chard, carrot, celery, onion

It was sheer lack of ingredients that inspired this combination of vegetables. Well, that and the need to clean out the fridge. I just didn't find enough of any of these four to make a satisfying vegetable for sunday evening's dinner. So, I chopped them all up, threw them in a pan together, and pan braised them with a knob of butter and enough water to cover. I was a bit heavy handed with the water and when I tasted it, it was the most flavorful vegetable broth I've tasted in a long time. Outstanding even. I decided on the spot that it would make an excellent vegetable soup. And guess what? It did. Here's the recipe.

Chard, Carrot & Celery Soup

3 tbsp butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 bunch of Swiss chard (leaves separated from stalks)

3-4 carrots, cut into coins or on the bias 1/4" thick

3-4 ribs celery, cut on the bias 1/2" thick

water, enough to cover the vegetables

fresh parsley, minced

1/4 cup cream (optional)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

In heavy-bottomed stock pot, melt butter over medium heat and add onion, chard stems, carrots and celery. Saute until vegetables have relaxed a bit and are tender. Add water, enough to cover the vegetables, and simmer until broth takes on a beautiful pink color and vegetables are tender. Add chard leaves and simmer 10-12 minutes. Add cream if you prefer. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve.

sunday rhubarb cake

I'm delighted to report the earliest rhubarb harvest ever at our house -- April 22, 2012. Although it came on a cold, Sunday afternoon, it was the perfect occasion for a hearty, warm, rhubarb cake.

When seeking inspiration for rhubarb, I always turn to the British. It seems they love this sweet, spring treat as much as I do. This recipe is adapted from Nigel Slater's Tender, Volume II. (I apologize for going all metric on you here but I purchased the British version of this book.  Plus, it's so much easier to bake this way. Get yourself a little kitchen scale and try it.  Maybe you'll like it.)

Rhubarb Cinnamon Polenta Cake

serves 8

filling:
500 g rhubarb
50 g sugar
4 tbsp water

crust:
125 g polenta or yellow cornmeal*
200 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch ground cinnamon
150 g sugar .634 cups
zest of one orange
150 g butter
1 large egg
2-4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp Demerara or raw sugar

Lightly butter a 20cm (8 or 9-inch) loose-bottomed cake tin, preferably springform. Set the oven at 180C/Gas 4/350F and put a baking sheet in it to get hot. Trim the rhubarb, cut each stem into short pieces and put them in a baking dish. Scatter over the sugar and water and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft but still retains its shape. Remove the pieces of fruit from the dish and put them in a colander or large sieve to drain. Reserve the rhubarb juice to serve with the cake.

Put the polenta, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar in a food processor. Add the grated orange zest and the butter, cut into smallish pieces, then pulse for a few seconds until you have something that resembles breadcrumbs. You can also do this by hand, rubbing the butter into the polenta with your fingertips or a pastry cutter. Break the egg into a small bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of the milk, then blend into the polenta mixture, either in the food processor or by hand. Take care not to over mix; stop as soon as the dry ingredients and liquid have come together to form a soft, slightly sticky dough. If it isn't a little sticky, add a touch more milk.

Press about two-thirds of the dough into the cake tin, pushing it up the sides slightly. Make sure there are no holes or large cracks. Place the drained rhubarb on top, leaving a small rim around the edge. Crumble lumps of the remaining dough over the fruit with your fingertips, and don't worry if the rhubarb isn't all covered. Scatter over the Demerara sugar.

Place on the hot baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes, then cool a little before attempting to remove the tin. Serve in slices, with the reserved rhubarb juice.

*I used locally grown and milled cornmeal from Breakneck Acres in Ravenna, Ohio.

scones for grandma

Grandma has been on my mind a lot this week.

She hasn't been doing so well. I'm far away and there's not much I can do for her except to keep sending her good energy and keep her in my thoughts and my prayers. And since Grandma is the one who taught me to bake my first scones, I thought I'd whip up a batch in her honor.

