Sweet Potato Fries

Super super easy. It'll take you about half an hour, maybe a bit more.

You need
Sweet potatoes or yams
Olive oil
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Cloves
Paprika
Cayenne
2 garlic cloves

You Do
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and set aside.

Slice up your potatoes or yams into fry-shaped wedges. Put em in a big bowl with a healthy amount of olive oil and diced garlic. Add spices with abandon, giving the cayenne, salt and paprika the most shakes and the cardamom the fewest. Stir around until wedges are well-coated with spices.

Transfer the wedges to your lined baking sheet and spread out into 1 even layer. Bake for 30-ish minutes, turning once to make sure they cook evenly.

Devour!

I maked a cake

I made a cake! I'm really proud of myself. Making cakes isn't something I really do, mostly because I usually lack the proper equipment. But! Last week I bought a springform pan from Sur La Table and this weekend set about making this cake. The only thing I did differently was substitute all-purpose flour for 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 bread flour. I like that combo, even if it's something I came up with out of necessity rather than any kind of baking genius.

You Need
1 small to medium orange
1 lemon
6 ounces raw almonds
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
4 large eggs, ideally at room temperature
½ tsp. table salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

You Do
... Follow Orangette's instructions. I'm too lazy to write them all out. I'll just say - watch when you pour the olive oil in, you will get these really cool batter caverns that close up after a few seconds.


Oh my god also the wiki article I linked to up there just taught me I can use this pan for PIZZA MAKING. Little Star, get ready for some competition.

Corn muffins

I made corn muffins! Yum. I did a bit of experimenting on these, which was fun and successful! Yay.

I started with this recipe and did some substitutions based on what I had around. They were great!

You Need
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup bread flour (I used the pastry and bread flours because I didn't have any all-purpose flour. Feel free to use 1 cup of all-purpose if you prefer.)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup walnut oil
1 cup plain yogurt

You do
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, butter your muffin tins. Mix your dry ingredients together, add your wet ingredients. Mix everything together nicely, then spoon into muffin tinnies. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.

I think I had to cook these for a little while longer because of the yogurt - play it by ear. Since I used honey instead of sugar, these were more like cornbread muffins than regular corn muffins; sweet-tooth-people may want to add more honey (or just use sugar).

Farfalle with Brussels Sprouts and Pistachio

I ate something like this over the weekend and made it my project tonight to recreate it in some capacity. I think I succeeded!


This is a tangy, nutty pasta salad with few ingredients but big flavor. I hope you like it.

You Need
1 lb brussels sprouts
3/4 to 1 lb farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1 lemon
1 little shallot
3/4 cup pistachios
1 tbsp butter
salt & pepa


You Do
Cut the tough ends off your sprouties, remove gross leafies, and slice into little... slicies. See below.


Put water on for the pasta. Chop up your shallot nice and small and start some butter in the pan. Add the shallots, saute for a bit then add sprouties. Saute again until the sprouts start browning and softening a bit. Toss in the pistachios, saute a little bit more, add salt n' pepa for taste. When the pasta is done, drain and add everything together. Add the juice from the lemon, more pepper and salt if you need it, and enjoy!


Yomyomyom