Jessica's Food Life

back with cake.

2009-06-14T19:07:00.001-07:00

Dear me,

I'm sorry I made you wait so long for the next post. In the meantime I've been discovering farmer's markets, eating kale, quinoa and beets. Three foods I'd never thought I'd eat in my life, let alone like.

But the sweets always figure in my life somehow. I was determined to make myself a birthday cake this year, an ambition I've always had but rarely follow through on. I usually bake cakes for friends on their birthdays, but when it comes to my own I just want to sit back and do nothing. Or cross my arms over my chest and pout, wondering why none of my friends take it upon themselves to bake me a cake. But I know, I know that I would prefer to eat my own cake. I think I'm habituated (is that a word) to my own baking just as I am to my own scent. I don't know the scent is there, though I'm sure it is, and therefore it sits just fine on me. In fact I'd say it suits me well. And so does my baking. I know what's going into my dessert, (i.e. I know how much butter, how little salt, etc) and somehow that makes me sure that I'll like it.

So for the big 3-0 I thought I'd bake a classic genoise from this cookbook. I added orange rind and lots of vanilla bean paste to make for an extra tasty sponge-like cake. I pictured it layered with a rich chocolate (homemade) buttercream frosting. But I wouldn't settle for anything less than perfect and when the two cakes came out of the oven but would not release from the non-stick pans that I had buttered, I knew I was in trouble. I managed to get one out OK, but the other one clung to the pan in odd patches leaving huge chunks in the cake when I finally got it out onto the rack. On top of that, I noticed the occasional speck of flour that hadn't mixed in to the batter properly. With two days before my birthday I sighed, called it a night and decided to make a new cake the following day.

Attempt number two was to produce a two layer chocolate chiffon cake from this book. The cake was one I had made 5 months earlier for a friend--with terrific results. While it looked picture perfect when removed from the oven, the taste wasn't well, chocolatey. I don't know what went wrong--could it have been the Sunny Select canola oil from Lucky's that I'd used? Or the year(s?) old Hershey's cocoa that had been sitting in my cupboard? I started beating myself up for not having refrigerated the cocoa, and immediately suspecting that as the reason behind why my cake tasted wrong. The 6 eggs that I used--no, make that 12 since I messed up the first crack around by spilling egg yolk into the whites--to make the orange buttercream frosting were well worth my time. The italian meringue-style buttercream was a hit. But the cake, cute and all as it looked, was kind of a bust.

But what of that genoise I'd snubbed the day before? I froze it, only to dig into it a couple of weeks later and promptly eat 1/3 of one layer straight out of the freezer. I kid not. And, it was delicious. Flour clumps and all. The remaining cake and 2/3 were put to use this weekend with a little help from semisweet chocolate chips and my roommate's confetti frosting a la Betty Crocker. I'm not sure how I feel about BC, but the cake, layered with apricot jam (a little grand marnier as well) turned out to be delicious. I shouldn't have doubted in the first place. But that was back when I was 29, not nearly as wise as I am now at 30.

The canola oil chocolate cake, disguised in delicious orange buttercream.

The not-so-dolled up genoise. Looks can deceive... this was a much tastier cake.

Butternut Squash Soup

2009-02-02T21:35:00.001-08:00

What have I to complain about, weather-wise? I'm lucky enough to live in California, where the temperatures have been up and down but reaching 65 degrees on the odd January day. But San Francisco can also be very cold, as I've mentioned over and over. It's the humidity, I think. Cloudy, cold days scream soup to me. As in, I should eat some.

I've never been a huge soup fan. It somehow doesn't seem as satisfying as a sandwich. "Liquid lunches" have never held the number one spot in my lunchtime repertoire because I tend to feel hungry only an hour or two after eating soup. But soup is good for you. This winter I've trained myself to slurp it and feel satisfied. By adding a slice of bread--maybe a tiny bit of butter--the meal feels rounded out. (Have I been living under a rock? you're thinking. Cause I'm pretty sure cafes have been serving soup with bread forever.) Just let me enjoy my naivete, and you enjoy the recipe I have to offer for a delicious butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

adapted from Eating Well magazine

1 medium butternut squash, halved, seeded, and roasted (350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The longer it cooks and more caramelized the squash, the better flavor your soup will have.)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, chopped

1 sweet onion, diced

4 cups chicken broth (low sodium)

2 cups water

2 tsp cumin

1 dash ground cloves

1 dash cayenne

1/2 serrano pepper (de-seeded if you want less heat in your soup)

salt and pepper to taste

Allow the roasted squash to cool. Meanwhile, in a large pot pour in olive oil and add onions. Allow to soften for 1 minute. Add celery and carrot and cook over medium low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. Scoop squash flesh out into pot. Add chicken broth and water, and spices (except for salt and pepper). Bring soup to a gentle simmer and let cook for 20-25 minutes. The water level should be reduced by about 1/4, then remove soup from heat. Using an immersion blender, puree soup to desired consistency. Enjoy warm, with some hearty wheat bread.

a tribute to friendship

2008-09-11T21:43:00.001-07:00

And now I digress! Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a long gone friend, Ms. Tiffany Bartz, and her partner in doing crazy things (not crime, exactly), Shane Bussmann. One Brandi Howell accompanied me on the journey, where we encountered the full Bussmann/Bartz and extended family clan (i.e. Nelson) and enjoyed a day of heat, Mexican food, libraries, and Old Maid! It was a really great day. In honor of that, I would like to share the photos of friendship!
Have a great weekend.

The Bartz-Nelson's:

Grin and Bare It: A Tale of 20-somethings post-orthodonture:

An Elf on the Loose:

Duck Fat Fries

2008-09-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

So much has been eaten (by me) in the past month or more that I hardly know where to start. For one, I was obsessed with the October 2008 issue of Eating Well and kept repeating the pineapple coffeecake (with nectarines instead of pineapple) because it was at once so "healthy" and delicious. Ok, it wasn't fat-free or anything, but it had a hearty cup or more of whole wheat flour, adding some much needed fiber to my diet. (ha ha, or not!) All in all, it was delicious. I made a teryaki chicken dish from the same issue, also delicious. And I have been wanting to make a turkey meatloaf from said issue, that uses bulgur as a fibrous filler. I shelled out the big bucks for the bulgur, but still haven't gotten around to making the meatloaf. Turkey meat sauce and spaghetti is just way too easy for me to make, and prevents me from getting round to the meatloaf.

Also, I was weighed down with some stomach troubles for awhile, and was trying to eat only bland foods. That wasn't so much fun. When I started feeling better for maybe a day, my boyfriend decided that it was time to try making double fried french fries (fried in duck fat a la Vegas, baby) AT HOME! Thankfully, this is San Francisco, and finding duck fat was as easy as typing "google.com" in the url. I can always count on the Chow threads. While the duck fat didn't leave a poultry-ish taste, the fries were crispy, golden, and looked super professional. Good job, Joe! The tasty shoestrings called for meaty steaks, which I topped with a wine/broth/shallot/basalmic/mustard reduction which was sweet, acidic and heavenly. All this, and a bottle of 2 buck Chuck called for nothing less than a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. It was a real bistro meal. So good. Of course, it wasn't the best meal for a rebounding stomach, but it certainly dazzled my tastebuds.

And so I leave you with a few pictures...

Start off by peeling and chopping your potato into desired width:

Next, place shoestrings in big vat of hot oil, or melted duck fat:

Then drain on paper towel (and prepare for 2nd fying---not shown here, unfortunately. I can vouch for the fact that the end result produces a deep golden, crispy fry.)

Finish it all off with chocolate cake for dessert!

Tomato Tarte Tatin

2008-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

A friend's lunch visit yesterday (Saturday last) inspired me to make something from Chocolate & Zucchini, (the cookbook derived from the eponymous blog,) which my old roommate gave to me for my birthday. I enjoy the blog and was taken with the book, which is a surprisingly rich compendium (for a blog-turned-book) with color pictures of many of the recipes. Since it's summer, the idea of slightly caramelized, oven roasted tomatoes was very appealing. I've made a traditional tarte tatin before--basically an upside down apple tart--and liked the idea of turning it into a savory lunch dish.

The recipe turned out great, and the tart looked just as it did in Clotilde's book. I modified her recipe slightly (of course!) and in the future I would add even more tomatoes, because, well, why not?

Tomato Tarte Tatin
(adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini, Broadway Books, 2007)

pate brisee (recipe to follow):

1 c. bleached flour

1/3 c. cake flour
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled and diced
large pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
ice water

tart filling:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 lbs Roma tomatoes (about 8 tomatoes), washed, seeded and sliced in rounds 1/2" thick (or thicker, depending on your preference
2-3 oz goat cheese
1/2 c. fresh basil, washed and dried
salt
pepper
spices: thyme, dried basil, rosemary--whatever you have on hand will work.