Today's recipe was made even more delicious by the fact that I have a brand new mixer. Well, not exactly new. But new to me. It's a vintage Kitchenaid K5-A, a thrift store find given to me by my friend Jane who unearths the most amazing second-hand treasures. I've never used a mixer to bake scones (or anything else for that matter), having learned from Grandma how to cut butter into flour using a fork or my fingers. Mom's scone schooling introduced the handy and beloved pastry cutter for completing that important task so crucial to the light, crumbly texture that makes a scone, well, a scone. Grandma never had anything but a hand mixer, and neither did mom, until recently. So, I never knew what I was missing. But scone baking has never been as quick or easy as it was today. I'm a convert. Good things come to those who wait, I suppose.

So, here's the recipe for the Chocolate Pecan Scones that I made this afternoon. This recipe produces a scone that is quite cookie-like in texture (something I've been trying to achieve for quite a while now). They have just enough sweetness and the whole wheat lends them enough heft to satisfy. If grandma were here to enjoy one with me, I think she would approve. After all, they do include chocolate.

chocolate pecan scones

makes 10 scones

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar4 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 425F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sugar and the eggs, one at a time, then add in milk, pecans, and chocolate chips.

Roll onto floured surface into 3/4-inch thickness. Use an ice cream scoop to portion out small mounds. Or cut into circles using a cookie cutter, or squares with a knife.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden and crisp on the outside.

Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or a pot of tea and your grandmother, your mom, a close friend, or just some warm thoughts of the people you love.

mom's banana bread

The most tattered recipe card in anyone's collection always yields the best results.

I'm a fairly adventurous cook. More often than not, I'll try a new recipe over an old one just to expand the repertoire and try something new. But when I bake, I seem to go for the familiar, the tried and true recipes from my past. That means flipping through the little 3x5 index cards I've collected in a homely, little card file for most of my life.

Conveniently, it's easy to find the trusted, old stand-bys. They've defied my attempts to organize them under their proper categories for cakes, cookies and desserts. Their frequent use and my laziness has left them gathered in all their frumpy, dog-eared glory, at the front of the file box where they greet me like old friends: Peanut Butter Brownies, Lemon Squares, Finnish Spoon Cookies and other favorites. But the shabbiest recipe in the bunch is definitely the one for Mom's Banana Bread.

The recipe is written in faded pencil. The scrawl is mine, circa 1980 -- all caps because I thought that was cool at the time. The 3x5 index card on which it's printed is yellowed and smudged by the spills of previous batches but brightly decorated with a bushel of apples and a cheery rainbow -- very sweet, very 70s. And this recipe makes the best banana bread ever, though I am most certainly biased by my food memories of it, as this was the only banana bread I remember eating at our house. The recipe is easy, the loaf it produces is dense and moist with great banana flavor, and it's the best use for over-the-hill bananas I can think of.

At our house, a few over-ripe bananas seems to be a common occurence. I prefer them a bit green, you see. A preference, I believe I inherited from my dad as he's the only other one I know who likes them that way. Once they develop the slightest brown age spot, it's over in my book. They've lost that fresh banana flavor I love. So, into banana bread they go. Or into the freezer, if I'm not quite ready to bake. (Freezing old bananas is something my husband has just never understood. I think he may have been frightened by them lurking in my freezer when we were first dating. It wasn't something his mom did, perhaps. Or maybe, she was just more organized and put them into a container of some kind. Not me, I just throw 'em in the freezer and dig them out when I'm ready to bake the next batch of banana bread.)

I took liberties with Mom's Banana Bread recipe today. I replaced half the flour with whole wheat pastry flour. And I substituted lemon zest for orange and added the juice of a lemon (I recall reading somewhere recently that whole wheat requires a bit more moisture). Frozen blueberries got thrown in the mix too because they sounded good with the lemon (and I have an abundance in the freezer that need to get eaten up before blueberry season arrives once again).

