101 Cookbooks

Limoncello Macaroons

2010-09-02T10:58:00-08:00

I packed a number of things for last weekend's getaway to Mendocino. One pair of flip-flops, one book, a stack of magazines, a bottle of bubbles, ten rolls of film, three cameras, a tripod, and a bag of limoncello macaroons. I bookmarked these Pinched Orange Macaroons a while back, and when my sister gave me a bottle of limoncello (made from lemons in her yard), I decided to do a twist on Patrick Lemble's cookies using the homemade citrus liqueur and zest. I thought they'd be a nice little treat for the cabin. The cookies are made primarily from almond paste and they bake into golden-crusted, powder-coated, almond-citrus gems. A tad messy to make, but well worth it.

Before we dive into the minutiae of macaroon cookie making, I thought I'd share a few photos. For those of you who have missed previous mentions of the cabin, it is waaay off the grid, and a bit rustic - in the very best way possible. I like to sit on the porch and do a whole lot of nothing. We played board games and cards, cracked jokes, and talked a lot about the mountain lion that has been spotted at the cabin over the past few months.

The mountain lion seemed like an abstract concept to me. Abstract in the way that I know there are bears around when I go camping, but I don't really think about it much because they don't bother me. There's a difference here. This mountain lion has apparently killed a couple goats in the area. And then, there's that photo up above. Lori & Lisa's cousin rode down the driveway on his quad one afternoon to show us. He'd rigged a motion capture camera near his cabin, just up the road a bit, and apparently the camera captured that frame. It's hard to tell from my picture, but I assure you, that cat is large.

So, for the most part we stuck around the cabin. Or traveled in a pack when we were out and about. On the food front, Lori made an amazing grilled eggplant, arugula, and mozzarella salad as part of our dinner Saturday night, and if she posts it or publishes it at some point, I'll be sure to link to it and give you all the heads up. Strong, garlicky, and good. She makes a mean panzanella as well.

As far as the limoncello macaroons are concerned, let me say a few things. First off, they travel quite well. And while they seemed to be at their absolute peak roughly thirty minutes after baking, I placed the cooled cookies in a sealed plastic bag, and they were delicious for days. There wasn't as much textural difference between the outside crust and the super-moist middle after being bagged, but they were still 90% as good.

They're also made from one of the simplest batters imaginable. I made one batch following Patrick's original technique, then took a shortcut with the second batch which you'll see reflected in my version of the recipe below. In short, I found I didn't really need to do an egg wash/powder. I found the dough was quite moist. I threw a good amount of powdered sugar down on the counter top and shaped the cookies from there. They had a nice powdered sugar coating without the extra step. If you find you're not getting enough of a powdered sugar coating before baking, give each ball of dough a light brushing of egg white and a quick roll in more powdered sugar.

Continue reading Limoncello Macaroons...

Favorites List (Summer 2010)

2010-08-30T20:16:36-08:00

I spent the weekend at a cabin in Mendocino County, California with a few friends. Some of you will remember Lori and Lisa's cabin, I've written about it in the past. Hopefully I'll have a few new pictures to share later in the week. I'm sure it's no surprise, at the cabin we never go hungry (or thirsty, for that matter). Lori feeds us well, and the rest of us do our best to supplement her cooking by bringing a little something for lunch or snacks. This time around I made a late summer version of this buttermilk farro salad to share as part of lunch one day. I used corn, slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, and zucchini in place of the shaved fennel and radishes, but everything else was the same. And I baked a batch of bite-sized limoncello cookies to snack on during card games. I need a couple days to get my film processed and write up the cookie recipe for you, so I thought I'd post a favorites list here in the meantime. It has been a while.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things that have caught my attention or inspired me lately. As usual, it's a bit of a mish-mash, but hopefully you'll find something within the list that you find inspiring as well.

- Can't wait to get my hands on this book. Tartine is walking distance from my house. And when I occasionally think about what life would be like living in another city, the lack of access to Tartine's sesame bread comes to mind as a major deterrent.

- Love the detailing and color on these.

- Fantastic, inspiring Kickstarter / publishing case study.

- I've been going through some of my old film, cleaning up my office a bit, and found this photo of my mom and dad. This one's pretty cool too. Both shot by my dad.

