I am always on the lookout for a few things. Vintage ikats from Central Asia, chocolate recipes, and new ways to get my daughter to eat vegetables (she is a real steak frites kind of kid). When I read Maria Verivaki’s recipe on chocalate beet muffins I was intrigued. Unlike Maria, I didn’t have to hide the beets from my daughter, she was very interested in the very redness of it all. After all, red is mommy’s favorite color. But, she is not so keen on nuts. Or, I should write she is very keen on peanuts, and putting them up her nose so deeply that expensive doctor visits are required… So, I hide nuts and not veggies in recipes!
The first cake I made had walnuts, following Maria’s recipe. They were detected and the cake refused. So, I tried again and altered the recipe. Maria’s recipe worked beautifully but, as always, I felt the need to change it up a bit! The addition of beets makes a beautifully deep brown cake that is incredibly moist and a little earthy tasting! And just in time for that dreaded Valentine’s Day….
Chocolate Beet Cake
The Cake:
6 ounces unsalted butter
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup beets, cooked and pureed
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking power
a pinch of salt
The Glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup confectionar’s sugar
Preheat oven to 400º
Prepare a 10″ pan, or the equivalent
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl placed over a pot of boiling water, melt the butter and chocolate. The bowl gets hot, so handle with with care!
Once melted, remove from heat. Stir in the sugar.
Add the eggs and then the beets and mix.
Add the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix.
Pour into your prepared baking pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool and turn out onto your serving dish.
To make the glaze first scald the cream, then add the butter and chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, add the sugar and quickly stir. Let the glaze cool a bit before pouring over the cake.
Who said chocolate cake couldn’t be the slightest bit healthy?
I never manage to grow, and thus pickle, enough jalapeños. This year was no exception and I finally broke down and bought a giant tin of jalapeños en escabeche. Life is alright now. And after a late night and full morning of working, jalapeños have a special way of perking up the rest of the day.
A tuna melt. Or, a glorified grilled cheese sandwich. Tuna, cilantro, onion, capers, and lots of pickled jalapeños. Add barely enough mayonaisse to bind. Slice your favorite cheese and your favorite bread. You know what to do…
A few days of sunshine after a week of rain created the perfect weed pulling opportunity. The ground was so saturated that weeds came out clean from the roots with the gentlest of tugs. The most prolific weed is the oxalis, the sour grass known and loved by children, with its bright yellow florescent flowers that really clash with just about everything. But more important than clashing colors is their very tallness. In the right conditions, they can grow very long stems and engulf “proper” plants. This weekend I liberated my one bed of winter greens from the suffocating yellow blooms, and excavated a bed of Italian greens I planted from seed in the late fall. Suddenly, my garden became a treasure trove of greens! Mizuna, bok choi, Russian kale, Lacinato kale, frisee, mustard greens, radicchio Treviso, the beautifuly variegated radicchio Castelfranco, a few very small puntarelles, and a two perfectly blanched pan di zuccheros. Yes, I love winter greens and chicories. Except for some of the chicories, most of the other greens are of the cut and come again variety. In fact, except for the puntarelle and the pan di zucchero, I treat the chicories as cut and come agains, too! Freshly harvested winter greens are fantastic alone but especially when you can just have a nibble from this plant and that one. And with a nice mix on hand, this is a perfect soup to make.
This is a very humble soup. Bread, garlic, olive oil, greens, and parmesan. If you want to add pancetta to the greens, go for it. Toasted pinenuts are also a great addition. I guess, this is a gardener’s soup. It taste best when a variety of greens are combined. I happened to have a jar of truffle paste given to me by my friend Franco, Mr. Exotic Edibles, which I added.
Green Winter Soup
Leafy winter greens, and lots of them. I filled a salad bowl and it served 3!
A good bread, I used a miche from Trader Joe’s
Olive oil
Garlic, 2 cloves peeled and chopped
Grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Thoroughly wash your greens, spin, and finely chop.
In your largest sauté pan, heat some olive oil and gently cook your garlic.
Add the greens and about a cup of water.
They will cook quickly, with a gently stir once or twice. Salt and pepper as you like.
Once perfectly wilted, turn off the heat. Do not drain! You will use the “broth.”
