Lemon Cake Bloopers

Can you spot the blooper in the above photo?  This is a picture of a Meyer Lemon Pudding Cakelet, a dish that usually comes out beautifully for me. But I made one (not so) fatal error that caused the top to sport those unfortunate craters.  Oh well, it still tasted good. 

I often make these little cakes for dinner parties, and the above batch was for my book club gathering last week.  I love these cakelets because they (usually) look so impressive, and so cute in their individual ramekins, and (sshh..) they’re pretty easy to make.   And here’s the clincher:  each cakelet has a surprise nugget of tart pudding, which delights unsuspecting  tasters.  It’s like getting a culinary prize in the center of each cake.

So normally, these look really appetizing.  I’ll tell you my mistake, which I made in haste:  I didn’t save back the egg whites to fold in at the last minute.  Instead, I just sloppily mixed it all in (this is what happens to me when I cook after 9pm on a weeknight!).  But you’ve been warned—try to make these when you feel relaxed yet alert.

Making these is like conducting a magic science experiment, because it’s all one batter, and the pudding-like center is created by the cooking method.  Try this recipe and I promise, the crowd will go wild!

The recipe comes from an incredible cookbook, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern  Kitchen Garden by Jeanne Kelley:

Lemon Pudding Cakelets

Makes 6-8 cakelets

(note:  it’s best to use Meyer Lemons for this—but don’t sweat it if you have to use regular lemons.  I also hear you can substitute tangerines, which would make “Tangerine Pudding Cakelets.” )

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.       Separate 4 eggs.  Beat the whites with ¼ cup of sugar until you get peaks.  Transfer eggs whites to another bowl and have them wait on the sidelines (key step!).

3.       Then put the 4 yolks in same bowl you just mixed in, add ¾ cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (I highly recommend getting a Microplane zester) and beat it until the mixture is light yellow, around 3 minutes.

4.       Add ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 ½ cups buttermilk, and ½ cup of lemon juice that you just squeezed from those grated lemons.  Beat until combined.

5.       Then GENTLY STIR in (don’t beat!)  those sidelined egg whites into your big mixture.

6.       Pour the batter into 6-8 individual ramekins.  Place all ramekins into baking pan.  Then pour hot water into the pan, so that it comes up to about halfway up the sides of ramekins (this is the cool step that makes your pudding!).

7.       Bake for 30 minutes until tops are golden brown and springy to touch (NOT like in photo!).

8.       These are good served either warm or chilled—so now it’s time to wow your guests with your uber-gourmet, secretly-easy dessert.

May all your Cakelets be Springy not Spongy,

Jennifer

Vanilla-Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey from Food in Jars

VANILLA-RHUBARB JAM with EARL GREY from FOOD IN JARS

I had never seriously considered making my own jam before met Marissa McClellan author of the wonderful blog Food in Jars, and upcoming cookbook from Running Press with the same name. I designed the book, and it was one of those projects that really made an impact on me. After reading the manuscript it was impossible not to want to attempt some sort of preserving. When we did the photo shoot I couldn't resist sampling a bit of every jam, jelly, marmalade, pickles, and all of the other amazingly good stuff in the book. And after watching Marissa do a demo on how to make her Strawberry-Vanilla Jam, I was pretty sure I could do it too.

So, it being springtime, what better choice than rhubarb? There are two rhubarb jam recipes in the book, and one for jelly. I went with the Vanilla-Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey because I can never get enough vanilla, and it's so, so good. It was fairly easy to make and now that I've made it, I can't imagine not making more of it. Try it and see! For more resources, check out www.foodinjars.com

-Amanda

VANILLA-RHUBARB JAM WITH EARL GREY from FOOD IN JARS

Makes 4 (1-pint/500 ml) jars

8 cups chopped rhubarb

(about 3 pounds/1.4 kg rhubarb stalks)

4 cups/800 g granulated sugar

1 cup/240 ml double-strength brewed Earl Grey tea

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Juice of 1 lemon

Pinch salt

1 (3-ounce/85 ml) packet liquid pectin

Prepare a boiling water bath and 4 regular-mouth 1-pint/500 ml jars

according to the process on page 10. Place the lids in a small saucepan,

cover them with water, and simmer over very low heat.

