When life throws you lemons... make Amalfi Lemon Cake!

i 💖 lemons... the fruit, the ade, the scent, everything!  So when in Amalfi last year, all the restaurants and bakeries have lemon desserts because of Amalfi growing such large and beautiful lemons.  Our favorite (yes... we went there every day while in Positano) was Collina.  Espresso and a cannoli... the best! 

This cake is DELICIOUS!  moist, simple, not overly sweet, and takes no time to make.  I hope you enjoy it as much as i.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup medium ground cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 cups whole blanched almonds (or you can buy raw and peeled)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large lemon
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup cold whole milk
• 2 large eggs at room temperature

• powdered sugar (reserved for the topping)

1. Preheat the over to 325 degrees and spray a 9 inch springform pan with baking spray.  I also put a piece of parchment paper and lined the bottom of the pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
3. Place the almonds in the bowl of a food processor with a steel blade and pulse the almonds with the sugar, until the almonds are finely ground.
4. Cut the ends off of the lemon, and then cut the rest of it into chunks (including the remaining peel), discarding any seeds.
5. Add the lemon to the almond mixture and process until blended.
6. Add the olive oil, milk, and eggs, and process for 1 minute.
7. Add the cornmeal mixture and pulse until mixed, but DO NOT over mix.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
9. Cool completely and then remove the cake from the pan and cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
10. When completely cool, dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar.

You can always dry lemons, which is how i topped the cake, or use pieces of rind for decoration.

 

It may look simple... but it's delicious!

Bon appetito!

Elijah's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies - Yes, they're kosher for Passover!

This year i'm in charge of desserts!
First i started out with a chocolate chip cookie recipe that i got from Facebook!
You'll see i modified it - adding mint chocolate chips for Jessica, and then i made a dozen rocky road style -- adding marshmallows, almonds and more chocolate chips.  I loved the gooey marshmallows that remained on the cookie sheet after they came out of the oven!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup matzoh cake meal
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix (either instant or regular is fine)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (although i used chocolate-mint chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add the matzoh cake meal, potato starch, vanilla pudding, baking soda and salt.
Mix until combined.
Add the vanilla and chocolate chips.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are slightly brown for a soft and chewy cookie.  Or bake 12-15 minutes for a crispy and crunchy cookie.
Elijah's easy going -- he'll take them any way you make them.

Chag Sameach!
Happy Passover!

Delicious dark chocolate bark

I've been making dark chocolate bark for a few years, and it's always a winner!  Although keep in mind, as most cooks and bakers will tell you, you can't skimp when it comes to the quality of your ingredients.  Inna Garten say you have to use a good bottle of red wine even if you're just cooking with it.  And legendary chef and restauranteur Daniel Baloud will tell you that you must use a high-quality bread and butter when making a croque monsier.  So with this bark, i've used both Scharffen Berger's 70% bittersweet chocolate, and Valrhona's 70% Guanaja chocolate.  And then everything else was the best quality i could find, from the sea salt to the marcona almonds and even the dried organic blueberries.  The only "run of the mill" item i used was Trader Joe's roasted coconut chips, but i must say they were delicious and not too sweet.

I imagine you can top the bark with anything, but adding some sea salt to the top seems to be a winner.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dark chocolate (or whatever kind of chocolate you like), finely chopped
• 1-1/2 c. roasted marcona almonds (not in oil)
• 1/2 c. dried blueberries
• 1 c. roasted coconut chips
• coarse sea salt - for sprinkling

If you need to temper the chocolate, please start here.  Otherwise, melt your chocolate slowly, and you should use chips, which are not meant to temper.  I melt the chocolate on a make-shift double-boiler, or in the microwave oven.

Once it melts, remove it and using a silicone spatula, spread it onto a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with sea salt and whatever other ingredients you decide to use.  I've done it with just chocolate and sea salt and it's absolutely delicious and decadent.  Refrigerate for at least an hour so that it sets.  You can then break it up into whatever size you want.

Bon appetit!

Fregola with Fresh Corn and Scallions

About a year ago i discovered an interesting pasta called fregola.    I generally stay clear of pasta, but these were so small and interesting... like tiny beads, similar to Israeli couscous.  Originally i had it in a salad which i enjoyed, but outta sight - outta mind.  Until i came across this little delight at Bay Cities.  I bought a package and then looked online to see what others have made with it.  It looks like the most popular additions are corn or peas... i guess anything small so that you don't lose the little fregolas in a dish with large ingredients.  I decided fresh corn right off the cob, and a lot of scallions would do the trick, but then a little truffle oil never hurt anything, so...

