Gingerbread Cake with Stout Buttercream

Twas the night before Christmas Eve....

I won’t try to rhyme, but my mother in law was arriving this night, and I had invited my Mom over for dinner also.  I knew I wanted something lighter than what we would be eating for the next few days, so I bought some fresh tilapia for supper.  I made a coating out of crushed pecans (very finely chopped in the food processor to look almost like flour), panko breadcrumbs and shredded Parmesan cheese.  I then dipped the fish in melted butter and then in the breadcrumb mixture.  It only took about 4-5 minutes under the broiler (watch very carefully – the pecans can and will burn)  If you are concerned, you may want to just bake them for about 10 minutes at 375 and then check for doneness.

We had this with rice, and roasted asparagus and it was delicious.  I think with any fresh white fish (snapper, catfish etc) this would be quick and easy.

For dessert, I had wanted to try this cake for some time and thought this would be a good night to do so.  It is from “The Best of Southern Living” magazine that I picked up in the grocery one day – it has so many pages turned down it looks like it is the only cookbook I have (ha!).  The cake was wonderful.  So moist and the stout beer flavors brought out the spiciness of the Gingerbread…I would absolutely do this again.  Using a gingerbread mix cuts your time down to almost nothing.   It is almost a week later, and it is still very moist and good.

Gingerbread cake with Stout Buttercream

Ingredients

•               2  (14.5-oz.) packages gingerbread cake mix

•               2 large eggs

•               2 3/4  cups  stout beer, at room temperature, divided

•               1/2  cup  butter, softened

•               1  (16-oz.) package powdered sugar

•               Garnishes: toasted pecans, rosemary sprigs

Preparation

1. Stir together gingerbread cake mix, eggs, and 2 1/2 cups stout beer in a large bowl until combined. Pour batter evenly into 2 lightly greased 8-inch square pans.

2. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool on wire rack 1 hour or until completely cool.

3. Beat softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and remaining 1/4 cup stout beer, beating until blended after each addition. Beat 1 minute or until light and fluffy.

4. Spread stout buttercream between layers and on top of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Pot Roast and Rainy Days

December 28, 2009

 Whew!  Somewhere between Thanksgiving and this week, things started moving too fast!  We had a wonderful and Blessed Christmas surrounded by family and friends…exactly as you want it to be.  But if I am going to be completely honest, I’m just a touch glad to have all the busyness behind me.  This “week between” is always a great week,  - quiet and calm compared to the past month. We did a ton of eating and I apologize for the lack of blog posts….I’m going to try and catch up over the next couple of weeks, so please check back often.

The first catch up is a wonderful pot roast that I made on a very cold and rainy day.  Really one of those days where you hope you can do everything to avoid leaving the house.  In a moment of brilliance (those are few and far between), I remembered I had a pot roast in the freezer and a crock-pot that was probably lonely!

I don’t remember a lot of pot roast dinners growing up.  My Mom  probably knew the title “Yankee Pot Roast” and that was enough to deter her from making them.  I love a good pot roast, but I prefer to NOT have all of the vegetables you normally find in the pot roast cook with it.  I find that by the end of the cooking, the carrots, onions potatoes and whatever you put in tastes just like the roast and has lost all flavor and texture.  So I like this Southern Living recipe (from a wonderful cookbook called “Southern Living Homestyle Cookbook” which is actually titled, Beef with Red Wine Sauce.

Beef with Red Wine Sauce; Roasted Vegetables

3 lb boneless chuck roast, cut into one-inch pieces (I left it whole)

1 medium onion, sliced

1 lb fresh mushrooms, halved

1 package brown gravy mix (1.61 oz)

1 can beef broth (10.5 oz)

1 cup red wine

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Hot cooked noodles or rice

Place the first 3 ingredients into a slow cooker.  Whisk together the gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables.  Add bay leaf.  Cover and cook on High for 6 hours; Discard bay leave and serve.

For the vegetables, I went back to my favorite method of roasting.  I took whatever I had on hand, chopped them into evenly sized pieces and drizzled a nice bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and in this case McCormick Steak Seasoning (I love this spice mix and it is absolutely great on many things besides steak).  The veggies then went into a hot oven (375-400) for about 20-25 minutes.    I just shake the pan around once in the middle to make sure all of the vegetables get nicely browned.  These have a wonderful crunch on the outside and keep their delicious flavor.  I then plate them along with the roast.

Philly Cheese Stuffed Garlic Bread

Hey Y’all,


First an apology for being so long in posting. We have been on an absolute whirlwind of activity since before Thanksgiving. Between family gatherings, wrestling tournaments all over the State, Business parties and receptions not to mention two kids in the middle of final exams I’m ready for a break!
We have managed to squeeze in a few family dinners in the midst of all the craziness and I will try to catch up soon on the posts.

Thanksgiving was wonderful – I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and not just are they nice folks, we really (really) enjoy being with each other. We had a fabulous meal (the turkey was perfect as always) and great fun and I did notice a few empty wine bottles in the recycling the next day! Our sons fiancé’s family joined us for dessert and made it even more special. I hope you all enjoyed the day and found time to take a breather when it was over.

In case anybody had a “boo-boo” in the cooking process, don’t worry - it happens to everybody. Remember that amazing upside down apple pie? Well I made it again, and it came out of the oven like a cover of a magazine. I let it cool the required 10 minutes, and then took my oven mitts (and luckily I was over a clean cookie sheet), flipped it. Well, you would have thought it was possessed by the devil, it jumped out of my mitts and landed in about 15 pieces on the cookie sheet….A few choice words uttered by me later we had “Apple Caramel Pecan crumble”…. UGH!

I saw the recipe above in the Rachael Ray magazine a couple of months ago, and I have to say, I only give it a “C”. However I am including it because with a couple of small changes I think it could be an “A”. We had a friend of my daughters over the night I made it and we really didn’t have enough food for 5, even with a salad on the side. (We are all pretty good eaters though).. I think when I do this again I would increase the amounts just a bit, and rather than serve it in one round bread loaf, I would find some decent size hard rolls (may be even small sub rolls) and fill them as individual servings. The meat filling was very tasty, just not easy to cut into servings and plate.  I am publishing it here as it was written.  If you are cooking for 2-4 people it would be fine - if more than that, I'd just bump up the ingredients a bit (or perhaps add some sauteed mushrooms) and try it in smaller indiviudal rolls.



Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Garlic Bread:

•1 1-pound loaf peasant bread


•1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided

•2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

•1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

•1 pound onions, thinly sliced

•1 pound sirloin steak or sirloin tips, very thinly sliced

•Salt and pepper

•1/4 cup dry red wine

•8 slices provolone cheese

PreparationPre-heat the oven to 375°F.

Slice off the top half-inch of the bread and reserve. Scoop out the insides of the loaf so that the shell is about a half-inch thick. Cut the scooped bread into cubes.

In a large skillet, heat 6 tablespoons EVOO over medium heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes. Place the bread shell on a baking sheet and brush the inside with some of the seasoned oil.
Add 3 cups of bread cubes to the skillet with the remaining seasoned EVOO and toss to coat. Transfer the cubes to the baking sheet, scattering them around the bread shell. Place the reserved bread top on the baking sheet, cut side up. Bake until everything's brown and toasted, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and reserve. Add the steak to the skillet and cook for 4 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the reserved onions.
Spoon half of the steak-onion mixture into the toasted bread bowl. Top with half of the cheese, then half of the croutons. Layer with the remaining steak-onion mixture, croutons and cheese.
Bake until the cheese has melted, 3-5 minutes. Top with the bread lid. Slice into wedges and serve.