My lemon-blueberry version of Mom's Banana Bread turned out a decent loaf, I think. It's wonderful fresh out of the oven, with or without butter. It will also serve nicely as a dessert this evening topped with honey-and-lemon-spiked Greek yogurt. But my favorite way to enjoy this family favorite will come tomorrow morning, when I'll enjoy it toasted with butter for breakfast.

mom's banana bread

makes 1 loaf

2 1/2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat pastry flour)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar (I used to 3/4 cup and it was still plenty sweet)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg, beaten

1 cup banana, mashed

2 tbsp orange zest

1/2 cup milk

1 cup walnuts or pecans, optional

Other options: In place of the nuts, I added 1 cup frozen blueberries; substituted lemon zest for orange; and added 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 9x5x3 loaf pan.

Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside.

With mixer or wooden spoon, beat sugar, butter, and egg until smooth. Add bananas, orange zest, and milk and mix well. Stir in nuts; add dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake 50-60 minutes until top is golden brown.

progress

Friday was quite a day here!

The shower glass install was finally completed AND the first of two counters arrived. That means we're one big step closer to a shower and doing dishes. Never thought I'd be so excited about either of those things but that's what a year of basement cooking and bathing like a Brit will do to a girl, I guess.

Here's a quick slideshow of the progress!

Progress

Promptly upon install, the counter had to get glued down and weighted. Cookbooks seemed appropriate -- we have enough of them.

And of course, all this progress required a celebratory Saturday lunch and unveiling of the new counters. Hauling out all those cookbooks, I ran across a favorite that I haven't cooked out of in a while, Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater. And there, I found the inspiration for lunch...

~menu~

Spring Risotto with Shrimp, Asparagus and Preserved Lemon

Salad of Watercress, Radish and Egg

Leondra Spanish Goat Cheese

Krustenkrona from Zoss the Swiss Baker

2009 Cantele Negroamaro Rosato

Spring Risotto with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Lemon

2 T butter

2 T olive oil
2 leeks or a medium onion, finely diced
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine or white vermouth
4 1/2 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock
1lb asparagus, sliced into 1/2 to 3/4" pieces (tips reserved)

1/2 lb raw shrimp (small), peeled

salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, zest and juice OR 1/2 a preserved lemon, finely diced
3 tbsp grated parmesan

Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy bottomed cast iron pan over low heat. Add onion and allow to soften but not brown.

Add stock to a sauce pan and gently simmer over low heat on a burner near the risotto pan.

When onion is relaxed and translucent, add rice. Stir with flat-bottomed wooden spoon making sure rice is well coated with the butter/oil. Saute a minute or two then add wine or vermouth and allow to simmer until wine is evaporated.

Add a ladleful (about 4-6 ounces) of hot stock to the rice, adjust the heat so you have medium to medium-low heat (you may need to play with this a little, depending on your stove). Allow the liquid to disappear before adding another ladleful of stock. Continue this process, stirring the rice after each ladleful of stock and frequently so it does not stick to the pan.

About mid-way through the cooking process, about 10-15 minutes, add the asparagus (reserving the tips to add at the end).

After another 5-10 minutes, add the shrimp.

Season with salt, pepper, the lemon zest and juice (or preserved lemon) and continue cooking till the rice is creamy but still has a bit of texture (about 20-25 minutes total cooking time).

Add the asparagus tips then stir in the cheese.

Serve immediately.

tea, scones, and comfort

Cold and flu season got the best of me this year. As a result, I've been sipping a lot more tea than coffee over the past month or so. What is it about upper respiratory ailments that render coffee so unappealing, even to the most dedicated of coffee lovers, like me?

If there was a silver lining in all those sick days it might be my rediscovery of tea. And one tea in particular -- Constant Comment. I didn't even know they still sold it. But there it was in it's all too familiar red and gold box, like an old friend, quietly sitting shoulder-to-shoulder among a crowd of teas, all more worldly and exotic. Bigelow's Constant Comment was the tea I grew up with. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it until I brought a box home and tasted it once again. And along with that first sip, memories...

