Lemon Love and Olive Oil- Winning recipes!

 

Super Lemony Olive Oil Cake

This recipe is the essence of this cookbook since it has the ingredients of the title and makes a lovely cake. I made this twice for two different occasions with ratings of 4.5 to 5 (out of 5)  for the results.  The cake is easy to make and will become a go to recipe for me just for this reason.

 

A google search about this book brought up a review from Bon Appetit (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/super-lemony-cake) with discussion of the recipe.  Several of the readers suggested recipe changes of decreasing the olive oil to 1 cup and using three lemons, both of which I followed both times I made this. The first time I baked this the lemons I used were organic with a result of a stronger lemon taste but I am not sure if this would always be the result.  In the future I will try the organic fruit again to see if the result is the same. 

 

My baking experience with cakes is not extensive since it often gave results of a dry and tough texture. The descriptions of this recipe all but gave a money back guaranty for a tender and moist cake for the effort so this was another reason I decided to try it and was very happy with the result. The texture is as promised with a beautiful yellow color.  The difference with this recipe from my prior efforts with baking was the use of so much olive oil, even with the reduction of amount used. Pouring the oil into the one cup measure and then into the batter did seem risky but the result was amazing. 

This recipe is a treasure for me for the ease of making it and results I am proud to share!

Cypriot Bulgur with Toasted Pasta and Tomato

 

This recipe was highlighted in a review of this book in Bon Appetit (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/super-lemony-cake) so that description is made me want to try this. I had mentioned our community cookbook project to my daughter who enjoyed the idea and asked to make a recipe together.  This toasty pasta sounded like something we would enjoy making and eating together for a weekday get together. 

 

Our first challenge was finding the featured ingredient of bulgur. I tried two stores and she tried as many. We google  searched and found quinoa was a possible substitute, which she also had at her apartment,  so we decided to work with this.  I gathered up some of the ingredients and headed to her place for our evening of cooking. She did not have the recipe so she had precooked the quinoa to save time. This was a change from the recipe since the bulgur and pasta are to be cooked together.  We improvised further with this recipe by adding more water as needed to keep the pasta and quinoa loose and saucy. 

 

We both really liked what we made, giving it a rating of 4.5 out of 5. Once we had all the ingredients together this recipe  was easy to put together and quick to make. I would make this again just as we made it, using the quinoa and precooking it. The tomato from the title of this pasta dish is canned puree which was a new ingredient for me to be using. This tasted surprisingly fresh and light and added to the appeal of this dish.  

 

With the simplicity of the ingredients (once we decided on the quinoa) and preparation of this recipe it made for an enjoyable evening of cooking together and sharing our creation.