I'm creating a monster

My manager's birthday is Saturday. The group I work with has decided to throw him an impromptu party on Friday at lunch. For 20-some of his closest coworkers.

For those of you who haven't been paying attention, John are hosting what's become the event of our year on Saturday. We're knee-deep in meatballs and ravioli filling, with a bit of Bostini on the side. Plus I rather stupidly agreed to contribute a Peabody to this Thursday's corporate Thanksgiving potluck. A birthday cake on top of all that is a little more than my ovens can manage this week...

So one of my teammates offered to pitch in and do the cake. Could I point her to a recipe she could use?

Well... um... sure.

I offered this one. And since her baking experience is mostly of the purchased Vienna Bakery variety, I suggested that if she used a cake mix, people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. (Sorry Shawnda... but the key here is that she succeeds.)

Her response?

I made a cake from scratch once, it came out okay, so I think I'll give it another shot.

Lis? Ivonne? I get how you must feel with each new crop of Daring Bakers.

I'm so proud!

A year ago I asked the internets to assess my cooking skill and got this result.

Technorati Tags: NaBloPoMo 2007

Presto! Pasta with Pesto!

This could easily have qualified for Leftover Tuesday had I not already devised a plan for that event.

Cleaning the refrigerator in preparation for massive food prep last week, I found a jar of homemade basil pesto languishing between jars of mayonnaise and lemon curd.

I had exactly six scallops left from an experiment with a restaurant recipe that you'll likely read about soon.

And what warm blooded Italian doesn't have at LEAST one package of pasta in the pantry?!?

Toss in a handful of chopped olives and oven dried tomatoes, and presto! Pasta with Pesto! Twenty minutes, refrigerator to table. And every bit as good as the aforementioned 'restaurant inspired' meal that took four times as long and generated double the dirty dishes.

Thus Basil-Seared Scallops over Pasta with Pesto becomes my quick contribution to Ruth's Presto Pasta Night.

Resources used:
Cipriani's Tagliarelle
basil and garlic from my CSA
Fresh scallops from Whole Foods

A year ago we were buried in laundry and downloading photographs.

Technorati Tags: Presto Pasta Night | Key Ingredient: Pasta | NaBloPoMo 2007

Apples & Thyme, with a Twist of Lime...

I've been struggling with this post for a few days now. My thoughts on this subject are all over the map, so I'm not quite sure where the end result is going to take us.

Inge of Vanielje Kitchen and Jeni of A Passionate Palate are hosting a very special event in honor of our mothers and grandmothers and the culinary traditions they've passed along to us. They're calling their event Apples & Thyme.

I'm adding a twist of lime to the mix. Because the person at whose side I learned my family's recipes wasn't a woman. And the women who provided the most significant guidance to me in the kitchen weren't blood relatives.

Allow me to explain...

We've established that while my mother had many talents, cooking wasn't among them. I'm not complaining. Though it's out of the scope of this blog, my mother passed to me her passion for needle arts -- and a sampler created over four generations is one of my most treasured possessions. But for heirloom recipes, I turn primarily to my father and his ancestors.

It is from my father that I learned to make his grandmother's gnocchi. His mother's walnut 'refrigerator cookies'. A tomato sauce derived from the recipes of four generations of northern Italian women from three families united by marriage and based largely on ingredients available in the moment. And his Aunt Lena's recipe for "toothlach" (touvlach? I've googled a million different variations, and I've never found a match) - a chard and ricotta stuffed ravioli that graced every holiday table growing up.

The 'other women' in my culinary education? My parents' closest friends came from all walks of life and on the surface probably didn't have a lot in common. But they all treasured the camaraderie of gathering around the stove and then the kitchen table sharing meals together. Meals made by hand and with love. My father's kitchen was an open kitchen, and each of these women contributed something over the years. They were my 'adopted' mothers and grandmothers, and while most of them have never set foot in my 'adult kitchen', they've all made an indelible impact there.

First there was "Henri". Henriette Corrie entered our lives half way through my fourth grade year, when my brother came down with the chicken pox and needed a daytime companion. Henri had spent the 40's and 50's as a short-order cook in a diner in central California. She taught me a lot about food prep and mise en place (though she never used fancy French words). At her side I learned to peel potatoes and carrots with minimum waste, how to make a perfect gravy from pan drippings, and when you should (and when you shouldn't) substitute milk for cream. That I can slice vegetables without bleeding, I owe to Henri. Her "female spoon" occupies a place of honor among my most used utensils.

And Julie. Julie deserves a post all her own. And she'll likely get one, as I understand that Apples & Thyme is going to be a recurring event. In the context of this discussion, Juliet Rosemont Trissell was a woman with a vision. She was my very first exposure to local, organic, sustainable ingredients. Julie raised chickens (and lots of other animals as well). The eggs from Julie's chickens has a brilliant orange yellow yolk (and sometimes two)... not the pasty-pale color that came from the grocery store. These yolks stood at attention, at least a half an inch above the pool of white in which they sat. And they had F-L-A-V-O-R. Breakfast with Julie was a feast of scrambled eggs, fresh bacon, toast from homemade sourdough bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, and piping hot coffee. It left you warm and full, and ready to take on whatever the day threw your way.

