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French Yogurt Cake

03.25.2016 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

The Child comes home a few days before Christmas, and we settle into a quiet routine. Throughout January, I ask about homework she needs to do or assignments she needs to make up after her lengthy school absence, and I am offered assurances that feel hollow: I’m all caught up! Everything is done.

Eventually, the teachers start entering grades, and she cannot hide from the truth, reported online. She is overwhelmed. She is lost.

On a Friday evening, I begin emailing other schools, asking if they will accept a transfer, and discover there are new schools in the area that are looking for students. I give her the options, and an offer to help her organize her work, and for the first time since she started elementary school, she accepts my offer. She writes a list of things that are due, and I tell her to do the shortest ones. She does several, and I push her a bit. Do the other ones, and I’ll take you to McDonalds when they’re done.

When we pass through the drive-thru, she seems as pleased with her McNuggets as with her work.

I wake her early the next morning, and her worried look has returned, in spite of the incentive I offer: bacon and eggs for breakfast. She’s remembered more assignments, added them to her list, which is now longer than the night before. I notice that all the assignments are still there, and ask, why didn’t you cross off the ones you did?

I put x’s next to the ones that are turned in.

Do me a favor, I ask. Could you draw lines through the ones you’ve done? It’s hard for me to tell otherwise.

She draws lines through the ones she’s finished, and the list looks manageable once again. She brightens: maybe I should do it that way, then I can see how much I really have left. She dives in to her work, sitting on the sofa, laptop on her knees. I try to supervise, but not hover, so I make myself busy in the kitchen, checking in periodically to make sure her breaks don’t extend into hours, or to offer food and encouragement.

I make batches of marmalade, with varying results: Some too sweet and runny, another too bitter, but nicely firm.

The runny batch was the first attempt: it was pleasantly sweet, but slid off my morning toast and covered my fingers with sticky mess. I looked for ideas to fix the problem, but then, recognizing a losing battle, give up and simply look for recipes that use marmalade.  Somewhere in my pinterest pins, I found this simple recipe for yogurt cake with a marmalade glaze, which makes the jam’s pourable quality into a virtue. As an added incentive, the recipe involves only ingredients I happen to have handy.

I ended up making this cake twice: The first time with the grated zest of half an orange, and the second time, with the grated zest of a small lemon. Even though the original recipe calls for lemon, and numerous other recipes for similar cakes call for lemon, The Child and I both preferred the first version with the orange, which allowed more of the almond flavor to shine through. That said, both cakes were consumed in the same amount of time.

In the end, we liked the cake so much that it was half gone before I remembered I had meant to glaze it, so I never got around to it. Certainly, some marmalade glaze would be nice on it, as would some fresh berries and whipped cream, or almost anything, really. Or, just set it on a plate next to your laptop, and nibble on it  while you do your homework.

French Yogurt Cake

French Yogurt Cake
 
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Author: adapted from Emily Weinstein, New York Times
Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup ground almonds
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • Grated zest of ½ orange
  • ½ cup plain yogurt
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¼ tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup canola oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8½-x-4½-inch loaf pan and set aside.
  2. Whisk together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, and set aside.
  3. Put the sugar and zest in another bowl and work the zest into the sugar with your fingertips. The sugar with become moist and aromatic. Put the sugar into the work bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and at a medium speed, whisk the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla into the sugar until thoroughly incorporated. Continue whisking and add the flour mixture, then turn off the mixer and fold in the oil using a spatula or wooden spoon.
  4. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
  5. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake begins to come away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about five minutes, then use a knife to loosen the cake and remove it from the pan to cool completely.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // almonds, baking, lemon, orange

Mandarin Sorbet

01.03.2016 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

Olives, olives, everywhere, and nary a one to eat.

The great olive-curing experiment continues: Old brine has been replaced with fresh, and makeshift containers have been replaced with large, homey Ball jars, now neatly stored in a box at the side of the kitchen. It will be months before they are edible, a moment I  optimistically assume will come to pass.

