Well summer is officially here! We kicked-off grilling season here in a pretty big way - a pretty big green egg kind of way. For the past three years or so the hubs has been talking and talking and talking about this charcoal grill he wanted to buy. I am 100% for him helping out in the kitchen and taking the reigns in the summer when we light up the good ol'Weber, but he became obsessed with this grill called The Big Green Egg. It's actually a combination grill/smoker/outdoor oven, so I've always been intrigued but the price-point kind of scared me away. About two weeks ago I came home from work to discover on my coffee table several brochures and cookbooks re: The Big Green Egg. Without even asking, I knew, we were getting one.
So far it has been totally worth it. We have made some fantastic things, chicken wings, pulled pork, brisket, pizza, grilled chicken. Oh my! I will need to start posting recipes once we have a little more practice.
On Sunday, the hubs woke up at 7am to start the brisket... Needless to say, I've never been more in love! Brisket takes a long time - like 8-10 hours. So, I had a lot of free time to get things done around the house, laundry, get a little gardening in, all while taking intermittent coffee (until around noon, then beer) breaks relaxing outside next to the smoker watching the hubs tend to the smoke. It was a perfect Sunday! What else did I do besides make cole slaw? (Still working on a recipe, vinegar or mayo based? I cannot figure it out, a debate for another day!) I made dessert/snacking/brunchy cake. (Yes, brunchy is a word as of today.) Ricotta-blueberry-lemon pound cake. Yum! Great with coffee, great after dinner, great in the afternoon. Surprisingly light and citrusy but still moist and dense from the butter and ricotta, with little pops of tart blueberry. It worked out quite well as blueberries were on sale and I had half a leftover tub of ricotta in my fridge. Perfect!
blueberry ricotta lemon pound cake
cooking spray
1-3/4 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup ricotta cheese
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon zest
1-1/2 cups blueberries
2 tbsp AP flour
Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9" loaf pan with cooking spray.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Rinse the blueberries and toss with 2 tbsp flour (to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake).
Using an electric mixer (stand or hand) beat the butter, ricotta and sugar together on high speed for 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. (It will look curdled.)
Remove mixer and stir in lemon zest and vanilla by hand. In 3 or 4 additions, mix in by hand the dry ingredients. Stir in the blueberries, do not over mix.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Check the cake after the first 40 minutes to see if it is browning too much - if it is, loosely top with aluminum foil and continue baking. When out of the oven, let cool for 10 minutes then gently loosen onto a cooling rack. (Running a knife along the edge will help loosen the cake from the pan.)
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