Caesar Salad With Oysters.

Mar and Ver wanted fried oysters.
You know who you are.
I give you fried oysters on Caesar Salad.
With semi-croutons.

We're still on our second bushel of oysters
and looking for different ways to enjoy these bivalve mollusks.
Tonight, Mr. Hawthorne fixed a Caesar Salad
with fried oysters and croutons.

Mr. Hawthorne is quite the little shucker.

I buy these baguettes from Schwann's
and always have some in my freezer.
They're great to make quick croutons out of.
They come in a package of three
and Mr. Hawthorne calls them "briquettes."
Bake according to package directions,
(375 degrees for maybe 12 minutes),
cool, then pull into pieces.
Saute in butter and olive oil along with
some garlic and herbs of your choice.
Parsley.
Sage.
Rosemary.
Thyme.
Oregano.
Whatever.

Place in low, slow oven until crisp.

Rosie's Caesar Salad dressing:

4-6 cloves garlic
1 tin anchovies, drained and rinsed
2 lemons
2 TB Dijon mustard
2 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 large egg, coddled
1 - 1 1/2 cups olive oil
(I use ELBOO. That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil.)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
(I use Il Villagio from the Teeter.)

Mince garlic and coarse chop anchovies
then mash into a paste.
A mortar and pestle works well here.
Whisk in the juice of 2 lemons.
Add 2 TB Dijon mustard
and 2 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.
Whisk in 1 coddled egg.
To coddle an egg,
boil water and let the egg sit
in the boiled water for one minute.
Consider the egg coddled and whisk it in.
Slowly whisk in a thin stream
of olive oil to emulsify.
Add in about 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Hits the spot every time.

Enjoy.

Giada. Revisited.

I haven't watched Giada for a while.
Had her on in the background this morning
and noticed some things never change.

I'll have the bowl o' boobs soup, please,
with a side of foodgasm.

Oh wait.
Does Giada have a nip ... eh ... I mean a mole ... on her forearm?

Oysters Ranchera For Mr. Hawthorne.

We're still chipping away
at our second bushel of oysters.
Tonight, I'm making Oysters Ranchera.

Happy little shucked oysters
awaiting their toppings.

Ingredients:
Mr. Hawthorne's Salsa Ranchera
grated mozzarella cheese
combination of Panko and Ritz

Top each oyster with Salsa Ranchera.
You do not want to overpower the oysters
by the toppings.

Add a little cheese.

Finish with Panko and Ritz.

Ready for the broiler.
Just a quick trip under.
You want the toppings slightly browned.
That is all.
Remember, you cannot undercook an oyster,
but you sure as hell can overcook one.

You want the oysters warmed through,
but still plump and oceany.

That's the ticket.

Anyone have any suggestions for mo' oysters?
I'm open.

The Deen Machine Continues To Roll.

Thanks to my friend, The Ever Alert Marion,
I have found out there is at least one person,
formerly part of the Deen Machine,
who actually has scruples.

See here.

E.A. Marion
also sent me the first news
of Pauler's sitchayshun.

Mr. Hawthorne Cans Salsa Ranchera.

Mr. Hawthorne has been a busy boy.
Since he was getting "low" on his homemade Salsa Ranchera
(I think only a dozen jars are left.),
Mr. Hawthorne has been a bit anxious.
In a burst of energy,
he finally canned another batch the other day.

Salsa Ranchera is not a hot salsa.
It's a more robust, complex salsa.
We use it in omelets.
We add it to rices.
Gives a dish some punch.

I generally despise Food Network competition shows,
but I did watch The Big Waste.
As a consumer who tries her best not to waste anything,
I felt I should watch it.
It was shocking how much is thrown away.
This is why Mr. Hawthorne and I always check dates
on meats and wait for it to be marked down
as it nears its sell-by date.
Because it will be thrown out that day.
I've seen it happen too many times
and I think it's shameful.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that food.

Very little goes to waste in the Hawthorne household,
I'm happy to say.
And I recycle too.
In fact, some days when I go to the grocery store,
I purposefully do not take my canvas bags.
That's because I need the brown paper bags
for recycling my glass, my plastics,
my tin cans, my aluminum cans, my papers and boxes.
So the hallway from the kitchen to the back bedroom and bath
is nothing but an obtrusive recycling center.
I try to do my part in spite of
obstacles along my way.
And they know who they are.

That said, and trying to be mindful of waste,
we went to the rack of rapidly rotting food at Harris Teeter.
Nothing wrong with this food.
It's just not as pretty or as young
as the produce on display.
So it gets banished to The Rack.
And it gets marked down drastically.

