Mod Meals on Mendenhall

You know the father character in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding that believes that Windex cane cure anything? I find it so funny that almost every paternal figure identifies with a cure-all. For my grandfather it’s Noxzema. We practically bathed in the stuff as kids. He claimed it would cure any wound, burn or bug bite – not to mention blemish! I’m not sure it worked but I have very few scares from my days spent in his home on the Withlachochee River.  This Thanksgiving my Dad may have found his cure-all in edible format - golden syrup. The man would not stop talking about it! He recently saw a television show hosted by Alton Brown about golden syrup and, thank god, found a jar at the Harris Teeter or I’m not sure what we would have done!

Golden syrup is basically a sweetener like corn syrup but made from cane sugar. It’s a great replacement for honey  – although I’m not sure why anyone would want to substitute honey. The best way to describe the flavor difference is by tasting an American Coca-Cola and a Mexican Coca-Cola – you’ll be able to tell that the Mexican variety tastes so much better and natural with cane sugar. Try it, or the golden syrup, it does make a difference.

We tested the Golden Syrup in a recipe for a Chocolate Pecan Pie. I adjusted the recipe to use dark chocolate, golden syrup and sea salt. It’s basically a flourless brownie in a pie shell and that is nothing to complain about.  Try it, use the golden syrup and maybe you’ll be cured of something (?) that ails you?

Salted Dark Chocolate and Pecan Pie 

• 1 pie crust – either homemade or store-bought
• 1 and 1/2 cups pecans, toasted
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 ounces dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• sea salt

Bake your pie shell in advance. Heat the oven to 375. Melt butter and chocolate together. Add brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla. Stir to combine and then add toasted pecans. Pour into the pie shell and bake for about an hour or until set. Once set, remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt.

As we lose some of my favorite summer vegetables this time of year, fruit really comes to front stage. North Carolina is full of pears and apples right now. As you have picked up, I love adding them to both salads, savory dishes, mixed on cheese trays and – in desserts! I saw this recipe for Pear Upside-Down Cake in Bon Appetit and thought it would be the perfect finale to my Westerwood Welcome dinner. It was seasonal yet a bit different from your average dessert – I love the crunchy cornbread texture that the polenta adds to the cake. It is more hearty and rustic than  traditional – which is why it compliments a casual Sunday supper so perfectly.

PS: It is also very good for breakfast the day after!

Pear Upside-Down Cake, from Bon Appetit November 2011 

• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided, plus more
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 2 medium pears (about 1 pound)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• Whipped cream or caramel gelato (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter pan; line bottom with a parchment-paper round. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high. Boil syrup without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until sugar turns dark amber, 8-10 minutes. Remove pan from heat; add 1 tablespoon butter (caramel will bubble vigorously) and whisk until smooth. Pour caramel into prepared cake pan and swirl to coat bottom.

Peel, halve, and core the pears. Place flat on a work surface and cut lengthwise into 1/8″-thick slices. Layer slices over caramel, flat side down, overlapping as needed.

Mix remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 8 tablespoons butter, and vanilla in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks one at a time, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping bowl. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites on low speed in a medium bowl until frothy. Increase the speed to medium and continue to beat until whites form soft peaks. Fold about 1/4 of the whites into cake batter. Add in remaining whites; gently fold just to blend. Pour batter over pears in pan; smooth top.

Bake cake, rotating pan halfway through, until top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with a few small moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake.

I had great fun adapting my mother’s flan recipe into a seasonal treat for my Fall Off Mendenhall Cooking Class. Pumpkin was an easy addition and I crafted the spices from other pumpkin flavored fall treats. This process was also was fun because I had to test the recipe a couple of times to make sure it was perfect. I was excited to share the recipe and show how easy it is to make a flan with my class. My new friend Meghann took the challenge of flipping the flan in class. She had a crowd watching and recieved great applause when the flan came out perfectly!  That is brave!

This dessert is perfect for this time of year, very easy and great for advance dinner party preparation.

Pumpkin Flan

• 6 eggs
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 can pumpkin puree
• handful of salted pumpkin seeds

Beat 6 eggs in one bowl. In another bowl, combine 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 can of water (use the sweetened condensed can for measuring) and half of a can of pumpkin puree.  Strain the eggs into the milk bowl and then add vanilla. Then add cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Wisk together to combine.