During our frequent discussions of the olive situation, talk naturally turns to other produce, but when my father mentions Seville oranges, I get excited. I have been told that marmalade made from Seville oranges is magical.

Maybe I should learn how to make marmalade, he says.

It’s easy, I tell him. I email him a series of recipes for Seville orange marmalade. He emails me a shipping notice: A crate of Satsumas should arrive by Christmas.

Satsuma, or Seville?

Satsuma, he says. A crate of them.

Satsumas are lovely, of course, but as oranges go, they are pretty much the opposite of Sevilles. I say that like I’m an expert on oranges, which I’m not, although I’m well on way given the amount of research I did when I discovered vast quantity of them on my doorstep the day after Christmas – too large an amount for two people to eat before they go bad, especially given that the two people in question had bought a small box of tangerines at Whole Foods while shopping for the correct type of sea salt for brining olives.

Satsumas

No less an authority than Alton Brown claimed I could make marmalade from the Satsumas, so I followed his recipe, increasing the lemon and cooking the marmalade to the oddly specific temperature of 223 degrees fahrenheit, then testing it on a chilled plate.

It didn’t set.

I let it simmer some more, while the temperature held at the 223 degree mark, and tested again on the plate: Not set.

I simmered. I repeated. I tested again.

The marmalade got a bit less runny, but the temperature began to increase, and when it finally hit 225 degrees and seemed semi-jelled on a plate, I poured it into nine small glass jars, sealed them, and processed them.

The next morning, I discovered that in following the most precise jam instructions I’d ever seen in a recipe, I had, for the first time, made jam that failed to set. The little bit that I’d set aside in the refrigerator was chilled, but also runny.

It’s tasty, to be sure, and I’ve mostly forgiven Alton Brown, because failure is nothing if not inspirational: I bought a book on jam-making that was once recommended to me by a jam-seller at a farmer’s market (Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber), and then invested in a snazzy French jam making pan. I educated myself on sugar-to-fruit ratios. I read extensively on the topic of pectin.

I’m sure it will all result in some extraordinary jam, sometime in the not-too-distant future, but as things currently stand, I have an abundance of first-rate Satsumas that I have no hope of finishing before they turn. Something would have to be done, and my usual solution – bake it into a cake of some sort – was off the table, so to speak. After all the excess of the holiday season, I don’t want cake. I want things that taste light and clean.

I found this recipe for sorbet on the Serious Eats website, which in turn gives the source as Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s absurdly simple – all you need is a juicer and an ice cream maker, although you could squeeze the juice by hand if you wanted to, and if you follow the instructions on the original recipe, there is no mention of an ice cream maker, so I may be overstating the amount of equipment you need by quite a bit.

I used both, though, and I’ve amended the instructions accordingly. The lime adds a refreshing, tart twist to the light sweetness of the mandarin, and the flavors stay fresh because the juices aren’t cooked – only the sugar syrup is, and only briefly. It’s a nice treat for those who began the year with resolutions, and those who didn’t, alike.

And something to enjoy while the olives brine.

Mandarin Sorbet

Mandarin Sorbet
 
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Author: adapted from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2½ cups fresh satsuma juice (or tangerines, if you prefer)
  • 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
Instructions
  1. Make a simple syrup: whisk together the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, whisking, until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
  2. In a bowl, stir together the sugar syrup, and juices. Taste and add more lime juice, if needed, to create the sweet-tart balance you prefer. Strain through a sieve. Cover with and refrigerate overnight. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.
Notes
Use fresh fruit for best flavor: You can juice the satsumas and limes while the simple syrup is cooling. When adjusting the flavors, remember that the final product will be served cold, which will make it seem a bit less sweet.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // dessert, ice cream, orange

Orange-Walnut Blondies

08.01.2015 by J. Doe // Leave a Comment

I’ve learned a lot about gardening in the past three years. Things like this: Neem oil applied with a sprayer is infinitely superior to every homemade concoction that has been dreamed up and posted on the internet, and it’s organic, too.

This is the reason I have zucchini, basil, and tomatoes, instead of aphids, whiteflies, and leaf miners.

