pan-fried onion dip

adapted from one of my new favorite food bloggers, Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake, who adapted it from Ina Garten's recipe in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

2 large yellow onions, or 3 medium
2 T unsalted butter
1/8 c vegetable oil
1/4 t ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 t kosher salt, or to taste
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t white pepper, freshly ground if possible
1/4 - 1/2 t dried thyme
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature, light is fine
1/2 c yogurt, lowfat is fine
1/4 - 1/2 c mayonnaise (as usual, we recommend Blue Plate or Duke's)
onion salt to taste, optional

1. Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt and pepper, and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.

2. Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Depending on how much bite your onions have, you may need to add onion salt or granulated onion at this point. Depending on how dense you want the finished product, you can mix at a medium high speed for a few more minutes to get it nice and airy. This can be refrigerated until needed in an air-tight container, but take it out of the fridge ahead of time so that you can serve at room temperature.

lemon-almond buttermilk loaf

from Epicurious.com

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

2 c sugar

3/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature

3 large eggs

1/4 t almond extract

3/4 c buttermilk

3/4 c ground almonds

1 T grated lemon peel

5 T fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x5x2 1/2" metal loaf pan. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 1 1/2 c sugar and butter in large bowl until well-blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in almond extract.

Add dry ingredients to egg mixture alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions each, beating until well blended after each addition. Add ground almonds and lemon peel and beat 1 minute. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until deep golden brown and cracked on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir remaining 1/2 c sugar and 5 T lemon juice in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Place rack on baking sheet. Turn cake out onto rack, top side up. using skewer or toothpick, poke holes 1 to 2 inches apart all over cake. Brush top and sides of cake with all of lemon glaze, allowing some glaze to soak into cake before brushing with more. Cook cake completely.

brown rice crispy bars

adapted from Alton Brown

3 oz puffed brown rice

3 T flax seed oil, plus extra for the pan

1 T honey

7 oz mini-marshmallows

3 oz toasted slivered almonds

4 oz dried chopped fruit (cranberries and cherries)

Lightly coat the inside of a 13x9x2" metal pan wiht oil and set aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Spread the brown puffed rice evenly on a sheet pan. Toast in the oven for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the rice is toasting, prepare the marshmallow mixture. Place the oil, honey, and marshmallows in a large mixing bowl set over a port of gently simmering water. Stir until the marshmallows are melted, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Once the marshmallows are melted, quickly add the toasted brown rice, almonds, and fruit; stir to combine. Coat your hands or a spatula with oil and spreadh the mixture evenly in the pan. Once the mixture has cooled completely, cut into squares and store in an airtight container for a few days.

salsa

10 large ripe tomatoes, blanched**, peeled, diced
at least a pound of tomatillos, blanched, peeled, diced
2 large bell peppers, diced
2 onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 jalapenos, finely diced

juice of 2 limes
red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, at least 2 T
salt
red pepper flakes

green onions, finely chopped
cilantro, finely chopped

Combine first six ingredients. Season to taste with lime juice, vinegar, salt, pepper flakes. Keep in mind that the jalapenos and garlic get stronger as the salsa sits and the flavors meld. finish with green onions and cilantro, but if you're making this ahead of time, it's not a bad idea to leave out the green onions and cilantro until it's time to eat. That way they don't turn into little green slimy bits overnight.

**To blanche tomatoes, take a large pot full of water and bring it to a rolling boil. While it's getting to boiling point, fill a large bowl with cold water. Carefully drop each tomato into the boiling water with tongs or a large spoon. After a short while, usually within a minute or two, the skin of the tomato will start to split. Once this happens, remove the tomato from the hot water and drop it into the cold water. This will stop it cooking as quickly as possible. Once it's cool, you should be able to slide the skin off easily.

To blanche tomatillos, follow the procedure above, but if the skins don't split within three minutes, remove from hot water when the tomatillo turns a yellower green in color.

superior hummus

Ingredients (my proportions in parentheses):

• 1 large can (19 oz) garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 can (14 oz) cannellini (Italian white beans)
  
• juice of a large lemon (around half)
• garlic cloves, peeled (2-4)
• olive oil (1 T)
• lowfat plain yogurt (4 T)
• sesame seed oil, preferably toasted sesame seed oil (2 T)
• kosher salt (1/2 T)
• fresh ground black pepper (1 t)
• cumin (1 t)

Combine all in food processor, until desired consistency.

For me, good hummus is a balance between all the flavors and it's easy to get carried away, so taste often and adjust seasonings a little at a time. Usually hummus has tahini, a sesame seed paste, in it. Since tahini is high fat, this recipe leaves it out, achieving a very similar taste with the sesame seed oil. Start with at least a tablespoon, and adjust to your taste. If too thick, thin with liquid from beans, extra lemon juice (carefully, as this can quickly overwhelm the other flavors), a little more oil, or more yogurt.

Probably this will not keep as long as traditional hummus (because of the yogurt), but it's so good that won't be a problem. Serve with whatever you like, but we think it's good with red bell pepper strips, cucumbers, toasted pita bread triangles.

Note on sesame oil: It's easy to find at any Asian market, or even the Asian section of most grocery stores. You may have to go to a specialty market to find toasted sesame seed oil, but it's worth it. The flavor is much richer and deeper, and when using oil for a flavoring, that lets you use less oil to better effect.

oven caramel corn

18 c popped corn
2 c light brown sugar
1 c butter or marg
½ c light corn syrup
1 pinch of salt
½ t soda

Mix sugar, butter, syrup, and salt; boil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add soda and mix well. Pour over corn; stir until corn is coated fairly evenly. Spread on cookie sheets and bake for 1 hour at 200-225º F., stirring every fifteen minutes. Spread on clean countertop to cool, breaking to separate as it cools.

savory zucchini muffins

3 c unpared zucchini, cut in quarters and thinly sliced
1 c Bisquick
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1 t seasoning salt
1/2 t basil
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t marjoram
1/4 t white pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c chopped onion
2 T chopped fresh parsley

Grease muffin tins thoroughly with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except zucchini. Add zucchini and put immediately in muffin tins (1/2 c per muffin, if using full-sized pans). Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 muffins until golden brown.