- Working people and their bentos, a book / photo series

- Cy Twombly, The Four Seasons

- Sophie Cuvelier's Bobine Carree garland.

- A classic from 2008. Love this guy. But seriously, if you're allergic to f-bombs, or if you could care less about design...give it a pass.

- Illinois Landscape, 1979-2006, Rhondal McKinney

- It has been well over a month, and I'm still thinking about this. Although, I was temporarily distracted this afternoon by this - bitter chocolate bread and black rum.

- The making of a shop: Prairie Collective. And it's just up the street from me.

- A lovely leap of faith story.

- What Kate Ate

- This video podcast series: Etsy Handmade Portraits. I subscribe to it on Apple TV.

- Love the poster/promo for the Paul Ferney / Jordan Ferney Let Them Eat Cake show.

- A few of you have emailed me about favorite summer recipes. Here are a bunch of zucchini recipes. And a few past tomato recipes. More specifically, I still love this quinoa salad, this coleslaw, this sandwich, this summer squash gratin, this zucchini bread, this bean salad, and these green beans.

And there's one last thing I wanted to mention today. Our 101 Cookbooks / Kiva Lending Team is within striking distance of $100,000. We've made $98,000 in micro loans over the past two years, 3425 loans(!) total. I have some ideas about how we might work on a larger scale with Kiva, in a more focused fashion, and I'm hoping to figure out how to pursue that in the future. But for now, for those of you who have been participating, thank you. Also, please have a quick glance at your account to see if you have repaid funds to re-allocate. I just looked, and realized I have $600+. For those of you new to this site, here is the original post I made when Kiva first enabled lending teams. That post is quite out of date at this point, but it will give you a bit of back history if you're interested.

I'll try to get that cookie recipe posted by Wednesday or Thursday. I don't want to say too much about them yet, but I suspect they might even trump the chocolate puddle cookies for some of you.

Continue reading Favorites List (Summer 2010)...

Green Curry Broth

2010-08-24T22:24:59-08:00

I have to tell you, I've been hesitant to post this. It's the sort of thing that is tricky to get just right. At a glance we are talking about an infusion of of herbs, spices and aromatics coming together into a broth. Easy enough. But what we're really after is a beautiful, thin green curry broth, fragrant with garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. We want heat from serrano chiles, and zings of tanginess on account of the fresh lime juice. Cumin and coriander seeds should keep things grounded, and a flurry of freshly chopped herbs are there to make the sky open up. It's like a chorus of singers, with each ingredient singing a single note. In short, there's a lot going on here, and striking the right balance of flavors is key.

So, while I'm going to outline the exact quantities of ingredients I used to make this brothy concoction, making it really great is up to you. My limes might be more acidic, my ginger more potent. You are going to want to close your eyes at various points along the way, taste, and really think about what your broth needs. Taste and tweak. Taste and adjust. Make changes little by little until you have a something you love.

The cornerstone of this recipe is the broth. I make the broth first, then typically add things to it to make a meal. This time you see tiny cubes of tofu, tangles of yuba skin, and a few things I picked up at the farmers' market. Other times I might add egg or rice noodles, or other chopped vegetables - asparagus, broccoli, shredded cabbage, summer squash are all good choices. I didn't do it this time around but a splash of coconut milk to finish gives the soup an entirely different personality.

I should also note, although many of us are in the midst of summer heat waves, this soup is light and invigorating. I wouldn't discount it as a summertime meal alongside a crisp white wine.

Continue reading Green Curry Broth...

Golden Tomato Sauce

2010-08-18T18:53:19-08:00

I spent last Saturday brewing beer with my brother-in-law. Thankfully he knows what he's doing in this regard, because at this point, I can't say the same for myself. We made an all-grain rye ale, building on this recipe. Put another way, we sat around the garden drinking home brews from the vault, we boiled grains, took a lot of temperatures, transferred huge pots of hot liquid from pot to pot, and enjoyed a perfect day outside. My parents stopped by later on and we had an early dinner. My contribution was a simple lasagna made with a golden tomato sauce I like to make with heirloom tomatoes this time of year. The sauce is good, and it is a great way to use up summer tomatoes.

