Olive Oil Cake with Basil Whipped Cream

I saw this first on Chef at Home and thought it looked interesting. The cake was amazing and the basil whipped cream was unreal.

For the Cake:

4 Eggs
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups Milk
Splash of Vanilla
2 Tbl Chopped fresh Rosemary
1/2 cup Cornmeal
2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, vanilla, and rosemary together. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and then mix the two together. Pour the mixture into a 9" cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 1 hour 15 mins. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.


For the Basil Whipped Cream:

1 bunch Basil
3 tbl Sugar
1 cup Whipping Cream

Put the basil and sugar in a food processor or blender and chop until a paste forms. Put the paste into the whipping cream and beat until  soft peaks form.

The "Are you sure your grandmother isn't Italian" Bolognese

This bolognese is a favorite of mine. It is very traditional, super easy and really good!

1 lb ground beef
1 onion
1 large carrot
1 celery stalk
3 cloves Garlic
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of white wine
1 cup of milk
1 large can of tomato puree (San Marzano is best)
S&P
5 or 6 fresh Basil leaves

First, you need to make a classic Italian sofrito. The french version would be a mirepoix. Take the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and chop them really fine. I use a cheese grater. This makes the sofrito very fine and that way it almost melts right into the sauce. 

Once you gave grated or chopped the sofrito, put the olive oil into a sauce pot over medium heat and add the sofrito to the pot to cook. Cook for a few minutes until the vegetables have gotten some color. This will give them a nice sweet flavour.

Once the sofrito has a bit of colour, add the butter and ground beef. Cook the ground beef until it is cooked through, but be careful not to brown it too much. This will make the meat tough and you want it to be soft.

Once the beef is cooked through, add the white wine and simmer it to reduce.

Reduce the wine until it is fully cooked away (approx 10-15 mins). This will give a beautiful background taste to your sauce without thinning it too much.

Once the wine is fully cooked off, add the milk. This will tenderize the meat and give the sauce a nice silky mouth feel. Add the tomato puree and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer this for a few hours and enjoy the beautiful aroma that fills your house.

Just before you are ready to serve this sauce, tear and add the basil leaves.

Serve this over pasta, in lasagna, or as a dip. When cooking your pasta, remember that your pasta water should taste like the ocean...don't be shy about the salt! Unsalted pasta water = tasteless pasta

Buon appetito!!