Begin by working on the pate brisee, as this will need to chill in the fridge before tart dough can be rolled out. Using a food processor, combine flours, salt and butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Then add egg and pulse until mixture starts to come together in a ball. If this doesn't happen within a minute or so, add a teaspoon of ice water to the mix. Add a teaspoon at a time until the dough starts to form a ball. At that point, remove dough from the food processor and shape into a ball. Flatten slightly, then cover tightly in plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and let dough sit outside of fridge for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.

While dough is in fridge, work on the tomatoes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9" pie pan with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Sprinkle on a teaspoon of a sugar. Then arrange your tomato slices in the pan in a circular formation, layering slices if necessary. Try to squeeze in as much tomato as possible on the bottom of the pan. Season with salt, pepper and additional spices, and a little more olive oil. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until soft. Remove pan from oven.
When tomatoes have cooled, sprinkle on the goat cheese.

Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour. Roll dough out into a circle about 11" in diameter, or even larger if you prefer a thinner crust (which you can then chop down). Prick the dough with a fork (to help prevent it from puffing up while cooking). When the tart pan has cooled off, cover the tart with the crust. Chop off unnecessary borders, leaving an extra 1/4" around the edge of the pan. Then, tuck this extra crust into the pie pan; this will help form a nice crust. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until crust turns a nice golden brown cover. Let tart cool on a rack before flipping it over. I tend to use the tart-to-plate method, placing a plate face down over the crust, then flipping the pie over with the plate simultaneously. Spoon up the remaining juices from the pan and pour over tart. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Best served still slightly warm, with a side of salad and a slice of bread. Bon appetit!

Blueberry Tart

2008-08-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

Summer is here, but the only way I notice it is from the appearance of "classic" summer fruits in the markets. Not to get too down about the weather here, but SF is not known for its warm, languid summers. Instead, we get wind, fog, mist (imagine the combination of all three at once), and occasionally a sunny day. (Today happens to be one of those, hooray!)

It's a good thing that the farmers in the North Bay area and Central California get lots of summer sun, providing juicy and ripe fruit to this windy city. Nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, blueberries--I like just knowing that they're readily available for purchase.

I love blueberries the most, especially when ripe, plump, and sweet. For what I imagine will be a limited time only, the big chain groceries seem to have an abundance of the bluebs. 22 ounces on sale for $4! That's an amazing deal, considering that throughout the year imported berries cost about $4-5 per half pint. I can eat through that in one day.

But with my surplus of cheap berries, I actually have a hard time eating all of them in a week. This, in spite of my throwing about 1 cup and a half of berries into my cereal each morning. And I have been buying more berries before running out of the old batch, for fear that the following week's shipment won't be on sale. (And I'm not going to buy the same clamshell I'm currently getting at $4, for $8, when the price goes back up.) As a result, I'm always thinking about what I can bake with the excess blueberries. A week or so ago I made a delicious lemon blueberry coffeecake with pecan crumble topping (thanks to Cooks Illustrated), and the blueberry tart shown above. I cobbled the tart together from several recipes, baking the crust from the tarta de naranjas recipe that I made back in February, and topping it with cooked vanilla pastry cream and fresh blueberries. The three layers come together nicely in spite of their differences: buttery pastry crust with creamy topping and crunchy berries whose juice is released in the mouth. I can assure you, the combination is quite good.

Blueberry Tart

1 prebaked tart pastry (adapted from The New Spanish Table)

1 pastry cream recipe

1-2 cups fresh blueberries (washed & dried)

prebaked tart pastry shell:

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

2/3 c confectioner's sugar

1 pinch salt

10 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1 large egg yolk beaten with 2 tbsp chilled heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp ice water, if needed

Place flour, sugar, and salt in food processor and pulse 5 or 6 times til mixture is combined. Add the butter and pulse until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Remove mixture to a bowl and stir in the egg yolk mixture with a fork until evenly distributed. If the dough has started to stick together, shape it into a ball and flatten slightly. Cover tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day. When ready to use dough, remove and let sit out on the counter for about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into an 11 inch circle. Transfer the dough to a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing it into the sides of pan. Trim any excess dough that hangs over. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork. Freeze dough for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove from freezer and cover tart shell with aluminum foil, then add pie weights (or something heavy to keep dough from puffing up while baking) and and bake crust for 25 minutes. Remove pie weights and foil and keep baking for another 8-10 minutes. Cool tart shell in pan on a baking rack completely before filling.

While tart shell is in the oven, prepare pastry cream:

1 c milk

3 egg yolks

1/4 c sugar

1 1/2-2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk 1/4 cup cold milk, egg yolks, sugar, and flour together. Gradually add remaining milk (warmed, then mixed with cornstarch) and stir until smooth. Heat in double boiler, beating until cream becomes thick, stirring constantly to prevent burning. When thickened, remove from stove and transfer cream to a bowl to let cool. Stir in vanilla extract. Place bowl in a shallow pan of cold water to help cool, and stir cream mixture from time to time to prevent skin forming on top of cream. When mixture is room temperature, use it to fill tart shell. Or, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for up to 8 hours.

Once tart shell has been filled with pastry cream, smooth it out with a spoon or spatula. Then add blueberries, and voila, the tart is ready to eat.

what's new.

2008-07-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Some of you may well be wondering "Just what is going on in Jessica's food life? Her absence is driving me mad, knowing that she's cooking up something delicious and refusing to share it (visually) with the rest of us. She's so selfish." Ha ha, I'm sure that evil thought has never crossed your innocent minds. Instead you may have chalked up my blog-absence to laziness. Now that's more like it!

To brief you all on what I've been up to, I have a quick pictoral collection of a few goodies I made over the past month or two. Or three. Listen! I came back from Europe bummed out in general to be back, so please! I'm finally coming out of the mourning period.

Vanilla applesauce cupcakes with strawberry frosting:

1 vanilla cake mix (from a box!)

I followed the recipe for the lowfat version of these cupcakes, which involved "no sugar added" applesauce in place of butter. The result: I couldn't tell the difference than if I had used butter. As long as you're using a chemical mix, might as well through in some fruit and kick up the vitamin quotient, right? The frosting was a concoction purely my own. Take a stick (or two) of (very) softened butter, add a tablespoon or two of vanilla extract, and 2-3 cups of powdered sugar. Stir together til ingredients form a smooth frosting-like substance. For the true strawberry flavor I poured half a cup of frozen strawberries into a blender, pulsing until they formed a puree. Then I add about a third of this mix to the frosting, stirring completely until well-mixed. This made for true strawberryliciousness. Believe me, you'll impress everybody with the intense flavor in this homemade frosting. And then for the big reveal before your crowd: there are two fruit involved in the making of this cupcake!

Oh, and well, I lied about the pictoral collection I was going to show you. I'll have to save the next few for upcoming blog posts. It'll give me a reason to keep on.

Baked samosas

2008-04-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I was sitting around, perusing my roommate's Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's cookbook and came upon this interesting recipe for Indian-style baked samosas. While I wasn't sure about the book--a lot of the "recipes" seem to involve emptying the contents of one TJ's item, like hummus, onto a plate and serving with TJ's organic baby carrots--this recipe caught my eye. It's essentially a rip-off of the Moosewood cookbook's vegetarian samosa recipe, but they've adapted it to involve those pre-washed/peeled/cut sweet potatoes and frozen TJ peas. I was inspired by the simple crust recipe, involving nothing more than flour and buttermilk, and adapted the already-adapted recipe into my own version. I made samosas with the sweet potato/pea filling and a second version of my own creation, a sort of curried ground turkey meat filling with onions and raisins. This raisins balance the spice and saltiness of the curried meat perfectly. Once you make the crust, whose buttermilk lends a gentle tang to the dough, you are free to create just about any filling you wish. Both of these are winners though, in case you're tempted to try them!

Baked Samosas, adapted from Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's, by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati, Brown Bag Publishers, 2007.

Buttermilk crust

2 1/2 c white flour

1 c buttermilk (or plain yogurt--not fat-free)

1/2 tsp salt

Sweet potato filling

1 large sweet potato, or 2 smaller ones

1/2 c frozen peas

dash of coriander (dried)

dash of cumin

fresh chopped cilantro (can omit if unavailable)

Curried ground turkey filling

1/2 cup raw ground turkey

1/4 c minced onion

2 tbsp raisins

pinch salt

1 tbsp curry powder

*pepper, coriander, cumin should be added to taste

oil

To make the crust:

Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl and then create a well in the middle. Pour in buttermilk and stir the mixture until the dough forms a ball. Add a little flour if dough is too sticky, but remember that dough should be soft. Cover with plastic and set aside in fridge for 30 minutes to an hour while preparing the filling(s).