Ingredients --

• 1 pound of Fregola
• 4 ears of corn
• 2 cups of freshly chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup of grated reggiano parmesan
• extra virgin olive oil
• a tad of truffle oil
• salt
• pepper

Boil the fregola in water with a lot of salt, or as the package instructs.
Meantime, shave the corn off the cobs, and chop the green onions.
Add all 3 ingredients to a large pan with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and a dash of truffle oil. Unfortunately, this is all done by "eye" so i can't say how much to use.
Add the parmesan stirring frequently.  After about 10-15 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the aroma tells you "finito!  Time to eat".  This dish can be served either hot or cold.

Buon appetito!

Prince William's Yummy Chocolate Crunch Bars

I couldn't help but read about this dessert since i adore just about anything having to do with Prince William and his bride.  These seem to be the Brits' version of our rice krispy treats.  Maybe that's why i insisted on adding marshmallow fluff!

I made and tested them at the office, figuring if they're a hit i would bring them to Beth & Richard's on the 4th.  Elliot, Rosa and Karen loved them (even with the raisins).  I never heard from Laurence and Jessica, so i'm thinking that it was too sweet for them, or Debbie forgot to bring them home and they're still in her car.  (Oh no!)

Ingredients --

• 1 box of graham crackers
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins
• 1/4 cup of chopped nuts (i used peanuts)
• 1 jar of marshmallow fluff (optional; this was not in the original recipe)
• 5 ounces of milk chocolate
• 5 ounces of dark chocolate
• 1 stick of butter (at room temperature)
• 1 14oz can of condensed milk

      For the topping --

• 9 ounces of dark chocolate 

In a large bowl, mash all of the graham crackers.  I found it easiest to use the bottom of a small metal bowl.
Add marshmallow fluff, raisins and nuts.
Melt both chocolates, butter and condensed milk.  (I suggest doing this slowly so that the chocolate doesn't burn.)
Add it to the graham cracker mixture and stir.
Pour into a parchment-lined, 11x7" baking dish.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

The original recipe calls for melting 5 ounces of dark chocolate and pouring over the refrigerated mixture.  But i wanted to temper the chocolate so that it didn't melt in your hands.  Tempering is actually easy, but takes patience.  You'll see i have a cheat sheet i keep in my baking drawer.  You need to slowly heat the chocolate to 115° and then take it off the stove and let it cool to 84°.  It can take a while to cool down, so one trick is to add more finely chopped chocolate -- about 1/3 as much as you melted.  Once it cools to 84°, put it back on the stove and heat to 90°.  You can then remove and pour on top of the chilled pan of chocolate crunch cake.  You'll see the chocolate start to harden.

My cheat sheet

Buon appetito!

The best chocolate banana bread!

Delicious chocolate chip banana bread.  Yummm.

My lovely sous chefs... Miz Em (L) and Miz Jess (R)

It's been a rough road since my fall last June, but with the help of my two sous chefs (Miz Jess and Mizz Em), i've finally cooked something and am blogging about it.  Yay, and thank you both for your help.  You came over to swim, and I put you to work.  But seriously, I wouldn't have done this without your help!

So a couple weeks ago i had a delicious banana bread and Colleen said it's really easy and the reason she thinks it's so good is it's made with buttermilk.  I found this recipe online and thought it sounds like Colleen's, so i'll give it a try.  The only thing i did different, is i used whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular baking flour, and then my sous chefs convinced me a little dark chocolate couldn't hurt.  Yes, we could have opted for nuts, but why use nuts when you have good dark chocolate?  One other thing... next time i see no reason to use the stand mixer.  It would have been just fine to use a large bowl and fork to mix it.  I think it came out delicious!  Dense, but not too dense; Nice banana aroma but not too much banana; and a hint of chocolate, without over doing it!

Ingredients --

•  2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup mashed bananas (overly ripe work best)
• 1-1/2 cups white sugar
• 1-3//4 cups all purpose flour  whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Optional:  1/2 cup chopped nuts (or chocolate or raisins)

Preheat oven to 3258° F.
Spray or grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Blend together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and bananas.
Sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to the banana mixture and stir in nuts, chocolate or raisins.  Mix well.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

And remember... next time you have bananas that are overly ripe, don't throw them out... make banana bread.