The spicy, citrus aroma is the fond fragrance of countless childhood gatherings at grandma and grandpa's house. Hot cups of Constant Comment fueled round after round of Nertz, grandma's favorite card game (next to Bridge that is). It was her remedy (my mom's too) for anything that ailed me, from Northwest, rain-induced boredom to a broken heart, or one of my infamous "leg-aches". For as long as I can remember, arrival at grandma's was and still is routinely followed by a pleasant hello and "would you like a cup of tea?". And on nearly every occasion, the tea was Constant Comment.

Appropriately, the black tea boost from Constant Comment may have also fueled my very first scone-baking lesson from grandma. She probably just needed a way to entertain me. Or maybe she had a late afternoon craving for a scone with our tea. Or perhaps she just enjoyed informing me that in her family they had been called "scons", not scones. Regardless, her lesson was memorable and it stuck. Little did she know, it would inspire my life-long scone appreciation.

In all honesty, grandma's scones involved a tiny blue box of Jiffy baking mix. But the detailed techniques she shared are what make scones so delicious -- accurately measuring the dry ingredients, quickly working in the cold butter, avoiding the temptation to over-mix. These tips are the same for any scone recipe, from scratch or mix.

My mom took the family love of scones to the next level sometime in the 1980s when she assembled her little, pink-covered, collection of scratch scone recipes. It served as my sole scone inspiration for years and still holds a prominent spot in my recipe file.

Scones remain one of my favorite things to bake. And now I have the internet and even more scone ideas. My go-to scone recipe of late is one that I found on 101 Cookbooks for Maple Syrup Scones. Sweet and substantial, this recipe relies on flavorful maple syrup and hearty whole wheat. I've modified the original recipe slightly to accommodate my favorite flavor combination -- dried cherries and orange zest. In the process of adapting the recipe and making it my own, I also discovered how to minimize the fat -- the original calls for 11 T of butter. While I'm sure those are delicious, I found I could substitute half the butter with plain yogurt without much compromise in taste or texture.

The result? Scrumptious (and somewhat healthy) Maple Orange Cherry Scones to accompany my tea. And, with or without a cold, there are few things more comforting than tea and scones and memories of home... except actually being home, of course.

Note: Interestingly enough, I learned that Constant Comment is the tea that started it all for Bigelow Tea back in 1945. Ruth Bigelow, a tea connoisseur, wanted to create a more "zestfully" flavored tea that Americans would enjoy. Inspired by a colonial recipe for orange spice tea, she tinkered in her kitchen until she got it right. Friends loved it, told her it garnered constant comments, and a tea was born. Ruth founded Bigelow Tea with her signature blend and three generations later her son is still carrying on the family tea tradition. Amazing what a little tinkering in the kitchen can lead to, isn't it? You can grab a cup of tea and read more about Ruth Bigelow here.

...........................

Maple Orange Cherry Scones

1/4 cup Ohio maple syrup
6 T milk or cream
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (yes, pastry flour DOES make a difference, if you don't have whole wheat pastry flour, use all purpose white flour instead)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes, or rolled oats
1 1/2 T baking powder

1 tsp orange zest
1/2 t fine grain sea salt
4 T butter, cold and cut into cubes

6 T plain yogurt

1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1 egg, lightly beaten
large-grain sugar (for example: turbinado)

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Line one baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the maple syrup and milk in a small cup, and set aside.

Combine flour, quinoa/oats, baking powder, orange zest, and salt together in a bowl.

Using a food processor, cut the butter (and yogurt) into the flour mixture, pulsing until it resembles little pebbles (about 20 quick pulses). Or, if making by hand, cut the butter into the flour using a two knives or a pastry cutter, or work quickly with your fingers.

Add the dried cherries and the maple syrup/milk mixture. Pulse (or mix) just until the dough just comes together - don't over mix. If the batter is too dry add more cream a bit at a time. Dough should hold together without being crumbly.