To prepare the sweet potato filling:

Wash sweet potatoes and place in a pyrex or microwave-safe dish. Use a knife to make cuts in the raw potatoes. Then cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap. Place in microwave and cook on high. This may take from 6 to 11 minutes. When cooked/soft throughout, remove sweet potato, and peel when cool enough to handle. In a small bowl, mash the cooked sweet potato with a fork, and stir in the frozen peas and spices. Set aside--in fridge if samosa assembly will be further delayed.

To prepare turkey filling:

Heat a tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan on the stove. Add minced onion and let cook for a minute over medium heat. Add turkey meat and break up with spatula to avoid large clumps of meat from forming. Once meat loses its pinkish hue throughout, add curry powder and additional spices. Once mixture is thoroughly combined, add raisins. Remove from heat and let cool.

To assemble and bake the samosas:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove dough from fridge. Break the dough evenly into about 10 small balls. Roll (or flatten with your hands) each one out to be about 6 inches in diameter. Smaller balls will work too; the dough will just be thicker and you can fit less filling in each one. Place about a heaping tablespoon of your filling of choice into each samosa. Fold the dough over the filling to create mini crescents, and press the edges of the dough firmly together to close off. Place samosas on a greased or floured baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Best served with mango chutney!

*Note on the cookbook: Bizarrely, the authors of this Trader Joe's book have nothing to do with the company, and merely set out to create as many recipes as they could with the products that Trader Joe's carries. A nice idea, (think "stuff white people like") but one problem with trying to follow all the recipes is the lack of consistency in TJ's store-to-store stock. The authors have a nice-looking recipe for Green Garbanzo Salad, but I was only able to purchase frozen green garbanzos at TJ's for one week at the Geary/Masonic San Francisco location in 2007. They were great, but unfortunately, one bag was all I got. This book could just as easily be called "easy weeknight dinners;" you can buy the same products at a different grocer and probably get the same results from the recipes.

Faux Coussins de Lyon

2008-04-22T20:16:00.001-07:00

I am a glutton, a gourmande, a golosa. In any language, the fact is, I love sweets and will not pass up an opportunity to eat sugar spun into a fancy confection. When I traveled with my parents to Lyon in 2002 or 2003, we discovered the city's historical sweet: the coussin de Lyon (or pillow of Lyon). This marvelous treat does look like a miniature pillow fit for royalty. The center is a rich ganache with a splash of curaçao or other liqueur (the recipe for the coussin is under lock and key, and noone except the confectionery who produces it know the exact recipe. There are coussin knock-offs as well, and I don't think their recipes are well-known either.). The ganache is surrounded by a layer of almond paste that is finely candied on the top. The pillow is distinguished with its pale aqua-green color and a fine stripe of darker green running down the length. It's an intense bite. It'll cost you, too. I figure that with the dollar so low right now, I'll end up paying more than three dollars per square inch coussin (when I go to France and hunt down a bag of these later in May). But those are the lengths I like to go to for sweets.

According to Wikipedia (and my loose translation), in 1643, the mayors of Lyon decided to plead to the Virgin Mary to spare the town from the plague epidemic. In so doing, they lit a 7 pound wax candle and put a gold piece on a silk pillow (is it just me, or does something here not make sense?). Jump forward over 300 years to 1960, where the Lyonnais chocolatier Voisin decided to make a candy in the shape of very same pillow. Well, that's one theory, anyway.

The exterior is hard, with its crystallized sugar coating. Take a bite and the candy softens into ganache, with the flavors of almond, orange, and chocolate coming through.

I ran out of my last bag of these candies shortly following a trip to Nice in 2006, where I've actually found some of the best coussins de Lyon. It's been over two years, and with the European trip looming, I'm looking forward to more of them, at any cost, as I mentioned. But there's a blip in my waiting period for coussins. Last weekend I went to the Fillmore Street's Patisserie Delanghe, a French bakery that is less well-known than the neighboring French rival/giant Bay Bread/Boulangerie. (The pastries looked less glamorous at Delanghe, the croissants forming a less-than-perfect crescent, providing less reason to spend $2.75 for just one.) But then I turned to the second pastry case where the fancy cakes and pastry puffs with hardened caramel sit. Underneath those I saw a platter of the little chocolate logs, one of which is pictured above. As far as I know, these have no official name. The cashier called them marzipans, which they are. But they're more, and they're perhaps the closest thing I've tasted to a coussin lyonnais.

One of these rouleaux (rolls, as I've taken to calling them) was not enough for me, so I went back the next day for another. This time, M Delanghe was working alone. He didn't notice me when I entered the shop, and was in fact reading a magazine. Lazy Sunday! I took a minute to admire the French authenticity of it all--the patissier relaxing, paying no notice to a customer. Who am I to trouble him, after all? Finally, he took his notice of me and walked over to greet me with a pleasant smile.

"Could I get two of those--those rouleaux?" I stammered, eager to impress with my French accent.

He gazed over the countertop at the other pastry case to see what I was talking about, but I was met only with his blank stare.

"Those rouleaux, the little logs." Silence. "The marzipan." I finally said, remembering the cashier's name for them. "They remind me of the coussins de Lyon," I went on, trying to get something out of him, a sign of recognition, or acknowledgment that I was in on the secret--he was creating his own version of the coussins. How many people know about the coussins outside of France? I thought. I've even met French people who don't know what they are. I was futilely looking for a connection to this French baker.

"Ah, they remind you of the coussins de Lyon," he repeated with a playful smile, and pulled two of the freshest looking marzipans off the plate and put them into a pastry bag for me.

"Three-Ninety." He asked for the cash.

That's $1.95 each, much less than the actual coussin will cost me in France, and twice its size. I didn't figure out what the patissier meant that day, if he knew what the coussins are (I am fairly certain that he did, if he's an expert in his craft) or if he thought I was trying to say something in French but had no clue. "She thinks my candy tastes like the pillows in Lyon?! Stupid girl!" Perhaps he thought the less of me. But I don't care. I'll go back again for these--probably a couple of times--before my trip to France.

Actual coussins de Lyon in a fancy "pillow" case.

Crab Cakes

2008-04-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Good evening friends! I regret to inform you that I forgot to take a picture of this evening's crab cakes. Let that be a testament to their mouth-watering, pan-fried and crispy golden glow coming off the pan. They offered no choice but to be eaten immediately. In lieu of a picture, I have a recipe. I began by following a recipe from this month's Olive magazine (a BBC publication), throwing in my own touches and changing the recipe along the way. You can pretty much get away with whatever you want where crab cakes are concerned. Use fresh chopped onion if you have it, or dried, and throw in dried or fresh herbs as desired.

Crab Cakes for Two
2 tins crab meat (120 grams each)
1 heaping tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 egg, beaten
1 tsp sweet smoky paprika
1 dash dried onion pieces
1/2-3/4 c bread crumbs (I used matzoh meal)
pepper
cayenne
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Drain crab meat, then add to a bowl along with all the ingredients and mix thoroughly with spoon or hands. Make sure mixture clings together in one large clump. Then divide into 6 individual "cakes." Place cakes onto a plate or baking sheet and press down slightly to flatten. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes to firm.

Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet (or frying pan). When hot, add crab cakes and cook over medium high heat, adjusting if cakes seem to brown too quickly on the bottom. (Add more oil upon flipping cakes; this will help prevent them from sticking to pan.) Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from stove and serve warm, with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Suggested accompaniment: Baked sweet potatoes.

Angel Food Cake

2008-04-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I couldn't stop thinking about lemons. I decided to just go all out and use a bag of lemons for dessert. I opted for a fat-free angel food cake with lemon rind. Fourteen whipped egg whites later, I didn't have the heart to throw out the isolated egg yolks. Thus, the lemon curd. I guess the dessert balances itself out--I removed the fat from the cake, only to pair it with some of the delicious egg and butter-rich lemon curd. I have no regrets, however. Here's to delicious springtime baking!

Lemon Angel Food Cake

adapted from Lori Longbotham's Luscious Lemon Desserts, Chronicle Books, 2001.

