Blood Orange Cake

We were invited for dinner by some friends who are lactose intolerant. So the trick was to come up with a dessert with no dairy whatsoever. The result was this delicious blood orange cake, inspired by Jamie Oliver.
To further cement the choice, we were at a local business walkabout last Saturday and came across an olive oil store called 1899. It's in Deep Ellum, in Dallas. There they had a blood orange infused olive oil. So all the auguries were in the right place for an experiment. Fortunately these are good friends and experimentation is encouraged.
Madame pronounced that "we can serve this to people", so we know that it was good!

Ingredients

5 Blood oranges (any orange will do, but blood oranges are pretty) - divided use, zest and juice

3/4 cup honey (divided use) - warmed to ensure that it is runny

7 Fluid ounces good quality olive oil (We used blood orange infused oil, unflavored would be fine too)

3 eggs

2/3 cups stone ground cornmeal (medium grind)

2 cups ground almonds

Method - Cake

Prepare an 8" spring form pan by spraying the sides with cooking spray and placing a parchment round in the bottom. Preheat the oven to 325F.

Whisk together the olive oil and 5 oz of the warmed honey until well combined. Whisk in the eggs and continue beating for 2 minutes. Add the zest of 3 oranges. Fold in the almonds, cornmeal and juice of 2 oranges.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for around 40 minutes - until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning the cake out of the pan gently - after loosening the sides with an offset spatula or paring knife..

Method - Sauce

Stir the remaining honey and orange juice together in a small saucier. Bring to the boil and reduce to about 1/2 the volume.

Method - Serving

I remembered how good orange juice and bourbon are together. So when I saw that our hosts had some of the excellent Blanton's Original Bourbon, a small glass of that, together with the cake with warmed sauce poured over seemed like the right thing to do.

It was.

Buttermilk pie

A year ago, a very good friend told me that he wanted a buttermilk pie for Thanksgiving. He had always enjoyed them as a child, but hadn't had one in years. So I made one to take to his family in 2018. He said that it reminded him of the buttermilk pies of his youth.

This year, we were with some other friends and again, I took a buttermilk pie, and again it was very well received. So, with thanks to Stella Parks (aka Bravetart) and Debbie Lang-Caldwell here's what I did.

Of course, I made the crust - but I could have bought one. I so like the easy crust that Bravetart has in her book and here. I strongly recommend that you go the serious eats site and follow her recipe and technique.

I also did something a little unconventional - I didn't fully blind bake the crust. I gave it a start, but knowing how long the pie would bake, I didn't want to risk the edges of the crust burning. The filling recipe (below) calls for an unbaked crust, but that did leave a bit of a soggy bottom. And we all know that soggy bottoms are quite undesirable. So I compromised and blind baked the crust for 20 minutes.

And most approaches don't call for browned butter, but I have recently found that browning the butter first adds some extra flavor depth.

Ingredients - Filling

1/2 cup butter (browned)

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup buttermilk

3T Flour

1t Vanilla

1/4 t nutmeg finely grated

Method

Heat the oven to 400F. Brown the butter carefully over medium heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile in a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar, and then add the buttermilk and browned butter, mix gently and add the flour, vanilla and nutmeg.

Pour into the 9" shell and bake for 10 minutes at 400F. Reduce the heat to 350F and bake for a further 40 or so minutes - until a skewer comes out clean. I recommend checking after around 35 minutes to make sure you don't overbake.

Allow to cool and serve at room temperature. 

This will keep for 3 or 4 days (maybe longer, but I have never had one that survived that long)

Trying Eggs in the Circulator

America's Test Kitchen showed a different way of "poaching" eggs recently. They refer to it as Sous Vide (but that is technically incorrect because there is no vacuum involved). The link here (at around 20 minutes in) shows how it is done. I won't go into the details here, but encourage you to look at the video. I had no expectation that the method would work. But I  was wrong. Not only did it work, it was spectacuar.

This dish was intended to show off the technique, and to make the eggs an integral part of a light supper.

Ingredients (For 2 people)

4 Large eggs at refrigerator temperature.

3 oz Soba noodles.

1 lb Asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces.

1T vegetable oil

2 oz dried exotic mushrooms (reconstittued, reserve the liquid), chopped finely

1T sesame oil

4T soy sauce

1t hot sauce (Habanero vodka in our case).

Salt to taste

Method

Start the eggs in the circulator at 167F for 11 minutes. Meanwhile bring a pot of water bring to the boil and cook the soba noodles according to the directions. Drain the noodles  and leave to stay warm in the pot. 

