Ginger cake with ginger buttercream

It was Madame's birthday and we did a special event for people who could walk home. For once we had a party catered. And beautifully done it was by Sharon Hage. But I wanted to make the cake. After all, I can't help myself - meddling in the kitchen.

Madame's favorite flavors in a cake are ginger/spicy - almost ginger bread like. So I scoured recipe sources - including old handwritten recipes from my grandmother and mother.  I came up with this (note, I weigh most ingredients and use metric measurements - except for the spices, and leavening):

Ingredients - Cake

210 gm butter (unsalted, high butterfat - I used Kerry Gold

Small pinch of salt

75 gm Black treacle (like molasses, but not as pungent)

200 gm Dark brown sugar

230 gm Golden Syrup - commonly used in British cooking

4 Large eggs

250 ml whole milk (I made this using 2% and 1/2 and 1/2)

410 gm All purpose flour

4 tsp Double acting baking powder

3 tbsp Ground ginger

3 Cloves - ground fine

1/4 tsp Anise seeds - ground fine

1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp Ground black pepper

200 gm crystallized ginger roughly chopped into bite sized pieces

Ingredients - Ginger Butter Cream

220 gm butter (unsalted, high butterfat)

3 or 4 grains Kosher or sea salt

440 gm Powdered sugar

3 tsp Ground ginger

3 tbsp Liber brand ginger cocktail syrup

Method - Cake

Preheat fan assist oven to 320F (350F if not using fan assiste feature). 

Grease 2 8" cake tins, and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

In a saucier or other suitable saucepan warm the butter, treacle, sugar, salt, golden syrup over low heat until the butter is melted. Leave to cool. 

Meanwhile whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger and other spices. Put the eggs and milk into a large mixing bow and whisk to combine.

Once the pan has cooled, pour the contents into the egg/milk mixture and whisk to combine. When well combined, whisk in the flour. Do this all at once, no need to be overly gareful here.

When the flour is incorporated, stir in the crystallized ginger incorporating it all through the batter.

Divide the batter equally between the cake tins. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the pans (even in my fan assist oven, I do this as a safety measure). Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes - until a toothpick inserted comes out with no crumbs.

Leave to cool in the tins. Turn out onto a cooling rack and level the tops if they are slightly domed.

Method - Butter Cream

Make sure the butter is at cool room temperature (65- 68F). In a stand mixer beat the butter until it is thoroughly soft. Add the salt and powdered sugar a large spoonful at a time. This prevents the sugar from flying everywhere.

Once the sugar is fully incorporated, add the ginger syrup and beat for a little longer.

Assembly

When the cake is thoroughly cold, peel off the parchment paper from the base of each layer. Place the first layer on your stand (or plate, or whatever). Spread a thin layer of the buttercream (about 1/3 of the total buttercream) evenly over the bottom layer. Put the second layer on top, aligning with the bottom layer. Spread another third of the buttercream on the top. And then pipe small rosettes on top using the remaining butter cream. Allow to cool, and serve.

Note: Licking the buttercream bowl and beaters is mandatory once the cake is iced!

Caramelized nectarine, pecan, and Feta salad

Instruction from Madame, "I need a salad to take to a ladies evening, please". These ladies like to eat, so just plucking a few leaves from  our Gardyn (hydroponic veggie grower) and knocking up a qhick vinaigrette wasn't going to cut it. Hence this salad - a way to really boost up the flavor of the nectarines. The basic thought came from this recipe

Ingredients

2 Nectarines, cut in half lengthwise, pitted and then cut into 12 pieces each.

1/4 cup Sherry vinegar

1 t white sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Simple vinaigrette 2 parts good quality oil/1 part suitable vinegar - I used red wine vinegar. Sherry would have been too strong. 

Handful of pecan halves, halved

1/2 jalapeno sliced very thinly

3 T red onion diced finely and soaked in water to remove bitterness

Lettuce greens washed dried, and torn into small, bite sized pieces

3 or 4 oz Feta broken into large pieces (i.e. not crumbled)

Method

Place the sherry vinegar, sugar, salt into a non stick skillet over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and then add the nectarines. Stir to coat. Continue to stir as the pan dries. The nectarines should be coated on all sides. The pan should end up dry and sticky, leaving some light caramelization on the nectarines.

