Grace and Ben

I want to post a few great recipes I’ve used in the last few weeks. This weekend, I don’t have to go to work so I plan on trying out some more new recipes, especially from my new cookbook Everyday Greens by Anne Sommerville the chef of a famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco.

I made Thea’s fantastic caramel corn tonight. It was easy, a little messy, but very delicious. Everything (from the popping of the popcorn to the melting of the caramel) was done in my trusty Dutch oven (and a big metal mixing bowl and a cookie sheet).

For Ben’s birthday, I made him a delicious chocolate cake with Dutch pressed cocoa powder I bought at the Blommer chocolate factory across the street. I bought a 9″ springform cake pan from Bed, Bath and Beyond just for this project. Here is the recipe I got from foodnetwork.com:

DEVIL’S CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

• Butter and flour, for spring form pan
• 2 cups pastry flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 11/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces buttermilk
• 1/2 cup plus 2 ounces brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Special equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt 3 times, set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time beating well after each addition.

Combine the buttermilk, coffee and vanilla extract.

Mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then half the wet ingredients. Repeat with the remaining dry and wet ingredients, finishing with dry. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 1 hour, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. remove the cake from the pan after 15 minutes. Cool completely.

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Previously, Ben and I purchased several pounds of beautiful red potatoes and some fresh thyme and oregano. I typed in those ingredients in the recipe search on allrecipes.com and came up with this awesome recipe. I tweaked it a bit and everything turned out perfectly. The key is baking the potatoes in the oven for 50 minutes, which makes the potatoes super-crispy and delicious.

HERBY ROASTED POTATO WEDGES

• 10 small red potatoes, peel yucky parts and cut into quarters
• 1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, toss potato wedges with oil. Arrange in a single layer in a roasting pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Bake for 30 more minutes, or until golden brown.