Tonight I was supposed to be cooking snails. Or spot prawns. Or rabbit. Or one of many other dishes that I can’t quite tell you about yet. What I can tell you is that there is a lot going on. And this recipe isn’t supposed to be one of them.

See, sometime back March, I started getting busy. So busy, in fact, that I didn’t want to say anything for fear that I would jinx it. Good things were happening… things like shooting photos for cookbooks and hearing back from clients that I hadn’t heard from in a while. And, now, I’m in the midst of shooting my third and fourth cookbook (only the photos are mine), I have a 3 page spread in the most recent Seattle Metropolitan Bride & Groom, loads of shots in the new Edible Seattle, and a bunch of new photos coming soon to Epicurious, to name a few. Oh, and did I tell you, I have to get all that done before the 25th? Because (drumroll please), we are going on vacation. A real vacation. An unbelievable vacation. Italy. For 5 weeks. Yes. 5 weeks. That’s 35 days. 840 hours. 50,400 minutes.

Anyway, I’ve spent the day shooting (with the help of my new friend and assistant, Claire Bloomberg ) to try to get cookbook #3 finished up before I turn into a zucca, and really should have been testing one of the other recipes this evening. But then it occurred to me that well, some of you still might be out there wondering what had happened to me and if I got swept away with the tumbleweeds that have been blowing around here. So, instead, I took a break. Which is to say, I cooked something and took photos of it for myself instead of someone else. And, for me, I decided to make a little breakfast for dinner. Or, perhaps a little desert for dinner, depending on how you look at it.

My mom used to make dutch babies, and we’d have them with freshly sliced peaches. This recipe, isn’t hers, but my guess is that it is pretty darn close. I found it on the Whole Foods website after 15 minute flipping through indexes of my cookbooks didn’t give me what I was looking for. The batter is about as simple as it gets… equal parts flour and milk with eggs, whipped smooth but not too fluffy. Poured into a cast iron skillet over melted butter and stuck into a hot oven and you have a show that is more entertaining than 90% of what is on TV these days. Seriously, I was so mesmerized watching the batter puff up… like someone was blowing into it in little spurts. Every few seconds, another quick puff. I even had to go grab my camera and take a shot of the magic… of course, like all good magic, it stops as soon as you try to record it. Or, in my case, as soon as I opened the oven door. Luckily, it was just about done puffing anyway.

You can top a dutch baby with any kind of fresh or stewed fruit. Or even just a little squeeze of lemon. But, I’ve been craving a vanilla apricot sauce since I had a vanilla apricot jam a few weeks ago. And, of course, it’s apricot season here in Seattle.

PS: I am so excited about our Italy trip and we already have probably more than 5 weeks of stuff to do… but I’d love to hear suggestions if you have them! We will mostly be in Umbria.

Dutch Baby Pancakes with Vanilla Apricot Sauce

This recipe makes a mini dutch baby, perfect for one for breakfast or two for dessert.

2 eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1 T unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Whisk the eggs with the pinch of salt until they just begin to get a little fluffy. Gradually whisk in the milk and flour and continue to whisk until smooth.

Melt the butter in a 5-inch cast iron pan. Then, pour the egg mixture over the butter. Move the pan immediately to the hot oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it puffs up over the edges of the pan and is a rich golden brown on the edges.

To serve, top with the vanilla apricot sauce and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Vanilla Apricot Sauce

This sauce is fruity and light, but not very sweet. If you like yours a bit sweeter, you can add some sugar into the apricot sauce. It makes just enough for the mini dutch baby pancake.

4 apricots
1 vanilla bean
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup Sauterne or other dessert wine

Blanch the apricots and peel off the skins. Slice into quarters, discarding the pit.

Place in a small pot, on medium low heat, with the lemon juice and wine. Slice the vanilla bean open and scrape out some of the seeds into the pot. Then throw the whole bean into the pot. Give it a stir. Cook until the sauce thickens, but not so long that the pieces of apricot loose their shape. Remove the vanilla bean before serving.

If I could only have one type of dessert for the rest of my life, it would probably be bread pudding. Of course, just saying that implies all sorts of dessert loop holes. There are a million different ways to make a bread pudding resulting in practically a new flavor and texture combination that would do me fine the rest of my days. You can change out the bread type, making your pudding pillowy soft or densely grainy. You can make single servings or a deep dish to alter your crusty to creamy ratio. And, of course, you can play around with almost any fruit or spice combination… which is what I decided to do with my sadly stale, leftover loaf of Macrina Bakery Brioche.