Buon appetito!

Pretty Pickled Peppers

You don't want to know how long these have been in my fridge, but i think they get better with time.  Isn't pickling... like a fine wine?  Ok... June 13th.  And i'm sure my mother is asking "of what year?"  I had everything ready to go for this post, then i had my nasty fall and never got around to posting this.  I just re-discovered a jar of these in my refrigerator and was surprised at how tasty they were and i thought i should share with you!

As a kid i thoroughly loved raw green bell peppers.  Then, at 7, i had my tonsils removed and, ever since, you couldn't pay me to eat a bell pepper.  Whether green, orange, yellow, red or purple - i won't get near them with a 10 foot pole.  Then, on the evening of Tuesday, February 22, 2011, the stars must have aligned in a way that amazed me... i watched a little boy eat a baby orange bell pepper, and you could see how much he enjoyed it, while at the same time it emitted an aroma that i thought was so fresh.  I got up and got one of those same orange peppers, and LOVED it!  In fact, i ate two more -- one yellow and one red, and the entire time i kept thinking "i can't wait to call mom and tell her that i now eat bell peppers, albeit, not green"!

So now that i love these little sweeties, i'm finding a lot of goodies to incorporate them in, but the first thing is some pickled sweet peppers...

Ingredients:

• Mixed baby peppers (whatever colors you like)  
• 1-1/2 c. white taragon vinegar
• 2 T. pickling spices
• 1/4 c. sugar
• herbs are optional (dill, taragon, almost anything)

Wash the peppers and stick each one with a fork so that they don't pop or burst when you boil them.Place the uncooked peppers in a pot of boiling water for just a few minutes.  You don't want them too soft; it's nice if they have a little snap when you bite into it.
Remove the peppers from the pot of boiling water and let them cool.
Meantime, boil the vinegar, pickling spice and sugar for about 5 minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved. 
Stack the peppers in a canning jar any way you like.  I lined mine all vertically and alternated colors.
Pour the cooked vinegar mixture over the peppers to fill the jars.

 Voila! 

Turkey Chili with Cranberries

Last week i was in New York for Laurence's NYU graduation.  We had a great time and ate at some great restaurants.  The funny this is, the day of his Tisch graduation we couldn't catch a cab (ok... for much of the trip we couldn't catch a cab) and walked forever just to find a place to eat.  We all were tired of walking in the rain and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, decided to eat at the next available place.  Turned out to be The Counter, a restaurant we have in our very own backyard.  I'm not crazy about their turkey burgers, but Debbie and I decided to try the turkey chili with a green salad.  Wow!  It was fantastic.  I thought about that chili every day.  In fact, i took most of mine back to the hotel and ate it cold the next day for breakfast. 

                Polenta Cakes                           Turkey Chili in the Making     

Here's my recreation...

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of ground turkey (mixed white and dark meat)
• 2 cups of chopped white onion
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen sweet corn kernels
• 1 package of sundried tomatoes
• 1 cup of dried cranberries
• chili seasoning mix
• 1/2 bottle of good red wine
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 large can (32 oz) of stewed cherry tomatoes 
• Salt and pepper to taste 

In a large skillet, saute the ground turkey and chopped onions until the turkey is thoroughly cooked.
Transfer the turkey and onions to a large stock pot.
Add salt and pepper, half of the dried cranberries, chili seasoning mix, tomato paste, chopped sundried tomatoes and the stewed cherry tomatoes.
Mix thoroughly.
Add wine and let simmer for an hour or two.

This time i spooned the chili over polenta cakes and topped with a sprinkling of dried cranberries, but it would also be good with an arugula salad and cornbread.

Buon appetito!

Mom's Cucumber & Onion Salad

I picked up a couple pounds of meyer lemons and was planning on making lemon bars or lemon & rosemary jam.  Unfortunately, i just haven't felt like cooking.  But i have felt like some of my mom's delicious cucumber & onion salad.  It's similar to Factor's, but it's even better because we use the persian cucumbers and slice them paper thin.   Plus, i use Splenda sugar instead of the real thing, so at least i don't have to feel guilty when i eat a cucumber salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of white vinegar
• 1 cup of sugar (or splenda)
• 1-1/2 cups of water
• 1 sweet onion
• Dill
• 12 Persian cucumbers.

