Italian Plum Torte

One of my professional colleagues and Facebook Friends posted a terrific photo and recipe for Italian Plum Torte. Italian plums (prunes fruit) are abundant in September - even in New England. Thanks Christi and April for the inspiration!

I decided I wanted to make Marian Burros' famous torte, too! (NYT has some great articles about the recipe and its history.)  The farmstand I was referred to was too far away.  I didn't know that the local grocery stores sold the plums and was thrilled to pick up two bags.

The torte is delicious. I had made a dried plum cake a few years ago that everyone loved. Why had it taken so long to make the fresh version?

You should have a 9-inch or a 10-inch cake pan. But, I imagine any low ceramic dish would do. I preferred to use parchment paper, turn the torte over onto a plate, and then turn it back onto the cake plate under my cake dome. So I used the cake pan.

First, slice the plums in half and remove the pit. The torte calls for 24 halves, but I think I used 30. The size will make a difference. 

Cream 3/4 or 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 c. butter at room temperature. I always over-cream these days, until the sugar and butter are really incorporated. Add 2 eggs and cream a bit more. Add 1 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, and a pinch of salt and mix well. It's that easy.

Spoon the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Place the plums skin-side up on top of the batter, covering it. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester is batter-free.

The NYT article suggests adaptions you might make with spices, extracts and flours. Go for it! 

Cardamom-Coriander Syrup (for Finnish Nail cocktail)

Beth gave me a great book from the Portland Alpine & Hunt Club in Portland, ME. One of their specialty cocktails is the Finnish Nail (do you see what they did there?)

First, you make the cardamom-coriander syrup:

Take two broken-up cinnamon sticks, 1-1/2 tsp. coriander seeds, 1 T black cardamom pods roughly-broken up (NOT green cardamom), and toast in a 450-degree oven on parchment paper. See my photo. The PA&HC book says about 8 minutes. NOT. After 6, they burned. I went for 4 minutes.

When they are still warm, blend in a spice blender with 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes until evenly ground. Add 4 ounces of high-proof rum. Blend quickly (you may lose some of the rum out of the spice blender. Just replace it in the next step.

Combine 15 oz. hot water (very hot, but not boiling) and 3/4 c. finely granulated sugar. Stir to dissolve.

Use a coffee filter in a sieve or strainer over the sugar water and let the spice/rum mixture filter through, spreading the spices to let all the water go through slowly. 

Transfer to a clean bottle and label. Refrigerate for up to two months, shaking with each use.

For the drink, combine:

2 ounces blended Scotch

1/2 ounce Drambuie 

1/2 ounce syrup

Add ice to the glass and stir 20-30 seconds. Strain into a double Old Fashioned glass with a large ice cube. 

Lemon peel and garnish

One-Pan Pasta

"All you need is one pan and eight ingredients, and this delicious dinner is on the table in 20 minutes." Martha Stewart

We've been making this one-pot pasta since COVID, when I began buying large bags of fresh basil at our local specialty farm stand/gourmet store here in Marion (Fieldstone.) I have a bumper crop of basil this year that I need to use up before we leave for Florida in September. 

This is adapted from Martha Stewart, and you can find plenty of adaptations on cooking sites. 

Photo snip from Chew Out Loud dot com

This is, simply, the fastest, healthiest, most delicious meal.

If you are using ground beef or sausage, cook it first and remove from the pan, and set it aside.

Place the oil at the bottom of a large skillet. (If you have meat drippings, don't use the oil.) Saute the garlic for a minute or so until fragrant.

Place the pasta in the middle of the pan and arrange handfuls of the onion, peppers, tomatoes, and basil. Add the liquid (all broth, all water, or a combination of all - 1/2 cup white wine if preferred.) Add red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Simmer until the pasta is the desired consistency. Don't overcook. Mix all in the pan, adding meat, and serve with grated parmesan and sprigs of basil. 

Ingredients:

12 ounces pasta (dry, not fresh) and I like bucatini, long fusilli or curly thin lasagna noodles

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 cups sliced multi-colored peppers

2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 cup fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish

2 T. olive oil

Salt and pepper

4-1/2 cups liquid (broth, bone broth, and white wine or water)

Freshly grated parmesan for serving

Cooked ground beef or cooked, sliced sausage

Pasta with Scallops and Fresh Garden Vegetables

I love to hunt for interesting pastas from TJ MAXX stores - Marshall's, Maxs and Home Goods. They are a bargain compared to the gourmet prices on imported Italian pastas. 

Tonight we had Barilotti with scallops and fresh vegetables. I searched our frig and garden and came up with a 23-ingredient dish! It was easy to cook, despite all those ingredients. (WHAT IS BARILOTTI? It's a hearty pasta made of semolina flour and water. Shaped like an empty pea pod, it's a perfect form for cradling sauce, according to Ciao Ciao Bambina.)

Ingredients: Sea scallops, pasta, Manchego cheese, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, celery salt, olive oil, butter, bacon, spinach, basil, chives, shallots, roasted garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, shishito peppers, olives, cream, white wine, egg,

First, I cooked and drained about 8 oz. of the Barilotti pasta. Interestingly, I couldn't find Barilotti in my pasta encyclopedia. The $6.00 bag cost me $3.99 at Home Goods. It's a pasta that creates a nice pocket for a rich creamy pasta sauce. I cooked it just past al dente so as not to have any crunchiness. I drained it and set it aside. 