In a large, nonreactive pot, combine the rhubarb, sugar, and tea and bring

to a boil. Add the vanilla bean and seeds, lemon juice, and salt to the pot

and let the mixture bubble gently over medium-high heat for 15 to 20

minutes, stirring regularly, until the rhubarb has broken down.

Add the packet of liquid pectin and increase the heat to high, to bring the

jam up to a rolling boil. Let the jam boil vigorously for 3 to 4 minutes,

stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning.

Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the jam into the prepared jars. Wipe

the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath for

10 minutes.

Keeping Sharp in the Kitchen

 Keeping Sharp in the Kitchen

Years ago when I was making sushi with one of my chef friends, he was explaining to me about the starch content of the sticky rice and saying something about fanning the rice while adding the seasoning. I wasn’t really paying attention because he was the one on rice detail. When he pulled out his Zwilling J.A. Henckles Chef Knife in all its gleaming glory, that’s when I really took notice. It was big. It was well-balanced. It was very sharp. Still, he began gracefully, and in a smooth carving motion, giving it a dozen or so strokes against the sharpening steel. “It’s always good to sharpen your knife before cutting,” he said. “If you are diligent every time, you won’t have to spend as much time, and you keep a razor edge.” And then consider storing them in a cool knife holder like this one.



Photo courtesy of squidoo.com. Available at amazon.com.



That was some good advice that I more or less try to follow. Well, I’m no chef, and I don’t have a set of expensive Henckles. But I do have a chef’s knife, and I have a little gadget that is supposed to make sharpening it a whole lot easier, or, at least, simpler and safer. When sharpening a knife with my tool you put the knife in the special sharpening slot that has two stones forming a V to sharpen both sides at once and pull it towards you. Because the knife rests in there nicely you can use a little pressure and because there is a special finger shield you can pull it through rather quickly without worrying.  The other day I was sharpening my knife and must have been distracted or was going too fast because I missed the foolproof sharpening slot. The knife came down hard right on the tip of my thumb. Usually I’m glad for sharp knives. This time I’m glad it wasn’t any sharper. So my advice in the kitchen is to always use a sharp knife when cutting your vegetables but more importantly always stay sharp when sharpening your knife so you make sure there only fish in your sushi.

Geoffrey

Doing it Naturally

DOING IT NATURALLY

I’m not much of a baker of sweets. I’m imprecise—a fatal flaw—and the results rarely meet my standards. (That’s why ice cream is my go-to dessert from April to October.) But bread? That’s another story. I love working with bread dough, and learning what qualities yield what results. I’ve learned to leave my pizza dough slightly wetter than seems right, especially when I’ve used some whole wheat flour, because so much moisture is absorbed during the first rise. I’m running the motor of my Kitchen Aid into an early grave with all the kneading I do. 

My favorite bit of yeasty education has been in the field of natural starters. I call starter bread “the working girl’s bread.” Whip up the dough after dinner, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rise ever so slowly in the refrigerator until the next evening. The longer, slower fermentation makes for a more balanced dough and a better flavor. And the hands-on time with a natural starter is minimal.

But what is a starter? Think of it as pre-Fleischmann's, pre-convenience sludge of yeast. Foods left to their own devices are continually fermenting in different ways. The sugar in grapes, nurtured in tanks and casks, makes wine. Dry active yeast reacts with natural sugars to speed up fermentation, making bubbles, which make your bread rise. (For a more scientific explanation, please Google.) A starter is a kind of pet that lives in your fridge, needing only the most infrequent feedings and care. Mine came from my mother-in-law and has since traveled to friends in California, D.C., New Jersey, and locally here in Philadelphia. Just add equal parts flour and water to feed it, let it sit out overnight, and it multiplies. A good starter smells a little like beer. (You can make all kinds of starters, from grapes, milk, flours, and other fruits.) I use mine in tandem with flour, water, salt, and sugar and a bit of alchemy to make basic sandwich breads, baguettes, and even rich chocolate breads. 

 John's Sourdough

When I was first beginning to experiment with starter, I started small. This is a great resource for an everyday loaf. (The picture, above, shows that recipe.)  When you feel a bit more confident, try naturally yeasted baguettes by adding a little steam to your common little oven. Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate & Zucchini does an excellent job of demystifying the baguette.

