Smitten Kitchen 2

On my blog post from September 23, 2013 I began publishing my journey cooking through the cookbook, Smitten Kitchen.  At that time, this cookbook was quickly becoming my favorite, and now it is my reliable cookbook for delicious new recipes. I am continuing to cook my way through it and here is my most recent progress. If you are in the market for a new cookbook, I highly recommend this one; you will not be disappointed with the food or the author's humor! The captions under the pictures are my commentary of what I thought of the recipe and if I made any substitutions to the printed recipe.

• Leek Fritters with Garlic and Lemon

This is a picture of the fritters and the garlic and lemon sauce. I did not put lemon zest or fresh lemon juice, instead I put bottled lemon juice (because I was feeling particularly lazy that morning and I hadn't had coffee yet). The preparation of the leeks was a lot of work and this was my first time cooking leeks. The fritters were good but my favorite part of this recipe was the garlic and lemon sauce.

Fritters sizzling in the skillet.

•  Grapefruit Olive Oil Pound Cake

Side view of the grapefruit olive oil loaf with the glaze on it. The picture in the cookbook shows the glaze being whiteish, but both times I made the glaze, my glaze came out clear.

Aerial view of the grapefruit olive oil loaf with the glaze on it.

Fresh out of the oven, before the glaze was put on it. I highly recommend that you wait for the loaf to completely cool before you take it out of the pan. The first time I made this I was being impatient Shaida and the loaf completely fell apart. It didn't look pretty but still tasted yummy.

•  Emmentaler on Rye with Sweet and Sour Red Onions

I have been wanting to try this recipe since I got this cookbook. I was intrigued how a sandwich with just onions on it would be delicious, once again my skepticism was replaced with immense satisfaction. 

I loved the rye bread that I bought. I was in Missouri when I made this so the bread came from a Wal-Mart. It was New York style rye bread.

I know this picture of the finished cooked onions looks like earthworms but overlook it and try and imagine how amazing this sandwich tasted.

• Apricot [Peach] Breakfast Crisp 

I was in Missouri when I made this recipe and the only grocery store I had was a Wal-Mart and they did not have fresh or frozen apricots to purchase; therefore, I ended up purchasing frozen peaches. I served the breakfast crisp with plain non-fat yogurt.

The peach breakfast crisp fresh out of the oven. This recipe was really easy to make and I made with my niece on Thanksgiving morning.

The peach breakfast crisp was ready to be put in the oven. The recipe called for almonds to be added, but my sister has a nut allergy so they were left out of it.

•  Blue Cheese and Black Pepper Gougeres 

These have a very interesting texture when eating them; they are airy like a croissant but are very soft.  The preparation took me a little while but I was happy with the results.

•  Tarragon Oven Fries

This is my go-to recipe for homemade fries.  The secret is boiling the potatoes first and then placing them in the oven.  However, when putting the oil on the cookie sheet and placing in the oven to preheat it, don't wait til it's smoking to take it out to place the potatoes on it. Not that I did it but I could see it being a fire hazard very easily.

•  Alex Chocolate Raspberry [Strawberry Rhubarb] Regelach

I made these for bookclub and people seemed to enjoy them. I didn't use raspberry but rather strawberry rhubarb flavor because it was what I had in my refrigerator.  Additionally, I only put half the amount of chocolate and nuts in the recipe because A) I hate chocolate and B) Personally I am not a huge fan of nuts, unless they are in baklava.

•  Eggplant and Three Cheese Calzone

This is the finished product. The sauce was AMAZING! When making this recipe again I would put more eggplant and half as much cheese. The dough of this calzone was also really scrumptious. 

The finished cooked eggplant calzone without sauce.

Fresh out of the oven. I had a little bit of the cheese escaping from the inside.

Assembling the inside of the calzone. At first I thought I overcooked (and possibly dried out the eggplant) but in the finished product the eggplant tasted fine to me. If I was to try this recipe again, I don't think I would make a calzone but rather used the rushed pizza dough recipe in the cookbook and put the cooked eggplant on it with fresh basil and mozzarella cheese.