Little rhubarb cakes

I modified this from Samantha Seneviratne's recipe in the NYTimes for "Rhubarb Quick Bread." Mostly I halved it and made some tiny tweaks from reader comments. I made it in my twinkie-shaped little cakes pan. I filled 5 twinkie molds, but should have used six more sparingly. Original recipe here

4 T melted butter

100g sugar

1.5 t freshly grated orange zest

2.5 T sour cream

1 egg

1/2 t vanilla

112g all-purpose flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

pinch of salt

1 c rhubarb (about 4 oz), cut into 1/4 inch cubes; I used a slightly heaping cup

turbinado sugar

Oven to 350; grease & flour your pan (or use baking spray). 

Whisk butter, sugar, zest, and sour cream, then whisk in eggs. Separately, mix the dry ingredients. Mix rhubarb into dries and then fold dries into wets. Smooth into pan. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake until skewer comes out clean with moist crumbs attached. (25-30 min? I'm not sure I checked the time). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out.

Quiche for a 6-inch pie plate

Modified and cut down from NYTimes recipes for quiche lorraine, including one by Gabrielle Hamilton and one by Craig Claiborne. I found this a successful way to make a smaller amount of quiche, and the leftovers are nice. Trader Joe's sells 4 oz packages of cubed pancetta, which is convenient.

Form and blind bake (with foil and weights) a pastry crust in a 6" pie plate. When it is nearly done, remove the weights and foil, brush with egg white, and bake 5 more minutes. Leave to cool.

Keep the oven on at 375.

Brown 4 oz cubed pancetta in 1 T fat; drain on paper towels. (I used bacon fat)

Then cook down 1/2 onion, diced, in 1 T fat. Set to drain with pancetta and let them both cool.

Grate about 70g gruyere.

When everything is cool, put pancetta, onion, and cheese in crust.

Combine 2 eggs and 1 yolk (I used jumbo) with 1 c heavy cream in a glass liquid measure. (Or, for large eggs, 2 eggs and 2 yolks and an extra splash of cream)

Season the dairy with a pinch of nutmeg, heaping 1/4 t salt and tabasco (if desired, I didn't this time). Beat until generally homogenous. Strain over the yummy stuff in the crust.

Set it on a baking sheet in case of spills or overrun (mine stayed nicely contained) and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Let set 10 minutes.

Finnish TikTok Feta Pasta

Would it be pandemic-era if I didn't try this?

It works, and it's superlatively easy, and it's yummy enough.

Here are proportions for half of what they usually show making (enough for three 1-person dinners):

Heat oven to 400 F and set a big pot of salted water to boil. In an 8x8 baking dish, toss a pint of cherry tomatoes with 1/4 c olive oil (yes, that much), salt, and pepper. I added a few extra tomatoes past this.

Plonk 4 oz of a block of feta in the middle and get some olive oil, salt, pepper over that too. Put it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Cook and drain 1/2 pound of pasta. I used farfalle.

Crank up the oven to 450; bake 10 minutes more to brown the tomatoes and feta.

Remove from oven and add 1 large clove of garlic, minced, and a pinch of red pepper flakes to cook in the residual heat. Add some torn basil and the pasta and stir it all up to coat it in melty cheese sauce. At first it will look like it won't work, but it will. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

King Arthur Gingerbread Pudding Cakes

 Mom made these in cup-size mason jars, and I was delighted to take 2 home since I LOVED them. It's what I always wanted sticky toffee pudding to be (and yes, I know sticky toffee pudding has dates).

CAKE

1 1/4 c (149 g) AP flour

3/4 t baking soda

1 t ginger

1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t nutmeg

1/8 t cloves

1/4 t salt

1/2 c (170g) molasses

1/2 c (113g) milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

4T (57g) butter, at room temp, at least 65 F

1/4 c (50g) sugar

PUDDING

1 c packed (213g) light brown sugar

4 t corn starch

1 1/4 c (283g) hot water

4T (57g) butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Butter eight 8 oz ramekins or an 8"square pan. Place ramekins on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Make cake: combine dries. In another bowl, mix molasses, milk, and eggs.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add dries and molasses mix in turns, beating on low speed, until just blended, scraping.

Pour batter into pan, or heaping 1/4 c of batter in each ramekin.

Make pudding: mix brown sugar and corn starch. Heat water and butter together just until butter melts; gradually stir into brown sugar mix.

Pour pudding mix slowly over batter in pans or a scant 1/4 c over each of the filled ramekins.