1 c sifted cake flour

3/4 c confectioner's sugar

14 large egg whites (at room temp)

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

pinch salt

3/4 c granulated sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp lemon zest (from 2 lemons)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10" tube pan (or leave ungreased). Sift flour and confectioner's sugar together in medium bowl. In a separate large metal bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer at medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to medium-high, add cream of tartar and salt, and beat just until the egg whites form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar, about 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat just until the whites form stiff peaks. Add vanilla and lemon zest and beat until just combined.

Sift one quarter of flour mixture over the egg whites and fold in with a spatula. Continue gently folding, one quarter at a time, until all the flour mixture has been added. (Work slowly, carefully to mix in all flour--but don't overmix.) Spoon batter into the pan and use a knife to cut through the batter, removing air pockets. Smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden and cake pulls away from sides of pan. Allow to cool on wire rack until room temperature, then flip onto serving platter.

Make a lemon glaze and or curd to serve with cake.

Lemon glaze:

1 c confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp grated lemon zest

Whisk ingredients together in small bowl and pour glaze over cake.

Lemon curd:

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter

12 egg yolks

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

1 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c lemon zest

pinch salt

Melt butter in microwave or saucepan over medium heat. Remove from pan when melted and add sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk until well-mixed. Add in yolks and mix until smooth. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens over medium-low heat (this can take up to 10 or 15 minutes). Don't let it come to a boil. Once thickened, remove from heat and let cool until it's at room temperature. Refrigerate up to one month.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-03-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

I should really title this entry "the hidden danger of peanut butter cookies." What danger? What harm in a bite of peanut butterlicious chunkity goodness, a soft-as-cotton-candy cookie that goes in the mouth and down the pipe without any struggle at all? That's it, right there! I write in a state of pb cookie shock syndrome. There are no symptoms, really, that's what makes it hard to identify, and therefore, better to take preventative measures to avoid. I've eaten two peanut butter cookies and feel no side effects, my body producing no headache, feeling of satiety or other signal to keep me from polishing off two more. Beware, friends, readers of the danger in the peanut butter cookie. I warn you not to attempt the recipe below. Do NOT make these at home. The peanut butter will go straight to your thighs/hips/stomach/(insert "culprit" body part here) and your brain and tastebuds will sense nothing but pleasure.

Muhahaha!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from the Country Baker: Cookies & Crackers, Hearst Books, 1993.

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (Skippy all the way--the recipe even says DON'T use the "health-food variety" stuff.)

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (bleached)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (or a pinch)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or use silpat mats on 2 baking sheets. In a large bowl, by hand or with electric mixer beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and continue beating until well-mixed. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Use a low speed and add in flour, baking powder and salt. At this point, if using an electric mixer, set aside and continue mixing batter by hand with a spatula--it's easier to scrape the sides of the bowl and make the dough form into a well-mixed ball. Add semi-sweet chocolate chips, if desired, and stir until they're mixed into batter.

Using two spoons, scoop heaping spoonfuls of dough (and scrape off) onto baking sheet and press down until flat, about 1/4" thick. Use the back of a fork to press gently onto the tops of the cookies, creating a criss cross pattern. Bake cookies for 10 to 13 minutes, until slightly golden (if you prefer softer cookies) or dark gold (for crispier cookies). Allow to cool on wire rack. Then stuff your face silly or give away to colleagues or friends before you let things spiral out of control.

Date Cake

2008-03-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Chopped dates are so cute. But so painful for the chopping hand.

Got your attention, didn't I?! However, the date in question is none other than the dried fruit, so sweet one might mistake it for candy. I was inspired not by lutefisk tonight (thanks to Tiffany for the suggestion), but by the sultry sugar and spice of the Middle Eastern Passover traditions (though Passover is still a few weeks away. Not at Safeway, where a large front of store display offers goodies from Streit's and Manishewitz "on sale."). Now that I've made a recipe that calls for "finely chopped dates" I have to ask the recipe's creator--are you NUTS? Chopping those dates--and I took great pains just to get them coarsely chopped (forget "finely")--is probably going to account for my early onset arthritis.

Tonight's recipe hails from the April 2008 edition of Gourmet. I made a mistake in the production of this cake, adding the egg yolks to the nut mixture instead of the egg whites, as specified in the recipe. I don't know how this happened, yet miraculously the cake turned out fine. Mine was a bit on the moist side, due in part to my use of too much date-soaked water. Oh well--what's done is done. Now it's time to eat cake!

Walnut-Date Torte, mostly word-for-word but slightly adapted from Gourmet
1/4 c boiling hot water
1 1/2 c pitted dates, finely chopped
1 1/2 c walnuts, toasted and cooled
3/4 c sugar
2/3 c matzoh meal (or Passover cake flour)
zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs, separated, at room temp 30 minutes

**Note! I see one thing that I did wrong. I completely ignored the direction for 1/4 c hot water. Instead, I added enough--more than 1/4 cup--to cover the dates. Proof that I really should read every word in a recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle. Spray or grease a 9" round cake pan. Pour hot water over dates and let stand 15 minutes to soften. In a food processor, grind up toasted walnuts and add 1/4 cup sugar until the mixture turns powdery. Add zest, cardamom and salt and pulse until blended. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then add the remaining sugar and continue beating until they form glossy stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks to dates and whisk until mixed. Fold the egg-date mixture into the egg whites. Finally, add the nut mixture to the egg batter and fold in until well mixed. Pour into cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and cake springs from pan sides.

A reddish-brown tint from the date pieces peeks out at the eater.

The Gourmet recipe says to make a confectioner's sugar-potato starch mix to top the cake, but I just used the sugar. It is a very sweet cake, so no sugar topping is needed; it's really only there for presentation. Do you like it?

Grape Jelly-Chili Meatballs

2008-03-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

My mom and I discuss this odd dish frequently. This is one of the few all-American (kind of) meals she makes--with a twist. The meatballs (which have morphed from being made with ground beef to ground turkey over the years,) are then served with pasta--preferably bow-tie/butterfly shapes (farfalle)--and covered in a delicious stovetop brew of grape jelly and chili sauce. EWW, right? Wrong--these are so good. As soon as I get the recipe from my mom, I'll post.

And now, a challenge. Readers, I've been lacking inspiration in the kitchen as of late. (As you guessed by my infrequent posting.) I haven't made anything new and exciting, instead running through the usual kitchen staples: chili, stir fries, pasta. It's just a passing phase, and I'll be back to trying new recipes, but I'd love to know if you have a food challenge for me in the meantime. Ideas?

Shower recap

2008-03-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend Stephanie and I hosted a bridal shower for our friend Galit. I thought that the fruit arrangement stylings of Steph should be displayed here. I can't help from reviewing this photo over and over. Steph, you made the fruit look so beautiful!! Following that is a picture of the apple tart that I made with some help from my mom. It looked beautiful, but the crust came out too hard for my liking. I had to shuttle it away from the table and cut it into slices hidden from view, for fear of tart flying off the plate, or worse yet, breaking Stephanie's cake plate. The filling was practically all apples: the filling sauteed apples with a small amount of sugar, and the topping raw apple slices. (The theme of the shower being a "tea," fruit and fruit tarts came to mind as being appropriate!)

As it turned out, the most rewarding part of the whole event wasn't the amount of sugar involved, but seeing the bride-to-be so happy with our work.

Violet Crumble

2008-03-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was suckered by the charms of Curtis Stone on an episode of Take Home Chef and went out to buy an Australian sweet manufactured by Nestle as a result: the Violet Crumble. Curtis used this candy bar as a topping on cheesecake to try and connect with the palate of the 30-something Aussie lass he found in an L.A. area Whole Foods. All this talk of Violet Crumble and cheesecake made me hungry for something--I just wasn't sure it was the combination of the two. (This is what I love about Nestle: though the coporation is openly hated here in the US--but quietly loved for it's Kit Kats and Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows--they really do bring a better quality milk chocolate to the entire world, with different products in every chocoholic country. Sure, some partially hydrogenated fats and lots of refined white sugars may be involved, but the product beats out Hershey's any day for taste.) Well, the Nestle product destined for Australian audiences turns out to be not bad at all--in fact, it's quite good! The golden interior (as seen above, in the photo by "Rosa,") actually tastes a bit like desiccated toasted marshmallows. One could say it's like a pre-packaged s'more, sans graham cracker.

Speaking of graham crackers, while I liked the Violet Crumble, I wouldn't think of adding it to something as rich and simple as cheesecake. Better to let the creamy sweetness of the cheese come through on its own. While I admire Curtis on some levels--one being that he's a hot Aussie--I'm not always so sure of his baking improvisation skills.

Lots o spaghetti, oh!

