Greek White Bean Spread

I went to a cooking demo a few weeks back and finally had a chance to try some of the recipes the chef gave us.  The chicken souvlaki didn't come out exactly how I expected, so that might take some tweaking, but this white bean spread recipe is DELICIOUS.  It's similar to hummus, but better.  Great on pita bread, or as a dip, or with falafel, or on crackers, or chips or on a spoon in your mouth…

1 -16 ounce can of white cannellini beans
3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced  (only use one clove if you don't like strong garlic flavor… Just use two)
1 Tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 Tsp of dry Oregano - The chef said 1/8 of a Tsp, but I don't own a 1/8 teaspoon
1 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or blender if you don't have a food processor, and if you don't have a blender… mortar and pestle??…)  Combine until smooth.  I had to add a little more olive oil in the blender in order for it to catch the blade, but in the food processor you should be fine.  Spread that shit on everything.

KitchenAid: 2, Nicole: 2

After two disasters with the KitchenAid (the second was god awful soft pretzels I tried to make),  I decided that it was probably me and not the machine.   I took a short hiatus and then gave it another try.    I steered clear of bread this time, although there's an article in Cooks Illustrated this month about how using hot water to dissolve yeast can actually kill it, which may have been my problem.  Anyways - this time I wanted to try a dessert.  It was my sister's birthday on Tuesday and strawberries have been bomb lately so I found this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake on allrecipes.com and it didn't disappoint.   The cake was a cross between pound cake and a biscuit.  So good.

3 pints fresh strawberries - quartered
2 tablespoons white sugar for strawberries
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening (don't judge :)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2 cups whipped heavy cream

Slice the strawberries and toss them with 2 tablespoons white sugar.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake pan.

In a medium bowl (I used the KitchAid for this) combine the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons white sugar and the salt. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the beaten egg and milk. Stir until just combined. *The dough was really sticky when I added the milk and eggs, so I added a little more milk - probably another 1/3 cup

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially in pan on wire rack.

For the whipped cream I used the KitchenAid again but you could use a hand mixer too - combine 2 cups of heavy cream with 3/4 cup of powered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat on high until thick consistency so it's easy to spread.

Slice cooled cake in half, making two layers. (this was a little messy - if i had one of those long cake knives it would have been better) Place half of the strawberries and half of the whipped cream on bottom layer and top with the other layer. Top with remaining whipped cream and strawberries.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA!