saffron almond cakery bakery

i made this recipe tonight for dessert for someone special. it was indeed a cake commensurate with her unique specialness. if you have someone special or are your own special someone, i suggest you get baking. the her in question had two servings as did i.

light, fragrant and has a nice crumb (as they say, those experts in cakery). the addition of the golden raisin syrup is very important and it is where i diverged from the recipe. i used rose water instead of apple juice. it is a curious thing but roses and almonds go together extremely well, at least to my tastes.

was fun as well to finally get a chance to use my small jar of saffron.

for the conversion from metric to US measurements:

4.5 oz of flour = 3/4" cup

same for the ground almonds

6oz of sugar = 1 cup

oh and make a double recipe of the syrup. you'll need it.

a word on quinoa

i've become more interested lately in alternative grains. having made rachel allen's seed bread now many times i've begun amassing a pantry full of millet, amaranth, wheat berries, flax seed and quinoa, along with black sesame seed.

a trip to the co-op the other day added red quinoa into the mix and i decided i'd try out a chocolate quinoa cake recipe i had in my to be made file. the cake does not use any flour, but does use a number of eggs, lots of sugar and lots of chocolate (1 cup of cocoa powder in fact).

here is the result

i covered it in a quick ganache using skim milk and butter (i had no cream on hand). the ganache stuck to the aluminum foil i used to cover the cake last night so it needed a little repair work before serving this afternoon. not altogether photogenic but a good cake overall. dense and moist and a bit gritty due to the quinoa husks. i might sieve the batter next time.

i also i do recommend using the parchment paper liner the recipe calls for. the cake stuck to the bottom of the pan i was using. but ganache hides all sins.

and now a few fun facts about quinoa

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (14% by mass), yet not as high as most beans and legumes. Nutritional evaluations of quinoa indicate that it is a source of complete protein. Furthermore, it is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is also a source of calcium, and thus is useful for vegans and those who are lactose intolerant. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration human occupied spaceflights.

for more on quinoa, consult your local library

do not hurry do not rest

busy day around here as they can often be. woodworking, gardening, baking, more woodworking and here are some of the end results

this is a black sesame seed pear cake. i've been wanting to try this for some time now and after a trip this week to the indian grocery store for a big bag of black sesame seeds, i finally made it. it takes 1/2 cups of seeds that you grind into a smoky gray colored paste which then colors the cake as well. it is a very light, airy cake and rises nicely in the oven. definitely to be made again. does not have a heavy sesame taste either. very fruity, especially since i added extra pear.

and these are some photos of the first piece of furniture i'll be putting in this year's Arbor Aid fundraiser. it is a coffee table completely made out of scraps i had in the woodshop from previous projects. and i think it turned out rather dandy. i am making some benches as well for Arbor Aid. be sure to come to the fundraiser in the fall to see them in person and buy one or two if your home needs something new and handmade. as always nothing is stained or colored here. these are the actual colors of the wood types.

P is for peaches

ripe a couple of weeks early this year. i still have a whole peck (peck of peaches?) too high to reach by conventional means. have to find a fruit harvesting pole right quick (like tomorrow)

don't you wish you lived near me? i'll be making preserves from many of these (time to use those vanilla beans i bought recently) - vanilla peach jam, and maybe a brandied peach jam or maybe a roasted peach jam with brown sugar.

such an amazing growing season this year. high hopes for the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers i have out there, then potatoes, then apples

additions

in addition to the caramels i baked one of these for the party as well

jacques pepin's tarte tatin

apples, dried apricots and dried pears were in the mix. i think if i make this recipe again i'll let the caramel cook longer to darken it up. one thing i really liked about the recipe was the amount of dough to fruit. it comes out to be a rather thin crust and a heaping mound of sweet stuff on top.

slab

back when i was in college, some people i knew were trying to get the word 'slab' to be used by all the cool kids. these were the days before we really knew about memes and virality.

in light of finally finding a decent soft caramel recipe, today i am bringing the word 'slab' back.

this particular slab of sugar, cream, butter, corn syrup and condensed milk is flavored with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. and a generous helping of hawaiian black sea salt on top for good measure.

if you are lucky enough to be going to the pittsburgh food club dinner tonight save room for some.

picard

well SMMSF.b.com has certainly been a tea related blog-stravaganza lately hasn't it?

today the long promised day arrived, as i had some time on my hands finally to concentrate on a batch of Earl Gray Tea ice cream, which i had been wanting to make all week.

the recipe comes from this blog - http://macandcheesereview.blogspot.com/2008/06/earl-grey-ice-cream.html

it is a standard custard style ice cream infused with 5 Earl Gray Tea bags which infused over a period of an hour. i decided to pair it with some pomegranate molasses i bought a few moths ago at one of our middle eastern grocery stores.

and the result: very good

the tea flavor is subtle but there - smoky and sweet and floral - and it offsets nicely with the tarter pomegranate syrup. the tea flavor lingers as more of an aftertaste.

i've made enough to last a few days so you might find me with a spoon in hand if you see me any time soon.


what would i do differently next time? when heating the milk, half and half, and sugar i will put the tea into steep then, rather than waiting until the mixture was pulled off the stove. that should pull out more of tea flavor.

on to the next adventure culinary or otherwise

weekly bread

rachel allen's seed bread is quickly becoming a weekly sunday baking event in my kitchen. i recently purchased one of those new-fangled gold tinted bread pans and it is a definite must have. the bread is great too with irish butter and honey. it is a yeast bread that requires no kneading.

tonight's dessert - peach tart

i think i am calling this one a giant ravoli peach tart for obvious reasons. 3 peach halves, puff pasty sheet folded in half, cinnamon, honey and nutmeg. 400degF for 18 minutes or until delightfully golden

honey and cheese pairing contest winner

you did not think i'd forget to pick a winner tonight did you?

i had a wonderful series of comment entries on favorite cheese and honey memories, so thank you very much to those who participated.

the prize again, for those who have tuned in late - a jar of rose infused honey from roses in my own garden

and now the winner, chosen at random by a duly licensed cheese assistant in philadelphia

drumroll

Amase Levasseur

congratulations to you Amase. I'll be in touch shortly for shipping details.

i'll do another contest soon since they are fun. just as soon as i figure out a good prize

oh and photo credits go to cookworm, who has a very nice eye for composure.

orange yellow

farm market this evening. abundance as far as i could see, but i quickly zoomed in on these golden raspberries and yellow french cherries. the only trouble ... have to do something with them tonight. 3 apricots in my refrigerator, some turbindo sugar and some lemon verbena from my garden later, i decided jam making is in order for the evening.

i think i will call this batch - summer berry sme(a)ry

tomorrow's to do list - make more wheat seed bread.

slower 2

and here is day two's finished ice cream from yesterday's day one post. can't ask for more than this on a summer evening. well ... except for a 2nd bowl

slower

summer is when i do not have to rush to do food photography before 5pm, which is when i lose the outside light that works best with my camera. it is a bit after 8pm here and i present to you a bowl of roasted peaches.

summer is also when it seems i have more time to pursue my self-invented recipes that take more time to create. case in point - and this is where the above image comes into the picture, so to speak - roasted verbena peach ice cream.

this recipe actually began last monday when i happened unexpectedly by a roadside fruit market about an hour from my house. table after table was filled with baskets of peaches, and i bought my bountiful share. i've been eating them all week waiting for them to build in flavor for today's step 2 - the roasting.

in a 400 deg F oven, i roasted 8 peaches, halved, cut side down for 45 minutes in a mixture of rose infused honey, verbena infused organic sugar and fresh lemon verbena from my garden on a baking tray. then let them cool.

a few minutes ago i combined 2 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, 3/4 cup of verbena infused sugar, 3/4 tbl mexican vanilla extract and the syrup from the roasting pan in a heavy bottomed saucepan, along with more fresh verbena to simmer and then steep until the verbena infuses the cream mixture.

this will shortly be mixed with the crushed roasted peaches and allowed to cool and marry flavors overnight.

and tomorrow ... tomorrow i'll make ice cream.

don't forget: my contest to win a jar of rose infused honey from my garden is still ongoing. all you have to do to enter is leave a favorite memory of cheese or honey. i'll pick a winner next week.

tonight's dessert - chocolate cake?

well not really a cake mind you (no flour), more of a decadent ganache.

i saw this recipe on new scandinavian cooking and adapted it, adding half a poached apricot in the center and leaving out the espresso (i am not much for coffee). add some fresh blueberries and mint from the garden and it is a quick dessert to create.

poached apricot chocolate cake

7 oz. dark chocolate, broken into pieces

2oz. butter

2tbl. brandy

2tbl. espresso (optional, can be added if you like coffee with your chocolate)

2 apricots, washed and halved

1/2 cup apple cider

pinch of sugar

4 ramekins

wash the apricots and halve them, removing the stones. in a small saute pan bring 1/2 cup of apple cider to a simmer, adding in 1 tbl of the brandy, and place the apricot halves in, cut side down, to poach in the pan for 5 minutes or so. sprinkle the sugar over top of them as they begin to poach.

meanwhile, in a heavy sauce pan or double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate, butter and brandy until they are silky and mixed. this will take a few minutes so be sure to keep an eye on the chocolate.

when the apricots are beginning to lose their firmness, and most of the liquid has evaporated, transfer them, cut side up, one to each of 4 small ramekins. pour the chocolate mixture over top, nearly to the rim.

cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours until the chocolate firms up.

when it is time for dessert, briefly dunk the bottom of each ramekin in a small bowl of boiling water to loosen the 'cake' from its mold. run a sharp knife around the inside rim of the ramekin and turn each over on to a plate for serving.

can be paired with ripe berries, caramel sauce or a dusting of cocoa powder.

serves 4.

cheese and honey pairings and a new contest

Recently, I decided to do a pairing of cheese and honey since I've been busy making infused honeys this early summer. I invited ms. cookworm to come over and she generously helped lay everything out and then helped me taste it all. We set up a little tasting station out in the garden on one of the tables I built recently and I brought out a number of tiny bowls from my collection for all the honeys to be contained in, and some of my antique spoons for the drizzling.

I had done some reading and research about which cheeses to choose and what honeys they should be paired with. As it ended up, I was surprised by which I liked the best.

our first pairing:

La Tur with rose infused honey

La Tur is a mixed milk cheese from Piedmont, Italy and comes with an interesting curling pattern across its face. It is a mix of cow, sheep and goat milk and is very soft and delicate. The pairing of rose infused honey was definitely the right choice, the floral quality of the roses mingled well with the cheese. This was my 2nd favorite of the testing.

our second pairing:

aged Gouda with rose infused honey

Aged Gouda is similar in texture to a Parmigiano-Reggiano. It is rich and crystalline and has a salty taste as well. It was paired with lavender honey (not infused but the bees were busy in the lavender to make this one). This one was ok but ended up being my least favorite. Perhaps some wine might have brought out something more complex in the taste.

our third pairing:

fresh goat cheese and Chaumes with rosemary infused honey

Chaumes is a strong smelling but mild tasting cheese and is my favorite when I do grilled cheese right. It is a cheese that definitely needs to sit out before eating to let it get properly runny. Goat cheese is, one of my other best liked, and I found a wonderful one at the store which was very creamy and mellow. Both of these were paired with a savory, rosemary infused honey I made last week. This pair turned out to also be a definitely one to remember. I think this time the cheese enhanced the honey instead of the other way round.

our fourth pairing:

Passendale and buckwheat honey

I was a little skeptical at first about this one. Buckwheat honey is really the molasses of honeys. It is deep and strong tasting and very thick. Passendale is a flemish cheese and is similar to Chaumes. It is creamy but firm and has a fairly upfront but not overpowering taste. And together, by far my favorite of the night. The Passendale does something complex to the buckwheat honey, some sympathetic magic. If you get a chance, definitely give it a try.

so on to the contest ....

I am going to give away a jar of the rose infused honey, handcrafted by me from the roses in my garden, to one lucky winner here on the blog. I'll run this contest until July 1st.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post about cheese or honey, a memory of yours or a favorite recipe suggestion. Whatever you'd like to share with everyone. On July 1 I'll randomly pick a winner.

As a brief teaser, this year has been exceptional in my garden due to it being cool and rainy early on in the spring. A vintage year for rose infusing.

tonight's dessert - cherry/strawberry clafoutis

i had some cherries that were starting to see better days and some strawberries so i whipped up a quick clafoutis tonight using a from scratch pancake batter. also featured, since i am often asked what i do with them, rose infused honey, tossed with the fruit and lemon verbena sugar sprinkled over the top after i pulled it out of the oven. this is one of my favorite baking pans by the way, from spain. it is 7" square and just right for smaller portions.

500th blog post

i've been curious about what my 500th blog post would turn out to be about. the wait is now over ...

strawberries

which have been out in the garden, in the heat all day, and now taste like warm strawberry jam.

here is to the next 500 posts.

tonight's dessert - upside down apple chocolate cornbread

like a pineapple upside down cake except there is not any pineapple nor is it a cake. the upside down part is comparatively accurate though. next time a bit more sugar in the cornbread to offset the bitter powdered cocoa.

tonight's dessert -cake

cashew blackberry chocolate cake with a chocolate brandy ganache to be exact. oh and dusted with chocoalte as well.

why cashew, i like cashews, why the other items, why not...?

super easy ganache

9oz good dark chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream

1tbl rum, brandy, or cognac etc..

pour the chocolate and alcohol into a bowl. heat the cream until it begins to boil, being careful not to scald it. then pour the cream on the chocolate and whisk for about 5 minutes until smooth and glossy. let this sit for a few minutes to thicken and pour over whatever you desire. if you refrigerate it it will thicken.

spices

i tried the autumn leaves cookie recipe again today. i like this recipe very much because it only uses 4 ingredients, one of which is whole wheat flour. i decided to spice it up though with vietnamese and ceylon cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and ground cloves and cardamom.