Like the others, Grandma Sylvia isn't really my grandmother... but she is the woman who taught me the most about the cuisine of the Italian half of my heritage. Sylvia Zanaria Gates was born and raised in the bay area to immigrant parents. She taught me how to make pesto and torta di riso, how to shop efficiently and economically at the bakery and the deli, how to pick the freshest rosemary and basil and how to maximize the flavor they contribute. When I moved into my new kitchen seven years ago, Sylvia opened hers... contributing linens, glassware, pasta bowls I reach for every day. And when my pasta dough isn't coming together right, I know I can call her and she'll tell me exactly what I need to do to fix it. And while all of my culinary mentors contributed something to my kitchen's design, Grandma Sylvia is the one who saw it come together (providing advice on the height and surface of my "pasta island") and has watched it in action.

My parents met Maria and Lou early in their married lives, when they occupied neighboring apartments and celebrated weekends together. They resurfaced in my parents lives and entered mine at my first communion celebration -- and remained regulars at dinner on Saturday nights for the next three decades. In terms of technical skill, Maria Chavez Pacheco taught me to make tamales, chiles rellenos and refried beans. She taught me the difference between "stiff peaks" and "soft peaks", and the consequences from choosing the wrong one. She showed me that simple ingredients treated with respect turn out soul-satisfying meals.

As part of the contribution to Apples and Thyme, Jeni and Inge have requested a recipe. I've spent a long time thinking about this one, and I've decided it's time to share the 'touthlach/touvlach' recipe. It's been seven years since my father died. We've made the touvlach several times since then. But never for the open house. This year we're changing that.

I don't know as much as I should of the back story behind this recipe. My great aunt Lena was an Italian immigrant in a small coal mining town in Illinois. I don't know if this is her recipe one from her husband's Belgian ancestors. I do know that she prepared it by hand in celebration of the harvest in the fall, and then again at Easter. I know that she taught my father to form the little pasta pillows. And that from the time we were old enough to understand them, he taught us. That I've made the pasta since I was ten years old, but he kept the filling his secret and Lena's until the Christmas before he died, when our roles reversed and he watched and directed as I prepared the chard mixture and he returned to forming pasta pillows. I know that two of my cousins, Lena's grandchildren, have contacted me looking for the recipe their parents had lost track of. And today I share it with you.

Aunt Lena's Touvlach/Toothlach (Swiss Chard Ravioli)

For the pasta dough:
4 cups all purpose flour
5 eggs
a pinch of salt

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl or onto a pastry board. (I just use a clean counter... this is what we built the island for). Make a well in the center and break in an egg. Use fingers to incorporate egg and flour, maintaining well until 5 eggs are incorporated and you have dough. Knead thoroughly, adding a bit of water or olive oil if necessary to create a smooth, pliable dough. Roll dough into 2-3 balls, wrap in a towel or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove dough from refrigerator 10 minutes before you intend to use it.

For the stuffing:

1 pound chard
salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound ricotta cheese
3-4 eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
pinch saffron

Clean and wash chard, leaving it slightly damp. Saute with salt over medium heat until tender. Cool the chard, squeeze it dry and chop it finely. Melt the butter in a saute pan. Add chard and cook gently for 3-5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, spinach, saffron and a pinch of nutmeg. Mix thoroughly until well-blended.

To prepare ravioli:

Roll dough into thin sheets. (We use a pasta roller, working gradually to a setting of 5).

Line ravioli form with one sheet of pasta. Fill wells with stuffing, taking care not to over-fill. Top with a second sheet of pasta. use a rolling pin to create ravioli shapes. Remove from form and separate ravioli with a paring knife.

To cook ravioli immediately, bring a pot of moderately salted water to a boil. Drop in ravioli 12-18 at a time. When they float, remove, drain and serve.

To freeze for later, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place ravioli in a single layer on cornmeal. Freeze. Frozen ravioli can be re-packaged into single-serving freezer bags.

John and I are going to tackle these on Thursday night, so look for a photographic play-by-play late next week.

The photograph at the top is a celebration of your heroine's sixth birthday. To my knowledge, it's the first time I was encouraged to actively participate in the creation of the meal. I shelled spring peas and formed 'pasta pillows' for dinner, and cracked the eggs and measured the sugar for the cake.

A year ago we were headed home from the Caribbean.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Event | Apples & Thyme

Part of the process

Most of us don't spend a lot of time dwelling on this part of the process.

But with somewhere between 75 and 100 guests due to arrive a week from tomorrow for our 7th annual open house -- a celebration of good friends and good food -- we're focused just as much on the cleanup as we are on the food prep.

If history is any indication, over the next seven days we'll go through 3-5 bottles of wine and a half a bottle of dish detergent. We'll marinate 6 pounds of pork, assemble 4 pounds of meatballs, and run the dishwasher 8 times. We'll use 4-6 pounds of flour and 3 rolls of paper towels. We'll go to bed late and tired this week, but with a strong sense of accomplishment... of dozens of to-dos crossed off the week's list.

