Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

There is a new angle to the Sun these days.  Even though spring is not quite here, I can feel the promise of an end to winter.  We will be returning to Lake Lure at the end of the month.  Normally we would find the dogwood trees and the forsythia getting ready to bloom.  I am not so sure this year.  It has been such a brutally cold winter.  One of the things I look forward to at Lake Lure is my hummingbird feeder outside my kitchen window.  I like to believe that the same hummingbird couple come back every year.  In honor of spring and the return of my sweet hummingbirds, I made this hummingbird bundt cake.

The cake recipe first appeared in Southern Living Magazine in 1978.  It is a banana, pineapple and spice cake with a luscious cream cheese frosting.  It is usually presented as a layer cake, but this is a much easier version.  This recipe for a hummingbird bundt cake was in a recent Southern Living magazine.  I found it in a magazine at my hair dresser’s and got her permission to tear it out.

I love this cake.  Since we have company coming, it was a good excuse to make it.  Now if spring would just get the message that winter is over, we would all be happy.  Bring on the robins, blue jays and hummingbirds.  I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday at the Comforts of Home.

HUMMINGBIRD BUNDT CAKE

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed and softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoon milk ( You may need more.  My glaze was too stiff )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.

Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in eggs and next 4 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan.  Spoon batter over pecans.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).

Process cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp. milk in a food processor until well blended.  Add remaining 1 Tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. at a time, processing until smooth.  Immediately pour glaze over cooled cake, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup toasted pecans.

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Just the name of this dish conjures memories of meals at my Mother’s home.  This was one of her favorite ways to prepare chicken.  I am really surprised that I have not shared the recipe with you before now.  When I pulled some chicken thighs from the freezer yesterday, I knew that I wanted to make this sticky and succulent dish.  Although curry is an important part of the ingredients, the chicken does not taste at all like curry.  It is mainly sweet and moist with a lovely glaze.

We enjoyed this tonight.  When Mom made it she used a whole cut-up chicken; or two, depending on how many she needed to serve.  She was an expert at having enough food to feed a crowd.  I have been feeding more than our usual two lately.  Good friends from Michigan spent last weekend with us and next weekend we have our motorcycle gang here for several days.

I received the above hostess gift from our Michigan friends.  Hopefully you can see the hand stamped engraving on the silver salad utensils.  They say “Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen”.  Sandy ordered them from an Etsy shop run by a talented gal named Tanya.  If you are ever in need of an unusual gift, you will find many options on her site.  Thank you Sandy.  I will treasure this thoughtful gift.

I am linking this post to Tasty Tuesday, a new recipe party sponsored by The Comforts of Home.  There are some great recipes over there.  Enjoy this tasty chicken.

HONEY CURRIED CHICKEN

1 whole chicken, cut up or 6 to 8 chicken thighs, (I removed the skin)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder

Wash and dry chicken and place in a roasting pan.  Mix remaining ingredients in a saucepan and cook until butter is melted and a slow boil is reaached.  Pour over chicken.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Baste frequently during the last 20 minutes.

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These bars are one of my favorite sweet treats.  I have blogged about them before, but since I have been posting for so many years, I figured that the first blog post is buried deep in the blogging archives.  The original recipe was called Scandinavian Tea Cakes.  I am sure there is a history there, but to me they are basically chocolate and pecan shortbread bars.  David would be happy if I made these every week.  He has a sweet tooth that requires one piece of chocolate every night.  And my, oh my, do these deliver.  Not just chocolate, but crispy, buttery shortbread too.

I started a New Year’s tradition this year.  At the stroke of midnight, after the hugs and kisses, we sipped our glasses of champagne while eating these chocolate delights.  Everyone agreed that it was the best way to start the New Year.

The recipe is very simple.  The shortbread crust has just a few ingredients.  Please use the size baking sheet specified.  When you spread the butter and brown sugar mixture on the pan, it is not necessary to get it all the way to the edges.  It spreads as it bakes.  When it is golden brown, take it out of the oven and sprinkle it with good chocolate chips.  The mini chips work well.  Place it back in the oven for 30 seconds to 1 minute just to warm the chocolate.  Then spread it around with a spatula.  Sprinkle it with chopped pecans and place it in the refrigerator to set before slicing the bars.

CHOCOLATE AND PECAN SHORTBREAD BARS

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup unbleached flour
6 (1.05 oz.) milk chocolate bars, grated ( I used 7 oz. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips)
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg yolk until very smooth. Gradually add flour until well blended. Spread dough on lightly greased 15 1/2″x10 1/2″x 1″ sheet pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until medium brown. Sprinkle chocolate shavings or chips evenly over cake. Put in oven to melt and when warmed remove from oven and spread over top. Sprinkle with nuts. Cut into squares when cool.