Turn out onto a floured surface, kneed once or twice, just enough to bring the dough together. Arrange dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Slice the dough into equal-sized squares. Whisk the egg and using a pastry brush generously coat scones with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Arrange the scones next to one another on the prepared baking sheet - 1/4-inch distance between each of them.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 12 small scones.

peanut butter cookies

I so wanted a fresh-baked cookie. But I was out of butter and didn't feel like trudging through the snow and 12 degree temperatures to the store. Thank goodness for the internet and the beautiful and inspiring 101 Cookbooks where I found this recipe for peanut butter cookies made with olive oil instead of butter. This recipe also calls for maple syrup instead of sugar. Handy for me since I live in maple syrup country and always seem to have an abundance of it in my kitchen.

I've heard of baking with olive oil but mostly in recipes for crackers, bread or pizza dough. So, I had to try them. Fresh out of the oven, they need a little extra time to set up but they are absolutely delicious fresh-baked and even a few days later. They seem to retain a level of freshness that cookies made with butter do not.

I think I might need to whip up another batch today.

Cold Sunday, Warm Pot

Sunday afternoon's ski at Holden Arboretum was a little less than inspiring.

It was our first ski back here in Ohio, after gettin' our ski legs on for the season in the gorgeous, Cascade wilderness of Bend, Oregon. We weren't expecting a lot, and the snow was actually quite good. Our disappointment had more to do with the 17 degree temperature, a late afternoon start, a little adventure that turned into a hike instead of a ski, and worst of all -- a forgotten picnic! That's right, in our haste to get out of the house, we forgot to pack the integral components of any good ski day -- the bread, the cheese, and the sausage! The wine made it but we were too cold to enjoy it. And while Holden has a perfectly suitable warming hut, they fail to light a fire in it on a cold January afternoon. Whatever. It ain't Bend, that's for sure.

So, we returned, freezing and hungry, to our make-shift, basement kitchen. Craving a cozy Sunday dinner and a simple one-pot solution, we happened upon this lovely recipe in the Paris Cookbook by Patricia Wells.

It was simple and it was perfect.

Chicken Fricassee with Two Vinegars

Serves 4

1 fresh farm chicken (3 to 4 pounds), cut into 8 serving pieces, at room temperature

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground white pepper to taste

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup best-quality white champagne vinegar

1/3 cup best-quality red wine vinegar

1/3 cup white wine

2 shallots, peeled and finely minced

¾ cup tomato sauce

1 2/3 cups homemade chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

1. Liberally season the chicken on all sides with sea salt and white pepper.

2. In a deep skillet, combine the oil and butter, and heat over moderate heat. When the fats are hot but not smoking, add the chicken, skin side down, and brown until it turns an even golden color, about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces and brown them on the other side, 5 minutes more. Carefully regulate the heat to avoid scorching the skin. (This may have to be done in batches.) When all the pieces are browned, use tongs (to avoid piercing the meat) to transfer them to a platter.

3. Pour off and discard the fat in the skillet. Off the heat, add the two vinegars and deglaze the pan. Add the wine. Add the shallots and cook, covered, over low heat until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken pieces to a large warmed platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

4. Add the tomato sauce and the stock to the skillet; stir to blend thoroughly. Add the cream and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet, cover, and cook over low heat, turning the pieces from time to time to absorb the sauce, for about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning, and serve with rice, pasta or mashed potatoes.

apple parsnip soup

This Apple Parsnip Soup looks wonderful. Now, off to find a few farmers who might have those super-sweet January parsnips!

No Restrictions: Introduction

Summer Pasta Primavera

This is truly the best bowl of pasta we've made in a really long time. I'm sure it has more to do with the freshness and quality of the ingredients than any actual culinary talent. Sometimes everything just comes together perfectly.
¼ lb pancetta or 4-6 slices good quality bacon, diced
2-3 cloves garlic or 2-3 garlic scapes, diced into ¼” lengths
3-4 small yellow zucchini, sliced lengthwise, then into ½” thick half rounds
1 -2 cups sugar snap peas, shelled if you prefer
Crushed red chili pepper, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated or shaved
1 pound pasta

Heat water for pasta.

