Friday Foodday

Happy Friday! Here are my favorite recipes this week.

Cranberry & Saint Germain Pitcher Sparkler

c/o The Kitchn

Ingredients

1 cup vodka
3 ounces St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1 1/2 cups club soda

Directions

In a large pitcher filled with ice, combine all of the ingredients. Serve in champagne flutes or other festive glasses.

Lomo Saltado

c/o Buns in My Oven

Ingredients

• 12 ounces thin sliced ribeye steak
• 1/2 teaspooon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 poblano pepper
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 tomato
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/3 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup freshly fried French fries, for serving
• 2 cups cooked white rice, for serving

Directions

1. Slice the steak into thin strips and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat. Add the steak and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned.
3. While steak is cooking, slice the peppers, onion, and tomato into thin slices.
4. Add the vegetables to the pan with the steak and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Add the soy sauce and beef broth to the pan and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and sprinkle with cilantro.
7. Serve over rice with french fries.

Rhubarb Upside Down Spice Cake

c/o Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

Topping

• 1 pound (450 grams) rhubarb, trimmed
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
• Finely grated zest from half a lemon
• 4 tablespoons (2 ounces or 55 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine
• Two pinches of salt

Cake

• 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup (125 grams) light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

Directions

Heat oven: To 350°F. 

Make topping: In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, trim your rhubarb to lengths that will fit across the bottom in one direction, i.e. some short and some taller. Remove rhubarb and cut each stalk lengthwise into thin (about 1/4-inch thick) ribbons. If your rhubarb is already quite thin, you might just want to halve each piece lengthwise.

Sprinkle sugar into skillet and add lemon zest; use your fingers to mix the zest into the sugar; the grit of the sugar will help release the most flavor from it. Add butter and salt and heat skillet over medium until butter has melted, stirring frequently. Add rhubarb and cook, turning gently, for 3 to 4 minutes, until it has softened slightly and released some of its liquid. Remove from heat and set skillet aside.

Make cake: In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined, then vanilla. Sprinkle mixture with baking powder, salt, and all the spices and beat well to thoroughly mix them in. Add buttermilk; mixture will have a curdly texture but don’t worry, it’s all going to even out. Scrape down bowl and add flour; beat only until it disappears.

Check your rhubarb base to make sure all the pieces are in the order you’d like them to be; nudge around any that are not, then dollop cake batter over rhubarb mixture in small spoonfuls and smooth top as best as you can. As the rhubarb mixture will be very wet, this will seem almost impossible. I actually gave up and just put it in the oven, where the cake spread into one even layer on its own. (Thank you, cake.)

Bake cake: For about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted deep into the cake (but not the topping underneath) comes out batter-free. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen. Place a larger plate upside down over the skillet and use two potholdered hands to flip cake out onto it. If any rhubarb is stuck in the pan or slides down the side, just return it to the top of the cake.