Last weekend, I trekked up to Swanson’s nursery for a little spring gardening fix. Since we moved, I no longer have a yard with fresh raspberries, strawberries and rhubarb shooting up… I really should have done something about that last fall, but never quite got around to it. Now, that is remedied with a couple of blueberry bushes thrown in the mix for good measure, along with a new garden star that I have never thought of before: Sweet Bay. Apparently, bay leaf is quite easily grown around here (I think it is pretty easy to grow it almost anywhere), so I’m quite excited to see how my little shrub grows. It’s already pretty bushy with bright green, shiny leaves which seem worlds away from their dried cousins that I’ve always used in the past. Since the flavor of bay is quite strong, I went ahead and plucked off a few leaves to see how it compared to the dried variety.

My initial thought was for some bay infused ice cream. I remember a few posts that had me intrigued in blogs over the years. However, that loaf of Brioche was staring at me, telling me a pudding was in order. It didn’t take me along to decide that if bay was wonderful in ice cream, it would be equally delicious in a custardy bread pudding, adding a hint of slightly green, earthy spiciness.

For a starter recipe, I found a lovely, simple brioche pudding on Food & Wine, and altered it slightly to add in the bay and skip the healthy dose of berries that would have overwhelmed the bay essence. Of course, me resisting berries is like a cat resisting a mouse… so I ended up drizzling on a quickly made strawberry syrup in the end.

This pudding is a lovely thick and moist, subtly sweet treat… and great for either breakfast or dessert. The bay came through, although it was quite subtle. However, after preparing the dish, I realized that it’s best to use more mature, leathery bay leaves rather than the softer new leaves, so patience with my bay bush is definitely going to be called for.

These are muffins that don’t want to be blogged about. I’ve made them now six or seven times, each batch very much destined for the blog. But this or that got in the way… I’d run out of time before scooping them up into a bag and heading out of town, or they’d simply all disappear by the time I got around to snapping a few shots. Finally, I managed to get some nice photos of the last batch I made a few weeks ago… only to draw a blank when I sat down to write about them. I was quite tempted to simply post the recipe and the photos and say nothing, I was getting so frustrated, but then I ate one of the little fruity buggers and got my revenge.

The thing is, it’s hardly fair to call these mixed berry muffins “muffins“. They are really more fruit than crumb, which is just the glue to hold all the juicy berry goodness together. I think they really should be called muffin mixed berries. And they were the first recipe I made from Seasonal Kitchen by Michele Cranston, a book I’ve really grown to adore. The beauty is that they are even seasonal in winter (in fact, that’s the section they appear in the book) because they use frozen berries. I’ve started keeping a huge bag of mixed frozen berries in the freezer, and whenever I need a quick idea for breakfast or a road trip, these muffins have become the answer. The only thing I don’t love about the recipe is the oil… it calls for vegetable oil and I think that’s just missing an opportunity for adding flavor. Instead, I’ve started using coconut oil which adds just the teaniest tiniest hint of coconut… not enough that coconut-haters will notice, but enough to give them a little something-something.

Now, quickly, before something comes up again and I don’t finish this post, here is the recipe:

I did have to go and tempt fate with my “see, I’m not sick yet” post, didn’t I? I really didn’t mean to sound flip or all tough-girl on you. But, you know what happens when we tempt fate. Bad Things. Very Bad Things. So, as you can imagine at this point, I spent the weekend curled up in a ball shivering under our two warmest blankets, coughing up a lung or two.

The only thing that sounded good to me was the cardamom lassi recipe in February’s Saveur. It’s also just about the only thing I had the energy to prepare. So, after sending the rest of the family, now relatively healthy, out to find food for themselves, I hacked my way into the kitchen and managed to operate my immersion blender without incident, resulting in a cooling, spiced yogurt smoothie sort of a thing. My first attempt, using Fage Total whole fat yogurt was so thick a spoon was definitely called for. A little splash of milk while blending will give you more sip-able results if your yogurt is too thick.

I’m slowly getting back on my feet, enough to attempt adding some mango to the mix and even snap a few photos.

Yep, that’s about it for today. It’s time to head back to the couch again.

Cardamom Lassi

If you can find it, or have the patience to make your own, use coarsely ground cardamom rather than the fine ground stuff. To make your own, buy the cardamom pods, empty the seeds into a mortar and pound them a bit.

Makes 2

2 cups plain yogurt
3 T sugar (or even better, honey or agave syrup)
1 t coarsely ground cardamom
some diced mango (optional)

Blend. Chill for 30 minutes. Drink!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I was flipping through the The Northwest Best Places Cookbook, and one of the first recipes that caught my eye was for Gingerbread Crepes. I’m not really sure why it got me so excited… I’m not a big gingerbread fan… but the idea stuck in my head, and I knew with a little tweaking, these crepes would be something I would love. To me, these crepes are like a warm blanket on a cool spring morning… comforting, but light and fresh. If you’ve been intimidated by crepes before, give these a try… they are much easier than you think.

To begin with, I made added Amaranth Flour to the mix. Amaranth flour has a great nutty flavor that you might associate with graham crackers and tends to add crispness to whatever you bake with it, meaning that your crepes are less likely to get soggy while you cook up the whole batch. Amaranth is also much more nutritious than all purpose flour containing a nearly complete protein. Because Amaranth doesn’t contain gluten, you will need to mix it with other flours to achieve the desired texture. I’m not gluten free, so I chose regular all purpose flour… but there are other flours you could mix with that could yield beautiful results.

The sweetener for this recipe is malt syrup which is something like a cross between honey and molasses. It’s lush and golden and pairs beautifully with the spice combination of ginger, cinnamon and cardamom. A little grated citrus peel (preferably fresh, but dry is okay too) brightens up the whole batter.

For the filling, you can use fresh apple slices but applesauce is delicious and much easier. A bit of Meyer lemon adds a lovely sweet tartness and keeps the apples from being cloying. I love these served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a bit of lemon served on the side which also helps bring out the citrus in both the crepes and the filling.

Technorati Tags: cookbook, recipe

I’m not sure what this says about us, but we received large packages of bacon this year from not one, but two different people. I mean big packages of bacon. Our freezer is brimming with bacon. Thick cut, apple wood smoked; peppered; Canadian-style. Come on over, and have some bacon… we have plenty to share!

Not that I’m complaining. I mean, what doesn’t go better with a bit of bacon in it? We quickly nibbled up two packages crisply grilled. Yum.

Yesterday, I pulled out the Macrina Bakery sweet scone recipe and made a couple of changes to make a savory version of cheesy bacon scones. These scones, with their generous heaping of whipped cream, bake up extremely light. But don’t let their innocent looks fool you… they are energy (ie, calorie) power houses. Bacon, cream and cheese all in one. They are little triangles of indulgence and a perfect way to work on that beer gut or heart attack you’ve been looking for. Or maybe a good reason to go shopping for some new, less constrictive clothing. Oh, the joys of eternal optimism.

Bacon and Cheese Cream Scones
(adapted from the Macrina Bakery Cookbook, p 62)
Makes 10 to 12 scones

4-6 slices of bacon
1 cup sharp white cheddar, grated
1/2 c parmesan-reggiano, grated
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 T baking powder (yes, Tablespoons!)
1 t salt
2 1/2 c heavy cream
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Fry up your bacon until it is quite crisp. Drain on a paper towel lined plate, and set aside.

Combine the two cheeses in a bowl and toss with a fork to get them well mixed.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium to large bowl. Crumble the now cooled bacon into the flour mixture and stir to coat. Add the cheese, and mix well.

Beat the cream with a whisk or mixer until you get medium soft peaks. Fold half of the cream into the flour mixture, mixing carefully. Try to get all of the flour off the bottom of the bowl. Then, mix in the other half of the whipped cream and fold in very gently. You don’t want to over mix the dough.

Lightly flour a work surface, and carefully pour the mixture out onto the surface. The dough will probably still be a bit wet, with dry bits of flour here and there. Flour your hands, and carefully shape the dough into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Then, fold the dough in half over itself and flip it over. It should start to become somewhat moldable. If it seems too wet still, sprinkle a touch of flour on the top and shape and fold again. However, don’t do this too many times or you’ll kill the advantage of whipping your cream first. Once it will basically hold together, form a 3×16 rectangle about an inch or so thick. Cut the rectangle into triangles (about 10 to 12).

