Chocolate Plum Skillet Cake

July 4, 2014

Chocolate Skillet Cake with Santa Rosa + toasted Coconut shavings

When I miss people, I bake. Its an odd habit I picked up when I was younger. When friends or family would go on trips or as of lately when I've felt homesick, I'm attached to the oven, baking my feelings. Theres something about opening the oven to a tasty dessert thats like seeing an old friend again. I also love simple one pan meals.

Lately we've had a lot of gorgeous Santa Rosa plums bursting from our fruit trees in Boulder Creek. One day at lunch I was staring at a gorgeous bowl of plums sitting on the table when I realized how badly I wanted chocolate, which is pretty much always. Suddenly this recipe occurred to me! I find that the chocolate cuts through the sharp sweetness of the plums. This cake is inspired by a few different recipes. The caramelizing of the plums and the use of the skillet stemmed from the idea of a tarte tatin mixed with the gluten free buckwheat chocolate almond cake I made last month. Most stone fruits would work well and the addition of jam or a chocolate drizzle takes the cake to the next level.

Chocolate Plum Skillet Cake

4-5 ripe plums

2 tablespoons butter

6 oz (170g) chocolate*

1/2 cup (115g) butter

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1/3 cup (80 ml) yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup almonds, roasted

1/4 cup buckwheat flour (35g)

powdered sugar & cocoa powder, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Half plums and remove pits. In a 8-10 inch cast iron skillet heat 1 tbsp butter and when hot lay plums down face down and allow to caramelize for about 5 minutes. Flip to skin side and cook for an additional 5. Add another tablespoon of butter and swirl in the skillet. Set aside. In a double boiler, melt down remaining butter and add chocolate. Once melted remove and allow to cool. In a bowl, separate eggs into whites and yolks. Whisk the egg yolks, half of the sugar, yogurt, vanilla, and salt, stir in melted chocolate. In a food processor pulse almonds until fine and add in the buckwheat flour. Stir into chocolate mixture. In a mixture (or by hand if you want a work out!) whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, add the remaining sugar and beat until firm peaks form. Slowly fold into chocolate mixture. Scrap bowl into skillet with plums and bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly firm in the center. Cool and remove from pan and dust with powdered sugar & cocoa powder, or jam & chocolate and enjoy with a scoop of ice cream for added decadence!

* I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but dark chocolate would be amazing as well.

Insalata Caprese

June 29, 2014

Simplicity is always the key to any dish. This is particularly true of seasonal produce and even more so when you're growing your own stuff. Caprese salads are always a favorite as mozzerlla, basil and tomatoes simply just love each other. This salad is said to represent the Italian flag showcasing the red, white and green colors. My fellow apprentice at Camp Joy put together this stunning collection of colors for lunch the other day and I couldn't help but nibble at it when she wasn't looking. The colors just invite you in and the simplicity of the balsamic and olive oil send me back to the land of red, white and green, Italia. Of course it is important to enjoy this insalata with as fresh as possible ingredients from the tomatoes & basil to the mozz. Also a quality virgin olive oil will only add to the divinity of this dish.

Insalata Caprese

4-5 ripe heirloom tomatoes, sliced into discs

handful fresh basil

1 ball mozzarella or burrata sliced into bite sized pieces

Drizzle of good Balsamic & Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

With a sharp knife slice tomatoes into large discs and lay on a large platter, seasoning generously. Lay mozzarella a top of tomatoes and drizzle balsamic and olive oil. Finish with basil leaves and as much salt & pepper as you please.

Quiche Revisted

June 2, 2014

Roasted Jim Nardello Peppers, Caramelized Onions with Bacon and Fresh Chèvre + Spring Baby Green Quiche with Fresh Feta and Caramelized Mushrooms

Quiche has been a favorite recipe within the last few months. The beauty of quiche is always in its simplicity and can be put together with nothing but eggs and whatever else you have on hand. Quiche became a go to recipe for me when dealing with all the fresh produce in our farm share. What do you do with a pound of springs greens, zucchini and green beans? You make a fabulous quiche ya fancy pants!

Now there has been much confusion amongst my inner circle as to the difference between a quiche and a frittata, and the short answer is simply that quiche has a crust. Now of course there is cultural backgrounds at stake, as 'frittata' is an Italian word meaning 'egg cake', and quiche a german word, derived from the word Kuchen meaning cake, and then made famous by the french (seriously) as an egg cake with the addition of a pastry crust. So gluten intolerant friends, if you can't do the crust, simply make a frittata and you won't be missing a thing!

The basic building of a quiche should always be simple and dependent on your personal preferences. I generally go with some sort of cheese, veggies, herbs & spices, and of course eggs! Using healthy farm fresh eggs is a real game changer in this recipe so be sure to use the good stuff.

BASIC QUICHE CRUST-

1 cup flour

pinch salt

1/4 cup oil (canola, vegetable, olive oil)

1/4 cup water

Combine dry ingredients, whisk together oil & water and combine. In between to sheets of wax paper, roll out to fit a 9 inch pan or a cast iron skillet.

