un petit morceau

Truly The Best Ever Banana Cake

2011-07-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

Truly The Best Ever Banana Cake

2011-07-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Every so often, I go trolling through cookbooks and the internet for a good banana cake recipe. Yesterday, my nose led me to a bunch of bananas I thought I had found a good place for in the kitchen, and then promptly forgot about. Time to look for that elusive wet cake recipe involving bananas.
It was my lucky day. A baker named Rhonda posted this recipe I'm sharing with you, with a few adaptations of my own.

Banana Cake

2 cups mashed ripe bananas, doused with a half lemon

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup salted butter

2 cups and 2 tablespoons sugar

3 large eggs, brought to room temperature in a small bowl of hot water for 5 minutes

2 teaspoons vanilla 1 1/2 cups milk, acidulated with apple cider vinegar, or buttermilk

Heat oven to 275 ( yes, that low! do it, it works)

   2. Spray a 9 x 12 pan with Pam

     3. I a medium bowl, whisk the flour and baking soda together

   4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till fluffy and add the eggs , one at a time , waiting for each to be fully incorporated, then add the vanilla. Alternate adding the sour milk and the flour mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Don't overmix.

    5. Stir in banana mixture and turn the batter into the pan. Bake about an hour, or when you touch the middle of the cake lightly with your fingers, it offers a little resistance.

   6. Now Rhonda says at this point to put it directly into the freezer for 45 minutes before frosting to up the moisture factor- I didn't because we were leaving for the dog park, and the result was still incredibly moist.

Now for frosting, you can do 1/2 cup butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, some lemon rind, vanilla, and 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar. Because I had an additional cup of banana puree, I put it in a pot with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of corn syrup and cooked it down for about 15 minutes till it smelled like bananas foster. To the cream cheese mixture, I added that with just a bit of confectioners sugar to taste , and beat the hell out of it.
This cake will make you very very happy- and it keeps perfectly in the refrigerater.

I wonder if she fretted about it

2011-07-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

By the side of my house, a little rose lives out her life's purpose absolutely unseen- till now!

A Thought

2011-07-19T10:30:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the plethora of information rolling at us, we have become accustomed to seeing the best, brightest and most flexible examples of artists in many mediums. :So You Think You Can Dance’ exposes us to dancers that inspire shock and awe in me. Gordon Ramsey’s cooking competition forces the chefs to be better than they knew they could be to meet Mr. Ramsey’s standards. I wonder how many people who watch all the shows out there that make everything a high stakes competition get discouraged from self expression.

A Native American Tribe I heard of while traveling through North Dakota have a designated “Rotten Belly”. This is a tribesmember who takes on all the slothful, nasty behaviors of humankind and exhibit it everywhere they can. Whatever is inappropriate , they do. They serve as a repository of nastiness so that the rest of the tribe can be free of it. I can see how this could work. It would be like being sober in the presence of inebriation- its so unpleasant and boring and pointless to be around it re-enforces the rightness of sobriety.

I wonder if we allow our examples of human ability in the media to become our cultural “ Rotten Bellies”. Do we stop dancing around our living rooms because we aren’t executing split jumps? Do we stop making the food we were given as children because its not haute so we settle for a branded product (fast food)? Are we content with watching somebody else do what is our ability as corporeal beings? While I can see placing all the negatives in us in one repository as being a cultural solution, I don’t think it serves us if we allow others to become our experiential Avatars.

Wine enthusiasts talk about terroir, the soil that a grape comes from. The minerals, amount of rainfall, humidity, everything about the earth in a particular region can be tasted in the grape, and therefore gives the wine its unique characteristic. I think of my own terroir as everything I have brought with me- from childhood to present day- that makes me me. My DNA from my ancestors spins in a way that you can see when I dance or cook. But my terroir also includes the old woman who was my mother’s ex mother-in-law. We would sit in her kitchen above the railroad tracks in the Bronx and watch her roll out her own filo dough to make tiropitas, amazed that someone so ancient and twisted in her body could produce such a delicate dough that it seemed laid out by fairies. I use bits and pieces I learned from her, despite being bored out of my mind at the time, in my daily cooking. My terroir is also the hot pretzels at the New York Zoo my parents treated me to every Sunday. That taste became a part of me and I often make them at home for my family. So it becomes their terroir as well. Madhur Jaffrey’s children went to the school I attended for 11 years and would bring great pans of Indian food to the Autumn Fair.   I absorbed all that as well.

Both my parents were professionals in the dance world, so its interesting that when we children danced after dinner it wasn’t tricks that made them laugh or cheer. When I look back at it critically, they responded to our dancing our truths. I was prideful and argumentative as a child, and when I dared to expose that, even make fun of myself by exaggerating it in my movements when I danced- mincing my steps or aggressively lunging at my audience of two, they would see and respond to the inside family knowledge that this was a part of me. This is also my terroir. As is the fact that I would see my mother dance and recognize her sensuality, and therefore not be afraid of my own. All the aspects of my life that make me unique, the good as well as the bad, and even painful, are expressed in how I live in my senses. A group of dancers executing a perfect split jump will all look the same to me, where as I can watch an older Greek man     dance with a napkin and see his terroir. And it thrills me. I find as I get older , that I am more impressed with being able to see where someone comes from than to see people’s training- in dance, in cooking, in life.

Don’t eat fast food today, make something you remember from your childhood and make it over and over until it pleases you and makes you cut your eyes with remembrance. Dance with abandon, with who you are, what you’re angry with, what you love. No rules- you can include them later- but get to your truth first. Let’s not let the experts we see everywhere take away our wildness and desire to revel in our terroir. Let’s not let them do and experience those gifts for us- they can’t.

When my mother was dying, she could no longer talk or move- except for her left hand. We children sang the songs she taught us in childhood as we sat by her hospital bed- I guess it was all we could think of to comfort and communicate with our Mama who was slowly disconnecting from this earth.

Under the spreading Chestnut tree

There we sat, just you and me

Oh how happy we will be

Under the spreading Chest   nut    tree !

As we sang, she danced with her left hand, with all the terroir of her 86 years. It was beautiful, and unrepeatable . And brave.

All these amazing top- of- their- field people we see, let them inspire us, but they are not our Avatars or “Rotten Bellies”. We all carry such uniqueness, lets share that with each other. Dance!

Beautiful Faith

2011-05-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

Fryman Canyon

2011-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

In the middle of Los Angeles all the winged monkeys exercise

A steady line of people parking their cars as close as they can to the mouth of the hike

And grimly climbing.

One woman cuts a huge psychic swath
as she drags her body and life up the incline

“............. IFF I feel GOOD I can!................................But what is me feeling good?”

Behind her doctors, perpetrators,
useless remedies
and her nanny from when she was 6
hold tight to her shoulders and leave a trough of haze in the energy

The fragrance and damp from the green

Curry plant, salvia, pepper tree

sweat , sweet

like they’ve been struggling with gravity too

But they endure with grace

Two women whose faces have frozen in self disgust go down as I go up

“.....flirtation and of course she ‘s too young”

On her back sit her no prize of a husband,

a house thats too big and to someone else’s standards

and an indifferent teenager

complaining of being on a hike that’s not of

His choosing.

