Dinner!
Dessert!
Beet and Carrot Slaw, January/February 2010, pg. 21
Our Sunday night dinner this past week included a beef roast grilled at a low temperature on our charcoal grill, mashed potatoes, beet and carrot slaw, and black forest upside-down cakes.
Dinner was delicious, especially the beet and carrot slaw. I love raw carrots. On average I eat them 6 days a week: on salad or just plain carrots (Bugs Bunny style). I love the sweetness of them and crunch. I also really like roasted beets. They are sweet and have a very unique color and taste! I had never had raw beets or beet greens before so I was looking forward to this colorfully sweet slaw.
The slaw was very simple to make, although a little dangerous and it turned my hands pink! I must admit I was pretty nervous grating the beets, picturing myself loosing pieces of fingers, every time I pushed the beet down the grater. Next time I won’t cut both ends off the beets, so I will have a little more to hold onto while grating. Washing the grated beets took a lot more water than I expected. They WOULD NOT stop bleeding pink! I finally got relatively clear water and called it quits. The slaw dressing was very good. The sweetness from the orange juice and tangy taste of the mustard and vinegar complemented the vegetables well.
The beet and carrot slaw was a hit! Everyone went back for seconds, but we still had one serving of slaw leftover. P brought it for lunch a few days later and said it still tasted great, however, everything had a pink tint. Definitely a recipe to eat the day you make it, if you want three distinct colors! I will be making this slaw again.
Black Forest Upside-down Cakes, January/February 2010, pg. 51
The black forest upside-down cakes tasted good but the baking process was not positive. As I made the batter, I was convinced the cakes were going to be a disaster.
My parents had dinner with us, so I doubled the recipe. I was not a fan of the recipes directions. The recipe tells you to stir room temperature butter (it’s January, so room temperature is 65⁰F) and sugar with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Are you joking me?! That was NOT going to be possible, so I got out my electric hand-beater. The butter and sugar never got light and fluffy, it didn’t seem like there was enough butter to get the fluffy texture you usually get after beating the two ingredients. (Since I doubled the recipe, so I checked my math and I did put the correct amount of each ingredient in the batter.) Then I stirred in the rest of the ingredients and the batter was not what I was expecting. It reminded me of an extremely thick brownie batter. The batter was so thick, it stuck to my wooden spoon as I was putting it into my cherry lined pans. I pulled up a few of the cherries as I was trying to evenly spread the batter in the pans. At this point, I was positive, we wouldn’t be having dessert…
I ended up baking the two cakes for about 45 minutes. This was probably because of my pan choice. I didn’t have ramekins, but I did have two 5” springform cake pans. While I let the cakes cool for twenty minutes, I made the whipped cream. I left out the rum, because I’m not consuming alcohol anymore, and followed my grandmother’s advice for homemade whipped cream.
Put a glass bowl and the metal beaters in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before making the whipped cream. (Yes, specifically a glass bowl. I’ve gotten scolded for using a metal bowl, I honestly don’t know the reasoning behind the glass bowl but that’s how grandma does it.) The cream whips much faster if all the utensils are colder than the cream. Add a teaspoon or two of white sugar and then whip together until you get the consistency you want. Back to the cakes…
The springform pans worked really well! The cakes looked perfect. Although, I think the batter was a little thicker and I probably should have used a third pan or pans that had a larger diameter. This would have made the cherry to batter ratio more equal.
Everyone really liked the rich tasting cakes. One small piece for each person was more than enough. I had never had sour cherries before and they were very good and went well with the chocolate. But, honestly what doesn’t go well with chocolate? I also liked the portion size of the cake. In hindsight I didn’t even have to double the recipe. The four of us ate one of the two cakes that night. Personally, the cake was a little too dense for me. I am going to blame the density on the very thick batter. At this point, the black forest upside-down cakes, are a one-time experience for me.
Cooking The Stripes 