Heat the vinegar, water and sugar in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves.
(To make it super easy, i just add all 3 ingredients to a 4 cup pyrex measuring bowl and then heat it in the microwave for 5 minutes.)
Let the mixture cool, either in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Slice the cucumbers and onion as thin as paper.  I use a mandolin which does the job perfectly and in a flash!
After the mixture has cooled, pour over the cucumber and onions. 
Add the dill.

Buon appetito!

Chocolate-covered marshmallows

I wanted to think of something super simple to bring to my parents today, and felt something sweet to ring in the new year would be apropos. 

It doesn't get much simpler, quicker or easier than this...

Ingredients --

A bag of marshmallows
1 pound of semi-sweet chocolate

minced sweetened nuts
minced candy cane (gotta have some left over from the holidays)
sprinkles, and anything else that would be good to sprinkle over these sweets
Wooden skewers

Cook the chocolate in a double-boiler.  If you know how to temper chocolate, i suggest doing so.  In the future I'll do a post on tempering chocolate, but not right now since my thermometer broke.  Tempering makes it so that the chocolate is smooth and glossy and dries to a point where you can touch it without it being "soft & gooey".

Once the chocolate is almost melted, take it off the double-boiler and stir it.
Pierce a marshmallow with a wooden skewer, and swirl it into the chocolate.  i like to swirl about 2/3 of the marshmallow, leaving part of the marshmallow exposed.
Then, while the chocolate is still soft and warm, dunk it in a bowl of the chopped nuts, candy canes or sprinkles.
Carefully remove the skewer and place on a sheet of parchment or wax paper until dried.

Voila!

And a wonderful new year to all!

Spiced Cranberry and Dried Fruit Chutney

About 5 years ago, my friend Leslie turned me onto this easy cranberry recipe.  Like i said, it's easy and interesting and, with a few of my own touches, it's become my "go to" cranberry dish for Thanksgiving dinner.  It's actually good year-round with turkey or on top of yogurt or cottage cheese.

You can use any kind of dried fruit.  In fact, this year i ventured into a completely different variety -- figs, bing cherries, and blueberries.  But get creative and use whatever you like.

Dried apricots, figs, bing cherries, blueberries and fresh cranberries

All the fruits getting to know each other in this hot bath.

Ingredients --

• 4 cups of fresh cranberries
• 1 cup of dried apricot halves
• 1/2 cup of dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup of dried bing cherries
• 1 cup of dried figs
• 1/4 cup of chopped crystallized ginger
• 2/3 cup of packed golden brown sugar
• 1 cup of frozen concentrated cranberry juice cocktail, thawed i forgot to pick this up at the market, so this year i used apple juice instead.  Great alternative!
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 4 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

Stir all ingredients except vinegar in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Increase the heat to high and boil until thick, stirring often - about 4 minutes.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the vinegar.
Season with salt & pepper.
Cover and chill.

Yields 5 or 6 cups.

Can be made 2 weeks ahead of time.

Delicious Truffled Potatoes & Onions

Who said quick and easy can't be delicious?

I've been slaving over a pumpkin cider soup, and decided to take a break to do something quick and easy with my Japanese Yam, fingerling potatoes and red onion. 

Karen and Enrico gave me a special bottle of black truffle infused olive oil for my birthday.  I decided it was time to mix all of these delicious ingredients together.  What a combination!  Because i sliced the onion on the thin side, i thought i might be better off adding it after the potatoes cooked for a bit, but then decided "easy" had to mean easy as 1-2-3. 
   1 - Quickly prepare the ingredients;
   2 - Pop them in the oven; and
   3 - Buon appetito!

Can you see the truffle in the olive oil bottle!

Ingredients --

• Fingerling potatoes
• Japanese Yams
• 1 Red onion
• Truffle-infused extra virgin olive oil
• Black pepper
• Herbes de provence

Chop the potatoes into small pieces.
Slice the onion into thin slices and separate from each other.
Drizzle a little olive oil over the potatoes and onion.
Sprinkle with fresh black pepper and herbes de provence.
Bake at 350°F. for about 30 minutes or until the onions are crispy and the potatoes are starting to crisp on the outside.

Onions are crispy, and potatoes are crispy on the outside and smooth and creamy in the inside.

Indian Carrot Salad

A girlfriend brought me a bunch of beautiful Indian carrots at the farmers' market.  I had never seen such beautiful carrots.  They remind me of all the beautiful colors you see in both red and golden beets.