The sauce couldn't be simpler. It's similar in spirit to my favorite five minute tomato sauce - but it gets a completely different reaction. People seem to really love the idea of a yellow tomato sauce, maybe because it is a slightly unexpected take on something so familiar. That aspect is certainly one of the things I love about it - change one little variable, and all of a sudden I'm looking at something with fresh eyes.

The sauce - it's bright, a bit garlicky, with a bit of flare from red pepper flakes. Extra-virgin olive oil gives it body and rich mouth feel. And to keep things bright and lively, I tend to cook this sauce until the tomatoes barely begin to break down, just a few minutes. They break down a bit more once off the heat.

I like to serve it under pan-fried gnocchi sprinkled with lots of slivered basil and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. It's good on it's own slathered on grilled bruschetta, or on pizza. You could thin it out with a bit of broth, zap it with an immersion blender, and add a splash of crème fraîche for a quick soup. And it's delicious with any number of pastas. Like I said, I did one of my whisper-thin layered lasagnas for our family brew-dinner (torn mozzarella / basil), but I'm sure you can think of other ideas as well.

As far as our beer goes, our Ryesundschein is fermenting away in a special, custom-made, insulated, temperature controlled box (thank you Josh!). The next step is bottling. Anyhow, I'm excited - my fingers are crossed that it'll turn out. My first batch of home brew.

Continue reading Golden Tomato Sauce...

Buttermilk Farro Salad

2010-08-12T21:50:04-08:00

Today a bit of an apology is in order. Some of you might recall a wheat berry salad I mentioned back in May. I had it at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon and went back two days in a row to have it for lunch. It has taken me this long to do a farro version in my own kitchen, and my regret is that three months have passed when we all could have been enjoying it. The salad? Simple enough. Plump grains and seasonal vegetables tossed with an herb-flecked buttermilk dressing. I hope I'm not over-selling it, but this salad is really good. And I have my heart set on you liking it as much as I do.

So, this is the sort of thing that might take the place of a potato or macaroni salad at a BBQ or picnic - creamy, tangy, starchy. It travels well. Even fully dressed it travels well. For those of you interested, the dressing is cream and mayo-free. And to make the whole thing even better, you can really load it up with even more vegetables (or alternately, salad greens) than I call for. The recipe makes a good amount of extra dressing, so you have some latitude there. In this version I use paper-thin slices of baby radishes, zucchini, and fennel. I thought about shaving corn kernels into the bowl, but the corn I bought was a bit funky, so I skipped out on that. If you have farro cooked and on hand, this becomes a no-cook recipe.

A couple notes...Instead of making a more traditional buttermilk dressing here, I made a buttermilk vinaigrette of sorts. It's tangy. Tangy enough that I normally might try to take the edge off it a bit. It's also on the thin side. Don't mess with it. Once it hits the starchy farro, the grains slurp it up, and everything balances out quite nicely. But use a good white-wine vinegar, one that tastes good - it will make a difference. Also, as far as variations go, I can't wait to try a version with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, or even a fall version with spice-roasted squash. The Clyde Common version had fennel, chives, radishes, carrots, and wild arugula.

Continue reading Buttermilk Farro Salad...

Black-eyed Peas & Leeks

2010-08-06T22:08:43-08:00

I have some cool friends. Friends who are far, far cooler than I'll ever be. One example? Sarah Keough. I met Sarah in San Francisco shortly after I graduated from college. I must have been 22, and she was a just a wee teen. Fifteen? Maybe. In addition to being one of the coolest people I know, she's also one of the nicest. As far as I'm concerned, nice beats out cool any day, and a genuine combination of the two is rare. Sarah lives in New York City now, but we've kept in touch over the years. She's one half of the art direction and design studio R&S MEDIA, along with Ralph McGinnis. In addition to that, her photography is always inspiring - this Dinners series is a favorite of mine. Today's recipe actually comes from a new print project from Sarah and Ralph. They've created a digest-sized magazine focused on food and cooking, Put A Egg On It.

You can see a couple of the spreads up above. All in all, the little booklet is a mash-up of stories, photo essays, cooking tips, illustrations, funky fonts...a pet pic or two, all compiled from a quirk-tastic range of contributors. This is the second issue, summer 2010. It is 30-ish pages, and printed on pale green paper. The back section of the magazine is the recipe section, and in this issue, the theme was beans. My understanding is that each new issue will have a recipe section with a new theme. This time around Miriam Bale's black-eyed peas jumped out at me, so I thought I'd share them here.

