What I've Been Cooking

I thought I'd be very clever and post a picture of my belly under this header. And then I realized it would scare you all from ever having children. Needless to say, I look like I could birth my sister right about now. Yes, the 6 month pregnant one. T minus 2 weeks, maybe less if Little Miss B decides to be kind to her mama.

Yesterday was a busy day for visitors, so I finally got around to baking something. Our friends Joree and Lee came over for brunch, with their 2 girls, 17 mos and almost 4 years old. Who kindly showed us all the babyproofing we'll need to do over the coming years. Who knew that despite a houseful of toys at this point, the big blue Thermador range knobs would be the most desirable thing in the house to play wiith?

This is all an aside, as they didn't actually get to eat my baked good (as I made it in the afternoon). But for brunch I had a choose-your-own omelette station and it was really fun. I had chopped some different meats & cold cuts, some herbs, caramelized some onions, and had a couple different cheese options. I had 2 pans going simultaneously, so we could all sit down at once, and it worked out great. Served the eggies with some homefries I made with thyme & onions, and some toast with fresh tomatoes, and it was lovely (and EASY!)

Anyhoo, to get to the baking part. Joyce, Ed, Nat, Vlad and Joey were coming over for dinner. They all claimed they wanted to see the nursery, but I think they were really coming over to try and help me rally through this home stretch-- patience has never been one of my virtues. Shocking, I know. Really, pretend you are surprised.

Chris was bbqing, so I decided to go back to a standby for dessert inspiration-- our good ol' Cooking for Mr. Latte. I remembered the almond cake that Amanda had raved about, and I think Jer has tried and said would be good. I wanted something non-chocolate to at least pretend to be lighter, and something that would pair nicely with all the great summer fruit out there. So Mr. Latte's favorite Almond Cake is what I made. pg 70-71 I believe (I'll transcribe the recipe tomorrow when I'm near the book)



It was really easy to make, I'd forgotten how easy batter cakes were. All in the KitchenAid (in stages), then pour into the springform, bake for an hour, and voila. It came out deliciously. Lovely almond flavor and texture, great rise, and paired beautifully with fruit (we had blueberries and peaches from that day's farmers market-- yum). I really wanted to pour some Armagnac over the top of it for an extra dazzle of flavor (maybe even Armagnac whipped cream for super indulgence), but I figured Little Miss B might not appreciate me getting her drunk-- so I'll save that for next time. And there will be a next time as everyone agreed this was definitely a keeper.



But for now, I'm taking the rest to work with me, as if I don't she really is going to be 10 lbs by the time I birth her...

Kaoru: Sweet Corn & Tomato Salad

I went to the farmer's market yesterday during lunchtime. While I went to just pick up some fruit, I walked away with mission figs, yellow nectarines, corn, tomatoes & a bunch of Bells of Ireland (for my office). I could have purchased more had I had more arms to carry everything!

Inspired by Jer's tomato & corn posting, I decided to combine the two into a summer salad last night. First, remove kernels off 4 corn cobs.



Lightly saute in butter and olive oil for 3-4 minutes. You don't want to overdo it (or you end up with mushy corn).



Remove from pan. Add ~1 basket of cherry tomatoes (sliced in half), 1/2 finely chopped red onion, and season with S&P, olive oil & healthy drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Enjoy - it's so sweet & refreshing it will blow your mind away!

Note, you'll have plenty of leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day.

Summer Fun at Chinos

For the first time this summer, Pete and I are down in San Diego getting to actually spend some time in our place. To be back in my own kitchen has been pure bliss. I went to Chino's Family Farm in Del Mar last week and picked up some incredible heirloom tomatoes and fresh corn. They charge an arm and a leg but it is so worth it. The caprese salad we made with the tomatoes and basil was so incredibly good that Nelson, Pete and I had to stop after every bite just to say "Oh my gosh, this is so good." ps -- as a side note, instead of regular balsamic vinegar I use balsamic "syrup" on my caprese salads. It is must thicker and has more concentrated flavor. Plus, because of its consistency it holds its shape/design when you dress your salad so it always looks really fabulous.



For the corn I shucked all the ears and made fresh corn chowder soup (using Ina Garten's recipe from the first Barefoot Contessa cookbook). It was the most amazing corn chowder soup I had ever made (and I've made gallons of this soup over the years). It was the corn. Something about Chino's corn is unlike anything I have ever tasted.

