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Olive Oil and Yogurt Cake

Here's a wonderful recipe courtesy of Pichet Ong and his disastrously divine dessert cookbook, The Sweet Spot which feasts upon Asian-inspired confections. Baby and I had sampled this cake at Ong's restaurant Spot and were so compelled that we just had to try it on our own! Instead of orange marmalade, we used peach jam and it was in fact all very peachy!

Olive Oil and Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Pichet Ong's The Sweet Spot
Makes one 9x13 -inch cake, about 24 servings

Ingredients
1 table spoon unsalted butter, at room temperature for greasing the pan
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
3 1/4 cups sugar
9 large eggs
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon fleur de sel or other mild sea salt, such as Maldon

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9x13-inch cake pan and set aside.
2. Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
3. Put the yogurt, sugar, eggs, orange zest, vanilla, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Turn the speed to low and whisk in the flour mixture until well blended, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and stir the batter a few times.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the batter with the oil until smooth and homogeneous. Add the oil mixture into the remaining batter in a slow, steady, stream, folding continuously.
5. Transfer the batter to the cake pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
6. While the cake is baking, stir the orange marmalade together with 1 tablespoon water.
7. As soon as the cake is done, brush the top with the orange marmalade mixture glaze and sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Night and Day Souffle

I created this souffle of sorts back at my parents' home in New Hampshire over the holidays a few years ago. I was staring into the fridge in hopes of coming up with something to make for dinner, and the result was excellent with a glass of red wine. I've also made the souffle for breakfast and it was just as satisfying with orange juice and coffee. The flexible dish can be served as a terrific nosh anytime, or made ahead of time and quickly reheated.

Night and Day Souffle
Serves 4

Ingredients
6 eggs
Milk
1 chopped onion, sauteed in butter
4 dinner rolls
4 slices of cheese
4 strips of bacon

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a casserole dish, whisk eggs with a little milk and add salt and pepper to taste. Incorporate the onion. Add dinner rolls (baked Pillsbury Grands would be a lively idea) to the dish and place bacon over them crosswise. Top with slices of your favorite cheese such as American or Swiss and bake for 40 minutes. Cut into four portions and serve.

First published in part in Next magazine.

Bacon Meatballs

My cousin Kelle is the sister I never had. As kids, we suppressed giggles in church, shared a Mrs. Beasley doll, tortured our neighbors, and once, we made it rain. As adults, we celebrate our own special holiday by cooking together. Recently, we conspired to make a white pasta (with ricotta cheese and crisped shallots), fusing elements of a traditional carbonara, while creating the perfectly complementary meatball, wrought from bacon!

Bacon Meatballs
Serves 4-6 (about 24 meatballs)

Ingredients
12 oz. applewood smoked bacon, slightly frozen
1 egg
1/2 cups each Italian and Japanese panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Method
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Slice or cut the bacon into 1/4-inch pieces and let thaw. Put in a medium size bowl. Add egg, breadcrumbs, cheese and chopped parsley to the bacon and dive in, mixing with your hands. Form into little orbs, roughly the size of ping-pong balls (about 24). Place on a rack over a pan to catch drippings and bake for 10 minutes till browned. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes till cooked through.

This is great with an alfredo--and with scrambled eggs the next morning. Giggles left to your own discretion.

First published in part in Next magazine.

Sing A Song

I wanted to write here about my experience singing in a Master Class taught by the incomparable, legendary Ms. Marilyn Maye but I dismissed the idea at first thinking it had nothing at all to do with my food blog. Then I thought this scribing does make sense: it's hardly a secret to the people who know me, that as much as I love to eat, I love to sing too and sometimes the twain do meet, on more than a few of my wine-eclipsed dinner parties--if music be the food of love, you know, sing on. But apart from these occasions, my penchant for piano bars and kick out of karaoke, I haven't sung on an actual stage in front of sober people or had musical training for 20 years, since I was in college! Until recently...

When a friend told me Marilyn Maye was teaching a 5-hour Master Class, I immediately signed up and sent in my deposit. I'd been feeling like I wanted to sing more, thinking about what I used to do, I guess, and here was a chance, a grand opportunity to present two songs and be critiqued by the legend. My feelings changed as I pulled, from a suitcase I'd first carried to New York, old sheet music imprinted with high-reaching notes I could no longer sing. I hadn't given a thought to an accompanist to practice with and when it was too late to do much about any of it, petrified as an old tree limb, I seriously wondered just what on earth I'd gotten myself into or rather, how to get myself out of it. Through various orchestrations too involved to go into here, I found and transposed some music I would bring and try to work with.

On the day of reckoning, there we all were: a schlub like me, in an intimate cabaret room full of pros, hopefuls, and auditors, assembled for a Master Class being taught by the great lady. As each took their numbered turn, mine growing ever closer, I discovered everybody had memorized all the words to their songs and seemed like they had performed them often. That didn't help. I. was. nervous. as. a. cat.