Miriam notes, "Black-eyed peas are often served with smoky-sweet ham, piquant red pepper and onions, but the best way to emphasize the peas own earthy sweet qualities is to serve them with leeks and tarragon. I first had something like this at the Organic Cafe in Oakland. This dish reminds me of a song by Marlena Shaw, "California Soul."

We really loved the salad. A perfect picnic or potluck salad for sure. The butter added at the end? Don't skimp. It melds everything together. And to be honest, this is one of those cases when more would be even better. Special occasion? Double up.

I made a few tweaks to Miriam's recipe, nothing major. I like caramelized leeks, so I let mine cook longer than she probably would. I also gave ballpark amounts of herbs in the recipe, her instructions where a bit looser and free-form than what I wrote up down below. Just know, if you feel like you want more tarragon or marjoram flavor, add more. Alternately, adding some chopped fresh tarragon and marjoram, might be pretty great. In a sense, doubling and layering flavors by using both dried and fresh forms of the same herb.

If you're interested in a video that flips through the pages of the magazine, you can click here. Put A Egg On It #2 is available here for $7. Congrats R&S, can't wait to see #3.

Continue reading Black-eyed Peas & Leeks...

Spiced Tomato Gratin

2010-08-01T20:34:34-08:00

We have family visiting from out of town this week. Meaning, I've been a bit tied up, with not as much time to write. But, on the flip side, I have been cooking quite a bit. And in a change of routine, we've been eating dinners outside thanks to a new table purchase. I'm stubbornly determined to enjoy many al fresco meals sitting at it, even if it means wearing three layers of sweaters. So, for our first under-the-fog meal at our new table, I made this twist on a favorite Suzanne Goin Potato-Tomato Gratin recipe. It's a bit of a project, but worth it if you have the time and are in the mood for a slicey-dicey sort of afternoon in the kitchen.

One of the things I like about Suzanne's gratin is the way she strikes bright, flavorful, deep and rustic notes in a preparation that isn't overly decadent. I'm not a fan of creamy starch-bomb gratins. And this is not that. Instead, you line a baking dish with layers of deeply caramelized onions, thinly sliced potatoes, ripe tomato slices, and slivered basil. The potatoes are tossed with a modest amount of cream which ends up percolating through the other ingredients while baking. On a whim, I decided to take a detour from the version in Sunday Suppers at Lucques which happens to be beautifully thyme-centric. Instead, I combined Indian curry spices with the onions, and introduced those flavors to the gratin.

Either way, this is the sort of thing that is perfect just out of the oven. Or reheated the day after. Or the day after that. But be sure to read through the recipe entirely before committing to it - the prep takes some time, and it takes a good amount of time to bake.

Continue reading Spiced Tomato Gratin...

Sautéed Zucchini

2010-07-27T22:51:59-08:00

I saw a table at the market the other night groaning under the weight of a mountain of summer squash. Squash that looked like it wanted to avalanche its way into my basket. I took pity, grabbed a bunch and made my way home. I ended up using a couple that night in a favorite nothing-to-it zucchini recipe. So, I thought I'd share the recipe with you, along with a few non-recipe related links. First, the zucchini. It's a single-skillet kind of thing. Coins of zucchini are browned in a pan, but the thing that makes it special is the toasted golden slivers of garlic combined with lots of fresh dill, plus a sprinkling of almonds for crunch. Prep takes five minutes, if that, and you can treat this as a side dish, or use it as a component of something else...

For example, I often cook up a pan of the zucchini like this, then use it to top off a frittata. You might toss it with a short pasta, a bit of slivered basil, and a bit of feta - also delicious. Over farro, not bad. Baked as a hand-pie in a simple pastry with a smudge of goat cheese? Even better. Anyhow, it's really adaptable. And for those of you who don't use much dill in your cooking...let me just say, dill is under-rated and under-utilized. The more I cook with it, the more I love it - fingers crossed you like this spin as much as I do.

