Orange Creamsicle Tart

I went away for my semi-annual Quilt Weekends on the Cape with old friends (somewhere around our 25th year.) I don't know if I have ever picked dessert before, to be honest. I usually like to cook brunch or dinner ... or even appetizers. Dessert means two - one for each night. And Friday night's had to be ready to go Friday morning. The Kentucky Bourbon Cake seemed like a natural choice. It actually becomes more delicious with time, I think. For Saturday night's dessert I chose to explore two books by bakers Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito: Baked Explorations (2010) and Baked Elements (2012). Despite some of the professional cook snobbery* (what cookbook doesn't preach to me these days!), I poured through both of them and settled on an Orange Creamsicle Tart in their first book. I wanted to get out of the 'cake thing' that I've been in lately and I have loads of assorted tart pans. I assembled the tart in the kitchen in Falmouth (bringing the tart crust prebaked.) I have to say that I wouldn't make this dessert again. It was yummy but it would need a very hot summer night, I think. It was tart and the crust was crispy like a cookie and actually tasted a bit like Key Lime.

Always leave your ingredients out until they are room temperature.

For the Orange Tart Dough:
Beat 1/2 cup softened butter, 14 cup sugar, zest of one orange (about 2 T) and 14 tsp. salt until light and fluffy.  Add one egg and beat until just incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl, add 1-1/2 cups flour all at once and quickly beat until the dough comes together in a ball.  (I did this by hand because you don't want to overbeat and make a hard crust.)

I then took that ball and picked it up with a hand that was holding the outside of a thin plastic bread bag.  Mold the dough into a flat circle as wide as you can and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.  Freeze for the first ten minutes if you'd like. Remove the dough from the bag and using a floured rolling pin on a floured surface, roll the dough to a circle 1 inch wider than your tart pan.  Press it into place. Place the tart pan into the freezer.

Line the pan with aluminum foil and cover the foil with pie weights or dried beans.  Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil and weights and bake for another 10 minutes.  Transfer it onto a wire rack to cool.

For the Orange Cream Soda Filling:
First, cut 1/2 cup butter into cubes and set aside.  Then zest and juice two lemons and three oranges.

Sprinkle 1-1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin over juice of two lemons (1/4 cup) in a wide bowl.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the juice of 3 large oranges (1 cup) and 1 cup of orange cream soda.  Bring it to a boil and cook until it is reduced by 1/2 (or 1 cup of liquid remaining.)   Turn the heat to low and whisk it to release the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the zest of the two lemons and three oranges, 3 large eggs, 2 egg yolks and 3/4 c. sugar and place in a saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until a candy thermometer reads 180 degrees F - or the curd can easily coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon/gelatin mixture.  Whisk until the gelatin is completely combined.  Pour the liquid through a fine mesh sieve directly onto 1/2 cup. butter that has been cut into cubes.  Whisk this furiously until it has increased a bit in volume.  Cover the top of the curd with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly onto the surface and refrigerate at least four hours.

Beat the curd on high for 5 minutes and spoon it into the tart.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Orange Whipped Topping

Pour 1 cup whipping or heavy cream into a chilled bowl and beat for 1 minute.  Sprinkle with 2 T sugar and 2 T orange cream soda and beat until soft peaks form. Pour or spoon onto tart.

*I use PAM baking spray because it works great for me.  The authors of Baked Explorations and Baked Elements call it 'that horrible baking spray.'  Whatever works.

Kentucky Bourbon Cake

The Kentucky Bourbon cake in Vintage Cakes called to me this week - and we are all happy it did. In fact, I loved it so much that when my daughter, Ciara and I went shopping at Williams-Sonoma last night I just had to buy that 1930s German cake pan to make it once again.  Whatever pan you use, be sure to grease and flour the pan.  I've never failed with Pam Baking Spray.  Begin your project with room temperature ingredients - eggs, butter and buttermilk.  Let them sit out all day if need be.

3 cups (12 ounces) sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter
11/2 cups (101/2 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup (33/4 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup bourbon
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

Mix the flour, baking powder and soda and sea salt together - whisk well and set aside.