It's a lot of work, but this is one of our favorite times of the year... as this year's invitation reads: we look forward to each party from the moment the last dishes are done the previous year.

Technorati Tags: NaBloPoMo 2007

Pay it Forward...

I got the idea from Laura at Cult of Domesticity. She got it from Amy at The Knit Girl. Who got it from Catherine. Who got it from Sarah. Who got it from Amy. Who is not sure where it started, but we all agree it's a neat idea.

What is it?

It's a blog game called Pay it Forward and it works like this:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

So go ahead; leave a comment. Move this forward again. If I don't know you, please leave your email address or some way to contact you. And I'll get something out in the mail to you soon.

A year ago today we were dining at the Pinacle.

Seeking menu advice...

We're planning a party.

Our seventh annual pre-holiday open house is quickly approaching.

In two weeks, around a hundred of our closest friends will stop by for a glass of wine, a bite to eat, and a few minutes or a few hours to chat.

So I'm thinking about finger foods.

We'll certainly feature some of our proven hits. Dom's Mom's Meatballs. The Crab and Wild Mushroom Cheesecake. Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin. Tyler Florence's Wild Mushroom Tartlettes. Brie Kisses. And bite-sized coconut Bostinis.

But we're also searching for something new to entice our guests. And I'm turning to you my food-loving friends. Give me your go-to recipes. Our focus is on finger food, but anything that will work well on a buffet is fair game. Extra credit for anything that can be made ahead.

Gimme what you got. Post a link in the comments. Or send it in email (dolores dot ferrero at gmail dot com). I'll post a follow-up after the event with the recipes we used and our guests comments.

A year ago, we were climbing waterfalls in the Caribbean.

Where's the Beef?

If beef is even an occasional part of your diet and budget is of any concern at all, my virtual friend Jaden has found the technique for you!

First a little back-story...

I've been on a bit of a genealogy kick since last summer's visit to Salt Lake City. I've wound my way back 7 generations on my father's side and 14 on my mother's. But there are still mysteries. And with both of my parents gone, no one to pass on the stories that breathe life into a pedigree chart.

So when my aunt and uncle volunteered to spend a week going through old pictures, newspaper articles and other assorted documentation and share the stories they remember behind them, I jumped at the chance.

What does this have to do with food? With beef? I'm getting there...

My primary concern around their pending visit was the menu: what to feed them? Between an allergy to most forms of seafood and a disinclination to trying anything too adventurous, I figured chicken, pasta and beef were probably my best bets -- I could stretch them a bit by pushing ingredients they were familiar with in new directions.

From there I turned to one of my most treasured resources for tried-and-true recipes: my blogroll. And for my farewell dinner -- steak and potatoes -- Jaden delivered. I'll let you explore her post for the details, but it's the simplest most straightforward preparation I've ever seen, and it truly makes a silk purse of a sow's ear.

The Cliff's Notes version:
1. remove steak from packaging.
2. rub all sides liberally with salt. LOTS of salt.
3. let steak sit in salt for 15-60 minutes.
4. rinse steak and pat it dry.
5. toss it on grill (or in prepared grill pan) and cook to desired degree of doneness.

For the extended explanation, check out Jaden's post. Go on. I'll wait.

I served the steak with a simple green salad and roasted red potatoes.

The salad was romaine and butter lettuce tossed with diced apples, avocadoes and a honey-mustard vinaigrette. I tossed the potatoes in 3 or four tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of pinches of salt before roasting. When they came out of the oven, I sprinkled on some Penzey's Italian seasoning. That's it.

I'm honored to say that my relatives went home with all three 'recipes'.

Resources used:
choice chuck blade steak on sale at Lunardi's.
red potatoes from Farm Fresh to You CSA.

Technorati Tags: Key Ingredient: Beef

Berry Fruity Breakfast

In my second installment of Magazine Monday I find myself looking for a quick healthy breakfast on the go. Because as much as I'd like to delude myself to the contrary when Starbucks beckons, the skim milk in a grande nonfat vanilla latte does not make it healthy.

I've got a bowl full of pears, pomegranates and persimmons from my CSA delivery waiting patiently for deployment, so it makes sense to turn to something centered on fruit.

Cooking Light comes to my rescue with a simple parfait of fruit, yogurt and granola, which I tweak just a bit to fit the contents of my kitchen. It's not much of a recipe; it's assembly, not cooking. But it's quick, it's tasty, and it carried me through a meeting-filled morning.

Persimmon Raspberry Yogurt Parfait
adapted from Cooking Light, November 1994
Serves 1

1 small fuyu persimmon
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
8-10 fresh raspberries
1/4 cup bran cereal

Cut persimmon into 4 wedges; peel wedges, using fingers or a small paring knife. Cut each wedge into 4 wedges; set aside.

Combine honey and yogurt in a small bowl, stirring until well-blended. Spoon half of the yogurt mixture into an 8 ounce glass; top with half of the persimmon wedges, 4-5 raspberries, and 2 tablespoons cereal. Repeat the layers, ending with granola. Serve immediately.

