Cake for Breakfast!

This is the perfect no-effort breakfast. This is primarily because you need to make it the night before, or you will hate yourself in the morning. In the morning, brew coffee, cut yourself a slice, and bask in the glory of your ample foresight.

This recipe was originally yoinked from the good folks at the old Omnimedia: http://www.marthastewart.com/336020/strawberry-cake I like it better with peaches, but you can cover it with literally any fruit, or combination of fruits, that your little heart desires/are threatening to go sketchy in your fridge.

Without further ado:

You will need:
one DEEP* round** 8" or 9" pan
6 T butter plus 1 T butter for greasing the pan
1 c. sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk or cream, or some combination therof
1 t. vanilla extract (note: I always use double strength and I never cut the amount)
3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. white whole wheat flour*** 1/2 t. salt
1/2 T. baking powder
1 lb (or so) peaches, skinned and cut into wedges.
3 T. raw sugar

You will do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease your baking vessel with 1 T of butter.

Mix flours, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl (preferably one belonging to your electric mixer), cream together 6T of butter and 1 c. of sugar. Beat for about 3 minutes, scrape down the bowl, and then beat for another ~3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg, beat for another 2ish minutes. Finally, scrape again and add the milk and mix for another minute or so. It will look a little bit curdled at this point, but it will get better. I promise.

Now, add half the dry ingredients to the mixer, beat for a minute, scrape down the sides and repeat. Now you have a lovely thick batter that you will now pour into your baking vessel. Don't forget to lick the beater/spoon/scraper/bowl/all of the above.

Arrange the peaches on top of the cake batter covering ever bit possible. Take your 3 T. of raw sugar and sprinkle it generously over the peaches. DO NOT SKIP THIS. I repeat, sprinkle the sugar on the fruit.****

Place cake in oven and bake for 10 minutes. I highly recommend washing up at this point. You'll thank yourself in the morning and you need to hang around for a bit anyway.

Now that the initial 10 minutes is up, turn the oven down to 325 degrees F and bake for another hour. Aren't you glad you aren't trying to do this in the morning?

When the cake is done (taste the toothpick, it will likely be covered in crud, but taste it to see if the aforementioned crud tastes raw), pull it out of the oven and place on a rack to cool. Turn the oven off (it's late). Throw a clean dish towel over top of the cake to keep the cat out of it and go to bed.

Wake to the knowledge that you are awesome. So awesome that someone else can make the coffee. 



*Don't even dream of attempting this in a shallow dish unless you were already planning on cleaning your oven. If you only have a shallow pie pan, at least have the good sense to make a Zuni chicken for dinner so the oven is a disaster anyway. Speaking of that most succulent of roast chickens, if you have a cast iron pan for your Zuni chicken, clean out the chicken crispies and it will work brilliantly for this.

**I use a ceramic pie dish, a springform would work, as would most cake pans, and as noted above, your trusty cast iron. You could probably use a square 8" if you've got it, but I haven't tried it. It would totally work though.

***Feel free to just use all purpose flour if you don't have this on hand. I buy the King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour and it's worth picking up. I think Gold Medal has one out now, too, but I haven't tried it. You can switch it for at least half the white flour in your recipes and actually add fiber and vitamins and stuff without impacting flavor/texture noticeably. Also it's not so expensive if you buy it at Target. 

****Obviously, if you don't have raw sugar, use regular. Just don't skip this step. It makes the fruit go all moist and jammy instead of becoming slowly dessicated and chewy-in-a-bad-way.

Chicken Tikka Masala

If you've ever forayed into the making of Indian food, you've realized that, on the whole, Indians aren't exactly shy with the spices. It's not a "add 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme" sort of thing, it's a "this is why spices are sold in bulk" sort of thing. This recipe calls for well over 1/2 cup of spices when all is said and done. I would definitely recommend keeping all of the non-pepper spicing, regardless of whether or not you think you like "spicy" food. If you don't like it hot, I would cut the peppers in the marinade in 1/2 (if that still seems like a lot to you, keep in mind that the yogurt cuts the hotness significantly) and start with 1/4 t. of cayenne in the sauce and work your way up from there, tasting as you go. This is why we have spoons. And also why the cook is not hungry by the time dinner is served (or is that just me?).

A note on hotness: I was using extra hot cayenne powder and this came out around a 7 on Maria's Scale of Hotness. Apparently my 7 kills the average Midwesterner (or so I have been led to believe). I thought that this was a bit much as when you get past a 6 or so, the hot begins to overwhelm the spicy. Next time I make this, I will likely keep the amounts the same and use a regular cayenne powder, which puts it around a 5 on Maria's Scale of Hotness. That is precisely where Maria prefers her Tikka Masala to be: hot enough to make your lips tingle a little bit, but balanced enough that you can still taste everything else in the pot.

A note on sauce: If you plan to use your blender/immersion blender/food processor, you can be a little bit lazy when cutting up the veg. If you don't want to do that step, get everything down as close to a proper mince as possible. You'll thank yourself later.

Day 1 (or the morning of):

Cut 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken cut into 1" cubes

Marinade:

1 T cumin
1 T red pepper flakes
1 T black pepper
1 t salt
1/2 T cinnamon
1 T paprika (I generally use 1/2 sweet paprika and 1/2 hot paprika)
1 t turmeric
1" ginger, grated or minced
1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
1 c. plain yogurt

Grind up any spices that haven't been ground already, and mix everything together in a big tupperware or plastic bag (whatever you like to marinate in). Add the chicken and stir/squish about to coat the chicken thoroughly. Throw this in the fridge and try to remember it in the next few days.

Now let's get cooking:

For the sauce you will need:

(I like a saucy curry, so I make a lot. You can halve this if you prefer your curries dryer.)

3 T butter
1 c chopped onion
2" ginger, grated or minced
10 cloves garlic, minced (just trust me on this one)
2 T cumin
1 1/2 T. sweet paprika
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 t. cayenne powder (Note to self: halve this if using super hot cayenne)
1/2 t. turmeric
~1 T. salt (start with 1/2 this and then taste as you add more. It seems like a lot, but it actually works out well)
2 c. tomato sauce (I generally use canned)
1 c. cream

Start by pulling the chicken out of the fridge so it can warm up enough that you don't freeze your hands and end up with claws when making the kebabs later. Trust me on this one. And turn on the broiler while you're at it.

Heat the butter in a ~3 qt. heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and grind any spices that aren't already. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and stir. cook until onion is softened. Add the garlic and ginger and continue cooking for a few more minutes. Next add all of the spices, stir, and marvel at the colors. Cook, stirring frequently for a couple more minutes and add the tomato sauce, stir, cover and turn the heat down to low, stirring occasionally.

Spray a cookie sheet with high-heat nonstick spray and assemble chicken kebabs, placing them on the cookie sheet as they are completed. Broil for ~5 minutes, turn and broil for another ~5 minutes or until the kebabs are fully cooked. Remove kebabs from oven and set aside.

Back at the stove: add cream to sauce and puree.

Remove chicken from kebabs and add to sauce, stirring to coat.

Serve with cumin rice and naan.

Edited to add: Holy crap! This stuff is even better a couple of days in. The hot spices mellow a bit and step back from center stage and the curry spices make friends with one another and become even more delicious than they were fresh. Yum. Tragically, I think I'm going to run out of naan before I run out of curry, and I don't see cooking time before Friday...