So the other night I was seriously craving cake and couldn’t decide which was less work - baking a cake, or making a late night run to Ralph’s. Turns out, baking a lemon pound cake with lemon icing ain’t so hard. Recipe here (but it needs a helluva lot more lemon extract/lemon juice).

Salmon that’s been marinated and pan-seared in my special ramen sauce (read: I got lazy and mixed up the usual sauce I dump on instant noodles) made of ponzu sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, and Sriracha (naturally). It’s yummy, trust me. Note how the Sriracha can also be used for decorative plating.

Watching “Entourage” reruns and baking chocolate chip banana bran muffins in my new silicone cupcake cups. Nice way to spend a Tuesday night.

(Once I tweak the recipe to my liking, I’ll post it up. This batch wasn’t quite sweet enough.)

Perfect! I bought potatoes on Monday with the intention of making latkes. Guess I’ll have to follow through now. Also:

“Just fry a few at a time. We’re not in a rush here! It’s Hanukkah. If people are getting antsy, throw a dreidel at them and tell them to shut the fuck up.”

Like regular jam-filled cookies except with ground nuts and coconut!

For last week’s Game Night/holiday party, I made spinach dip, jam-filled butter cookies (some with Nutella) and a few apple pies. I also finally perfected my double chocolate chip cookies, adapted from the recipe published in the LA Times, originally adapted from Milk’s Ooey-Gooey Double Chocolate Cookie recipe (my changes are starred).

Double chocolate cookies (makes 18 cookies)
1/4 pound (4 ounces) unsweetened chocolate
4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter
2 eggs*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour*
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 pound semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips*

1. In a bowl over a pot of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

2. In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a fork, combine the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Mix just until incorporated and set aside.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until combined, then stir in the bittersweet chocolate.

5. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to chill thoroughly. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Divide the dough into 18 portions. Grease your hands (to prevent the dough from sticking) and shape the portions into balls. Place the balls on a greased, parchment-lined sheet pan, leaving 2 to 3 inches between each.

7. Bake until the edges of the cookies are just set and the center is still soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Place the cookies, still on the parchment, on a rack and cool completely before serving. They will be very soft.

Each cookie: 251 calories; 4 grams protein; 29 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 18 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 42 mg. cholesterol; 92 mg. sodium.
[recipe and nutritional info via the LA Times]

Blueberry season is officially over. At least, Trader Joe’s has stopped selling the enormous 32 ounce cartons of blueberries for $5.99, so I think that means blueberry season is over. Boyfriend went and called up every Trader Joe’s in L.A. County to try and salvage the very last of these precious blue baubles - similarly, when TJ’s discontinued their organic ginger snaps he bought the last 14 boxes in the city - but to no avail. Of course, as the yumminess (pictured above) gives away, he managed to find more end-of-season berries at Pavilions AND snagged 10 rain checks for 22 ounce cartons at only $2.99! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY BLUEBERRIES THAT IS? A lot. A lot of blueberries for a rainy day.

Below, my super simple recipe for blueberry pie, vastly simplified from this Epicurious recipe; I wanted to make the lemon cream, but the 95 degree heat and hot kitchen were not complying with my desire to not melt indoors. Also, food snobs beware, I didn’t have time to make the crust from scratch this time so this version of the recipe has a store-bought crust-mix component to it. You have been warned.

Blueberry pie (serves 8 )
22 ounces fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon milk
a pat of butter
flour, in which to roll the dough
1 box crust mix (it should make 2 crusts; you’ll need them both)
9-inch pie dish

1. Set the oven to 400 F. Mix the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch and water in a bowl. Let the mixture sit for about 20-30 minutes at room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, follow the directions on the crust mix (I know, this is an incredibly lazy - but delicious! - pie). If you’re smart, you got the kind of mix that only requires you to add water. Mix well, and roll the dough into two equally-sized balls. Using a rolling pin - or clean, empty wine bottle, whatever works - roll each ball on a smooth, floured surface so that they’re a little larger than the circumference of the pie dish.

3. Spread a pat of melted butter or nonstick cooking spray in the pie dish, so the crust won’t stick to it. Carefully lay one circle of crust dough into the dish and gently shape all around the sides, letting the ends hang over the edge.

4. Spoon the blueberry filling into the crust dough. Gently place the second circle of dough on top, pinching the edges of both crusts together with your fingers. Make sure the circumference of the pie is sealed tight, to prevent the filling from bubbling over from the sides. Cut 5 2-inch slits in the top of the pie to allow for escaping steam. Brush the top layer with milk, and sprinkle it with sugar.

5. Bake the pie at 400 F for the first 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake for another 45 minutes. Cook times may vary; Epicurious recommended an hour and 15 minutes, but my pie was bubbling over after the additional 45 (1 hour total). Let cool completely. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!