Resources used:
Persimmons from Farm Fresh to You CSA
Strauss Organic Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt
Marshall's Farm California Wildflower Honey

Technorati Tags: Magazine Monday | Recipe | Key Ingredient: Persimmon | Key Ingredient: Raspberry | Key Ingredient: Yogurt

Tasty Salted Pig Parts

As of this writing, he is still a contender in the battle to be the Next Iron Chef.

A 1992 graduate of Johnson and Wales University, he's a strong proponent of "sustainable dining" and has a passion for all things offal. At 35, he's the Executive Chef at San Francisco's acclaimed Incanto, the first restaurant in California recognized as "Certified Humane".

And he recently teamed up with Incanto owner Mark Pastore to create Boccalone, the ultimate celebration of artisan salumi created by hand from sustainable ingredients.

He's Chris Cosentino.

John and I first discovered Chris and Mark's tasty salted pig parts at the East Bay Vintner's Alliance Urban Wine Experience in August at Alameda's Rosenblum Cellars and were immediately hooked. When we asked where we could buy the mortadella retail, the news that a CSA-style distribution program was "coming soon" prompted us to get on their mailing list.

In September we jumped at the chance to head over to Incanto, meet the men and women behind the salume and taste a wider variety of offerings: breakfast sausage, spicy Italian sausage, copa di testa and pancetta, to name just a few.

And we signed up as charter members of the Salumi Society. We chose the "piglet" sacchetto, two pounds of artisan meats, with pick-up scheduled twice a month at their Oakland factory location. Our first delivery scheduled for yesterday, Saturday November 3.

In our box: Spicy Italian Sausage, Mortadella, Soppressata di Calabria, Capocollo, and Ciccioli.

Oh. My. Gawd. Yum!

For those of you outside the bay area, hang tight... they're planning to begin shipping products early in 2008.

Now please excuse me while I go slice off a wedge of mortadella, grab a hunk of sour dough bread and cue up the Food Network for the Next Iron Chef...

Incanto | 1550 Church St., San Francisco | 415-641-4500
Boccalone | 1924 International Blvd, Oakland

Technorati Tags: Salume

Happy Birthday, G!

Baby G celebrates his first birthday today.

Rather than a bunch of toys and clothing he will outgrow in a couple of months, his parents have asked each of the party guests to contribute some article to a time capsule, which he'll open on his 18th birthday. Ideas included a photograph, a piece of advice, a piece of "today" that will some day be history.

My contribution?

After much thought, I'm contributing a piece of my past hoping it might be a small piece of his future. My father's mother's recipe for gnocchi. Served alongside the turkey at every Thanksgiving feast, the roast beast at Christmas, the ham at Easter. Simple but soul satisfying potato pasta, made by hand, with love.

Gnocchi (8 servings)

6 medium potatoes cooked and riced
1/2 cup grated Parmegiano-Regiano
4 egg yolks
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup flour (give or take)

Peel and rice potatoes while still hot. Mix all ingredients except the flour. then add in as much flour as needed to make a dough that will roll. Mix well, then roll on a floured board into a rope about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Then take each piece of dough and roll it over the tines of a fork, mashing a slight indentation with your thumb as you start to roll the pieces. Each piece should have a shell-like impression from the fork tines.

Drop formed gnocchi into rapidly boiling salted water (1 teaspoon salt per quart) and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Gnocchi will float to the surface when cooked. Remove from water with strainer and place on serving dish. Top with browned butter and cheese, or rich meat sauce.

The recipe for rich meat sauce?

He'll get that on his second birthday...

Technorati Tags: Recipe | Gnocchi | Key Ingredient: Potato

The Candy Man Can!

Sammy, Laura Rebecca and I asked you to take a piece of culinary history, sprinkle it in sugar and create a wild sugar-soaked retro celebration. And over the course of October, you delivered in spades.

Take Pie Lady Brittany from Seattle WA for example. First out of the gate, Brittany covered it with chocolate and a miracle or two, offering us us the Whoopie Pie: a 1920's-era New England chocolate sandwich cookie she found in Betty Groff's Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook. The whoopie pie holds a special place in my heart as one of my mother's favorite confections from *her* childhood. Thanks for joining us Brittany!

Next up is Deb from Wisconsin, who devotes her entire blog Vintage Recipe to recipes of the retro variety. In Sammy's honor she stretches her baking muscles and offers us Lemon Cherry Treats, an adaptation of a recipe she found in the 1962 edition of The Art of Making Good Cookies, Plain and Fancy. They look like a perfect lunch box addition or after school snack on a blustery rainy winter day.

Naomi of Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried in the United Kingdom gives us gluten-free retro sweet treats with her raspberry and pomegranate studded Ballymaloe Tarts. She found these 'real food' pastries topped with fresh seasonal fruit in Jane Grigson's English Food, published in 1974. Your hostess is looking forward to recreating these in her kitchen soon, employing pomegranates as pictured and perhaps a persimmon or two.

