True Gruel

It was my lil’ blogmuffin’s birthday. And I decided that in its honor, it was about dang time I made gruel for Gruel.

I searched around for actual gruel recipes. Apparently there is a delicious rice porridge dish (Korean maybe?) called congee that is sometimes referred to as gruel. I also found a broth-y sort of recipe for gruel in one of my favorite cookbooks, “The Breakfast Book”, by Marion Cunningham.

I was told by a friend that the rice porridge dish was great. But I wanted something with the original name of “gruel”.

I also wanted an excuse to open a bottle of wine.

Not that I need an excuse, per se, but like a sweater carried around just-in-case, it’s nice to have one.

Sorry for that metaphor. It was stupid, but too true for me to leave out.

I originally wanted the term “gruel” for this blog because a lot of food that doesn’t look good (like gruel), still tastes amazing. That is the “scrumptious” part. I’ve gotten a bit better at making my food somewhat prettier, I guess. But I still like to think of this blog in “gruel” terms. It’s rough, and ready. It is strong. It is here to nourish you. And me. Duh. Blogs are the most narcissistic invention there is.

I love my blog.

I also enjoy the Oxford comma, incidentally.

Marion’s gruel recipe is not too specific. Most elements it tells to you can add if you like. When it comes to wine, butter, and sugar, I always like.

This was actually quite good. Comforting as Marion promised. I was surprised.

I’m giving you a recipe for what I made but feel free to adapt “as you like”. And you will.

Happy birthday gruel!

Gruel interpreted from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
2 Tbsp. oatmeal
1 cup H2O
1/2 tsp. butter
Pinch if sugar
1 Tbsp. white wine (I used a dry Riesling)
Dash nutmeg
Soak oats in water for 20 minutes then strain the liquid into a small pan. Bring to a simmer and add everything else. Yay gruel! Pour a glass of wine and light a candle. Party time. Excellent.

Croque Ellen

I really should remake this on another (cooler) day and post a better picture.

Problem was the yolk broke when I cracked the egg so I didn’t get that nice egg shot with the yolk standing up looking all pert and sassy. It still looks pretty sexy though, flowing out into the chasm created when I sliced into the sandwich. And dipped in salsa, who cares what it looks like? Tastes perfect.

It is my birthday, and being as such I giving myself the present of naming a sandwich I invented myself after myself.

I’m so generous.

I actually woke up one morning thinking of this sandwich. THAT was a new one. I wasn’t even hungry.

I was just coming to, rolling about in my bed as I do and thinking about the Croque Madame I made, and how it would use up at least one of my eggs before they went bad. But I was also thinking spicy. And thus was born this southwest-ish version. Call the tex-mex Croque. Call it the Croque Ellen.

And now, my dears, I will not even attempt to amuse you anymore as I must scurry off to Lock and Key and have toast to me. Bourbon time.

This is not so much a recipe as a recommended assemblage.
The Croque Ellen
2 pieces of bread
About an ounce of cheese
Salsa
Cilantro
Baby spinach
Egg
Toast yer bread. Layer salsa, cilantro, spinach and cheese as you see fit. If you don’t care for bread that is te least bit soggy be careful with the salsa, or maybe wait and just add on the side later. Cut a circle out of top slice but leave it in place for now. Put some cheese on top. Put it in the oven broiler for about two seconds to melt. Take the circle out and crack an egg in there. Broil until done. Or be like me and realize everything else is going to burn before the egg is done as I’d like. Put in microwave to finish cooking. Yea. So good.

Chocolate and vanilla: it’s not so black and white

It’s my birthday y’all! And I didn’t have time to make myself a cake.
Yet! I dare say I’ll fete myself with something sweet and homemade when I’m not fretting over 7 pages of sides for an audition that by the time you read this I hopefully will have dominated.
In the meantime you get to see a birthday cake I made earlier this month for the fantastically talented Suilma.