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While we were in Washington DC a few weeks ago, we spent a Sunday morning visiting The Phillips Collection of art in one of the row houses in Dupont Circle.  We had decided that we wanted to stay in the neighborhood where our apartment was located.  As much as I admire the Metro System in DC, we found that the Red Line was undergoing an upgrade this Winter and parts of the track were closed.  On Saturday we had experienced delays, overcrowded cars and none of the ease that we had experienced in our previous visits.  Besides that, the morning was very cold, so being close to our warm apartment made sense.

The most well known painting in The Phillips Collection is Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Duncan Phillips, an avid collector of modern art, acquired the painting in 1923.  He had opened his row house in Dupont Circle as an art museum in 1921.  Luncheon of the Boating Party “captures an idyllic atmosphere as Renoir’s friends share food, wine and conversation on a balcony overlooking the Seine at the Maison Fournaise Restaurant in Chatou.  Parisians flocked to the Maison Fournaise to rent rowing skiffs and . . . eat good meals.”   We also ate a good meal in the museum cafe, Tryst.  Chicken and barley soup was on the menu.  Due to the fact that I was still chilled to the bone, that was exactly what I wanted.  Lots of Hmmms later, David said “I know what you are thinking. You want to make this soup when you get home.”  He had it right.

The only decision was finding the right recipe that would be as close as possible to the soup that I had eaten.  Martha Stewart’s recipe won out.  It is full of vegetables and aromatic chicken and broth.  The barley is a quick cooking variety and I had this on the table in no time.  Each spoonful was as good as I remembered.  Even though we are all looking forward to Spring meals, this last hurrah to winter soups is worth your attention.

CHICKEN AND BARLEY SOUP  (Martha Stewart)

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 carrots, diced small
• 4 celery stalks, diced small
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 1 cup quick-cooking barley
• 5 ounces baby spinach (5 cups)

  1. STEP 1

     In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until chicken is opaque at edges, about 2 minutes.

  2. STEP 2

     Add broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Stir in barley. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until barley is tender and chicken is cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

  3. STEP 3

     Add spinach and cook until wilted, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

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What a lovely little risotto cake.  I love food that can be stuffed in a ramekin, baked, and then un-molded.  I was perusing Nourish Magazine, a quarterly magazine from New Zealand, on-line recently and found this recipe for a vegetable filled risotto cake.  Nourish promotes local, seasonal and vegetarian fare, although the vegetarianism is not total.  There are recipes using meat products as well.  It is always fun to get a fresh prospective on eating.

The recipe makes six to eight risotto cakes.  I think this would make a lovely luncheon dish topped with a small dressed salad.  For dinner, it makes a pretty side to fish or chicken.  The risotto can be made ahead of time, placed in the ramekins and baked right before you are ready to serve the risotto cakes.  The flavor of the tomato, corn and basil adds lots of interest to the dish.

So simple, but yet so lovely and delicious.

On a change of subject, the above picture was taken at last year’s Bloggers’ get together at Larry, of Big Dude’s Eclectic Ramblings, and his wife  Bev’s Almost Heaven South lakeside pavillion in Tennessee.  We had the most wonderful luau with authentic delicious food, great company and a chance for all of us bloggers to connect with each other.  The event for 2014 is scheduled for either June 7th or 8th.  The official date will be announced in March.  We would like to invite any of our fellow bloggers to attend.  I can guarantee that you will have a good time.  You can contact Larry or Chris, at Nibble Me This, if you are interested in attending.

We had some of the best barbecue gurus in blogland manning the grills.  This grill line-up still brings a smile to my face.  Come and join us.

TOMATO, SWEET CORN AND BASIL RISOTTO CAKES

2 onions, diced
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 cup Arborio rice
3 1/2 cups tomatoes, diced (I used canned)
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp basil pesto
⅔ cup sweetcorn (I used frozen)
⅔ cup grated cheese (I used Parmesan)
3 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot, soften the onions in the oil.

Add Arborio rice and cook for a couple of minutes being careful not to let the rice catch on the pan.

Then add the tomatoes, mix well and let the Arborio rice absorb some of the moisture from the tomatoes before adding the stock.

When the Arborio rice is nearly cooked through take it off the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Spoon into greased ramekins and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden.  Un-mold by running a knife around the sides and inverting onto plates.

Serve with salad.

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