Buttermilk Fig Cake

When most people think of figs, they think of dried Calimyrna figs, those light brown sticky figs that my grandfather used to bring home along with bags of assorted nuts. While an excellent snack (and all the more so because, dried, they're available any time), in my opinion they are nothing compared to fresh black Mission figs. Not very sweet, these have an almost musky taste and, in all honesty, often pair better with savory foods than sweet.


That said, upon deciding one day that I had a hankering for figs, I decided to use them in a sweet preparation -- namely, a buttermilk fig cake. Now, I'm a very nervous (and inexperienced) baker, so I'm always wary to diverge from a recipe. However, I just couldn't find a recipe that incorporated everything I wanted! You see, the older I get, the more my sweet tooth disappears. So I couldn't have a cake that was terribly sweet (sacrilege, I know). And that meant I wanted a mix of fresh figs and dried. I also wanted lots of spices, since gingerbread is one of the few cakes the vegetarian is truly fond of. And some nuts to cut the sweetness.


I ended up combining several recipes and, much to my delight (because I kept muttering under my breath that it would never work), the cake was both delicious and not very sweet! More like a spice cake than anything else, it would be wonderful with afternoon tea. We shared it with friends, who were big fans as well. I hope you agree!


Buttermilk Fig Cake
adapted from Fresh and La Mia Cucina

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 7 1/2 ounces fig preserves
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 1 teaspoon allspice, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups fresh figs, chopped
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
• 15 dried figs, chopped
• cooking spray

The Glaze

• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat eggs and egg whites in a mixing bowl until frothy. With beaters still running, add in granulated sugar, vegetable oil and fig preserves. Sift together flour, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, kosher salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add sifted dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternately adding a little of each, to egg mixture. Mix very well (it helps if you have an extra set of hands -- one person adds ingredients while the other mixes). Mix in vanilla extract. Fold in fresh figs, pecans and dried figs. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan. Bake 55-65 minutes, until a chopstick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine buttermilk, powdered sugar, baking soda, cornstarch and butter. Bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Stir in vanilla extract and Grand Marnier. Remove sides from springform pan. Drizzle glaze over cake. Enjoy!

Make It a Meal: So your guests still have room for dessert, precede this cake with a light dish of Olive Oil Roasted Eggplant with Lemon, served over fresh pasta. The cake is wonderful topped with vanilla ice cream or even whipped cream.


Drink Pairings: A Zinfandel, such as 7 Deadly Zins was great with the main meal, but, since you've already opened the bottle of Grand Marnier, why not spice things up a bit and make Sangria? I recommend White Zinfandel Sangria; it would even work with the cake!



Leftovers: Leftover cake makes a wonderful breakfast the next morning. It also works as an afternoon pick-me-up, particularly with a cup of tea!


Links to other fig noshes:

• Figs! from Simply Recipes
• The best fig tart from Chez Pim
• Grown-up Fig Cookies from 101 Cookies
• Fig Galette from Simply Recipes
• Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese and Balsamic Agave Glaze from Kalyn's Kitchen

Blueberry Amandine Tart

Blueberry Amandine Tart

A little over a week ago, the vegetarian turned 30. In his honor, I wanted to bake something. Now, as you know, I'm not much of a baker, so I needed something reliable and easy. But muffins are boring (and the only thing I bake with any frequency) so I wanted to find something more fun. And that would feel at least semi-seasonal. Something that, for better or for worse, I could feature here.


Searching for inspiration, my first stop was the freezer where I found some frozen blueberries from our frozen farm share. Great, I thought, I'll use blueberries. The next stop was the cookbook shelf, where I saw Clotilde's book, Chocolate & Zucchini. Like many, Chocolate & Zucchini was the first food blog I discovered. I was living alone in Paris, in a garret apartment in the 15th arrondissement. I was a student, studying abroad, and it was my first time living alone and being responsible for all my own meals. While I had neither the funds nor the resources to sample most of Clotilde's creations, I used to sit at my computer, reading about her delicacies while savoring my homemade eggs, lentils or pasta -- my three most regular meals in those days. This was, of course, before I moved to a real apartment in the 1st arrondissement, experimented in the kitchen and started my own blog. Six years and six apartments later (how time flies), cooking for someone who's never seen my Paris (though he was there many moons before we met) and is slowly being introduced into the world of food and expanding tastebuds, it seemed only fitting to return to Clotilde for advice.