Here’s another thing: The internet will tell you not to harvest your rhubarb the first year you plant it, but if you have stalks that appear harvestable, by all means, do so.

On the other hand, if you have an early spring, and see a large flower-bearing stalk emerging from your rhubarb plant, don’t go outside to admire it daily, and don’t take pictures of it to post on Instagram.

Yes, it’s pretty. Hack it off fast, if you want rhubarb any thicker than a pencil.

Water your plants as often as seems prudent.

Apply slug bait liberally.

If you do all of these things, I have discovered, vegetables will appear, and you will need to learn other things – mostly, what to do with them.

It is possible to have too many green beans, and if you somehow manage to grow an eggplant, you are going to have to think of a way to use it. If it takes you three years to learn how to grow zucchini – by which I mean, be overrun with zucchini – you will find it very disheartening to watch it go bad because your freezer is full and your neighbors are stocked up on zucchini, but thanks anyway.

It’s as disheartening as the realization that you like the idea of organic vegetables much more than you enjoy actually eating them.

Gardening is much like summer itself: I look forward to it, earnestly and hourly, starting in early February, when it dawns on me that the only holiday coming up to break the oppressive Seattle gloom is Valentine’s Day. It’s the one holiday I hate.  I hate it when I’m single, and hate it even more when I’m married.

Then summer actually arrives, and I remember that I actually do need the air conditioning that everyone says you don’t need in Seattle. I remember the beehive in the wall that neither the handyman nor a professional beeslayer could find. I remember that I don’t have a swimsuit and that even if I did venture onto a beach, I wouldn’t tan, I’d burn.

What I really like, more than I care to admit, is a nice rainy Sunday, one that allows me the luxury of not having to go anywhere. The perfect rainy Sunday would ideally follow a Saturday in which, in a burst of enthusiasm, I’ve run all the errands and folded the laundry and even crossed a few minor tasks off the to-do list. A Sunday on which I have nothing to do, and no place to go, and if the stars are aligned correctly, enough butter in the freezer that I can bake something that I shouldn’t really be eating.

And then I had one such rainy Sunday.

Truthfully, I had plans, but they involved being outdoors. There was a backup plan that didn’t involve getting wet – I live in Seattle, after all – but The Child came downstairs with stomach pains that were bad enough that she didn’t want to spend the day with her friends, which meant I could, with a clear conscience, stay in.

The universe gave me one last gift: a review copy of The Messy Baker cookbook. I spent some time perusing it, and it’s a nice cookbook, with some good ideas for scones and savory tarts. It reminds me a bit of The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, a cookbook that seems quite ordinary and unexceptional and that you own for many years without much thought until the day you realize that it’s been your go-to book whenever you want to bake something comforting and reliable.

I tried out the recipe for Orange-Walnut Blondies, because it’s filled with things I love, butter and orange zest and vanilla and nuts. The original recipe includes a caramel sauce, which is fine if you’re serving it for a formal occasion. I didn’t consider a Netflix marathon of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to be such an occasion, so I skipped the sauce.

The blondies were superb, perfectly gooey, and buttery, with an orange-vanilla flavor reminiscent of an orange creamsicle – which as it happens, is one of the things I truly love about summer.

The Child devoured these right out of the pan, and they were all gone within a day.

IMG_0093.JPG

Orange-Walnut Blondies
 
Print
Author: adapted from Charmian Christie, The Messy Baker Cookbook
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1½ cups lightly packed brown sugar
  • zest of one orange
  • 1½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp orange juice
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13"x9" baking dish.
  2. Scatter the walnuts on a cookie sheet and toast until fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and orange zest until light. Add the vanilla and orange juice, stirring to combine, followed by the eggs, one at a time.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour slowly to the butter mixture, while mixing on the low speed. Stir in the toasted walnuts by hand.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until your house smells so good you can't stand any more waiting, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  6. Cool the blondies in the pan, set on a cooling rack, and cut into squares of any size that makes you happy.
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Categories // The Joy of Cooking Tags // cookies, orange, walnuts

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