2008-03-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

A week has flown by without much posting. What can I say--will you forgive me? Still, I have been eating, as usual. Weird aches and pains ail me, but nothing stops me from loving food. It's a sickness.

At any rate, in the past few days I've been mixing it up with spaghetti. What is "it"? Turkey meat sauce, broccoli, chicken sausage, cheese. Uhmm-mmm. Only the tastiest of salty treats for my spaghetti (excluding one favorite--prosciutto).

Thursday I took in a spaghetti crust pie, a delicious dish from my childhood, made straight from Better Homes and Gardens Step-by-Step Kids' Cookbook. And tonight I made spaghetti with meat sauce (ground turkey), only the turkey didn't look "normal;" it seemed almost fluid, liquidy, and didn't break up into big chunks, and almost smoothed out entirely into the tomato sauce. WEIRD. Still, it's hard to go wrong with garlic, tomatoes and meat. At least it all tasted good!

Spaghetti Crust Pie
6-8 oz spaghetti
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs, whisked
1/3 c parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
tomato sauce (your own/store bought)
cheddar cheese
additional toppings of your choosing

Cook and drain pasta. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine pasta, butter, eggs and cheese. Stir until well mixed. Pour into a buttered 9 or 10" pie pan and press gently into sides so that it forms a pie "crust." Pour sauce and toppings on top (except cheese) and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Then add cheese and let cook for 5-10 minutes more, until it starts to bubble, but not burn. Let cool 10 minutes, then serve. Enjoy!

Tarta de Naranjas

2008-02-24T11:45:00.001-08:00

Perhaps one of the prettiest tarts I've ever made, Anya von Bremzen's Tarta de Naranjas came out just as expected. Beautiful to look at and tasty to eat. The pastry crust is composed mostly of butter, confectioner's sugar, one egg and a little bit of heavy whipping cream. The recipe made more than needed for a 9-inch tart pan, but it came out just right: sturdy and crispy, sweet and buttery. Preparing the oranges was a serious labor of love, requiring light simmering of the slices for about 15 minutes, in an OJ-orange zest-sugar preparation over the stove. Then the slices must be cooled, and finally pat dry and halved. Once the tart shell had been baked, I added marmalade to the bottom of the pastry, and topped with the orange slices, then put in the oven to bake the oranges. (I had to cover the edges of crust with aluminum foil the entire time, to be sure they wouldn't burn.) The bits of white that you see above are the areas of granulated sugar that did not fully caramelize (the darkened parts prove where the sugar did caramelize).

Again, I cannot plug too frequently The New Spanish Table. Von Bremzen gives excellent descriptions and how-to of the recipes, and they're clearly well-researched, as everything I've made has come out just as expected. Choosing what to make next from it is perhaps the only difficult thing about the book. . . .

Panino

2008-02-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

Today for lunch I procured a baguette, prosciutto crudo, and fresh mozzarella (only a step off from the burrata that is creamily good). I split the baguette open, slathered on some olive tapenade and added the goodies above, along with a few tomato slices, to create a nice hearty sandwich (panino), reminscent of Italy's finest. It's not quite the same as eating a sandwich in Italy, but almost as good....

Take Home Nanny

2008-02-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's a blog-extra for you. Though I'm no "Millionaire Matchmaker," I am so obsessed with reality TV that this week's Supernanny sparked the idea for a great celebrity match. Supernanny's Jo Frost with Take Home Chef's Curtis Stone! They're both attractive people with lovely accents, and I'm sure that Mr. Stone would find more of a challenge in the confident and headstrong Ms. Frost than in the dozens of L.A. wannabe actresses who swoon and thrown themselves at Curtis in Whole Foods to take them home with him. Just an idea for these two that love may be a tv show away....

Supernanny photo credit: The Sun

Seeing Green

2008-02-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've become a huge fan of frozen vegetables. While I never have a problem finding fruit that I like to eat, vegetables can be more of a challenge for me. They're good for you, but often either so bland so as to require lots of fat to make them tasty, or so strong, like broccoli that no matter how they're served they prove difficult to swallow. Since broccoli is supposedly one of the best foods for humans (anyone want to challenge that?), I decided to start buying frozen broccoli instead of fresh--strangely I find it much more palatable. It's already chopped and cleaned; all that is left to be done in preparing it for eating is to defrost and steam it. And I always like the way frozen broccoli turns out, as opposed to when I cook up the fresh kind. As a result, I've become a frequent visitor to the frozen food aisle in the grocery store, buying broccoli, asparagus, spinach, and other assortments of mixed veggies. I haven't given up on fresh vegetables altogether, but it's always nice to know that I have a perishable that won't rot away in the fridge--and is ready for cooking when I need it.

I've been at it again, throwing the fro-veg into my pasta. Saturday witnessed some spaghetti tossed with scallops and thawed broccoli.

And tonight it was celentani (delightful curly pasta) with frozen spinach and goat cheese.

This one is ridiculously easy to make, and it would be ridiculously absurd not to bother making it, since it's so delicious.

Pasta with spinach and goat cheese
Serves two.
2 cups pasta (celentani, penne, rigatoni)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tbsp goat cheese
zest of 1 lemon
cayenne, pepper, salt
extra olive oil, if desired

Place garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil and let infuse for 30 minutes or more. Place frozen spinach in bowl and cover in hot water to let defrost (about 5 minutes), then drain. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tbsp salt to water, then add pasta and cook according to package instructions. Add the garlic and oil to a medium skillet over medium heat and let cook for 1-2 minutes without letting garlic burn. Add drained spinach to pan and stir, adding zest and pepper to your liking. Turn heat to low, allow to warm through for 2 minutes. Turn off heat while waiting for pasta to finish. When pasta has cooked and been drained, add to skillet and turn on heat to low. Add goat cheese and stir until it starts to melt, breaking up any large clumps. Once ingredients have been mixed, remove from heat and serve. Bon appetit!

A Much Loved Fridge

2008-02-16T21:26:00.001-08:00

And now let me interrupt your nice, long weekend with an image of what I consider to be a "daily miracle"--the fridge/freezer combo in my apartment. If you didn't know me, could you guess (from the picture below) that only three relatively small women inhabit the place? Let's just say it's a tight fit. But we each love our food, and a price shall be paid for it. I kind of visualize where I last placed each food product in the freezer, in order to find it. But even at maximum capacity, I like to think there's always "room for one more" here!

A Much Loved Fridge

Care for a slice?

2008-02-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

After all that talk of pizza I began to crave the real, easy-to-make, homemade kind. And yes, it is easy to make! My crust isn't genius, but it's solid and good, with a slightly sweet note from the honey (adapted from the CCA cookbook Breads, originally published in 1985 by Ortho Books, which appears to have been run by the Chevron corporation. Very interesting.). The recipe for the crust takes 15-20 minutes to make, and then 30-40 minutes more to rise. This isn't a 30-minute meal, but again I emphasize its simplicity, and overall deliciousness. Plus, you can have your favorite toppings, and if you happen to find any stray hairs in your pie, you'll know who they belong to. You. I hope.

Easy Pizza
Dough:
2 1/3 cups unbleached flour
1 packet yeast
1 cup warm (not scalding) water
1 tablespoon honey
pinch salt
2 teaspoons olive oil

In a medium bowl, measure two cups flour and make a well in the center. Pour yeast into center, and add about a half cup of the water. Add honey to yeast and stir once. Let stand and watch for yeast to bubble up and form smooth clumps (3-10 minutes). Then add salt and start stirring mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula, scraping the side of the bowl. Add olive oil, and continue adding the rest of the flour and water. Start kneading dough with hands (alternately, use bread hook on mixer to make the dough. Hands are fun, though). Keep kneading until dough forms into a cohesive, not too sticky ball. (Add a little more flour if it's too greasy or sticky. Remember, a little stickiness is good.) When you press your fingers into the dough and it starts to spring back, cover with plastic wrap and set in warm area (I like the next-to-stove location) and let rise for 30-45 minutes. When doubled in size, punch down and let rest for another 10 minutes before rolling out and shaping.

Baking the pizza:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you're like me and don't have an applewood-smoked oven, using a simple baking sheet should work just fine to bake the pizza. Using half the dough, roll out until dough is about 1/6 of an inch thick. You don't want to stretch it so that it breaks, but if you like a thin crust, you have to keep rolling it out. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, pricking crust with a fork if it rises up. Remove from oven. Crust should have begun to harden and turn a light golden color. Toppings are up to you: I like to coat the base with a homemade pizza sauce (tomato paste, herbs, water, garlic simmered on stove for about 20 minutes), and then top with additional ingredients. This pizza was inspired with eggplant, mushrooms, garlic oil, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a tiny bit of pancetta and parmeggiano. Bake in oven for 10-20 minutes, until cheese melts and toppings are cooked.