I hadn't eaten anything all day. I couldn't. I didn't dare. And all I'd consumed during the session was chamomile tea with honey, Ricola cough drops, bottled water and some chap stick that I'd rubbed on my lips so they wouldn't stick together from dry mouth.

But you know what? When it came my turn to perform, the old bones pulled together apparently, memory spurred, the voice rose up to a fair timbre. After I'd finished, Marilyn Maye was most complimentary to me, and added, as I resumed my seat, "make sure you tell your father that I love his son!" Imagine?

And suddenly, oh how I was full: full from having had the courage to try singing again as I'd thought about doing, wanted to do, hadn't dared to do, but did, steeling myself to the actual task; eyes full of brimming tears; and finally, realizing I was so full from having fed my soul.



What a thrill and absolute privilege indeed to meet the marvelous Marilyn Maye! Thank you, dear one!

A Friend Writes...

About recipes for Fall!

"I made some delicious Autumn recipes a few weekends ago - started with the Lentil and Sausage Soup, which I served with crusty French bread of which I had half a loaf left over - so was then inspired to make the Panade which required day-old bread! The Panade is like a savory vegetable bread pudding - really delicious and surprisingly hearty for something that is totally vegetarian (though not vegan - lots of dairy - milk and cheese). Both will fill your home with delicious aromas while they cook on a weekend afternoon, and will keep for a few days in the fridge or freeze very nicely for leftovers."

Panade
Published in The New York Times Magazine, 9/8/10
Adapted from “Tartine Bread” by Chad Robertson

Ingredients
6 tblsps butter 2 leeks, white part only, finely chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
6 cups whole milk
Salt 4-8 slices day-old country bread or French bread, each 1 inch thick
1 small butternut squash, about 1 lb, peeled, seeded and cut into ¼ thick slices
1 bunch black kale or Swiss chard, center stems removed
1 head cauliflower, about 1 ½ lbs, trimmed and cut into ½ thick slices
½ lb fontina cheese, thinly sliced

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt 2 tblsps of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the milk, the remaining 4 tblsps butter and 2 tsps salt. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Cover the bottom of a heavy, ovenproof 5-qt pot with bread slices (I used my enameled cast-iron Dutch oven). Arrange the squash slices in an even layer on top of the bread. Pour in 2 cups of the hot milk mixture. Add a layer of bread slices, and then the kale/chard. Arrange the cauliflower slices over the kale. Press down to compact the ingredients if they don’t quite fit in the pot. Pour the remaining milk mixture over the top. Stop adding milk when the level is almost to the rim. Season with salt. Cover the pot with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake for 30 mins. Uncover and arrange the cheese over the top. Return to the over uncovered and bake until the liquid is absorbed and reduced and the cheese has melted and browned, 30-40 mins.

Lentil Sausage Soup
Adapted from the “Barefoot in Paris” cookbook by Ina Garten

Ingredients
1 lb French green lentils
¼ cup olive oil
4 cups diced yellow onions (3 large)
4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only (2 leeks)
1 tblsp minced garlic (2 large cloves)
1 tblsp salt
1 ½ tsps black pepper
1 tblsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
3 cups medium diced celery (8 stalks)
3 cups medium diced carrots (4-6 carrots)
3 quarts chicken stock
¼ cup tomato paste
1 lb kielbasa or firm French-style sausage (I used a duck and fennel seed sausage from Trader Joe’s)
2 tblsps balsamic vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesan for serving

Method
In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 mins. Drain. In a large stockpot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions, leeks, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and cumin for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are translucent and tender. Add the celery and carrots and sauté for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and drained lentils, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, or until the lentils are cooked through and tender. Check the seasonings. Add the sausage and vinegar and simmer until the sausage is hot. Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

Pork Soup Dumplings

We didn’t get what the fuss was all about—at first. Grand Sichuan International (229 9^th Ave @ 24th St, 212-620-5200) around the corner from our apartment is always packed, and quite often there are lines out the door! We’d ordered in a few times, working our way through tasteless Chicken & Broccoli and flaccid Sesame Noodles wondering “what are we missing?” Fairly recently, our lovely neighbors let us in on a little Chinese secret: there are two kitchens at Grand Sichuan! One kitchen is for take out and the other feeds the patrons seated at the restaurant.

Our neighbors took us one night and we instantly fell in love with the food. While the Corn Egg Drop Soup ($1.95/sm, $3.75/lg), Ginger Lobster (MP) and Cellophane Noodles ($9.25) are favorites, we can’t seem to slurp enough of the Pork Soup Dumplings ($5.75/eight). These plump beauties are chockablock full of minced pork wrapped in delicate wontons skins with a tiny aperture on top in which to pour a little soy sauce. Carefully lift the dumpling on to a spoon and shove the whole thing in your mouth, savoring the flavor as it bursts forth onto your taste buds. Soup’s on!

First published in Next magazine.