Dessert Whore. Who, Me?

You know when you have one of those days where you look at the fridge/pantry/fruit stand and realize - "Oh crap, I need to use this NOW or we're going to have a serious, stinky problem on our hands?" That was me earlier this week when I realized that all at once I had bananas, yogurt and creme fraiche thisclose to nasty.

Maybe I'm being a bit uninventive, but it seems like you can only go sweet with bananas - bread, cake, pie, cookies. You see where I'm going with this? But if I make one more banana bread or banana muffin recipe, Noah might protest. Then I remembered reading a recipe for a simple yogurt cake in On Rue Tatin and figured it could be modified into a banana yogurt cake. Okay, so it's not so far from banana bread, but at least I could pretend. Of course, I'm a meddler, and I looked up recipes for the traditional French yogurt cake at a few other French blog sites and found one I liked slightly better here.

I love baking, even though I am only moderately good at it. Mostly I blame my spotty oven for my many failed baking endeavors, even when it's clearly not Oven's fault. But I got this one mostly right - next time I might decrease the liquid or increase the flour a bit to compensate for the denseness of the bananas. Still, served warm (or cold, a few days later when the flavors have really set) with a dollop of creme fraiche mixed with cinnamon and vanilla sugar, this cake pretty much rocked.

If you're looking for a nice, moderately sweet cake, this is your girl.

Gâteau au Yaourt

modified from a recipe by Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini

- 2 eggs
- 250ml (1 cup) whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt (if you use two 125ml or 4oz tubs, you can use them to measure out the rest of the ingredients) [*I used half yogurt and half creme fraiche]
- 200g (1 cup) sugar (you can use an empty tub of yogurt and measure the equivalent of 2 yogurt tubs if you used the 125ml or 4oz kind) [*Because of the added banana, I halved the sugar]
- 80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil (or a bit less than 1 yogurt tub) [*With banana, I tend to use less oils/butter so instead I melted 2 tbsp of butter and added it to the mix in place of oil]
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (or 4 yogurt tubs)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste/extract
- 1 tablespoon light rum [*I didn't have it, so I left it out]

- *Additionally, I added: 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg to bring out the flavor of the bananas

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), line the bottom of a round 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil, and rum. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together -- don't overwork the dough. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.

Creme Fraiche Topping (for 2-4 slices)

1/4 c. creme fraiche
1 tbsp. vanilla sugar
a few sprinkles of cinnamon, to taste (about 1/8 tsp)

Mix together, let it sit for a few minutes so the flavors blend, then top the cake with it. You may thin it with a dash of milk if it's too thick for your taste.

A Valentine's Food Extravaganza

This year for Valentine's Day, Noah and I decided to forego the ridiculously overpriced restaurants (yeah, I'm talking to you Sona) in favor of a homemade Valentine's feast. I proposed a fun idea - each of us makes three courses (app/main/dessert) and we end up with a six course tasting menu. Above is the table, set with the first round of dishes.
This homemade pork terrine was my first course. I used a recipe from the Chez Panisse Cafe Menu Book (which I will be posting later). And while it was time intensive, 2-3 days of meat marinating and 2-3 days of terrine resting, it wasn't all that labor-ific. And when the pork guy at your farmer's market doesn't blink when you ask for half a pound of back fat, you know you're good to go. I served it with a crusty sourdough boule, cornichons and Dijon mustard. I like to think it was as good as the one at Le Regalade in Paris.
Noah's dish was this Venetian Shrimp on Polenta dish, with a yummy butter lemon garlic sauce drizzled on top. The recipe came from an old Food + Wine article and was really simple and tasty.