Heat the bacon slowly over low heat to brown and render the fat. Add garlic or scapes to the bacon and cook until tender but not browned (if the garlic gets too brown, remove from fat). Set aside.

When the pasta water boils, add liberal amounts of salt (it should taste like the sea); then add the pasta and cook until al dente; drain and set aside.

Add the sliced zucchini, peas and red chili pepper to bacon and garlic and sauté over high heat 2-3 minutes until just crisp-tender.

Add mixture to pasta and toss. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Top with parmigiano reggiano cheese.

Hot Day, Black Currants

It's like 90 degrees again today. Perhaps the only benefit of our make-shift basement kitchen is that it's relatively cool and not such a horrible place to hang out on a day like today.

And today's little project was Creme de Cassis. Inspired by Jane Grigson's Fruit Book, I set about soaking the currants in red wine earlier this week. This was supposed to be a 48 hour process but hey, an extra few hours of wine-soaking can't really hurt, can it? Just jarred a small batch. It's not to "be broached" for 48 hours, Grigson advises. But I couldn't wait. I mixed up a round of cassis cocktails with the remainder that didn't fit into the jar. A little cassis, a splash of soda and a twist of lemon.

We enjoyed our cassis cocktails in the coolness of an air-conditioned room while reading this lovely piece entitled Currant Affairs by Corby Kummer which ran in the Atlantic back in 1996.

I Want this Book

“When you grow a vegetable yourself, you’re less likely to boil it to death,” Ms. Allen said smartly. Every chef should have to work on a farm for a year before setting foot in the kitchen, she added. “Maybe then they’d be less likely to bang on the counter and demand things.” ~Darina Allen

The recent New York Times article about Darina Allen included lovely quotes like this one and recipes to inspire some delicious spring cooking. I also remember hearing the author speak at Terra Madre back in 2004. All of this made me want to run out and buy this book. I've now checked all my favorite east-side book stores. Really just wanted to get a peek at it before taking the plunge but it's nowhere to be found. What's up with that?

Guess I'm off to forage greens from garden instead so I can make this soup.

Forager’s Soup
Adapted from “Forgotten Skills of Cooking,” by Darina Allen (Kyle Books, 2009)
Time: 20 minutes

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced onion
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or hot water
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
About 8 ounces (4 cups) mixed chopped spring greens, like sorrel, watercress, ramps, arugula, dandelion or chives
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 ounces chorizo or bacon, finely diced
Wild garlic or chive flowers (optional).

1. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit into the top of a heavy pot. Melt butter in pot over medium-high heat. When it foams, add onion and potato and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to very low, rest parchment paper (to trap steam) on top of vegetables. Cover with lid and cook gently 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft; they should not brown at all.

2. Heat stock (or water), milk and cream in a saucepan until just simmering. Remove parchment from vegetables. Add hot liquid to vegetables and simmer until potatoes and onions are fully cooked, 5 to 10 minutes more. Add greens and simmer uncovered 2 to 3 minutes until greens are just cooked through (do not cover pot or overcook, or else bright green color will be lost.) In a blender or with a hand blender, purée until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper.

3. Heat oil in a small skillet. Add chorizo or bacon and cook until fat is rendered and meat is crisp, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Reserve cooking oil.

4. Recipe can be made up to a day in advance and refrigerated. When ready to serve, gently reheat soup over medium-low heat, uncovered. On top of each bowl, scatter chorizo or bacon bits, sprinkle a few drops of oil and garnish with flowers, if using.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

I'm patiently waiting for our rhubarb to grow large enough for a harvest. By then, maybe I'll even have an oven so I can bake this cake.