And before I sign off, a few links - because I'm long overdue for a proper "favorites" list:

- I've been using this for a few months, and love it.
- Best ever Redfin listing: La Miniatura.
- Thinking my nephew might like this when he sleeps over.
- More summer camping inspiration.
- If I needed a clothing rack, this would be the one for me.
- Perfect stripes. (via Bliss)
- Loving this idea: banana bread made with chocolate coated walnuts.
- Better than the paper kind. (via innumerable goods)
- Hoping Little Flower School someday makes a visit to SF.
- Summer pizza edition of this joy + ride
- Quinoa Falafel @ Sprouted Kitchen.
- And lastly - hoping for an English version of this.

Continue reading Sautéed Zucchini...

Tofu Burgers

2010-07-22T18:48:05-08:00

This past week has been pretty swell. I feel like I'm finally easing into summer, something I wasn't sure was going to happen. I spent a couple nights under the stars with WB, cleaned off the back patio, grilled more meals than I cooked indoors, put some finishing touches on the manuscript, ate mint soft serve at Il Cane Rosso, made tofu burgers twice, saw whales migrating north, and picked up a few vintage baking pans in an antique shop in Healdsburg. That being said, I think the thing that really set the summertime tone around here was finding a tiny frog, no larger than my thumbnail, hopping around under my desk. We caught him in a Mason jar and released him out back.

My first thought was that the little guy must have hopped into our camping gear in an attempt to go from country frog to city frog. But it turns out the likely culprit was my nephew, who spent Sunday morning with us. My sister told me later they have lots of little frogs in their back yard, and he loves to try to catch them. Mystery solved - a toddler here with frogs in his pockets, and one made a break for it.

On the cooking front, I've been cleaning out some drawers. Primarily going through old magazine clippings (which is part of the reason I've been featuring more magazine inspired recipes than usual). I've been finding lots of gems, and these tofu burgers were one of the recipes that jumped out at me. I've adapted them from a reader contributed recipe that ran in the October 2004 issue of Sunset Magazine. The recipe was sent to Sunset by Jeremy Wolf of San Francisco, and I quite enjoyed them. They were impossibly easy to make, relying on the "throw everything in the food processor" technique, and called for a quirky mix of ingredients ranging from tofu, seeds, and nuts, to mustard, cumin, and mushrooms.

I suspect you'll be tempted to tweak the seasonings, it's the nature of the beast. Here's my advice. Don't skimp on the cumin or mustard, you need some assertive flavors to kick in - keep in mind you're dealing with ground tofu and eggs as a burger base. Alternately, if you play around with the seasonings - think bold.

Continue reading Tofu Burgers...

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-07-17T19:03:23-08:00

I'm pretty sure the last thing anyone needs is another oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. I mean, the sense I get is that most people have their OMG favorite recipe, and tend to stick with it. Except, perhaps, for those times when you're lured away by an off-beat recipe incorporating something like corn flakes, or, I don't know - toffee. But those are just flings, right?

Anyhow, I wasn't planning on posting this recipe, I was just playing around with a bag of Massa Whole Wheat Flour, and the last of the oats in my refrigerator. This was the result. I'm posting the recipe not because they're the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ever of all time. They're good, but...I'm posting the recipe, because they make amazing ice cream sandwich cookies. And it's prime ice cream sandwich season.

Cook these cookies long enough, then let them cool, and you'll have thin, snappy, super-oaty cookies. They'll be structured enough to embrace a smear of your favorite vanilla, or coffee, or mint chip ice cream.

For those of you on the hunt for some savory, summertime inspiration, I think I have something you'll like coming up next. In the meantime, the Double Broccoli Quinoa, Harissa Spaghettini, Maple Grilled Tempeh, or these Kabobs, are all worth revisiting.

Continue reading Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Grilled Salt & Vinegar Potatoes

2010-07-11T20:53:12-08:00

Certain people have a thing for salt & vinegar potato chips. Ok, let me be more specific. Certain people in this household have a thing for salt & vinegar potato chips. I'm not one of them. Tangy, salty, crisp potatoes - I get it. On paper it all sounds good. I don't know what my problem is. But I have a really hard time with these chips. I find the vinegar flavor blindingly strong, and despite my best efforts to resist, they make my lips pucker and my face scrunch up. But Wayne loves them, so when I came across a recipe last year for potatoes boiled in vinegar, then grilled to a crisp, I set it aside for grilling season. It sounded hardcore.