My main course was the above crab duo. Bonus points for creative use of a claw. It's the crazy simple crab cake recipe from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market Cookbook and an equally simple Dungeness crab salad recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. The salad is deconstructed and made up of roasted beets, avocado, watercress, crab and creme fraiche. The crab is dressed in a light dressing of oil, vinegar, lemon juice (which I subbed for the recommended lime juice), shallots and jalapeno. It was brilliant and complimented the crab perfectly.
Noah's main was a roasted game hen with thick bacon slices and roasted grapes. This simple combination kind of blew my mind. In fact, I'm thinking I'll eat the leftovers for lunch in a few minutes... Strangely enough, the recipe came from the same article in Food + Wine as the shrimp polenta, even though Noah had planned them out separately.
Above is the table, set with the second course. We drank an Alsatian Pinot Gris with all four of the dishes. A nice, dry match.
And finally, the dessert courses. I had been obsessing over the Whole Lemon Tart recipe that Deb at Smitten Kitchen posted a week or so back. I decided to use one of the precious Meyer lemons from my tree to make it, and instead of a full sized 9" tart, I went with mini tartlettes. I was kind of worried, having never tarted it up before (that's what she said), but everything turned out really, really well. Noah put together a mini cheese course - St. Andre triple cream and a 6 month aged Manchego. We ate it all, along with a 1999 Veuve Brut Rose champagne that Noah had given to me for Valentine's Day in 2005. So good!

By the end of the three hour meal, we were both stuffed and very, very happy. Who needs $500 dinners when you can make something even better at home for nowhere near that amount?

And did I mention I have enough dough and filling for two or three more tarts hanging out in my freezer right now. Yeah, let's see how long that lasts.

More Crisps and Cobblers

It's almost October! Which is awesome and sad. Halloween and tiny children in costumes and candy = super fun. Cooler weather = pretty nice change, if/when it happens. No more summer fruit = very, very sad.

And so I'm trying to make the best of it by whipping up some desserts that taste like rays of summer sunshine. A week ago I found a bunch of just-on-the-edge-of-overripe plums lingering in the kitchen and decided to turn them into a plum crisp. I got the recipe (to follow) out of one of my go to cookbooks - The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook. It was incredibly easy to assemble, required minimal ingredients and tasted delish. The leftovers were even better when I had them for breakfast the next day.

The crisp topping incorporated some candied ginger, an ingredient I've often turned to when using stone fruit in desserts this summer. It was good, although I think I should've gone with my initial instinct and used some of the almond paste I have in my cupboard instead. I am a slut for anything almond paste/marzipan related.

Check out the finished product:

And then this weekend it was Abby's birthday and I wanted to make her something yummy. She's not a fan of cake-centric desserts so I decided to go with another summer sunshine fruit treat. But I was a little crisp/crumbled out.

Which left cobbler or shortcake as my main options. I didn't have any cream on hand and cream is what makes a good shortcake, IMHO. Hello, cobbler!

For the recipe, I turned to yet another trusty cookbook companion, Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food". I got this one a few months back from KCRW's Cookbook Club. I LOVE IT. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

The recipes are so easy and taste soooooo good. I find her Chez Panisse and even the Chez Panisse Cafe cookbook recipes a little too time consuming, but this book has brilliantly done away with all that fuss (don't get me wrong, fuss is damn tasty, just something I don't have time for most days).

The cobbler ended up being a melange of peaches and nectarines, since I didn't have enough of either alone. I don't think you could really tell, in baked form they taste pretty similar.

The cobbler was consumed during the viewing of an OU football game (don't ask me how we managed to befriend so many Okies, I have no clue). I think the birthday girl (not an OU fan) was pleased. If she wasn't she did a fine job of faking it.