Summer Fruits - Experimenting with Tarts

Having been totally inspired by all your lovely cobblers, I bought some beautiful fresh peaches on Friday to get ready for my own. After scanning all my cookbooks, I couldn't help but come back to pies and tarts - peach pie especially has always been my favorite. Last fall I was on a mission to perfect a classic French Tarte Tatin, and have to admit didn't have much success. The apples didn't hold their shape well and the whole deal fell apart when I went to serve it. Now I got to thinking, why not try again with these nice looking peaches? And make them in single servings to avoid the mess of cutting it up. I modified the classic recipe slightly, cooking the fruit in the oven instead of all in the same pan on the stove. Here is the result, which turned out completely delicious - even better than the apple.

The recipe is very straightforward:

Individual Peach Tartes Tatin

6 medium to large peaches, should be ripe but still firm

3/4 cup brown (or white) sugar

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons butterjuice of half a lemon

pate brisee (recipe follows)

whipping cream

dash almond extract

Muffin tin for 6 large muffins

Preheat the oven to 375 degree. Prep the muffin tin by greasing each cup well with butter, and then place in the refrigerator to chill. Pit and quarter the peachs, sprinkle with lemon juice, and set aside. Do not peel the peaches - keeping the skin on helps them hold their shape.

In a small non-stick sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil and continue at high heat, without stirring, for about 10 minutes. A thick syrup will form. Remove from heat, and stir in the butter and remaining lemon juice.

Poor the hot syrup into the prepared muffin tins, dividing equally into each cup. Position the peach quarters, skin side down into the cups. Each cup should hold four quarters (one entire peach). Put the tin in the oven to cook the peaches, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the pastry:

Pate Brisee (half batch)

1-1/4 cups flour

8 tablespoons butter, cold

1/8 teaspoon salt

ice water

Combine flour, salt and butter in a food processer. Add ice water, one teaspoon at a time, until dough comes together into a single ball. Remove dough and press into a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness or less, and cut into 4-inch rounds. Wrap and keep remaining dough.When the peaches are done, remove the pan from the oven and cover each cup with a pastry round. Press the dough down on top of the peaches. It won't be completely flat, but do the best you can.

Return to the oven and bake until crust turns pale brown, about 30 minutes. After it comes out of the oven, let the tartes stand in the pan for 15-20 minutes until slightly cooled. Then comes the fun part. Run a knife around the edges of each tarte to make sure everything is loose from the pan. Place a cookie sheet on top of the pan and flip the whole operation over smoothly. Bang hard on the tops of the muffin tins so that the tartes slide out onto the cookie sheet. All six tartes should pop out, crust side down, onto the cookie sheet.

Whip the cream, and add a bit of the almond extract, and use this to garnish each tarte.

With the leftover crust, you can pre-pake in a small tart pan, and make any number of creations, such as this little tomato one. Super simple, just heirloom tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and grated lemon rind, over goat cheese.

Sorry about the delay in posting! I made this crisp a couple weeks back, inspired by all the stand-over-the-sink-its-so-juicy stonefruit at the market these days. It was the dessert to a lovely summer dinner we had outside on our deck, with our friends Knut & Jessie. We made grilled chicken tacos, and Jer's Jicama Salad. The salad brings me right back to sitting in Jer's amazing outdoor living room in Sayulita, watching the sun set over the Pacific. The simple concoction of jicama, red onions, cilantro, lime juice and honey is the perfect balance of crunchy, sour, sweet, and herby (is that a word?)

Anyhow, back to the crisp. I used plums and nectarines for the base, and just tossed them with a bit of sugar and a squueze of lemon juice. I threw in some tapioca pearls per Jer's suggestion. Didn't bother peeling them or anything, as I'm too lazy these days, and I actually kinda like the bitter undernotes the skin gives to the dish.

For the topping, for some reason I was inspired to try some cornmeal. Perhaps because I'd just had a delicious cornmeal berry scone a few days back? Anyhow, I threw equal parts flour and cornmeal, 1/2 parts of brown and white sugar, and very cold butter into the food processor. Few whirs, and poured right on top.


My review: the fruit/inside was delicious. And while the topping came out pretty good, I think some work needs to be done before I'd declare it a winner. The flavor was nice, just texturally it needed some work. First thing I think I'd do differently would be to not use the food processor, and to use my hands, like you girls did. I think the blade got the topping too fine, too sand like, instead of delicious little crunchy clumps. Second thing is I think I'd use cake flour instead of all purpose, as I'm told it helps with getting some rise and texture to the topping. But I'm not writing off the cornmeal-- it actually gave it a nice flavor component and texture... perhaps I'll just a different kind though (I used medium grind, perhaps I'll use a finer grind next time...) Either way, it was delicious, particularly with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream! (what isn't?)



Happy cooking!