The recipe I ultimately settled on was a Blueberry Amandine Tart. Since I don't trust myself as a baker enough to potchke with a tart recipe (and because I couldn't imagine what I would change), I left it exactly as printed in the book. Exact that I used a store-bought pate sablee.


So how was it? Delicious. My only complaint was that the center never quite firmed up. Perhaps this was because my crust was 9-inches, perhaps because my blueberries were frozen. Or maybe that's the way it was supposed to be. Anyway, the almonds were the perfect antidote to keep the tart from becoming too sweet (I thoroughly recommend buying them already blanched rather than doing it yourself. You can find the recipe on page. 188-189 of Chocolate and Zuccini. Enjoy!


Make it a meal: Whenever I make dessert, I want to ensure my diners save room for it! So I make a one-pot meal, usually pasta, to go with it. In this case, I made Spaghetti with Cheesy Tomato Sauce (tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella). And to drink, Champagne Cocktail for me and Electric Lemonade for the vegetarian. Bon appetit!


Links to other blueberry amandine tart noshes:

• Blueberry Amandine Tart from Baked Alaska
• Blueberry Amandine Tart from The Casual Baker
• A Bit of a C&Z Weekend from Chocolate & Zucchini Forums
• Blueberry Kuchen from Lady Gouda
• Seven Questions with Marty Curtis (with a picture of a blueberry muffin) from seven spoons
• Open-Faced Fresh Blueberry Pie from The Kitchen Sink
• Chewy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies from Dinner with Julie
• Blueberry Boy Bait from Blue Jean Gourmet

Tarragon Pistachio Butter and Beer Making, Part I

Tarragon Pistachio Butter

One of our Chanukah presents this year was a beer maker which, until now, has sat patiently above our kitchen cabinets, waiting to be used. Sunday night, after spring teased us with a 60F-day on Friday (only to shoot back down to a wintry 20F over the weekend), we decided it was time. Since neither the vegetarian nor I know very much about beer or beer-making, we invited one of his best friends from college, E, over to join in the merriment. We made West Coast Pale Ale, set everything in a (mostly) empty cabinet and began the more-immediate task of making dinner.


I've been on a sweet potato kick lately and, while looking for yummy sweet potato recipes in the folder in which I keep all the recipes I've stumbled upon and plan to make, I excitedly lighted on the word "sweet". It was followed, however, not by the word "potato" but instead by "pistachio".  Ah, yes! The Sweet Pistachio Butter from 101 Cookbooks--a vegetarian "healthy recipe journal" that I cannot recommend highly enough--that I had saved as a way to use up the pistachios from my Cornish Hens (and Tofu) with 

An (almost-set) Table

Cranberry Paste. (On a side note, one of my former college roommates, Miss Julie, a San Franciscan, cooks from there incessantly and was actually the one who first turned me on to the site.) Heidi made her Pistachio Butter for crepes but I, with my waning sweet tooth, wanted something more savory, to serve atop a protein. I stared for a while at the picture of Heidi's brilliantly green butter and decided to replace the sweetener with an herb. What herb? Something light, with a sweet taste and a loud flavor--tarragon! I often think of tarragon with chicken, but instead I paired it with Salmon Roasted with Herbs (from How to Cook Everything) for E and me and Tofu Roasted with Herbs for the vegetarian. The tarragon created just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the flavor of the pistachios and paired beautifully with the richness of the salmon. It also matched quite nicely with the delicate flavor of the tofu, I was told. And, to satisfy this sweet potato obsession, we had Roasted Yam Puree with Brown Butter--decadent and delightful. There was also a Cherry Tomato-Caper Salad and Hummus with Capers. And, while I would 
recommend a Viognier as a wine-pairing, we stayed on our beer theme and instead 
had Long Haul Session Ale with the Hummus and Morimoto Soba Ale with the Salmon, Tofu and Tarragon 
Pistachio Butter. I highly recommend both, especially the Morimoto. Enjoy!


Tarragon Pistachio Butter

• 

  Salmon and Tofu

  1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pistachios, shelled and crushed
• 1 bunch fresh tarragon leaves
• 1/2 cup water, hot (from the tap is fine)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 pinches Hawaiian salt

First peel almonds: pour boiling water into a small bowl and add almonds. Allow to sit at least 1 minute, then remove them one at a time (go for those whose peels are the most shriveled first) and peel, rub, whatever to remove.