She struggles under the weight of it all

But soldiers on-

dragging pretty young girls

whose attention is elsewhere

on long ropes

behind her

New Perspective

2011-05-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

2011-02-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

A High Of Ten Degrees Today

2011-02-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

As I look outside, I contemplate beef shortribs braised in red wine for dinner tonight.

Talba's Chile Rellanos

2011-02-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

2011-02-01T08:13:00.000-08:00

    When I was 5 years old, my family and I spent the summer with Doris Duke in her Hollywood hills estate Falcon Lair. Doris was my mother's closest friend for over 25 years and was the ultimate Aunty Mame to my sister and I. There was a side to her that was definitely dark and troubled, but it was the crazy, fun part of her that I adored. I can still hear my mother's and Doris's infectious laughter wafting in from far off the coast as I clung to the rocks with my father, longing to be with them but too afraid of the depths they swam in. It wouldn't have done me much good, anyway, as their best gossip was always in French.

The memories I have of that hillside mansion were the terraced gardens where I played with my first daddy-long-legs, the rats that had tunnels all through the hills, and Talba's chile rellenos.Tiny Talba took care of the kitchen and was renowned for her Mexican food. I remember my mother intently watching her every move as she cooked, as Talba spoke not one word of English and we , no Spanish. It was a relationship built on smiles, sign language, and food. I think she spoke eloquently through the latter, introducing us to her culture in Mexico and old old ways that were brand new to us.

I have a faint memory of watching her cook her chiles rellenos but a strong recollection of the crispy crust, melted smooth center, and the firm bite of the chiles. When I order them in restaurants, they never seem to have that voluptuous mouthfeel. Here is how my family has recreated it for over 40 years.

            Talba's Chile Rellenos

vegetable oil, heated to 375 in a large pan

fresh charred and peeled anaheim chiles, or canned whole chiles

about a quarter cup flour

about 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

4 eggs, separated into 2 bowls

a pinch of cream of tartar

Some grated sharp cheddar for sprinkling on top , I like extra sharp, grated thick

   Blot the excess moisture from the chiles and fill the cavities with the Jack cheese. If they don't close perfectly, don't worry, the oozing cheese will crisp deliciously on the outside. Coat them with flour.

With clean beaters, beat the egg whites till stiff, adding the cream of tartar after you get them slightly bubbly. Leaving your beaters in, now beat the yolks till thick and lemon colored . Carefully fold the yolks into the whites.

When your oil is hot, dip each filled chile into the egg mixture and try to get as much coverage as possible. Don't worry if they aren't perfect. They won't win any beauty contests anyway. Carefully lay the chiles in the oil without crowding. After a few minutes ,check underneath to see if they've gotten a golden brown. If they have, flip them carefully to the other side without taking them all the way out of the oil. You don't want the uncooked egg on top to splash onto the cooked parts of the other chiles.

Drain well on paper towels and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little grated cheddar .

If you don't feel like fussing at all, this just cooked together in a big mess, with the chiles roughly chopped, makes delicious scrambled eggs. Eat with hot buttered tortillas.

NEW Kitchen Witches Episode!! Nutty and great turkey burger recipe

2011-01-19T15:25:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Witches Turkey Burger

A New Tradition

2011-01-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, the tree became a New Year's tree- we took all the ornaments off and wrapped it with yards and yards of tuile and ribbon. Instead of waking up today with the whole huge job of taking down the tree , the hardest part was over and our tree was a shimmery reminder of last night's wonderful dinner party. Happy New Year dear friends!

Kitchen Witches latest episode with Ahi Tuna!

2010-12-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

Ahi Tuna Episode of Kitchen Witches

A Little Something For New Year's Eve

2010-12-27T16:22:00.000-08:00

Luciano shares our Christmas breakfast - Pizzafrites

I've heard that many a cook will end a shift with a trip to a pizzeria- good plain deliciousness after a day of food fuss. That makes me feel a little better about my very favorite dessert-
A vanilla ice cream cone from McDonald's. Its my business partner Kim's favorite too. Its so much an obsession with us that we will celebrate Un Petit Morceau triumphs with it. I will spit something out at a bakery if its not worth ingesting, and yet I feel a little desperate when I finish the last cardboardy bite of my cone.

No, I'm not having McDonald's for New Year's. Kim and her husband J. R. will share a decadent dinner with us and I will end it with a giant banana split. As a young dancer, I would often finish a performance on Broadway with a trip to Serendipity, a wonderful restaurant/ ice cream parlor that I believe is still there. One of the original owners was a ballet student of Mama's named Calvin Holt. He was flamboyantly and joyfully gay and was one of the most beautiful and daring dressers I've ever seen-- three piece impeccable suits in colors that weren't fashionable at the time, and always a pair of gold pince-nez balancing on his imperious nose. I'd heard the story that as a young dancer he'd fallen in love with my mother and went to a psychiatrist to get over her. It just made him more of a fascinating and mysterious person to me. So, off I'd go after the show, guaranteed a seat no matter how crowded it was ( thank you Mama) and order a large banana split and polish it all off myself.
This is the one dessert, in my mind and in honor of the wonderful Serendipity , that just cannot be miniaturized- the whole point of it is its' flamboyant excess. ( That went for Calvin too.)
I will make my split in a large serving bowl, vanilla chocolate and strawberry ice creams with homemade hot fudge, caramel and strawberry sauce, fried walnuts, bananas and whipped cream. And 5 spoons. And we will stop eating only when we please!

Happy Holidays Everybody!! Enjoy the Nutcracker!

2010-12-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

The Nutty Nutcracker Sisters

The Sun Makes An Entrance Over The Mountain Like A Showgirl

2010-12-22T05:35:00.000-08:00

Outside My Kitchen Window This Morning

2010-12-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Best Sugar Cookies

2010-12-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

Every year I try another sugar cookie recipe, and each year seem to have to choose between taste and appearance. Finally, I'm happy to share with you a recipe I found on the web that is great to eat and to cut and decorate. Today I made this recipe for my friend Linda in Los Angeles. I baked and decorated them and then stood in the very long line at the post office to make sure she got them before she and the family leave for Christmas vacation. There is something about the tradition of baking and decorating cookies at this time of year that I see as mandatory.
I miss Linda and her husband John and their daughters Gracie and Ruby and baking my time into something they can ingest just makes sense. Of course I have to put up with the long looks here at home when the family sees all the carefully decorated cookies disappearing into a tin, but truly I can say they are in no way deprived. My biggest regret this season is that Siddig's visiting brother Tom wouldn't let me repack his bags so that he could take home a fruitcake for his father Michael. I really know how to pack a bag.
So, here is the very very worthwhile recipe, from the generous Jill Saunders.

The Best Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Place on ungreased cookie sheets 1 inch apart.

3.Bake 6 to 8 minutes, cool and decorate. I make glaze out of confectioners sugar, a couple of tablespoons of dried pasteurized egg white, a little vanilla and enough water to make it a good spreading mixture. Into little bowls, add colors, and there you go! Look , I won't mislead you, doing about 20 of these took me several hours today, but remember, you're making your love into something you can send through the Post Office!