Remove from baking sheet and let cool on rack for 10 minutes before slicing, unless you like to scald your mouth (as I do) and immediately start picking at it to pull off a slice. Patience is a virtue. And I have little.

Of course, enjoy!

Fajita Special

2008-02-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the best dinners are the ones where you end up using odds and ends from the fridge and the cupboard. There's a sense of satisfaction to be had realizing that the can of beans sitting on the shelf from over six months ago has finally been put to use! Or the clamshell of tomatoes--some of which have been slowly withering away--can be finished off before the expiration date. It's a struggle against time, making sure that all the food you once so industriously purchased, thinking it was best to "stock up and save," is put to use before it goes bad.

And now, for a brief photo tour of my fajita special:

Flour Tortillas

Chicken with garlic and jalapenos

BEANS
(Not pictured here)

Fresh, homemade salsa

Grated cheddar

=

Fajita Special

When Is a Pizza Not a Pizza?

2008-02-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

If you guessed, when it's a coca, then you hit the nail on the head. This is the Spanish tapa that has recently become the craze of foodie circles across the nation looking for the next best thing since Italian food came overseas.

The article reminded me of a recipe for coca that I have in The New Spanish Table, by Anya von Bremzen (Workman, 2005.) I was intrigued by it before the trend (my mom gave me the book for Christmas in 2006), but I was so taken with the tuna and red pepper empanada that I made from TNST, that each time I wanted to make something Spanish, I immediately returned to the empanada.

I finally called it a day and decided to try my hand at the coca. I liked the concept of using of lager-style beer as leavening in the dough. While Ms. Bremzen offers a couple different coca toppings, I went with a mix, as I didn't have four jars of roasted peppers on hand, and I didn't care to chop four onions--each of which was required for the recipes. (Instead I used just one jar of bell peppers and ended up chopping three onions. OK, it wasn't a tear-free endeavor after all.) What you see here is the coca combo: a third roasted red and yellow bell peppers, two thirds sautéed onions, pine nuts, currants and honey. And lots of olive oil. This one turned out nicely--and I won't print the recipe for fear of permissions issues, but feel free to ask me for it. It's a nice change from plain old pizza. I won't lie to you though: I have no intention of giving up the Italian version for this one!

Brownie magic

2008-02-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

Though I love to bake, I rarely make cakes or brownies, figuring that it's easier to buy a mix to make them, and that I'd rather try my hand at making something from scratch instead. That's my logic. But after laboring today to make what I've been craving, I've fallen in love with these brownies, practically polishing off a third of them only a few hours after they came out of the oven.

I decided upon a brownie recipe found on epicurious, always my first go-to for online recipes. I picked a recipe from a 1993 Gourmet issue that had received high praise. As usual, I wasn't able to meet all of the recipe's requirements. It called for two sticks butter, and since I have a hard time adding that much butter to one recipe, I decided that one and a half sticks would do. And what to do with all these delicious sea salt caramels that I have on hand from Trader Joe's? If I don't bake them into something that I can share with others, I'll end up eating them all in one sitting. (As it turned out, I only used nine caramels for this recipe, leaving me with plenty of face-stuffing carameliciousness for yet a few more weeks.) I was worried that the caramels would sink if I placed them in the batter before baking it slightly, but the batter was dense enough to hold them up--they sunk somewhat midway into the baking.

And so my recipe for caramel brownies is born!

Caramel Brownies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter

8-10oz bittersweet chocolate

1 1/4 cup all-purpose bleached flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tbsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

8-10 soft caramels

Grease or spray an 8" square baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (Make sure baking rack is on the middle rung in the oven.) In a microwave-safe container, heat chocolate and butter together in the microwave until melted, about 3-4 minutes. Mix together until smooth and well-blended. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; stir til combined thoroughly. In a larger bowl, whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla until well-blended. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled to room temperature, pour slowly into egg mixture and stir until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Then add dry ingredients and stir til you have a fully mixed batter, with no flour clumps. Pour 3/4 of batter into the 8" pan. You will have extra batter which could be used for a separate, smaller, more brownie-like batch. The 8" pan will produce fluffy--yet rich--cake-sized brownies. Unwrap caramels and press gently into batter. Put brownies in oven for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Enjoy warm, cold, with or without ice cream!

Quichefflé

2008-02-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about where I work is the proximity to South Park, a small tree-filled round, bordered by smart Edwardian-style homes. The park itself dominates the center of this nook, with a number of European cafes looking out onto it. Even the burrito place tries to "take it overseas" with the name "Mexico au Parc." (Euro-fever is never-ending.)

Any friend of mine who enjoys food and lives or works near San Francisco has had the pleasure of dining with me at The Butler and the Chef, a French bistro restaurant looking out onto le parc. Though a bit on the pricey side (for a lunch menu), the food is simple and elegant--and it's just plain good. Most of the time I've played it safe, ordering the onion soup gratinée that I know and adore. The chef uses beef stock in the soup (but, of course!) and two baguette slices top it off, each loaded with gruyere that tends to spill down the sides of the bowl. The menu offers salads, croques monsieurs and madames, crepes and baguette sandwiches as well. But the only thing that has ever tempted me away from the adored soup is the "quiche of the day." A server will alert you to which quiche is available each day before you've had a chance to order. A combo like salmon and spinach is easy for me to resist, but tell me there's bacon, mushroom, artichoke, or red bell pepper in that quiche, and it's all I can do to say no.

It finally hit me three weeks ago. Why say "no?" I had watched a number of heavenly slices pass by me each time I dined there, and regretfully wondered why I hadn't asked for one myself. But something changed that day, and I ordered the bacon quiche. It was eggy pudding and savory tart all in one. This "quiche," as TBATC calls it, is more a cross between a quiche and a soufflé. It's really its own dish, puffing up three to four inches high, with a creamy interior and a flaky dark brown crust that billows up and folds over on itself, like a chef's hat. So original it is that I feel it deserves a better name. I've decided to call it a "quichefflé" (pronounced keeysh-flay).

Now I've made plans to go back there on Friday, and it's all I can do to stop thinking about eating the quichefflé. So forgive me for not posting a recipe of my lemon walnut cake as promised, I've had other things, including the quichefflé, on my mind. I'll try to concentrate again on the duty at hand. Maybe tomorrow. And I'll let you know if Friday's quiche is all that I've made it out to be.

A Weekend In Food and Pictures

2008-02-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. We pretty much holed up this weekend and feasted upon whatever was around . . . and whatever I wanted to make.

Saturday morning struck me as good a time as any to make a lemon walnut cake (to follow Saturday night dinner). Incidentally, the cake turned out well (some Meyer lemon rind did the trick, though the cake was a bit dry since I used unbleached flour instead of bleached), but I tapped into it well before dinner and had dessert prepared by the cooks at Osaka instead. The cake holds up well over time; three days later and what little remains tastes good at just about any time of day!

Saturday's rain and gloom later brought on the desire for some stove-popped popcorn. With a light olive-oil flavor and a touch of salt, who would want to go back to microwave or theater popcorn? In any case, I make sure to leave the real stove-top poppin' to the pros:

Saturday night's home-cooked menu got pushed back to Sunday. Take note of oven-roasted pork chops with a lemon-orange-molasses (and dare I say butter?) glaze, lovingly prepared by Chef Fernandez chez Rue de Barcelone. I prepared a mushroom risotto to go along with, but the best addition was that of fresh pineapple rings. After years of eating the "flesh of the islands," I only discovered yesterday that the pineapple's core was not meant to be eaten! See? I'm not as advanced as you all may think. Of course, this meal would pair well with just about any oaky-noted vintage; Joe and I chose to go with the simple and understated Charles Shaw 2006 Sauvignon Blanc.

(That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll share a recipe from the weekend's wealth of offerings.)

Che Buona Pasta!

2008-02-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

In Italian, pasta means lots of things, from what we think of as pasta (spaghetti, rigatoni, etc.) to dough, to a general "good guy" (“è una pasta d'uomo,” literally translates into: he's a good dough of a man). However, one pasta dish that Italians might not know about, or care for, is the kind that is transformed into a cold salad. I learned this before speaking the language or having met any Italians myself. My mom made this dish as I grew up, and she always likes to tell the story about how she adopted it from her Italian-American friend, who first made it for her Italian relatives (taken from a Bon Appetit recipe many years ago). Apparently, it didn't receive much of a warm welcome from the Italians, well, mostly because it wasn't, uh, warm. That's us Americans, right? We like to create a new spin on what’s old. We can make warm pasta? Then we’ll make cold pasta too, please. And so "cold spaghetti salad with fontina cheese" was born!