Heat about 1/2 cup of sugar in a skillet until golden. You will need to keep scraping the skillet to prevent burning. This stuff is HOT so be careful. Do not stop stirring and scraping until it is ready. Pour it into the bottom of a large ceramic dish and swirl around to cover bottom. If it does not completely cover, don’t worry. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of the caramel. Pour in the flan mixture and put the dish in a water bath. Cook at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and a half. Jiggle the dish to see if it isn’t liquid like – but still moves. Refrigerate at least overnight. To plate, run a knife around the edge of the dish a couple of times to separate. Then flip quickly onto a platter.

A couple week’s ago my friend Michael and I spent an hour at the San Francisco Ferry Building trying samples of plums, apples and pluots. Our goal was to get some nutrition before going inside to eat a double-carb Potato and Pesto Sandwich from Acme Bread. It was a refreshing deal considering how expensive travel in the Bay can be! I left the market feeling healthier and with a new-found love for plums. I don’t remember eating many plums as a child in Florida – perhaps there was too much citrus around to notice anything else. If you havent eaten a pluot yet they are the delicious combination of an apricot and a plum…and don’t feel guilty, they have only been sold since 1989 (that seems pretty young for fruit!).

I made this Plum and Pluot Tart for my mother’s Yardbird friends last week. I cheated (and confessed to them!) by using frozen pastry from January! I made the pate sucree recipe for my Lemon Chocolate Tart in January and froze half to save. Not sure how they felt about my nearly year-old crust but if I hadn’t fessed up, they wouldn’t have ever noticed. I defrosted the dough overnight in the fridge and baked it at lunchtime the day of the party. After work, I quickly made the filling and topped it with ripe plums and pluots. Next time I’ll add even more fruit. This project required a bit of extra effort but it was a wonderful addition to the evening.

I suggest giving it a try will you can get your hands on California plums and pluots!

Plum and Pluot Tart

For the pâte sucrée (makes enough for two crusts):

• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 extra-large egg yolks
• 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter

1. Whisk the cream and egg yolks together in a small bowl.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter on medium speed until you have a coarse meal. Gradually add the cream and yolks and mix until just combined. Do not overwork the dough.

3. Transfer the dough to a large work surface and bring it together with your hands to incorporate completely. Divide the dough in half, shape into 1-inch-thick discs, and wrap one of them to freeze and use later.

4. If the dough is too soft, put in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up a little. If the dough is manageable, place it on a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle a little flour over the dough, and roll it out into a 1-inch-thick circle, flouring as necessary. Starting at one side, roll and wrap the dough around the rolling pin to pick it up. Unroll the dough over a 10-inch tart pan. Gently fit the dough loosely into the pan, lifting the edges and pressing the dough into the corners with your fingers. To remove the excess dough, roll the rolling pin lightly over the top of the tart pan for a nice clean edge, or work your way around the edge pinching off any excess dough with your fingers. Chill for 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

6. Take the tart pan with the pâte sucrée from the refrigerator. Prick the bottom with a fork and line it with a few opened and fanned-out coffee filters or a piece of parchment paper. Fill the lined tart shell with beans or pie weights and bake 15 minutes, until set. Take the tart out of the oven and carefully lift out the paper and beans. Return the tart to the oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is an even golden brown. Set aside on a rack to cool completely.

For the filling:

• 1/3 cup whole almonds
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 teaspoons rum
• 4 or 5 ripe plums and pluots
• 1/4 cup red currant jelly

Finely grind almonds with sugar in processor. Add egg, butter and 2 teaspoons rum. Process until batter forms. Pour filling into crust. Arrange plums and pluots atop filling. Bake until fruit is tender and filling is golden and set, about 50 minutes. Melt jelly with remaining 2 teaspoons rum in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat. Brush jelly mixture over plums. Cool tart and enjoy!

It feels like the Animal Kingdom these days on Mendenhall (despite the usual chaos from my Westie). Everything from fruitflies to possums. Luckily, our possum friend seems to only be just crawling around the garden teesing Winston and stealing figs from the neighbors trees (while I lose sleep over the thought of him utilizing the doggy door). The fruitflies are in it for the long haul and there is a full-out war in my kitchen through the warm days of summer. My ripe bananas took the side of the flies last week forcing me to make this chocolate cake. I won! And, the cake was light, moist and full of chocolate and banana goodness. It is dangerously versatile – tempting to eat for breakfast.