While the noodles are cooking, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over high heat until smoking. Cook the asparagus stalks over high heat for 1 minute. Add the asparagus tips and cook for a minute longer. 

Add the mushrooms. Mix the sesame oil, soy sauce, and hot sauce together with 2 or 3T of the reserved mushroom liquid. Add the mixed liquids to the skillet and cover to steam for 2 minutes. Toss in the soba noodles and mix thoroughly.

Divide the noodle mixture into 2 bowls. Break the eggs over the dish and serve immediately.

pita

An easy and impressive bread. There are a few tricks, but overall pretty straightforward. I use a 66% hydration dough for this - and much more yeast than normal (almost double). Mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, olive oil and sugar (could use honey). Baked on my primo at an insanely high temperature.

Note, there is no reason to use active dry yeast in particular. It's what I use because I use a lot and can buy it by the jar. Of course if you are using active dry yeast, make sure to wake it up in water with a little sugar.

The sugar in this recipe is indepenent of the yeast. It helps browning a bit and brings out the nuttiness in the wholewheat dough.

Ingredients (6 pitas)

400 g AP Flour
100 g whole wheat flour
8 g salt (1.6% - bakers percentage)
12 g white granulated sugar (2.4% - bakers percentage)
333 g warmish water (about 90F) (66.6% - bakers percentage)
5 g active dry yeast (1% - baker's percentage)
30g extra virgin olive oil (6% - baker's percentage).

Method

Mix together the flours and salt in the bowl of the stand mixture. Dissolve the sugar in the water. If using active dry yeast add to the sugar water and leave to stand for 10 minutes or so, If using instant yeast, you can add it directly to the flour/salt in the bowl.

When you are ready to make the dough, use the dough hook of the stand mixer, turn the mixer to its lowest setting and add the water mixture in a thin stream. When half the water is added, pour in the olive oil.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough has become a stretchy mass. It won't be very sticky (relatively low hydration). Once it is kneaded, turn onto the counter (no need for flour or ooil here), and stretch it a few times before forming a ball.

Place a little oil into a bowl large enough to hold the risen dough. Add the dough ball and roll it around do it is lightly coated in oil.

Cover (I use a shower cap for this purpose) and leave to rise - until doubled. About 60 - 90 minutes depending on temperature.

When risen, put the dough onto the counter and cut into 6 equal pieces. They should weigh between 145g and 150 g. Roll these pieces into tight balls and leave to relax for about 15 minutes, covered with a floured towel.

Light the grill (if using) and get it really hot. My thermometer registered 650F. Or heat the oven to 500F. Make sure you have a baking stone on the grill or in the oven.

Roll each ball into a round - 1/4" thick. I find it handy to use spacers on the rolling pin to make sure that the rolling is even. 

The rolled out dough is sturdy enough to handle, so gently place one or 2 at a time onto the baking stone. If using the grill, close the lid. The individual pieces will take 3 - 5 minutes to bake.

Resist the urge to peek - at least for the first 3 minutes. The individual rounds should puff up - the layers separating. Turn them over when done on the bottom to get some color onto the top.

Cover with a towel and keep warm in a 200F oven. (That's one reason I cook them on the grill!)

Killer Brownies - Thanks Bravetart

I have mentioned Stella Parks before. She has an amazing cookbook entitled "Bravetart"where she meticulously describes how to cook amazing desserts. I have made several batches - with some slight variations - of her brownies.  The link to the original is underlined.

Since then I have tweaked a couple of things - I almost can't cook without our "secret ingredient" aka vodka infused with hot peppers. So of course some of that went into the mixture. Because the recipes are so precise, I was worried about the liquid balance. But no need to worry.

The most recent batch was a command performance from Madame. She wanted to reward her amazing students for all of their hard work. We also took a batch to the dentist - perhaps for the dental team to drum up business? And finally I took some into work for an early meeting. Bottom line, all recipients gobbled them up.

Anyhow, to the business end of this recipe.

Ingredients

12 oz unsalted  butter

6 oz chopped 72% Cacao chocolate (I used Guittard)

16 oz granulated sugar

2 1/2 oz light brown sugar

1 1/2 t kosher salt

6 large eggs (cold)

2T Cayenne flavored vodka 

1 1/2 t Espresso powder

4 1/2 oz AP Flour

4 oz Dutch Process Cocoa Powder (I used Hershey's on this occasion, but do make sure it is the Dutch Process kind)

Method

Line an 8x13 aluminum pan with foil, leaving a sling over the long sides. Grease the aluminum foil  using either butter or spray.

Turn the oven on to 350F with a shelf in the middle.