I think I do more cooking than writing these days, which cannot be a good thing. Or can it? Below is my recipe for lemon garlic roast chicken, culled from about five different roast chicken recipes and tweaked to my liking:

Lemon garlic roast chicken (serves 4)
5-6 pound roasting chicken
2 lemons
2 heads of garlic
5-6 strips of bacon
1 yellow onion, chopped
mini carrots
mini red potatoes, sliced
canola oil
salt
pepper
a few pats of butter

1. Heat the oven to 450 F. Remove the giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat it dry with paper towels. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken.

2. Roll the lemons on a countertop to release the juices inside, then cut each one in half. Stuff the cavity with the lemons, a head of garlic, peeled and halved, and a pat of butter.

3. Brush the outside with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Layer the strips of bacon over the chicken until covered.

4. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 400 F. Scatter the red potatoes, carrots and remaining garlic, chopped, around the chicken in the roasting pan. Occasionally baste the chicken and vegetables with the gravy in the pan. Roast for another 1 hour and 25 minutes (for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes). The chicken is done when the meat thermometer registers at 160 F. After the chicken has cooled, remove the lemons and squeeze them over the chicken.

Martha, you have failed me. The coconut cupcakes CLEARLY needed more flour to hold up the 3/4 cup of coconut milk you listed in the recipe (which I followed to a T, by the way). My lemon zest cupcakes came out great! What happened?! These may taste like fluffy, coconutty heaven, but they look like overflowing pints of Coors Light poured by a tipsy freshman at his first frat party. Cupcake FAIL. Sigh. Once I tweak this to my liking I’ll post the revised recipe.

Whatever. To ease the frustration I made gooey strawberry cupcakes, which is my own slight variation of the lemon zest cupcake recipe I copied from Ms. Stewart’s book at Borders a few weeks ago. These came out much better-looking than the coconut batch, though you might want to add a touch more flour, depending on how gooey you want the center of your cupcakes to be. Mine turned out extra-soft, and it probably would’ve served me well to either let them sit in the oven for another five minutes or add another quarter cup of flour. The cupcakes have a light, refreshing - or as refreshing as gooey cake can get - taste, accompanied by the occasional chunk of strawberry, which is always a treat. Recipe below:

Gooey Strawberry Cupcakes (serves 12)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh strawberries (or frozen strawberries, thawed out in the fridge overnight)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray nonstick cooking oil onto 12 cupcake liners.

2. Whisk together flour and salt, and set aside in a bowl. Use an electric mixer on medium-high to cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

3. Reduce mixer speed to medium, then add vanilla extract. Add beaten eggs one at a time and continue to mix.

4. Dice the strawberries into very small chunks, and mash them up as much as you can with a potato masher or fork. Beat strawberries into the mixture.

5. Reduce mixer speed to low, then add flour in three batches, incorporating each completely into the batter. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool.

Watching “Top Chef: Masters” has made me a bit silly with food lately. I’ve been cooking up fresh flavors, trying new foods, and taking risks (read: burning things). I’ve even been trying to cook without recipes! Below is my own formula for roasted stuffed peppers. Orange and yellow peppers work best, in my opinion, as these are sweeter than their red and green counterparts. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can always make substitutions. I didn’t have ground beef or turkey, so I chopped up a half-breast of chicken and added a touch of spicy sausage to the stuffing, and I didn’t have tomato sauce, so I used a leftover half-jar of six cheese Ragu. The Farmer John’s Red Hots sausage and chili powder add a great spicy contrast to the sweet pepper casings, but feel free to change up the seasonings.

Chicken-Stuffed Peppers (serves 2)
2 large bell peppers, orange or yellow
1 large chicken half-breast, boned
1 spicy sausage or brat
8 ounces tomato sauce (or leftover pizza or pasta sauce)
1/2 pound Crimini mushrooms, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 clove garlic, finely diced
1/2 pound spinach, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F and coat a shallow baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Slice the tops off the peppers and hollow out the insides, discarding the seeds in the middle. Rub the exterior of the peppers with a bit of oil, place them in the baking dish and roast them in the oven for 10 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

2. In the meantime, brown the diced garlic and onion with oil in a large stovetop pan on low-medium heat. Chop up the chicken and sausage as finely as possible so that they near the consistency of ground beef. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Toss the chicken and sausage into the pan and sauté for 8 minutes with garlic powder and chili powder.

3. Add the tomato sauce, mushrooms and spinach. Sauté everything for another few minutes.

4. Spoon the mixture into the hollowed-out bell peppers. Put the stuffed peppers into the baking dish and carefully place the pepper tops back on. Put them in the oven for 25 minutes or until the peppers are tender and the meat is cooked thoroughly.