Here's what I'll say about them. If you love the whole salt n' vinegar thing, you've got to make these. Surprise to me - I actually liked them quite a bit. And although the vinegar flavor is booming here, it seems to have less of an edge than the chip version. Just before trying them, I sprinkled the tops with a bit of fennel salt (recipe below), but was imagining dunking each potato slab in some garlicky aioli would hit the spot as well.

One of the other things that caught my attention about this recipe (which originally ran in Martha Stewart Magazine), was the idea that you could flavor potatoes by boiling them in a strongly-flavored liquid, before finishing them off on the grill. It got me thinking of all sorts of other ideas - like a really strong herb-flecked broth, or a strong garlic broth, or would a strong beer work?

Continue reading Grilled Salt & Vinegar Potatoes...

Buttermilk Squash Soup

2010-07-06T19:41:36-08:00

It has been one of those afternoons...I finished writing up this recipe, then realized I made a similar soup this time last year. Yikes. I'm officially starting to repeat myself. My apologies. Although, it was bound to happen at some point, I suppose. The soups - they're not exactly the same. I'm noticing a few significant differences as I look a little more closely. So I hope you don't mind if I still share this version.

This is what to expect. Compared to the original, this recipe makes a larger pot of soup - which should be helpful to those of you neck-deep in summer squash right now. It is a soft, pastel shade of yellow, and aside from a hint of tang from the buttermilk, is quite mild in flavor. Now, here's where the magic comes in. I finish the soup with a cumin brown butter drizzle that punches right through the creaminess. I can't get enough of the brown butter on its own. And just a drop of it swirling across the surface of each spoonful of soup makes all the difference here - so, don't be tempted to skip it.

The soup - I enjoyed it hot, but it is good thinned out a bit and served cold too. It's an efficient way to put a dent in any squash supply, and leftovers freeze quite well. If you have a large enough pot and a whole lot of squash to use up - double the recipe. And if cumin isn't your thing, or if you prefer rosemary or toasted almonds, have a look at this one. I'll try to avoid another repeat next year ;) -h

Continue reading Buttermilk Squash Soup...

Chile Blackberry Syrup

2010-07-02T12:05:50-08:00

For those of you with summer blackberries on hand, you must must must try this recipe. It doesn't lake long, and you are left with enough sweet & spicy, chile-infused blackberry syrup to keep your taste buds tingling right into August. I clipped the recipe out of an issue of Gourmet Magazine years ago. Actually, here we go, it was September 2007. I switched up the chiles, made a few other tweaks, and have been using the syrup to spritz up sparkling water all week. It's also great swirled into yogurt, oatmeal, and crème fraîche. Other good ideas: use it to slather on buttered toast, drizzle over goat cheese, and I imagine it'd be a flashy, unexpected offering at any pancake, crepe, or waffle brunch.

Gourmet highlighted their original version of the syrup alongside a bourbon-based cocktail (Briar Patch recipe here), and a version of a Desert Sunrise (can't find a version of it online). If you think of it as a homemade spicy grenadine, I suspect you can imagine all sorts of cocktail applications. But don't limit it to cocktails, quite frankly, it seems like its uses are boundless. I keep thinking about working it into a cheesecake. You know how Humboldt Fog goat cheese has a thin layer of vegetable ash running through it? What if, using that as inspiration, you had a thin vein of the chile blackberry syrup run through the cream cheese filling - where you'd only see it after slicing into the cake? So the flash is a bit understated and unexpected. Or you could use it in a simple vinaigrette, or as part of a fruit salad. On the savory front, I'm tempted to make a chile blackberry yogurt, and use it to top some lentil soup.

Anyhow, I'm sure there are a thousand things you could think of here. Let me know if you try anything particular interesting, or find a pairing that works particularly well.

I hope those of you in the U.S. enjoy the long summer weekend and get plenty of sunshine, spritzy drinks, and sparklers.

Continue reading Chile Blackberry Syrup...

Chocolate Loaf Cake

2010-06-27T21:21:46-08:00

This cake came out of the oven and I immediately thought to myself, "this cake is so unattractive, no one is going to want to eat it." It was as if the cake could read my mind, and at that point gave up entirely. Over the next ten minutes it exhaled, deflating into what I can only describe as a compact, sway-backed, brick of chocolate-fudge. Or what I'll forever think of as chocolate ugly cake. I set it aside, went out for the night, came back the next morning, and cut off a thin slice. The cake, while still hard on the eyes, was perfect in so many other ways I can't not share it with you - deep chocolate flavor, barely set center, indiscernible crumb, with a thin brown sugar crust.

