East Goes (Mid)West

Greetings from a somewhat gray and snowy Nebraska! After a few days of sunny weather where the temperatures topped out in the mid 50's we awoke this morning to a dusting of snow and spitting of rain/snow. On the bright side the six foot drifts that were covering our backyard are almost gone! Which is good. Now we can start planning on putting up a fence for Sky, no more wandering outside with her on a leash several times a day, just open the door and let her go.

Our dog, Sky.

This week Hannah celebrated a birthday. To celebrate I made her dinner. This is not unusual as since I am  home all day I make dinner often. However, what is unusual is that I also made a cake...from scratch. Baking in our home usually falls to Hannah. My cooking style is usually pretty spontaneous and more free form, I enjoy following the spirit of recipes (if I use one at all) not the letter of them.

And guess what! It turned out great! So, in celebration of my (new found?) baking skills here is the recipe. It was found in the February issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. 

Vanilla-Sparkling Wine Pound Cake

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used bread flour and it worked fine)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup sparkling wine or milk (I used Barefoot Bubbly Moscato Spumante Champagne)

3 Tbsp. sour cream

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup canola oil

5 cold eggs

2 Tbsp. vanilla paste or extract (Use a high-quality pure extract, not imitation. It makes a huge difference.)

- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan; set aside. In a large bowl mix togeather flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift mixture; set aside. Stir together sparkling wine and sour cream; set aside.

- In a large mixing bowl beat sugar, melted butter, and oil with electric mixer until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. Beat on medium to high 3 to 5 minutes or until thicker and lighter in color. Add one-third the flour mixture; beat on low until just combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add half the wine mixture; beat just until combined. Repeat with one-third the flour mixture, the remaining wine mixture, and the remaining flour mixture. With rubber spatula scrape batter into prepared pan.

- Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire   rack for 15 minutes. Turn our on rack; cool completely. Drizzle with Sparkling Wine Glaze.

Sparkling Wine Glaze

In a small bowl combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp. sparkling wine. Stir in additional wine 1 tsp. at a time until drizzling consistency is reached.

Before we ate cake we dined on tuna steaks, tomato-curry pasta and broccoli. The tuna steak marinade, found at cooks.com, was really good too.

Tuna Steaks w/ Mustard Butter - makes enough for two 1/4 lb. steaks

1 Tbsp. each reduced-sodium soy sauce (Bragg's Liquid Aminos), rice vinegar

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1 Tbsp. whipped butter, softened and divided

1/2 tsp. powdered mustard

- In a container (not aluminum) that is large enough to hold tuna in a single layer, arrange tuna. Combine soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; pour over tuna. Let stand 5 minutes; turn tuna over and let stand 5 minutes longer.

- In a cup or small bowl, combine 2 tsp. butter and the mustard; mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

- Melt the remaining teaspoon of butter and brush on the tuna steaks. Place on a heated grill (I did them inside  with a frying pan on the stove) for about 2 minutes; turn tuna over and drizzle with any remaining marinade. Cook 2 minutes longer.

- Serve steaks topped with the butter/mustard mixture. 

The secret to great tuna is not to over cook it. It should be slightly pink in the center and cutable with just a fork. Overcook it and it becomes tough and chewy.

10 days till spring, think warm thoughts!

Peace,

Eric