Another episode of Kitchen Witches! Nutcracker?

2010-12-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Witches Special Holiday Dish and Dance!

ORDER YOUR BOUBOULETTES TODAY!

2010-12-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Before they're all gone! 107 boxes going out today! http://www.unpetitmorceau.com

Kitchen Witches Fried Parsley

2010-12-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody !

2010-11-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

Good -For -You Gingercake

2010-11-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

Tis The Season For Gingercake

2010-11-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

     A standard dessert growing up was my mother's gingerbread. Soft, damp and slathered with my favorite chocolate icing, it was the smell and texture of being at the kitchen table with the winds howling around the apartment building. The sweet strange smell of a gummy eraser, the dark atmosphere of the entry way to Nightingale Bamford School for Girl's where I would wait to be picked up at 4 o'clock, the sudden cold shock of air as the doors opened and parents picked up their children-- and then home to a tea of gingerbread and milk. Mama's opinion
that the molasses was strengthening allowed second helpings and having one slice already in my belly I could luxuriously draw out the pleasure of the second while putting off homework for a while to sit and watch Mama move like a dancer in the kitchen.

For years I had that recipe, carefully written out in my mother's hand, and made it many times every winter, still choosing to believe that a second piece was good for me. And then it disappeared. Some move between cities was probably to blame . I have faith that it'll turn up, but in the meantime, this moist rich version is an excellent substitute. It is the Food Network's recipe with some slight tweaking.


   Gingercake

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup molasses

3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

3 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg and cloves

1 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 325F

1. Spray a 9 by 12 baking pan with Pam.
2. Mix together in a large bowl the oil, molasses, sugar and ginger. Lightly beat the eggs and add, mixing well.
3.Whisk together the flour, spices and salt and add to molasses mixture-stirring till smooth.
4. Add the baking soda to the boiling water and carefully incorporate it into the batter. Bake about 45 minutes, turning it halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, put one cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup butter into a saucepan and stir over medium heat till smooth. Add 1 tablespoon corn syrup, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and bring to a boil and allow it to cook for about 6 minutes until thick and syrupy. Off the heat, add 1 tablespoon instant espesso and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

When the cake is baked, allow it to cool for 15 minutes, then poke holes all over the top and, leaving it in its pan, pour the glaze all over it, pushing it gently into the holes.
.

that the molasses was strengthening allowed second helpings and having one slice already in my belly I could luxuriously draw out the pleasure of the second while putting off homework for a while to sit and watch Mama move like a dancer in the kitchen.

For years I had that recipe, carefully written out in my mother's hand, and made it many times every winter, still choosing to believe that a second piece was good for me. And then it disappeared. Some move between cities was probably to blame . I have faith that it'll turn up, but in the meantime, this moist rich version is an excellent substitute. It is the Food Network's recipe with some slight tweaking.


   Gingercake

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup molasses

3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

3 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg and cloves

1 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 325F

1. Spray a 9 by 12 baking pan with Pam.
2. Mix together in a large bowl the oil, molasses, sugar and ginger. Lightly beat the eggs and add, mixing well.
3.Whisk together the flour, spices and salt and add to molasses mixture-stirring till smooth.
4. Add the baking soda to the boiling water and carefully incorporate it into the batter. Bake about 45 minutes, turning it halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, put one cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup butter into a saucepan and stir over medium heat till smooth. Add 1 tablespoon corn syrup, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and bring to a boil and allow it to cook for about 6 minutes until thick and syrupy. Off the heat, add 1 tablespoon instant espesso and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

When the cake is baked, allow it to cool for 15 minutes, then poke holes all over the top and, leaving it in its pan, pour the glaze all over it, pushing it gently into the holes.
.

The Apple Trees Dress Up And Celebrate The First Frost

2010-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Good Morning

2010-11-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

Mona Lisa's Having A Baby

2010-11-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

The beautiful Diana who bakes with me is very very close to meeting her baby. Last Saturday was her baby shower and since I was kneedeep in cooking for a Cubano dinner for twelve Kim and I were hosting that evening, I sent my love in the forms of ginger cakes, carrot cakes with candied carrot strips, red velvet cupcakes and these little Baby Cookies. Kim represented us at the party , and as we prepared for the dinner, she filled me in on how beautiful Mona Lisa looked and how sweet her family was.

Sending something that I hope charms or touches someone is sometimes a better representation of my intentions than I am, I think. I'ts certainly purer. Just love. And that's what I always mean.

These cookies are made with the linzer dough from the excellent Sherry Yard who adds Chinese five spice and orange rind to the traditional cookie. The potato starch pictures are edible, of course, and can be found on the Fancyflours website. A little tricky to work with but so worth it. Anything that can help me send the best part of me out to Mona Lisa and Matt and Baby is worth it!

Peaceful Sleepy City

2010-11-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

Definitely November

2010-11-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Corrales Cottonwood Tree- 5 P.M.

An Artful Cappuccino At Le Pain Quotidien In Los Angeles Yesterday

2010-10-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

A Strange New Mexican October Sky

2010-10-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Most Beautiful Donkey In The World Lives In Corrales

2010-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

This Morning With Helen

2010-10-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

a hawk just as the sun starts to rise

San Ysidro Church

Chris who hates his picture taken manning the coffee bar at Oasis, our local coffee house

the cemetery on Old Church Road

Sun's up

My guacomole recipe for Oz

2010-10-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQ9WYiBDxE

Sunday Soup

2010-10-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

I love the rotisserie chickens that seem to be in every store. I think I probably don't want to know alot about the chicken's credentials , but they are so useful and delicious. Sticky tender and well seasoned, I usually get at least two dinners out of them. First, I might make a chicken pot pie or chicken with dumplings, then next round will be chicken enchiladas and then, with the bones, my favorite: soup.
I take the bones with any drippings from the container ,add onion, carrots,celery,bay leaf and lots of garlic, cover with water and maybe a glass of white wine for depth and bring it to a boil. I let it simmer till rich and strain out all the solids. Last night I craved the Greek soup Avgolemono

, enriched with beaten eggs and lemon. So next, I added some thawed chicken breast from the freezer. Double strength soup. Mmmm. Once that was cooked, I removed it and chopped it roughly, adding it back to the soup with 2 cups of white rice from the night before and a handful of chopped parsley. It was a large pot of soup, so I put three eggs into a bowl and beat them with an electric mixer till they were thick and frothy. Then, ( I like it lemony ) I added the juice of 4 medium lemons and beat that into my egg mixture. Scooping about a cup of hot soup into a measuring cup, I slowly streamed it into my egg mixture as I beat away. Once that's incorporated, I poured it all into the soup pot and stirred it on low heat, just for a minute. Salt, pepper, a squeeze more of lemon ( because nothing is ever lemony enough for me ) and a loaf of La Brea Bakery bread, and Django and I had silky soup and warm bread dipped in seasoned olive oil curled up on the couch watching nonsense on T.V.

Fruitcake Bouboulettes, The Slow But Satisfying Process

2010-10-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

For everything there is a season, and now, solidly tucked into October, it is time to go to the next phase of preparation for my fruitcake bouboulettes. Weeks ago, I chopped figs, dried apricots, candied ginger chunks, raisins, dried cherries, dates, cranberries and currants, and started soaking them in liquor.

