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!

Yes, Mom... it's National I Love Food Day!

Are you like me... there's just too many to list!

The following are my favs, and in no specific order...

1.  See's dark chocolate scotchmallows

2.  Hot cinnamon rolls with raisins (Fred's has the best!)

3.  Toast with something savory and something sweet (cottage cheese and fruit or honey)

4.  Onion rings (well done, of course)

5.  Grilled salmon where it's crispy on the outside

6.  A yummy veggie salad with a little drizzle of olive oil, lemon & salt

7.  A deliciously BBQ'd hamburger, rare

8.  Tropical fruits

9.  Delicious tomatoes, red onions, basil, israeli feta and herbs

10.  Melon with cottage cheese

11.  Ice cold, crispy fresh veggies

12.  A white pizza with extremely thin and well-done crust (pref. Pizzeria Mozza)

Yes, i do love food!

Now please tell me... what are your favorites?

Bon Appetit!

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!

Julia Child's Orgasmic Brownies

Brownies, before and after.

 I wanted to make another batch of Julia Child's delicious brownies, but decided to put a spin on them since it's Valentine's Day.  The "spin" was inspired by Smitten Kitchen's gorgeous brownies, although I decided to stick with the brownie recipe i enjoy so much.

So i made two different batches, which i must say took a number of pots, pans and bowls (yes, and a lot of cleaning!).  Then i realized my heart-shaped cookie cutter was too large, so i figured i'd find a new cookie cutter on Sunday.  Wrong!  Who would have thought how difficult it is to find a small, 1" heart-shaped cookie cutter.  Since i needed something to "cleanly" slice through the brownies, i decided to use an apple corer.  So i didn't have hearts in my brownies, i had a circle.  Or, as Elliot declared, they're more like the "circle of life" brownie.  The fun part is you have dark chocolate brownies with white chocolate centers, or white chocolate brownies with dark chocolate centers.  Keeps everyone happy!

I gave my niece, Jessica, a box of the brownies and told her to share them with Annie and Emily (i've been promising Annie some of these brownies).  She texted me this morning and said I'm free to quote them --

"HOLY $HIT- your brownies are THE $HIT. Hands down best brownie I've had. Honestly, and you can quote me on that. Also you can quote Emily- 'it's orgasmic', and Annie stood up as to give you a standing ovation!  (I think Julia Child would smile knowing her brownies are "orgasmic".)

The following ingredients and recipe are for one pan of 16 brownies.  To do black & white brownies, you need to duplicate the recipe using white chocolate and a little less sugar.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°.
Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water (water should not be touching the upper bowl).  Add 1 cup of sugar to the mixture and stir for half a minute, then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Pour the mixture into a large bowl.
Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a stand mixer bowl and mix or whisk by hand just to combine.
Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don't set from the heat.
Fit the whisk attachment to the mixer and whip the remaining sugar and eggs until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes.
Using the rubber spatula, delicately fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture.
When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the dry ingredients.
Pour and scrape the batter in to an unbuttered 9-inch square pan. (If you want thin brownies, use a considerably larger pan; say, 9 x 13).
Bake the brownies for 35-40 minutes, during which time they will rise a little and the top will turn dark and dry.
Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack.

Buon Appetito, and happy Valentine's Day!

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!