I shared about half with my friends on South Mendenhall and I’ve been eating slices single-person style (cake in one hand with the phone in another) this week. My girlfriend Beth couldn’t hold back her laughter when I admitted to this on Monday. I’m not a huge fan of icing so this was a perfect sweet treat.

I used an adapted recipe from a nice food blog called Cooking Books.

Chocolate Banana Nut Cake
Adapted by Cooking Books  from Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan’s The Greystone Bakery Cookbook

• 3/4 cups unsalted butter
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup ground walnuts
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups (5-6) very ripe bananas
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

With a rack in the middle of the oven, preheat it to 350F. Grease a 10″ round cake pan and set aside. I used a springform pan because that’s the only one I have that’s 10″ and it made removal very easy.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Then add the chocolate and stir until both are completely melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk the flour, sugar, ground walnuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas and stir until just combined. Set aside.

Stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture which should have cooled slightly by this time. Continue to stir until the eggs and chocolate are well combined, then add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined (again!).

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top. Return to the oven and continue baking for another 25 minutes or a bit longer, until it passes the toothpick test.

Allow the cake to cook on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Let it cool completely before serving with milk or whipped cream.

When preparing the Greek menu for our Saturday night dinner I knew we needed to use the ripe, oraganic blueberries and peaches that my Mom and Debbie brought up by way of Florida. I googled “Greek desserts blueberries,” found a couple of ideas and then started brainstorming. What was going to be a parfait of greek yogurt and blueberries turned into a play on baklava with a yogurt and fruit topping. I was inspired by a Giada de Laurentiis recipe for miniature baklava and adapted the recipe from what I had on hand. I made larger versions of the recipe using standard muffin tins and added dried figs and pecans.

This was a fun experiment with a delightful pay off. It was a nice balance between sweet and tart from the honey and Greek yogurt. We had to convince ourselves not to eat them again for breakfast the next morning! I’ll certainly make these again.

Baklava Cups with Greek Yogurt, Blueberries and Peaches

• 1 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup dried figs
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 stick butter, melted, divided
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 12 sheets phyllo dough
• Greek Yogurt
• zest of one lemon
• honey, to taste
• blueberries and peaches

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the nuts, figs, bread crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and the honey and stir to combine.

On a dry work surface place 1 sheet of phyllo. Using a pastry brush and the remaining melted butter, lightly cover the entire sheet of phyllo with melted butter. Cover the first sheet with a second sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Continue until there is a stack of 6 sheets of phyllo. Cut the stacked phyllo rectangle into 6 equal pieces. Repeat to make 12.

Gently press each cut piece of phyllo into the muffin tin cups. Equally divid the the nut mixture into each of the phyllo cups. Bake until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine zest of one lemon and honey (to taste) to the greek yogurt.

Top the warm baklava cups with greek yogurt, berries and peaches.

I caused a bit of drama when I announced that I wouldn’t be making my coconut cupcakes this 4th of July. It’s just too damn hot to be working with that much butter! Instead, I used a recipe for Margarita Cookies that my Mom recommended to me. Believe me, this recipe was 1000 times easier than working with two pounds of butter and cream cheese – and practically frosting your cheeks while cleaning up dripping frosting in the overly heated kitchen. I exaggerate, yes.

I’m not sure what part of Margarita Cookie is patriotic – but these cookies got just as many compliments as the coconut cupcakes did in previous years. I promised many I’d post this recipe – pronto.

Margarita Cookies 

• 2 cups AP flour
• 3/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Zest of one lime

Combine flour and 1/2 tsp sea salt in medium bowl and mix well. Cream butter in mixer for one minute and add 3/4 cup sugar. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat for 2 more minutes. Slowly add flour and salt mixture and mix on low speed until dough comes together.

Combine the lime zest, the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon sea salt in a shallow dish or plate for rolling.

Roll the dough into 1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter logs then roll in the sea salt mixture. Roll up logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to over night. Line cookie sheet with parchment. Slice 1/4 inch think and bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes or until just lightly browned on the bottom. Cool on baking sheet for 1 minute and transfer to a wire rack.