Every few days I turned the bottom fruit to the top. I breathe in the complex wafts of fruit, rum and brandy and think that this scent has been the same for generations and feel connected to an endless line of people before me who have done this same work in preparation for celebration.
Today I'm going to candy orange and lemon peels to add to my drunken fruit. Once you get over the annoyance that you boil and toss the water from the cut peels three times before you start to candy, its not really a difficult process. After they are candied and dried for about fifteen hours, I'll chop them and throw them in along with glaceed cherries I've ordered from Switzerland. Then toasted nuts, a dark batter and a bake in the oven. My favorite part is next- packing them in layers of cheesecloth sprinkled in brandy to allow the flavors to meld and mellow. I'll keep the cloth damp until the bouboulettes are ready to go out the door. At each point in the process, I 'm reminded of the ancient-ness of it all and that without the effort, the end result would lack the complex flavor that you can only get with care and the assembly of the most luxurious ingredients. This is how we're meant to celebrate I think: giving of the best of ourselves and the land, and eating the results with consciousness and appreciation.

How Fruitcake Bouboulettes Start Out In This World

2010-10-11T06:38:00.001-07:00

Fruits soaking in rum and brandy with nuts to be toasted

This Morning At The Growers Market

2010-10-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

multi colored carrots to make beautiful pickles

produce from Anjo Farms

tiny heirlooms

Matthew's beloved car that carried him home from the hospital as a baby, now putt- putts us to the growers market on Corrales Road

Look from yesterday's paper!

2010-10-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Link to article on-line

The Best Pretzel Rolls

2010-10-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to see my friends in Bavaria and the Czek Republic. One of my absolute favorite foods is pretzel bread. Eating hot soft pretzels as a little girl from street vendors in New York was a regular weekend treat. The smell of coals, yeast and the feel of bracing cold knees and nose combined with the pleasure of being on an outing with my smartly dressed parents made me a happy girl. I would try the street pretzels as an adult, but they tasted stale, the smell of yeast and the alkaline pretzely distinctiveness gone.

When I first visited Germany, I couldn't believe it: there was my pretzel bread, on literally every corner bakery, in different shapes and sizes. I ate very little else and on the plane on my recent trip, planned to do the same. And there it was, just as before, even in the airport. Germany did not disappoint.

For many of the parties Kim and I have done, I have made a pretzel roll recipe from a 1992 Gourmet Magazine recipe. I make them half the size reccommended in the original recipe and fill the warm rolls with the best sharp cheddar I can get my hands on and a dab of Branston Pickle, an English condiment that is black and vinegary and perfect with cheddar. They are very very popular. As a matter of fact, it was these that causes a fellow Corralenos to ask if I would do a party for him. It had never crossed my mind and was the germ of an idea that started the partnership between myself and Kim. The only thing I don't do in the recipe is include celery seeds-- I don't want any flavor distractions from the bread!

The Best Pretzel Rolls

2 3/4 cups bread flour
1 envelope quick-rising yeast

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about) hot water (125°F to 130°F)

Cornmeal
8 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg white, beaten to blend (glaze)
Coarse salt

Combine bread flour, 1 envelope yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar and celery seeds in food processor and blend. With machine running, gradually pour hot water through feed tube, adding enough water to form smooth elastic dough. Process 1 minute to knead. Grease medium bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel; let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 35 minutes.
Flour baking sheet. Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 8 pieces. Form each dough piece into ball. Place dough balls on prepared sheet, flattening each slightly. Using serrated knife, cut X in top center of each dough ball. Cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Bring 8 cups water to boil in large saucepan. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up). Add 4 rolls and cook 30 seconds per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer rolls to prepared sheet, arranging X side up. Repeat with remaining rolls.
Brush rolls with egg white glaze. Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Serve rolls warm or room temperature. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 375°F oven 10 minutes.)

Late Afternoon At Wagner's Farm, Getting Fresh Red Peppers To Candy

2010-10-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Incredible Toffee Cheesecake

2010-10-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

Last summer, Kim and I got a request for a Cheesecake Wedding Cake. The bride and groom weren't concerned about having a cake that re-enacted the scene of their engagement complete with ice rink and skaters that really move, or a cake that looked like a replica of the Lincoln Memorial, they just wanted a delicious delicious cake to eat. AH, fellow tribe members. We made them a sample tasting of this cheesecake and that was that. This recipe is based on one out of a very old "Bon Appetit" collection.

Toffee Cheesecake

Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F

Spray a 9 inch springform pan
Combine the three ingredients and press into the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of the pan
Refrigerate

Filling

2 pounds softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs,put in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes to come to room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Beat cream cheese till very light and fluffy
Add sugar and beat till smooth
Beat the eggs in, one at a time
Add vanilla and lemon juice
Pour filling into chilled crust and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The center should be just slightly wobbly when you gently shake the pan. As it cools, it'll fall in the middle- don't worry-that's where we'll put the caramel.
Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours at least.

Caramel Topping

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter,cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla

Prepare a small bowl with water and ice and have a pastry brush ready. This will keep your sugar mixture from crystallizing.
Heat sugar with 1/3 cup water stirring just till sugar dissolves. Raise heat to high and boil-no more stirring. Take your pastry brush, dip it in the ice water, and carefully paint the inside of your pan to wash down any stray sugar crystals. Do this maybe three times during the boiling process. You don't need[or want] your brush to be soaking wet- just enough to do the job. As the sugar becomes a deep caramel, swirl the pan. Don't get nervous and stop this process too soon- the flavor is so much deeper if you can be daring and wait until just before it has gone too far. Take off heat.
Heat cream in a microwave safe measuring cup till the chill is out of it, put the caramel back on low heat and carefully add the cream. It will bubble up furiously, so be careful. Stir until the mixture smooths out and mix in the butter. Cool, then add the vanilla.

Pour the cooled caramel in the center of the cake and put it back in the refrigerator until the top sets, a few hours.
When you are ready, run a knife along the edge of the pan and release the cake. You can decorate the edges of the cake with rosettes of whipped cream. Sprinkle with croquante if you're being crazy.