Mix the buttermilk and bourbon and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars for 5-7 minutes. Yes, all 5-7 minutes.  It will be the consistency of chocolate chip cookie batter.
Add each egg and beat, one at a time into the batter.

Now, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, alternately, ending with the flour. (Flour, milk, flour, milk, flour, milk, flour.)  Just beat until mixed - don't overbeat the flour!

When there is still white flour around the bowl, shut off beater and continue to mix in gently with a rubber spatula.

Pour into the pan to bake at 350 degrees.  Place in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes; use a wooden skewer and the crumbs should adhere to the skewer.  Check often and don't overbake.

In the meantime, make the glaze using 6 T. of soft unsalted butter, 3/4 c. sugar and 1/4 c. bourbon. Heat until just simmering.

When the pan comes out of the oven, make holes all over cake while it is still hot in the pan.  Pour 3/4 the glaze over the cake and allow it to sink in and cool.

After about 20 minutes, turn the cake out of the pan onto a serving dish.  Pour the rest of the glaze over the cake.

Quinoa and Bean Salad

Adam Ried posted another group of tempting recipes this weekend in the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine. I decided to try the Quinoa with Fava Beans, Radishes, and Feta but I was missing some ingredients.  Like the fava beans, for one!  I improvised and made this delicious replacement as soon as I got home.  We had some leftover tortilla soup and flour tortillas.  We scooped this salad into the tortillas and they were yummy.

I picked up a jar of dried quinoa with spinach and vegetables at TJ Maxx (as everyone knows, my favorite gourmet supply) and made a few cups with one cup of the quinoa and two cups water in the microwave for 20 minutes.  When it was done, I scooped the cooked quinoa into a cool bowl and went about chopping up the rest of the ingredients I had on hand. I added freshly ground sea salt and pepper to the quinoa and  the rest of the ingredients.

1 medium shallot minced
2T fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 each red, yellow and orange peppers, diced
1 ripe tomato, chopped

Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 T. olive oil

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles

Top with 2 T fresh parsley, chopped

Adam Ried's recipe calls for radishes, chives, garlic and fava beans (and no peppers, garbanzo or butter beans, cilantro, tomato, or parsley!)  All the same, it was delicious slightly warm. I'll try the Boston Globe version another day.

QUINOA WITH FAVA BEANS, RADISHES, AND FETA

Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, April 7, 2013 (Adam Ried)

Makes about 8 cups

 Salt and pepper

4 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled (about 4 cups)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed in a strainer under cool running water

10 medium radishes, quartered (about 1 cup)

3½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup crumbled mild feta

½ cup snipped fresh chives

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and the fava beans and cook to soften the skins, about 2½ minutes. With a slotted spoon or skimmer, remove the beans to a medium bowl (do not drain the pot) and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, slip off the skin from each bean; discard the skins and set the beans aside (you should have about 2 cups).

Return the water in the pot to boiling, add the quinoa, cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes, and drain in a strainer. Add about 2 inches of water to the pot, return it to medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Set the strainer over (but not touching) the simmering water, cover the quinoa with a clean, folded kitchen towel, place the pan lid over the strainer, and steam until the quinoa is tender and dry, about 10 minutes. Spread the quinoa on a large rimmed baking sheet to cool, then fluff it with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, dissolve 2 teaspoons salt in 1 quart of very cold water. Add the radishes and soak while preparing the dressing, then drain, rinse, and dry well.

In a large bowl, mix the lemon juice, shallot, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Vigorously whisk in the oil. Add the quinoa, fava beans, and radishes, and, using a flexible spatula, fold from the bottom up to distribute the dressing and coat the quinoa and vegetables. Add the feta and most of the chives, and fold to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt, if necessary, and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with the remaining chives and serve at once.

Vintage Cakes

Cakes are in and I'm having fun baking them. Gone are the oh-so-easy Bundt cakes and the Cake Doctor cakes. The more complicated, the better.

Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson has cakes to keep me busy for awhile.

This weekend I made the Honey Bee Cake to celebrate the coming spring and arrival of the bees. I used a large shallow one-layer pan (12") with rounded edges. The recipe actually calls for a 9-inch springform but anything would work. Cut parchment paper to line the pan and spray the paper and sides with baking spray.