I gathered olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, butter, heavy cream, white wine, 1/4 c. sliced olives,  and one egg. Grated some Manchego cheese (or Parmesan or other hard cheeses.)

While I was cooking the pasta, I chopped my veggies:

• 1 ripe tomato, diced
• 10 stems of fresh chives, sliced 1/8 
• 10 sprigs of Globe Basil (less of sweet basil leaves)
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 1 T. roasted garlic
• 2 shishito peppers or mixture of bell peppers to make 1/2 cup thinly sliced
• 1/2 yellow and 1/2 zucchini squash, sliced vertically and sliced into1/4 in. slices

I tossed the zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, shallot and garlic with olive oil and 1/4 tsp. celery salt, salt and pepper and roast in 400 degree oven about 10 min. until roasted (not crisp, but not too soft.)

In a hot skillet, I cooked 4 slices bacon diced.  When cooked, I tossed the pasta in the bacon and remove it to to another pot to stay warm. I added a few large handfuls of fresh spinach leaves and olives. Covered to keep warm.

In the empty skillet, I added a T butter to the bacon grease left in the pan and placed about 20 washed and dried sea scallops, seasoned with salt and pepper. Quickly sauteed so they were seared. 

I added 1/4 c. white wine and cooked for a scant minute. Removed scallops to the pot with pasta and bacon and spinach. Added 1 Tsp. red pepper flakes to the pot. Covered again to keep warm and wilt the spinach. 

To the white wine and scallop liquid, I added 2 T. butter and 1/4 c. heavy cream. Cooked about 1 minute and added diced tomato and basil leaves. Slowly whisked in 1 egg, whipped with a fork. Turned off heat. This was nice and creamy. Added in the roasted vegetables. Stirred.

Poured this mixture over the pasta/spinach/bacon/scallops in the pot. Mixed quickly. Plated and garnished with cheese and chives and some basil leaves. 

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

I needed a quick cake for dessert a few Friday nights ago and found this one on the Dance Around the Kitchen blog. I adapted it somewhat because I didn't have lemon pudding. Well, I did, but didn't see it in the pantry!

It was delicious and moist (as all cake mix Bundts are).

Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare your Bundt pan, making sure you get the spray into every nook and cranny. 

Cake ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix (I used one with pudding in the mix)

1 3.4 oz box instant lemon pudding mix (I added some powdered lemon juice instead and used vanilla pudding)

1 c sour cream

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/2 c butter melted

4 eggs

1/2 c water (you could add Limoncello!)

In a large bowl (or stand mixer), beat together the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, melted butter, eggs and water. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed, stopping halfway through to scrape down the sides of the bowl; set aside.

1 c fresh  blueberries and 1 tbsp flour. In a small bowl, add the blueberries and sprinkle the flour over them. Gently stir to coat the blueberries.

Pour the blueberries into the cake batter and gently fold them in. You might want to pour some right into the Bundt pan so that you have some on the top of the cake. 

Pour the batter into a well-greased bundt pan.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. (A few moist crumbs are okay, but it shouldn't be doughy).

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan onto a cooling rack.

Glaze

Mix 1 1/2 c powdered sugar and 2-3 tbsp lemon juice (I used lemon paste because I LOVE lemon.) Dizzle on cake when it is cool. 

If you want to make it spectacular, top with candied lemon peel.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Spicy, Sweet Peach Barbecue Sauce

 

Gerry found a recipe for Blackberry Barbecue Sauce and I knew that some ripe peaches would make another great sauce for chicken or pork ribs. You’ll want ripe, sweet peaches. I used several online recipes for inspiration. 

5 large peaches, peeled and quartered

1 large sweet onion, cut into large thick slices

1T roasted garlic (optional)

½ c. white wine or cooking wine

1 habanero pepper, diced

1 t. mustard seeds

Salt and pepper

Cook the onion in a deep saucepan until softened and add the peaches and pepper and salt and pepper

Cook on low heat about ½ hour until softened to use an immersion blender to blend into a fine-to chunky sauce.  I take a long piece of aluminum foil and fold it in thirds and cut a hole in the center to fit the immersion blender. This stops hot droplets of liquid.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until it is a reduced, rich sauce (20 min. to 1 hour). Taste for salt and pepper.

¾ c. brown sugar

¼ c. honey

1 T. Worcestershire Sauce

2 t. ground coriander

2 t. smoked paprika

½ c. Peach balsamic vinegar

½ c. Balsamic vinegar (add a few T. Fig or Pear-induced balsamic)

¼ c. Bourbon

Few dashes Liquid Smoke

Star Anise Ice Cream

I made the Star Anise Ice Cream using the base from Jeni's ice cream cookbook. I love star anise and add it to anything Indian, including all rices as they are cooking.

I added the star anise to the cooked custard as it cooked. Next time, I will definitely add it to the custard as it is cooking and then strain to remove. I will also add a tsp. of 5 Spice powder (Chinese Five-Spice is traditionally cinnamon, anise, cloves, anise seed, ginger and fennel seed) to the custard as it cools.

I sprinkled the ice cream scoops with Five-Spice/Sugar and topped with a star anise.