tops of pop tarts and let sit until glaze is completely set.

Banoffee Pie

Saveur

SERVES 8

PIE CRUST:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 10-oz. package of digestive biscuits, such as McVities brand

FILLING:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• ½ cup (4 oz) packed dark brown sugar
• 1 14-oz. can condensed milk, such as Carnation brand
• 4 bananas
• 1 pint heavy cream
• Grated chocolate

Make the crumb crust: Crush the digestive biscuits in a food processor until you get a fine crumb texture. Transfer to a bowl and stir in melted butter. Press into a 9"-diameter tart base with a removable bottom. Press the mixture up the sides of the tart form with the back of a spoon. Chill the crust in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Make the toffee: Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and melt over low heat. Add the condensed milk and bring the mixture to a boil for a few minutes, stirring continuously. The toffee should darken slightly. Pour the filling into the crust. Cool and chill again for at least one hour until the caramel is firm.

To serve, remove the tart from the pan and carefully transfer to a serving plate. Slice the bananas and place them in a single layer on top of the caramel. Whip the cream and spoon it over the toffee and bananas, sealing the filling in. Sprinkle the top of the pie with grated chocolate.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

Smitten Kitchen

Servings: Makes 6 side-dish or 4 vegetarian main-course servings.

PEANUT DRESSING:

• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1 medium garlic clove, chopped
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes or a splash of the hot sauce or chili paste of your choice

NOODLES:

• 3/4 lb dried soba nooodles (dried linguine fini or spaghetti will work in a pinch)
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
• Half a seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 cup firm or extra-firm tofu, cubed
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Puree dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth, about 2 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until tender. Drain in a colander, then rinse well under cold water.

Add pasta, scallions, bell peppers, cucumber and tofu to dressing, tossing to combine. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Orange Syrup Cake with Candied Oranges

Makes one 10-inch cake, 10 to 12 servings

David Lebowitz / Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

ORANGE CAKE:

•     4 oranges (or tangerines), organic or unsprayed, zested
•     1 lemon, zested
•     1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
•     14 tablespoons (7 ounces, 200 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
•     3 cup (240 g) sliced almonds
•     3/4 cup (110 g) flour
•     4 large eggs, at room temperature
•     pinch of salt

SYRUP:

• 3/4 cup (180 ml) orange and lemon juice (squeeze the juice from the zested citrus)
• 6 tablespoons (75 g) sugar

CANDIED ORANGES:

• 1 orange, organic or unsprayed
• 2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) water

I like to grind citrus zest in the food processor with the sugar for cake recipes that call for zest since the sugar absorbs a good deal of the aromatic citrus oils from the zest. Be sure to use fruit that hasn’t been sprayed. If you don’t have a food processor, simply chop (or grate) the zest finely and add it to the butter and sugar.

In place of the sliced almonds (I used blanched, but if you choose to use unblanched, the cake will be darker and denser), the authors recommend that you use 10 ounces (280 g) ground almonds, which is often sold as almond meal or almond flour.

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350º F (180ºC.) Butter a 9- to 10-inch (25 cm) springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Grind the citrus zest in a food processor with the 1 1/2 cups of sugar until it’s finely ground. (No need to clean the bowl afterward as you’ll use it in step #4.)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter with the zest-infused sugar until well-combined.

Grind the almonds, flour, and salt in the food processor until the almonds are completely pulverized.

Add half of the almond mixture to the butter, then add the eggs one by one, stopping the machine a few times (if using a stand mixer) to scrape the sides down. Then add the remaining almond mixture, stirring just until incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the pan. Level the top of the batter, and bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean, but a little moist. (The original recipe said to bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, so it may take longer than it took me.)

While the cake is baking, make the syrup by heating the 3/4 cup citrus juice and 6 tablespoons of sugar in a nonreactive saucepan until boiling and the sugar is dissolved, then set aside. When the cake comes out of the oven, brush the syrup liberally over the hot cake. Let cool completely in the pan.

To candy the oranges, cut the orange into 1/4-inch slices. Put the slices in a nonreactive saucepan, and add enough water to cover them well, and bring to a simmer. Blanche the slices for ten minutes, then drain well.

Put the oranges back in the saucepan and add the 2/3 cup sugar and 2/3 cup water and cook the oranges at a simmer for about ten minutes, or until they are tender and translucent.

Serving: Serve slices of the cake with your favorite ice cream, if you wish, and a slice of candied orange along with some of their syrup.