Lemon poppy-seed cake

What's a quick and easy Easter dessert? Cake. Lemon cake.

So, lemon poppy-seed cake, adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes:

2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
¾ cup plus 1 tbsp sour cream
1 ¾tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 ¼ cups superfine sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
5 tsp lemon zest
¹⁄₃ cup poppy seeds
14 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
floured baking spray

Pre-heat your oven at 325°F. Meanwhile, prepare your fluted tube pan. Spray the floured baking spray over every surface in the pan. You can't overkill here. Trust me, you don't want to be stingy on this, or you'll destroy the cake, and spend an hour cleaning the pan.

Okay, prep the wet ingredients. Whisk together the eggs and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Mix in ¼ cup of sour cream and vanilla to make a delightful egg emulsion.



Zest the lemon.



Mix the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. When well mixed, and the poppy seeds and gently mix.



Add the butter and remaining sour cream, and mix with an electric mixer until well combined and moistened.



Now, slowly add the egg mixture, while mixing. After everything is added, mix for another 30ish seconds. Scrape the batter into the floured pan.



Place gently into the oven, bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. While it's baking, make the syrup.

½ cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp fresh-squeezed, sieved lemon juice

I managed to get all the zest and juice I needed out of 2 lemons. Sieve the juice before measuring.



Mix the sugar and lemon juice in a microwave-safe measuring cup.



Microwave, for 30 seconds at a time, followed by mixing the sugar/lemon juice mixture. Stop when you've dissolved the sugar. You're aiming to create a lemon syrup.



Remove the cake from the oven when a cake tester comes out clean.



Let sit a moment, then stab it with a chopstick over and over. Gently unleash your rage on this cake. Then, brush one third to one half of the cooled lemon syrup over the cake.



Flip the cake pan over onto a serving plate. Brush on the remainder of the lemon syrup.



Serve.



Don't be surprised when guests go for a third serving. This cake will serve 6ish adults.

By Bbq Dude

Grilled rabbit with basil oil

In 1994, I was in college, living in the dorm of the Faculté St. Jean at the University of Alberta. It was a fantastic place to live, a converted 150-year old monastery. Two kitchens shared by 100 or so students.

I decided (with a friend of mine) that a fun way to spend Easter would be to have rabbit. Cooking the Easter Bunny, so-to-speak. This has turned into a hilarious tradition. Something the Dude household does almost every year (I confess, in the last 15 years, I've missed one or two). Most years, though, we have Easter bunny for dinner. Like last year, when we served Chocolate Easter bunny.

This year I wanted to serve something that was more true to the ingredient. More fresh. And something that showed off the flavour of the rabbit more than I had in previous years.

I chose a grilled rabbit recipe, adapted from this one:

4 legs of rabbit, top bone of the thigh removed (ask your butcher to do this)
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 very ripe sweet heirloom tomatoes, sliced into rounds
1 small bunch basil

It's hard enough to find rabbit, much less to find rabbit legs. So, purchase your rabbits.



Remove the rabbit legs. Apply a cleaver to the joint at the division between the spine and the leg. Save the remaining rabbit carcass for other stuff (posts coming soon).



Warm the rabbit legs to room temperature, about one hour.

Meanwhile, prep the sauce:

3 large bunches of basil
1 clove of garlic, peeled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Put the basil leaves into your food processor.



Add the garlic and sea salt. Grind more.



Drizzle in the oil, while blending. I like the basil oil as a thick gamish (close to a pesto). If you prefer it runnier, add more oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.



Now, back to the rabbit.

Heat up a grill. Hot. Really, really hot. Really hot. Can you make it hotter? No? Now it's nearly hot enough. Make it hotter.

Okay.

Season your warmed rabbit legs with a coarse salt and pepper. Put those seasoned legs on the hot, hot grill.



Cook five minutes on that side, until good and brown on one side. Flip.



Cook another eight minutes, until done. While finishing the rabbit, slice the tomatoes and put two slices on each plate. Slather on some basil oil and salt.

Rest the rabbit legs a couple minutes, then place on top of the tomatoes. Add a little more basil oil on top and a few basil leaves and serve.



You know how you sometimes hear people saying that they want the preparation of a food to be "true to the ingredient"? This is one of those preparations. It's simple, you can taste the uniqueness of the rabbit meat, but it has some tasty additions. Eat this today. It's delicious.

Serve with:



Enjoy.

By Bbq Dude

Kids' cooking show

Why isn't Food Network like this? Oh. Oh. Oh. Nevermind.

Wordless Wednesday: Steak

By Bbq Dude