This dish is easy to make and serves many, making it excellent for casual dinner parties. Extra ingredients like roast chicken or sausage can easily be added to the finished recipe if desired.

Recipe for Cold Spaghetti Salad with Fontina Cheese:
1 1/2-2 lbs spaghetti
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb mozzarella, chopped into pieces
1/2 lb fontina cheese, chopped into pieces
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
6 roma tomatoes, diced
20 leaves fresh basil, washed, cut and dried
olive oil
salt + pepper, to taste
parmesan to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large 1 gallon pot. Salt the water just as it begins to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, then drain. While pasta is cooking, add 4 tbsp olive oil to a skillet and add garlic when pan and oil have warmed. Over a low flame, allow garlic to infuse in oil for 2 minutes, then extinguish flame. Once pasta has been drained, return to pot that was used to boil it in. Add garlic and oil to pasta and stir. Add cheese to pasta in pot. It will be very clumpy and difficult to mix. Turn on a low flame and begin stirring pasta. It may take about 15 minutes for the cheese to melt and break up. (Avoid letting the cheese remain in one large clump.) Continue stirring until cheese is largely melted, with smaller clumps of pasta adhering throughout pot. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Turn off heat and remove pasta from stove. Add basil and let pasta cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature or chill it in the refrigerator and serve cold. Add parmesan to taste, and enjoy!

Between Hands

2008-01-31T22:43:00.000-08:00

Prosciutto . . . or an imposter?

Living in San Francisco, one can get rather jaded. Foodies abound, as do their love for "charcuterie"--smoked and cured meats--of all origins. While I do have a penchant for prosciutto di Parma (with such little fat and a delicate taste, I still haven't found anything to top it), I could really care less about the multitude of house-name salumi made in the region. OK, that's a partial lie. I enjoy eating all kinds of salumi: salame, prosciutto and bresaola, to name a few, but I don't necessarily feel better about eating Fra'Mani (or, directly translated into English: Between Hands--doesn't sound so tasty now!) than eating Butcher Joe's (or Trader Joe's), or whoever else may go to the trouble of producing their own house-cured meats. It's kind of like it would be with jeans. You may like the feel and fit of a designer brand, but are you really going to brag to your friends that you just LOVE Guess? jeans? I mean, after a certain age, like 17, you kind of have to stop doing that.

But up here in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Napa, wherever, it's totally uncool to be over 25 and not have heard of the Berkeley-based Fra'Mani. So in the spirit of diversification and sharing the publicity wealth of salumi--let me give you a glimpse of some American grade A country smoked ham. Not quite the buttery-rich, easy-to-get stuff 'round here--this thing is mail ordered straight from the Heartland--but it's interesting to see what others outside of the Bay Area and other big cities consider a quality cured ham. (For those interested in how the other other third live, check out the Country Ham Association's website--who knew??!) It should keep us in check as to our foodie preferences and at least force us to recognize our snobbery. After that, fine, go back to eating the superior quality Fra'Mani if you want. Just please call it something else. Like "Between Hands." It'll give you the status of one who loves prosciutto while making it sound like you support a non-profit. OK, I guess that's a bit pretentious, too.

*Country Ham from Burgers' Smokehouse.

Ice Cream on the Brain

2008-01-30T21:12:00.000-08:00

Normally, I don't keep gallon-sized tubs of the stuff in my freezer, but as you can see from recent desserts I've made, it would be criminal not to pair these butter and fruit cakes with some ice cream. As a child, I was not often allowed to eat ice cream--and it was rarely kept at home--so I'm always surprised to see it in my (grown-up) freezer. Meant for birthdays or vacations, or an outing with our grandparents, my sister and I didn't eat it nightly as some of our friends did. So perhaps it's through my grandparents, or more specifically, from my maternal grandfather, that I developed a fondness for the frozen dessert in a cardboard container.

We made fun of him all those years, but he was a man who knew what he liked--there was always a carton of ice cream in the freezer. When he tried to eat healthier foods, ice cream briefly disappeared in favor of the less creamy sherbet (1-2% milkfat). My sister and I tolerated the "rainbow" variety, but noone in my family came close to touching the mango sherbet that my grandfather grew to love. (Such a peculiar taste in the pre-foodie '80s!) Briefly we saw the appearance of ice milk varieties in their house (less than 10% milkfat), and sherbets yet again, but even in his final years, I recall seeing some full-fat ice cream flavors in the freezer. It was an addiction of sane proportions, compared to everything else out there.

So now, here I am, alone with an almost-empty carton of Double Rainbow's all-natural Vanilla. And I have to admit that in spite of my ice-cream-is-bad-for-you-upbringing, I have no shame, and rather enjoy a few spoonfuls (ok, maybe a cup-ful) of the creamy and delicately flavored dairy dessert. It makes a nice, simple end to a spicy dinner, or a long day. Maybe I'm taking after my grandfather's habit after all. Nothing wrong with that, though.

Living Footloose and Corn Syrup-Free

2008-01-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

In the past six months, I've made a concerted, San Francisco-like attempt to avoid food products containing high fructose corn syrup or plain corn syrup. It's not really due to health reasons--I don't eat too much of whatever I find it in--but more out of rage. With certain exceptions, I am overall not one for processed foods, nor do I understand the necessity of using them in frozen desserts. I find it confusing when I am able to enjoy a product like Sharon's All Natural Lemon Sorbet, which contains lemon juice as the first ingredient, swiftly followed by water and cane sugar. Why, there's no high fructose corn syrup here, not even a whiff of regular corn syrup. But when Trader Joe's closes at 9:00pm and I've got a sorbet craving, or I'm nowhere in the vicinity of the two existing TJ's in the city, or they're just OUT of the lemoniciousy goodness, what brand can I look for in the more commercial Lucky's or Safeway that matches Sharon's in ingredient-integrity?

The answer?

Well, there is none. The best I've found is a box of Dreyer's lemonade fruit bars. The order of ingredients leaves a little to be desired (in comparison to Sharon's hearty concoction): water tops the list, followed by sugar, then lemon juice from concentrate. And the tooth chill factor brought on by having to bite into a bar versus spooning soft sorbet takes some fun out of the eating, but there's nothing else questionable on that frozen bar ingredients listing. Which begs the question, why can't name brands like Haagen-Dazs take corn syrup off the menu and still serve a fine product? (Sharon's can, and they're pretty much evenly priced.) Don't look to their "Zesty Lemon" sorbet, which names CS as the third ingredient.

Apparently, Sharon doesn't have much competition in the "non-scary ingredients" category at the moment. Until the FDA reveals some terrible news about secret agent Guar Gum, which pops up just about everywhere, (as a thickening agent might), I'll keep packing on the corn syrup-free pints. I recommend you do the same.

Sunday Brunch

2008-01-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

A brunch at The Magic Flute was the only cure for my grumpster mood this morning. I went for the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, and Joe took a stab at the brioche French toast with strawberries and cream. I can't say that either of us went wrong, though it was midway into the meal that I remembered to snag a picture of each! Enjoy the visual leftovers.

Scrumptious French toast:

Devilish Eggs Benedict:

Almonds, le mandorle, des amandes!

2008-01-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I am, of late, obsessed with eating marzipan and almonds. I like those nuts any which way (except in butter form), and most of all I love eating pastries with almond paste.

I was inspired by the Take Home Chef's Curtis Stone last night as he helped a non-cook husband prepare a meal for his wife of 10 years; this included twin blueberry clafoutis for dessert. (I am inspired by Curtis Stone in other ways, too, but those I will not share with you here.)

The clafouti, a traditional French dessert of fruit baked in an egg and bready custard, typically uses fresh cherries. Since it's currently pouring outside and winter's end is nowhere in sight, I decided to go with the fresh fruit in season--pears. I hunted down a recipe from the trusty epicurious as a start, from which point I adapted the recipe to ingredients that I had available and/or wanted to use. Such is the way of Jessica and her cooking! Using a mixture of the Bosc and Anjou varieties, I added the peeled pears to a mixture of eggs, flour, vanilla, butter and almond paste. Simple to make and even simpler to eat, the clafouti is best served warm and with a side of vanilla bean ice cream.

Recipe for Clafouti à la Poire et aux Amandes: (adapted from epicurious.com recipe for Pear Almond Clafouti)

4 pears, any variety (I prefer a mixture of Bosc and Anjous), peeled, cored, seeded
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c almond paste
3/4 c all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 c milk
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 or 10" round baking dish (a pyrex pie plate will work). Slice pears thinly (and all pieces should be similarly sized), and place into bottom of baking dish. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over pears and mix.