Dawn In Corrales

2010-10-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Last Night in Albuquerque

2010-10-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Big Balloons and Fresh Donuts

2010-10-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

   We went en famille to the Balloon Glow last night in Albuquerque. All the hot air balloons are tethered in the field and we walked through these giants that light up intermittently as the pilots shoot the flames of the burner to keep them filled. Every October balloonists from around the world come and fill the skies each morning with color and huge bees, clown heads, cows, witches-just about every shape you can imagine.At night they do spectacular fireworks and have stalls set up with fair food and drink. Django's favorite
is the freshly fried potato chips that they make mysteriously ( to me) with a single potato, a drill and a blade. It comes out like Pierrrot's ruffle, all attached ,and is given to you on a paper plate. The fact that its all attached makes it literally impossible to just take one so our competitiveness and greediness made it disappear instantly as we stood there under the darkening sky.
Each balloon has a chase crew: a car filled with volunteers who follow from the ground and pick up the balloons and their passengers. The cars are decorated to match the balloon and the crews seem to have a kind of fireman-like focus and sense of urgency. It feels to me as if they're a special tribe just that much more willing to take risks than the rest of us. Many times the balloons put down in Corrales and since they only have a certain amount of control over where they land, they end up in fields, occasionally in trees, and last year, in our frontyard. The timing was so good it almost seemed ridiculous. I had taken the boys to school and came home to practice my donut making. They are simple to make, but my impatience always causes me to rush the heating of the oil which of course ruins the donut.( Although I will admit to you I love them even soaked with oil). As I was tossing them in cinnamon sugar, I heard the dogs barking and went outside to witness the bumpy arrival of a balloon practically at our front step. I ran back and piled my donuts in a platter and returned offering my surprise visitors coffee and freshly made donuts. They must have thought Corrales quite the hospitable place, with homeowners preparing just -baked goods on the off chance a balloon lands in their yard!
They came into the house and had coffee and donuts and when I asked them where they were from and they replied "Kansas" I thought they were kidding me. They weren't. Although we are no Emerald City, I think I would prefer what these travelers got: delicious donuts and a dashing chase crew to pick them up.

This recipe is from Jean Hewitt

                        Massachusetts Doughnuts

                         3 eggs
                         1 cup granulated sugar
                         1 cup sour cream
                         4 cups flour
                        1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda and salt
                        1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
                        1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg
                        Vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Beat eggs till thickGradually beat in sugar. Stir in the sour cream.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon and stir to make a soft dough..
3. Roll out the dough to one half inch thickness on a lightly floured board and cut with a doughnut cutter. [ or improvise with whats on hand- a big and a small jar top, well washed will do fine.]
4.Heat the oil to 375 and fry a few at a time till golden, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

Now at this point, Jean suggests rolling them in powdered sugar- of course, delicious. But I love the tast of sugar blended with cinnamon and a touch of instant powdered cider. Take it easy with it and add the cider powder slowly as it gets intense very quickly, but it adds a good zing.

A Picture Of The Neighbors, For My Friends In Prague

2010-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Opposing Traffic After A Day Of Baking

2010-08-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Real Quiche

2010-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have gotten so angry eating quiche in a restaurant. Sometimes its prepared as if the eater only wants a convenient way to shovel appropriate fuel into the furnace. Protein:check. Dairy;check. Carbs:check. Greens:check. All in each bite:check. All one rubbery tasteless mass: yes.
I got so accustomed to this version that I developed a taste for it. Until I went to Paris.
I was 25 the first time I went- my mother had turned her back on the city saying it had changed too much since her childhood for her to ever want to see it again. Now, I realize the memories of her crazy family were too vivid for her to bear seeing the place without them being there too. I don't say crazy lightly. Grandpapa was an inventor and first class philanderer: the nursemaid had charge of the 11 children and 2 of her own. That Grandpapa was their father as well was known and accepted and Madame Charisse incorporated them into the household on the Rue de Soleil. My Grandmother had taught her children to dance and they formed a troupe that performed in the vaudeville circuits all over the world. I think being married to an often penniless inventor and having 11 children as well has having a healthy sized ego was her motivation.They were very successful and all the children inherited the flair for drama and the outrageous; one of their family games was follow the leader.All the children would get on horseback and wherever the first rider went, the other 10 had to follow. This game was stopped once one of my uncles as leader managed to get his horse up the steps and into the house on the Rue De Soleil.
Many years later, my father had fallen helplessly in love with my mother and was summoned to the New York apartment of Madame Charisse. He had heard many stories and was really too intimidated to go.But my mother could be very persuasive and off they went. Grandmother by this time had gone through the fortune made dancing and lived modestly. But that didn't mean she didn't live grandly. She was preparing a feast for her 10th child's new boyfriend and was done up in a kimono with exaggerated sleeves. Busy chopping vegetables when they arrived, she quickly turned to dramatically greet them, knife still in hand, and swung her sleeves into the cooktop's flame. There she was, Madame Charisse, arms held high with a large knife, sleeves in flames.
So, back to quiche. At some point, and I remember this grocery store more than I do wandering the Louvre earlier that day, I got a small picnic of cheese, bread and a very ordinary looking little quiche picked up prewrapped from the refrigerated section. Starving, I opened the plastic on the quiche and bit into it as I was leaving the store. I stopped dead in my tracks. Crisp, custardy, crunchy with bacon, fragrant with nutmeg, barely set in the center- this almost deserved another name than what I had previously thought quiche to be. Years later I tried the quiche recipe from Elizabeth David's magnificent "French Provincial Cooking" and was able to taste again what had stopped me dead in my tracks outside a Parisian grocery store. This recipe is my adaptation of Miss David's recipe.

Excellent Quiche Lorraine

Make the pastry: In a food processer, whir 2 1/2 cups flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 8 ounces of butter that you have sliced and partially frozen and process in quick bursts until the butter is roughly pea sized. Add about 4 tablespoons cold cold orange juice and process till it comes together. You can roll this out right away and line your pie pan with it. Chill,and prick all over with a fork.
Fry 6 pieces of thick bacon and chop roughly and put into shell. Put maybe 3/4 of a cup of shredded gruyere, the best you can afford, over that. Beat 1 egg plus 3 egg yolks with 1 cup heavy cream. Season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degree, lower the temperature to 350 and bake about 10 minutes more.

July 26,2010-torrential rains in Corrales, and then this

2010-07-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Only Birthday Frosting

2010-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Mama always gave us our choice for birthday dinner and birthday cake. The dinner would change through the years , I wasn't fussy about the cake(as long as it was chocolate) but the frosting was always the same. I've never liked sweet fluffy frosting, never understood the point of those bakery cakes with beautiful swirls of color that promise what they can't deliver: their creators could choose substance or beauty and made the choice that I would always scrape away.

Mama's frosting came, I think, from the back of the sweetened condensed milk can and was everything I wanted on top of a cake. Chocolate, indulgent, thick and good like-candy-good out of the bowl. I can still feel the drop to a different consciousness that would happen as I stood at the kitchen counter eating what was left of that precious darkness after Mama finished my cake. It was that important to me.

Its silly easy: take a can of sweetened condensed milk and put it into a bowl and set it over a pot of boiling water. Leave it there to heat and slightly darken. Then add 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate and stir to melt and thicken. It should get to the point where you can move the mixture and see the bottom of the bowl, but, really in my opinion you can't mess this up. Take it off the stove, add a pinch of salt( don't leave this out, it brings out the flavor of chocolate), about 2 tablespoons butter and a teaspoon of vanilla. Beat it with a wooden spoon until the butter is incorporated and the chocolate is glossy. Taste to make sure you have it right. (Not necessary but I've given you a legitimate excuse to enter MFS-meditative frosting state.) Much love and you cannot know what your birthday wishes to me yesterday meant- I am a very lucky woman.

