Homemade Doughnuts - a timeless classic
I am a huge time travel geek. One of my favorite books of all time is The Time Travelers Wife and I adore it because it combines two of my loves, time travel and libraries. I bet you had absolutely no idea how really, incredibly geeky I am…but that’s me the uber-geek. When I was a kid I played library, you know like how some kids play house, I even had check-out cards for all my books and I was really into the Dewey Decimal System. Oh those were good times.
When I made these doughnuts I couldn’t stop thinking about time travel and it’s actually all because of Homer Simpson. In a Treehouse of Horror episode Homer attempts to repair a toaster and ends up traveling through time to prehistoric time. He thoughtfully remembers not to touch or alter anything in order not to screw up time but of course he does and when he’s transported back to his home on Springfield Terrace he finds it changed in weird and disturbing ways. At one point he returns and his hateful sisters-in law are both dead, he has a fabulous house, a luxury automobile, and Bart and Lisa are well behaved, but when he asks if there are doughnuts Marge says “Doughnut? What’s a doughnut?” and Homer angrily goes back to prehistoric times as the scene shows doughnuts falling from the sky at Springfield Terrace and Marge says “Look, it’s raining again”.
Now my association of these almost cartoon looking doughnuts and time travel makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? These are classic cake style doughnuts that are so easy to make and taste so unbelievably good that you’ll kick yourself for not having made them sooner. My neighbors granny use to make these for her when she was a kid and now she makes them for her family. Give them a try, they are really easy and if you have a thermometer so you can monitor the temp of the oil you’ll have no problems making these fresh little babies.
Doughnuts
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4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ a whole nutmeg grated fine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Doughnut topping
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Canola oil for deep frying
Sift the first six ingredients together into your mixer bowl. In another bowl combine the yogurt and milk and mix. Add the 1 cup of sugar and the 2 eggs, stir to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix on medium until the two parts are well combined.
Dump the dough out onto a well floured counter and roll the dough out to a ½ inch thickness. The dough is going to be very sticky so just use as much flour as you need to prevent it from sticking to the counter. Cut out the donughnuts with a doughnut cutter or a drinking glass then cut out the center hole with something that will cut a teeny-tiny circle. I used some odd piece out of my junk drawer.
Transfer the doughnuts to a floured baking sheet. Combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping and lay out a couple of baking racks over some baking sheets lined with paper towels.
Put a heavy dutch oven on a burner with a medium flame and add the canola oil. I think I added about 1 ¾ quarts of oil. Heat it to 350°F and then carefully drop the doughnuts into the oil. I’m able to fit in about 6 at a time. Check your oil temp and if it has dropped below 340°F you’ll want to turn up the heat until the temperature returns to 350°F. Don’t let the temperature go over 355°F because then you’ll burn the doughnuts.
Gently flip the doughnut when it is a rich brown on one side. When the other side has browned you should carefully remove it from the oil and place it on the first rack. Wait a few minutes so you don’t burn your fingers then roll it in the sugar/cinnamon and place it on the other rack. Continue cooking the doughnuts until they are all done. Serve while they are still warm.
Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Pasta Salad
I never make pasta salad. That’s because in the ’80s so many atrocious, awful, nasty pasta salads were created and served that it actually makes my head spin to think about it. At that time I didn’t have a phobia about mayonnaise, which I do now, and that’s what 99 percent of those evil pasta salads were dressed with. Let me backtrack here…I hate jarred mayonnaise…it sucks and blows at the same time. In fact it’s so bad that when I do actually make a mayonnaise it’s not a mayonnaise…it’s a classic aiol which I would never, ever slop over a bowl of pasta salad. Dave eats mayonnaise…I eat mustard.
Anyways…pasta salad is something I don’t even think of making. But I was talking to a friend and she too lives in a house with three men, two of which are teenagers, so like me she spends a lot of time preparing food to feed those eating machines. She mentioned a Barefoot Contessa pasta salad with roasted eggplant, bell peppers, and onion all tossed with a lemon vinaigrette and I thought it sounded tasty and light and I love Ina Garten so I looked it up, then cooked it up, and it was a big hit.