I need to try this recipe again when I haven’t been karaoke-ing and champagne sipping for a couple of hours inhibiting my critical tasting abilities.
That was a good party, I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out when my various worlds collide at my most favorite-est wine bar in LA tonight.

So about this cake:
Vanilla is underrated. Why is it an insult to call something “vanilla”? Vanilla is so not vanilla. Chocolate gets all the glory while vanilla hangs out, chill and sophisticated, knowing it is awesome without needing to claim to be the devil, an angel, or life-threatening. Giving you the stink-eye, death by chocolate.

But chocolate is magical. So put them together and you get a fantastic shade of gray. Tan.

Chocolate Vanilla Cake(adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)

1/3 vanilla bean, ends trimmed and finely minced
1/4 c. Boiling h2o
1/2 c. Flour
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, separated
10 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. Applesauce
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Heat over to 350. Line a nine-inch cake pan with nonstick foil and spray. Put bean in big bowl and cover with boiling agua. Let it sit there.
In another bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
Beat egg white until stiff in another bowl.
Add yolks, sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract to vanilla water. Beat until good and creamy. Mix in dry stuff. Fold in the whites. Spoon into Pam and allow to settle. Bake until it passes the toothpick test, around 20 minutes.

The frosting was from Mr. Bittman too, I’ll give you that recipe when I try again with the cake.

Friends don’t let friends buy their own cake…or do they?!

Disclaimer: I started writing this post before Alice’s birthday. I promised her a birthday dessert then fell down on the task because I was shooting a short that weekend an couldn’t make it to the home party-I did make it to the dinner but that was at Cafe Gratitude and Alice was looking forward to the vegan desserts and told me not to worry about bringing a cake.
Alice has parties, because she is that awesome and requires more than one event to see all her friends. It’s true.
So I’m a jerk who fell down on the cake task for her.
But before that when I wasn’t working I held onto(and when time permits will continue to hold on to) the belief that no one should buy their own cake.
And now the post I wrote before I became a total hypocrite:

“omg! The restaurant closed. Stress! Gotta go buy a cake!”
Oh noooooo you didn’t! No one should buy their own cake. Really. I can maybe entertain the idea of making my own but…
When my darling Rebecca’s venue for her birthday fell through I had to stop her in her Gelson’s-bound trax.

Normally they’d be tracks, but Rebecca is a hottie so she makes trax.

Trax to Oldfield’s, a west side bar I think is just smashing.

A slightly less blown out shot(Oldfield’s was dark!):

True story about this cake. I was a bit surprised that Mz. Trax requested a vanilla cake with white frosting. So…vanilla.
But vanilla in all it’s simplicity can be perfection so I turned to the masters of perfection, Cook’s Illustrated for a recipe.
But I wanted to make it somewhat special and told Rebecca she was getting a pink cake,
So I buy my happy lil’ multipack of food coloring at the store.
At home I open it and someone had filched the container of red.
Of all the packages, of all the colors they took red out of the package I picked.

Somewhere in LA an ass was eating red velvet, I bet. Evil. Pure evil.

I decided yellow was probably Trax-y Lady’s next pick and made a yellow cake. Pink candles though. I do try.

White Cake with Butter Frosting from Baking Illustrated(halved recipe)
1 c. + 2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 c. Almond milk, room temp
3 egg whites, room temp
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
14 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp.baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter(I used half-fat cause…that’s what I had), softened but cool

Frosting:
1/3 c. Butter, soft but cool
1 1/3 c. Powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla almond milk
For the cake:
Mix egg whites, almond milk and extracts in a 2-cup measuring cup(not necessary, but helpful for the part where you add it to other mixtures in increments). Beat butter into flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until it is crumbly, then beat in all but 1/4 cups of the milk mix. Then beat in the rest. Bake in a 9 inch tin at 350 for about 20-30 minutes-when a toothpick comes out clean it’s done.
For the frosting: Just beat it(beat it!) and spread it. Yah.