Place peeled almonds into food processor along with pistachios, tarragon, hot water and garlic. Pulse until all one consistency (add more water if you'd like it to be wetter), then add salt and pulse once or twice more to incorporate. Serve, atop salmon, tofu or whatever you'd like. Makes more than enough for 3 people's dinner. Enjoy!

Links to other tarragon pistachio butter noshes:

• Baked Peas with Tarragon, Yogurt, and Pistachios from 101 Cookbooks
• Tarragon Chicken Thighs with Buttered Leeks from Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow

Cajun Spaghettini with Walnut-Garlic Sauce

Technically, this pasta isn't Cajun cuisine. It includes neither bell pepper, onion nor celery. In fact, the only Cajun ingredient it does have is Cajun spice mix. And the pasta is really Italian in origin. However, it was the cajun spice mix that brought this walnut-garlic pesto, a variation of salsa di noce from the pedestrian to the delicious. In fact, the Vegetarian hasn't stopped cooking with it since we got it!

This is a truly delightfully easy recipe, which we served with sparkling wine and Pear, Feta and Lettuce Salad. Enjoy!

Cajun Spaghettini with Walnut-Garlic Sauce

• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch Italian parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup + 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 teaspoons Cajun spice mix
• 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel
• 1 pound spaghettini

Preheat oven to 350F. Place walnuts in one layer on an ungreased, light-colored baking pan and bake 5 minutes, until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them. Remove and allow to come to room temperature.

Place walnuts, olive oil, parsley, 1/4 cup broth, garlic, Cajun spice mix, breadcrumbs and salt in food processor. Pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Cook spaghettini in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain, return to pot and toss with remaining 1/4 cup broth and sauce. Serve and enjoy.

Links to other cajun noshes:

• Dirty Rice from Simply Recipes
• Gumbo z'Herbes with Cajun Tempeh Bacon from FatFree Vegan Kitchen
• Killer Cajun Shrimp or Crawfish from Steamy Kitchen

CSA Week 3: Cold Blueberry Garlic Almond Soup

Week 3 of our CSA and another very exciting haul. It's still been extremely rainy here, so no fruit share yet, but we've been promised a double share next week. (Yikes; I mean, yay!) But we have some lovely vegetables again, still more springy than summery, but no complaints here. And things that I can't usually find in Chinatown. So...what did we get? 1 (very small) head of broccoli, 1 head of lettuce, 3 beets (with their beautiful greens still attached), 2 heads of garlic with the thick green stalk still attached, 1 pound swiss chard and 1 bunch mint.

Once I brought everything home and stored it properly to last the week, I began thinking about what to make for dinner. What most excited me about this haul was the garlic. I'm a really big fan of what I call "fresh garlic" since it's the garlic I prefer to eat raw. So it's my garlic of choice for pestos and uncooked sauces (before I discovered garlic scapes, of course). But I've been making lots of sauces lately so I started thinking about a cold soup. Then the Boy and I started discussing whether people eat beets raw so I did some research, decided that they do and garnished my soup with some chopped beet. This soup was inspired by Cold Garlic Almond Soup from Anne's Food.

While very tasty, I never did completely get rid of the almond meal texture. Any suggestions? And the addition of blueberries is the reason for the stupendous color.

Cold Blueberry Garlic Almond Soup

• 3 slices bread (I used whole wheat), crusts removed
• water
• 1/4 bag almond slivers (3-4 ounces)
• 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons blood orange olive oil
• 1/4 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon cream sherry
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1/2 beet, peeled and chopped

Tear the bread into about 9 pieces. Submerge in a bowl of cold water and let soak for 30 minutes. Squeeze out as much water as possible and remove bread to bowl of food processor. Add almonds, blueberries and garlic and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add olive oils, salt, curry powder, pepper, water, sherry and vinegar. Process again until as smooth as possible (and perhaps you'll find a way to get rid of the coarse almond texture, perhaps by straining the soup through a cheesecloth-lined strainer?). Transfer to a glass bowl, cover, and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve (1-2 hours).
Before serving, mix together pine nuts, raisins and beet in a small bowl as garnish. Serve soup and invite diners to sprinkle garnish on top. Enjoy!
Links to other garlic noshes:

• Roasted Garlic from Simply Recipes

Pain de biere, d'amandes et de gingembre

I suppose I'll just stop saying I'm not a baker, since I do keep on baking. However, aside from my Focaccia in May I've never made Bread before and, I have to admit, I'm still scared of Yeast. After all, it is bacteria and alive. Pretty Spooky.