Bake 25-28 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake on top comes out clean. Serve warm.

Alexa Weibel's Lemony Macaroni Salad

 I wanted to make a macaroni salad for February picnic, but also wanted something a little different. I liked this lemony version, which I adapted from Alexa Weibel's recipe in the NYTimes (original recipe here). Hers is sweeter: where I use salty pickles, she uses bread and butter pickles (and capers). She also adds a teaspoon of sugar. I added tuna.

The comments said that the flavors melded after a thorough chill, so I made it the night before. Sure enough: when I made it, I didn't love it. It was all sharp edges. But I thought it was delicious in the morning, and refreshing it with some extra mayo tamed it further. You do want it to be bright and lemony, though.

Salt, (pepper)

scant cup finely chopped pickles: I used dill and giardiniera; plus some brine to taste

2 stalks celery, peeled and finely chopped

4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

1/2 c mayonnaise

1/2 c sour cream

3/4 c finely chopped herbs: parsley and dill

4 t dijon mustard

zest from one lemon

4 t lemon juice (I may have used more; I squeezed the juice from half of a fat, juicy lemon)

1 can drained albacore tuna

(1 t sugar)

16 oz elbow macaroni

Cook the macaroni; make a dressing of everything else; toss together when the macaroni is cooled; season to taste with salt, pepper, brine, lemon juice, etc; chill thoroughly. 

Gochujang udon

 https://food52.com/recipes/84861-stir-fried-udon-recipe-with-bacon-parmesan-gochujang

This is a recipe designed by Hana Asbrink for Food52 that appealed to me because of its flavors, textures, clever mix of techniques, and the fact that I could easily halve it to make one serving with no awkward leftovers OR leftover ingredients. I don't know that it would appeal to everyone, but if you like udon, gochujang, and carbonara, it's swell.

Set a pot of water to come to a boil.

Over medium-low heat, low enough that it doesn't brown too fast, heat:

a little splash of oil (more fat will come from the bacon)

2 slices of bacon (or 1 if thick cut), sliced into 1/4 inch strips or lardons

2 scallions, thinly sliced (reserving some greens for garnish)

1 fat clove garlic, minced

Pinch of salt

Let the bacon fat render slowly, 5-6 minutes, until bacon is crisp-ish. Lower heat as needed so nothing browns too fast.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix to a thick paste:

1 egg yolk at room temperature

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese 

salt, pepper

• Lower skillet's heat to low. Add
  ~1/2 t soy sauce
• ~1/2 T (1 1/2 t) gochujang
• "Fry" together and mix well to coat bacon mix with gochujang.
• Cook for only 1 minute, even from frozen:
• 1 block frozen udon noodles
• Scoop the udon out and plunk it in the skillet, reserving the cooking water. Toss it all about and take the pan off the heat.
• Add about a T of reserved cooking water to the egg/cheese paste to make a looser paste. Add the contents of the skillet, ready to toss it very quickly so that everything combines well and the egg doesn't curdle or scramble, but sets to a smooth velvety sauce. Season with:
• salt, pepper, seasme oil, scallion greens.

Orange salad with olives and feta

This is an LA Times recipe from Matt Pims. I think it was more tuned to my "buttons" than my Candlemas guests', but I really liked it. Like the polenta in the style of lasagna, it could be made ahead.

1 1/2 lb mixed orange citrus, including a blood orange. I used a smallish navel orange, a blood orange, and a sumo tangerine.

1 1/2 T rice vinegar

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1/8 t crushed red chile flakes (I used a pinch of sweet paprika)

salt, pepper (I didn't use pepper due to guest's intolerance)

1 inner stalk celery, thinnly sliced

1 oz feta, preferably in brine

4 or so Castelvetrano olives, pitted and torn into 3-4 pieces

1. Take one of the smaller citruses and finely grate the zest from half of it into a small bowl. Stir in vinegar, oil, and chile flakes, then season.

2. Working on a cutting board, remove pith and peel from all the citrus. Slice across to make thin rounds, about 1/4 inch thick, removing any seeds as you go (none of my citrus had seeds). Transfer all the sliced citrus and juices to a serving platter big enough to fit them in a single-ish layer and preferably one with a lip to contain their juices. Spin the vinaigrette over the slices.

3. Arrange the celery evenly over the citrus. Drizzle a couple teaspoons feta brine over the salad. Roughly crumble the feta and arrange it over the salad, followed by the olives. Cover the whole salad with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, 1 hour to 2 days. Serve chilled.