Back to Reality

With a jolt. What I didn’t mention here was that my father-in-law’s wife passed away the week before we left for Spain, necessitating a quick trip to NYC before our departure. We returned to find Henry’s father in the hospital; sadly he passed away last week, so we headed to NYC yet once again. While we are saddened by these losses, we take comfort in the fact that they both had very long and satisfying lives.

Now you know why the hiatus lasted longer than two weeks. I’ll try to get back on track…

The athletes.  Yeah, right.

As you know, we went to Spain to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. (I’ve no idea how we’ve made it this long without killing each other but somehow we continue to have a wonderful marriage and we still actually like each other). The first week was spent hiking in La Costa Brava and the Pyrenees (can you say “unrelenting rocks and elevations?”) and the second was in Barcelona where we undid the benefits of all that exercise by eating way too much foie gras. Needless to say, we had a glorious time. See for yourself.

We hiked here

And here!

Gaudi.  Genius.

La Sagrada Familia.  Still unfinished.

And the food.  Oh, the food!  Foie gras, razor clams, Jamon Iberico, gazpacho, paella and lots and lots of Cava!

The color of the figs was unreal.  Local cheese didn't hurt, either.

Local honey tasting in the Pyrenees

Goat Cheese "Mata" thickened with artichoke flower

Straight from the chef's garden

Tomato bread and Jamon Iberico

Breaking the fast (I'm not kidding) with foie gras and egg

at Bar Quim in La Boqueria

Naturally I returned home full of resolve to hone my Catalan cooking skills. I unearthed my old copy of Colman Andrews’ Catalan Cuisine and set to work. About that time, a friend showed up with a stash of locally grown apples. It looked to me like Pomes Farcides amb Crema Catalana (Apples Stuffed with Catalan “Burnt Cream”) was in order.

I made the recipe. Since I now have to work even harder at becoming a skinny cook, I made it as written (serving 4), but gave half of it away when our 12-year-old next-door neighbor unexpectedly showed up. This kid is wise beyond his years and he has a pretty sophisticated palate to boot. He’s picky, too. I wondered what he would think of this not-too-sweet dessert.

I didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes after he left with the apples, he was back. He was beaming, but chose his words carefully – “the custard was runny, so it made a good sauce. The baked apple was juicy and sweet, but also crunchy. It was perfect.”

Alrighty, then. I take that as high praise. Apples are in season now, so it’s a good time to make this.  Hope you enjoy it as much as Gabriel did!

Pomes Farcides amb Crema Catalana  (Apples Stuffed with Catalan "Burnt Cream") from Colman Andrews

4 large baking apples

1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided

Crema Catalana (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

Core the apples, being careful not to cut through the bottoms, then pare a 1-inch strip around the top of each.  Place apples in a lightly buttered baking dish just large enough to hold them.

Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and add 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar.  Stir to dissolve, then spoon liquid over the apples.

Bake uncovered, for 30 - 40 minutes or until apples are tender, basting occasionally..  Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, continuing to baste occasionally.

Fill each apple with the Crema Catalana, then sprinkle the tops with the remaining sugar.  Use a blow torch (or broiler) to caramelize.  Cool slightly before serving.

Yield:  4 servings

For the Crema Catalana:

2 cups (1 pint) half-and-half

Peel of 1/2 lemon

1 small cinnamon stick (3-inches)

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

Heat the half-and-half, lemon peel and cinnamon stick in a saucepan over medium heat until just boiling, then remove from heat immediately.  Allow to cool, then discard lemon peel and cinnamon stick.

Beat the egg yoks and sugar until thick.  Temper with 1/4 cup of the half-and-half mixture, then blend in the rest.  Transfer mixture to a heave-bottomed saucepan.

Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  This will take approximately 20 minutes.  When thickened, remove to a bowl and cool slightly.  Press plastic wrap directly over the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until ready to use.

Yield:  approximately 2 1/2 cups

Yet again, I have a few comments.  So, what else is new?

*  This recipe makes more Crema than you need.  You could cut it in half (1 1/2 egg yolks, anyone?) or you could just make the recipe as written and enjoy the spoils.  A spoonful here, a spoonful there - when consumed in such small amounts, calories don't count, right?

*  If you are looking for an active vacation, look no further than Backroads.  This is the second trip we have taken with them and they are just flat-out stellar.  I fell in love with our guides, Vincent and Chema.

http://www.backroads.com/

*  Do you need a travel agent?  If so, I have "the travel agent extraordinaire."  Send me a message if you want her info and I will happily share it with you.  Doreen, you rock!

*  Two major cakes are in my immediate future.  One is a wedding cake and one is a BIG birthday cake.  Oy veh!  Once I recover, I will give you all of the dirty details.

Four Words

No mas jamon Iberico! For that matter, no more foie gras either. I have OD'd on both since I've been in Spain. A recent dinner entree was a hunk of foie gras the size of a small filet mignon. It's served here with just about anything you can think of ... fried eggs, risotto, steak, salad and probably even cardboard. Oh, my arteries!

Headed home tomorrow and not a moment too soon. If I was something less than a skinny cook before, I am even less so now. (Can you say "porker?")

Nonetheless, I am returning with some great ideas and lots of inspiration. See you in a few days after I get over my jet lag and utter exhaustion from a week of vigorous mountain hiking.

Hasta luega! Headed out for one last dinner...

Two Words

Iberian ham. I have only been in Barcelona for a few short hours, but the stuff is EVERYWHERE. Think I!m glad I had that cholesterol test before we embarked upon this trip.

Will keep you updated on all of our "porky pleasures!"

Cheers!

Off, Off and Away

No, I am not abandoning you.  I'm just taking a two-week hiatus from this blog.

There is good reason for this.  Henry and I are about to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary (how did I get to be this old, anyway and how in the hell have we managed to stay married for this long?) so we decided to do it up right.

We are headed to Spain, first to hike for a week in the Pyrenees, then another week in Barcelona and Madrid.  I'm thinking there is a lot of pork in my future.

Can we afford this?  No.  Should we be doing this right now, given all of the family drama that is currently going on?  No.  Are we doing it anyway?  Yep!

We thought about canceling this trip, more than once.  At the end of the day, we decided we should go for it while we are still "young" enough and healthy enough to trek through the Pyrenees. 

 I promise I will come back with lots of food ideas and recipes.

Let Them Eat Cake

I should probably just give it up and go into the cake-making business. You may remember all those birthday cakes I’ve posted about here, as well as that wedding cake I made in July. Now it seems I will be doing another one (in NYC this time) as well as a cake for a friend’s big birthday in November.

The irony is that I just had a birthday and guess what my birthday cake was? Zip, zero, nada, that’s what. Guess it’s time for a pity party!

Well ... maybe not. Even though a cake wasn’t involved, I had a lovely day. We were in NYC, the weather was good (pre-tropical storm Lee) so we embarked upon one of our walks. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, came back via the Manhattan Bridge, then walked through the Lower East Side, Soho and the West Village before hitting the Meat-Packing District and the High Line.  My kind of day.

Brooklyn Bridge, here we come!

Back over the Manhattan Bridge

The High Line

(Don't miss it if you find yourself in NYC)

Dinner was with Andy and his lovely girlfriend Jana (yep, sorry girls - he's taken) at Marea on Central Park South. If you’re in NYC, check it out. Here’s the link:

http://marea-nyc.com/

So I won’t hand you any complaints about the lack of a birthday cake. Instead, I’ll give you the recipes for two cakes I made recently. Nope, they’re not fancy, decorated or even particularly pretty. They're just plain good!

The first is one of those retro recipes I love so much.  I was perusing my files and came across that old Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe.  (It was right next to the recipe for Better Than Sex Cake, haha!)  Are any of you old enough to remember it?  It took 2nd Place in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off, it was baked in a bundt pan and it was submitted by a woman named Ella Helfrich.  In her original recipe she used a cake mix, but the point was that the cake had a soft fudgy center which was kind of like eating underbaked brownie batter.  Who wouldn't like that?

I decided to wallow in the past and make the thing.  Sans cake mix, of course.  Turns out there's a good reason why it won an award.  I took it to a dinner party and it was a hit.  Here's the recipe:

TUNNEL OF FUDGE CAKE (adapted from Pillsbury)

For the cake:
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt (I used kosher)
1 ¾ cups unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 ¼ cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
¾ cup cocoa powder (I used Droste)
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup fluted bundt pan or tube pan.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, salt and butter. Cream well until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl several times. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.Add vanilla. Gradually add the 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar and blend well. By hand, stir in flour and cocoa powder, then stir in walnuts.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 to 50 minutes until top is set and edges just start to pull away from sides of pan. Cool on a baking rack for 1 ½ hours, then invert onto serving plate. Cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:
¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder (again, I used Droste)
4 to 6 teaspoons milk or half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, adding enough milk to reach desired drizzling consistency. Spoon over top of cake, allowing glaze to run down sides.

Serves 12 - 16

*  This is a very heavy dough.  Use a strong wooden spoon or heavy spatula when you get to the mixing-by-hand part.  Don't use a spatual with a plastic handle or it will break.  Trust me, I know about this.
 
*  Spooning the batter into the pan isn't as easy as it sounds.  It doesn't spoon easily.  Use an ice cream scoop instead.

*  You may be like me and omit nuts from most recipes.  Don't be tempted to do that here.  For whatever reason, the walnuts are crucial to the success of this recipe.  Just do it.

*  As evidence that I really am a dinosaur, I have not one, but three bundt pans.  Two of them are almost as ancient as I am.  The third (silicone) is the one I opted to use for this recipe.

The original

The non-stick

The up-to-date (if you can say that about a bundt pan) silicone

The next recipe comes from Gale Gand, whom I believe is the dessert goddess of our century (more about that in another post).  For now, just be content with her sumptuous recipe for this cake:

Chocolate Almond Upside-Down Cake

For the topping:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup honey
1 ½ cups sliced almonds, toasted

Generously grease a 10-inch round cake pan. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

To make the topping, pour the melted butter into the cake pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and drizzle with the honey. Scatter the almonds over evenly. Set aside.

For the cake:
1 ¼ cups cake flour
½ cup cocoa powder (I used Droste)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (I used kosher)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 eggs, room temperature (I used extra-large)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat again until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl several times. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add a third of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Mix in half of the buttermilk, then another third of the dry ingredients before adding the remaining buttermilk and the vanilla. Finish with the remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until set in the center, about 25 to 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately run a knife around edges to loosen. Invert pan onto a serving platter. Let it sit with the pan still on top for 5 minutes so the caramel can soak into the cake before removing the pan. If the topping sticks to the pan, warm the pan surface over a low burner or in the oven briefly to loosen the caramel, then pour it over the cake. Let cool completely before serving.

Cut into wedges with a serrated knife.

Serves 10 - 12

 

A friend (who is diabetic) asked me to post some recipes he could actually make.  Oops, sorry DM - I don't think these qualify!  I'll work on your request, though....

Happy Chocolate Cake, y'all.  I'm headed to the gym now!