Country Rhubarb Cake
Adapted from “Forgotten Skills of Cooking,” by Darina Allen (Kyle Books, 2009)
Time: 1 1/2 hours

3 cups all-purpose flour, more for work surface
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, cut into pieces, at cool room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 pounds (about 8 stalks) rhubarb, thinly sliced
Light brown sugar and softly whipped cream, for serving.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, sift flour, salt, 3 tablespoons sugar and the baking soda together. With fingers, rub in butter until mixture is sandy. Beat 1 egg and add to flour mixture. Add buttermilk and blend just until mixture forms dough; it will be quite stiff and sticky. Turn out onto a floured work surface and divide in two. Roll out each piece to fit a 10-inch round baking dish. Line bottom of pan with one round, pinching together any tears.

2. Cover dough with rhubarb and sprinkle rhubarb evenly with 1 heaping cup sugar. Place second pastry round on top and pinch edges together. Pinch together any holes. Beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon water and brush it on dough.

3. Place a baking sheet in oven to catch drips, and place baking dish on it. Bake until crust is golden and rhubarb is soft and juicy, about 1 hour. Immediately sprinkle with granulated sugar. Serve warm, with a sprinkle of brown sugar and whipped cream on each serving.

Yield: 8 servings.

cherry tomato confit

When life gives you to many cherry tomatoes, make this.

Cherry Tomato Confit
Adapted from the New York Times, August 22, 2007

Serves 4

1 pint mixed cherry tomatoes,
stemmed
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh herbs such as oregano,
tarragon or rosemary, minced
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325º. Spread tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with herbs, crushed red pepper, a large pinch of salt and pepper. Bake until tomatoes are wrinkled and fragrant, about 45 minutes, shaking pan once or twice. Transfer pan to a rack to cool. Discard garlic. Use confit in salads, or serve over dishes like pasta, fresh ricotta cheese or polenta, or on grilled meats, fish or poultry.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yes, I should be working on about 1,000 other things. But what am I doing? Perusing cookbooks and the web for Valentine's Day treats to make this weekend.

As I'm writing this, I just learned that Herb and Dean are ordering Valentine truffles from Oregon Wild Edibles. Those sneaky little devils. I need to come up with the best way to use them (probably over a simple pasta dish) as well as a decadent dessert to cap off the love-ly meal. See, this is why I work out. For treats! It's so simple really.

Since receiving the Zingerman's e-newsletter earlier this week, I've been haunted by chocolate covered clementine's from Spain. This particular way of combining two of my favorite flavors has been stuck in my head all week. But at a ridiculous $50 bucks a box, they qualify as quite conspicuous consumption and are completely unjustified. So, I figure I'll embark upon making them myself. It can't be that hard. I procured the clementines and the chocoloate today. And I think they'd go quite nicely with one of the following chocolatey desserts...

You might enjoy these too so I thought I'd post them. There may be more ideas tomorrow. The cupcake adorned February issue of Martha Stewart also has some lovely and clever cupcake ideas. And there's always the traditional June's Jello Cookies. It just wouldn't be Valentines Day without those. In fact, they are gracing the seasonal banner of this blog (above). How to choose? I'll think about it while I'm slogging away on the eliptical, I guess.

Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes
By Fran Gage from Williams-Sonoma Cake.

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:

3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup hot water
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon each baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 orange
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

For the Frosting:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, stir the cocoa powder into the hot water until it dissolves; set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl. Using the finest rasps of a handheld grater, grate the zest from the orange into the bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until well combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla, then the dissolved cocoa. Whisk in the melted butter, then the dry ingredients.

4. Using a tablespoon, divide the batter among the muffin cups filling each about half full. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out clean 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan.

5. To make the frosting, melt the chocolate and let cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, using a stand mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar with the paddle on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate until combined. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip with the frosting and pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake.

6. Refrigerate the cupcakes until 30 minutes before serving to set the frosting.

Melting Chocolate
To melt chocolate, chop it into small pieces and put it in a stainless-steel bowl. Set the bowl in a saucepan over, but not touching, barely simmering water. Heat until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Do not allow any water or steam to come in contact with the chocolate, or it will become stiff and grainy. Or, chop the chocolate in large pieces, place in a microwave-safe dish, and microwave on low for 1 minute. Continue to microwave if necessary, checking every 20 seconds, until the chocolate looks softened, then stir until smooth and liquid.

