Oatmeal Cake – Breakfast or Dessert?

My Mom made this cake for us when I was growing up. I’m not sure where she found the original recipe, but I came across this version in a cookbook she gave me after I was married. It’s topping can either be considered a decadent frosting or a coffecake topping. Either way you think of it the combination of brown sugar, butter, coconut and pecans is delicious!

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup oatmeal (I used rolled oats)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Topping:
1/2 cup butter, softened in the microwave on high for 15 seconds
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup finely flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with a baking spray with flour. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over the 1 cup of oatmeal – a 4-cup measuring cup works very well. Let stand about 20 minutes while you prepare the batter. Cream butter, brown sugar, white sugar and eggs. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture. Stir in the oatmeal mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. While the cake is baking, mix together all of the topping ingredients in a small bowl. Frost warm cake with the mixture, and place under the broiler just until the topping is bubbly. Watch it carefully as it can go up in smoke very quickly.

This can be served warm, at room temperature or cold as either a breakfast cake or dessert. If you choose dessert, a scoop of very vanilla ice cream or cinnamon ice cream is an excellent accompaniment. Enjoy!

Golden Trout Baked in Foil

We had a chance this past weekend to stop by Bob’s Seafood in St. Louis. It has been in business since 1978, but we only just discovered it within the past couple of years. It’s a great place to get great fresh quality seafood at reasonable prices. I always have to check out all of the cases before I even take a number because I want look at all of the catch before making a selection. They always take care to package up the fish, sometimes putting it on ice. The first time we brought Bob’s Seafood home, I was delighted to see that they had thrown in a lemon with my purchase. It came in handy and I didn’t have to go to the grocery store to pick one up. Check out Bob’s:

Bob’s Seafood, St. Louis, MO

Last night I pan-seared some scallops very simply with a little butter and olive oil and sprinkled them with some pink Hawaiian sea salt. Tonight I had some beautiful golden trout and wanted to find a new recipe. I found one in The Deen Bros. Take it Easy:

Baked Trout with Lemon and Rosemary

Four 12-ounce boned whole trout, Golden Trout if you can find them
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
4 fresh rosemary branches
2 lemons, each cut crosswise into 8 slices

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay a 20-inch sheet of aluminum foil on a counter and place an open trout, skin side down, in the center. Season the trout with salt and pepper. Dot one side of the trout with 2 pieces of butter and top with 1 rosemary branch and 4 slices of lemon. Top the lemon with 2 more pieces of butter. Fold the edges of the foil up into a tent tuck the ends under, and press down the edges to seal. Repeat with the remaining trout. Place the tents on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Transfer the tents to four plates and open carefully.

I had no lemons in the house tonight so I substituted orange slices. It was not bad, but the lemon would be better. This fish came out flaky and tender and I served it with some home made coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob.

St. Patrick’s Day Cooking

Like many people, we enjoy the tradition of making Corned Beef and Cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day, even though we’re not Irish (that we know of). I like the Corned Beef and Cabbage itself, but I enjoy what you can do with the leftovers just as much. Two of my favorites are Corned Beef Hash for breakfast and Reuben Sandwiches. This year I made a 5-lb. Colorado Point Brisket and have some nice slices leftover for sandwiches. Rye is the traditional bread for Reubens so I decided to make some home made bread. I found a recipe in the Junior’s Cookbook for Onion Rye Rolls and thought they sounded perfect for a great sandwich. Junior’s is a famous restaurant in Brooklyn that is known for its cheesecake. My sister first gave me the recipe and it was very different because instead of a crumb-type crust, their cheese cake is mounted on a rich cake base. That’s a blog for another day.

Onion Rye Rolls

YIELD: 12 servings
Ingredients
3¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
⅓ cup rye flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons malted milk powder
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 cup water — (105 to 115 degrees)
2 packages active dry yeast – (¼ oz ea)
1 extra-large egg
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups coarsely-chopped yellow onions
=== FOR GLAZING ROLLS ===
1 extra-large egg
½ teaspoon vegetable oil
Directions
Mix together both flours, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the malted milk powder, salt, and caraway seeds in a medium-size bowl. Set aside.

Make the yeast sponge: Stir the water, yeast, and the remaining tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl until dissolved. Let the mixture stand until it is foamy and light, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, using an electric mixer equipped with a dough hook or a paddle, beat the egg and 1/3 cup oil in a large bowl on high until light yellow. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the yeast mixture, then the flour mixture, then 1 cup of the onions.

Knead the flour mixture by beating the dough on high for 15 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Transfer the dough to a well-buttered bowl and turn over the dough once to coat it well with the butter (the dough will be sticky). Cover the dough and let it stand at room temperature until it’s double its size (this will probably take about 1 hour).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and butter 2 baking sheets. Punch the dough down with your fist to deflate it. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Flour your hands and lightly knead the dough until it’s no longer sticky, about 2 minutes.

To make dinner-size 4-inch rolls: Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, then each piece into 3 more equal pieces, using kitchen shears. You will have 12 little mounds of dough. (For small twin rolls, divide the dough into 24 equal pieces.) Flour your hands well. Pick up each piece of dough in the palm of your hand and shape it into a rounded roll with a smooth top. Place the rolls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Whisk the egg with the 1/2 teaspoon oil and brush this glaze on top of each roll. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup onions. Cover the rolls and let them rise until light and doubled in size, about 30 minutes more.

Bake the rolls until they are golden and set, about 10 to 12 minutes for the twin rolls, 13 to 15 minutes for the buns.

Serve them warm or at room temperature or use for overstuffed sandwiches. These are outstanding when filled with layers of freshly sliced warm corned beef on the bottom and sliced pastrami on top.

This recipe yields 12 (4” rolls) or 24 (3” rolls).

Comments: Almost every time the giant ovens are baking away in the bake shoppe, I see at least a dozen pans of these rolls on the revolving shelves, with thirty-five rolls on each pan. That’s at least 420 of these rolls, rising and baking almost any time of day. Each one of these rolls is the size of an oversized hamburger bun, unless the bakers are baking the smaller twin onion rye rolls, as they often do, which are only three inches in diameter instead of four.

There’s good reason for making so many of these rolls. They are the most asked-for roll that Junior’s makes and are used in its most popular sandwich: Corned Beef and Pastrami on Onion Rye Rolls.

The Junior’s Way — Place the rolls about two inches apart, not touching, on the baking sheet. As they rise and bake, the rolls are far enough apart to give rising room, and not close enough to touch their neighboring rolls in the oven. Before placing each pan of rolls in the oven, generously sprinkle the tops of the rolls with coarsely chopped onions.