2010-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Lost and Found-The Frangipane Recipe

2010-07-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have a very haphazard way of keeping recipes. Some of my favorites are written on backs of receipts, on the side columns of address books, random pieces of paper.... I never seem to learn my lesson either. There is a chocolate orange cake recipe that I can still taste and must be in my possession but I just don't know where. Its been years and like trying to relive an old love affair by having a new one, the recipes I try, hoping its THE one, just make me sad.
I've gone on like this with my frangipane tart recipe-trying various ones on the net, in books, etc. Good, but not quite the toothsome, soft center and tan chewy top from my long lost favorite. Then, going through a very old cookbook, out it fluttered-
stained, torn, with directions to a place in LA written above it that must have been important to me 15 years ago. I put it in a very safe and obvious place and then promptly forgot where exactly that was. But I have found it yet again and this time, I will ensure that by sharing it with you, I will forever have access to it. I will just ask you.

The Best Frangipane Tart
Preheat oven to 375

1 pie crust, partially baked

3/4 stck softened sweet butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup almonds, ground in your cuisineart
1 tablespoon Amaretto
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon flour

fresh fruit, apricot preserves, additional Amaretto

In your Cuisinart, blend the butter and sugar till smooth and creamy. Add the egg and process to incorporate. Add the rest of the ingredients and let it go for about a minute. Pour into the partially baked pie shell and bake 20-25 minutes, or until the top turns a light even tan.

When cool, top with berries or even better, fresh slices peaches and paint with some apricot preserves, heated in a pot with some Amaretto to thin it. Be sure to coat every bit of fruit since the topping is not only delicious but serves to protect. This will be what you think of in December when you remember July!

New Life

2010-07-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

I was out with the dogs this morning when I saw our glamorous local artist Jasmine racing up our hill."New baby!"
Our next door neighbors have a herd of Alpacas and Jasmine is somewhat of a camel expert so I think she was called in to consult. I put the dogs in and raced over and saw a Daddy Long Legs shaped baby 15 minutes old.The mother and the other Alpacas sniffed the newcomer and were patient while she tried out her legs. I wanted to race home to get a picture for you but I was transfixed.
Today is a baking day and there will be rosemary ginger shortbread cookies, carrot cakes and brownies. Also, I want to make some candied lemon slices to put on top of lemon cake bites. Now that the weddings, festivals,etc. are accomplished I can get back to giving you some recipes and hopefully inspirations. Have a wonderful day.

Lavender Drying In The Dining Room

2010-07-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Beets To Have With A Glass Of Wine

2010-06-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

I want you to eat your beets! Stephanie I am with you - I love beets. It could be that many of you have just never had deliciously prepared ones. So, give this a try.

Beet To Have With A Glass Of Wine

2 large beets
a bit of high quality blue cheese
garlic dressing
washed and dried endive leaves,cut about 1/4 way up from the bottom

Heat your oven to 400. Rinse the beets and cut off their tails and wrap them snuggly in tin foil. Put them in a baking pan( to avoid drips) and bake them for maybe an hour,depending on their size. I find that I cant really overbake them for my taste. Once they start to cook, their juice will come out and if this is allowed to brown on them a bit, it gives them a smokey roasted richness. Test them with a fork during baking- the less resistance you meet, the more cooked. To your taste.
Remove your cooked beets and let them cool. Once you can easily handle them, the peels will slip off with no problem. Cut them in a small dice and toss them in your garlic vinaigrette. Letting them sit awhile, a day maybe in the refrigerater, only makes them better.
When you have poured yourself some wine, fill the wide end of the endive leaves with some beets and crumble the blue cheese over. Don't overfill, the idea is to have a neat little bite you can pick up with the narrow end of the leaf and negotiate to your mouth without international incident. Try this yea of little beet faith, and remember, the more colorful our food, the better for us.

Beautiful Beets

2010-06-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

2010-06-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

Love and Lemons

2010-06-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

There will be a lovely village wedding in July. Kim and I are doing what we envision an old Tuscan style wedding by way of a Provence celebration held in Corrales would be like. A long table in the garden, for a hundred people, bread and wines in carafes on the table, Moroccan candlelit lanterns in the trees for dancing under. One of the dinner choices will be roasted salmon with North African spices and pickled lemons. I've already had dinner tonight-but just thinking about that salmon makes my mouth want it! I'm going to cook it over coals because I love the smokiness and I've already begun the pickled lemons.
Siddig's beautiful mother Gloria first showed me how to do these. What an interesting accomplished woman she was, and I was always slightly in awe of this woman who left England in the 60's to go to the Sudan on a vacation that ended up as a life. Or one of her cat lives, anyway. Once she saw Siddig's father on the dock, as she described it to me, she was done. In love. Not so easy in those times, marrying a black man and folding into a lifestyle that has a built in distrust for outsiders. But she lived there in love and left with love and had all the experiences from that time dancing around her at all times like fairy lights. I got to learn all sorts of things- the proper names of things in the garden, North African cooking techniques, and how to gluttonously eat the first asparagus of the year-a whole plate of it- as lunch with ice cold wine and nothing else.
So, in case you want to do these lemons, wash about 3 lemons that will fit snugly in a jar. Run the jar through a dish washer to sterilize it [or boil it]. Fill the bottom of the jar with course salt and make two cuts in the lemons, but leave them in tack at one end. Fill this opening in the lemon with salt, at least a tablespoon full, and stuff it into the jar. Repeat with the lemons till you have a tight fit, and cover them with lemon juice. Screw the top on and leave in a dark place for at least 6 weeks. The lemons will last about a year, and of course if you use one out of a jar, refrigerate the rest. When you use the lemon in a dish you rinse the salt off of it and you can use just the rind or both the fruit and the rind. Chicken with olives and pickled lemons is a wonderful use for these as well. Gloria would be very pleased.

Soon to Sit Upon a Tart

2010-05-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

A Wedding

2010-05-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

Bagpipe. Kilts. A gorgeous beaming bride.Last night's wedding was the kind that gives you goosebumps.As Kim,her daughter Erica and I snuck out of the banquet room
after setting up our contribution to the evening,,we played the game "O.K., we haven't seen the desserts before-open the door and see them for the first time". The table was awash with 100 dessert plates-each one with its own chocolate mousse with scotch whiskey macerated prunes,frangipane tart with raspberries and almond croquante,lavender bergamot tea shortbread and candied rose petal. The bride and groom had ordered a toffee cheesecake for themselves and it stood,just 6 inches and high on a pedestal, in between the vases filled with candied cat mint with candied butterfly images alight here and there. I had made almond brittle in heart shapes and attached them with toffee all over the cake. The three of us were satisfied .And so so relieved the ice sculpture guys who perilously placed it behind the dessert table after we had filled it[!] hadn't crushed Kim's tiny frame as she threw herself selflessly between the wobbling ice and our sweets.

