Pound Cupcakes

Note:  You will need a FOOD SCALE and a CUPCAKE PAN for this recipe.

This week I had my nose in “Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking” , a wonderful book by Michael Ruhlman about ingredient ratios for basic doughs, batters and sauces which can  free you from recipes, allow you to add your own flare to your cooking and best of all, allow you to make as much or as little dough, batter or sauce as you want.  The ratio for pound cake is 1 part butter, 1 part sugar, 1 part egg, 1 part flour.  I decided to try it out in cupcake form and the result was fresh, fragrant, warm cupcakes!

You can cut this recipe in half, just use 1 egg (weigh it in ounces and use equal weights of the other ingredients).  Just remember the ratio; 1 part butter, 1 part sugar, 1 part egg, 1 part flour!

Pulled Pork and Tangy Napa Cabbage Tacos

To make these tacos, you will need to refer to my Simple Pulled Pork recipe and Tangy Napa Cabbage Salad recipe or feel free to use pulled chicken, fish or beans in place of the pork.

Simple Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is one of my favorite things in the world.  It takes many hours to get it to fall apart, but when it does, it’s well worth the wait! Use pulled pork for tacos, sandwiches or by itself and topped with barbeque sauce, hot sauce, tomato sauce, guacamole, etc.  Pork shoulder is the best cut of meat to make pulled pork with, but often it’s hard to find a small portion of pork shoulder.  My local market has a butchering section where I was able to get about a 2 pound portion which is perfect for about 2-4 servings depending on how it’s served.  If you buy a whole shoulder, you’ll have to cook it for many more hours (6-8!) and you’ll have to invite all your friends over to help eat it, so try to find a butcher who can give you a small cut.

Tangy Napa Cabbage Salad

I wanted to start experimenting with cabbage since I never really work with it and I came up with this delicious salad.  The creaminess and tang from the yogurt, the acidity of the lime and the exotic flavors of green onion and cilantro all pair wonderfully with crunchy Napa cabbage.  You can adjust the amount of yogurt, green onions and cilantro to your liking.  As with all recipes, taste and tweak…you’re the chef!

Use What You Got: Cannellini Bean, Escarole and Egg Linguini

Tonight I returned from work way too lazy to go to the market and figure out what to make so I decided to create dinner out of whatever ingredients I had laying around the kitchen.  Here’s what I had:  ½ can of cannellini beans, small head of escarole, chicken stock, basil, eggs, parmesan cheese, garlic and a shallot.  So I invented this pasta dish which came out pretty darn good and decided to share it with you all.

Weekend Crepes

I absolutely love crepes. I make crepe batter once every few months on a lazy weekend.  It’s an easy recipe and if you’re not keen on eating crepes all gosh darn day on Saturday (like I do), the batter can be refrigerated and used on Sunday.  The batter calls for sugar, but these crepes wont be too sweet for savory fillings.  The slight sweetness will be a nice contrast when paired with fillings like ham and cheese.  Have a crepe weekend!