Necessary Chocolate

Pi Day - the aftermath - and the cranberry-apple cake report

Make that key lime, buttermilk chess, cranberry-apple, and pecan-apple-caramel cheesecake (not shown). Plus leftover apple pie pops. Sheesh. Some of us still complained that there was no chocolate (mostly because we had been lobbying our boss to stop by the local pie place and pick up a chocolate pie). And thus a new office tradition is established.

The cranberry-apple cake from How Easy is That? was really good. (You can find the recipe at the publisher's website.) My cousin Marilyn chose it for the most recent assignment for the family cook-a-long. Some tried it with just apples, with lackluster results. My parents tried it with cherries and apples; again, not so good. The tart oomph of the cranberries seems to be the perfect flavor to balance out the orange-flavored crust.

To be completely truthful, I don't care for fruit. So I didn't dig right into this cake/pie/cobbler. But I did sample the orangey topping with some of the cranberry juice (that's my normal habit with crisps and cobblers). Anyway, it was fabulous. One of my coworkers suggested that this cake would be the perfect Christmas morning breakfast treat.

Note that it may be difficult to find fresh cranberries this time of the year. I couldn't. Luckily, my grocery store had frozen cranberries. Based on Marilyn's experience, I thawed them completely before making the cake.

Risotto on the mind

It took me a while to make the risotto. But it was on my mind. As proof, my church doodles from a few Sundays ago.

See? Right under "Why am I such a Pharisee" written over and over? (I don't actually remember what brought that on.)

ANYWAY, I had a much better day last Sunday in NYC, and then came back to COLD. Very very cold. Below zero cold. A perfect night for hot, creamy rice.

It turned out just as creamy as my cousin's batch. It was, in fact, creamier than any risotto I've made on the stove. So I may just have to stick with this Dutch oven method.

I did change the recipe some. I caramelized an onion the week before, and threw it in with the rice and chicken broth. Most of my risotto recipes start with a sauteed onion for flavor. Instead of white wine, I used 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice. After stirring in the remaining chicken broth and the cheese, I added turkey keilbasa and ground coriander. Next time I'll taste before adding the full 2 teaspoons of salt.

As my aunt noted, this recipe makes a lot. Leftover risotto can be pretty gummy and sticky. But that's the perfect texture for risotto cakes. Just form patties out of the leftover rice, dip them in egg, then in bread crumbs (preferably) or flour, and sautee them.

Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. My idea of breakfast.

I've had a few comments from my fellow cooks. I'll post those later this week!