Gadgets: Cuppow BNTO

Some astute Serious Eats readers suggested that I look into products made by a small company called Cuppow, and in a rare attentive moment, I decided to heed that advice.

The BNTO from Cuppow is very simple, but effective. It's a plastic cup that nestles into a canning jar, allowing the jar lid to be screwed on to keep the cup and its contents safely separate from the rest of the jar. It comes in sizes to fit either wide or regular mouth jars; I tested the wide-mouth version ($8.99/2)

The idea is that you can pack your lunch in the jar and keep two components separate. So, salad greens on the bottom and salad dressing on top. Chips on the bottom, salsa on top. Vegetables on the bottom, ketchup on top.

Okay, never mind that last one. Make it crackers and peanut butter, hmmm?

Since the top portion is sealed away from the bottom, there's no need to worry about keeping the jar upright during transport, and the BTNO comes in a variety of colors, in case you need to color-code your lunch.

Besides using this for obvious food pairings, it would be handy for storing or carrying things that aren't quite as related. For example, a snack in the jar, and that medication you're supposed to take with food in the BNTO on top.

This could also be useful for dieters who want to pre-portion their food, or for crafters who want to store related items together. I'm sure the SE readers who suggested this have other ideas, as well.

While this isn't the most earth-shattering product I've ever seen, it makes sense for folks who regularly bring snacks or lunch with them, and who want to get more use out of canning jars they already have.

The BNTO is dishwasher safe.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.

Sunken Streusel Coffee Cake

Did you ever make a recipe that didn't come out the way it was supposed to, but it was still really, really, really good?

Yeah, that's what happened here.

I wanted to make something from the book The New Southwest by Meagan Micozzi, and the two recipes that I was contemplating were the Adobo Potato Gratin and the Sonoran Honey Streusel Coffee Cake.

I was drooling over those potatoes, but then I ended up making a pasta dish for dinner - and potatoes don't really go with pasta. So I decided to make the coffee cake, even though cakes are always tricky up here at high altitude.

The cake was supposed to have a streusel topping. I love streusel and crumb toppings. But ... instead of it being a topping, it sunk into the cake. Which was actually pretty cool. It created a wavy crazy layer of a fudge-like, caramel-like sweet filling. And the top of the cake was bumpy and lumpy and interesting, too.

The sign of a good recipe is that even when something goes wrong, it's still all right. And if you mess something up, it still works. And if it's a cake and you bake it at high altitude, it still is a cake.

I've had cakes fail pretty spectacularly up here. The cake itself rose nicely and didn't do anything weird, so that's a really good sign. And it's really good. I might make it again without the topping, and add a drizzle or frosting after it's baked. Yeah, it's that good. Or I might just let that topping sink. Heh. If no one knew it wasn't supposed to do that, they'd never guess.

The original title of this was Sonoran Honey Streusel Coffee Cake, because the author used a Sonoran honey, but suggested using a local honey. I used the Ambrosia honey that I get from Madhava. It's really great stuff.

As for those potatoes ... they're still bookmarked, along with a bunch of recipes I really need to try.

Sunken Streusel Coffee Cake
Formerly known as Sonoran Honey Streusel Coffee Cake
Adapted from The New Southwest by Meagan Micozzi

For the cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cus all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup your favorite local honey
2/3 cup buttermilk

For the streusel:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. I folded the parchment to fit the bottom of the pan and up the two sides to make a sling for the cake. I left the other two sides uncovered.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until incorporated.

In another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine.

Add the flour to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with first, the honey, then the buttermilk. Mix just long enough to create a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Now, make the streusel. Put the ingredients in a small bowl and use your fingers to combine. You should have a somewhat crumbly mixture. Scatter this on top of the cake batter.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Let the cake cool slightly in the pan before removing it from the pan and cooling completely on a rack. Or, if you like, you can serve it from the pan.

I received this book from the publisher.

Steak and Warm Spinach Salad

My mom used to make a hot bacon dressing that she's serve over baby dandelion greens. The greens would wilt to a half-cooked state and it was tart and savory and wonderful.

That salad was memorable because it was a once-a-year treat, since the dandelions had to be harvested before they flowered and before my dad went rampaging through the lawn with weed killer.

Once the dandelions flowered, mom said they were bitter and inedible. But they never really got that far because dad had plenty of weed killer and garden tools for digging.

Some years, he brought out the weed killer before mom made her request for the dandelion greens, and she'd ask friends about the state of their lawns. They were more than happy to let her pull some weeds. Probably very puzzled at her request.

Years later, I found out that hot bacon dressing is commonly used on spinach salads. Or other hearty greens. So you don't actually need to wait until that perfect moment for dandelion picking. Then again, these days I've seen dandelion greens at the store on occasion. Not that I've been tempted to buy them. For me, it's all about the dressing.

Meanwhile, a new store opened up here in Longmont called Frontiere Natural Meats. They sell all sorts of organic and natural meats, including bison, elk, beef, chicken, and pork. I might have missed something, but that seems like most of it.

Like a good food blogger, I stopped in, peered around, and had a chat. I might be doing some regular recipes for them, in exchange for some meat products. Sounds like a fair deal, right? We eat meat.

For the first recipe, they asked if I could come up with a salad recipe with meat served on top, and the first thing I thought of was spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. And the second thing I thought of was not-bacon dressing. Since bison is so lean, I decided to omit the bacon and use olive oil instead. It's still a very tasty salad with a warm dressing. And with some added ingredients that weren't in the original. Because where's the fun in that?

Bison Ribeye with Hot Spinach Salad
Depending on your appetite, this salad will serve one or two. French fries or boiled baby potatoes make a nice accompaniment to this salad.

For the steak:

1 bison ribeye steak
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, as needed

For the spinach salad:
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cut in bite-sized chunks
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
10 ounces baby spinach

Salt and pepper the ribeye, then heat a cast iron frying pan on medium-high heat. Drizzle a little olive oil on the steak, then place it in the hot pan. Sear on the first side, then flip and sear on the second side. Continue cooking until the steak is done to your liking - but remember that it will cook just a little more as it rests.

When the meat is done, transfer to a plate and cover loosely while you prepare the salad.

Heat a saute pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil, then the mushrooms, bell pepper, and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper, to taste. If you're not sure, a pinch of each would be fine. Cook, stirring as needed until the mushrooms loose their liquid and then it disappears again and the vegetables are in a mostly-dry pan.

Meanwhile, combine the wine vinegar, olive oil, and sugar (if you want a less-tart dressing) in a small bowl.

Add the spinach to the pan followed by the oil and vinegar mixture. Add the red pepper flakes, if desired. Use tongs to turn the spinach over a few times, just until it is wilted, but still bright green.

Arrange the spinach salad on a large plate, then slice the steak and serve it on top of the salad.

Frontiere Natural Meats provided me with meat so I could develop this recipe.