As you continue to bake, you’ll notice that your results are far more consistent when you go by weight, rather than volume. Flours are ground, processed, and packed differently according to brand, and the only way to guarantee the right proportions is to cook by weight. While it might seem fussy at first, it’s actually far more convenient to dump ingredients into the bowl set on a scale, without dirtying a single measuring cup.

I hope your interest is piqued: the season for bread is now! Springtime temperatures are ideal for natural yeasts. Comment on our Facebook page to share your results!
-Kristen

All Hail to Kale

All Hail to Kale

I have this strange new obsession.  Luckily it’s good for me!  For the past couple weeks, I’ve eaten kale almost every day.  It’s like I’m making up for lost time—previously I had always shunned the “king of the cruciferous.”  I’m not sure why—I think I assumed that kale would be bitter, or maybe I just always associated it with vile-looking detox smoothies.  But a couple of things converged that led to this new food love.  First, I am editing an upcoming book (to be published in the Fall), called KICKING CANCER IN THE KITCHEN.  It’s written by two cancer survivors, who used good food to help them through their treatment, recovery, and (happily) remission.  What Annette and Kendall found was that once they changed their eating habits, they looked and felt better than they ever had before.  Their book provides 100 recipes for anyone who is interested in eating well to prevent cancer (and shouldn’t that be all of us?).  Sure enough, they are big fans of kale.  It’s called “king of the cruciferous” because it truly reigns in its “warding off cancer” abilities. Oh, and it lowers cholesterol and detoxifies the system too.  Once I heard of these impressive benefits, I knew I had to get more kale into my life.

As it happened, I found that my local Trader Joe’s provides kale already washed and cut. I admit, I’m kind of a princess when it comes to produce.  I don’t like to get my hands dirty:  When I peruse the farmer’s market (can I admit this?) I get a little put-off by seeing the veggies covered in grainy dirt.  And sorry, but after a long hard day, I just don’t feel like dousing my veggies through several baths before I can start making dinner.   But present produce to me already washed and cut, and I am good-to-go!  So if your local grocery store offers this pre-washed kale, I say that you have no excuse but to get into the kale habit.

Here are some good ways to have it:

1.       Saute the kale in a little olive oil.  After about a minute, give it a splash of veggie or chicken broth.  Put lid on pan and steam for about 5 minutes.  You want the kale to still be bright green, but just a little wilted.  Season with a dash of salt.  Then you have option of either putting over rice or pasta—or, you could throw some dried cherries into the kale.  The sweet/salty combo is divine.

2.       Top your pizza with kale.  My local organic pizza place, Jules, offers a delicious pizza topped with kale and apples.  Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.  I also make my own pizza about once a week—I top with kale during the last 5-10 minutes or so of oven time.  Don’t put the kale in at the beginning , or it will burn.

3.       Apparently you get more nutritional benefit from cooked kale, but raw kale is no slouch!  It’s still great for you.  Try it instead of lettuce for a salad.  Again, sprinkle it with raisins or dried cherries, or maybe some pumpkins seeds.

Ok, that should get you started on your own adventure with kale.  I promise, if you eat it every day for a week, you’ll thank me! ** The only caveat:  I heard that folks who take anti-coagulant drugs shouldn’t eat kale.  Apparently the high levels of Vitamin K in the kale somehow screws up the efficacy of the drug. 

Happy Kale-ing,

Jennifer

Citrus Memories

CITRUS MEMORIES

This weekend found me in observance of both Passover and Easter—of sorts. I’m technically a celebrant of Easter and only a Seder enthusiast; I’m not Jewish, but I’ll use any excuse for holiday food. We chose Saturday as a nice middle place and feasted on bitter herbs (endive, later used as vehicles for caramelized onion dip) and a peach-and-bourbon-glazed brisket that was slap-yo-mama delicious, and ended the meal with a nod to Easter: sweet-savory focaccia bread with kumquats. Traditionally, eggs and other round foods represent the empty tomb, so I took the liberty of swapping in kumquats.