Brown the butter in a stainless saucier. This should be done over low heat. As the butter melts, it will foam and sizzle for a bit. Once the foaming subsides, the butter will start to brown very quickly. Don't take your eyes off it! Once the butter has browned, remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until melted and incorporated.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugars, salt eggs, "secret ingredient" and whisk on medium-high speed until thick and fluffy. This will take a while. Usually about 8-10 minutes.

While this is whisking, sift the flour/cocoa powder together in a separate bowl. 

Once the egg/sugar mixture is fluffy, pour in the browned butter/chocolate mixture and mix on low. When the butter is all incorporated, add the flour/cocoa mixture and mix roughly with the whisk.

When mixed, remove the bowl, mix with a spatula ensuring that any flour is pulled up from the bottom into the mixture

When the batter is fully mixed, pour into the prepared pan, put into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes - checking from 25 minutes on. The internal temperature should be at least 205.

Once cooked, remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool on the counter/wire rack before turning the brownies out. 

Trim to square off the corners of the cake. 

Using a sharp knife cut into 1 1/2" squares. I dip the knife in hot water between each cut to make the process go more smoothly.

Chicken with grapes, garlic, vermouth and tarragon

I have stolen this shamelessly from Jamie Oliver. It is such a good dish that I have now made it 4 or 5 times. It gets better with each showing. Big advantages are:

• Small number of ingredients
• 1 pot
• oven does most of the work so no need to monitor closely

For 4 people I cook 6 chicken pieces. The downside os that you need a very large saute pan or skillet. And the pan must be ovenproof.

Ingredients

2 T Olive oil (divided use)

6 Whole chicken legs (Thigh and drumstick together)

1 garlic bulb, cloves individually split out, squashed but not peeled

1 lb mixed grapes

1 1/2 cups sweet vermouth (red, Italian)

1/4 cup loosely packed tarragon leaves

Salt/pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F. One shelf upper middle rack

In a large saute pan over medium heat, heat the oil until it is shimmering. Meanwhile lightly oil the chicken pieces all over. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken pieces and rub them in with the oil.

Place the chicken pieces, skin side down, into the skillet. Make sure that the is plenty of separation of the pieces. Turn the heat up a little, and cook the chicken skin side down  until the skin has taken on a golden brown color. Turn the chicken over and continue to cook for a few (3-5) minutes, Add the garlic cloves, making sure that each one is in contact with the bottom of the pan - i.e. between the chicken pieces. This is critical. If you don't the garlic will be raw tasting and bitter at the end.

Cook the garlic and chicken for a minute or 2 longer. Add the grapes to the pan, followed by the vermouth.

Coarsely chop the tarragon leaves.

Place the uncovered saute pan into the preheated oven. Cook for about 30-45 minutes. Being dark meat, they don't dry out quickly, so if they go a little long it doesn't matter. Once it is cooked, sprinkle the coarsely chopped tarragon over the dish, and stir so that it is mostly mixed in. You could add a few drops of sherry vinegar if you wanted some extra acidity.

We served it with salt baked potatoes. The chicken on the plate, crispy skin up, potatoes on the side with sauce poured over the chicken and potatoes. Garnish with the remaining tarragon.

Pinot noir wines are the best choice here.

Tomatoes, mushrooms, charred romaine - oh my!

On a trip around our local "Central Market" grocery store the other day, we had a snack of mushrooms/tomatoes/parmesan, etc. It was delicious. Having just seen this post from Dan Souza  I was intrigued with an approach to cooking mushrooms. So merging the two ideas, I came up with this. Well, not quite. Normally I would serve this on grilled bread - as a bruschetta, but for last night I wanted something lighter, so I served it almost as a dressing for a charred Romaine lettuce heart. It came out really well, I am glad to say.

Ingredients

2T high quality olive oil (divided use)

1 1/2 lbs mixed cherry tomatoes, halved

8 oz mixed mushrooms (I used white buttons, and creminis), thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

3 oz grated parmesan

Some hot pepper flavor (I used vodka infused with cayenne), but pepper flakes would work

1 bunch parsley, chopped fine

4T sherry vinegar (divided use)

4t high quality olive oil for plate decoration

salt/pepper to taste

3 hearts of Romaine, cut into 3 inch lengths, using only the trimmed root, halved lengthwise

1T Olive oil 

Coarse sea salt for crunch

Method

Make the topping first:

In a skillet heat 1 T of the olive oil. When shimmering, add the halved tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes - until soft and the juices have run out. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until fragrant. The liquid stops the garlic from burning, but you do want to give it time to cook through and remove the bitterness. Add in the parmesan, stirring to stop it clumping. Then the hot pepper and allow to cook down some more. Finally add the parsley and 1 T of the sherry vinegar. Turn off heat and allow to come to room temp. Check the seasoning and add salt/pepper if needed.