2010-05-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

2010-05-23T08:00:00.002-07:00

Candied Flowers Everywhere

2010-05-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

This coming Friday Kim and I are doing the desserts for a wedding here in town. My kitchen has become a field of candied white and lavender roses. Its such slow contemplative work. Last week Diana and I started with white roses and we might have well been two women from 200 years ago working quietly together. Hours and hours to produce something fanciful that will be strewn on the wedding guests tables.
Diana is a former missionary with a Mona Lisa calm about her that started working with us a few months ago.
Her dignified quiet is perfect for work in which you are producing gifts for people that are infused with your energy. It's a simple process to candy flowers and they will last at least a year[although I've always used them way before, but that is what the experts say]. Just take powdered egg whites, I think they call it meringue powder at specialty stores[you'll find it at Michael's] and mix with a little water and a touch of rose extract. You brush that mixture onto each washed and dried petal, being sure to get every spot,and shower superfine sugar to carefully cover every spot. Anything that is not covered will rot so wear your glasses while you are doing this. You cannot be impatient so this is all a good exercise and meditative! I use dedicated tweezers to hold the petals as I work and lay them on screens I bought especially at Home Depot for this purpose. Let them lay there drying-sometimes 1 or 2 days. Putting them away before they are absolutely crystallized will make you so sad- your aesthetic wonders will turn into smelly compost ready material.
The white roses we did looked a little too much like the material ones you can buy in a tube so I experimented with making dewdrops for them. I loved the effect! I cooked 1 cup of isomalt{available at the Fancyflours website] and added1/3 cup water. I boiled that to hardcrack,wiping down the sides of the saucepan with a brush dipped in ice water. I waited for the fattest bubbles to subside and then carefully dropped small blobs randomly onto the dried candied roses. I love how it looks-a trompe l'oeil of a rose petal wet from the garden and if it makes one guest smile and wonder next Friday, well, Mona Lisa and I have made our contribution to catching and honoring a moment in time-the rose's as well as the lovely bride's.

Candied Lavender Roses

2010-05-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

J.R.'s Tart

2010-05-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

J.R.'s Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

2010-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I planted some rhubarb. I knew the plants take two years to really produce, so I wasn't concerned that although they had big showy leaves, the stalks were thin and green. I put some up in jars anyway and my recollection is of me at the kitchen sink, spooning mouthful after mouthful of silky sweetness. Still, this year I was looking foward to rhubarb show girls
- flashy red with fans of green. I thought something must be wrong. Thin green again. Disappointed, I looked up rhubarb varieties and found out there are hundreds! I had no idea. And my rhubarb plants that I thought were under par were growing perfectly according to their variey- Victoria. Once again, even with rhubarb, my preconceptions made me judge wrongly!
My dear dear friend J.R. loves strawberry rhubarb pie so I made one especially for him last Saturday. Instead of piling the fruit deeply into a 9 inch pie pan, I spread it on a large tart pan so it was more like a galette. It made it a bit fancier looking and I think concentrated the fruit essences.Its an easy dessert that once you get the hang of it, you can throw together during the week.( I personally love a dinner of soup and bread followed by a real dessert)

                       J.R.'s Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

         for the pie crust:
         put 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a cuisinart(you can also do this by hand in a bowl) Do some quick on and offs to mix.
         Add 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter and process just till the butter is pea sized.Next, add about 4 tablespoons cold cold orange juice and process just until a big ball forms. Spray your tart pan thoroughly with Baker's Secret or Pam.

         I can't stand fussing with dough sticking to my rolling pin, so I put wax paper above and below my dough and roll it out to the size of my pan.That way, you can use the paper on the bottom to invert the pastry on the pan-then just peel off the paper. This dough is enough,by the way, for a double crust pie, and was just right for my 16 inch pan. Fit the dough and put it into the refrigerater while you prepare the fruit.
   Preheat the oven to 350F
        for the filling:
   4 cups rhubarb
         3 cups strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
         3 tablespoons tapioca( I like using tapioca flour,you can find it at natural food stores)
         1 teaspoon nutmeg
         1/4 teaspoon salt
         1/4 cup butter,melted
        Cut the rhubarb into 1/4 inch pieces and if your strawberries are petit, leave them whole, cutting the larger ones to roughly match their size.Put them in a bowl and mix with the tapioca,nutmeg, salt and sugar. Leave them about 1/2 an hour to give up their juices.
       If you're using the tart pan with a removable bottom, don't forget to put some tinfoil around the bottom to catch drippings.Spread the fruit out onto the crust and sprinkle the butter all over the top. Bake for about an hour- the strawberries should look dark and somewhat shrunken and the rhubarb soft.
       To pretty it up, after about 10 minutes of cooling, while the liquid in the fruit was still hot, I used a pastry brush to pull the shine over the tops of some of the strawberries that looked a little dry.
Eat it slowly and taste spring!

2010-05-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

2010-04-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

I remember the first meal I served very distinctly. I was four years old and my customer was Marchie, my beloved stuffed monkey. We lived on 54th street in the theater district and my mother had just fed me lunch
when I asked if I could give Marchie some fruit salad. I expected her to say no- I knew I'd make a mess, but she said yes, and I shoveled the canned fruit into his rubber mouth,working hard to help him chew. Even at four, I remember thinking how generous that was of her.

I have entertained many many times since then.In the 80's, my boyfriend was playing Lancelot on Broadway to Richard Burton's King Arthur in the musical Camelot. Burton had taken Richard my boyfriend under his wing on tour and when they got to NYC I thought it would be nice to invite him and his gorgeous wife Susan Hunt to dinner.When I think of it now, I can't believe I had the nerve to cook for this legend and his wife.

Burton and Susan arrived promptly and sat down for hors d'ouvres. They stayed put at the couch for the next several courses because we only had a couch and coffee table. I can't remember much about the food other than absolutely everything had a heavy cream sauce and that the main course was veal with cheese[ and a heavy cream sauce]. I only now really appreciate how gracious they were to allow us the pleasure of entertaining them - poor trapped things spooning more and more cream sauce into their mouths from plates balanced on their laps.Burton was of course an amazing raconteur and it paralyzed me with pleasure to be the one he was telling stories to about "Elizabeth".No last name needed.
Again I had been given a generous gift-go ahead take a chance, dare to make a mess of it- but do it.Even as I cringe today at the sticky fruit syrup matting Marchie's fur and the rivers of thick creams, I understand what those adults in my life gave to me.

2010-04-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

Lemony Lemony Lemon Cake

2010-04-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

[I added an ingredient here. Lemon emulsion can be ordered on line at Lorann Oils and the difference is worth the trouble. Unlike extract, the flavor doesn't lose any strength in the baking process. I've started using it with the cakes we sell in the village] Okay, here's the recipe for the lemon cake
.It's basically from the excellent blog, Tartelette,and its called The Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake. I'll give you the original recipe, minus the changes I made to account for high altitude. However, I add 2 teaspoons lemon extract to the butter-sugar mixture and a simple glaze to the finished cakes. I struggled with myself when I found the flower mold at a local store called "Now We're Cooking" because it was expensive at around $40 but its totally worth it. You'll never get that detail with a less expensive one. Speaking of which, to ensure that detail, I first sprayed it with baking spray and then took a small artists brush and made sure to get in all the crevices. Then I refrigerate the pan until my batter is ready.
Also it truly makes a huge difference to heat the eggs before using. Just put them into a small bowl and cover with hot water. Let them sit for 5 minutes. I heat the milk to room temp as well. If I make this cake in a sheet pan, I leave the cake in there when I pour the syrup over it.[mmmm,wet cake]. If you've lined the pan with foil, leaving extra on each side, its easy to pull it out after it cools.