In a food processor, combine almond paste, milk, butter, eggs and vanilla until well blended and almond paste has largely been broken up, creating a smooth and liquidy batter. In a large bowl, sift flour and salt together. When blended, add the liquid mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together until ingredients are fully incorporated, with no clumps of flour showing. Pour batter into pie dish, covering pears, and bake in oven for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife can be inserted in clafouti and come out batter-free.

Serve warm and enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This may appear similar to last week's tarte tatin, but I can assure you, it's not!

Who's a Square?

2008-01-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the ups in my life can be as simple as a bar of chocolate--or four. When the Walgreen's circular came out in the Sunday ad section of the Chronicle, I was thrilled to see that my new fave chocolate, Ritter Sport, was on sale for $1.59 (per 100 gram bar)! Down from a whopping $2.19! There's a price to pay for good chocolate in this here city, let me tell you. I often prefer a rotating array of Belgian, Swiss and French chocolatiers, but as of late my heart has softened for the German Dark Chocolate with Marzipan "quadrat" that I once favored as a college student. (Thanks for sending me some Ritter for Christmas, Mom!)

Upon seeing the ad, I rushed to the nearest Walgreen's (which happened to be in Walnut Creek) to find absolutely no Ritter, and to learn that the ad applied to San Francisco and Peninsula-area stores only. (Is there really no market in the deep East Bay for German chocolate?) I returned to S.F., scouting out the two Walgreen's in the 'hood, neither with any sign of a Ritter bar, before discovering 16 flavors of Ritter Sport available at a third location. Fearing an impending rush on the discounted chocolate, I decided to stock up and bought four bars. Now that's a lot of high quality square-a-liciousness for me to enjoy in the coming months.

My Landlord Wants Me To Get Fat

2008-01-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

How could anyone try to take me away from this?!

It goes something like this: I'm at home, turning on the DVD player to get jazzed up for Paula Abdul's Get Up and Dance (Artemis Home Entertainment, 1994) low-intensity workout, and two minutes into walking across the floor into a heels-off-the-ground-half-twist my landlord comes knocking on the door to ruin my fun.

"Um, is there something going on in here?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'm getting exercise--doing a dance video," I explain.

"Oh. How often do you do that?"

Couldn't he just get to the point?

"Maybe once, twice a week," I answer.

On and on it went, until he said something like: "Well, if you keep doing this, then the floors will start to creak, and then you'll come and ask me to fix the floors, and I don't have a lot of money to do all that. You guys are always coming to ask me to fix stuff," (*stuff being the heater, a mold problem--surely we shouldn't bother him with those things!).

Did you catch any logic there? Regardless, the floors have been creaking since I moved in a year and a half ago; I've done Paula's dance routine only five time in the past three weeks! I'm still trying to deduce the real reason that Mr. To doesn't want me to do a dance workout, something that's good for my heart and all, in a living room that sits atop an empty garage. He didn't mention that the noise was an issue for anyone, so there has to be something else going on in his mind. Any guesses??!! I need YOUR help!

Until I muster up the courage to challenge his demands that I stop, I'll continue eating and cooking, being forced to watch the pounds settle back on because my principal heart-healthy joy has been taken away. (Some may say that being forced off of the 90s aerobics scene, and Ms. Abdul's music, might be a good thing, but I disagree.) Every minute less dancing to a remix of "Promise of a New Day" shall be a minute more of me cooking in the kitchen. Last night, chocolate-Grand Marnier cookies, today spoonfuls of peanut butter and Mozarts (the candy), tomorrow, cheesecake and chocolate éclairs! To compensate for my poor snacking habits, I tried to cook myself a healthy and reliable standby: stir-fried shrimp and baby broccoli in an orange-hoisin sauce. Not bad, but not the same as dancing along with Paula and the gang, either.

No more Paula! I can't dance, so I'll just have to eat healthy instead. Broccoli's got lots of vitamins C, K and A, right? Shrimp's not too bad either, save the cholesterol.

Eating My Greens

2008-01-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

When I first sampled the sugary niçoise specialty tourte de blettes, I wasn’t sure what to think. The sweet butter pastry was clearly palatable, but the filling in-between was confusing. Perhaps I just wasn’t used to it: a mixture of Swiss chard (des blettes, in French), egg, pine nuts, apple, raisins, vanilla, rum and parmesan cheese. Upon re-reading those words, it still doesn’t make sense that such a blend of ingredients would taste good together. But the truth of the matter? It’s actually one heavenly combination. The cheese is barely noticeable, and as it melts in with the dense filling, it isn’t even visible or distinguishable by taste. The sweet apple slices complement the dense chard nicely, and overall the whole pastry has layers of flavor that don’t overwhelm each other. When I taught English in Nice, I’d buy a large square of the tourte for lunchtime from the bakery across the street from the high school. Nutritious? Well, there are some nutrients in there, sure. But first and foremost, this is a pastry! The Niçoise must be given credit for sneaking a highly nutritious vegetable (Swiss chard) into a delicious dessert.

Since I don't get back to Nice too often, I was determined to make the tourte here in San Francisco. Covered with a layer of powdered sugar, here was my homemade version.

Farmed Salmon, Oh My!

2008-01-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

It was approaching Saturday night, and we were craving a fish dinner. Oven-baked salmon was the fish dish that popped to mind, so off we went to Bryan's (THE fresh meat, poultry and fish grocer located in the Laurel Heights neighborhood) to pick up something fresh.

The fresh day boat scallops glistened, tempting me to abandon our salmon-eating plans, but then I spotted the fresh, farmed salmon. OK, it's not politically correct to eat farmed salmon, and as the Audubon Society warns against eating this particular fish, I probably should have thought twice about buying it. But mmm, it looked delicious and fresh. The woman waiting to place her order after me, however, wouldn't buy it, literally.

Woman (to Bryan's fish-counter man): "Excuse me, do you have any fresh, wild salmon?"

Fish-counter man: "We have fresh, farmed salmon."
W: "OK, but do you have any fresh salmon that isn't farmed?"

FCM: "The farmed salmon IS fresh."

W: "Yes, but do you have anything wild?"

Clearly, the fish-counter man has had enough of the SF do-gooders and their wild salmon-eating ways that he's prepared to give them a hard time when presented with questions like these. Hopefully I'm still in his good graces, as I kept my mouth shut and just bought the "offending" salmon without hesitation.

We later turned these nice slivers of fresh (but farmed) fish into a pepper-crusted, maple & soy-glazed baked salmon à la the Surreal Gourmet, (Off the Eaten Path, Ballantine Books, 2000), and served them alongside a homemade rice pilaf composed of jasmine white, carrots, zucchini, onions and chicken broth. What a tasty dinner!

The syrup tried to "brand" itself into the marinade by taking the shape of a distorted maple leaf when added to the soy sauce:

Pepper-crusted salmon ready for the oven:

Finished meal:

Starting Fresh

2008-01-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

New year, new you, so the advertisers say. I've decided to share with you all the comestibles I'm making and eating these days.

I welcomed the new year with the resolve to eat more fruits and vegetables. That's a nice "resolution" for me, since it is all about being positive. Now I can eat as many fruits and veggies as I want. If I eat chocolate and ice cream on top of that, I won't have a broken any rule, and my motivation will remain intact!

In keeping with my new vow and to make use of the three-kilogram bounty of fresh pink ladies (the apple version) that I hauled off from Trader Joe's last week, I created my version of tarte tatin, the upside-down caramelized apple tart, and topped it off with a scoop or two of creamy vanilla ice cream. (Until there's room in the shared freezer for me to make a batch of the homemade stuff, I have Double Rainbow to thank for a delicious vanilla ice cream blend that is happily corn syrup-free!)

While the tatin's crust didn't come out as flaky as it should have, the caramelized and buttery-soft apples were scrumptious and fared well on their own. Perhaps in the future I'll eliminate the crust and rename these apples, sweet and soft.

For apples, sweet and soft:

7 apples (your favorite variety of Golden apples, sweet and firm) cored and peeled
1/2 stick + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, chopped

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In an 8 or 9" diameter baking pan, place pieces of the 1/2 stick butter. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar on top. Place cored and peeled apples on top of butter/sugar mixture in pan. Scatter the remaining butter and sugar on top of the apples. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, allow apples to soften. Bake for another 20-30 minutes more, for a total of 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until apples are translucent and soft. Serve warm and enjoy with a scoop of your own favorite ice cream!