Now for the lettuce:

Heat a lightly oiled griddle (ridged side up if you have that option) until it is just smoking. While the griddle is heating, oil the Romaine halves on the flat sides, season lightly with salt and pepper. When the griddle is hot, sear the romaine hearts, ut side down until well charred and (if using a ridged griddle) with definite markings.

Pu the grilled romaine, flat, charred side up onto a small plate. Top lightly with the tomato miture. Drizzle oil and vinegar over the topping and onto the plate. Grind some black pepper onto the topping and the plate. Finish with coarse sea salt.

We served this with the excellent, "On the White Keys" - the 2011 from Arietta 

Testing creativity

Madame is . just back from Europe and decided to have a creative time at the supermarket. Masses of green beans, red peppers, ginger showed up. So what to do?

Looking in the fridge, I found some pepitas, shallots, sesame oil, soy sauce. And then there was sherry in the wine cellar. So it was off the stove.

Madame pronounced it, "We can serve this to people", so I guess it turned out OK.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1 1/2 lbs green beans, top, tailed and cut into 1" lengths

1 T bacon fat (or olive oil if a vegan option is desired)

1" knob of ginger finely grated

1 small shallot, finely minced

1 red pepper diced into 1/4" dice

3T soy sauce

1T toasted sesame oil

2T dry sherry

Some hot sauce or hot peppers (to taste)

Method

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sherry, and hot sauce/peppers).

Meanwhile toast the pepitas in a hot skillet (about 5 minutes, tossing frequently). Salt the pepitas and set aside. Wipe the pan and add the fat (or oil). When the water has come to the boil, steam the beans for a few minutes (until they are cooked, but still crunchy). When the fat/oil is hot, add the  ginger, shallots and red peppers. Soften the shallots/ginger/red pepper gently. 

When the beans are cooked, empty the water from the pot, place the beans into the pot. Add the pepitas and immediately toss the beans with the soy/sesame/sherry/pepper mixture.

Serve immediately in a heated bowl with a little crunchy salt and freshly ground pepper.

Spring time pea soup - chilled

Updated, Below.

As with many new recipes, I start with posts from Serious Eats and work onward from there. This soup was a hit at a party. I tweaked it a bit from the original recipe. I used 1/2 stock and 1/2 water because I feared that the home made chicken stock would be overpowering. Also, since we were serving it chilled, I brightened it up with a little sherry vinegar, and added a touch of finishing olive oil.
I had never seen the technique of simmering the lemon peel in water a couple of times to remove some bitterness.
The soup itself was silky smooth and delicious. Yes it did get the "We can serve this to people" accolade. Just as well because we did!

Ingredients

Rind of 1 small lemon, with all the pith removed

1 T butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 shallot, minced

Kosher salt - to taste Added at various stages

14 oz frrozen small peas

1 cup chicken stock + 1 cup water

A bunch of mint, chopped

3 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, finely grated

Pepper - to taste

Coarse sea salt

A couple of T high quality extra virgin olive oil (a finishing oil, not an everyday cooking variety)

A couple of T sherry vinegar 

Method

In a small pan, cover the lemon rind with water, bring to the boil, pour off the water and repeat. Chop the rinds thinly and reserve for later use.

Melt the butter in a large pan/saucier and add the onions and shallots. Add a good pinch of salt and cook slowly until translucent. 5+ minutes.

Add the peas to the pan (If frozen, no need to thaw). Stir for a minute or so to cook them slightly. Add the lemon rinds and stock. Bring to a boil, and immediately remove from the heat. Add the mint.

Add the mixture to your blender. Blend until silky smooth. Add the grated cheese, and blend again, making sure that the cheese is completely incorporated.

Season to taste with kosher salt/pepper. Remember that sea salt will be added at the end, so you may want it slightly under salted.

Chill overnight.

Serving

Ladle the soup into chilled bowls. Add some coarse sea salt crystals, and drizzle with the olive oil/vinegar. Crusty bread and a little butter helped it along.We served it with a Condrieu.

Update April 8, 2023

We made this again, for a dinner party. This time we omitted the Parmegiano Reggiano, used olive oil instead of butter, and used more mint. Also we scaled it up to 2x this recipe. It was intended to serve 10 people. 

It was passed through a fine meshed strainer before being served with croutons, garnished with a mint sprig and a dehydrated lemon slice. The usual coarse salt and sherry vinegar were in evidence too.