Sift together 2-1/4 cups flour, 2 tsps. baking powder and 1 tsp fine sea salt and make sure they are well-mixed.

Combine 3/4 c. plus 2 T unsalted butter at room temperature, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup honey and 2 tsp. vanilla and blend. Continue to cream on higher and higher speeds until it is light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Blend in 2 eggs (at room temperature) and 1 egg yolk (at room temperature) slowly and one at a time.

On low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with 3/4 c. buttermilk (at room temperature.) Mix until just barely blended and don't overbeat! Finish by hand with a rubber spatula.

Spread the thick batter evenly into the prepared pan. Rap the pan firmly on the counter to release any air bubbles.

Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes. The cake will turn a deep golden color and be firm to the touch. Test with a wooden skewer.

Make a glaze with 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup unsalted butter. Bring the mixture just to a simmer and leave on the stove to keep warm.
 

Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes all over the top with a wooden skewer. Pour half of the glaze over the cake and then sprinkle with a generous heaping of 1/2 cup of toasted almonds. Pour of the rest of the glaze over the almonds. Place the cake back in the center of the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool for an hour and serve warm. I served it in thin wedges (1-1/2 inch) topped with vanilla ice cream.  Colin ate a large wedge (5 inches or more) the next day and devoured it!

I'm tempted to buy the honeycomb cake pan and forgo the almonds. I would remove the cake from the pan and place it on a cookie sheet and top the honeycomb bottom with glaze and return to the oven serving bottom side up!

Lori Draper is making The Classic - birthday cake with fudge frosting.  I'm going to try the Butterscotch Cream Roll-Up soon because I've bought the book and won't have to rely on the library's copy!

Not Without Salt

It's been a hectic few years with four children married, the sale of two homes and the purchase of two others. Since last summer we've been overly preoccupied with organizing our new lives (and grandson Colin's) in both towns - Norwood and Marion. We've miraculously managed to try some great recipes with family and friends and I've expanded my culinary tricks to include layered cakes and new ideas for quick brunches. At the same time I've finally found that blending a careful combination of knitting, cooking, baking, puzzles, sleep, baths, movies and visiting with family and friends on the weekends in Marion is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Now that the months have passed and we're moving into a second summer in our new homes, it's time to add walks to work or to the water and bike rides along the southern Massachusetts coast or around the town of Norwood. Those weekends spent in our Marion home will get me through the hectic weeks in Norwood with late nights spent at work and long days with multiple interruptions and crises. In addition, Gerry will be restarting his two hives in Marion and starting another at the Norwood Community Garden where we will have a vegetable and herb plot.

We all know there isn't enough time in our lives to read the books on our nightstand let along the blogs that dot the Internet like stars in the sky. The Internet is endless, time is not infinite and I, for one, am realistic about it. I simply don't subscribe to blogs because I can't. When was the last time I listened to my favorite podcast, Books on the Nightstand? Six long months. When was the last time I read an entire online issue of American Libraries Online? At least two months. I'm not even going to think about the books or professional journals I haven't finished reading.

But today I found a blog that I couldn't resist. Recipes and terrific photographs (reminds me of my daughter Beth's!) and I wanted to hoard some of the recipes where I can find them. Which ... is here.

Grilled Soft Cheese with Thyme Honey and Figs seems like a great way to use our fresh summer honey from our hives. Grilled Cheese with Mascarpone and Chocolate. is another I can't wait to try some rainy summer brunch with friends. Next, of course, is homemade Mascarpone cheese which is a recipe you'll need and some terrific ideas for using it in place of ice cream or clotted cream. Broiled peaches with Mascarpone. Asparagus Tart. Yum. The last link I've included here is for a Bee's Knees cocktail that might become a favorite this summer using homemade honey syrup.

Potato Soup with Blue Cheese and Bacon

When I told my co-worker April that we were making this for dinner her comment was "Sounds like a lot of calories!" How true. But we once again found the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine irresistible.

The Elemental Irish-Style Potato Soup recipe makes 3 quarts and suggests using homemade chicken broth.