Chill the nectarines.

To serve, place the vinaigrette in the bottom of your serving bowl, and pile the greens on top. Then add all of the rest of the ingredients, except the Feta.. Just before serving toss the sald, bringing the dressing up from the bottom and over the salad. Serve individually with a small block of Feta on top.

Tomato "Tarte Tatin"

 This dish is taken (and only very modeslty adapted from America's Test Kitchen's recipe). It is the first recipe in the linked video here. I used more tomatoes than the recipe called for. And at my local store, the Romas were bigger than Elle used in the video. Also, I used the convection feature of my oven, so the first time the tomatoes were a little overcooked. But I have not made it half a dozen times, and I think it is a keeper.

The whole skillet (handle and all) will go into the oven, so make sure you use an oven safe one. Even though the dish has tomatoes, my carbon steel skillet is sufficiently seasoned that the mixture can go in to it. 

Ingredients

A bit more than 1/3 cup of sherry vinegar

2 T white sugar

1/2 t kosher salt

1/2 t finely, freshly ground black pepper

8 sprigs of thyme, minced very finely. I have also used dried Greek Oregano.

1T butter

2 medium shallots, minced very finely

2 1/2 lbs Roma or plum tomatoes. As Elle says, do not attempt to use beefsteak or other large round varieties

Store bought puff pastry (I use Dufour), rolled/shaped to a 10" round and chilled

Method

With shelf on a middle rackm start the oven to preheat at 400F (conventional, 375F fan assisted). I keep a pizza stone permanently in the oven.

Place the sherry, sugar, salt, pepper into a 10" oven proof skillet. Heat over medium heat to dissolve the sugar and salt. Reduce a bit (Elle says, about the same consistency as maple syrup).

Meanwhile, prep the tomatoes. Core them, cut them in half lenghtwise and remove and discard the jelly and seeds. You should have just the flesh and skin.

Once the sherry has thickened sufficiently, add the butter and allow to dissolve. Then the shallots and thyme. Allow to cook for a few minutes until the shallots have softened a bit.

Put the prepared tomatoes into the pan, and toss to coat. Arrange the tomatoes skin side down in the pan. You want it to be quite crowdwed in there.

Bake the tomatoes in the preheated oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour. At least check at 45 minutes. The tops will have shrivelled and darkened and there should be no liquid. Do be careful when opening the dooor of the oven as there is a lot of steam.

Take the skillet out of the oven. Drape the pastry round over the tomatoes. Dock the pastry with a fork (I didn't do this one time and it way over puffed!)

Place the skillet back in the oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan as much as possible - and bake for 15 more.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool while still in the pan. (Elle says 8 minutes, mine varied from 10 - 20 minutes).

Turn out onto a cutting board or servimg plate. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Steamed White Fish

 Some friends came over for dinner one evening and we co-cooked. He taught me a technique that I have since tried on my own - and I love it. It's a simple one pot dish using your choice of hrbs/spices and a firm non-oily white fish. I used red snapper for this version.

In the original dish we used Asian spicing - fenugreek seed, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. For this version, I used a fennel bulb, garlic, ginger, and aleppo pepper. So this is more about technique than recipe. I used the same technique both times.

Ingredients

1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated

3 cloves of garlic, made into a paste (using a garlic press would be fine)

3 medium shallots, minced very finely

1 fennel bulb diced finely - pieces should be the same size as the shallot

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 lbs plum tomatoes, cored, halced and sliced into strips

1 1/2 lbs white fish, boned and skinned

1 handful of fresh tarragon (divided use)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix together the ginger, garlic, aleppo pepper and a little salt. Rub half of this mixture onto the fish and leave for about 15 minutes.

In a 10" skillet, heat the olive oil, and when hot add the remaining ginger/garlic paste and stir for a minute or so. Add the shallot/fennel and soften for about 5 minutes. Do not allow to brown.

Add the tomatoes  and most of the tarragon to the pan, cover and allow to soften for 10 minutes over low heat. Layer the fish on top of the aromatics. Cover again, and steam on low heat for 8-10 minutes - depending on the size of the fish. 

Serve over rice with tarragon leaves as a garnish, making sure that you scoop up some of the juice from the pan and drizzle over the fish.