Checking in from her One-Walled Kitchen in Phoenix, AZ, Julie offers two tasty alternatives to refined sugar desserts. She reaches back to the disco days of 1978, opens Rodale's Naturally Delicious Desserts and Snacks, and dishes up two desserts that replace sugar with honey: Peanut Butter Pudding and Biscuit Tortoni. Having mastered the luxurious pastry cream of the Bostini Cream Pie, I'm eager to try out these much more calorically reasonable creamy confections.

KJ from Canberra, Australia, the brilliant mind behind A Cracking Good Egg struggles a bit with a sticky sweet treat: Turkish Delight No. 1. She sources her recipe from the CWA Cookery Book and Household Hints and has a bit of trouble with the candy's custom to cling to every surface with which it comes in contact. I can't possibly summarize her story in three sentences nearly as well as she relays it. Go. Read her saga for yourself. We'll wait here...

Her hometown of Quebec, Canada provides just the inspiration Liz of Bits and Bites is looking for. She turns to Canada's answer to Julia Child and the "dean of Canadian Cuisine" Jehane Benoit's, consulting her 1955 publication celebrating the cuisine of Quebec. The result: Liz has found a new go-to pastry recipe in a book she's carted around for years but failed to cook from until now -- and an absolutely yummy looking Sugar Pie.

Gigi, the hostess with the mostest at Gigi Cakes, makes her home in Pasadena, CA and takes us back to the first half of the twentieth century with her contribution: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Her recipe is the 1925 winner of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company's annual recipe contest. Today we know the Hawaiian Pineapple company as the mono-syllabic Dole. And like several of the contributions to RR9, she's found a recipe that stands the test of time.

Peeking out from behind curtain number 8 is Melynda of The Things that Make Us Happy Make us Wise, whose Marguerites don't leave her with a lot of faith in the tastebuds of our culinary predecessors. With the observation that they "look like camel poop and taste like a sandstorm" Melynda wins my admiration for her way with words and the unofficial first place award for the most creative description in this round.

Theresa takes a break from blogging about vintage fashion at Vintage Style Files to share her experience with a retro recipe for Raisin Bon Bons. In response to our call for sugar-soaked sweet treats, she turns to Family Circle's 1972 Illustrated Library of Cooking's Dessert Edition section on candy making. Theresa thinks she'll make these again, next time selecting a chocolate that can stand up a little better to Florida's heat and humidity.

In Pittsburgh, PA Laurie of Quirky Cupcake celebrates the success of her hometown heroes the Pens with a Fresh Apple Cake from her grandmother's favorite cookbook: The "Green" Huntsville Heritage Cookbook published in 1967... and discovered yet another recipe worthy of repeating. This "perfect fall cake" packs powerful fruit flavor, is "moist, sweet and comforting" and "keeps for days."

Melody of Fruit Tart ponders the life of the fantasy stay-at-home-mom watching soaps and popping bon bons (none of which accurately reflects HER reality), checking in with some brightly colored sensational looking Bon Bon Cookies. She takes her inspiration from Betty Crocker's 1963 Cooky Book, experimenting with flavors and fillings to create cookies that double as eye-candy.

Moon represents one-third of the creative genius behind Peanut Butter Etouffee and offers her grandmother's groovy Sugar Pie in homage to Sammy Davis Jr. Her uncle calls it a "Vaseline Pie" ... I think it looks delicious, and delightfully, deliciously, sinfully 1970-something.



"ShannieCakes" Shannon from Corvallis, OR shares a childhood favorite of hers AND mine: the Chocolate Mayonnaise (Cup)cake. She says it's a southern thing and how the recipe made its way to my mid-western grandmother remains a mystery to me, but it's neat to see that someone else out there enjoys the moist cakes it creates as much as I do. I can't wait to try it topped with Shannon's salted caramel butter cream. Because there's not much that doesn't taste better smothered in caramel...

Gretchen Noelle of Canela y Comino in Lima, Peru channels her inner eight-year-old with her contribution to our sugar celebration: Snickerdoodles. She provides a careful history of the Snickerdoodle's emergence on the American cookie scene -- including several period recipes, one from the turn of the 20th century, closing with the recipe as she submitted it to the Peck Family Cookbook back in 1980.

Breadchick Mary treats us to the classic of all classics, Mamie Eisenhower's No Fail Fudge. Who in the United States hasn't enjoyed this marshmallow fluff inspired treat? Mary's a self-proclaimed expert on fudge, claiming Mackinac Island, Michigan as perhaps the fudge capital of the United States. Her childhood nickname for tourists, "Fudgies" had me giggling to myself as I read her post.


Speaking of fluff, check out Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness' neon pink cake -- her contribution to both our Retro Recipe Challenge and Marye's much acclaimed Boobie Bake-Off. She consults the Favorite Recipes from Irvington Kitchens, a 1938 publication of the Irvington (IN) Union of Ladies' Clubs for inspiration, chosing the Delicious White Cake and Buttercream Icing -- then tinting them pink with icing paste.

And lastly but not leastly, my tribute to the American bicentennial celebration, autumn, and all things soaked in alcohol: Drunken Apple Pound Cake. Which the Tribune claims -- since it's made with corn oil rather than solid butter or margerine -- is a-okay for people on a "newfangled" low-cholesterol diet. My, how very far we've come...


