Friday, July 9, 2010

Angel Food Cake and Mayonnaise

The way I get better at cooking is usually tied directly with having too much of something, or needing to get rid of something, or if something is on sale. I'm a frugal girl and don't like anything to go to waste. Now that I have a constant supply of huge, fresh, amazing eggs there are a lot of things I'm now tackling that I hadn't thought to before. There are always recipes out there that focus on a glut of something, as that's what people had to do. One year blight robbed you of red tomatoes, so you learn how to make green tomato chutney (last year). A glut of eggs allows me to be generous with them and still have enough left over to experiment. And what delicious experiments!

After I had made the pot de créme, I had some whites leftover. I added a few more whites to the batch in order to come up with the 1 1/2 cups of egg whites needed for angel cake. I used the recipe from Joy of Cooking and even though I didn't add the cream of tartar, I was still pretty happy with the outcome. And with some of that mulberry rhubarb lemon jam over it, I was even happier!

With the four little yolks leftover from that, I had to make mayonnaise. I can't throw anything out, and why should I when this is the result? The mayonnaise is so rich and gorgeous, if I didn't have to go in for a cholesterol check soon, I'd want to eat it with a spoon. We had it in salmon salad, and then with cold boiled potatoes for dinner on one of these hot and sultry days we've been having. Salads are the thing for this heat wave.

p.s. Do you call it Angel Food Cake or Angel Cake? The recipe calls it Angel Cake, but I always knew it as Angel Food Cake.
N.B. Popular consensus says Angel Food Cake. Herewith amended in the title.

7 comments:

  1. I've always called it Angel Food Cake. We are on the same bent lately, I'm way obsessed with heavy cream and I'm up to me ears in eggs. Just made homemade mayo recently, too!

    Keep on rockin' it sister. Looks deeelish. I can just see your handsome little man's happy face behind this cake!

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  2. That mayonaise looks seriously good. The colour of home grown eggs just doesn't compare to shop bought ones. Your hens must be very happy!

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  3. I call it Angel Food Cake and, like Kate, I see a happy Sterling somewhere close by. I've been bothered by seeing egg yolks go to waste at our house. I think I need a mayo tutorial. :-)

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  4. i can't stop making cream scones with raw cream from my neighbor. so i know what you are going thru. and eggs, so many eggs!!!

    i vote for angel food.

    :)

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  5. Kate - Mayo! Isn't it the bomb? And yes, Sterling grabbed many handfuls of this cake! I couldn't blame him.

    cityhippyfarmgirl - I am so blessed with amazing eggs. I can't go back to store bought! They are happy girls!

    Shae - See above; Sterling gets up and says, Cake! Cake! And I've been so lazy about recipes, mostly because I've been so rushed and don't want to put up something half-assed. But I'll try to go back and put the mayo one in, cause it's so easy and so good!

    Tigress - Cream scones sound heavenly! And that's it, I'm changing it to Angel Food!

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  6. Definitely Angel Food Cake - I am so jealous - while I do get fresh eggs from my parents, I NEED my own chicks - too bad the Homeowners Association wouldn't like it! Some day.

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  7. Daisy - Keep hoping for your chickens! Darn HOAs! They can really stink.

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