Carrots Vichy

This is a recipe that comes from www.food.com.  My son made Carrots Vichy while he was at a cooking camp over the holidays.  He didn't bring home the exact recipe so I did some googling and found this recipe for Carrots Vichy.  I didn't follow the recipe correctly.  I did't use boiling water because I just did not realize that they were asking me to boil the water first then add it to the pot with the carrots.  It really didn't make sense, at first.  A burning question I have is do they really want us to add the butter along with the boiling water and then cook the carrots until the water evaporates.  Are the carrots supposed to brown in the butter after the water evaporates.  I was just too confused.  I have to experiment a bit more.  They came out fine and smell good but I don't think they are exactly the same as when my son made them at camp.  


Traditionally, Carrots Vichy were made with the naturally carbonated mineral water found in the town of Vichy which is located in the center of France.  You don't have to use carbonated water to make this dish but it would be interesting to try it and see what different effect it might create.  

Carrots Vichy

The cooking time is variable for this dish.  Just cook them until they are the way you like them. 

Ingredients:

2 cups carrots or 2 cups parsnips, peeled and sliced

½ cup boiling water

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Chopped chives or parsley

Directions:

1.       Place all ingredients in a saucepan except the chives or parsley.

2.       Cook the carrots or parsnips over medium heat until the water evaporates.

3.       Permit them to brown in the butter.

4.       Serve them sprinkled with either chopped chives or parsley.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I saw this in a www.gojee.com email.  It was on their "top three" list last week.  It looked absolutely delicious.  I read the recipe carefully (ha) and noticed that the Gojee chef  had gotten the recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs "Smitten Kitchen".  I didn't think about the recipe too long before I decided that I had to try it.  I mentioned it to my son.  He thought it would be a great cake to make on Martin Luther King Day.  Of course, I agreed right away.  He did most the work but I separated the eggs, assembled the cake and put it into the oven.  I guess you could say I acted as his assistant on this cake.  It was nice to have someone to bake with.  After he mixed up the cake and I put it into the oven I dove into the Smitten Kitchen blog post about this cake. I read the recipe carefully again and (thankfully) noticed a note at the bottom of the blog.  Apparently, when Smitten Kitchen originally posted this recipe back in 2006 an ingredient (salt) was inadvertently left out. Obviously, when the Gojee chef copied the recipe from Smitten Kitchen it was before they made the correction to the recipe because my version from Gojee does not contain any salt.  The cake tastes and looks great anyway.  Maybe it has a different consistency than if it did contain the salt.  I don't know, but we will definitely be making it again. According to the Smitten Kitchen post, this was her mother's "go to" cake recipe that everyone requested during her childhood. So it seems that this recipe has been around for a long time. The chef at Smitten Kitchen is Deb and her husband Alex is her assistant.  They are great!  Their blog is fantastic so check it out.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Chip Coffee Cake

From www.smittenkitchen.com via www.gojee.com

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 stick butter at room temperature

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs, separated

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups (16-ounces) sour cream

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon table salt

To assemble:

2 cups or 12 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bars
1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of the mixer, whip the egg whites until they are stiff. Take out of the bowl and set aside. 

2. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla.

3. Alternately mix in sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick. In a medium bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter.

4. Spread half of the cake batter into a greased 9-x-13 pan.   Sprinkle with the half of the cinnamon and sugar and half of the chocolate chips (1 cup).

5. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a rubber or offset spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips. With the palm of your hand, gently press the chocolate chips a bit into the batter.  

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes rotating halfway through. When the cake is done, a tester will come out clean. Cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook

P.S.  These are my own crappy pictures.  I did not steal them from anyone else.  Why would I?  I got a wonderful new camera last year for my birthday (thanks honey) but I still need to learn how to use it.