So we picked our peppers from The Rack.
We don't care if a vegetable's skin is wrinkled
since this is going to be simmered for a good while.

4 poblanos
handful of serranos
a jalapeno

You can use whatever combination
of assorted peppers.
That's what makes the flavors interesting.

We had 2 Roma tomatoes
and 3 others we found on The Rack.
You want to peel them first,
so put them in boiling water for about 20 seconds.
Let cool, then easily remove skin.

Return to pan.

Those big cans of tomatoes
I got on sale:
Buy 1 can. Get 2 free.

Chop one onion.

This ain't rocket science,
so there are no hard and fast rules here.
Eyeball it for amounts.

Chop the peppers.

Mix all together
in a large pot over low heat.

Bring to a bare simmer, stirring occasionally.

This was kept at a bare simmer for about 2 hours.
You may can it now,
or let the sauce cool and refrigerate it
and do the canning the next day.
Which is what Mr. Hawthorne did.
He was exhausted after all
that bare simmering.

One of the loveliest sounds to my ears
is the sucking pop of a jar sealing properly.

Mr. Hawthorne Bakes A Birthday Cake For Rosie.

Every year, Mr. Hawthorne makes a cake for me

for my birthday.
I always let him pick out whatever cake he wants,
although I have "hinted" at a few cakes I've seen,
most notably, Ruth Levy Berenbaum's Notre Dame cake.

I mean, who doesn't love a cake with
stained glass windows and flying buttresses?

Apparently, this project was a tad too ambitious
for Mr. Hawthorne.

He suggested a red velvet cake.

Now here's where Rosie gets picky.
Rosie doesn't want a red velvet cake.
The red comes from several ounces of red food coloring.
Rosie doesn't like food coloring.
Rosie hates the taste of food coloring.
Even when she was a little girl,
she wouldn't eat the cupcakes served at school parties
because of the icing.

Food coloring is a deal breaker for me.

So I suggested some natural food coloring - cherries.


Mr. Hawthorne pitted the cherries, then ...

... ran them through the Magic Bullet.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's mise en place,
which I put together for him,
since he's not all that into the mise.

He came into the kitchen and saw everything laid out for him
and asked me,
"You measured everything, too?!"
Well, duh.
Else we'd still be sitting here
waiting for cake.

Ingredients for Non Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TB cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring NOT
I used 2 ounces of cherry puree.
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and cocoa two 9-inch cake pans.
Most recipes tell you to butter and flour the cake pans.
Since this cake has cocoa in it,
I'm using cocoa instead of the flour.
Sift together the sifted cake flour, baking powder, and salt
into a medium bowl.
In a small bowl, mix cherry puree and cocoa powder.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together
until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes,
scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Beat in eggs, one at a time,
then beat in vanilla and cherry/cocoa paste.
Add 1/3 of the flour, beating well,
then beat in half the buttermilk.
Beat in another third of flour mixture,
then second half of buttermilk.
End with last third of flour mixture,
beating until well combined.
Make sure the cake pans have been buttered and cocoa'd
and are nearby.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda.
Add to cake batter and stir well to combine.
Working quickly, divide the batter evenly
between the cake pans and place in a 350 degree oven.
Bake about 20 - 25 minutes.
Check with a toothpick.
Should come out clean.
Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes,
then remove and allow to cool completely on racks.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 TB pure maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Turn mixer to low and blend in powdered sugar,
extract, syrup, and nuts.
Frost cake, being sure to use a generous amount
of frosting over the first layer.

Butter and cocoa your cake pans.

Swirl around and remove any excess.

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt
in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix the cherry puree with the cocoa until smooth
and set aside.

Beat butter until smooth,
then gradually beat in sugar.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add in eggs, one at a time.

Beat until smooth.

Add in vanilla.

Add in cocoa and cherry puree mixture.

I had to restrain Mr. Hawthorne
from pouring in red food coloring.

Add flour mixture in thirds.

Add buttermilk in halves.
Beat until batter is smooth.

Mix vinegar and baking soda.

Add vinegar mixture to batter.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

These were ready in 20 minutes.

No.
The cakes aren't burned.
That's the cocoa on the bottom
which makes it look burned.

Mix together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla.
Beat until smooth.

Beat in powdered sugar on low speed.

I added 2 TB of pure maple syrup.

Cup of crushed pecans.

Level off the cakes.

Always be generous with the icing filling.

Ta daa!!!!
Rosie has Non-Red Velvet Cake.

And it is delicious.
Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne.