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Damn Delicious: Ina’s Lemon Cake, plus a sweet sixteen birthday for Ian

May 30, 2020

Ian turned 16 this week. I’ve known this young man since he was six. He is growing into an adult before our eyes. Every time I see him he is at least an inch taller.

What a weird dichotomy to celebrate the life of a wonderful young man amidst the passing of George Floyd. The world is unsafe for Ian and for Keith and for Keith Junior. I hold my breath every time they leave the house, praying for their safe return, wishing I could be with them everywhere they go to literally protect them from danger.

I can’t actually change the world, but I can continue to show up and do my best. This week, we saw again just how much needs to change. We all did. There is a deep well of sadness in the air, but we have to keep pushing forward and reaching for the life we dream of that is free of racism and safe for EVERYONE. Black lives matter so much. Ian’s life matters.

This week, I texted and called and advocated and I also baked a cake.

I got to celebrate a wonderful young man turning sixteen. I called the birthday boy and asked him what kind of cake he wanted just like I do every year. For the past few years, he’s wanted an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. This year, he requested a lemon cake.

What sixteen year old wants lemon cake?

I don’t particularly like lemon cake, but I’d do anything for Ian so I started researching lemon cakes online. Ina won, of course. Her cake is a beast. You have to zest eight lemons. She perplexingly calls for extra large eggs in her baking, which I don’t understand.

Why not regular eggs?

The lemon cake recipe makes enough for two loaf cakes. Cake by the pound. I made one loaf and a dozen cupcakes. You have to make the cake and then a simple lemon syrup to pour over it while it’s still warm and then top it off with a lemon confectioner sugar icing before serving.

It’s a lot of steps. Oh, and did I mention that Oakland had a heat wave this week and I made this cake in my 90 degree kitchen? I was sweating from the heat and from baking something that is a bit outside of my baking comfort zone.

But, when Ian was here and we got to celebrate his life, it felt so worth it. Keith made his famous fried chicken and the boys hung out and explored our new neighborhood. We sang happy birthday to him and there was real, true joy as we dug into our lemon cake together. I hope he knows how loved he is and how much we want him to be safe and happy always.

Happy birthday to Ian. Let’s continue to fight for a better world for him and for our youngsters.

damn delicious

Damn Delicious: Roberto Soup

May 19, 2020

Hi, hello, from me and my new favorite soup: Roberto (New Yorker). I can’t retrace my internet breadcrumbs to remember where I came across this soup from Helen Rosner, who is the New Yorker’s Roving Food Correspondent, which sounds like a dream job if I ever heard of one, but this soup is now firmly entrenched in my life. I’ve made it several times and each time I do, I exclaim over and over how damn good it is.

Made with the most simple and humble of ingredients, it just has a special soup alchemy that does me in. Like any good soup, it gets better with time. I’m a major fan.

As you know, I typically link to the original recipe source for my damn delicious posts but today I’m going to share my version of the recipe with a few little tweaks. Here’s why: her original recipe is beautifully written but it’s a pain in the ass for me to follow every time I cook it because she uses a LOT of language to describe the cooking process. It’s helpful, especially for the first time cooking it, but not for when you want to get in, get out and eat dinner. So, mostly for my own laziness, I want the recipe saved in my own archives.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • Glug of olive oil
  • 1 medium-sized onion, diced
  • 2 tablespoons pre-minced garlic or about 3 cloves fresh garlic
  • 1 pound of hot italian turkey sausage, removed from casings
  • 1 28 ounce jar of whole peeled tomatoes (san marzano if you can)
  • 1 quart of chicken bone broth/stock
  • 1 can of beans, drained. Any type! I like white beans, but anything is good
  • 1 bunch kale, chopped or a few handfuls of any sturdy green (collards, chard, spinach)
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • lemon or lime slices for garnish
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil glug in soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and and cook until fragrant. Add garlic. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
  2. After about one minute of garlic cooking, add sausage to pot. Allow to cook until nice and browned and broken down.
  3. Once sausage is browned, add tomatoes, beans and broth. Bring to simmer. Use a potato masher or the back of your spoon to break down the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.
  4. Prior to serving, stir in parmesan cheese. It will flavor, but won’t make the soup ‘cheesy’. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a squeeze of lemon or lime.

Do you have any delicious soup recipes as your go-to? This one is my all-time fav!

damn delicious, Procrastibaking

Damn Delicious: Drop Biscuits from Heaven

April 19, 2020

What if I told you that you could have these delicious pillows of fluff from idea to fruition within thirty minutes? That you wouldn’t have to touch a rolling pin or try to find a biscuit cutter? That you wouldn’t have to futz with flour on your counters?

These slightly adapted Drop Biscuits from Shutterbean are just pure magic and they come together so fast with the most humble list of ingredients. I highly, highly recommend.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut into tiny pieces
  • 3/4 – 1 cup milk

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until well-combined.
  3. Cut in the butter. I use my (very clean!) hands to do this. Basically, I make sure the butter gets coated in flour as soon as I break it up. You want it to flake into tiny pieces, so I mush the butter up and then I toss it in the flour, mush it up, toss it in the flour, you get the picture. Try to handle the flour as very little as possible so that your biscuits stay flaky.
  4. Once the butter is pretty well mixed with the flour, add the milk. You want to use just enough milk to make your dough wet, but not mushy. It’s a fine line. Start with 3/4 of a cup and add a little bit more if you need it. In all, I used a full cup of 1% milk. You might need a little less if you use milk with a higher fat percentage.
  5. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until they turn a delightful golden brown.

I fried a couple of eggs in butter to go with mine and had one of my biscuits with blackberry jam. All was well in my world.

Do you like biscuits? This was a my first time making drop biscuits and I am absolutely smitten!