Cocoa Powder
Chocolate is made by crushing roasted cocoa beans into bits, or nibs, to produce what is known as chocolate liquor. To make unsweetened cocoa powder, much of the cocoa butter (the fat of chocolate) is removed from the liquor and what remains is ground. Dutch-process cocoa, or alkalized cocoa, has a mild flavor and a rich, dark color due to the addition of potassium carbonate, nonalkalized cocoa has a bolder taste and lighter color.

or

Nigel’s Chocolate Almond Cake
Adapted from The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater by Nigel Slater
½ lb fine, dark chocolate
1 shot, espresso (instant is fine, or grab one at Starbucks on the way home to make this recipe)
1½ cups butter
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
2 tsp. good quality cocoa powder
1 cup raw almonds
5 large eggs
¾ cup Turbinado sugar (I used half granulated sugar and half brown sugar and it was fine)
Cocoa powder or powdered sugar for garnishing

You will need a shallow cake pan, 9 inches in diameter, about 2 inches deep, the base lightly buttered and lined with a round of parchment.

Set the oven to 350 degrees. Break or chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a bowl resting over a saucepan of gently simmering water. As soon as it has started to melt, pour the hot espresso over the chocolate. Cut the butter into chunks and drop it into the chocolate and coffee. Resist the temptation to stir (or sample). Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa together. Don’t skin the almonds, but pulse them in a food processor until they resemble fine, fresh breadcrumbs.

Separate the eggs, dropping the whites into a large bowl. Whisk the whites till they are thick and stiff, then quickly but gently fold in the sugar with a large metal spoon. Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir to dissolve the last of the butter. Mix the egg yolks together, then stir them quickly into the chocolate, just till the ingredients come together. Fold firmly but gently into the egg white and sugar.

Lightly fold in the flour and cocoa mixture, then the ground almonds. Work slowly and firmly but lightly. Don’t over-mix or knock the air out, and stop as soon as the last bit of flour is mixed in. Transfer the mixture to the cake pan and bake for twenty-five minutes. Test the cake for doneness with a skewer. It should come out clean, without any sticky cake mixture attached to it.

Leave to cool a little before turning out and slicing.

When cool, place cake on serving platter and garnish by sifting cocoa powder or powdered sugar over the top.

Dinner February 11, 2009

radish crudite
vegetable hash with poached eggs
sourdough bread with Stone Meadow Farm's Pennsylvania camembert
We needed a quick dinner and a little mid-week treat after dedicated early week workouts and healthful eating. This dinner included nutrient dense veggies like sweet potatoes and protein-rich, cage-free eggs. It didn't break the bank in terms of calories and the fat in the cheese is from grass-fed cows, another plus as I've recently learned -- again.

The fat of grass-fed animals is apparently the best source of fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients, many of which we Americans are highly deficient in. I'm reeling in all this information from a lecture I attended at last week's PASA conference by Jerry Brunetti. What he has to say is, in a word, amazing. If half of it is true, we should all be drastically reverting our diets back to a very simple, whole food and plant-based diet fortified with pastured meats and poultry. Basically, we would return to the diet our grandparents ate, with more whole, unprocessed and denatured foods -- that taste great and are great for us! Can it be this simple? I like to think so, but who knows?

Ok, back to dinner. We sauted a few potatoes, a sweet potato, onion, garlic and green pepper in a bit of olive oil. Added some seasoning -- a pinch of some Stuff, seasoned salt we brought back from Louisiana. When the veggies were tender, we poached a couple of eggs and served those atop the veggies. Voila! In about 20 minutes we had a quick, tasty, Wednesday night Veggie Hash. Instead of dessert we had a toasted slice of Gemelli bread with Pennsylvania camembert, both of which I brought home from State College last weekend. Deeelicious!