Indian carrots

I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, and most recipes i found were geared towards Indian cuisine.  I do love Indian food, but i've never made it and i wasn't about to try cooking Indian dishes on a school night.  With that said, i decided the easiest thing to do would be to turn them into a beautiful salad.  And beautiful & delicious it was!

Indians and Persians make a great duo.

Juicy pomegrantes

Ingredients --

• 1 bunch Indian carrots (actually, any kind of carrot will work just fine)
• 2 persian cucumbers
• 3 Tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
• 3 slivered scallions
• 3 Tablespoons of dried cranberries or Craisins

Grate the carrots and cucumber.
Add finely sliced scallions, pomegranate seeds and dried cranberries.
I had planned to use just a splash of olive oil, but decided it needed more of a pop, so i threw together the following vinaigrette, but i have no idea what the measurements were --

Autumn Beet and Kale Salad

I enjoy beets, and really appreciate the beautiful colors in "golden" beets.  Yellows, oranges and reds.  At the farmers market i picked up a bunch of baby golden beets and a bunch of baby purple beets.  The man said i can get a third one for $1, or pick any bunch of greens.  Since i only knew i wanted to make a salad, i opted for fresh kale.  And while i was there, i picked up mint and persian cucumbers.  How could i go wrong? 

Baby golden and purple beets

Fresh kale and mint

Then i suddenly realized that i can add golden raisins and dried cranberries to pick up the colors from the beets while adding a sweet touch.  Fun!  My only dilemma was what kind of dressing?  And then i remembered i still had some of the vinaigrette from Sunday Suppers at Lucques (recipe, below).  The dressing was delicious then, and equally good on the beet salad. 

Beets waiting for their jacuzzi to warm up

 

Cooked and peeled beets

Salad Ingredients -

• 1 bunch of baby golden beets
• 1 bunch of baby purple beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 handful of fresh mint leaves
• 2 persian cucumbers, chopped
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins
• 1/4 cup of dried cranberries

Wash and scrub the beets well and cook in a pot with covered water until al dente.
I like to put on rubber gloves and then firmly rub the beets so that the peel falls off.
Cut the beets into bite-size cubes and refrigerate.

In a bowl, add chopped kale and fresh mint.
Add persian cucumbers, beets and then add golden raisins and cranberries.
Crumbled goat cheese and toasted nuts are a delicious option to this salad.

I then lightly tossed with Suzanne Goin's (Sunday Suppers at Lucques) vinaigerette (recipe below)...

~

The beginning of a delicious vinaigrette

Vinaigrette Ingredients -

• 1 T oregano leaves
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 1 1/2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 t kosher salt

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the oregano, garlic and 1/4+ t of salt until it is a paste.
Transfer the paste into a bowl and stir in both vinegars.
Whisk in remaining 6 T of olive oil.

Buon appetito!

Chicken apple butternut squash filled pumpkin

 The culprits - my beautiful pumpkins

 

 

Last week i stopped at the pumpkin patch (no cameras allowed because g-d forbid we see someone famous without their hair and makeup done this is Beverly Hills) and found the prettiest little pumpkins.  I wasn't sure what i'd do with them, but i knew i would find something.  These pumpkins were larger than those baby pumpkins that you see in markets, but not as big as the good, carving pumpkins.  

I decided to bake the pumpkins and save the pumpkin meat for something i'll use later, but i'll use the pumpkin shell to stuff with my own concoction.  It turned out yummy!  Healthy, yummy, and easy.  What more could you ask for?

Ingredients

•  4 small pumpkin to your liking
• 1 red apple, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped 
• 1 butternut squash, chopped
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 package (4 or 5) of chicken-apple sausages, chopped
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins and/or cranberries
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock or apple juice

Slice off the top of the pumpkin and scrape out the seeds.  (I later roasted my seeds and they were delicious - not very meaty, but had good crunch.)
Bake the pumpkin bowl, lid and butternut squash in a 350°F. oven until it's al dente, or just tender.  The butternut squash should be easy to slice, but not too easy otherwise it will not hold it's shape when you chop it.  When finished baking, allow to cool overnight in the refrigerator.

Spray a pan with olive oil and saute the chopped apple and chopped onion, gradually adding some of the liquid stock or juice.  
When the onions are starting to brown, add the mushrooms, chopped sausages and butternut squash. (I tried chopping all of the ingredients to be pretty much the same size.)
Add more of the liquid, if necessary.
Add the raisins and/or crandberries.
Continue cooking until you can't take it any more.

 Bon appetito!