This salad is perfect for this time of year when you may be swimming in too many vegetables; whether you have a generous garden or you just can’t control yourself at the farmers’ market this salad will make quick and easy use of all that you have. The flavors are light, tangy, and perfect to accompany a burger, a stuffed chicken thigh sandwich, BBQ chicken, or steak. I can’t believe I went this long without making this salad…it’s that good.
The original recipe called for feta, pine nuts, and fresh basil…none of which I had and I actually don’t regret not having them. The basil would have been a tasty topper but the cheese could have over-powered the lightness of the salad…it’s your call but I know I won’t be adding it the next time I make this salad, it was delicious without it. Instead of pine nuts I used toasted and salted pumpkin seeds and they were a fabulous salty crunch with a robust flavor. Best of all, the leftover salad is great for a workday lunch. I added some leftover grilled salmon and a tomato and it was superb.
Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Pasta Salad
adapted from an Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa recipe
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1 large eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced
2 red bell peppers, 1 inch diced
2 green bell pepper, 1 inch diced
2 red onion, peeled and 1 inch diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup olive oil
Salt
1 pound orzo pasta
½ cup toasted and salted pumpkin seeds
For the dressing
½ cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Toss the eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Roast for 40 minutes.
While the veggies are roasting cook the orzo according to package instructions. Feel free to use any shape of pasta that you love. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the roasted vegetables to the bowl making sure to include all those good veggie juices. Combine the lemon juice and olive oil and whisk to mix. Add some salt and pepper and then pour over the pasta and vegetables and toss to combine. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Serve at room temperature or chilled with the pumpkin seeds as a garnish on top.
Chard salad with Walnut Raspberry Dressing
Thanks for all the great comments. I am feeling better, although I’ll admit that this cold is just hanging on and tormenting me. But enough of that because despite the silly cold I’m as busy as ever and I’ve got something special to share with you today. I know it’s just a salad but I personally think that the colors and flavors of this salad are just phenomenal. I dubbed it the french apron salad because it has the same color combination as the apron I bought in Paris. The very same apron that I photographed and used as the graphic header up above…yup, that’s the one. Now you see what I mean.
Here in Wisconsin we’ve had several weeks of tender chard. I know that may sound strange but chard usually has pretty thick and sturdy leaves but the last two batches that my CSA delivered have had beautifully soft, tender greens with stems that match. It seemed wrong to even contemplate cooking this chard so I decided to make a salad. I used a fabulously fresh walnut oil and a raspberry vinegar to create a dressing, I topped it with toasted walnuts, red onions, and carrots. I also used the chard stems but they required a bit of special handling. Chard stems seem to have teeny tiny deep channels that hold onto sand and soil like crazy. I washed then in a sink full of fresh cold water but that didn’t get rid of all the grit and there is nothing worse than a gritty salad. So I filled a quart mason jar 3/4 full with cold water and I dropped the stems in, screwed on the lid and shook it up for at least a minute. When I dumped them out and rinsed them off I gave one the grit test and it passed. The stems add a significant amount of color and a ton of flavor so I’m glad I found a way to use them.
We often get mixed baby greens in our CSA box and they have so little texture and flavor that I really dislike them. But this salad has big textures, big flavors and yet there is a subtlety, a tenderness that is really inviting. I plan on making this pretty salad again.
Chard Salad
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1 bunch of tender chard, stems and leaves
1 small red onion
2 carrots, sliced thin
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
¼ cup fresh walnut oil
Squirt of honey
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup toasted walnuts
Separate the chard leaves from the stems. Wash and spin dry the leaves and chop them into 1” ribbons and place them in a large salad bowl. Trim the stems into 2 inch pieces and place them in a quart jar filled ¾ of the way with fresh cold water. Screw on the lid and shake for a minute or so. Drain into a colander and rinse with fresh cold water. Test a stem for grit by eating it. If there is any grit left repeat the shaking routine. If no grit is detected then slice the stems into thin match sticks and add to the salad bowl.
Slice the carrots into think rounds and the onion into thin slices and add to the salad bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well. Taste and adjust accordingly. Add the walnuts to the salad bowl, add the dressing and toss and serve. It is good as is but I was tempted to add goat cheese…that might be even better.