Lift scones and place onto the parchment very close together. They should almost be touching, but not quite… maybe 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch between. This will help them keep their shape.

Make a quick egg wash of a beaten egg and about 1 t of water. Then, lightly brush the scones with the mixture. A tiny bit of smoked salt sprinkled on top would be a nice addition at this point.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Scones should cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Let’s say you suddenly find yourself with far, far too much produce. You have 5 pounds of plums from less than 100 yards away, apples plucked off the tree at one of Skagit Valley’s best heirloom orchards, little pint sized buckets of blue mountain huckleberries and plump, organic blueberries.

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As we started moving in to our new house, I realized I wasn’t really sure how to “count” when I had officially broken in my new kitchen. Simply slicing up tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and throwing in some feta for a quick and easy greek salad really didn’t feel enough like “cooking.” It seems that if you don’t actually heat up the range, it is really just foreplay. My first time heating the stove, however, only produced a nice cup of tea. Still, my kitchen remained virginal. Even when we got around to finally cooking real food, it wasn’t in the kitchen… it was back on the deck in the barbecue. My kitchen still had to wait.

In part, the delay was just due to ridding the house of as many boxes as possible so we could actually move. At the end of each day last week, all we could do was collapse on the couch. Moving, even a short distance, is simply hard work. The cooking was not going to happen.

Of course, the other part… perhaps the bigger part… was that I had to decide exactly what to cook. This is a momentous decision. It’s the first creation in the new home, the first thing I was going to shoot, the first thing I was going to post about. The possibilities were staggering. Luckily, the field narrowed quickly when not one but two of my new-old neighbors, came knocking on the door with bagfuls of Italian Prune plums (or at least something that looks a lot like them). I was going to be baking with plums, and doing it rather quickly and in large quantities.
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Don’t you love a treasure hunt? I think that’s why I love picking berries so much. Poking around under leaves in search of the next stash of sweetness. I grew up picking blackberries by the side of the road with my mother in Georgia, on those hot, hot summer days. Despite my overall lack of tolerance for heat and humidity, any sunburn or scratches from the briars seemed well were worth it with each berry bite.
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So, I had these fava beans. And I needed to figure out what to do with them. When I bought them at the market, I was going to do a simple mashed fava bean spread for some little grilled toasts. Simple and yummy. And, quick, if you discount the time it takes to prepare the fava beans in the first place.

Fava Bean & Cream Cheese Rotollos
Adapted from The Produce Bible’s Fava Bean Rotollo with salad greens
Makes 6 to 7 bite sized pieces

1 lb fava beans in their pods
1 clove garlic, crushed.
2 t olive oil
1 t butter
3 eggs
2 T fresh basil, roughly chopped
3 T plain cream cheese
manchego cheese (or parmesan)
salt & pepper to taste

Remove the fava beans from their pods. Bring a pot of water with a touch of salt in it to a boil. Add the favas and cook for about 2 minutes. Then, remove from the heat and run under cold water. Squeeze each bean until it pops out of it’s thick skin.

In a small skillet, heat 1 t of olive oil, and add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, and add the fava beans. Saute for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 315F.

Whisk the eggs together with about 1/2 of the basil and a bit of salt an pepper, and set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set close by the stove.

Place a large, heavy bottomed skillet on the stove on high till hot. Now, turn down the heat to medium-high, and add the butter and allow it to melt. Add the remaining olive oil and stir to combine. Pour the egg mixture into the center of the skillet, trying to create a fairly circular and thin layer, a bit thicker than a crepe. It doesn’t need to reach the sides of the pan. Cook until the whole egg mixture is set on the bottom. It will still be a bit runny inside, but just a little. Then, carefully slide the flat egg disc onto the parchment with the wet side up, close to the bottom edge of the parchment.

Dot the egg with the cream cheese, and sprinkle the whole thing with the favas, remaining basil and a bit of salt and pepper. Grate the manchego cheese all over, making sure you get plenty on the sides. Then, using the parchment as a guide, carefully roll the whole thing up as tightly as you can. Then, roll into the parchment, and carefully fold under the ends to keep it in the log shape and place in the center of the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes. Unwrap and allow to cool slightly on a rack with the seam down for a few minutes.

Carefully remove the roll from the parchment. Slice into rounds.

These are tasty served on their own, perhaps on toothpicks, or with some fresh romaine hearts, drizzled with a good olive oil, salt and toasted pine nuts.