CARAMELIZED ONION, CHEDDAR, PURPLE POTATO AND CHIVE QUICHE

1 onion, caramelized

1 bunch chives, minced

1 purple potato, diced

salt & ground pepper, to taste

4 large eggs

1/2 cup cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk eggs cream, herbs and salt & pepper together until the egg yolk and white are totally incorporated. Lay curst in greased pie pan and shape. Add cheese layering veggies and pour egg mixture on top. Bake covered with tinfoil for 40 minutes. Remove foil and cook until golden. Enjoy!!!

This recipe is very basic, all veggies can be modified. Keep your basic crust and egg mixture and explore some creative combinations with your leftovers! I have also found that if you do not have cream available that 2 tbsp butter and 1/2 cup milk work as a good substitute as well as creme fraiche, yogurt or sour cream. For more quiche inspirations, visit my previous recipe .

Strawberry Cream 1234 Cake

May 23, 2014

Fresh Strawberry Birthday Cake with Whipped Cream

Few things bring out such sentimental feelings as childhood birthdays. I so vividly remember my mom making me this cake from my favorite childhood cookbook Fanny at Chez Panisse and am happy to report that after making it myself, its as good as I remember. I was asked to make a birthday cake for a friend and immediately was set on this recipe. We had a beautiful flat of strawberries from Watsonville, CA (the strawberry capitol of the world!) and a lovely amount of heavy cream, perfect for whipped cream. This cake is normally a breeze with an electric mixture but our kitchen recently lost theirs, so I made it the old fashion way with nothing but elbow grease, and I've got to say, it was quite the workout, though if you're making the decadent cake, its probably not the worst thing to get a work out in. The cake is not limited to just strawberries and cream, all summer fruits work well, whole or preserved. This cake is a classic french 'quatre-quarts' and can be made chocolate very easily with the substitution of cocoa powder.

Strawberry Cream 1234 Cake

Cake-

4 eggs

3 cups cake flour*

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream-

5 cups heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup maple syrup

Combine all ingredients, beat cream until whipped.

3 pints strawberries, sliced into discs

Make sure your eggs, flour and butter are at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 8 inch cake pans with butter and tap in a bit of flour, no more than a tablespoon for both pans. Measure out all ingredients. Separate eggs. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Fold in egg yolks and in thirds add flour mixture while slowly adding milk. Add vanilla. Beat egg whites until they form glossy peaks and fold in. In prepared pans, pour in batter. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating racks in oven around the 10 minute mark. Remove from oven and let cool. Run knife around sides of pan and gently flip onto a plate. When completely cool, gently cut each cake in half with a serrated knife and transfer to cake plate lined with wax paper. Set 1st layer on pan and smooth out a dollop of whipped cream. Lay out a ring of strawberry discs and repeat 3 times. Ice cake with whipped cream and enjoy!

*Lets be real, who has cake flour lying around? I sure didn't. To substitute simply take all purpose flour and for every cup replace 2 tbsp with corn starch. Be sure to sift the mixture thoroughly (1 cup all purpose flour - 2 tbsp replaced + 2 tbsp corn starch, sifted 3 times over)

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble

May 18, 2014

Being on the west coast lends itself to being on top of the season back east. Though blackberries haven't hit the vines just yet, their blossoms are starting to kick off and preserves from last year help us remember whats in store this summer. We have some gorgeous rhubarb growing in the garden and other than just admiring its red stalks, it is also delicious. Rhubarb I find alludes most people as it seems stuck somewhere between celery and a strawberry. Rhubarb is a rhizome that can add wonderful texture and flavor to a dish, of course strawberry rhubarb is a classic combination, but it can also stand on its own. When using rhubarb you want to be sure to remove the leave, as they are poisonous, and be sure to wash off any sand or dirt left on the stalks. Rhubarb is very well behaved and simply disintegrates on high heat on the stove. If you don't have any preserves on hand and want to keep it seasonal you can nix the blackberries and just make this a rhubarb crumble. This crumble is also gluten free and once again no flavor is lost with some easy substitutes!

Blackberry Rhubarb Crumble

Filling

1 pint blackberry preserves

1 cup fresh rhubarb*

zest of one orange

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium sauce pan, combine all ingredients and simmer until rhubarb breaks down, about 10 minutes. Reduce until thick. Set aside.

*if using only rhubarb and no preserves, add 1/2 cup sugar

Crumble

1 cup almonds

1/2 cup oats

10 dried medjool dates, pitted

1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor, combine almonds, oats and dates. Pulse until combined. Remove half mixture and in a 8x8 baking dish, press half of almond mixture on base to form a crust. Melt 4 tbsp butter and pour over mixture. Return other half of mixture to processor and pulse remaining butter until it forms small pea-like balls. Pour blackberry rhubarb mixture on top of crust and sprinkle remaining date mixture atop creating a streusel. Bake for 20 minutes or until streusel is golden. Enjoy with fresh yogurt, whipped cream or ice cream!