There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Seventeen celebrations of sugar (and sugar substitutes). Thanks to all of you who took the time to participate in RRC 9.

Hungry for more? Burn off some of the calories you've consumed here... run, don't walk back over to Naomi, from Straight into Bed, Cakefree and Dried. She's hosting Retro Recipe Challenge #10: Story Book Food.

Technorati Tags: Retro Recipe Challenge

NaBloPoMo 2007

Last November was so much fun, I'm doing it again.

Nope, not the cruise (although I'll be in Denver at the end of the month, it's business not pleasure).

NaBloPoMo. A personal commitment to post something to my little corner of the internet every day in November.

Just to prove that in the throws of the holiday season, as I prepare professionally for an Oracle upgrade, a tighter integration into our parent company and a leadership role in a Six Sigma project, I haven't lost my creative genius or my grasp on my personal life. This space is, after all, my recreation.

Wish me luck...

Technorati Tags: NaBloPoMo 2007

Retro Recipes Coming Soon...

For those of you waiting for the Retro Recipe Challenge Round Up, hang tight. I'm working on it, but life and work are intervening as they often do. You'll see it late on the 31st or early on the 1st, I promise!

Halloween-ie Bostini

As we segue from October to November (just *where* has 2007 gone?!?) it's time again for another installment of my trials and tribulations cursing a blue streak about misadventures with flour, sugar, butter and eggs: the Daring Baker challenge.

October's challenge: the Bostini Cream Pie. A twist on the traditional that pairs a rich vanilla custard with an orange-infused chiffon cake and then covers it in chocolate glaze, Mary of Alpineberry chose her favorite restaurant dessert to challenge and inspire us.

As I gathered the ingredients together -- more than a dozen eggs, close to a quart of heaving whipping cream *plus* a healthy dose of whole milk, a half a pound each of sugar, butter and chocolate -- I was pretty sure this one was going to be rich and opulent. And hey... with 3/4 cup of orange juice, it's healthy too, right? Gotta have that vitamin C!

The chiffon cake batter came together quickly and easily and soon the scent of baked orange permeated my kitchen. Because we're closing in on Halloween and the predominant colors in this dessert fit that theme and I've got a pumpkin shape cupcake pan I rarely get to use, I chose to make Halloweenie Bostini in pumpkin shapes. While I lubricated the pan well with oil and flour, my mini pumpkins still tended to cling to the pan for dear life. I worked with them patiently and ultimately got them all out with minimal damage (to them OR me), but I think this pan lends itself far better to a heavy battered confection. Since the recipe makes *far* more than twelve cakelettes, I used my silicon muffin pan for the remaining batter -- and these I was able to extricate without issue.

While the cakes cooled, I tackled the custard. Again, a fairly straightforward preparation. Over the course of the month several of my fellow Daring Bakers commented that the custard (really a pastry cream) didn't set firmly enough to slice it or pipe it to good effect, so I didn't even try. In hindsight, I think I could have. John's contribution was to stir the cooking custard to coat the bottom of a spoon, and at my instruction he may have gone overboard here - the end product was a firm, velvety voluptuous creamy custard base.

This recipe makes a LOT of rich (and caloric) individual servings. I think there are 14 in my refrigerator. And we have no plans to entertain soon. So I've stored the chocolate glaze in a squeeze bottle, brushed the pumpkin cakes with a bit of Cointreau so that they don't dry out and we're assembling them 'to order'. We tried one last night and these go to eleven -- a good thing, given the caloric content. They make a beautiful presentation, and I'll probably make them again when I need an impressive go-to dessert for a larger group.

For those of you inclined to try it out for yourself, you can find the recipe here. And hundreds of other highly creative interpretations here.

Technorati Tags: Daring Bakers | Bostini Cream Pie

We, the people...

1976.

The United States spent the year in bicentennial celebration. Speeches were delivered. Fireworks detonated. Flags waved. The School House Rock team created catchy cartoons designed teach American children their history in a way they understood between episodes of Scooby Doo and Dyno Mutt, Dog Wonder:

Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.?
Do you know about the government?
Can you tell me about the Constitution?
Hey, learn about the U.S.A.

In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin' people free.

The U.S.A. was just startin' out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected 39th president of the United States. A first class stamp cost 13 cents. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl. Cincinnati won the World Series. Montreal won the Stanley Cup. Dorothy Hamill captured American hearts on the ice (and inspired teenage hairstyles for years to come). Nadia Comaneci stole the stage with seven perfect tens. Your heroine turned 8 years old.

And on November 3, 1976, the Oakland Tribune published my contribution to this month's Retro Recipe Challenge. I figured a cake studded with apples (and doused in their alcoholic derivative) was the perfect homage to another American hero of sorts: Johnny Appleseed.