While greens are cooking, thickly slice and start toasting the bread. (This happens to be a great soup to make on the open hearth) I usually make two slices of bread per person.
When all the bread has been toasted, you can start assembling the soup.
Place one piece of toast in each bowl, add some greens, repeat.
I added a big dollop of truffle paste to the broth, gave a quick stir, and then poured the broth evenly in each bowl.
Add the grated parmesan.
Serve immediately!
Once the greens are washed and chopped, this is a very fast soup to make. This isn’t just a recipe for the Frugal Foodie but also one for the Busy Foodie! It is hearty and satisfying, and a perfect meal with your favorite bottle of red wine. Some guests have even been known to pour a little of their wine on top, but I never do…
Anyone who knows me knows I love quinces. Quince blossoms are my favorite, and the fruit is just so… utterly divine! At once sweet, tart, tangy, with a deep lemony apple aroma. And when cooked it turns the most amazing pink color, which deepens with cooking time. It is also a flavor from my childhood, I used to eat it both raw and in the well known paste form, membrillo. Every year I make trays and trays of cotognata, and jar upon jar of quince jam, jelly, and chutney. And a chicken and quince b’stilla is just about one of the best things on the planet… Yes, I am slightly mad for quince!
This was a very “at home” week. My darling girl was sick and I was frantically trying to keep her spirits up while not stressing about life’s stresses. This week also happened to be the first anniversary of Saffron Paisley. I think I needed this cookie more than she did, she would have preferred something with chocolate or Nutella but I did not offer any choices in the cookie making department. We are going to make Crumbly Quince Cookies! She is still young enough that the tone of my voice can create interest and enthusiasm.
The Recipe!
Cookie:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 scant tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup cold unsalted butter
1 egg
zest of one lemon
quince jam… or your favorite jam, but it has to be a favorite
Crumbly topping:
2/3 cups toasted rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla!
3 tablespoons butter
Preheat your oven to 400º
Combine the dry ingredients for the cookie and cut the butter in, or, crumble with your fingers. Add the egg and the lemon zest and mix well.
Press the dough into a buttered 8 inch square pan.
Spread the jam, evenly and generously.
Prepare your crumbly topping and spread over the jam.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Let cool completely.
Cut into 9 squares, and then each piece diagonally.
This cookie keeps well for a few days in an airtight container and I think it is even better the next day…
Handmade Fennel Stencil (and photo) by Design Inspiration
A very aromatic plant of the umbelliferous family, whose seeds smell of aniseed, especially in southern Italy. Fennel is eaten like celery. It is not unusual to see working people with a bunch of fennel under the arm adn making their lunch or dinner of this, accompanied by bread.
The smell, which to begin is pleasant, becomes unpleasant because of the excessive use made of it by Neapolitans who put it in everything.
Alexandre Dumas
Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine
Gardening and preserving brings unexpected surprises. Today I went out to harvest some winter greens, started nibbling on some fennel fronds, looked down and… a bulb! Yes, a fennel bulb in early February. I dug it up, took it inside, cleaned it (reserving the fronds), and took a nibble. Hurrah! Unexpectedly, a taste of summer. Fortunately, I pack jars of dry farmed tomatoes to last the year and with friends coming over for dinner, my favorite quick and easy fennel dish suddenly appeared on the menu!
Fried Fennel in Tomato Sauce
Fennel
Tomato Sauce. If from a tin, I prefer whole or diced tomatoes, pureed and heated.
Parmesan cheese
Egg, mixed with salt and pepper
Flour
Olive oil
Trim fennel, leaving the bulb intact but removing long stems. Carefully trim the base, as well.
Slice in 1/8 inch slices, lengthwise.
In a sauté pan, heat olive oil.
When oil is ready, dip slices in egg mix and then in flour.
Carefully place in sizzling oil and cook until both sides are golden brown and fennel can be easily pierced (but not mushy!)
Remove with a slotted spoon, place on a paper towel, and carefully blot.
Place on serving dish, add a little tomato sauce, and some grated parmesan… presto!
Hello and welcome to my blog. I live in Santa Cruz, California and have spent the last 12 years immersed in the worlds of textiles, food, and travel. Not a bad universe to inhabit! The birth of my daughter almost 3 years ago added yet another world, that of a single mother and with it [...]more →