3 T butter
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/2 pounds leeks, about three medium with white and light green parts halved lengthwise and thinly sliced.*

1-1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh parsley
salt and pepper
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3/4 c. half and half
2 T snipped fresh chives, for garnish

*Note to Gerry: Never use the tough, dark green part of the leek!

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add onion, leeks, thyme, bay leaves, parsley, and 1 tsp. salt and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 min. Adjust the heat to medium-low, cover and continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables have released their juices, about 8 min. Add the broth and potatoes, adjust heat to medium-high, and bring liquid to a boil. Adjust heat to very low, cover and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, about 25 min. Remove the bay leaves and parsley.

With an immersion blender, puree the mixture until smooth and uniform. If necessary, return the mixture to the pot, add half and half, 1-1/2 tsp. salt and pepper to taste. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the soup is heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with chives.

For the Potato Soup with Blue Cheese and Bacon
you'll need 1-1/2 c. crumbled Gorgonzola (5 oz.)and 6 oz bacon.

Follow the directions for the Elemental Irish-Style Potato Soup making the following changes:

Fry 6 oz. bacon until lightly browned about 9 minutes. Drain and crumble. Use 1-1/2 T of the bacon fat and 1-1/2 T butter to cook the leeks and onion.

Reduce the thyme to 1 tsp., the bay leaves to 1 and the half-and-half to 1/2 cup.

After the simmering, remove the bay leaf and parsley and add 1-1/4 c. Gorgonzola and melt. Blend with immersion blender. Garnish with 1/4 c. Gorgonzola, bacon and chives.

Southern Coconut Layer Cake

February 8 is our 2nd Annual Volunteer Appreciation Tea at the library. 15 of our staff have signed up to make sweets and I've decided to make two cakes this year.

I've owned Cakewalk: Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen* by Robin Gourley for years now (probably since it was published in 1994) and I've never made a recipe yet although I've loved thumbing through the book.  The book is irresistibly lovely with illustrations instead of photographs. It also has great nostalgia about Robin's own family growing up in the south and loving dessert. Robin writes that the cake was one of her father's favorites and if he 'had too much fried chicken to accommodate that second slice comfortably, he'd loosen his belt a notch or two.'
*cookbook available through Minuteman Library Network, as all of our recipes must come from one that you can check out!

Cake
3 large eggs, separated into whites and yolks
10 T. unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. coconut milk
2 cups sifted, self-rising cake flour*

(*If you can't find self-rising cake flour, add 1 T. baking powder and 1 tsp. salt to 2 cups cake flour and sift together.) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-in cake pans. (I used three 8" cake pans lined with parchment sprayed with PAM baking spray.)

In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. (The butter needs to be pretty warm - 70 degree room temperature.)  Add egg yolks and beat well.

Combine the coconut milk and vanilla and add to the creamed butter/sugar/egg mixture alternately with the flour until the milk and flour are fully combined. Fold in a third of the eggs whites and then the remaining whites.

Divide the batter and bake for 20-25 min. or until a cake pick comes out clean.
(Bake completely but do not overbake.)

Glaze
1/2 c. coconut milk
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine in a saucepan and stir constantly over med. high heat until the sugar is melted. Add vanilla.
(*I'm not sure I melted the sugar.  Online instructions really call for melting sugar into caramel - 320 degrees.  I stirred the milk and sugar until it just reached a boil.)

Starting with the layers top-side-down on the racks, pierce the layers all over with a toothpick. Brush bottoms and sides with glaze. Repeat after a few minutes.

Turn one layer onto the serving place and invert the second layer onto the first one's rack. Pierce tops with toothpick. Brush glaze over the tops and sides. Repeat after a few minutes until all the glaze has been used. Let sit 30 min.

Frosting
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1 T light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
2 large egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
2 cups grated unsweetened coconut

Combine all ingredients except coconut in the top of a double boiler; beat with mixer to combine. Place frosting over rapidly boiling water and beat on high speed until soft peaks form (3-5 min.) Pour frosting into a large bowl and beat until stiff enough to spread on the cake. Generously frost the bottom layer and sprinkle with 1/2 c. of the coconut. Place the top layer on the bottom layer and frost the top and sides. Sprinkle on the rest of the coconut.