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon emulsion
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 300F. Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.
Sift the flour,baking powder and salt together. Cream the butter and 1 and 3/4 cups sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs,one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed and add the flour mixture,alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the lemon zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a knife in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Poke holes all over the cake with a wooden skewer.Let cool to room temperature in pan.
Meanwhile, bring the lemon juice and remaining sugar to a boil over medium high heat in a small saucepan, stirring till the sugar is dissolved. Let boil 1 minute.

If you are making flowers, the baking time is obviously reduced. Check after 10 minutes. I put my fingers on top of one of the flowers- when they're done, they are dry and firm.
To paint, I make a glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar in as many cups as I want colors. Experiment with the thickness, you don't want it so thick that it hides the detail, and not so thin that the colors look weak. With small artists brushes, one for each color, I get creative. Have fun and Happy Mother's Day- Stephanie, I think your mother will love these!

2010-04-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

Mama's Broccoli Salad

2010-04-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

When I was a teenager I would get horrible monosodium glutamate headaches after going to a Chinese restaurant. When I started getting them at home, I looked in the kitchen cabinets and found the culprit-"Accent" a brand name for MSG that unfortunately truly did make the flavors in a dish sing. Mama was pretty sure I was imagining the cause of my headaches because she had been putting the stuff in virtually everything for years. I was all self righteous teenage certainty and strong armed her to stop using it.
Now, I loved Mama's broccoli salad obsessively
- its what I'd want her to make every time she gave me a choice-I once ate an entire serving bowl of it at one time.(I was 9 months pregnant at the time. Nevertheless- a little over the top.) In my own kitchen, I would carefully follow her steps to prepare it- pretty simple stuff- but it was just never as good as hers. I put it down to Mama Magic. A couple of years after her death, I mentioned to my father that I couldn't ever get that salad right . "Well, how are you making it?" I went through the steps. "Oh, no wonder,you're leaving out the pinch of Knorr dried chicken soup" Now, Mama and I had full disclosure on recipes so I couldn't figure out how she could forget that ingredient.And what a bizarre thing to put in a salad dressing. When I looked at the instant soup ingredient list I understood:MSG is in there. She had followed my demands to stop using Accent, but had figured if it wasn't actually called that, it wasn't technically verboten. And, boy does it make a difference in the salad. I don't like using additives but for this salad, all bets off.

Boil a head of broccoli until it loses its bright green color. This is not a crunchy salad-no resistance. Drain and wait till it is absolutely cool, and then drench it in this dressing: pour out some olive oil in a bowl,smash some garlic cloves and let that sit at least an hour. Fish out the garlic and add lemon juice,salt, cracked pepper and about 1/4 teaspoon Knorr chicken bouillon.Beat with a fork till its emulified. You're going to have to play with the amounts of lemon and oil to your taste. Let the broccoli marinate for a bit, and really, you can't drench it too much-- we're already throwing caution to the wind on this one.I hope you love this as much as I do. And, you know what? I never do get a headache from it.

2010-04-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

2010-04-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

2010-04-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

We did a birthday tea yesterday
and I never remember to take pictures. This one of my miniature lemon cakes proves I am changing my ways. I caught it just as Kim was packing them up to whisk them out the door. They are ,of course, a damp cake,soaked in lemon syrup, tangy enough that they demand your full attention for a moment or two. We also gave them miniature chocolate cakes, scones and sandwiches: roast beef with shallot blue cheese butter, ham and brie, cucumber and arugula, and my passion, freshly made pretzel bread with Branston pickle and aged cheddar cheese. Luckily, I had leftover pretzel so I'm going to greedily eat it right now! I'll be back to tell you how the rosemary syrup cake comes out.

2010-04-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

The day is blue

2010-04-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

Its sharply blue here today in New Mexico. The rosemary looks like there was a pale blue snowfall during the night. All of a sudden- so many flowers. I'm craving a cornmeal cake that is soaked in rosemary syrup
and if I candy these tiny flowers I think they'll be beautiful on top of what is really a kind of plain looking dessert.
I always think of Wendy trying to protect the Lost Boys and Peter Pan from having "damp cake",as if a cake that hadn't sat for a bit to dry out would give you a stomach ache. When I read that as a child I was determined to have it anyway and it is the only kind of cake I truly can't resist. Also, it has never caused any kind of side effect other than my waking up in the night and remembering there's more.
So, yes, this is a wet cake,with a substantial texture and a rosemary perfume. Its a rustic cake that I usually serve after a Moroccan or Greek dinner although I think its perfect too with coffee for breakfast. Or the middle of the night.
This is a recipe from the 1995 June edition of Gourmet Magazine

Cornmeal Cake with Sweet Rosemary Syrup

!/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350

Beat with an electric mixer the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on low speed till combined. Beat batter on high speed till pale yellow- about 3 minutes.

Pour batter in pan and bake 40 minutes- or until tester comes out of middle with a few crumbs adhering to it.
Make Rosemary Syrup while cake is baking

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, water ,rosemary and lemon juice in a small pot, bring to a boil, and let boil for one minute. Let cool, and add extract.

Once your cake has cooled for 10 minutes, invert it onto a rack and start brushing it with the syrup, letting it soak in, until you use about a third of it. Serve the rest in a pitcher on the side. Gourmet suggested serving with blackberries, but I'm thinking of using the extra syrup, reduced a little, to gloss peach slices that I could then sprinckle with my candied rosemary flowers. Sounds like spring to me. I'll make it and let you know how it works.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

2010-04-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today is my son Buster's birthday and a large version of these fresh blueberry tarts is what he requests every year since my mother made it for him one summer. He surprised all of us by eating it almost single handedly. Of course this was at the upstate New York farm in deep July when the berries were huge and sweet and from a local farm.
My mother was French and would have loved the local-slow food wave. I can still see her in the front seat of our old Buick holding a piece of Wonder Bread I ,at five years old, had begged her to buy. She squished it into a tiny gummy ball and said" Do you see ? Do you really want THIS in your body?" She was way ahead. I wanted frozen dinners, she would be making me drink the water she had cooked dandelion greens in. " For your blood, Naneu". Actually I find myself craving that flavor today-minerally, with salt and lemon she had added- I always imagined I could feel the slightly heavy liquid going into my blood stream as it went down.
Anyway, the tart. It comes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and I can barely read it anymore-my mother was not a neat cook- you could always tell one of her favorite recipes from how much the recipe was smeared with bits of ingredients.

Open Blueberry Pie

Pastry dough for 9 in pie
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
4 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a nine inch pie pan with the pastry dough.
, prick the dough all over and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, till lightly browned. Mix the sugar,cornstarch,salt and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Cook over low heat,stirring constanly, until thickened(this will take longer than you think but don't stop till its pulling away from the pan or you'll never get elegant slices out of it.) Add the butter, stir till melted, and let cool. Fold in the blueberries and pile into the baked shell.

Mama would add a ring of whipped cream around the edges. Simple and so good. I 'm even willing to buy some blueberries out of season. I've got to have a piece right now!!

2010-04-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

2010-04-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

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