Plum Crisp with Cornmeal Topping

adapted from "The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook" by Amelia Saltsman

3 1/2 pounds plums, one kind or a mixture, halved, pitted and large plums quartered (I sliced them into eighths)

1 to 2 tablespoons honey, warmed

2 tablespoons dessert wine, such as muscat

1 c. flour

2/3 c. cornmeal

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

2 tbsp. chopped, crystallized ginger

grated zest of 1 lemon (I was out of lemons and substituted some dense lemon marmalade that I had)

3/4 c. (12 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (I only used 6 tbsp. and thought it was gobs)

Heavy cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the plum pieces, cut side up, in a shallow 3 qt. baking dish. They should be somewhat vertical and overlapping slightly. (I had smaller pieces and just kinda jumbled it all together). Drizzle honey over the fruit, sprinkle with wine. Bake the fruit for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, salt, granulated and brown sugars, ginger, and lemon zest. Add the butter and work it in with your fingertips, a pastry blender or a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse sand with some larger lumps and bumps. Remove the plums from the oven and sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit. Continue to bake until the fruit is syrupy and the topping and the edges of the fruit are browned, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, accompanied with cream.

My note: I think you could substitute the granulated sugar and some of the butter with 3-4 tbsp. almond paste and make a killer alt. crisp topping.

Peach Cobbler

adapted from "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters

Peel:

4 lbs. ripe peaches

Dip the peaches in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds, then slip off the skins. Cut the peaches in half, remove the pits and cut into 1/3 inch thick slices. There should be about 7 cups of fruit.

Taste and toss with:

1 tbsp. sugar (if needed)

1 1/2 tbsp. flour

I added:

2 tbsp. good balsamic vinegar

Pile the fruit into a 2-qt. baking dish and top with 8 unbaked Cream Biscuits (recipe follows). Bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 to 55 minutes (rotate once or twice while cooking for even browning) or until the cream biscuits are a golden brown and the fruit is bubbling in the dish.

Variations (per Alice):

Use three pounds peaches and toss the slices with 1 or 2 cups raspberries, blackberries or blueberries.

Use white peaches and yellow peaches mixed together, or nectarines.

Serve with whipped cream, a pitcher of cold cream, or with ice cream.

Cream Biscuits

from "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Stir together in a large bowl:

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

4 tsp. sugar (optional)

2 tsp. baking powder

Add:

6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

Cut the butter into the flour with your fingers or a pastry blender until they are the size of small peas. Measure:

3/4 c. heavy cream (I used non-fat milk and it was just fine)

Remove 1 tbsp. and set aside. Lightly stir in the remainder of the cream with a fork until the mixture just comes together (you may need to add more flour, I did). Without overworking it, lightly knead the dough a couple of times in the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured board and roll out about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into eight 1 1/2 inch circles or squares. Reroll the scraps if necessary. Place the circles or squares on top of the peaches and bake following the above instructions. (Note: Once the mixture was formed, I just spooned out nine individual dollops onto the top of the peaches, rather than rolling and cutting it.)

Zucchini & Plum Crumble (or is it a Crisp?)

As I said in the last entry, which confusingly was also the first entry, I have personally created the following slightly kooky recipe to use up excessive amounts of zucchini in new and interesting ways.

I wouldn't replace the traditional summer fruit crumble/crisp recipe with this, but it might be a good one to use with kids who are picky about veggies. Or if you are being attacked by garden zucchini.

I wish I had a picture of the dish, but as noted, there was a lot of wine involved that day...

ZUCCHINI & PLUM CRUMBLE AND/OR CRISP

For the filling:

3 c. zucchini, finely diced or grated

6 plums

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. flour

1 tbsp. butter

salt

For the topping:

1 c. quick cooking oats

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. raisins

1/4 c. sugar, I prefer brown

1/4 c. butter, softened

1 tbsp. pepitas or sunflower seeds (optional)

1. Saute zucchini in the butter and a dash of salt until it has softened. Remove from heat and pat out as much moisture as you can.

2. Combine the zucchini with the rest of the filling ingredients and let it sit for a half an hour or so, until the plums have made things nice and juicy.

3. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit, in case you were wondering) and then set about combining the crumble/crisp ingredients. You should have a loose, chunky dough. If it's too dry add some ice water or a little more butter. If it's too dense and doughy, add a little flour.

4. Place filling in an 8x8 glass baking dish and cover with the topping.

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve hot, with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt if you like that kinda stuff.