The strata that almost burnt the house down ❤️🔥
Plus a Runny Honey Apple Pie.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we don’t let a little smoke stop us from baking. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Fluffy strata (savory bread pudding) with sausage, red onion and cheese
On Thursday I woke up and made a strata that nearly burnt the house down. It wasn’t the strata’s fault, really, nor the YouTube video that inspired me to make it. You see, my kitchen is so tiny that if you open the oven door it hits the wall, and there’s a chance that it will spring back shut on the very contents you are trying to put on the rack. You probably know where this is going, and it ends up with half a burnt strata on the oven floor. Not to be deterred, I opened my only window, turned on the exhaust fan, and sprinkled half a box of baking soda on the smoking carnage. Was it worth it? I think that depends on what your goal of cooking this strata is. If you want to make something so unoffensively delicious, a soft creamy pillow of white bread and eggs and cheese, that you can eat half the pan in one sitting, then yes, it was very worth it. To make it, you should watch Eric Kim’s YouTube video and get inspired by whatever ingredients you have in your own fridge. For me, that was: ¾ a loaf of Pepperidge farm butter bread, torn into pieces and toasted in a 375F oven, 2 Italian sausages, crumbled and browned in olive oil, a red onion, diced and caramelized in the cooked sausage, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 4 eggs whisked with half a cup of whole milk, lots of salt and pepper, 1 large grated zucchini, and Parmesan cheese and dots of butter to blanket the top. Oh, and bake for 30 minutes at 375F or so.
Runny Honey Apple Pie with flaky sea salt at home
Nothing can deter me from continuing baking, not even a little smokey mishap. After scrubbing my oven down and little it completely dry, I set to work making an apple pie. After all, there was a bargain bin bag of farmer’s market apples in my fridge waiting to be used. I used to be baffled by pie making, until I studied all of Erin Jeanne Mcdowell’s videos religiously. Once I nailed the extra flaky pie dough – essentially a rough puff – it’s as easy as, well, pie. For the Runny Honey Apple Pie, all you have to do is make a batch of the all buttah pie dough recipe, and let it chill in the fridge. Meanwhile, peel and slice thinly 4 apples (approx 700g), and mix with 2 tbs flour, a big dash of cinnamon, 4 tbs good honey, and a pinch of salt. Roll pie dough out and gently lower into pan; trim overhang and crimp edges. Fill with apples and bake at 400F for 45-50 minutes, checking after 30 and covering with foil if it starts to burn. It will be a bit runny when warm, so let it cool completely, and top with flaky sea salt. Best served a few hours after it’s made, for a perfectly Not-Too-Sweet yet plenty impressive dessert.
Structurally unsound but tasty veggie slice from Bleecker Street Pizza
69 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014
I’ve been on a One Type Of Food A Day kick lately (which I suppose you could call a hyperfixation). So, on the day I made the strata I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the day before, the only thing I ate was pizza, two slices for lunch and two slices for dinner. I guess it’s not the most balanced diet but considering I’m eating vaguely meal-like items I just try to embrace whatever the food of the day is. Our office often orders from Bleecker Street Pizza, and I always, always go for the veggie slice because it looks so visually appealing. It’s always loaded with blobs of mozzarella and lots of broccoli and peppers. Alas, it’s also the absolute worst lunch meeting pizza you could imagine because the crust always gets soggy and then you have to awkwardly eat it with a fork and knife on a disintegrating paper plate while nodding at a PowerPoint. That being said, I will definitely still eat it again next time, because the plethora of toppings will tempt me once again.
Structurally sound but less exciting pepperoni slice from Bleecker Street Pizza
69 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014
While I could get away with eating one slice of Structurally Unsound pizza during a meeting it felt like a stretch to try to eat two so for my second slice I stuck with the plain ol’ pepperoni. I don’t know why but I feel that as a child I LOVED pepperoni, as perhaps all children do, but it’s not quite as tempting as an adult. Maybe I’ve moved on to more flavorful sausages like chorizo or something. I did still enjoy it, though perhaps not quite as much as the way more excessive veggie slice or the humble cheese pizza.
The most beautiful apple honey cake in the world at home
Recipe via Smitten Kitchen, first posted about here.
Once a year I make the Most Beautiful Apple Cake in the World, which is Smitten Kitchen’s Sunken Apple and Honey Cake. This cake is beautiful no matter what shape you make it – it bakes up golden and beautiful – and this year I went for two loaf pans. The recipe is loosely baked off Smitten Kitchen, but because I refuse to bake things with odd measurements of ingredients, I adjusted the measurements to get rid of the extra two tablespoons of sugar and tablespoon of butter. I also did not beat the egg whites or separate the egg yolks or even use a mixer. You should probably follow the instructions, but even if you don’t it’s still absolutely lovely. I like that the cake is nice and eggy and full of honey flavor and not too rich or sweet, so it’s a great pairing with coffee for breakfast. Possibly because I did not follow any instructions at all, the cake does come out a bit on the cakier and drier side, so if you’re not a fan of that, you can easily remedy it by making a simple honey syrup with warmed honey and half as much water and drizzle it over, along with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Tightly wrapped, it’ll get even better as it sits.
Stay warm,
Soph
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