Apple Pound Cake
originally published in the Oakland (California) Tribune, Wednesday November 3, 1976

3 cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups corn oil
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups finely chopped pared apple
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup applejack
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg (in a medium bowl). In large bowl of an electric mixer, at medium speed, beat together oil, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Gradually beat in flour mixture until smooth. Fold in apples, pecans and raisins. Turn into greased and floured 10 inch tube pan (I used a bundt pan).

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for ten minutes. Remove from pan and cool.

Combine applejack, apple juice, brown sugar and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Prick top of cake with a fork. Carefully spoon the applejack syrup over the cake. When it is cool, store it in an airtight container.

Urp. A couple of days earlier, and this would have been a worthy contribution to Andrew's edition of Sugar High Friday.

Bon appetit!

The full School House Rock version of the preamble to the United States Constitution in all its glory:


Technorati Tags: Retro Recipe Challenge | Key Ingredient: Apple

Magazine Monday...

Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream...
I was kissin' Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream...
But I can't be late 'cause then I guess I just won't get paid...
These are the days when you wish your bed was already made...

It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my fun day
My I don't have to run day
It's just another manic Monday

Actually, technically, it *is* Sunday. A lazy, hazy autumn Sunday brunch. But we're celebrating everyone's favorite Creampuff's latest event: Magazine Monday so the song lyrics fit.

The premise here is that a lot of us have food magazines with "to try" recipes piled up around our homes waiting for "someday". Ivonne plans to align these stars a little better in her kitchen by declaring Monday's magazine days -- selecting a recipe from a magazine, preparing it and blogging about it. She's invited her readers along for the ride.

With regular subscriptions to Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, Eating Well, and a handful of others, I'm in the same boat Ivonne is. So Magazine Monday will be a semi-regular feature here as well.

My first contribution comes from the October/November 2005 issue of Eating Well Magazine, and capitalizes on seasonal ingredients occupying my refrigerator this week.

The article is called "All Hail Kale". The author calls kale "spinach on steroids"... flavorful, hearty in texture and full of nutrients. At 36 calories per cup, kale provides a healthy dose of vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese, serving as a good source of the B vitamins, vitamin E, calcium, copper, iron, lutein and zeaxanthin. It's easy to prepare: remove the tough ribs, tear, rinse, steam slightly and then follow the recipe's instructions.

Kale and Potato Hash
adapted from Eating Well, October/November 2005

8 cups torn kale leaves (I didn't measure, just used the bunch I received in my CSA box)
2 tablespoons horseradish
1 medium shallot, minced (I used red onion)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooked shredded potatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Place kale in a large microwave-safe bowl, cover and microwave until wilted, about 3 minutes. drain, cool slightly, and finely chop.
2. Meanwhile, mix horseradish, shallot, pepper and salt in a large bowl. Add chopped kale and potatoes, stirring well to combine.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet (I used cast iron) over medium heat. Add the kale mixture, spreading into an even layer and cook, stirring every 3-5 minutes (returning mixture to an even layer after each stir) until the potatoes begin to turn golden brown and crisp (12-15 minutes total).

Nutrition per 1/2 cup serving: 240 calories, 12 g. fat (2 g. saturated fat, 8 g. monounsaturated fat), 0 mg. cholesterol, 30 g. carbohydrate, 6 g. protein, 5 g. fiber, 244 mg. sodium.

We enjoyed the hash topped with an egg fried 'sunny-side up'.

Resources Used:
Kale from Farm Fresh to You CSA

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Event | Magazine Monday | Recipe | Key Ingredient: Kale

Celebrating Sustainable Seafood

October is an activity-packed month.

Pink ribbons appear everywhere in the month of October, promoting Breast Cancer awareness around the world. In the United States we celebrate Columbus Day--Latin American countries call it Dia de la Raza or Dia de las Culturas-- commemorating the discovery of the Americas in 1492. And at the end of the month, many western nations celebrate Halloween in accordance with their own cultural traditions. From a food-loving perspective, October is National Seafood Month in the United States. Jacqueline of Leather District Gourmet is taking a bit of poetic license, calling it Sustainable Seafood Month and hosting a delightful event around it.

Jacqueline explains her event: "Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to fish/cook sustainably and we'll all eat better, longer." She's afraid it's not catchy. I found it compelling.

One fifteen minute session with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch website and one thirty minute conversation with my local fishmonger later, a healthy fillet of wild-caught Alaskan halibut was on my dinner menu.

According to the aquarium, Pacific halibut are bottom-dwelling groundfish. Primarily found in the coastal North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, they migrate hundreds of miles from shallow coastal waters to the deep, open ocean to spawn in winter. Afterwards, most return, year after year, to their same coastal feeding grounds. In Alaska, fishing for Pacific halibut is strictly limited to the bottom longlining method, which causes little habitat damage and has low bycatch associated with it.

My fishmonger confirmed that the halibut I'd chosen had been caught off the coast of Alaska using the longline method, stored at near freezing temperature for its trip to California and butchered and filleted four or five hours before I walked in the door.