Confit tomatoes

I attended a sourdough class at Kuluntu in Dallas over the weekend. As well as it being an absorbing, informative and fun class, Stephanie also served lunch. One of the accompaniments was "confit tomatoes". Why had I never thought of this? Absolutely delicious - almost candy like. Sweet, tart, pungent, .... So, of course I had to give it a go. I used cherry tomatoes and olive oil. And did everything by instinct.

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes

1 shallot sliced thinly

Enough olive oil (I didn't see any need for extra virgin) to cover the tomatoes. Looked to be about 1 1/2 cups.

Salt, to taste

Method

Put the tomatoes into an acid resistant saucepan (I used a small stainless steel saucier). Add the sliced shallots and mix around with your fingers. Cover the tomatoes and shallots with the olive oil and start to heat slowly. When the temperature of the oil reaches 195, turn it way down and hold the mixture between 190 and 195 for 90 minutes.

Strain the oil off. Salt the tomatoes and transfer to a dish to cool. Refrigerate. They will keep for a few days, but they won't last that long!

12 minutes 5 ingredients one pot

Well it's not exactly 5 ingredients because one of the ingredients is tapenade (which itself has 5 ingredients - but who doesn't have tapenade on hand?!).

I needed a dish that would cook quickly and easily for a dinner event at home. I wanted something that paired with a very nice Condrieu (the L'Enfer that we bought at Veritas in Dallas).

Condrieu is a Northern Rhone wine made entirely from Viognier. It pairs nicely with fish, but has enough body to stand up to bold flavors too. The recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe that uses firm white fish. We used scallops instead - sourced from the always excellent TJ's Fish Market in Dallas.

Ingredients (US measures)

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed in several changes of water until the water runs clear

2 1/4 cups water (I don't count this is an ingredient!)

6 T black olive tapenade (divided use)

4 large scallops, each cut into 6 individual pieces

2 dozen cherry tomatoes, halved

20 basil leaves, chiffonade (divided use)

Salt/pepper to taste (I don't count these either!). Be careful with the salt - depends on how salty the tapenade is.

Method

Put the rice and water into a large skillet (I used carbon steel) that has a lid. Cover, bring to the boil and cook gently, over low heat for 4 minutes. Stir in 1/2 the tapenade. Add the tomatoes, cover again and cook gently for a further 4 minutes. Add the scallops and 1/2 of the basil, stir, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes. Off heat ad the rest of the tapenade, stir gently, top with the remaining basil and serve.

Yeah, it is actually more than 12 minutes end to end. You do have to cut the tomatoes, chiffonade the basil and cut the scallops. But it really isn't much work - and it comes out well too.

Candied bacon

It started innocently enough. We had been at a party on Saturday evening where someone had made this amazing candied bacon. I had never had candied bacon, so became intrigued. Wondering how to make something so delicious.

It didn't take much fiddling to hit upon a tasty recipe. It could have used a bit more heat (it had a little habanero chili vodka in it - it could have used more.  It clearly needed a little acid too, so I used rice wine vinegar, but I suspect that apple cider vinegar might have been nice too.

It was pronounced good by those who tried it, so I must have done something right.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs (24 oz) thick cut bacon (streaky for English readers).

1/3 Cup packed dark brown sugar

3T Vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar because it is quite mild)

4T Maple Syrup (any quality)

A few drops of "hot sauce" to taste. We used habanero vodka

Several grinds of black pepper

Method

Set the oven rack to the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 (350 fan assisted).  Meanwhile lay the bacon strips out on a rack over a foil lined sheet pan. At this stage it doesn't matter if the bacon strips overlap a bit since the fat will render and the bacon will shrink.

Once the oven has reached temperature, slide the sheet pan/rack/bacon onto the middle shelf. Leave to render for 10 minutes.

While the bacon is rendering, mix the remaining ingredients, dissolving the sugar into the syrup and vinegar.

After 10 minutes, slide the pan out of the oven, flip the bacon over and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

remove the pan and brush the sugar/syrup mixture lightly over the bacon. You will be repeating this activity 4 times (5 applications in total).

Return the pan to the oven and bake for 7 minutes

Repeat the brushing/baking - again 7 minutes

Remove the pan from the oven, and flip the bacon over. Brush the sugar/syrup lightly over the bacon and return to the oven for 7 minutes.

Repeat t he removal/brushing and again return for 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven, flip the bacon and use the last remaining sugar/syrup to brush onto the bacon. Turn the oven up 25 degrees, and leave the bacon in the oven for a further 7 minutes (or until it seems done to your taste). It will not become crispy until it is overcooked.

Remove from the oven, allowing to cool on the rack. Once cool, place in an air tight container.