Anyway, I had read that Beer Bread is one of the easiest breads to make, so I decided to give it a shot. I was feeling a little under the weather, which always makes me want to create something from scratch, something that will be completely different when I take it out of the oven from how it was when I put it in. Of course, baking is the best solution to all of these requirements.

Although most beer breads don't require yeast, the one I decided to make, Almond Ginger Beer Bread, which I found on CDKitchen.com, did. Nevertheless, the Bread turned out perfectly, with a soft crumb and very little crust. I don't know how much of a difference the beer used makes, but, since I only like dark ales, I decided to make the Bread with Guinness. I was really pleased with the result. There was a definite dark beer under flavor but even Mom, who doesn't like bread, loved it. I also added some Caraway Seeds to give it a slight hint of Rye Bread. Next time I would probably add a little more Ginger and Caraway Seeds to enhance their flavors. It was also faintly sweet and fantastic toasted with a little salted butter for breakfast.

Pain de biere, d'amandes et de gingembre

2 cups Almonds, chopped
2 tablespoons + 4 tablespoons Butter
1 1/2 cups Guinness
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 package Active Dry Yeast
4 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Caraway Seeds
2 Eggs
1/2 tablespoon Kosher Salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
1 tablespoon Water
Olive Oil, as needed

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Saute Almonds in 2 tablespoons Butter until crispy; set aside. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons Butter, taking care it doesn't burn. Pour into a bowl and reserve.

Stir together Guiness and Brown Sugar. Mix in Active Dry Yeast and let stand until fully dissolved, 10 minutes.

Beat in 2 cups Flour, Ginger, 1 Egg, Salt and Almond Extract. Add reserved Melted Butter and sprinkle on 3rd cup of Flour. Stir in Sauteed Almonds. Begin to knead dough in bowl, adding more Flour as needed, until the bowl is clean and the dough firm.

Place dough in food processor with dough hook, add a little flour if necessary, and knead about 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Rub oil in the large bowl and place dough inside. Turn dough around inside bowl to coat it well with oil. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let it sit until double in volume, about 1 hour. Punch dough down and let rest 10 minutes. Divide in half and, on a clean board, form 2 round loaves. Place on baking sheet, cover with towel and let rise again until double in volume, another hour.

Beat 2nd Egg with Water and brush loaves with mixture. This will give a shiny crust to your bread. Bake for about 30 minutes, until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Makes 2 loaves.

Food and Baking and Recipe and Bread and Vegetarian and Dairy

Agneau au safron et almondes or He's home! He's home!

The Boy came home today and there was much rejoicing. We finished the Jarret de veau for lunch and then went shopping for dinner before my acting class. He had specially requested no fish or pigeon (both of which he apparently ate a ton of in China) and said what he missed most was stew. So, knowing that he loves and is slightly in awe of saffron and since I've been craving Middle-Eastern inspired food lately, I decided to make him a lamb stew with saffron and toasted almonds, influenced by a recipe for goat I found on Chef 2 Chef.

Agneau au safron et almondes
Adapted from Chef 2 Chef

1 tablespoon Butter
1/2 sliced blanched Almonds
1 pinch Saffron powder
2 thick slices Pancetta, diced
700 grams Lamb, cubed
1 Onion, finely chopped
4 cloves Garlic, minced
3 plum Tomatoes, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 Bay Leaf
Water
3 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths

Heat Butter in a pan and saute Almonds in it over medium heat until lightly browned. Set aside in bowl, add Saffron and mix with your hands once Almonds are cool enough to handle.

Without cleaning the pan, saute Pancetta over medium heat until lightly cooked, then transfer to a pot. Brown Lamb (in as many batches as necessary so as not to crowd the pan), then add to the Pancetta. Still not cleaning the pan, saute the Onion until golden, then add Garlic, Tomatoes, Almond-Saffron mixture, Oregano and Bay leaf and Salt and Pepper to taste. Add everything to the pot with Lamb and Pancetta and mix. Put the pot over high heat and add just enough Water to cover the mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and partly cover the pot. Simmer for 1 hour. Add Potatoes, pushing them as much under the meat as possible, and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Serve once the potatoes are ready.

Serves 3.