Recipe test: Vinegar Slaw from Smitten Kitchen

I love Smitten Kitchen's blog and was so excited to finally get my hands on her book, the smitten kitchen cookbook, recently. What I really appreciate about Deb Perelman (the smitten one herself) is that her recipes really work.  She has clearly been making them and testing them for long enough that they are publication-worthy.  The book itself is also beautiful.  Like her blogs, the photos are fantastic. So, you'll probably see a few of her recipes here in the coming months, because they're that good.

My first tested recipe is her Vinegar Slaw with Cucumber and Dill.  I make similar things without the help of a recipe, but sometimes the seasoning is off, or I'm choking on excessive vinegar (never a pleasant thing).  This recipe is perfect, and ridiculously simple.  I ate is with jasmine rice and grilled soy-marinated salmon one night, then had leftovers tossed with ramen and crushed peanuts the next day for lunch.  I also added some very thinly sliced carrots to the original recipe, so they got the full effect of the marinade, too.

Vinegar Slaw with Cucumber and Dill

Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced or shredded
• 1 large English cucumber, sliced as thinly as possible
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup cold water

Directions:

Toss the cabbage, cucumber, and dill together in a LARGE bowl.  In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk the vinegar, salt, and sugar together until dissolved.  Stir in the water.  Pour the liquid over the salad and let it marinate, tossing the cabbage occasionally.  Allow the salad to sit in the fridge for 2 hours for optimal taste.  The slaw keeps well in the fridge for up to one week.

Olive Oil Cake with Lime

I've been meaning to try using olive oil in a cake recipe for some time now, but I just don't make cakes that often.  At a recent casual gathering, this recipe was a hit, and it can be made any time of year for a fresh, summery taste.

Olive Oil Cake with Lime

Serves 8-10

1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 cup white sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 cup of unbleached white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl mix all the wet ingredients (yogurt through eggs) until well combined.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir thoroughly.

Pour into the baking tin and cook for approx 45 minutes; the cake is ready when it has browned on top and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Leave it to cool in the cake tin for five minutes, and then invert it onto a cooling rack.

Once cooled, sprinkle with sugared lime zest (1 tablespoon of lime zest with 2 tablespoons of sugar).

Another leftover trick for mashed potatoes

Biscuits!  I love them!  They are not good for you in any way, but they are pillowy and delicious.  You can use whatever mashed potatoes you have laying around--white, red, sweet--or mash some from scratch just for this recipe. (Leftover mashed potatoes freeze just fine if you think you're going to want to make these biscuits past their refrigerated expiration date, by the way.) If you have leftovers that were already mashed with milk and butter, hold off on using more until you see how the dough comes together--it should be soft but smooth and should not stick to your hands.  If it does, add more flour.  If it doesn't come together easily into a tender ball of dough, add some milk.

Mashed Potato Biscuits

Makes about 12

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
4 teaspoons baking powder 
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter 
2-4 tablespoons milk (depending on the moisture of the potatoes) 
1 cup mashed cooked potatoes 
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the potatoes and butter and mix to make a soft dough. Then add milk a tablespoon at a time to mixture and continue to cut in. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and toss lightly until the outside of the dough looks smooth. Roll the dough out to 2- or 3-inch thick rope and cut off 3/4-inch rounds. Place the biscuits on a parchment-lined pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. 

Recipe test: Pizzoccheri Gratin from Food & Wine

I'm sorry I keep picking on you, Food & Wine.  I really do love you.  This recipe worked out pretty well, but it could use a little help.

Photo from Food & Wine Magazine.

I decided to make the Pizzoccheri Gratin from the December 2012 Food & Wine issue because it sounded like such an interesting geographical mixture: cabbage, potato, poppy and caraway seeds from German food, pasta and cheese from Italian.  Food & Wine tells me that it is a traditional Northern Italian dish.  It is linked at the beginning of this paragraph for your reference.

This is pure comfort food, and that's all I expected from it.  It wan't bad, you know, but it was a little dry and the pasta just didn't seem incorporated into the dish.  I also made a couple changes--I had provolone and mozzarella on hand, so I used that instead of fontina and Parmesan.  Parmesan probably would have added a nice nuttiness to the flavor, but these cheeses were pleasant, I thought. I also added some sauteed onion and garlic because I thought it needed it, and I am not sorry I did that.

I think there is more pasta than necessary here--I mixed the ingredients well, but still ended up with some very pasta-heavy, dry bites.  But I think it's a nice dish to make, so I would suggest doing it with these changes:

• Use 8-10 oz. or pasta, maximum.
• Add another vegetable for some flavor and variety: perhaps mushrooms, carrots, or broccoli.
• Use salt!  There's no salt anywhere in this recipe.  Use it in the cooking water and later to season. Use black pepper, too. Just stir both in to the mixture before topping with breadcrumbs and remaining cheese.
• Stir in a little milk or cream to hold things together--1/2 cup would do just fine.  
• Cook the pasta most of the way, but leave it just a little too firm to eat.  This way it won't get too mushy in the dish with the addition of milk.  
• Add onion and garlic.  What savory dish isn't better with these in it?!

Anyone out there who tries it, feel free to add your recommendations in the comments section!

**Update: just reheated these dry-assed leftovers and stirred in some cottage cheese and diced dill pickles--perfection.