Friend Day Deserves Pistachio Blueberry Loaf Cake with Honey Butter
August 3rd, 2011 § 4 Comments
August isn’t for much. This makes me sad for August. It’s as if the world — as a whole — took one look at those 31 days and said “heh” before joining hands and skipping off with all the other holidays. August sat there alone, with nothing to look forward to until Friendship Day came along and asked to play. Yes, I have been a quiet fan of Friend Day (the peppy name I prefer) ever since finding it during an August Holiday Search for a work calendar.
How, when, why, where Friend Day started is a mystery. The internet says that Friend Day was started in 1935 by the U.S. Congress. Which I find quite humorous. Proof of this proclamation was not found. Calling the government and asking was very tempting, but I thought, perhaps, just perhaps they needed to focus on another task.
All that really needs to be known is that this holiday is well worth celebrating. A quiet fan no more I yell out live the meaning of friendship, give thanks, celebrate with cake! The cake makes the yelling a little less jarring, you know.
The real dilemma with this post wasn’t in finding a recipe – it was in choosing one. All my friends keep me cooking. Recipes, idea for recipes, sources for recipes, sources for foods, foods never before tried, new ways of cooking foods never before tried, forgotten recipes are suggested and talked about, recommended and encouraged by all of them. Thank you. If only there was time and stomach enough to try each and every one.
While researching this post (internet browsing) I learned that Winnie the Pooh was named the world’s Ambassador of Friendship by the United Nations. (Which also went unverified.*) In honor of him (who knew a thing or two about friendship) and to the United Nations (who is supposed to be about friendship) for being a little silly the featured ingredient had to be honey. While telling a friend of my very incomplete plan to feature honey she said “…and pistachios.”
Friends may not have suggested this cake recipe, but they have been very patient sounding boards. For both of them, kindly, as this one is adapted from A Polymath’s Lemon Rosemary Yogurt Pound Cake.
Pistachio Blueberry Loaf Cake
1 cup flour
½ cup roasted pistachios, finely ground
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt
not quite 1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
2 eggs
zest and juice from 1 lemon
½ cup sunflower oil
half a pint fresh blueberries
one good drizzle honey
Grease and bottom parchment line a loaf pan. Turn oven to 350°.
In a large bowl combine the flour, pistachios, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl whisk together the yogurt, sugar, brandy, eggs and lemon juice. Add the small bowl ingredients to the large bowl ingredients. Add in the sunflower oil. Though any number of oils would also work. I’d never had sunflower oil before and wanted to give it try. I can’t say I noticed any difference at all, but it does sound so lovely. Stir in the blueberries. Then add your drizzle of honey.
Pour into the loaf pan. Bake until golden brown – like a toasty Winnie the Pooh. Or, until a tester comes out clean. How long you ask? Hmm… If you turn on a movie that lasts 1 hour and 49 minutes when you start putting together the ingredients the cake will be finished before the movie. Long enough before the movie to allow your body to relax and mind to become absorbed in the movie’s magical charm.
Remove from oven. Let cool. Remove from pan. Let cool completely.
In making this my goal was to replace the sugar with honey. I got scared, decided to put in only sugar, then told myself to pull it together and added in a large drizzle of honey. I thought it was quite sweet enough as it was. A larger honey taste would be nice for the future. Next time…I leap, maybe with my eyes closed.
Honey Butter
from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
4 tablespoons (half a stick) of butter
2 tablespoons honey
zest from one lemon
Melt the butter. You can do this in the warm oven. Mix in the honey and lemon zest. Put in the refrigerator to set. It will separate, but that’s okay. Put the butter mixture into a little food processor and whir it all about until it’s combined into a silky soft spread.
At least that’s how it went this time. See I really did try to follow the directions in the book. It didn’t work out. This was how I saved it. It was delicious.
* In fact the only information that seemed accurate was that the United Nations moved Friendship Day to July 30. I consider this to be a terrible slight to August who certainly did nothing to deserve having its one and only holiday taken away. I will not acknowledge this change.
Happy Friend Day!
Meals to Die by, no. 14
July 5th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Today’s death will be sponsored by the plants. Yes, plants are out there everywhere and they are out to get you. The unsuspecting, the foolish, even the wise can fall victim to picturesque (or ugly) foliage.
But which plant to choose? One mistakenly eaten because it dastardly masquerades as a safe plant? One that tempts with its edible parts only to reveal a cruel inner poison? One readily eaten daily that slowly causes distress?
For assistance I turned to Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart. Besides causing me to wonder a little bit more about the plants I look at everyday it led me to look up the poison gardens online and start planning my next imaginary vacation.
Yes, even the foods we eat everyday can lead to death or at the very least extreme discomfort.
Limes and citrus – Perhaps if you were not a child that snuck lemon halves or fished out lime halves from your Cherry Limeade during the hot summers in order to suck their juices you are not familiar with the phototoxic chemicals found in the oil glands of a citrus fruits’ rind. I was. When I sat outside in the summer sun drinking my Cherry Limeade, my face started to burn and itch. Sadly, it took a few times to rid me of this habit. I still look longingly at that half a lime.
Habanero Chili – The numbness, watering eyes, burning throat, the simple yet excruciating sting that goes with cutting up a chile measuring in at 100,000 to 1,000,000 SHU is hardly news to anyone who has ever dared attack one of these beautifully pale orange chilies. Playing it safe with a food processor can even become a danger if you stand too close when unhooking the lid. And of course, there are unspoken words here about some parts being worse than others.
Corn – An ever-expanding staple that suffers from loneliness. In order to consume niacin you could eat all the corn available and still never get enough. Pellagra – a severe niacin deficiency – causes (in part) your mind to suffer from dementia while your skin takes on a pale deathly appearance before death.3
But don’t worry. This here is safe to consume. Really – the lime helps you absorb the niacin. The butter cuts the sting of the habanero — at least I think so. Basic logic reasons that if milk helps than creamed curdled butter would do the same. And the lime is going inside you not on you so you’re safe there, too.
Corn on the Cob with Lime Habanero Butter
zest of about half a lime
half a habanero chili
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons butter
Corn, on the cobs
Chop up the lime peel and habanero in a food processor. Add in the butter and salt and whir around until combined. Return butter to the fridge to chill until you’re ready for it.
Cook the corn in a pot of boiling water. How long – well that depends. Are you a common cook or not? If yes, then until it is tender, the kernels feel like they are about to pop with juice and they have turned to a deeper yellow. Or grill. If not, then you should find a different site to help you out because plenty of instructions on proper cooking length of corn on the cob exist. Out there.