The cake was inspired by a recipe in Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess, her Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake. As many of you who have been readers for a while know, I love a loaf cake, and she describes her chocolate version as "the plainest of plain loaf cakes." She goes on to celebrate the fact that its "dark intensity isn't toyed with, nor upstaged by any culinary elaboration." I tried to keep the spirit of her cake in mind, while making a few tweaks to make it my own. I think I may have crossed into the land of culinary elaborations, and for that I apologize, but whatever happened it was well worth it.

Here's what I did...I used dark Muscovado sugar instead of white sugar. I'd argue, this was the most significant change I made. I also zested the pan with fresh lemon rind before filling with batter. Spelt flour in place of all-purpose. And a generous sprinkling of Muscovado sprinkled across the top was finished under the broiler. I was regretting this as I was doing it, it was only adding to the cake's aesthetic issues, but I loved every bite that had a bit of Muscovado crust. Here's the thing. You MUST let this cake age overnight. It makes all the difference in the world.

If you brave the ugly cake, let me know if you like it as much as I did.

Continue reading Chocolate Loaf Cake...

Honey Balsamic Bean Salad

2010-06-22T21:25:20-08:00

I was browsing the shelves at Omnivore Books the other day when Celia, the owner, pointed out a medium-sized hardback with a texty cover and orange spine - Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack. I flipped through the first few pages, bought it, and brought it home with me (thank you Celia!). Written by Miranda Gardiner, the book started as a how-to cooking manual written for her father not long after her mother passed away. He was on his own, in his sixties, and learning to fend for himself in the kitchen for the first time. The first recipe she showed him was a chewy flapjack - hence the title.

Miranda lives in a beach house in South Devon with her husband and three children. Her dad lives on the north coast of Cornwall, a two hour drive from Miranda. The book may have started as a binder for her father, but the collection of recipes grew to include a blend of family recipes - (primarily Cornish), recipes related to extended family (Finnish), and those inspired by friends, travels, and restaurant experiences. The recipes are interlaced with stories and snippets of family history. Little vignettes that made me nostalgic for just about everything - picnics, real summers, the smell of salt water...

There's a chapter inspired by Miranda's annual pilgrimage to the family summer house in Finland. Daily activities include collecting berries and cooking sweet waffles on a 50-year old lakeside griddle. Her tone is casual and unassuming, and it fits just right with the type of food she includes here. The chapters leak and meld into each other around themes like travel, beach-front living, and in-season cooking resulting in a charming, eclectic mix - equal parts food memoir, travel diary, and how-to manual for dad.

Most of the recipes are no-fuss, and few require special equipment. Many feel like off-the-cuff weeknight plates tossed together with whatever is on hand and in season - in a good way. The book has a number of veg-friendly recipes, a number that are easily adaptable, and plenty of baking inspiration. Today's recipe was inspired by Miranda's bean salad made with green beans, chickpeas, borlotti and pintos. As I mention in the head notes, green beans aren't quite in season here, so I chopped up a head of Romaine lettuce instead, and added extra crunch and nuttiness with toasted almonds. The simple-yet-assertive honey-balsamic dressing and fresh thyme bring everything together. An easy summer salad. As far as other recipes go - in one article, Miranda mentions her favorite recipe from the book is the Polenta Cake, so I'd like to try that. I also made a note to try a veg-version of her Rocket & Buttermilk Soup.

If you come across Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack, take a few minutes to flip through it, I suspect many of you will like it. Worth noting: this is a U.K. edition, most of the recipes are in weights rather than volume. No big deal if you have a kitchen scale.

I'll include a few related links below, and for those of you who have been longtime readers, I couldn't help but think of this: A Letter from an Unwilling Cook. I haven't heard from Barry in a few years, but my hope is that he is still at it. Barry, if you're still reading, please email and let me know how you're doing.

- Book excerpt and recipes in The Guardian: How I taught my father to cook

- Miranda on Twitter: @mirandagardiner

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