Now the big question...what to do with it? I'd bookmarked this recipe for Sesame-Crusted Yellowtail and hadn't gotten around to trying it yet. I had most of the other ingredients on hand, so I decided to use the halibut as a more sustainable substitute and served it with a simple mixed green salad. It turned out amazing... buttery on the inside, crispy on the outside. It's a long ingredient list, but mostly staples in my kitchen. It's easy to assemble and plates pretty enough for company. It's now on my short list of go-to seafood recipes.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Event | Sustainable Seafood | Key Ingredient: Halibut

Retro Confectionary Reminder...

Just a friendly reminder that the deadline for this month's sugar-coated Retro Recipe Challenge is quickly approaching.

Details for submitting your contributions can be found on this post.

Then check back on Halloween for some serious cavity-inducing historical confections and the stories behind them.



Technorati Tags: Retro Recipe Challenge

Great minds think alike

Remember when I mentioned I portioned part of my bun dough off for another project?

Let me step back a bit and explain...

About a week ago, Inge of Vanielje Kitchen posited a variation on the upcoming September challenge: sticky buns made with lavender and apples.

Little did she know she was reading my mind; that's precisely what I had in mind as my contribution to this month's They Go Really Well Together.

It all started in the heat of the summer when I went searching for single serve springform pans. I found them... and $50 US in other kitchen supplies I didn't know I needed when I walked into the store.

Including an adorable bottle of lavender extract. A bottle I've spent three months staring at trying to figure out how to employ.

When I saw the recipe for the cinnamon bun fondant I had a lavender-scented epiphany. Apple horns. Seasoned with vanilla sugar and crushed dried lavender. And drizzled in fondant flavored with my extract.

See... I NEEDED that bottle of extract! REALLY I did!

In the end, my sweet roll test audience was torn. (In an exercise in extreme will power, John and I limited our midnight snacking to the single bun that leads Sunday's late night post and packed the rest for sharing with friends tonight.) Most loved the comfortable warm familiarity the cinnamon buns. But everyone who made the stretch was amazed that the lavender, vanilla and apples really DID play well together. Marce... Inge... thanks to both of you for the inspiration you provided; this one is a winner.

Technorati Tags: Food Blog Events | TGRWT | Key Ingredients: Apple, Lavender, Yeast

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice?

When first learned of this months' Daring Baker challenge, I had a feeling the double entendres would fly on post day. So far today, Barbara's title and Stacy's are among my personal favorites. A latecomer to the party again this month, it's been my great pleasure to leave various iterations of "nice buns!" on ninety-some blogs as I wait patiently for MY dough to rise. Curious what my brothers and sisters in baking are up to? check them all out here.

I had a bit of a scare with the dough. I carefully measured all of the ingredients by weight, creamed the butter, salt and sugar, blended in the egg and lemon zest. So far so good. Then I added the flour, yeast, and milk and patiently waited for my dough to form a ball. Okay, perhaps *not* so very patiently. Five minutes later, no ball. John agreed that the dough was too wet, and we added approximately a half cup more flour before it came away from the sides of the bowl and formed a ball. Switched to the dough hook and let my mixer do its magic. Ten minutes later I had exactly the silky smooth soft dough I'd heard about from those daring bakers who didn't wait until the last possible second to bake their buns.

I spent the two hour proofing time reading other cinnamon roll reports and drooling over the accompanying photographs... hoping my midnight snack buns turn out half as tasty as the others look.

Once risen, I divided my dough in half, dedicating half to a future project and half to cinnamon bun goodness. We were offered the choice of cinnamon and sticky. I opted for cinnamon because I'm picky about nuts in baked goods, and I've been making my grandmother's sticky bun recipe since I was old enough to stand up and hold a rolling pin; choosing someone elses -- even if it is very good -- feels tantamount to sacrilege. Bun assembly was fairly straightforward, and I stashed them in the 'fridge while we headed out to a Sunday afternoon football party with John's high school friends. We'd proof them the final time and bake them when we returned -- a true midnight snack!

At 10:30, after two hours in a proofing oven, my buns had risen to glorious heights and were ready for baking. Heating the oven to 350 took no time at all, and we were quickly enveloped by the scents of sugar and spice and everything nice...

Eighteen minutes in the oven and my buns had baked to a delightful golden brown. I assembled the fondant while they cooled a bit -- choosing to halve the recipe since the most often repeated 'complaint' among the bakers was that it produced an excessive amount. I then transferred my cinnamon scented bounty to cooling racks and drizzled them with the sugary goodness. I'll admit that we didn't wait an additional twenty minutes to bite in, or I'd never make my midnight deadline and my coach would turn back into a pumpkin. Cinderelly? Cinderelly? Bippity Boppity Boo! Oh...Er... oops... sorry, wrong story.

These were absolutely worth the wait, and I'll definitely be repeating them in different forms and flavors. Just sweet enough to be satisfyingly sinful, without they cloying heavy sugar aftertaste of many commercial versions.

This month's adventure into the world of baked goods has been brought to us by Marce of Pip in the City. She's posted the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice in all its glorious detail here.

Resources used:
King Arthur unbleached bread flour
Clover-Stornetta Organic butter, whole milk
Penzeys' Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon

Technorati Tags: Daring Bakers | Key Ingredients: Yeast, Cinnamon