I ate my first kumquat with my Grandpa Green, who would have turned 100 last week. His birthday (which he shared with his first granddaughter) is April Fools’ Day, allowing for endless family high jinks, including those candles that remain lit in the face of great huffing and puffing. His house in Florida was set on a few acres with a pecan tree, a stocked lake for fishing, and a few mongrel citrus trees, including a kumquat. Kumquats aren’t the darling of Florida citrus: for one, the uninitiated are mystified to discover, you snarf the whole thing, peel and all. They are not as sweet as oranges, nor as versatile as lemons. The seeds are enough to make one seriously reconsider any kind of preserving or jamming, since they can be tee-winy. But for my purposes, a cursory once-over for the big obvious seeds was plenty.

I grated on some Asiago cheese halfway through baking and then more on the finished bread (it was a holiday, after all), and drizzled on a honey–simple syrup finish. We ate, remembering our loved ones and Easters past. It’s just as good toasted on Sunday morning.

Kumquat Focaccia Bread

Liberally adapted from Whole Grain Breads by Machine or By Hand, by Beatrice Ojakangas

1 1/3 cups warm water

1 teaspoon chopped lavender leaves, plus more whole leaves for finishing

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus more as needed

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Flavorful honey

1 pint kumquats

Asiago cheese

Combine warm water, yeast, lavender, salt, and sugar. Let stand until foamy, 5 minutes. Add the oil and whole wheat flour and beat with a stand mixer until smooth. Let rest 15 minutes. Add in all-purpose flour slowly to form a dough and knead with bread hook, adding flour as needed, until it is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. It should not be too sticky to touch. Let rise, covered (tip: on a heating pad, medium setting), until doubled, about an hour.

Meanwhile, trim stems and slice kumquats in half lengthwise. Combine with a small splash of water, a few spoonfuls of sugar, and a glob of honey in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. There should be enough liquid so that nothing sticks, but not so much that the kumquats are swimming. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, until they are mostly soft. Remove from heat and let cool.

Grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto the sheet. Press firmly with your fingertips into the shape of the pan: it will nearly fill a half-sheet pan. Smear a few drizzles of olive oil evenly over the dough. Dot the surface with kumquat halves, cut-sides down. Let rise (on heating pad!) until puffy, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Lightly drizzle the dough with remaining syrup from kumquats (or stir together a simple syrup and honey), but don’t overdo it. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.  Halfway through, remove the pan from the oven and vigorously grate Asiago over the top, and return it to the oven. When the bread is golden, drizzle with more honey or kumquat liquid, sprinkle lavender over top, and grate on some more cheese if you like. Eat warm.

-Kristen

To Sugar or Not to Sugar



Photo by Annie Griffiths Belt

To Sugar or Not to Sugar?

When I was growing up sweets were rare occasions in my house. More often than I liked, fruit was our dessert. Now, I’m not knocking fruit, I love a juicy cara cara navel orange and think fresh strawberries with homemade whipped cream are a fabulous treat. However, I have a sweet tooth. Dark chocolate cocoa–covered almonds or a bowl of moose tracks ice cream are simple pleasures that brighten my spirit.

60 Minutes ran a piece on sugar this week. According to Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, “high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us.” cbsnews.com

As if it’s news that Americans eat a lot of high-fat, high-sugar foods, the report said that we are “consuming nearly 130 pounds of added sugars per person, per year.” I believe it. I remember sitting in a cafeteria-style restaurant recently and the guy next to me went through at least two 20-ounce sodas. He filled the cup—no ice—to the rim. He probably got half a pound of sugar in that one sitting. The even scarier fact is that he probably consumed enough 4-methylimidazole (4-MI or 4-MEI), aka caramel coloring, to make his cells mutate into lethal killing machines. Although to avoid a cancer warning label Coca Cola adjusted their recipe, so now the danger is only the copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup or processed sugar.



Sweet Agave Nectar

Photo by Alison Ashton



So what’s a sweet tooth to do? According to Judith Richards at Helium.com you could try Xylitol, which my mother-in-law uses. It’s made from birch bark and is even produced in the human body so it doesn’t cause the blood sugar spikes that sugars cause. You can use it cup for cup for sugar and it’s good for baking, cooking, and sweetening your drinks. Livstrong.com recommends a few others: Agave Nectar, which comes the sap of the blue agave plant and is 33 percent sweater than sugar; Stevia, which comes from a South American plant and is 300 times sweater than sugar; and Brown Rice Syrup, which comes from cooking brown rice with barley and is not quite as sweet as sugar but more nutritious.

Or you could always have fruit for dessert.



Geoffrey